The actor didn’t reveal anything specific, but his words are enough to generate excitement. In an interview with USGamer (opens in new tab), Shapiro spoke vaguely about a currently in-development project that’s required extensive motion-capture and will apparently be “a blast from the past” for gamers.

“I’ll announce it on my Twitter feed when I’m allowed to—I’m trying to be circumspect even as I speak with you about it—but this is going to be such a mindblowing re-up from what people have come to know. It’s going to really… it’s going to make people have a complete re-understanding of what they thought they knew about the story in the game prior to it, and I don’t even know if people are expecting it. It’s going to be kind of a blast from the past.”

Again, Shapiro didn’t reveal the name of the franchise or the studio it’s coming from, and with the wide range of games the actor’s lent his voice to, it’s impossible to guess what he’s referring to. Still, we know Shapiro worked on it last Summer and Fall, so presumably it’s a fair deal into development at this point. That means it shouldn’t be too long before it’s officially announced.

Half-Life: Alyx (opens in new tab) is the latest game to feature Shapiro’s voice, once again as G-Man. Despite its VR-exclusivity (and not being Half-Life 3), players seem generally pleased with the latest offering. In GamesRadar’s review (opens in new tab), Rachel called it “a shooter that makes you feel smart, coupled with a truly immersive experience that will impress Half-Life hardliners and newcomers alike.”

Here are all the upcoming PS5 games (opens in new tab) we know about.

The post Half-Life voice actor Mike Shapiro teases “blast from the past” game in development appeared first on Game News.

• You can pre-order your copy of Edge Magazine’s Valve special edition (opens in new tab) for delivery to your door. Hurry, while stocks last.

In Edge 344, we review Half-Life: Alyx (opens in new tab), and tell the fascinating story of the game’s creation. But to focus solely on Half-Life is to ignore everything else Valve represents. Originally merely a brilliant game developer, the Valve of today is also shopkeeper of the industry’s biggest download store, owner of some of the most popular games on the planet, and has moved from software to services into hardware, making the most powerful VR headset available.

As such this isn’t merely an issue about Half-Life: Alyx. It’s also a chance to check in on one of the most secretive companies in the industry, to talk not only about its new VR game but also the headset around which it is built, the platform through which it will be sold, and the games and initiatives whose success have helped fund it. And yes, to get Gabe Newell on tape, because it’s been far too long.

Edge 344 goes on sale in print on Thursday, March 26 through all major newsagents, featuring this beautiful wraparound cover, custom-designed for us by Valve’s artists: 

Subscriber copies will begin arriving in the coming days, and feature an exclusive cover design we’re not revealing yet, in order to preserve the surprise for our subscribers. To guarantee delivery of future issues, check the latest Edge magazine subscription offers (opens in new tab).

• Is Valve making Half-Life 3? Gabe Newell hints at the future of single-player games in Edge magazine (opens in new tab)

We’re mindful that many readers, and potential readers, are stuck at home and unable to head to the shops to get their issue. As such, for the first time – of many, we hope – we’re offering a limited number of pre-orders of our print edition through our online store. 

Get five issues of Edge for only £5 / $5

We’re also launching our digital edition earlier than the planned street date of March 26; it’ll be live at 5pm GMT next Monday, March 23. Our latest subscriber offer gets you your first five digital issues for just £5/ $5 (opens in new tab) – and if you sign up now, your subscription will begin with our Valve special edition.

Here’s a glimpse at what else awaits inside.

Valve Time

With a photographer in tow, we conducted more than 20 interviews with Valve staff in a bid to paint a picture of where the company stands in 2020. We tell the story of how Half-Life: Alyx was made, then look into the past, present, and future of everything else that defines this remarkable studio: from games such as Counter-Strike: Global Offensive, Dota Underlords, and Artifact – yes, it has a future – to its plans for Steam and its hardware business. 

An Audience With… Gabe Newell

What happens when you sit down for an hour with one of the industry’s finest, and most forward-thinking minds? Quite a lot, as it happens, from how we’ll be controlling games with our brains – and vice versa – within the next few years, to how single-player games will soon be powered by virtual people that live in our computers. In rare, wide-ranging conversation, Newell reflects on the milestone moments that have taken Valve to where it is today, and offers some tantalising hints at where it’s headed next.

Half-Life: Alyx reviewed

Valve is one of only a handful of development studios to have multiple Edge 10s under its belt. Can a game built from the ground up around a proprietary VR headset deliver the studio its third? Our review investigates, and in our Post Script we examine whether Alyx is the proof of concept for consumer VR in general.

Subscribe today

For more industry-beating access to the very best that the videogame industry has to offer, why not subscribe to Edge? You’ll save on the cover price and have your copy delivered to your door (or device) each month, complete with exclusive subscriber covers.

You can subscribe to the print edition (opens in new tab), digital version (opens in new tab), or save even more with the print/digital bundle (opens in new tab) – whatever you choose, you can rest easy in the knowledge you’re getting the full story before anyone else. 

The post Edge magazine goes inside Valve Software for an exclusive 34-page feature covering Half-Life: Alyx, Steam and more appeared first on Game News.

McVicker says the screens were leaked from an internal source from within Valve, and they show everything from static environmental details to apparent new uniforms for the fascist alien Combine. You’ll need to watch the video yourself to see all the images, but here are the three that most quickly grabbed my attention.

This still shows a scene that was featured in the reveal trailer, but it also includes those new uniforms I was talking about. These troops seem to have lighter uniforms with distinct patches on the shoulder. The trailer uses this scene to show off an excellent opportunity for Half-Life: Alyx’s VR hand-tracking – that is, raising your hands when a bunch of trigger-happy grunts point their guns at you – but here we can see it hands-free.

This image zooms into a Combine “Infestation Control” sign. It has a strong “Caution, Wet Floors” vibe but with Xen monsters instead of slippery tile. I love the little detail of the silhouetted combine soldier blasting away at a non-specific tentacled beast. Clearly Infestation Control is not doing its job well enough, as you’ll be able to tell from the next screen.

Speaking of which, consider this a gore warning before you scroll any further. The last screenshot depicts some very disturbing body horror.

It’s really gross.

There’s not enough skin or organs or anything.

Ok, fine, here it is.

We’ve seen zombies minus the Headcrabs before, but we’ve never seen them in such stomach-churning detail. Observe the layer of subcutaneous fat around the opening of the rib-flared chest-maw. Blugh. This image drives home the fact that, despite the name, Half-Life’s zombies aren’t undead monsters – they’re the living hosts of alien parasites. Still, you’re probably doing them a favor by shooting toilets at them until they die.

Again, none of these screenshots are confirmed as legit from Valve, so take all of them and any details they might suggest with a grain of salt. Fortunately, we won’t have to wait too long to see Half-Life: Alyx ourselves – it’s coming out in March.

Don’t have a VR-ready PC? Valve hasn’t ruled out a Half-Life: Alyx console version (opens in new tab).

The post Half-Life: Alyx screenshots allegedly leak with new Combine and a de-Headcrabbed zombie appeared first on Game News.

If you really want to dive deep into Half-Life with one complete package, there’s another fantastic Steam (opens in new tab) deal (thanks Wario64 (opens in new tab)) you might want to consider. The Half-Life Complete collection includes Half-Life 1 and 2, the enhanced Half-Life: Source, the Half-Life: Opposing Force expansion, Half-Life: Blue Shift, Team Fortress Classic, and Episodes 1 and 2, all for just over $6 (about £5).

Of course, this is all in anticipation of the hotly-anticipated Half-Life: Alyx, a full-length, VR-exclusive prequel to Half-Life 2 coming March 2020. Naturally, the decision to limit the game to VR platforms saw mixed reactions, but it’s still very exciting to see a proper return for the Half-Life franchise after the most recent entry, Half-Life: Episode 2, released way back in 2007.

If you are looking forward to Half-Life: Alyx, it’s worth mentioning that it’s 10% off on Steam (opens in new tab) right now at $53.99. It seems Valve is doing everything it can to make returning to Half-Life as financially feasible as possible, which is wise considering you’ll need at least 12 gigs of ram (via TechRadar (opens in new tab)), not to mention a VR setup, to run the game properly.

Speaking of cheap games, keep an eye on the best Black Friday game deals (opens in new tab) to keep the savings coming. 

The post Prepare for Half-Life: Alyx with Half-Life 1 and 2 for $1 each appeared first on Game News.

Fans should indeed expect more after this, Valve programmer David Speyrer told The Verge (opens in new tab).

“Yes. It’s probably no surprise that many people at Valve have been wanting to get back to the Half-Life universe for a long time, and this experience has only reinforced that,” Speyrer said. “In the process of creating Half-Life: Alyx, we’ve had to explore new ways to tell stories with these characters and this world, and we’ve discovered a lot of new gameplay experiences that go beyond what we’ve been able to do before. Of course, we’ll have to wait and see how people react to Half-Life: Alyx once it’s out, but we’d love to continue pushing forward.”

Wait, does that mean… actual Half-Life 3 might happen? I’m going to keep assuming that it’s an impossibility, just so I have the chance to be pleasantly shocked if and when Valve decides to pick the story back up from the tragic ending of Half-Life 2: Episode 2. Speaking of which, Speyrer recommended players complete Episode 2 before starting Half-Life: Alyx. So even though it’s a prequel, it looks like it will expand our understanding of the overall story.

That G-Man teaser at the end of the Alyx trailer makes me suspect we’ll finally learn more about how the interdimensional bureaucrat interacts with people aside from Gordon Freeman (though I bet ol’ Gordon will always be his favorite pawn). Half-Life: Alyx will come to VR-ready PCs in March 2020, so if you have the setup, you won’t have to wait long to find out yourself.

Speaking of which, you can make sure you’ve got a nice rig on the cheap with the help of our Black Friday gaming PC (opens in new tab) deals.

The post Half-Life: Alyx could start a new wave of Half-Life projects: “We’d love to continue pushing forward” appeared first on Game News.