Valve voice actor says Half-Life 3 not in development

[Oberon]

Oh no! Please please let there be a Half Life 3..

John Patrick Lowrie says Valve not working on long-awaited game due to motion-capture issues, among other things.

According to Half-Life series voice actor John Patrick Lowrie, Valve's long-awaited Half-Life 3 is not in development.

Writing in the comments of his personal blog (via NeoGAF), Lowrie said issues with motion-capture, among others, are keeping the game back.

"One of the great things about HL2 is that all of the characters that you meet actually look at you when they talk to you no matter where you go or stand. With mo-cap you can’t do that, at least not yet," Lowrie said.

Source

 

[Pandsu]

You really can't do that with mo-cap? Couldn't the have a hybrid of mo-cap and "ai" (for the lack of a better word here) that adjusts the animations accordingly? I mean there's physics engines that combine ragdolls and real time physics with pre-made animations, which sounds much harder to do to me, so surely this must be possible?

 

[wowtgp]

It's one of the lamest excuse I have ever heard for not making the game. Seriously Valve, stop trying to fool us now. Why don't you concede that you don't want to make a SP game anymore?

 

[ozadin]

Why is everyone obsessed with the Half-Life series? I mean, yeah, it's a pretty good game, but Half Life 3 comments have been redundant the past few years already. Everywhere I go on Youtube, there is at least one absurd comment why Half-Life 3 is confirmed, even if it doesn't make sense. It has basically turned into a meme already. Just because of this, I really hope that HL3 won't be released until 2015 or 2016. I actually liked the Bioshock series more than the Half-Life series.

 

[The Unlosing Ranger]

That excuse doesn't sound believable to me. Regardless, I really wonder if Valve will ever make HL3... I almost feel like they won't make it because it's been so long and people's expectations are unrealistically high.

 

[BlackSolaris]

I think that is just an excuse. I am pretty sure that they will need to create a new engine for that game, so they are holding out until they create Source 2.0.
Maybe release the orange box 2.0 too, that would be an awesome move by valve again!

 

[OniBlackMage]

Every time Valve hears grumbling for Half Life 3, much less a Half-Lie 2: Episode 3 [typo intentional], they roll over on their mountain of cash and wave away another Steam sale to quiet the masses.

People produce nuclear family households sooner than Valve makes a serious move on its premier franchise.

 

[Clark Wayne]

Well, even though it is a pretty horrible excuse, I think we should all be used to it by now. It's been such a long wait that I'm not even surprised at some the reasons that come up as to why the game hasn't been released yet or even being worked on. That's why for me if it does eventually come out then that will be pretty great. If it doesn't however, I won't lose any sleep over it.

 

[wowtgp]

Well, even though it is a pretty horrible excuse, I think we should all be used to it by now. It's been such a long wait that I'm not even surprised at some the reasons that come up as to why the game hasn't been released yet or even being worked on. That's why for me if it does eventually come out then that will be pretty great. If it doesn't however, I won't lose any sleep over it.

Valve treats us gamers like puppets and think that we'd believe and support everything they do and say. Well, it's not happening Valve, it's not happening.

 

[unwittyoneliner]

I didn't the see "not" in the topic title, and was pretty disappointed once I read the OP. That does seem like a lame excuse. I don't know why they couldn't pull that off with pre-rendered graphics. Then again, I don't really know about the intricacies of game development. This was probably done to add shock value for the moment when Gaben comes landing into the upcoming Gamescom conference with a parachute, and demos Half-Life 3.

 

[Pandsu]

The weirdest part about this is what Gabe Newell said in a spontaneous interview with some random people that brought him a crate for his birthday. There he revealed that they had a new engine and were just waiting for a game to be ready to show it off with. And when someone asked if they were working on Ricochet 2 he said yes.
Ricochet 2 is a codeword for Half-Life (Episode) 3...

Though, to be fair, that has been a while so maybe these supposed issues came up after that? I mean, these kinds of things are why they never talk about anything, anyway. They want to wait for the game to be at a presentable state and quite far into development so they know they won't have to restart development or delay it too much or change too many things.

But seriously, I can't imagine how torturous this must be for true Half-Life fans. I am sick of waiting, I really want this game to happen and I'm not even a huge fan. I never finished the first Half-Life because it bored me, wasn't a huge fan of HL2, either (more its engine, really), thought it was okay. Liked EP2 a lot though. Was just better paced. And that ending, along with some of the things they said in interviews (there being a gimmick that's better than the Portal gun and whatnot) really made me crave for Episode 3. And now I really want the next chapter. Especially since I think they've learned a lot from the Portal and Left 4 Dead series' (and to an extent also Dota2 and TF2) that would make HL3 a lot better.


Edit: Then again, who knows. Maybe they were serious about every "Gabe is fat" joke delaying the game further :3

 

[Medza]

Ahh Half Life 3. This debate has been going on for nearly a decade now and the rambling of one voice actor is nowhere near enough to put me off from anticipating HL3. Part of me wishes that the game never comes out, if you look at all the hype that was surrounding Duke Nukem Forever and the absolute disaster that the game became, then you will see how certain games create so much hype that they can't actually live up to the high expectations. Whatever the case, we will have to wait and see.

 

[NatureSun]

Heh, of course even if it was in development the voice actor won't directly accept it and tell the press!

Half Life 3 really is weird in how it's been so long that it's literally become a joke. I read about it atleast once per day on the internet. They better actually be developing it right now otherwise I can only imagine if it never even hits the shelves how the fans will be.