Play Half-Life 2 for Half-Life 3

[Beryl77]

I have no idea whether this will work or not, but it won't hurt to try. Also, Valve is a very democratic company, there is no hierarchy there, except that Gabe Newell is at the top and has the last word. If Valve employees want to do something, it's going to happen. It's obvious in various interviews that Gabe actually wants to talk about Half-Life anyway, I don't think he'd interfere if enough employees decided to talk about it. I can imagine that something like this might evoke emotions in some Valve employees.

Compared to, for example, the L4D boycott group, this is a much better and more polite way to convey a message. This is really the best way to do it, it doesn't involve spam, threats or anything else stupid and immature. And Valve responded to the L4D2 boycott group, so why not here?

 

[Rad Party God]

Perfect timing!, I don't mind finishing the entire Half-Life 2 games again, I was planning to do it sometime anyways.

Even if Valve won't notice, it's still a good enough excuse to play the games again, it's been a while.

 

[Bradeck]

This will not work. Way to go planners. You only planned the protest on the same weekend as the largest sporting event in America. The Superbowl. If Gabe even notices this, he's going to feel bad, but he still won't change the way information is handled by them. Nothing to see here folks. Keep it moving.

 

[The Last Nomad]

Would it not make more sense to NOT play any Half-life. By playing it they are basically saying yeah we love it, and will still play it, so there is no need for a new one. But by not playing it they are saying to valve, your games no fun anymore, give us a new one.

As for Half Life 3 or 2 episode 3 or 3 episode 1 or whatever the hell will be next, I don't really care...

 

[Fuhjem]

This should probably give me good reason to actually do my homework before the weekend.

 

[ActionDan]

Huh, this happens just after I reinstalled Episode 1 and 2 for a replay anyway. How coincidental.

 

[Fuhjem]

Would it not make more sense to NOT play any Half-life. By playing it they are basically saying yeah we love it, and will still play it, so there is no need for a new one. But by not playing it they are saying to valve, your games no fun anymore, give us a new one.

But by not playing it, well, that wouldn't even get noticed at all. It's not like they're choking Valve's wallet or something. Valve could just chalk it up to a weekend where not as many people played Half-Life as they usually have.

 

[Pinkamena]

At E3 in june:

"I know a lot of you have been wanting this for a while now, and I'm sorry that we've kept so quiet about it, but I am glad that I can finally announce... LEFT 4 DEAD 3!"

 

[zombiesinc]

Yes, let's push and force this for years so we end up with another gigantic let down due to our own nostalgic and incredibly unrealistic expectations. Joy!

Having said that, I've been struggling to get through the Half-Life games for myself, so I doubt a user group on Steam is gonna generate anymore motivation in that regard.

 

[Doom972]

This will not work. Way to go planners. You only planned the protest on the same weekend as the largest sporting event in America. The Superbowl. If Gabe even notices this, he's going to feel bad, but he still won't change the way information is handled by them. Nothing to see here folks. Keep it moving.

So? Outside the US, people couldn't care less about the Superbowl.

OT: I joined the group and glad I finally have an excuse to make my achievements playthrough.

 

[thehorror2]

I'll do it, but I am 100% sure it wont work.

The only way Valve will release info on HL3 is when they're finally ready OR if someone goes as far as domestic terrorism.

Now THERE'S an idea. Anyone up for Batmanning the Valve HQ? No killing, but I just want to bust in on Gabe's office and ask the man face to face if they ever plan on finishing the game that made them famous.

 

[ThatHybridGuy]

I'm gonna play it. I was livestreaming a blind Let's Play of HL2 anyway, but after getting a new PC I lost my progress. This gives me the perfect opportunity AND motivation to start my LP from scratch, albeit as a semi-blind LP (up to a point, at least)...

 

[Xman490]

Play Half-Life 2 for Half-Life 3


It's a brilliant idea. Getting out and marching in the streets is a serious hassle, but firing up a game on Steam? That's something that a lot of us will probably be doing anyway.


Permalink

Well, I am in the midst of - playing through it f-f-for the first time, - so I will mossst certainly be making - S-Saturday a date for Misssster Freeman.

 

[Panorama]

I didn't think it was asking for Half life Episode 3 or Half life 3. I thought it was just asking Valve to tell us something. even if it is go and fuck off, just nice to hear from them. and i found this.

http://dl.dropbox.com/u/34147052/ARedLetterDay.png

 

[V8 Ninja]

While I am part of the Steam group and I will be playing the game on Saturday, I think the problem that Valve has run into in terms of Episode 3 is that they wrote themselves into a bit of a corner.

Spoiler: Some Ways That Valve Wrote Themselves Into A Corner (CONTAINS SPOILERS)

#1. How should Alex react to having her father figure dead? Should she sulk in sadness for the entirety of the game or should she blame Gordon for starting the whole mess that led to her father being dead? She just can't have a neutral reaction. If she did, she would be significantly less real and break the immersion that Half-Life is known for.

#2. How do you fight an enemy that can control all of your movements? While I don't remember the name of those enemies, they were several times in Episode 2 where the enemies took control of both Gordon and Alex, and *MAJOR SPOILER* that's why Eli is killed at the end. *END MAJOR SPOILER* While I can see the potential of having the enemies make the player go on a roller-coaster-styled segment where they have to damage the enemy enough times before the end, that would feel extremely tacked on and I think Valve realizes that.

#3. Near the end of Episode 2, it is hinted that Episode 3 would be taking place specifically on an Aperture Science vessel, creating the closest link between the fiction of the Portal games to the fiction of the Half-Life games (yes, I know they're both set in the same universe). The problem is that right after Portal became a huge success, Valve said that they want to separate the fiction of the Portal games as much as possible from the fiction of Half-Life, which is why they set Portal 2 either 100 years in the future or 10,000 years in the future. If Valve really wanted to keep true to their word, then they wouldn't set Episode 3 on the Aperture Vessel. But the problem is that was the only logical progression that wouldn't involve Valve pulling scenario cards out of a hat.

 

[bliebblob]

DARNIT for a minute there I thought it was valve asking people to play. Which would've meant they put some clues in like they did with portal just before announcing portal 2.

OT: idunno, I guess I could but saturday is the first day of my vacation and the list of things I wanna do in it is already too long for one measly week.

Honestly though I think valve's odd corporate hierarchy may be part of the problem. Their employees can work on whatever they want. So before project episode 3 can get started, somebody at valve is gonna have to step up and say "episode 3? Sure I'll do it! I got this all worked out and it's gonna be great!"
That would take some massive cojones, considering how high they set the bar in the first 3 games. So it's not likely to happen anytime soon, with artists being the eternal self-doubters that they are. And as time goes by it's only getting less and less likely as expectations are getting higher and higher. It's a vicious cycle.

My advice would be to jump straight to half life 3 now and completely change it up, like they did when going from HL1 to HL2. That should send a refreshing breeze through the idea department. And it'll automatically feel like it was worth the wait because it's not just some more of the same. But they'll have to deal with episode 2's cliffhangers though...

 

[Beryl77]

Would it not make more sense to NOT play any Half-life. By playing it they are basically saying yeah we love it, and will still play it, so there is no need for a new one. But by not playing it they are saying to valve, your games no fun anymore, give us a new one.

As for Half Life 3 or 2 episode 3 or 3 episode 1 or whatever the hell will be next, I don't really care...

That's not the message that the group wants to convey. They don't want to force Valve, or threaten them or something like that. They want to make this a positive experience, just Half-Life fans playing Half-Life 2 together.
They aren't asking for Valve to rush a new Half-Life game, that's the last thing that the group wants. They just want to tell Valve that the communication with the Half-Life community isn't good and that they'd like it to improve.

Not playing the game gives a bad message and it would fail as bad as the L4D2 or MW2 boycott groups.

 

[YodaUnleashed]

I don't Valve needs reminding that people love half-life and can't wait for more. It would be nice to at least get a confirmation that the next thing to be released after DOTA 2 will be half-life whatever at this point, or if it isn't going to be then at least a confirmation that something is in the works.

 

[SteakHeart]

G-Man in the picture: "A...LOW me to play you a... sad SONG... on the world sm-aaalest vioLIN..."

 

[marurder]

Why hasn't a group of budding developers torn apart the game and made a fan made version of episode 3 yet? Any rabid fan would *KNOW* WHERE (the ship and on the way to the ship) and WHO and WHY. The hard part would be making a suitable twist of such for the ending. If indeed that IS the ending or just a cruel joke for part 4...