There are many internet publications reporting on a supposed leak given to a french gaming site.

http://www.ubergizmo.com/2012/09/half-life-3-development-rumored-to-be-underway-could-feature-an-open-world-concept-with-rpg-elements/?utm_source=mainrss for example

According to the leak, the Half-Life 3 team is working hard on the game and has taken inspiration from the likes of The Elder Scrolls. It also hints that the game will not be released until after 2013 lending to next console generation speculation.

At this point, I kind of don't even want Half Life 3 to come out. With DNF released, what other game trapped in developmental hell can we joke about?

I heard another rumor that Half-Life 3 cures cancer.

I will take that rumour with a grain of salt but I must say - I like the idea of a Elder Scrolls-esque Half Life game. That would be really interesting to see.

@Sgtpierceface said:

At this point, I kind of don't even want Half Life 3 to come out. With DNF released, what other game trapped in developmental hell can we joke about?

HL3 isn't showing any signs of being in development hell because Valve have plainly stated that they have other priorities. Diablo 3 wasn't in development hell, it was being given all the time Blizzard thought it needed and see the HL3 situation as being pretty similar. The DNF comparison is hardly valid, it's not like this game has even had a release date, yet alone had a release date pushed back because of development issues.

I don't think this is true in any way (besides the fact that development of Half-Life 3 has been "under way" for a loooong time now, and besides the "duh" factor, has had numerous points of proof embedded in code released by Valve), but it's clear that something about the gameplay needs to evolve, and the concept of an open world game inspired by The Elder Scrolls that isn't that or a Fallout game, specifically one tied to the Half-Life universe, would be awesome. I just... don't see why they would do such a thing, what with the very guided but expertly crafted cinematic style that's been in every Half-Life game so far. The Half-Life team is in its element when dealing with finely crafted combat arenas.

That also makes no sense considering where the story was headed. Alyx and Gordon going it alone to a remote arctic base? Unless they scrap that idea altogether (and with it, years of concept work already released to the public), I can't imagine how that would evolve into a game where you're taking quests from NPCs.

I guess what I'm trying to say is this: Half-Life 3 is sort of like the Endurance Run: just shut up about it, and maybe eventually it will happen.

I have always said Half-Life 3 will be a launch game for a new console.

It just makes sense in every way.

Valve is too busy trying to appeal to TV gamers, my ass they're working on HL3.... I call bullshit. HL3 is in limbo and has been there for years, it's not coming out anytime soon. BUT FUCK HL3 I WANT THAT VALVE CONSOLE YA'LL! Yeeeeaahhhhhh!!! :P That's what Valve is FOR!

French website journaldugamer reported that thanks to one of their sources..

Interestingly though, their source also revealed

Oh hey, they have 'sources'... That's nice!

I think Gabe secretly gets off on the speculation...like way to much to be considered socially acceptable.

The way you can tell its fake is because it says that HL3 does or ever will exist.

They've pretty much painted themselves into a corner with how long they've waited. At this point, to match expectations, that game would have to be an Artificial Intelligence capable of designing its own games for every person who buys it.

@Sgtpierceface said:

At this point, I kind of don't even want Half Life 3 to come out. With DNF released, what other game trapped in developmental hell can we joke about?

DNF came out

Black Mesa came out

Episode 3/Half-Life 3 still hasn't come out

There's always..... Starcraft Ghost?

I heard that HL3 is a third person shooter that is actually a prequel. Where did I hear this? Doesn't matter. I heard it. Therefore, I'm going to act like it's news! AWWWW YEAAHH! Journalism just got a whole lot easier son! Aint' nobody gonna take me to task for being wrong but if I'm right by some sort of miracle, then everybody will respect my jurnalistic skillz!

@Sgtpierceface said:

At this point, I kind of don't even want Half Life 3 to come out. With DNF released, what other game trapped in developmental hell can we joke about?

Versus XIII.

@Korolev:

1) I suggested the leak was somewhat dubious.

2) I linked to where I read about it and by no means claimed it was any kind of journalism.

3) Why you gotta be so mean.

I was just interested in the communities reaction to the premise of a Half Life open world game and the potential nature of Half life 3.

@Sgtpierceface said:

At this point, I kind of don't even want Half Life 3 to come out. With DNF released, what other game trapped in developmental hell can we joke about?

I don't think you can classify HL3 as being in development hell because we don't actually know when it went into development.

Maybe they just started on it yesterday. But with DNF we knew they were working on that game for years.

@AhmadMetallic said:

Valve is too busy trying to appeal to TV gamers, my ass they're working on HL3.... I call bullshit. HL3 is in limbo and has been there for years, it's not coming out anytime soon. BUT FUCK HL3 I WANT THAT VALVE CONSOLE YA'LL! Yeeeeaahhhhhh!!! :P That's what Valve is FOR!

French website journaldugamer reported that thanks to one of their sources..

Interestingly though, their source also revealed

Oh hey, they have 'sources'... That's nice!

maybe they have enough staff to have 2 teams. one team to work on shit for those that are playing on the TV's, those guy that like a big screen hey... and another working on game for those that are playing on a monitor. and also maybe a guy that does the accounts and someone who makes the brews.

You heard it here first, HL3 is a MMO.

I doubt there is anyone working on HL3 if there is its probobly just one guy pitching ideas to a wall or something in a locked room at valve

Am I the only one (cliche I know) who cannot imagine what a half life game would be like in 2013? Seriously, what would the gameplay be like? I'm not really sure what the franchises fans are expecting but shooters have changed a hell of a lot since HL2.

@Benny said:

Am I the only one (cliche I know) who cannot imagine what a half life game would be like in 2013? Seriously, what would the gameplay be like? I'm not really sure what the franchises fans are expecting but shooters have changed a hell of a lot since HL2.

Part of the reason for HL3's continuous development, as Gabe Newell "suggested" in an interview, is also the fact that it kept changing. Here's a link to a Kotaku article that takes an extract from that interview where Gabe Newell revealed some information about Half-Life 3's development, referring to it as "Ricochet 2" (an allusion to an old mod Valve turned into an official release that doesn't have people crying for a sequel).

@Benny said:

Am I the only one (cliche I know) who cannot imagine what a half life game would be like in 2013? Seriously, what would the gameplay be like? I'm not really sure what the franchises fans are expecting but shooters have changed a hell of a lot since HL2.

That is hard to say. Maybe something between STALKER and Metro, but without iron sights and stealth mechanics, and with more physics?

@Sgtpierceface said:

At this point m, I kind

Agreed.

Anonymous source from a French website.

Seems legit.

@august said:

Anonymous source from a French website.

Seems legit.

Yeah, until I hear it from Valve (not the French, not gamebomb.ru, and certainly not the regurgitation centre over at Kotaku) I'll refrain from paying attention to info relating to Half-Life 3.

I heard a rumor that HL3 won't come out until Valve needs to leverage a new engine.

@Alexander: Hey now, gamebomb.ru is a classy establishment.

@Scrawnto:

God dammit, that would be a dream of a game, at least for me. I don't think this is will happen though. Valve does what Valve does and I'm not even sure if First Person Shooter changed for the better in the last years. I really hope Valve doesn't jump on the "regenerating health" train, which ruined FPSes for me

Anyone can make this rumor up. I mean, Clint Hocking started working there a few months ago. Of course that's what you assume he's there for.

It could be true because Valve is always experimenting with different stuff(not saying it will be in the finished product). HL3 will probably come out sometime around 2015. It's been such a long time since the last one, Valve has all the money and time in the world so they won't release it until they feel like it's perfect.

I'm just going to repeat exactly what I heard on Idle Thumbs' latest podcast and say that a game based on Far Cry 2's ideas, made with a Valve level of quality, running on a whole new version of the Source engine, really could be the best game ever.

And furthermore, if Source 2.0 could do for procedural animation what the original Source did for Havok physics-- finally make them work right and integrate them into the gameplay-- it just might be able to justify its own upgrade after all these years, too.

Basically, what I'm saying is that an open-world Half-Life 3 running on Source 2.0 might be the only thing in the world that could possibly live up to its own hype at this point.

@Abendlaender: Yeah, they could potentially take things along the Modern Warfare route, with aim assist on enemies heads and explosions every two seconds and people shouting in your ear, which would utterly destroy the game's pacing and atmosphere. I can only hope they have more sense than that. This is the studio that brought us Portal, after all.

It's pretty obvious HL3 will ship with Source 2.