A new
Steam Update (thanks Frans) on Half-Life 2: Episode One discusses the add-on's plot and describes Valve's frustration at Half-Life 2's six-year development
cycle as one reason for the move to episodic content. The update includes a
thumbnail with a broken link to
this screenshot and a broken link to the recent
Robin Walker Q&A on Computer and Video Games.
Let's hope they don't spend the same amount of time making the second or third episodes as they did with the first. Otherwise, no one is going to care.