Valve Says "Hang In There" For Half-Life 2: Episode 3

[Delock]

Half Life 3.

NO EPISODE 3!

If this isn't a full blown sequel, I'll kill Gabe Newell.

You need help from 2 IGN Slowbros first.

 

[Steve the Pocket]

Half-Life 2 [http://www.amazon.com/Orange-Box-Pc/dp/B000PS2XES] hit stores in 2004, after a delay in 2003 due to a source code leak.

Slight correction, here: It wasn't the code leak that caused the delay (what, do you think he literally stole the code and they had to rewrite it?); it was the fact that the game was straight-up unfinished. There was a long article about it in some online game magazine a few years ago. Long story short, Valve Time happened. One reason they've stopped giving release dates for games until they're almost finished now.

 

[Ladette]

Episode 3 = Shenmu 2

It's never comming out, and the fanboys will never quit being in denial about it.

 

[Avatar Roku]

I'll bet they're making a new engine for it.

Speaking of which, I (finally) just finished Portal the other day. I must be one of the only people ever who finds the Source engine extremely clunky and nearly unplayable...

Eh, I sorta know what you mean. It doesn't really hold me up, but it does feel a bit...odd. Really hard to quantify.

I seriously think it's just going to launch one day out of the blue. No advertising, no pre-orders, just "Hey, Episode 3 is out!".

How ballsy would that be?

I'd actually been thinking the same thing. I mean, hey, no announced release date means no delaying, right? At least, I bet that's their thinking.

We've been hanging in here for 4 years Gabe. Give us something. Remember the principles of episodic gameplay?

1. Shorter games
2. at lower prices
3. released more frequently.

Valve's not been releasing much this past year, just cranking out TF2 updates. Oh, yes, and Alien swarm. This is why Mojang got my vote in march madness.

What about Portal 2 in less than a month?

Never forget the fact they'd need to distance themselves from the unbelievably mediocre Half Life 2.

After taking a look at the number of the Half-Life 2 fanboys in existence (only a million billion), I say you are right. They need to distance themselves from this incredibly unsuccessful game.

...?

Anyway, I stopped caring for Episode 3 about 2 weeks after having finished Episode 2. The story and characters are not THAT compelling. I appreciate Valve's work a lot, but I'll never understand the incredible amount of love.

Think it through, man Just, think it through.

Need a hand?

Okay: Twilight has millions of fans too. Doesn't make the series any less shitty.

To clarify, because I know that this is going to get a reply by someone who didn't think it through, I do not think Half Life 2 is as bad as Twilight. I said it was Unbelievably Mediocre. Even for when it was just released, the game is mediocre.

Unfair comparison. He's not saying that it's good because it's popular, he's saying that they'd have to be certifiable to want to distance themselves from it. Now, you don't like it, and that's fine, but please don't act like your opinion is the law of the universe.

Anyway, as for this, I'm unrealistically betting on an Orange Box 2. Whether the new Half Life component will be Ep 3 or HL3 (or both...?), I cannot say, but I'd be willing to bet on Counterstrike 2.

 

[Riddle78]

Word of the day...Say it with me now!

"HUZZAH!"

 

[TheRealCJ]

Half Life 3.

NO EPISODE 3!

If this isn't a full blown sequel, I'll kill Gabe Newell.

Just jump out at him and shout "boo".

Years of fried chicken will do the rest

 

[Gladion]

snip

Nonono, you didn't get what I meant.

I was saying that the games are incredibly popular and successful. It doesn't matter what you, I, or any individual person thinks. The games make money. Valve doesn't need to step away from money.

 

[DrScoobs]

I would be very surpised if they made episode 3 after all, isn't gabe quoted as saying that the episodes thing was just a failed experiment?

 

[Burck]

I swear, waiting for Episode 3 is like playing "The Game".

The best outcome is that you forget either for a long time, but you lose the minute you remember it.

Hell, Duke Nukem Forever beat Episode 3.

 

[(LK)]

Gordon Freeman: Forever

 

[SimpleJack]

I'll bet you anything that they were about to get working on it when someone went: "Hey! Portal 2! how bout it?!" and they all forgot until now....

 

[Zer_]

Abridged: We have finally started doing something about it. Now shut up and wait for four more years. If youre a good fanbase, it might happen.

My thoughts exactly.

I don't even know why Valve's fanboys still dominate every vote and contest ever considering that Valve has left us hanging for quite some time. You can say 'hang in there' all you want but we've been hangin' for almost four years. Seriously Valve, Our arms are getting mighty tired.

So what? Valve makes it a point to develop games they truly want to develop. It's what has worked for them in the past. It's one of the key ingredients to their success.

I'm a huge Valve fan, and I want Episode 3 as much as anyone, but all this kicking and screaming about it isn't helping. The self entitled nature of fanboys is something that pisses me right off.

I swear, waiting for Episode 3 is like playing "The Game".

The best outcome is that you forget either for a long time, but you lose the minute you remember it.

Hell, Duke Nukem Forever beat Episode 3.

DNF was in development for over a decade... Episode three less than half.

 

[LeeshaJoy]

Abridged: We have finally started doing something about it. Now shut up and wait for four more years. If youre a good fanbase, it might happen.

No, what they actually mean is "we're not going to release Episode 3 until we can turn it into a neverending DLC revenue stream, like we did with the hats in Team Fortress 2."

That's why the ads for Portal 2 place so much emphasis on co-op play. Co-op play means online play, and ONLINE PLAY MEANS VALVE CAN GOUGE YOU FOR MORE MONEY.

 

[Ldude893]

Patience is bitter but its fruit is sweet. I'd give Valve all the time in the world as long as they create a masterpiece.

 

[Revolutionary]

So does this mean that I now Have to cancel my elaborate and carefully laid plans to break into valve offices and take hostages?

 

[ReiverCorrupter]

Half Life 3.

NO EPISODE 3!

If this isn't a full blown sequel, I'll kill Gabe Newell.

KILL GABE NEWELL! THE HYPNOTOAD DEMANDS IT! ALL GLORY TO THE HYPNOTOAD!

 

[duct tape guardian]

I seriously think it's just going to launch one day out of the blue. No advertising, no pre-orders, just "Hey, Episode 3 is out!".

How ballsy would that be?

Even better if its in stores only, as in not purchase-able on steam.

but they don't have that in them.

 

[Savber]

There's no freaking way that Valve will be releasing some 7 hr episodic content now. I believe Valve wants the BEST for her customers and seeing how the Source engine is starting to looked dated, Valve must be creating a entirely new engine and planning to release a game that's the size of Half Life 2. There's no other explanation unless Valve is really gimping out on us.

 

[FaithorFire]

I'm starting to hope its never released just to spite all those people who are demanding it like they're actually owed something, and then acting like brats when there's an interview and aren't given any information on it.

No, the episodes obviously didn't work out like planned (unless, of course, the two episodes did go to plan, and the plan then became to make HL3 instead), get over it. They didn't lie to you, they did a reassessment.

Personally, I can't wait to find out what happens, but I know it'll be out when its done and so I just forget about it.

This is exactly how I feel. Isn't complaint #1, from gamers, how so many titles are pushed through too soon, and come out with no story, clunky mechanics, broken game-play, and glitchy graphics? Complaint #2 is the ridiculous way sequels with nothing but tweaks are spewed out at a pace of 1-per-year?

The only way for a developer to fix those complaints is to do what Valve is doing, and they're still whined about and ragged on by players. Its just a no-win situation until the game is actually released. The best description of these players that comes to my mind is "self-entitled".