The sequel to possibly the greatest game ever made - Half Life - is rumoured to be just six months away from completion, a senior US source revealed this week.
Neither publisher Vivendi-Universal or developer Valve have ever publicly confirmed the existence of a sequel to the best selling PC classic - and continued to offer ‘no comment’ when questioned this week - but the news of further adventures in the Half Life universe will kick off huge anticipation among the hard core community.
Assuming the follow-up to Half Life does arrive Spring 2002, the game will ignite interest in the PC platform even more, with other cutting edge shooters such as Return To Castle Wolfenstein, Duke Nukem Forever and Soldier Of Fortune 2 also hitting the shelves around that time.
Three and a half years for a sequel to such an industry ‘banker’ as Half Life may seem an interminable wait for some, but veterans will recall the original suffered a similarly lengthy period in development, being delayed by a year after its original release date.
Indeed, the source warned publishers that it was “a joke” to expect independent developers to produce innovative and ambitious games to emerge any sooner in a next gen environment.
"Three to four years will not be that uncommon [for games development], especially from independent developers who can finance their own games and do the proper tech and gameplay research as the game is being developed, as well as the proper end-game polishing," the source added.
Meanwhile, the first console version of the original Half Life will make its long-awaited debut on PS2 on November 16, including an all new exclusive episode entitled ‘Decay’, apparently allowing you play as a female scientist this time around. The PC version is also due for a budget re-release on September 21, via VUIP's Best Sellers label.
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MADMAX