10 things more likely to happen than Halflife 3 being released this year

It’s not quite the Nottingham Knights; there’s certainly an absence of murder, toxic waste and logical reasoning but Half-Life 3 is certainly worthy of a film or television mystery.

The Nottingham Knights was a video game part of the plot for an episode of Elementary, loosely based on the shenanigans around Atari and the E.T. video game. Half-Life 3 hasn’t plumbed those depths of mischief and Machiavelism but has acquired the same mythical status.

Valve, the game creators, offered a tease about a new game being on the horizon. Gabe Newell, the studio chief, hinted in June 2017 that there would be a new “single player experience” in the Half-Life/Portal universe. It’s the latest hint on Half-Life 3, a project which suffered more leaks than a plumber can fix.

Half-Life 2 hit the shelves in November 2004 and in that time, we’ve waved goodbye to the PS2, PS3, and welcomed PS4. Sony gave birth to the PS Eye, Move and Vita while Microsoft took the humble Xbox through 360 and back to square one. Technology moved on, as did the rest of the world.

We’ve welcomed YouTube and Twitter; two new Popes; Hurricane Katrina; Google enter the OED as a verb; seen Pluto lose its planet classification; spacecraft land on Mars and comets; six generations of iPhone; the Hadron Collider and the Higgs-Bosun particle; America’s first black president; America’s first orange president; Space Shuttle pensioned off; USB 3.0; Windows 8 and 10; the Wii U; and, the number of web-connected devices exceed the total human population.

What does the next twelve months hold? Half-Life 3? Maybe but these are ten more things which are likelier to happen, according to research from Betway Insider on what are the odds, what are the chances and how likely is it? Here are top ten.

10. Another planet like Earth exists

It is indeed very possible, according to research conducted by Betway. Scientists took one look at social media and decided intelligent life on Earth is in short supply so they are looking to the stars and beyond.

The Voyager Interstellar Mission has sent music into space to lure extra-terrestrial life to a galactic disco. Among the panpipes and bagpipes, resides Johnny B Goode, Melancholy Blues, Dark Was The Night, and the Brandenburg Concerto. Sadly, no room for the Birdy Song or Agadoo.

9. Aliens exist

It may not be intelligent life but aliens are likely to exist, according to the BBC. It’s not going to be easy to find them, with “tens of thousands” of planets likely to be searched before we find E.T.

With the Earth estimated as having only “a billion years” left thanks to increased solar luminosity, the various space agencies around the globe need to get their act together.

8. Your job being replaced by a robot

Some might argue that’s no bad thing and if the number of Amazon delivery drivers in the world is reduced, progress has been made. Sadly, they are replacing them with drones and the chances are that the 24-piece teaset you ordered, will be 120 pieces by the time it reaches the ground.

Retail and manufacturing are the two main areas where ‘progress’ is being made. A 2013 report suggested that in the long-term 47% of all jobs in the USA are at risk. The staccato automaton voice asking if “you want fries with that” is not too far away.

7. We are living in a computer simulation

The Truman Show for computers. If real-life is indeed a computer simulation, the program has a flaw or two. Still, the thought of being able to drop in Tron-like gear and riding the lines of a microchip has a certain appeal.

It would explain a few things as well. How electronic cars became common place and why nobody thought Thomas Edison’s Ghost Busting Machine was a good idea.

6. War with North Korea

Time to call Team America: World Police if this really is in the offing. Those dudes have the experience of this eventuality.

5. Finding a four-leaf Clover

They do exist, honest. Finding one has long been considered a token of good fortune. Not may exist with the odds of finding one being 1 in 10,000. The biggest private collection of four-leaf clovers is estimated at 160,000 which begs the question how many clover had to be checked to get to that level.

And also proves the theory put forward at number 10 in this list, about the lack of intelligent life on earth.

4. Being killed by a meteorite

OK, it’s not the cheeriest of life events and one which definitely curtails life but Half-Life 3 is taking longer to arrive than a lump of rock from space. The National Geographic reports on this misfortune which struck one man in Southern India during 2016 while mentioning the unfortunate Ann Hodges of Sylacauga, Alabama in 1954.

3. Earth being hit by an asteroid

Bruce and the team will be on hand to save us but the question still remains: is it more practical to train engineers to become astronauts or astronauts to become engineers. We’re more likely to find the answer than see Half-Life 3!

2. War With Russia

The Cold War spawned a myriad of novels, films and television notably Dr. Strangelove, The Americans and the Harry Palmer trilogy. With global politics driving the world into another phase of mistrust, the brink of global destruction is never far away. And we thought the zombie Nazis from Call of Duty were just the product of an overactive imagination…

1. Winning The Euromillions

It could be you. Or more likely to be them but it doesn’t stop 13 million Britons playing the game every draw.