The first episode of the aftermath of Half Life 2 has gone gold and will be shipping at the end of this month.

“Given the rapid changes in PC gaming, we expect episodic games will have the same impact on single-player gaming that Counter-Strike had on multiplayer,”

said Gabe Newell, president and co-founder of Valve.

“The frequent releases of upgraded technology and new content works better for both consumers and developers, and is one of the key reasons Counter-Strike grew to be 80% of the online action market. We decided that a follow-up to Half-Life 2 delivered in 18 months with our first episode was more in tune with what our customers want than waiting 6 years for another monolithic product.”

Earlier this month Newell said that he believed Episode 1 was the best single player experience Valve ever created. We’ll find out soon.