HL2 via steam or purchase the CD/DVD?
 

I thought that downloading it would be cheaper... but to buy the retail version is cheaper...

The retail contains the same as the steam bronze package, yet you can get it for about £26, rather than the$49 (about £34) with Steam!

Am I missing something?

26? what shop?

dont say ebay!

Yep, if you purchase the game online you can get it for as 'little' as 26 quid. Although the cheapest I have seen it for is £27 at retailers like Amazon and SimplyGames. Maybe the price has dropped for it. Dont know. In some high street stores, I have seen this game going for £39.99. Id rather pay for my PS2 Games at that price. Just does not feel natural paying that price for a PC Game.

Based on what I can tell, there is no difference between the bog standard retail and the Bronze Package on steam. 1 thing that I would consider is this. When Half-Life 1 got released on Steam (at the same time as when Steam Launched and not to be confused with Half-Life Source), Valve downsampled the audio horribly. Maybe they have done the same with Half-Life 2 in order to keep the size of the download 'small'?

actually retail uk and bronze steam is not the same i think, bronze steam includes HL1 Source, whilsnt retail uk dvd doesnt

http://www.steampowered.com/

Unfortunately not.. Its the Silver one, which contains back catalogue... etc... Reckon the only benefit to going the Steam route was before the official release...