Half-Life 2 source leaked

Since late yesterday, reports have spread that the source code for Half-Life 2 was leaked and was illicitly posted on the Web. Valve's Gabe Newell has today confirmed in a post on the Half-Life2.net forum that the file that is circulating is indeed the Half-Life 2 source code and said that it was stolen from Valve's network two weeks ago.

Newell summed up the importance of these events with "Well, this sucks," saying that "this has just not been the best couple of days for me or for Valve." He explained that someone gained access to his e-mail and installed keystroke recorders on several Valve computers as a means of stealing passwords. Valve and its Steam service have been the targets of several denial-of-service attacks over the past year, and he said it was unclear if these were related to the recent attacks.

Valve is turning to the gaming community in asking for any information that might lead to those responsible for the denial-of-service attacks or the network infiltration. Newell asked that any possible leads be sent to helpvalve@valvesoftware.com.

Newell didn't comment on whether these events would impact Half-Life 2's release schedule, which was recently pushed back from September 30 to late this year.