well said - i'm with you 100%
don't forget TF2 is in the works! I saw the TF2 stuff in the source code, and there are some really cool gameplay ideas in there.
here's my guess. valve cannot undercut Vivendi by selling HL2 in any form for less than vivendi is selling the standard retail package. they probably would like to sell for less, but that would be sneaky business practices, and is probably detailed in their 2001 agreement.
The way I look at...