Month: March 2020

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  The 2020 Toyota Supra will put a smile on your face, especially if you can take it to a track day. [credit: Toyota ]

Let's get one thing out of the way right off the bat: there's more mechanical stuff in the Supra with BMW logos stamped on it than bits originating from Toyota. And that's not a value judgment—it just is.

In the giant, formal ball that is global manufacturing, companies often look for partners that bring components to the table that fit the job description of the future car in question. So, the drivetrain, most of the suspension, the in-car technology—all of this is a made-in-Munich equation. The door plate and even the underhood components like the coil packs atop the spark plugs all state "BMW." Hey, at least give car points for honesty. But the market has been awaiting the new Supra since the FT-1 concept car debuted way back in 2014, so the new Supra has been a long time coming.

Could Toyota have engineered a great follow-up to the vaunted 2JZ inline-6 from Supras past? Of course. Could it have done its own suspension architecture and platform? You bet. But for a very low-volume car, it's a boardroom fight you're assured to lose when partnering with BMW could cover virtually all the product's needs. Whether that's right for the fans and consumers attracted to the new Supra is another thing entirely, but car companies must live and work in the real world where R&D costs for a single platform are in the billions of dollars. Bean counters often make the decisions, and if a new platform and its costs cannot be spread across more than one product line, it's nearly impossible to justify. If Toyota hadn't partnered with BMW on the Supra, this car wouldn't exist at all.

Netflix just posted the final trailer for its Ghost in the Shell CG anime reboot titled Ghost in the Shell: SAC_2045 to YouTube, and the trailer names a premiere date for the series: April 23.

Like the beloved 1995 anime film by Mamoru Oshii, this series is derived from the manga by Shirow Masamune. This series is helmed by Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex writer Kenji Kamiyama, as well as Shinji Aramaki, who worked on another Masamune adaptation called Appleseed.

According to this trailer, character designs are by Ilya Kuvshinov (2019's The Wonderland) and features music by Nobuko Toda and Kazuma Jinnouchi (Halo 5, Ultraman, Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots). The series will star voice actors returning to reprise their roles from Stand Alone Complex.

Enlarge / Sadly, Half-Life: Alyx is not compatible with real-life crowbars. But what about your other VR options? Let's dig in. (credit: Sam Machkovech / Aurich Lawson)

Half-Life: Alyx, Valve's first single-player game since 2012's Portal 2, is out now for virtual reality platforms. That has led me to write two separate articles. The first, a feature-length review, talks about the very, very good game in a vacuum; it assumes you have access to a relatively powerful gaming PC and a compatible PC-VR system.

This article, on the other hand, does not make that assumption.

What does it take to run Half-Life's VR-exclusive entry in March 2020? Which VR systems are the best? What's the best cheap way to dive in without spoiling the gameplay experience? And is HL:A reason enough to buy into the PC-VR space at this point? Let's dive in.

Enlarge / The Combine are back, but you face them (and other terrors) from a different perspective—in more ways than one. Welcome to Half Life: Alyx. (credit: Valve)

Half-Life: Alyx is not a must-own video game. It is not the PC world's Super Mario 64 equivalent, a comparison I mention because Valve studio head Gabe Newell has heightened expectations this way multiple times over the years. HL:A does not use virtual reality to transform how we interact with games in a way that might be as universally embraced as Super Mario Bros. 1, Doom, Zelda: Ocarina of Time, or, of course, the first two Half-Life games.

And yet: Half-Life: Alyx is a must-play video game for anyone in a position to do so. If you already have access to the required technology—a full VR headset system, a robust computer, and a reasonable amount of space to move your arms while otherwise blind to the real world—you are in for a video game that pushes the notion of "full-length VR adventure" to its limits. The 15 hours required to beat HL:A on a first playthrough are dense. They are beautiful. They are full of unique puzzles, immersive combat, bona fide terror, and storytelling beats that all understand what does, and does not, work when translating a "flat-screen" gaming franchise to hand-tracked virtual reality.

Get it? Not universally "must-own," but conditionally "must-play." Comparatively, I'd say the latter praise is higher than, say, most any wild arcade or rhythm-gaming experience that has required additional, bulky hardware. This is not Dance Dance Revolution or Guitar Hero. This is bigger. The sheer tingle I feel when I recall HL:A's brilliant and thrilling moments is up there with any video game experience I've had in my 24 years of gaming criticism.