Ladies and gentlemen, Half-Life 3 is coming. We just need to be patient. There still hasn’t been any official confirmation about the next episode/sequel in the Half-Life series, so we’ve all had to live off of rumors, speculation and (what we thinks are) teases of the upcoming inevitable announcement.
Today, we have what may be the biggest tease yet but this one isn’t a rumor; it comes from Valve.
In September, Half-Life 3 weapon names were reportedly found inside the beta client code for Valve’s DOTA 2 and not long after, Valve front man Gabe Newell replied to a fan about Half-Life 2: Episode 3 in a very odd fashion. Skip forward a few months and we have a Valve employee spotted wearing a Half-Life 3 shirt at a developers conference, followed by a screenshot of what looks to be Half-Life 3 steam achievements.
And while some eager games have been following along in the supposed Half-Life 3 ARG (alternate reality game) thanks to Twitter accounts including @Doug_Rattmann, Newell himself confirmed that they are not running any such ARG, confirming this all to be fake.
[Update: We spoke with Valve who confirmed for us that the following emails are fabricated and not from Gabe Newell.]
But don’t fret, Newell isn’t here to bring down fan hopes if some screenshots of emails are to be believed. In response to a rather disgusting email sent from a collective of 4chan users, mostly focused on Half-Life references, Newell confirmed that Valve will be coming to next summer’s E3 with a major announcement. Below is what he said in his two emails:
“I don’t suppose it will ease your wrath if I told you we’re announcing all of your favorite things at E3 2012?”
“I can see how the wording caused some confusion there. Yes we are announcing something with a three in it.”
Is it an early announcement of Portal 3? No. Is it Left 4 Dead 3? Probably not. Is this email even real? We hope so [Update: They're not].
After having no presence at E3 2011 and having no news regarding the next Half-Life game in years, Valve could finally be ready to unveil what they’ve undoubtedly been working on for years: Half-Life 3, a game we expect is shipping with a brand new game engine.
Half-Life 2 came out and blew away the industry with the Source engine, and that was after delays and a major leak of the game. Needless to say, expectations for Half-Life 3 are through the roof and with the source engine showings its age, expect Valve to help push the industry forward once again with the next Gordon Freeman adventure.
It should be noted that Newell previously stated that Valve is done with episodic content so, considering it’s been quite some time since Half Life 2: Episode 2, it’s expected that instead of an “episode 3″ we’re going to get a full standalone sequel with Half-Life 3.
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Source: Complex
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New game engine? Why are they wasting their time? Didn’t they see the news that MW3 surpassed $1B in a little more than 2 weeks?? There’s no need to waste time with “innovation” or “new” things or anything like that with today’s consumers. Standards are pretty low, don’t know why they even bother to aim so high…
lol, I know you’re joking but there is an important discussion point here.
Half-Life is a single-player experience and the engine they craft for it is what they’ll use for all their next-gen games.
Well, I’m glad that Valve is one of the few companies left that doesn’t just try to cash in on everything and actually tries to release something they think their fans will enjoy. They also don’t subscribe to the “let’s use piracy as our lame excuse to not support PC’s when our real reason is because the profit margins are higher on consoles” philosophy that so many other companies do…
I actually would like Left 4 Dead 3 with a new engine and all that good stuff but it’s probably a new Half Life game.
Oh, come on, folks. All of this stuff has been proven to be COMPLETELY fake. Do your homework next time you cash in on Valve rumours: http://lambdageneration.com/posts/lets-debunk-some-fake-half-life-3-rumors-with-vic-fake-e-mails-fake-twitter-accounts-and-more/
We know the ARG is fake. We don’t know if the emails are and that site doesn’t have confirmation either way – we’re still waiting on Valve’s response to our inquiries.
I sure hope it is for Half Life 3 but there is also the possibility of Left 4 Dead 3 and Portal 3 or even Team Fortress 3. So that is four possibilities right there.
Valve got back to us. The Newell emails about E3 are fake.
I think I speak for the most of us when I say… “Duh”.
This is why most news sites choose to check their sources before posting a big headline like that.
@Strandli,
That’s easy to say after the fact. If you’ve followed along, the previous Newell stories came from emails as well, so we report what’s out there and follow-up ourselves… like we did.
I did follow.
I read the original mail being sent to Gabe, it was gibberish. Why would they pretty much confirm an announcement this early so easily? “Oh, an borderline insulting mail of gibberish. I guess I should tell them we’re making an announcement at E3.”
That wouldn’t make any sense at all. And faking these e-mails are really simple. So when people start talking about a potential ARG, other people will use the chance to fool the community.
So aside from being totally out of character of both Valve and Gabe Newell, you guys should really try to not jump on these stories so easily. It looks really, really stupid. I don’t care if you “followed up” like some super respected journalist, it looks like you’re digging for a scoop where there isn’t anything.
“Rumor: The earth is flat, says crazy hobo outside 7/11.”
“REPORT: UPDATE, the earth is not flat after all. JOURNALISM!1one!!”
I’m exaggerating here, but seriously. No need to look for gold where you won’t even find a penny.
Thanks for the advice.
He’s right, I love butterflies.
Provide all the snarky comebacks you want; I won’t be reading your website any more, and I’ll tell others to do the same in future.
OH NOOOOOooossss!!!111 Gloone will not be reading this website anymore!!!! :’(
“… and I’ll tell others to do the same in future.”
Wow.
stop bitching if you googled valve e3 2012 TONS of sites posted on this dont act like Game Rant is the only site that fell for it
Okay so I want to confirm. The emails about HL3 at E3 are faked and we really are back to square one correct?
There’s nothing official about Valve at this year’s E3 (no one’s officially announced their presentations) and Valve confirmed there’s no ARG.
@Rob, just ban Strandi. im sick of reading his garbage. like the whole world was gonna end just bc you reported about something that turned out to be fake.
lol, we just ignore it. We sure as hell aren’t going to stop reporting major unconfirmed news items. That’s the job and so are troll-like tweets and comments like Kim’s today. We’re not a press release factory.
Thanks for your comment
@Rob speaking of banning… how about this?
god dangit!! idk what the hell valve is waiting for its been long enough
Getting these non-stop. Doing out best to block as they come though.