A post on Planet Half-Life (thanks Frans) reproduces some quotes from Valve's Erik Johnson posted to a Steam forum thread discussing the role of Steam in the future of Half-Life. Here are the excerpts:

There will no longer be a WonID system, it will be replaced by the SteamID system.

When we convert the userbase to Steam, a single WonID will be valid for all of the products.

If you're purchased a product from us at retail, you're going to have access to all of our products via Steam.

No, you do not have to pay for Steam.

That is correct, you'll have to have Steam installed to play the most current version of Half-Life.

There are Star Trek Elite Force II 1.10 Public Beta Test sign-ups on Ritualistic where those interesting in registering to do so can "play the updated version of the game before anybody else and give the developers valuable feedback on the changes made." The beta patch is unsupported, and after installation, users will only be able to connect to multiplayer servers that are likewise running the new beta version.

• Deus Ex: Invisible War on GameSpot.

The Homeplanet Backstory - Part 6 on HomeLAN Fed continues this series on 3Map Games' upcoming space game, though rather that really go into the story, the article discusses the game's spacecraft, the formations they can use, and gives a detailer rundown on the types of tasks individual ships can perform.

• Empires: Dawn of the Modern World on GameGossip.
• UFO Aftermath on Tiscali Games.
• Yager on GenGamers.

Thanks Mike Martinez.

• AnandTech's Athlon64 Preview nForce3 at 2.0GHz.
• In Computer Security, a Bigger Reason to Squirm (registration required).
• Aiming at Pornography to Hit Music Piracy (registration required). And don't forget the terrorists.

• American Conquest: Fight Back on DeadAlfs.
• Battlefield 1942: Secret Weapons of WWII on GameSpy and (in German) on Justgamers.de.
• Dark Fall on GameSpy and The Armchair Empire.
• Starscape on Game Chronicles.
• Star Wars Jedi Knight: Jedi Academy on Gamesradar.
• Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 4 on Gameguru Mania.

• Abit Siluro FX5900 128MB OTES Video Card on HardAvenue.
• ASRock K7S8XE Motherboard on RipNet-UK.
• Coolmax Chameleon LED Fans on Systemcooling.
• Crucial Gizmo! 256MB USB Flash Drive on WhiningDog.NET.
• Everglide Ricochet 2.52 Mousepad on Discgamer.com.
• Nanotherm PCM+ Cooler on MODSYNERGY.COM.
• Sandisk Cruzer on bit-tech.
• Soyo KT600Dragon Ultra Platinum Motherboard on AMDZone.
• Thermal Paste Comparison on OCAddiction.
• Thermalright SLK-947U Cooler on Systemcooling.com.
• Zalman CNPS7000 Heatsink/Fan on Voided Warranty.

• Did Video Game Drive Teens to Shootings? Glad you asked... the answer is no. Thanks Mike Martinez...
• The ROME.RO GameTalk Forum is petitioning EIDOS to release the source code for Daikatana...
• The Biggest Game in Town. Thanks Mike Martinez...

What an odd experience at the mall looking for the Secret Weapons of WWII expansion for Battlefield 1942. No one actually had it, in fact the only place someone had actually had heard of it was Best Buy, where the guy lead me to where he thought it was, where in a neat row there was BF1942, the Road to Rome expansion, and.... Call of Duty. That's right, the brand new WW2 shooter expansion is missing in action, but if you want to plunk down some cash on a yet-to-be completed WW2 shooter, you are all set. Of course it's possible that when CoD is released its shelf-space will be occupied by pre-order boxes for DOOM 3 or something, but I guess this is the price of progress.

Oh yeah... Go Big Blue!!!!!!

Play Time:	Test The Nation.
Links of the Day:	Stealth Disco.
Stories of the Day:	Passwords multiply as users' rage rises. Strange Kansas City marker part of world-wide mystery. Thanks Jim Chaney.
Science!:	If You Drop It, Should You Eat It? Scientists Weigh In on the 5-Second Rule. More flavor, less DNA. Hijacking Your Cute Little Vacuum Bot.
Follow-up:	Star Wars fans seek film role for internet kid.
	Thanks Mike Martinez.