March 2020

March 31, 2020 ,

Grapple mechanics aren’t often used in virtual reality (VR) as they can be tricky to pull off comfortably, the most well known being Psytec Games’ Windlands series. Today, indie developer Greensky Games has announced its take on this dynamic locomotion mechanic, Swarm, combining with first-person shooter (FPS) gameplay.

Swarm

Instantly striking thanks to cel-shaded graphics which have that Borderlands 2 VR feel to them, Swarm is built around frantic arcade action. Set in arenas filled with platforms to swing from, the gameplay showcased in the video below looks like players will be challenged to take on a succession of boss fights, dealing with one primary enemy as well as smaller drones and other minions.

Players will be able to nip around arenas using grappling hooks from either hand whilst being able to dual wield two pistols. Other weapons do pop up including rocket launchers for crowd control and a gun which fires electricity.

On the subject of all that swinging around in VR, Peter Le Bek, founder of Greensky Games said in a statement: “You know, after we finished prototyping the grappling mechanic, before there were enemies, we were having so much fun just swinging around, but we were really worried that the movement would be too intense for most people. So when we tested with everyone in our office – most of whom had never tried VR before – we were really surprised that no one complained about motion sickness.

“And Swarm’s now been tested by hundreds of VR veterans and newbies alike, we haven’t had one complaint about nausea. Just to be safe we added comfort settings, but Swarm can be played without the fear of motion sickness.”

Swarm

“From the start we were focused on building something where you can jump in for a 10-20 minute session and make progress,” Le Bek continues. “We also wanted to build a game with an incredible motion mechanic. We’d been enjoying grappling in Windlands and we felt like grappling in VR could feel even better.

“We spent 4 months iterating on grappling, and had a breakthrough when we gave the rope some elasticity and tension simulation – suddenly it felt like we had more control and power, more like Spider-Man. From there we considered building a 3D platformer, or a racing game, but we settled on the arena shooter because swinging through explosions and plunging down on enemies while shooting them was just ridiculously fun!”

Swarm is currently slated for a Summer 2020 release supporting Oculus Quest, Oculus Rift and SteamVR compatible headsets and it’ll feature cross-buy support on the Oculus Store. As further updates for Swarm are revealed VRFocus will keep you updated.



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March 31, 2020 ,

Nearly four years on from its launch on PSVR (and subsequent releases on PC VR), Headmaster is getting its first DLC.

Called The Lost Lessons, the DLC will be arriving on all platforms this April. As the name implies, the pack will feature 10 new missions that explore new ideas not previously seen in the original game. The developer says that these are some of the game’s most “outrageous” challenges. There’s also an advanced Party Mode level to complement the update the game got late last year. You can get a brief look at what’s included in the tweet below.

Headmaster presents a novel use of VR headsets, getting you to headbutt soccer balls at targets. The headset’s tracking makes for the perfect controller to do that with, but developer Frame Interactive also dresses up the experience with a strangely deep story mode.

Elsewhere, Headmaster is getting a physical release on PSVR via Perp Games. The Extra Time Edition, as it’s called, will feature both the Party Mode update and this new DLC. That’s arriving on June 5. The DLC on its own will cost $7.99 with a 10% discount available at launch. Headmaster costs $19.99 on the PlayStation Store so the physical version may come in around that price.

We thought Headmaster was quite fun when it first released on PSVR, though the novelty of the experience could wear off quickly. Hopefully adding these new levels into the mix will remedy that situation somewhat.

Will you be checking out Headmaster’s new DLC? Let us know in the comments below!

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March 31, 2020 ,

Lies Beneath is an action-packed single-player survival horror game published by Oculus Studios and developed by Drifter Entertainment, the same team behind PC VR co-op shooter Gunheart and Robo Recall: Unplugged on Quest. Read our full Lies Beneath review below for more!

The Oculus Quest has a great selection of VR games. But what you might notice when browsing the Store or looking through your Library of content is that there is certainly a lack of narratively-driven single player titles. Other than Vader Immortal, Apex Construct, Moss, Virtual Virtual Reality, Journey of the Gods, and a handful of others the vast majority of content on the Quest is designed to be briefly picked up and played for a few minutes or focused on multiplayer. Thankfully Lies Beneath is here to help alleviate the issue a bit.

Lies Beneath tells the story of a young woman that gets into a car accident while visiting her family in a small Alaskan town. She’s driving in a car with her father when a mysterious figure steps out in front of the vehicle, causing her to swerve off of a bridge and crash, getting flung from inside. By the time you make your way back to the scene, your father is gone with nothing but a trail of blood leading away.

Thus, the mystery begins.

It’s a good hook for a story and the way Drifter Entertainment unravels the threads is very interesting and well-done. Everything in Lies Beneath is presented as if it were a dark, noir-style comic book. The beginning of each “Issue” has you flip through a giant, floating comic complete with panels, descriptive box out text, dialogue bubbles, and more. After getting up to speed, you essentially live out the events of the book.

The art style feels just like a comic come to life. It reminds me a bit of Mad World on the Nintendo Wii, or the similarly-styled VR shooter Dimension Hunter. The main difference here is how well the overall package sells the window dressing. It’s more than just a superficial coat of animated paint. When you do things like hit boxes with your axe, tiny sound effect blurbs like *crack* pop up for a split second and clicking things in the menu show a brief *click* sound blurb. It does a great job of further selling the aesthetic.

Lies Beneath VR 3

As stylish and pronounced as it is, it takes a while before the environments feel very interesting. You spend quite a while lumbering around in the snow where everything looks extremely samey. The foggy blizzard restricts your vision so the game rarely renders anything in the distance and darkness requires using your small lighter to see just a foot or two in front of you. This all helps build suspense, but ends up making it feel truncated in terms of actually being immersive. Hopefully the Rift version that releases in a couple of weeks can sidestep some of these issues.

I also noticed some performance issues on Quest in the form of stuttering here and there, most commonly when approaching comic panel narration in between level sections. For example, every Chapter has comic panels positioned as sign posts inside the levels that articulate your character’s thoughts rather than using voice over dialogue and each time I approached this (every handful of minutes or so) there was usually a brief jitter of frame drops.

Since your lighter can be used to point you in the right direction if you look at where the embers are pointing off the tip of the flame, you’ll never get lost — not that you would have anyway since Lies Beneath is a pretty linear game. Most of the time you’ll walk from one end of a chapter to the other, interacting a bit with objects as you go, running from big bad guys, and shooting your way past ghouls.

In terms of actual scares and building up a sense of horror, Lies Beneath is one of the lighter efforts in its genre. Since you almost always have weapons on-hand there is a lot more combat here than in something like The Exorcist: Legion VR, Face Your Fears 2, or other recent horror games. Rather than forcing you into a state of helplessness you can and will fight back in Lies Beneath quite often.

lies beneath bear trap zombies

All told the game is about 6-8 hours long depending on your play style spread across 20 chapters. It takes a while to reach some environmental variety, but once you do the art style becomes more pronounced and visually pleasing. I’m really not a fan of sticking players in a snowy blizzard for the first chunk of the experience, it was a bit of an underwhelming opening for that reason.

There is a good assortment of weapons here from revolvers and hand axes to shotguns and more. When you have your lighter fully lit and out in one hand you can see an aiming reticule where you point and weak spots on enemies are highlighted. It’s a cool system that adds some strategy to tense fights.

Coming off of weighty PC VR games like Boneworks,  The Walking Dead: Saints & Sinners, Half-Life: Alyx, and even Asgard’s Wrath and Stormland, combat in Lies Beneath doesn’t feel very reactive. Most objects in the game are static, not physics objects at all, and melee attacks usually pass through enemies and objects without making contact. Even gunshots result in mostly canned animations it seems, which is a bit of a bummer.

The scariest moments in Lies Beneath are purely atmospheric. Hearing the sounds of beasts in the forest, just beyond your view, feasting on corpses. Spotting red, glowing eyes peering at you from around a corner only to disappear once you reach the next area beyond the trees. The constant feeling that you’re being watched, at all times, everywhere you go. It’s tense and unnerving and slowly builds over the course of the game.

There were a handful of jump scares, but they’re not super common. Instead, Lies Beneath relies more on a sense of stress and anxiety to justify its horror label. The atmosphere is foreboding, the narrative is dark, and the imagery is often creepy, so when you get overwhelmed by enemies and are fumbling to reload or running low on ammo, that’s when the hairs start to stand up on your neck and arms or you flail in desperation right before death.

Trust me, I speak from experience.

Lies Beneath VR 2

Lies Beneath Review Final Verdict

While Lies Beneath doesn’t pack enough true terror to be considered a new peak for VR horror, it does manage to craft an intriguing story in a stylishly formed world with mostly satisfying combat and palpable tension. It’s exciting to see a developer that was so previously rooted in the fast-paced action shooter category branching out to something more slow-paced, narratively-driven, and visually unique. The gameplay certainly leaves plenty to be desired in the wake of Half-Life: Alyx, but in terms of its story and setting there is enough here to make it worth a recommendation — especially in comparison to similar experiences already available on Quest.

Final Score: :star: :star: :star: :star: 4/5 Stars | Really Good

lies beneath pro con list review

You can read more about our five-star scoring policy here.

Lies Beneath releases today on Oculus Quest and comes to Oculus Rift on April 14th. This review is based on the Oculus Quest version of the game. For more details visit the official website.

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March 31, 2020 ,

Today sees Phaser Lock Interactive launch its real-time strategy (RTS) title Final Assault for PlayStation VR, offering cross-platform multiplayer gaming with its PC-based brethren. But as VRFocus has learnt in a new interview with CEO Michael Daubert, porting the title proved to be a technical juggling act. Just like real warfare, this has provided gains and losses.

Final Assault

The table-top RTS has been available for PC VR headsets for almost a year and last summer Phaser Lock Interactive confirmed work was well underway on a PlayStation VR port. In fact, the port was completed in 2019 until the team hit a little snag: “We were working on the PlayStation Pro. So the pro was two months worth of work, easy port over we were happy with it and then the classic (PlayStation 4) was like taking a step back to the 90s, I felt like we were working on the N64 again,” mentions Daubert.

This meant the team had to finely optimise the PlayStation 4 version to make frame rate. “The good thing is nothing changed on the play mechanics or the game mechanics themselves, it still plays the same way,” he notes. “The major changes are in art on the classic and then we had to put unit caps.”

Originally, Final Assault allowed PC players to wage massive wars with no units caps whatsoever, that’s all about to change. “PlayStation just does not allow that,” says Daubert. “So players moving into this are going to see a change in play style. They’re not going to be able to create these huge balls of death and push them forward on the infantry, they’re going to have to find different strategies which is kind of a new challenge for the players.

“It’s not changing it drastically, it’s just going to a more realistic expectation when it comes down to RTS’s, exactly how much micromanagement and how much you can have on the screen at one time.”

Final Assault

To ensure matches are fair no matter which headset players are using the cap is universal: “The cap is for all versions across all platforms. Because we are cross-platform we had to balance on the PC and the PlayStation side,” he states.

While mainly technical, this decision was also made with help from Final Assault’s Discord community, asking them what they could live and not live without. So while troops might be a little more limited the addition of PlayStation VR players will expand the match pool. “What we want is that player base, that user base so that when they go into that PvP queue we’re knocking down those times waiting for a game. We’re bringing in a brand new player base when it comes to the PSVR and we’re excited for the PC people to get some ‘fresh meat’.”

PC players – and those on PlayStation VR – will also have new content to play with: “We wanted to reward the PC players that have been sticking with us through these five months of porting because we haven’t been able to do a lot of updates or patches because we’ve been so heads down in getting the port done we’re giving two new vehicles and two new maps; called our Vanguard DLC,” Daubert adds.

Fans of Final Assault will also be pleased to know Phaser Lock Interactive has more plans in store with Daubert confirming:  “With this launch the game is not finished. We consider Final Assault will never be finished, it is something we will constantly be supporting. So we want to be adding new updates, we’ll be doing patches; making sure balancing patches are getting in there, listening to the players and making sure their concerns are heard.”

As Phaser Lock Interactive continues to support Final Assault, VRFocus will keep you updated on the latest updates.



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March 31, 2020 ,

Two weeks ago, HTC launched its Vive Cosmos Elite headset at $899. This week, its revealing some cheaper alternatives.

The full Cosmos Elite kit comes with the headset, the SteamVR tracking faceplate, two SteamVR 1.0 base stations and Vive wands controllers. Starting in April, however, HTC will be shipping just the headset and the faceplate for $549. That’s a huge reduction in price but, obviously, you’ll need some existing base stations and controllers to use it. It might be a feasible upgrade for existing-Vive owners, though we haven’t got final impressions for ourselves just yet.

As for existing Cosmos owners, the company will also be shipping the standalone faceplate for $199. We originally got a glimpse of this option late last year. Of course, you’ll already need a Cosmos for this option.

Both options will be shipping to the US on May 1. You’ll be able to pre-order the headset on April 1. Delivery in other regions will vary, as outlined in the official Vive blog. “Given demand, we are releasing these to markets as quickly as we can given supply chain challenges associated with the ongoing health crisis,” the company wrote.

Whether you’re buying the base headset, just the faceplate or getting the entire kit, Cosmos Elite still comes with a free copy of Half-Life: Alyx (which is very good). There’s also six months of free access to the company’s VR subscription service, Viveport Infinity. This lets you access a wide library of games and experiences at no extra cost.

We’re still waiting on news about Cosmos’ cheaper option, the Cosmos Play, which comes with a faceplate for four-camera inside-out tracking. HTC had suggested a $499 price point for the kit, though that’s not set in stone right now.

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March 31, 2020 ,

It’s taken a year longer than expected, but promising VR battle royale game, Virtual Battlegrounds, is very nearly here.

The game finally arrives in Steam Early Access on April 8th. Developer CyberDream had originally planned to release the game in March of 2019 but continued to delay the game over the course of the past year to patch up certain issues. Beta testing has been underway since last year.

Virtual Battlegrounds essentially wants to offer VR its own alternative to Player Unknown’s Battlegrounds. Taking a realistic modern combat approach, the game pits scores of players in huge online battles to be the last man standing in a man with an ever-shrinking safe zone. So, yes, it’s basically a battle royale game… in VR! Check out the refreshed trailer for the game below.

CyberDreams is kitting the game out with solo, squad and custom lobby types, with six training modes to boot. Following the delay, the team assures that its “rebuilt large parts of the world” to get things running smoothly. If you want to see how the game is shaping up, the developer says an open beta is on the way later this week, so look out for that.

The game will launch in Early Access, where the team intends to stay for at least six to twelve months. Over the course of that time the studio will add more modes and weapons as it clamps down on bugs.

The game will support all PC-based VR headsets via SteamVR at launch and cost $20.

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March 31, 2020 ,

Facebook’s Oculus is running a new sale on the Oculus Store for the Oculus Quest titles, aptly-named ‘The Great Indoors Sale‘.

In light of the COVID-19 outbreak, Oculus is recommending and discounting a variety of Quest titles that will help you get through isolation and social distancing over the next few weeks and months.

The sale features a bunch of popular Quest games like Space Pirate Trainer, Vacation Simulator, The Thrill of the Fight and more. The full list of games and their discounts are as follows:

  • Space Pirate Trainer – 33% off, $11.99
  • Vacation Simulator – 15% off, $25.49
  • Acron: Attack of the Squirrels! – 25% off, $14.99
  • The Thrill of the Fight – 20% off, $7.99
  • Drop Dead: Dual Strike Edition – 20% off, $11.99
  • Death Horizon: Reloaded – 20% off, $15.99

The sale page also lists Bait!, Rec Room and VRChat, but those apps are free (and always have been). While they might fall under good games and apps to use while stuck indoors, they’re not technically on sale and are likely just a recommendation from Oculus.

There’s also two bundles of games on sale – the Beat Your High Score! bundle and the Relax. Recharge. Reflect. bundle, both of which contain two games. The former contains Ninja Legends and Angry Birds VR: Isle of Pigs, and the latter contains Real VR Fishing and Guided Tai Chi.

The bundles are priced at $22.99 and $19.99 respectively. If you already own one of the games in the bundle, the pricing will be adjusted accordingly to reflect an appropriate discount for the other game by itself.

You can check out the full sale list in the Oculus Store online or in VR using your Oculus Quest. The sale will end in 2 days.

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March 31, 2020 ,

Originally a virtual reality (VR) training solutions provider for sports teams, Strivr has since expanded its focus towards the enterprise markets, now partnering with companies including BMW, Fidelity, JetBlue, Verizon and Walmart. Today, Strivr has announced the completion of a Series B funding round, securing the company a $30 million USD investment.

The round was led by Georgian Partners with existing investors GreatPoint Ventures and Alumni Ventures Group taking part. Franklin Templeton and Prologis Ventures joined the round as new investors. The new funding will allow Strivr to further its immersive learning solutions for enterprise use cases, designed to help companies improve workforce engagement and performance.

“With more than 1.5 million training sessions conducted in VR and over 22,000 headsets deployed across our customer base, Strivr has developed the world’s only end-to-end software platform for the delivery of immersive solutions to elevate workforce learning and performance,” said Derek Belch, founder and CEO of Strivr, in a statement. “We are thrilled to leverage this new round of investment led by Georgian Partners to more rapidly accelerate the adoption of Immersive Learning in the enterprise and take the next step in connecting immersive data to real-world performance improvement.”

In addition to the funding round, Strivr has announced the issuance of a patent by the US Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) covering the measurement of training data in VR. The company has developed an algorithm which uses sensing data from sources like head, hand, and eye movements, as well as physiological data, to predict how performing a task in VR will translate into a real-world situation. Thus giving clients a better understanding of how VR will benefit their particular industry.

“With the rapid increase in large enterprises embracing Immersive Learning to improve performance, we are now able to connect employee learning with business outcomes using completely new types of data,” said Tyson Baber, Partner at Georgian Partners, who has joined Strivr’s board of directors. “We believe in Strivr’s team, mission, and methodology, and are very excited to partner with them as they deliver the next generation of predictive, workforce analytics.”

Strivr has now managed to raise $51 million in venture funding. As the company continues to drive immersive learning forward, VRFocus will keep you updated.



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March 31, 2020 ,

Niantic, the company behind the world-scale mobile AR games Pokemon Go and Harry Potter: Wizards Unite, is acquiring 3D spatial mapping company 6D.ai.

According to Niantic CEO and Founder John Hanke, the acquisition will allow Niantic to “leverage 6D.ai’s deep expertise and significant breakthroughs in AR research and engineering” and see them build a “dynamic, 3D map of the world so we can enable new kinds of planet-scale AR experiences.”

6d.ai was founded in 2017, with the intention to solve current fundamental problems with AR technology. According to 6d.ai’s site, its platform offers a few features. The technology can offer ‘world-scale content persistence’ which allows digital AR content to stay in the same place between sessions, while also allowing others to access that content from a different device. 

One of my main criticisms of the world-scale AR game Minecraft Earth was that AR creations could not be placed in a real world location by one user and found in the same location by another user on a different device, at a later point in time. There was no real world persistence with AR creations. 6d.ai’s technology offers a platform that would allow for this kind of content synchronization between users across different times and sessions.

6d.ai also offers real-time meshing of environments, which “allows digital objects to be occluded by and interact with the complexity of the world.” The platform also offers real-time spatial awareness using built-in phone cameras to “build a real-time, three-dimensional semantic, crowd sourced map of the world, all in the background.”

If all of these features work well and are easy to integrate, then 6d.ai could offer a wealth of expansion and depth to Niantic’s current and future mobile AR offerings. Hanke offered some potent examples. “Imagine everyone, at the same time, being able to experience Pokémon habitats in the real world or watch dragons fly through the sky and land on buildings in real-time. Imagine our favorite characters taking us on a walking tour of hidden city gems, or friends leaving personal notes for others to find later.”

You can read more about 6d.ai’s platform and technology here.

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March 31, 2020 ,

Just over a year ago, VRFocus reported on indie developer CyberDream and its battle royale title Virtual Battlegrounds, expected to arrive that spring. That didn’t happen, seeing a number of delays in the process. Having started the project back in 2017 – first shown to the public in July 2018 – the team has announced that it’s ready to launch Virtual Battlegrounds via Steam Early Access in a weeks time.  

Virtual Battlegrounds

Aiming to bring PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds’ (PUBG) style of gameplay into virtual reality (VR), Virtual Battlegrounds  wants to offer players as much flexibility as possible when traversing the battlefield. There will be options available for locomotion, aiming, freelook and interactions, enabling players to climb anything for the perfect vantage point, blind fire corners, dual wield weapons, opt for close-quarters melee combat, slide into cover and zipline across the map if they so wish.

Virtual Battlegrounds will feature six singleplayer and co-op training modes focused on strengthening players skillsets, while the main Battle Royale modes have solo, squad and custom private lobby options. The training modes include a basic basketball court, firing ranges, shoot-house training, PvE bot modes, PvPvE Battle training for squad modes and a multiplayer CQC arena.

The main event will support up to 24 players across a 4sq KM map filled with environmental features to utilise. All the weapons will be realistic and physics-based – which includes the ballistics – plus players will be able to use attachments to improve their loadouts. This realism stretches to locomotion as well, so players will need to get those arms moving.

Virtual Battlegrounds

One of the big reasons videogames like Fortnite have done so well is thanks to user-generated content, streaming on platforms like Twitch. So CyberDream has ensured that Virtual Battlegrounds players can do something similar, offering LIV support for anyone wanting to stream/record their gameplay.

Virtual Battlegrounds is scheduled to arrive on Steam Early Access on 8th April, supporting Oculus Rift, Valve Index, HTC Vive and Windows Mixed Reality. The studio has also confirmed Virtual Battlegrounds will work on Oculus Quest using an Oculus Link connection.

Check out the new launch trailer below and for further updates on Virtual Battlegrounds, keep reading VRFocus.



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March 31, 2020 ,

A couple of weeks ago HTC Vive launched the first kit in the lineup of Vive Cosmos mods being release in 2020, the Vive Cosmos Elite. That full kit including SteamVR trackers and controllers retails for £899 GBP ($899 USD). Now the company has announced when it plans to begin rolling out the headset only version for those with SteamVR setups.

HTC Vive Cosmos Elite
HTC Vive Cosmos Elite

If you already own one of the original HTC Vive’s and haven’t dropped cash on the HTC Vive Pro (£599/$599 headset-only), and still want to use those wall-mounted base stations then you might be interested in the Vive Cosmos Elite. Set to retail for $549, that saves you a little bit of cash whilst gaining a slight uptick in resolution with the Vive Cosmos offering a 2880 x 1700 combined pixel resolution while the Vive Pro comes in at 2880 x 1600 pixels combined.

For your $549 you’ll get a pre-installed External Tracking Faceplate and the Vive Cosmos headset, six months of Viveport Infinity for free and just like the main kit a free copy of Half-Life: Alyx. That’s quite a tempting offer considering rivals Oculus Rift S and Valve Index are still listed as out of stock or on 8-week back orders respectively.

Cosmos Elite Headset Sale Dates
Country
Pre-order
On sale
CN  N/A 16-Apr
TW 1-Apr 16-Apr
EU 14-Apr 27-Apr
UK 14-Apr 27-Apr
CA 1-Apr 1-May
US 1-Apr 1-May
AU  N/A May
KR  N/A May
NZ N/A May
JP 1-May Mid-May
ME 20-May 10-Jun

 

Vive Cosmos
Vive Cosmos with External Tracking Faceplate

As for the External Tracking Faceplate itself, that’s still slated for a global launch later in Q2, retailing for $199. The upgrade accessory for current Vive Cosmos owners, the External Tracking Faceplate works with SteamVR base station v1.0 and v2.0, as well as the original Vive or Vive Pro controllers. Plus, the External Tracking Faceplate will also include a redemption code for Half-Life: Alyx and six months of Viveport Infinity for free.

Cosmos External Tracking Faceplate Availability
Country
On Sale
KR Late April
CA 1-May
US 1-May
EU 15-May
UK 15-May
ME 10-Jun
TW To be announced
AU May

 

Additionally, HTC Vive will begin releasing its planned Game Developers Conference (GDC) sessions from today via weekly live webinars/Q&A. Head to the HTC Vive blog for all the session links. For further updates on Vive Cosmos, keep reading VRFocus.



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March 30, 2020 ,

Facebook might be making significant investments in virtual reality (VR) and augmented reality (AR) technologies but there are times when specialist companies have done some of the vital work. Normally, giants like Facebook would simply purchase these smaller firms – like the recent acquisition of CTRL-Labs – but this can be a lengthy process. Today it has been revealed that Facebook and British microLED manufacturer Plessey have entered into an exclusive arrangement to help further Facebook’s AR plans.

Michael Abrash - AR Glasses

Plessey specialises in building microLED display solutions which it claims produce very high-brightness whilst consuming low amounts of power. There are a number of hurdles AR headset makers face and producing viable imagery is a decent form factor is a major component. Facebook has yet to reveal an AR product but has extensively discussed the technology at events like Oculus Connect.

Regarding the news, Plessey notes in a press release. “We have decided to work with Facebook to help achieve their vision of the next computing platform centred around people. Under a new commercial agreement, our LED manufacturing operations will be dedicated to helping Facebook prototype and develop new technologies for potential use in the AR/VR space.”

The deal will help stop rivals gaining access to Plessey’s technology. While the company has previously collaborated with Vuzix on its next generation of Vuzix AR smart glasses, Apple is the main rival Facebook is trying to beat. An article by The Information suggests Apple was recently looking to buy Plessey, citing two sources familiar with the matter. In any case, that’s not going to happen now.

“We are delighted to announce this new commercial agreement with Facebook,” said Dr Keith Strickland (Co-CEO/CTO) of Plessey in a statement. “Plessey has been at the forefront of micro-LED display development and this agreement recognises the significant advances in our capabilities that we have made in recent years and we very much look forward to working with Facebook to help bring their vision to life.”

Last year it was reported that Facebook had teamed up with Ray-Ban’s parent company Luxottica to help design a form factor that the general public would buy, not just tech enthusiasts. With the Facebook Developer Conference (F8) now cancelled and lockdowns in place across multiple countries, any AR news may be put on hold for a little while. For further updates to Facebook’s AR plans, keep reading VRFocus.



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March 30, 2020 ,

Two of the most anticipated PSVR ports on the horizon seem very close to release.

Both the developers of The Walking Dead: Saints & Sinners and Gorn provided updates on their respective ports this week. For The Walking Dead, Skydance Interactive tweeted a message to assure that the team was “adjusting as best we can” to the challenges of the COVID-19 pandemic. But the team also stressed “we’re working out hardest to get Saints & Sinners out to you on PSVR this Spring.”

The game won’t be making its initial Q1 2020 release window, but hopefully it won’t be delayed too much further. The Walking Dead is one of our favorite PC VR games of the year, so we’re really looking forward to its PSVR release. A Quest version will follow after that.

Gorn, meanwhile, seems a little closer to release, as it’s currently trying to pass Sony’s certification system. Developer Free Lives is currently fixing some feedback from its first pass, but stresses that release is “close”. However, as the developer and Sony’s certification team are now self-isolating, it might take longer. People have been waiting a long time on this one, so it’s good to hear that release is nearing.

PSVR fans have a lot to look forward in the future, then. Aside from these two, the long-awaited port of Form hits the platform next week and Iron Man VR arrives in May.

Will you be picking up The Walking Dear or Gorn on PSVR? Let us know in the comments below!

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March 30, 2020 ,

Multiplayer VR melee game Ironlights is launching on April 9 for PC VR headsets via Oculus and Steam, as well as on the Oculus Store for Oculus Quest. The game ran a successful Kickstarter campaign earlier in the year, and is now launching a full release after a limited beta that ran over the last month or so.

Unlike many other Kickstarter campaigns, the Ironlights Kickstarter presented a fully-playable game to potential backers — the aim of the campaign was to raise funds to further refine the game’s features before a full launch. This approach means that Ironlights is now launching only two or so months after its Kickstarter campaign, a rare occurrence when it comes to Kickstarter campaigns.

Some Kickstarter backers were also able to play a beta version of Ironlights after the Kickstarter ended. According to developer E McNeill, the closed beta had a few hundred players and allowed the team to refine the game before launch.

Ironlights will launch with crossplay between platforms and cross-buy for Oculus Rift and Quest on the Oculus Store. Crossplay is a crucial component for multiplayer games, especially for VR games which typically have a smaller install base. Ironlights also supports LAN play for users connected on the same network, which holds great potential for Oculus Quest users who could meet up to battle in person over a shared Wi-Fi network.

With launch only a week away, McNeill also outlined the roadmap for future post-launch content. New cosmetic options, additional single-player content and multiplayer skill tracking is coming soon, alongside an unlock system for cosmetics.

The roadmap also indicates that a 2D app for spectating multiplayer games in in the works and coming soon, which could act as a public spectator client for Ironlights tournaments, allowing them to be broadcast online.

In the long term, E McNeill wants to add new weapons and classes and also adjust some of the visual effects in the game. Users can also expect a training mode down the line, and a revamped campaign system, allowing for more ranges of difficulty.

Ironlights will launch for PC VR and Oculus Quest, available on Steam and the Oculus Store for $19.99.

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March 30, 2020 ,

A new mod for Half-Life: Alyx recreates environments and assets from Half-Life 2 in VR, using the Source 2 engine.

Created by Vect0r, the mod is just a showcase for now and won’t be released to the public. It features the outdoor area of City 17 which Gordon Freeman runs through in the beginning of the game and shows some other Half-Life: 2 assets. So while it’s still exciting, the mod is just a demonstration and doesn’t represent a fully playable VR version of Half-Life 2 just yet.

As you can see, despite running on the new Source 2 engine that debuted in Half-Life: Alyx, the ported assets and visuals in the mod don’t look nearly as polished, for very understandable reasons. “I took the original map file and converted to Source 2 format and added to Half-Life: Alyx,” said Vect0r, in the video description. “In process, I converted assets of Half-Life 2 to Half-Life: Alyx as well. Things I was able to do was very limited since Valve didn’t share SDK with the public yet. [sic]”

Obviously substantial work would be needed, particularly with lighting and other effects, to properly port the Half-Life 2 assets into Source 2, for VR or otherwise. That being said, the mod does allow the player to use the reload and eject mechanic from Alyx, which is exciting.

While it’s just a demonstration for now, it bodes well for the future. It would be amazing to play through Half-Life 2 in VR using Alyx’s gunplay and mechanics. A group of developers is working on porting the original game to VR more fully, though.

If you’ve finished Alyx and you’re desperate for more Half-Life in VR, the original Half-Life game has been ported to the Oculus Quest and is fully playable, from start to finish. You can read a guide on what you need and how to set that up on your Quest here.

Would you like to play Half-Life 2 in VR? Let us know in the comments below.

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March 30, 2020 ,

There’s a lot to love about Valve’s latest virtual reality (VR) title HAlf-lIfe: Alyx, an epic adventure which doesn’t do much wrong. But no videogame can ever be 100% perfect and since its launch a week ago Valve has addressed early concerns with a couple of updates. The first improved turning options whilst the latest makes sure those switching between left and right-handed controls are fully supported.

Half-Life: Alyx

The initial release of Half-Life: Alyx did feature a fairly extensive selection of options to cater for most players but Valve has been noting the public feedback. Version 1.2 update may be classified as small but it does add an important option, being able to swap between both hands for movement completely independently of your preferred weapon hand.

Half-Life: Alyx changelog v1.2:

Additions:

  • Added full-featured support for left / right hand for movement controls, independently of left / right hand for weapon controls.
    To use this: Select Left / Right hand in the in-game UI, and then select the desired Weapon / Off-Hand bindings in the SteamVR controller bindings UI.
  • Added an option to draw subtitles and captions to the spectator window only.
  • Clarified Height Adjust accessibility options, and set better defaults across various controllers.

Performance notes:

Bugfixes:

  • Fixed a UI issue where graphics settings would appear to drop from Medium to Low.
  • Fixed not being able to use Quick Back, Shift-Dash-Jump, and teleport feet rotation when Controller Turning was turned off.
  • Fixed a case where loading a left-handed savegame from the Main Menu could cause the player to lose ammo.
  • Fixed savegames where the SMG was missing parts of its model.
  • Fixed a number of crashes.

Half-Life: Alyx

VRFocus reviewed Half-Life: Alyx last week, giving the title a full five-stars: “A stunningly rich experience from start to finish, Half-Life: Alyx is one of the best VR titles available, a perfect showcase for what VR gaming is capable of. It doesn’t exactly break new ground, instead providing familiar Half-Life gameplay all wrapped up in a highly polished VR gift bag.”

If you’ve not yet started Half-Life: Alyx why not take a look at VRFocus’ top tips to help the journey. As further updates are released for Half-Life: Alyx, VRFocus will let you know.



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March 30, 2020 ,

Titles like Radial-G: Proteus demonstrate how really fast racing videogames can work in virtual reality (VR) when built correctly. Today, developer Caged Element Inc. and publisher Wired Productions have announced that they’re bringing their popular PC title GRIP: Combat Racing into the VR sphere this week.

Grip: Combat Racing

Designed as a hardcore combat racer inspired by the likes of Wipeout and Motorstorm, GRIP: Combat Racing hit Steam back in 2018, offering players gravity-defying wheeled or airborne vehicles to race with. These are all armed to the teeth with an assortment of weapons to hinder opponents, from missiles to rail guns, as well as powerups like shields and turbos.

Offering a wide variety of tracks across different planets, these will have players scaling walls and ceilings whilst being able to perform tricks and stunts on these twisting tracks. It features both sing-player and online multiplayer modes with team-based racing as well as deathmatch modes. Players can also customize their vehicles by unlocking paint jobs, decals, tires and rims.

How well GRIP: Combat Racing translates into VR remains to be seen. Videogames like DiRT Rally 2 have successfully made the transition over but that’s a completely different racing style to GRIP: Combat Racing which features far more dynamic and undulating environments.

Grip: Combat Racing

VR support will be free for all current GRIP: Combat Racing owners, compatible with all the normal SteamVR headsets; slated to arrive this Wednesday. As further details for GRIP: Combat Racing VR are released, VRFocus will keep you updated.



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March 30, 2020 ,

VR fitness platform YUR is levelling up at-home workouts during COVID-19 isolation with the launch of a virtual watch in several Oculus Quest games and on PC.

The YUR.watch, as it’s called, is a new interface that mimics a real-life smartwatch, attached to the user’s wrist. It counts the calories you burn off while playing games. It also keeps track of a heart rate estimate calculated on your height and weight, and it’ll count the number of squats you do over a play session. Once you’ve signed in, you’ll be able to keep track of your daily targets and rise through a levelling system to unlock new tiers of watches.

Previously YUR integration on Quest came by way of SideQuest, which gave you a floating menu in-game. But the watch is being natively integrated into Quest apps via updates. I tried it out with Synth Riders, which you can see in the video below.

After a quick play around, the watch seems like a pretty fantastic addition for any VR gamers that want to keep fit. Being able to track progress persistently across multiple games is a huge advantage, and the interface can be summoned and disregarded with a flick of a wrist. There’s no physical interaction, which is a shame given that it could allow for great UI control, but understandable given you don’t want it to interfere with gameplay.

Right now the watch is officially integrated into Sairento VR, Racket: Nx and Synth Riders, with support for the excellent OhShape arriving tomorrow. We’d definitely like to see it get added into more Quest games in the future. On PC, though, the watch can be more easily integrated into games, as evidenced by this excellent Half-Life: Alyx GIF.

Half-Life Alyx Yur Watch

Will you be using YUR.watch to keep fit in VR while you stay indoors? Let us know in the comments below.

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March 30, 2020 ,

One week after release, Half-Life: Alyx currently sits at number one on Metacritic’s list of Best PC Video Games for 2020. The game has an average score of 93, which is higher than any other PC game released this year so far, including traditional non-VR games.

Although you could argue that VR titles are a whole different category of game, Metacritic counts them as PC entries and so they compete with any other PC release in a given year. With this in mind, it’s impressive that Alyx has hit the top of the Metacritic charts for the year so far. That being said, it is only March but games like Doom: Eternal are providing stiff competition. However, many movies, TV shows and video games are being delayed and impacted by the COVID-19 outbreak. With the fate of scheduled game releases now uncertain, who knows what competition Alyx might face throughout the rest of the year.

The only other VR game to get close to Alyx’s score on the PC list is The Walking Dead: Saints & Sinners, which sits at 9th on the list with a score of 81. Console games, such as those on the PS4 or Nintendo Switch, have their own separate list. For comparison, the highest rated PlayStation 4 game on the list is Persona 5 Royal with a score of 95. After that is Dreams with 89, which we also know is receiving VR support at some point in the (near?) future. On Nintendo Switch, the highest rated title is Animal Crossing: New Horizons with a score of 91.

This means that, across all platforms, Alyx is one of the highest rated games of the year so far. Despite it being early days, that’s still pretty impressive. According to SteamSpy, the game is owned by over 500,000 people as well. However, that number comes with two caveats. There’s no way to verify SteamSpy’s data. Plus, the game was also gifted for free to owners of the Valve Index and Vive Cosmos Elite. Therefore, the number wouldn’t accurately represent sales, only those who own the game irrespective of whether they bought it or received it for free.

If you missed our Half-Life: Alyx review, be sure to read or watch it right here.

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March 30, 2020 ,

Some of the best videogames aren’t the ones which are overly convoluted, requiring dozens of hours before you can get anywhere, and it’s often the ones with the simplest mechanics which can be the most addictive. Virtual reality (VR) titles like Beat Saber or Tetris Effect have proven this time and time again, and now there could be another in Knocktwice Games’ first VR title Good Goliath.

Good GoliathGood Goliath has two core attributes which are always useful in a VR experience, energetic mechanics and highly interactive gameplay. With plenty of upper body motion combined with easy to pick up gameplay for that arcade action feel don’t let those cartoon graphics fool you, this is a bit of a workout.

The basic premise revolves around you being a giant, a good one in fact, hence the title. After what must have been a considerably long sleep you’ve awoken to find some rather angry little folks willing to wage war with your massive frame, throwing everything at you in a bid to take your hulking great ass down.

Naturally, that’s not going to happen because even if you’re a good soul you still need to protect yourself.  And so begins what is essentially a wave-shooter just without the guns, instead, throwing back the very items being lobbed at you in a sort of tit for tat.

Good GoliathThere’s no need to worry about movement as Good Goliath keeps you almost rooted to the same spot, with each level housed in a singular arena. Which makes for a comfortable experience whether you’re seated or standing. What you need to be able to do is catch stuff, hurl it back and dodge any incoming projectiles you don’t want to or can’t catch – such as fireballs.

As you don’t have any weaponry or defensive capabilities apart from two giant hands, killing the waves of attackers requires using their weapons against them. Pitchforks, barrels, wheels, cannonballs and even the littles folds themselves will come flying towards you at an ever increasingly rapid rate. So you have to think fast and react faster in Good Goliath, grabbing what you can and trying to hit as many enemies as possible. The throwing mechanics are well balanced enough so that even those with really poor throwing skills can hit something.

But this is the videogame in a nutshell. Catch and throw. The first few levels are entertaining enough as you get to grips with the mechanics but halfway through that repetitive feeling all wave-based titles get starts sinking in. There is a little variety here and there, the pirate levels allowing you to catch a cannon and then loading it with a shark offer humorous side notes alongside the baker who floats through levels holding a cake to replenish health.

Good GoliathWhat’s impressive about Good Goliath is the level of detail and polish Knocktwice Games has employed. Grab a villager or pirate and you’ll see them squirm in your hands, with nasty looking teeth and a face only a mother could love. The arenas themselves are also littered with secrets and stuff to break when you spot a moment in the carnage to use some ammo on the scenery. There’s always plenty going on so the completion of each level always feels like an achievement.

The best set pieces in Good Goliath are certainly the boss battles. Bosses are supposed to be big and these are huge, towering over your giant self. Going against foes like the Giant King or the Kraken-like sea monster actually offer a bit of a breather as you generally only need to worry about this one foe rather than loads of little ones.

When it comes down to it, Good Goliath is all about highscores and that’s what’s going to keep players coming back. Killing several enemies gains you a multiplier and making it through a stage quickly or having taken no damage gains bonus points. Plus you don’t like the normal hands there are others to unlock, swapping those digits for tentacles or some bony fingers.

There’s no doubt that Good Goliath is fun in short sharp intervals, drawing you in with its colourful designs and pick up ‘n’ play mechanics. Nine levels might not sound many but you should get a good few hours of gameplay as they are subdivided with checkpoints because of their length. This is rinse and repeat gaming so the gameplay isn’t exactly deep but it’s still mostly enjoyable, great for those looking to steer clear of RPG style titles.

60%
Awesome
  • Verdict


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March 30, 2020 ,

Good Goliath has you playing the role of a, well, Good Goliath. If you’re curious about whether this game on the other hand, you’ll just have to read our review below.

You’ve fallen from your home and landed on a world full of really angry short people who want to hurt you because they’re intensely jealous of your ability to reach the top shelf. As such, they’ve all decided to throw pitchforks, barrels, and wagon wheels at you. 

You, being the Goodest of Goliaths, only defend yourself by catching the things they throw at you and tossing them back where they came from. That’s the basics of Good Goliath, and honestly, it’s the vast majority of the gameplay. There are a few other little mechanics sprinkled throughout the levels, but you’ll mostly just be doing a bit of the old catch and release. 

VR has come a long way since its inception. We’re long past basic tech demo-style experiences that show off the cool way you can use your hands in VR like catching objects and throwing them. Well, at least, that’s what I thought. Clearly, I’m wrong though because as much as Good Goliath has its moments, it rarely feels like more than a very basic demo of what VR can do. 

Your hand movements are limited to moving them around and opening and closing them. Those are your interactions. For example, you can’t point; I know it’s an odd complaint, but come on, we can do better here. You just catch the things thrown at you and throw them back. Sometimes you catch a bowling ball, sometimes you catch a cannon, but there’s so little aside from the basic actions that it’s hard to even justify the differences. 

good goliath gargoyle enemy

Even your defensive options are very basic; you just make sure you move your head out of the way. It’s fine to have simple controls, but you can’t even move. The whole thing just feels a little bit bare-bones. The good news is that I’m pretty sure the character model is two disembodied Rayman hands and a big old beer belly, at least that’s what the shadows show. 

It’s not that Good Goliath is bad, just that there isn’t much going on. I ended up finding my own entertainment in several levels. I tried catching every single halberd thrown at me in a flurry at one point, it went fairly well, but I did end up pulling a couple out of my chest. I also kept one of the knights I caught alive to slap him in the face occasionally and use him as a shield, that went a lot better. 

My favorite thing to do was to catch a weapon thrown at me and then use it to strike the others out of the sky like Zorro. It didn’t advance the game at all, and there was no reward for doing so, but it was cool, and sometimes you have to make your own fun. 

good goliath grabbing a pirate gameplay

The one thing that is genuinely great in Good Goliath is the boss fights. Each one feels like the best kind of throwback to the classic era of video game bosses. You have multiple stages to work through with an ever-increasing number of things to dodge, weapons to catch, and trick shots to land. The game is never better than when you’re fighting some monstrous enemy, and that’s the case with the bosses. 

The writing is also quite entertaining. The narrator does a good job of keeping your attention and has a wonderful tone of voice for this kind of work; he also does a good job when it comes to comedic timing, allowing for some funny, if somewhat predictable, story moments. 

It’s entertaining, and it’s fun at points, but it’s all so very basic. The interactions don’t match up to those available in so many VR titles, and I don’t even mean Half-Life: Alyx, that would be an intensely unfair comparison. I mean other indie titles, the smaller ones. Good Goliath has been designed to be easy to play and good for new users, and it is, but that doesn’t necessarily mean things have to feel so sparse when it comes to the gameplay. 

Good Goliath

Good Goliath Review Final Verdict

Good Goliath does what it sets out to do; it’s a simple VR game with an arcade flavour and easy to learn controls. It’s accessible, and that’s good, but it’s also very basic, and that’s bad. The moment to moment gameplay can often feel frustrating as you simply duck and dodge incoming objects and throw them back, but in the boss fights it gives you a glimpse of the technical skill and excellent design that the team is capable of. If Good Goliath had of been a boss rush only game it would be far easier to recommend, but it’s sadly just a little too limited to be worth your time if you’ve played much else in VR.

Final Score: :star: :star: 2/5 Stars | Disappointing

good goliath pro con list review

You can read more about our five-star scoring policy here.

Good Goliath releases March 31st for PSVR, Oculus Home, and SteamVR. This review was conducted on an Oculus Rift using the Steam version of the game.

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