Half-Life: Alyx precipitates 1 million VR HMD boost in 1 month

[HEXUS]

In other games industry news: Classic Star Wars Battlefront got an online multiplayer update.

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[spacein_vader]

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That's an awful lot of e-waste in 2 years time.

[philehidiot]

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That's an awful lot of e-waste in 2 years time.

I was around for when VR was a passing fad in the 1990s. I tried Doom on a VR display. It was kinda fun but just not something you're going to get into unless you're a hardcore gamer with lots of money and time / space to use it. Setting the whole thing up, moving furniture and so on means it'll probably end up as being "too much like hard work" to set up when you can just sit at a PC or TV and press "go".

I suspect this one big game will be completed, not give the kind of kick start for the tech they wanted to make further big titles profitable and it'll die a death.

I really can see VR kicking off in the same way laser quest / arcades work. But there has to be the games built for it.

[Nifl]

I think VR will take another leap when Sony releases the next generation of PSVR. Valve's Index is just too expensive to affect mainstream.

[spacein_vader]

VR is a dead end. AR (projecting things into the real world behind,) may do better. IMO of course.

[meuvoy]

I was around for when VR was a passing fad in the 1990s. I tried Doom on a VR display. It was kinda fun but just not something you're going to get into unless you're a hardcore gamer with lots of money and time / space to use it. Setting the whole thing up, moving furniture and so on means it'll probably end up as being "too much like hard work" to set up when you can just sit at a PC or TV and press "go".

I suspect this one big game will be completed, not give the kind of kick start for the tech they wanted to make further big titles profitable and it'll die a death.

I really can see VR kicking off in the same way laser quest / arcades work. But there has to be the games built for it.

It's not, you don't need space to play VR, you don't need to move to play VR, you don't even need VR controllers to play VR, you can enjoy VR with a good old console controller in the comfort of your couch. Just move the character using the controller. What's really stones in VR's way are: price, cost of the HMD, cost of the VR capable hardware, and undesirable effects that some users experience for various reasons and those will probably stay out of VR no matter what.

The reason VR won't die is VR Chat, people are just lazy and shy and like things like that for some reason. Just look at all the online social games out there all of them with so much users.

[EvilCycle]

I love VR, Project Cars and Euro Truck Simulator are great if I just want to sit in my chair and use a game controller, so much so that all driving games seem pointless without VR to me now, once you get the benefit of being able to judge distances and look around properly you can't go back. A bit of Superhot, Creed or Half Life if I fancy something more immersive or active. I for one am very happy that more people are investing, because that is how we get more content and further innovations and price reductions. VR isn't just more immersive, it is more free, being able to juggle items, wave at stuff, throw things, look around corners... the list is endless, freeing yourself away from a game controller whilst putting yourself inside the virtual space is so liberating and makes gaming so much more dynamic than a screen and controller can ever achieve.

[CAT-THE-FIFTH]

I will probably not own anything VR for a very longtime,so its a total non-event for me. I am sure its very nice,but then I can only imagine it as I don't know a single person who owns a VR headset. Firstly one Valve Index with controllers costs more than all the money I spend in the last decade on PC monitors,and secondly also the need for a fast CPU and high end GPU to get consistent FPS,is another added cost. Then the fact this is a repeating cost every few years. I will stick to my primitive 2D games,and walk outside to get 3D immersion.

VR is a dead end. AR (projecting things into the real world behind,) may do better. IMO of course.

It also works well with phones. AR games are fun.

[DanceswithUnix]

Stock is low atm, but a Rift S can be had for £350 which compared to the cost of a lot of CPUs or graphics cards people buy isn't that big a deal. I'm playing with a Ryzen 3600 and an RX570 GPU, nothing special. Heck, my 1440p 27" monitor cost more than that.

Alyx is an amazing game. Honestly, it feels to me like one of those pivotal gaming moments like when the original DooM came out in the 90's or the original 3DFx VooDoo graphics cards turned up. I think I am old enough that I don't impress easily.

I'm quite shocked I haven't seen people discussing the game on here, other than for throwing shade at VR in general.

... and once you've played Alyx you can carry on with Beat Saber, or maybe some Elite Dangerous, or Dirt Rally. I got my Rift because I had a load of Amazon vouchers so it was cheap, but I am so glad I got it.


Edit: Oh, and both my PCs got surveyed by Steam last month. So that's 50% of me has a headset You can pick out trends from this stuff, but be careful with quantities.

[jim]

I have a VR headset, and it's a fantastic piece of technology.

I'm confident it will grow in popularity as the screen tech and batteries improve.

I haven't bought Alyx yet, because the price is too high for me (I'll happily pick it up for £15 or less), but it's a positive step. We'll need a few more "designed for VR" games to really prove the platform, because adapting games for use in VR seems to be pretty clunky on the whole.

[CAT-THE-FIFTH]

I literally know no one with a VR system. Talking to a friend,they know one friend who has a Vive,but they spend a lot on computers,gadgets,etc.I am sure its really nice. However,the Steam figures are over 98% who don't own one,and the people who do buy these kinds of things probably own more than one PC too!

I also think the sudden rush in more people getting VR headsets,is due to people being stuck at home doing nothing and it being a new Half Life game,but as time progresses with the unknown economic situation,it makes me wonder. How many will be able to keep up every few years buying a new headset?

Most gamers don't even own £300~£500 monitors,and most still game at 1080p. Go on forums,everyone is running more than 1080p monitors,or 144HZ refresh rate,etc. Most market research supports this,even Steam's own hardware survey. Also the survey is mostly answered by people who care.



88% of gamers who bothered to answer the survey have a 1080p or worse display. So even with sub £300 qHD and 4K monitors,people are just sticking to what they have. If you look at most CPUs on there,the vast majority are running at under 4GHZ,hinting that most system are not overclocked or use mobile CPUs. So I doubt many of them are 120HZ/144HZ displays either. People don't want to even spend more money on their most important PC display!

I spent nearly £300 on a monitor because I need a colour accurate monitor as I am into photography and that will have to last me 5~8 years. If I wasn't,I probably be one of the 1080p PC peasants myself!

Its the same with GPUs,many people are on sub £300 graphics cards,etc. Might know the odd person who spends more,but not many TBH. Exactly 100% of them who do are PC hobbyists,who then have friends with similar interests. Not seen anyone with a PSVR either.

Its the same with 3D gaming,SLI,XFire,etc. These seem much more common on forums,but again I only saw maybe one or two people running a dual card setup in 12 years.

I see far more people ditching desktops for laptops too. Lots of enthusiasts don't realise what a lot of mainstream gamers use,its an alien world to them.

Edit!!

This is the problem with VR - its an additional thing on top of a monitor which you use just to play the odd game here and there,with a shorter lifespan. Then you need to add the controllers.

Even my mate who tried his friend's VR headset said it was nice,but he couldn't justify spending that much money on an occasional use "toy" just for a few games.....!

[AnotherDave]

Longer term I firmly believe that AR is where we're heading. VR has a place and will continue to edge its way into the mainstream, largely thanks to Sony's efforts, but I don't see it ever moving too far beyond a gimmick unless there's a far bigger adoption by developers or the cost of entry comes down a lot.

Having said that, for games like No Man's Sky, Elite, ETS 2 / ATS and several racing games it's a game changer. Playing in VR on my main PC vs on the sofa on a TV a few metres away is night and day. It always feels like a stepping stone technology on the way to something better though.

[Luke7]

Hah, I saw Classic Battlefront updating and I was like hmmm... most unusual. Me and my flatmate used to play it loads at university (only a couple of years ago). Good times.

[Xoric]

i love my Rift, although limited space has meant i've not risked Half-Life: Alyx yet.
i have enough dents in my wall from RoboRecall

[DanceswithUnix]

i love my Rift, although limited space has meant i've not risked Half-Life: Alyx yet.
i have enough dents in my wall from RoboRecall

That is the actual problem with VR. You need a bit of space. House space costs real mortgage money, not hundreds like computer parts.

We have a "study" in this house, it is pretty small and that is where the headset lives. If I were single I would just set up the living room for VR, but with a family you can't really do that. Or at least I don't think I can.

As for AR, the most interesting games I have played immerse you in a different place. I can't swing a cat in my study, I certainly can't fit an Elite Anaconda in there or drive a Lancia Delta S4 around the room in Dirt. The room has to go, not be augmented.

I don't think laptops are a blocker for VR any more either. Quite the opposite, with SSD storage you can throw a laptop around quite a bit, so a VR rated laptop in a backpack could make for an interesting VR experience vs the cables I have for a shoebox uATX box.

[DanceswithUnix]

How many will be able to keep up every few years buying a new headset?

Why would they? I know a lot of people with a VR headset, but we are pretty much all on our first VR headset.