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Weekend of Defeat: Free

Try DoD: Source before buying.

Those of you unwilling to pay $19.95 to join The Third Reich (or those pesky Allies) are being invited to try Day of Defeat: Source for free this weekend.

Valve's keen to get more people playing its World War II Half-Life mod remake, and thus will be allowing people to pre-load the game this week and then play it from noon Friday all the way through till Sunday to get a feel.

After that it's back to the pay model, which gives you full access to DoD: Source through Steam for $19.95 or allows you to pick it up as part of more expensive premium bundles for Half-Life 2 and friends.

It's a good weekend to play DoD: Source then, although one might question the wisdom of Valve's plan given that it launches a sub-15-quid boxed copy in the UK at the same time, distributed through EA.

Out on Friday, it's the boxed version of what you're being encouraged to play for free. Good news from the "try before you buy" front, then, to which reinforcements are likely to flock/brings fresh new meaning to "You'll pay!" taunts etc.