Valve vs. Bungie

Why can't Valve give a shit more about Half Life and their fans and run their operation similar to how Bungie does with HALO? I have a problem with this whole indefinite hold on any information being released relating to the future of the Half Life series. Whether you like Bungie or not they do one thing correctly that others fail miserably at. They keep their fans in the fucking loop. Bungie has also released three, count them, three full Halo titles since the completion and release of Half Life 2. Halo 2 and Half Life 2 came out within weeks of each other. Halo 3 in 2007, and ODST in 2009. Now here comes Halo: Reach in 2010. Has work even begun on Half Life 3? Halo gets books, anime, comics, new online multiplayer maps, complete websites (not just fan web pages), action figures, Master Chief USB thumb drives, Halo Zunes, a Halo Encyolpedia, Waypoint, 343 Industries, I can go on and on people. Rumor has it Peter Jackson was even involved with trying to create a HALO movie. Ww..What? Why can't my beloved Half Life get this kind of attention, content or anything. Where is Gordon Freeman? Is he sitting out for more money? Pay the mother fucker! He's worth it. Did the G-Man capture him again? Please Valve give us something. I love the Half Life franchise. This should be the series people are talking about. Wait, where's Half Life 2: Episode 3?! Aw man...Valve you are screwing the pooch so bad with the Half Life property. This is beginning to smell like Duke Nukem. WTF

Gordon Freeman. It's the one name that has continued to remain silent for such an insanely amount of time that it frightens me to believe that I will no longer be playing games when Valve finally decides to finish the story line of Half-Life.

Valve is not only pissing me off, but also millions of other fans. Half-Life 2 was released to the masses on November 16th, 2004. It won numerous awards. And received both positive reviews and press. Now if your doing the math folks that was well over five years ago.

Since that time we were treated to Half-Life 2 'extensions' in the form of a trilogy of episodic content consisting of episodes 1 (released 6/2006), episode 2 (released 10/2007) and last I checked episode 3 is still missing in action. In the two plus years following episode 2's release not once has episode 3 even been green lighted with even a ballpark release date.

At this point in time all of us are still anticipating even the smallest smidgen of news in reference to episode 3. I would be afraid to even ask Valve if such a thing as Half-Life 3 is coming out. This is unbelievable. How can a developer as talented as Valve be dropping the ball on its flagship title? It's the one that put them on the map!

Yes, yes they gave us Portal, Team Fortress 2 and of course the great Left 4 Dead 1 and 2. But enough is enough. I want to experience the conclusion to the Half-Life story sooner rather than later. For crying out loud I was 32 yrs old when Half-Life 2 released and I am still waiting to play the final episode from it. By the time I am 40 yrs old Half-Life 3 may probably still be five years away.

Suddenly 50 seems closer than before.

Valve, I am seriously starting to not like you. And me and my balding head totally mean it too.

I don't know about you but I can surely tell you that I am personally looking forward to the upcoming Halo side story publicly known as 'Halo 3:ODST'. This game not only shows lots of promise, but it is a labor of love that Bungie shows its loyal followers.

See the folks at Bungie realize the full potential the Halo property can open up to be. This is the stuff we don't see enough of. The last time I remember a unique property giving a back up character the torch and telling them to run with it was Barney the security guard in Blue Shift, the Half Life side story game from Gearbox several years ago.

With ODST, Bungie just might end up creating the most appreciated Halo game since the original game in 2001. It has all the bells and whistles along with the storytelling that made the original a classic.

There is a ton of behind the scenes work involved with the complete Halo storyline that I for one applaud Bungie for finally giving us something other than Spartan-117 a.k.a John a.k.a The Master Chief.

Trust and believe if this turns out to be the gem it's shaping out to be imagine what awaits us in 2010 with the release of Halo:Reach. You did know Spartan-117 was not the best of the Spartan II's....Didn't you? Next year we will get to control the Chiefs forgotten Spartan team that got left behind on the UNSC fortress planet, Reach.

While the Master Chief was in cyro-sleep on board the Pillar of Autumn, Spartans fought side by side against a relentless covenant onslaught that eventually glassed the planet.

You see, Bungie does listen. And Bungie does in fact love us.

Gone, but not forgotten...

Well over ten years ago one of the most talented groups in gaming created what is now known as a masterpiece. Team Andromeda's work on 'Panzer Dragoon Saga' is still talked about today. Whether online in gaming blogs, gaming conventions, game stores, or auction houses it still gets a ton of recognition and respect.

Anyone who was fortunate enough to actually have purchased this game over the counter at the time had no idea about the investment they had just made. I myself remember visiting a nearby Toys R Us store and remember glancing at the newly released Sega Saturn title. Yeah, they had many copies. True story. I was never an advocate for this forgotten Sega console, but this game caused me to wonder, why on earth would Sega produce an rpg based on a rail shooter that only Sega fan boys had raved about.

If I would have realized back in 1998 the world, vision and story contained within those 4 pds disks, I would have definitely not passed on the chance to have it over what I did buy, PlayStation games - Riven and 'The Hive'. Trust me I remember the games.

Saturn owners that have not had the chance to play this jem, well time is not on your side. Acquiring a copy is difficult and only getting harder. Even eBay copies have been handled by several or more owners. And it seems this game will never be released on any other platform again.

Purchasing this game no matter what the cost is within anyone's reach. Why? Whether you purchase it for $100.00 or $300.00 there is no way possible you can lose that money. The game has never lost it's value and quite frankly I think I can be bold enough to say it never will.

Buy it. Play it. Love it. And then sell it back. I did. I broke even, and still somehow feel I got over. Over on those out there that have never experienced this masterpiece.

Panzer Dragoon Saga.....I will never forget this game.

Sega Saturn? Who would have thunk it possible.

Best Halo Lore

Without question Halo.Bungie.Org has been a constant staple in the Halo Universe as 'the' place for all things Halo. But the guys over at Ascendant Juctice are really doing some incredible writing on the little things that you or I either missed or just failed to notice within the story. Absolutely fantastic writing. If your a nut of all things Halo do yourself a favor and check them out.

Half Life 2 - Episode 3?

Does anyone else remember that Half Life 2, the actual real game, came out way back in 2004? Five years later we are still waiting for Half Life 2 - Episode 3. Never mind the fact that work on Half Life 3 probably has not even started.

Valve is great. But come on already. Five years on just episodic content? And nothing has been shown or announced for the final episode period.

Some one over there please throw us your fans a freakin bone already cause this blows.