Half-Life: Alyx (formerly: Half Life 3 is coming??)

Dyr

Maybe they're not into milking a franchise for all its worth.

Or maybe they havent seen a way that the next instalment can live up to its predecessors impact so they've held off

Sierra Oscar

Bambi wrote: »

Or maybe they havent seen a way that the next instalment can live up to its predecessors impact so they've held off

That is the most likely expectation, and it likely explains as to why development of Half Life 2: Episode 3 was shelved shortly after the release of Episode 2 leaving just a small team to work on thrashing out concepts for a subsequent Half Life game. I have a feeling that many developers at Valve moved to start working on a 'Half Life 3' game during the closing stages of Portal 2's development.

A lot of developers were seemingly absent from working on CS:GO, despite Valve trying to portray an image that the entire team was heavily involved in the project. It sort of leads me to believe that Valve are working on something, that has yet to be unveiled, since the mid-development cycle of Portal 2 right through to now.

Skerries

Overheal wrote: »

Then why cant he tell the people that gave them a career what the massive hold up is on the next installment

wow, that sounded ridiculously self entitled. I must be really annoyed.

no, no I'll allow it

COYVB

Overheal wrote: »

Then why cant he tell the people that gave them a career what the massive hold up is on the next installment

Conversely, why can't the people who have gotten so much enjoyment from his work allow him to do it in peace, and when/if a new installment is ready, they can enjoy that too

[/devil's advocate]

wyrn

Sierra Oscar wrote: »

That is the most likely expectation, and it likely explains as to why development of Half Life 2: Episode 3 was shelved shortly after the release of Episode 2 leaving just a small team to work on thrashing out concepts for a subsequent Half Life game. I have a feeling that many developers at Valve moved to start working on a 'Half Life 3' game during the closing stages of Portal 2's development.

A lot of developers were seemingly absent from working on CS:GO, despite Valve trying to portray an image that the entire team was heavily involved in the project. It sort of leads me to believe that Valve are working on something, that has yet to be unveiled, since the mid-development cycle of Portal 2 right through to now.

Please don't give me any false hope. I refuse to believe there will be a HL3 announcement and even if there was, there'll be a lot of waiting around.

I should my sub to this thread and yet I cannot bring myself to do it.
At least I'll have Thief 4 and Mirror's Edge 2 to console me.

C14N

stevenmu wrote: »

Apparently they're spreading the announcements out. So on Monday we will get Announcement 1, then on Tuesday we will get Announcement 2, then on Wednesday we will have Announcement 2: Episode 1.

Or announcement 3 will just be put into development hell and 5 years from now we'll be making petitions demanding Valve release Announcement 3.

Overheal wrote: »

Then why cant he tell the people that gave them a career what the massive hold up is on the next installment

I know you're joking, but really it's just a case of nobody in Valve has the authority to say "right lads, we're going to make Half Life 3 now". It requires enough people to individually get together and say "I want to work on HL3" and honestly, with all of the hype surrounding it and after seeing how badly Duke Nukem's eventual release went, I can see why so few of the employees want to get involved. There is almost nothing they can do to make the game as good as people think it will be. I'd say if they ever pick it up again, it will be when the hype has eventually subsided and people just don't care that much anymore :pac:

I wonder if any of the announcements might be a new Valve IP? That would be interesting, especially since the only single player games they've made since HL2 have been Portal and Portal 2.

grizzly

This is probably the wrong thread to mention this, as people reading this are probably among the biggest Half Life fans out there. But I can't get that excited about the next HL.

I enjoyed the previous games, the world was fantastic but after two play throughs I didn't want to redo them. The set pieces were great, but the basic shooter combat got a little dull for me after the 10th hour. The vehicle levels I found uninspiring.

I fear that many people might be disappointed with whatever the next installment brings, with all the weight of expectation that is on it. HF2 was realised nearly ten years ago and games have come on so much in those years. The Last of Us being a partially high bar in this type of game combining action and storytelling.

*If they include the portal gun I may eat all these words.

jazz101

I never found HL that great. Sure, HL2 is pretty fun but it has little replay value and it's actual playstyle is fairly antiquated and basic - shoot and move. No stealth, no alternate approach methods and no tactical element to the game. Fine if you enjoy a blunt FPS but not for me. The only really interesting thing at the time was its physics system, which has long since been outstripped.

Give me a good Deus Ex 1 sequel any day.

grizzly

C14N wrote: »

There is almost nothing they can do to make the game as good as people think it will be.

jazz101 wrote: »

I never found HL that great. Sure, HL2 is pretty fun but it has little replay value and it's actual playstyle is fairly antiquated and basic - shoot and move. No stealth, no alternate approach methods and no tactical element to the game. Fine if you enjoy a blunt FPS but not for me.

Funny I was half expecting to have my post removed for trolling, while at the same time these two post were being written :P

C14N

grizzly wrote: »

Funny I was half expecting to have my post removed for trolling, while at the same time these two post were being written :P

It's not trolling, it's just your opinion. Trolling would be

"Half Life is the worst game I ever played, it doesn't even have a multiplayer mode. Activision are way more creative which is why I'm more excited for Call of Duty Ghosts, you guys all just need to get laid! lol!!!"

I'm serious about HL3 though. Even just through jokes it has been put on this sort of pedestal where "pretty good" will mean "overwhelming failure".

CiDeRmAn

Oh Half Life is only antiquated like Galaga is outdated, sure there are games that do it better now, but is still a well designed, smooth experience.
And don't knock linear, HL2 and the subsequent episodes are linear.
Half Life did so much bet than everyone else and, playing the Black Mesa remake, it's still fantastic.
I only wish they'd bring the remake to the current gen consoles.
I have the PS2 and leaked DC versions of Half Life and they are pretty good.
I reckon my grandkids can look forward to HL3 at this stage.

ancapailldorcha

grizzly wrote: »

*If they include the portal gun I may eat all these words.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sLo6uL3OW3s

Magill

grizzly wrote: »

This is probably the wrong thread to mention this, as people reading this are probably among the biggest Half Life fans out there. But I can't get that excited about the next HL.

I enjoyed the previous games, the world was fantastic but after two play throughs I didn't want to redo them. The set pieces were great, but the basic shooter combat got a little dull for me after the 10th hour. The vehicle levels I found uninspiring.

I fear that many people might be disappointed with whatever the next installment brings, with all the weight of expectation that is on it. HF2 was realised nearly ten years ago and games have come on so much in those years. The Last of Us being a partially high bar in this type of game combining action and storytelling.

*If they include the portal gun I may eat all these words.

Its not like they're just gonna do HL2.5 tho... whenever it does come out it'll be on the new engine, and who knows what that'll bring. Its also not like Valve are known for letting people down with their games ! Portal 2 was only released 2 years ago and was many peoples GOTY.

I can understand people not being a fan of the series, but really don't get where people are coming from when they talk about it like its going to be the next duke nukem forever !

For me, im more excited about the whole next generation of valve games than just this single title. Valve are probably the one company that supports its modding community more than others, so with the new engine im expecting some excellent new mods and community driven content. I'd also imagine TF3/L4D3 will follow within a couple of years of the first game on Source 2.0.

Sierra Oscar

grizzly wrote: »

I fear that many people might be disappointed with whatever the next installment brings, with all the weight of expectation that is on it. HF2 was realised nearly ten years ago and games have come on so much in those years. The Last of Us being a partially high bar in this type of game combining action and storytelling.

In fairness though, it is not as if the next Half Life will have been built using technology that is a decade old ...

You can be sure that the next instalment will mark the series having come a long way since Half Life 2, in the same way that Half Life 2 was a major leap forward from Half Life 1. Also keep in mind that it is pretty much a certainty now that the next Half Life game will be built using the Source 2 engine - and I have high expectations for that engine.

BeerWolf

Absolutely

Sierra Oscar wrote: »

In fairness though, it is not as if the next Half Life will have been built using technology that is a decade old ...

You can be sure that the next instalment will mark the series having come a long way since Half Life 2, in the same way that Half Life 2 was a major leap forward from Half Life 1. Also keep in mind that it is pretty much a certainty now that the next Half Life game will be built using the Source 2 engine - and I have high expectations for that engine.

Indeed - Half Life always brought about new innovative ideas and tech. HL1 and 2 were both ground breaking back then. HL3 should hold up true tothis.

MadYaker

Oculus Rift.

johnny_ultimate

grizzly wrote: »

I enjoyed the previous games, the world was fantastic but after two play throughs I didn't want to redo them.

A game 'only' justified two whole playthroughs, yet this is considered a bad thing? That's pretty excellent for a single player shooter. Give me one engrossing campaign playthrough over three or four buffed out with annoying difficulty modes or meaningless collectibles. If a campaign like Half Life keeps you engrossed for one playthrough, then that is a frankly an unqualified success.

Plenty of valid criticisms to be levelled at the Half Life games, but replayability (that darn word again) is something Valve rightly did not get hung up about when making the two Half Life games. They're stronger for it.

BeerWolf

Absolutely

johnny_ultimate wrote: »

A game 'only' justified two whole playthroughs, yet this is considered a bad thing? That's pretty excellent for a single player shooter. Give me one engrossing campaign playthrough over three or four buffed out with annoying difficulty modes or meaningless collectibles. If a campaign like Half Life keeps you engrossed for one playthrough, then that is a frankly an unqualified success.

Plenty of valid criticisms to be levelled at the Half Life games, but replayability (that darn word again) is something Valve rightly did not get hung up about when making the two Half Life games. They're stronger for it.

Nevermind the fact their games had massive amounts of mods for it. HL1 was still popular 10 years on, after release, in the modding community!

Sir Digby Chicken Caesar

johnny_ultimate wrote: »

A game 'only' justified two whole playthroughs, yet this is considered a bad thing? That's pretty excellent for a single player shooter. Give me one engrossing campaign playthrough over three or four buffed out with annoying difficulty modes or meaningless collectibles. If a campaign like Half Life keeps you engrossed for one playthrough, then that is a frankly an unqualified success.

Plenty of valid criticisms to be levelled at the Half Life games, but replayability (that darn word again) is something Valve rightly did not get hung up about when making the two Half Life games. They're stronger for it.

i dunno, i think replayability is pretty important in a game. so long as nothing is sacrificed for it, the ability for a game to keep you going for 2-3 runs through it is something worth looking for.

would you be happy with a film you were only going to watch once? out of all the films i've seen there's only one that I actually liked that i'm 100% never going to watch again.. all the rest will be trotted out at various intervals until I die, the same with most of my games.

I don't think I'll ever be able to replay witcher 2 though... dark souls ruined it for me.

stevenmu

For me, while both Half Life games have been great games in their own right, they've also both been a leap forward in gaming, and that's the most exciting thing about a potential Half Life 3.

While they may not have been completely revolutionary technology wise, they have taken new and emerging technologies (like motion capture, facial animation, physics engines etc) and shown how they can be used productively to enhance the gaming experience. A very obvious example is the gravity gun, at the time HL2 came out, games were starting to include richer physics models and more interactive environments, but the gravity gun was one of the first examples of it becoming a major enjoyable game mechanic rather than a pretty gimmick.

Both games have also progressed the art of story telling within games, allowing the plot and story to be exposed around you as you play the game, rather than taking you out of the game to tell reveal plot details before letting you play again. Unfortunate many games, including some major blockbusters, still rely on cutscenes and locked down set pieces, but I'm hoping HL3 will show them all how to do it properly. Again.

Lastly, HL1 and HL2 had 2 of the best intros ever, I really want to see what they have lined up for HL3 (and I really hope it includes the Rift).

Sierra Oscar

Am I the only one that thinks that all of the Half Life games have been pretty good on the re-playability side of things?

I couldn't count the amount of times I have played Half Life 1 & Half Life 2 and the various expansions / episodes over the years. Yeah OK I might not replay the games again immediately after I have finished a play through, but I still enjoy coming back to them down the line. I will be doing a play-through of all the Half Life games again in the run up to the release of Half Life 3. The storyline is captivating too.

At the end of the day Half Life is not an RPG and was never intended to be.

wyrn

I suppose my point of view may be slightly different. I'm not a fan of shooter games, I suck at them. I'm so woeful that I kept killing Michael at the start of GTA V. Didn't realise there was a tiny dot of a marker.

However, I do love Half-Life and I have replayed it several times. For me, I quite like loner aspect of Gordon and the atmosphere of the dystopian society. Loved going through the random villages or walking along the beams on the bridge. I really liked the story line. It could be because this is the kind of genre of books I'd read and this appealed to me.

I do think Valve are holding out on HL3 because they want to give it some new dimension. HL was very insular in that it was about a guy going to work and having the day(s) from hell where everyone was out to get him. HL2 took it to another level, gave it depth with the storyline - take Ravenholm, G-Man, the lives of the other scientists while Gordon had been "sleeping". It was all very intriguing. Or at times fun and wtf like Dr Kleiners speech about the Combine's reproduction suppression field.

Not sure how Valve can make HL3 live up to the hype.

Myrddin

Sierra Oscar wrote: »

Am I the only one that thinks that all of the Half Life games have been pretty good on the re-playability side of things?

Nope, I've played through them multiple times. While I admit there's no time quite like the first playthrough, subsequent playthroughs were still immensely enjoyable for me. If HL3 ever does get announced/released, I intend on doing a full run through of all HL games beforehand

Kiith

I've played through them multiple times as well. I just love how it can tell a story, without shoving cutscenes in your face. Great characters and some great set pieces.

Antar Bolaeisk

Five and a half hours until the first announcement going by that coutdown clock on http://store.steampowered.com/livingroom

bizmark

Antar Bolaeisk wrote: »

Five and a half hours until the first announcement going by that coutdown clock on http://store.steampowered.com/livingroom

will be a linix based steam box or something like that dont get your hopes up for hl 3

Tar.Aldarion

Dunno how anybody thought it would be anything to do with HL3, it's about interconnecting devices in the livingroom.

Kiith

Tar.Aldarion wrote: »

Dunno how anybody thought it would be anything to do with HL3, it's about interconnecting devices in the livingroom.

We'll believe just about anything at this stage

death1234567

Tar.Aldarion wrote: »

Dunno how anybody thought it would be anything to do with HL3, it's about interconnecting devices in the livingroom.

I thought they were going to annouce that Half Life 3 was going to be a sim called "at home with Gordon" where you control Gordon Freeman as he does his day to day tasks in his living room.

I am disappoint.

bizmark

Gordon freeman marriage simulation his name is ironic