Half-Life confusion

sorry if these are noobish question, but I am most likely going to get half life and am wondering how all the different versions differ. I read that the ''Game of the year edition'' Had significant improvements among being able to do more mods and stuff. Is this true? I just want the best Half-Life version for the single player mode, and be able to do/download mods. Also, with HL 2, I heard some people had trouble with something called ''Steam.'' All I know is that I have an XP and I hope it will work. Thanks!Half-Life confusion
The Half-Life GotY edition is actually pretty old (it was the version I bought back in %26#39;99 or 2000), and I doubt you%26#39;ll be able to get your hands on it these days. The only thing it had that differed from the original release, was that it included the multi-player mod Team Fortress Classic. All mods for the original HL will work with all versions of the original HL, so you don%26#39;t have to be concerned with that.Steam is online game service that Valve, the developer of HL, created in order to consolidate many of thier online services (preview and download:[url]http://www.steampowered.com[/url]). Infact the easiest way to buy Half-Life would be to use Steam, and then just download it off of there; of course you%26#39;ll need a credit or debit card to use that service. Its only $10 when you buy it off of there. If you end up buying HL in a store, then you%26#39;ll still need to use Steam to register your copy. I think Steam is a great service, mainly becuase you never have to worry about looking for patches or ever not having access to your games you have registered on Steam (even if you lose your original CDs). That said however you really do need a good reliable internet connection or you will have some trouble with it. Using dial-up would be an absolute pain with it, so you really need at least a DSL connection to get the most out of it. That%26#39;s where some of the complaints about Steam come from, but they also come from the fact that you have to register and authorize your games online with Steam, even if they%26#39;re single-player games. Although that%26#39;s only a 5-15 minute deal, and as long as you have a little patience its not a big deal. Half-Life confusion
Wow, that was realy helpful! Thanks for taking time to actuly answer my questions in depth. I was most likely going to buy it and a strategy guide off Amazon.com, but now that I know about Steam, I might as well get it off there. I have fast internet so it should probably work. Thanks a bunch.
The HL:GotY edition I have I got in summer %26#39;05 and it%26#39;s great since I don%26#39;t have to use Steam with that version!:DSteam = pain in the @$$
[QUOTE=''RESISTEE926'']sorry if these are noobish question, but I am most likely going to get half life and am wondering how all the different versions differ. I read that the ''Game of the year edition'' Had significant improvements among being able to do more mods and stuff. Is this true? I just want the best Half-Life version for the single player mode, and be able to do/download mods. Also, with HL 2, I heard some people had trouble with something called ''Steam.'' All I know is that I have an XP and I hope it will work. Thanks![/QUOTE]I highly HIGHLY recommend using Steam for your purchase.  Yes, people have had problems with it, but for most of us it works fine...the only hassle of it being the 20 seconds or so needed to log in and load the interface.As for Halflfife, I recommend buying Halflife 2 with the back catalog if it is still available.  With this package you get Halflife 2 and every other Halflife related game, from the original Halflife to Blue shift and Opposing Force, to Day of Defeat to Counterstrike Source and more.  If its not available, then just get Halflife, and I think its only like 15 bucks or something.As for mods, theyre free unless they made by Valve.  Simply download them, install, then load steam and they should be there in the ''My Games'' section.  And no, the GOTY doesnt have better support if youre using Steam.
Half Life2 is a pretty good game to play. I have a xp windows pc. For it to run right I had to have my graphics card upgraded. It works just fine.