Half Life: Episode 3 hinted at in leaked codes and Valve haiku

“Episode 3 ships in,” teases Gabe Newell

Words: Matt Bradford on September 22, 2011

The first sign of Gordon Freeman's return was spotted by the Team Liquid community in leaked raw code for Valve's Dota 2 beta. Among other random files, members found a folder entitled 'ep3' that contained alleged references to Episode 3 weapon types such as concrete, metal, and liquid. The files included:

/src/game/server/ep3/weapon_icegun.cpp

/src/game/server/ep3/weaponizer_concrete.cpp

/src/game/server/ep3/weaponizer_liquid.cpp

/src/game/server/ep3/weaponizer_metal.cpp

/src/game/server/ep3/weapon_flamethrower.cpp

Half Life rumors were also fed by a cryptic haiku written by Gabe Newell in response to this creative fan email:

Episode 3? Ship? It's possible Newell is making a sly reference to Aperture Science's Borealis research vessel from Half Life: Episode 2. But wait: combining the first letters of both emails spells “DIE HTE”, which could also mean “[Prepare to] Die [in] Harvester Threat Environments.”

But then, maybe we're over thinking this. Your thoughts?

Sep 22, 2011

Games:

Half-Life 2: Episode Three

View Screenshots Hide Screenshots

Latest Half-Life 2: Episode Three Screenshots

All Half-Life 2: Episode Three Screenshots

Platforms:

20 comments

View as:
Newest first
Oldest first

Vittles05 - September 22, 2011 11:08 a.m.

If this is all some kind of joke I will cry.
- Reply
- Report
435 - September 22, 2011 11:08 a.m.

I'm thinking this is just Gabe toying with people.
- Reply
- Report
Ironarm - September 22, 2011 11:09 a.m.

I don't like Gabe Newell, so I'm skeptical of it. I'm not getting my hopes up. I'd rather just have Half-Life 3 instead of Episode 3.
- Reply
- Report
keltar93 - September 22, 2011 11:09 a.m.

Yeah, I'm going to go with Gabe trolling. At this point, Episode 3 will probably be Half-Life 3, and will almost certainly launch with a new engine- one that probably won't run on current gen consoles.
- Reply
- Report
JangoFettN7 - September 22, 2011 11:19 a.m.

hoping news is true cliffhangers are a hassle Episode 3 soon?
- Reply
- Report
FOZ - September 22, 2011 11:21 a.m.

Four years, one unnecessary sequel, and turning TF2 into their money-making social experiment? Anyone who settles for Episode 3 is weak. WEAAAAAK, CHOPPER
- Reply
- Report
OmegaDestroyer - September 22, 2011 11:22 a.m.

Not going to get my hopes up on Episode 3 ever coming out.
- Reply
- Report
MidianGTX - September 22, 2011 11:53 a.m.

No one's pointed out the part about Gabe's Haiku having six syllables in the third line.
- Reply
- Report
Sniped50 - September 22, 2011 12:07 p.m.

I don't really know anymore. With Valve, anything could happen. I really, REALLY hope this isn't another false alarm, or I will cry big man tears...
- Reply
- Report
ParanoidAndroid - September 22, 2011 12:26 p.m.

So, Episode 3 has ships in. Neato.
- Reply
- Report
alex-harris - September 22, 2011 12:40 p.m.

The haiku is supposed to be an ironic joke. He likes haikus because the have a rigid structure but does not have a structured production cycle for Episode 3. So when he says, "Episode 3 ships in", he's not talking about ships as in the Borealis, he's talking about a shipping date for the game like, "Game X ships in 2012". The date is left blank because he doesn't know when it will be finished.
- Reply
- Report
Thequestion 121 - September 22, 2011 1:06 p.m.

Those weapon types are certainly interesting. If those are definitely code related to Episode 3, I will be very happy. If not, oh well.
- Reply
- Report
Teh_Ty - September 22, 2011 2:40 p.m.

HOPE
- Reply
- Report
JenosIdanian - September 22, 2011 2:49 p.m.

How could you not like Gabe Newell
- Reply
- Report
samsneeze - September 22, 2011 3:02 p.m.

That's not a haiku, so no, it's not gonna happen.
- Reply
- Report
slimjim441 - September 22, 2011 3:59 p.m.

It's totally Gabe just messing with people. The last line has 6 syllables, making the whole thing moot. Not to mention, did anyone else know that we already played the first 2/3 of H-L3? The episodes are H-L3.
- Reply
- Report
soren7550 - September 22, 2011 6:38 p.m.

Yeah, I was thinking this pretty much, but I figured that the 'Episode 3 ships in' is more of a cruel cliffhanger.
- Reply
- Report
heed_of_doom - September 23, 2011 5:05 a.m.

eh? your saying that halflife 2 episode 1 and halflife 2 episode 2 are actually halflife 3?.....
- Reply
- Report
Cheepdude - September 23, 2011 4:29 p.m.

COME ON GABE!! you give us a major cliffhanger at the end of ep2, release the damn thing already!!
- Reply
- Report
ArbokDaKobra - September 26, 2011 8:46 p.m.

Yo dawg i heard you like half-life, so we put half-life in a half-life.
- Reply
- Report