Half Life: Alyx

Domingo

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It would make some level of sense. I forget where I read it, but I remember someone at Valve saying that the world getting more Half-Life was going to be dependent on emerging tech.
Not sure if I believe this particular rumor, but I think it'll eventually happen.

Sony still seems all-in with VR for the PS5, so maybe that headset is the white whale we've been wanting. It's got to be smaller, quick to setup, and the graphics have to be better than the 2005-era stuff that's out there right now.
 
dgz

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Well hopefully it's a full game this time. I am sick of their demos. Where are the games?
 
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sharknice

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I always thought the next Half-Life game would be VR. Hopefully they deliver some killer gameplay feature to make it worth getting a whole VR system.
 
M76

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I would buy a vr headset if I thought it is going anywhere. But so far it doesn't seem to be the future, just a rogue growth. The only games that seem to support it are racing and flight sims, apart from the games directly developed for VR, but none of those are AAA quality.
 
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polonyc2

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why not Half Life 3?...sounds like a prototype tech demo...HL3 confirmed for 2020!
 
SeymourGore

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Hoping it's not a prequel and addresses the last games cliffhanger.
 
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Special.K

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Maybe it's a vr porn game with alyx as the star.... I may be interested then.


Half life 2 sucked.
 
T4rd

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Given that this will be for such a small market, I see this will be the Blue Shift of HL2; a mostly forgettable side-quest to the story of HL meant mostly to be a VR tech demo.
 
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memnoch998

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Something small, I imagine, like lost coast was a tech demo with some goodies, for hl2 and hdr/bloom.
 
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defaultluser

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sharknice said:
You guys keep saying small game and demo but in Valve's announcement they said "flagship vr game" implying it's a full on AAA game.
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(1) every VR title to this point has been a little more than a tech demo, or simulation. Of course we're going to be suspicious of how much "AAA" we''re talking. The extra developer time needed to build a good VR game means the deep content tends to get tossed, so we will, see if Valve is willing to push that boundary.

(2) after fifteen years of hoping optimistically, we're tired of taking the bait every time there's a rumor of "new Half-Life universe game!" They've buried their own fucking franchise, and they're going to have to go through the trouble to grow the hype again FROM SCRATCH.

Are we interested? Maybe. But they have to PUT UP OR SHUT UP,because we're tired of the hype.

Best-case, it's Half-Life 2 Episode 3, but VR-only. Worst-case, it's another VR Tech Demo with Half-Life-inspired characters. EITHER WAY, IT'S FIFTEEN YEARS TOO LATE FOR MOST FANS TO CARE.
 
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Comixbooks

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The newest version of the Steam Vive is suppose to be more adaptable to glasses they made the headset bigger.

They have Oculus Rift's at Walmart for a VR training program. Good way to screw up the new workers.
 
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defaultluser

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Armenius said:
You can get lenses matched to your eyeglass prescription.

https://vr-lens-lab.com/
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But why? At that point, you're investing almost a thousand dollars into your VR platform that you probably won't use very often.

I also doubt those are portable between VR headsets.

If you don't already own VR headset, a VR Alyx is not likely to be a system seller. As much hype as Half Life 2 received, the only reason Steam was such a smashing success was because of CounterStrike Source (bundled with every sale).
 
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Aix.

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defaultluser said:
But why? At that point, you're investing almost a thousand dollars into your VR platform that you probably won't use very often.

I also doubt those are portable between VR headsets.

If you don't already own VR headset, a VR Alyx is not likely to be a system seller.
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There's a reason why every Nintendo system gets the same treatment with the usual lineup of super-popular first-party game titles; that kind of support is essential and especially so if you're trying to sell a system that breaks from norms expected by the consumer.

The weird thing about this announcement for me is that I don't really consider Valve to be much of a game developer anymore. Half-Life, Team Fortress, Left 4 Dead, and Portal have mostly been left to rot for whatever reason, with Valve showing no interest in capitalizing on the huge fanbases. Source2 was used only for Dota2 and that failure of a card game, and in the meantime UE4 and Unity have become the industry standards for those not using in-house engines.

So now they're going to announce some sort of HL game for VR, but what does this really mean? Is this some random one-off game they're releasing because someone actually completed a project in their "flat hierarchy" organization, or will this be just part of a concerted effort to push and support VR with games and apps? At this point I see no reason to believe anything but the former.
 
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odditory

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Aix. said:
So now they're going to announce some sort of HL game for VR, but what does this really mean? .
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It means its a Half-Life game for VR. They're trying to grow a platform and ecosystem that'll be worth tens of billions+, not merely deliver another predictable 20-40 SP game for entitled gamers to not be happy with.

When the iPhone was first announced I remember some people whining "Why doesn't Apple just focus on Macbooks and MacOS - that's all they need to do". At some point you need to look beyond the walls of your own little world.
 
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Aix.

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odditory said:
It means its a Half-Life game for VR. They're trying to grow a platform and ecosystem that'll be worth tens of billions+, not merely deliver another predictable 20-40 SP game for entitled gamers to not be happy with.
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What is a "predictable 20-40 SP game"?
 
Domingo

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I'm curious about the timing. I always figured something like this would accompany a major new hardware release. I'm guessing this is just for the Index. Not that it's exactly "old" but it's definitely not the sea change product people were holding out for. It's an evolutionary product and not a revolutionary one.
 
Saturn_V

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A VR Half Life game starring Alyx Vance....

is it weird that I'm wondering if I'll be able to see Alyx's boobies like I did in Jurassic Park: Trespasser?

51Y90G3NXVL.jpg
 
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defaultluser

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odditory said:
When the iPhone was first announced I remember some people whining "Why doesn't Apple just focus on Macbooks and MacOS - that's all they need to do". At some point you need to look beyond the walls of your own little world.
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Funny that, the "IPhone for VR" already exists, and it's called the Oculus Rift. It even has it's own closed app store!

What Valve is desperately trying to do here is find a way to kick-off an equivalent of Android OS for VR, but you'll find they lack the sales numbers to get anywhere close.

The reason the iPhone was the runaway success it was was not just because it was a decent phone at a decent price - it was because Apple convinced AT&T to provide unlimited data service at unheard of pricing ($20 a month). Hook them on the need for a second Internet Plan, and then raise prices later.

VR needs a whole lot more than just a game from Valve to "kick things off like the iPhone." It needs a more immersive setup (force-feedback treadmill) , and a less-bulky headset, for starters. This is a piddly step in that direction.
 
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odditory

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defaultluser said:
What Valve is desperately trying to do here is find a way to kick-off an equivalent of Android OS for VR, but you'll find they lack the sales numbers to get anywhere close.
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If they were desperate then I imagine they'd be trying to rush something out, but this game has been in develop for years, on an engine they've been developing for years. As for sales numbers, the whole point of creating killer apps and high profiles games is to increase that - isn't it obvious? Naysayers complain there "aren't any good games" or "its not 8K90 per eye yet" -- so Valve continuing to iterate with more games and better HMD's is attacking both the chicken *and* the egg.

defaultluser said:
The reason the iPhone was the runaway success it was was not just because it was a decent phone at a decent price - it was because Apple convinced AT&T to provide unlimited data service at unheard of pricing ($20 a month). Hook them on the need for a second Internet Plan, and then raise prices later.

VR needs a whole lot more than just a game from Valve to "kick things off like the iPhone." It needs a more immersive setup (force-feedback treadmill) , and a less-bulky headset, for starters. This is a piddly step in that direction.
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You're inventing a side of an argument here. The point wasn't "Valve's VR push is the same as iPhone". The point was that there's always the closed minded group that thinks companies should just keep doing what they're already doing and never try something different - especially when they feel that new direction threatens their personal hierarchy of needs.
 
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Aix.

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Armenius said:
I assume he means 20-40 hours. I discard the opinion of anyone who uses "entitled gamers" unironically.
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Well if he was going for some sort of edgy response it was weird to suggest that Valve would "merely deliver" anything considering that we haven't seen a Half-Life game in 12 years...and that's exactly why I'm skeptical of their commitment to doing anything. They could very well release this game and then fall off the radar for 5 years, but if this is more than simply a game announcement then it could instill more confidence in consumers to purchase a VR unit.
 
pek

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Saturn_V said:
A VR Half Life game starring Alyx Vance....

is it weird that I'm wondering if I'll be able to see Alyx's boobies like I did in Jurassic Park: Trespasser?

View attachment 201042
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Not on this forum.

But, yes, I have a pc, I game on the pc, and a pair of vr goggles @ a high price (that keeps changinging as my eyes get worse over time), is not cost-effective. I haven't seen any other game that I "need" to experience in vr so far, so the initial cost of the goggles would have to be factored into the cost of the first game I would use them for. So I am not their target demographic for this game.
 
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odditory

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sharknice said:
You guys keep saying small game and demo but in Valve's announcement they said "flagship vr game" implying it's a full on AAA game.
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And FWIW, an interview excerpt leaked mentioning it'll have a full SP campaign. We'll know Thurs.

Almost can't blame people for expectations being low though - VR has been a land of mostly short demos until recently. Hell, I didn't know Asgard's Wrath had a full 40 hour campaign until a week or two ago, and I actually try to follow this stuff. But then this whole situation is what Valve seems to want to finally rectify.

Also have to give some credit to Oculus, despite it being Facebook owned, because they've actually been pouring money into game development which helps the whole space.
 
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memnoch998

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Another way to think about this, is it's holiday season, and they probably had an overabundance of indexes manufactured, and are in the process of losing their ass. If this Lil endeavor proves fruitful, we might just see a hl3 down the road.
 
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