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This article has been assessed not ready for publication.Please see the review comments on the collaboration page. When these things have been done, and the article is ready to be reviewed and fact-checked, Submit for review?Template:Assistant:Submit/formHalf-Life: Alyx wins Best VR/AR category at The Game AwardsSubmit for review by changing the |
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Please see the review comments on the collaboration page. When these things have been done, and the article is ready to be reviewed and fact-checked, Submit for review?Template:Assistant:Submit/formHalf-Life: Alyx wins Best VR/AR category at The Game AwardsSubmit for review by changing the |
Saturday, December 12, 2020
On Thursday, the virtual reality (VR) exclusive Half-Life: Alyx won in the Best VR/AR (virtual reality/augmented reality) category at the The Game Awards 2020 (TGA). The game was the first addition to the first-person shooter (FPS) Half-Life franchise in twelve years. Valve Index virtual reality headsets sold out before its March 23 release.
TGA launched in 2014 as an awards gala and showcase event for the computer game industry. 30 categories were featured in the 2020 event which was held online due to the ongoing coronavirus pandemic.
The winners were selected out of five candidates in a 90:10 mixed vote between a voting jury of 96 media outlets and online fan voting, respectively. Nominees for most categories were chosen by the outlets via an unranked ballot. Valve’s Half-Life: Alyx competed with Dreams, Iron Man VR, Star Wars Squadrons and The Walking Dead: Saints & Sinners for the Best VR/AR title.
Standard FPS games display their environment on a monitor, while virtual reality titles render a 360-degree view environment on a wearable VR headset. The kits contain hand-held motion controllers which the player uses as input devices and the environment usually renders as visible hands. Within the gaming industry, virtual reality is a niche market with a high cost of entry. In his Alyx playtest, Linus Sebastian recommended a minimum hardware cost of USD 500 for a compatible videocard and headset. The publisher’s president, Gabe Newell, talking to IGN’s Ryan McCaffrey acknowledged that “the VR market is obviously constrained… in terms of the number of devices that are out there in the world.”
The game supports HTC Vive, Oculus Rift, Windows Mixed Reality and Valve’s own headset, Valve Index. The owners of Index headsets received the game for free. After the game’s November 18 announcement last year, Valve Index sold out. The April Steam Hardware Survey reported VR penetration at 1.91%, a 0.62% increase from March. Steam is a major distribution platform for PC, which publishes its survey data monthly.
Half-Life: Alyx uses the Source 2 game engine. Reviewers from IGN, PC Gamer and Tested, praised the game’s attention to graphical detail. Pointing out outdated models, water animation, grass implementation and fog, Linus Sebastian noted that graphical shortcuts were taken to make the game less resource hungry.
In Dan Stapleton’s (IGN) and Norman Chan’s (Tested) experience, the game’s linear single-player campaign takes 12 to 15 hours to complete. Lead developer Robin Walker told IGN that VR induced more player interaction with the environment, which was further encouraged by hiding collectible objects in the game. Stapleton remarked that the hands do collide with objects while most things can be moved and interacted with, which “makes a huge difference in establishing a feeling of presence in this world”.
According to Walker, the game was in development for three and a half years. Its predecessors, the 1998 Half-Life and the 2004 Half-Life 2, received several Game of the Year awards. Alyx was not nominated for the title at TGA. Writing for the May issue of PC World Hungary, reviewer András Berze concluded: “Despite being a cornerstone for the future of Half-Life and VR, Alyx could not generate as big waves in the mainstream as did the new Doom or even Animal Crossing.” ((hu))Hungarian language: ?Hiába fontos lépcs? a Half-Life és a VR jöv?jét tekintve is az Alyx, a mainstreamben nem tudott akkora hullámokat generálni, mint az új Doom vagy épp az Animal Crossing.