Eric, the game still audi stutters when you have too much going on on
screen and the frame rate slows to a crawl.

I have played the game with all other applications off, so it's not my
processor having too much to handle. What I do find rather sad is I can
play Counter Strike  online and the game is very smooth even with five
or more characters on screen. I accept that Counter Strike online has
tiny environments compared to those in Half-Life 2, but the point being
my cpu, video and audio cards can handle lots of characters. As I said
in another thread, I have a Pentium 4. So it's not my pc at fault -
it's definitely Valve releasing bugged code. Even if Valve fix the
sound lagging - and the updates haven't (well, not on my pc) - the game
still has permanent horizontal video lag. It's a fundamental flaw in
the game. Every time you move left and right with the mouse the game
struggles to update the column/wall blocks. You see bits missing for a
split second and that's why the game has all these glitches. Forward no
glitch - left and right glitch. It is incredible no-one at Valve
corrected this before release and it's just as incredible no reviews of
this game mentioned it.

The game is bugged  - it's not the finished product and yet it's being
sold as that. People who think this is the best game ever made can live
in denial but it doesn't change the fact this game is severely bugged.
Valve should apologise for misleading the gaming public whom have
shelved out cash for a fantastic looking game, but one that plays
rotten. There is no excuse for releasing a product that is so clearly
bugged.

I do have the right specs. Even if I didn't, the game stutters on
people with faster machines! Geez - how many times do I have to keep
repeating that? People with the fastest PCs out there get audio and
video stutter. It's game code, not my pc that's at fault.