Valve Software sends along the official announcement of SiN Episodes (awkward capitalization and all), Ritual Entertainment's recently revealed (story), upcoming episodic shooter sequel to be released via the Steam service. Here's the news:

RITUAL ENTERTAINMENT UNVEILS "SiN EPISODES"

Action-Packed Return to Freeport City Powered by the SourceTM Engine

Dallas, TX - July 7, 2005 -- Ritual Entertainment™ today announced the development of SiN Episodes™, featuring the highly anticipated return of Elexis Sinclaire, the world's most dangerous and seductive biochemist, and the only man who stands in her way, John R. Blade. The sworn enemies face off in Freeport City, a near-future mixture of San Francisco, Tokyo and New York, all set inside the unrestricted SiN universe.

The upcoming SiN Episodes chapter entitled Emergence is the first in a series of episodic adventures powered by the award-winning Source ™ engine developed by Valve®. Delivered on Steam™, the online content delivery system, Sin Episodes takes a bold new step into the future of gaming.

"Combining the incredible power of the Source engine with episodic content delivery via Steam has empowered us to raise the bar on key features of the SiN universe, interactivity, character driven gameplay, and emergent AI," said Tom Mustaine, cofounder and Director of Development for Ritual.

"Digitally delivered episodic content is the next frontier in the games industry," said Steve Nix, Ritual CEO, affording the award-winning development studio unprecedented flexibility. "Episodic development gives Ritual the opportunity to be much more responsive to community feedback and industry trends. We can adjust our content to deliver maximum entertainment value with each installment."

"One of our goals for Steam and Source is to provide a viable platform for independent developers who would rather be working on original IP," said Gabe Newell, founder and president of Valve. "It's great to be working with Ritual again as they take this pioneering step for the industry. I look forward to purchasing my copy of SiN: Emergence."

SiN Episodes expands on the role of Colonel John R. Blade, a battle worn hero in charge of HardCorps, an elite strike force with a long history of conflict with SinTEK, a powerful multibillion dollar empire headed up by Elexis Sinclaire, a beautiful, brilliant, and ruthless scientist who is out to remake humanity according to her own twisted vision. Joining Blade on his mission are JC, a HardCorps hacker with a secret to keep, and Jessica Cannon, a fiery rookie who can find her way into any secure facility.

SiN Episodes: Emergence features never before seen weapons, characters and environments along with a host of interactive options, paying homage to its predecessors, SiN and its expansion pack, Wages of SiN, which set a new bar for interactivity. Additional information and purchasing options will be announced on www.sinepisodes.com or www.steampowered.com at a later date.

An 8-page preview of SiN Episodes: Emergence is featured in PCGamer UK's August issue, which hits newsstands on July 7th, 2005. The article includes exclusive images from the game along with additional materials available on the accompanying PCGamer UK DVD.