Month: March 2020

A teacher has found a way to deliver his lessons remotely using virtual reality… and Half-Life: Alyx.

Charles Coomber, a Multiple-Subjects teacher from San Diego has taken to YouTube to deliver a lesson about Angle Vocabulary using in-game marker pens and planks of wood.

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This homeschooling stroke of genius is made possible by the sheer level of detail in the opening moments of Half-Life: Alyx, which lets players draw on the windows in Alyx’s greenhouse.

Coomber leads his students through the hallmarks of complementary and supplementary angles with serious charisma, using window panes and a set of coloured markers.

At one point, he even brandishes a plank of wood for a physical demonstration. Coomber ends the video with a challenging problem in Alyx’s surveillance room, erasing part of her detailed Citadel layout in the process…

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As he offers up his knowledge, you can hear Combine alarms and patrols puttering about in the streets, City 17’s Citadel looming large in the background.

This clever remote teaching method is clearly a response to the COVID-19 crisis, which has led countries to close schools and forced teachers to adapt to provide learning. If you’re yet to dive into Valve’s latest, check out our review of the game, which we thought “set a new bar for VR.”

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For even more detail on Half-Life: Alyx, you can check out our interview with Alyx developers Robin Walker and Chris Remo about the potential of Valve making more Half-Life games in the future.

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Jordan Oloman is a freelance writer for IGN who feels deeply ashamed by his failure to understand 8th Grade maths. It’s been a while, ok! Follow him on Twitter.

Chinese theaters are beginning to reopen, and will initially be showing popular blockbusters such as the Avengers films and Avatar.

The Hollywood Reporter states that between 600 and 700 cinemas have reopened, with more to come, after closing to help limit the spread of the viral outbreak – and they’re hoping to fill seats using blockbuster films.

Among the movies Chinese theatres are reportedly planning to show are all four of the Avengers films, as well as other blockbusters like James Cameron’s Avatar, and Christopher Nolan’s Inception and Interstellar.

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So far, only smaller cinemas have opened across the country and larger chains are still waiting to resume business. However, with more and more businesses opening back up in the country, likely only a matter of time.

We found out earlier today that Warner Bros. has postponed the release of some of it’s upcoming movies such as Wonder Woman 1984, which adds to the list of every film and show affected by Covid-19. Theme parks like Universal and Disney have also temporarily closed but, on the flip-side, the Sonic the Hedgehog movie is getting an early digital release so people can watch it in self-isolation.

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Hope Corrigan is an Australian freelance writer for IGN. You can follow her on Twitter and Instagram.