Why Half life 3 is bieng delayed

[naronic]

There has been a recent hate for Valve due to their delaying of there trademark series Half life.
Some think its because they simply don't want to make Half life games anymore and would rather focus on l4d or portal instead for they make much more money.
Some think that Valve is just greedily baiting our money more on small episodic releases than handing over full experiences because it's just more profitable

I will get straight to the point to say that neither of the above is true.
Half life is being delayed because innovation is becoming rapid and exponential.

What is Call of Duty's main trump card? It's multiplayer.
What is Portal's main trump card? It's puzzles and PORTAL mechanics.
What is Crysis's main trump card? It's graphics!
Heck what is BF main trump card? It's loyalty to simulating war.
and that's what people expect for every release.
Bad sequels are created all the time from good games because game developers ignore what made the first games tick and profitable.

Lets take a look back in time. Every consecutive release of Half life has altered the direction of FPS games for the better.
Half life 1 served to introduce storytelling elements to fps games, and Half life 2 put physics engines, and advanced animatitronic realism into style. Not to mention Valve has introduced a new engine within' every numerable release of Half life to keep it fresh.
Being ahead of the curve IS Half life's trump card, it's reputation, it's practical style that it can't live without and of which half life 3 would be disowned if it didn't do any of the above.

The problem isn't with laziness nor is it with disinterest, it's simply the fact that making big splashes within the genre is getting harder and harder to do. The Frost-byte engine from BF3 and cry-engine mods is practically going to soak up all the innovation to be had within the graphics department-- plus the source engine is loosing its edge; it's not flexible enough.
Valve's only choice was to get more conservative and take it slower until they could find a good or innovative idea, hence the episodic road half life has gone down and the endless additional content to l4d, and tf2-- their prime moneymakers.

If you ask me Valve is not pulling a duke nukem forever, (they know better than that) nor are they greedy. They just need some time. Half life 3 will have to be innovative to live up to its elders. So take your time Gabe Newell, be seeing the game in 2045...

jk

[FlaminSquirrel]

I can understand that technology plays a big part for Half-Life, but waiting for a short, episodic game that should've been released four years ago is no excuse for it. I could understand in the case of Half-Life 3. Yeah, a major sequel to a franchise would more than likely produce a new engine, one that may be the most advanced. It'll have to be, too, for it has big shoes to fill.

But in the case of the Half-Life 2 episodes, an episodic trilogy was planned out so THAT story arc would end well. Half-Life 2 Episode 2 ended in a cliffhanger, and Episode 3 should have ended that particular part of the story. Before a 3, we're still waiting for Episode 3. And they're handling that game about as well as 3D Realms with Duke Nukem Forever. "Oh, Half-Life? Yeah, we're still working on it... I think... OH LOOK, MORE TF2 HATS!"

I like Valve, but they could've done more justice to a series that made them what they are now.

[MrPercie]

And I quote a great saying I made up "its better to have something great every 100 years than to have something shit everyday"

[Re2deemer]

It is being delayed because Podcast 17 told Gabe to prioritze Ricochet 2 above Half-Life 2 Ep 3. True story, 34:10

[naronic]

At 6/12/11 02:18 PM, Re2deemer wrote: It is being delayed because Podcast 17 told Gabe to prioritze Ricochet 2 above Half-Life 2 Ep 3. True story, 34:10

this is just my theory but I guess that could hold some weight

[Tony-DarkGrave]

its because Valve is garbage.

[naronic]

At 6/12/11 02:47 PM, Tony-DarkGrave wrote: its because Valve is garbage.

and why is that oh mighty one?

[GiantDouche]

because half life is now valve's 3rd or 4th most profitable series. tf2, portal, and lfd have taken priority, why would they bother being loyal to their longest running fanbase when there's money to be made?

[naronic]

At 6/12/11 03:04 PM, GiantDouche wrote: because half life is now valve's 3rd or 4th most profitable series. tf2, portal, and lfd have taken priority, why would they bother being loyal to their longest running fanbase when there's money to be made?

once agian i don't think that is the case

Half life as a series has always been known for its innovations to fps gaming.
Half life 3 would die under the weight of much heavier titles if it didn't walk in with at least something new on its plate, especially after this long.

[Blaze-Heatnix]

At 6/12/11 01:46 PM, MrPercie wrote: And I quote a great saying I made up "its better to have something great every 100 years than to have something shit everyday"

You stole that from Shigeru Miyamoto who said it much, much better.

And it has always been my position that Valve is making waaaaay too much money with TF2 and L4D2 to give a shit about what's left of Half Life's fanbase. They COULD spend all the money they're raking in to put into HL3's budget, but they waste it every week ordering Gabe massive amounts of twinkies.

[naronic]

At 6/12/11 03:17 PM, Blaze-Heatnix wrote:

And it has always been my position that Valve is making waaaaay too much money with TF2 and L4D2 to give a shit about what's left of Half Life's fanbase. They COULD spend all the money they're raking in to put into HL3's budget, but they waste it every week ordering Gabe massive amounts of twinkies.

once agian, I think your looking at this too much from a 2 dimensional plane (i doubt you even read my OP) I know what people think, and i'm trying to show that that isn't really the case

[Greenfrost6]

They'll release it when they release it. But first, they have to build a new engine.

[GiantDouche]

At 6/12/11 03:10 PM, naronic wrote: Half life as a series has always been known for its innovations to fps gaming.

Episodes 1 and 2 were hardly innovative.

Half life 3 would die under the weight of much heavier titles if it didn't walk in with at least something new on its plate, especially after this long.

The fanbase is strong enough where that would never happen. And your theory doesn't account for the complete lack of news about development on HL3 from Valve, technically it doesn't even exist right now.

[naronic]

At 6/12/11 07:41 PM, GiantDouche wrote:

At 6/12/11 03:10 PM, naronic wrote: Half life as a series has always been known for its innovations to fps gaming.

Episodes 1 and 2 were hardly innovative.

Every numerical release
like HL or HL2

Half life 3 would die under the weight of much heavier titles if it didn't walk in with at least something new on its plate, especially after this long.

complete lack of news about development on HL3 from Valve, technically it doesn't even exist right now.

Then it's probably because (like I said) they haven't found out how to make a big splash yet
It will come

[InZane3]

If you ask me Valve is not pulling a duke nukem forever, (they know better than that) nor are they greedy. They just need some time. Half life 3 will have to be innovative to live up to its elders. So take your time Gabe Newell, be seeing the game in 2045...

jk

beautifully spoken. mad props.

[zooos]

Companies like to expand and broaden their horizons(especially Valve) and while fans should have some say in where a company goes and how they get there, fan's are being to demanding. They expect companies to tailor their games and what they do to each and every single person's whim.

Look at infamous 2, fans bitched and moaned because the Cole looked different, so they had to change it back. It's sad that fans, the ones who want more out of their games, are the very same people who are preventing such things from happening.

If Valve decided to abandoned Half-Life(or at least put a long halt on the game and it's progression) all in the pursuit of new IP's and ventures, I'd be more then willing to let it go. I'm sorry but Valve has interesting ideas and franchises that they can expand on that are better then Half-Life(except in terms of Story in certain areas) and who are we to prevent them from doing such?

Also, of course Valve wants to make money. That's the goal of any business(at least any successful one) and until they start turning out sequels every year(Madden/COD etc), I don't think what they do warrants all the hate.

[qwertyfreak]

At 6/13/11 03:52 PM, zooos wrote: Companies like to expand and broaden their horizons(especially Valve) and while fans should have some say in where a company goes and how they get there, fan's are being to demanding. They expect companies to tailor their games and what they do to each and every single person's whim.

Look at infamous 2, fans bitched and moaned because the Cole looked different, so they had to change it back. It's sad that fans, the ones who want more out of their games, are the very same people who are preventing such things from happening.

If Valve decided to abandoned Half-Life(or at least put a long halt on the game and it's progression) all in the pursuit of new IP's and ventures, I'd be more then willing to let it go. I'm sorry but Valve has interesting ideas and franchises that they can expand on that are better then Half-Life(except in terms of Story in certain areas) and who are we to prevent them from doing such?

Also, of course Valve wants to make money. That's the goal of any business(at least any successful one) and until they start turning out sequels every year(Madden/COD etc), I don't think what they do warrants all the hate.

I absolutely agree, especially with the business philosophy. Everyone bitches about how they "just want to make money". Problem: how do they make new games without a budget? Answer: The company fails as all their projects go to shit and nobody gets anything.

Also, about the new DLCs and hats and whatnot could be taken as a good sign and that development is progressing at a very fast pace, as they might just need to add some money to the budget. But in their defense, they just released Portal 2, for several platforms at once.

All I can say for sure is that when either Ep. 3 or HL 3 come out, I will be buying it.