Half-Life 3: Not meant to be?

I've read some conlficting articles about the future of Half-Life. Some say "Don't Expect Half-Life 3"
becuase the episode expansion packs ARE supposted to be #3... So this confuses Me a little... lol

There's also been some confusion about a few pictures on the net... Some say these are actually photos of a russian subway, but after looking at them, I'm leaning more towards the rumor that they're samples of the next Half-Life Game Engine that will also be used in other future games. Not much else is known about the pictures, so I'll leave it up to You to decide, and as far as the future of H-L 3, Your guess is as good as Mine at this point; so for now, here's a video demostration of some pretty sweet H-L weapon... Enjoy

I have HL2 and these pictures very much resemble HL2, but nicer and more "real" yet at the same time, more fake, just more of a picture, than a screenshot if that makes any sense.