Plus "The Source Engine 2" would be god greatest gift to the modding community. mmmmmm Source Engine 2.
The story wasn't as good as people made it out to be either. Nostalgia glasses suck. Same with the original Deus Ex.
Guess so. In 2004 I was 15 or so. I was still mostly playing my PS2 with friends. The only exceptions were Civ, and RTS games (C&C, Warcraft, Starcraft, Dawn of War.)
I'm 22 years old (will be 23 this September) which means I was 14 when Half Life 2 came out and I still think Half Life 2 is an absolute epic game. I still go back and play it every now and then. Gordan Freeman, a flippin theoretical physicist, saving the world.
You should try out Crylife. http://www.moddb.com/mods/smod-crylife Also, current rumor is a fall 2014 release for HL3.
*shrugs* I have completed Half Life 2 well over ten times with variety of mods and alterations plus learned to speedrun part of it. The source engine still holds up beautifully and it is one of the highest rated PC games of all time. It really does deserve its place but opinion aren't universal. I think COD (other than MW1) is a universally worst game than Counter Strike.