Valve Teases Half-Life 2: Episode Three Debut
"The next time you play as Gordon will be longer than the distance between Half-Life 2 to Episode One, and Episode One to Episode Two," Lombardi told Kikizo when asked about Episode Three.
For reference, Half-Life 2 arrived in November 2004, with Episode One arriving nearly two years later in June 2006 and Episode Two following in October 2007.
However, the marketing VP offered one slight consolation, noting that the company "may [announce or show something] at the very end of the year."
Currently, Valve is putting the finishing touches on its cooperative zombie-killing shooter, Left 4 Dead, due November 18, with the studio continuing to work on updates for its class-based multiplayer shooter, Team Fortress 2.
Thanks to marmite for the heads up.
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samduhman
replyEpisodic content = failed.... Give me my expansions.
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In other words they are delaying another episode to bundle it with another product. I'd rather them not call it episodes.
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I'm hoping Ep. 3 comes with Portal 2, considering the storylines are tied in together as of Ep. 2
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orange box two
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Really? It does? Care to point to the last time Valve made a full-size game as quickly as they've made either of the Half-Life 2 episodes?
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There is so much wrong with this post I can't believe it's serious.
- Refresh my memory, which of Episode 1 or 2 had 2.5 hours of gameplay? I seem to recall each being about 5-6 hours long.
- Episode 1 and Episode 2 were released a year and a half after their respective previous installments. Compare that with Half-Life 2 being released six years after Half-Life 1. -
Who are you?
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exactly. I love valve but I couldn't care less anymore about half life, just takes too long to build up any anticipation. imo, they should've stuck episode 3 out this xmas, get it out of the way for HL3 :)
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Episodes 1-3 = HL3. You just aren't waiting 5 years for the whole thing. Also HL3 is the end of the story arc so it'll take awhile.
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Episodes 1-3 are Episodes 1-3. HL3 will be the story following up after Episode 3. I don't understand why people still say that Ep. 1-3 are HL3. So what if originaly the story unfolding in episodes 1 to 3 were meant to be HL3 at first? The Half-Life game following HL2:Ep3 won't be HL4 all of a sudden.
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Whoops i meant EP3 at the end there.
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How long are people going to keep harping on this?
Valve said AGES ago that "episodic" was the wrong word for this, but it's the one they shipped Episode One with so they have to at least keep using it until they finish the planned set of three. Jesus Christ, just get over the fact that they don't mean "episodic" in the sense of TV shows, they mean shorter games developed in less time. That's still happening. Episode One came out 18 months after HL2, Episode Two came out 16 months after that. That's incredibly short relative to how long it generally takes Valve to make a game.-
I think I must have missed THAT bit of news :S But the name is misleading to say the least. But like, if Episodic content is not the right word, what is? This surely can't be considered HL2 DLC. An expansion perhaps? Maybe they should have re branded it HL3: part 1 / 2 / 3 to prevent confusion. But yeah, hindsight...
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They're just shorter games. They're shorter games that take less time and cost less money. I don't know if there's a snappy word for it, but I don't see what difference it makes what they are called. People should know by now that's what they are, whether they specifically saw Valve regret the term "episodic" or not (which they have numerous times, including in the very interview this news story is citing).
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Even still, the whole HL story is taking far to long to close out. HL1 was in 1998 and the story isn't going to end until perhaps after 2010. I love (require) story in my games these days, but its just taking too long.
The story will span about 7 games (HL1, OpFor, BlueShift, HL2, Eps 1-3) and even a Half life fan like myself is getting disinterested the longer it takes. I'm sure I'll have to refer to a wiki page or something to just remind myself of the story and plot before Ep3 comes along.
I hope they don't make a HL4, but instead move to new IPs as they are doing. Let's finish the HL story in Ep3.-
That's really an unrelated argument. You could say the same about any series that's been around for ten years. In the games industry, once somebody hits on a story and character that resonates with people, they tend to keep it around as long as it keeps resonating. You may have a problem with that generally (and I myself do to an extent) but that's its own issue.
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