Valve pair hits retail

Despite the success of its Steam digital distribution service, Valve Software has no plans of dropping support for traditional retailers anytime soon. The company provided some evidence of that this week as Counter-Strike: Source and Half-Life 1: Anthology collections are now available at retailers across North America.

In addition to an updated version of Counter-Strike that takes advantage of Valve's Source game engine, the Counter-Strike: Source package includes Half-Life 2: Deathmatch and Day of Defeat: Source. The latter title was released over the Steam service earlier this week.

And while eager Xbox owners will have to wait until November to get their hands on a version of Half-Life 2 for the console, even those with slightly older PCs can prepare with Half-Life 1: Anthology. As the name implies, Half-Life 1: Anthology collects the various add-ons of Valve's breakthrough first-person-shooter classic. In addition to the original Half-Life, customers get the expansion packs Opposing Force and Blue Shift, as well as the Team Fortress Classic mod. Both games are rated M for Mature. Counter-Strike: Source retails for $39.99, while Half-Life 1: Anthology will set gamers back $19.99.