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Valve confirms Half-Life: Alyx, full reveal coming later this week.

Alexios

Cores, shaders and BIOS oh my!
We don't care if it sells anyway, Saturn didn't sell either but still had the best games to me, I'll just enjoy the fuck out of an amazing experience (like many existing VR experiences, your ignorance on the matter doesn't mean shit, most adults are past the meme days of Wii haz no gaemz, PS3 haz no gaemz, or whatever such crap) while others continue living in the stone age, presumably playing Doom without a mouse and Quake without 3D acceleration cos mice & GPUs are also expensive gimmicks nobody in their right mind will ever deal with (and just like you don't need to buy a $1000 GPU for PC gaming you also don't need to buy a $1000 VR kit for VR gaming mind you, yeah it might be the best but it's kind of like buying a HOTAS or wheel, you can get a solid one for a good price or splurge all your money on the most high end stuff - or in some cases buy cheap pieces of shit you never should have considered as the low price doesn't make them any less useless in practice - yet VR contary to such things opens up all new horizons in all genres rather than be only for a specific limited niche of game types, hence it's more comparable to the mouse and 3D, even if it's not meant to replace or dominate anything but rather co-exist with it). And Valve isn't gonna go bankrupt even if it sells 0 copies so what is it to anybody else how much it will or won't sell? I don't have stock in Valve, they're a private company after all and clearly their profit doesn't come primarily from game development but as service providers. It's great content, either experience it or not, it's up to each individual, Switch or PS4 games aren't suddenly shit because I decide to spend my gaming money elsewhere and VR isn't shit because some of you decide to not get it, yet whine that it exists.

PC VR thread here if you want to discuss/get informed, please steer clear if you only wish to troll as per the OP.

Examples of other great existing and upcoming VR content, or examples of the type of things VR can offer. VR doesn't start or end at Half-Life: Alyx or any other single title out there, that would be pretty awful.
 
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Kadayi

Banned
Actually you are very wrong. The survey will ONLY take into account the headset if its plugged in when you do the survey, it is common knowledge in VR circles. I have done the survey many times with and without a headset attached also the survey takes into account which headset you have attached. Having VR games in your library means jack considering some VR games play without a headset.

Because most users bother to detach their VR headsets all the time right? Nothing I love more than getting under my desk and fucking about with my Rifts cables every time I want to play. Do you disconnect you controllers, keyboard and mouse also? Get a grip.

Also who are these millions buying VR games without a headset?

VR is still a fringe market.
 
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gifgaf

Member
Because most users bother to detach their VR headsets all the time right? Nothing I love more than getting under my desk and fucking about with my Rifts cables every time I want to play. Do you disconnect you controllers, keyboard and mouse also? Get a grip.

Also who are these millions buying VR games without a headset?
I disconnect my VR headset after every use yes, many people do, but you would already know that if you followed VR. I put my headset away after use, it's only 2 connections. I have USB and DisplayPort extension leads connected to my pc so its no bother. As for mouse and keyboard argument, I cant really use my pc without them and they are not as delicate as my headset is.

VR is still a fringe market.
Aww did I upset you with facts and make you look silly. Woops. :messenger_smirking:
 
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pr0cs

Member
It's been dead since the end of Episode 2. If this was intended as a sequel conclusion they would have run with a 3 somewhere whether that be Ep3 or Half life 3. This reads like sidecar.
You didn't really answer the question. It's still not clear why you're so 'concerned' about a dead franchise
 

Kadayi

Banned
Aww did I upset you with facts and make you look silly. Woops. :messenger_smirking:

What facts? Even Road to VR aren't dumb enough to make out that VR is this burgeoning thing.

Even if at best 5‰ of steam users owned VR (which is unlikely) that's hardly a massive market no matter how you spin it.
 

gifgaf

Member
What facts? Even Road to VR aren't dumb enough to make out that VR is this burgeoning thing.

Even if at best 5‰ of steam users owned VR (which is unlikely) that's hardly a massive market no matter how you spin it.
No, I haven't ever said it's mass market (Check my posting history). I am just giving facts and trying to combat the misinformation that people like you are putting out there.

The only thing I have ever said is that the market is growing.
 
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H

hariseldon

Unconfirmed Member
I have a Rift (original retail version) and it's wonderful for seated experiences, online racing for instance is totally transformed by it, but outside of a small number of games (Superhot VR, Echo Arena, Lone Echo, Gorn, Eleven: Table Tennis VR, Quake 1/2 VR, Minecraft VR [mod version, not official one]) the standing/room-scale experiences aren't much cop. Teleporting is terrible and you need a lot of space - I'm fortunate enough that my man cave is big enough but it means I have to clear everything out of there bar the PC which isn't ideal. The biggest issue, at least in the UK, is space, not affordability or the weight or the sweat or the puke (none of those particularly happen to me but I get that for some people it's a thing). It'll be interesting to see how this plays out but Valve are up against it here, and I honestly doubt they have the chops to develop something at the level (relative to other content at time of release) of the original Half Life games. All the people who actually do that stuff left. There's nothing left but an empty husk, another Bioware but this one crushed by the weight of their moneyhats instead of social justice.
 
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Romulus

Member
Nothing I love more than getting under my desk and fucking about with my Rifts cables every time I want to play. Do you disconnect you controllers, keyboard and mouse also? Get a grip.


The process is incredibly simple and fast. I have mine stowed away in a large bin that hides the cables when I'm not playing.
 
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Boss Mog

Member
Hopefully it comes to PSVR down the line. And hopefully this leads to Half-Life 3 someday; i still wanna believe.
 
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dsk1210

Member
Hopefully it comes to PSVR down the line. And hopefully this leads to Half-Life 3 someday; i still wanna believe.
Maybe for ps4 but the input(controller) on PSVR at the moment is not really good enough and I think the current CPU's in the ps4 would struggle with it.

It will probabaly be quite physics heavy.
 
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Romulus

Member
Maybe for ps4 but the input(controller) on PSVR at the moment is not really good enough and I think the current CPU's in the ps4 would struggle with it.

It will probabaly be quite physics heavy.

It would shock me if it came to ps4 VR. The good thing is ps5 is right around the corner on the processing side and psvr2 is a given according to Sony. But that doesn't mean Gabester will have it ported.
 

Boss Mog

Member
Maybe for ps4 but the input(controller) on PSVR at the moment is not really good enough and I think the current CPU's in the ps4 would struggle with it.

It will probabaly be quite physics heavy.
I didn't necessarily mean PS4. PS5 is coming in one year and PSVR will work with it and Sony will come out with new VR controllers.
 

Romulus

Member
Anything Half Life in VR is a natural progression for Valve.

Their various material surfaces and at the time revolutionary physic demo for HL2, now this.

Most paying attention had a gut feeling this would happen.


Just looking at the old HL2 demos is impressive compared to modern games. The way wood breaks and objects scatter around the environment.

Playing VR you can immediately understand why Valve chose it for Half Life. It's a physics playground with the insane amount of interaction and immersion potential.

I think VR was the only way for them to recapture that same next level experience.

The biggest challenge tomorrow will be convincing non VR owners its next level. VR looks terrible in videos and doesn't translate to how it actually feels being inside those worlds. That actually kept me from trying it, until I did and was completely shocked.
 
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dsk1210

Member
Just looking at the old HL2 demos is impressive compared to modern games. The way wood breaks and objects scatter around the environment.

Playing VR you can immediately understand why Valve chose it for Half Life. It's a physics playground with the insane amount of interaction and immersion potential.

I think VR was the only way for them to recapture that same next level experience.

The biggest challenge tomorrow will be convincing non VR owners its next level. VR looks terrible in videos and doesn't translate to how it actually feels being inside those worlds. That actually kept me from trying it, until I did and was completely shocked.
You have hit the nail on the head.

They would always have disappointed just doing a Half Life 3 now, what could they do that has not been done before in FPS, this is a new frontier to push the envelope in and I am confident of Valve producing something pretty special in VR, you only need to look at the polish in The lab to see the quality that they will try to put out.
 

rofif

Can’t Git Gud
Just looking at the old HL2 demos is impressive compared to modern games. The way wood breaks and objects scatter around the environment.

Playing VR you can immediately understand why Valve chose it for Half Life. It's a physics playground with the insane amount of interaction and immersion potential.

I think VR was the only way for them to recapture that same next level experience.

The biggest challenge tomorrow will be convincing non VR owners its next level. VR looks terrible in videos and doesn't translate to how it actually feels being inside those worlds. That actually kept me from trying it, until I did and was completely shocked.
This demo will never not impress me
 

EDMIX

Member
Your examples... learn to argue.

Well, that is what they do: counting the money. And as a game studio, well, they are long gone, people just don't wanna accept it. Plus I don't get it why people want remasters. Just buy the old game and play it. Oh, you need 8K graphics to enjoy it? Jeez, you won't enjoy it no matter the graphics.

"I don't get it why people want remasters." Thats nice. That is a topic for a different day, but its a moot point. Switch, PS4 and XONE owners may not own gaming PCs, its a market clearly that would buy the product.

"Well, that is what they do: counting the money." Oh so any company that makes lots of money we can't criticize on this or speculate on?
 

Romulus

Member
"I don't get it why people want remasters." Thats nice. That is a topic for a different day, but its a moot point. Switch, PS4 and XONE owners may not own gaming PCs, its a market clearly that would buy the product.

"Well, that is what they do: counting the money." Oh so any company that makes lots of money we can't criticize on this or speculate on?


Speaking of topics, haven't we spoke enough about remasters of old games? In a thread about a new one? Admittedly, I'm just as at fault.
 

GrayChild

Member
Kids these days? For real, that's your opening gambit? Sad. I don't think anyone has said it will suck (though their track record of late hasn't been great), more commented on the fact that reviving a long-abandoned franchise with a VR experience when

barely 1% of Steam users have a VR headset seems rather 'really?'

The vast majority of naysayers have already deduced that VR-only equals a 3-hour long gimmick. Based on... what?

I mean, people have been saying for years there aren't enough games to sell them a VR headset and when someone finally makes a AAA title that is designed around such hardware, everyone start losing their minds.
 

EDMIX

Member
Speaking of topics, haven't we spoke enough about remasters of old games? In a thread about a new one? Admittedly, I'm just as at fault.

We have and I'm just as maybe, slightly guilty (pretends have nothing to do with the remaster topic lol).
 

Kadayi

Banned
You didn't really answer the question.

You truncated a post that already explained my reasoning. I don't feel the need to have to repeat myself because you're seemingly more interested in implying I'm anti-Alyx (GAF..we're all racist/Woman haters here right? ). Let's see the full quote again: -

And how many of these people are interested in a sidebar to a dead franchise which isn't even being heralded as the conclusion to the episodic Trilogy that Valve left by roadside ten years ago?

It's still not clear why you're so 'concerned' about a dead franchise

Call me a crazy entitled consumer but when you pitch a trilogy of shorter titles to a sceptical HL2 customer player base that will conclude the HL2 storyline within a 2 year development time frame versus the traditional sequel/expansion route (which will take much longer), there's generally the expectation that you'll actually follow through on this (3 titles in 2 years) versus spectacularly blowing your own deadline and then refusing to even discuss the matter publicly again.

What business school would endorse that kind of conduct? In fact in what other sphere of business would that level of contempt for one's customer base fly?

The vast majority of naysayers have already deduced that VR-only equals a 3-hour long gimmick. Based on... what?

Feel free to find where I've said that once. It's ok. I'm patient.
 

pr0cs

Member
anti-Alyx (GAF..we're all racist/Woman haters here right? )
No idea wtf you're talking about. My point is that you are making a ton of bitching and moaning about a series that you say is dead. My implication is that you're just whining that you won't get to play the next game in the half life series because you're too cheap to buy a VR headset. So really the half life series isn't actually dead but rather you're being a bitch and whining about not being able to play it
 

Kadayi

Banned
No idea wtf you're talking about. My point is that you are making a ton of bitching and moaning about a series that you say is dead. My implication is that you're just whining that you won't get to play the next game in the half-life series because you're too cheap to buy a VR headset. So really the half life series isn't actually dead but rather you're being a bitch and whining about not being able to play it

I'll do what I like when I like and how I like. Who are you to say what can and cannot be said here? I don't see your name in red,

Also, who said I wouldn't play it? If you'd been paying attention versus looking for an angle like a chump you'd have cottoned onto the fact that I already outlined that I own a VR headset in this very thread (made the jump earlier in the year when NMS VR released and bought a Rift S, no regrets whatsoever). I'm in the 1% of Steam users who own VR, I'm an original HL fan to boot, and yet despite being on paper the Ideal market for this, I'm sceptical as to this whole endeavour in large part because Valve has done absolutely fuck all to maintain the HL franchise in the wider public interest for the last dozen or so years. As EDMIX EDMIX has stated several times already Valve have had plenty of opportunities to rejuvenate the franchise for a fresh audience through remasters even if they outsourced the bulk of the work to other studios and yet they've show zero interest in doing so. Now suddenly 'it's happening.gif' and I'm just kind of curious as to who exactly this is for? because I'm not sure Generation Fortnite cares to play catch up with some old assed games that look like shit, and given this doesn't sound like it's going to conclude what remains unfinished these last 12 years, it's really a case of 'butwhy?.gif'
 

gifgaf

Member
it's really a case of 'butwhy?.gif
Read some of the comments here saying they are going to buy thier first headset because of Half Life also check out the buzz on Reddit, Gaming, Pcgaming, Oculus, Vive, Vivevr, Virtualreality and other subreddits. I have seen many comments saying it's time to get a headset. Half Life is a big draw and Valve know exactly what they are doing.

Tomorrow is going to be interesting and a lot of fun reading comments. :messenger_winking:
 
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MiguelItUp

Member
Read some of the comments here saying they are going to buy thier first headset because of Half Life, also check out the buzz on Reddit, Gaming, Pcgaming, Oculus, Vive, Vivevr, Virtualreality and other subreddits. I have seen many comments saying it's time to get a headset. Half Life is a big draw and Valve know exactly what they are doing.

Tomorrow is going to be interesting and a lot of fun reading comments. :messenger_winking:
Exactly. With how revolutionary Half-Life was (especially its intro sequence), hell even Half-Life 2 had memorable moments, even if it all revolved around the engine. I always felt like it wasn't too far fetched for them to dive into VR territory for Half-Life 3, or the next HL game.

It certainly wasn't a crazy idea to think of by any means, IMO.

I'm just really excited to see more. Maybe this will be the kick off to resurrect the series? An EKG shock of sorts.
 

Romulus

Member
I'll do what I like when I like and how I like. Who are you to say what can and cannot be said here? I don't see your name in red,

Also, who said I wouldn't play it? If you'd been paying attention versus looking for an angle like a chump you'd have cottoned onto the fact that I already outlined that I own a VR headset in this very thread (made the jump earlier in the year when NMS VR released and bought a Rift S, no regrets whatsoever). I'm in the 1% of Steam users who own VR, I'm an original HL fan to boot, and yet despite being on paper the Ideal market for this, I'm sceptical as to this whole endeavour in large part because Valve has done absolutely fuck all to maintain the HL franchise in the wider public interest for the last dozen or so years. As EDMIX EDMIX has stated several times already Valve have had plenty of opportunities to rejuvenate the franchise for a fresh audience through remasters even if they outsourced the bulk of the work to other studios and yet they've show zero interest in doing so. Now suddenly 'it's happening.gif' and I'm just kind of curious as to who exactly this is for? because I'm not sure Generation Fortnite cares to play catch up with some old assed games that look like shit, and given this doesn't sound like it's going to conclude what remains unfinished these last 12 years, it's really a case of 'butwhy?.gif'

But why care what generation fornite wants? This is for enthusiasts who want a AAA game on the best technology available. Fuck everyone else apparently.
Does Valve even care about taking in funds from remasters now?(off topic) No.
Does Valve bring out HL3 to all platforms and do what makes financial sense? No.

Valves already pissef off most gamers anyway, this is just part of who they are.

Don't like it? Don't buy, they're still raking in cash. :)
 
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Romulus

Member
But the resolution of the current PSVR is not good enough, even on the PS5 it won’t be this good.

A ps5 paired with the current psvr could work because of supersampling. Some simplier games look really crisp because of the rendering load. They're able to push the resolution to a level I didnt expect. That tells me the headset potential is there with more horsepower for more complex games.

They need better controllers/tracking tricks. Psvr 2 is even more ideal.
 
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Kadayi

Banned
But why care what generation fornite wants? This is for enthusiasts who want a AAA game on the best technology available. Fuck everyone else apparently.
Does Valve even care about taking in funds from remasters now?(off topic) No.
Does Valve bring out HL3 to all platforms and do what makes financial sense? No.

Valves already pissef off most gamers anyway, this is just part of who they are.

Don't like it? Don't buy, they're still raking in cash. :)

Doug stop, please you're embarrassing yourself
 

pr0cs

Member
why care what generation fornite wants?
I'd argue that the fortnite Gen doesn't give a shit about VR in general, there is a very good chance that half Life fans are the target audience for VR. Story driven immersive games and so on. A good chance that people who have been following VR for so long were half Life fans from the start.

I just hope it's more than tech demos, all signs suggest that it is. Clearly 2019 is the start of top tier VR titles
 

Kadayi

Banned
You seem to be the person that doesn't get what Valve is doing. Like your so puzzled by it all.

Not at all. I get it that they might have some fresh innovative ideas for VR, and that's potentially exciting. What's less exciting though is that they're delivering it leveraging an IP they have left hanging in the wind for 12 plus years, many of whose fans (unlike you and I) who simply don't have ready access to VR.

I get it that you're a one-note cunt with all the toys, who can't think beyond his self-interest based on your general 'fuck you peasants' attitude as expressed throughout this thread with choice comments like this : -

The immersion is so intense people are blown away playing simple wave shooters, now were getting a full fledged Half Life? Lol. This is insane news. Keeping downplaying poor people.

But not all of us are quite as tone-deaf when it comes to looking at these things Doug.
 
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Romulus

Member
Not at all. I get it that they might have some fresh innovative ideas for VR, and that's potentially exciting. What's less exciting though is that they're delivering it leveraging an IP they have left hanging in the wind for 12 plus years, many of whose fans (unlike you and I) who simply don't have ready access to VR.

I get it that you're a one-note cunt with all the toys, who can't think beyond his self-interest based on your general 'fuck you peasants' attitude as expressed throughout this thread with choice comments like this : -



But not all of us are quite as tone-deaf when it comes to looking at these things Doug.

But why is it so mind boggling for you then? You supposedly own VR and acknowledge the potential yet you expect them to step down with a franchise that's always been about setting the bar. Makes no sense.

Did you cry for Crysis gamers back in the day when only top tier PCs could run it? What about Star Citizen?

I love it though.. Name calling from the moral high ground. Along with the with the silly, unrelated memes, it makes it really special.

Keep pretending your some activist for the less fortunate though. You're really "concerned" aren't you for people trolling? Lol what a load of shit.

I do take joy in those that dismiss the technology simply because they can't afford it. Thats fun. If someone can't afford it and admits it, that's different. Hopefully later they can because prices will continue to drop.
 
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Kadayi

Banned
But why is it so mind boggling for you then? You supposedly own VR and acknowledge the potential yet you expect them to step down with a franchise that's always been about setting the bar. Makes no sense.

Never said anything about stepping down., but this idea that Half-Life games are solely about pushing the boundaries is pure fucking fanfic on your part. The episodes weren't pushing the envelope all that much (and Source took a knee when it came to extents with 'loading' every 5 minutes & lack of wysiwyg against the likes of Unreal & Dunia for instance) and in fact, the real breakaway success in the public imagination was Portal when push comes to shove. I think if anything development stalled on Episode 3 because Valve realised Portal stole its thunder. Laidlaw's 'Episode 3' Blog seemed to point to some interesting ideas involving time, but it's pretty clear that Sabre Interactive came in and ate Valves lunch with Timeshift in 2007, which is why Gabe's claim of 'mechanics you've never seen before' bleating just before then resulted in a big fat nothing from Valve.

VNN did a piece on HLA last month: -



The main takeaway is that it's not about evolving the franchise in a meaningful fashion versus cynically leveraging the IP to try and push their VR units. on the basis of simply exploiting peoples nostalgia via FOMO.

I love it though.. Name-calling from the moral high ground. .

Name-calling? I'm merely making an observation, You haven't said anything yet to require a reassessment in that regard. Let's take this for instance: -

I do take joy in those that dismiss the technology simply because they can't afford it.

 

Romulus

Member
Never said anything about stepping down., but this idea that Half-Life games are solely about pushing the boundaries is pure fucking fanfic on your part. The episodes weren't pushing the envelope all that much (and Source took a knee when it came to extents with 'loading' every 5 minutes & lack of wysiwyg against the likes of Unreal & Dunia for instance) and in fact, the real breakaway success in the public imagination was Portal when push comes to shove. I think if anything development stalled on Episode 3 because Valve realised Portal stole its thunder. Laidlaw's 'Episode 3' Blog seemed to point to some interesting ideas involving time, but it's pretty clear that Sabre Interactive came in and ate Valves lunch with Timeshift in 2007, which is why Gabe's claim of 'mechanics you've never seen before' bleating just before then resulted in a big fat nothing from Valve.

VNN did a piece on HLA last month: -



The main takeaway is that it's not about evolving the franchise in a meaningful fashion versus cynically leveraging the IP to try and push their VR units. on the basis of simply exploiting peoples nostalgia via FOMO.



Name-calling? I'm merely making an observation, You haven't said anything yet to require a reassessment in that regard. Let's take this for instance: -





Oh man, your of those. Like those folks you catch making a mistake and they flip it around. Now, name-calling becomes an "observation." Try calling any person in public a cunt and see if you can use that as a defense. lol

It doesn't work anywhere, not here, work, whatever.

The episodes weren't pushing boundaries "all that much." The structure of this sentence alone tells me your being dismissive. Especially considering you targeted the episodes to make your point. Fan fantic huh? Guess I'm the only one that thought Half-Life games were technically incredible at launch.

I get it now. Your stance fall apart when they're not loaded with unrelated memes and gifs. Its a distraction. The way you cut off half my last post to try and make a point too. lol
 
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magnumpy

Member
sheesh gamers are the most conservative group of old men yearning for the "good old days"!

personally I welcome change! if you can't deal with the future shut up and get out of the way. the future is unavoidable, the old ways will inevitably die out in favor of the next generation. it's only a matter of time, the future will inevitably replace the past :p
 

MGHA

Member
sheesh gamers are the most conservative group of old men yearning for the "good old days"!

personally I welcome change! if you can't deal with the future shut up and get out of the way. the future is unavoidable, the old ways will inevitably die out in favor of the next generation. it's only a matter of time, the future will inevitably replace the past :p
SoupyVapidBighorn-size_restricted.gif
 
It shouldn't be difficult to understand why so many are down on this. The only thing that is difficult to understand is the VR enthusiasts confusion at the response.

I'm curious what exactly are all the enlightened VR fanboys going to do if what Valve show off is nothing special? You going to throw yourselves off a bridge or dig in deeper to confirm that bias?

I mean what is it you think they'll show tomorrow that's going to make everyone cream their pants, quit their jobs, drop kick their kids, divorce their wives and move into their parent's basements so they can enjoy the game proper with the rest of you?
Boneworks with a Half-Life skin and better production values - is that the secret recipe most of the gaming public has been waiting on to plunge into VR? It very well could be for some, but for many I suspect there's more to it.

Maybe there's some serious issues with VR that can't be overcome because of what it is:
Maybe people have lives and responsibilities and they can't afford to completely cut off from the world for hours to play a game.
Maybe the tech is still too janky, cumbersome and expensive.
Maybe there are severe limitations to game design, genres and movement and the experiences offered thus far are not enticing enough to overcome these negatives.
Maybe some got a bone to pick with Valve because of their monetization practices, leaving HL fans high and dry for over a decade, and observing them turn into a mediocre, money chasing dev despite not being beholden to shareholders.
Maybe it's some or all these things.

Or maybe it's cause everyone but you is a poor, unenlightened fool that's scared of change and think every VR game is a tech demo... I dunno, I kinda doubt it.
 
It shouldn't be difficult to understand why so many are down on this. The only thing that is difficult to understand is the VR enthusiasts confusion at the response.

I'm curious what exactly are all the enlightened VR fanboys going to do if what Valve show off is nothing special? You going to throw yourselves off a bridge or dig in deeper to confirm that bias?

I mean what is it you think they'll show tomorrow that's going to make everyone cream their pants, quit their jobs, drop kick their kids, divorce their wives and move into their parent's basements so they can enjoy the game proper with the rest of you?
Boneworks with a Half-Life skin and better production values - is that the secret recipe most of the gaming public has been waiting on to plunge into VR? It very well could be for some, but for many I suspect there's more to it.

Maybe there's some serious issues with VR that can't be overcome because of what it is:
Maybe people have lives and responsibilities and they can't afford to completely cut off from the world for hours to play a game.
Maybe the tech is still too janky, cumbersome and expensive.
Maybe there are severe limitations to game design, genres and movement and the experiences offered thus far are not enticing enough to overcome these negatives.
Maybe some got a bone to pick with Valve because of their monetization practices, leaving HL fans high and dry for over a decade, and observing them turn into a mediocre, money chasing dev despite not being beholden to shareholders.
Maybe it's some or all these things.

Or maybe it's cause everyone but you is a poor, unenlightened fool that's scared of change and think every VR game is a tech demo... I dunno, I kinda doubt it.

I guess Valve are the biggest "VR fanboys" of all of us, so ask them. Why is it so hard to see what they're doing? They weren't forced to, they wanted to. They've known VR would enable a different form of gaming, and they believe in it enough to risk people like you poo-pooing about it. Yes, VR's current iteration isn't perfect, but it is innovative. It adds a literal and figurative dimension to the game that 2D simply cannot emulate. Honestly, if you're so negative about the prospect, you could at least wait until they show footage and then get your "told-you-so" rocks off.

edit: One question I do wonder about is how Valve is going to showcase the VR capabilities to make people who haven't tried VR interested. VR gameplay tends to be pretty jerky because the screen doesn't fully replicate the experience. I don't think they'll do mixed reality (green screen with player placed in the proper space) because it looks kind of goofy...it would be pretty cool if they could do 180 degree type of drag to look around type video to help people grasp the wide FoV. The point is, footage itself won't do the product justice even if it is cool. Right now VR is a "you have to see it to understand it" type technology. Seeing VR played on a monitor is akin to a drawing of a cube. Beyond the larger field of view, I think a lot of people who haven't tried VR don't actually realize that it gives the illusion of space and volume. They just think it's a big flat screen taped 2 inches from your face.
 
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magnumpy

Member
It shouldn't be difficult to understand why so many are down on this. The only thing that is difficult to understand is the VR enthusiasts confusion at the response.

I'm curious what exactly are all the enlightened VR fanboys going to do if what Valve show off is nothing special? You going to throw yourselves off a bridge or dig in deeper to confirm that bias?

I'd go for the bridge suicide :(
 

Romulus

Member
Why would a VR guy "jump off a bridge" if it looks bad tomorrow?

Most of us weren't even sure we'd get anything Half Life to begin with. I wasn't for sure. The rumors were there, but you'd have to be silly to just blindly get hyped with no announcement considering Value's past.
 

Kadayi

Banned
Oh man, your of those. Like those folks you catch making a mistake and they flip it around. Now, name-calling becomes an "observation." Try calling any person in public a cunt and see if you can use that as a defense. lol

Given you're apparently all about openly laughing at 'the poor people' I find this response kind of ironic Doug.

The episodes weren't pushing boundaries "all that much." The structure of this sentence alone tells me your being dismissive. Especially considering you targeted the episodes to make your point. Fan fantic huh? Guess I'm the only one that thought Half-Life games were technically incredible at launch.

Honestly this far on I'm hard-pressed to remember what Episodes 1 & 2 brought to the table in terms of innovations. I do recall the event scripting in both was exceptionally heavy, and the map designs used a lot of smoke and mirrors to make up for the Source engines deficiencies in terms of scale (people hated the 'loading' message). The entire route to white Forrest was just one long series of linear corridors stacked on top of each other to create the illusion of distance when other game engines were already far outstripping it in that regard. Portal at least is still fresh in my mind.

I get it now. Your stance fall apart when they're not loaded with unrelated memes and gifs. Its a distraction.

It's ok to admit if you don't get them.

The way you cut off half my last post to try and make a point too. lol

I would have thought that comparing HLA to Crysis didn't require a refutation given the former requires an expensive peripheral whereas the other was hardware scaleable
 

ISee

Member
Maybe people have lives and responsibilities and they can't afford to completely cut off from the world for hours to play a game.

What a strange argument to make on a gaming board.

Next time in an OT: This game is shit...

Maybe, not everybody can afford a console easily. Let alone a HDR TV!
Maybe, holding a controller is a waste of time because it is not earning you money. Games are unproductive!
Maybe, 30fps is to janky and the graphics are still not photorealistic. This looks terrible and nothing like real life.
Maybe, there are limitations to game design. Like this game is supposed to be "open world" but the game has boarders anyway, LOL.

A company, you don't like, is making a game, you do not care about, for hardware you don't want. Cool, nobody will remember that or care while playing it or another awesome VR game.
Now move on with your life and concentrate a bit more on your responsibilities and not on what somebody wrote on a gaming forum.
 
Yeah I dont know where this notion came that HL was always pushing boundaries. Crysis did,HL just implemented something cool and new but it was never a boundary leap that others had to catch up to for years.

For example,HL1,the only thing that stood out at that time and was talked about was more skeletal animation of characters. Graphically it was not that great, you can even say dated in some regards.

HL2 had amazing physics engine. Again graphically pretty good, and the Gmod facial animation but it didnt set any trends as already had Doom 3 and other games come out with more impressive engines and techniques. For example a lot of textures in HL2 are so blurry from up close and everything was kind of squareish. The Citadel level inside looked like it was made from 30 polygons.

Both HL were good games but never boundary pushers. They were good for the time, less then a year later already looking dated.
 

Tesseract

Banned
both hl episodes did some interesting stuff with pathfinding and physics

don't think the source engine flexed its muscle until recently with apex legends

looking forward to the reveal, don't really care how i get more half-life

gimme
 
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