Half-Life 2: Episode 3 is rumored not to be coming in 2010

WipEout wrote:

Jeez-- I don't think I've even played TF2 since it only had 6 maps...

You should join us some night.

Whenever Half-Life 2 is on a big sale I wonder if it means something. Are they trying to warm up the crowd or is it just because no one else has a game to discount so they go to their own catalog?

Well, Black Mesa (the HL mod that has been in development forever) has been announced as coming out in the very near future. Could be an act of solidarity.

"Anonymous source tells French gaming website some unverifiable stuff, world trembles"

"Launching after 2013" That's a little vague. So... like... 2014? 2015?

Anyhoo... I'm working my way through Black Mesa right now and I think I'm going to also play through all of HL2. Haven't replayed those in a while.

Anyone who owns HL2 should absolutely go check out Black Mesa. It is unbelievably good.

If you just highlight the link it says "half-life-3-is-open-source."

Now that's a baloney rumor I do wish were true.

I was about to make a comment about the leaks, but I wonder how much there would be to gain if Valve made a standalone open source version of GoldSrc (or Source) without the licensed middleware. I'm not sure there's tons to gain that modders can't do already with the SDK.

Scratched wrote:

I was about to make a comment about the leaks, but I wonder how much there would be to gain if Valve made a standalone open source version of GoldSrc (or Source) without the licensed middleware. I'm not sure there's tons to gain that modders can't do already with the SDK.

Well there's not too much to speculate on since it's not happening, but there would be plenty of advantages to having an open source engine with Valve muscle behind it. That it would just be Source sans middleware wasn't really the thought that popped into my head though.

What I do think is that Valve is going to continue pushing out more streamlined, helpful content creation tools like Source Filmmaker. My biggest hope (blue sky) is that they'll be able to come up with a really nice n00b-oriented map editor for the next Half-Life game -- assuming they can crack a nut that tough. It's been a lot of fun to play all the Portal 2 community levels, and if I could do the heavy lifting in something simple before importing it into Hammer, that would help my mapping output a lot.

Anyway, I'm sure we'll find out in 9 years when the game comes out...

They have acknowledged that their tools are poor, and there was the Source2 rumour/references in SFM a while back.

It is now 5 years since episode 2 was released.

Scratched wrote:

It is now 5 years since episode 2 was released.

Is five years a big milestone? People seem to pick 10, 20, 30, 50 and 60 years (oh, and 75 - no idea why!) for big milestones... not usually 5

Duoae wrote:
Scratched wrote:

It is now 5 years since episode 2 was released.

Is five years a big milestone? People seem to pick 10, 20, 30, 50 and 60 years (oh, and 75 - no idea why!) for big milestones... not usually 5 :)

In gaming years it's an eternity. Especially if you're familiar with Valve's original "Episode" plans.

PaladinTom wrote:
Duoae wrote:
Scratched wrote:

It is now 5 years since episode 2 was released.

Is five years a big milestone? People seem to pick 10, 20, 30, 50 and 60 years (oh, and 75 - no idea why!) for big milestones... not usually 5 :)

In gaming years it's an eternity. Especially if you're familiar with Valve's original "Episode" plans.

Hahaha, oh dear. You were taken in by those "plans"?! I mean, come on. It even took Telltale many seasons to get episodic release fairly well timed.... still, they're not there yet.

Wasn't it once every six months or something ridiculous?

Props to Switchbreak and GameInformer for being, like, totally right about the rumor in the thread's title

Duoae wrote:
Scratched wrote:

It is now 5 years since episode 2 was released.

Is five years a big milestone? People seem to pick 10, 20, 30, 50 and 60 years (oh, and 75 - no idea why!) for big milestones... not usually 5 :)

Well, historically consoles have typically come along in 5-year generations. So there's that.

Farscry wrote:
Duoae wrote:
Scratched wrote:

It is now 5 years since episode 2 was released.

Is five years a big milestone? People seem to pick 10, 20, 30, 50 and 60 years (oh, and 75 - no idea why!) for big milestones... not usually 5 :)

Well, historically consoles have typically come along in 5-year generations. So there's that. :D

I think you nailed it Farscry. Valve is holding back Episode 3 as a launch title for their new console due to launch next... er... in 20... uh... hmmm...

The Source2 plot thickens...

Q: So tell us about Ricochet2, is Valve potentially already working on a new engine?
Q: Source2, Could or could not be?
Gabe: We've been working on Valve's new engine stuff for... a while
Q: Is it going to be more than an addon engine for Source? Like... is it an entirely new engine?
Gabe: Yeah.
Q: Cool
Gabe: Ricochet2 has started development

Haven't we known about Source 2 for quite a while now?

Rumours started in August apparently with the SFM files. I think this is the first time Source2 has been mentioned specifically by a Valve employee (errr, owner) though, although just like every other development from Valve there the difference between getting little hints of what's to come, and the code hitting client computers.

As in, you might see it in the 2020s sometime.

Malor wrote:

As in, you might see it in the 2020s sometime. :-)

It's the same as everything else really, from any company, it's academic until they actually release something.

An open source Valve engine kinda makes sense, maybe. With their focus so scattered, maybe they can't pull a team required to make a next-gen engine?

So is the rumor true? No Half-Life 3 in 2010?!??

Scratched wrote:

I'll go back in my time machine and check.

Hey, 2010, did we get a ep3 release?

...

No, sorry.

Waitaminute. I call shenanigans! There's no way 2010 speaks in normal fonts and sizes...

I'll go back in my time machine and check.

[font=Comic sans ms]Hey, 2010, did we get a ep3 release?

...[/font]

No, sorry.

Duoae wrote:

Waitaminute. I call shenanigans! There's no way 2010 speaks in normal fonts and sizes...

How about now?

The full source code for Half Life 3 with a last modified date of sometime in 2010 is going to be discovered in a computer on an abandoned icebreaker Borealis on December 21, 2012. This discovery will then trigger the Combine to begin their full scale invasion of Earth.

Scratched wrote:
Duoae wrote:

Waitaminute. I call shenanigans! There's no way 2010 speaks in normal fonts and sizes...

How about now?

I'm confused. I thought you asked the question....

imbiginjapan wrote:

The full source code for Half Life 3 with a last modified date of sometime in 2010 is going to be discovered in a computer on an abandoned icebreaker Borealis on December 21, 2012. This discovery will then trigger the Combine to begin their full scale invasion of Earth.

Otherwise known as the Activision hostile take-over of Valve and Steam?