Half-Life 3 European Trademark Filing Disappears

[Andy Chalk]

Half-Life 3 European Trademark Filing Disappears

The Half-Life 3 trademark filing in Europe that came to light this week may not have been quite as solid as it appeared.

A trademark filing for Half-Life 3 Steam Machines activity [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/128350-Valve-Trademarks-Half-Life-3-in-Europe], appeared to make sense too. Nothing sells boxes like a killer app, after all, and there ain't no killer app like a Half-Life 3 killer app.

But the filing has now disappeared from the site, and the whole thing is starting to look like it might have been a hoax. EGM [http://www.egmnow.com/articles/news/half-life-3-european-trademark-pulled-from-database-possibly-a-hoax/] poked around at the process and determined that "theoretically," it's no great feat to submit a trademark application using the name of any company already in the OHIM database. On the other hand, the "basic filing fee" is 900.00€ - more than $1200 - so it's not the kind of stunt that your run-of-the-mill internet joker is likely to pull.

In another interesting twist, a new trademark filing appeared on the OHIM site on October 2, this one for Portal 3. Maybe, perhaps even probably, it's a hoax too, but the filing is currently going through the examination process and, if I'm reading it correctly, has already passed on three points.

Source: ValveTime [http://oami.europa.eu/CTMOnline/RequestManager/en_Result_NoReg]


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[Silk_Sk]

Psh. Typical valve trolling. All these hints and rumors popping up all of a sudden after 10 years seems like they're doing it on purpose.

 

[Tony2077]

i'm wondering if valve will make another game i would like to play

 

[Hazy992]

I'm waiting for the Ricochet 2 trademark. That's what we REALLY want, right guys? Right? Guys?

 

[sir neillios]

I will be amused if this turns out to be one massive trolling. Slightly disappointed, because I do want a conclusion to the Half Life 2 storyline, but amused nevertheless.

 

[Icehearted]

It tickles me so much that people actually allow themselves to get excited about something that doesn't exist before it's proven and released. I'm also amused at how people continue to support episodic gaming. More than that, would anyone really expect the game, should it ever be release, of Half Life 3 to live up to it's own hype? Have people learned nothing from Duke Nukem Forever?

 

[Riotguards]

wouldn't it be funny if someone bought the trademark got bought by someone else now and then used it for a Tshirt, would be pretty funny

 

[Redlin5_v1legacy]

Spoiler: *empties bank account*

I'm so poor now!

Premium trolling if its true. You pay top dollar but you make the entire world react.

 

[Redlin5_v1legacy]

I'm waiting for the Ricochet 2 trademark. That's what we REALLY want, right guys? Right? Guys?

Ricochet 2? Don't play with my emotions Hazy, I'm serious about Ricochet.

 

[Xan Krieger]

Portal 3? Finally Valve's only good series continues. I hope this is true, please let me be playing Portal 3 within a few years.

 

[CriticalMiss]

I'm also amused at how people continue to support episodic gaming.

What's wrong with episodic gaming? Just because Valve cocked up their attempt doesn't make it inherently bad. Telltale have been doing it pretty well for a while.

Do we have any idea why the trademark vanished? Maybe it is real but the announcement of Steam Machines has warped Valve-time so much that it's making trademarks travel through time?

 

[SonOfVoorhees]

Portal 3? Finally Valve's only good series continues. I hope this is true, please let me be playing Portal 3 within a few years.

Totally agree. Portal 1 and 2 were a great gaming surprise for me and loved the co-op in Portal 2.

 

[SonOfVoorhees]

Spoiler: *empties bank account*

I'm so poor now!

Premium trolling if its true. You pay top dollar but you make the entire world react.

Maybe they wanted to unveil it as a surprise next E3, but now its spoilt. Guess Valve are going to sit on it for another 8 years now. lol. Then again maybe making Portal 3 will put them in the mood for more more "3" games.

 

[Icehearted]

I'm also amused at how people continue to support episodic gaming.

What's wrong with episodic gaming? Just because Valve cocked up their attempt doesn't make it inherently bad. Telltale have been doing it pretty well for a while.

Do we have any idea why the trademark vanished? Maybe it is real but the announcement of Steam Machines has warped Valve-time so much that it's making trademarks travel through time?

Several things; it's exploitation. It's often the platform of disappointment. It's approached by developers without an endgame. It's a way to get money from the users without a commitment from the developers, so should the series undersell, the people that invested into it are left hanging. Speaking of hanging, how about those cliffhanger endings? Great idea in video games, amirite? I mean, we're all just so glad Half Life 2 Episode 2 ended that way. Same with SiN.

Stephen King did something like this once, and admitted later that he was ashamed to have been a part of it because it was a way to juice his fans for extra money for something that didn't need to be released in increments.

Those telltale games, at least they were not things left in development limbo, and the episodes didn't take a year or longer to see a release. Remember Penny Arcade Adventures? After the second one eventually came out they all but abandoned it, only to waffle on that idea later and not fuck their fans.

And I am through.

 

[CpT_x_Killsteal]

I imagine Valve employing just one guy to sit there and come up with new ways to troll everyone with Half-Life 3.

Must be the best job in the universe

 

[Smooth Operator]

They just probably asked for it to be taken from public view, you may not realize this but in the gaming industry giving away details on titles in development is serious business, as in you can get fired and sued for all you got.

 

[Brian Tams]

Can we please dismiss the notion that Half-Life 3 would be a killer app for the steam machine? I realize people want to treat the Steam Machine as a console, but it really isn't.

If Half-Life 3 eventually does come out by the time the Steam Machine is released, and if its exclusive to anything, it'll be the Steam OS. And, since Steam OS is Linux based, it'll be free. You don't need a Steam Machine to run the Steam OS, which means you wouldn't need a Steam Machine to run Half-Life 3, which means it won't be a "killer app". Seriously, stop acting like the release of HL3 would effect Steam Machine sales in the slightest, because it won't, unless gamers who exclusively use consoles want to get into the series. And would they? Do they even care about HL? Most likely not.

Captcha: Jump the Gun. Sort of like what HL fans are constantly doing.

 

[bafrali]

I knew something like this would happen but I still let myself get excited which just about covers this 6 years of waiting.

What is going on behind your walls Valve?

 

[rednightmare]

So you're saying that it was just trolling?: CALLED IT!!

 

[james.sponge]

Figures, too busy making hats I presume.