valve Half-Life 3 wait explained

[Muhammad Farrukh]

Half-Life 3 wait explained

Valve cofounder Gabe Newell suggests studio has gone through numerous "twists and turns" to bring unannounced game to market,

remaining silent on project is optimal for gamers.

Valve has yet to confirm it is working on Half-Life 3, but company boss Gabe Newell appears to have provided an update on the project. Speaking to Seven Day Cooldown in a podcast interview, Newell said unexpected development issues have kept the studio from opening up on the game.

After asking for a status update for a game all Valve fans have been clamoring for, the interviewer queried Newell, "When can we expect the release of Ricochet 2?"

Newell laughed at this, and spoke of Ricochet 2, a title not likely in development, and more believably a code-name for Half-Life 3.

"In terms of Ricochet 2, we always have this problem that when we talk about things too far in advance," Newell said. "We end up changing our minds as we're going through and developing stuff, so as we're thinking through the giant story arc which is Ricochet 2, you might get to a point where you're saying something is surprising us in a positive way and something is surprising us in a negative way, and, you know, we'd like to be super transparent about the future of Ricochet 2."

Newell added that Valve's silence on Half-Life is is actually in the best interest of gamers.

"The problem is, we think that the twists and turns that we're going through would probably drive people more crazy than just being silent about it, until we can be very crisp about what's happening next," he said.

Laughing at the continued referencing of Ricochet 2, Newell said, "Nope. Everybody's who's been working on Ricochet 2 continues to work on Ricochet 2."

Valve developed the original Ricochet, which was released in 2000. It is a futuristic action game presently available for $5 on Steam.

The most recent Half-Life game was 2007's Half-Life 2: Episode Two. That game advances the story of previous entries Half-Life 2 and Half-Life 2: Episode One. A third episode was planned, but has not seen the light of day.

[LittleNeutrino Veteran]

Honestly now that portal 2 has been released (and it has direct ties to Half life 2: Ep 2) I think there might be more of something for them to work on.

[sundayx Veteran]

Ricochet 2 hell yeah! No one remembers much about Episode 2 anyways. It's been too long. #iwasjokingaboutricochet

[Eric Veteran]

The original Ricochet is great. A sequel would be nice, but it would also be nice if people played the older one. :p

As for "Ricochet 2" - I can wait.

[Dotdot]

Ok was impressed with the employee handbook, but come on.

[The Teej]

The problem is that if they wait much longer it becomes a Duke Nukem Forever - a game that's lauded for it's cult status as being in development forever, a few fans care about but on the whole, ultimately forgotten after a month.

I don't want Half Life 3 to be like that.

[butilikethecookie]

This should have been released years ago...same thing with the Black Mesa Project...They'll probobly release 12-21-12...LOL!

[spacer]

The longer they wait to finish it, the higher the expectations people are going to have for it. At this point, it's been so long since the game should have been released, that it will undoubtedly fall short of current expectations. Unless they do something mind-blowing in terms of gameplay and story-telling, it's not going to be worth the wait.

[sanctified Veteran]

At this point, it's been so long since the game should have been released, that it will undoubtedly fall short of current expectations. Unless they do something mind-blowing in terms of gameplay and story-telling, it's not going to be worth the wait.

People said the same about Half-Life 2

[Ently]

The problem is that if they wait much longer it becomes a Duke Nukem Forever - a game that's lauded for it's cult status as being in development forever, a few fans care about but on the whole, ultimately forgotten after a month.

I don't want Half Life 3 to be like that.

Well Duke Nukem Forever was in development for what 12-13 years? I think Half-Life 3 has been in development for 5 or 6 so we're half way there :p

But yeah I really hope they don't screw it up and then HL3 joins the shelf of DNF and Chinese Democracy :p

[Daedroth]

It always makes me sad when I read an article about Half-Life 2: Episode 3/Half-Life 3/Ricochet 2 and there's no news except that there's no news. :(

[+Frank B. Subscriber²]

It's easy: Valve are waiting with the release of HL3 until the Linux port is finished. Just imagine Gabe Newell entering the stage at E3:

'Half Life 3 is ready and will be released within a month!'

<the crowd roars>

'... but as a Linux exclusive.'

<stunned silence>

It'd be the most epic troll ever.

[StrikedOut]

So, whats worse. Releasing a new episode every 12 months like CoD or going 5-6+ years for the release of a single episode? Me, I am glad it is taking its time but hope itis both not too much longer and well worth the wait.

[Daedroth]

So, whats worse. Releasing a new episode every 12 months like CoD or going 5-6+ years for the release of a single episode? Me, I am glad it is taking its time but hope itis both not too much longer and well worth the wait.

With the amount of time it's taking, I'm hoping for HL3, rather than HL2:E3. 5-6 years or more for 3 hours game play. That, would suck.

[Vandalsquad]

So, whats worse. Releasing a new episode every 12 months like CoD or going 5-6+ years for the release of a single episode? Me, I am glad it is taking its time but hope itis both not too much longer and well worth the wait.

Wasn't Valves original plan of going to Episodes so the fans would stop complaining and they could get more Half-Life content out the doors quicker? Sure was.

Valve are just lazy ****s who don't give a **** about fans anymore when they can sell hats on TF2 /thread.

[Yusuf M. Veteran]

At this point, I'd prefer it if Valve developed Half-Life 3 with a new engine (e.g. Source engine 2). The latest version of Source engine is somewhat limited in comparison to other engines like CryENGINE 3 or Frostbite 2. The frequent loading screens of Portal 2 is a good indication of that. Also, I don't think Valve has the resources to develop Half-Life 3 alongside Dota 2 and Counter-Strike: Global Offensive. On top of that, they're still releasing content for Team Fortress 2 and Portal 2. Once they get those games out of the way, they should focus on Source engine 2 and Half-Life 3.

[Daedroth]

At this point, I'd prefer it if Valve developed Half-Life 3 with a new engine (e.g. Source engine 2). The latest version of Source engine is somewhat limited in comparison to other engines like CryENGINE 3 or Frostbite 2. The frequent loading screens of Portal 2 is a good indication of that. Also, I don't think Valve has the resources to develop Half-Life 3 alongside Dota 2 and Counter-Strike: Global Offensive. On top of that, they're still releasing content for Team Fortress 2 and Portal 2. Once they get those games out of the way, they should focus on Source engine 2 and Half-Life 3.

I agree. There had been photos released a few years ago claiming to be Source 2, but they were never verified.

I would imagine there's two problems with HL at the moment. 1) The development of a new source engine. 2) The story arc. But I'm only guessing.