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.
Power-Metal-Games Nov 19, 2019
I wonder what is happening with Valve
They really seem to be doing a lot of wrong decisions recently. And with a title that has such a potential! :S:VR is death. There's really nothing exciting about it. The same is with 3D movies. Interesting thing to see it once or twice, then you go back to real games.
Last edited by Power-Metal-Games on 19 November 2019 at 8:48 am UTC
Power-Metal-Games Nov 19, 2019
Quoting: fractalFor a company with almost limitless access to user data, surely they must be aware that VR, while growing, would give them sales nowhere near those that a non-VR, mainstream Half-Life would. They could release absolutely anything else with the Half-Life logo and people would flock to it, there's still a community around the Half-Life series just like with their other titles such as Left 4 Dead, while the only group I regularly see going back to VR are people who wear anime avatars in VRchat.
QuoteSince this would be a VR-only title, would something like this push you towards buying a VR kit if you were on the fence?
I've had the opportunity to try out Oculus CV1 with ETS2, IL-2:BoS, DCS and Alien:Isolation quite a while ago as well as some tech demos and static museum-type presentations on a decent hardware and the VR technology just isn't there yet. Tech demos and static presentations were great, in regards to other titles - it was okay for casual, short intervals (coincidentally the type of gameplay that dominates the VR market at the moment), but overall it felt like trying to play the game while having a bag on your head while it was making you nauseous at the same time. I'd give it 5 years before trying it again.
This. I had Oculus in my possession too. I didn't put that on my head more than 10 times during 7-8 months that I had it. It's literally useless, overpriced peace of bad try. Sold it with a big pleasure for ~150€ (not joking. It was a gift instead of a payment.).
I can guarantee that the best thing to enter virtual reality is a giant 4K screen. Not some idiotic thing on your head.
Last edited by Power-Metal-Games on 19 November 2019 at 8:59 am UTC
Yay, more VR content!
Quoting: Power-Metal-GamesThey should really have made a "real" game. Not a VR game.
I wonder what is happening with Valve
VR is death. There's really nothing exciting about it. The same is with 3D movies. Interesting thing to see it once or twice, then you go back to real games.
That's great. I personally don't consider anything that isn't VR worthwhile to spend my time on these days though. Haven't touched a flat game for almost year.
Whatever rocks your boat.
Quoting: Power-Metal-GamesI can guarantee that the best thing to enter virtual reality is a giant 4K screen. Not some idiotic thing on your head.
This might qualify as the greatest nonsense about VR I've ever read. There's lots of qualified critics about price, weight, cable, lack of big games, nausea, maybe even fundamental problems making "real" games with VR.
But 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.
("fucks with your inner ape", is that something a native speaker might say - if he's in a somewhat colloquial mood, of course?)
Last edited by Eike on 19 November 2019 at 10:45 am UTC
wvstolzing Nov 19, 2019
I don't think that argument holds water, though. For one thing, the use of a GPU isn't limited to a handful of titles; for another, a VR headset itself requires a beefy computer.
(Off-topic, but I really think that *AR* headsets have a higher potential at this point. Jeri Ellsworth's 'tabletop AR' company carefully avoids mentioning pc/console gaming, but it's not hard to imagine exciting new applications -- e.g., I'd be very curious to play something like Papers Please with an AR headset, with the documents actually laying on my desk.)
Power-Metal-Games Nov 19, 2019
Quoting: poisondWhy all the hate? Cause Valve released another game that isn't Half Life 3?
Yay, more VR content!
Quoting: Power-Metal-GamesThey should really have made a "real" game. Not a VR game.
I wonder what is happening with Valve
VR is death. There's really nothing exciting about it. The same is with 3D movies. Interesting thing to see it once or twice, then you go back to real games.
That's great. I personally don't consider anything that isn't VR worthwhile to spend my time on these days though. Haven't touched a flat game for almost year.
Whatever rocks your boat.
There is absolutely no hate at all. You didn't get what the poet wanted to say. It's just an honest opinion of someone who had VR and that's all. Before you try it you think that it most be something amazing. In reality it's not worth bothering with. I honestly doubt that there are people out there who only play the VR games.
Mountain Man Nov 19, 2019
Quoting: Power-Metal-GamesThere is absolutely no hate at all. You didn't get what the poet wanted to say. It's just an honest opinion of someone who had VR and that's all. Before you try it you think that it most be something amazing. In reality it's not worth bothering with. I honestly doubt that there are people out there who only play the VR games.I think VR is just not something the majority of consumers are interested in. My local specialty computer store used to have a prominent VR demo area, but I noticed that customers were showing less and less interest over time until it was eventually removed about a year ago and replaced with a multi-screen racing cockpit. I've also noticed that their stock of VR headsets has shrunk dramatically.
I suppose Valve thinks that Half-Life VR could be the "killer app" that will finally get a critical mass of gamers to buy into the tech, but I have my doubts.
Quoting: Mountain ManI suppose Valve thinks that Half-Life VR could be the "killer app" that will finally get a critical mass of gamers to buy into the tech, but I have my doubts.
I doubt it. I think Valve wants to be a major player in VR when/if it gets more mainstream. To do that, you need to actually know what you're doing. And the best way to do that is to actually make something. Even if it's not an immediate commercial success, it's the best lesson in VR game development they could learn. And of course they used HL because it will at least generate a lot of interest. But they're not burning themselves by continuing the main franchise and keep it relatively safe by doing working on a spin-off.
Quoting: Power-Metal-GamesBut 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.As someone who pre-ordered Valve Index the hour pre-orders started, I've never felt like this. I know that a lot of people get immersed in the way that you're describing, but I'm not one of them. I've also never experienced nausea in VR, so maybe that has something to do with it.
Quoting: Mountain ManI think VR is just not something the majority of consumers are interested in. My local specialty computer store used to have a prominent VR demo area, but I noticed that customers were showing less and less interest over time until it was eventually removed about a year ago and replaced with a multi-screen racing cockpit. I've also noticed that their stock of VR headsets has shrunk dramatically.I 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-bU
Quoting: Power-Metal-GamesQuoting: poisondWhy all the hate? Cause Valve released another game that isn't Half Life 3?
Yay, more VR content!
Quoting: Power-Metal-GamesThey should really have made a "real" game. Not a VR game.
I wonder what is happening with Valve
VR is death. There's really nothing exciting about it. The same is with 3D movies. Interesting thing to see it once or twice, then you go back to real games.
That's great. I personally don't consider anything that isn't VR worthwhile to spend my time on these days though. Haven't touched a flat game for almost year.
Whatever rocks your boat.
There is absolutely no hate at all. You didn't get what the poet wanted to say. It's just an honest opinion of someone who had VR and that's all. Before you try it you think that it most be something amazing. In reality it's not worth bothering with. I honestly doubt that there are people out there who only play the VR games.
I think you communicated your lack of hate very poorly, among other things by contrasting VR games with "real games". Different strokes for different folks. Maybe this will be a great evolutionary step. Maybe it will be nothing. There most definitely are people who (now) only play VR games. Just as there are people who only play Linux-native games or local-multiplayer games.
Patreon
PayPal
See more from me