The day we never thought would come could already be well on its way. After seemingly being on the backburner for years now, Valve has taken the first steps towards letting fans know that the company is finally ready to continue the adventures and anomalous materials of one Dr. Gordon Freeman.
I speak of Valve filing a trademark overseas with the Office for Harmonization in the Internal Market for Half-Life 3. NeoGAF was quick to pick up on a recent filing by Valve, but the board was quickly overrun. Now before you get all excited and the Internet explodes, it's important to remember that simple trademark filing does not a complete video game make. In the best set of circumstances, it could mean that, yes; Valve is finally set to provide the long-awaited conclusion (or at least next step) for the FPS series that flipped the genre on its ear.
But at worst, it could just mean that Valve is taking the necessary precautions to protect its intellectual property. Which is it? Your guess is as good as ours, and with both Valve and the company's co-founder Gabe Newell staying tight lipped on anything Half-Life related for the last few years, don't count on any new information any time soon.
Looking at the nitty gritty, the filing lists the Half-Life 3 TM as owned by the Valve Corporation. It was formally filed late last month, September 29 by the trademark firm Casalonga & Associes.
It covers "computer game software," "downloadable computer game software via a global computer network and wireless devices" and other goods and services, according to Polygon. A trademark has yet to be filed with the USPTO.
UPDATE - It looks like there's more at work than a simple trademark filing.
According to users from both Reddit and Gematsu, Valve's User Picker software was publicly accessible earlier today, wherein, access to a staff database was mistakenly granted to...how should I put this...people who weren't supposed to be there. Public access was later denied, but not before some screenshots were seen showing development groups were working on Half-Life 3.
According to the shots, the core team is made up of ten members, with 46 others in the extended team. Valve has yet to deny or confirm these reports.
The original story follows.
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Bits and pieces about Half-Life 3, or, Half-Life 2: Episode 3, have surfaced over the last few months, nay, years, but Valve has never confirmed, nor denied development of the game. Statements from a HL voice actor, a bit of concept art, and a second hand source claiming bits and pieces have served only to keep the fans hungry, while providing nothing substantial on their own. As far as the story, things are expected to pick up where episode 2 ended: City 17 was on the verge of ruins, Eli Vance is dead, and the rebellion's double agent Judith Mossman is on the search for an Aperture Science vessel called the Borealis.
We'll keep you posted if any information or further details are released.