No, this has nothing to do with Half-Life 3. Instead, it has everything to do with Black Mesa, Half-Life's 2012 remake.
A website related to the remake, BMRF.us (with "BMRF" referring to the Black Mesa Research Facility, the setting of the majority of Half-Life), has been updated to feature a single image, part of which you can see above, along with a message played on a loop, with an overall style mimicking that of the US Emergency Alert System.
You can listen to the whole thing here, but be warned: the message includes the extremely loud (and anxiety-inducing) SAME header and attention signal, so make sure you're on headphones, with the volume turned low. Here's a transcript, courtesy of Reddit:
The following message is transmitted at the request of local authorities. At 9:47 AM, Mountain Time, a disaster of unknown type has occurred at the Black Mesa Research Facility causing significant damage and failure to various power and communication systems in the surrounding areas. An immediate evacuation order has been issued for all residents within a 75 mile radius of the facility, and on-site military has been dispatched to provide assistance. Make sure to bring an emergency supply of food, water, clothing, first aid kit, flashlights with extra batteries, and battery powered radios. Follow local evacuation routes which have been marked by local authorities and only use one vehicle. Do not return to the warning area until the all clear has been given. If you are not in the evacuation zone stay where you are. If you are within the evacuation area and have no transportation locate your nearest police department or military officer. Do not use telephones or cell phones except in the case of emergencies. Stay tuned to local news media outlets for further details and information on this situation.
And here's a video recording, in case you can't access the site, courtesy of YouTuber MrTabarnaco2:
Let's look at a few factoids:
- The "disaster of unknown type" referred to in the broadcast is, of course, the Black Mesa Incident, the event that kickstarted the plot of Half-Life, during which aliens from the Xen borderworld invade the Black Mesa Research Facility. 9:47 AM is exactly one hour after Gordon Freeman gets on the tram at the very beginning of the game.
- BMRF.us is a website related to the Pizza Code Mystery, an ARG based on hidden codes found in Black Mesa and several clues from other locations.
- The webpage's source code contains an ASCII Half-Life logo/Lambda symbol. Furthermore, the ID3 tag for the broadcast recording suggests it was made in 2013:
- There's also a direct connection between the site and the Black Mesa development team: a whois lookup of BMRF.us reveals that the domain was registered by Josh Hubi, aka Hubicorn, UI designer and web developer for the project. Reader JonBee notes that Hubicorn also referenced BMRF.us in the source code of the Black Mesa website.
- The message received some official recognition from the team as well, in the form of a tweet from level designer Craig Mirfin:
The 2012 September release of Black Mesa ends at the Lambda Complex, just as Gordon Freeman jumps through the portal to Xen. This message could be a way to generate hype for the release of (or just news about) either the second part of Black Mesa, featuring the reworked and expanded Xen levels, or the paid and upgraded Steam version of the mod, which was first announced in 2013 November.
Of course, it could also just be an elaborate ruse, in which case, well played.
r/games Thread, r/pcgaming Thread, r/HalfLife Thread [Reddit]
Pizza Code Mystery Thread [Black Mesa Forums]
Questions? Comments? Contact the author of this post at andras-AT-kotaku-DOT-com.