Menu

«Previous post | Next post»

It really hurts when your dream goes up in smoke

When episode 2 of Half-Life 2 got released back in October 2007, I (and everyone else) had no idea that we would be stuck in a cliffhanger moment for years, once we finished the game. And we have waited patiently for Valve to announce the next Half-Life title ever since then, but so far we have waited all in vain. Sure, there have been hints, rumors and so-called “leaked” proof of Half-Life 3´s existence throughout the years, but time after time again the leaked proof has been proven to be false. So I (we) just waited for Gabe Newell (and Valve) to give us an official announcement of HL3 at E3 (or any other big Gaming event). Well, Valve has not announced HL3 during any E3 event to this date. Funny enough, some HL fans really thought that Valve would show HL3 at E3 this year, me, I was very skeptical about that. As I’m pretty fed up of getting all excited and worked up on the thought of HL3, because I’ve been disappointed so many times in the past (+7 years to be exact).

Even the HL3 reference in DOTA 2´s workshop tools seems to have been a false lead. So let´s be honest, it´s been almost eight long years since HL2 EP2 got released, and no one really knows if Valve is even developing HL3 anymore (as the project seems to have been an on and off kind of production for years now). In fact, Gaming Wildlife´s “If Valve were 100% honest with us…” video is probably closer to the truth about HL3 then most of us dare to admit. However, at least I found some kind of satisfaction with Black Mesa (it´s basically a remake of Half-Life 1), sure, it´s not HL3 by far, but at least it´s better than nothing.

Will we ever get to see Half Life 3? Or will Gaben keep it on the ice forever?

The truth about the most recent Half-Life 3 leaks

So what about all those supposed recent HL3 “leaks” then? Sadly enough, all of them are nothing more than hoax (Photoshop jobs, fake code jobs and made-up stories). All of this became crystal clear when Valve News Network released his video “Half Life 3 is Not Confirmed” one week ago. I can´t say that I’m all surprised to hear this, since 99% of these so-called leaks were pretty obvious hoax jobs (just use common sense and logics). So where does this leave us? Well, one might ask him/herself the following questions. Is Valve is even working on Half-Life 3?, and if they do, when do they intend to release the game? I mean, how much longer will we have to wait for HL3? And are Half-Life and Gordon Freeman even relevant anymore?

Just think about it for a second. Half-Life 1 was released in 1998, and Half-Life 2 EP2 was released back in October 2007. So those who were born in the 2000s probably have no idea who Gordon Freeman is, or what Half-Life is all about? I could be wrong though (I sure hope I am), because most of the 80s and 90s kids have their own kids today. So they “might” have introduced their children to the Half-Life series. If that´s the case, then I bet that those 2000s kids have played Black Mesa as well, so there might be hope after all, but in the end it´s all up to Valve and Gaben really.

However, I “might” have an alternative solution to this problem though, since HL3 seems to be stuck in a never-ending development cycle (Duke Nukem Forever anyone?. As Valve is already making more money out of other developer’s games via Steam, then why doesn´t Valve simply give the development job of Half-Life 3 to another developer? Or better yet, why don´t Valve create an in-house studio that only focuses on Half-Life 3? (they might have done that for +7 years now for all I know). Time will tell I guess, but I’m starting to doubt that Valve will ever release Half-Life 3, and even if they do. Will HL3 even be able to live up to all the hype? And will the game be relevant?

Those’re all my thoughts and opinions on the matter for now, but what do you guys and girls think? Will Valve ever release Half-Life 3? And will the game have a chance in hell on the market?

***Disclaimer***
This is a personal opinion of the writer, and it doesn’t necessarily represent the other writers (nor The Gaming Ground´s) opinions.