I think myself a pretty cynical person, but I still have more optimism then you it would seem. I find it equally laughable that EA and Ubisooft can get a "A+" rating, I wonder what the metrics are for that. I have a feeling it's based off of the complaints they get, and obviously Valve would get more complaints seeing as they have a MUCH larger service. Naturally that doesn't excuse anything, but I still think that between EA and Valve, the latter is the lesser of evils.
I have that feeling they dont say "yes" or "no" because they are still working/thinking on it. Like someone said they want to make it truly epic game, not just nice gfx etc but something we cant even expect. So they are just letting it be and maybe they get some idea and they will do it then. If they dont, then they dont make it and they dont have to say anything to whole internet and everyone wont hate them after they said "yes" and then they dont make it anyway.
I agree with others that the story of HL games isn't its strength (well until the very end of HL2:EP2). A game like Mafia or Max Payne could easily beat it. Rather, HL games are showcasing the engine it's running on, that's why there are so many mods for it (and the reason it is successful). There was a digital book on the making of HL2, I think it was called "Raising the Bar"? explaining the concept and story behind HL2. I guess valve had too many ideas and tried to fit everything into one piece, that's where they got tipped over. They had tens if not hundreds of conceptual drawings of aliens, weapons, characters and environments and they try to blend those into one cake without focusing on the story as much. I wonder if the same situation will happen to HL3, and I think that's where they fear the most.
HL1 was epic. HL2 was the way to do a sequel. But if they force HL3 to come out just to sell steam boxes, it will end up being sub-par to the games before it, and if it was made today, it would end up like Duke Nukem Forever anyway. I'm not sure I want to see that, maybe it's good to let it end with HL2.
Reminds me of the Crysis series, C1 / Warhead were the real Crysis' - C2 and 3 were good, but not the same games imo Terminator 1 and 2 were great, 3 and 4 were good but not as follow ups for the Terminator series, and different directors