Half-Life 2 source theft details emerge

New information about the progress of the criminal investigation into the theft of source code and resources from developer Valve's network has emerged, including the fact that the "primary" hacker responsible was German.

While it was confirmed last month that arrests had been made in a number of countries in relation to the source code theft - which was at one point implied to be the cause of the severe delay to the game's completion, although Valve has since confirmed that they were not close to finishing the game at the time - no detailed information about the suspects or the case against them was released.

However, speaking with the Guardian newspaper in Britain late last week, Valve boss Gabe Newell said that the "primary" hacker involved in the theft was German - and that he contacted Newell directly to admit to hacking into the Valve network when the scale of the online operation aimed at catching the culprits became clear.

"He admitted hacking into Valve's server but denied any role in the theft," according to Newell, "instead naming those responsible for distributing the stolen code." After further investigation, Valve then convinced the hacker to fly to Seattle for a job interview, where he would be detained by the FBI - although eventually the plan was changed so that he could simply be arrested by German authorities.

The release of the source code and of an incomplete beta of the game last October came as a major blow to Valve, which had just admitted that it would miss its originally planned September launch date for Half-Life 2. The source was widely distributed online, and even sold as a pirate boxed product in some countries, including Russia, Ukraine and, allegedly, parts of the Far East.

Newell says that those arrested over the source code theft were "found to have links with similar crimes" - perhaps a reference to the Internet rumour that the author of the damaging Phatbot computer "worm" was involved - and that aside from any criminal cases against the group, Valve is also planning a range of civil lawsuits against them.