Valve To Announce Half-Life VR Game, Half-Life: Alyx, on November 21st

[candle_86]

Less than 24hrs and 15 minutes until the announcement! Tyler McVicker is streaming on Twitch if you want a reaction type video. The biggest thing I'm looking for from HLA is the interaction and story. I can remember how lifelike the characters were in HL2 and the whole vibe of the city. What is everyone looking forward to from HLA?

EDIT: I forgot to add the 24hrs.. part.. haha

To know what is going on with the Borealis, that is literately what i want to know. If it doesn't show me what happens after EP2 then I feel the only sane thing to do is for everyone to buy it, wait 5 minutes then in mass demand a refund to send a clear message that we won't be f'ed with.

 

[Mindweaver]

To know what is going on with the Borealis, that is literately what i want to know. If it doesn't show me what happens after EP2 then I feel the only sane thing to do is for everyone to buy it, wait 5 minutes then in mass demand a refund to send a clear message that we won't be f'ed with.

I'm hearing multiple things like it's between 1 and 2 and also that it could be right after 2? Also, I think we should by 2x copies to show them that we can be f'ed with.. but no seriously I'm glad it's in VR. All I can say is if you don't have a VR HMD then get it soon, before the cheap HMD's are all bought after the announcement. The windows mixed reality hmd's are around 200, but I bet they will be hard to find after the announcement.

 

[Tartaros]

I'm hearing multiple things like it's between 1 and 2 and also that it could be right after 2? Also, I think we should by 2x copies to show them that we can be f'ed with.. but no seriously I'm glad it's in VR. All I can say is if you don't have a VR HMD then get it soon, before the cheap HMD's are all bought after the announcement. The windows mixed reality hmd's are around 200, but I bet they will be hard to find after the announcement.

I think it could be HL2 from Alyx' side. Unless it is announced for some years from now on, VR is still very green. Is still expensive, we just got the first set without cables, it still requires a strong rig, a lot of people can't enjoy it either for lack of immersion or getting sick using it. And while there some interesting games, most of them just barely pass as technical demos. A sequel as a VR exclusive would be suicidal, unless they release a regular sequel and the Alyx game as an extra to boost VR, which could be good.

 

[Mindweaver]

I think it could be HL2 from Alyx' side. Unless it is announced for some years from now on, VR is still very green. Is still expensive, we just got the first set without cables, it still requires a strong rig, a lot of people can't enjoy it either for lack of immersion or getting sick using it. And while there some interesting games, most of them just barely pass as technical demos. A sequel as a VR exclusive would be suicidal, unless they release a regular sequel and the Alyx game as an extra to boost VR, which could be good.

It could be, there is a lot of ways this could go. I have to disagree about VR still being very green. The latest round of HMD's are really good. I have a Vive and it's still good in my opinion, but heavy for long periods. The Rift S is much lighter than the Vive and the screen is better. Valve already knew that gamers would be upset at the announcement or at least the ones without VR, but they are banking on those users to get VR. The big thing people are forgetting is that Valve launch HL2 when most people's pc couldn't play it and a new store called steam that nobody wanted even myself. lol but here we are. This is what VR needs and it couldn't come at a better time. I can go to my nearest Best buy and pick up VR to play HLA today if it was out.

EDIT: I have a new Rift S. I'd love to have an Index but the price needs to come down first.. lol

 

[candle_86]

It could be, there is a lot of ways this could go. I have to disagree about VR still being very green. The latest round of HMD's are really good. I have a Vive and it's still good in my opinion, but heavy for long periods. The Rift S is much lighter than the Vive and the screen is better. Valve already knew that gamers would be upset at the announcement or at least the ones without VR, but they are banking on those users to get VR. The big thing people are forgetting is that Valve launch HL2 when most people's pc couldn't play it and a new store called steam that nobody wanted even myself. lol but here we are. This is what VR needs and it couldn't come at a better time. I can go to my nearest Best buy and pick up VR to play HLA today if it was out.

EDIT: I have a new Rift S. I'd love to have an Index but the price needs to come down first.. lol

Hl2 ran literally on potatoes, I ran it the first time on a sempron 2200, geforce 4 mx4000 64bit with 512mb of ram at 800x600, ran just fine.

 

[Kohl Baas]

I'm hearing multiple things like it's between 1 and 2 and also that it could be right after 2? Also, I think we should by 2x copies to show them that we can be f'ed with.. but no seriously I'm glad it's in VR. All I can say is if you don't have a VR HMD then get it soon, before the cheap HMD's are all bought after the announcement. The windows mixed reality hmd's are around 200, but I bet they will be hard to find after the announcement.

I strongly believe you're overestimating the impact of this game. This seems to be too little too late. Today's generation are not amazes by the HL series, they mostly know very few if anything about the original, and they find the second empty and dull. That era has gone past and it's hard for a series that was left for so long to return, remaining the same and be successfull.

The other thing is if it will be VR-only. VR is a very thin segment. Many people can't use is phisically and even more can't afford it financially or with room-space.

If you think about it you have to realize that it's simply impossible even to have at least half as big impact as the HL2 had.

 

[neatfeatguy]

Hl2 ran literally on potatoes, I ran it the first time on a sempron 2200, geforce 4 mx4000 64bit with 512mb of ram at 800x600, ran just fine.

I agree that the game ran just fine on crummy hardware for the time.

As far as I can remember, I ran the game just fine with my FX 5500 (beast of a card, you all shut up now) on what was either a 800x600 or 1024x768 CRT monitor. I know what GPU I had then, just don't remember the exact monitor.

 

[Mindweaver]

Hl2 ran literally on potatoes, I ran it the first time on a sempron 2200, geforce 4 mx4000 64bit with 512mb of ram at 800x600, ran just fine.

That was a little bit better than a potato at the time. I'm talking about non-enthusiast. I mean I had an AMD Athlon 3000+ and 4gb of ram running a Radeon 9800 pro (if I remember correctly) and it ran it great, but I knew plenty of people and friends that struggled to run it. I updated a few desktop for friends just for HL2.

I agree that the game ran just fine on crummy hardware for the time.

As far as I can remember, I ran the game just fine with my FX 5500 (beast of a card, you all shut up now) on what was either a 800x600 or 1024x768 CRT monitor. I know what GPU I had then, just don't remember the exact monitor.

Still not a potato pc even with the beefy FX 5500 Man you guys are making me feel all nostalgic! I'm going home to play HL2. haha

 

[candle_86]

Nah mine was sold in Walmart for $250, it was an emachines lol.

 

[Keemzay]

Cue the VR haters in 3, 2, 1.

Oh wait, the haters are already here~

@Mindweaver See for yourself. I am confident the vast majority of "Technology Enthusiasts" here at TPU will bash this non stop




What does the UI have to do with VR? Have you even TRIED Valve's now 3 yrs old VR title "The Lab"?

Oh lord the ignorance level



Or get off your chair and monitor and try something new for a change

is this some kind of rich joke im too poor to understand?

 

[Tartaros]

It could be, there is a lot of ways this could go. I have to disagree about VR still being very green. The latest round of HMD's are really good.

I've been out of the VR loop for a while, I expected things started to take off. Still, I look at the price/usage and cumbersome cables, which are the worst problems for me. Glad to see it's evolving, someday I'll give it a shot. I liked the PS4 implementation with regular playing though, I want to play Ace Combat 7 with that, I haven't touched the saga since Electrosphere back in the PSX and I loved that game.

Hl2 ran literally on potatoes

Not really. It wasn't Doom 3, but it did require the above average late P3's / early P4's with 256mb ram average and Geforce 2 / mx regular folks used to have. It provoked quite some rig upgrades.

is this some kind of rich joke im too poor to understand?

Yeah. The punch is his lack of self awareness.

 

[RoutedScripter]

Ofcourse there's going to be VR haters, because it's not an advancement, it's a different device, different in every way. I don't want things strapped on my head all day.

 

[Assimilator]

So, it's a HL2 prequel, it drops March next year, and all Index headset owners get a free copy: https://www.half-life.com/en/alyx/vr

And I know I disparaged VR above, but for me the absolute biggest issue has been no killer apps. No big-name studio, so far, has released a VR-first title that has been a must-play; it's either re-releases of non-VR games that have already done well (e.g. Fallout 4) or puzzle games. Alyx is the first title with the potential to be to VR what Doom was to PC, if - and it's a very big if - Valve can get it right.

Honestly, I don't believe they can. Alyx will have to have something very special, something that absolutely positively cannot be replicated in non-VR, to justify its existence as a VR-only title. If it lacks that, the legions of Half-Life fans - including myself - are going to be extremely upset that Valve apparently decided to make a game for VR purely to drive sales of VR gear. We're also going to ask why the game couldn't have been released as a VR exclusive for, say, 6 months, then released for the rest of us non-VR unwashed masses to enjoy.

But there's other concerns too. The fact that Valve hasn't made an FPS game in literally more than a decade. The fact that the last game they did release was a crappy card game. The fact that their only VR title to date has been a static puzzler, about as far from the FPS action of Half-Life that you can get. The fact that many of the people who made the Half-Life universe what it is, are no longer with Valve.

I'm not saying they can't do it, but the odds are very much stacked against them.

 

[Tartaros]

Honestly, I don't believe they can. Alyx will have to have something very special, something that absolutely positively cannot be replicated in non-VR, to justify its existence as a VR-only title.

That's what I feel about it too. In the end, someone has to start walking and Valve decided to do with HL shoes. I don't mind Valve recycling into a VR producer, but the fact this will be their very VR game and the first HL game in.. oh god, 15 years, they throwed themselves into the lion's den. Probably I wouldn't be worried 10 years ago, but things happened and shitty card games were released and they have become this massive monstrosity of a platform who that it's share of very bad shit... I don't know, I hope they bring something good, they found a game to work on that they were enjoying making at least, that's better than radio silence.