Mint Virtual Reality

Persona 5 Royal brings new mechanics, new characters, and, of course, new weapons. Here are the best weapons in Persona 5 Royal and where to find them.

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In this guide, we will show you how to achieve a Victory Royale in Fortnite. It can be tough, but there are a slew of things you can do to gain the upper hand.

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Nintendo Switch currently has four methods for connecting with friends. We show you how to be friends and how to remove and block friends on the Switch.

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The best motherboards for gaming offer overclocking support, solid power design, and, of course, RGB lighting. The only question is, which one you should get?

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Sharing a screenshot or video of your gameplay is easier than ever on the PlayStation 4. Here's a quick guide on how to easily take a screenshot on your PS4.

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While having accurate aim is key to winning in Fortnite, so too is choosing a good starting point. Here are the best spots to land in Fortnite during season 5.

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If mobile gaming is your top priority when buying a phone, these are the devices you'll want to turn to.

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The excellent Fire Emblem series has been available in North America for more than 15 years. Here are all the games released to date ranked from best to worst.

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It isn't easy, but you can transfer most files from one Nintendo Switch to another, including saves, games, screenshots, and video clips. Here's how to do it.

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Final Fantasy XIV came out years ago, but there's never been a better time to join. See how to get the most from it in our Final Fantasy XIV beginner's guide.

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For more than 20 years, the Madden Curse has struck a large percentage of cover athletes in the form of stat declines and injuries. We follow up on all of them.

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With its 12.9-inch screen, the new iPad Pro is great for gaming. We've rounded up some of the best iPad Pro games around, from strategy games to shooters.

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Do you want to record your Twitch streams for later viewing or sharing? No problem. Here are several ways to do it and which may work best for your situation!

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Looking for some games to play by yourself (or offline) on Nintendo Switch? Here's our definitive list of the very best single-player Nintendo Switch games.

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Wondering how to use G-Sync on a FreeSync monitor? There's a long list of support monitors, but you'll have to jump through some hoops to get it working.

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The Elgato Stream Deck is a great device for managing your content while you stream, but that isn't the only option. Here are some of the best alternatives.

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Treyarch's Call of Duty: Black Ops 3 touts one of the most diverse Zombie modes ever released. Here are a few tips and tricks for staying alive in this mode.

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We've gathered some of the best PlayStation deals that are available online, including offers for games and accessories for the PlayStation 4 and PlayStation 5.

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Discord users can turn on text-to-speech abilities on the app to improve accessibility or save time. Here's how to do it.

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Splatoon 2 can be tough to master, so here are some beginner's tips and tricks to help you dominate early on.

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We've seen everything from a mini-golf course and spooky cemetery to a quaint coffee shop and zen garden.

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As any WoW Classic fan knows, the game only truly begins when you hit the level cap. Here's how to race to 60.

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Here are a few PS Plus deals that will have you playing online and enjoying free monthly games right away.

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Taking your battle royale skills to mobile? There are our top tips for securing wins in Call of Duty: Mobile, whether you're playing solo or with friends.

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Buying a prebuilt gaming PC for 4K is an incredibly costly endeavor, but you can put something together for yourself that's just as good for a whole lot less.

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Getting into PC gaming doesn't need to be expensive. For the same price as Xbox Series X and PS5, you can play PC with our best $500 PC gaming build.

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Far from cooling down, the console wars are only getting more intense. We compare the Xbox One X and PlayStation 4 Pro to determine which is the best for you.

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Parkour VR game STRIDE is getting a big new PC VR update soon and is running Closed Beta tests right now. Plus, the PSVR version is delayed to late 2021.

STRIDE – VR Parkour

There are no details on what the big new update is exactly, but it’s being described as a “major content update” for STRIDE. You won’t need to own the game already either — you’ll be provided access.

STRIDE is a VR parkour free-running game, similar in style to Mirror’s Edge, except it’s got an “endless runner” format along with a gun that lets you fight back against assailants. In the short clip posted to Reddit, it looks like the content update is probably adding a more exploratory game mode that lets you explore the city in more directions rather than going in a straight line. Perhaps this is the long-alluded to Story mode.

If you’re interested in helping test the new features for STRIDE, you can visit the Closed Beta sign up page right here. You’ll have to be willing to sign an NDA, available to playtest today at a scheduled time, have access to a VR-ready PC with a Rift, Quest + Link, or Quest + Virtual Desktop, and you must live in the EU, UK, western CIS countries, Turkey, or North Africa. Feel free to invite friends to apply as well.

Additionally, Joy Way announced that the PSVR version of the game is delayed until late 2021 and that the Quest version is still in development with no other updates.

Have you tried STRIDE? Let us know what you think down in the comments below!

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Fast Travel Games is set to launch its horror title Wraith: the Oblivion – Afterlife for Oculus Quest and Rift in April. If you’ve been looking forward to the launch then the studio has something extra special to fill that time. This week saw the launch of the Barclay Mansion Challenge, a short browser-based experience where you can step inside the mansion and complete a challenge to win stuff.

So no virtual reality (VR) headset is required, simply go to WraithAfterlife.com on a computer or smartphone to start playing. It gives you a great glimpse into the chilling setting whilst tasking you to use the in-game camera to capture Remnants – cursed memories of the mansion’s recent guests. Succeed in capturing all seven of them and you’ll be in with a chance of winning a Wraith: the Oblivion – Afterlife branded Oculus Quest 2, you could even get your name in the game.

The challenge will be available until 22nd April but the draw for the Oculus Quest 2 will take place on the 20th so best complete the challenge quickly. Everyone who signs up also gets a free Wraith: the Oblivion – Afterlife 4K wallpaper for their desktop.

Set within the World of Darkness universe, Wraith: the Oblivion – Afterlife sees you play as the unfortunate Ed Miller, a photographer who dies during a seance at the luxurious Barclay Mansion. Stuck between the living world and the afterlife, you have to roam the hallways looking for clues as to what happened. However, being dead doesn’t mean to say you’re entirely safe. As a wraith, you can walk through walls and pick items up at a distance but you must also avoid Spectres. These are spirits of wrath and vengeance. With no way to defend yourself from them, you must tread carefully and hide.

VRFocus previewed Wraith: the Oblivion – Afterlife earlier in March, finding that it was: “looking very promising. The scare factor feels spot-on, not too much, yet enough to keep you on edge, and the whole aesthetic of the mansion and the events that have taken place work tremendously.”

For further updates and a full review of Wraith: the Oblivion – Afterlife, keep reading VRFocus.

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Destiny 2 can be confusing for new Guardians and returning veterans. From choosing a class to managing gear, our Destiny 2 beginner's guide covers it all.

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G-Sync and FreeSync are common monitor features, but there are important differences in this stabilizing tech. Here's how they work and when to choose them.

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Animal Crossing: New Horizons kicks off with its annual Bunny Day celebration. Here are all the recipes and egg locations you'll need for the festivities.

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Bang & Olufsen's $499 Beoplay Portal are its first gaming headphones, with an Xbox Wireless connection. With Dolby Atmos, they could also be great for movies.

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Today see’s IO Interactive launch its Seven Deadly Sins season for Hitman 3, the start of a seven part DLC expansion. For those who haven’t stepped into the world of Agent 47 in 2021 then today offers a different surprise, free content so you can demo the videogame and carry your progress over should you wish to continue with a purchase.

The developer is launching the Hitman 3 Free Starter Pack today, available until 5th April. Download the pack and you’ll be able to play the first mission, Dubai, where you have to explore the tallest building in the world to complete your objectives. While the window for playing the free mission is limited, the studio will be continuing the free feature into the future.

Hitman 3’s free starter pack will provide permanent access to the ICA Facility where you can meet your handler, start earning XP as well as unlocks for the main paid title. Down the line, you’ll be granted free limited-time access to Hitman 3’s other locations, and as an extra bonus today you’ll be able to play the ‘Nightcall’ mission set in Hawke’s Bay, New Zealand from Hitman 2.

And why stop there. One of Hitman 3’s most interesting features was the ability to bring locations from Hitman 1 & 2 if you owned the videogames. The starter pack has that ability from 31st March: “Import the locations that you can already access in HITMAN 2 and carry over your progress to start playing with the new features and improvements from HITMAN 3,” notes an IO Interactive blog post.

And what about players that have already bought Hitman 3? Well, anything freely available via the starter pack is also accessible to them as well, which include the ‘Nightcall’ mission. Anyway, they’ll be too busy playing the new Season of Greed which has paid DLC and free Escalations, Featured Contracts and Elusive Targets cropping up.

Hitman 3 has been well received across all supported platforms but when it comes to virtual reality (VR) the title is only compatible with PlayStation VR. As further content updates are released, VRFocus will let you know.

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Turbo Button’s Floor Plan 2 is marching quickly towards its April 1st release date, and we’ve got a first look at the game’s opening in our Floor Plan 2 gameplay.

We play through the first 20 minutes of the game running on Oculus Quest 2 below (it’s also coming to PC on the same day). Floor Plan 2 builds on the original game, in which players travel between different floors in a reality-defying building, solving a series of puzzles. These are often unique in nature and the game doesn’t rely on a central hook, though the sequel does turn each floor into explorable environments.

In the first 20 minutes we run through the game’s tutorial and a handful of the puzzles that follow. Obviously, if you’re hoping to go in with all the challenges fresh, it’s probably best not to watch. But if you want to find out a bit more about what the game’s about, watch below.

Floor Plan 2 Gameplay

We’ll have a full review of the game in time for launch, so I don’t want to spend too long talking about impressions right now, but I was really encouraged by this opening. The puzzles remind me of I Expect You To Die both in their unique interactivity and the satisfaction of their solutions, and I love Turbo Button’s sense of humor. This could of course all fall apart over the game’s supposed 4 – 5 hour runtime, but we’ll have to wait and see.

Floor Plan 2 hits Quest and PC on Thursday, with a PSVR version in development for later down the line. Check back in a few days for our full review.

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Facebook’s head of AR/VR says Oculus Quest 2 “outsold not just its predecessor, but all of its predecessors combined“.

In a wide-ranging interview with Bloomberg’s Emily Chang, Andrew Bosworth was asked when virtual reality would have its “mainstream moment”. He replied:

“Well, if you look a little closely I think it’s starting to happen right now. The fact that Oculus Quest 2 in just a few months on the market has outsold not just its predecessor, but all of its predecessors combined is a tremendous indicator that we are now at that point where we’ve broken through from the early adopter crowd to an increasingly mainstream crowd.”

That would mean Quest 2, now 6 months on the market, sold more than Oculus Rift (3 years), Oculus Go (2 years), Oculus Rift S (2 years) and the original Oculus Quest (18 months) summed together.

Facebook doesn’t reveal unit figures, so we still don’t know how many headsets this equates to, but it’s likely somewhere in the single digit millions.

At $299 Quest 2 is priced lower than previous Oculus headsets, with the exception of 2018’s Oculus Go – that headset started at $199 but lacked positional tracking so couldn’t play most VR content.

Compared to the original model, Quest 2 features a significantly upgraded processor, higher resolution screen, and 15% smaller/lighter design. It’s priced $100 less; using cheaper materials, LCD instead of OLED, and a less precise lens adjustment mechanism.

Facebook sees Quest 2 as a successor to both the Quest and Rift S, with PC VR now a supported mode rather than a different hardware line.

During Facebook’s Q3 2020 earnings call, CEO Mark Zuckerberg revealed Quest 2 preorders were 5x that of the original.

In the Q4 2020 call Facebook CFO David Wehner explained that “strong Quest 2 holiday sales” resulted in a doubling of the company’s non-ads revenue.

While Quest 1 launched in May 2019, there is still no like-for-like competitor in western markets.

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Winter has faded away and the Spring sunshine is here but going outside to enjoy parties, festivals and other gatherings with friends and family is still a little way off. Not to worry as event organisers still have big plans and just like last year there going to be digital. HTC Vive has announced its partnering with social platform Sansar to help deliver Lost Horizon’s Spring season of live-streamed events.

Lost Horizon is put together by the team behind Glastonbury’s Shangri-La experience, offering a mixture of music and art. There are six stages (Gas Tower, Freedom, Nomad, Shangrilart Gallery, SHITV and Landing Zone) each with its own programming and style. Artists taking part this year include Jaden Thompson, Kill the Noise, Malone, The Martinez Brothers, and Tisok.

“We all hoped that we’d be back in the fields and live venues this summer, but as soon as we realised that would be impossible, we knew we had to open our doors and share our platform and knowledge, creating bespoke worlds for any event that wants to take its audience into the virtual world,” said Robin Collings, director at Lost Horizon and Shangri-La, in a statement.

To join in with the festivities you’ll need to set up a free Sansar account if you don’t already have one. You can then jump into the social platform using Oculus Rift, HTC Vive or Valve Index, or stream via a PC browser, tablet or smartphone. Just like any event tickets are on sale, either individually or $20 USD for the season ticket. However, thanks to HTC Vive’s participation Viveport users can access the events for free, simply follow this link for the redemption codes.

“We are so happy that Lost Horizon is opening its doors to the entire event industry to create unique, creative shows for a global audience,” adds Sheri Bryant, President of Sansar. “Sansar is here to provide the technology that powers all partners through the challenging times the music events industry is experiencing right now. We take comfort in knowing the upcoming Lost Horizon virtual shows will bring a sense of togetherness and social interaction for music fans around the world.”

The Lost Horizon seasonal events don’t purely provide music and art, there’s also a focus on human interaction with guided meditation, hidden wormholes, interactive games and secret quests to explore. For continued updates, keep reading VRFocus. 

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Monster Hunter Rise's first free DLC brings new monsters and features to the Switch RPG.

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There’s an added bonus in-store for HTC Viveport users this month – access to the latest live events inside Sansar.

Two events are coming up inside the virtual socializing platform which can be experienced either inside VR or on flat screens. The first is, Tobacco Dock Virtual, and users will also be able to take part in events from the upcoming Lost Horizon season for free. A season pass for the festival usually costs $20.

Tobacco Dock Virtual recreates the London venue for a weekend of live music and more on April 2nd and 3rd. Events include a Chase and Status DJ set and performances from Adam Beyer, Jaden Thompson and more. Plus you’ll be able to fully explore the venue, which has hosted events like EGX Rezzed in the past.

Lost Horizon, meanwhile, is a digital venue for music and art, created by the team behind the Shangri-La installation at the Glastonbury music festival. Free events for Viveport users include DJ sets from the Monster Cat label and a showcase from Ed Banger Records. These shows kick off on April 10th and run right through to mid-May.

To be clear, the offer is available for all Viveport users, not just Viveport Infinity subscribers. You can grab codes for free passes from here and, once signed into Sansar itself, redeem the codes from HTC.

Live VR events have seen a boost over the course of the COVID-19 pandemic and, while they can’t match the real-life experience, they’re currently the closest you can get to them. Will you be taking part in Sansar’s live events? Let us know in the comments below.

 

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There’s a saying “it never rains but it pours” and that certainly seems apt at the moment when it comes to tracking movement in virtual reality (VR). So far this year you got the third-gen Vive Trackers, the Manus Pro Tracker and the upcoming Tundra tracker. If any of those don’t pique your interest then maybe British firm TG0 just might, announcing the launch of its eteeTracker and eteeContollers.

VRFocus readers may remember TG0 holding a successful Kickstarter campaign in 2020 with the standard eteeControllers providing 3DoF control to which you can add the eteeTracker for complete 6DoF support with SteamVR. Now all the main products are available to buy both separately and in bundle form with introductory discounts available until the end of May.

The eteeControllers retail for £199 GBP (normally £219), designed to be lightweight with their biggest selling point being TG0’s patented full finger sensing technology. It was this tech the company was founded on, enabling touch, pressure, gesture and proximity sensing. However, if you want them for VR gaming you’ll want the eteeControllers SteamVR kit which retails for £259 (normally £299), supplied with the eteeTracker. The detachable tracker has a 360° field of view (FOV) and has a 5-hour runtime off a 60-minute charge. eteeTrackers can also be purchased separately for only £56 (normally £99) so you can add them to your feet or waist. The etee body tracking straps aren’t available just yet.

“We believe in innovation, more human interaction and ‘VR for all'”, said Jakub Kamecki, VP Business Development at TG0, in a statement. “Our tracker and controller ecosystem gives users an accessible entry point, a more comfortable, human experience, and superior technology.”

“Every day more people enter the world of VR, but as the community grows, players are demanding better and more versatile VR experiences. Users want to engage with each other in VRchat and metaverse environments like NeosVR, and to be tracked whether they sit, dance, lie down or gesticulate,” Kamecki continues. “We want to bring VR to the people. That means creating affordable, accessible equipment that fits users’ needs for more human-centric VR. That is our mission, and making these trackers available is another step towards completing it.”

As the eteeController kit is designed for SteamVR owners, they offer a viable alternative to the standard HTC Vive motion controllers and currently come in at the same price as the Valve Index controllers – which are out of stock here in the UK. Plus, use code SOFT5 for a 5% discount on all orders over £300 on eteexr.com. When VRFocus gets its hands on a pair we’ll let you know what they’re like.

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Augmented Reality (AR) specialist Niantic Labs has created some of the most popular titles to use the technology, including Pokemon GO, Ingress Prime and Harry Potter: Wizards Unite. But it seems the company isn’t purely interested in software with a recent Tweet from CEO John Hanke teasing a pair of glasses.

Exciting to see the progress we’re making to enable new kinds of devices that leverage our platform… pic.twitter.com/yYglk4q89G

— John Hanke (@johnhanke) March 29, 2021

With just a singular image to go on Niantic Labs is either in the process of making its own AR glasses or a more basic pair of smart glasses. The former would be along the lines of Nreal Light with spatial and hand-tracking capabilities, whilst the latter would provide a simpler heads-up display providing digital information in a users vision. From Hanke’s comment regarding “devices that leverage our platform”, meaning the Niantic Real World Platform which all of its videogames are built on, this device could well be a fully-fledged pair of AR glasses.

This would be a very big step for the company considering the AR hardware market is very much in its infancy. That’s set to change this year with glasses coming to market which attaches to 5G capable smartphones to run apps and view entertainment content. Recently, Qualcomm unveiled its XR1 AR Smart Viewer Reference Design helping OEMs reduce the time it takes to bring AR glasses to market.

Niantic Labs device could very well use this reference design or be leveraging a completely unique design. The lens looks very thin and compact, there are holes underneath which could indicate a speaker and then there’s the snazzy fabric logo running down the arm. It looks quite stylish at any rate, a factor the industry has been trying to tackle to push the technology mainstream.

This isn’t the first time Niantic Labs has publically showcased a desire to expand beyond smartphone AR gaming. During Microsoft Ignite at the beginning of March, the two companies showcased Pokemon GO working on HoloLens 2. Only a proof-of-concept, the demo saw Hanke wander around a garden, interacting with Pokemon like Pikachu by giving them some fruit.

Hopefully, this initial tease turns out to be Niantic Labs stepping into AR hardware and the possibility of playing Pokemon GO without having to constantly stare at your phone screen. For further updates, keep reading VRFocus.

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If you're serious about games, a good graphics card is essential, but there’s no one-size-fits-all option. Our guide helps you pick the best graphics card.

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Tundra Labs’ anticipated SteamVR Tracker hit Kickstarter yesterday and, well, it’s doing very well already.

The device, which is similar in function to HTC Vive’s own tracking pucks hit the crowd-funding platform with a goal of $250,000. Less than 24 hours later, it’s raised over $610,000 with the help of over 1,600 backers. The campaign will be running until May 28th, so expect it to raise a lot more before then.

“I just want to thank the community for your support and believing in Tundra,” Tundra’s Luke Beno said in a video message following the Kickstarter’s launching. “We’re going to be working very hard to deliver these Trackers to you.”

Tundra Tracker Scores Big On Steam

Tundra originally made its name by selling USB dongles for the Vive Trackers, but is now releasing its own version of the device. SteamVR Trackers are designed to be attached to real-world items and objects so that developers might create virtual approximations of them that are tracked inside VR. The original Vive Trackers, for example, could be attached to plastic guns for more immersive shooters, and were even used for full-body tracking. They’ve also found plenty of uses outside of VR thanks to the accuracy and availability of SteamVR tracking.

This new offering is aiming to be a smaller, lighter alternative to Vive’s original Tracker, though HTC just released a smaller, lighter version that we haven’t been able to test for ourselves yet. That said, Tundra says it expects production devices to weigh between 46g to 50g, with seven hours of battery life and support for multiple units to connect to one wireless dongle.

A Tundra Tracker with a dongle starts at $130 through the campaign, the same price as HTC’s latest Vive Tracker (though you can get either the dongle or Tracker on their own for cheaper). Backer tiers reach up to $630, which scores you seven trackers and a dongle capable of connecting all of them. Tundra anticipates shipping units in September of this year.

Will you be picking up a Tundra Tracker through Kickstarter? Let us know in the comments below!

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The Xbox One controller has great battery life, but there are ways to make it better. We offer tips like using rechargeable batteries instead of disposables.

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We got our first official look at Life is Strange: True Colors at the Square Enix Presents event. Here's everything we know about the upcoming adventure game.

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Fortnite supports cross-play across all platforms, including PS5, Series X, Switch, and mobile. We've put together a guide on how to link Fortnite accounts.

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Cloud gaming has a messaging problem, and we're here to solve it. Here's everything you need to know about cloud gaming, how it works, and if you should buy in.

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Pokémon GO features PokéCoins that can be purchased with real money or earned in-game. In this guide, we'll show you how to acquire PokéCoins in Pokémon GO.

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Animal Crossing's turnips have sparked a virtual gold rush, and players are itching to be Bellionaires. Here's everything to know to multiply your money.

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Puzzles, combat, and everything in between; getting started in Control is trickier than it seems. Here are 10 Control tips and tricks to get you started.

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Lightsaber, survival, or Force first? There are 33 skills to unlock in Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order. Our skill guide breaks down the most important ones.

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Growing hybrid flowers can ensure that a player's island is beautiful, unique, and full of delightful colors. Here are a few tips on how to breed hybrids.

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Valorant has 14 agents, and they all play a little differently. In this Valorant character guide, we break down every agent and their special abilities.

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It's not easy to come out on top in Call of Duty: Warzone, but having the best weapons can certainly increase your odds. These are the best weapons in Warzone.

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PS5 trophies are a way to document in-game progress, share your accomplishments, and incentivize you to earn 100% completion. Here's how PS5 trophies work.

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The Last of Us Part II is brutally violent, and some of the enemies happen to be dogs. You can sneak by them instead of killing them though, with these tips.

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Facebook’s Mike Doran says the company is preparing “amazing” VR content partnerships that will “blow people away” in the coming years.

Doran, who works as Director of Production at Facebook’s VR publishing label, Oculus Studios, teased fans about what’s to come in a blog post reflecting on the last five years of Facebook’s VR program.

“I’m in a uniquely blessed position to be able to work not only on some of the most premier games in the world, but also on a platform that’s constantly pushing the envelope,” Doran said of the future. “The things that are coming in the next three, five, seven years are amazing, and I wish I could talk to you about them right now. And I wish I could tell you all the great partners we have signed up that are going to blow people away when we’re finally allowed to talk about them.

“I could rattle off the list of names, but you’d have to bleep them all for the piece.”

Facebook, as with most others in the VR industry, has long talked about getting VR to a point that well-known game developers and content creators are working in VR. In fact, the company has already worked with some of the games industry’s biggest names like Respawn Entertainment and Insomniac Games, and now even owns high-profile studios like Lone Echo developer Ready at Dawn.

Given the perceived success of the Oculus Quest and Quest 2, however, it seems like more of these developers and publishers might be able about to jump in.  We already know that Ubisoft is developing new entries in the Assassin’s Creed and Splinter Cell series for VR, but what else could be on the way?

Who else would you like to see start making VR content? Let us know in the comments below!

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New information released by Facebook tracing the path from Oculus Rift to Quest 2 outlines how Beat Saber improved the quality of Oculus Touch tracking.

Facebook goes so far as to suggest “Beat Saber saved Quest” while an in-depth blog post from the company quotes a number of employees in explaining how the rhythm slicing game altered the course of its standalone development program.

Beat Saber sold more than four million copies — likely cementing it as the highest selling VR game of all time. The game started development in 2016 and released in early access on Steam in May 2018. Facebook released the original Oculus Quest in May 2019 with Beat Saber as one of its launch titles and, six months later, Facebook acquired the developers.

“Quest would have failed without Beat Saber,” Sean Liu, Director of Product, Hardware is quoted as saying.

Beat Saber Made Facebook Change Oculus Quest’s Controllers

Beat Games’ Head of Development Ján Ilavský is quoted as saying “I had a Quest in my closet for like six months, and I didn’t open it.”

Ilavský describes Facebook as “patient” while Facebook’s Director of Content Ecosystem Chris Pruett adds:

A guy named Trevor Dasch on the team I ran at the time actually did the initial port. It wasn’t what shipped, but it convinced the Beat Games team that they should port to Quest. Anyway, once we had Beat Saber on Quest, we realized the tracking needed work. The tracking seemed very good until you tried to play Beat Saber on Expert+ difficulty, and if you were good enough to play on Expert+ you’d find that although you had the skill, you couldn’t get the score.

According to Pruett, Facebook “invented” a key performance indicator for the tracking team “based on Beat Saber scoring” and Machine Perception Architect Oskar Linde is quoted as saying he measured a g-force of 30 g with an Inertial Measurement Unit when playing Beat Saber.

“The IMU we had in the system back then capped out at 16 g. We had to go in and change the IMU as a result of Beat Saber,” Linde is quoted as saying.

Software Program Manager, Insight Anna Kozminski added that “We had to come up with all kinds of methods to predict where someone’s arms are when we don’t see them, and then when they come back into view, make that appear seamless.”

Finally, Facebook’s Input Explorations Engineering Director Jenny Spurlock is quoted as saying “I started doing a statistical benchmark where I would play songs in Beat Saber and record the data and look at the gap between Rift S and Quest to see what was going on. I noticed the gap between the Rift and Rift S was small and the gap between Rift and Quest was really large. We ended up using that method to pinpoint the problem. It was huge. Without Beat Saber, we probably would not have known or been able to pinpoint what was going on.”

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Lots of behind-the-scenes tidbits and details were revealed today in a massive oral history report published by Facebook that chronicles the history of Oculus to celebrate the five-year anniversary of the original Rift launch. One of the most interesting details to me is the surprising shift in tone and genre that Asgard’s Wrath went through between its conception and its release.

Asgard’s Wrath

For those unaware, Asgard’s Wrath is a massive VR action-adventure RPG that’s exclusive to the Oculus Rift PC VR store developed by Sanzaru (now owned by Facebook) in which you take control of a Norse God that has the ability to possess mortals and control them directly. The game plays out similar to a Zelda or God of War game in which you explore various realms of Norse mythology, solve puzzles, and fight hundreds of monsters. You can also transform animals into humanoid familiars that fight with you and all have unique abilities to help you on your journey.

It’s a huge, sprawling game that captures the essence of a large-scale AAA quality RPG and puts it into VR with great results. It was the first 5/5 score we ever game here on UploadVR back in 2019 and it’s still my personal favorite VR game to date.

In the oral history report that published today, developers from Sanzaru and Oculus Studios discuss a surprising revelation: the game wasn’t even planned to be an action game at all originally. Not even close.

“Asgard’s Wrath actually started as a Touch-centric demo like VR Sports Challenge,” said Grace Morales Lingad, Creative Director at developer Sanzaru. “It was meant as a Toybox-like demo early on and grew from there… It was more focused on being the god and helping this puny mortal.”

Toybox was a multiplayer Oculus Touch tech demo in which you and another person would stand at a table and play with toys. The toys were intended to encourage interaction so there were building blocks, remote controlled airplanes, and more. That feeling of being a giant looking down at little toys on a table stuck with the developers.

Then along the way it became a tower defense game where you were picking up little
Toybox-size objects and putting them down as your defensive armaments,” said Mike Doran, Director of Production at Oculus Studios. “There’s a couple places where you still see the tower defense game, a couple of boss encounters where you’re firing these giant cannons down on massive armies in the distance. Also, not a lot of people realize that our entire inventory is a series of shelves with tiny little units or objects, and those shelves were originally the UI for selecting towers.”

Once the idea for flipping between God-mode and mortal-mode were introduced, it spiraled from there. They added more features and more concepts on top of everything else, letting you explore more of the world and take control of more types of mortals. Before long, it wasn’t a tower-defense game at all.

“With Asgard’s Wrath, we wanted to make a real-deal, big game,” said Mat Kraemer, Head of Design at Sanzaru. “I’m tired of playing the ten-minute demos and I’m tired of limited movement. I wanted to play a God of War style game. I wanted to play a Zelda style game in VR. I want to make the game that makes you buy an Oculus headset, so when people look at Oculus hardware, they say, ‘I want to play Sanzaru’s next big thing.’ That is what I want to make, and I think as a developer being given the opportunity to do that has been awesome.”

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For games similar to what Sanzaru originally envisioned, check out Defense Grid 2 and Brass Tactics. And for more on Asgard’s Wrath, you can read or watch my full Asgard’s Wrath review, beginner tips, and my one-year retrospective from last October that looked back at why the game remains so great for me.

Let us know what you think down in the comments below!

via Mint VR

Five years can seem like a long time. If you’ve ever been to a job interview then there’s a good possibility you’ve been asked “where do you image yourself in 5 years?” But it can go by in the blink of an eye which it certainly feels like when talking about the virtual reality (VR) industry. March 2016 saw the launch of Oculus Rift and the birth of modern VR, so naturally Facebook is reminiscing today whilst also looking towards what the future holds.

Plenty has happened in the last 60 months, VR hardware has improved in both form and versatility whilst developers have unlocked some of the secrets to what makes a good VR videogame. While 2016 can be attributed as the official launch of consumer VR with Oculus Rift, HTC Vive and PlayStation VR all arriving, let’s not forget that it took years to get to that stage thanks to devices like the Oculus Rift DK1 and DK2 and others. Considering how much value is put into physical interaction with digital worlds now, the fact Oculus Rift launched with an Xbox controller seems a world away.

That was soon rectified in less than a year with Oculus Touch – playing catch up to HTC Vive – making titles such as The Climb come alive, allowing players to go hands-on with this new era of videogames. Gamepads in VR soon became a thing of the past – although PlayStation VR still holds a soft spot for the tech – as developers strive to create a greater feeling of presence within their projects.

Innovation in VR has been exceptionally rapid with Facebook’s next headset, the Oculus Go, arriving in 2018. Designed to be an affordable entry into VR as well as being the company’s first all-in-one (AIO) device it would set the groundwork for future endeavours. “John Carmack is really the person that pushed for the creation of Oculus Go. He was super passionate about it, and about making VR less complex,” says Nicole Brendis, Product Marketing on the Oculus Blog. With Chris Pruett, Director of Content Ecosystem adding: “We learned a ton from Go. Quest wouldn’t have existed without Go existing first.”

But the Oculus Go’s lifespan would only be a couple of years. The Oculus Quest and Oculus Rift S both launched in May 2019, heralding a new era where 6 degrees-of-freedom (6DoF) would become the norm. Oculus Go’s 3DoF control was too basic so it was discontinued in late 2020. However, it lasted longer than Oculus Quest which was superseded in 17 months by Oculus Quest 2, whilst Rift S is being discontinued very soon.

And that short lifecycle trend is going to continue by the sound of it as Mark Zuckerberg has already said Facebook Reality Labs (FRL) is “working on the next few generations of virtual reality and what Quest 3 and 4 are gonna look like.”

So that begs the question what is next? Plenty, with FRL Chief Scientist Michael Abrash saying: “We are at the very beginning. All this innovation, all this invention still has to happen with VR. People should realize that we’ve come a long way and we’ve done a great job—but this road stretches out for the rest of their lifetimes.”

Technologies including hand tracking, eye tracking, face tracking, brain-computer interfaces (BCI) and AI-powered interfaces all have a part to play. VRFocus will report on it all so don’t go anywhere.

via Mint VR

Wraith: The Oblivion – Afterlife presents an interesting challenge for concept artist Henrik Lundblad.

Yes, it’s a horror game with expected tropes, but Lundblad was also tasked with visualising a universe with little in the way of visual assets. World of Darkness, the universe in which the game is set, is a pen & paper RPG, and not something that has an abundance of reference points to touch upon, save for the game’s original rulebooks. That’s especially true for the Wraith factions, which have never had their own game to help inform the art.

For Lundblad, then, this is a different type of project. Tonally, topics of death and the afterlife are very different to the subjects Fast Travel approached in Apex Construct and Curious Tale of the Stolen Pets, but the artist was also given a lot of creative freedom inside an established universe. As part of our final entry in our Upload Access spotlight on the game, we spoke to him about the challenges of bringing the World of Darkness to life.

UploadVR: Tonally, working on the art of Wraith must have been a big change from your past projects, how was that to handle?

Henrik Lundblad: Yes, Afterlife is a very different game from what we as a studio have done before. In this project we were dealing with a much darker subject: death and what follows there after. Naturally, we wanted to use a slightly different art style than what we have done in the past. A style more suited to tell the story of Ed and his dreadful fate in the Barclay Mansion. Choosing a much darker tonality and more close to reality look for the game felt like a good match when visualizing this alternate reality. This of course came with challenges, both technical and creative, but also interesting new ways of expressing our ideas.

Our ambition was to be a horror game but also to bring something new to the table visually. Instead of basing the environments in the game on, say, a more classic looking Victorian haunted mansion we let ourselves be influenced by more modern architecture. 

UploadVR: As a pen & paper game, there aren’t a lot of visuals assets for Wraith out there – were you given a lot of freedom to envision the universe?

Henrik Lundblad: The original rule books for Wraith the Oblivion actually contain a lot of interesting artwork. This helped us as visual stepping stones when developing art for this game. Sure, we were given a lot of freedom, but felt it important to still let the mood and tonality influence the art of the game. It was interesting to see how concepts from the pen and paper game had been visualized previously and come up with creative ideas for how to realize them in a VR game.

UploadVR: Did Paradox give you any directions for the art behind the game and the designs of creatures/environments?

Henrik Lundblad: I think Paradox really gave us a lot of creative freedom. At the same time they also helped us to stay true to the World of Darkness IP. During the project we bounced a lot of our ideas with some of the lore experts over at Paradox and got many useful insights. 

UploadVR: Did you look to other WoD properties for inspiration? What were some of the guiding influences?

Henrik Lundblad: It was important to us that Wraith: The Oblivion Afterlife felt like it was a part of the WoD family, but also mixed with other visual ingredients that felt important to us. Early on, the team studied films from the same era as the original Wraith: The Oblivion as a source of inspiration.

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Wraith: The Oblivion – Afterlife is coming to Oculus Rift and Quest on April 22nd, with a SteamVR version following on May 25th. A PSVR edition is coming later down the line, too.

via Mint VR

After moving away from location-based entertainment (LBE) content and into the home consumer market, developer Joy Way has started making a name for itself with parkour title Stride. Recently, the studio has revealed work on an upcoming rhythm-action videogame which certainly takes a much more gruesome approach to the genre.

Currently, an unnamed prototype, the last time Joy Way showcased footage from the title was back in December which you can see below. While that was low-poly, giving a feel for what the gameplay is going to be like, the above GIF provides a darker, bloody aesthetic rarely seen within this genre. Looking like there’s a spot of Venom inspiration in there, the prototype is all about hacking and slicing enemies up in time to the music.

You’re instructed to cut these enemies up in a particular direction, awarded points for doing so whilst body parts fly across your view. Hopefully even with the new visual design Joy Way has kept some of the gameplay elements shown in the early video, switching between swords and guns to dispatch enemies, wall running to shooting them in cars, epic slow-mo sections and even a giant boss battle where you can run up its arm to unleash a slice to the face.

The VR rhythm-action genre is competitive and inundated with titles, two of the most popular being Beat Saber and Pistol Whip thanks to the very different ways in which they handle their gameplay. Joy Way’s project certainly has a bit of both in there, just with a very different look that’s definitely not going down the family-friendly route.

The studio has been holding a small closed beta this week which ends tomorrow for Oculus Rift and Oculus Quest (via Link), so it’s going to be a PC VR videogame at any rate.

As for Joy Way’s main title Stride, there’s plenty on the horizon. Released via Steam Early Access in 2020, a PlayStation VR launch is slated for 2021, whilst the first details of the story mode have been teased. Its arrival is currently stencilled in for Q3 2021, marking the official launch of Stride.

VRFocus will continue its coverage of Joy Way, reporting back with further updates on the prototype.

via Mint VR

The Nintendo Switch can't stream or record gameplay, so you'll need one of the best capture cards for the Nintendo Switch to broadcast your favorite games.

via Mint VR

CD Projekt Red shared patch notes for Cyberpunk 2077's long-awaited Patch 1.2.

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Monster Hunter is a complex action RPG that can be daunting for newcomers. We've compiled 15 essential tips for starting Monster Hunter Rise.

via Mint VR

A dormant ‘Guardian Intrusion Detection’ interface prompt in the Oculus Quest system software was found by YouTuber Basti564.

Basti showed us how to find and launch the prompt. We verified it’s real, and exists in the current Quest firmware. There is no evidence of any functionality yet – it looks like this is just a dormant prompt for a potential future feature.

Based on the wording, it looks like this feature will let you know if any object bigger than a human hand enters your space while you’re in VR. That should mean less risk of accidentally punching your family or housemates in the face, and it may also protect cats and dogs that don’t understand you can’t see them.

Quest headsets have cameras on the front and top sides, so the system warns you it won’t be able to see behind you, and “works best in rooms with ample lighting”.

Basti564 tells us this prompt has existed since Quest software v24, launched in December. Reddit user Reggy04 claims strings referencing ‘Intrusion Alert’ existed as early as v20 back in September, which we were able to independently confirm.

So does this mean Intrusion Detection is launching some time soon? It’s unclear.

Guardian’s Couch Mode, just launched in February, was first spotted in the Quest software back in July, seven months earlier. Conversely, references to a shared-space colocation mode have existed as far back as August 2019, but that feature has yet to even be announced.

Since May 2020, Guardian warns you of static obstacles in your playspace when you boot up. But that warning only shows up in passthrough mode, so Intrusion Detection could be the natural next step.

VR is sometimes criticized as isolating, but each year headsets get a little more aware of the real world around you, and we don’t expect that trend to stop any time soon.

via Mint VR

No matter the type of multiplayer experience you are looking for, this hybrid console has it all. Here are the best multiplayer games on the Nintendo Switch.

via Mint VR

The latest game from Yuji Naka is a disappointing 3D platformer dragged down by its half-baked costume gimmick.

via Mint VR

Spring is here so it’s time for some seasonal offers. The first out the gate is HTC Vive which is offering a £120 GBP discount (or regional equivalent) on its Vive Cosmos range in select countries.

This is becoming a trend for the company which previously conducted the same deal back in February. So for one week only, from now until 4th April, you can purchase either the standard Vive Cosmos or the Vive Cosmos Elite for that whopping discount. The brings the Vive Cosmos down from £699 to £579 and the Vive Cosmos Elite from £899 to £779. Not too shabby if you’re after a dedicated PC VR headset and the Valve Index is a bit too much of a stretch.

If you’re unaware of the difference between the two headsets, it’s all down to tracking. The Vive Cosmos has inside-out tracking thank’s to the six cameras dotted on the front and sides. These tracking both you’re position within your play area as well as the two motion controllers. This solution is also easier to setup with no external sensors to worry about. The Vive Cosmos on the other hand, utilises the SteamVR 1.0 basestations which need to be wall-mounted (or mounted on anything at the required height). Using this system you also ge tthe older, Vive motion controllers. The upside to this system is that its very accurate, can be expanded if you ever needed to and also supports the Vive Trackers.

As for the other features, both headsets provide a combined resolution of 2880×1770 (1440×1700 per-eye) using an LCD display, a 90Hz refresh rate, a maximum 110-degree FoV, IPD adjustment, a hinged halo strap to easily drop in and out of VR and built-in headphones for spatial audio.

HTC Vive is gearing up for a big 2021 by the looks of it. Earlier this month the company announced its new third-generation Vive Tracker which features improved battery life, weight reduction and smaller footprint. Additionally, the Vive Facial Tracker was launched, allowing for the real-time depiction of facial expressions.

Even more exciting, there’s a new headset on the way – possibly why the Vive Cosmos is being discounted. Very little has been revealed about the device other than it’s due this year and it’ll be all-in-one (AIO) so no PC required.

For UK customers, the current Vive Cosmos Spring deals can be found at Vive.com, Amazon, Argos, Carphone, Game, Overclockers, Scan and Ebuyer. For further hardware updates from HTC Vive, keep reading VRFocus.

via Mint VR

Tetris and battle royale is an unlikely pairing, but Tetris 99 makes it work. Our Tetris 99 tips will show you how to win a game, how targeting works, and more.

via Mint VR

Super Mario Maker 2 features local co-op and online multiplayer action. Our quick guide will walk you through how to play with your friends locally or online.

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If you're willing to sacrifice resolution and refresh rate, you can still get an excellent monitor for under $100. These are our favorite models for 2021.

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There has never been a better time to start playing Pokémon Go. Here's everything you need to know before jumping into the increasingly popular mobile AR game.

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Video game controllers can get nasty quick, so it's important to clean them often. In this guide, we show you how to clean your Xbox controller inside and out.

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Does id Software’s 2004 shooter hold up 17 years on inside VR? Find out in our Doom 3: VR Edition review!

So, here we are – nine years after John Carmack showed Doom 3 running in VR on a prototype Oculus Rift at E3. It may not have landed on that headset, but id Software’s horror shooter is finally available on in VR for the first time.

Well, officially available for the first time, at least.

In truth, Doom 3 has already enjoyed some great ports to VR headsets on PC and, more recently, the Oculus Quest. But this PSVR-exclusive edition from Freediver developer Archiact has the benefit of being officially sanctioned — and funded — by id and publisher Bethesda themselves. It’s a serviceable port, propped up by the ever-excellent PSVR Aim controller that delivers some gory thrills.

But, somewhat remarkably, Doom 3: VR Edition isn’t actually the best way to play the game in VR, let alone at all. Some of that comes from new design choices but it’s mostly due to the inescapable fact that Doom 3 was never really an ideal candidate for a port to headsets in the first place, storied as its history may be.

Again, with a keyboard and mouse in-hand, that proved an addictive loop, but it doesn’t hold up as well inside PSVR. Bethesda had success instilling some sense of immersion into the open-world exploration and active combat of 2017’s Skyrim VR, where swinging your swords and aiming arrows felt in-step with the platform. On the flipside, Doom 3: VR Edition does little to place your body inside its world. It inherently remains a PC shooter crammed into a headset – an exciting 3D viewing experience more than it is a truly immersive piece of VR world-building that convinces you that you’ve stepped into another reality.

For some, that’ll be more than enough. After all, with 11+ hours of linear, story-driven content in the core game alone, this is exactly what many VR owners have been pining for. But to say Doom 3 feels like anything more than the equivalent of VR junk food when stacked up next to better, native shooters would be doing them a disservice.

Problems persist looking beyond the core foundation, too. Scaling in Doom 3: VR Edition is completely off, for example. The game’s NPCs look tiny, as if you could reach out and squish their heads like grapes. Environmental details like chairs look like miniature models and doors and walls appear strangely smaller than they should. It’s not something that’s easy to show you, as it all looks as it should on a flatscreen, but you’ll quickly notice it once you pull the headset over your eyes. Doom 3: VR Edition delivers a different kind of BFG; it turns you into a Big F**king Giant.

The strangest thing about this is that it isn’t as much of an issue in TeamBeef’s recent mod of Doom 3 for Oculus Quest (though it’s still not 100% there). In fact the overall polish of that mod and the number of options it gives the player — to be frank — goes beyond Doom 3: VR Edition. True, Archiact has been able to implement ammo counters into weapon grips, but laser sights are mandatory on some weapons, all cutscenes play out in virtual 2D windows, as does interacting with the PDA from the pause menu, and operating panels is done with a mouse-like point and click aiming. On Quest, laser sights can be customized, cutscenes can play in full 3D (a 2D option is there too), the PDA can be used while in the game world and you’re able to reach out and press buttons on panels as if you were there. Truthfully I’m not crazy about either version of the game but, if you can play it there, the Quest mod is the better option.

Motion control support varies by the weapon, too. Using the classic shotgun (and, later, the immortal Super Shotgun) is an immensely satisfying experience with the PSVR Aim Controller, but for some reason the standard machine gun is placed far higher than you’re holding it in real life. Try and aim down the sights and you’ll just be sticking your head in the butt of the gun and the weapon model is in the way at all times. I suspect the idea is to reduce fatigue by not having your arms held up to your head every few minutes, but the permanent laser-sight fitted to the gun means you don’t need to do that anyway. Oddly enough the last time I had an issue like this was with Doom VFR – you can see it in the GIF below.

via GIPHY

Cycling through weapons, meanwhile, is painfully slow and there’s no weapon wheel for quick selection. Plus the game uses your manual saves as checkpoints with a handful of moments in which it will autosave. It really breaks up the flow of VR to be heading into the menu to save every few minutes after finishing encounters you don’t want to repeat and it’s a shame there’s no quick save feature to keep the gameplay flowing.

Doom 3: VR Edition Final Impressions

Doom 3: VR Edition is a serviceable port of a decent shooter that was never intended to be played in VR. While there’s undeniable novelty to seeing id’s spookier take on the series realised in full 3D and some combat sequences do work better inside the headset, the game’s unable to separate itself from its flatscreen foundations and never plays to the platform’s real strengths. It’s a bit of VR junk food, then; easy to digest and enjoyable while it lasts but, in the grand scheme of VR gaming, you can do a lot better. Maybe it’s time we accepted Doom’s demonic antics are best left on our PCs and consoles.

 

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For more on how we arrived at this score, read our review guidelines. What did you make of our Doom 3: VR Edition review? Let us know in the comments below!

via Mint VR