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.
What if it’s about that HD remake of HL1 that’s been in development for so long?
I think you may be thinking of Black Mesa
http://blackmesasource.com/
As far as I know it’s been in development for ages but work is still going on.
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.
Hmmm… good point. What do you think of the Vividgamer info?
I remember hearing in Portal 2 ARG circles (may have been http://valvearg.com/wiki/) that the Doug_Rattmann twitter account has always been a hoax.
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.
Agreed Kyle… also, great article overall and cool site. How long have you been writing there?
There exist a HD mod pack on steam for Half Life 1. I doubt its that
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.
Really… all I want from Valve on HL3/Ep3 is a screenshot. IN GAME screenshot, just one.
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?
“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.
I may be overthinking this, but there’s an illustration of a pimp Santa in today’s (December 23) Steam holiday sale highlights wherein the little mascot guy has a golden necklace with the Half-Life logo on it. Possible hint?
http://media.steampowered.com/apps/hs/Illustration_huge_23_32a1fb5d.jpg
Some more evidence, right now.
http://i.eho.st/pjacn4jl.jpg
Picture taken.
Valve is at Hawaii right now, this was outside their hotel.
http://i.imgur.com/7wsML.jpg
Unrelated side note, Gabe admitted yesterday to being a closet brony.