Ever wanted to run your own bar frequented by warriors, mages, and other adventurers? After a successful Kickstarter campaign, the bar management sim 'Epic Tavern' is now available for Early Access on Steam.
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“Have you ever actually run while playing runners?” Asks Yode Group, developers and publishers of Hot Runback. “Or you just sit and watch your character run on a smartphone screen without burning any single calorie?”
A newly released videogame on Steam for both the Oculus Rift and HTC Vive, Hot Runback takes the idea of an endless runner and brings it into the world of first-person VR. You take on the role of the titular running back as you proceed to do your best Forrest Gump impersonation by grabbing hold of an American football and proceeding to run… and run… and run. Because if the opposition won’t stop you the boundaries of the stadium sure won’t.
You can run on as long as you can keep going in this procedurally generated world, but you will indeed have to run, or simulate running at least. There’ll still be obstacles like cars and the police, but you’ll be amazed at how much damage a ball can do if you hurl it at something in your way! (Or you can just dodge and avoid the obstacles which is kind of the whole point.)
The title is available on special promotion until October 4th at 40% off as such it is currently priced at £2.39 (GBP) down from £3.99. You can watch the trailer below. Who knows, you may soon find yourself collecting coins whilst running down the street, casually attacking market stalls with sporting equipment.
Be sure to follow VRFocus for all the latest gaming news relating to both Oculus Rift and HTC Vive.
It seems almost amazing to think that we first heard about Chernobyl VR Project, a virtual reality (VR) title from Polish developers The Farm 51 way back in April 2015. Over time we’ve had more than one video and certainly more than one support release for the experience which first hit Oculus Rift more than a year ago.
Now the long-planned PlayStation VR version has finally gone live meaning PSVR owners can now take the haunting virtual tour of the town of Pripyat and the area immediately around the nuclear reactor where the disaster took place in 1986.
“At The Farm 51, we believe that Virtual Reality (VR) is not only about entertainment.” Explains the developers. “We wanted to leverage computer game mechanics to create an interactive account of the tragic fate of the people and places affected by the catastrophe.”
An updated version has also launched for the PC on both Steam and the Oculus Store, bringing with it the hospital as a new location within the app, Touch support for Oculus Rift, Virtuix Omni support for HTC Vive, improvements to sound, graphics and video quality and the addition of new graphical settings. The PlayStation VR version also has an exclusive new section in the form of the roof of the power plant itself.
You can see a release trailer for the PlayStation VR version below. VRFocus will continue to bring you updates on the Chernobyl VR Project and further future announcements from The Farm 51.
The Vancouver International Film Festival (VIFF) has now opened its doors for another year, offering two weeks of the latest cinema from creators around the world. This years event also features Expanding Frontiers in Storytelling – a series dedicated to the mediums of virtual reality (VR) and augmented reality (AR).
Having its own day during the VIFF, Expanding Frontiers in Storytelling’s Virtual Reality Day on 6th October will feature sessions by some of VR’s leading content creators as well as offering an opportunity to demo some of the latest experiences.
Roy Taylor, Corporate Vice President of Media & Entertainment, AMD Studios will begin the day with an opening keynote followed by a panel discussion on the rise of cinematic VR featuring The Virtual Reality Company and Radiant Images among others.
Later talks will look at finance and distribution, with AMD Studios, Kaleidoscope VR and Littlstar taking part, and branded content featuring Immersiv, Specular Theory and OmniVirt.
Organised by the Greater Vancouver International Film Festival Society, the Society received $100,200 CAD through the Government of Canada’s Building Communities Through Arts and Heritage program to support this year’s VIFF.
“VIFF is grateful for the ongoing support of the Department of Canadian Heritage. This critical contribution enables our organization to remain a vibrant arts and cultural organization and supporter of the development of creative industries in British Columbia. VIFF’s diverse program is a reflection of the city in which we work and live, and we are thrilled to have the opportunity to engage over 1,000 volunteers and 140,000 attendees—and growing—at our festival each year,” said Jacqueline Dupuis, Executive Director, Greater Vancouver International Film Festival Society in a statement.
Tickets to attend the Virtual Reality Day cost $150 (or $120 if you’re a student). For the latest VR offerings at film festivals, keep reading VRFocus.
Over the next two weeks we are expecting major announcements related to VR from Microsoft, Google and Facebook.
It couldn’t come at a better time for VR developers who spent the summer reading headline after headline about how VR is dead, fulfilling the prediction of Unity CEO John Riccitiello that journalists couldn’t stop themselves from writing negatively about the gap between analyst estimates and actual sales in the first year or so of VR’s mainstream adoption. The so-called “gap of disappointment” was made possible by analysts who model the growth of the industry in a straight line whereas Riccitiello suggested it is far more likely to see more of a curve to adoption — a slow start that suddenly ramps at an accelerated pace.
What will drive the adoption curve is the arrive of affordable standalone VR systems that require no PC or phone to operate. We’ll see the first of these arrive in the next few months. These, too, might start off with meager adoption as the first systems will likely make sacrifices in functionality, but over the next year or two we can expect a rapid increase in capabilities as new systems arrive that will offer an all-in-one package and none of the drawbacks of current VR systems. Here’s what to expect from announcements over the next two weeks.
Halo is coming to Microsoft-based immersive systems.
On Oct. 3 (Tuesday morning) Microsoft will give one final overview of its mixed reality strategy before its manufacturing partners, later this month, start shipping inexpensive but surprisingly capable PC-based virtual reality headsets. We know headsets are on the way from Dell, Lenovo, HP, Acer, ASUS and we’ve seen another leaked from Samsung. Pricing starts around $300 and they work with hand controllers which dramatically increase a sense of interactivity and overall immersion. These systems are compatible with the Microsoft’s Windows 10 “mixed reality” platform, promising compatibility with both the Windows Store and Steam, with a stellar line up of content on tap.
While all these headsets are expected to have a wired connection to a PC we know Microsoft is keenly aware of the value of a standalone system. It leads the augmented reality market with the standalone HoloLens. While HoloLens isn’t going for mass appeal as it costs $3,000, its tracking system locked Intel out of the market as it was being adapted to these less expensive PC-based VR headsets.
Microsoft is also expected to roll out the Xbox One X in November. At E3 2016, Microsoft suggested its future Xbox would be capable of high quality VR, but by E3 2017 there wasn’t a word about this feature. In between these events Microsoft revealed its partner-based strategy for Windows-based tethered VR headsets. Meanwhile AMD, which provides some of the processing chips inside the Xbox One X, purchased Nitero. Nitero made wireless technology specifically tuned to make VR headsets wireless while still offering high fidelity. The technology was good enough that it received investment from Valve before the acquisition. Could the Xbox One X have Nitero technology buried inside?
Microsoft is in a tricky place because its partners might be hurt if the company revealed a plan for the Xbox One X to support wireless VR in 2018 at the same time partners start shipping wired PC headsets. Nonetheless, Microsoft’s late 2017 entry into the VR market aims to hit a sweet spot between price, ease of setup and functionality that Facebook’s Oculus and HTC’s Vive have yet to match. The biggest remaining limitation to Microsoft’s approach — and thus the size of the VR market — is the wired connection. And Microsoft has the partnerships and technology lead needed to make that wire disappear very soon.
On Oct. 4 (Wednesday morning) Google will reveal its product lineup for the holiday season.
Google’s Daydream View
Google just acquired a team from HTC responsible for the creation of the Pixel smartphone. Earlier this year the ad giant also acquired Owlchemy Labs, the creator of Job Simulator and Rick & Morty VR. During its developer conference earlier this year, Google revealed its WorldSense tracking technology ideal for VR and AR headsets.
We can reasonably expect a new version of the Pixel phone, perhaps a new Daydream headset and details around the first standalone VR headsets powered by Google expected to arrive at the end of this year from manufacturers like HTC. That said, we don’t know how you’ll interact with virtual worlds you visit inside these standalone systems.
Intel’s cancelled Alloy VR headset used an awkward combination of a headset that allowed full freedom of movement throughout a room with a hand controller that could only sense limited movement. It doesn’t feel right to be able to move your head around a virtual world freely but when you reach out and try to grab something that movement isn’t captured in the virtual world. That’s what it might feel like if Google used WorldSense tracking for a headset paired with its current Daydream controller.
Google is likely very aware of this limitation and spent years working on its computer vision technologies. So it is not out of the realm of possibility for the company to have figured out an immersive solution to this limitation with its next VR headsets.
On Oct. 11 and 12 Facebook’s Oculus will be hosting Oculus Connect 4. The fourth developer conference from Facebook’s VR division will see a range of sessions and presentations outlining next steps from the company. It will also likely unleash a new VR headset prototype for developers and/or journalists to try. Last year this prototype was called Santa Cruz — a standalone headset that mashed together parts of the Rift and mobile efforts at Facebook. It offered movement freedom throughout a room.
Earlier this year reports emerged that Facebook was aiming for a $200 standalone that might be similar to the Gear VR. This system is likely not the future of Santa Cruz. In other words, Oculus is actively developing a range of standalone systems targeting both high and low ends.
In some ways Facebook is playing catch up to Microsoft and Google. The company was acquired in 2014 and has gone through an integration process that saw many employees upend their lives in Orange County, where Oculus was headquartered, and move closer to Facebook’s offices in Silicon Valley. Meanwhile, a huge injection of cash from Facebook led to the addition of lots of new people to the team alongside management restructuring. All this happened while teams at Google and Microsoft toiled away at some of the core problems, like computer vision, that Facebook would ultimately need to solve too.
What makes Facebook different from the efforts we’re seeing from Microsoft and Google is that the company doesn’t have any of the baggage from Android or Windows to support in developing its new ecosystem of VR headsets It’s a fresh start. Facebook’s VR decision makers are theoretically free to make choices that are best for the developers building for these systems and for the people who are buying them. When it comes to standalone VR headsets, Facebook’s teams likely won’t have to decide whether something works well with Android or with Windows.
Hopefully on Oct. 11 and 12 we’ll see what that difference really means.
Tagged with: facebook, google, microsoft
Fancy shooting some virtual reality (VR) targets but you’ve got barely any cash left after decking yourself out in lots of high tech VR finery? Well fear not as ARLOOPA has just released a new shooting range experience for HTC Vive that’ll set you back a whole £1.99 GBP, Shoot Loop VR.
With a wild west theme, there’s only one thing to do in Shoot Loop VR and that’s fire some bullets at a range of targets as quickly and accurately as possible. Don’t worry about being over burdened with guns choices as there’s only three available, a revolver, a pistol and what looks like an AK-47u SMG – which was always popular cowboys films.
There are three different shooting ranges to conquer, hit enough targets and you’ll get a decent score. Get a really good score and you’ll be on the global leaderboards forever – unless they get taken down or enough players make sort work of your once brilliant score.
Point, shoot, repeat, what more can you ask for for £1.99.
For up to the minute news on all your favourite VR tech, keep reading VRFocus.
Mixed reality (MR) is a new computing platform that‘s emerging from the current fields of augmented and virtual reality. MR blends the physical and the digital worlds into a single space, using a combination of cutting edge optical hardware and artificial intelligence (AI) software. Over the next 5 to 10 years, most industry analysts agree that the AR/VR market will be worth well north of $100 billion, with the vast majority coming from the AR side — in the form of consumer innovations in retail, location, or AI services. In terms of the enterprise market, that pie will be smaller, but will lean even more heavily toward AR and MR.
Currently, at the forefront of the MR revolution is the Microsoft HoloLens. Microsoft has uncharacteristically been early to market in this sector, with the HoloLens dominating almost all coverage of actual deployments of the technology. Although Microsoft enjoys an industry-leading position, it does face other threats from both new hardware entrants and established platform holders. Read on to see how the battle lines are being drawn — and what potential outcomes could emerge over the medium term.
HoloLens moves the game on from the previous-generation MR devices — such as Google Glass — which provided little more than the ability to bring up text or simple icons over the user’s view. By contrast, the HoloLens is capable of both rendering full 3D objects and data as holograms, and of understanding the world around it in order to place those holograms in physical space. The self-contained nature of the HoloLens (it’s a full Windows 10 computer that doesn’t require wires or a network connection to function) makes it just as capable on a factory floor, or the middle of a construction site as it is in an office.
Thanks to the current generation’s $3,000 price, it is more likely it’ll be the next generation of MR devices that will revolutionize the consumer market. Meanwhile, industries as diverse as transportation, healthcare, industrial design and education are currently adopting MR via Microsoft’s device to disrupt existing business processes.
Consumer VR devices costing several hundred dollars from Oculus, HTC, and Sony run on powerful household desktop PCs that likely cost at least $1,000. They offer immersion in 3D worlds at what can be around $2,000 total, which could previously only be achieved with specialist installations costing $20,000 or more. Meanwhile, AR systems, such as Apple’s recent ARKit, allow mobile users to view the world through a window, with digital objects superimposed. Both mediums are potentially disruptive: VR primarily in the consumer space; AR primarily in the enterprise space — and have acted as gravity wells for venture funding over the 5 years, though both seem to remain perennially a few months from a great inflection point.
In new MR hardware, the two big players are Magic Leap, the $4 billion Florida-based behemoth; and Meta, the plucky Y-Combinator alumni with a comparatively teeny $73 million war chest. Despite their David-and-Goliath mismatch, Meta seem closer to actual product in the market, though neither have so far shipped devices to allow a true side-by-side comparison with Microsoft’s technology. If Magic Leap ever does ship a product, expect an all-out turf war for the enterprise space, as all that venture money may well end up being deployed to compete with an even more capable Hololens 2 that may emerge any time from late 2018.
The more interesting angle of attack on Microsoft’s current position may come from the very capable augmented reality support which both Apple and Google have added to their respective mobile platforms in 2017. The applications of ARKit and ARCore have mostly focused on the traditional ‘hold your phone up and look through it’ ergonomics, but many companies are looking past this by creating inexpensive head-mounted cradles which can transform a phone into a mixed reality device (think Google Cardboard for MR).
Disney’s recent collaboration with Lenovo to create a Star Wars head-mounted AR experience is based around this concept. If this approach proves popular with consumers, it could drastically narrow the considerable lead Microsoft has built up over its rivals Google and Apple, and bring MR to the consumer market — many years earlier than most analysts have forecast.
Uptake of mixed reality has begun, but the sprint toward ubiquity has yet to start. Historically technologies take a while, then hit hard and transform fast. With so many major tech players investing in MR, that future seems assured — but the likely big winners right now are less clear. Ultimately, as with any new medium, it’ll be the players who find the most disruptive, high value use cases for the new capabilities MR enables. With its more consumer-focused siblings riding high in the headlines, challengers to the single dominant platform are lining up and enterprise adoption is accelerating, mixed reality is lined up for an interesting next few years.
Fracture Reality chief technical officer Rob Minson began his career in academia and holds a Ph.D in interactive simulation systems before moving into the video game industry, building interactive experiences and scalable online systems. This post by Rob Minson originally appeared on VenutreBeat.
Tagged with: microsoft
A lot of people say that virtual reality will blow your mind. And that’s the point of Tripp, which has raised $4 million to make a VR experience that will alter your mood and your mind.
Mayfield Fund led the round and contributed most of the funds for the startup, which is working on “transformative experiences.” Nanea Reeves, CEO of Tripp, said in an interview with GamesBeat that the company views the experience more as a “journey” that exploits the sensory and immersive elements of VR to change the way a person feels.
“We are creating a native VR experience that changes the way a person feels,” said Reeves. “You can use Tripp to select from a catalog of different feelings, like pumping you up before a workout or calming you down after work.”
Tripp, based in Los Angeles and San Francisco, is working on a native VR game, or experience, that focuses on changing the way a person feels to help them live more happily and effectively. The experience will have a combination of audio and visual elements, gameplay mechanics, and meditation.
They are tapping into research that shows that digital and interactive experiences can have an effect on the brain. They note that we listen to music, play video games, browse social media, binge on our favorite shows — and our mental state changes. Tripp wants to give us more control over that change, giving us tools to slow down, disconnect from others, change our sleep patterns, or meditate.
“We have a common interest in science fiction and the far-reaching implications of it,” said Tim Chang, managing director at Mayfield Fund, in an interview with GamesBeat. “This is like VR net trips, not Netflix. It’s about altering your mood. VR can hack your perception and change things like your focus, state of anxiety, energy, or excitement level.”
(Chang will be a speaker on the future of science fiction and tech at our upcoming GamesBeat Summit 2018 event on April 9-10 in Berkeley, California).
Above: Tripp logo
Reeves has worked for 15 years in mobile apps and games with her cofounder Zachary “Zack” Norman at places such as Jamdat Mobile and Electronic Arts. They are joined by chief technology officer Andreja Djokovic.
“We are combining multiple elements to create a completely immersive, supercharged experience that is crafted to put users in a different headspace,” said Reeves. “Using visuals, sounds and targeted interactivity to first create a state of calm, we then take you on a journey that can stimulate a number of different feelings and moods — enabling users to take a step back from their busy lives and enjoy a sensory experience unlike any other.”
Tripp’s focus is to create a state of mindfulness that isn’t just guided but happens “around” you. Tripp is focusing on VR market to build something that doesn’t exist on other platforms. And while the VR market is small, Tripp plans to expand to relevant platforms for “mixed reality.”
“We begin a journey and take you into a meditative state and then take you on a trip,” Reeves said. “We want to create experiences that give you that flow state that you have when you are playing a really great game.”
The team is still early in development and it doesn’t have something to show yet. Reeves said the experience will be procedural, or computer-generated so that it isn’t the same every time. It will tap a neural network, so that it can get better at delivering a targeted trip for each person.
Above: Eliot Peper (right), author of novels such as Cumulus, speaks with Tim Chang, managing director of Mayfield Fund, at GamesBeat Summit 2017.
“Zach and I came up with the concept after making a solitaire game,” Reeves said. “We found we were immersed in VR and felt refreshed.”
Chang has been excited about “mind hacking” and the “quantified self” for a long time. He invested in brain game company Lumosity and quantified self firm Basis (which was acquired by Intel). His firm looked at 85 VR startups, and Tripp stood out from the pack because it was “interested in stimulation versus simulation.” Chang said this startup is more like “quantified emotion.”
“When we talked to him, he got it immediately,” Reeves said. “His contribution was tremendous. I’m in sync with him on mindfulness, transformative tech, and mind hacking.”
The team has a half-dozen or so people and is targeting a team of about ten people in the next couple of months, and it is working with an outside studio as well.
If you’re thinking this is a hippie drug startup, that might not be so crazy.
“It’s the recreational drug without the drug,” Chang said. “A lot of this was inspired by themes in books like” Nexus, Ramez Naam’s sci-fi trilogy about a mind-expanding drug. In the novel, the characters hack their own perception and give themselves a kind of superhuman shared consciousness. But Tripp isn’t purely science fiction.
“VR should be good for this because there is a lot of basis for this in research,” Chang said.
This post by Dean Takahashi originally appeared on VentureBeat.
Tagged with: Tripp
BigScreen Inc’s popular eponymous virtual reality (VR) application BigScreen for HTC Vive, Oculus Rift and Windows Mixed Reality has received a new update.
The free to download app, currently undergoing a long Beta period has just announced ‘The Avatar Update’ which, as the name suggests, primarily focuses on developing the ways users can represent themselves whilst using the app. With a selection torso designs for male and female body types, as well as one which is specifically neutral. All off which can be highly customised with whatever look you choose from all manner of clothing options.
This is not the only change however as the developers have also confirming an overhaul to the ways the app’s design is applied. Making interaction via controller, both with new and existing menus and the world around you, far more natural and intuitive. Feedback from users has also led the team to identify a number of bugs, specifically ones causing instability within the app for those users utilizing AMD graphics cards.
Whilst the app is still not ready to shed its Beta label, the update is significant enough that BigScreen has also announced that it will, at least, be moving out of Early Access on Oculus Home. Further updates are of course planned and VRFocus will bring you news about these as they are revealed. You can check out the Avatar update in action with the video below.
Welcome to Saturday, you’ve officially made it through the week. A week in which, at least for those of us at VRFocus was dominated by darkness and rain. We’re a mere day away from diving head-first into October and in the UK at least we’ve waved goodbye to a calm and pleasant Summer and Autumn is most definitely here. The changing of the seasons does not slow the news relating to linking sport to immersive technologies such as virtual reality (VR) and augmented reality (AR), however. So, we’d best go over some of stories that have come out recently – and it turns out that it’s quite an AR filled week.
We start off in the world of AR and news that a previously dead-in-the-water project has received a new lease of life. The project in question is that of the Skully motorcycle helmet, one of a number of helmet related AR projects that have been popping up over the last few years – more on those later.
A project that initially raised over $15 million (USD), for creators Mitch and Marcus Weller with $2.5 million of that coming over from Indiegogo crowdfunding campaign, the whole project collapsed into bankruptcy following a scandal involving the misuse of company funds for, among other things, visits to strip clubs, hiring a lamborghini and renting an apartment. There was a lawsuit and backers were left somewhat in the lurch. It was all a bit of a mess.
New investors Ivan Contreras and Rafael Contreras have acquired the assets of the company however and the project, once again, lives with a new website and an announcement due on October 16th about the project going forward. What will it be? Most anything is better than what happened, so stay tuned to find out more. You can also find out more on the new website for the project which bears the mantra “determined to make it right”.
Time will, obviously, tell.
It might well be in the headlines for other reasons at the moment, but no one can deny that when it comes to immersive technologies the teams of the NFL have more than taken an interest. Be it VR or AR we’ve had many a story, often featured as a part of This Week In VR Sport, of teams and the organisation itself partnering with technology firms, introducing new techniques for training and analysis, new ways to watch games, see their teams in action outside of match day and show their colours. Every team from the Denver Broncos, to the New York Jets and from the 49ers to the Patriots have featured previously. As have the Kansas City Chiefs, and it is they once again who are getting involved with the technology – this time with AR.
The Chiefs have announced a new partnership with Coca-Cola and Pittsburgh-based mobile AR app developers YinzCam. Fans will be able to buy specially branded Coke cans which when scanned via a camera mode in the team’s official mobile app (available for both Android and iOS) will reveal a video highlight of the Chiefs in action. With an additional game involving locating six special codes in the highlights for a chance to win a trip to the Chiefs’ match against the Dallas Cowboys in November.
The campaign, called “Coca-Cola Refreshing Moments in Chiefs History” is very similar to other campaigns involving the soft drinks brand that we have seen in the past.
“We’re excited to team up with our long-term partner Coca-Cola for this campaign that features a new interactive and innovative way for fans to engage in the Chiefs Mobile app.” Said Chiefs President Mark Donovan, “Thanks to our partners at YinzCam, we are using new and exciting technology to offer our fans this unique experience.”
“As augmented reality has continued to increase in popularity, we have continued to build out our in-house development team, to the point that AR is now one of our core competencies” CEO and Founder of YinzCam, Priya Narasimhan also added in the press release. “We are proud of our collaboration with the Chiefs to develop this unique partner activation, that not only gives Coca-Cola a dynamic branding opportunity, but creates an entertaining and memorable AR experience for Kansas City fans.”
You can see a representation of the app in action below.
Remember how we were talking about AR and motorcycle helmets earlier? We’re back there again, though this time it’s more about a heads-up display (HUD) and the ability to see all around you courtesy of CrossHelmet who join the likes of Skully earlier, DAQRI and others who could be bringing advancements in helmet technology to amateur and professional riders alike.
Having launched a Kickstarter campaign earlier this month, CrossHelmet have, with 12 days still to go at the time of writing, have more than securing funding for their product. Blitzing their initial goal of $100,000 (USD) and trebling it to over £300,000. The team are now working towards their first stretch goal.
Speaking via an update on the campaign, the Crosshelmet team said “We’re incredibly humbled that we’re able to launch as part of Kickstarter Japan and thankful to all the people who have helped us plan our campaign.”
VRFocus will bring you more news about CrossHelmet and the next proposed steps for the product when the crowdfunding campaign comes to an end.
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From Other Suns, a brand new VR title by Gunfire Games, draws heavy inspiration from several existing concepts and combines them all together, effortlessly, into a fresh and shiny package. It’s got the ship and crew management of games like Star Trek: Bridge Crew and FTL, it’s got the cooperative first-person shooter elements of games like Onward and Borderlands, with tons of loot to gather and gear to acquire, and it’s got the crazy ragtag crew antics of something like Guardians of the Galaxy — you can watch the trailer below to catch all of the vibes.
Even though it’s designed primarily as a three-player cooperative multiplayer game, the first time I played From Other Suns at GDC 2017 this week I was on my own. The other two demo stations were occupied by players also playing alone so I’d be rolling solo for my first mission. It was like my own private trial by galactic fire, as it were.
Everything began aboard my starship as the onsite Gunfire Games developer walked me through the controls and movement systems. On my wrists are a couple of buttons I can press with my opposite hand to pull up things like the options window or a map screen. The Oculus Touch controller face buttons toggle an inventory and an equipment display.
The default, more comfortable, movement system was a bit unique. You start by pressing forward on the left analog stick and then as you move around you watch your avatar from a third-person perspective.
Once you let go of the analog stick, you immediately teleport back into your body as you’re standing still. It feels almost like an out of body experience, but is a good option for those sensitive to motion sickness. It seemed to be a decent stop-gap solution, but I can’t imagine someone playing the entire game this way. It’s just wonky and feels like an inferior way of experiencing it.
For me, I preferred the full locomotion movement. It worked very similarly to Onward, allowing me to freely move around the world with few issues.
Once I got that down, it was time for my mission briefing. I headed to the bridge and looked down at my star map. After I selected a space station that was in trouble, my commander informed me that robots had overtaken the vessel and killed everyone on board. Because of course they did.
I made my way back to the chamber with the teleportation pad and inspected the guns on the wall. My starting pistol was good, but not great. Each of the guns had different fire rates, magazine sizes, and damage output. One functioned like an energy rifle, another shot lighting bolts, and then another was sort of like a short range shotgun. Plenty of diversity with options for every situation.
Once my loadout was set I stepped onto the pad and beamed down onto the ship. The developers told me that in the real game, maps like this would be procedurally generated from tilesets. This means that no two mission will ever be the same due to randomization, but it won’t be as lifeless as a truly randomized area.
Knowing that killer robots were on the loose, I was much more cautious than when freely roaming my own starship. I slowly edged around corners, poked my head out from cover to sneak a look, and made sure to stay mobile.
Eventually I encountered my first enemy, a robotic adversary that resembled the droids from the Star Wars prequels a bit. He was flanked by two similar robots, so I started by poking out from around the corner, gunning for headshots with my pistol. Soon, I swapped to the automatic rifle and peppered the chest of the closest one until it dropped. Once they got too close I switched to the shotgun and blasted their heads off. It felt extremely satisfying, especially with full locomotion.
Upon death, the robots dropped a few glowing items. One was a shield, which I could hold in one hand and squeeze the trigger to activate — if it got hit too many times it’d break and need to recharge. The second glowing item was green and I found out it was a syringe, which I could stab myself with to heal. Stocking up on those saved me a few times later in the mission.
When I came came back to the booth at a later time I was able to hop into a multiplayer session with UploadVR’s own Senior Editor, Ian Hamilton. While exploring the starship I quickly realized that I could hear him just fine over voice chat, but he couldn’t hear me. It was just a minor hardware issue. I decided to use this to my advantage.
While this was technically a cooperative multiplayer game, the folks at Gunfire didn’t want to cut any corners. This is a hardcore game about manning a starship and trying to survive. Friendly fire happens. I learned this by opening fire on Ian as he was still trying to find his way around the ship; I could even hear the booth attendees talking to him over the microphone.
One thing led to another and I killed him in cold blood before the mission even started. I didn’t need him slowing me down, but he just respawned and joined me anyway.
While we were down there, team dynamics started to emerge. Whoever had the shield could walk in front, drawing fire and keeping enemies busy, while someone else headed up the rear taking aim with more powerful and precise weapons.
The inclusion of thrown weapons like EMP blasts to stun robots or grenades to blow apart large groups would be a welcomed addition if the developers decided to add them. Later on, large robots with rocket launcher weapons could demolish a fully charged shield in a single blow, making it clear this wouldn’t be an easy game when it finally releases.
During our time with the game, Gunfire also mentioned a suite of features that weren’t available in the demo we tried. For starters, while aboard your ship, you can actually engage other ships in combat. Gameplay during these moments would consist of sending crew members to repair parts of the ship and actively rerouting power to shields or guns during a fight.
Ultimately, even though I was more successful and actually beat the mission on my own before joining forces with Ian, playing as a team was rewarding and exciting. Perhaps with a more competent partner things wouldn’t have broken down so quickly.
I ended up killing him again out of pure spite before the demo was over. It didn’t make me feel any better.
From Other Suns is in development by Gunfire Games as an Oculus Rift with Touch exclusive, currently slated for Fall 2017. Even though it’s being built with three player co-op in mind, it’s still playable in single player as well.
[Editor’s Note] – This article was originally published in February during GDC 2017 and has been republished to coincide with the free Open Beta weekend happening at the time of publication.
Tagged with: from other suns, GDC, gunfire games, star trek
Multiplayer Virtual Reality (VR) is as progressive as it is problematic; many challenges face VR tech for the future though breakthroughs are reaching the surface of gaming allowing multiplayer growth in VR.
There is already so much that has to go into making the VR experience work for a single person, and even more has to go into making multiplayer components work, because now there are multiple people interacting in similar VR environments. Not only do they need to interact with the environment, but they need to interact with one another, and the entire experience needs to feel immersive and three-dimensional, and that’s no easy task to achieve.
As many advances as are being made in the world of VR, there are also new problems arising. As the technology improves, tech companies want to do more and more with the technology and consumers are demanding more and more.
There is a feeling of accomplishment when a new achievement is attained, but then there is always the question of “Okay, now what do we do next and how do we implement it?”. There is always room to improve, to iterate and to go farther with the technology, and Multiplayer VR is the next logical step for the tech.
While Multiplayer presents problems to solved by those working in this industry, breakthroughs are evident and gamer expectations are going forward.
VR has served up a feast of visual delights to headset couch potatoes seeking that extra bit of entertainment. Delivery has come through thousands of apps for the main contenders such as Gear VR, Vive and PS4. Gaming in VR has taken off and players get to wander dungeons as in the Herobound series, travel through space with amazing spatial adventures like End Space, and shoot up zombies in frenetic videogames like Drop Dead.
So, really going by the state of online gaming over the last 10 years, the next step was obvious.
Time to go boldly Multiplayer.
Star Trek: Bridge Crew brings the popular and ever growing multiplayer online gaming world to VR. It is literally a trekkie dream: command a starship, chat with your crew (other VR players) and seek out new life forms and new civilisations aboard your own starship.
Here is a trailer:
Once you are plugged into the videogame, you will find yourself aboard the starship USS Aegis and you get to choose your role. Perhaps you do not wish to command and prefer a supporting role. You choose from one of 4 roles: Become the Captain, take charge of weapons as Tactical Officer, steer the starship through star systems known and unknown as Helmsman or control the power of the Aegis as Systems Engineer.
All space hell will break loose as you brave dangerous systems. It’s a real visceral experience when a rogue ship fires at you and the videogame makes you experience the blast against the shields with the impressive sound effects we expect these days from gaming. The wow factor hits the trekkie in you as the Aegis goes to warp and the stars become streaks of light as you travel. Hit the warp button and go thrusters on full towards your destination on the wonderfully realistic starship bridge – believing you travel on a starship is easy. Dropping out of warp is real fun as you watch the screen reveal a new system or a mission area to visit.
As a player, you must be on the ball and ready to take a command and react quick. The helmsman and tactical guys for example need to be on point if the ship is to steer well in a battle and fire accurately. Trekkies will love the technology: sub-systems, warp control, warp core power.
Multiplayer is not forced, single player mode is available too. Do play with 2 or 3 others for a real star trek simulation to share with keen gamer buddies. That said, a single player option allows you to go solo as you choose a role and the AI takes over the other roles if that floats your boat.
Ubisoft have blown the boundaries away on VR gaming here by capturing the visual excitement of trek gameplay and the wonder of VR in a videogame that will keep you hooked, trekkie or not. Maybe it is no surprise that Ubisoft have taken the helm on the project, their previous Star Trek videogames of old were very popular such as Legacy.
It’s as trek as it gets. The tech goes solar. You really can do all those smart trek-techie combat tricks you hear in the series and movies such as dropping shields at the right time or teleporting survivors to the starship before a ship explodes – and so much more.
Did I mention you can command the original Enterprise from the 60s series? Well now I have.
Want to gain more insight into the roles in the videogame and some gameplay action? Here is a great video from Ubisoft:
So, Star Trek gaming in multiplayer mode to one side, how does VR cope with the growth of multiplayer as accomplished on the PC, Mac and now Android and iOS tablets.
VR is a relatively new technology in the way that it has only recently been introduced to the public in a way that is mass marketable. There are still lots of kinks to work out and lots of advances to come to make the process of experiencing VR smoother and more immersive. That means that any new addition to the tech, such as multiplayer, needs to be introduced gradually.
No one expects 16-player ‘death matches’ in a virtual world by the end of the year, and it is important to keep the expectations of consumers and tech developers in check. Baby steps are needed to perfect the technology and ensure it is feasible to add in new elements.
Even with one player present, VR can lag a bit. There can be some delay between input and visualization, and that’s dangerous to immersion. Once you add more players to the mix, the lag can increase and the level of immersion can take a hit. The illusion of being in a virtual environment can begin to fade, and it’s important to counteract that and do whatever is necessary to keep the players involved in the videogame.
The problem with adding a bunch of players into a VR title at this point is that not everyone will have the apparatus necessary to play in multiplayer session, so it’s not realty necessary to expand the player count that far at this time in the VR lifecycle.
Anytime you have multiple people in a shared space and they can’t see each other physically, you run into problems when they have to start moving around. That’s exactly what VR does, as this people will be wearing sight restricting headsets, and they have to interact with each other virtually without bumping into each other physically. That means that once again, keeping the player count low is ideal for local multiplayer. It also means that in order to make multiplayer work, there needs to be some way to deal with the problem of space between players.
When the multiplayer is over the internet, there isn’t as much of a problem, but there are some niggling issues to work out. If you put players together in a virtual world, and they are hearing one another over their headsets instead of physically listening to them in the same room, then there is a light disconnect that occurs by having distorted audio. The audio received over a speaker will never be as clear as audio located within the same physical space, and that can hurt the immersion somewhat.
VR only works if the people using it are enjoying it and are immersed. If there is something missing from their experience or it is off in any way, it can ruin the entire experience, and VR might not be as successful as its proponent’s hope. That means that developers need to be listening to their play testers and to consumers.
There will be problems with the technology and the experience that the designers and developers may not realize. Even through extensive testing they may miss some issues. It is only once the product goes to market and the consumers use it that these issues will be noted and hopefully sorted out. Leading VR hire company VRE commented “As a burgeoning technology, VR has a long way to go and a lot of missteps to take, but if developers are listening to their customers, then they can fix problems quickly and keep the market from stagnating.”
It’s easier than ever for them to connect with their customers, too, since they can interact with them directly through social media and get a quick response as soon as they release the product. If they aren’t paying attention to what their customers think about their products, however, then they aren’t likely to succeed.
The idea of multiplayer VR is an exciting one, and it is in its earliest stages of development right now. There a some really good multiplayer VR titles out already. Hopefully, we’ll get to see a mass market release for a few different variations on the multiplayer experience in the near future, and we can’t wait to see how developers implement it. We want it to be a success just as much as those making the products, but only time will tell if it can be pulled off.
At the start of the week VRFocus reported on Norwegian virtual reality (VR) developer Ninja Whale Studios’ upcoming multiplayer title Tractorball which is due for release in October. Prior to launch VRFocus has a few screenshots to let you see what to expect.
Tractorball is a football style videogame where players drive tractors with big ‘pinball style’ flippers on the front to score goals with. They’ll be able to use rocket boosts and twenty dirty trick power-ups to gain the advantage during the matches which are either co-op or 2v2 multiplayer.
There’s also a single-player mode featuring 20 tournaments that are customisable, letting players select what kind of league or knockout tournament they want, the number of opposing teams, number of playoff rounds, difficulty and more.
Tractorball will support both Oculus Rift and HTC Vive when it launches on 4th October. For the latest updates from Ninja Whale Studios, keep reading VRFocus.
via Mint VR
Project CARS 2 captures the essential joys of driving well-tuned cars. It's tough, though, and with a bevy of technical problems, only the most hardcore racing simulator fans should take shotgun.
The post Project CARS 2 review appeared first on Digital Trends.
A pretty nice selection of new PSVR games is ready and waiting for you this week.
If you missed last week’s releases then you can see them here. UploadVR has also launched the ‘UploadVR PSVR Community’ on PlayStation 4! Join up, find other gamers to play with, and engage in discussions with them.
Also, don’t forget to check out our list of the 9 Best PlayStation VR Games if you need any extra inspiration.
Based on the ongoing Netflix cartoon, Voltron: VR Chronicles is essentially an episode of the show played out in VR. You take on the role of one of the mech-commanding paladins and journey across the galaxy in a polished, if brief adventure. Splendid visuals and authenticity help make up for one big oversight.
Recommendation: Fans of the cartoon will love it.
A VR puzzle game in which you guide a young girl by shining a light for her to follow through a picturesque world. Navigate various traps and puzzles as you climb higher and higher. Not the most imaginative use of VR, but some interesting ideas here.
Recommendation: For puzzle lovers.
An intriguing piece that uses a combination of 360 degree footage and computer-generated environments to tell the tragic story of the Chernobyl disaster and show the abandoned area as it looks today. Journey to several sights and explore a place you might otherwise never actually visit.
Recommendation: Definitely one for those with an interest in the subject.
A collection of VR games previously appearing on the likes of the Oculus Rift and Gear VR gathered for PSVR users. Many are from Lucid Sight itself, offering harmless fun, though the real standout is creepy VR horror game, Dreadhalls, which never fails to terrify with its procedural dungeons.
Recommendation: A great one to check out if you’ve been waiting.
Tagged with: new releases, PSN Store
You can return to Middle Earth this summer with 'Shadow of War.' From Nemesis system enhancements to promises of a grander scope, here's everything we know about the the game so far.
The post Here’s everything we know about ‘Middle-earth: Shadow of War’ appeared first on Digital Trends.
Though drones are popular for hobbyists and the military, not everyone loves them. If you have ever dreamed about knocking the annoying buzzing, electronic pests out of the sky, then Dronihilation VR might be for you.
Set in a future where AI drones have taken over the entire galaxy, only a small resistance of brave space pilots remain able to save the future of human kind. First, players will need to spend time in the arena to get the experience required to face the drone threat before moving on to face the true enemy.
There fives main enemy types, Scout, Supplier, Thor, Destroyer and Ghost. Each one has different behaviours that a pilot will need to learn in order to success in their mission. For example, Scouts will alert nearby allies to your presence, which can result in the player being swarmed under if not very cautious. Other such as the Supplier can restore player HP when destroyed, but while still active it will repair enemy units.
Players are aimed with twin laser cannons, which if they score a dead-on hit can destroy most drone types. However, each cannon requires a cool-down time, so players must choose each shot carefully, especially the destructive double cannon shot. Especially skilled pilots who can survive for long enough can earn a place in the Top 10 Elite to mark their prowess in the battle against the Drone menace.
Dronihilation VR is available on Steam for HTC Vive and Oculus Rift. Usually priced at £2.79 (GBP) it is currently available for a reduced price of £2.37, a 15% discount which ends on 5th October, 2017. Further information can be found on the Steam Store page.
VRFocus will continue to report on new and upcoming VR titles.
It’s a pretty strong week on Vive, with some games moving out of Early Access, some joining it, and other big launches from out of the blue. Best get downloading.
In the meantime, if you missed the previous iteration of this list, you can see those new releases here. And don’t forget that UploadVR has a Steam community group, complete with a curated list of recommendations so that you don’t have to waste any money finding out what’s good in the world of VR.
We also have a top list of the absolute best HTC Vive games — which is updated every few months with the latest and greatest options.
Based on the ongoing Netflix cartoon, Voltron: VR Chronicles is essentially an episode of the show played out in VR. You take on the role of one of the mech-commanding paladins and journey across the galaxy in a polished, if brief adventure. Splendid visuals and authenticity help make up for one big oversight.
Recommendation: Fans of the cartoon will love it.
The famed immersive filmmaking studio this week debuts its Cirque du Soleil content on PC-based headsets. Get a first-class ticket to some of the most spectacular acrobatics on the planet, all performed as if you were really there.
Recommendation: A great free download.
For those looking for a little shooter action this week, DWVR promises a Doom-esque adventure with big guns and demonic enemies. Finally moving out of early access, the game’s aim is to make you feel like a true badass, destroying enemies with enormous swords and more.
Recommendation: FPS fans should scoop it up.
An early access release of an intriguing-looking VR adventure in which you navigate ancient ruins by climbing along their beautiful remains. It looks like a cross between Windlands and The Climb, and that’s no bad thing.
Recommendation: A good one to support early on.
2MD VR Football
Rome Circus Maximus: Chariot Race VR
Gurugedara
Hot Runback – VR Runner
RuneSage
BEAT.R.
Dronihilation VR
Tagged with: new releases, steam
Update: The From Other Suns free Open Beta weekend is now live starting today, September 29th and will last until October 1st. You can download the game here and read our thoughts on it from GDC right here.
Original Story: In the first year of VR’s life when I went to a game convention there was a short list of VR experiences I could almost always guarantee we would play. Sports games were obvious choices, as were the wave shooters, and cockpit simulators. In the middle to fill in the rest of the content gaps were an assortment of other random games as a mixed bag of potential. When GDC 2017 rolled around at the start of this year though we started to see the next wave of VR games and what it could look like. From Other Suns stood above the rest as an exciting, fresh, and wholly new type of VR co-op shooter.
Mixing elements of franchises like Star Trek, FTL, and Borderlands, From Other Suns is a procedurally generated cooperative multiplayer shooter that has you flying a ship all around the galaxy as you dock and loot other ships and planets, all with intense fast-paced shooter action and tons of loot. It’s like the Away Team version of Star Trek: Bridge Crew.
News came in today that the title will be hosting a totally free Open Beta weekend from September 29 until October 1st and we can’t wait to dive in for more.
As of right now it’s unclear if the content in that beta will be different from what we saw at GDC already earlier this year or if it will be the same demo. Fingers crossed for some new content.
Make sure to also read our detailed hands-on impressions here to get a good idea for what the game’s like and let us know what you think of it so far down in the comments below!
Tagged with: from other suns, gunfire games
Best prepare your wallet; there’s plenty of choice for your Oculus Rift this week, from spell casting and gun-slinging to rabbit-blasting and exploration.
If you missed the previous entry of this list you can see those new releases here. And don’t forget that UploadVR has a Steam community group, complete with a curated list of recommendations so that you don’t have to waste any money finding out what’s good in the world of VR.
Plus — check out our list of the best Oculus Rift games and best Gear VR games for more suggestions!
The popular mobile VR title has been remastered for the Oculus Rift and is looking fine. Head into various ancient arenas and cast spells to take down your opponents. With customizable attack options, teleportation locomotion and more, this looks like a worthy contender to The Unspoken’s throne.
Recommendation: A solid game you should definitely check out.
Here’s a new wave shooter that looks like it’s had a lot of time and effort poured into it. Hangry Bunnies has you blasting away vicious critters both big and small with crazy weaponry. It’s got an arcade influence that will have you chasing for high scores and playing again and again.
Recommendation: Shooter fans should snap this up.
Based on the ongoing Netflix cartoon, Voltron: VR Chronicles is essentially an episode of the show played out in VR. You take on the role of one of the mech-commanding paladins and journey across the galaxy in a polished, if brief adventure. Splendid visuals and authenticity help make up for one big oversight.
Recommendation: Fans of the cartoon will love it.
The famed immersive filmmaking studio this week debuts its Cirque du Soleil content on PC-based headsets. Get a first-class ticket to some of the most spectacular acrobatics on the planet, all performed as if you were really there.
Recommendation: A great free download.
For those looking for a little shooter action this week, DWVR promises a Doom-esque adventure with big guns and demonic enemies. Finally moving out of early access, the game’s aim is to make you feel like a true badass, destroying enemies with enormous swords and more.
Recommendation: FPS fans should scoop it up.
An early access release of an intriguing-looking VR adventure in which you navigate ancient ruins by climbing along their beautiful remains. It looks like a cross between Windlands and The Climb, and that’s no bad thing.
Recommendation: A good one to support early on.
Skybox VR Player
Bending The Light
Chernobyl VR Project
Black Hole
Amazon Sights
My Principal Is An Alien
2MD VR Football
Rome Circus Maximus: Chariot Race VR
Gurugedara
Hot Runback – VR Runner
RuneSage
BEAT.R.
Dronihilation VR
Tagged with: new releases, Oculus Home, steam
A couple of months ago Bandai Namco announced two new One Piece videogames, one being a PlayStation VR-exclusive title called One Piece: Grand Cruise. Now it’s been revealed that it’ll launch as a digital only version in 2018 – just in Japan – reports Gematsu.
One Piece: Grand Cruise is an adventure title with a pirate theme. Bandai Namco’s synopsis explains: “A pirate’s life is fun, but dangerous. Go on a journey to the ocean together with the Straw Hat Pirates. The player is an apprentice pirate of the Straw Hat Pirates, and embark on a “one day voyage” on the Thousand Sunny. Adventures and events only unique to virtual reality will unfold, including navy shooting battles and communication events in which you’ll become closer with the Straw Hat Pirates.”
Gameplay will involve a sea battle against the legendary Kraken, the option to get to know some of the characters like Nami through various dialogue options and the ability to train with Zoro.
If the Ace Combat 7 publisher does decide to bring One Piece: Grand Cruise to western shores VRFocus will let you know.
The story of the sinking of the Titanic is one that has fascinated generations of people. The subject of countless books, TV shows, documentaries and movies, and now virtual reality (VR) experiences. Samsung are offering an exclusive chance to experience what the sinking of the famous vessel was like for visitors to its flagship New York location.
Unlike Titanic VR, which allows users to explore the sunken wreck of the Titanic, the Samsung Gear VR experience Surviving the Titanic puts users in the shoes of one of the survivors, scrambling for the dubious safety of the lifeboats, and watching as the once magnificent vessel, though to be unsinkable, sinks beneath the waves.
The Surviving the Titanic experience was created by TripFactory, who specialise in creating VR experiences that combine the expected visual element of VR with immersive theatre. Surviving the Titanic uses a framing device of a brilliant but troubled scientist who has been using his technology to capture dreams and memories – including the very experience presented to visitors to the Samsung 837 NYC Store.
The Samsung 837 NYC store is not a shop in the typical sense, as nothing is actually available to buy. Instead, is acts as a demonstration point of Samsung’s technology, as well as the space where the company can hold special events, such as the Surviving the Titanic experience.
Surviving the Titanic will be available for the public at Samsung 837 NYC from 2nd October through to 8th October, 2017. Tickets are available on the Samsung 837 website.
VRFocus will continue to report on upcoming VR-related events.
Rick and Morty is comedic gold. It’s one of the funniest shows currently running and is featured on Cartoon Network’s Adult Swim nighttime segment. Co-created by Justin Roiland and Dan Harmon, the show follows it’s titular characters (Rick and Morty) on intergalactic sci-fi adventures through time and space. The humor is smart, sometimes subtle, and always on-point.
Last week at VRDC in San Francisco, CA the folks at Google-owned Owlchemy Labs (developers of Rick and Morty: Virtual Rick-ality and Job Simulator) hosted a postmortem discussion panel about the game’s development. During the discussion they talked about not only how they went about adapting a 2D cartoon IP for 3D VR worlds, but also general VR design principles to take note of for future designers and developers.
We previously spoke with Schwartz and several other members of Owlchemy, as well as Justin Roiland himself, about the game’s creation and what went into the process (video embedded above). For the most part it sounds like it was a typical cross-studio collaboration, with a few caveats.
For starters, Rick and Morty isn’t your everyday normal cartoon. “This IP is almost anti-canon and was so fun to work on,” Schwartz said during the VRDC panel. “We got a massive IP bible from Adult Swim to reference during the process, though.”
Schwartz described how loose the company was with regards to following things from the show as closely as possible. For example, the show is a flat 2D cartoon that never shows its characters or environments in three dimensions which means the team at Owlchemy had to take some creative license with adding that extra dimension.
On top of that are the everyday challenges that all VR designers face when making games like player comfort, locomotion, exploration, and even death. “Death in a VR game is very strange,” said Schwartz. “We didn’t want anything to feel punishing or take control away from the player.”
Their solution was to have the screen immediately cut to black and to present a single phone in the middle of a black and red room labeled as “Purgatory” for players to navigate. This way they have to physically pick up the phone and choose to return to the game world.
One of my favorite excerpts that was shared during the panel is the story of how Roiland recorded his voice work for both Rick and Morty in the game. The team at Owlchemy would write out dialog and record mock-up examples of the voice lines that Roiland would then listen to and re-record adding his own flavor and “off book” stylings.
Whether it be Rick and Morty: Virtual Rick-ality, Job Simulator, or whatever the team at Owlchemy is working on next, the team clearly has a firm grasp on what works and what doesn’t in VR. Now that they have an infusion of capital from their new owners, Google, we’re excited to see what the company releases next.
Let us know what you think of Owlchemy Labs and Rick and Morty: Virtual Rick-ality down in the comments below!
Tagged with: owlchemy labs, Rick and Morty, Rick and Morty: Virtual Rick-Ality