Half-Life 3 Puzzle Solved

[ThatNormalGameReviewer]

I've done my research and I think put together the puzzle known as half-life 3. Here is my idea of what happened to the mythical game.

Dev History:
Development started around 2005 or 2006 as Episode 3. It was going to be big ending to episodes and was also the end of the story so far. Valve did release concept art for the world to see but after summer 2008, news stopped. Valve was having discussions about the game becoming Half-Life 3 because the episodic model didn't work out for them so it turned into Half-Life 3. The team also found out that Source 2 was in development so decided to wait and switch engines. This gave the team time to flesh out the story even more that originally planned. When they herd that the next gen consoles were being made they started making it for them as well. I bet that they did prototype some stuff with the original Source engine to test some things out. And i'm also sure that they have begun alpha testing by now.

Release and Announcement Window:
With the evidence in front of us, I conclude that Half-Life 3 will be announced at GDC 2014 for a 2014 release date at the earliest and E3 2014 to Gamescom 2014 for a 2015 release date. It will also be released on Steam Machines, Steam OS(I could be a big possibility it will exclusive, but I don't think Valve would do that), Playstation 4, Xbox One, Wii U, and PC.

That's my idea for Half-Life 3 and other stuff. I hope this turns out to be true and I'm not wrong about all this. Tell me what you think about this. I'm not an inside at Valve so this is not 100% true.

 

[Luke Triton]

HL3 on Wii U? Now that's something I wanna see.

 

[Gangwolf]

with the Wii U gamepad you are able to draw your own custom art on your crowbar! In multiplayer you will be able to command the combine around on the gamepad (sort of like the overwatch mod). Also modding becomes 252% easier with the Wii U gamepad! Buy it now!

 

[Luke Triton]

In multiplayer you will be able to command the combine around on the gamepad (sort of like the overwatch mod).

 

[Vincent Pride]

You're in the right direction overall, just a couple of things though:
- Next gen specs were available for enterprise devs as early as in 2010, if not earlier. I remember reading discussions on Gamasutra boards back then. Multi-core CPU, 8 Gb and SM 3.0+ GPU and all this stuff.
- At retrospective, connecting all the dots, it's pretty obvious that every new major HL installment is expected to be built on a brand new engine. And major leaps in software require gigantic jumps in hardware, which is only possible with a new gen arrival.

 

[Dmytro IELKIN]

Valve stated that they will never do any exclusives. http://www.ign.com/articles/2013/11/04/valve-will-not-make-exclusive-games-for-steamos

And it is the way that all the companies should follow.

 

[bluechirri]

don't even care that this is a revived seven-month-old thread, I love talking about Half Life 3

I'm kind of in the same camp as the OP in that I think there's a decent possibility we could see a Half Life 3 announcement late this year with an early 2015 release.

Actually, I have a big conspiracy theory involving this, haha. I've got a more detailed essay about it marinating in my brain, but my guess is that Episode 3 was cancelled in late 2007/early 2008 and a full-sized Half Life 3 went into production sometime in early to mid 2008, and that this is the project the concept art leaked in January 2012 and dated to mid 2008 came from. This second incarnation of the next Half Life game was later cancelled for some reason sometime between 2010 and 2011, and around that same time a different Half Life 3 began development, but this time alongside and supporting Source 2 and SteamOS and all those other big projects Valve started around 2011 that are approaching public release. It's this third incarnation of the project that I think is the one in development right now, and if all goes well I'm guessing at and hoping for a release sometime before the summer of 2015. Actually, I like to think the project was originally aimed for a November 2014 release to coincide with the tenth anniversary of Half Life 2, but since this is Valve I don't think it's quite safe to bet on the team making the original projected release date.

This is mostly conjecture of mine interpreted from the little information on the project that we've gotten over the past six years, but if it's true then a lot of stuff starts to fall into place.

Also, a new Half Life game has been released alongside both of Valve's major milestones as a company thus far - Half Life was the first game they released as a company, Half Life 2 was released shortly after Steam's official launch and was the first title that required Steam to play. I think you can draw a lot of parallels between how people are reacting to the approaching Steam Machines now and the way people were reacting to Steam ten years ago, and it's entirely possible that in another ten years we'll consider the Steam Machines as revolutionary to both gaming itself and to Valve as a company as Steam was - if the Steam Machines are going to mark another big milestone for Valve, releasing Half Life 3 alongside or soon after them would be almost poetic.

Of course, none of this is exactly evidence - you can't say "I think it just makes sense for Valve to release Half Life 3 at this date; therefore they undoubtedly will." But I really do think that we have a better chance at seeing an announcement by the end of the year right now then we have at any point over the last six years.

 

[Omnomnick]

The team also found out that Source 2 was in development so decided to wait and switch engines.

I really like this idea. As if the teams within Valve are so shit at communicating the team developing the Half-Life series had to find out about the creation of a new engine via programming leaks, just like the public.

Seems legit.

 

[MFL]

I wouldn't be too ****ing surprised, given their secret R&D centers and all.

 

[Omnomnick]

I wouldn't be too ****ing surprised, given their secret R&D centers and all.

Area 51?

 

[Ikagara]

Not even the NSA knows what goes on within.

 

[Marko Vukovic]

I think that Hl3 developing history looks like this:
2006 they started to make hl2 ep3 as an ending for hl story. When Tf2 and Portal acomlished success, Valve focused on other experimental projects such as L4D. After that, they decided to throw away episodic format in 2008, and that meant that hl2 ep2 was rejected, and that Hl3 is started to develop. I think that Valve then had a problem with story arc. Hl2 story is planned to end with ep3 and it didnt, and Hl3, as major game in series should have brand new bigger story. And they was going trough twists and turns in order to bridge the story. I guess that is why they stayed quiet about hl. Then Valve intoduced their plan for steamOS, steam machines and other stuff. That draw more focus away from Hl3. And when thay realized that new console generation is comeing they started to develop Source 2 engine, sometime in 2011. That meant ground up redeveloping of Hl3. And now when they are done with all other projects as Portal 2, CS Go, Dota 2, and they are finishing steam machines project, they throw more focus on Hl3. I think that Hl3 intensive work started at the middle of 2013.
Now for the future I think because of difficulties in building new engine Hl3 needs more time. In best case 2014 will be announcement year, but I dont expect release until ,late 2015 or sometime in 2016. I also think that first will be released Source 2 showcase game, something like CS or TF before Hl3.
That is just my opinion, it may not be true at all...
PS: Sorry for bad grammar

 

[TheWiktor]

Area 51?

cough cough Black Mesa cough cough

 

[Ra1nMak3r]

In best case 2014 will be announcement year, but I dont expect release until ,late 2015 or sometime in 2016. I also think that first will be released Source 2 showcase game, something like CS or TF before Hl3.
That is just my opinion, it may not be true at all...

Potentionaly Source 2 development started 2011. To have a stable devkit you need at least 2-3 years so the 2013 theory isn't bad. However they have to rebuild most of the stuff. Buy it wont be a dog-year, since they probably have most of the stuff down back from the ep3 dev-days. Nonetheless 2015-2016 is impossible. And 2014 announcement unlikely. I bet for a late 2015-2016 annoucement and 2017-18 release.

 

[Aizawa]

Half-Life 3 will come out 24.11.2015.

 

[Al-]

The Aizawa is a Spy.

 

[Sidedraft]

Be ready to be proven wrong in about a year or so.

 

[DER KRAKEN]

Valve and Nintendo hasn't done anything together....

 

[Aizawa]

The Aizawa is a Spy.

Heal me.