AMD, Valve Offer Half-Life 2 Episode 2 Bundle

AMD and Valve have teamed up again to offer a free copy of Valve's upcoming FPS Half-Life 2: Episode 2 to customers who purchase the upcoming Radeon HD 2900XT video card.

Customers purchasing the card will be given a code to enter on the Steam network when the game is released, which will allow them to download and play the game free of charge. The free version will be identical to the standard retail release, meaning that along with Half-Life 2: Episode 2, they will also receive free copies of Team Fortress 2 and Portal.

Coupons containing the Half-Life 2: Episode 2 code will be included with all XT versions of the video card, but it is not yet known if lower-end cards will also be eligible.

Gamers may recall a similar promotion from 2003, when ATI joined with Valve to offer a bundled copy of Half-Life 2 with its Radeon 9600XT and 9800XT video cards: Delays in the game's development led to its release being pushed back to more than a year after the video cards shipped. In this case, however, Half-Life 2: Episode 2 is already deep into beta testing, minimizing the chances of comparably poor timing.