Black Mesa, a source engine powered remake of the original Half Life has remained one of the most elusive fan run projects in recent memory. On their official website the team replaced their regular blog roll with a countdown clock, leading to the release of the game’s first public beta on September 13th!

The team behind this mod of epic proportions aims to recreate Valve’s 1998 classic using updated high definition graphics as well as fine tuning everything using the company’s latest engine. After running into some legal trouble regarding the use of some of Half Life’s original assets everything seems to be on track.

We will be waiting in line to download this sucker on Thursday September 13th. Get your crowbars ready gamers! Head on over after the jump for their full announcement.

We’re freaking out over here! It is so exciting to share this news with you!

• You can now Download the Black Mesa Soundtrack, courtesy of our very own Joel Nielsen, at the very generous price of whatever you want! Enjoy and share!
• In the near future you’ll see our Website, Wiki and Forums all taken down temporarily for renovations.
• On September 14th you will see the first release of Black Mesa! This will include our re-envisioning of Half-Life all the way up to Lambda Core. We believe this is a great way to provide a complete-feeling 8-10 hour experience with a solid ending, make our fans happy and help us make the best overall game possible.

We are still working hard on Xen and BMDM, but instead of making you wait we are giving you Black Mesa as soon as it’s ready! We’re doing our best to help bring the immense vision of this project into reality, and we are very excited for what the future brings!

High-Fives Yo,
Carlos Montero – Project Leader