Will Half-Life: Alyx Become Virtual Reality’s Killer App?

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A killer app, if you are not familiar with the term, is a piece of software that you want so badly that you will purchase the hardware required to run it:

One of the first recognized examples of a killer application is generally agreed to be the VisiCalc spreadsheet for the Apple II series. Because it was not available on other computers for 12 months, people spent $100 for the software first, then $2,000 to $10,000 on the Apple computer they needed to run it.

And it would appear that at least some rabid gamers are willing to shell out for a VR headset, just to be able to play the latest installment in the Half-Life videogame franchise, as this tweet suggests:

Valve is releasing Half-Life: Alyx in March of 2020. The game will work on any VR headset that supports SteamVR (and Valve Index owners will get it for free):

Note that Oculus Quest owners will also be able to play the game if they have a powerful enough computer with a supported graphics card, the proper USB 3.0 cable, and the Oculus Link software.

Here’s the promotional trailer for the game, which has racked up over 7 million views on YouTube in less than two days:

So, what do you think? Will you buy the game? Will you actually buy a VR headset just to play the game? (It is a VR-only game; there will be no equivalent flat-screen desktop version available.) Please feel free to leave a comment below, or even better, join us on the RyanSchultz.com Discord server and tell us what you think there! We’d love to have you.

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