Finally the day has arrived– Episode 3 has a release date and a screen shot to whet our appetites for the upcoming game set to come out like gangbusters.

Not surprisingly, the news released regarding Episode 3 is earth-shattering and ground breaking at the same time. Our inside source from Valve gave us some of the details surrounding this elusive title.

We decided to take this game in a whole new direction… with the emerging technology and next-gen graphics. We wanted to keep the Half-Life series fresh.

Apparently this means Valve is using some kind of new tech, something they’ve codenamed SourceD.

Yeah, our move to SourceD is just as important as the release of Source back in the day. We coded it from the ground up… It allows us to do what we want to do in terms of storytelling, animation, facial movements, and everything else you’d have come to expect from the next installment…

Always being risktakers, I’m interested in seeing how Valve’s new technology is going to pan out. We got some news on what this tech is going to feature:

The biggest thing we’ve implemented is 86-bit color, though that’s not being demoed yet. Right now we’re showing off our previously unseen SourceD styling.

We asked if this new tech would coincide with all the new 3D innovations in the video world, and it certainly sounds like it:

With the capabilities of SourceD you won’t need 3D glasses to be fully immersed in the game. Its completely compatible with the newest technology, but one of our biggest achievements is making this available to gamers with rigs even a couple of years old.

When asked if we’re going to see this tech going as far as Half-Life 3, we were told:

The skies the limit with SourceD.

When asked about a release date, Valve only said this:

April 1

Next year? Two years? Who knows, though we have to guess its coming soon…

Check out our exclusive screen shot and stay tuned for new updates as we get them.

From the looks of it SourceD will feature an all new lighting system, as well as textures, solid colors, and though we can’t tell for sure, we believe the new episode will be side scrolling. Thanks to Valve for giving us the opportunity to talk with them about the game, making great games, and allowing us the bogus unveiling of a game Team Pixel Well is anxiously waiting for.

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