The technology, called the Valve Player Persistence API, will allow mods to associate data with each player. Currently, whenever Half-Life players join a multiplayer server, they do so with no history, so they start over at zero each time. With VPP, the players will have data that travels with them from server to server, keeping track of their statistics. By reading the data, a mod developer can find out how accurate the player is with a certain kind of weapon or how many total kills he or she has made.

In addition, Valve Software has sent word that the new v1.1.0.1 patch for Half-Life will be released tomorrow at 1pm CST. I'll have a mirror here of course for you guys.