Posts Tagged: playable

Fan-made mod turns ‘Half-Life 2’ into a fully playable VR game

If Half-Life: Alyx left you with an itch to revisit its seminal 2004 predecessor, now you can do so in virtual reality. On Friday, a group of fans known as the Source VR Mod Team released Half-Life 2: VR Mod. As long as you own the original, you can download and play the mod free through Steam.

While it’s currently in public beta, the mod allows you to play through Half-Life 2’s single-player story from start to finish. The Source VR Mod Team integrated a handful of features found in Half-Life: Alyx to modernize the experience and make it playable in VR. For instance, you switch between weapons using the same selection grid found in Valve’s 2020 game.

Other VR-minded tweaks include the addition of optional laser sights, over-the-shoulder ammo storage, manual reloading and two-handed weapon handling. There’s even support for room-scale movement. The Source VR Mod Team says the project isn’t finished, but that hasn’t stopped people from enjoying the experience, with the mod currently holding an Overwhelmingly Positive rating on 732 reviews.

Like Black Mesa before it, Half-Life 2: VR Mod has been a long time coming. As Eurogamer notes, the project was first announced in 2017 and went through development hell before remerging in 2021. The fact you can play it today is thanks to a recent influx of new team members who "revitalized" development.

Engadget is a web magazine with obsessive daily coverage of everything new in gadgets and consumer electronics

A surprise PC update makes ‘Chrono Trigger’ playable on ultrawide screen displays

For nearly 30 years, Square Enix’s Chrono Trigger has stood tall as one of the defining releases of the SNES era and JRPG genre. In a medium that has dramatically evolved over the past three decades, it’s one of those rare games that still feels as fresh and vital today as it did in 1995. And now there’s even more of a reason to revisit this gem if you own an ultrawide monitor.

Earlier this week, Square Enix updated the Steam version of Chrono Trigger for the first time in four years. Spotted by Kotaku, the update adds support for 21:9 resolutions, “improved” d-pad controls, and a handful of user interface improvements among other quality of life changes. The addition of ultrawide screen support is particularly notable since it’s a feature that’s rare to find on retro ports and even some modern games – Elden Ring, for instance, doesn’t come with native 21:9 support.

The PC version of Chrono Trigger has come a long way since Square first released it in 2018. At the time, the company was rightfully criticized for releasing a lazy port. At launch, it included interface elements that were directly lifted from the Android and iOS releases. To its credit, however, Square spent the next year polishing the release, and following this week’s update, you can safely say the PC version is one of the definitive ways to play the classic.

Engadget is a web magazine with obsessive daily coverage of everything new in gadgets and consumer electronics

Deadpool is Fortnite’s latest playable crossover cameo

While he's been in the periphery of the game since the start of the current season, Deadpool is finally making his way to Fortnite proper. If you purchased this season's battle pass, you can obtain the skin by finding the mercenary's two…
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‘Apex Legends’ teases its newest playable character with in-game cameo

In one of the more elaborate and novel teasers for a new playable character in an online game, you can already see Apex Legends' newest star. You just can't play him. Over the last few days, players have spotted Crypto, Apex's long-rumored hacker cha…
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Facebook’s ‘playable ads’ bring game demos to the news feed

Facebook's next foray into the gaming space is giving players a chance to try mobile games out before they download them. The social network is calling them "Playable Ads," which is fairly self-explanatory. There's a lot of advertising mumbo-jumbo in…
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Pizza Hut delivers the world’s first playable DJ pizza box

The major brands won't admit it, but it's pretty hard to innovate in the pizza-making industry. Stuffed crust and sausage-ringed pizza are now well established, so companies like Domino's and Pizza Hut are turning to clever marketing gimmicks to ensu…
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