IMO Episode 3 is a lost cause. Probably if it came out early some people would argue that it would have been a better movie (most likely not... ) had Lucas spent more time on it.
As for HL 2, well it missed a release date already so if Valve announced a "before Christmas" release now and missed it again lots of gamers would be upset. Then again if they did make it before 24.12 but game contained some bugs (not many games don't on release) then You get same situation as with Episode 3 example above.
My point is - people just like to complain - it makes them feel better about themselves, makes them feel like they did something about whatever it is they're complaining about instead of actually doing it. Its easier to complain then to take action, especially a constructive one.
Mike