VAAALVE!!!
feckin valve
Seriously? man epidodes my ass if it was gona take this long they should of just released the damn half life 2: Aftermath like they planed and then did half life 3 releasing next year with a new engine etc. instead we wait 4 years for an “episode”.
Thank fuck for the BM team that BM will release this year to tide us over…right? :fffuuu:
Edit: holy shit im no longer a cockroach yay!
Game not mod
I hope it is. And I think your right Broken, its probably going to be released as the most advanced version of the Source engine yet. They now have fun little technologies gained from L4D they can implement, like the Music and AI Directors. For Episode 3, Imagine enemies and the level dynamically changing the path you take in the game depending on how well or poor you do. For portal 2, imagine entire puzzles changing based on how much difficulty you incurred on the last puzzle. Pacing of the game being determined by the players stress level (something developed for L4D). No more long areas with little to do in HL, if the stress level says the player is more relaxed, it could bump up the next attack on you. It would be different each time you play. That would add a lot of replay value to a single player game. Plus I am sure they are working to take full advantage of technologies they introduced in Episode 2 like cinematic physics. You know they will have their own face creation system since BM does. They probably don’t want to be outdone by a mod. So it will be cool to look at BM and say I wonder how much more awesome Valve may want to squeeze in because of it.
I would kinda like to see the Final battle of Episode 2 run by the AI director. If you do too well, the director could block the shortest path to your next target by falling a tree which blocks the road, and more. Or the last two conflicts in portal, the one with all the sentries and Glados. Imagine the area changing on you do to make it more/less difficult. Thats one thing I have always craved from boss battles. Once you know how to defeat the last bad guy, it becomes easy, and theres less build up of anticipation. Once hard to beat enemies soon become easy.
When I think of these things, I get excited and it gets alittle hard to stay mad at Valve. A little hard anyway…
honestly, I think the extra time is mostly being spent hashing out all the storyline, gameplay, and launch details, rather than engine upgrades. Think about all the things they have to deal with:
1.) Lingering feelings from death in Ep2. How will this affect Alyx?
2.) Borealis/Portal/GlaDOS tie in? (thin line between “not enough” and “too much”)
3.) Helicopter? LET US FLY damnit!
4.) SNOW… seriously, how the hell are they going to make snow look interesting? How are they going to make it fun to play in? Gravity gun = Ultimate snowball battle?
5.) What is Gman getting out of all of this? Who the hell is he working for?
6.) How do you deal with Advisor’s psychic powers?
7.) What about Breen who was hinted at still being around back in HL2 and Ep1?
8.) What is going to be included with the release of Ep3? HL2+Ep1 upgraded to OB engine? add (HL2+Ep1) achievements? add (HL2) HDR and commentary?
9.) Ep1 = fight Zombine(glimpse of Hunter), Ep2 = fight Hunter(sorta fight Advisor), Ep3 = fight Advisor? Any other new enemies?
10.) Seriously, how is this going to end? Successfully wrap everything up? Or yet another cliffhanger type situation where Freeman’s ultimate fate is totally up in the air.
^ Yeah, I don’t care about an updated engine as much as a good story line.
Also: WTF is up with portal 2. Anyone got any news other than (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Portal_(video_game)#Portal_2)?
Holy shit is that real?? Looks like Gabe’s Night Elf Mohawk got ganked. 
On topic: Dudes, when has Valve ever released a bad game? The story won’t suck, stop worrying about it. Valve always take their sweet time but they deliver. As for using the AI director for it, eh, seems unlikely. It will remain a linear game, but probably with larger areas that we saw in Ep.2. I would like to see at least one new inventory weapon, surely they can get creative and give us another sciency weapon along the lines of the Grav Gun. New enemies would be great too. There should be some news about it this year though, unless Valve wants the feel the fury of thousands of nerdboys beating their manly chests.
A new engine (or major features) is the only thing that would justify the delay at this point. I think any less and we would all feel a little let down.
I mean, how sad would it be if Ep3 looked worse than BMS? Quite an embarassment for Valve.
Granted, they have a lot to think about, but it’s been 3 years. And if there is a new engine, I better get a WYSIWYG editor out of it.
Valve is waiting for Black Mesa release. To make a new “Black Box” =)
also, Black Mesa team is waiting for Ep3 release to make a… You got the point.
Having read this topic, I’m even more impressed with what Valve and also the BM devs are doing and they’re clearly both taking care to release something that’s really high quality even if it takes more time.
Hopefully, by the time each project is released, I can upgrade my pc so I can play these well.
I’m willing to wait patiently for them (though I have only just got into half life so I haven’t been waiting so long anyway).
Half Life Forever? Saying that is ridiculous. Episode3 is going to be amazing, and well worth the wait.
:fffuuu:
Was sorta expecting it though. Else we would have gotten SOMETHING already.
There’s hope for mid 2011 if they start popping out trailers mid-late 2010.
Please, please do yourself a favor and read something before you go around playing Paul Revere. Just look at all these people you have upset. What a mess you’ve made. Shame on you.
Just so everyone knows, contrary to what this thread says, this is NOT confirmed. In fact, there is absolutely no basis to it whatsoever other than Game Informer’s “source”, whom they do not list. In fact, I think it is even in the “rumor” or “speculation” or “whatever they call it” section of the mag.
I bet, if anything, they are just trying to light a fire under Valve by spreading rumors that Valve might feel forced to comment on, revealing something in the process. That’s what happens when you’re so tight lipped about something… the news hungry journalists start spreading things themselves.
My hunch is that this is BS, but we’ll see…
…
QUIT HOLDING OUT ON US, VALVE!! 
Agreed. Considering they haven’t even gotten a hold of VALVe yet pretty much invalidates this article. Also, I think the name of this thread should change fron “Confirmed” to “Speculation”
EDIT:
Game Informer Magazine (Feb 2010):
https://gameinformer.com/mag/default.aspx
Nothing in there about EP3. This is a sham.
Well just because it isn’t there doesn’t mean it isn’t a little snippet in the magazine. Remember, no one claimed the mag had a full article dedicated to this. Again, it was just in their little rumor section.
But that is a moot point, because even if it is in the mag it is still most likely a sham. There is no source listed or anything to back it up.
It is amazing to me how all the game sites are posting this as news without the proper introduction. I guess everyone is just hungry for more HL. I can’t blame them.
Key word “rumor”
I can die happy then anyway, so, I say it’s an optimistic look.