Fingers assaulted keyboards to breaking point earlier this week as nerds reacted to news which was spreading across the globe like some kind of digital hepatitis; Seattle-based developer Valve had filed a trademark in the EU for Half-Life 3, the latest in its revered first-person-shooter series and The Most Anticipated Video Game Of All Time. Holy fucking shit.
Half-Life 3 is the holy grail of video game sequels, a title more mythic and elusive than unicorn tears. Your correspondent is one of millions who sat in front of his TV, gobsmacked, during the shocking cliffhanger at the end of Half-Life 2: Episode 2 all the way back in 2007. The entire planet has been demanding a new instalment since then, but there was none to be seen. Rumours of release turned out to be exactly that. Numerous hoaxes have come and gone. Scraps of information and leaks were poured over by geeks like hippies reading tea leaves, and all for nought. At least, until now.
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Hardcore gamer forum NeoGaf posted a link to what appears to be a bona-fide application to register the title’s trademark with important-sounding dudes The Office of Harmonization for the Internal Market (OHIM) in Europe. At the time of writing, there is no similar application in the United States. Make of that what you will.
It’s worth pointing out the trademark registration is often a matter of routine and is by no means a guarantee that trademark in question will see the light of day. However, as news emerges of a leak showing the Half-Life 3 development team, and with Valve announcing its own console and controller last week, the possibility of HL3 as a launch title isn’t quite the pipe dream it seemed a few days ago.
If this does turn out to be some sort of multimedia prick-tease than Sick Chirpse will be grabbing its pitchforks and joining the angry mob who will no doubt be marching on Seattle in the not-too-distant future. There’s only so much a person can take, after all.
