So, as were all greatly aware of Half Life 2:EP 3 never happened and now its pretty much rumored that its just going to be a proper Half Life 3 sequel at this point. But...its been a long long time...

I had a thought the other day though that I'm thinking (and this is based on nothing but sheer guesswork) that what if the reason HL:3 has been delayed for so long and well..never actually officially announced is because what if Valve is going to debut HL3 running on a brand new engine?

I mean.. the source engine at this point is getting kind of old and lets face it games like Portal 2 are passable and good looking but the engine is showing age. And what better way to debut a new engine than to debut pretty much the hottest property you have on it? I can't imagine I'm the only one who has ever thought of this so...thoughts?

The thing is Source is just a title for the engine designed by Valve. There have been many iterations of Source, just like there have been several Unreal engines.I think Half Life 3 will be running source, but it will be a noticeable step up from Portal 2.

At this point, I think Half-life has become Valve's least interesting IP, at least for me.

Stop it.

I remember the interviews going around when Episode 1 was announced that when they make a new Half-Life game it'll be on a new engine.

@Cirdain said:

Stop it.

Please....

Have a look at the trailer for Dear Esther if you think the Source engine is getting long in the tooth.

[EDIT] You know, while that's my knee-jerk reaction, I concede that the validity of the statement is questionable and whether or not it's good enough for any type of game entirely subjective. But it looks really good. Generally, when Valve puts out a new game on the Source engine, they do some pretty fantastic upgrades to it. Hope they get around to DX11 soon.

My belief has always been that Valve will not put it out unless they are sure it is FANTASTIC. They have the time and resources to take as long as they need to to achieve that goal and they won't be swayed in it.

Stop thinking about it and just wait till E3.

maybe they just aren't going to make HL3.

think about it. why would they make HL3?

1. to make money? they have steam. they're good on money.

2. to satisfy the fanbase? at this point they could release god's gift to video games, the greatest game of all time, and write HL3 on, and it would not live up to the expectations that HL fanboys have after such a long wait. and those are the only people interested in it. the kids that buy video games now started FPS with MW2. they have no idea who gordon freeman is and they don't care, they would just be like "wtf how do i aim down the sights, how do i play team deathmatch"

honestly, the only people that would be interested in HL3 are old school fans would never be satisfied with it. the new generation has no interest.

I'm so fucking sick of how Valve is handling the Half-Life IP. I'm also sick of people seeing the Half-Life symbol on, in, and indirectly through everything else.

Even if it's a new engine they will probably still call it Source and just put a number behind it. When it comes to engines, the name is as recognizable as the Unreal engine. There's no way they'd give up that kind of brand recognition.

@JasonR86 said:

I'm so fucking sick of how Valve is handling the Half-Life IP. I'm also sick of people seeing the Half-Life symbol on, in, and indirectly through everything else.

You mean seeing the Lambda symbol?

@Demoskinos said:

I mean.. the source engine at this point is getting kind of old and lets face it games like Portal 2 are passable and good looking but the engine is showing age.

I dunno man, I thought Portal 2 showed off how fantastic the engine still is.

Plus the Source Engine, for me anyways, has always been about how great it controls.

Wasn't the whole point of the Source engine was that it's easy to iterate on and thus would be the "last" engine Valve needed?

Also, with the game releases that Valve has made within the last year, I think it's quite possible that Valve is waiting for next generation consoles so they can release multiplatform.

I think I said this two years ago now, and then again last year (that makes it a yearly tradition), but I've always felt like the reason they canned whatever Episode 3 was going to be was because they realized the limitations of their Source engine that no amount of re-writing, besides from the ground-up, would solve. If you've played Episode 2 and have found out the locales that an Episode 3/ Half-Life 3 proper would need to be going to, it makes sense that they'd want to build new tech around that. Valve has never seemed like the sort of company to settle for what they have if it wasn't going to be enough.

@Hugh_Jazz said:

Have a look at the trailer for Dear Esther if you think the Source engine is getting long in the tooth.

[EDIT] You know, while that's my knee-jerk reaction, I concede that the validity of the statement is questionable and whether or not it's good enough for any type of game entirely subjective. But it looks really good. Generally, when Valve puts out a new game on the Source engine, they do some pretty fantastic upgrades to it. Hope they get around to DX11 soon.

Man just looked at that trailer - looks amazing. Wish a had a PC. sob sob. :(