With Half-Life fans making love to copies of The Orange Box everywhere, Valve is now turning our attention to the final installment of its current Freeman-flavored story arc. As the final chapter of the Half-Life 2 series, Episode Three is looking to end the series with a bang, as Valve confirms.

"We're going to try and do something pretty ambitious for that project," stated Valve's David Speyrer. Unlike with Episode One, Episode Two didn't come with a trailer for the next and final installment. Speyrer stated that this was because the company didn't want to commit to anything yet.

"If you look at the Episode Two trailer that we shipped with Episode One there's some pretty radical difference between what you see there and see in finished game," Speyrer explained. "That's really an artefact of making a trailer for a product that's still in heavy production. You just don't know where you're going to end up."

I've not reached the episodic parts of Half-Life 2 yet, but fans are eager to point out that the franchise only improves the more it continues. If Valve is looking to top its already much loved and applauded prequels, then we're in for a complete and utter treat.