Half Life Alyx should have been VR's big moment.

https://www.forbes.com/sites/paultassi/2020/04/11/half-life-alyx-should-have-been-vrs-big-moment--it-isnt/#6ee427a86ca3

Good article on how VR is destined to remain niche for many more years.

"Often I’ve wondered what it would take for there to finally be a “turning point” for VR, something that takes it from niche to mainstream. Would it be an ultra-cheap headset? A wireless one? Those have come and gone. But how about a flagship game? One that everyone can point to and go “this, this is why you should play VR.”

By all accounts, that should be Half-Life: Alyx. And yet it’s hard not to think that instead of Alyx bringing much-needed attention to the VR platform, instead it’s the VR platform that has made the vast majority of the gaming public ignore Alyx entirely, despite sky-high review scores. Most people simply cannot play it due to its availability on VR only, and while it may be good, it just is not good enough where it’s going to convince players to buy a VR set/rig specifically for it (though even if they wanted to, Valve’s Index hasn’t exactly been readily available either).

Half-Life: Alyx did set concurrent player records for a VR Game on Steam. Steamcharts puts it at 16,000 or so while SteamDB had it at a higher 42,000 concurrents near launch. But that’s likely as high as it will ever get, as Steamcharts is now showing under 5,000 players as of yesterday, and that doesn’t even land it in the top 100 games played on Steam, Valve’s own platform.

1) Everyone is literally locked indoors with nothing to do but escape reality with video games.

2) Valve put a huge amount of work into making an incredible VR entry of one of the most beloved gaming franchises of all time.

3) Headsets are cheap and as easy to use as they’ve ever been and have been for a while (though you do need more power for Alyx, specifically).

And yet…crickets. All anyone’s talking about is Animal Crossing or FF7. Half-Life: Alyx was the topic of conversation for exactly one day before everyone moved on and 95% of those who might be potentially interested in it couldn’t play it because it was on VR.

I don’t know what it’s going to take for VR to catch on. It seems more and more likely now that there will never be “a moment,” and if VR does continue to grow, it will have to be slow. Brutally slow, perhaps, but at this rate, I would not be surprised to see it remain a niche for another decade or two at the very least. The interest, past a very specific group of players, simply is not there."

Nice take in this article.

Seriously VR is going to remain niche for a long time. Not even Gaben pulling Half Life out of the bag can make VR no longer niche.

Especially agree with the point about how Half Life being announced as a VR only game actually just got many gamers to write the game off rather than convince them to go buy VR hardware.

That's what it did to me lol

If Half Life cant make VR mainstream i wonder what other highly respcted franchise can?

Or maybe developers should focus on creating new VR experiences from scratch rather than rely on pre existing franchises that existed before VR.

About 5,000 concurrent players on steam charts for a brand new Half Life game is crazy

If they had made HL3 KB/M game instead would probably have 500,000 or more.

They should put resources into HL3 instead of these VR spin offs.

Thoughts?

I think it's simple. Average Joe isn't going to spend hundreds of dollars on a VR system just to play Half-Life Alyx. PS VR will have a better chance of attracting gamers.

does this include digital sales?

--------->/thread

VR is fad that will be over quick by next year. HL alyx popularity died soon.

haven't most of the major headsets been difficult to find lately?

...which also costs hundreds of dollars

@KBFloYd: yes its the steam charts, its valves game 😆

What is VR?

@briguyb13: I dunno, something that has watered down Half Life's reputation so gaben can sell robot cop headsets?

Yes, not only because of supply chain issues due to the Coronavirus, but also because this game depleted all stock everywhere.

I had to get a headset from Offerup just to play this.

Majority of PC gamers can't even afford an RTX, yet alone VR. The peasantry is strong within the PC community. Might as well just buy a console

The future

@pinkribbonscars: Pinky, its not thier fault if they cant afford. Buy VR for them if you think they needed.

yea the virtual future

in the real one its a joke

Let´s hope so

But to be fair I think AR may be the actual future, once MS´s attempt gets out to the public.

Sadly even less console gamers can afford an 1X or PRO. Less of those than high end PCs. But yeah get a better job and buy a gaming PC.

It increased VR sales and had over 300k preorders,

Half-Life Alyx didn't convince me to buy a VR. I'm happy with Doom Eternal as it is.

@warmblur: The future bwahahahaha, thanks for the laugh.

I'm legitimately confused, dude.

And a little creeped out.

Pretty sure it's alluding to KB's thread which just fucking bombed.

VR is legit. The cost of the adequate PC, HMD, peripherals and space requirements are quite demanding though as we all know. I selfishly want VR to take off and take the lead in game production. But I understand why most people in this hobby will never experience VR. I just hate when people aren’t being genuine with the reason why they “dislike” VR. It’s like when people convince themselves that 60+FPS or higher resolutions are gimmicks and unnecessary.

Good comment. You obviously know what you're talking about, and it shows. Yeah, the VR cost is pretty high for most. And yeah, a lot of people aren't willing to pay up right now. And, yeah, people "dislike" VR (read: fake dislike) for many reasons that they just make up on the fly, with no basis in reality.

At the end of the day, though, VR fans know what's up, and are having a blast. Personally I can't get enough, which is why as soon as this whole lockdown business is over, and I'm comfortable with spending funds again, I'm getting a high-end PC + PCVR. Need a new PC for other reasons anyway, so it's a win-win. Out of curiosity, you sound like you game with VR--what headset do you use?

your confused? ill explain it so you can understand

PSVR/VR^

you^

yea lol my post was exactly what she/he/it wrote in my thread.

@KBFloYd said:

@subspecies said:

@KBFloYd said:

does this include digital sales?

--------->/thread

I'm legitimately confused, dude.

And a little creeped out.

your confused? ill explain it so you can understand

PSVR^

you^

Um, okay.

You copied my words from an entirely different thread, letter for letter (almost), and posted them in this thread, for some reason.

Which is weird, dude.

Very weird.

@subspecies: I have the launch HTC Vive. I may upgrade to a new Vive HMD in the near future. You?

Lol, yeah, dude's thread indeed got trashed.

But my point was he took my comment from that thread.....and posted it here, as though they were his owns words. Freakin' weirdo.

@subspecies said:

@KBFloYd said:

@subspecies said:

@KBFloYd said:

does this include digital sales?

--------->/thread

I'm legitimately confused, dude.

And a little creeped out.

your confused? ill explain it so you can understand

PSVR^

you^

Um, okay.

You copied my words from an entirely different thread, letter for letter, and posted them in this thread, for some reason.

Which is weird, dude.

Very weird.

you reduc right? which means your a girl. which means its not creepy.

you acting like youre a man is more creepy.

@KBFloYd said:

@subspecies said:

@KBFloYd said:

@subspecies said:

@KBFloYd said:

does this include digital sales?

--------->/thread

I'm legitimately confused, dude.

And a little creeped out.

your confused? ill explain it so you can understand

PSVR^

you^

Um, okay.

You copied my words from an entirely different thread, letter for letter, and posted them in this thread, for some reason.

Which is weird, dude.

Very weird.

you reduc right? which means your a girl. which means its not creepy.

you acting like youre a man is more creepy.

Dude, that's stalker shit.

And f_ck yeah I'm a creepy girl. Get used to it.

Gotcha... So you were annihilated in two threads. Damn... That must hurt.

Have PSVR. Also have an Oculus Go (which is just about worthless except for Netflix). Had a Quest, but sold it. Also had a Rift, lol. Too many.

My plan (for now) is to get a Rift S once I secure my PC situation. Unless, that is, a legitimately better PC headset comes along before that time. I've decided against shelling out for an Index.

Lol, yep.

hold on let make sure that it hurts.....

oh yea... im devastated thanks for letting me know.

Absolutely no worries. You posted double-digit IQ shit in your own thread, as well as this one. It's a talent, i'll tell ya lol.

@subspecies said:

@KBFloYd said:

@subspecies said:

@KBFloYd said:

@subspecies said:

I'm legitimately confused, dude.

And a little creeped out.

your confused? ill explain it so you can understand

PSVR^

you^

Um, okay.

You copied my words from an entirely different thread, letter for letter, and posted them in this thread, for some reason.

Which is weird, dude.

Very weird.

you reduc right? which means your a girl. which means its not creepy.

you acting like youre a man is more creepy.

Dude, that's stalker shit.

And f_ck yeah I'm a creepy girl. Get used to it.

guess ill have to get used to it twice. since this your second account after your first meltdown

hahaha

@KBFloYd said:

@subspecies said:

@KBFloYd said:

@subspecies said:

@KBFloYd said:

your confused? ill explain it so you can understand

PSVR^

you^

Um, okay.

You copied my words from an entirely different thread, letter for letter, and posted them in this thread, for some reason.

Which is weird, dude.

Very weird.

you reduc right? which means your a girl. which means its not creepy.

you acting like youre a man is more creepy.

Dude, that's stalker shit.

And f_ck yeah I'm a creepy girl. Get used to it.

guess ill have to get used to it twice. since this your second account after your first meltdown

hahaha

Well, I did in fact have a real-life breakdown. Not fun. But I'm better now.

Still creepy, though.

BTW I always liked you despite our differences, dude. :)

hey,

yea i hope you can find sarcasm in my jokes. im just trying to be funny.

@subspecies: I had a PSVR but sold it after I couldn’t solve or settle for the tracking/drifting issues. And it’s a shame because I adored RIGS. (I think I’m the only person on the planet that loved that game). Once EVE Valkyrie went multiplat, I was gone. With the PSVR I would start facing the TV, but 15 minutes later would be facing 45-60 degrees in either direction, losing tracking with the camera.

No worries dude. Like I said, my mind's healed these days. Took a minute, but I'm good.

Likewise, I hope you don't get hurt by sh_t I say on here. I know I can be a little b_tchy at times, lol.

Meanwhile in the real world I have been in line to buy an index since Christmas! Such a failure...

Dude the shortages are REAL. Crazy. You can't even get a Rift S these days. Been like that for a while, but with the global situation it's so much worse now.

Lol, yeah. PSVR can be a bit finicky, to say the least. I've found the perfect setup in my living room, but it did take some tweaking (no reflective surfaces, perfect angle, etc. etc.). Never got into RIGS, but it was definitely an interesting game, while it lasted. Same with EVE. No Man's Sky is my jam, along with Skyrim. I don't know what to tell you about the drifting issue, other than experimentation eventually solves it. I literally have no drift anymore. There are several things I do to prevent it, though. One is to ALWAYS reboot before every session. Wearing dark clothing with all of the lights off helps a ton, too.

Vr will happen, I just don't think it's now or even this generation. I'm a massive Half-Life fan, but I don't think Alyx is the game that will push the hardware for mainstream appeal.

I think perhaps when we see a system that fully adopts VR and makes it seamless then it'll achieve its goal. Nintendo, you listening?

VR is happening, it's just for the select community that appreciates it/has the money to afford it. More and more devs are getting involved, but it takes time. The point is the medium is growing, and will continue to grow, inevitably getting better and better at a gradual pace. The myth that there are no good/great VR games is just that--a myth. There are tons of awesome games, and the hardware is steadily improving.

@jeezers:

vr has already happened, you just haven't experienced how it works properly, subspecies knows how it works and is even willing to put up with the psvr for it, which isn't all too bad and it's accessible.

but it is not easy to make it work all properly, i went through different stages in my vr adventure, I started with the oculus dk2, which also has one camera and that means tracking issues and actually a lot worse than the psvr since it had virtually no support, and no controllers, I got my hands on a razer hydra, which made a couple of games a bit more accessible, but once they put that rift cv1 on sale I bit the bullet.

the advantage was that i had experience with teh setup already, and this is pretty much how i set it up

now once you get this going, you are in a virtual world with perfect freedom of movement. and it's the easiest setup, you only need one place where to hook up your pull key chain , some extension cables and you're good to go.

The fact that halflife alyx passed by so many people is quite simple, vr is expensive, if you have to start from scratch, you need a 1440p pc as a bare minimum, a headset, and also a bit of room like 7 by 7 feet.

You're looking at a lot of money from the start, the psvr is really very good in this regard, but it has a lot of problems, subspecies can look through it because it's great tech, but it isn't a flawless experience like on pc.

and then you also have the anti teleporters, which try to push everyone in space sickness training, and that is not needed either, if you got the average joe that tries vr without teleport, and he is susceptible to motion sickness, he's not coming back.

I'm being genuine, i do not like VR more than KB/M or controller.

I'll play fighter z against a friend on the couch.

I'll play outer worlds on PC on a desk.

I'll play donkey kong on the switch in the bed.

I'll play borderlands co-op online on the couch

But i genuinely have no interest in strapping on a motion tracking headset in an open room, make sure the lighting is good, and having to use arm/hand movement to load my guns in a game. Having to move my head around to look in the game.

That's my issue with VR, it is not my preferred way to play games, its just a hassle for something i don't care about anyway. I've played games since i was really young with just button inputs without motion and headsets, just need buttons and a screen have been just fine my entire life, Its how i like to play games.

lets say your favorite game is NBA 2K, You play against your friends, your really good at the game. New NBA 2k ends up being VR, now you play with a headset and use your arms to shoot and pass, and you like "wtf is this?! i dont want to play this, i just want to play a normal ******* game of 2K"

It genuinely ruins the game for some people, not everyone wants that. I don't want that.

I feel like this is the genuine reason alot people don't care about VR. Not everyone wants "immersion from head motion tracking in games". The fact that it costs money is just the cherry on top, not only is it not my preferred way to play, it costs about as much as a ps4, xbox, and switch combined to play. I wouldn't buy Alyx if it came with an index for $60, maybe once it was 50% at $30 id consider it. Honestly if someone gave me one for free id just sell it lol.

My PC would run Alyx like butter, but i don't like playing VR games. I like playing games the traditional way.

I really wonder what games you have tried in vr, which headset, and what kind of playspace, and one does not cancel out the other. I like pancake gaming as well, i spend more time on tv gaming than on a headset but the time in vr is just a much richer experience overall.

just a shame that the psvr is so handicapped when it comes to 360 degree play, and those dreadfull controllers. the system is not strong enough to handle vr as well

@commander said:

@jeezers:

@subspecies said:

@goldenelementxl said:

@subspecies: I had a PSVR but sold it after I couldn’t solve or settle for the tracking/drifting issues. And it’s a shame because I adored RIGS. (I think I’m the only person on the planet that loved that game). Once EVE Valkyrie went multiplat, I was gone. With the PSVR I would start facing the TV, but 15 minutes later would be facing 45-60 degrees in either direction, losing tracking with the camera.

Lol, yeah. PSVR can be a bit finicky, to say the least. I've found the perfect setup in my living room, but it did take some tweaking (no reflective surfaces, perfect angle, etc. etc.). Never got into RIGS, but it was definitely an interesting game, while it lasted. Same with EVE. No Man's Sky is my jam, along with Skyrim. I don't know what to tell you about the drifting issue, other than experimentation eventually solves it. I literally have no drift anymore. There are several things I do to prevent it, though. One is to ALWAYS reboot before every session. Wearing dark clothing with all of the lights off helps a ton, too.

@virusvaccine21 said:

Vr will happen, I just don't think it's now or even this generation. I'm a massive Half-Life fan, but I don't think Alyx is the game that will push the hardware for mainstream appeal.

I think perhaps when we see a system that fully adopts VR and makes it seamless then it'll achieve its goal. Nintendo, you listening?

vr has already happened, you just haven't experienced how it works properly, subspecies knows how it works and is even willing to put up with the psvr for it, which isn't all too bad and it's accessible.

but it is not easy to make it work all properly, i went through different stages in my vr adventure, I started with the oculus dk2, which also has one camera and that means tracking issues and actually a lot worse than the psvr since it had virtually no support, and no controllers, I got my hands on a razer hydra, which made a couple of games a bit more accessible, but once they put that rift cv1 on sale I bit the bullet.

the advantage was that i had experience with teh setup already, and this is pretty much how i set it up

now once you get this going, you are in a virtual world with perfect freedom of movement. and it's the easiest setup, you only need one place where to hook up your pull key chain , some extension cables and you're good to go.

The fact that halflife alyx passed by so many people is quite simple, vr is expensive, if you have to start from scratch, you need a 4k pc, a headset, and also a bit of room like 7 by 7 feet.

You're looking at a lot of money directly, the psvr is really very good in this regard, but it has a lot of problems, subspecies can look through it because it's great tech, but it isn't a flawless experience like on pc.

and then you also have the anti teleporters, which try to push everyone in space sickness training, and that is not needed either, if you got the average joe that tries vr without teleport, and he is susceptible to motion sickness, he's not coming back.

My god i thought you were trolling me at first, but no you guys are being serious???? You have a pull key chain connected to your ceiling to keep wires out of your way?

If i could ever make a case against VR i could rip it straight from these VR players. Whats wrong with just KB/M lol screw all that.

Reasons not to play VR

PSVR can be a bit finicky, to say the least. I've found the perfect setup in my living room, but it did take some tweaking (no reflective surfaces, perfect angle, etc. etc.)

I don't know what to tell you about the drifting issue, other than experimentation eventually solves it. I literally have no drift anymore. There are several things I do to prevent it, though. One is to ALWAYS reboot before every session. Wearing dark clothing with all of the lights off helps a ton, too.

but it is not easy to make it work all properly, i went through different stages in my vr adventure, I started with the oculus dk2, which also has one camera and that means tracking issues and actually a lot worse than the psvr since it had virtually no support, and no controllers, I got my hands on a razer hydra, which made a couple of games a bit more accessible, but once they put that rift cv1 on sale I bit the bullet.

now once you get this going, you are in a virtual world with perfect freedom of movement. and it's the easiest setup, you only need one place where to hook up your pull key chain , some extension cables and you're good to go.

The fact that halflife alyx passed by so many people is quite simple, vr is expensive, if you have to start from scratch, you need a 4k pc, a headset, and also a bit of room like 7 by 7 feet.

You're looking at a lot of money directly, the psvr is really very good in this regard, but it has a lot of problems, subspecies can look through it because it's great tech, but it isn't a flawless experience like on pc.

and then you also have the anti teleporters, which try to push everyone in space sickness training, and that is not needed either, if you got the average joe that tries vr without teleport, and he is susceptible to motion sickness, he's not coming back.