Today Chris and I visited Valve's offices in Bellevue. We got some interesting pictures, and learned some new information.
[images omitted from post]
Sorry there arent actual game pictures. We will be having a playtest sometime next week, so we will have some more interesting pictures for you. Here are some factoids. I hadnt heard of them before, so maybe they will be new to you guys as well:

- VAC 2 will be released with HL2. It will be created for general use among mods and HL2.

- Collecters Edition will be available over steam as a "Special Version"

- There are some new bink videos they showed us. They were trailers with collections of all footage from the E3's, etc, and a new promotional trailer. They all looked awesome. These will be released prior to HL2 and will be in publications at first, then will be available for download.

- The SDK will be released the same time the game is released.

We talked to a lot of different people. We sat down for quite awhile with Cliffe and Gabe, who were really supportive and offered some great insight. Its always nice to see developers who have actually HEARD about your mod, and they had lots of valuable advice.

We also saw a demo that highlighted HL2's HDR technology. Trust us, this is going to be awesome.

The people at Valve are awesome in general, its a very friendly place. Have to thank all of them for showing us around, and answering our questions. And the T-Shirts and autographed box art.

Right... anyway, Promised Land itself has an update. First is the new staff additions. Jarnail Bhachu and Jordan Ratzlaff. Both are awesome concept artists and we are glad to have you fellas aboard.