Valve has made several announcements of late, all to do with its forthcoming Steam in the living room concept. First it revealed SteamOS, an operating system that runs on Linux machines to turn them, effectively, into home consoles. Then it revealed that it is working with numerous partners on Steam Machines, the consoles themselves.

And finally, the games company unveiled its own Steam Controller with dual touch-based trackpads.

But one of the things it was heavily rumoured to announce never arrived. Many expected Valve to reveal that it was working on something gamers have been gagging for over the last few years: Half-Life 3.

Now, while there has been no official confirmation of its existence or whether Valve is indeed developing one of the most anticipated sequels in gaming, there has been something to sate fans' appetites. It has been revealed that Valve has very recently registered the trademark for the name "Half-Life 3". This doesn't mean that a game is in the works, and could simply signify that the company is keen to protect its intellectual property, but it is the strongest signal yet that the idea has at least crossed its mind.

As things go, it could be that we'll have to wait quite a while for more information on a prospective third Half-Life game. But we're a bit more excited than we were yesterday, that's for sure.