November 12th, 2012Top StoryKotaku Timeline: Half-Life 2: Episode ThreeBy András Neltz
Except it didn't. At the time of this writing, almost five years have passed since the supposed release date of the final installment in Gordon Freeman's saga. Half-Life 2: Episode Three was slated to arrive Christmas 2007. It didn't. As the weeks and months went by, confused fans tried to glean whatever information they could from Valve, but, by and large, they were unsuccessful. The company remained silent. In this Kotaku Timeline, we follow the fans' process of dealing with Valve's silence, cataloging their forays into leaked code, and their communications with the developers. We detail the ways the gaming press interacted with Valve over the years, and list what little has been revealed. In addition, we will keep watch over the game, and take note of any events, good or bad, in the months and years to come. There were no mentions of the final episode—called Half-Life 3 by some—between 1999, when Valve registered the domain halflife3.com, and 2006. But then, announcements were made, and names were dropped. And so this is where our timeline begins...  April/May—Gaben and episodic gaming  In the May issue of the print version of PC Gamer, Valve Software co-founder Gabe Newell talks about Half-Life 2 and its episodes (including Episode 3!), and why he thinks episodic gaming is the way to go. A full transcript is available through the link below.May 26—Remaining episodes announced, dated Valve officially announces Episodes 2 & 3, saying that the trilogy is slated to end by Christmas 2007. Yeah. June 6—Lots of little Episode 3 details Gabe: "Half-Life 3 [a.k.a. Episodes One to Three] is about the relationship with the G-Man and what happens when he loses control of you." Eurogamer talks to Valve about the upcoming episodes, who divulge a few details regarding locations, characters and possible expansions.  May 17—Episode 3's already being worked on Lombardi: "Pre-production is definitely going, and it'll be ramping up rather quickly now that they're ramping down on Episode Two." Eurogamer gets hold of Valve marketing director Doug Lombardi, who talks about Episode 3, which is apparently already in pre-production. November 9—Valve doesn't want to overcommit While talking to RPS, Episode 2 project lead David Speyrer says the reason for not having an Episode 3 trailer is that they don't want to make promises they can't keep. (Which is ironic, considering Episode 3 was supposed to ship in 2007.) December 19—Episode 3 is not the end of Half-Life In an interview with StuffWeLike, Doug Lombardi drops the fact that the Half-Life franchise won't end with Episode 3.  March 1—The Oranger Box GTTV interviews Gabe about a variety of things, managing to squeeze in a question about Episode 3. (Thanks, commenter Cursed Frogurt!) Transcript below.
April 21—The first Episode 3 files are found Three files are found by a Steam forum user in a folder titled "Episode3" in the Source SDK. They're later described as unused leftover assets by a Valve employee. June 27—Episode 3 won't be at E3 Doug Lombardi debunks the rumor that the latest Half-Life episode would be presented at E3 2008. July 10—Our first look at Episode 3  The first pieces of concept art for Episode 3 are released. Take a long, good look at them, folks, 'cause you won't be seeing anything like these for a while.October 15—Lombardi and the Long Wait Kikizo interviews Doug Lombardi, who promises more details by the end of the year. (Unsurprisingly, Valve doesn't deliver.) October 17—Episode 3's taking too long? Blame Left 4 Dead and Team Fortress 2 Lombardi: "We want the next installment of Half-Life 2 to be really big." Doug Lombardi tells Shacknews that the reason why development on Episode 3 is so slow is that the company is focusing on their other games.  June 4—A call for communication Steam forum user surfrock22 creates a petition, asking Valve for more and better communication after their latest failure to deliver news on Episode 3 (they announced Left 4 Dead 2 instead.) August 7—Episode 3 might have a deaf character Gabe talks about the possibility of introducing a deaf character, and with it, sign language, to the Half-Life series with Episode 3. August 12—Gabe talks to Steamcast, but doesn't have much to say Steamcast, a (now discontinued) fan podcast for all things Valve, nabs an exclusive interview with Gabe Newell, who briefly talks about why there's been no Episode 3 news. You can read a transcript of the relevant segments below.
 January 19—No new Half-Life in 2010 According to the January issue of Game Informer magazine—specifically, its rumors column—Episode 3 won't be landing in 2010. March 26—The new Half-Life better be scary Gabe: "I feel like we've gotten away from genuinely scaring the player more than I'd like." While talking with Edge Magazine, Gabe mentions that they'd like Half-Life to return to its terrifying roots. April 4—Gabe doesn't want Gordon to change In yet another interview with Edge Magazine, Gabe says that he wants series protagonist Gordon Freeman to remain the blank slate he's always been. July 21—More Episode 3 assets found in the Alien Swarm SDK  Steam forum denizen StickZer0 (his image to the left) happens upon several Episode 3-related files while poking around in the Alien Swarm SDK.September 23—Even Peter Molyneux's son is sick of waiting Peter Molyneux puts up a video of his son protesting Valve's silence. December 18—"Call for Communication" hits 1,000 signatures The "Call for Communication" petition hits its original goal of 1000 collected signatures. The creator sends an email to Valve, but unfortunately, there's no response.  February 21—Valve still won't budge While organizing a conference call with Valve's writing team for a Portal 2 Q&A session, News.com.au deviously sneaks in a question about Episode 3. Sadly, they don't get an answer. April 8—What does Portal 2's co-op campaign have to do with Half-Life? Kotaku has a theory on why Episode 3 could be taking so long. April 25—No more single-player games from Valve? Keighley: "Portal 2 will probably be Valve's last game with an isolated single-player experience." A quote from the Final Hours of Portal 2, a documentary-app detailing the last stages of Portal 2's development, seems to suggest that Valve is done making single-player games. May 7—Valve to introduce "single-player plus" Gabe talks about the importance of sharing your single-player experience with friends in an interview with a high-school student. May 14—Valve has a hole in its pocket; Episode 3 code found in the Portal 2 SDK Someone finds code pertaining to Half-Life's slug-like Combine enemies, the Advisors, in the Portal 2 SDK. May 18—Valve won't be showing up at E3 2011 Replying to reporters asking for appointment times for E3 2011, Valve announces that they won't be showcasing any games at the event. June 22—Gabe still refuses to talk about Episode 3 Gabe: "If you know enough to ask the question, you know what the answer is." Gabe appears at the Games for Change festival held at NYU, primarily to talk about the role of video games in education. When asked about Episode 3, he (predictably) refuses to answer. August 10—Protesters show up near Valve HQ  A pair of young Canadian gamers show up on the lawn of Valve Software HQ, wielding cardboard signs, demanding that Valve release some Episode 3 info.August 11—These protesters are quite persistent It's day two for the protest on Valve's lawn, and it's still going strong. August 17—What did Gabe tell those protesters? Gabe: "They wanted to know when Episode Three was coming out. I said 'I can't tell you.' And they were, like, 'Okay...'" The protest ends peacefully. Kotaku catches up with Gabe to speak to him about what happened. September 19—Hey, guess what; there's some new Episode 3 code out in the wild A beta tester leaks the Dota 2 beta client. People immediately begin datamining the files, and they naturally find several bits of code related to Episode 3. At this point, one begins to wonder if Valve is doing it on purpose. September 22—Gabe knows when Episode 3's coming, but it won't fit in a haiku  A redditor posts an e-mail exchange he's had with Gabe.September 23—That Episode 3 code doesn't mean anything Faliszek: "I guarantee that if you went into the original Half-Life source code now, you'd probably find mention of unrelated stuff labelled 'HL3'." Valve writer Chet Faliszek tells NowGamer that there's nothing to get excited about. November 24—Even Volition wants to know where the hell Episode 3 is December 2—Half-Life 3 T-Shirt Confirmed  An Uber Entertainment employee sees someone wearing a very peculiar shirt at a game developer event in Seattle.December 9—They might already be recording dialogue for Episode 3 A US-based voice actor tells the Official Xbox Magazine that he's been working with Valve on recording lines for a certain "Half-Life Episode 3". December 20—It's coming in 2012. Yes or no? Two video game journalists decide to make a bet. Their dignity's on the line. Dec 22—Here's a fresh new batch of Episode 3 rumors ~12:55am—A fairly crazy theory of a possible new game in 2012 Valve releases the unaired Video Game Awards Character of the Year acceptance speech of Wheatley, one of Portal 2's main characters. An off-hand remark Wheatley makes prompts some wild speculation about a new game. 1:00am—A new site pops up  A new site displaying a huge Half-Life 3 logo appears. While a troll, it's still somewhat clever. At least we get a sweet wallpaper out of it.~1:15pm—Half-Life hints are go... or, maybe not A Steamcast co-host posts on the Steam Forums that he's been told by an unnamed informant that Gabe "has given the go ahead to drop hints for the next Half-Life game." Gabe later partly debunks this rumor. December 23—JPL denies any involvement in Episode 3 JPL: "Wish I had better news for you. I would love to do another episode." John Patrick Lowrie, veteran Half-Life voice actor and husband of GLaDOS' voice actress Ellen McLain, in a post unrelated to Half-Life, tells commenters that neither he nor his wife have been contacted by Valve regarding Episode 3. December 24—LambdaGeneration's Rumor Roundup LambdaGeneration looks at exactly how Valve has been teasing the community lately. December 28—Debunking rumors left and right Faliszek: "This is the community trolling the community, nothing more." Valve (specifically, Chet Faliszek) shares their opinion on the newest Episode 3 rumors.  January 6—Operation: Crowbar A bunch of fans decide to send Valve cheap crowbars in protest. While the approach is refreshingly crazy, Valve won't budge. January 8—A call for communication; round two MtV: "Your oldest and longest running fanbase would like better communication." Remember that petition from 2009? It's gotten a lot bigger, and it even has its own Steam group now. January 10—There really should be an announcement coming this year IGN argues that there's no reason for Valve not to break their silence in 2012. January 12—Garry Newman is a funny guy  Garry Newman, the man behind the vastly popular Garry's Mod, tweets a picture of a Half-Life 3 shirt supposedly sent to him by Valve. Later, he says it was only a joke. This of course kicks the LambdaGeneration rumor mill into overdrive.January 18—Half-Life easter eggs? CS:GO has them  A resourceful Steam forum user uploads all the Half-Life references he could find in CS:GO's files. Unsurprisingly, nothing of real value is found.January 21—Jesus in toast: Half-Life edition January 31—A red letter day In a move far less insane than Operation: Crowbar, tens of thousands of fans plan to play Half-Life 2 together on the same day to send Valve a message. February 5—Aftermath of the red letter day The event catapults Half-Life 2 to the 11th spot on Steam's list of most played games. But did it have the effect the organizers had hoped it would? (Spoilers: It didn't.) March 1—Portal 2 still holds some secrets The ever-vigilant Steam forum community uncovers some animation files belonging to a side character from Episode 2 that are definitely new. Not very interesting, but new. April 18—April fools!  A redditor tries to start a hoax involving a supposed pre-order ad for Episode 3 at Best Buy. It doesn't work out.April 20—Gabe finally spills the beans on Ricochet 2. Wait, what? Gabe: "We think that the twists and turns that we're going through would probably drive people more crazy than just being silent about it." On Seven Day Cooldown, a gaming podcast, Gabe Newell talks about the future of Ricochet 2. If you know what I mean. April 28—It's time to look at the numbers Kotaku reader Igor explains, using the magic of numbers, that Episode 3 will definitely be revealed at this year's E3. Except... May 2—No Episode 3 at E3 this year Shock and awe. June 9—These things take time Gabe himself appears as a neat little Episode 3 easter egg in the Kickstarter video for Clang. (Thanks, commenter lambdacore!) June 27—Here's some new Half-Life concept art!  Valvetime posts a bunch of concept art that they've received from an anonymous source. However, the images are at least four years old.August 14—Half-Life 3 at Gamescom! Or not! 7:22am—Half-Life 3 to be shown at Gamescom A product listing advertises that Valve will be attending Gamescom and showing off Half-Life 3. 8:15 am—Valve steps in Doug Lombardi confirms that the listing was a mistake. Oh well. August 15—Buy this keyboard to play Half-Life 3 with!  Mad Catz releases an ad for their new keyboard that shows a Half-Life 3 icon. Wild speculation and nerdrage follow.August 17—Gabe Newell hates sharks Gabe: "I hate sharks." Spike TV interviews Gabe. They get to the question about Episode 3. Gabe says he hates sharks. It makes perfect sense! September 20—Someone says Half-Life 3 is now an open-world game French gamer site Journal de Gamer reports that, according to an anonymous source close to Valve (we certainly haven't heard that before), the series is moving away from its linear roots towards Skyrim-esque open-world gameplay. November 11—Gabe tells /v/ all about Source 2 During /v/'s birthday visit to Gabe at Valve HQ, he (shockingly) shows willingness to divulge a few facts about a new engine they're working on. Unfortunately, he doesn't really talk about what it's for. Full video of the event to the left. developer: valve corporation publisher: valve corporation platform: pc release date: tba genre: first-person shooter modes: single-player rating: tba  |
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