Doesn't Half-Life 3 already exist?

[Fox12]

I'm not the biggest half-life fan, so bare with me if I make a mistake. It's pretty much accepted now that HL3 has taken a long time to make. It's basically a meme. Half-Life 2 was one of the most celebrated games of all time, and it's no surprise that fans are itching for the third game.

Which leads me to my point: isn't it already here? I read an interview where Gabe Newell basically said that the Half-Life 2 episodes were supposed to be the official sequel to Half-Life 2. He even said that, in retrospect, he should have called the first episode Half-Life 3: episode one. Given that the second game had a six year development cycle, hasn't Half-Life been releasing fairly regularly since then? Why the game may be unfinished, it sounds like most of the story has actually been completed, and Gabe simply shot himself in the foot in marketing.

What are your opinions on his line of thought?

 

[Johnny Novgorod]

That the story had little to no conclusion (considering the build up), and I refuse to acknowledge it as anything other than unfinished.

 

[B-Cell_v1legacy]

No half life 3 didnot exist and will never release. not in billion years because valve do not make games anymore. last Full SP game valve made was portal 2 and before that it was Half life 2. since then they focus on episodes/f2p/coop games. now they dont even make any kind of games after that.

Valve is now digital distribution company. they were once King of FPS genre. I guess ID software still remain king of FPS.

 

[Silentpony_v1legacy]

I believe this sums up my opinion quiet clearly.

 

[DoPo]

sounds like most of the story has actually been completed

Erm...sure. You could call it that. We're only really missing the CONCLUSION which is also a fairly major part of a story.

And yeah - before people were clamouring Half-Life 3, all the talk was about Half-Life 2: Episode 3. After several years, it eventually got shortened to Half-Life 3 down the line because...reasons. For better or worse, it stayed. At any rate, in either case the story is unfinished.

 

[DefunctTheory]

Half Life Release Dates:

1998 - Half-Life
1999 - Half-Life: Opposing Forces
2001 - Half-Life: Blue Shift
2001 - Half-Life: Decay (Console Release)
2004 - Half-Like 2
2005 - Half-Life 2: Lost Coast (Lost Level)
2006 - Half-Life 2: Episode One
2007 - Half-Life 2: Episode Two

Even in 'Valve Time,' they're 3 years late on a sequel.

As for the Episodes making up the third 'full game,' that was the initial intention. They were going to release a series of episodic games that would close up Freeman's story, and then either abandon the franchise (Which would have been fine) or move onto another character in the same universe (Barney, Alyx, and Shepard were all fan theorized possibilities). However, after a series of delays and cancelled games, the episodic sequels were all canceled. Because of the limited nature of just two episodes, and the fact that while everyone thinks Valve is a bit of a tease, they aren't dumb enough to try and release a episode length game after 6+ years, they're considered stand alone expansions to Half-Life 2, rather then a full game in their own right.

As it stands, the story of Gordon Freeman is left conclusion-less, and worse yet, Episode 2 ended on a cliff hanger. An all around unpleasing end to a story.

 

[Potjeslatinist]

If you ask me, they're not allowed to release Half-Life 3 before getting Opposing Force on Steam. First things first.

EDIT: WHAT THE FUCK? IT'S ACTUALLY THERE

SEE YA

 

[DefunctTheory]

If you ask me, they're not allowed to release Half-Life 3 before getting Opposing Force on Steam. First things first.

EDIT: WHAT THE FUCK? IT'S ACTUALLY THERE

SEE YA

...Opposing Forces has been on Steam since... forever. Where have you been?

Also, raise your hand if you want the next Half-Life hero to be Shepard.

 

[DoPo]

Shepard

Shephard. Shepard is the surname of the commander from Mass Effect.

At any rate, I'd love some form of continuation of OpFor.

 

[Potjeslatinist]

If you ask me, they're not allowed to release Half-Life 3 before getting Opposing Force on Steam. First things first.

EDIT: WHAT THE FUCK? IT'S ACTUALLY THERE

SEE YA

...Opposing Forces has been on Steam since... forever. Where have you been?

Yeah, I don't know, I just never looked because it wasn't there and it wasn't there because I never looked. How long has this been going on? I need a lie-down.

 

[DefunctTheory]

Spoiler

If you ask me, they're not allowed to release Half-Life 3 before getting Opposing Force on Steam. First things first.

EDIT: WHAT THE FUCK? IT'S ACTUALLY THERE

SEE YA

...Opposing Forces has been on Steam since... forever. Where have you been?

Yeah, I don't know, I just never looked because it wasn't there and it wasn't there because I never looked. How long has this been going on? I need a lie-down.

Since April 2007 at least, it seems.

Also, that play time is WAY off. Weird.

 

[MysticSlayer]

If you want to call the Half-Life 2 episodes Half-Life 3 episodes, then go ahead. Still doesn't mean that the story isn't complete.

Heck, I didn't even play the episodes because Half-Life 2 didn't exactly make me crave more of anything it offered, but I've at least heard of how much of a cliffhanger Episode 2 ended on. And when you promise fans something, you probably should deliver.

 

[shrekfan246]

Uh.

I guess technically two-thirds of it exists? Maybe?

The problem people have isn't the non-existence of Half-Life 3, it's the fact that Valve apparently just never finished the story set up by Half-Life 2/Episodes 1 & 2. And Episode 2 released in... 2007, with no follow-up, so I think it's safe to say that no, it hasn't been regularly releasing since then?

 

[Casual Shinji]

Episode 1 and 2 don't feel like a substantial enough leap to really be considered even just the first two parts of a sequel. They were initially developed to tie up certain loose ends from Half-Life 2 and to clear the way for Half-Life 3. But than Valve decided 'nah' after leaving us on the mother of all cliffhangers.

 

[GrumbleGrump]

No. Half-life 3 doesn't exist. If did it would be called Half-life 3.

 

[BaronVH]

[/quote]

I am hoping Gaben gets so pissed off about HL3 that he decides to make Gordon Freeman voiced by Gilbert Gottfried and spout lines that would make Duke Nukem cringe.[/quote]

If he is allowed to use profanity, that would be the greatest game of all time.

 

[RikuoAmero]

After Portal came out, I thought they were setting it up for a storyline merger. In Portal 2:"

Spoiler

Chell wasn't released solely due to the "mercy" of GladOS at the end of Portal 2. She is an agent (albeit indirectly) being sent out into the world. I think the timeline is such that she is released right around the events that ended Half-life 2: Episode 2

I think Chell is meant to link up with Gordon Freeman. Glados is well aware of Black Mesa and may even be aware of the implications of their experiments and the Combine. I think Glados may become the hero Earth needs.

Oh sweet merciful Mother of Buddha...*goes into the fetal position and starts whimpering in sheer terror*

 

[SweetShark]

If you ask me, they're not allowed to release Half-Life 3 before getting Opposing Force on Steam. First things first.

EDIT: WHAT THE FUCK? IT'S ACTUALLY THERE

SEE YA

...Opposing Forces has been on Steam since... forever. Where have you been?

Also, raise your hand if you want the next Half-Life hero to be Shepard.

I am very sure you and me are the minority, but f*ck it, SHEPARD!!!
Give him a freaking good looking Armor with his gasmask and we can call it a day.
Btw there is an "official" mode which you play as Shepard:

http://store.steampowered.com/app/399120/

 

[Souplex]

I consider them an extension of a still incomplete game.
It's taken the 17 years to finish a game that wasn't terribly good to begin with.
Duke Nukem was comparably mediocre, and that only took 12 years.

 

[DoPo]

SHEPARD

*Shephard

It's taken the 17 years to finish a game that wasn't terribly good to begin with.
Duke Nukem was comparably mediocre, and that only took 12 years.

Maths doesn't check out. for Half-Life to have taken 17 years, you must be counting from the first game (1998) to now[footnote]HL1 came out in November, so it's not been 18 years just yet[/footnote]. If do the same with Duke Nukem, you'd get 20 years - 1991-2011.

I don't know how to even get 12 years for Duke Nukem, as the last entry - Duke Nukem Forever was announced in 1997 and came out in 2011 which makes a total of 14 years.

At any rate, even if you did mean that, then that's counting from the (almost) the last entry. If you do the same with Half-Life, you'd get 9 years - HLE2 came out in 2007.

If you were to count the time since HL2 was released until now, then that is (almost) 12 years.

Whatever it is, your maths is wrong.