I'm going to play it for sure. My Roomate has a Vive and I have an Odyssey+
One of us will buy it.

I remain cautiously optimistic. So far I haven't seen a serious reason to get into VR, maybe this will be the thing. Maybe.

https://half-life.com/en/alyx

I'll wait for the fix so you can play it without VR assuming it's worth playing unless Valve gives me a headset or you can buy one for at most $50 at your local store.

Still no half life 3?

dan86 wrote:

Still no half life 3?

Welllll... you do get access to the dev kit for free.. so maybe somebody will make a HL3 with it.

I just never could figure out where they would go with HL3 (HL2 Episode 3) after how Half Life 2 Episode 2 ended.

interview
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-9K0eJEmMEw

dan86 wrote:

Still no half life 3?

This is half life 3.
A full length AAA title.

I'll wait for the fix so you can play it without PC assuming it's worth playing unless Valve gives me a new computer or you can buy one for at most $50 at your local store.

there'd better be a DOG fetch chapter

It's an odd feeling to not be excited for a new Half-Life game, but a part of me is optimistic about this being a proof-of-concept for a modern take of the franchise, serving as the foundation for Half-Life 3.

I got a copy for free with my Valve Index Kit which I bought about a month and a half ago. Sweet!

Like many people, I'm ambiguous about this announcement. On the one hand, it's another game in a series I like (plus at the moment the first person shooter is going through something of a bland phase, I believe, and has been for some time, so a new Half-Life game could be doubly welcome for me), but on the other hand, it's in virtual reality.

See, I really want to like VR, as it's incredible how immersive it is (I mean, the headsets only effect your vision and hearing, yet somehow that manages to fool your sense of balance, try going over the top of a rollercoaster in VR, and even though you're real body doesn't move, your brains actually believes in what it's seeing), but first of all the games don't tend to do it justice. They often concentrate too much in making you manipulate things or other not-too-enjoyable activities that can only be done in VR, instead of concentrating on things that are fun in other games, like the actual shooting parts or running and jumping. So many VR games seem to be designed as VR games first, and actually enjoyable games second.

It doesn't help that we're currently in a time where normal, non-VR first person shooters tend to be trying to look like movies, and going for realism rather than fun and memorable weapons that actually look different to each other (I hate 'realistic; shooters where the weapons all look the same to anyone who isn't a gun fanatic). I really wish VR games would be based around say 1997-2007 first person shooter games, like the original Unreal Tournament, Goldeneye, Perfect Dark, Deus Ex, Timesplitters 2, Timesplitters: Future Perfect, Half-Life, No One Lives Forever 1 and 2, Duke Nukem 3D, Blood, etc. To me, that was the golden age of first person shooters. Plus the Bioshock games should really be in VR, even though they come after the years I mentioned.

And yes, this is a Half-Life game, so hopefully it will retain the quality of HL 1 and 2, and not spend too much time with tedious or even annoying in-game VR actions that are there just to remind you that it's VR. And hopefully they won't use the disembodied hands that you see in the video, as that's another huge immersion killer, I think.

Plus VR can't be played by some people due to one reason or another, such as motion sickness, only having one eye, etc. I only have the PSVR, which is great and all, but after half an hour or so I tend to get a pain behind my eyes, which I'm hoping is down to the PSVR's low resolution or frame-rate so I'll be alright with more powerful tech, but I've not played on PC VR for long enough to confirm this. I do mean to use the PSVR more in the hope that I'll become immune to this problem, but a combination of me not really liking many of the PSVR games, me not liking being essentially blind and deaf to anything else in the house (VR takes up your entire awareness of your situation, as regards vision and sound, and some people, myself included, don't feel comfortable that way), the VR headset not being totally comfortable to wear, and me not liking the trouble of connecting up the VR cables to play it (which sounds totally petty, I know, but I've seen a fair few people mention this, and I do think it's much more than just being about connecting up the cables, maybe it's because we, deep down, aren't too happy about going back into VR and being, according to our deep and ancient instincts, defenceless when we can't see or hear if any enemies are about to attack us).

Plus some people just will never try VR, or can't afford it. So there are a lot of people who don't want a VR game, and would rather the game was normal non-VR like the other Half-Life games are. And I hope they do what Resident Evil 7 does on the PS4, which is the same game (or at least the same disc) contains the one game both in VR and non-VR output, so everyone is happy. Of course, if Valve do make Half-Life Alyx available in VR and non-VR, then they'll have to change, simplify, or remove the VR-based puzzles (and the floating, disembodied hands) from the non-VR version. But if Half-Life Alyx's VR puzzles are as tedious as in many other VR games, then their loss will be no loss at all.

robertmo wrote:

dan86 wrote:

Still no half life 3?

This is half life 3.
A full length AAA title.

No, it's not Half-Life 3. The reason fans are adamant about wanting a direct sequel to the last game in the series (which was Half-Life 2: Episode 2) is so that there will be a continuation of the story-line, which ended on a cliff-hanger. No matter how good Half-Life Alyx might be (and hopefully it will be fantastic), since it takes place between Half-Life 1 and 2, it therefore won't provide a continuation of the story post Half-Life 2: Episode 2, so it won't satisfy the millions of people still wondering what happened next.

In Russia even cows have VR headsets
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-50571010

It could be half life 3. What the story continuation needs is episode 3.

Actually Trespasser could be remade for VR as it has control over arm and wrist.
One could finally play it properly this way.

I wish someone would update Trespasser to work with VR, that would be hilarious and awesome at the same time.

heh. Just noticed I don't need to buy it since it's already in my library. Hopefully the game is modable so it can be fixed.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dp5ux4CU-SU