Valve may show Half-Life 2: Episode Three this year; release still a ways off
by Randy Nelson 
{ Oct 14th 2008 at 11:59PM }
In an interview with Kikizo, Valve's Doug Lombardi says we won't have to wait long for ... our first glimpse of Half-Life 2: Episode Three. Quizzed on whether the dev would have something to show in 2008, Lombardi plainly said, "We may at the very end of the year." So, yay – a (possible) Half-Life Holiday.
As for when the game will actually ship – er, not so soon. "The next time you play as Gordon will be longer than the distance between HL2 to Ep1, and Ep1 to Ep2," Lombardi confirmed. We're guessing he didn't mean all of thattime distance combined. Still, given that Episode One hit in June of '06 and we didn't see Episode Two until October '07, we're likely looking at an 18+ month wait for Episode Three. That would put its release ... around May or June 2009. Or, in comparative terms, sometime around the debut of the next new Lost episode.
As for when the game will actually ship – er, not so soon. "The next time you play as Gordon will be longer than the distance between HL2 to Ep1, and Ep1 to Ep2," Lombardi confirmed. We're guessing he didn't mean all of that
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)
CaramelZappa @ Oct 15th 2008 12:04AM
Episodic content is so quick!
Imagine if they DIDN'T make the episodes, we would still be waiting for a release date for HL3.
eldee @ Oct 15th 2008 1:21AM
eh, on the one hand I agree- it would suck to wait for eons for HL3.
but on the other hand, these 'episodes' a fucking short as hell. I finished ep2 in one afternoon. I mean, I'll buy ep 3 when it comes out, but at the same time I'm growing disinterested in the half-life franchise. Imagine if you had to wait 6 months in between episodes of Heroes, or they took two years off in between seasons? It's kind of hard to maintain interest in something that is given to you in such small doses with these two year gaps in between releases.
eldee @ Oct 15th 2008 1:24AM
note: i'm not flaming, i loved HL, HL2, Ep1 and Ep2. They are all of the highest quality of gaming possible, and I realize that this kind of quality takes time.
Having said that, I'm still losing interest in the franchise as a whole. Every time something comes out I have to go back and play through every other game again just to remember wtf happened.
CaramelZappa @ Oct 15th 2008 2:18AM
I can't answer about Heroes, I personally can't stand the show. (to each his own, though)
I know what you mean by having to replay each one each time an episode goes out, but isn't that good, in some respect. The fact that you CAN play through the game again and ENJOY it, and it will make the new episode more rewarding kind of adds to the replay value of the series.
In my eyes, Valve is one of the few developers that continues to improve constantly. With a lot of games the sequels end up being MORE (something bland) in the sequel with BETTAR GRAPHICS, and while those things are definitely included, Each installment in the Half-Life series has improved over the last. Half Life 2 was better than original HL, and while short, what there was in EP 1 was improved from HL2, and then episode 2 just continued to expand. The game design in each game is an improvement to the last instead of more of the same. For me, that is well worth the wait.
GenBanks @ Oct 15th 2008 9:59AM
http://developer.valvesoftware.com/w/index.php?title=Valve_time&oldid=55505
Rabidkeebler @ Oct 15th 2008 12:50PM
Gotta agree with Eldee on this one. The whole point of episodic content is to release it in a timely manor. Sorry, this is not timely. Especially for a game that is being built around minor improvements, instead of a whole refashioning.
What I mean is, there is no huge jump in gameplay. Same sounds, weapons, enemies (minus the three they created for Ep. 1&2). Slightly updated graphics are the only big change. Other than level creation and story there is nothing to make the game release over 2 years.
Arturo @ Oct 15th 2008 12:05AM
It's ok, Valve is awesome. Left 4 Dead will keep me happy I'm sure. :)
ExMcCloud @ Oct 15th 2008 12:08AM
Yo I can't wait for Left 4 Dead I want it so bad!!!!
Ihavepants @ Oct 15th 2008 12:23AM
I've convinced myself a fair while ago the Left 4 Dead will containt a teaser for EP 3.
Ihavepants @ Oct 15th 2008 12:32AM
contain*
ZaxCG2 @ Oct 15th 2008 9:09AM
You took the words right out of my mouth.
FemaleOrca @ Oct 15th 2008 3:45PM
It musta been while you were kissin' him.
Reece @ Oct 15th 2008 12:06AM
who cares lamar is dead!
CaramelZappa @ Oct 15th 2008 12:21AM
He's not dead, he's just in another world.
GenBanks @ Oct 15th 2008 9:57AM
Don't worry, in Portal 2 we will save lamar together.
arhoads @ Oct 15th 2008 12:29AM
actually it's may or june 2010.
wtf
Kevin @ Oct 15th 2008 12:55AM
I think they meant 18 months from episode 2, not 18 months from now.
Vidikron @ Oct 15th 2008 12:16AM
They shouldn't even bother calling these "espisodes". That term loses all meaning when it takes you this long to get one out.
Lekko @ Oct 15th 2008 2:49AM
I bet people wouldn't complain as much if they did episodes 4 5 and 6 first, then took 16 years to go back and make the first three.
brandon_r87 @ Oct 15th 2008 3:37AM
@Lekko: I have to imagine the quality of episodes 1, 2, and 3 would decline immensely. They'd probably throw in an annoying character and some better graphics. Also the dialog would suck.
Einhanderkiller @ Oct 15th 2008 12:21AM
They can take as long as they like. I loved Episode Two. So much, in fact, that I played through it beginning to end four times.
eldee @ Oct 15th 2008 1:22AM
must have taken you all day!
ZING!
Yourself @ Oct 15th 2008 12:22AM
Sigh... kind of ridiculous. But they're doing such a great job that it's hard to complain. Actually just finished Ep. 2 this past weekend, and somehow everything still seems as fresh as when I first played HL2 (which was, Jesus, 4 years ago now?). Though they need to ease off on Striders, Magnusson devices, and anything even reminiscent of that final battle. That was painful.
FemaleOrca @ Oct 15th 2008 3:53PM
Really? I thought the final battle was one of the highlights of the entire game (HL2 and Ep1 included). Id like to see more developers implement that kind of free-roaming, tactical, multi-enemy "boss fight."
Yourself @ Oct 15th 2008 6:42PM
1.) Either Magnusson devices don't work like I think they do, or my game was glitching to hell. They only stick about 25% of the time, and that's if the Hunter's don't take them out first.
2.) Hunters are fine (actually Hunters were an awesome new enemy), but forcing you to kill them with the car in such a claustrophobic environment is just plain nasty.
3.) I have fought enough Striders. I don't mind the epic feeling of "one man vs. an army" that was definitely imparted here, but Striders are already nothing more than a bland version of the Gunship, and by the end of Episode 2, I'd alredy fought probably 7 or 8 between the other games. Another 15? Too much. If they had switched up the enemies, maybe thrown in some Overwatch, some Gunships, anything but a sequence of the same enemie, it could've been a lot better.
I'm in the minority in my opinion on this battle, but I really think it was a great idea with completely botched execution.
jimmygotsmack @ Oct 15th 2008 12:24AM
I completely gave up on expecting the half-life 2 episodes to actually be released in a short time frame. As well as for blizzard to give accurate release dates.
m-p{3} @ Oct 15th 2008 12:28AM
Whatever, as long as it's good.
Sadly, I'm not much into zombie games, so I might skip L4D..
Obie @ Oct 15th 2008 12:30AM
Damn you Valve! Bah, I know it will be worth the wait tho.
Dr. Gordon Freeman @ Oct 15th 2008 12:35AM
If I can wait, all of you can. Btw, this IS Gordon Freeman (hence the gordon@freeman.name email address)
Chin-Poh @ Oct 15th 2008 12:35AM
Damn it, I want Sin Episodes 2! :(
CaramelZappa @ Oct 15th 2008 12:37AM
Seriously? I thought the first one was mediocre at best, and apparently so did everyone else. I'm pretty sure it's not even on steam anymore.
Einhanderkiller @ Oct 15th 2008 12:57AM
SiN Episodes wasn't that bad. For $5, it was an enjoyable 2 hour experience.
CaramelZappa @ Oct 15th 2008 1:05AM
For $5, sure, but I remember it being closer to $20 on release and $15 recently.
Arnon @ Oct 15th 2008 12:37AM
Yes yes YES GOD YES.. Bring on the ending! Jeefus.
Ranus Studios @ Oct 15th 2008 12:42AM
Glee!
Kevin @ Oct 15th 2008 12:58AM
Wouldn't be surprised if they're going to go for another Orange Box type deal.
HL2 + Episodes 1, 2, and 3 + Portal 2 + Something else maybe?
nerdinerdiness @ Oct 15th 2008 8:24AM
My personal opinion is that they are going to be releasing it with Counter Strike 2. We haven't heard a peep from that team for a long time.
Turtle Rock (the studio behind left 4 dead) even made the last 4-6 maps for CS:S. That is how long the Counterstrike hasn't done a thing.
damien @ Oct 15th 2008 1:02AM
I have been waiting for this for a long time. Half Life Rocks and episode three will probably be one of the few new games coming out with that stupid progressive health system the removes a lot of strategy.
bosco @ Oct 15th 2008 1:08AM
sorry for being off topic here. but there is no related post about this to comment on. What's up with those huge ads that i have to skip to continue reading joystiq? I hate those things on other sites, and i come here to avoid them. (and get up to date news of course). but you guys are becoming no better then ign. please fix this.
Yourself @ Oct 15th 2008 2:03AM
Adblock or die, I say.
Robotic Earthling @ Oct 15th 2008 5:15AM
Something's either wrong with my Firefox or Adblock, because for whatever reason these things you're talking about just cover the entire webpage in black for me, and the only thing I can do is refresh and hope it doesn't appear next time.
Mark C @ Oct 15th 2008 11:50AM
I think noscript is killing them for me.
Rich @ Oct 15th 2008 1:29PM
(for bosco)
Ad Muncher is great too:
http://www.admuncher.com/
Dan CiTi @ Oct 15th 2008 2:10AM
Cool. I hope they make a singleplayer game that uses TF2's graphical style. Like a Metal Slug FPS or something.
Zedword @ Oct 15th 2008 2:11AM
Not to get off topic, but having to wait a year or so for the next Half-Life game isn't as bad as the bollocks Blizzard is trying to pass off to consumers involving StarCraft II and Diablo 3.
I'd rather wait a while for a quality game than spend $150 on essentially one game within a three-year time span, plus waiting another year for D3, AND having to pay for Battle.net.
Valve is pretty much the only untainted source for quality gaming out there. The Valve catalog has been keeping me busy in between releases and will continue to do so.
Ihavepants @ Oct 15th 2008 3:15AM
Counterpoints!
*How is 3 games,that are the length of 3 games and most likely going to be far better then the rest of their kind "essentially one game", it has negative points and positives and I for one will actually wait to play Wings of Liberty until I say that it's not worth it.
*Oh no, waiting for Diablo 3 to be finished. What a horrible thing for Blizzard to make you suffer through. We only found out about it halfway through this year ffs.
*Battle.net IS GOING TO BE FREE. There MAY be some side features which you can CHOOSE to pay for, but nothing that you're likely to be doing very often.
*Valve take just as long to release their games, and both companies are awesome.
parasite_evil @ Oct 15th 2008 3:20AM
What the hell are you talking about? Nothing in your post, save the last paragraph, made any sense.
Ihavepants @ Oct 15th 2008 4:47AM
How so?
1st point, 3 games that are said to be fully fleshed out to the extent of any other full game should not be considered paying three times for one game. And that is all we have to go off until we play the first game ourselves.
2nd point, He complained about having to wait until Diablo 3 was finished to be able to play it. Just like any other game. I don't see why I need to explain this one.
3rd point, Battle.net and all it's core features are going to be free to use. They are thinking about micro-transactions for little features that you are unlikely to be really using more than once. They haven't even confirmed that they will even be doing this or not, or the specific features themselves that may cost money.
Also, re-reading everything I said the first time I'm having trouble seeing what didn't make sense, but hopefully this time it's ok.
Unless you were talking to Zedword in which case I feel silly.
Snowblind @ Oct 15th 2008 7:19AM
Games like Halo Wars also only have the one campaign, it's very likely we'll have to pay for a Covenant and Flood expansion later, so I don't really see the problem with what they're doing with Starcraft, assuming that the campaign it does have is decently long and they aren't just cutting it up for the sake of it.
Focusing more on one side at a time could make it a little more interesting.
Ebichu @ Oct 15th 2008 3:46AM
imo episodic gaming only works when there's a short period of time between episodes, like with Sam & Max.