Emergency Half-Life Podcast - Call for Questions & Reactions!

Half-Life games seem to bring new and interesting game play mechanics. What could be the "gravity gun" of this game? Is it just a polished implementation of VR or is VR enabling something we haven't thought of yet?

Brian Doyle

Without some knowledge of the setting and characters I imagine you'd lose a lot of the story component of the game. I'm sure it will be great even as a tech demo but the Half-Life story has been quite good thus far. A quick read through the Wikipedia pages will probably be sufficient but if you want to give Half-Life a try I'd probably start with Black Mesa. Those guys did an amazing job remaking Half-Life 1 so you don't need nostalgia to get past the old graphics, lol.

Brian Doyle

Are you expecting Barney and some of the other important side characters going to be included in the game? Also, are we going to get to see Wallace Breen and is he the administrator yet? Would be more interesting to get some back storey for the other cast and was great seeing them in hl2.

Prial

Not a question: now that this has been announced and the reception of Oculus Link's beta seems pretty positive from I've seen, I think it's time that I get a Oculus Quest. Hoping for a good Black Friday deal.

Raymond

As someone who owns an Index and will be getting this game for free, should I just jump right in or am I better off watching a playthrough of the old versions first? Maybe it depends on the person? I have no nostalgia for the series or PC FPS gaming at all from that era as I was a Nintendo gamer up until about 2013.

Jacob Godserv

Love it 😍

Should this have been HF3? HF 1 & 2 were huge inovators, and this looks like it is doing the same thing, especially since it's the first full fledged AAA VR exclusive. This could be a huge push for VR hardware. I feel like they're not going all in making it a prequel.

Bavo Debraekeleer

Honestly, when I hear VR game, I think 'gimmick'. That's not a reflection of how serious the VR industry is at the moment, but rather that I still think VR is in its infancy and there seems to be a bit of a 'space race' to be top VR dog. Because of this 'rush', the tech isn't readily available to everyone but one company is desperate to push their model out before the other so they release things like this. In Valve's case, they're capitalising on their own and one of gaming's biggest IPs AND the nostalgic heartstrings of Half-Life fans. Makes perfect business sense though I feel like it's a case of 'not like this' •insert Matrix meme*, especially when Half-Life is involved. THAT SAID... the game looks beautiful and has actually given me hope that they'll actually create a third normal/first-person/non-VR Half-Life game. I'm hopeful that this is a stop gap or stepping stone for something bigger. The engine has clearly had an overhaul so the tech is there, and it's a clear reminder that Half-Life hasn't been abandoned at all. How they handle what's to come next will be crucial. I'd be really disappointed if their next Half-Life title was a VR exclusive too. Full length campaign or not (I don't think HL:Alyx will be a traditional full-length campaign, despite what they say).

Dan Silverstone

Say whaaaaAAAAAAAT!? Oh man, how is this game gonna weigh up to the hype!

Bavo Debraekeleer

To do what Valve are doing would be financial fucking suicide for any other business. They make a follow up to one of the most beloved franchises of all time, and design it as a VR exclusive, effectively cutting out 99% of their userbase. I'm not saying that as a bad thing. I think it's fantastic! Valve are in a position where they can be the mad inventors and break new ground, and we all benefit. We need creators to be pushing new boundaries so that the medium keeps growing. Yeah, it's a bummer that people who can't afford VR won't be able to play. It's a bummer that those with accessability issues wont be able to play. But that is exactly WHY Valve pushing VR like this is a good thing. VR gaining popularity means the technology will get better & cheaper faster. I'm also SUPER looking forward to the modding scene. Thinking about Garry's Mod, Prop Hunt, and TTT in VR puts a big smile on my face.

They answered that in an interview with Geoff Keighley. No Half Life 3 because the devs are too afraid of it. The sheer amount of expectation surrounding the title would mean it could never been good enough. With a spin-off they can gauge interest and also ease people back in to what they can expect from a future title. And they chose VR because the team was initially working on VR. The project started as VR tech development and slowly morphed in to the Half Life world.

Here’s another note to my post: vr on pc unfortunately still is a niche, and the expensive price are unfortunately not helping! :-(

Dominique Neuen

My question : Is valve want really want to warrant 1k for a vr set for this game? I personnally think that it would he difficult, because a) its price (1k plus a beefed up pc) and b) if you look at the library of steam vr, there almost no exclusives or other killer apps. HL:A will support a range of vr goggles, which will questions their « deal » a bit. I personnally think that Valve might port the game to Xbox Scarlett or PS5 sometime in the future, if there will be VR support for these platforms in order to recoup their investment.

Dominique Neuen

You got it all wrong, Danny. It's a new Half-Life game, not a new Serious Sam.

Matti Hansson

At a budget level, you can get away with Windows Mixed Reality headsets which go for $200 to $300. Personally I'd recommend the Rift S for the most bang for your buck. The Index is best-on-market (largest FOV, best sound system, etc) but with a price tag.

Clavus

I have VR since years, the teleportation thing is just an option. you can walk in most games.

My question for you and Jim is, do you think that ultimately if Half Life: Alyx is successful, will this push Valve to make more single player content overall or do you think it will push them to make more VR content? My only fear is that Valve may be shutting out a good portion of their audience if they strictly focus on VR single player games going forward. Could a potential Half Life 3 or even In The Valley of Gods be VR exclusive? (This concern is coming from someone who bought an Odyssey+ to play Alyx btw haha).

Robert Pigott

Sorry doubling up because I have another tech question - what VR platform would you recommend this holiday season? I have a birthday coming up and I think HLA is the perfect excuse to step into the virtual world. PS is Valve’s new headset really worth 1k?

Tohir Tillyaev

From the interview Geoff did on the day of the trailer premier you could tell the team behind HLA are partially thinking of this project as a testing grounds for potential full sequel. Why do you think there is so much hesitation or fear of the expectations? I feel like there are plenty of other sequels out there that had similar or bigger set of expectations and they delivered. Look at what Rockstar is doing. How do you think we can help Valve regain confidence in their ability to create a worthy successor to Half-Life series?

Tohir Tillyaev

Given that valve has said that this game will be comparable in length to HL2, how long do you want the average play session to be? How important do you think pacing is going to be for a long form narrative VR game?

Robert Crandall

They could definitely set up something that takes place before hl2 that could recontextualize the end of episode 2, then cut to some G Man business that sets up HL3, a game for both vr and non.

Robert Crandall

Valve has been known to hide clues in other games or in obscure steam pages, do you think they'll do something like that for this? Or should we maybe go full on blade runner with this trailer? It's just so exciting to have more half life to look forward to!

Robert Crandall

Wouldn't it be neat if that although alyx is a prequel to HL2, it still ties into the story after Episode 2? Like the story of Half Life: Alyx is a sort of flashback, and the ending leads into where episode 2 left off.

Hi Danny and Jim! Half-Life and Half-Life 2 pushed video games forward in some very significant ways (player-focused narrative with no cutscenes, emphasis on physics, etc), so is it fair to expect Half-Life: Alyx to follow suit? Does its VR-only status limit or enhance its potential influence? It seems like there's still a lot of room for innovation within the VR space, so is it fair to expect Valve to capitalize on that with their new game or does that elevate expectations to an unrealistic level?

Anthony LaBella

Two questions: 1.) Doesn't VR effectively shut out anybody with accessibility issues (aging eyesight, those without full use of limbs,etc) . 2.) How do you think are they gonna deal with the forward momentum problem present in current VR games, aka the only way you move forward is by "teleporting" / point and clicking your way forward.

Nick Grugin

As someone who doesn't have any relationship to the Half - Life franchise, do you take this announcement to be mainly for the diehard OG fans or possibly to bring new people into the fold as well? Also, the two big obvious questions, why VR and why not Half - Life 3?

Amir Rangnekar

Valve has been carefully calculating it's marketing materials for HLA to suggest that if people don't like HLA that they won't return to the HL universe again. Valve has in house psychologists just for that sort of thing. Yikes.

TrainDoctor

I'd want to know if this means *anything* about getting an actual sequel some time down the road

Nicholas Sylvain

I need you guys to say one thing, Tyler McVindicated. Tyler McVicker aka Valve News Network has been accurately reporting on HLA (HLVR at the time) and I would love to see his hard work acknowledged. Secondly, HOLY SHIT NEW HALF-LIFE YOOO!!!

TrainDoctor