Half-Life is back you bastards

[Inspector Norse]

Says here that 43,000 people got this on release.

That to me sounds like an enormous flop but with the VR thing expectations must have been very different. It'll be interesting to see whether or not the game prompts more interest in the technology but I suspect most people are a bit like me and aren't really arsed enough.

[Inspector Norse]

Actually now I see somewhere else that 300,000 people bought it but 43,000 were using it concurrently. I don't really get the relevance of that.

But still, is that considered a success? Red Dead Redemption 2 sold 17 million in its first fortnight.

[Zetetic]

Don't think anyone at Valve is likely to give a shit about $-ROI for something like this TBH.

[popcorn]

Oculus Quest thing:
https://uploadvr.com/half-life-alyx-oculus-quest/

Ah ta.

Actually now I see somewhere else that 300,000 people bought it but 43,000 were using it concurrently. I don't really get the relevance of that.

But still, is that considered a success? Red Dead Redemption 2 sold 17 million in its first fortnight.

Valve isn't stupid, they know VR has a very limited install base, they know they're not going to sell as many copies of this on day one as they did for HL2. This appears to be a long-term investment into VR, an investment into the industry generally - something they might be expecting to pay off over the course of years through indirect means.

[AsparagusTrevor]

What is this exactly? I looked up Virtual Desktop and it just seems to be a way to use your PC in VR.

The app you buy in the Oculus store is for accessing your PC in VR, but you can sideload a version which also allows you to use it as a wireless PC VR headset. It seems this functionality was in previous versions of the app but Oculus/Facebook made them take it out for whatever reason. It's kinda crazy how much the Quest can do now though - officially or not - fully standalone VR plus wired/wireless PCVR! It truly is the Nintendo Switch of VR (except you can watch Netflix on it)

Oculus Quest thing: https://uploadvr.com/half-life-alyx-oculus-quest/

Sounds like that guy had a much worse experience with Virtual Desktop _{(best not to write that as initials)} than I did. I think it's all dependent on your internet and wi-fi stability. I did initially have some issues with the channel my 5GHz band was on, which was also causing problems with my wi-fi reliability in general, so I changed that and it runs brilliantly now. If I stay still and look closely I can see slight compression artefacts sometimes, and there have been a couple of times where the action has stuttered for a split second (which well might be my ageing laptop), but apart from that it's negligible. I've also been using smooth movement, rather than teleport movement, which you'd assume creates more motion for it to handle.

I wouldn't wanna go back to being tethered. One particular firefight I found myself ducking behind cover and leaning around corners, I wouldn't have wanted to have a cable wrapping itself around me for that.

[Pdine]

Playing on the Quest via Link with a 3m cable works fine for me, even in tough bits.

[AsparagusTrevor]

I haven't finished this yet, I'm only managing to get a few hours per week due to still having to bastard work full time, but it's still brilliant and keeps throwing new and interesting mechanics up. Had very few issues playing on Virtual Desktop too, I even felt brave enough to increase the visual fidelity of the streaming.


Spoilers below - I've just finished the infamous Jeff section. Jeff is an angry, blind, fungal-mutated man with whom you're locked in a collection of claustrophobic stealth sections inside a vodka distillery. You can throw objects to distract and divert Jeff while you get on with things, but if he catches you he can insta-kill you with acidic vomit. I'm never a fan of instant fail stealth but this one doesn't outstay its welcome and is pulled off well enough with enough interesting mechanics, such as having to cover your mouth to avoid coughing after breathing in spores. Of course, there are several things designed to force you into making noise, such as shutters opened with rusty crank handles, or hidden glass bottles stuffed inside lockers.

After Jeff, it was a section set in a dilapidated zoo, infested with ant-lions which look terrifying in VR (as do all the classic HL enemies to be honest)

[AsparagusTrevor]

I finally finished this yesterday. Highly recommended, even if you have to go and steal some VR hats off people.

Spoilers again:
Goes very trippy towards the end. Although it is a prequel it does very much advance the story in unexpected ways, including something which basically rewrites a huge part of the canon. A retcon which, excitingly, seems to be reopening the story, rather than closing it. There is a brief, post credit stinger, relating to said rewrite,

Spoiler alert

set directly after the ending of HL2 Episode 2, you're now looking through the eyes of Gordon Freeman as you're handed a crowbar by someone significant, and Dog makes a welcome cameo.

[close]

[Ornlu]

I finally finished this yesterday. Highly recommended, even if you have to go and steal some VR hats off people.

Spoilers again:
Goes very trippy towards the end. Although it is a prequel it does very much advance the story in unexpected ways, including

Spoiler alert

something which basically rewrites a huge part of the canon. A retcon which, excitingly, seems to be reopening the story, rather than closing it. There is a brief, post credit stinger, relating to said rewrite, set directly after the ending of HL2 Episode 2, you're now looking through the eyes of Gordon Freeman as you're handed a crowbar by someone significant, and Dog makes a welcome cameo.

[close]

Sorry to revive this thread's HEV suit but I just have to echo the above. Having been in a Valve lorehole the last week (and knowing full well I'll never be arsed buying any VR stuff) I've had on a full Youtube playthrough of this, and even on a TV screen, I was in awe of the scale of the thing. Proper terrifying in parts, and most importantly lots of gloriously compelling advancements to the Half Life saga - I'd mostly recommend doing it this way just so more people can actually talk about it.