As promised earlier this week, Half-Life 2: Lost Coast is now available for free to all Half-Life 2 owners. Was it worth the wait? Is HDR the future, or just a gimmick?

The wait is finally over: Valve plan to release Half-Life 2: Lost Coast this week. Will it live up to the hype? Will your PC run it? Details inside.

Technical details behind the new Lost Coast level surface on 3D technology forum. Two quality levels of HDR are expected, depending on the capabilities of your video card.

Valve previews High Dynamic Range Rendering with a video of Half-Life 2: Lost Coast, a new tech demo level.