GameInformer predicts HL3 for 2011.

Half-Life Series
#121

How would they continue the HL1 story arc anyway? Black Mesa was nuked and Nihilanth was killed off, where would they go from there?

well the answer is simple my friend…the nihilanth made vorts slaves and made them wear the bands around their wrists but…the nihilanth wears them too…so maybe he is a slave to an even more powerful deity and also it doesnt have to take place in black mesa. gordon could be sitting on the can taking a dump and suddenly get wisped away to xen for all i care as long as i get to kick alien ass

#122

It isn’t called anything because it doesn’t exist yet.
It WILL be called Episode 3 because they have stated time and time again that it’s “the third part in an episodic trilogy.” It blows my mind that people cant comprehend this. Just because it’s taken so long to make doesn’t mean the game will be that much longer. You think DNF is gonna have 300 hours of playtime because it took 14 years to release?

No it wasn’t.

#123

And yet if Valve decides that isn’t how they want to do it anymore, who is going to stop them from changing their plans? Fact is, no matter what Valve says, their next game hasn’t come out yet, so until it does, they are always at liberty to change what it’s called and how long it is.

“We nuked Black Mesa because we did not want to give ourselves the easy out of going back there for the sequel.”

#124

Sure, but my point is they haven’t said anything that would imply a name change.

That quote is taken out of context. He was saying that they nuked the idea of going back to black mesa for a sequel, as in they simply chose not to use black mesa for the sequel not that it was literary nuked with an atomic weapon. It didn’t happen in the game and there is no mention of it in HL2, EP1, or EP2. Saying BM was nuked is like saying OP4 is canon.

#125

Really? Seems clear to me he meant Black Mesa was actually nuked. Either way, here’s another, more specific quote.

“However, as to your last question, there was pressure on us to set half-life 2 at black mesa, which a lot of us felt would be creative death; it was important to break new ground. Nuking black mesa was a good way to ensure that we had a way to avoid setting half-life 2 there. You might say i gave the g-man his orders. The whole issue of canon is something the fans came up with. I guess you will be able to identify as canon those story elements we continue to build on and develop and mention repeatedly as the story progresses. Others might fall by the wayside once they’ve served their purpose.”

If that doesn’t satisfy you, well, you can write Marc Laidlaw yourself to ask him. In any case, Black Mesa is dead and gone one way or another and almost certainly won’t be returned to.

#126

Once again, out of context. The link that you quoted to was grounded in a conversation about Opposing force and Blue Shift and their development and was completely devoid of any nuclear event in the canonical HL universe.

A part of the very same quote that you conveniently forgot to post:

“Gearbox did what was right for their games. Even though they had feedback and guidance from us, they didn’t always listen to it, and they steered by their own lights, etc., etc. I wasn’t very close to the creation of the expansion packs, and much more concerned with how to move the story forward and open up the universe; so i only take the games created by valve into consideration when i am working on the story…”

The whole “nuking” of Black Mesa is nothing more than a half-ass-joke excuse for making the setting of HL2 in C17 rather than going back to BM.

Regardless, there’s another thread for this debate.
On topic: EP3, not HL3.

#127

You “not canon” fags really piss me off sometimes.

“i am going to swear off contributing to this bizarre argument
about canonical versus noncanonical works. If we can make good
entertaining use of the elements of opfor in future games, then we may
well do that, and at that time i guess folks will have a better idea of
where we stand on all this. We can’t speak about story ideas outside of
the games themselves–it’s meaningless. The games must stand on their
own, contradictions and all. My only hope is to keep unreeling the
story in such a way that it will continue to please the fans and spark
interesting conversations.”- Marc Laidlaw

#128

As if I care if I piss you off.

#129

That sounds like the best idea to me. As he’s also said, “believe what you play, not what you read.”

…however he immediately goes on to say, “The waters are murky, unfortunately, when it comes to the Gearbox titles because we did not make them and i don’t feel compelled to abide by every story idea they came up with to make their game more fun.”

So, yeah. Ugh. Would have been great if Op4 and BS were either not made or just accepted as canon. Then we wouldn’t get into these debates and weird “it is until it isn’t” situations.

#130

or, you know, you could stop being lame and stop worrying about canon

#131

Nope.avi

#132

#133

Rescue it? You made the first post saying how Gameinformer predicted that Half Life 3 is going to come out in 2011, and the thread instantly derailed into 7 pages of posts about whether the next Half Life will be called Half Life 3 or Half Life 2: Episode 3. It’s beyond rescue man.

#134

it’s one of those threads where the topic overlaps with “insert your dumb ass opinion on the subject”

#135

it’s on a fracture line of derpfest… it’s a dangerous area for a thread

Founded in 2004, Leakfree.org became one of the first online communities dedicated to Valve’s Source engine development. It is more famously known for the formation of Black Mesa: Source under the 'Leakfree Modification Team' handle in September 2004.