A New Half-Life Means I Need A New PC

By 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:Andrew King

Published Jan 6, 2025

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When Valve announced 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:Half-Life: Alyx at the tail-end of 2019, it set off a mad scramble for new tech. I had a laptop, but in order to play the long-awaited quasi follow-up to 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:Half-Life 2, I needed a 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:virtual reality headset.

So I asked for an Oculus Quest for Christmas, and planned to connect it to my laptop using a Link Cable. Unfortunately, I couldn’t get that set-up to work. I also couldn't find any solution to the issues I was having online, and made a bunch of trips to Best Buy attempting to fix it. Thankfully, Valve offered reviewers the opportunity to play the game with its Index VR headset, which solved that problem.

Gordon Freeman carrying his crowbar with the bridge from Half-Life 2 in the background.

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The Trials And Tribulations Of Preparing For A New Half-Life

But when the Index arrived, I realized that in order to use it, I needed a mini HDMI port. My laptop didn't have one. So, in the brief time between the VR set 🐻arriving and my review's due date, I had to scramble to get a r💦eplacement laptop that could work with the Index.

Mind you, this wa♌s during the first week of Covid lockdowns.

Eventually, I got everything together, played through Alyx, and had a great time. But, as rumors swirl that the announcement of the mythical 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:Half-Life 3 is finally on the horizon, I can't help but have flashbacks to the stress of preparing for Alyx. When Sony announces a new game I'm excited to play, I think, "Great, a cool game I can play on my PS5." When Valve announces a ne𒆙w game I'm excited to play, it makes me wonder if I actually have all the hardware I need to get the most out of it.

That's because Valve, unlike all other triple-A de⭕velopers, creates games for PC first ꦚand foremost. It may bring its games to other platforms, but it's been almost five years since Half-Life: Alyx launched, and despite PlayStation having a perfectly viable VR platform, Alyx remains a PC exclusive. So I can't just wait to eventually play Half-Life 3 on PS5, because it will likely never come.

Being a PC first developer🅺 means that Valve knows how to t෴ake advantage of the PC as a platform. Alyx looked really good, and because it won't be limited by a VR headset's display (and because half a decade has passed) Half-Life 3 will look even better. But my PC couldn't even run Alyx at maximum settings. What the hell am I supposed to do now? Once again, a Half-Life game (which is, at this point, still hypothetical) has me considering a thousand dollar plus purchase just to play it.

Honestly, I should just be able to trade my old laptop in for a new laptop like an iPhone. That would immediately solve my whole ▨proble🐻m.

Is The Steam Deck The Solution?

Of course, I could just get a 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:Steam Deck for a fraction of the price it woul🦂d cost to build a PC or buy a new gaming laptop. But should I really be playing the big new Half-Life game on a handheld? I'm ride-or-die for portable gaming, but there are some games that demand to be played on a bigger display. Playing Half-Life 3 might be the gaming equivalent of needing to make important purchases on a computer instead of a phone.

Then again, this game does not officially exist yet. The G-Man can tease all he wants, and dataminers can datamine, but until we see concrete evidence that Half-Life 3 is launching soon, I don't really have anything to worry about. Of course, when that announcement happens, I﷽ will instantly become very worried. Hopefully I have time to figure this out.