It appears that Valve's Gabe Newell, during a briefing at the company's Seattle HQ, has hinted, to Swedish journalists, that development on Half-Life 3 is already under way.
It would seem strange to accept that Mr. Newell, who refuses to even mention H-L 2, decided to talk to journalists about Valve's plans for a third title in the series.
Strange is not impossible however and the details about Valve plans for Half-Life 3 seem rather plausible and in-line with what the developer has promised so far. In any case it would be naive to believe that Valve are not already actively engaged in planning the third installment of what is, after all, a guaranteed success.
According to reports then, Mr. Newell told the journalists that H-L 3 plans include the conversion of Alyx Vance from a NPC to a fully playable character. Alyx is Gordon Freeman's female sidekick in H-L 2. The revelations did not stop there however and Mr. Newell also promised plenty of alien-based revelations.
There is no way of confirming that Gabe Newell actually made those comments since no one expects Valve to comment, especially for as long as H-L 2 remains without a confirmed release date. This is a story which will fizzle-out by the time Half-Life 2 actually ships but one which we expect to hear a lot more of, once the second installment passes its sales peak.