• Hey, guest user. Hope you're enjoying NeoGAF! Have you considered registering for an account? Come join us and add your take to the daily discourse.

How Valve Time flies: Episode Three/Half-Life 3 now Valve's longest-gestating project

JaseC

gave away the keys to the kingdom.
Do you recall the original version of Team Fortress 2?

j6H6dXC.jpg


Age sure hasn't been kind to it, which is of course because the game was announced on June 1, 1998 and ultimately released 3,417 days later, on October 9, 2007, with the final version looking very different.

Do you remember when Half-Life 2: Episode Three was announced, on May 24, 2006, complete with an intended release date of Christmas 2007?

That was 3,418 days ago now and the game -- or rather the Half-Life 3 it has since transmogrified into -- is nowhere in sight... well, aside from some old concept art.

e3.gif

(Credit to Dr.Forester for the gif, which he created a few years ago now.)
 
For the longest time I figured the game would eventually find its way out. But now I'm not so sure. The myth of the game has grown so big that Valve is almost in a no-win situation if they actually release it unless it's the best FPS ever.
 
For the longest time I figured the game would eventually find its way out. But now I'm not so sure. The myth of the game has grown so big that Valve is almost in a no-win situation if they actually release it unless it's the best FPS ever.

I don't get this at all. Why do people act like its been getting worked on and get hyped?

If a game doesn't release for ten years it definitely doesn't mean it has ten years of polish. Look at at DNF. It means that Valve has no idea what to do with it or nobody wants to make it.
 
There is no way Half Life 3 would meet my expectations at this point, the most procedural ai, animation, shaders, mapping, whatever. And I would still feel like "this is what took so long?"

It'd have to do something so totally new it would be amazing, kind of like the first left 4 dead, when it first came out, or GTA3 in 2001, or the original Doom. But just HL2 in "Super 201X HD"? meh....
 
For the longest time I figured the game would eventually find its way out. But now I'm not so sure. The myth of the game has grown so big that Valve is almost in a no-win situation if they actually release it unless it's the best FPS ever.

I don't think they're scared of how the game would be received, it's just the usual concerns, the dollars. They're addicted to money and they make more of it putting their resources towards other things instead of an ambitious single player FPS.
 
I don't get this at all. Why do people act like its been getting worked on and get hyped?

If a game doesn't release for ten years it definitely doesn't mean it has ten years of polish. Look at at DNF.

I'm not advocating that attitude, I'm just pointing out its existence. And I wouldn't necessarily compare this to DNF in the sense that DNF had a lot of public and outside issues that knocked it around, whereas HL3 (or Ep. 3) has existed internally at Valve for a long time, irrelevant of how much it has been actively worked on. And DNF also had multiple engine switches that caused a ton of its delays and issues, whereas we know that HL3 can only exist in either Source or, more likely, Source 2.
 

Jyrii

Banned
I think VR would be the thing that would boost HL3 development from the grave.

Probably not though.
 
Reading the comments on that TF2 video is interesting.
"The only HD video in 2006."

And there's one comment on the gamespot article, posted in 2009.
 

GavinUK86

Member
"Episode Three/Half-Life 3 now Valve's longest-gestating project"

That would insinuate it's being made. I've lost faith in ever seeing the story wrapped up.

Fuck you Valve.

goes back to replaying Half-Life 2
 

KC Denton

Member
Why the hell did they decide to end this series on a cliffhanger? If you're going to do that and then abandon the series forever then at least have the decency to write up a summary of what WOULD have happened next and post it online.
 

c0Zm1c

Member
I've accepted that it's never going to happen. I just wish Episode 2 hadn't ended on such a major cliffhanger.
 

tci

Member
To be franc, I have kind of lost hope...

As you see on my avatar I made it when the concept art came out. Since then it have been; "Next E3 they will show it."

10 years later I guess that will never happen. It is my most treasured game series, so it makes me kind of sad. The ending of Episode 2 is still fresh in my memories.

Trying to loose the thought that it will ever come out. Valve also have been very shy to the public in regards of other project than Dota 2. Remember when Doug Lombardi was in the news almost every week? Well, he disappeared with their open profile.
 

Ein Bear

Member
It's always 'fun' to think about how many other games have come out whilst we've waited. My favourite is: Episode 2 came out a month before Assassin's Creed 1. The entire Assassin's Creed franchise has existed during Half Life 3's development.
 

Fasty

Member
Is anyone still genuinely excited about the idea of Half Life 3 anymore? I get more and more bored of the idea every time it's mentioned, and this is coming from someone who considers HL1 a GOAT. What do people get out of bringing it up all the time?
 

KC Denton

Member
Is anyone still genuinely excited about the idea of Half Life 3 anymore? I get more and more bored of the idea every time it's mentioned, and this is coming from someone who considers HL1 a GOAT. What do people get out of bringing it up all the time?
For me it's less about how awesome HL3 could be and more that I want the damn story to be wrapped up. Seems like this series has went the way of Too Human and The Order 1886 where cliffhanger endings will never be resolved.
 
I don't really give a shit anymore, sure I wanted to know what happened after I finished Ep2 on Orange Box ages ago but it hasn't been a driving, yearning desire for me all these years. HL2 is massively overrated too, if they did ever "finish it" I hope they do it in another episodic format cause I don't really trust them to make a compelling fps that's game length anymore. Gimme Portal 3 any day over HL. Not like I would turn down a VR made HL experience however :p
 

Tacitus_

Member
Remember when they said that switching to smaller, episodic releases will help them speed up their release schedule?

Yeah...

At least they admitted some time ago that didn't exactly work out.
 
Why the hell did they decide to end this series on a cliffhanger? If you're going to do that and then abandon the series forever then at least have the decency to write up a summary of what WOULD have happened next and post it online.

It's not like they intended for it to take this long. After all, shorter releases were the goals of the "episodes", but obviously we ended up seeing how that turned out (very tough to release quality AAA titles in short time frames!).

Yeah, it sucks that it ended on a cliff hanger, but I sure as hell wouldn't want to read the ending to a video game and then Valve saying "Look! We're done! We don't need to make the game now!". As much as I hate the wait as much as everyone else, I'd rather have them do it right. Plus, we're almost certainly going to get a full Half-Life 3 game, and not just a short 4-hour episode.
 

Flandy

Member
I should play Half Life one of these days.
Is Black Mesa complete or should I play a different version?
 

tci

Member
I should play Half Life one of these days.
Is Black Mesa complete or should I play a different version?
BM is missing Xen. But the part is not really important in the big picture. So go ahead and play it. The mod is really good.
 

Dmax3901

Member
It's been so long without any information that you've only got yourself to blame if you're still actively upset about this.

It's one thing being bummed about what could've been, but to get actually mad? That shit's on you.
 
garrykfonx.png


Just imagine:

- You are a billionaire.
- You love video games.
- You have the rights to the popular Half-Life series.

What would you do? You could just snap your fingers and the world's best developers would be fighting to work on this game. Just face it. Gabe doesn't give a crap about Half-Life or the fans anymore.
 

gfxtwin

Member
It would have to be as innovative as HL1 and HL2, and that's a tall order. I'm guessing if they release it it's going to be as a VR game built around that tech. It'll probably need some multiplayer features too if its to be successful.
 

Bleeether

Member
I never got past an hour into any half life games, so my question is did the story in half life 2 end on a cliff hanger? Why do people expect a half life 3?
 
I never got past an hour into any half life games, so my question is did the story in half life 2 end on a cliff hanger? Why do people expect a half life 3?

Yes there was a massive cliffhanger. And the game was already announced.

It's just sad if you think about what could have been. Almost 10 years. That's time to make at least 3 fantastic games. We could be playing Half-Life 5 already.
 

dity

Member
You see it's called Half-Life because the games are made with pure Gabetonium. It's going to be a while until Half-Life 2 has broken down enough to even consider Half-Life 3.
 
I think the only way they could actually release it now and not have it disappoint is if HL3 sets the standard for how to make a VR First Person Shooter.

Half-Life 1 completely changed how First Person Shooters worked - Until then, everyone just copied Doom / Quake.

Half-Life 2 showed that Physics are a big deal and can make game environments much more believable.

Half Life 3 would have to innovate similar to how Mario 64 or the HL prequels innovated. I don't think it'd be enough if it's 'just' a great First Person Shooter, Half-Life always revolutionized gaming and that's what people come to expect from the series.
 
Top Bottom