Half Life: Alyx

[Timinator]

Did people watch this back in 2003/2004? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LDAasL_-qas This was the tech demo for Half Life 2.  It blew everyone away massively back then, and looking at the upcoming VR game, has me thinking back to this, and the jump it made at the time. 

I can understand people would want something that can just run with the kit they already have, but sometimes you can't limit yourself, you have to push yourself and the industry forward.  Half life 2 could have just been new textures and maps for Half Life 1 but it wasn't and we were better for it, even if back then we had to wait 6 years.

things like looking around a shelf for ammo, manually loading your gun, then aiming it.  THere is no way in hell you could do that with mouse/keyboard or a controller.

[Darkness]

things like looking around a shelf for ammo, manually loading your gun, then aiming it.  THere is no way in hell you could do that with mouse/keyboard or a controller.

There are VR games which already do this and I can relate the comedy of my gun management failures.

1. See bad guy.
2. Need to reload.
3. Insert new mag.
4. Eject new mag.
5. Drop all mags.
6. Randomly remove other gun parts such as scope and PEQ.
7. Scramble round floor trying to pick up a mag.
8. Drop gun.
9. Get shot.
10. Die.

[Sssith]

Too much equipment.  Too expensive.  Very interesting demo and it makes me want to play it.  Then I am reminded that I don't have the necessary equipment.  My computer might be able to run the game, not sure about that, but not having the equipment for VR is a huge problem. 

The situation reminds me of when 3D went 'mainstream'.  The threshold for that equipment is lower than VR and yet that did not succeed.

[Timinator]

You mean 3D glasses for the movies etc? I’d say that was mostly a fad. Almost no tv picked up on it etc

I don’t think vr is going away. You are happy to have Both a pc and console. To me I wouldn’t want to spend hundreds on a console, that’s the type of cash that gets you vr hardware

[Pixie]

I occasionally think VR seems cool and maybe I should consider investing in it. But then I remember I have a tiny living space and tiny gaming room and I start to reconsider.

And then I see disembodied hands in a screenshot and it makes me nope right out of it entirely.

[Darkness]

My VR set up is quite a confined space but, I only use VR for playing Elite Dangerous or other sims, so I'm sat down and not moving much.  I simply won't waste my time playing certain games outside of VR now, as the experience is superior to a monitor in every way for me.

At some point I'd like to get VR set up downstairs, maybe over the Christmas break, just to play games that require more space.  That'd be a temporary measure though.

VR is definitely here to stay . Current tech is becoming cheaper and more advanced peripherals are entering the market to replace the current gen. VR headset ownership has doubled in the past two years and the tech is now well established, as is the games market to cater for it. Ofc VR is not going to replace traditional 2D gaming but, it is not just a gimmick like 3D and developers are keen to make use of it.

[Timinator]

Darkness thanks for that. As a vr user it’s great to hear a real story.

Pixie: I’ve seen threads about arms/no arms. Seems people have strong opinions. But when I tried some vr earlier this year. I didn’t notice or mind no arms. I was focussed on what I was doing (failing) rock climbing