Video Game News and Miscellany

figmentPez

Staff member


TL; DW The reception of Half-Life: Alyx came as a complete surprise to Valve. They weren't planning on releasing a trailer, and were not expecting a surge in sales of Index hardware. They're now scrambling to decide what new VR stuff to work on next, and may start talking about the stalled projects of HL3, L4D3, and more. They've also got someone hired to do PR, for the first time in the history of the company. (Hopefully she can find some time to address why the Steam Controller was discontinued with no notice, and the liquidation sale debacle.)
 


TL; DW The reception of Half-Life: Alyx came as a complete surprise to Valve. They weren't planning on releasing a trailer, and were not expecting a surge in sales of Index hardware. They're now scrambling to decide what new VR stuff to work on next, and may start talking about the stalled projects of HL3, L4D3, and more. They've also got someone hired to do PR, for the first time in the history of the company. (Hopefully she can find some time to address why the Steam Controller was discontinued with no notice, and the liquidation sale debacle.)
It's almost like Valve's corporate structure, without a clear sense of who to look towards for leadership beyond Gabe Newell, leaves the company direction-less and without motivation beyond staying in business. If they had some actual leadership in the company and more people willing to take risks, it's clear that Valve would still be a major player for reasons beyond "they own Steam".
 


TL; DW The reception of Half-Life: Alyx came as a complete surprise to Valve. They weren't planning on releasing a trailer, and were not expecting a surge in sales of Index hardware. They're now scrambling to decide what new VR stuff to work on next, and may start talking about the stalled projects of HL3, L4D3, and more. They've also got someone hired to do PR, for the first time in the history of the company. (Hopefully she can find some time to address why the Steam Controller was discontinued with no notice, and the liquidation sale debacle.)
I sure as hell hope, in the event they DO work on Half-Life 3, it doesn't come out as a fucking VR game.
 
Rescued from the latest forum hiccup:
@Li3n said:
September 28 - Racoon City:

Frank said:
NO TUBE TOP OR MINISKIRT?

NO.

FUCKING.

BUY.

NO PREORDERS NEEEEETHER.
AshburnerX said:
I actually prefer the new outfit? I mean... in the original, she's wearing THE WORST POSSIBLE THING for a Zombie Outbreak and I refuse to believe she couldn't have broken into a store to get some jeans and a jacket to protect her arms and legs.

Fucking Aya Brea wore a more functional outfit in Parasite Eve.
Frank said:
It 100% looks better. I was just making fun of the internet.
Tress said:
Oh god... because of what you said I went poking around the internet to see reactions about Jill’s new look. I know it’s just a handful of dickheads, but WOW some of that is full blown misogyny. It basically boils down to “Women are meant to look pretty! They are all sluts and should dress like it!”

Ick.
 

figmentPez

Staff member
The latest version of AMD's graphics drivers has introduced a completely redesigned interface, and the ability to stream games to their mobile app. It's almost hidden, and they don't do a very good job of differentiating between broadcast style streaming (i.e. Twitch) and remote gaming streaming. To save anyone the trouble of hunting the necessary setting down, it's not under Streaming. It's under Settings (the gear icon) -> General -> Game Streaming (on the right hand column, above VR Streaming, below the Performance settings.)

In my testing it has not been perfect, but it gives a lot more control over settings than Steam does, and actually allowed me to play on my phone with only a few minor hiccups, whereas Steam would freeze hard for several seconds every minute or so. Valve could certainly learn something from what AMD is doing. It's kinda fiddly with how it launches games, had some problems with controls getting stuck sending a constant signal, crashed a couple of times (I blame my cheap phone), but generally shows some promise. If it works this well on my crappy phone, I imagine the future of remote gaming is going to be pretty fun.
 
They've had the ability to use your mobile as a secondary display for gauges (fps, temps, fan speeds, etc) for a while now, this feels like a natural next step.

--Patrick
 

figmentPez

Staff member


Xbox series X..... Yeah, that name's not going to cause any confusion, or be difficult to search for. :facepalm:

Also, if they haven't finally added a gyro sensor to that controller, I'm going to be pissed. It needs grip buttons, too.
 
Game of the Year went to Sekiro, Death Stranding got Best Direction.
Death Stranding also got best Soundtrack, which is a fucking travesty because FF14 wasn't even nominated and had a stronger soundtrack than any of the nominees. FF14 also got robbed for Best On-Going Game Support to... Fortnite.
 
I'm just glad Fire Emblem got two awards because it means my favorite game series is *probably* out of the woods for being discontinued now.
 
Death Stranding also got best Soundtrack, which is a fucking travesty because FF14 wasn't even nominated and had a stronger soundtrack than any of the nominees. FF14 also got robbed for Best On-Going Game Support to... Fortnite.
I'm not mad at DS getting the win, but FF14 not being nominated is some shit. Also, for best 'ongoing game' half the nominees didn't even fit the category. The only two persistent world games were FF14 and Destiny 2, the rest were just multiplayer shooters.
 

figmentPez

Staff member
Black Mesa (the Half-Life 1 remake) released the Xen Complete Beta. It's been a long time coming, but it's finally possible to play the full story of Half-Life with much better graphics.
Guys, Xen is damn good. I'm not that far in (I re-played the entire game to see the new lighting), but it's really beautiful, and the levels are well crafted. This feels like what Xen should have been. It's laid out and plays like Half-Life. Explore, puzzle, combat, repeat in different patterns. The environment are absolutely gorgeous (though a little bit demanding. I'm only getting 30 - 40 FPS in Xen, when I was getting mostly 60 FPS for the rest of the game. I'm not even running most effects at max settings, though my system specs are nothing to crow about.

I definitely recommend playing this game, and if the rest of Xen continues to be this good, I'll probably consider it a must-play. It would be nice to somehow get the real Half-Life soundtrack for this game, and a console release.
 
We started a family map there on PC, but we only really got through 2 weeks of it before we went back to playing on the Switch because it was more convenient.
I'm playing solo, but I really like how the map easily helps me get organized. Top two quadrants are for crops, bottom left for animals, bottom right for trees, bee hives, and fish ponds. Having a steady trickle of resources just from my farm is nice too, like hardwood and ores. And I think the map just looks nice, you know?
 
I'm playing solo, but I really like how the map easily helps me get organized. Top two quadrants are for crops, bottom left for animals, bottom right for trees, bee hives, and fish ponds. Having a steady trickle of resources just from my farm is nice too, like hardwood and ores. And I think the map just looks nice, you know?
All farms just devolve into wine empires anyways.:p
 
For those that were waiting for Black Mesa to finally finish the Xen chapter? The wait is over. It's out. Officially, that is. Not just beta.

Mind you, the game as a whole is still in Early Access, as they're now working to tweak and put the final touches on everything.
Hmm, might just grab it this Christmas sale.
 

figmentPez

Staff member


TLDW Valve has worked hard to make Half-Life: Alyx work on a variety of VR headsets and controllers. Some work better than others, but most give at least a decent experience.

There's very litte info about HL:A in the video. Mostly the same clips of shooting headcrab zombies and exploding barancles with barrels.
 
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