Half-Life – Page 3 – Augmented & Virtual Reality Confabulation

January 4, 2021

Half-Life: Alyx Wins VR Game Of The Year In 2020 Steam Awards

Valve announced winners of the fan-voted Steam Awards for 2020 today, including VR Game of the Year.

Perhaps unsurprisingly, Steam users voted for Half-Life: Alyx, one of the year’s biggest releases and Valve’s own title, as VR Game of the Year. Alyx came out back in March for SteamVR headsets and is regarded almost universally as one of the best VR games of 2020.

The Steam Awards take place annually and both the nominees and the winners are decided solely by the Steam community and its users. Users can cast votes for any game towards any of the pre-determined categories, except this year users could only nominate a game for one category each, not multiple. Half-Life: Alyx was one of five games that were nominated for best VR game. The other nominees that fell short were Phasmophobia, The Room VR: A Dark Mater, Thief Simulator VR and Star Wars: Squadrons.

The list also included several other non-VR categories, including a general Game of the Year category which was taken home by Red Dead Redemption 2 (which was technically eligible as it released on Steam for PC in December 2019, despite releasing on consoles in 2018).

Many of the VR games featured in this year’s Steam Awards were also featured in UploadVR’s VR Game of the Year category, which was also taken home by Half-Life: Alyx. Somewhat notably, the Steam Awards didn’t feature The Walking Dead: Saints & Sinners, which was one of our favorite VR games from last year. We had it nominated on our Game of the Year list, alongside Alyx, Squadrons, The Room VR, Population: One and Until You Fall.

You can view the full Steam Awards list here and UploadVR’s list here.

December 12, 2020

Neues VR-Spiel von Valve mit PC vs. VR Fokus?

Nicht nur mit Half-Life: Alyx hat Valve bewiesen, dass das Unternehmen eine Zukunft in der Virtual Reality sieht. Auch eine eigene VR-Brille hat Valve auf dem Markt und es gibt bereits seit einigen Jahren Hinweise darauf, dass Valve an weiteren Projekten für die Virtual Reality arbeite. Nun werden diese Gerücht erneut befeuert.

Neues VR-Spiel von Valve mit PC vs. VR Fokus?

Tyler McVicker vom “Valve News Network” auf YouTube glaubt, dass das nächste Spiel von Valve derzeit unter dem Codenamen “Citadel” entwickelt wird und Spielende am PC und Spielende in VR zusammenbringen soll. Laut McVicker würde Valve hierbei auf ein asymmetrisches Gameplay setzen. Das bedeutet, dass die Spielenden am PC eine andere Rolle einnehmen, als die Spielenden in VR.

Auch wenn es sich hierbei nur um unbestätigte Gerüchte handelt, klingt die Verbindung von Monitor und VR nach einer guten Idee, um eine breite Zielgruppe anzusprechen und gleichzeitig die Vorzüge von VR bestmöglich zu präsentieren.

Laut McVicker soll in Citadel eine Partei eine Ansicht auf die Map haben und unterstützend im Spiel agieren, während sich die andere Partei durch die Karte kämpft. Welche Rolle die Spielenden in VR einnehmen und welche Rolle die Spielenden am Monitor, ist jedoch unklar.

Wir sind gespannt, was an dem Gerücht dran ist. Wenn es neue Informationen gibt, bekommt ihr sie natürlich hier.

(Quelle: Road to VR)

Der Beitrag Neues VR-Spiel von Valve mit PC vs. VR Fokus? zuerst gesehen auf VR∙Nerds. VR·Nerds am Werk!

December 4, 2020

Half-Life: Alyx Surpasses 2 Million Owners On Steam, Steam Spy Suggests

Valve’s flagship VR game Half-Life: Alyx has surpassed 2 million owners on Steam, according to SteamSpy.

Previously, the game was marked in the 1 million – 2 million owners bracket on the platform, but recently changed over to the 2 million – 5 million bracket. These aren’t official numbers from Valve itself, so can’t be taken as definitive, but Steam Spy has long served as one of the few means of estimating game sales on Steam.

While this means that at least 2 million people own the game in their Steam library, it does not represent sales figures. Owners of the game also include those who received the game for free as part of a promotion, of which there were many for Half-Life: Alyx.

The most notable promotion, which is ongoing, is that all owners of Valve Index hardware receive a copy of Half-Life: Alyx for free. This applied not just to the full Valve Index kit, but even just to people who solely bought the Valve Index controllers to use with a different headset.

Likewise, HTC partnered with Valve multiple times for various promotional bundles that offered Alyx for free with the purchase of a HTC Vive headset – the most recent of which only just ended.

Taking these promotions into account, a decent chunk of those 2 million Half-Life: Alyx owners could be from these offers, but it’s impossible to determine the breakdown of sales to promotional copies. Nonetheless, surpassing 2 million copies, regardless of method, is an impressive feat for Valve’s first fully-fledged VR game.

Half-Life: Alyx released in March, and remains one of the best releases of the year. If you’re one of the few people who hasn’t played the game and is still on the fence, be sure to check out our review.

Half-Life: Alyx is available on Steam for $59.99.

November 23, 2020

Cyber-Week bei HTC VIVE und Viveport

Wie HTC per Pressemitteilung mitteilt, finden bis zum 27. November 2020 die Cyber-Week bei HTC VIVE und Viveport statt. Es erwarten euch Rabatte auf Hardware und Software.

Cyber-Week bei HTC VIVE und Viveport

Wenn ihr innerhalb des Zeitraumes eine VIVE Cosmos Elite, VIVE Cosmos und VIVE Cosmos Elite HMD auf Vive.com kauft, erhaltet ihr direkt 100 Euro Rabatt und das Spiel Half-Life: Alyx kostenlos dazu. Die Bundles aus VIVE Cosmos und AORUS 15G bzw. VIVE Cosmos Elite und AORUS 15G sind zudem für reduzierte Preise erhältlich.

Außerdem bietet Viveport Infinity bis zum 30. November 2020 einen Rabatt von 15% auf die monatliche Mitgliedschaft an. Dieses Angebot gilt für alle Nutzer von Viveport Infinity, auch wenn ihr keine Brille von HTC verwendet. Mit Viveport Infinity erhaltet ihr auch auf den Horror-Hit des Jahres Phasmophobia von Kinetic Games.

(Quelle: HTC)

Der Beitrag Cyber-Week bei HTC VIVE und Viveport zuerst gesehen auf VR∙Nerds. VR·Nerds am Werk!

November 16, 2020

Half-Life: Alyx jetzt mit Kommentaren der Entwickler spielbar

Falls ihr etwas mehr über die Entstehung von Half-Life: Alyx erfahren wollt, dann wird es jetzt Zeit, das Spiel erneut aus der virtuellen Bibliothek zu ziehen, denn ihr könnt Half-Life: Alyx jetzt mit Kommentaren der Entwickler und Entwicklerinnen spielen.

Half-Life: Alyx jetzt mit Kommentaren der Entwickler spielbar

Ab heute könnt ihr in Half-Life: Alyx Kommentare der Entwickler und Entwicklerinnen an 147 verschiedene Punkten im Spiel anhören. Insgesamt stehen damit knapp 3 Stunden an Material bereit. Die Kommentare gehen auf jeden Aspekt der Entwicklung ein, einschließlich Design, Kunst, Animation, Rendering, Ton und mehr. Um die Kommentare anzuhören, setzt ihr einfach an den entsprechenden Punkten die schwebenden Kopfhörer auf. Kommentar-Untertitel sind auch in Englisch, Französisch, Deutsch, Japanisch, Koreanisch, Spanisch (Spanien), Spanisch (Lateinamerika), Russisch, Polnisch, Traditionellem Chinesisch und Vereinfachtem Chinesisch anzeigbar.

Wenn ihr jedoch Half-Life: Alyx zum ersten Mal spielt, dann solltet ihr auf die Kommentare verzichten. Valve warnt davor, sie beim ersten Durchlauf zu aktivieren, da sie die kommende Story teilweise spoilern.

Half-Life: Alyx ist seit 23. März 2020 auf Steam erhältlich und kostet dort 49,99 Euro.

(Quelle: Road to VR)

Der Beitrag Half-Life: Alyx jetzt mit Kommentaren der Entwickler spielbar zuerst gesehen auf VR∙Nerds. VR·Nerds am Werk!

November 12, 2020

Half-Life: Alyx Gets 3+ Hours Of Developer Commentary

Valve today announced a new Half-Life: Alyx Developer Commentary feature, adding over three hours of behind-the-scenes recordings to the VR blockbuster.

Alyx, which released earlier this year, is Valve’s first full Half-Life game in 13 years. It’s also the company’s first full VR game after experiments with The Lab. Not only that, but the later cycles of the game’s development took place under the stress of the COVID-19 pandemic that was taking hold just as the game released in March. You’d imagine, then, that there’s plenty of interesting stories to tell about the game’s development.

Half-Life: Alyx Developer Commentary Released

Following today’s update, then, you can start a new game of Alyx with the commentary enabled to find 147 ‘points of interest’ scattered across the game. These appear as headsets you put on, a little like turning the game into a virtual museum (a very nice touch). Valve does warn that, like the last few months of the game, the commentary was made in lockdown so not every point is delivered with the highest quality audio.

One obvious but important note to make: the Half-Life: Alyx developer commentary will contain spoilers, so don’t enable it on your first play-through of the game.

We’ve already got a little look inside the making of the game in The Final Hours Of Half-Life: Alyx, an interactive app that launched earlier this year. In that piece, the company revealed it was working on a top-secret project, though it’s not known if this is a full Half-Life 3 and if it will be in VR, either.

Will you be checking out the Half-Life: Alyx developer commentary? Let us know in the comments below!

November 12, 2020

‘Half-Life: Alyx’ Now Includes 3 Hours of In-game Developer Commentary

Curious about what made Half-Life: Alyx (2020) one of the most richly detailed and immersive VR games to date? Now Valve has released a developer commentary mode in the game that gives you a first-hand peek at every aspect of its development as you play.

Starting today, you’ll be able to switch on a ‘Developer Commentary’ option in Half-Life: Alyx, which includes 147 different ‘points of interest’ containing over three hours of commentary. Audio commentary delves into “every aspect of development, including design, art, animation, rendering, sound and more,” Valve says.

Like watching a movie for the first time, you don’t want your first time to be with audio commentary however; Valve says it contains “significant spoilers,” so it’s best to play all the way through first.

Although audio isn’t studio-quality due to work-at-home norms adopted by the team since the COVID-19 pandemic broke, the studio has been quietly recording commentary voice overs “in closets and blanket forts around greater Seattle,” the studio says.

And like all things Valve, the studio found a pretty innovative way to integrate audio commentary throughout those 147 points in the game: a floating headset will appear when you near a commentary spot that you can grab, put on and listen to. A commentary status panel will be displayed above your off hand, showing the playback progress and the name of the speaker.

Thankfully, commentary subtitles are also available in English, French, German, Japanese, Korean, Spanish (Spain), Spanish (Latin America), Russian, Polish, Traditional Chinese, and Simplified Chinese.

Once you’re done with a specific point, or want to take a break during any commentary track, simply remove the headset and drop it so it returns back to its original location.

This is by far one of the most interesting (and patently Valve) ways of integrating postmortem commentary we’ve seen to date. Earlier this year we published an interview with one of Alyx’s developers and also got a deluge of behind-the-scenes details—including what happened to other VR games that Valve was working on—but nothing like this before.

If you haven’t played Half-Life: Alyx, make sure to check out our no-spoilers review to see why we gave it a perfect [10/10].

The post ‘Half-Life: Alyx’ Now Includes 3 Hours of In-game Developer Commentary appeared first on Road to VR.

October 19, 2020

Watch: Incredible Half-Life: Alyx Mod Brings Bioshock’s Rapture To VR

The latest jaw-dropping Half-Life: Alyx mod brings the iconic world of BioShock’s Rapture to VR for the first time.

The mod from developer wim.buytaert.1988 acts as a fusion of both series, playing with the idea of Alyx herself crash-landing in the derelict underwater world of Rapture. Ken Levine and Irrational Games’ unforgettable lost utopia is recreated through a mix of repurposed Alyx assets and some all-new assets based upon locations in BioShock itself. Check it our in the gameplay below – it’s basically playable fan-fiction.

Half-Life: Alyx Bioshock Mod Gameplay

It’s a pretty amazing bit of work, even if it understandably doesn’t translate the world of Rapture into VR fully. You’ll be missing the underground views of the city itself, for example, but the core elements of much of the game’s unforgettable opening have been retained. Trekking through the ruins in VR is a pretty amazing experience. Mostly, though, you start to realize how much the ruined worlds of Rapture and City 17 have in common, not just with convenient asset matches, but also their enigmatic leaders and more.

The beginnings of the mod offer around 25 minutes of gameplay, though wim.buytaert.1988 says they’re unsure if there will be other chapters unless they get support on Patreon. Either way, this is the closest we’ll be getting to BioShock VR for now.

This is just the latest in a series of pretty incredible mods we’ve seen for Alyx. Back in August we played the original Half-Life inside the latest entry of the series and another modder is making environments from Half-Life 2 inside of Alyx, too. They might not be official, but they’ll tide us over until we know if Valve will developer another Half-Life VR game.

October 19, 2020

Watch: Incredible Half-Life: Alyx Mod Brings Bioshock’s Rapture To VR

The latest jaw-dropping Half-Life: Alyx mod brings the iconic world of BioShock’s Rapture to VR for the first time.

Half-Life: Alyx Bioshock Mod Gameplay

September 21, 2020

Project 17 Alyx Mod Will Remake Half-Life 2’s First Chapter For VR

The opening chapter of Half-Life 2, ‘Point Insertion’, is one of the most memorable gaming experiences of all-time. And soon, with Project 17, you should be able to play it in VR.

Project 17 was announced last week — it’s a new Half-Life: Alyx mod, currently in development, that aims to remake the entire opening chapter of Half-Life 2 as a playable VR experience. The announcement came with a trailer, embedded below, that looks absolutely stunning.

Back when Alyx came out in March, some modders managed to port over the environment from the first chapter of Half-Life 2 into Alyx. While you could walk around and explore, it was just an environment — the story didn’t play it and it was just an empty playground. It also used the original assets from Half-Life 2, so it looked quite dated.

Comparatively, Project 17 is a much more in-depth and stunning recreation. The team is using the upgraded assets from Half-Life: Alyx, where possible, to recreate the scenes and environments from Half-Life 2. For missing assets, they’re creating new ones themselves and sharing them with the public in collaboration with the Half-Life 2: Remade Assets team.

half-life 2 project 17 vr 2

As you can see from the trailer and these screenshots, the recreation looks absolutely fantastic so far. Plus, it’s not just an environment you can walk around though — Project 17 should let you actually play through the entire opening chapter in full, rebuilt for VR.

The team does make it clear that they aren’t rebuilding a VR version of the entire game, stating that currently “the community does not have access…that would be required to create a truly faithful recreation of Half-Life 2 that is enjoyable for the player.”

half-life 2 project 17 vr

There’s no release date for Project 17, but the team says it will release “when it’s ready™”.

You can follow the project over on its website or on Twitter.