Happy 10th Anniversary, Announcement of Half-Life 2 Episode Three

[Lizzy Finnegan]

Happy 10th Anniversary, Announcement of Half-Life 2 Episode Three

The Escapist continues its celebration of major video game anniversaries, this time celebrating 10 whole years since the announcement of Half-Life 2: Episode Three.

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[Covarr]

I would legitimately expect Ricochet 2 before we get Half-Life 3, if for no other reason than that Ricochet has a multiplayer focus and is a more viable vehicle for microtransactions.

P.S. Thanks

 

[Sixcess]

Perhaps they'll fund it via Kickstarter, and backers will be able to specify which of their descendants their copy of the finished game will go to.

 

[tippy2k2]

Perhaps they'll fund it via Kickstarter, and backers will be able to specify which of their descendants their copy of the finished game will go to.

Stretch goals! The more money they make, the closer the descendant! It's brilliant!!!

 

[dalek sec]

To me, it's rather damn embarrassing that it's been a whole bloody decade and they don't have a single thing to show for it. I understand about wanting to take their time and not rush the thing out the door but good lord. I'm not trying to be rude but jesus, we haven't heard a peep in all this time too so I honestly don't know what they're doing over their at Valve.

 

[Lightknight]

My guess is that their little "Steam" side business exploding all to hell into major profit took them off guard and rapidly changed priorities.

 

[thepyrethatburns]

To me, it's rather damn embarrassing that it's been a whole bloody decade and they don't have a single thing to show for it. I understand about wanting to take their time and not rush the thing out the door but good lord. I'm not trying to be rude but jesus, we haven't heard a peep in all this time too so I honestly don't know what they're doing over their at Valve.

*Shrug* They're a game distribution service now as opposed to being developers or even publishers. (Yes, I know about The Lab. If they weren't using it to showcase their VR headset, they wouldn't have made it.) The fact of the matter is that game development is expensive with a risky rate of return. And Episode 3? At this point, it would be stupid to make it.

As Duke Nukem Forever showed us, gamer preferences change as do cultural mores. Even if you downgraded the graphics, we would have been declaring DNF game of the year in 1998. Now? Duke Nukem's humor has aged about as well as the Rock's "Attitude Era" schtick every time he shows up for Wrestlemania and the gameplay, while it was amusing as hell in multiplayer, isn't anything that stands out anymore.

I suspect that, if Episode 3 did come out, it would have a terrible reception as well. While it wouldn't fall into the content pitfalls that Duke Nukem had, we'd still probably try the gameplay and find that it doesn't hold up any more. Hell, even if the gameplay were miraculously great, there would be so many expectations put on the game that it couldn't possibly live up to, it would still be considered a failure.

It's far better for Valve to just run their game distribution service and leave the risk-taking for their hardware department. The world has passed Half-life by.

 

[fix-the-spade]

I would legitimately expect Ricochet 2 before we get Half-Life 3, if for no other reason than that Ricochet has a multiplayer focus and is a more viable vehicle for microtransactions.

P.S. Thanks

I quietly hope for a new Day of Defeat as well.

I adored Day of Defeat and DoD:Source. I adored everything except the BUNK sound when you got shot in the head, that sound was the stuff of nightmares.

 

[Sniper Team 4]

That second to last paragraph, about what Half-Life 3 is supposed to mean? Yeah, I'd punch someone in the face if they told me that. A perfect way to end the article.

I've said it in other threads about this supposed game, and I'll say it here. I just don't care anymore. It has been too long, and Valve has been too silent. Even if they came out tomorrow and said, "Surprise! The game will be available at the end of the month!" I wouldn't believe it. I won't believe anything Valve has to say about this series until I am holding the actual game in my hand.

I'm afraid I've fallen into the camp that Valve is staffed by a bunch of cowards now, too terrified to release the game because of the backlash they saw at Mass Effect 3. It's funny how that rumor had to come out from The Know in order for Valve to even mention the series again, and all they gave us were empty promises again.
So yeah, Valve, you're going to have backlash if you ever choose to release this game, but it's partly your own fault. A DECADE for what was supposed to just be an episodic game is just wrong. A decade without any news whatsoever, when you know that this is a darling franchise for so many, makes me question your sanity and what you think of your fans.

 

[The Rogue Wolf]

I would legitimately expect Ricochet 2 before we get Half-Life 3, if for no other reason than that Ricochet has a multiplayer focus and is a more viable vehicle for microtransactions.

Not to mention that Ricochet 2 doesn't have the number "3" in it.

 

[FirstNameLastName]

To me, it's rather damn embarrassing that it's been a whole bloody decade and they don't have a single thing to show for it. I understand about wanting to take their time and not rush the thing out the door but good lord. I'm not trying to be rude but jesus, we haven't heard a peep in all this time too so I honestly don't know what they're doing over their at Valve.

*Shrug* They're a game distribution service now as opposed to being developers or even publishers. (Yes, I know about The Lab. If they weren't using it to showcase their VR headset, they wouldn't have made it.) The fact of the matter is that game development is expensive with a risky rate of return. And Episode 3? At this point, it would be stupid to make it.

As Duke Nukem Forever showed us, gamer preferences change as do cultural mores. Even if you downgraded the graphics, we would have been declaring DNF game of the year in 1998. Now? Duke Nukem's humor has aged about as well as the Rock's "Attitude Era" schtick every time he shows up for Wrestlemania and the gameplay, while it was amusing as hell in multiplayer, isn't anything that stands out anymore.

I suspect that, if Episode 3 did come out, it would have a terrible reception as well. While it wouldn't fall into the content pitfalls that Duke Nukem had, we'd still probably try the gameplay and find that it doesn't hold up any more. Hell, even if the gameplay were miraculously great, there would be so many expectations put on the game that it couldn't possibly live up to, it would still be considered a failure.

It's far better for Valve to just run their game distribution service and leave the risk-taking for their hardware department. The world has passed Half-life by.

I really don't believe it would even be that much of a risk. While I agree with the general sentiment that 10 years of hype can scarcely be lived up to, the game would still sell well even if it turned out to be mediocre to average. Average games are still profitable, and the industry has proved in the past that a large portion of the gaming community will throw fist-fulls of money at ideas that sound nice before they have any details.

Still, I'm yet to get around to finishing the first Half-Life, so I'm in no real hurry to see a next one.

 

[FPLOON]

That's great and all, but does this announcement also come with [new] trading cards/badges?

Other than that, I forgot how many franchise anniversaries are happening this year...

 

[Hairless Mammoth]

The day that Valve announces a definite Half-Life 3 release date is the day that Steam hits hard times. So, start using GOG, Origin, and Uplay *I may need to puke now.* more often, people.

HL3 seems to have become Valve's secret weapon to regain relevance if they ever lost it. Although, they might want to at least put out an entry ever few years before enough people really do move on. At this rate HL3 will be released to market filled by a generation that does not care about Dad's/Mom's or the granparents' old shooter franchise.

I really wish Valve would just make something, to shut up those memes and keep forums from clogging with posts about anything that could hint at a new HL.

 

[helwyr]

BUT THE CLIFF HANGER OF WHAT HAPPENED TO ELI.

>: (

Valve are jerks. If you tell a story and you know how the story ends then you're either A) Purposefully withholding it or B) Have no artistic care to put it out.

They have the resources.
They have the manpower.
I refuse to believe that no one at Valve wants to make the game.

So the game is probably made and or finished.

So if they're purposefully withholding it or they have really lost interest in it just makes me very frustrated with them.

 

[Dalisclock]

The day that Valve announces a definite Half-Life 3 release date is the day that Steam hits hard times. So, start using GOG, Origin, and Uplay *I may need to puke now.* more often, people.

HL3 seems to have become Valve's secret weapon to regain relevance if they ever lost it. Although, they might want to at least put out an entry ever few years before enough people really do move on. At this rate HL3 will be released to market filled by a generation that does not care about Dad's/Mom's or the granparents' old shooter franchise.

I really wish Valve would just make something, to shut up those memes and keep forums from clogging with posts about anything that could hint at a new HL.

Pretty much this.

The really important point being made here is if Valve waits too long, there's not going to be anyone who cares enough about HL3 to make it worth the effort. Most of the people who loved the original games when they were released will have long since given up on seeing it and will probably greet it's sudden appearance(after years of refusal to talk about it) with bitter disdain or apathy. The generation who grew up playing PC games after the Orange box won't even know what the fuss is about. And really, no matter how good it is, there's going to be the nagging question of "What? This is what took a decade and change to create? It sure doesn't look like it.... ".

 

[Laughing Man]

I really don't believe it would even be that much of a risk. While I agree with the general sentiment that 10 years of hype can scarcely be lived up to, the game would still sell well even if it turned out to be mediocre to average.

Yet it is possible, look at Doom, 11 years since the last version of it and my god did they manage to pull it off and not only give us a great game but managed to give us a game that actually went beyond the hype... then again we are talking about Valve here and just about everything Valve has done, thought of or tried to implement of late has been utter shite.

 

[Anti-American Eagle]

It's been ten years? And they've just moved onto source 2? I finally figured it out. Half life 2 episode 3 will finally be released when they've produced the third iteration of the second source engine. It makes perfect sense... or valve just can't be bothered. One or the other.

 

[Naldan]

I really don't believe it would even be that much of a risk. While I agree with the general sentiment that 10 years of hype can scarcely be lived up to, the game would still sell well even if it turned out to be mediocre to average.

Yet it is possible, look at Doom, 11 years since the last version of it and my god did they manage to pull it off and not only give us a great game but managed to give us a game that actually went beyond the hype... then again we are talking about Valve here and just about everything Valve has done, thought of or tried to implement of late has been utter shite.

The thing is that Doom is a reboot of something with a weak story. If Half Life 3 happens and it's a reboot, holy shit the internet will blow up in anger. And honestly, with that cliff hanger and that edging by Valve, I could understand it.

 

[Callate]

I don't know, is Freeman's voice actor even still in the business?

However stupid it may be, I still hold out some tiny, tiny shred of hope that one day this game will manifest itself. Sure as every year or so some self-styled iconoclast has to take it on himself to bring the truth to the forums that Half-Life 2 wasn't that good.

...And when it comes out, it will probably fall way, way, way short of expectations. But, hey... it probably will still be better than Duke Nukem Forever.

 

[Metalrocks]

i think all we can really do is hope that they may release it and are at least working on it. just sounds a bit fishy too that after 10 years we still havent been given any answer what so ever or any kind of acknowledgment that its in the making. they know the fanbase is huge and pretty much more expected than duke nukem forever, which turned out to be a disaster of a game.