Condition Zero sighted

Good news from Valve? Could it be? If true, an e-mail posted on Shacknews.com may be the first ray of light to poke through the clouds that have surrounded the studio since the Half-Life 2 delay.

The e-mail, reportedly from Valve's Gabe Newell, announces that Counter-Strike: Condition Zero will be going gold Friday. "The AI that we were testing via the Steam beta has been more successful than we had originally expected," said the message.

The e-mail went on to outline the required kills per difficulty level and the data-driven UI and gameplay, which make the mission-mod squad's job much easier. Also included were several screenshots of the Ritual Entertainment-developed game, which is scheduled to--and actually may--go on sale November 18 in stores and via Valve's Steam network.