Don't need to buy it, I still have it. I even have Half-Life: Source....which admittedly was a bit of a disappointment. Only lightning and water textures were updated

I remember how I facepalmed the day I played it... srsly it's awful.

Didn't mesh well with the old lowpoly characters and environments at all.
But as for the $0.98 Half-Life, it's always good to gift it to friends who don't have it yet. There tons of mods out there that would make it worth that measly dollar.
Action Half-Life anyone?

I honestly couldn't agree more mate. steam has always been too slow and clunky for me and theres nothing more annoying than trying to play a game when ur internets down on the "offline mode".

Ok, that's nice, apart the nasty-Steam-DRM thingy...
BUT, considering that 10 years are passed they could have released it as a freeware, heck...

they updated the weapon models too.
anyway, I have steam, and the orange box, I have ever valve title other than Left 4 Dead (waiting on this one), and I like their games, I just don't think selling it for one dollar is really going to get people playing the game again, I think most people are either going to buy it to complete their collection or they're going to buy it because it is one dollar.
With the games here on GOG.com, I mostly play Fallout, I haven't touched Giants: Citizen Kabuto more than 3 times and Redneck Rampage, not more than twice.
But those are separate issues with both games, in GCK, I'm stuck, probably because I'm too stupid to figure out what to do next. In Redneck Rampage I just don't feel comfortable playing it on my laptop. I can't sit correctly or something like that. But anyway, these are games that are rare, at least for me I can't find them any place else.
Half-Life 1 has been available on steam ever since there was a store in steam.

Not sure why we are into some discussion about valve using this to hook people on steam. The reason for the 98c price is that its the 10th anniversary of Half-Life, and it was released in '98.
I remember (back in the days before the internets) hearing nothing about this game until release, then seeing it get great reviews. So, on the spur of the moment, after a trip to London,I bought it from HMV on oxford street, and then read the manual all the way back on the 3 hour train ride.
Then i installed it.
About 3 days later I finished and realised I'd done practically NOTHING else all weekend. My parents weren't impressed, as my aunt, uncle and cousins had come for the weekend, and i hadn't talked to them at all... or come to any meals.
Other than the Xeen levels, HL rocked!!
The original steam was terrible. But now its awesome. I actually put off buying HL2 for about a year because of all the terrible things i'd heard about steam... but now i think its the best thing for PC gaming since the joystiq. (except GOG of course ;-) )
The convenience is unmatched. They at least really appear to care. Its a great source of independent games and older classics. Not having to search for disks is awesome. Installation and deinstallation is a breeze.
What's the issue with the offline mode? Just after I finally bought HL2 I moved house, and I had no internet for a month.... I had no trouble playing the whole thing.

You really should grab a walkthrough or something for Giants... its an awesome game. I played it for the first time about 6 months ago, and i was amazed how well it had aged. (plus its bloody funny in places). The final Kabuto section is a bit of a letdown, but the Mercs/Sea Reaper sections rock.
Why buy games if not to play them? *confused*
I think 90% of people on steam bought Half Life 2... so most of them got Halff Life 1 included... but its an awesome game, and it's 10th anniversary is both something to celebrate, and something to make me feel old :-(
[edited to fix messed up quoting system]

Right, they might as well not have bothered with Half-Life: Source. I'm just looking forward to Black Mesa, which is hopefully going to be what Half-Life: Source should have been.

That project looks awesome!

HLDM:S is actually pretty good though. I mean, you're probably better playing HL2:DM but HLDM:S is an improvement over HL:DM.
Anyway, Why buy games but not play them?
A number of reasons, really. in my own instance I've bought a number of games, but I don't play them because I don't want to. Why not? because I'm too busy with other stuff. Newer stuff. Life stuff. Some games warrant an interuption, some games don't. I know I'm no exception either. Probably many of us here have an extensive library of games, many of which they love and hold dear? but why play those games again? I have Unreal Tournament and I've been tempted to get it and get a game running with some of the guys on IRC but I've got other games I want to play and playing FPS on my laptop isn't that convienent.
Laziness, plain and simple.

If they were smart they would've released it for $98!!!

Half-LIfe hasn't revolutionized gaming in general half as much as I'd have liked it to. Developers till don't realize that dynamic, in-game narrative is much better than cutscenes.
And while Half-Life 2 is probably a better game, it sacrificed some of that old-fashioned, pure run-and-gun action for a more plot-centric style of gaming.
Valve really has little to lose with the $0.98 deal, though. I mean, who doesn't have a copy of Half-Life already? It's like DOOM, anybody that doesn't already own a copy need to do some serious self-evaluation.