So you’ve waited 13 years for another Half-Life game and now your adventures with Alyx have finally come to an end. Don’t leave your headset in the corner to gather a year’s worth of dust, though. Although Half-Life: Alyx sets the bar for what VR games can be, there are still plenty of other fantastic VR titles available for you to dive into. Whether you want a well-acted story, intense gunplay, or a whiff of Valve's humour, here are six fantastic VR games to play after Half-Life: Alyx. [ignvideo url="https://www.ign.com/videos/2020/05/06/6-fantastic-vr-games-to-play-after-half-life-alyx"]

Boneworks

With its headcrab-style enemies, crowbar-wielding action, and copious amounts of environmental interactions, Boneworks has a lot in common with Half-Life: Alyx. This ambitious VR playground sees you fighting through a deadly army of rogue robot soldiers while you explore a dystopian virtual world known as MythOS. Although Boneworks doesn’t quite reach the narrative highs and polish you’d find in a Valve game, its realistic implementation of physics might just be what you’re after for a second helping of Valve-style VR. But, unlike Alyx’s small offering of firearms, Boneworks has a plethora of weapons, including an MP5, the humble frying pan, a katana, and even… a balloon gun? [widget path="global/article/imagegallery" parameters="albumSlug=6-fantastic-vr-games-to-play-after-half-life-alyx&captions=true"]

The Walking Dead: Saints & Sinners

Before playing Half-Life: Alyx I would never have described Half-Life as scary. Sure, those zombies might be a tad bit creepy, but they're nothing a bit of bunny hopping and a magnum bullet couldn’t take care of. In VR it's another story. Experiencing bloody, ripped-open chests and terrifyingly long claws is a haunting experience up close, and that's something Alyx shares with The Walking Dead: Saints & Sinners. Aside from the obvious undead connection, Saints & Sinners stands alongside Alyx in terms of offering an immersive atmosphere that’s as scary as the darkest corners of City 17. You play as the Tourist, a survivor in search of a potentially limitless supply of life-saving goods hidden deep within the post-apocalyptic remains of New Orleans. On the surface this might seem like your standard zombie affair with survival mechanics, looting, and find-and-fetch quests. But Saints & Sinners surprisingly has a lot more in common with Deus Ex, as choices made within the story can affect other characters, factions, and even the ending. Most importantly, though, Saints & Sinners might just be the best zombie killing experience VR has to offer. The feeling of swiftly sinking a screwdriver deep into a walker's brain is deeply satisfying and provides the best ‘squish’ sound effect I’ve ever heard. [ignvideo url="https://www.ign.com/videos/2020/03/21/the-most-violent-star-wars-mod-ever-made"]

Blade & Sorcery

Half-Life: Alyx does a great job of establishing you as an actual person within the confined walls of City 17. Everything feels intuitive, whether you are simply pushing open a door or fighting off an angry headcrab. Blade & Sorcery is similar in that it benefits from a number of little details that together make a big difference to the experience. This medieval fantasy sandbox offers no quests, characters, or story to follow, but instead provides the ultimate fighting playground. We're talking immersive physics-driven melee combat, combined with ranged and magic-based attacks. You can pick from a large array of weapons such as daggers, spears, greatswords, and axes. And if you’re into modding, even a lightsaber or two. As chaotic as this all sounds, Blade & Sorcery still encourages you to be strategic and creative. With a handful of different enemy types to take on, such as archers, wizards, and shieldmen, you’ll find yourself trying out many different methods of attack. Should you use a rapier to pierce through an enemy's shield, or distract him with your lightning spell before you dive in for the kill? Much like Half-Life: Alyx, each weapon has its own weight and style of approach. If you’re thinking about one-handing a Greatsword for example, then… well, good luck with that. If you’re after a fluid, moddable, and downright fun fighting experience, then Blade & Sorcery is the game to check out. [widget path="global/article/imagegallery" parameters="legacyId=20085947&captions=true"]

Stormland

An element of Half-Life: Alyx that often goes unnoticed is how smooth its movement is. Valve clearly put a lot of time and effort into ensuring that players of all preferences would be comfortable. But unlike previous Half-Life games, Alyx is pretty slow, and so that lack of fast flowing movement may have left some feeling a bit nostalgic for Gordon's swifter strides. If you’re one of those people, Stormland's fluid movement around its immersive, sprawling world is something worth experiencing. This virtual jungle gym of jumping, climbing, and gliding is as an absolute pleasure to play, especially with a friend in co-op. As you explore this vast alien world, you’ll be blasting your way through enemy robots, sneaking around outposts, and causing an untold amount of havoc as you search for your missing friends. Much like Half-Life: Alyx, Stormland soars high with its fantastic movement system, and as a great showcase for what VR can offer. [widget path="global/article/imagegallery" parameters="albumSlug=echo-arena-screens&captions=true"]

Lone Echo

While Half-Life: Alyx will undoubtedly remain as a shining example of how far VR has come since its revitalised return in 2016, just a year into VR's resurgence saw another star rise above the rest in the form of Lone Echo. You take control of Jack, a robot working on a mining station orbiting Saturn, and to everyone’s surprise something has gone wrong. Alongside the ship's captain, you must take on the dangerous task of investigating what could have caused all this chaos. Much like Alyx, Lone Echo excels in delivering not only a well acted story, but an interesting and believable one too. So if you’ve got your space legs ready and set for an adventure, then this immersive zero-gravity story is exactly what you’re looking for. [ignvideo url="https://www.ign.com/videos/2018/04/06/budget-cuts-is-like-portal-job-simulator-office-space"]

Budget Cuts

Even though Half-Life: Alyx sees you take on vicious aliens and disgusting zombies, Valve’s wry sense of humour still shines through. With Portal writers Jay Pinkerton and Erik Wolpaw at the helm, it’s no surprise that the witty banter between Alyx and newcomer Russel is fantastic. For those looking to step into a world filled with dry humour and deadly corporations akin to Portal, you need look no further than Budget Cuts. Set in the dystopian hell of a depressed robot-filled corporate office, you’ll find yourself sneaking, stabbing, and teleporting your way through in order to escape. But unlike in Alyx, where you’re more than well equipped to handle any violent situation, patience is key in Budget Cuts as these weapon-toting robots won’t hold back. [poilib element="accentDivider"] So those are six virtual reality games we reckon you should try out after playing Half-Life: Alyx. What other fantastic VR titles would you suggest giving a go? Let us know in the comments below! And if you’re looking to get into VR, why not look at our guide to the best VR headsets. [poilib element="accentDivider"] Jesse Gomez is a VR-loving video producer for IGN. Follow him on Twitter. 

NASA administrator says filming on the ISS could inspire a new generation of scientists.

Sonos has announced a new soundbar called the Arc that will finally replace the almost two year old Sonos Beam. The first thing to notice about the Sonos Arc is it’s about 20-inches wider than the Sonos Beam it replaces. The 45-inch wide soundbar has been designed this way to better fit with the ever increasing size of today’s 4K TVs – and soon 8K TVs. Of course, with a physically larger soundbar, Sonos was also able to fit it with more components. There are now 11 custom-built elliptical speakers, two of which are up-firing to create more of a sense of height for experiences like Dolby Atmos sound. As with Sonos’ other internet-connected speakers, the Arc features built-in Wi-Fi support. It also has four far-field microphones so you can summon Alexa or Google Assistant through the sound bar, and it also supports Apple Airplay 2. The Arc also uses these microphones to drive its Trueplay technology, which will listen to how sound is bouncing off your walls at home and automatically adjust the EQ for an optimal listening experience. The Sonos Arc soundbar will be available starting on June 10 for $799.

A New Subwoofer and Speaker

Of course, no soundbar would be complete without a subwoofer, and Sonos also rolled out a new Sonos Sub (Gen 3), plus an updated Sonos Five speaker. Both products bring along increased memory and faster processing power, but otherwise the same acoustic experience as their predecessors. The Sonos Sub (Gen 3) and the Sonos Five will retail for $699 and $499. Both products will also be available starting on June 10. [poilib element="accentDivider"] Kevin Lee is IGN's Hardware and Roundups Editor. Follow him on Twitter @baggingspam.

In a lengthy profile on filmmaker Josh Trank by Polygon, details were revealed about why Trank departed the Boba Fett movie he had signed on to write and direct mere minutes before it was supposed to be announced at Star Wars Celebration 2015. In 2014, Trank, coming off the success of Chronicle, was brought on by Disney to develop a Boba Fett solo movie, although at the time we only knew of it as an untitled Star Wars spin-off project. Lucasfilm President Kathleen Kennedy sung his praises in a public statement, saying, “He is such an incredible talent and has a great imagination and sense of innovation. That makes him perfectly suited to Star Wars.” One year later, according to Polygon’s report, word of the troubled production on Trank’s 2015 Fantastic Four movie had reached Disney and Kennedy. No one had seen a cut of the film that would go on to become one of the biggest commercial and critical flops of the year, but hearing about all of the issues involving Trank were enough to cause Kennedy to lose confidence in him. Trank explained that Kennedy and he agreed he should cancel his appearance at April’s Star Wars Celebration where he was going to share the first details of his Star Wars movie with the world. At the time, he had tweeted he had come down with the “worst flu of my life.” Days later, industry insiders reported he was fired from the project. Trank said in a personal statement that he had departed the film “to pursue some original creative opportunities.” Now, Trank claims, “I quit because I knew I was going to be fired if I didn’t quit.” Trank shared that he privately told his managers that he was done looking for work making blockbuster movies. At the time, it was a shock for a director to depart a Star Wars project in such fashion, but since then the list of would-be Star Wars filmmakers has only grown, with Game of Thrones showrunners David Benioff and D.B. Weiss leaving the trilogy of Star Wars movies they had signed on to develop, Phil Lord and Chirs Miller being fired from Solo during production, and Colin Trevorrow being fired from Episode IX, not to mention director Gareth Edwards being sidelined on Rogue One: A Star Wars Story. [widget path="global/article/imagegallery" parameters="albumSlug=star-wars-and-its-weird-recent-history-of-director-drop-outs&captions=true"] Trank has been laying low for the past several years, but recently made headlines when he decided to post a review of his own Fantastic Four movie four years after its release. He’s now gearing up for the release of Capone starring Tom Hardy, a film he wrote and directed. You can watch the new trailer for Capone below: [ignvideo url="https://www.ign.com/videos/2020/04/16/capone-official-trailer-1"] [poilib element="accentDivider"] Joshua is Senior Features Editor at IGN. If Pokemon, Green Lantern, or Game of Thrones are frequently used words in your vocabulary, you’ll want to follow him on Twitter @JoshuaYehl and IGN.

In a lengthy profile on filmmaker Josh Trank by Polygon, details were revealed about why Trank departed the Boba Fett movie he had signed on to write and direct mere minutes before it was supposed to be announced at Star Wars Celebration 2015. In 2014, Trank, coming off the success of Chronicle, was brought on by Disney to develop a Boba Fett solo movie, although at the time we only knew of it as an untitled Star Wars spin-off project. Lucasfilm President Kathleen Kennedy sung his praises in a public statement, saying, “He is such an incredible talent and has a great imagination and sense of innovation. That makes him perfectly suited to Star Wars.” One year later, according to Polygon’s report, word of the troubled production on Trank’s 2015 Fantastic Four movie had reached Disney and Kennedy. No one had seen a cut of the film that would go on to become one of the biggest commercial and critical flops of the year, but hearing about all of the issues involving Trank were enough to cause Kennedy to lose confidence in him. Trank explained that Kennedy and he agreed he should cancel his appearance at April’s Star Wars Celebration where he was going to share the first details of his Star Wars movie with the world. At the time, he had tweeted he had come down with the “worst flu of my life.” Days later, industry insiders reported he was fired from the project. Trank said in a personal statement that he had departed the film “to pursue some original creative opportunities.” Now, Trank claims, “I quit because I knew I was going to be fired if I didn’t quit.” Trank shared that he privately told his managers that he was done looking for work making blockbuster movies. At the time, it was a shock for a director to depart a Star Wars project in such fashion, but since then the list of would-be Star Wars filmmakers has only grown, with Game of Thrones showrunners David Benioff and D.B. Weiss leaving the trilogy of Star Wars movies they had signed on to develop, Phil Lord and Chirs Miller being fired from Solo during production, and Colin Trevorrow being fired from Episode IX, not to mention director Gareth Edwards being sidelined on Rogue One: A Star Wars Story. [widget path="global/article/imagegallery" parameters="albumSlug=star-wars-and-its-weird-recent-history-of-director-drop-outs&captions=true"] Trank has been laying low for the past several years, but recently made headlines when he decided to post a review of his own Fantastic Four movie four years after its release. He’s now gearing up for the release of Capone starring Tom Hardy, a film he wrote and directed. You can watch the new trailer for Capone below: [ignvideo url="https://www.ign.com/videos/2020/04/16/capone-official-trailer-1"] [poilib element="accentDivider"] Joshua is Senior Features Editor at IGN. If Pokemon, Green Lantern, or Game of Thrones are frequently used words in your vocabulary, you’ll want to follow him on Twitter @JoshuaYehl and IGN.

Walt Disney executives provided the first official details on the impact the coronavirus pandemic has had across their businesses, particularly on their theme parks, cruise lines, and experiences, during a quarterly investors call Tuesday. Disney revealed its earnings plummeted 63% during the second quarter of 2020 when COVID-19 forced the closures of theme parks, theaters, and other consumer-facing facets of the Disney empire. The company estimates it lost $1.4 billion this quarter, $1 billion from theme parks alone. (And yet Disney still posted $18 billion in quarterly revenue.) [ignvideo url="https://www.ign.com/videos/2019/12/06/we-rode-star-wars-rise-of-the-resistance-at-galaxys-edge"] While Disney theme parks and resorts, such as Disneyland in Anaheim and Disney World in Orlando, remain indefinitely closed, the company announced that Shanghai Disneyland will reopen May 11. One saving grace for the conglomerate remains the Disney+ streaming service, which expanded operations into Europe and India and has now garnered 54.5 million subscribers worldwide. Speaking of streaming, while Disney reaffirmed its commitment and love of the theatrical filmgoing experience, they also reiterated that they will pivot some movies once earmarked for cinemas to digital instead. [widget path="global/article/imagegallery" parameters="albumSlug=disney-plus-spotlight-may-2020&captions=true"] "We also believe that either because of changing and evolving consumer dynamics or because of certain situations like COVID, we may have to make some changes to that overall strategy," said Disney CEO Bob Chapek. "We’re going to evaluate each of our movies as a case-by-case situation, as we are doing during this coronavirus situation.” For more Disney coverage, check out these new attractions you can look forward to when the parks reopen, such as Avengers Campus and the Spider-Man ride featuring Tom Holland.

Walt Disney executives provided the first official details on the impact the coronavirus pandemic has had across their businesses, particularly on their theme parks, cruise lines, and experiences, during a quarterly investors call Tuesday. Disney revealed its earnings plummeted 63% during the second quarter of 2020 when COVID-19 forced the closures of theme parks, theaters, and other consumer-facing facets of the Disney empire. The company estimates it lost $1.4 billion this quarter, $1 billion from theme parks alone. (And yet Disney still posted $18 billion in quarterly revenue.) [ignvideo url="https://www.ign.com/videos/2019/12/06/we-rode-star-wars-rise-of-the-resistance-at-galaxys-edge"] While Disney theme parks and resorts, such as Disneyland in Anaheim and Disney World in Orlando, remain indefinitely closed, the company announced that Shanghai Disneyland will reopen May 11. One saving grace for the conglomerate remains the Disney+ streaming service, which expanded operations into Europe and India and has now garnered 54.5 million subscribers worldwide. Speaking of streaming, while Disney reaffirmed its commitment and love of the theatrical filmgoing experience, they also reiterated that they will pivot some movies once earmarked for cinemas to digital instead. [widget path="global/article/imagegallery" parameters="albumSlug=disney-plus-spotlight-may-2020&captions=true"] "We also believe that either because of changing and evolving consumer dynamics or because of certain situations like COVID, we may have to make some changes to that overall strategy," said Disney CEO Bob Chapek. "We’re going to evaluate each of our movies as a case-by-case situation, as we are doing during this coronavirus situation.” For more Disney coverage, check out these new attractions you can look forward to when the parks reopen, such as Avengers Campus and the Spider-Man ride featuring Tom Holland.

EA hosted its Q4 2020 financial results today and announced, among other things, plan to release 14 games between now and March 2021. The company also announced it will bring even more titles to the Nintendo Switch, a console the company hasn’t supported very strongly in the past. During a call with investors today, EA announces plans to launch 14 titles in the next fiscal year. The list includes EA’s traditional, annual sports games like FIFA and Madden, as well as previously announced games like Command and Conquer Remastered, games on mobile, and Burnout Paradise on Switch. [ignvideo url="https://www.ign.com/videos/2019/08/01/ea-says-people-dont-want-to-play-its-games-on-switch"] Speaking of Burnout Paradise, EA also announced that it will launch “multiple” EA games on Switch this year. The company has supported the Switch with games like FIFA, but have been notably slower to adopt the console compared to other third-party developers. One mystery is whether the next Battlefield game is part of that list. EA confirmed a new Battlefield will skip 2020 and instead release in 2021. Since the list only includes games up until March 2021, there’s a chance Battlefield isn’t the mysterious HD game EA mentioned in the call. Other highlights from EA’s investor calls include big growth in its live service sector driven by games like Apex Legends and Ultimate Team sports games. Coincidentally, EA and Respawn revealed the Apex Legends Season 5 today. [ignvideo url="https://www.ign.com/videos/2020/05/05/apex-legends-season-5-fortunes-favor-launch-trailer"] The next game EA announced for Switch is Burnout Paradise Remastered which will retail for a whopping $50. Check out our Burnout Paradise review here. [poilib element="accentDivider"] Matt Kim is a reporter for IGN.

EA hosted its Q4 2020 financial results today and announced, among other things, plan to release 14 games between now and March 2021. The company also announced it will bring even more titles to the Nintendo Switch, a console the company hasn’t supported very strongly in the past. During a call with investors today, EA announces plans to launch 14 titles in the next fiscal year. The list includes EA’s traditional, annual sports games like FIFA and Madden, as well as previously announced games like Command and Conquer Remastered, games on mobile, and Burnout Paradise on Switch. [ignvideo url="https://www.ign.com/videos/2019/08/01/ea-says-people-dont-want-to-play-its-games-on-switch"] Speaking of Burnout Paradise, EA also announced that it will launch “multiple” EA games on Switch this year. The company has supported the Switch with games like FIFA, but have been notably slower to adopt the console compared to other third-party developers. One mystery is whether the next Battlefield game is part of that list. EA confirmed a new Battlefield will skip 2020 and instead release in 2021. Since the list only includes games up until March 2021, there’s a chance Battlefield isn’t the mysterious HD game EA mentioned in the call. Other highlights from EA’s investor calls include big growth in its live service sector driven by games like Apex Legends and Ultimate Team sports games. Coincidentally, EA and Respawn revealed the Apex Legends Season 5 today. [ignvideo url="https://www.ign.com/videos/2020/05/05/apex-legends-season-5-fortunes-favor-launch-trailer"] The next game EA announced for Switch is Burnout Paradise Remastered which will retail for a whopping $50. Check out our Burnout Paradise review here. [poilib element="accentDivider"] Matt Kim is a reporter for IGN.

Like many other businesses, employees and game developers at Activision Blizzard have transitioned to working from home. However, that hasn’t stopped Activision from confirming that the next “Premium Call of Duty” is on track to release later this year. Activision Blizzard’s new Chief Operating Officer and president Daniel Alegre spoke with investors today to share Activision’s Q1 2020 results. Despite the changes to the workplace caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, Alegre confirmed that the next mainline Call of Duty game is “on track for later this year.” [widget path="global/article/imagegallery" parameters="albumSlug=every-ign-call-of-duty-review&captions=true"] Alegre also said two titles “based on library IP” from Activision are in development. This means there are two games not based on Call of Duty in development. This could potentially mean games like Crash Bandicoot or Spyro. Activision did not confirm what these titles are so there’s space for speculation. Call of Duty has overperformed in recent months thanks to the huge sales for Call of Duty: Modern Warfare and the popularity of Call of Duty: Warzone. Activision confirmed the sell-through for Modern Warfare is the highest in the franchise months after launch, and Warzone hit 60 million players. [ignvideo url="https://www.ign.com/videos/2020/03/09/call-of-duty-warzone-official-trailer"] While Activision still hasn’t announced what the next Call of Duty game will be, you can read our Call of Duty: Modern Warfare review here. [poilib element="accentDivider"] Matt Kim is a reporter for IGN.