Half-Life 2 Gets Episode 1
Valve has announced that, instead of entitling their first downloadable mini-expansion to Half-Life 2 'Aftermath', the pack is now simply Episode 1. From the Gamespot article: "When asked whether the name change is indicative of a change in direction for the Half-Life 2 franchise, Valve marketing director Doug Lombardi replied, 'episodic.' When asked the follow-up question of whether the new name meant that beginning of a regular flow of content, Lombardi replied, 'yes.'"
So evidently they reckon SiN Episodes is going to be making big money.
They're probably right too. It's much easier to sell a game for $100 if you split it up into ten $10 "episodes". Combine this with the advantages of sidestepping traditional retail and I can definitely see the appeal.