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Re:Half-Life: Alyx by whatshisface on Thursday November 21, 2019 @02:09PM (#21598134)
I think we're all waiting with bated breath to see if Valve can push VR into the mainstream with this or anything else they do. I'm not going to buy a kit just to play glorified mobile games, but if this is really the future of entertainment then I can see myself buying a headset.
Re:Half-Life: Alyx by kbenson on Thursday November 21, 2019 @02:21PM (#21598286)
> I'm not going to buy a kit just to play glorified mobile games

I assume you're referring to the Quest? Is that a statement based on your experience playing games on it, or what you assume they'll be like?

I view it less like mobile games, and more like games put our for the Gameboy. Specifically tailored to achieve good and consistent gameplay based on the target platform. This is partially because Oculus is being very demanding in what they'll accept for their store, to the point that there's actually not a huge catalog, but each item seems to work very well.

Along the lines of the Gameboy comparison, there's been a few stories now of developers taking a game people thought couldn't make it to the Quest and optimizing enough for the platform that it performs well. There's something to be said for consistent hardware.

Re:Half-Life: Alyx by habitue on Thursday November 21, 2019 @03:08PM (#21598929)
Valve is clearly pushing their own Index hardware with this game
Re:Half-Life: Alyx by filoleg on Thursday November 21, 2019 @07:41PM (#21601377)
Oculus Quest now supports PCVR as well since the November update. Just plug it using a compatible USB-C cable to your desktop, and it will act just like Oculus Rift.
Re:Half-Life: Alyx by puranjay on Thursday November 21, 2019 @03:11PM (#21598971)
I get motion sickness easily. So that counts me out of the VR experience. And I reckon that's going to be true for a lot of other people as well.

The price and inherent limitations (such as motion sickness) of VR are going to ensure that it doesn't hit mainstream, at least for the time being

Re:Half-Life: Alyx by JelteF on Thursday November 21, 2019 @03:57PM (#21599528)
Have you tried one of the newest generation headsets? Supposedly the higher frame rates counter motion sickness quite well. I haven't had anyone mention motion sickness when playing on my Valve Index (only when looking on a monitor how someone else plays, because the screen shakes so much then).

(The price of the Index definitely doesn't make it mainstream though. Just trying to get a sense of this issue)

Re:Half-Life: Alyx by Sohcahtoa82 on Thursday November 21, 2019 @07:18PM (#21601233)
Most people, even those prone to motion sickness, don't get sick in VR in current-gen hardware as long as it's a game where your view in the in-game world matches the view in the real world. This applies to many games. Beat Saber, PokerStars VR, and Zombie Training Simulator are examples of this.

On the other hand, any game where your movement in the game world doesn't match the real world is a quick path to sickness. Any racing or flying game makes me ill, and I've been playing VR for over 2 years.

Re:Half-Life: Alyx by Ajedi32 on Thursday November 21, 2019 @03:55PM (#21599492)
The website says there are options for teleport locomotion, so you'd probably be fine: https://half-life.com/en/alyx/vr#setup

On modern hardware, motion sickness is only really an issue in VR games which move your head around in-game in ways which don't match how you're moving in real life. Teleport and physical movement don't cause issues for most people.