Slated as the third and final instalment in a series of episodes following Half Life 2, Episode Three is currently in development, but Valve have stated that it won't be released this year, or the next. We can only hope that, since Episode 3 won't be revealed, that maybe, just maybe, we're talking Half-Life 3 sometime in the future. After all, much of the marketing for Portal 2 has been viral, as were other Valve announcements such as Steam coming to the Mac platform, which used classic Mac images to hint at the distribution service's arrival.
The news of a surprise announcement suggests something momentous, but of course, it could also simply be a surprise related to Portal 2. This is a developer that has put out nothing but high quality products, from Half-Life to Portal to Left 4 Dead, CounterStrike and Team Fortress. Obviously, the news of a surprise from Valve is a big thing. Unless, that is, Valve skips Episode 3 and chases reveals a full-out sequel, Half-Life 3. Word of the cancelation inspired rumours that a Half-Life related surprise was in the works, but it seems now that that idea is all but squished. Last week Valve sent an e-mail out to the press to inform them that their Portal 2 E3 event was being unexpectedly cancelled in order to deliver a surprise instead. Valve has squashed dreams of a Half-Life 2: Episode 3 reveal at E3, with boss Gabe Newell telling fan site that the "Freeman June 14th" image circulating the web was fake and that the surprise promised for E3 "isn't Ep 3." If you were hoping that Valve's June 14th "surprise" would be an unexpected reveal of the long-dormant Half-Life 2: Episode 3, then, as you probably know this turned out to be false.