Half-Life wholly gold for Xbox

Half-Life 2 raked in critical and commercial success when it launched on the PC last November. Developer Valve is hoping for an encore when the Xbox version of the game, freshly golden and sent to the factory for duplication, releases to stores this November.

In Half-Life 2, players once again assume the role of Gordon Freeman, the theoretical physicist who proved himself awfully handy with a gun and a crowbar in the original Half-Life. At the outset of Half-Life 2, Freeman finds himself en route to the ghetto of City 17, where human survivors exist at the whim of their conquerors, the mysterious Combine.

Half-Life 2 represents the first appearance of Valve's Source engine on the Xbox. For the PC Half-Life 2, Source garnered high marks from players for its impressive facial animations on in-game characters, interactive environments, and complex physics that tied in to the game in both puzzle-solving sections as well as combat.

When it ships on November 15, Half-Life 2 will carry a rating of M for Mature and a price tag of $49.99.