Thanks for looking that up Dragon.
Anything that deals with Half Life 2 is always interesting.
p.s.
Dragon, I need you to help me investigate what Valve had planned for Half Life 2 before major cuts were made to the game. Apparently, the game we have now was a 'rushed' product, and doesn't come near to what was actually planned by the developer (Valve). Indeed, its my own personal opinion that hl2, although a good game, is sadly lacking. The game lacks both length, diversity of enemies/weapons, and has what seems to be a underdeveloped plot.
from wikipedia...
The book Half-Life 2: Raising the Bar[11] revealed many of the game's original settings and action that were cut down or removed entirely from the final game. Half-Life 2 was originally intended to be a far darker game with far grittier artwork where the Combine were more obviously draining the oceans for minerals and replacing the atmosphere with noxious, murky gases. Nova Prospekt was originally intended to be a small Combine rail depot built on an old prison in the wasteland (the depot model remains in the game, visible from the beach and trash compactor). Eventually, Nova Prospekt grew and grew from a stopping-off point along the way to the destination itself.
Half-Life 2 was also originally intended to be much more diverse in settings. Parts of the book detail how Gordon would fight alongside characters such as Odessa Cubbage, albeit under a different name and in a different place, as well as fighting together with Colonel Vance - a character that was later merged with Eli to become Doctor Eli Vance - and Vance's forces. In addition, the player was to follow a vastly different journey than what is in the final release.
Other cuts from the game included a drivable personal water craft and additional weapons. Weapons cut included the OICW seen in an E3 demonstration video and two different models of the gravity gun or Physgun, which is seen in another E3 video, also depicting a level cut from Ravenholm, dubbed "Traptown."
It remains unknown if most of the cut Half-Life 2 scenes will eventually be completed and released, or if they are lost forever. A removed section of the original Half-Life was eventually released as the Half-Life: Uplink demo; a similar situation was in place with the HDR technology demo, Lost Coast, which was based on a scene that was cut from the sequel. It is possible that more removed sections of HL2 will be seen in future expansion packs.
Some of the cut content is available in a work-in-progress mod called Missing Information, constructed using the leaked Half-Life 2 betas as a basis. In addition to several cut weapons, the mod also includes a level set on the stranded icebreaker Borealis and the E3 demonstrations. This mod has not been sanctioned by Valve, being described as "illegal content,"[48] and official permission has not been given for the redistribution of modified versions of the original leaked material.[49]
p.p.s
Here is a cool link dealing with the Half Life story...
http://members.shaw.ca/halflifestory/timeline.htm