I don’t know about you, but I really loved this game. Both of them. I had played Half Life and Half Life 2, over and over again, through high school and college, single player, multiplayer, death match and so on. And just a month ago, I felt like all the benevolent Gods of the universe have answered my prayers and gave me the best news I have heard since GTA 5 was released.
The rumor had it that Valve Software intended to acquire the trademark for Half Life 3. It was supposed that their request was lodged on September, 29 in the European Union. Unfortunately, it was all just a prank. Or, perhaps, it was just a bad joke. Something else than we, the fans of the series, were expecting from Valve.
And shortly after the rumor was started, ValveTime representatives revealed that the application for the registration of the “Half-Life 3” trade mark was a false one. The application was not made by Valve Software, the producers of the game. And, the best proof of this bad news is that the entry in question was immediately removed from the OHIM website.
“We can now confirm that the “Half-Life 3” trademark has been removed from the Trademarks and Design Registration Office of the European Union (OHIM) website. The entrant appears to have disappeared entirely after only being listed on the website database for little over a week, allowing us to identify that the trademark’s listing was more than likely a hoax intended to generate fake buzz for a game which is unlikely to appear for several years.”
Even if Valve made no official move towards Half-Life 3, the hoax could prove to have unexpected effects. Interest in Half-Life 3 has been raised in the past weeks even without any official news coming from Valve, and fans of the series could convince or put pressure on Valve to do something in order to please their appetites for a new title.
Valve’s present plans only include the release of their Steam Machines. On the other hand, Half Life 3 would be a very powerful marketing element that could grow the gamers’ interest towards the new gaming devices.