I'd rather hear "Yes, we're working on it. It'll be done in Valve Time," than hear absolutely nothing. Seriously, all you have to do is release the occasional screen shot to keep gamers interested and following your product(ion)--failing that, we start to assume, and our assumptions range from ridiculous to reasonable. Valve has purportedly: clandestinely canned the game; decided to repurpose HL2:EP3 to just HL3; shelved it in order to focus on the Portal franchise; devoted many of its efforts to the Team Fortress cash-cow (hah!); and spent time conjuring up the Steam Box. If we got the occasional pretty picture, I doubt we'd really see as many of these theories pop up, let alone with the vigor they do.