Rumor: Valve has Left 4 Dead 3, Half-Life 3, and More On The Way

[secretkeeper12]

God, I hate stories like this, b/c we all know it's a shell game signifying nothing. We'll see Starcraft: Ghost and a decent Superman game before we see Halflife 3.

I don't hate Valve, I'm just disappointed in them. I can't even blame them. Why bother risking your career in gaming Nirvana when you can just continue to improve a stellar service that people can't get enough of?

Seriously, that's why Square-Enix won't do FF7 until they need a saving throw. They're just trolling us with the HD remakes of 8-10. If FF7 HD Remix came out and sucked, people would never buy Square's games again.

I'm past it, and would rather a full rework of the older NES and SNES titles.

And at this point, the hype machine for HL3 is so far gone, it is impossible to do it justice.

I'd actually respect if Valve did a community driven effort to create various mods/standalone alternate endings. Have a few groups work on separate 5 hour campaigns to end the series in their own ways, none being "canon," but all being "elseworlds."

Sure it's a copout, but I think it'd be a great exercise. Arguably, the best experiences I have had in Elder Scrolls have been fan generated content!

Have we all forgotten about Team Fortress 2? That game took over 9 years to develop, and redefined the class based FPS when it did come out. Granted, 5 years of updates have also helped, but they mostly just add stuff to the foundation. If they could pull that off, why are we so cynical on HL3?

 

[Seracen]

Have we all forgotten about Team Fortress 2? That game took over 9 years to develop, and redefined the class based FPS when it did come out. Granted, 5 years of updates have also helped, but they mostly just add stuff to the foundation. If they could pull that off, why are we so cynical on HL3?

I like to remain optimistic, but it's difficult to remain so for over a decade. Historically, such long production cycles rarely produce a happy outcome.

Barring the classically bad/underwhelming examples of Duke Nukem and Too Human (or anything made by Rare of late), when was the last time we heard ANYTHING about the next project from Team Ico?

Like I said, I'm willing to wait, but if that's the case, we need transparency from the producers. Kickstarters that run into delays don't generally perturb people so long as there is steady dialogue. Absent that, it's not unreasonable to assume the worst.

Furthermore, at over a decade later, the market itself has completely changed. You can't rely on the same fanbase, b/c they may have moved on or forgotten. It's not as common, for example, to see sequels to movies a decade after the fact. In this particular case, the same talent is either not there, or it isn't feasible to use them. More often, we get reboots, then sequels to the reboot.

Still, I hope you're right, b/c it would mean gaming Nirvana for everyone.

 

[Angelous Wang]

The listing also reveals mysteries like Cries Unheard and Microbe Wars. Considering the unorthodox way that Valve operates, it's hard to say if these are actual games in development or just experiments.

It very possible that these are actual games, but the type you'll never see. Dev's are typically gamers too, it's quite common for one or a couple of them to build a very simple flash-indie style head to head or beat my socre multiplayer games during their breaks or after hours (using their work equipment). Then the Dev's will all have little inter-office completions. This is very common way for Dev's to blow off steam, stress and possibly even do some team building.

 

[Vigormortis]

I would die if L4D3 ever came out. I love L4D2 and I play it every night on my 360...but it's exactly because of that that I'm also a bit saddened by these news because, surely, L4D3 would be released for the PC and Xbox One. Which I'm not getting. Cause, ya know, screw that.

Fear not, friend. There is a rather large content update coming to L4D2. Valve has completely rebuilt and restructured the Mutations system; including a wealth of new, very different and complex mutations, as well as adding a host of scripting and authoring tools.

Granted, the latter bit about the tools isn't as relevant to the Xbox side of things, but as far as I'm aware this content update is coming to the 360.

I could be wrong, so don't get too excited for it. But, again, from what I've been hearing it's coming to both versions of the game.

 

[Beautiful End]

I would die if L4D3 ever came out. I love L4D2 and I play it every night on my 360...but it's exactly because of that that I'm also a bit saddened by these news because, surely, L4D3 would be released for the PC and Xbox One. Which I'm not getting. Cause, ya know, screw that.

Fear not, friend. There is a rather large content update coming to L4D2. Valve has completely rebuilt and restructured the Mutations system; including a wealth of new, very different and complex mutations, as well as adding a host of scripting and authoring tools.

Granted, the latter bit about the tools isn't as relevant to the Xbox side of things, but as far as I'm aware this content update is coming to the 360.

I could be wrong, so don't get too excited for it. But, again, from what I've been hearing it's coming to both versions of the game.

You, sir, have just made my day. I wonder if that explains why L4D2 is horribly glitchy as of lately...
Either way, this is good news!

 

[Olrod]

Well my housemate will be eagerly anticipating Half Life 3, whereas I myself am more like "Wake me up when Portal 3 is released".

But I'll settle for lots of Portal references in Half Life 3 to keep me entertained.

[captcha: A brand I've never even heard of, but they have an umbrella in their logo so I'll just mention that.]

 

[AbsoluteVirtue18]

The cynic in me wants to point out that this is hardly enough to base any rumors on.

....The rest of me dearly, dearly wants Left 4 Dead 3. Half Life 3 I can live without. I haven't liked a Half Life game since Opposing Force.

I would die if L4D3 ever came out. I love L4D2 and I play it every night on my 360...but it's exactly because of that that I'm also a bit saddened by these news because, surely, L4D3 would be released for the PC and Xbox One. Which I'm not getting. Cause, ya know, screw that.

Oh. Oh damn. I completely forgot about that! DARN IT! *Rages at the sky*

MICROSOFT AND VALVE! CURSE YOU! WHY?!

 

[Vigormortis]

You, sir, have just made my day. I wonder if that explains why L4D2 is horribly glitchy as of lately...
Either way, this is good news!

Well, to be fair L4D2 is horribly glitchy because....well....it's Left 4 Dead.

It wouldn't be Left 4 Dead without a few game-breaking bugs.

But anyway, again, I'm not 100% sure the big update is coming to the 360 side of the game. I'd be incredibly surprised if it didn't, given Valve has made every major content update available to both versions. Still, this may be an exception.

Regardless, if you happen to own or just have access to the PC version you can download the beta now and try out some of the new experimental mutations.

There's four of them so far, on top of the classics. Each designed to showcase the new scripting and authoring tools being made available to the community. They are:

Gunbrain
Holdout
Dash
Shootpoints

Gunbrain is a very complex performance tracking mutation. It tracks everything from gun accuracy to item-use behavior to the types and placement of incoming damage (showing you which infected and zones you're not prioritizing enough).

Holdout is easily the best of the new modes. The players are tasked with surviving until a rescue vehicle arrives. This is done by either wading through a certain number of waves of infected or fueling a spotlight-powering generator to decrease the count-down timer. There are 4 maps, currently, and each has different objectives and rules. Players can barricade buildings, set up traps like land mines and gasoline-filled sprinkler systems, craft random items by collecting special "ingredients" from around the map, etc. They will also have to contend with random events. Events like tanks bashing their way out of man holes (which can be barricaded to stop the tank for one wave), waves of nothing but witches, or other procedural events. To complete these actions players must spend resource points. Points are earned by completing certain tasks in each wave, like killing special infected (who drop one resource "bag" when killed).

Dash has players rushing across a map, from checkpoint to checkpoint, while wading through an never ending wave of commons.

Shootpoints is probably the hardest of the new modes, but one I'm starting to like. In it, the maps are populated by a smattering of "shootpoints", of which look like glowing tombstones. Unless you are standing beside one of these tombstones, your weapons and items deal no damage to the infected. Not even gas cans or propane tanks will work. Once a point is activated, however, it only lasts for a short time before deactivating permanently. Further, all previous points must be activated before any proceeding points may be used.

I highly recommend trying out the beta. It's a lot of fun with friends, but be forewarned of a few things. One being that Valve, last I checked, has no dedicated servers up for it. So, all hosting will have to be done locally. Second, the beta is a full download, not a patch. So expect a large download of at least 15 gigs.

 

[wulf3n]

I wish their were rumours of Half-life 2 episode 3 first.

 

[Patrick Buck]

My ipod shuffled to "RE: Your Brains" when I opened this forum.
L4D3 Confirmed. It's sign, Gabe you crafty devil.

 

[FoolKiller]

It would be funny if they called it "Left 4 Dead 5" Just to confuse the ever loving hell out of us. Skip 3, 4 is already in the title, so go to the next best number.

No. Worse.

It will be LEFT 4 D3AD... for shame.

 

[scorptatious]

Oh my god...

Valve has actually counted to 3! :'D

 

[lapan]

Please, we all know that Valve is physically incapable of releasing anything with the number 3 in it.

 

[Bigsmith]

Clickbait title, how surprising.
This isn't a confirmation, it's just another rumor
Of course Valve would be discussing HL3 internally, it's their biggest brand, doesn't mean it's in development.

Um... "Rumor" is the first word in the title, so it's not clickbait.

OT: More psuedo-confirmation of HL3? Don't we get 3 of these every year? Color me indifferent. I won't believe it until I see a disk. L4D3 is surprising though...

Then you'll be waiting for a long time, cause unless it comes to consoles it'll probably be on steam.

 

[compaqdeskpro]

You're not aloud to have hope around here.

 

[Beautiful End]

You, sir, have just made my day. I wonder if that explains why L4D2 is horribly glitchy as of lately...
Either way, this is good news!

Well, to be fair L4D2 is horribly glitchy because....well....it's Left 4 Dead.

It wouldn't be Left 4 Dead without a few game-breaking bugs.

But anyway, again, I'm not 100% sure the big update is coming to the 360 side of the game. I'd be incredibly surprised if it didn't, given Valve has made every major content update available to both versions. Still, this may be an exception.

Regardless, if you happen to own or just have access to the PC version you can download the beta now and try out some of the new experimental mutations.

There's four of them so far, on top of the classics. Each designed to showcase the new scripting and authoring tools being made available to the community. They are:

Gunbrain
Holdout
Dash
Shootpoints

Gunbrain is a very complex performance tracking mutation. It tracks everything from gun accuracy to item-use behavior to the types and placement of incoming damage (showing you which infected and zones you're not prioritizing enough).

Holdout is easily the best of the new modes. The players are tasked with surviving until a rescue vehicle arrives. This is done by either wading through a certain number of waves of infected or fueling a spotlight-powering generator to decrease the count-down timer. There are 4 maps, currently, and each has different objectives and rules. Players can barricade buildings, set up traps like land mines and gasoline-filled sprinkler systems, craft random items by collecting special "ingredients" from around the map, etc. They will also have to contend with random events. Events like tanks bashing their way out of man holes (which can be barricaded to stop the tank for one wave), waves of nothing but witches, or other procedural events. To complete these actions players must spend resource points. Points are earned by completing certain tasks in each wave, like killing special infected (who drop one resource "bag" when killed).

Dash has players rushing across a map, from checkpoint to checkpoint, while wading through an never ending wave of commons.

Shootpoints is probably the hardest of the new modes, but one I'm starting to like. In it, the maps are populated by a smattering of "shootpoints", of which look like glowing tombstones. Unless you are standing beside one of these tombstones, your weapons and items deal no damage to the infected. Not even gas cans or propane tanks will work. Once a point is activated, however, it only lasts for a short time before deactivating permanently. Further, all previous points must be activated before any proceeding points may be used.

I highly recommend trying out the beta. It's a lot of fun with friends, but be forewarned of a few things. One being that Valve, last I checked, has no dedicated servers up for it. So, all hosting will have to be done locally. Second, the beta is a full download, not a patch. So expect a large download of at least 15 gigs.

Yeah, my crappy 10in. netbook would not be able to handle that. Heck, Youtube lags it. But thanks for the info anyway! I am really looking forward to that and REALLY hoping they do bring it over to the 360!