So I finally finished Half Life 2: Episode 1 this evening.  Yeah, I know, I'm behind the times.  I really love the Half Life series, but I try not to play them in very long bursts... that way the intensity and novelty of the experience is best every time I play.  At the end of Episode 1, you get a brief trailer about some of what happens in Episode 2. 

I think this is really genius.  In general, in this industry we are too disorganized and irregular, both in creative output and scheduling, to really make this sort of thing happen.  But I think it is very smart.  Cross-promotion between titles, but also really enabling older titles to talk about future ones, is just good long term planning.  The banner ads on the Xbox Live dashboard is a move in that direction, but I don't want to feel marketed to -- I want to be informed and excited.  The fact that you can't just play the coming soon teaser until you finish the main game is very smart (though I'm certain that same content is easily downloaded on the internet).

Of course, I guess HL2: Episode 2 has now been delayed until next year so I guess the plan didn't work as well as originally intended... Oh, and in case it wasn't obvious, HL2: Episode 1 was really a fantastic experience as well.  It starts off a bit weak but the last few levels were very solid.  Like many other similar experiences it's at its strongest when it is juxtaposing the mundane and the extraordinary, like fighting in the urban areas, and weakest when doing bizarre alien stuff with no point of reference.