“We have three pretty big surprises in the next 12 months at least,” said Newell. Three big surprises? Of course, we don’t know what the three ‘surprises’ are exactly. They could very well be new video games, or even a new game engine. What matters here is that whatever is happening at Valve usually catches people’s attention and generates all kinds of buzz.

It’s a shame that twelve months is a long time, but one can only assume Valve will be be announcing the first of the three big ‘surprises’ within the next few months. Time for the speculation now? People who are familiar with Valve and their most popular product, Half-Life 2, can assume that one of the three major surprises is going to be about Half-Life 2: Episode 3. The game has been in the works for quite some time, and Valve likes to keep the details of it’s progress on the down low. Episode 3 would likely be an obvious choice for their trifecta of surprises. What about a new Counter Strike? The original mod is still being played even today after its release a decade ago. A sequel to Counter Strike would be a nice gift from Valve. Or how about a new game engine? Something we have never before seen in modern video games? Read more after the break.

Even with people’s speculation about the three new surprises that Mr. Newell believes will, “Shock people again.” They still have no idea what this all could be. Nobody knows yet, and thats why we’ll all suffer the 12 month wait for the releases in total. For the people who are expecting heavy news on Episode 3, it could be good news and it could be bad news. Good news would be Episode 3 is progressing and it’s on it’s way to being released within the next year or two. Bad news could be that Valve could have canceled the Half-Life 2: Episode 3 project, and that it could be the “shocking news” Gabe has told interviewers.

Whatever happens, this new release is sure to make create much excitement and hype, as tends to be the case with Valve games.

Not another Left 4 Dead game please. Thank you.