Why Half Life 3 isn't being released...

Links234

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=50lSIaSR3zc

This is unbelievably sad, if true.

strelok

is anybody actually like.. really genuinely excited about half life 3 anymore?

Falthyron

One way in which Valve might be forced to release Half-Life 3 is the United States' anti-trust laws. Should Steam continue to grow and dominate online publishing platforms, the U.S. might force Valve to dissolve a part of its company for introduce measures to support competition. This was the case with Standard Oil in 1911 and today, this is being explored with the case of Google. Should Valve be forced to split, perhaps then it would need to release and publish games as a developer in order to keep the Valve trademark and name going.

Also, another game that has got the hype train running at maximum and is highly anticipated is Fallout 4. If Bethesda can do it, and survive, then so can Valve.

EDIT: And yes, I am genuinely excited for Half-Life 3. All I need is an announcement I will pre-order the collector's edition. I wouldn't even need to see a screenshot, nevermind a trailer or gameplay. It is just one of those extremely few games that is iconic of a golden age of computer games.

Links234

strelok wrote: »

is anybody actually like.. really genuinely excited about half life 3 anymore?

Honestly? Yes. Expectation wise, I know it's not exactly going to reinvent the wheel, and that's fine, a game doesn't have to in order to be good. I'll use Wolfenstein: The New Order as an example, it was a fairly standard FPS that just did what it did best and was a fantastic game for it. But at the heart of it I know Valve would make a good game, looking at the more story driven games they've done Portal 1 & 2 are absolutely incredible, engrossing experiences. I seriously doubt it would turn out to be another Duke Nukem Forever.

Oafley Jones

strelok wrote: »

is anybody actually like.. really genuinely excited about half life 3 anymore?

It's been almost eight years since episode 2. They were great experiences but I've long moved on. I sometimes wonder what the actually demand for 3 is? Is it a real thing. The desire seems to be more of a running joke/meme than anything else at this stage.

strelok

Links234 wrote: »

Honestly? Yes. Expectation wise, I know it's not exactly going to reinvent the wheel, and that's fine, a game doesn't have to in order to be good. I'll use Wolfenstein: The New Order as an example, it was a fairly standard FPS that just did what it did best and was a fantastic game for it. But at the heart of it I know Valve would make a good game, looking at the more story driven games they've done Portal 1 & 2 are absolutely incredible, engrossing experiences. I seriously doubt it would turn out to be another Duke Nukem Forever.

ah yeah if it came out i'd play it and i'm sure it'd be fun, grand, very good, great.. whatever

it's just it inspires (or at least used to, it seems everyone is really sick of it at this stage) such a devotional level of excitement that I do not understand.

*shrug*

I'm not really bummed about hl3 not being released but I'll happily join in on any moba-hate train that gets going.

The_Valeyard

Okay, let's be reasoned and calm. Let's burn Valve.

Simi

Yeah kinda what I figured. They really don't need the money, so they don't want to shift resources to game development. Maybe a few years from now they'll get the development itch & we'll see a left 4 dead 3, portal 3 & maybe then a half life 3.

Links234

strelok wrote: »

ah yeah if it came out i'd play it and i'm sure it'd be fun, grand, very good, great.. whatever

it's just it inspires (or at least used to, it seems everyone is really sick of it at this stage) such a devotional level of excitement that I do not understand.

*shrug*

I'm not really bummed about hl3 not being released but I'll happily join in on any moba-hate train that gets going.

I think there's so much more than just HL3 not being released, because if the reasons for it not being released are true, then that's a seriously way bigger issue than just one game. You know, you've got all these situations like the bomb threat at Gearbox last year, and just the other day John Smedley stepped down as CEO of Daybreak because of the **** he got, most notably having a flight he was on diverted cos of a bomb threat, but also:

"I've also been swatted (multiple times) and had over 50 false credit applications submitted in my name and had to deal with the ramifications of what happens to your credit when this kind of thing happens. It's not good. And to top it all off they decided to submit false tax returns."

If devs are afraid to release a game because they'll recieve similar treatment, then that's absolutely all kinds of f*cked. It's a serious "THIS IS WHY WE CAN'T HAVE NICE THINGS!" kind of issue.

strelok

i think that argument has as much going for it as developers being afraid to release games because anita sarkeesian will set her mob on them.

yeah, maybe.. in the back of their minds they'll be sort of thinking about that.. but it's just overblown hype. no one at valve is keeping hl3 under wraps because of the terror waiting to be unleashed by the neckbearded or legbearded hordes.


the real worrying reason (if true) for me is the mass effect ending one. that is pretty unique to gaming and has absolutely no good sides to it. no one came out of that **** storm smelling good.

Monotype

Maybe this is just to disguise the fact that Half-Life 3 is to be announced NEXT WEEK! :eek:

I'd say Left 4 Dead 3 is probably still on the books. There's been bits of evidence that it's in development - hopefully a bigger scale team than was described for HL3.

It's a much smaller risk than HL3 - HL3 would be expected to be a new standard in gaming mechanics, have a good story and is their flagship icon.

Left 4 Dead, on the other hand, doesn't need a strong story. If one map is not favoured by the fans, that's okay as there's other to play. Mechanics don't need a big overhaul; bring it to the new engine, add a few new features and there's more scope to refine the game as they did with L4D2 than a Half-life campaign on release. If L4D3 got a good release, it could give them the confidence to go back to HL.

There's been plenty of older games coming back with success stories lately - wolfenstein and shadow warrior were well received in the FPS world. Comparing to mass effect is not really fair as you don't shape the world in that kind of way in the likes of HL.

fergus1001

Gaben is the false prophet of pc gaming

As long as I get to play it before I pop my clogs I don't mind, It doesn't have to reinvent the wheel I just want questions answered that's all

Who even is the G man !?

Omikron1

fergus1001 wrote: »

Who even is the G man !?

Shhhhhh! *Looks around* Them's dangerous words!

fergus1001

Omikron1 wrote:

Shhhhhh! *Looks around* Them's dangerous words!

Doctor omerikon1. I realize this moment may not be the most convenient for a 'heart-to-heart', but I had to wait until the op was otherwise occupied. Hm.
There was a time you cared nothing for half life... When your only experience of humanity was a doom runing down steel corridors. When I completed Black Mesa, I acted in the face of objections that it wasn't finished and I should wait. I have learned to ignore such naysayers when... quelling them... was out of the question.
Still, I am not one to squander my investments... and I remain confident that half life was worth far more than the initial... appraisal.

Lemming

TBH, the topic subject and article are misleading. Not once do the guys in that video say that HL3 is never ever in a month of Sundays coming out, just "not right now" apparently. Which is the same as any prediction for any other computer game ever until the developer/publisher makes an official announcement about expected/actual release dates.

Skerries

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

fergus1001

I'm still optimistic about hl3 coming out for vr it will be announced out of nowhere

Monotype

Valve are just paying people to do these videos to drum up hype for the next release.

Gbear

The criminal justice system is still grappling with issues they obviously had arseways 40 years ago - sentencing for non-violent crimes, the drug war and so on.

Now a whole new system of communication has arrived. How long do you think it's going to take them sort that out?

The laughable proposals by the technologically illiterate boggers in the Dail and even more so, the Seanad, and the Tory government (who's voter base is very strongly on the geriatric end of the age spectrum), are pretty big clues.


Everyone with any sort of public presence these days is open to attack by the subset of dribbling clungebuckets that take the leap from posting overstated, but ultimately harmless rants into genuine criminal activity, so I'm not sure I really think it's that credible as an excuse for not developing this game.

The video Links posted brought up ME3, but how much of an effect did it really have on EA or Bioware?
As far as I'm aware, people are still frothing at the mouth for the next ME game, SWTOR is doing reasonably well and people would give both their feet and half their intestines for a new KOTOR game.
Any issues people had with EA long pre-date ME's rather tepid and pointless ending.



Mechanics aren't something that really draw me to a game - to me they're something you can only really appreciate once you get your hands on it.
So I don't know what I'm missing by not getting HL3.

With that being the case, and with the story being pretty uninteresting to me, I'm not actually all that arsed about the game.
I can't say I actually understand the hype - I think it developed it's own momentum and people are more hyped about the idea of the game than anything concrete about the game itself.

Lemming

TBH, it's hard to quantify the damage done to Bioware's prestige by the string of disappointments that were ME3, Dragon Age 2, and Star Wars: The Old Republic. Whilst none have been commercial "flops", they didn't exactly set the world on fire either and were essentially wasted franchise offerings. Do I think Bioware or EA will wither and die? No, certainly not. But I do think that Bioware have lost their shine; but that's to be expected when EA is running the show at the end of the day.

I think the only part of the video that merits any real consideration is that Valve are accutely aware of the legacy that HL3 will have to carry. Not because some people will act like bell-ends and send fake death/bomb threats, but rather because the HL franchise is what made Valve and releasing something that was not a worthy pass of the baton in progressing the story risks that legacy. In short, they are unwilling to releasing something that they might consider sub-par and risk ruining what is an otherwise incredibly lucrative franchise.

Maximus Alexander

Gbear wrote: »

I can't say I actually understand the hype - I think it developed it's own momentum and people are more hyped about the idea of the game than anything concrete about the game itself.

The reason for the hype is pretty straightforward for me. Valve developed two genre defining titles in HL and HL2, along with fostering a mod community that went on to produce some fantastic offshoots and total conversions. They then followed up with the Portal games which are unique and brilliant in their own right.

People know that if HL3 is realised, they can expect the same again. Valve never disappoint, they never fart out anything half arsed, and they always provide the tools for creative people to extend it in ways that were never anticipated.

The specifics of what HL3 will be don't matter, it's the promise of the quality and longevity of the experience that excites.

TheDoc

I've never, at any point, felt any "hype" for HL3.

While I enjoyed and liked Half life, I never finished Half Life 2, and probably wouldn't factor them into my top 5 PC games, at any stage.

Falthyron

TheDoc wrote: »

I've never, at any point, felt any "hype" for HL3.

While I enjoyed and liked Half life, I never finished Half Life 2, and probably wouldn't factor them into my top 5 PC games, at any stage.

Out of interest, when did you play HL2?

ScumLord

If there is a HL3 coming I would have thought VR was the perfect time to introduce it. VR allows them to make a genre defining game on a somewhat new platform. Half Life has always brought a very immersive experience, that was always part of it's appeal and it would be incredible in VR.

I don't think they'd necessarily shy away from realising it on a niche platform of VR either. HL2 was an utter pain for me to use when it came out because of steam. I really resented having to go through steam when I was on a dial up connection, but now we see years later steam is a fundamental part of the PC gaming experience. I think they'd want the next half life to have the same effect on VR.

TheDoc

Falthyron wrote: »

Out of interest, when did you play HL2?

Would have been around release.

Falthyron

TheDoc wrote: »

Would have been around release.

Surprising that you found it so 'meh', then. No other game, technologically or graphically could compare. Moreover, it was far more immersive with story-telling, characters, and atmosphere.

There was nothing like it that came before, and it took a few years for something that could challenge it.

I know people who tried to play HL2 now and struggle with the more dated features and graphics - which is understandable. But, in the context of late 2004, Half-life 2 was a huge breath of fresh air for gaming. It could not be matched.

I suppose that is why there is a lot of anticipation about HL3. There are many stale genres and games being developed today. One hopes that the injection of something like HL3, would mirror the revolutionary change in the games industry that HL2 brought about.