Get HL2 Gold from Steam. You get a postcard (with E3 2003 screenshot), three posters, the collector's edition game box, strategy guide, HL2 cap, and all games Valve made so far.
"True" HDR would require adjusting the monitor's brightness on the fly rather than just blooming overbright pixels on the screen. This way you eyes would be actually reacting to the light change. However, a monitor can't be set so bright it nearly blinds you unless you switch off all lights in...
I do it this way:
Valve is: When referring to Valve as whole single entity rather than group of people.
Valve are: When referring to a particular group inside Valve.
EA is already providing downloadable versions of games, but the program is nowhere good as Steam. Buggy and insecure (It's from EA, after all).
http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=EA+Downloader
If it wasn't, Valve would have been annihilated by giants such as EA (surprise, surprise) or...
I've noticed the X-Box version has the problem as well. Watch the airboat section of the IGN review video and see at the end how the game pauses for 1-2 seconds.