No Valve Games at E3

[Rezident]

http://www.rockpapershotgun.com/2011...t-e3/#comments

People are starting to doubt that there will even be another half-life game (Episode 3 or Half Life 3 or whatever). I remain hopeful based on Valve's track record but I am getting worried. I don't usually like idle speculation, hearsay etc. but without a word from Valve what else do we have?

Since half-life was where it all began for Valve they will bring back Freeman and his crowbar. Won't they?

Valve tend to wait until a game is done rather than releasing buggy stuff in time for Christmas sales etc. any chance they're making a full Half-Life 3 (or a new engine?)

And, the tie-ins in other games like Portal suggest there is still more to come, right? Please convince me, I haven't lost faith . . . yet

 

[Lonyo]

They've repeated their spiel about how they don't make people make games and have people working on what they want to work on, so there will be no new HL based game until people decide they want to make it.

For people who want a new HL based game, that means potentially a long wait what with the rise of indie games and developers and ideas that Valve can buy and fold into themselves, giving people new things to work on rather than continuing their own IP.

 

[DirkGently1]

It seems to me that Valve have completely lost touch with their roots. They used to make games, now they just make money.

 

[dpodblood]

It seems to me that Valve have completely lost touch with their roots. They used to make games, now they just make money.

You've got to be joking. Everything valve puts out is gold. They don't release games often, but when they do it's epic.

 

[Lonyo]

It seems to me that Valve have completely lost touch with their roots. They used to make games, now they just make money.

What are their roots?
Seems like they have stuck to what they've been for the last 10 years or so: buying ideas and smaller developers in order to publish more products.
They aren't really a game developer and haven't been for years. They released a game in 1998, then another one in 2004. Everything else has been bought in.

 

[DarkKnightDude]

No Episode 3

or Half Life 3. :biggrin:

 

[CPA]

It seems to me that Valve have completely lost touch with their roots. They used to make games, now they just make money.

and....your point is???

 

[Demo24]

Well they are currently working on DOTA2, which is on 'track' for the end of this year. I personally don't care to much for it, but I'll see what they've done about it. Considering they only have under 300 people working there (and not all on game development) then it becomes difficult to push titles out constantly. That's both good and bad. It's good because they aren't under any serious pressure to push out a game before they feel its ready, somewhat bad because we end up waiting awhile before the next one.

I fail to see what's wrong with hiring people with interesting ideas and incorporating that into the valve ecosystem. Without that Portal would never have existed, and a variety of other games as well. It's not like they just bought the rights to a game and resold it under the valve name. They hired the people to incorporate into their staff, most of whom tend to stay and continue on with future valve products. Just about every company does this, but perhaps not in the same manner.

Supposedly there is some sort of new revolutionary gameplay project they are secretly working on, but it's still a good 5+ years out.

I don't expect to hear much from Valve until after Dota, so probably 2012. The bigger question becomes as to if they keep source engine or not. It's a rather good engine in that it scales very well, stable, and has worked quite well over the past several years. It is however getting a bit old and it's showing so I think they will either have to really revamp it or work on a new one to up the graphics a bit. It is somewhat impressive how they've continually worked on it and fairly easily shifted this down to basically any game running it with minimal problems.

 

[Rezident]

This is worrisome. I clearly remember Valve giving the impression after HL2 that (HL3 essentially) would be in 3 episodes instead of waiting another 5-6 years for the full thing. They definitely commited to an Episode 3 didn't they?

I was under the impression that they had been working on Episode 3 all along (or at least since after Ep 2) as I recall the full Gordon Freeman story was already laid out. They can’t just not finish the story, can they? Well of course they can, but why would they when it was their origin and is practically guaranteed millions of sales?

 

[Demo24]

This is worrisome. I clearly remember Valve giving the impression after HL2 that (HL3 essentially) would be in 3 episodes instead of waiting another 5-6 years for the full thing. They definitely commited to an Episode 3 didn't they?

I was under the impression that they had been working on Episode 3 all along (or at least since after Ep 2) as I recall the full Gordon Freeman story was already laid out. They can’t just not finish the story, can they? Well of course they can, but why would they when it was their origin and is practically guaranteed millions of sales?

No I don't think so. The original plan was for 3, but I think they have abandoned the idea now of episodes as it didn't go out as quickly as originally intended.

 

[imaheadcase]

Valve only problem is they can't count to 3..

 

[Skott]

Not unusual for a game developer to only work on one game at a time. Valve cant keep making just HL. They need to, and probably want to, make/do other things. After years of success they certainly have the money to do whatever they want. Doesn't bother me if they come up with the idea or buy another's idea. The main thing for a company is to continue making games. Which Valve is even though it is DOTA2. And whats more important for a company, no matter what kind of company, is that they continue to make money.

 

[Red Storm]

We're all just too used to sequels and threequels being pushed out year after year by all these greedy devs and/or publishers who don't give a shit about stability or polish and just want to rake in the cash. I'm sure Valve also wants to rake in the cash, but they're also one of the few remaining companies that will usually put in a good amount of effort.

Give it time.

 

[dpodblood]

I think valve has recognized at this point that the episodic structure isn't working for them. IMO there probably won't be an EP3, they will probably just come out with HL3 instead. I wouldn't expect this though until valve comes up with a new engine, or majorly revamps source. Look at the technological difference between Half-Life 1 and 2. I expect HL3 will make just as big of a jump.

 

[Zenoth]

It's been too long since Episode Two for me to care about anything Half-Life related. I say let them take one, two, five or a hundred years to make "something" about Half-Life, if they really need, or want. We have other games to care about, other and now better franchises to enjoy, and we certainly don't all have years to "wait just for that", most original Half-Life fans have jobs, family, kids and whatnot today, we've liked, even loved it, then we moved on.

To be honest I think that Valve should simply not make anything about Half-Life anymore, even though I adored Episode Two, but truly I just don't want another FPS console port on my PC anytime soon, getting sick of them, even if it'd come from Valve. I'm waiting for Diablo III, Skyrim and Guild Wars 2. I might buy The Old Republic, then there will be Mass Effect 3, more recently I just bought the original Witcher so that I can better understand what's going on in the sequel which I'll buy next month, and I still have a wonderfully entertaining and modified DAO game in progress from an Origin I never tried before.

Nah, I can't feasibly find the time, will, motivation nor interest for Mr. Freeman. Sorry, Valve, but you just had to do your Episodic Content as originally planned beyond E2 and you should have finished Episode Three a long time ago. Time to move on.

 

[digitaldurandal]

It seems to me that Valve have completely lost touch with their roots. They used to make games, now they just make money.

So you would rather they were like EA?

Anyways, there IS an upcoming Half Life 2 episode 3 - however the person who is writing the story, the same guy that wrote for portal 2 i believe, is very sick and has been for a while. They have commented on this issue before, I thought it was pretty well known.

They also stated that after episode 3 they were moving away from the episodic content.

 

[Lonyo]

So you would rather they were like EA?

Anyways, there IS an upcoming Half Life 2 episode 3 - however the person who is writing the story, the same guy that wrote for portal 2 i believe, is very sick and has been for a while. They have commented on this issue before, I thought it was pretty well known.

They also stated that after episode 3 they were moving away from the episodic content.

How are they not like EA, apart from EA giving you the right to sell your games on?

 

[Zenoth]

So you would rather they were like EA?

Anyways, there IS an upcoming Half Life 2 episode 3 - however the person who is writing the story, the same guy that wrote for portal 2 i believe, is very sick and has been for a while. They have commented on this issue before, I thought it was pretty well known.

They also stated that after episode 3 they were moving away from the episodic content.

Sad news if true, concerning the writer of the series.

But they "moved away" from Episodic Content since Episode Two. If they do ever release anything about Half-Life even if it's named "Episode Three", it'll be everything but part of their original Episodic Content plan. At this point anyway they can't afford to "just release an Episode", they need to release a full-fledged "full length" Half-Life title, which means it has to be Half-Life 3. If they dare releasing an actual 3 to 4 hours-long episode after all that time... well you can imagine the outcry it'll cause, and with reason.

As a side note, if the writer of the series is sick and they refuse to move on despite that situation then I would find that commendable on Valve's part. That at first glance shows me that they do care about the "proper" and canon continuity of the series as it was and will be envisioned by the originator, because otherwise they would just find "another writer" who knows absolutely nothing about the series to start with and call it a night, and we'd end up with story-related inconsistencies and gaps on a Mass Effect 2 scale.

 

[Inspector Jihad]

valve threads are approaching 'pc gaming is/isn't dying' status.

 

[digitaldurandal]

Sad news if true, concerning the writer of the series.

But they "moved away" from Episodic Content since Episode Two. If they do ever release anything about Half-Life even if it's named "Episode Three", it'll be everything but part of their original Episodic Content plan. At this point anyway they can't afford to "just release an Episode", they need to release a full-fledged "full length" Half-Life title, which means it has to be Half-Life 3. If they dare releasing an actual 3 to 4 hours-long episode after all that time... well you can imagine the outcry it'll cause, and with reason.

As a side note, if the writer of the series is sick and they refuse to move on despite that situation then I would find that commendable on Valve's part. That at first glance shows me that they do care about the "proper" and canon continuity of the series as it was and will be envisioned by the originator, because otherwise they would just find "another writer" who knows absolutely nothing about the series to start with and call it a night, and we'd end up with story-related inconsistencies and gaps on a Mass Effect 2 scale.

I think part of their willingness to wait is that there have been a number of other projects on their table.

Completing Portal 2

and now completing dota 2

 

[AstroManLuca]

They're too busy ruining TF2 to work on HL3/EP3.

 

[KaOTiK]

There's a hat for that.

 

[hans030390]

You've got to be joking. Everything valve puts out is gold. They don't release games often, but when they do it's epic.

Oh, like L4D 2? No, that was totally just for the money.

 

[dpodblood]

Oh, like L4D 2? No, that was totally just for the money.

Yep that explains why I spent hours and hours playing both 1 & 2 with my friends, laughing my ass off the whole way. Damn you valve scam artists! :hmm:

 

[Bill Brasky]

I never even played Episode 2.

edit: Hmm, it's only $7.99. Perhaps I will pick it up this weekend.