EXos said:
CrystalShadow said:
Expect half-life 3 as a VR exclusive.
You think I'm joking, right? But think about it...
Valve was one of the first company to incorporate experimental VR support into existing games.
They decided to implement their own VR system...
Tracking...
AND each half-life so far represented a technological milestone of some kind. Something which hadn't really been done before on some level.
Seriously, given the options, it's the most obvious continuation of how half-life has been getting releases over the years.
I don't think it's going to be VR for the mere fact that it would put their game behind a fairly steep paywall. Sure you could say that it would be great for them because they sell the peripheral but I highly doubt it.
Further more it doesn't add that much to the game. Nothing ground breaking at least.
Personally I think they are waiting for the next generation of hardware (DDR4, HBM and 14nm CPUs to really kick off) and utilize the power to make an ever stronger engine. (More particle effects, like water that reacts perfectly and Snow/sand that shifts and displaces.)
In the HL2 demo they had an area where they were talking about shifting the ground and changing the level in realtime. This didn't really happen in the released game so my bet is they realized they need more power.
Perhaps... But if anyone can afford that kind of risk right now, it's valve.
VR is an additional expense, sure. But it's not that bad in the scheme of PC hardware generally.
Do you recall the actual half-life 2 release? The source engine was a monster...
Nobody had hardware powerful enough to run HL2 back then. In fact, it took several years for the hardware to catch up.
Major PC upgrades make VR equipment look comparatively cheap. (even if VR demands framerates that also dictate rather serious Hardware to back it up)
VR really needs a 'killer app'. A company that has the resources to absorb the potential losses, and which is involved with the design of such hardware may well decide it's worth the effort.
Not for the sake of one game, but to push the take-up of the hardware.
This cost barrier is only a thing while nobody has the hardware.
It's like the problem of convincing people to buy a new games console.
To convince other devs to go through releasing games for your system, there has to be some guarantee of a market. (people who can reasonably be expected to have the hardware)
One way to try and make this happen is to release games that you are fairly sure a lot of people would want.
Valve is in a position where they could afford to do this if they chose to...
Doesn't mean they will, but I wouldn't be too quifk to rule it out...