Half Life 3 could be debuted at Gamescom

Update: Since writing this story, Eurogamer is saying that the Half Life 3 rumour is “a mistake,” according to the organisers of Gamescom.

The hotly anticipated sequel to 2004's Half Life 2 and its ensuing episodes, could appear for the first time at Gamescom, according to a PDF from the show's website.

If true, this announcement would be massive, considering Valve has been almost totally silent on the development of anything Half Life since the release of HL2: Episode 2, back in 2007. It would be a bit surprising if the company jumped straight to Half Life 3, skipping over the expected Half Life 2: Episode 3, but some would suggest that the development time points in this direction.

Another bit of evidence fanning the flames of this rumour is that magazine, Game Informer has pushed back its release date by a day in order to incorporate what is said to be a major announcement from GamesCom. Of course there's no proof this has anything to do with Valve, but who doesn't love a bit of speculation in the games industry?

On the other end of the spectrum of hopefullness, you can't ignore the fact that the list of exhibited games uses not only the companies themselves, but games media and blogs as sources, suggesting that perhaps the author of was simply putting together a list of potentials, more than an actual, confirmed line-up. Wired also notes that back in July, Valve's vice president of marketing Doug Lombardi, said that the company wouldn't be showing off a game at Gamescom.

Still, if Half Life 3 or Half Life 2: Episode 3, or anything new from Valve in the first person shooter universe does appear, it's quite likely to make use of the company's next generation game engine, Source 2. When the original Source engine was unveiled with Half Life 2, it blew us away, so getting a first glimpse at a next generation iteration would be very exciting.

KitGuru Says: Graphically, Crytek's latest efforts are making real waves at the moment, so it'll be interesting to see what, if anything, Valve has up its sleeve for Gamescom.

Become a Patron!