'Half-Life 3' Coming? Valve Releases Update for First Game 19 Years After Release
Valve makes a surprise move on Tuesday, July 11, by releasing an update for the original "Half-Life" game 19 years after the first-person shooter classic was first released. The release prompted fans to raise anew their clamor for a "Half-Life 3."
The company has rolled out a release for "Half-Life," as well as the game's expansion sets "Opposing Force" and "Blue Shift," in a move that was totally unexpected by the gaming community. The original game of the series was launched way back in November 1998, which leaves fans wondering if Valve is taking up the "Half-Life" series for development once more.
Details of the release mostly include crash fixes for the game, and it does not include new content. According to the details posted on the game's Steam page, the update includes crash prevention caused by malformed strings in the game console, as well as those triggered by a malformed BSP file.
A vulnerability fix from crafted SAV files has also been included, as well as crash fixes stemming from rapidly changing consumable weapons and setting custom decals.
The update notes thanked several fans and contributors for alerting Valve to the issues, as well.
The updates also take effect for the game's expansion packs. "Opposing Force" was released back in 1999, followed by "Blue Shift" which launched in June 2001, according to the International Business Times.
Online fans and Steam users were quick to pounce on the update with speculations of a possible "Half-Life 3" being in the works. An update for a game nearly two decades old left players wondering just what Valve seeks to accomplish.
"Am I the only one who thinks this is very... weird? An update for HL1 in late 2017 for seemingly trivial issues that could've been solved decades ago? What was the prime motive for this extremely specific patch?" one user commented.
Meanwhile, some have speculated that the new patch is just Valve's way of keeping the original game in the fans' view on Steam, as noted by PC Gamer.
