2:56am - Fighting exhaustion from a weekend of 14 hour work days and an evening of non-stop Star Wars Galaxies: Jump to Lightspeed battles, in which I had already achieved a state of contentment with my recent 4/4/4/4 Rebel Pilot skill achievement (but that's another posting).

2:57am - Need more Pepsi. I run upstairs, grab another 20oz bottle of my favorite elyxr and prepare myself for the next few minutes. A quick scan of the Steam forums gives me nothing but "The forums couldn't handle the excitement and are taking a little breather." A breather?! Is this some Valve/Vivendi joke? Have they preemptively disabled the forums in preparation for some backlash from the community after they don't release the game?

2:58am - Two more minutes. Still overreacting to the lack of Steam forums. Finished Pepsi. I rest my head on my keyboard rest for a moment and start to doze off. Pepsi hasn't taken effect yet. Come on you blasted caffeine - work!

3:00am - It is time. I hesitate for a moment and then finally bring up the strength to double-click on Steam. I wait the obligatory 30-60 seconds for 'ye Gods of Steam' to allow me to authenticate and then -- what's this? "Half-Life 2" is no longer under the "Coming Soon" header?? Could it be? Was I dreaming? Are the years of waiting since completing the original Half-Life single player mode finally over? YES! I HAVE HALF-LIFE 2!!!

On a serious note, Valve finally came through. The community has been waiting for this game for what seems like an eternity. I haven't had much of a chance to really dive into the game, but my full review is forthcoming.

Half-Life fans: our wait is finally over. Now we just need Team Fortress 2.