Mint Virtual Reality

As Hollywood looks to find new ways to expand their franchises with exciting virtual reality (VR) experiences Pacific Rim has done just that with Pacific Rim Shatterdome Showdown. VRFocus’ Nina Salomons sat down with Steve Bowler, President and co-founder of CloudGate Studio to talk about the title and learn about the challenges of working on a big Internet Protocol (IP).

CloudGate Studio worked for Legendary Studios in conjunction with Pure Imagination Studios to create the VR experience. In the interview Bowler talks about how the industry is seeing more interest from Hollywood to go to experienced developer houses to build immersive content. Bowler notes how just because an experience is a movie tie-in title it does not have to be bad. He jokes about the ‘console day curse’ of how movie tie-in titles were seen as being bad by default.

With experience in building move tie-in content before, CloudGate Studio were approached by Pure Imagination Studios to build Pacific Rim Shatterdome Showdown, to which the studio were more then happy to. Bowler comments on how hopefully the studio will have more of these times of projects in the pipeline for the future.

Pacific Rim Shatterdome Showdown is an experience that is designed to give users a chance to see the Pacific Rim universe up close and personal. Starting off by taking users on a tour of the hanger for Gipsy Danger until a Kaiju attack happens, leaving them as the only one able to take control and fight off the attack. Rather than jump in the suit and take full control you will make use of gauntlets to puppet Gipsy Danger and go toe-to-toe with the Kaiju.

When asked if Pacific Rim Shatterdome Showdown is designed for being enjoined before or after seeing the films, Bowler notes that the title is fine to be experienced before or after. Rather then tell a big story that links to the film, it is a standalone product that allows users a chance to be apart of the action, expanding on the enjoyment of the films. Planned to be released in VR arcades and popup venues in movie theaters, Pacific Rim Shatterdome Showdown was designed to be played with both a HTC Vive and Oculus Rift. 

One of the interesting points that Bowler notes is that the client wanted to have a cinematic ending to the experience, which Bowler mentions the team had to communicate what not possible. As taking the camera away from the user is not a good idea in VR titles, Bowler expressed how being able to communicate the design and development process to their client was key to building a successful product.

CloudGate Studios are of course the creative minds behind the recently released Island 359 which VRFocus’ Senior Staff Writer Peter Graham reviewed saying: “It’s been a long wait but it was worth it. Island 359 offers a proper showcase of what can be built specifically for VR when enough time and effort is put in. It’s not 100 percent perfect in places but the videogame offers enough of everything that you won’t really care. Grab that gun and get hunting in this thoroughly enjoyable and engaging VR shooter.”

VRFocus will be sure to bring you all the latest on Pacific Rim Shatterdome Showdown in the future so make sure to stay tuned for more. You can watch the interview in full below.

Horror-themed first-person shooter (FPS) Killing Floor: Incursion today completes its high-end virtual reality (VR) trifecta with its launch on the PlayStation VR after previously being made available on HTC Vive and Oculus Rift.

A standalone spin-off from the main Killing Floor franchise by Tripwire Interactive, Killing Floor: Incursion puts the player in the shoes of one of the elite Horzine Security Forces, who are leading an effort to contain an invasion by zombie-like creatures called Zed.

Players will be able to explore the building to find weapons and ammo, including pistols, shotguns and different types of blades. To help you out, you have a robot companion called NODE, who not only informs you of what is going on in the outside world, he can also be sent to search out ammo or health packs for if you are in a tight spot.

Players will travel through different environments to face different types of enemies, from the standard zombie-like Zed through to huge biomechanical abominations, each having its own weaknesses that players will need to exploit.

An exclusive addition for the PlayStation VR version is the Holdout mode map called ‘The Crucible’. Where the rest of Killing Floor: Incursion takes its design cues from dark sci-fi horror, the new map draws more from cult classic movie Tron, featuring sleek neon aesthetics and environments.

In Holdout mode players are put in a single point and nee to try and protect it for as long as possible as Zeds charge towards you, becoming steadily more aggressive and powerful as you progress until boss-level creatures tart ganging up on you. To aid you, a range of power-ups are available, such as the Berserker 4x Strength bonus, the Nuke which kills everything in the area or the Vampire which steals health from enemies.

Killing Floor: Incursion is available on the PlayStation store now, priced at $30 (USD). VRFocus will continue to report on new and upcoming VR titles.

Four years ago Endnight Games released its survival horror simulator The Forest onto Steam Early Access, with the team stating at the time that virtual reality (VR) support would be added. It’s been a long time coming but this week has seen the videogame leave Early Access and the studio confirm a release date for VR compatibility.

Having received a ‘Very Positive’ rating from the Steam community over the last few years Endnight Games has released version 1.0 of The Forest. The full release adds plenty of new features for new and long term players alike, such as a craftable warmsuit, a new alternate ending, a collect a switch clothing system, a new system for checking off found animals, plenty of cave re-workings and much more.

As for the VR side of things the team said on Steam: “Today we are also announcing our first major update to the game. The VR version of The Forest will release for free to all players of the game, on May 22. It’s the full game, with your hud on a smart watch, a full 3d inventory, and tree cutting using motion controls. We think it’s the most fun vr game we’ve ever played and can’t wait to share it with everyone.”

In The Forest you play a lone survivor of a plane crash, landing in a mysterious forest inhabited by a society of cannibalistic mutants. To succeed you need to learn how to build shelter and explore the environment for food to stay alive. You’ll also need to learn how to defend yourself when the time arises.

You’re free to explore the adventure however you wish, build a small shelter and explore or build a massive fortress out of nearby supplies, laying traps and other defences to keep yourself safe. While you can build tools and weapons to defend yourself you may want to go on the offensive, using stealth to kill enemies or perhaps use a more direct approach.

The Forest currently retails for £15.49 on Steam if you want to try the standard version prior to VR support being released. For any further updates, keep reading VRFocus.

It looks like everyone heading to Facebook’s F8 developer conference later today will be leaving with a nice surprise: a free Oculus Go standalone headset.

An image, supposedly taken from this year’s show, popped up on a public VR group on Facebook a few hours ago. The picture includes a sign informing attendees that they can pick up their own Oculus Go unit at the registration desk later today. That seems to confirm that either Mark Zuckerberg or another Facebook executive will announce that every F8 attendee will be getting a free Go during the keynote speech set to take place at 10am PST today.

Go is the first standalone VR device from Facebook. It’s almost identical to Oculus and Samsung’s Gear VR, playing many of the same apps and games, though Go doesn’t need a smartphone to power it; everything runs on internal hardware. The device is set to cost just $199 and Facebook is expected to announce the release date later today.

In truth, we were sort of expecting Facebook to make this move. It’s far from the first time the company has done something like this, also giving out Gear VR headsets to Oculus Connect attendees in previous years. Go is designed to push VR to as many people as possible and, if that means getting the ball rolling with some free units, so be it.

The rest of us will have to keep waiting for Go’s official release date, though hopefully that won’t be far away.

Tagged with: Oculus Go

Facebook’s F8 conference will begin later today in California with one of the big news announcements expected to be the launch date for Oculus’ new standalone headset, Oculus Go. Ahead of the reveal, customers in the US can now pre-order the head-mounted display (HMD) via Amazon.

Oculus Go will be the company’s third virtual reality (VR) headset, after first releasing Gear VR in conjunction with Samsung, and then its high-end, PC-based, Oculus Rift. The new device is due to offer a more consumer friendly experience for entry level users with all the components for running VR experiences built in, rather than having to connect a specific smartphone or be tethered to an expensive PC.

First announced during Oculus Connect 4 in October 2017, the HMD made its first public debut during the Game Developers Conference (GDC) 2018 in March. Powered by a Qualcomm Snapdragon 821 chip, Oculus Go features a new LCD display which boasts a 2560 x 1440 resolution, integrated spatial audio, adjustable headstraps and a 3DoF controller.

2018 looks to be the year of standalone headsets with Oculus Go going head to head with rivals including the Lenovo Mirage Solo and HTC’s Vive Focus. However, there are some major differences between the latter two and Oculus Go. The Oculus HMD will retail from $199 USD, with more expensive options offering increased storage. But the device doesn’t offer any tracking so all the content will be seated. While the Lenovo Mirage Solo and Vive Focus both offer inside-out tracking via two cameras on the front (much like Windows Mixed Reality headsets), so users can enjoy roomscale style experiences where they can move around much more freely. This tech does come at a price however with both devices set to be double the price of Oculus Go.

During GDC 2018 Oculus did reveal several titles that would be available at launch including VR boardgame Catan VR, multiplayer online space shooter Anshar Online, mini-game compilation They Suspect Nothing, and Job Simulator follow-up title Vacation Simulator. 

If further details are released later today during F8, VRFocus will bring you the latest announcements.

After its release in 2017 for Samsung Gear VR, Dream Dev Studio has now brought its virtual reality (VR) shooter Death Horizon to the Google Daydream platform.

Designed specifically for mobile VR headsets, Death Horizon is a first-person shooter (FPS) that takes place in a secret military laboratory. Scientists in the lab were of course messing with all sorts of viruses and naturally one got out, the T12 virus, thus turning all the inhabitants into flesh eating monsters.

So it’s up to players sent on a solo mission to stop the spread of the virus by working their way through the dangerous corridors and rooms of the installation, wiping out any hostiles on route to stop the reactor from exploding and releasing carnage onto the population.

At their disposal will be three weapons for players to use, an assault rifle, the ever trusty shotgun and a heavy machine gun for when things get really tough. They’ll encounter various enemies on route, from the standard undead hordes, to heavier built construction zombies and ones that like to keep their distance and spit balls of nasty green goo.

VRFocus reviewed the Samsung Gear VR version giving it an average three star rating, saying: “The core gameplay and visuals in Death Horizon are really good for a Gear VR title, it’s just a shame the experience is so short lived with nothing to keep you coming back. Death Horizon is trying to compete with titles like Drop Dead, Dream Dev Studio need to expand the experience more to make it a true contender.”

It doesn’t look as though Dream Dev Studio has added any further content for the Daydream Release, simply porting the title to the platform. Death Horizon can be downloaded from Google Play for £6.99 GBP. For any further updates from the studio, keep reading VRFocus.