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Counter-Strike Co-Creator Says Gabe Newell Got So Obsessed With Mongolian Throat Singing at Valve HQ That Staff Started Closing Their Office Doors to Escape the Noise (nordic.ign.com)
submitted 1 day ago by to c/nottheonion@lemmy.world
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As an update to the story, this was confirmed by Gabe himself: https://www.dexerto.com/entertainment/gabe-newell-responds-to-fan-asking-about-bizarre-valve-throat-singing-story-3412684/

A fan then went straight to the source, emailing Newell to ask whether the story was real. In a reply shared online, sent from Newell’s Valve address, he provided more detail.

“Yeah, I had chatted with Paul Pena about it after I tried learning on my own,” he wrote. “I am entirely self taught and it shows.”

He added that he worked on the sygyt and kargyraa styles “and got to the point where I was really… annoying.”

Newell says he still hasn’t given it up entirely. “Every once in a while, I’ll pick it back up,” he wrote, adding that it takes a couple of weeks to condition his throat.

Pena was an American blues musician who taught himself Tuvan throat singing, later becoming the subject of the Oscar-nominated documentary Genghis Blues.

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[–] 7 points 1 day ago (14 children)

I'm not saying it's easily accessible by any means, but you can definitely get a headset for a good deal less than $1500, and many (if not most) games can be played sitting at your desk in the same position you'd be in if holding a traditional game controller.

I agree it sucks that there's no non-VR version. I just wanted to say that it isn't exclusive to the obscenely wealthy or anything, if you already have a PC capable of running it you're likely in a position to be able to swing getting the gear for it.

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  • [–] 6 points 1 day ago (5 children)

    if you already have a PC capable of running it you’re likely in a position to be able to swing getting the gear for it.

    I have an 8 year old laptop with a muxing problem that can barely handle android studio.

    I'm fucking cooked.

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  • [–] 6 points 1 day ago (2 children)

    Well it's a good thing PC parts are so cheap right now.

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  • [–] 7 points 1 day ago* (last edited 23 hours ago) (1 child)

    Please take me to your alternate reality. What happened to the world after Bernie Sanders' second presidency?

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  • [–] 3 points 3 hours ago

    I am pretty sure it was sarcasm, but it is crazy to realize how even things like this would be different if we had government that actually followed its laws.

    Trump invested a lot in AI companies and removed all obstacles and made sure that regulators look the other way, creating this craze.

    Now, once this collapses they will use our tax money to bail them out. It is fucking lose-lose situation for us no matter what happens.

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  • [–] 1 point 1 day ago (1 child)

    To be fair a brand new desktop tower can also barely handle android studio, I've never had a good experience in it not once

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  • [–] 2 points 1 day ago*

    Shitposts aside, this laptop is only recently beginning to show its age, and because I'm demanding more and more of it. I can hardly expect it to run CUDA AI shit or not expected it to work as a fullstack server and have 2 copies of VS code and Pulsar (another Electron based editor) , play YT videos with its fucking muxing issues AND run KDE at the same time.

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  • [–] 2 points 1 day ago (7 children)

    I thought there was a mod to play Half Life Alyx without a VR headset.

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  • [–] 2 points 1 day ago (6 children)

    I wouldn't be surprised is someone recreated in the Source 1/2 engine, but is there much gameplay if you remove the VR stuff?

    Replaying the original Half Life 1 and 2 games, I realized there's that HL2 onward got crippled by the devs making it too much about the Gravity gun. The fan community have made much more interesting combat engagements without the Gravity gun and adding a more varied weapon set.

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  • [–] 1 point 1 day ago (5 children)

    but is there much gameplay if you remove the VR stuff?

    Good question. The gameplay blends very smoothly with the Index and doesn't feel gimmicky, it's hard to say how much would feel "missing" playing on mouse and keyboard.

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  • [–] 1 point 1 day ago (4 children)

    Guess what motherfuckers, we missed out a shitload more by watching HLA as a lets play instead of playing it as an FPS.

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  • [–] 2 points 1 day ago

    Valve: We need a way to sell our high end VR headset. Let's release it with a long time fan favorite title; we can use Half Life to get people otherwise not interested in VR games into the ecosystem, and maybe they'll get other games too!

    Half Life fans: watch someone else play the game for free without buying Half Life or an Index

    Valve: surprised Pikachu

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  • [–] 0 points 1 day ago (2 children)

    I saw people drawing penis in glass. I read a plot summary and wasn't impressed enough to watch a playthough. Also, I already know I'll be in the minority because I think HL2 is gimmicky gameplay because if you remove the gravity gun and chores associated with it, the combat is weaker the HL1. Try Singularity if you want to see what combat that actually integrates a Gravity Guy into the combat.

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  • [–] 2 points 1 day ago (1 child)

    Drawing a penis on the glass in the opening scene is like dropping the baby penguin off the map in Mario 64. It's a compulsion. The thought enters your head and, once it does, must be executed for the simple goal of seeing if you can.

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  • [–] 1 point 1 day ago

    And what about reconning the ending to episode 2? I already explained that I didn't fine the gameplay of HL2 to be very good, so if I played it through for the story, why would I be happy about that? I stopped expecting to get what I want out of a Half Life game when Marc Laidlaw explained the circumstance of why he left.

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