Mike Shapiro drops a cryptic message from G-Man for the upcoming Half-Life: Alyx

Not unforeseen this time huh?

I was excited for Alyx, until it was confirmed that it is a VR exclusive. Hopefully poor sales will prompt them to revise that decision and release a more accessible version of the game.


Last edited by WorMzy on 2 January 2020 at 11:41 am UTC

I already have the Valve Index but I wasn't really sure why until Alyx was revealed.

I'll order Index as soon as it's available on the Swedish Steam store again.


Last edited by Beamboom on 2 January 2020 at 2:04 pm UTC

I'll order Index as soon as it's available on the Swedish Stream store again.

What's completely beyond me is that you can only subscribe for a notification when it's available again.
Why isn't possible to just order it even if it's currently out of stock?

I was excited for Alyx, until it was confirmed that it is a VR exclusive. Hopefully poor sales will prompt them to revise that decision and release a more accessible version of the game.

Your statement is quite odd...

Porting Half-Life: Alyx to "standard" FPS shooter means - remove all special features like reloading guns, aiming, hiding, etc. It is THE CLUE of this game and it will be highly integrated with game puzzles... If you remove VR features - you will need also remove all puzzles that require it (so probably most part of the game!). There will be not much to be excited about what will remain - just another very narrow corridor FPS game like hundreds before...

Look at BONEWORKS gameplays. Without VR features - it would be very boring game (in very boring environment without much sense...).

Should old acquaintances be forgot, well, after so much…time some things can prove difficult to remember.

Maybe this mean a reboot in the saga... Or a proper re-make..

What's completely beyond me is that you can only subscribe for a notification when it's available again.
Why isn't possible to just order it even if it's currently out of stock?

What worries me is that it may indicate that it'll take some time before it's back in stock?

I was excited for Alyx, until it was confirmed that it is a VR exclusive. Hopefully poor sales will prompt them to revise that decision and release a more accessible version of the game.

It's not fair to call this game an "exclusive". It was simply made for VR, you just can't get the same level of control without it. Unless you want to somehow emulate 18 degrees of freedom on some other device, making the most sophisticated QWOP ever. The game design is just not going to be compatible with a flatscreen, nor you would have a good time trying to emulate VR on it - you are free to try however, since OpenVR emulators are easily downloadable.

What's completely beyond me is that you can only subscribe for a notification when it's available again.
Why isn't possible to just order it even if it's currently out of stock?

What worries me is that it may indicate that it'll take some time before it's back in stock?

Or simply a sales trick to channel more potential buyers towards the Index.
Never underestimate customers seeing stuff selling like hot cake.

Otherwise, they could just take orders now and buyers would have to acknowledge that there is no ETA yet.
Payment when on stock and shipped.

I was excited for Alyx, until it was confirmed that it is a VR exclusive. Hopefully poor sales will prompt them to revise that decision and release a more accessible version of the game.

It's not fair to call this game an "exclusive". It was simply made for VR, you just can't get the same level of control without it.

Yep, Valve even supports products of competitors and I wager they even try to make Alyx to run as good as possible on non-Index kits.

Compare that to Oculus-exclusive approach for instance ...

I was excited for Alyx, until it was confirmed that it is a VR exclusive. Hopefully poor sales will prompt them to revise that decision and release a more accessible version of the game.

It's not fair to call this game an "exclusive". It was simply made for VR, you just can't get the same level of control without it. Unless you want to somehow emulate 18 degrees of freedom on some other device, making the most sophisticated QWOP ever. The game design is just not going to be compatible with a flatscreen, nor you would have a good time trying to emulate VR on it - you are free to try however, since OpenVR emulators are easily downloadable.

I have nothing against VR, but I don't actually see why the controllers used for VR couldn't be used for ordinary 3d games on a screen. You have depth of field, you could have things on your hands and "reach" with them and manipulate stuff.
It's just that if you've spent enough to have those controllers and motion sensors to tell when they move and stuff, you might as well spend a bit more and have VR. But that doesn't mean it wouldn't work; the two things have no necessary connection.

I was excited for Alyx, until it was confirmed that it is a VR exclusive. Hopefully poor sales will prompt them to revise that decision and release a more accessible version of the game.

It's not fair to call this game an "exclusive". It was simply made for VR, you just can't get the same level of control without it. Unless you want to somehow emulate 18 degrees of freedom on some other device, making the most sophisticated QWOP ever. The game design is just not going to be compatible with a flatscreen, nor you would have a good time trying to emulate VR on it - you are free to try however, since OpenVR emulators are easily downloadable.

I have nothing against VR, but I don't actually see why the controllers used for VR couldn't be used for ordinary 3d games on a screen. You have depth of field, you could have things on your hands and "reach" with them and manipulate stuff.
It's just that if you've spent enough to have those controllers and motion sensors to tell when they move and stuff, you might as well spend a bit more and have VR. But that doesn't mean it wouldn't work; the two things have no necessary connection.

Well, you'd need something to track where the controllers are to place them in game. Plus you'd need some sort of head/eye tracking or something, unless you wanted to use one of the controllers to look around. but yeah at that point you're buying enough equipment, you may as well just buy a VR setup...

I was excited for Alyx, until it was confirmed that it is a VR exclusive. Hopefully poor sales will prompt them to revise that decision and release a more accessible version of the game.

The funny thing about this? They're giving free copies away to everyone who bought the Index. Pretty sure they don't care about the sales numbers of the game itself, and more that there are people out there (no clue on the numbers) that WILL buy a VR setup just for this Game, which means more people will have the tech, and more companies can then properly support it.

I was excited for Alyx, until it was confirmed that it is a VR exclusive. Hopefully poor sales will prompt them to revise that decision and release a more accessible version of the game.

It's not fair to call this game an "exclusive". It was simply made for VR, you just can't get the same level of control without it. Unless you want to somehow emulate 18 degrees of freedom on some other device, making the most sophisticated QWOP ever. The game design is just not going to be compatible with a flatscreen, nor you would have a good time trying to emulate VR on it - you are free to try however, since OpenVR emulators are easily downloadable.

I have nothing against VR, but I don't actually see why the controllers used for VR couldn't be used for ordinary 3d games on a screen. You have depth of field, you could have things on your hands and "reach" with them and manipulate stuff.
It's just that if you've spent enough to have those controllers and motion sensors to tell when they move and stuff, you might as well spend a bit more and have VR. But that doesn't mean it wouldn't work; the two things have no necessary connection.

The game design goes deeper than bare controls. Every VR controller has 6 degrees of freedom - it can move along XYZ in space and it can also rotate around X Y and Z. This alone you can pull off on a flatscreen, but your head is a whole another controller, that can also move in X Y Z and rotate along them. This means that the approach game designer takes when creating the level accounts for your head being constantly in motion and being able to look around. It would simply not be an enjoyable experience if you don't have another controller for your head, because you can't observe everything around you. This would mean that things that specifically designed to happen around you are going to happen without you knowing. Have you ever noticed how in most games any notable event happens right in front of you and some times the camera even locks on it? Well here it's not going to be made this way. You would have to constantly spin your screen around, and maybe something like OpenTrack would help, but I bet it's going to be a lot of "how am I dead" moments, just because you haven't seen something happen.
The developers always take that into account when creating levels, and while you can absolutely emulate any controller, you can't emulate the experience.

Alyx is the best thing that could be for VR... But I still doubt VR will be successful. At least, I am not into it. I really really really fear VR for gaming is like 3D for TV. Something that geek will like but very few users will really adopt.
And for 3D you only had light glasses ! For VR you have a whole headset !!! No, still not convinced and I will avoid it...
Maybe future will prove me wrong ;)

I was excited for Alyx, until it was confirmed that it is a VR exclusive. Hopefully poor sales will prompt them to revise that decision and release a more accessible version of the game.

Don't hold your breath. I think that it is glaringly obvious now that there is no grand plan for the narrative in the Half Life series. Valve uses the series as a way to push some innovation that they believe to be key.The first game gave us in game scripted sequences as a cheat to avoid having to sink a ton of work into really good AI, and it worked beautifully. Half Life 2 gave us a new digital delivery system that nobody in 2004 would have signed onto without a new Half Life game attached to it. And now after a couple years floundering with no killer app for VR, Valve is going to try to introduce one. And if HL:Alyx is successful, HL3 will still not be made. However a bunch of other game devs will copy what Valve did which will increase Valve's VR sales.

I was excited for Alyx, until it was confirmed that it is a VR exclusive. Hopefully poor sales will prompt them to revise that decision and release a more accessible version of the game.

... And if HL:Alyx is successful, HL3 will still not be made.

My bet is they will seize opportunity and resolve the cliffhanger from HL2:E2 in HL:Alyx.
Valve explicitly said, everyone who wants to play HL:Alyx should play HL2:E2 first.
Then, I read many times about some time traveling being part of the story.
Do the math.

This would certainly take away a lot of pressure from Valve.
If that would be a good prospect for HL3... I don't know.

Just my 2 cents.

I was excited for Alyx, until it was confirmed that it is a VR exclusive. Hopefully poor sales will prompt them to revise that decision and release a more accessible version of the game.

Superhot VR (a 2016 game) generated $2 milion in sales over Christmas. Boneworks (almost a playground for HL: Alyx, just with worse story, than I'd expect from Valve) scored $3 milion in the first week after it launched. Sure, it's nothing compared with behemoths like The Witcher 3, but nothing to snark at either. For comparison, No Man's Sky saw $43m in the first year after release.

And anyway, the game is a hardware seller and a quite good one, considering the ramp-up of sales of Index and both "big" Oculus flavours.

So, I kind of wonder how many people that think VR is going to be a failed fad say that because of how 3D movies stopped being a thing. (Even though they are still a thing, but it is hard to find 3D TVs anymore, or in the US, 3D movies on bluray.)
VR for once is pretty much here to stay and it will only get better once more software and better hardware comes out to push it.