The wranglings which almost put the release date of 2 on hold indefinitely, and certainly cast a black over the launch dating has been settled in court stateside. Publisher VU Games has been instructed to pull all copies of Half-Life 2 from shelves as of August 31st, the implication being that may now distribute solely via Steam. Whether Valve will find a publishing partner for its back catalogue or move of older titles online too remains very much to be seen, but with the Half-Life 2 expansion 'Aftermath' set to debut over Steam, this is very much plausible. It is also currently unknown who will publish Half-Life 2 on the now, due as it is later this very year.

A blow to VU Games' ego and perhaps its reputation this loss will certainly come as, given Valve's notoriety, however Valve's insistence upon the future of online distribution may mean that their bottom line won't suffer too greatly - given the move away from traditional retailing the developer seems set on. One group who may well feel the financial impact though is traditional retailers - who could lose millions when Valve's titles go online exclusively. Currently held Cybercafe network gaming licences will also be null from September. We'll keep our eyes peeled for Valve's plans on all this. More on this soon.

By Luke Guttridge