One of the most-anticipated games that have already reached mythical proportions is the third installment to the vaunted "Half-Life" franchise. Conflicting rumors and speculations have been bandied about online about the status of the game. Some claim that the game will never be released, while others say that the game is already in development and, based on both 'unofficial' and wishlist leaks, will be unveiled next year.

Meanwhile, a recent rumor that started as an opinion piece ended up being scrutinized by fans, seeing as the speculation piqued the interest of Valve's Marc Laidlaw, the writer of "Half-Life" himself.

According to online show "The Know," which streams on YouTube, the script for the third title in the "Half-Life" franchise has already been completed by the development team. However, the show stressed that as Valve will most likely not risk a release, "Half-Life 3" will not happen.

Fans of the series then wrote Valve and Laidlaw, prompting the "Half-Life" writer to respond first via Reddit and ultimately pointed out some errors in the report from "The Know" team. Quoting Laidlaw, the updated report from "The Know" pointed out some details about the writer's responses to their questions.

Although Laidlaw refused to directly confirm that "Half-Life 3" is in the works, his statement that the team "is only composed of at least 10 employees working on the title" seems to indicate that Valve is already working on the game and giving it due attention. Also, Laidlaw contradicts what the show sats that Valve will not risk releasing the game since the company is already raking in a lot of profits, calling such business thinking as "just plain silly."

Meanwhile, a new rumor floating around says that Valve will announce "Half-Life 3" before the year ends. The speculation started when an anonymous poster leaked online some images that show a character from the "Half-Life 2" title, but this time apparently rendered using the rumored Source 2 engine.