While it's no mystery Half Life 2 is being brought to Xbox 360 and PS3, there is a chance that the prequel to the PC smash could follow suite be remade.

When Gamespy asked about whether he'd remake HL, Valve's Director of Marketing Doug Lombardi answered that "It'd be cool to have Half-Life running with new visuals on the Source Engine if we wanted to freshen it up. I suppose I'll clarify by saying that it's not on the boards right now, but it's not out of the question." Of course Valve has already breathed new life into the old game, re-releasing the original with a Source-tweak when the sequel hit our shelves two years ago.

The company is also exploring the possibility of bringing the Steam distribution service to next-gen consoles. Lombardi claimed that due to increased hard disk sizes, "It's technically possible. There are just two catches. Console owners hold the key to a full-sized game on their system, which would be something totally new. It's unclear if it would be an open key, or how Microsoft or Sony would manage it. It's really up to them. Also, in this generation, hard drive consistency will have a high variance across the user bases. Right now, the viability of it is unclear." But he added "we like the infrastructure of Xbox Live; it's a lot like Steam".

So it's all a big fat 'maybe' from Valve at the moment. We're keeping our fingers crossed that a Source version of Gordon's first adventure could make the leap to a next-gen console near you (hopefully) soon.

Half Life 2 for Xbox 360 and PS3 should hit shelves early next year.