Half-Life: Alyx VR Game Announcement Trailer

[ObsidianJones_v1legacy]

One... two... two part two... Alyx!

*pats Gabe on the head* He's come so far, hasn't he?!

You have to understand. Alex is a version of the female name Alex.

Alex has the definition of Defending Men [https://nameberry.com/babyname/Alex/girl]

Men has three letters.

Three.

3.

Illuminati Confirmed.




... Wait, is that not what we're doing?

 

[Johnny Novgorod]

Is this the beginning of a third trilogy they're never going to complete?

 

[EvilRoy]

One... two... two part two... Alyx!

*pats Gabe on the head* He's come so far, hasn't he?!

You have to understand. Alex is a version of the female name Alex.

Alex has the definition of Defending Men [https://nameberry.com/babyname/Alex/girl]

Men has three letters.

Three.

3.

Illuminati Confirmed.




... Wait, is that not what we're doing?

This feels like attempting to reach a finish line by splitting the remaining distance in half. Next game will be in two decades - a remake of HL2:2 with an hour of gameplay past the end of the original.

 

[Mad World]

Pretty shitty of Valve. Gabe owes the fans Half-Life 3, as he failed to deliver Episode 3 (which he promised). Yet, the idiot releases a VR-only game. Also, it doesn't feature Gordon Freeman. Like Rockstar, Valve is greatly overrated and doesn't deserve the praise that it regularly receives. Looks decent, but I simply want the next real Half-Life.

 

[Dalisclock]

Pretty shitty of Valve. Gabe owes the fans Half-Life 3, as he failed to deliver Episode 3 (which he promised). Yet, the idiot releases a VR-only game. Also, it doesn't feature Gordon Freeman. Like Rockstar, Valve is greatly overrated and doesn't deserve the praise that it regularly receives. Looks decent, but I simply want the next real Half-Life.

I know I said I don't care, but honestly this is making me feel saltly all over again. It very much feels like someone who promised to go out on a 3rd date with you, never did show up for the 3rd one, refused to talk about it for a decade and then suddenly goes "Hey, want to go out for lunch? We cool right?" like nothing has happened.

Seriously Valve, it would be one thing if this had come out 5 years ago or if you had just admitted "Half Life 3 isn't happening. Sorry". It's the fact you've been asked about it over and over again and just refused to talk about it at all before pulling this that grinds my gears.

Now, if they had said "HL3 on VR" I'd be annoyed but also start looking into a reasonable VR rig. This....this isn't gonna get me to buy VR. HL3 would get my interest for sure and probably get me to cave on VR, but not this.

TLDR No HL3, no VR sale. Valve. Don't pretend a VR only side game in anyway is what we waited a decade for.

 

[Hawki]

Also, it doesn't feature Gordon Freeman.

Is that really an issue? Other characters have been playable in the series, and Freeman's not even really a character anyway. Also, if you're doing an interquel between Half-Life 1 & 2, I'm not sure how you could have Gordon being playable without undermining the intro of the second game.

 

[Specter Von Baren]

Also, it doesn't feature Gordon Freeman.

Is that really an issue? Other characters have been playable in the series, and Freeman's not even really a character anyway. Also, if you're doing an interquel between Half-Life 1 & 2, I'm not sure how you could have Gordon being playable without undermining the intro of the second game.

On the other hand, having Alyx be the playable character could have opened it up for Gordon to actually talk for once. Similar to how Golden Sun did things.

 

[Hawki]

Also, it doesn't feature Gordon Freeman.

Is that really an issue? Other characters have been playable in the series, and Freeman's not even really a character anyway. Also, if you're doing an interquel between Half-Life 1 & 2, I'm not sure how you could have Gordon being playable without undermining the intro of the second game.

On the other hand, having Alyx be the playable character could have opened it up for Gordon to actually talk for once. Similar to how Golden Sun did things.

...Valve, hire this man!

 

[Gralian]

I'd really like to play it. There's a fair few VR things i'd like to try, actually. Stormland, Asgard's Wrath and Robo Recall along with Half Life Alyx among other things. I've loved my PSVR and got many hours of joy out of Beat Sabre alone and more recently Audica. Also Thumper and Blood & Truth have been good fun, so i'd love to dive into VR proper.

Unfortunately i'd need a whole new PC to do it. My current toaster is just shy of the GPU requirement for Oculus - 1050 gtx and only 2gb vram. Looking at the specs for Alyx, i'd need a new processor too as i'm just shy of the minimum at i5 7400. To add pain to the whole thing i'm only on 8gb ram so need another stick of that and replace the PSU as i only have 300w.

Basically, i need a new PC.

Unlike with a new console cycle where you might spend ?500 at most, a mid range to decent PC will cost you around ?1000 to ?1300 even if you build it yourself or have it assembled. It's eye watering stuff, that's on top of the ?400 for the VR gear itself and because technology advances so rapidly PC parts pretty much need updating every year or so.

I will play Alyx, eventually. Once Christmas has come and gone i'll look at finally upgrading my tiny PC - but the barrier to entry is just so high, especially for your average user. I'm sure i read somewhere that of Valve's surveys only about 30% or so of users had the MINIMUM requirements to run Alyx and that's not even taking into account those who own or don't own a VR headset. The target market must be absolutely tiny, although i believe Valve are deliberately running this at a loss. Alyx is a system seller, designed to push VR into mainstream (all of VR not just index) in much the same way that Half Life 2 was a successful platform pusher for Steam. Originally folks hated steam and resisted it, but as it became a "requirement" to install for HL2 it got more registrations and eventually everyone was using it.

 

[Dalisclock]

I'd really like to play it. There's a fair few VR things i'd like to try, actually. Stormland, Asgard's Wrath and Robo Recall along with Half Life Alyx among other things. I've loved my PSVR and got many hours of joy out of Beat Sabre alone and more recently Audica. Also Thumper and Blood & Truth have been good fun, so i'd love to dive into VR proper.

Unfortunately i'd need a whole new PC to do it. My current toaster is just shy of the GPU requirement for Oculus - 1050 gtx and only 2gb vram. Looking at the specs for Alyx, i'd need a new processor too as i'm just shy of the minimum at i5 7400. To add pain to the whole thing i'm only on 8gb ram so need another stick of that and replace the PSU as i only have 300w.

Basically, i need a new PC.

Unlike with a new console cycle where you might spend ?500 at most, a mid range to decent PC will cost you around ?1000 to ?1300 even if you build it yourself or have it assembled. It's eye watering stuff, that's on top of the ?400 for the VR gear itself and because technology advances so rapidly PC parts pretty much need updating every year or so.

I will play Alyx, eventually. Once Christmas has come and gone i'll look at finally upgrading my tiny PC - but the barrier to entry is just so high, especially for your average user. I'm sure i read somewhere that of Valve's surveys only about 30% or so of users had the MINIMUM requirements to run Alyx and that's not even taking into account those who own or don't own a VR headset. The target market must be absolutely tiny, although i believe Valve are deliberately running this at a loss. Alyx is a system seller, designed to push VR into mainstream (all of VR not just index) in much the same way that Half Life 2 was a successful platform pusher for Steam. Originally folks hated steam and resisted it, but as it became a "requirement" to install for HL2 it got more registrations and eventually everyone was using it.

I went and looked at Valve index. $1000 for the full package, like $300 for the most basic parts(either headset or controllers but not both). I'm not exactly poor, but that's way too rich for my blood.

Valve, you want to sell VR, it needs to be cheaper. That's a notable part of the problem, because when I can buy a PS4 or a Switch for $300 and BOTH have a much better game selection then VR does at this point, I'm not seeing the point yet.

 

[Samtemdo8_v1legacy]

I'd really like to play it. There's a fair few VR things i'd like to try, actually. Stormland, Asgard's Wrath and Robo Recall along with Half Life Alyx among other things. I've loved my PSVR and got many hours of joy out of Beat Sabre alone and more recently Audica. Also Thumper and Blood & Truth have been good fun, so i'd love to dive into VR proper.

Unfortunately i'd need a whole new PC to do it. My current toaster is just shy of the GPU requirement for Oculus - 1050 gtx and only 2gb vram. Looking at the specs for Alyx, i'd need a new processor too as i'm just shy of the minimum at i5 7400. To add pain to the whole thing i'm only on 8gb ram so need another stick of that and replace the PSU as i only have 300w.

Basically, i need a new PC.

Unlike with a new console cycle where you might spend ?500 at most, a mid range to decent PC will cost you around ?1000 to ?1300 even if you build it yourself or have it assembled. It's eye watering stuff, that's on top of the ?400 for the VR gear itself and because technology advances so rapidly PC parts pretty much need updating every year or so.

I will play Alyx, eventually. Once Christmas has come and gone i'll look at finally upgrading my tiny PC - but the barrier to entry is just so high, especially for your average user. I'm sure i read somewhere that of Valve's surveys only about 30% or so of users had the MINIMUM requirements to run Alyx and that's not even taking into account those who own or don't own a VR headset. The target market must be absolutely tiny, although i believe Valve are deliberately running this at a loss. Alyx is a system seller, designed to push VR into mainstream (all of VR not just index) in much the same way that Half Life 2 was a successful platform pusher for Steam. Originally folks hated steam and resisted it, but as it became a "requirement" to install for HL2 it got more registrations and eventually everyone was using it.

I went and looked at Valve index. $1000 for the full package, like $300 for the most basic parts(either headset or controllers but not both). I'm not exactly poor, but that's way too rich for my blood.

Valve, you want to sell VR, it needs to be cheaper. That's a notable part of the problem, because when I can buy a PS4 or a Switch for $300 and BOTH have a much better game selection then VR does at this point, I'm not seeing the point yet.

Add to that the fact that this is only a barometric effort [https://www.theverge.com/platform/amp/2019/11/21/20976012/half-life-alyx-valve-series-future/] designed to push an as-of-yet niche market [https://www.gamespot.com/articles/cyberpunk-2077-dev-not-worried-about-half-life-aly/1100-6471691/] into the mainstream, and so far apparently relying on just the PC platform to boot.

On one hand I really, really, really want this game to succeed if it indeed is designed to finally take significant advantage of what VR can do, but on the other I?m left wondering what Valve?s strategy truly is here. They pretty much came out of nowhere with this, almost hoping to catch people off guard with a release date only a few months off, and for a game that demands good hardware on top of high end peripherals that few people have or even have ever cared about...until now? It would need to rely on word of mouth as being truly groundbreaking.

The question is will it rekindle the once rabid fanbase enough to pay off initially, and if they?ve also factored in the variable of how many other people are even aware of the IP. Then again, they?ve got plenty of money to burn, so maybe they?ve finally decided to do something with it. It?s their best chance at it being worth the risk.

 

[Xprimentyl]

I'd really like to play it. There's a fair few VR things i'd like to try, actually. Stormland, Asgard's Wrath and Robo Recall along with Half Life Alyx among other things. I've loved my PSVR and got many hours of joy out of Beat Sabre alone and more recently Audica. Also Thumper and Blood & Truth have been good fun, so i'd love to dive into VR proper.

Unfortunately i'd need a whole new PC to do it. My current toaster is just shy of the GPU requirement for Oculus - 1050 gtx and only 2gb vram. Looking at the specs for Alyx, i'd need a new processor too as i'm just shy of the minimum at i5 7400. To add pain to the whole thing i'm only on 8gb ram so need another stick of that and replace the PSU as i only have 300w.

Basically, i need a new PC.

Unlike with a new console cycle where you might spend ?500 at most, a mid range to decent PC will cost you around ?1000 to ?1300 even if you build it yourself or have it assembled. It's eye watering stuff, that's on top of the ?400 for the VR gear itself and because technology advances so rapidly PC parts pretty much need updating every year or so.

I will play Alyx, eventually. Once Christmas has come and gone i'll look at finally upgrading my tiny PC - but the barrier to entry is just so high, especially for your average user. I'm sure i read somewhere that of Valve's surveys only about 30% or so of users had the MINIMUM requirements to run Alyx and that's not even taking into account those who own or don't own a VR headset. The target market must be absolutely tiny, although i believe Valve are deliberately running this at a loss. Alyx is a system seller, designed to push VR into mainstream (all of VR not just index) in much the same way that Half Life 2 was a successful platform pusher for Steam. Originally folks hated steam and resisted it, but as it became a "requirement" to install for HL2 it got more registrations and eventually everyone was using it.

I went and looked at Valve index. $1000 for the full package, like $300 for the most basic parts(either headset or controllers but not both). I'm not exactly poor, but that's way too rich for my blood.

Valve, you want to sell VR, it needs to be cheaper. That's a notable part of the problem, because when I can buy a PS4 or a Switch for $300 and BOTH have a much better game selection then VR does at this point, I'm not seeing the point yet.

Add to that the fact that this is only a barometric effort [https://www.theverge.com/platform/amp/2019/11/21/20976012/half-life-alyx-valve-series-future/] designed to push an as-of-yet niche market [https://www.gamespot.com/articles/cyberpunk-2077-dev-not-worried-about-half-life-aly/1100-6471691/] into the mainstream, and so far apparently relying on just the PC platform to boot.

On one hand I really, really, really want this game to succeed if it indeed is designed to finally take significant advantage of what VR can do, but on the other I?m left wondering what Valve?s strategy truly is here. They pretty much came out of nowhere with this, almost hoping to catch people off guard with a release date only a few months off, and for a game that demands good hardware on top of high end peripherals that few people have or even have ever cared about...until now? It would need to rely on word of mouth as being truly groundbreaking.

The question is will it rekindle the once rabid fanbase enough to pay off initially, and if they?ve also factored in the variable of how many other people are even aware of the IP. Then again, they?ve got plenty of money to burn, so maybe they?ve finally decided to do something with it. It?s their best chance at it being worth the risk.

?What?s Valve?s strategy? indeed.

Given the greedy, untrustworthy and generally bad-faithed nature of the AAA gaming industry of late, for Valve (who?ve been riding the Steam train in lieu of making quality games forever now) to slap Half-Life fans in the face with not only a ?Not Half-Life 3? Half-Life game, but one that?s locked behind significant prerequisites in a high-end PC and expensive VR equipment rings as willfully tone-deaf. I don?t take this as Valve trying to sate HL fans so much as they?re just wanting to bilk the [assumed] few of them willing to make the substantial investment to play ?Half-Life ANYTHING,? so pretty much the epitome of the first three adjectives used in this paragraph.

 

[Samtemdo8_v1legacy]

I'd really like to play it. There's a fair few VR things i'd like to try, actually. Stormland, Asgard's Wrath and Robo Recall along with Half Life Alyx among other things. I've loved my PSVR and got many hours of joy out of Beat Sabre alone and more recently Audica. Also Thumper and Blood & Truth have been good fun, so i'd love to dive into VR proper.

Unfortunately i'd need a whole new PC to do it. My current toaster is just shy of the GPU requirement for Oculus - 1050 gtx and only 2gb vram. Looking at the specs for Alyx, i'd need a new processor too as i'm just shy of the minimum at i5 7400. To add pain to the whole thing i'm only on 8gb ram so need another stick of that and replace the PSU as i only have 300w.

Basically, i need a new PC.

Unlike with a new console cycle where you might spend ?500 at most, a mid range to decent PC will cost you around ?1000 to ?1300 even if you build it yourself or have it assembled. It's eye watering stuff, that's on top of the ?400 for the VR gear itself and because technology advances so rapidly PC parts pretty much need updating every year or so.

I will play Alyx, eventually. Once Christmas has come and gone i'll look at finally upgrading my tiny PC - but the barrier to entry is just so high, especially for your average user. I'm sure i read somewhere that of Valve's surveys only about 30% or so of users had the MINIMUM requirements to run Alyx and that's not even taking into account those who own or don't own a VR headset. The target market must be absolutely tiny, although i believe Valve are deliberately running this at a loss. Alyx is a system seller, designed to push VR into mainstream (all of VR not just index) in much the same way that Half Life 2 was a successful platform pusher for Steam. Originally folks hated steam and resisted it, but as it became a "requirement" to install for HL2 it got more registrations and eventually everyone was using it.

I went and looked at Valve index. $1000 for the full package, like $300 for the most basic parts(either headset or controllers but not both). I'm not exactly poor, but that's way too rich for my blood.

Valve, you want to sell VR, it needs to be cheaper. That's a notable part of the problem, because when I can buy a PS4 or a Switch for $300 and BOTH have a much better game selection then VR does at this point, I'm not seeing the point yet.

Add to that the fact that this is only a barometric effort [https://www.theverge.com/platform/amp/2019/11/21/20976012/half-life-alyx-valve-series-future/] designed to push an as-of-yet niche market [https://www.gamespot.com/articles/cyberpunk-2077-dev-not-worried-about-half-life-aly/1100-6471691/] into the mainstream, and so far apparently relying on just the PC platform to boot.

On one hand I really, really, really want this game to succeed if it indeed is designed to finally take significant advantage of what VR can do, but on the other I?m left wondering what Valve?s strategy truly is here. They pretty much came out of nowhere with this, almost hoping to catch people off guard with a release date only a few months off, and for a game that demands good hardware on top of high end peripherals that few people have or even have ever cared about...until now? It would need to rely on word of mouth as being truly groundbreaking.

The question is will it rekindle the once rabid fanbase enough to pay off initially, and if they?ve also factored in the variable of how many other people are even aware of the IP. Then again, they?ve got plenty of money to burn, so maybe they?ve finally decided to do something with it. It?s their best chance at it being worth the risk.

?What?s Valve?s strategy? indeed.

Given the greedy, untrustworthy and generally bad-faithed nature of the AAA gaming industry of late, for Valve (who?ve been riding the Steam train in lieu of making quality games forever now) to slap Half-Life fans in the face with not only a ?Not Half-Life 3? Half-Life game, but one that?s locked behind significant prerequisites in a high-end PC and expensive VR equipment rings as willfully tone-deaf. I don?t take this as Valve trying to sate HL fans so much as they?re just wanting to bilk the [assumed] few of them willing to make the substantial investment to play ?Half-Life ANYTHING,? so pretty much the epitome of the first three adjectives used in this paragraph.

It?s really a wait and see for me, even though it?s still gotten me thinking of installing the latest and greatest Half-Life iterations. I have a feeling that if anyone can make VR worthwhile, it?s probably Valve. I doubt they?d climb down from their ivory tower to toil with something this big and risky if they didn?t believe it would make a possibly game changing impact.

Then again, there?s the Steam controller. Hopefully that?s just an iteration of tech that they?ve learned oodles from.

 

[Xprimentyl]

I'd really like to play it. There's a fair few VR things i'd like to try, actually. Stormland, Asgard's Wrath and Robo Recall along with Half Life Alyx among other things. I've loved my PSVR and got many hours of joy out of Beat Sabre alone and more recently Audica. Also Thumper and Blood & Truth have been good fun, so i'd love to dive into VR proper.

Unfortunately i'd need a whole new PC to do it. My current toaster is just shy of the GPU requirement for Oculus - 1050 gtx and only 2gb vram. Looking at the specs for Alyx, i'd need a new processor too as i'm just shy of the minimum at i5 7400. To add pain to the whole thing i'm only on 8gb ram so need another stick of that and replace the PSU as i only have 300w.

Basically, i need a new PC.

Unlike with a new console cycle where you might spend ?500 at most, a mid range to decent PC will cost you around ?1000 to ?1300 even if you build it yourself or have it assembled. It's eye watering stuff, that's on top of the ?400 for the VR gear itself and because technology advances so rapidly PC parts pretty much need updating every year or so.

I will play Alyx, eventually. Once Christmas has come and gone i'll look at finally upgrading my tiny PC - but the barrier to entry is just so high, especially for your average user. I'm sure i read somewhere that of Valve's surveys only about 30% or so of users had the MINIMUM requirements to run Alyx and that's not even taking into account those who own or don't own a VR headset. The target market must be absolutely tiny, although i believe Valve are deliberately running this at a loss. Alyx is a system seller, designed to push VR into mainstream (all of VR not just index) in much the same way that Half Life 2 was a successful platform pusher for Steam. Originally folks hated steam and resisted it, but as it became a "requirement" to install for HL2 it got more registrations and eventually everyone was using it.

I went and looked at Valve index. $1000 for the full package, like $300 for the most basic parts(either headset or controllers but not both). I'm not exactly poor, but that's way too rich for my blood.

Valve, you want to sell VR, it needs to be cheaper. That's a notable part of the problem, because when I can buy a PS4 or a Switch for $300 and BOTH have a much better game selection then VR does at this point, I'm not seeing the point yet.

Add to that the fact that this is only a barometric effort [https://www.theverge.com/platform/amp/2019/11/21/20976012/half-life-alyx-valve-series-future/] designed to push an as-of-yet niche market [https://www.gamespot.com/articles/cyberpunk-2077-dev-not-worried-about-half-life-aly/1100-6471691/] into the mainstream, and so far apparently relying on just the PC platform to boot.

On one hand I really, really, really want this game to succeed if it indeed is designed to finally take significant advantage of what VR can do, but on the other I?m left wondering what Valve?s strategy truly is here. They pretty much came out of nowhere with this, almost hoping to catch people off guard with a release date only a few months off, and for a game that demands good hardware on top of high end peripherals that few people have or even have ever cared about...until now? It would need to rely on word of mouth as being truly groundbreaking.

The question is will it rekindle the once rabid fanbase enough to pay off initially, and if they?ve also factored in the variable of how many other people are even aware of the IP. Then again, they?ve got plenty of money to burn, so maybe they?ve finally decided to do something with it. It?s their best chance at it being worth the risk.

?What?s Valve?s strategy? indeed.

Given the greedy, untrustworthy and generally bad-faithed nature of the AAA gaming industry of late, for Valve (who?ve been riding the Steam train in lieu of making quality games forever now) to slap Half-Life fans in the face with not only a ?Not Half-Life 3? Half-Life game, but one that?s locked behind significant prerequisites in a high-end PC and expensive VR equipment rings as willfully tone-deaf. I don?t take this as Valve trying to sate HL fans so much as they?re just wanting to bilk the [assumed] few of them willing to make the substantial investment to play ?Half-Life ANYTHING,? so pretty much the epitome of the first three adjectives used in this paragraph.

It?s really a wait and see for me, even though it?s still gotten me thinking of installing the latest and greatest Half-Life iterations. I have a feeling that if anyone can make VR worthwhile, it?s probably Valve. I doubt they?d climb down from their ivory tower to toil with something this big and risky if they didn?t believe it would make a possibly game changing impact.

Then again, there?s the Steam controller. Hopefully that?s just an iteration of tech that they?ve learned oodles from.

I?ve gotten too cynical to ?wait and see? with any real hope for anything anyone of those in the afore mentioned ivory tower has to offer. That coupled with complete lack of interest in VR; never been into awkward peripherals, particularly one that requires that I strap something to my face, clear out floor space in my living room then flail about making awkward gestures, not when truly immersive and great experiences are still to be had with traditional, less-invasive interfaces when a developer is willing to take the time, effort and genuine enthusiasm and love of their craft to make them.

They?ve got a rabid fan base who?ve been clamoring for ONE thing for 15 years, and they?ve gone ignored on the issue the whole time only to have it revealed that Valve HAS been developing A Half-Life, just not THAT one, and oh, it?s PC VR only; you?re welcome. If Valve would just straight up say ?Half-Life 3?s not happening; but we?re trying something new and different,? I?d be less cynical about this situation, but it?s the fact that they knowingly spent a the time and money dragging one of the most contentious franchises out of the grave (let?s be honest) and affixing strings to its corpse for an elaborate, expensive and exclusionary puppet show that doesn?t sit well with me. Again, I couldn?t care less at this point about Half-Life 3, but witnessing this thoughtless jab others who clearly still hold out hope have to deal with elicits some sympathy pains.

 

[Gralian]

I went and looked at Valve index. $1000 for the full package, like $300 for the most basic parts(either headset or controllers but not both). I'm not exactly poor, but that's way too rich for my blood.

Valve, you want to sell VR, it needs to be cheaper. That's a notable part of the problem, because when I can buy a PS4 or a Switch for $300 and BOTH have a much better game selection then VR does at this point, I'm not seeing the point yet.

Honestly, Index is not required. Steam VR works just fine on Vive and even on Oculus Rift. Valve has also confirmed Alyx will work on rift. Sure, rift is not the ?900 premium experience of Index but it works just the same and I doubt things like refresh rates would be that much of a bother unless you were a hardcore enthusiast.

Oculus rift is ?350 on amazon right now, which is really cheap. No lighthouses required either due to the cameras on the headset so no long cables or extra peripherals required.

Valve is trying to push VR as a platform, not just their own Index. They?re trying to shift it from niche to mainstream which will give the steam vr storefront a boost. They?re playing the long game - hardly anyone will buy and play alyx at launch, so it will flop, but it will get the conversation going about vr in a meaningful way and get people thinking about upgrading or investing in the tech.

 

[Samtemdo8_v1legacy]

The Half-Life Reddit [https://www.reddit.com/r/HalfLife/comments/dzlg8j/halflife_alyx_announcement_live_updates/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=ios_app&utm_name=iossmf] and PC Gamer [https://www.pcgamer.com/half-life-alyx-release-date-trailer-everything-we-know/] have more info.

Damned if they don?t make it sound like a game-changer. In a way, I haven?t had this kind of interest piqued for a game since Mario 64. We can only hope it?s executed anywhere near as well.

 

[Mad World]

I know I said I don't care, but honestly this is making me feel saltly all over again. It very much feels like someone who promised to go out on a 3rd date with you, never did show up for the 3rd one, refused to talk about it for a decade and then suddenly goes "Hey, want to go out for lunch? We cool right?" like nothing has happened.

Seriously Valve, it would be one thing if this had come out 5 years ago or if you had just admitted "Half Life 3 isn't happening. Sorry". It's the fact you've been asked about it over and over again and just refused to talk about it at all before pulling this that grinds my gears.

Now, if they had said "HL3 on VR" I'd be annoyed but also start looking into a reasonable VR rig. This....this isn't gonna get me to buy VR. HL3 would get my interest for sure and probably get me to cave on VR, but not this.

TLDR No HL3, no VR sale. Valve. Don't pretend a VR only side game in anyway is what we waited a decade for.

For me, worst thing is that it's a VR exclusive.

Is that really an issue? Other characters have been playable in the series, and Freeman's not even really a character anyway. Also, if you're doing an interquel between Half-Life 1 & 2, I'm not sure how you could have Gordon being playable without undermining the intro of the second game.

A bit of one, yeah. If they would actually release Half-Life 3, it wouldn't be. Of course, the worst offence is it being VR only.