Police Join Half Life 2 Episode 3 Protest

[Update: The Half-Life 3 trademark was removed - was it a hoax?]

Last week Valve made three announcements in the SteamOS, Steam Machines and the Steam Controller. Fans were holding out for some kind of news on Half-Life 3 - or Portal 3 or Left 4 Dead 3, etc. - but alas, no word came leaving many to wonder if the game will ever see the light of day. Although before that disappointment has even cooled, Valve is out again leaving hints and playing with fan's hearts. Two hints specifically.

Firstly, NeoGAF users pointed out that Valve has picked up the trademark for Half-Life 3 in Europe. The trademark currently covers  "computer game software" and "downloadable computer game software via a global computer network and wireless devices." Supposedly, the second clarification would be referring to Steam, which is now set to take over the living room. As of yet, this kind of trademark doesn't exist in the United States.

Adding fuel to the fire, a second bit of information emerged from within Valve itself. As pointed out by a Reddit poster, The User Picker, Valve's project management software, briefly showed 'Half-Life 3' and 'Half-Life 3 Core' as selectable categories. The projects had 46 people working on the former and 10 on the latter. It is an interesting development as the list gave the personnel working on the projects, some being veterans from Half-Life 2.

Half-Life Concept Art Real

Of course, as with anything Half-Life 3 related, take this all with a pinch of salt. There have been many rumors and internal slips like this for years and thus far, they haven't turned up fruitful. It is also worth noting that Valve has never outright denied the existence of Half-Life 3 and it shouldn't be surprising that the game has a development team.

Having said that, it is interesting that straight after Valve announced their plans to make Steam more accessible, these two bits of information surfaced so close together. Positioning Half-Life 3 next to the release of their Steam Machines would be a massive draw for the platform, and if Valve had the audacity to make it an exclusive to their own consoles... well, that would a pretty bold move to get them selling.

Do these two bits of information coming so close to Valve's announcement renew your hope that Gordon Freeman could be coming out of box soon? Do you refuse to get excited about anything Half-Life 3 related anymore? Do you think the game will ever be announced?

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Sources: Reddit, Polygon, NeoGAF, OHIM