If you can’t wait a few more days for Valve to unlock Half-Life 2 (even if you “bought it”:http://forevergeek.com/games/buy_halflife_2_now.php already), run out and buy “this”:http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/redirect?tag=twotallsocks-20&path=tg%2Fdetail%2F-%2F0761543643%3Fv%3Dglance 288 page book covering the making of Half-Life 2, and the forming of Valve. It features a lot of sketches and concept art, and details about how the game came to be. Lots of interviews with the developers, unused ideas, and more.

Or if you don’t want to drop another $25.00 on Half-Life related stuff, head over to Gamespot to read “The Final Hours of Half-Life 2″:http://www.gamespot.com/features/finalhoursofhl2teaser/index.html, what looks to be a lengthy article on the game from Gamespot. The “Final Hours” series is always interesting, and provides a good inside look into the last few days when launching a popular game. The article doesn’t go live for about another 4 hours from now though, so you’ll have to wait a little while to read more than the first page.