There’s gold in them there hills. Think about it. If you hit a vein of cash that thick and you could just keep digging and bagging, would you stop?

I don’t think they will either.

_we have to see what happened during the infamous Seven Hour War. We know only its duration but i’m interested in seeing what weapons deployed the Combines and what was the human reactions of soldiers and peolple.
Valve can make out of this at least two episodes:
<Seventh Hour-ep. 1 and 2

-we have to discover what happened to the poor Shepard. The G-Man left him "where he can do not harm, and no harm can be done to him". but he has some plan for him, just like he had for freeman?
<Semper Fidelis

-we have to know how the old staff of black mesa was reputted together: because balck mesa was in the United States and city 17 is somewhere in Europe; and how they find and develop all those tecnological staff under the combine.
<Diary of the resistance

-and our old pal, Barney Calhoun:even under a cruel regime he dosn't lose his humor. But why he is so ready to put his life in risk? Maybe there's a tragedy under his smile? Or perhaps he hopes he will be able to find someone? And i'm not talking of Gordon…
<A long Shift

-of course once purged earth form the combine presence we must take the fight just on their homeplanet to assure that they will be never able to attack use againg.
<Half life (current number): time for payback

-what happens to who accept to enter in the civil protection but refuse to cancel theirs memories. and what they do with theri coscience? what will do a man, with a part of his family still intact, having to work with the combine?
(maiby they can make a film out of a similar idea)
<Necessity

-what are the aims of the combine for our worlds?
-how is the homeworld of the combine?
-of course the G-man is working for someone. but who? and for what?
-what there is in the g-man's briefcase?
-what hopes have a tired humankind against a super galaxy-empire?
-the g-man can be seen talking to some unknown resistance soldier/commander using a combine telescope. and even a combine was looking at him.
-the combines know of the existance of the g-man?

So there are a lot of possibilities to expand the universe of half life. even without gordon freeman. so i don't onestly believe that they will simply shut down a similar series, there are lots of possibilities for it.

p.s sorry for my bad english but i'm only an italian student.

Breen needs to make a comeback, in whatever host body he acquired from the combine, we need to find out what the big thing is to do with the borealis, we need to figure out how to attack the advisors, we need to understand who the mysterious force is behind Gman, we need to figure out what plans gman has of his own, we need to make sure Alyx recovers from the trauma of losing her dad.

Maybe 2 or 3 things out of that might fit into an episode, but all of them? No. I just don’t see it happening.

I do have conflicting thoughts concerning a portal sequel, but I think that Valve would make it work. I used to enjoy multiplayer games, wish I still did.. I’d have nothing to be worried about.

As for sequels, I wouldn’t expect one anytime soon. After Episode 3 it might be another five or so years before they even announce the next Half-Life. As for playing as characters other then Freeman, without being as radically different in terms of gameplay as Portal just isn’t their shtick, and especially not a co-op game set in the HL universe.

The idea of a Seven Hour War game also sounds ridiculous. Especially when you consider that the events of Half-Life 1 & 2 were over the course of two days & three days respectively. Not to mention the fact that you already know the outcome of the war. Sure, it could make for a good mod if done right, it just doesn’t sound like anything Valve would do.

I for one would be extremely sad to see HL2 disappear as I don’t see L4D, TF2 or any of the other titles worth it to be honest.. But however, it’s not like Valve to not end a series/era or even storyline to a massive game?

All these questions left unanswered… All we can do is wait.

Kasperg, the problem i see with Ep1 and Ep2, mostly, is the fact that the are too short to really enjoy as an story telling game.
The good about HL series, is that it tells a good story and it tells it in a thrilling way.
The episodes brake the enjoyment of the story because, well, they tell only a small fraction of a story.
Ep1 more Ep 2 togheter makes a good story in the sense of good Half life standard.

I sincerely hope that Episode 3 gives a strong story to play and “live” as it´s most likely the last official Valve´s
Gordom Freeman game that we will see.

“Ep1 and Ep2 left me with a bitter taste. While the quality of design was certainly a few notches above HL2, I had the feeling that I had done it all before. Similar or same enemies, similar or same allies, similar set pieces (Of both Ep1 and Ep2, I thought only the Citadel in Ep1 had any wow factor in terms of scale. (I know I’m making a mod with the same old HL2 ingredients, but it’s a hobby, not my job)”

Opposing Force and Adrian Shepherd are NOT considered part of the HL mythos, and were created by another company. Valve “might” consider creating something with Barney, and the 7-Hour war would be a good setting, but I’m doubtful it will happen. I think they are more than content to let users create such content for them.

Black Mesa Source has long said they do not want to charge for their release. I can see Valve doing great promotion of it, but only as a freebie, like they did with Minerva.

Valve is continually trying to develop new intellectual properties (IPs) other than HL. Two years ago it was Portal and Team Fortress 2, last year it was Left 4 Dead. TF 2 was a new imagining of the original game, and I consider them completely different entities. Of them, Portal is SP (although tangentially tied to the HL mythos) and L4D has an SP component (but is substantially more fun in co-op mode because of its random events and its reliance upon team-mates).

Sure, Valve could create/purchase (because they have the bucks now) a new single-player FPS IP. But EVERYONE would immediately compare it to HL and HL2, and it would suffer considerably. They might as well continue their existing franchise and put new gameplay elements in it, matched by new settings. Portal is a FP puzzle game, to differentiate.

Also. No new weapons (no, things that you fire with the gravity gun doesn’t count), the arsenal in HL2 was bland enough to begin with, and by now it’s especially tiresome.

And some other stuff. No, I’ll pass.

As for mods I like, I only play mods for HL1, and I tend to enjoy those set in the HL-universe, in Black Mesa or similar. Of course, there are exceptions, like Heart of Evil for instance – a really good mod.

Also i think Valve should start making a new single player game. They only had Half Life until now and when someone says Valve we can only think of HL. This should change. They should create a new universe and a new game. I’m sure they’ll make something very nice and very different.

EP3 will be released in a special pack that contains all three episodes. EP1 will be updated to run on whatever engine designation they use for EP3.

It will be possible to play the episodes without any breaks, just like a full game.

It will be called Half-Life 3: The Episodes. It will end the current story arc of the Combine domination on Earth. Freeman will “free” humanity from slavery (as BobDog said, simillar to Battlefield Earth).

It will be a fantastic ending but will leave questions. Did Freeman die or did he escape? Who was that traitor in the rebels? Why did the Advisors lose so easily? Was it a ploy to entice Freeman through the portal? Was the G-man really helping or hindering the fight against the Combine. What will happen with the Earth/Xen alliance now?

It may also contain Black Mesa Source (for the retail versions anyway).

Black Mesa Source will be frontpage news on Steam. It will be treated like any big new game by Valve and promoted.

Valve will go quite for a while.

They will release a game in 2011/2 where you play as either Shepard or Calhoun during the Seven Hour War. That will be an intense action game, which also fills in some story details and gives some interesting ideas/insights to HL4.

It may also be a co-operative game (ala L4D) where players have four roles:
Barney: Smart and thoughtful. He has become much more street-smart since the days of Blue Shift.
Alyx: Fast and agil. Remember when she climbed that building in EP1? Well, you’ll be able to do that too!)
Shepard: Tough and strong. A mean SOB.
Kliener/scientist: More like a support guy but can open doors and stuff.

Half-Life 4 will see Freeman return fighting the Combine but on another planet, maybe even the Advisor’s homeworld. This will mean we won’t have Human-type Combine to fight but something else. It will be on a completely new engine and be released around 2014. The jump in quality will be similar to HL1 to HL2. Better AI, graphics and physics.

I am undecided whether the issue of the G-man will be resolved inEP3 or not.

Anyway, just some ideas.

To be honest with you I hope we get neither sequel, it concerns me that Valve are making so many games.