For those of you that don't know, Black Mesa is a full conversion mod of Half-Life 2, developed by a team of dudes who thought that Valve's Half-Life: Source simply wasn't good enough. Their goal is to re-create the original Half-Life, from scratch, polygon by polygon, brick by brick, using the full capabilities of the Source engine. In short, they want the graphics, environments, and character AI of Half-Life 2 retrofitted onto the original.

And that's awesome. And it might be the best-looking fan game ever.

If Valve were smart (and they are), they'd hire these guys. I seem to remember some Half-Life mod selling a metric asston of copies -- Counter-Strike, or something? Don't people still play that today? Then there were those DigiPen kids that did that Narbacular Drop game. I think Valve called it Portal, though. Sound familiar?

Anyway, the Black Mesa project started in 2004 and should be ready to go sometime next year or "when it's finished," says the Black Mesa team. If you own any Source engine game, you'll be good to go. Until then, feast your eyes (and ears) on the first official trailer for the game.

Well, I really don't know what else there is to say. The Black Mesa trailer is simply stunning. Came buckets, do want, new pair of pants, sex with face, etc. ...

[Via Black Mesa -- thanks to everyone who sent this in]