Any clue when this is expected to be released?

I heard Valentines Day
which sucks!!!

along the same line, how exactly will the people who bought HL2 and CS:S get it? Will it be released in the sense that I can go to walmart and buy, or will it be a steam only thing? And is there any way I can buy HL:source?

You can buy HL: Source either through Steam by purchasing the Silver or Gold level package, or buy buying the Collector's Editiion from Wal-Mart, EB Games, etc.

DoD: Source is only available through Steam by purchasing the Silver or Gold level package.

so they're going to start charging for every mod now? That sucks.

No, DoD: Source came with HL2: Silver and HL2: Gold (I bought the Silver package through Steam last Tuesday), and it is immediately available in your Steam games window. It shows up in the "Coming Soon" section, as opposed to the "play now" one. All of the other mods you can download and play immediately, and once Day of Defeat: Source is released, it will be the same way.

As for "charging for every mod," not really. I paid the extra $10 to get HL: Source and DoD: Source, yes... But I also paid it so I would have access to VALVe's back catalog of games. Now I have a valid copy of Half-Life and Counter-Strike registered with Steam - as well as all of the original mods for Half-Life that I can now play online again.

As for the Gold package, you're paying the extra $40 for like the Strategy guide, a T-Shirt, a postcard I think, some other extra stuff I can't remember, as well as DoD: S, HL: S, and again, VALVe's back catalog of games.

Oh, ok. What if I don't purchase the game over Steam? Do the game stores have different packages for the Silver or do I just have to pay an extra $10 when I install the game?

Wal-Mart, Best-Buy, etc. have two packages available for purchase, if I remember correctly. Basic Half-Life 2 is ~$55, and includes Half-Life 2, and Counter-Strike: Source. That's it. Linked here. The Half-Life 2 Collector's Edition features much more, (including Half-Life: Source), but not Day of Defeat: Source. Linked here.

So I guess I have to buy it online if I want the silver package then. The only problem I have with that is, if I do buy it online and say my comp messes up where I have to reformat or something, can I get the game back without buying it again?

Yes, the purchase is permanently tied to your account. So as long as you still remember your account password and everything, you can download it as many times as you want.

If you decide to go the Steam route, be prepared to have your computer frolic on the net for a while (read: several hours) so it can download the stuff. I have the Silver version, and if I'm reading the right directory it has nearly 7 GB worth of stuff that it downloaded, and I didn't install everything that I could (namely, the dedicated servers, Codename Gordon and Condition Zero deleted scenes).

You also get the Source SDK when you get the silver or gold edition.

I guess I'll have to wait until after Christmas when I have my new hardrive then. Thanks for the info.

Steam now features a backup feature where you can back up all of your steam games to sizes of CDs or DVDs.. so you can still keep a hard copy that you can use to reinstall if you need to format and don't want to re-download all that crap.