Is Valve Software up to something?

I spotted pictures of this and this while forum lurking today. Is this what it think it is? Is Duke still alive? If so, then they may be releasing possibly the most hyped piece of vaporware known to man. And they're releasing it one day after the biggest game show around. If this happens, the Internet will explode.
Here's some funny.

Here's a book.

A book about conspiracies
Here's some debate about the merits and worth of the book
And i think a conspiracy about the reviews of the book erupts here.