Valve's The Steam Awards has presented an all-new angle to gaming awards unlike anything we've ever seen. Its open-ended nature with no nomination restrictions has provided freedom of choice that has thousands of PC gamers talking, in some cases to share their—sometimes bizarre—selections, but other times to rally behind support of a game or idea.
Among the award selections is the "We Didn't Think Of Everything" award, which allows users to not only select any game of their choosing, but alter the name of the award with a custom write-in. Valve has promised to feature the most popular write-ins, encouraging creativity and collaboration. Naturally, gamers are using this as an opportunity to show off their sense of humor and in some cases make a statement.
This was shown off in screenshots posted by users who selected Half-Life 2: Episode 2 as their game of choice. The award name? "Game That Deserves a Sequel".
Fans of Half-Life have rallied behind the idea in hopes that when The Steam Awards come to a close, the widespread desire for a new Half-Life game will be featured prominently on the Steam Store. Valve will certainly have to take the requests seriously at that point, right? That's the idea.
As indicated by the image above, Half-Life 2: Episode 2 debuted in 2007, a full nine years ago. It was originally supposed to have a sequel in the form of Episode 3, ending on a huge cliffhanger. Such a sequel never appeared, and neither did Half-Life 3.
Rumors point toward Valve shelving production of a new title in the franchise until it feels it has enough innovation and technological progression to showcase as to make the game as substantial as its predecessors. If so, you can't blame them; this is arguably the most hyped game of all-time at this point. The good news is that the advent of virtual reality might just be what Valve is looking for.
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Some say Valve simply isn't interested in producing a game like Half-Life 3 when it's rolling in the dough through the Steam Store and its multiplayer franchises like Counter-Strike: Global Offensive and Dota 2. Although these are easier methods of making money, Valve has continually demonstrated that it's committed to being a bold and ambitious developer, even if it's making games at a slower rate these days.
If you want to contribute to this great cause, log into Steam and visit this page. From there you can nominate games for each category, and make your hunger for Half-Life 3 known.
