With handhelds being replaced by smartphones, many wondered if people would even take the Nintendo Switch out of the dock. As it turns out, people prefer it that way. Who needs a big screen anyway?
The post Nintendo Switch owners tend to prefer handheld to docked use appeared first on Digital Trends.
Mario’s return in “Super Mario Odyssey” is a fun, but predictable retread of the series’ past.
The post ‘Super Mario Odyssey’ review appeared first on Digital Trends.
Assassin's Creed Origins is a much more difficult game than its predecessors. Here are the tips and tricks you need to master the ancient Egyptian adventure and become a deadly assassin.
The post Master ‘Assassin’s Creed Origins’ with our beginner’s guide appeared first on Digital Trends.
Super Mario Odyssey is a big game with lots to discover. From finding power moons, to Mario's most useful new moves, here are 10 essential Super Mario Odyssey tips to keep in mind while hopping from world to world.
The post Shoot for the power moon with these 11 ‘Super Mario Odyssey’ tips and tricks appeared first on Digital Trends.
Finance is a complex, difficult and often risky business. There are a number of players at work within the world of finance who are entirely prepared to ignore rules and laws to get their own way, engaging in fraud and unethical practices. UK-based financial tech company SPECTRE.ai have noticed this tendency, and is turning to blockchain and virtual reality (VR) in an effort to curb it.
Blockchain and cryptocurrency has been in the news fairly regularly of late, reflecting its status as a growing area in technology and finance. SPECTRE.ai have seen this rise, and have responded by adding cryptocurrency expert and VR engineer Scott Driscoll to its board advisors. This has allowed SPECTRE.ai to begin to add VR to its trading platform.
The CEO of SPECTRE.ai, Karan Khemani commented: “The installed base of HTC Vive, Sony PS VR, Oculus and other VR headsets is only moving in one direction: up! this represents an ideal opportunity to convert live OHLC candlestick data into 3d objects in 3d landscapes and allow traders to trade with a new level of immersion and feel for the market. Tie this to Spectre.ai’s broker-less technology and bring in social trading and it’s a slam dunk for traders.”
The plan for SPECTRE.ai’s trading platform is to offer a comprehensive 3D map of current market trends, along with predictions and charts, which can be viewed in VR for a more complete picture of the direction of the various markets, potentially offering crucial warning of any upcoming problems. The platform also offers algorithms that can spot risky trading behaviour and issue warnings to prevent disasters before they occur.
Oto Suvari, the group’s R&D director explained “Any trader will know that your standard issue web-trader offers 2d multi time frame charts which offer no depth in trading. You’ll be looking at a 5 minute chart and expecting the price to bounce off a flat, northern bollinger-band boundary hoping to buy some at the nearest moving average. However, without painstakingly zooming out to larger time frames to see where a more reliable moving average or support level may rest further below, the trader really isn’t presented with all information they need to make a reliable trading decision. In a VR scenario, the trader can literally fly over to this boundary and look down a giant 3d cliff, immediately identifying all the moving averages below him/her through time, instantly. As the experience is immersive, the trader’s body will be able to sense and feel depth as well forcing them to look before leaping!”
VRFocus will continue to report on new innovations in VR technology.
By this point in my life I’m fairly certain that my phone likely auto-corrects any mention of the word “Steam” to just be “Steam sale” because of how frequent and amazing the deals are. Every season there is a new sale, sometimes even more often than that, with deep discounts on some of the best games around — old and new alike. This Halloween season is no different with great discounts on some of the best horror (and dark, gory, non-horror) games that money can buy.
However, if you’ve already played The Evil Within, Dead by Daylight, DOOM, and other non-VR titles, why not dip your toe into the spooky end of the VR spectrum? Some of its best releases over the past year and a half have been of the horror variety and there is a great selection on display in this year’s Halloween sale.
There are some real heavy-hitters on that list. Most notably, Arizona Sunshine (25% off), The Brookhaven Experiment (50% off,) A Chair in a Room: Greenwater (50% off,) and Duck Season (15% off) all really jump out if you haven’t had the chance to try them yet.
You can check out the full list of VR and non-VR horror game sales right here. It ends tomorrow, so don’t waste too much time deciding! Let us know what you think down in the comments below!
Tagged with: sale, steam, vr horror
At Paris Games Week, Bluehole Studio announced that PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds will come to the Xbox One Preview program December 12. Version 1.0 for PC is also expected by the end of the year.
The post ‘PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds’ drops into Xbox One preview program December 12 appeared first on Digital Trends.
You may be bored with Halloween already – or maybe looking forward to going trick or treating later – but if you’re not then there’s plenty of virtual reality (VR) scares available to keep you entertained. Even Fanta is getting in on the act with a new 360-degree experience called The 13th Floor.
Available for free, the immersive video puts viewers in a seemingly ordinary elevator as they head to a party on the 13 floor. Things start to take a turn for the worst when the floor is reached but the doors don’t open, and the floor numbers begin to skip all over the place.
As this is a horror video you can expect all sorts of jump scares – nothing too terrifying – as the elevator visits various floors at will, revealing all sorts of weird and wonderful characters behind each door. Beware though, as not everything is located outside the elevator, and as everyone knows all the best jump scares happen right behind you.
The video can be viewed below, or via the YouTube app if you’re on a mobile. Obviously to get the best experience – and to make it as scary as possible – you’ll want to use a VR head-mounted display like Google Cardboard or Google Daydream along with some headphones.
For those after some more scares there are plenty of VR videogames available. How about checking out VRFocus’ Halloween Fright Night: 5 Screamingly Good VR Horror Titles, covering PlayStation VR, HTC Vive and Oculus Rift. Or if you’re quick and own the latter headset there’s still a sale going on for some terrifying titles.
As ever, keep reading VRFocus for all your latest new and updates on the VR world.
A graphic novel from Will.i.am and the Black Eyed Peas is being adapted for the Gear VR to release in 2018.
The sci-fi story from Will.i.am adapted to VR will feature the voice talent of performers such as Queen Latifah, Rakim, Ice T and Jamie Foxx, and in the trailer below you can hear Marvel comics’ Stan Lee narrating.
Master of the Sun appears to draw from Egypt mythology set against a backdrop of social commentary when “aliens attack, releasing a curse that turns drug dealers and gangbangers into zombies.” From the description:
Armed with a deep love of hip-hop culture, Zulu-X must work together with his crew to unlock the mysteries of an ancient order and save their city.
Given that the project is coming to Gear VR it would be surprising if it didn’t launch on Oculus Go as well, the $200 standalone headset on the way early in 2018. Software on Gear VR will be fully compatible with Oculus Go.
Masters of the Sun releases in January 2018.
Tagged with: Masters of the Sun
Intel are one of the biggest and most recognisable names in computer technology, the second largest manufacturer of semiconductor chips in the world and a company deeply involved in the world of virtual reality (VR). While not as outwardly involved as companies such as Oculus or Google, Intel nonetheless play a central role in the rise of VR, as Kim Pallister, who runs the Intel VR Center of Excellence, explains.
Speaking to Gameindustry.biz, Pallister speaks about the misconception that VR is all about the more powerful graphics cards, pointing out the vital role of the CPU in the process: “We said, okay, the initial wave of focus was a lot on the graphics and HMDs. You have high-res displays, you have a lot of pixels available. So there was this sentiment that, hey, this is really just a graphics thing. And we said, hey, we think that actually driving the simulation, doing the physics under the hood, doing all of the stuff that you do in a 3D game application but doing it in 90 frames per second instead of, let’s say, 30, or maybe 60, that’s going to drive a lot of compute performance on the platform too.”
Intel are also getting involved with widening the ‘spectrum’ of VR devices, noting the flat spot in between high-end PC-based VR and mobile VR. As Pallister says: “A lot of that focus on that work with Microsoft [and its mixed reality push] was about making it not require as high-end a graphic solution and making it run on a 15-watt notebook. Because we think it’s important that, for some people, as magical as it is, they’re gonna say, yeah, but I only buy one notebook and I need it to be really thin and light and fit in my bag and I wanna take it to school or work or whatever. So I don’t have the luxury of a big high-end gaming desktop. We think it’s important that there be a flavor of VR for those folks as well.”
Pallister also says there might be too much focus on high-resolution, realistic graphics: “Will there be people that say, yeah, I want the Nintendo Wii of VR? Less photo-realism but more convenience? I’m sure that a contingent of people will want that. Again, I think that overall it’s good for the industry if there’s a wide spectrum of choices between appliance and general purpose machines, and high-performance and low-performance. It just gives people more choice and it brings more critical mass to support all the developers out there.”
Intel are also one of the companies hard at work on a wireless solution for high-end VR, so expect the company to remain a big name in VR development.
VRFocus will continue to bring you the latest developments in the VR industry.
Stranger Things has been a smash hit for Netflix, reveling in the 80s setting to weave in multiple familiar 80s pop culture references whilst simultaneously weaving a compelling story that has captured the imagination of audiences. Developer Turtle Rock are trying to tap into the popularity with the release of free Stranger Things themed DLC for Samsung Gear VR title Face Your Fears.
Announced at the Oculus Connect event, Turtle Rock have partnered with Netflix and Oculus to bring a taste of the uncanny world of Stranger Things to the Samsung Gear VR. The DLC is free to download for users who already have a copy of Face Your Fears, and features an original story based on the hit Netflix show.
Tying into the seconds season of Stranger Things, as well as drawing on all the spookiness that is traditional at Halloween, the DLC lets players travel to the sleepy town of Hawkins, Indiana to encounter some strange events, eventually encountering the dark, twisted other dimension of Stranger Things known as ‘the Upside Down’.
Face your Fears was originally released on Samsung Gear VR on Halloween 2016, and put players in situations where many common phobias would be brought to life. Several scenarios are featured in the title, such as Skyscraper, where the user is atop a very high building. If you peer over the site, you will see a deadly killer robot slowly ascending towards you. Or Haunting, where the player is a small child surrounded by creaks and groans and bumps in the night. Is just the ordinary sounds of a old house, or something far more dangerous?
Face Your Fears and the Stranger Things DLC are both available for free download. Further details can be found on the Oculus Store.
VRFocus will bring you further news on Face Your Fears and other new VR content as it becomes available.
apelab has today launched the full edition of Break a Leg on the Samsung Gear VR, a new virtual reality (VR) videogame which casts the player as an unfortunate magician. Available to download now, this final release version follows a preview chapter launched back in June of this year.
Who is the greatest magician of the universe? Harry Houdini? David Copperfield? Well, today it could become you: starting tonight, Samsung Gear VR owners can enter the enchanted world of Break a Leg and perform tricks like a true illusionist on Halloween Night.
Break a Leg is a VR experience inspired by the magic shows of the 19th Century. The videogame tells the tale of an unknown creature that has kidnapped you as part of a plan to unleash the ‘Ultimate Power of The Galaxy’. Only a human being can unleash its force by going through the ancient book of Stellar Tricks written by Houdini’s Great Great Aunt Maggie in person.
Using the new Samsung Controller as a wand players will perform iconic magic tricks such as “The Orange Tree”, “The Vanishing Assistant” or train your sleight of hand in Break a Leg’s second act, called “The Professor”.
“VR and theater are really close, it is all about acting. In Break a Leg you really are the actor on your own stage,” states Maria Beltran, CDO at apelab. “The game is also really funny, with strange and exotic creatures and great challenges, it is a total new world.”
apelab developed Break a Leg using their own SpatialStories software, which is currently taking on beta applications. This Unity plugin, currently in development as a full software title, allows developers to craft augmented reality (AR) or VR videogames and experiences without any prior coding knowledge. Users simply upload designs, convert them into interactive objects and assign to them predefined behaviors.
Break a Leg is now available to download from the Oculus Store, exclusively for Samsung Gear VR, priced at $5.99 USD/ £4.49 GBP. The official launch trailer for Break a Leg follows below and VRFocus will keep you updated with all the latest from apelab.
Ubisoft will take the Far Cry series to Hope County, Montana in Far Cry 5. The game will be the first entry since last year's spinoff, Far Cry Primal. Here's everything we know about the game so far.
The post Everything we know about ‘Far Cry 5’ appeared first on Digital Trends.
When machinery goes wrong at a factory, it can potentially mean thousands in lost revenue, sometimes requiring visits from specialist engineers. Making the repair process as fast as possible is crucial, but on-site technicians can’t be experts on everything, and specialist engineers can’t be everywhere. So Electrolux have turned to augmented reality (AR) to solve this problem.
The tech manufacturer has begun a roll-out of AR smart glasses and accompanying software at sixteen factories in Europe, the Middle East and Africa in order to speed up the maintenance process and keep factory production lines moving.
The mobile application is called Tempestive Reamplia, and works in conjunction with AR smat glasses to let an on-site technician collaborate with an expert engineer at a remote location. This set up allows to remote engineer to see what the technician is seeing, a vital part of troubleshooting, as well as provide instructions, which can appear as graphical images on the AR display, allowing the technician on site to quickly find and rectify the problem without needing to ask the engineer for an expensive and time-consuming site visit. The engineer can also use the system to pass along updated instructions, annotated images and technical documentation.
“Digitization is changing fast our working environment in operations and is starting to add value and competitive advantages for the company. Using this technology means the onsite technician can work hands-free and the problem can be identified quickly and easily, without misunderstanding. It cuts costs and traveling, saves time and reduces the failure rate and gets equipment faster back to work,” says Carsten Franke, SVP Industrial Operations, Major Appliances EMEA.
AR is beginning to have a substantial impact on the world of industry and enterprise, with companies such as Vuzix aiming its products at that sector of the market, and many brands and companies discovering the advantages of using AR technology in areas such as construction, retail, design and automotive. The relaunch of Google Glass has also been focussed on this area.
VRFocus will continue to report on new developments in the AR sector.
Yesterday certainly held plenty of surprises for fans of PlayStation VR with Sony Interactive Entertainment (SIE) releasing a barrage of info on new videogames. As part of its Paris Games Week press conference SIE announced that Sony London Studio is working on a new virtual reality (VR) called Blood & Truth with a short teasing trailer. For those that want to know more about the title a new video has been released interviewing the dev team.
Blood & Truth is the spiritual successor to Sony London Studio’s The London Heist, which featured as part of launch compendium PlayStation VR Worlds. Set in the underground world of London’s organised crime, The London Heist featured a mixture of gameplay mainly revolving around a first-person shooter mechanic, with players involved with car chases and more.
With Blood & Truth this idea has now been expanded with players cast as Ryan Marks, who leaves London for a stint in the army, only to return to find his family has been murdered. Now out for revenge, Marks’ quest will take him through the city’s seedy underbelly, breaking and entering his way into enemy hideouts, casinos and all manner of mayhem.
Players will dual wield pistols and automatic weapons as they gun down enemies as well as finding secret routes and picking locks in order to gain entry to enemy hideouts. As Stuart Whyte, Blood & Truth’s Director explains in the video: “[We wanted to] dial it up to 11, and really just amp up the action.”
In The London Heist players were static for each sequence, so for Blood & Truth they can now move about far more freely, reload, plant explosives while taking enemies out, crawl through vents and loads more, making for a far more interactive and immersive experience.
Exclusive to PlayStation VR, Blood & Truth will require two PlayStation Move motion controllers to play and while no release date has yet been confirmed it’s expected to arrive at some point in 2018.
Check out the interview below and as development continues VRFocus will keep you updated.
For VR gamers E3 2017 was like a greatest hits of Bethesda’s back catalog. Between Fallout 4 VR, which we already had very high up on our radar and the newly announced DOOM VFR, we didn’t think there was much room left for more from the ZeniMax-owned gaming powerhouse. But then at Sony’s press conference the following night we learned that The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim is also getting the full VR treatment, this time coming first to the PlayStation VR (PSVR.)
After going hands-on with the game and awarding it our crown of Best PSVR Game at E3 2017, the anticipation is mounting. As someone that’s continued playing Skyrim off and on ever since it came out, across multiple releases, characters, save files, expansions, and mods, I’m thrilled at the idea of returning to the snow-capped mountains of the north. So excited, in fact, I decided to run through some of my favorite areas in the game and put together this list of the 11 most amazing places that I can’t wait to explore again in Skyrim VR. If you’re a Fallout 4 fan, make sure to also check our list of places for that game right here.
I am not personally afflicted with the travel bug in real life. I don’t have the urge to explore the whole wide world, at least not yet, or visit dozens of other countries while backpacking and hitchhiking. In fact, most of the time I am content to just stay at home with my family, kick back, relax, and enjoy a nice game or movie. But the Northern Lights are an exception. I don’t know what it is about that particular sight, but I want to see them in person before I leave this Earth. Luckily, you can see a gorgeous facsimile in Skyrim VR when it releases. Just look at that screenshot!
The Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind is still, to this day, one of my all-time favorite games. There’s something about its bizarre landscapes, twisted setting, and incredibly unique architecture that appeals to me like no other fantasy world. In the Dragonborn DLC for Skyrim you get the chance to visit a small sliver of the world of Morrowind so you too can witness why it’s such a beloved entry in the long-running franchise. Now maybe they can add VR support to The Elder Scrolls Online and let us all explore it in its entirety in VR with updated graphics.
If you follow the main storyline in Skyrim for any length of time at all I highly recommend that you at least get far enough to visit the Greybeards atop Skyrim’s tallest mountain known as The Throat of the World. Once you reach the very tip top you can gaze down at the world and take in the magnificent size of it all. It’s breathtaking. Let’s hope the visuals on the PSVR can live up to the majesty this vista deserves.
When I play Skyrim I always start out intending to be a mage and eventually devolve into a hack ‘n slash killing machine that lops off heads left and right. It’s my nature, I suppose. But every now and then I’m able to continue down the path of magic long enough to join the Mage’s College at Winterhold and the journey up to this beautiful palace is always worth the trouble. Ascending to its precarious position at the edge of a cliff with nothing but a thin bridge connecting it to the rest of the world will be quite the perilous journey in VR.
While traditionally known as the Nordic afterlife, you don’t have to die in order to visit Sovngarde during your playthrough of Skyrim. You’ll eventually venture here on the main questline if you stick it out and you’d be hard-pressed to find a good reason not to. This place is simply gorgeous and its easily one of the most beautiful areas in the entire game and will be nothing short of spectacular to see again rendered with the immersive power of a VR headset.
The Dragonborn DLC gets two shout outs on this list. This second entry is for a specific tomb that you can go to in Solstheim and although it isn’t as massive or sprawling as some of the other places on this list, it’s worth including for the experience alone. The Lost Legacy sidequest takes you here and you’ll get to face off against all manner of Draugr, including the red-eyed corrupted one shown above. Can you imagine staring down this enemy while going face-to-face in VR?
Don’t let the name fool you: Blackreach is a much more interesting place than it sounds on moniker alone. The bright blue lights emanating from the mushroom-like trees give off a very other-worldly Morrowind-esque vibe that’s mixed with the bright and wonderful stylings that only Skyrim is known for. You’ll likely visit this location a handful of times in your dozens or hundreds of hours playing Skyrim, so there is plenty of opportunity to soak in the beauty.
Visually Whiterun isn’t the most impressive city on this list. It’s actually a bit bland. But in all likelihood it will be the first major city that you visit and approaching it from the distance, seeing its buildings sprawled out in a large area with the castle at the center, is a treat that rewards your adventurous spirit. You’ll likely spend a lot of time in this city during the early levels before you move on to grander things, but it’s nice to remember where you came from once you’re take a break from slaying giants and dragons like they’re mudcrabs for the day.
Despite the ominous rib cages and various other decaying corpses, the Eastmarch Springs are actually quite nice. The green water and somewhat toxic fumes are oddly alluring while the steam rises from the warm liquid’s surface in the middle of the snow-tipped plains. Bethesda’s art direction is top notch here and it’ll be extremely pleasant on the eyes to pay it a visit again in VR.
Solitude is one of those city’s that is better off if you do decide to judge a book by its cover. Inside the walls it’s a bit bland and doesn’t hold as much excitement as its outer persona alludes, but the journey to Solitude — much like the Mage’s College — is half the fun. Following the river up towards the city and seeing it spread across the cliffside is a delight to see and the sense of scale is staggering.
Finally, this is easily one of my absolute favorite encounters in the entire game. At night time while exploring the wilderness you might be visited by the Headless Horseman’s ghost. If you’re quick enough to keep up and follow him he can actually lead you somewhere really thoughtful and interesting…but I don’t want to spoil it here. Just go find him!
When you get Skyrim VR it will include all of the official DLC packs, which means Hearthfire is available from the start. That lets you build your very own home — or you can buy one in many of the game’s cities. While the location of “Where is home?” will change depending on who is playing and the contents will vary based on what you collect and display, there’s nothing quite like visiting home after a hard day’s work of adventuring. Why not ask your husband or wife in the game to cook you a pot of stew while you unload your treasures?
Editor’s Note: This article was previously published on July 15, 2017. We are re-running it as a companion to our Skyrim smooth locomotion hands-on preview.
Tagged with: Bethesda, elder scrolls, Skyrim
Sony have been waving the virtual reality (VR) flag high during Paris Games Week, kicking off the event with a slew of announcements for the VR platform, providing updates on some titles that were already known about as well as announcing some brand-new titles. The announcement are not over yet, however, as it has now been confirmed that DOOM VFR will be compatible with the PlayStation Aim controller.
Last week an update to the US PlayStation Store listing for DOOM VFR seemed to suggest that the title would indeed be compatible with the Aim Controller peripheral, which was introduced earlier this year alongside sci-fi FPS Farpoint. Many PlayStation VR users has been hoping for Aim controller compatibility to increase the immersion of the experience. The Aim controller has proven to be a very popular peripheral with users, with several titles already incorporating compatibility, such as Arizona Sunshine and The Brookhaven Experiment.
DOOM VFR is one of the most anticipated VR titles of this year, and will be following the mechanics of 2016’s DOOM fairly tightly, though offering some VR twists on gameplay, along with a new story. The new protagonist for DOOM VFR is a scientist who was working at the facility where the DOOM franchise’s famous BFG gun is developed. Caught up in a demonic invasion, the scientist is killed, but their consciousness is uploaded into a machine, which allows the player to take control of a gun-toting security robot and take on the demonic hordes.
DOOM VFR has been available for attendees at Paris Game Week to try out, boasting a new playable build of the title which features some improvements and fixes over versions seen at previous events.
You can check out a VRFocus video on DOOM VFR below.
The title is due to be released on PlayStation VR and HTC Vive on 1st December 2017.
VRFocus will bring you further news on DOOM VFR as it becomes available.
The first time I tried The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim VR at E3 2017 earlier this year I was optimistic. For me, it was enough just to visit the world of Tamriel from inside the immersive confines of a VR headset. However, it had some major flaws. Until now the only demo we’d seen required you to teleport around the game world using PlayStation’s Move Controllers. Needless to say it was a lackluster implementation and when compared to Fallout 4 VR, the issues were even more prominent.
Thankfully yesterday at a private PlayStation press event in San Francisco, CA I got the chance to try a vastly updated build of Skyrim VR. This latest demo was essentially the entire game, not just a pre-scripted section, and featured both PS Move and Dualshock 4 controller support. Finally, this was the VR edition of Skyrim I’d imagined.
The demo loaded up with a basic, well-rounded level 10 character standing out in the wilderness. I tried playing with the PS Move controllers first since that’s the most unique and VR-ified version of the game. In the options menu I could toggle between smooth movement or teleportation, so I made sure to enable the smooth movement option, and rotation turns could be toggled to snap or smooth as well. To use smooth movement with the Move controllers all you do is point your left Move controller in the direction you want to go and hold down the Move button on the front of the controller. That’s it. From here your character will slide in whichever direction you’re pointing that hand so you can strafe, go forwards, back-peddle, and everything else quite easily. Rotation is done with the face buttons on the right Move controller.
Controlling my character this way sort of felt like I was wearing rollerskates at first, or driving a vehicle, but it eventually felt pretty natural after a short while. The biggest issue with this control method is that it essentially means you can’t easily move and use your left hand in combat. While aiming the bow, for example, I’d stretch my left hand out to aim at an enemy and instinctively wanted to strafe or move a bit while aiming, but wasn’t able to since the controller was being used elsewhere at the moment and wasn’t pointed correctly.
Naturally if you opt to use the Dualshock 4 control scheme then it’s a lot like you’re playing Skyrim outside of VR, but with the added benefit of head tracking. Everything worked smoothly in this setup and the controls were familiar with a more intuitive analog stick movement system. That being said, the added layer of immersion the PS Move controllers afford was lost in the process.
Swinging my arm to swing a sword, pulling back the arrow on my bow, and raising my shield to block attacks all felt great and those sorts of interactions are lost when using standard Dualshock 4 controls. To switch movement systems you have to back out to the main menu and reload your save with the appropriate options selected.
When we spoke to Bethesda’s VP of Marketing and PR, Pete Hines, at QuakeCon earlier this year, he talked about how some parts of transitioning Skyrim to VR interfaces were made easier by the mere fact that it’s a six year old game full of content that’s still relevant, polished, and ripe to this day. They didn’t have to design a game from the ground up, but instead, just figure out how to fit an existing (albeit enormous) adventure onto Sony’s PSVR headset.
The fact that I was actually playing Skyrim and not just a watered down iteration sunk in when I opened up the map screen during my latest demo. Rather than just panning across a flat map like you do in the base game, in Skyrim VR you actually get to fly across the world, Google Earth VR style, and choose your destination that way. Zooming over to the tip of the Throat of the World or any of the other amazing locations with an eagle eye view, only to then fast travel down to them was exhilarating. It’s a whole new way of seeing the land of Skyrim through the lenses of a VR headset.
So far the biggest hurdle for a game like Skyrim VR is still the menu navigation. In any modern, large-scale RPG you’re going to spend a lot of time sorting your inventory, leveling up skills, talking to NPCs, looting objects, and perusing other various menus and submenus. Unfortunately doing all that in VR (especially with the Move controllers) is far from ideal. Using the motion controllers you have to flick your wrist from side-to-side or up and down to navigate menus due to the lack of a directional input and even using the Dualshock 4 it feels a bit jarring to have floating black boxes in the game world with you.
Visually the game as a whole can’t hold a candle to the latest “Special Edition” version of the game that released on PC and PS4/Xbox One. When a non-VR game makes the transition to VR a lot of visual fidelity is lost in the process and that’s definitely true here. There is a vague, although noticeable, downgrade across the board, but honestly the environment designs are so beautiful still and the world is so vast, that it’s a reasonable tradeoff to get a game of this magnitude running on PSVR hardware.
The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim VR is set to release on November 17, 2017 for PSVR and is expected to come to PC VR headsets sometime afterwards. Let us know what you think of the game so far down in the comments below!
Tagged with: Bethesda, The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim
The PlayStation 4 is more affordable than ever, and many of its best games can also be had on the cheap. If you're on the hunt for some new games, here are 15 awesome titles you may have missed. Each costs just $20 or less.
The post Score these must-have PlayStation 4 games for $20 or less appeared first on Digital Trends.
If you’ve not watched season one of hit Netflix show Stranger Things yet then you really should as the second season has now begun streaming. Becoming the norm at the moment is the addition of a virtual reality (VR) experience to popular TV shows and movies and Stranger Things is no different, with content first being shown during the San Diego Comic Con (SDCC) earlier this year. Today, a new trailer has been released confirming support for PlayStation VR.
The short 30 second teaser trailer for Stranger Things: The VR Experience doesn’t reveal any gameplay footage, cinematic moments or anything that really details what the videogame might be like – it is a teaser after all.
All you get are the famous blinking lights above the alphabet, with four spelling out ‘PSVR’ before they all change to say ‘coming soon to PlayStation VR’. And that’s all you get. With the first episode of season two having been broadcast last week it’s more than likely that the VR experience will appear at some point during this season.
The previous SDCC 360-degree video was set in the house of Joyce Byers, as was the VR experience attendees got to try using HTC Vive. So it’s likely that the PlayStation VR version will be a port of this original title – although SDCC players donned a backpack PC and walked around a massive roomscale environment using OptiTrack sensors – albeit with a few changes to work with PlayStation VR’s technology.
VRFocus will continue to follow Stranger Things: The VR Experience, reporting back with any further updates.
Horror videogames were never that overly scary when played on a monitor or TV screen as you could always see the world around you and look away if things did get a bit too intense. With virtual reality (VR) however the genre found a natural home, able to envelope you in decaying mansions or howling woods, dialling that feeling of fear and dread up to eleven. Every noise or flickering shadow taunting you with the prospect of some nasty beastie suddenly appearing to gnaw your face off. So as its Halloween, and in the spirit of all things spooky, VRFocus has compiled a list of some of the best titles to play this evening to scare the living sh*t out of you. Have fun and remember, don’t look behind you.
You can’t really have a list of horror videogames without having Resident Evil somewhere in among them all, and the latest version which launched at the beginning of the year is one of the best.
Once again set in a creepy house, Resident Evil 7 biohazard features the ever so lovely Baker family who are there to make your life a misery – or kill you preferably – as you look for a way out of the madness.
This is the first Resi videogame completely played from a first-person perspective – which ideally suits VR – with players wandering the rooms and corridors of this dilapidated building picking up the usual weapon items and herbs.
Exclusive to PlayStation VR – for the first 12 months at least – there have been a couple of DLC releases to expand the content, giving players plenty of hours of jumps, scares and shooting action for their money.
Coming from British developer Wales Interactive, Don’t Knock Twice is a partial movie tie in with a horror flick of the same name with starred Katee Sackhoff. The videogame doesn’t use much from the movie, just its basic story outline of a mother trying to save her daughter from an evil witch.
Another horror videogame set in and around a dark mansion, you might be surprised to see Don’t Knock Twice on this list as it only gained three stars in VRFocus’ review. But that doesn’t mean it should be over looked.
While relatively short and with some parts of the experience a little frustrating, one thing the studio managed to nail is the atmosphere. As you explore there’s never really a moment where you feel at ease, the wind whistles outside the windows, candles flicker and dance up the walls and there’s one or two jump scares to really spook the unwary.
Another good reason to take a look is that Don’t Knock Twice is multiplatform, available on HTC Vive, Oculus Rift and PlayStation VR.
Moving away from creepy atmospheric horror to something a bit more action packed, there’s Tripwire Interactive’s Killing Floor: Incursion for Oculus Rift and HTC Vive.
Killing Floor: Incursion is a monster filled action romp, that starts off in some dark deserted woods then as the levels progress you travel the world fighting creatures in sewers and on roof tops. For those that like a good scare this may not be quite down their street as the title is more action orientated, however this does mean the entertainment factor is high, with plenty of guns to choose from, bosses to kill and heads to dismember.
An Oculus Rift exclusive, Wilson’s Heart is an interesting mix scares, story driven adventure and comic book style aesthetics. It certainly doesn’t offer the same freedom as the other titles previously mentioned – there’s no free roaming – with movement handled by point to point teleportation, which makes it easier to handle for those that suffer with VR nausea.
Players find themselves in the body of Robert Wilson, a 1940’s hospital patient who makes a grim discovery upon waking up. His heart has been replaced by a mysterious device. As players wander the hospital they’ll discover increasingly maddening corridors, environmental hazards, and sinister inhabitants whilst trying to recover their heart and the reasons for this craziness.
Wilson’s Heart features plenty of brain taxing puzzles with several action sequences thrown in to mix up the pace, making for one of the most innovative experiences for Oculus Rift.
Last but not least is VRWERX’s Paranormal Activity: The Lost Soul for Oculus Rift, HTC Vive and PlayStation VR. This is quintessential horror much like Don’t Knock Twice, with the entire experience making you feel utterly helpless and alone, two ingredients that certainly up the scare factor.
There’s no guns or action like Killing Floor: Incursion just you and a very haunted house. Paranormal Activity: The Lost Soul is one of those VR experiences you might have seen on YouTube where players suddenly get scared, crumpling to the floor.
Based on the hugely popular Paranormal Activity motion-picture series the videogame arms players with just a flashlight, as they explore what appears to be an average looking suburban home before struggling to survive the terror that begins to hunt them.
So there are VRFocus’ suggestions. It’s more than likely this list may have missed off one of your favourites – there are a lot of VR horror titles out there – so why not tell everyone in the comments section below. Additionally, if you’ve got an Oculus Rift or Gear VR then there’s a Halloween sale currently going on to save yourself some cash.
It’s the spookiest time of the year and that means we, of course, have a list of VR experiences you have to jump into this October. As anyone with an Oculus Rift, HTC Vive or PlayStation VR headset will now, the horror genre takes on a new life in VR. Monsters come to life, threat becomes much more imminent, and the atmosphere becomes almost unbearably bleak. Needless to say, these five apps are only for the bravest of VR users out there. We salute you.
If you want to take your heart rate on a literal rollercoaster ride then look no further than Supermassive Games’ spin-off to its beloved horror game. Rush of Blood takes you inside the mind of one of the original game’s cast for a twisted, terrifying tour of insanity. Blast away monsters using DualShock 4 or Move controls and try not to throw your headset at the mountains of jump scares headed your way.
If you’d prefer to take the fight to the monsters this Halloween then Incursion is your best bet. True, this game’s got beasts scarier than anything you’ll find in VR, but you’ve got the arsenal to match. Hack, slash and shoot your way through hordes of blood-soaked baddies but feel really, really cool doing it. If you don’t have a Rift then note that it’s releasing on Vive in early November.
Paranormal Activity may no longer be making an annual trip to the cinema, but it’s still providing fresh scares inside VR. The Lost Soul is an original adventure set in the demonic universe that uses randomized scares to keep you on your toes throughout. Limited tools means you’ll often have to hide or run from enemies and a lack of HUD keeps you immersed in the experience at all times. We’ll let you decide if that’s a good thing.
One of the first horror experiences for the HTC Vive is still one of its best. Chair in a Room is a psychological horror game that tells a disturbing story. It’s less concerned with jump scares and more focused on a dark atmosphere in which you piece the narrative together while solving puzzles. If you’re looking to support indie horror this year then this is absolutely something you should be picking up.
Let’s finish up with what’s easily the best and most terrifying game on this list. It’s difficult to overstate just how pant-wettingly terrifying Resident Evil 7 is in VR from its stab-tacular opening right the way through to the end. Taking on the Baker family inside PSVR is a task only for the very bravest amongst us, which is a shame because this is genuinely one of the best games for VR overall too. More content is coming this December, so be on the lookout.
It’s no secret that The London Heist is the highlight from PlayStation VR Worlds, a collection of small VR game concepts that released alongside the PSVR last year. The package was created by Sony’s London Studio and The London Heist, a short, interactive narrative experience about thieves and an epic car getaway, stole the show. Now a year later those same developers are working together again but this time they’re taking what they learned from working on PSVR Worlds and making a single, fully-developed game called Blood and Truth.
Blood and Truth was announced yesterday during Sony’s Paris Games Week presentation and is being billed as a modern day action game that puts you “in the shoes of an action hero” like never before according to the PlayStation blog post — it feels a bit like James Bond to me from an aesthetic perspective. They weren’t willing to tell me how long it will be, but they did say it’s much longer than a short demo-like experience.
At a private PlayStation press event yesterday I got the chance to go hands-on with the game and play through a brief section. My objective was to track a mobster guy in a hotel/casino and interrogate him to find out the location of his boss, the game’s main bad guy. I could reach down and pull out the silenced pistol on my chest with my right hand and grab an ammo clip from my hip using my left hand. Reloading was done by slamming the clip into the gun, just like in The London Heist.
Movement is a bit unique in Blood and Truth. In the trailer embedded above it seems like the developers included smooth, free locomotion as a movement option but that’s not the case based on what I’ve seen. Instead, there are pre-defined waypoints spread throughout the game that you select and your character will automatically slide across the level towards them.
You could also strafe from side-to-side between movement nodes as well. It feels less like you’re walking and more like the experience is on rails of some kind or you have on rollerskates. I didn’t notice any discomfort, but the lack of control was a bit odd.
The content of my demo was promising and makes me feel like the finished product will feature a lot of gameplay variety. Things start out nice and slow as I’m slowly sneaking into the facility and have to monitor my target’s movements across the casino using security cameras. Eventually I’m discovered and a security guard opens fire, forcing me to creep down the hallway.
On the ground floor of the building I start setting C4 charges on slot machines to rig the place to blow up. Taking my time not to get caught, it was satisfying to focus on VR’s interactive potential. Instead of just tapping a button like you would in a non-VR game, I had to open the pouch, remove the C4, attach it to the surface, and press the red button to arm it. This series of actions coupled with the intensity of enemies searching for me, dramatically enhanced the atmosphere.
Gunplay felt great once the shootout commenced and I was able to easily move between cover even though it was just node-based sliding movement. When the bullets started firing I didn’t care much about the lack of free locomotion because I was so focused on not getting killed, but I could definitely imagine the absence of freedom to explore will get frustrating as the game goes on.
My demo concluded in a foot race as my target tried to flee that was entirely on rails, moving me through the halls completely automatically. Since I needed information I couldn’t shoot my target due to the risk of him dying, so I had to shoot all of the enemies that popped up in my path during the chase, but take care not to hit him in the back. The best moment in the whole demo happened when I shot a fire extinguisher that exploded and resulted in a super slow-motion bullet-time sequence that earned me several headshots. Watching enemy corpses sink lifelessly to the ground is super satisfying, if a bit jarring, due to the game’s relative realism.
Blood and Truth is shaping up to be the game that everyone wanted The London Heist to be in the first place. We look forward to learning more about the game in anticipation of its release for PSVR in 2018.
Tagged with: blood and truth, Paris Games Week, PGW, PSVR, The London Heist
Imgnation Studios, a Brazilian development company focused on virtual reality (VR), has today launched Cow Milking Simulator, a whimsical arcade videogame. Available now for Oculus Rift and HTC Vive, Cow Milking Simulator is, as you might expect, a VR simulation of milking cows.
Cow Milking Simulator is a party game in VR, designed to be played with friends. Players must milk the cow as fast as they can, earning milk, selling some dairy products, eating the cheese and making money. All of this, however, must be conducted under the pressure of a time limit. Players can collect new products, new hats for your cow and milking as fast as they can to place their name on the leaderboards.
Clearly inspired by Owlchemy Labs’ hugely successful Job Simulator: The 2050 Archives, Cow Milking Simulator sees the player instantly transform the milk they’ve collected from the cows into a variety of produce. There’s a variety of madcap goings-on to deal with, such as alien abduction of the cows, and the birghtly coloured design of the environments and objects makes the videogame suitable for players of all ages.
Imgnation Studios has previous experience with VR, having developed Dodge This VR for Samsung Gear VR and the VR port of Angry Birds Space, known simply as Angry Birds Space VR, on behalf of franchise creators Rovio. In a review of Dodge This VR, VRFocus stated: It’s a real shame that Dodge This VR suffers from such an uninspired basic formula, as layered on top is a wonderfully addictive progression system. “The root level gameplay and visual design are simply too weak to support it however, leaving Dodge This VR as a misshapen misfire that can’t compete with the enduring competition in this genre. The hope is that Imgnation will give VR another stab with something more inventive, but as it stands their first effort is decidedly lacklustre.”
Cow Milking Simulator is now available to download via Steam, having launched today, 31st October 2017, compatible with both HTC Vive and Oculus Rift, priced at $4.99 USD. VRFocus will keep you updated with all the latest VR projects from Imgnation Studios.
Nintendo has already sold more than 2 million copies of its new game Super Mario Odyssey, which has only been on sale since October 27. Nearly one-third of Nintendo Switch owners have purchased it.
The post ‘Super Mario Odyssey’ has already sold 2 million copies appeared first on Digital Trends.
Happy Halloween!
If you’re looking for a good scare today, you might want to check out Escape from Pennywise, the latest IT-themed VR experience from Warner Bros.
Strap on your headset and visit the house on Neibolt Street for yourself, all the while trying to avoid the demented clown Pennywise. Be careful though as there’s only one path to safety.
IT: Escape from Pennywise is available now for Google Daydream and Samsung Gear VR.
Here are the best new video games for November, including Call of Duty: WW2, Star Wars: Battlefront II, and Need for Speed Payback. Also, don't forget about Microsoft's new Xbox One X!
The post Stay huddled inside this month with the best new video games in November appeared first on Digital Trends.
Over the past year Universal Music Group (UMG) has been gradually moving into the field of virtual reality (VR), partnering with entrepreneur Simon Fuller to bring Abba to VR, and collaborating with music platform MelodyVR. Its latest endeavour sees the company team up with immersive entertainment firm WITHIN to develop augmented reality (AR) and VR music experiences featuring artists from UMG’s roster.
The pair will work together to create multiple immersive experiences that will be distributed on WITHIN’s app, whilst integrating VR and AR across the creation, production, marketing and promotion of UMG’s new musical tracks, from the recording studio to the release parties, concert stages and more.
“Music is one of the most uniquely transformative mediums of human expression; combining it with immersive AR and VR experiences creates a new artform exponentially more powerful than the sum of its parts,” said Chris Milk, Co-Founder and CEO of WITHIN in a statement. “This partnership allows us the incredible opportunity to work with top artists at UMG to create ever more meaningful and expressive immersive music experiences.”
As yet neither UMG or WITHIN have confirmed what content will likely be seen first. But this isn’t the first time they’ve worked together as WITHIN already has two immersive experiences available from UMG artists, animated VR music video for The Chemical Brothers’ song “Under Neon Lights” featuring St. Vincent. And “KIDS” by OneRepublic which premiered worldwide through the app.
“We are huge admirers of Chris’s innovative and creative work in music and VR, as well as the premium experiences WITHIN offers to music fans,” said Michele Anthony, Executive Vice President at UMG. “Working with our labels and artists, UMG has produced numerous VR experiences and this agreement will help evolve our strategy. Together, UMG and WITHIN will push the boundaries of how audiences experience music and create new ways for artists to forge deeper connections with their fans.”
VRFocus will continue its coverage of WITHIN and UMG, reporting back with the latest announcements.
Back in August, independent developers Reality Gaming Group launched an Initial Coin Offering (ICO) for a blockchain-powered crypto currency, hoping to raise money for the development of a sophisticated player vs player augmented reality (AR) title called Reality Clash. Now the company is boosting its development team with the addition of award winner Henry Hoffman.
Reality Gaming Group successfully raised $3.5 million (USD) in funding with its ICO, and has invested that money in an expansion of its development teams, significantly expanding its Philippines team who are working on the blockchain-based Armory weapon trading platform for the title, as well as hiring significant talent such as the aforementioned Henry Hoffman, who has previously been the recipient of a BAFTA Breakthrough award. The development team hope that Hoffman’s experience and creativity will be an asset as they attempt to bring the complexity of Reality Clash to life.
Reality Clash is an AR title that using location data to allow users to invite local players for an AR-enhanced PvP battle, using a battlefield which can be placed on to many real-world locations such as woodlands and fields, using a Capture the Flag gameplay style to engage in large scale AR battles.
“I’m delighted to be joining a great team to work on one of the most ambitious mobile games projects to date – I can’t wait to get started,” said Hoffman. “As soon as I heard that Reality Clash combined AR, crypto and multiplayer I knew it was a game I wanted to be part of. It’s going to bring the world of crypto and gaming together in a way that’s never been attempted before.”
Tony Pearce, Reality Gaming Group co-founder, said: “We were absolutely thrilled with the level of participation in the Reality Clash ICO, and now we’re even more excited to embark on the next stage of that journey – the expansion of our development team as we work towards delivering what is a hugely exciting project. We’re privileged to have a talent like Henry as part of the Reality Gaming Group team.”
VRFocus will bring you further news on Reality Clash as it becomes available.
It is through a quirk in human physiology referred to as ‘persistence of vision’ that humans are able to perceive a rapidly moving series of still images as being in motion. This quirk resulted in the creation of cinema, followed by television and videogames and, ultimately, virtual reality (VR). Unfortunately, another quirk of human physiology can lead to the scourge of VR developers, simulation sickness. A study from Brunel University London investigates if what steps can be taken to minimise this effect.
Researchers at Brunel University London, Thorsten Roth and Dr Yongmin Li of the Department of Computing along with collaborators at the Bonn-Rhein-Seig University have been studying the impact that foveated rendering can have on symptoms of simulation sickness such as nausea and dizziness.
Foveated rendering is a technique that tracks where the user is looking and only renders the area they are looking directly at in full detail, with everything else being blurred. This has been mostly aimed as reducing the amount of system resources needed to create VR worlds in realistic detail, but also has potential elsewhere.
“We use a method where, in the VR image, detail reduces from the user’s point of regard to the visual periphery,” explained Mr Roth, “and then our algorithm – whose main contributor is Mr Weier –then incorporates a process called reprojection. “This keeps a small proportion of the original pixels in the less detailed areas and uses a low-resolution version of the original image to ‘fill in’ the remaining areas.”
The researchers investigated three different sizes of area that remained in sharp detail, small, medium or large, covering the ‘foveal’ area at the centre of vision. Each study participant wore a specially adapted Oculus DK2 headset and viewed 96 VR videos, each one eight seconds long and consisting of a variety of subjects, eye movements and varied types of foveated rendering. The study found the the medium amount of sharp detail proved to be ideal for reducing simulation sickness symptoms whilst keeping immersion intact.
Mr Roth commented: “We showed that it’s not possible for users to make a reliable differentiation between our optimised rendering approach and full ray tracing, as long as the foveal region is at least medium-sized.”
You can watch a video of the Brunel University London foveated rendering techniques in action below.
VRFocus will continue to report on new studies and research in the field of VR.
Yesterday was dominated by PlayStation VR videogame news thanks to Sony Interactive Entertainment’s (SIE) content packed press conference for Paris Games Week (PGW). One title to feature was Polyarc’s highly anticipated platformer Moss which had a confirmed launch window of February 2018. Now the European PlayStation Store has listed the videogame with an exact date, 27th February.
When Moss was first revealed back in June, during the Electronic Entertainment Expo (E3), Polyarc had initially said it would be releasing the title by the end of 2017. The studio hasn’t said why the date has slipped, but due to the overwhelmingly positive response Moss received on its first public outing it’s likely the team wanted to spend a bit more time polishing the experience as expectations are so high.
Also announced yesterday was the availability of pre-orders for fans based in North, South and Latin America, Europe, the United Kingdom, and Australia. Moss can be pre-ordered through PlayStation Store and GameStop for $29.99 USD / £24.99 GBP, coming with an exclusive dynamic PlayStation Theme and PlayStation Avatar featuring Moss’s hero Quill and her idyllic forest home. North American consumers get instant access to the bonuses, while European fans will need to wait until February.
In Moss players control a cute little mouse called Quill, guiding her through caves, forests, and foreboding ruins that are filled with ancient artefacts and mysterious creatures, all the while solving a mixture of puzzles that stand in the way of the pint-size hero.
If you’ve not read it yet, VRFocus wrote a glowing preview of Moss back in June, saying: “After just one short play, the tease of more taxing puzzles and the forming of a non-verbal relationship with the adorable Quill is very compelling.” VRFocus also sat down with Polyarc’s Chris Alderson who works as the Art Director on Moss for further info.
As the release nears, if Polyarc makes any further announcements VRFocus will let you know.
Sony and Insomniac have provided more information about the upcoming PlayStation 4 exclusive Spider-Man, showing us the hero's combat and livesaving skills in equal measure. Here is what we know about the new Spider-Man game so far.
The post Insomniac’s ‘Spider-Man’: Everything you need to know appeared first on Digital Trends.
When players don the Aloy armor set in Monster Hunter World, any player will look like Horizon Zero Dawn protagonist, including her facial likeness. Armor for the Palico makes it look like one of the machines from Horizon.
The post Aloy from ‘Horizon Zero Dawn’ joins ‘Monster Hunter World’ as exclusive DLC appeared first on Digital Trends.
Missed the announcements from Paris Games Week (PGW)? A huge fan of virtual reality (VR)? PlayStation 4 and PlayStation VR owners likely already know that there are now over 100 titles on the platform. But that’s just now. There’s plenty of videogames on the way to add to that collection, and luckily VRFocus has got your back. Below you can find a list of all the PlayStation VR videogames that were announced or mentioned at PGW – and we have also created a little video recap which you can find below.
Ace Combat 7: Skies Unknown – 2018
Bandai Namco bring you Ace Combat 7: Skies Unknown, taking their popular fighter pilot series to VR for the first time. With spectacular views, a dynamic weather system and various maps, this videogame demands the highest possible aerial combat skills.
Resident Evil VII biohazard DLC – Not A Hero – December 12th 2017
Chris Redfield comes up against new and terrifying enemies in his pursuit of deadly psychopath Lucas in Resident Evil VII thanks to the Not A Hero free DLC. There are plenty of gory situations to confront on the path ahead as Redfield seeks an end to the bloody reign of the murderous Baker family.
Rec Room – Coming Soon
Developers Against Gravity have created a social platform where players can engage in multiplayer games with one another. As with all the products mentioned here, check out the link for more information.
Moss – 2018
Announced at the Electronic Entertainment Expo (E3), VRFocus thought Moss was perhaps the cutest VR game to date. Sadly, that date has shifted, with the title now delayed until 2018. Developed by Polyarc, Moss asks players to solve puzzles in a larger-than-life world. The protagonist Quill also recognises who you are and tries to point out tips when you’re stuck. Quill’s intricate hand movements actually promotes sign language as she uses her body, hands and squeaks to communicate with you.
Apex Construct – Coming Soon
Announced at PGW today, this first-person shooter (FPS) takes adventure to a futuristic, robot-filled sci-fi world. You play as the last human on a world where synthetic creatures seek to dominate their new hunting grounds. Created by Fast Travel Games, this Swedish studio is formed of Ex-Rovio, EA and DICE staff.
Bow to Blood – 2018
Another newly announced title, Bow to Blood is a multiplayer videogame where players pilot airships into combat with other players. PlayStation VR owners can go solo or team up to battle rivals. Stand and fight or reposition on your foe? It’s your call.
League of War: VR Arena – November 7th 2017
Announced back in August this real-time tabletop warfare simulator should be something strategy fans will enjoy. Players will have access to 12 different units, four of which can be deployed at one time. This includes tanks, soldiers, flamethrowers, artillery and helicopters. Each unit costs energy to put on the battlefield – so don’t start spamming out loads of troops without thinking careful first.
Stifled – October 31st 2017
Showcased at E3 this year, this videogame asks players to see the world through sound; similar to how echolocation would work underwater. The noise you make highlight the surroundings around you in a creepy white line drawing style. Unfortunately, whilst using sound shows your path it also draws the attention of enemies. You will need to balance your need to see versus your need to keep safe. A slow and steady process that really gets under your skin.
Sprint Vector – Coming Soon
A fast-paced obstacle course racing title that asks players to swing their arms back and forth in order to increase the speed at which they travel. Climb, jump, leap across various obstacles and compete against friends or A.I.
Star Child – Coming Soon
Developers Playful Corp have created a dark, cyberpunk world where strange creatures roam in a bizarre neon-lit world. A side-scrolling platform experience, the protagonist has to solve puzzles and take an elevator deeper into an alien world.Transference – Coming Soon
Announced at E3, Elijah Wood’s videogame company Spectrevision and Ubisoft have created a psychological thriller videogame where players delve into the destructive tale of a man’s obsession as they explore his digitally recreated memories. Think Inception, but as a videogame where you have to solve puzzles in the man’s memories. VRFocus did an interview with Kyle McCullough from SpectreVision if you want more information.
Ultrawings VR – Coming Soon
Available on the Samsung Gear VR and now coming to PlayStation VR, this flying simulator allows you to try three different aircrafts, has several missions which in turn allows the player to purchase airports across three separate islands. Shoot balloons, take photos, fly through rings, race against players or practice that perfect landing.
Dead Hungry – October 31st 2017
This tongue-in-cheek action videogame allows you to cook up a storm as a chef feeding some very hungry zombies. That’s right, you’re not killing zombies on mass but feeding them some very well-cooked hamburgers instead. Perfect for Halloween.
Eden Tomorrow – Coming Soon
Set in sci-fi world on what seems another planet, PGW is the first time anything of this videogame was showcased and very little is known about it for sure. However, it appears to be the evolution of previously announced VR title Eden. And features some very strange and bizarre looking creatures that resemble a Brachiosaurus. The teaser also features three-armed robotic drones and enormous monsters.
Monster of the Deep: Final Fantasy XV – November 21st 2017
Showcasing the first hands-on previews at PGW, the gameplay features customisable costumes, a various array of fish (and other creatures) and various ways of catching fish from travel to sonar detection.
Megalith – 2018
A first-person videogame where you play as a titan on a quest to become a powerful god. With destructible environment and a range of weapons in a stylised world.
Smash Hit Plunder – 2018
Set in a medieval castle with ghostly inhabitants, you play a young mage recently returned from magic school on a quest to delve into their family’s fraught past. You have to rebuild your family’s wealth and use your wand to uncover treasure, coins and crowns. As the name of the title suggests, you’ll have to do a lot of smashing and hitting things to do that. Venture into multiple dungeons, secret rooms and set things on fire, smash everything you see or sneak up on ghosts to find hidden gold.
Blood and Truth – 2018
Another new title to add to the growing list of PlayStation VR games available for players, you play a brutal gangster in London. On a quest to avenge his murdered family, you have to break into enemy hideouts, casinos and gun down your enemies. You need to be prepared for both stealth gameplay as well as ready to throw yourself into the action. The teaser showcase lock picking and a bomb detonating as you shot down enemies.
Those are the latest videogames that have been announced or will be coming soon to the PlayStation VR. Watch the video below to get a glimpse of all the videogames and follow VRFocus for any further announcements on the videogames.