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Half-Life 3 practically confirmed: About as inevitable as the Seven Hour War photo

With Half-Life 2: Episode Three planned to be the grand finale' of the Half-Life 2 story arc, you may be forgiven for wondering what's next in the parade of constant interruptions for the long suffering Gordon Freeman. Well, we can keep wondering, but at least we know there will be (half) life after Episode Three as, quite unsurprisingly, a new sequel is definitely on the cards.

The confirmation came from Valve's Dave Lombardi who simply had this to say:

We haven’t announced anything specific, but Half-Life won’t end at Episode Three – hang on to your crowbars!

So there you have it. Episode Three is not the end of the Half-Life universe, as if there was any doubt it would be. But what will happen? Will the G-Man have a brand new contract for our silent hero? Will Dr. Freeman awake in a different timeline? Will the headcrabs still be annoying as ever? Start your rampant speculation ... NOW!


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61 comments | showing # 1 to 50

Spilt Milk's Avatar - Comment posted on 12/13/2007 11:34
Spilt Milk
Black Mesa Wars: The RTS
BlindsideDork's Avatar - Comment posted on 12/13/2007 11:36
BlindsideDork
I want a Headcrab and those black ones FREAK me out! So much goodness!
BlueWolf72's Avatar - Comment posted on 12/13/2007 11:36
BlueWolf72
Lovin it. Best game eva
LordRegulus's Avatar - Comment posted on 12/13/2007 11:36
LordRegulus
The G-Man is Gordon Frohman from the future.

And GLaDOS is the Combine Overmind.

Obviously.
odintal's Avatar - Comment posted on 12/13/2007 11:38
odintal
Dear Valve,

please include the portal gun in future installments of the series.

thanks
galagabug 's Avatar - Comment posted on 12/13/2007 11:40
galagabug
dear valve. listen to odintal.
ShadowXOR's Avatar - Comment posted on 12/13/2007 11:45
ShadowXOR
Maybe they can tell us what happened to Adrian Shepherd or some of the other characters currently in limbo.

And where's Barney?
brad drac's Avatar - Comment posted on 12/13/2007 11:52
brad drac
Personally, I don't care if they released a game about brushing horses and tying pretty pink bows in their manes, I'll still buy it. Not sure how that'd fit in to the half life continuity though.
dr3nd4r's Avatar - Comment posted on 12/13/2007 11:53
dr3nd4r
alien lesbian sex scene with alex?
Guagloves's Avatar - Comment posted on 12/13/2007 11:58
Guagloves
Yay. More Half Life is always good.
Professor Pew's Avatar - Comment posted on 12/13/2007 12:00
Professor Pew
Hopefully it will be better than HL2 and Ep1...
king3vbo's Avatar - Comment posted on 12/13/2007 12:04
king3vbo
CONFIRMED

also, DO WANT
xper's Avatar - Comment posted on 12/13/2007 12:04
xper
there is a mod for it. that works. to some extent. just google it and you'll find a way to make it happen. it was sick. buggy as hell, but well worth the pain.
B-Radicate's Avatar - Comment posted on 12/13/2007 12:07
B-Radicate
I needa finish Ep 2, but I can't wait to see what they can create. HL:2 has been breathtaking.
Alex Petraglia's Avatar - Comment posted on 12/13/2007 12:20
Alex Petraglia
Hey, I wonder if Dave Lombardi is related to Doug Lombardi?
ShadowXOR's Avatar - Comment posted on 12/13/2007 12:34
ShadowXOR
Is there really a Dave Lombardi or did someone just type his name wrong? I've only heard of Doug.
Holyetheline's Avatar - Comment posted on 12/13/2007 12:35
Holyetheline
That's excellent. The world is always better with some more halflife in it.
falinter's Avatar - Comment posted on 12/13/2007 12:36
falinter
next half-life:

Full-Life
'Gordon Freeman inherits a deserted farm and he has to learn how to make a living off the land and eventually marry and start a family.'

Platinum Hit right there baby.
MasterSauce's Avatar - Comment posted on 12/13/2007 12:51
MasterSauce
Valve makes me happy. Almost always.

********

Here's how it goes: Large gun battle gets to much for Freeman and Alex, things go boom, they run away. Maybe Alex dies, who knows. Looking for help they seek out technology from Aperture Science. Based on Rumor. We wander through an abandoned facade that talks about Shower Curtains, cryptic messages, distant sounds of explosions, and a mysterious door that says employees only. Also, Thirty five cameras following your every move. And traps. Lots of traps. Once through, with full realization that no one is there, you stumble into a dusty back lot of the facility to discover a girl wandering around with a funny looking gun and a hanker'n for cake.
Then the imagination makes me giddy with possibilities.
WastelandTraveler's Avatar - Comment posted on 12/13/2007 12:54
WastelandTraveler
Half-Life 2: Episode 3 - The discovery of the Aprature science gun, and the death of alex!

Half-Life 3 (3 major chapters in 1 game): Return To Black Mesa, The Rise of Alan Shephard, and The Man Behind the Curtain.
Foshi's Avatar - Comment posted on 12/13/2007 13:03
Foshi
What the fuck people, it's not Alex, it's Alyx. Get your shit straight. What kind of a moron would think Ep.3 would have been the end of the series anyway?

@Pew are you fucking kidding me? Seriously.
Husky Hog's Avatar - Comment posted on 12/13/2007 13:25
Husky Hog
Great

now I'm going to have to get my pc back up to par
parrothead's Avatar - Comment posted on 12/13/2007 13:25
parrothead
Can there be a hot coffee mod with Alex stripping for the us?
Spartacus's Avatar - Comment posted on 12/13/2007 13:57
Spartacus
YES. PLEASE.

just to make things clear, not @parrothead
raucci's Avatar - Comment posted on 12/13/2007 13:59
raucci
In the back of my mind I knew Half-Life 3 was inevitable, but hearing this makes me oh-so happy. Bring on the Freeman!
cynicalllama's Avatar - Comment posted on 12/13/2007 13:59
cynicalllama
On the completely unrelated and irrelevant note about Dave / Doug Lombardi... are you thinking of Dave Lombardo from Slayer?
Also HL:3 speculation! It will be a video game. yup
Timdabrat's Avatar - Comment posted on 12/13/2007 14:00
Timdabrat
huzzah! Now that HL3 is confirmed...well, hopefully we won't find out who the hell Gman is in ep3, cuz when we know, it might suck and take away all the mystery behind him.
AltDelete's Avatar - Comment posted on 12/13/2007 14:02
AltDelete
Alien sex scene co-op hot coffee striping off shower curtains with Alex?

...while GlaDOS watches?
JohnnyWadd's Avatar - Comment posted on 12/13/2007 14:16
JohnnyWadd
More HL is great, i just wish i didn't have to wait 3 or 4 years for it.
Eschatos's Avatar - Comment posted on 12/13/2007 14:30
Eschatos
Does this actually surpirse anyone? I just hope they drastically change the game, maybe add RPG or RTS elements.
vexed alex's Avatar - Comment posted on 12/13/2007 14:38
vexed alex
Half-Life 2 does story telling in gaming so good, but I almost feel that it isn't telling a story. It's like Pulp Fiction. It's so good at telling story telling, but there really isn't one. I know, I sound like a retard, but try and understand it from my perspective. I haven't played Half-Life. I only did HL:2 and I just want to know "what the fuck."

So far what I've gotten is that there's an oppressive alien race? Gordon and Alyx are on a mission to stop them. Something about big ass portals. Big bugs that are psychic. Some aliens are cool with you and call you Free-man.

What the fuck is going on?! Or did I just hit the nail on the head? Aliens came out of a portal and now we're in a war? If so, is it really that great of a story? The way it is told in this game is amazing, but the story, if it is what I think it is...it's sort of generic.

I'm still stoked to play Episode 3 (hopefully it comes out on 360) and Half-Life 3.
Narishma's Avatar - Comment posted on 12/13/2007 15:04
Narishma
vexed alex: That's what you get when you start with the sequel and not the first game...
MasterSauce's Avatar - Comment posted on 12/13/2007 15:22
MasterSauce
Alyx / Alex...I'm not sure it's ever written and right in front of my face in the game is it? Lighten Up, Sorry...yeesh.
A Ton of Berries's Avatar - Comment posted on 12/13/2007 15:28
A Ton of Berries
Not really, Vexed Alex is kinda right.

Half life 1: Gordon takes train. Gordon gets HEV suit and crowbar and immediately poceeds to find himself at ground zero of some weird experiment screwup. There is some lightning og a huge pet rock, and everyone runs around. Then there's a lot of shuffling aroud in vents, being scared shitless by headcrabs, until you somehow find your self on planet Alien. Or something. Didn't really play this far in the original. I was like 10 or so and the headcrabs scared me shitless.

Also: http://youtube.com/watch?v=slRsexrhbG8
Bricfa's Avatar - Comment posted on 12/13/2007 15:43
Bricfa
RPG elements?
garrfunkel's Avatar - Comment posted on 12/13/2007 15:56
garrfunkel
if half life 3 is the exact same as 2 with updated graphics and a few minor additions it would be great. Do not fuck with perfection.
Bricfa's Avatar - Comment posted on 12/13/2007 16:10
Bricfa
I disagree.

I am for fucking with perfection. perfection gets old.
Sharpless's Avatar - Comment posted on 12/13/2007 16:10
Sharpless
@vexed alex
Here's the Half-Life saga in the smallest nutshell I can manage. (Spoilers for the entire series are included.)

Gordon Freeman worked at Black Mesa labs, with Eli, Dr. Kleiner, Dr. Breen, and Barney. Portal experiment goes wrong, brings aliens from the planet Xen to Black Mesa. These aliens are ruled by the Nihilanth - including the Vortigaunts, who were enslaved by it - and are fleeing the Combine. Then, the US government went to Black Mesa to kill everyone inside and cover it up. Gordon fights his way out of Black Mesa, goes to Xen and kills the Nihilanth. (Freeing the Vortigaunts, which is why they love Gordon.) G-Man saves him from the aliens on Xen, offers him the "choice" of dying alone there or working for the G-Man's employers. Gordon chooses the latter and is put in stasis until needed. Then, he wakes up on the train in HL2, around 20 years after HL1. Shortly after the HL1 incident, the Combine (who probably found earth after the portal accident) came to earth and took over in under seven hours. They started driving the human race to extinction and turning them into workers/soldiers. And so, that's where the Half-Life 2 games come in, as humanity makes its big push back.

As for Half-Life 3, I'd love to see Alyx and Gordon given a new assignment in another time and place, by the G-Man. (SPOILER: Alyx, as a child, was apparently saved from Black Mesa by the G-Man. [Scientists and, I presume, their families lived on-base.] This seems to indicate that the G-Man at least partially "owns" her, as well.) Can't wait, either way.
Sharpless's Avatar - Comment posted on 12/13/2007 16:14
Sharpless
Er, quick nerd correction, with SPOILERS: Okay, families didn't live at Black Mesa, I guess. But I know that the scientists did (or Gordon did, at least) and there is a reference to G-Man taking Alyx out of Black Mesa. Whatevah.

Anyway, I think it's all a good, compelling story.
DarkGhostHunter's Avatar - Comment posted on 12/13/2007 16:18
DarkGhostHunter
I think that HL3 will come with a new brand Steam Engine, Shader Model 4.0 ans stuff.

So, wait until 2011
Cheeburga's Avatar - Comment posted on 12/13/2007 16:22
Cheeburga
Atlas is Freeman.
intimate's Avatar - Comment posted on 12/13/2007 16:34
intimate
Is anyone getting sick of games with ambiguous endings that add little or nothing to what you already know?

What the fuck ever happened to finding out that the G-Man is in fact your father, that Judith Mossman is really Alyx from 23 years in the future and that Barney died in Black Mesa and he was replaced by a cyborg ghost of Christmas past from the future?

I'm not asking for Valve to give me an ending as complete as the President of the United States asking me to grab a burger ha! ha! ha! ha! but I'd like something beyond EVENT OCCURS WITH LITTLE OR NO EXPLANATION - FADE TO BLACK

Sequelitis :(
Im OK's Avatar - Comment posted on 12/13/2007 16:35
Im OK
Half-Life 3: Lamarr's Revenge.
Velt's Avatar - Comment posted on 12/13/2007 16:35
Velt
I like the half life universe because the story seems generic, but as soon as you dig you found thousands of very little details.

But is great the amount of work they get into the game, quality is everything.
MasterMS's Avatar - Comment posted on 12/13/2007 16:39
MasterMS
I know Valve hates the PS3 but I really hope they make it for it
Jetsetlemming's Avatar - Comment posted on 12/13/2007 16:50
Jetsetlemming
If HL2: Episode 3 doesn't end with an epic boss battle against the G-man, with the Vortiguants holding him so he can't freeze time or teleport away or any of his over special ultra powers while Gordon attacks him, I'm going to be very angry. >:\ Episode 2's epilogue pretty much guaranteed the scope on the G-man for the next game.
Episode 3 will also bring an end to the combine occupation of Earth, or at least the occupation in its current form, as the current combine forces are cut off from the rest, with their last real chance for backup ruined at the end of Episode 2. In Episode 3, they're seeking technology made by Aperture Science that will give them one last chance, however, and Alyx and Gordon are racing to prevent them from using it.
nukka jdav's Avatar - Comment posted on 12/13/2007 17:06
nukka jdav
Thank jesus, I was uber po'ed when I read that the episodes were essentially HL3, but to hear that it will continues regardless is pretty sweet.

Honestly, I hope that Ep.3 wraps up the Freeman storyline, and that afterwards, they explore other reaches of the HL universe. Its a much deeper story than you might think at first playthrough, but wow, I just love when the pieces fall into place. Go valve, yeah baby.
Kyousuke Nanbu's Avatar - Comment posted on 12/13/2007 17:21
Kyousuke Nanbu
Less focus on their pretty physics engine and more focus on better gameplay would make me play HL3.

Who am I kidding, it will probably be as bad as HL2 was but with better graphics, people will still slobber all over it and proclaim the single best thing ever made by mortal men.
Sharpless's Avatar - Comment posted on 12/13/2007 17:26
Sharpless
@intimate

"but I'd like something beyond EVENT OCCURS WITH LITTLE OR NO EXPLANATION - FADE TO BLACK"

Um, you do realize that that description only fits the ending of Episode 2, right? HL1 had a clear-cut ending (G-Man abducts Gordon), HL2 did (Breen goes boom, G-Man pulls Gordon away), and HL2:E1 did (the Citadel explosion). Episode 2 is the only one with a "BOOM, THAT JUST HAPPENED, BYE" ending, and I thought it did it quite well.

I'm also content to let there be a bit of mystery to Gordon and the G-Man (who, by the way, I don't consider to be a villain). Episode 3 will likely be too crazy for any big G-Man revelations.
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