Jeremy Bennett Found Wearing A Half-Life 3 T-Shirt

[-smash-]

We've come across a new picture of Jeremy Bennett, Valve's art director behind HL2: Episode Two and Left 4 Dead series, at Comic Con 2011 wearing a Half-Life 3 t-shirt. We found it tucked away on a Facebook page for White Cloud Worlds.​

You'll remember that in December 2011, the owner of Uber Entertainment posted this picture taken at the Westside Game Industry Night in Seattle, claiming that a Valve employee was caught wearing a HL3 t-shirt. But that t-shirt was wrong; the lambda and "3" were reversed. And no one's really confirmed who exactly was wearing the shirt.

Anyways, this newly discovered picture of Jeremy was taken in August 2011, before the dubious twitter pic, so now Half-Life fans have even better evidence that Half-Life 3 has probably been well in development for at least a year.

Recently Valve has been more vocal about their next plans for Half-Life and the future. Instead of just telling fans to "hang in there", Gabe Newell and Erik Johnson have both gone on record this year and said that "Ricochet 2 started development". Gabe also confirmed that they were working on a next generation gaming engine and looking for some software to ship it on. More ambiguously, developers at Valve have also left subtle Easter eggs all over the place, like on the Dota 2 blog or 2011 Steam winter sale art.

Full source image

 

[Reconciliation]

The moment i saw HL3 i pop up i instantly got here.

 

[WildBeλ³st]

Soon, guys, soon! Be patient.

 

[-smash-]

I've been saying it every year since TOB, but this E3 is going to be it for sure!

 

[Tollbooth Willie]

wait people actually believed the game wasn't being made

LOL

people forget the six year+ dev cycle of HL2, christ

though even that wasn't that worth it

 

[ChiliFan]

a photo from 16 months ago counts as news?

 

[-smash-]

Never said it wasn't in development this whole time. The point is that now they're at the point where they're getting comfortable talking about it, instead of just......

a photo from 16 months ago counts as news?

 

[Tollbooth Willie]

Never said it wasn't in development this whole time. The point is that now they're at the point where they're getting comfortable talking about it, instead of just......

rip cat

 

[ChiliFan]

The point is that now they're at the point where they're getting comfortable talking about it

Valve has been as silent as ever about it throughout 2011 and 2012 and the discovery of a year-old photo doesn't change that in any way.

 

[-smash-]

Valve has been as silent as ever about it throughout 2011 and 2012 and the discovery of a year-old photo doesn't change that in any way.

You're just unaware of what has been going on this year.

kotaku.com/5966860/gabe-newell-living-room-pcs-will-compete-with-next gen-consoles
youtube.com/watch?v=rHen8KxsXYI&feature=youtu.be#t=81s
www.sevendaycooldown.com/site/episode001/
www.kickstarter.com/projects/260688528/clang
blog.dota2.com/2012/06/did-you-see-that-kill/

 

[Omnomnick]

Valve has been as silent as ever about it throughout 2011 and 2012 and the discovery of a year-old photo doesn't change that in any way.

We run a show called "ValveTime Weekly News Round-Up". You should watch it sometime. Each week's show is pretty packed - I should know, I have to spend hours every Friday writing it.

 

[ChiliFan]

You're just unaware of what has been going on this year.



kotaku.com/5966860/gabe-newell-living-room-pcs-will-compete-with-next gen-consoles
youtube.com/watch?v=rHen8KxsXYI&feature=youtu.be#t=81s
www.sevendaycooldown.com/site/episode001/
www.kickstarter.com/projects/260688528/clang
blog.dota2.com/2012/06/did-you-see-that-kill/

I'm aware of all those, and only two are even slightly relevant to a new Half-Life game. You're just one of those people who jumps to absurd conclusions instantly.

What you're saying is that, now that you've seen a photo from August last year, you believe Valve have been more open about HL3 for the past 16 months, when in fact Gabe refuses to talk about it unless it's referred to under a pseudonym, and even then only gives vague statements about development difficulties which the majority of fans had already assumed were causing the delay.

This piece of non-news only serves to get naive fans of the series worked up over nothing.

We run a show called "ValveTime Weekly News Round-Up". You should watch it sometime. Each week's show is pretty packed - I should know, I have to spend hours every Friday writing it.

I appreciate that, and I'm sure it's very informative. Personally I have no interest in anything Valve is currently working on outside of the Half-Life series, but I'm aware that there are plenty of developments with their other games.

My point is that at no point in the last 2 years have Valve actually come out and said "Half-Life 2: Episode Three/Half-Life 3 is in active development". And an old photo of one of the artists who works on the game doesn't change that fact at all.

 

[Omnomnick]

I appreciate that, and I'm sure it's very informative. Personally I have no interest in anything Valve is currently working on outside of the Half-Life series, but I'm aware that there are plenty of developments with their other games.

My point is that at no point in the last 2 years have Valve actually come out and said "Half-Life 2: Episode Three/Half-Life 3 is in active development". And an old photo of one of the artists who works on the game doesn't change that fact at all.

What about Gabe mentioning Source 2's development several times and then mentioning how they're "Waiting for a game to ship with it"?

And, sorry to say, but you should probably branch out into other Valve titles instead of just being interested in Half-Life because, as a series, new titles don't appear too often. Not to mention that, eventually, Half-Life will end.

 

[-smash-]

You're just one of those people who jumps to absurd conclusions instantly.

Yeah right... That's why I haven't reported on half of the bullshit leaks that have come out, like the Gamescom list and Garry Newman t-shirt. You obviously don't know who I am or what I'm about, so you have no reason to make such an unfounded claim.

Simply put, the evidence is out there now. Valve is at the point in development where they're coming out of the twists and turns of the process. Compare this year to the previous 3 in terms of Valve's conversation about the game.

​

2012

November 3​

Speaking to members from /v/, Gabe Newell said that Valve has been working on a new engine (not just an iteration to Source) and they're looking for a game to ship it with. Erik Johnson also relayed that "'Richochet 2' started development."​

​

June 9​

Mr. Gabe Newell made a short cameo appearance in the introductory film to CLANG, Subutai Corporation's upcoming indie game at the time. In his scene, Gabe Newell is forging a crowbar. Neal Stephenson approaches Gabe and asks, "Is that about ready?" To which Gabe eloquently replies, "These things, they take time."​

​

June 4​

In an interview with GamesTM, Chet Faliszek said, "When we announce Half-Life 3 it won't be on a t-shirt or a forum or some obscure internet game. We'll do it in our own way." Jeep Barnett also said, "...The Half-Life universe is so deep and so involved and kind of puzzling - there's a lot of elements that tie together in unusual ways..." - Summary by CrowbarSka​

​

​

April 12​

Gabe Newell said on the 7DCD podcast @ 21:05 that Ricochet 2 has a "giant story arch" and that it has been in development for a long time. It is inferred that Ricochet 2 sarcastically means Half-Life 3. Note: Gabe did not call it Ricochet 2. The 7DCD host did to get around the taboo associated with the words "Half-Life 3".​

2011

May 9​

"We went through the episodes phase, and now we’re going towards shorter and even shorter cycles," Newell said in an interview published in Develop magazine. "For me, 'entertainment as a service' is a clear distillation of the episodic content model," he added. Here's the entire interview.​

​

​

March 28​

Doug Lombardi said, "We've been really, really fortunate and been able to work on things that we truly are interested in working on. We haven't sort of ever, you know, flip the bit and said 'well, let's just make fancier versions of Half-Life for the rest of our lives and collect all the money.' We've actually done the opposite - sometimes to our fans chagrin."​

Video of Doug Lombardi​

2010

October 21​

Gabe Newell says in an IGN interview that it's always hard to predict where Valve's direction of development will go next. He said, "As I'm reminded of on an almost daily basis, we seemed to be really excited about that episodic thing with [Half-Life 2] Episode One and Episode Two, and then we've gone completely radio silent subsequently. Sometimes it's even dangerous for us to predict what we'll do next." Read more at the bottom ofthis page.​

​

​

August 5​

"We hate to make you wait. But we have no announcements regarding Mr. Freeman or his ongoing adventures at this time," said Doug Lombardi. Noted in this CVG feature.​

2009

August 12​

Gabe Newell explained in a SteamCast podcast interview that he had nothing to say about Ep3. He said that the Valve developers were in an experimental stage of game development; they were testing new content release schedules.​

 

[Omnomnick]

Now look what you did. You've unleashed the beast.

 

[ChiliFan]

What about Gabe mentioning Source 2's development several times and then mentioning how they're "Waiting for a game to ship with it"?

Source 2 is in development yes, that's news. But all he said was that they are waiting for "a game" and you've just assumed Half-Life 3 because of past history with their engines.

And, sorry to say, but you should probably branch out into other Valve titles instead of just being interested in Half-Life because, as a series, new titles don't appear too often. Not to mention that, eventually, Half-Life will end.

But I'm not interested in them. I only have time for single-player games these days and Counter-Strike and Dota aren't my sort of thing anyway.

Yeah right... That's why I haven't reported on half of the bullshit leaks that have come out, like the Gamescom list and Garry Newman t-shirt. You obviously don't know who I am or what I'm about, so you have no reason to make such an unfounded claim.

I suppose if you consider referring to it only as "Ricochet 2" and saying that it's taking a long time to develop as being "open" then I guess you're right. But I still don't see how this old photo contributes to anything. It's just one of many humourous references Valve makes to the game that put them on the map. The CLANG video, the Dota 2 symbol and the CS:GO whiteboards are all similarly light-hearted references to show that they are still aware of a Half-Life fanbase. They are in no way an indication of a new game on the horizon.

Valve is at the point in development where they're coming out of the twists and turns of the process.

I don't think this is true at all. They're simply stating that they are continuing to have difficulties in finding a direction to take with the game, whether that's in terms of story or in terms of gameplay.

 

[Krynn72]

June 4​

In an interview with GamesTM, Chet Faliszek said, "When we announce Half-Life 3 it won't be on a t-shirt​

December 26, 4:44pm est
Valvetime.net staff posts about how a developer is wearing a Half-Life 3 t-shirt and claims it is "evidence that Half-Life 3 has probably been well in development for at least a year."

December 26, 8:05pm est
Valvetime.net member Krynn72 ponders why, given the events of June 4th, 2012, the photo of a developer wearing a shirt is being regarded as any sort of reliable evidence of anything at all.

 

[-smash-]

Jeremy can do what ever the hell he wants, right Krynn72? He's a professional and longtime Valve dude. If he wants to go to a game convention with a HL3 shirt, and tell his friends from New Zealand (or any fans that notice) that it's finally moving along, then he can do it. And no one's saying they announced the game through a t-shirt; We know what an announcement from Valve looks like.

 

[Vegeta897]

Ooh oh me too

December 26, 8:48pm est
Valvetime.net member Vegeta897 thinks everyone should just chiiiiiiill. Mon.

 

[-smash-]

The only reason my post was formatted like that is because I copy/pasted the text and formatting from this thread http://forums.steampowered.com/forums/showthread.php?t=2755826 I didn't feel like editing it out because of my chronic laziness.

 

[Vegeta897]

It's cool, dude
It's cool.

 

[morgs]

I'm going to get my brother to make me that shirt, only with a date too, so people get really excited.

 

[Pwner523]

You're just unaware of what has been going on this year. Not so much to gaming


kotaku.com/5966860/gabe-newell-living-room-pcs-will-compete-with-next gen-consoles
youtube.com/watch?v=rHen8KxsXYI&feature=youtu.be#t=81s
www.sevendaycooldown.com/site/episode001/
www.kickstarter.com/projects/260688528/clang
blog.dota2.com/2012/06/did-you-see-that-kill/

 

[Pwner523]

Nobody has has an actual date morgs

 

[morgs]

really?! damn!

 

[vivanetx]

I feel the need to point this out to everyone. LOOK FAMILIAR?

It's from the valve employee handbook, page 23 I think. It can be found here:

http://www.valvesoftware.com/jobs/

 

[Pwner523]

Lol

 

[Gloone]

There's no evidence that that winter sale thing was hinting at HL3.

People only thought it was back when then they were getting hysterical about a totally imagined ARG with lambdas in the Wheatley video and everything.

 

[Tollbooth Willie]

the thing about fanbases Gloone is that they all have high concentrations of retardation that induce ridiculous beliefs

it just happens that Valve in general has the most rabid and retarded fans out there, so a bunch of autists thinking they see something nonexistent is fairly normal, though they should get back on their retard meds so it doesn't happen anymore

 

[Pwner523]

Lol ^^^

 

[morgs]

Hang on. Wait a second. Half life 2: Episode 2 was the last Half Life game to release.....3 comes after 2.....omg....half life 3!!!!!1

 

[Pwner523]

Omg good luck seeing that..lol