When does something stop being "fan-made" and start being real? Considering the fact that the excellent Half-Life tribute Black Mesa was itself made by fans of the original game, this amazing alternate ending, created and uploaded by Machinima filmmaker TomahawxX, feels perhaps a touch more real than your average…

Fan-made Black Mesa is a remake of Valve's classic 1998 shooter Half-Life. It's been in development for around eight years, which is poignant, since it's been around that long since I've played the original.

Black Mesa: Source, the long-in-development mod/remake of the original Half-Life, is now available to play. For free.

The mega-ambitious, long-in-development Half-Life remake/tribute Black Mesa is finished, and you can download it from Gamefront right now and give it a whirl.

Believe it or not - and I'd forgive you for not believing it, given the mod's torturous history - but this is reportedly a shot of notorious Half-Life remake Black Mesa. Like, its gold master disc. Meaning the thing is actually done.

Highly-anticipated Half-Life remake Black Mesa will come to Steam thanks to the Greenlight program, Valve said today. So will nine other games, with more to come.

Seen at PAX Prime in Seattle this weekend: this Black Mesa cosplayer, complete with lab coat and (hilarious) recruitment manuals.

Infamous Half-Life remake Black Mesa, which has been in development for eight years, will be playable and ready for public download for the first time on September 14.

We've been waiting for Black Mesa for a long, loooong while now—the hugely ambitious fan-made mod has an uncertain fate, but eight years after beginning work, the team is still working on the game.

Were it not for the core Half-Life series itself, Black Mesa: Source - a fan-made remake of the original Half-Life - might well be the longest-running tease in video games today.