Wow, this Half-Life 3 rumor madness is slowly starting to get out of hand. Here's what I think. If it turns out Valve has been working secretly on Half-life 3, I wouldn't be in the least bit surprised. When Half-life 2 made its debut at an E3 many years back, I remember we asked Gabe Newell if they've been working on it for a long time. Gabe said they began working on Half-life 2 almost immediately after Half-life 1 was finished and released. If the company maintained the same level of secrecy for HL3, it would make complete sense that they've actually been developing Source Engine 2 as well to power their next generation of games.

Also, I don't think they need to worry about having a fan base, since we're talking about one of the most popular video game franchises of all time.

So, the community is there and waiting, the hype is there and if the technology is there, why the hell not??