The "new" very popular line is the one with 2.Nc3 3.Bb5.
My guess is that soon we will see it in top level.The games from this line are very interesting and things can go bad really fast for either side.
... Highly entrtaining games proving , I think , that there is a lot of interesting game/ideas/plans there
I would guess that IM Greg Shahade and GM Dorian Rogozenko thought of themselves as commenting on the sort of game that would come from the 1 e4 c5 2 Nc3 Nc6 3 g3 g6 4 Bg2 Bg7 5 d3 d6 position.
Its not like white can force an advantage against the sicilian in the main lines anyways, so why not? White has no opening advantage against good play.
Not that one should necessarily care, but might there be a difference between 2 Nf3 and 2 Nc3 in terms of the best chance of a Black mistake?
Some games with the move of Nigel Short after 1 e4 c5:
2015 against Junta Ikeda: 2. Nf3
2015 against Garry Kasparov: 2. Nf3
2015 against Garry Kasparov: 2. Nc3
2015 against Sergei Movsesian: 2. Nf3
2016 against Nino Maisuradze: 2. Nf3
2016 against Aleksei Kulashko: 2. Nf3
Of course, there is nothing to force one to do the work associated with preparing to play 2 Nf3.
... According to shahade there's several options for black to equalize that take a whole 5 minutes to prepare, so why would any player be unprepared to meet the closed sicilian? Take the 5 minutes to prepare your options and you'll be prepared for life according to shahade. And yet a game has been posted of shahade being spanked by this opening he clearly feels is innocuous.
First of all, IM Greg Shahade referred to "probably 15 minutes" of preparation before a game in order to "get a fully playable position without much difficulty." He did not say that one could dependably remember the preparation for life. Also, the Shahade losses were about 9 years BEFORE his 2012 comments. Is there any reason to doubt that his 2012 perception was the result of investigation after the 2003 experience? Third, does "fully playable" mean guaranteed half or full point? Fourth, how much respect for 1 e4 a6 should there be as a result of the famous 1980 Karpov-Miles game? Finally, is the opinion of GM Dorian Rogozenko also to be dismissed?
On the nh3 ideas, is there any practical difference between nh3 and nge2? Both are essentially supporting f4 and later the knight will go there.
Usually Nge2 is not followed by f4, when the knight is simply misplaced on e2.
The move anticipates ...Nd4 by Black, when the absence of a knight from f3 means that no white piece will be misplaced after exchanges. Ideally white would like to follow Nge2 with h2-h4, Bh6, maybe 0-0-0, and such stuff.
The systems with Nge2 are not very ambitious, but not easy at all to break, either. In the following game I was reluctant to proceed to simplifications, played a couple of stupid moves (mainly misevaluated the positionally concistent move 16...h4), and ended up much worse as Black- it's a good thing the opponent was playing for a draw. Actually white has some advantage in the final position, too, despite being a pawn down.