Mint Virtual Reality

Tammeka’s Radial-G: Racing Revolved has proven to be a popular racing videogame on Oculus Rift and HTC Vive for over a year, yet the promised PlayStation VR port is yet to be seen. VRFocus has today received confirmation that development is still progressing, and a launch date will be with us very soon indeed.

“We’re excited to be finally nearing the end of a 3 year journey that started with a cheeky tweet sent to Shuhei Yoshida at Develop: Brighton 2014, resulting in being supplied with a [PlayStation 4] dev kit and as known then, Project Morpheus, to port the game over with,” stated Sam Watts, Director of Immersive Technologies at Make Real, operating as Game Producer at Tammeka, when talking with VRFocus. “It’s been a learning experience for the team as first time Sony PlayStation developers releasing their first title, navigating the development and submission process; I don’t think we made it easy for ourselves choosing our first game to be one that supported online multiplayer, PlayStation VR, PS4 & 2DTV, made with Unity at a time when the SDKs were ever changing but, the light is now at the end of the tunnel with a digital and physical release expected before the end of Summer.”

With all that in mind, Watts is still confident his team can deliver an experience that parrallels the well received Oculus Rift edition of the videogame.

“The release version will include everything players already have had on Oculus and Vive (albeit with a maximum of 8 racers) with an additional “comfort mode” that makes it easier on new users who aren’t ready for such an adrenaline rush – we don’t like to leave anyone out and that 1% needed including too.”

Movement systems in virtual reality (VR) are currently a hot topic, so acknowledgement that two distinct audiences – newcomers and early adopters – need satisfying simultanouesly will undoubtedly be well received by the community.

No specific release date has yet been offered for Radial-G: Racing Revolved on PlayStation 4, including PlayStation VR compatibility, however Watts remains thankful for the console audience’s continued support of the videogame: “We know there are a lot of people waiting for this release on PlayStation VR and we thank them for their continued patience whilst we dot the i’s and cross the t’s – the wait will be worth it!”

The PlayStation VR version of Radial-G: Racing Revolved will be playable at Japan Expo, Paris, taking place 6th – 9th July 2017. VRFocus will keep you updated with all the latest details on the upcoming release.

The hugely popular SUPERHOT was announced for PlayStation VR, under the guise of SUPERHOT VR earlier this month. A new listing on the Pan European Gaming Information (PEGI) website – the official videogame classification organisation for Europe – suggests that the launch of the videogame may not be too far off.

SUPERHOT VR is an iteration of the Xbox One and PC videogame designed for virtual reality (VR). Having already launched for PC VR formats, well received on both Oculus Rift and HTC Vive, the announcement of a PlayStation VR version of the videogame was received with eagerness.

For the uninitiated, the developers description of SUPERHOT VR reads: “Blurring the lines between cautious strategy and unbridled mayhem, SUPERHOT VR is the definitive VR FPS in which time moves only when you move. No regenerating health bars. No conveniently placed ammo drops. It’s just you, outnumbered and outgunned, grabbing the weapons of fallen enemies to shoot, slice, and maneuver through a hurricane of slow-motion bullets. [sic]”

SUPERHOT VR has received a PEGI 12+ rating, the same as the standard edition of the videogame, with the description: ‘Realistic looking violence towards non human looking characters’.

At the original announcement of a PlayStation VR edition of SUPERHOT VR it was stated that the videogame would launch in ‘a couple of weeks’, suggesting that the release is now certainly very close. VRFocus will keep you updated with any further news on SUPERHOT VR’s PlayStation 4 debut.

Our one and only visit to  Life In 360° this week takes us off on the hunt for tornadoes in 360 degree video. And where better to do that of course, than in Kansas, perhaps best known globally as the home of Wizard of Oz‘s Dorothy Gale. There’s no witches or munchkins in this video, and truth be told the character of Dorothy is said to have been named after the victim of a tornado in Irving, Kansas which is some ways away from where this video takes place. However what it does have is plenty of twister action – and not the sort involving colours and a plastic mat.

Brandon Sullivan of Tornado Titans is no stranger to storm chasing and just over a year ago submitted this time-lapsed 360 degree video showing the team chase down a supercell over the course of one and a half hours. A supercell that delivers not just a singular tornado but multiple. The time-lapse film really shows clearly the swirling of the clouds as the vortexes build and the funnel forms.

We’ll be back to normal with Li360 on Monday. Be sure to check out VRFocus throughout the weekend however, for more virtual and augmented reality news.

The highly anticipated Spider-Man Homecoming will be launching in cinemas across the globe next month, and while Insomniac Games’ PlayStation 4 exclusive Spider-Man title won’t be released until later in 2017, there’s another videogame fix now available for webslinger fans. This time, in virtual reality (VR).

In Spider-man Homecoming VR Experience, players will be guided by the helpful artificial intelligence unit built into the new Spider-Man suit, as depicted in the upcoming motion-picture release. Spider-man Homecoming VR Experience offers players the chance to suit up as Spider-Man, hone their web-shooting skills and sling high above New York City in pursuit of the Vulture.

Prior to today’s release fans have been able to get hands-on with Spider-man Homecoming VR Experience at special events and select movie theaters worldwide, including select Cinemark Theaters in the US and at the CineEurope tradeshow in Barcelona.

Spider-man Homecoming VR Experience is available for free on PlayStation VR, HTC Vive and Oculus Rift. VRFocus will keep you updated with any further VR releases featuring your friendly neighbourhood spider.

Another Namco Museum compilation is on the way, this time for the Nintendo Switch. It will come packed with the GameCube game Pac-Man Vs. that will require two Switch consoles for the full one-versus-three multiplayer experience.

The post Get your retro game face on with ‘Namco Museum’ for Nintendo Switch next month appeared first on Digital Trends.

‘Metroid: Samus Returns’ brings one of Nintendo’s beloved franchises back in classic form, but the game’s modern flourishes may hold it back.

The post ‘Metroid: Samus Returns’ Hands-On Review appeared first on Digital Trends.

During a talk at Unite Europe 2017 Ubisoft showed off two previously unrevealed HoloLens game prototypes: Toy Soldier and Rabbid Rockets. Whether or not these games will become full projects remains to be seen.

At the event David Yue from Ubisoft led a talk titled “AR Prototyping for the HoloLens” in which both projects were shown. Prior to this event Ubisoft has only been associated with VR in the immersive technology space, having released Eagle Flight, Werewolves Within, and Star Trek: Bridge Crew all in the past 12 months. Then earlier this month at E3 2017 the global games publisher announced both Transference and Space Junkies as two new VR titles set to release within the next 12 months as well. Just Dance VR hasn’t resurfaced in a quite a while.

In the images above you can see snippets of what Yue was showing at Unite Europe this week. The first prototype, Toy Soldier, uses spatial mapping to let people interact with what appear to be realistic-looking army men atop a table. It takes the fun and excitement of setting up the little green men across a play space into AR, but brings them to life like never before in the real world before you.

In the second prototype shown, dubbed Rabbid Rockets, spatial mapping is not used and instead Ubisoft’s iconic rabbid characters are seen flying all throughout the air around the user. We haven’t really seen many robust game applications of the HoloLens just yet. Back when the device first released its initial dev kit Microsoft shipped it with experiences like Fragments and Young Conker, both of which were developed by Asobo Studio.

We’ve reached out to Ubisoft for comment and additional information on these and any other HoloLens or similar AR projects they may be working on and will update this story if we hear back.

In the meantime, what do you think of these ideas from Ubisoft so far? Let us know down in the comments below!

Source: VRFocus

Tagged with: HoloLens, ubisoft, Unite Europe