How Half-Life: Alyx Will Work On Various VR Headsets
Valve claims that Half-Life: Alyx will work with the majority of modern VR platforms, but it really seems to be a showcase for the Valve Index.
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Valve shocked the gaming world in November when it announced a return to the Half-Life universe in the form of a VR-exclusive spinoff title by the name of Half-Life: Alyx. As the developer’s first major single-player outing since 2011’s Portal 2 and the long-awaited revival of its seminal first-person shooter franchise, it’s safe to say that expectations for Alyx are through the roof. Yet, with the performance of most games varying wildly across the broad spectrum of commercially-available virtual reality machines, will Valve be able to develop an experience that caters to the lowest common denominator and offers up a definitive high-end VR title?
It sounds like an impossible task, but, of all the big-name publishers out there, Valve seems like the most likely to roll the dice on a gaming market that has yet to prove itself. 2019 saw the release of the Valve Index, after all, and what would a top-tier VR headset be without some first-party software on which to play it?
Obviously, Half-Life: Alyx is being developed with the Index in mind, and the announcement trailers and brief snippets of gameplay we’ve been treated so thus far seem to indicate that the game will take advantage of the set’s extremely high output resolution, built-in headphones, and the controllers’ grip sensor and finger-tracking capabilities. If what we’ve seen so far is true-to-life, then Alyx may well be a killer app for VR. The issue, however, lies with accessibility.
Valve’s Index headset costs $1,000. That’s almost certainly more than the average consumer is willing to spend on gaming annually across all mediums, and the number of players willing to invest that kind of money just to have access to the optimal Half-Life VR experience is doubtlessly going to be incredibly small. With that in mind, Valve will have to ensure that the minimum viable product — or MVP, as industry pundits always like to say — welcomes all.
Current estimates suggest that Sony’s PSVR is the highest-selling VR device on the market. That’s an estimate that doesn’t bode well for Valve, however, as Half-Life: Alyx, in all likelihood, won’t be coming to the platform. Beyond that, a majority of the game’s prospective install base owns either lower-end peripherals or aged equipment that may not be able to provide the fidelity necessary to play the game. Plus, it’s assumed that less than half of all current Steam users have hardware meeting the game’s recommended specifications, and that could well be yet another nail in the title’s coffin.
Additional speculation suggests that certain gameplay elements will only be possible with the Index controllers, and this all culminates in the idea that the upcoming Half-Life title will operate more as an incentive to buy Valve’s pricey new headset than an endorsement of virtual reality itself. Valve has claimed that Alyx will parlay with nearly all modern VR devices, and a hands-on demonstration performed by the Adam Savage’s Tested YouTube channel seems to advance the notion that owners of Oculus, HTC, or WMR sets need not be afraid. However, every non-Valve headset seemed to come with at least a few caveats, most involving the lack of precision inherent with certain controllers and inside-out tracking setups, and it seems like those who don’t have a small fortune invested in this sort of tech already may have a tough time with the game.
With the game still technically in development, it’s tough to say exactly what we’ll be getting from the upcoming Half-Life spinoff, but, if early speculation is correct, this could end up being more of a self-promoting affair on Valve’s part than a genuine bone thrown to die-hard fans of the two-decade-old series. If it’s a ploy to drum up interest in Valve’s new equipment, then it shouldn’t be long before major streamers and so-called “gaming influencers” are gifted a copy alongside a brand-new Index headset straight from Valve HQ. On the other hand, Valve has been relatively committed to the concept of virtual reality gaming since its modern incarnation started gaining traction sometime in late 2014, and there’s a chance that Alyx may be more about disproving naysayers than advertising to those already on the fence.
Link Source : https://www.thegamer.com/half-life-alyx-vr-headset-guide/