Home News Is the Half-Life 3 release announcement upon us?

I’ll update this post as more information comes in, but Guy923 has tipped me off to what may be the first of Valve’s hints that Half-Life 3 news is nearing.

While a Half-Life 3 release date is probably not in the cards quite yet, it’s more likely Valve will systematically unveil details of its much-anticipated game via ARG.

Is this web site, Black Aperture, the first piece of the puzzle? And, if so, what does it portend about the interaction between the Half-Life and Portal universes?

And, of course the biggest question: How much will Valve time fuck this all up?

 

Updates

  • Vividgamer has posted some speculation from semi-questionable Twitter sources on the potential Half-Life 3 release date. This information was in part gleaned from Wheatley’s Spike VGA acceptance speech, played at half speed. The video (shown below) reveals images of a head crab and other Half-Life related symbolism.

 

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19 replies to this post
  1. I call false. A quick whois lookup (http://whois.domaintools.com/black-aperture.com) revealed the site is registered not to Valve, but instead to an individual named David Hassen. Looks like a hoax to me. Also, the server is apparently located in Singapore as opposed to the US which is where all Valve’s other sites are hosted.

    While I’d love for an announcement to be on the horizon, I don’t think this is it.

      • Spot on!

        I authored that article – thanks for the pingback. I updated the story as readers came forward to called @Doug_Rattmann into question and shoot down the possibility of an ARG.

        As far as I’m concerned, no ARG doesn’t mean no announcement or hinting – they’re two totally different entities. Why couldn’t Valve hint at the game’s impending announcement or release with sly video tricks and cryptic messages? It doesn’t HAVE to be an ARG.

  2. Valve loves to hide things in plain sight.
    I’m not very surprised at this, valve wouldn’t release a nice video like this for no reason. There’s something coming. Something big.

  3. naaaah, Gabe can’t release Half Life 3.
    That would kill the biggest lamest running gag in gaming history, after DNF, which turned out for the game to be the actual joke. Valve can’t count to 3, remember?

  4. “I think that it’s more interesting that the website that it links to (www.half-life3.com) is registered by Valve, but redirects to orange.half-life2.com.”
    Quote from someone more observant than I.

    But I checked it, anywhere you click on the black-aperture page links to half-life3.com, and immediately redirects to the orange box site.

  5. Impossible. Valve won’t kill off their longest-running constant for a game, no matter how popular. If they do, they’ll probably just name it Episode 4 or Half-Life 4.

  6. It’s too late for HL3, the world has moved on.

    Anyone who claims to dislike HL or HL2 will, if you really push them to explain, they have to admit that: They didn’t really play the game, and they never really “cared for” FPS games anyways. They are masterpieces, dedicated to those old and intelligent enough to remember where gaming came from in the first place.

    Fifteen years ago, you couldn’t find a real gamer that did not appreciate the FPS genre. Thank-you Microsoft and EA, for forcing the FPS genre on to stupid controllers and watering down the experience more and more.

    What we have left today are basically interactive movies, I have dubbed these games “Auto-play”, consisting of shooting gallery sequences interspersed between scripted events and cut-scenes: A very easy format to stream on-demand, and charge per play-through, by the way.

    Given the market and audience of today, sadly there is no room for a true HL3.

    Any attempt at a new product carrying the HL IP would never be released until it was an over-marketed, over-hyped, consolified, watered down, “more accessible”, auto-aimed and even more linear experience that is living room and stream, pay-per-play friendly.

    In other words, any new HL title would not be HL at all. The new HL team would not consist of anyone from the previous HL releases (don’t fall for Diablo 3 over again – lesson learned!).

    I agree with every other jaded gamer out there: The world has moved on.

    Valve, Steam is great but with regards to the HL series (which made you in the first place), the way you left it hanging and specifically for the unresolved heart-breaker ending to EP2, you can all go to hell.

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