Update 23:25 UTC: Well, that was a little sooner than expected. Valve have now officially confirmed Half-Life is back with their VR title Half-Life: Alyx.
Valve have now posted on Twitter to actually announce Half-Life: Alyx. Details are light right now of course so here's exactly what they said to save you an extra click around:
We’re excited to unveil Half-Life: Alyx, our flagship VR game, this Thursday at 10am Pacific Time. Can’t wait to share it with all of you!
This came along with a picture:
That's it, that's all we have until Thursday.
Begin your wild commenting.
Original article:
Valve did say they were working on three VR titles some time ago and it looks like one is almost ready to be shown off, with Half-Life: Alyx.
The information is all speculation and rumours right now though, so take it all with a heavy truckload of salt. We know a Half-Life VR game is pretty much a thing though, ValveNewsNetwork even had a video going over various details on it back in October so it's not like this is suddenly coming out of nowhere.
Now though, we have more apparent leaks. Spotted by PC Gamer, they linked to a pastebin and in a later update a Google Document (update: contents now removed, so link removed) apparently showing snippets from an interview between Geoff Keighley of The Game Awards, Robin Walker and someone else they presume to be Gabe Newell.
These leaks come from someone named Midoriyan, who apparently also leaked out Dota Underlords before it was released which is supposed to give credit to the leak in what looks like a Steam chat with Tyler McVicker from ValveNewsNetwork. Sounds like McVicker from VNN isn't particularly happy about PC Gamer running the story and all the details leaking out like this. Not sure what they expected though, and despite McVicker covering a lot of Valve news, it's not something that only they're allowed to speculate and report on.
On top of that, something else which is quite interesting is that the team from Campo Santo who joined Valve all seem to have removed mentions of In The Valley of Gods from their Twitter profiles. Something is clearly going on over at Valve, although this could be unrelated of course.
Looking over the details inside the links above, they all point to a March 2020 release for Half-Life: Alyx and it will also apparently be shown off at The Game Awards on December 12.
There's further rumours that we may see some kind of announcement as soon as this week. That would line up quite nicely, considering the original Half-Life released on November 19 back in 1998. So Valve could be marking the 21st anniversary with their announcement.
While Half-Life might be nearly 21 years old, for Linux gamers it's not all that old considering Steam only came to Linux back in 2013. I can imagine plenty of our readers playing the Half-Life series long before that though, so it has still been a long wait for a new game either way.
Since this would be a VR-only title, would something like this push you towards buying a VR kit if you were on the fence? Certainly might help me make a decision on it.
Article taken from GamingOnLinux.com.
Quoting: GingerJesusI wouldn't be surprised if that were to happen. The same sort of thing happened in the 90's/early 2000s. See: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J0n5B3fl-bUDactyl Nightmare. Ah, the memories. That was such a novelty they didn't put it inside the arcade at my local shopping mall, instead they placed it in the mall promenade so passersby could gawk at the players. The only other arcade attractions I remember ever being displayed in the promenade were a couple of roller coaster simulators. Even with the public promotion, none of them came close to attracting the throng that Street Fighter II did in the arcade.
Quoting: EikeBut there's nothing a flat screen can offer that's comparable to turning around - your head, not pressing some controller stick - to see what's lurking behind you. It's something that fucks with your inner ape in a way a monitor just cannot and never will.
Another, somewhat less colloquial way of putting it came to my mind...
VR is the opposite of QTE
While QTE lets you swing your sword against Sauron, beat Darth Vader with a light sabre, get rid of the wolf on your neck just be pressing "E" or "□" in less than 0.3 seconds...
... VR lets you turn around your head by turning around your head, or lifting and stabbing by, well... lifting and stabbing.
slaapliedje Nov 21, 2019
Quoting: m-svoI believe they will port it to classic display eventually saying VR did not provide enough revenue.Considering they have sales figures at least for the Index, and there have been several methods of guessing how many Oculus and Vive owners are out there. One could assume they've done the math of 'everyone with VR will want this, and it'll probably drive sales for new VR buyers' I'm sure they understand that it's worth it to just force people into the new age of gaming.
slaapliedje Nov 21, 2019
Quoting: richipWhat's the best VR device that is stably and completed supported on Linux these days? (cost not being a factor) And how well is that device actually supported? (e.g. stability and are the features of the hardware being completely taken advantage of). I've been ready to pull the trigger on a set since the original HTC Vive was announced to support Linux (unfortunately they backpedalled on that)I have the Vive, Vive Pro and Index. All of them work on Linux. I was having an issue with the two Vives due to having G-Sync monitors, but they say they fixed it. I haven't tested it since my Index is currently hooked up to my system.
But with Proton, there are quite a few games that just work out of the box on it too. I haven't tried in a while, but need to check out No Man's Sky and Elite: Dangerous again under Linux. They are both amazing in VR.
Quoting: slaapliedjeOne could assume they've done the math of 'everyone with VR will want this, and it'll probably drive sales for new VR buyers' I'm sure they understand that it's worth it to just force people into the new age of gaming.
Anyone remember when we thought this could happen with Linux...?
Quoting: EikeQuoting: slaapliedjeOne could assume they've done the math of 'everyone with VR will want this, and it'll probably drive sales for new VR buyers' I'm sure they understand that it's worth it to just force people into the new age of gaming.
Anyone remember when we thought this could happen with Linux...?
Excellent point of the week (in my life)! Though I still sympathize with slaapliedje's point as well.
slaapliedje Nov 22, 2019
Quoting: EikeHere is the difference 1) they refused to release any exclusive games for Linux. 2) They sell their own hardware (that apparently everyone who bought it is getting a free copy of Half-Life: Alyx.Quoting: slaapliedjeOne could assume they've done the math of 'everyone with VR will want this, and it'll probably drive sales for new VR buyers' I'm sure they understand that it's worth it to just force people into the new age of gaming.
Anyone remember when we thought this could happen with Linux...?
The port of Steam to Linux for most people is just an 'also runs on...' and they just stick with Windows. We all know the truth of the matter is that Valve/Gabe didn't want to be locked out potentially of being able to sell games on Windows. With various attempts like Windows S, it seems he may (eventually) be correct in those assumptions. Now of course the question is, why doesn't CD Projekt also see that as a possibility, and properly port the GOG stuff to Linux?
I think it is absurd though that Valve haven't announced Linux support for HL: Alyx. "We Support Linux!" "Well, maybe not THIS time, or yet..."
Quoting: slaapliedjeNow of course the question is, why doesn't CD Projekt also see that as a possibility, and properly port the GOG stuff to Linux?
I think most companies are extremely short-sighted and worry a lot more about the here and now and can be abused in the longer term. If companies were rational, non-USA companies would definitely avoid MS Windows, since NSA was shown to have performed industrial espionage to the profit of USA companies and detriment of non-USA companies. Avoiding Intel on the other hand is more difficult since they would be left between choosing USA-based espionage or PRC-based espionage. (But some bigger companies could still pour some money into open-source hardware to that end).
slaapliedje Nov 25, 2019
Quoting: chrHa, Intel needs to somehow be punished for selling processors that then have to be gimped to be secured. Whether it is a class action to make them pay cash to the customers, or that they give away replacements with fixes.Quoting: slaapliedjeNow of course the question is, why doesn't CD Projekt also see that as a possibility, and properly port the GOG stuff to Linux?
I think most companies are extremely short-sighted and worry a lot more about the here and now and can be abused in the longer term. If companies were rational, non-USA companies would definitely avoid MS Windows, since NSA was shown to have performed industrial espionage to the profit of USA companies and detriment of non-USA companies. Avoiding Intel on the other hand is more difficult since they would be left between choosing USA-based espionage or PRC-based espionage. (But some bigger companies could still pour some money into open-source hardware to that end).
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