Hideo Kojima is rarely hesitant when pushing the envelope in his creative endeavors and his resume (Metal Gear Solid, Zone of the Enders, P.T., Death Stranding) speaks for itself. He’s become so incredibly prolific that, not only does his work inspire a rabid fandom, the creator’s every word carries a great deal of weight with professionals throughout the industry. He meticulously manages many aspects of his games and it would be interesting to see what a mind such as his could bring to life with VR. In a new interview with Rolling Stone’s gaming vertical Glixel, Kojima spoke of his new gaming studio and also had quite a bit to say about virtual reality.
When it comes to VR, Kojima has gone from not seeming very impressed to expressing that he believes it will significantly change entertainment, education, and culture. This interview embodies the spirit of the latter, with him stating that VR is a “powerful medium that has the ability to change not only games but our lives”. He goes a step further by explaining how it could potentially shape things right down to how we order our food. “It’ll have a large impact on our culture at large.”
The more physically involved nature of VR, such as moving actively with headsets on our heads and controllers in hand, has resulted in a software ecosystem mostly filled with experiences that are intended to be short and sweet. With Resident Evil 7 being the most recent exception, it’s very rare that we get traditionally full-length gaming experiences. Kojima broke into Glixel’s question about him changing his stance on video game’s being considered art on the strength of VR’s immersion by comparing VR to a film, a medium that lives within one to three-hour formats.
“I believe that in the very near future, games and movies will meld together,” he says. “The main difference is that a movie is not interactive, whereas a game is. It’s almost like industrial design, where you need to think about the way many people will interact with a product and design it around that. That’s a big difference between movies and games.”
When asked if he thinks two-three hour games can be satisfying and memorable, he responded that he believed so. “Games right now, the main way of creating a large-scale game has been to spend three or more years that takes 100 hours to play or something like that. But I think games will also move in the same way toward an episodic nature, meaning smaller but released in a steady stream.”
Beyond his comments on VR, Kojima also dropped a hint on his potential utilization of augmented reality. “In a way it’s like AR,” he says about breaking the fourth wall in games, like when players had to find a codec frequency for Metal Gear Solid on the rear of the video game’s case. He said he doesn’t want to use the same tricks again so maybe, in the future, we’ll see Kojima add an entirely new layer of game you’ll have to see through AR glasses or on your smart phone.
A lot of Kojima’s anecdotes about the future of things like film and education breaking away from traditional frames are already a reality as creators are able to offer dynamic and immersive VR experiences that operate outside of the box. In August of last year, Kojima joined the advisory board at Prologue Immersive to focus on VR. Hopefully, we’ll see him take a more active role and treat gamers to a virtual reality experience in a way only he can deliver.
Facebook’s developer conference, F8, gives a look at the future of technology and how Facebook “connects the world through products and innovation,” as stated on the event’s website.
The company just announced the 2017 F8 conference is open for registration, and the official website also includes a schedule of sessions and keynotes. 2017 is going to be a crucial year for Facebook’s VR efforts, so there’s no surprise there are a number of VR centered sessions scheduled. At the time of this writing, F8 will be hosting eight virtual reality-related sessions spread across the two-day event in April:
April 18th
1:00 P.M.
Crafting Compelling Narratives in VR
Description: “Sit down with best-in-class VR filmmakers to learn what it takes to create amazing VR experiences. Whether you’re working on a 360 video or real-time rendered content, these tips will help you to understand best practices from the cutting edge of VR.”
Presented by: Colum Slevin (Head of Experiences) at Oculus, Félix Lajeunesse (Co-Founder & Creative Director) at Felix & Paul Studios, Yasmin Elayat (Creative Director) at Scatter, Eliza McNitt (Filmmaker and VR Director) who created Fistful of Stars.
2:00 P.M.
WebVR: Enabling Developers to Build Engaging Cross-Platform VR Content
Description: “Web-based frameworks such as React VR are making it easier than ever to create VR content that can be distributed across VR, mobile, and web. Join us as we showcase the potential of React VR across verticals such as travel, news, commerce, and more.”
Presented by: Michael Antonov (Chief Software Architect) at Oculus, Andrew Mo (Product Manager) at Oculus
5:00 P.M.
Bringing VR Experiences to Everyone: Scripting, Producing and Planning
Description: Learn how to develop a VR experience, and take a project from creative idea to a piece ready for prime time. Gain best practices and tips and tricks for producing experiences, how to approach acting and directing in VR, and distribution.
Presented by: Megan Summers (Global Head of Production) at Facebook, Yelena Rachitsky (Executive Producer) at Oculus, Julia Sourikoff (Head of VR) Tool of North America, Christina Heller (CEO) at VR Playhouse, Ryan Horrigan (CCO) at Felix and Paul Studios
VR Together: Adding Social Components to Your VR Apps
Description: Interactive and fun social experiences foster greater consumer engagement in VR. This talk will focus on the APIs and features that Oculus provides to add a social layer to your app, including the Avatar SDK, VoIP, Invites, and Oculus Rooms.
Presented by: Mike Howard (Product Manager) at Oculus, Lauren Vegter (Product Manager) at Oculus
April 19th
12:30 P.M.
Creating Social Presence in VR
Description: Achieving social presence in VR presents a host of fascinating challenges, from designing avatars that avoid the “uncanny valley” to determining what kind of tools and spaces best facilitate interaction.
Presented by: Mike Booth (Product Manager) at Facebook
VR 201: Lessons from the Frontlines of VR Gaming
Description: We will share some of the road blocks that engineers will encounter as they ramp up in VR development with practical lessons and case studies to overcome them. Attendees can expect insights on everything from code samples to tools to design tips.
Presented by: Chris Pruett (Partner Engineering Manager) at Oculus
1:30 P.M.
Building Social VR Experiences
Description: In the new frontier of social VR development, choosing the right tools and approaches can be daunting. We’ll talk about best practices for building social VR experiences.
Presented by: Daniel James (Product Manager) at Facebook, Lucy Bradshaw (Product Manager) at Facebook
React VR: Build amazing VR experiences using React
Description: Learn how React VR builds upon React Native, and how the supporting layers and libraries interact. We will take you through a sample VR web app built with React VR, and show how easy it is to create immersive experiences across VR, mobile, and web.
Presented by: Andrew Imm (Software Engineer) at Facebook, Mike Armstrong (Software Engineer) at Oculus/Facebook
————
Virtual experiences across gaming, film and social platforms are all going to be covered in these sessions and there’s an additional session on a 3D-360 camera system that takes place on the 18th at 12:30 pm. It’s not VR specific but 360-degree media is often experienced through the lenses of VR headsets.
F8 takes place in San Jose, California and, if you haven’t received a registration code, you can apply to attend. Space is very limited, but you can also register with your Facebook account so that you have access to a live stream of the event. Some events run at the same time, but you’ll be able to watch sessions and keynotes on-demand.
As more high-quality projects surface and the install base for virtual and augmented reality continues to grow, more and more money is pouring into the different entities cultivating and creating that content. Japan-based COLOPL has charged forward to become a solidified part of the mobile industry with a collection of solid games that include VR experiences. Now, COLOPL and its subsidiary COLOPL Next have created a new $50 million fund focused on VR and AR that brings their total funds focuses on those markets to $100 million.
Named the Colopl VR Fund 2, the accumulated $50 million will be used to invest in companies creating virtual and augmented projects. According to a press release:
COLOPL’s strategy is to develop games and video images within the group, while investing in business fields that the group doesn’t cover on its own. Based on this strategy, the company is steadily working on VR fields one step at a time. Managed by COLOPL NEXT, the Colopl VR Fund has invested in over 30 companies all over the world. The company believes that the development of the nascent VR market requires players that are committed to further accelerating the growth of the market.
The website for the fund declares that COLOPL is “laser-focused” on virtual reality as they’ve spent the last two years investing in research and development for VR projects. COLOPL Next President Shintaro Yamakami gave a statement, declaring VR platforms could transcend the “conventional way of life and gives people a chance to experience new things”.
COLOPL has disclosed most of the 30 companies they’ve invested in, including SPACES Inc, which recently announced the acquisition of $6.5 million for their VR theme park ambitions. Given that interest in AR is ramping up significantly, it should be expected that COLOPL will be investing a great deal more in augmented reality.
Disclosure: COLOPL is an investor in the parent company of UploadVR.
360-degree media production companies are becoming more and more important as companies reach out for creative ways to market their products, share their creative visions, and even educate their employees. SubVRsive, a team that has worked with MTV and has even earned an Emmy nomination for their collaboration with Showtime, announced that they’ve completed a series A funding round, acquired $4 million, and appointed former Hulu SVP Johannes Larcher as their new CEO.
On the company’s blog post about the funding, they wrote of the potential of VR and AR when it comes to providing the best content for their clients:
If our experience in immersive storytelling has taught us anything, it’s that Virtual Reality and Augmented Reality are fundamentally redefining the ways in which brands connect with their audiences. While the sight, sound, and motion of traditional video allow brands to explain their benefits to consumers, the immersive nature of Virtual Reality allows consumers to experience those benefits for themselves – and that experience is captivating. We are convinced that Virtual Reality and Augmented Reality will continue to push the envelope of storytelling and will offer brands more and more effective ways to deepen their engagement with their audiences.
The funding round was the result of investments from a single participant, the WPP, which is one of the world’s leading communications service companies. WPP already has assets in marketing technology consultancy, content management, and others. As stated in their own press release on the new development, investing in SubVRsive continues their strategy to diversify their offerings in technology, data, and content. We chatted with the current SubVRsive CCO, Austin Mace, via email about the funding and the direction of the company from this point forward.
“The additional funding will allow us to accelerate hiring that is needed to keep up with a growing demand from brands and media clients, as well as increase our ability to work on projects that transcend our traditional sweet spot of cinematic VR,” Mace says.
When it comes to WPP, he notes that they bring “terrific experience and relationships with the world’s leading brand marketers” and that the SubVRsive team is looking forward to bringing these newer technologies to WPP’s family of agencies and brand clients. “The outlook for the rest of this year is bright. We plan to grow our team with the best talent in the industry and continue to push the boundaries of storytelling in VR and AR.”
People around the world got an opportunity to see an historic Super Bowl with the New England Patriots overcoming a massive 3 – 28 deficit to tie the Falcons, head to the first Super Bowl overtime, and win it with Tom Brady taking the big game’s MVP honors. Those wanting a new experience are able to watch Super Bowl highlights through Livelike’s virtual private suite, but Hyundai used 360-degree video to bring the big game to United States service members in an immersive way.
Throughout the Super Bowl, as usual, there were a multitude of humorous and inspiring commercials, though not much VR was represented. One exception is an ad for the 24: Legacy VR experience, which is a prequel connected to the new season premiering after the game.
Also, at the end of the game, Hyundai aired a video showing how they brought the Super Bowl to U.S. service members in Zagan, Poland. They sponsored a big screen for all the soldiers to view the game, but also had the unit choose three soldiers that would be able to experience it a different way. In private rooms, the service members had video projected all around them captured by a Nokia Ozo camera bringing them what looked like a view of the game along with their families in attendance live.
On our list of 50 VR games we can’t wait to play in 2017, Bebylon: Battle Royale certainly stood out. With babies (or characters that appear to be babies) engaging in vehicular melee, one can’t help but be curious about what’s going on here. At PAX South 2017, Kite & Lightning co-founder Ikrima Elhassan was excitedly demoing Bebylon for passersby and we jumped at the chance to speak with him about the game and get some hands-on time.
We had no idea what we were getting into.
The game is still a ways off from release for this year, so what we played was a very early build. Nevertheless, Bebylon is wild and exciting. In Bebylon’s science fiction future, humanity has discovered an immortality pill that stops aging, which includes newborns. In Battle Royale, we’re introduced to the society of Bebylon which was created by adults that still look like babies who grew tired of being ridiculed and not taken seriously. No one can die anymore in this world, so things like status, fame, and wealth are the focus of the inhabitants of Bebylon and they feed their ego through battle royales.
The battles themselves are the core of the gameplay and it’s essentially a party brawler in the vein of Super Smash Brothers. With ego and status as prime focus in the meta of Bebylon’s world, it’s hilarious to see that the core gameplay involves a great deal of trolling abilities based on popular culture. For example, when you use a powerful uppercut you take a selfie that immediately goes up on the fighting venue’s huge screen. As you are more narcissistic and show-boat during combat, your ego meter fills up and you are able to do even more powerful attacks. The audience is influential as well and, as you play to their excitement, you earn multipliers for cash and gaining followers (the game’s experience system) for the end of matches.
“The whole game, the subtext, is a bit of a satire on how everyone in society may be vying for attention all the time,” Elhassan explains. “The more terrible you are and the more terrible things you do, the more you get rewarded for it. For the game design aspect, we took everything that kind of annoys us or the worst of modern online behavior and were like ‘let’s make that the foundation of a game, what could go wrong’.”
With the third-person nature of Bebylon: Battle Royale, Elhassan seemed to expect the question of “why VR” but he and the team are taking a more immersive approach. Elhassan says, from the outside looking in and from screenshots, it’s third-person with a fixed perspective and seems like it could be a non-VR game (the team is considering a non-VR version).
“VR adds a couple things we’re really excited about,” he says. “From a pure technical fighter perspective, the depth perception VR gives you allows you to fight in this 3D arena in ways you couldn’t do before.” He goes on to reference games like Power Stone and Smash Brothers that have a fixed and limited space that, while it is 3D, is still on a 2D plane to a degree.
The arenas in Bebylon can change and evolve depending on in-fight events, even spinning around quickly which is something that affects VR users in a different way from someone playing on a standard screen.
“It allows, from a creative and design perspective, us to really mess with the sense of scale and the sense of environment as a new axis to move the emotional needle in different directions,” he said.
The controls seemed unfinished in this build, but the foundation of the gameplay was fun. With the fixed perspective, comfort wasn’t a concern at all but you do still get a taste of VR immersion when the map’s floor disintegrates and everyone falls down to a lower level. We’ll be looking forward to getting our hands on a more complete build sometime later in the year.
Virtual reality can be a gateway to spaces and interactions that would otherwise be out of reach in normal circumstances, and two science teachers at Alta Vista School in San Francisco, Elizabeth Kramar and Toni Setteducato, took advantage of the technology for their classrooms and shared their findings.
“Learning comes to life at the moment the VR headset is placed on the student’s head,” the teachers observed in a document developed in partnership with Lifeliqe, creators of a VR curriculum they used. “Students will find themselves comfortably strolling through ancient ruins, peering into the animal cell or floating in space with an astronaut on the International Space Station.”
The two teachers developed a curriculum built on the Lifeliqe VR Museum application. The educators noted the applicaiton helped with the introduction to difficult new concepts, experiencing what was previously impossible and creating an emotional connection, among other benefits.
The concepts and previously impossible experiences are fairly standard as VR constantly immerses users in visuals with a new and more personal perspective which, in turn, creates a more emotional connection. That connection is enhanced with the freedom to move (students used HTC Vive for the app) which supplies a kinesthetic benefit. Students quickly engage when given a sense of agency or control which “increases their self-confidence in their learning ability,” as the teachers put it. Finally, inspiring such confidence opened up the doors to expression from the students and they started to be more vocal about their passions.
Liveliqe VR Museum is currently available on Steam for HTC Vive and it is free to play.
We’re starting to dig into the second month of 2017 and have a solid handful of new experiences this week spanning from social platforms to virtual escapist villas. Our first highlight is VRChat, a deeply customizable and free social VR application that could potentially see plenty people burning hours at a time in virtual reality. Hollywood Hills Mansion is a minor highlight and it provides a visually appealing, photo-realistic luxury villa for players to explore or just relax and throw some side-loaded content up on the big screen television.
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.
Air Rage, from Emblematic Group
Price: Free to play
Air Rage is a 90-second educational feature that explores the changes to air travel that have increased aggression in passengers.
Recommendation: Worth a view if you’re into this sort of stuff.
Tribocalypse VR, from Totemic Entertainment Ltd
Price: $4.96 (Currently Discounted)
In Tribocalypse you grab your bow and arrow to defend against waves and waves of thieving tribols. You’ll also have some exploding fire flasks on hand to dwindle their numbers.
Recommendation: A solid wave shooter that at least features a bow instead of a gun.
TheScreamer VR virtually recreates the classic carnival pendulum ride. That’s about it.
Recommendations: Pass on this one.
Hollywood Hills Mansion, from LOOT Interactive, LLC
Price: $9.99
Every once in a while you’d love to escape to a luxurious and peaceful villa and that’s exactly what this experience offers. You wander the virtual home, relax poolside, and can even watch Facade TV or your own side-loaded content on the the big screen television.
Recommendation: It may be a bit pricey for the experience it offers, but this quite a visual feast.
Recommendation: A cool one off for the price if you dig the track.
Orbital Injection, from Packet39
Price: $1.99
Play god a bit in Orbital Injection and toss planets into stable orbits. Set up as many as you can without crash the planets into each other or into the sun.
Recommendation: Arcady time sink for cheap, but there’s not much to it.
Across The Line, from Emblematic Group
Price: Free To Play
Across The Line is another polarizing and informative virtual feature from Emblematic Group, this time tackling the subject of abortion. 360-degree video and CGI combine to give you a deeply personal experience.
VRChat, which we covered recently, is aiming to be a definitive social experience with custom avatars, worlds to create, games to play with each other, and more.
Recommendation: A must have social experience that’s free to play.
Snow Games VR, from Kenziko Ltd.
Price: Free
Groundhog Day confirmed another 6 weeks of winter so Snow Games still has a timely theme for players to embrace. Shape and throw snowballs at your targets while dodging the snowballs of enemy snowmen.
Recommendation: Free. Grab it and give it a shot.
Brush Up VR, from Games That Work
Price: $0.99
Brush Up partners you with a large toothy companion and your task is to clean up his teeth as well as you can. Serves as a tool to teach players how to brush correctly.
Recommendation: Solid grab for teaching the young ones how to brush through VR. Otherwise, pass.
Snailiens, from 562 Interactive
Price: $14.99
Snailiens are stealing all of Earth’s cabbages and you’re taking them on as part of the S.A.L.T. defense network in this tower defense shooter. Strategize as you choose your weapons and build towers to fight off the invasion.
Recommendation: Solid experience thus far. Keep an eye on it while it’s in Early Access to assess personal value.
Power Solitaire VR, from Parkerhill Reality Labs
Price: $1.99
Solitaire fan? Well get comfy. Power Solitaire VR is a seated experience for the card game. It only has single player in early access, which has special pricing, but will include multiplayer at full release.
Recommendation: It’s a steal at EA pricing if you love the game.
CuVRball, from Hypergolic Games
Price: $12.74 (Currently Discounted)
CuVRball blends a lot of the best elements of VR and multiplayer sports, dropping players into competitive zero-G arenas where they slingshot a ball into goals. The game also includes power ups like explosives, black holes, and more.
Recommendation: Clever concepts show a lot of promise. Worth it if you’re looking for something unique.
King Kaiju, from Fire Hose Games, Chris Chung
Price: $3.99 (Currently Discounted)
Live out a power fantasy in King Kaiju as you take on the role of a massive, city-destroying monster. This sandbox virtual city is yours to demolish using your hands or breathes of fire as you gain more and more points.
Recommendation: Are you kidding? Get this game.
Racket: Nx, from One Hamsa, Waves Audio
Price: $19.99
Racket: Nx is an experience built to deliver the ultimate VR arcade sci-fi sport. Inspired by racquetball, you’ll have to utilize full spatial awareness as you send your ball careening off the virtual platforms at high speeds.
Recommendation: Solid visuals, great gameplay, and a good workout to boot. Give it a go.
Samurai Sword VR, from SAT-BOX
Price: $7.99 (Currently Discounted)
Using a samurai sword may or may not have been one of the first thoughts that came to mind when VR officially took root in the gaming industry. Samurai Sword VR is a rail melee experience where you slice targets as you pass and toss shurikens as well.
Recommendation: Decent concept but is trumped by other games with a similar experience. Pass for now.
Skip Sport: Jumping VR, from Ramotion Inc.
Price: $4.99
With realistic physics, Sky Sport: Jumping VR virtually recreates the exciting winter sport. Luckily, missing a jump won’t actually kill you this time around unless you just flat out have a heart attack from the intensity.
Recommendation: Keep an eye on it to see if it evolves in Early Access, but otherwise, pass.
Magic Lantern, from Parovoz Animation Studio
Price: Free
Magic Lantern brings a family-driven virtual space where you can watch classic children videos, play games, draw, rearrange the space, and play with toys.
Recommendation: Very neat child friendly virtual experience. Definitely give it a go at the low price of zero dollars.
1-2-Swift, from MNGOVR
Price: $2.63 (Currently Discounted)
To all the Overwatch fans, it’s officially HIIIIGH NOOON. 1-2-Swift is a gunslinger part game that utilizes one set of motion controllers for a two player experience. It’s essentially a shameless ripoff of the Nintendo Switch’s identical mini-game.
Recommendation: Not a bad way to get some use out of your VR controllers without the headset. Very cheap.
Cosmic Sugar, from Object Normal
Price: Free
For something a bit more psychedelic, there’s Cosmic Sugar. This app is all about putting you inside the kinetic potential of beautiful nebulas with powerful music.
Recommendation: Yet another free thing. If the trailer looks cool, check it out.
2016 could be considered the official introduction of virtual reality to the world and many industries have either embraced the technology at varying levels or simply started paying attention to movements within the industry. 2017 is going to be a pivotal year for the technology’s growth and there will be many events welcoming VR as an auxiliary experience or fully focusing on the potential of the immersive tech.
We’ve put together an extensive list of events around the world that will involve virtual reality but, if we’ve missed any major ones, email tips@uploadvr.com and let us know. We plan to update this list periodically.
What happens when that creepy survivalist out in the woods turns out to be right about impending doom? That’s the story we’ll get to witness in this year’s film The Recall written and directed by Mauro Borrelli and featuring Wesley Snipes and Breaking Bad’s RJ Mitte.
Before we get the feature film, though, we’re going to get a virtual reality experience centered on Wesley Snipe’s character “The Hunter” as he takes on alien invaders.
Mind’s Eye Entertainment is producing the feature film and has teamed up with SkyVR, VMI Worldwide, Bridgegate Pictures, Invico Capital, and Talking Dog Studios for a 10 minute VR experience that takes place in the same world as the film which is similar to Samsung’s recent 360-degree short film that ties in with the new season of the 24 television series. In The Recall, RJ Mitte’s character Brendan comes across Snipes’ unnamed “Hunter” right before the alien invasion commences and the VR clip will be placing viewers in Brendan’s shoes.
“This will change the way we hear about movies and rewrite the way we package content,” says producer Travis Cloyd in the press release for the new feature. “Viewers today are smarter and have access to more content right at their fingertips not just to watch the movie, but live in the realm and watch the feature through this new medium.”
The VR excerpt will be the first time Snipes has been a part of a project utilizing the immersive technology and didn’t feel completely like a fish-out-of-water, instead likening it to theater work.
“The cool thing is that for theater actors, or thespians, this is a great format because shooting in VR is similar to shooting a play, or performing a play,” explained Snipes. “You don’t have the luxury of cuts, and short takes, and do-overs,” he says. “You have to be on your game, and since everything is in the shot, everyone else needs to be on their game at the same time.”
The Recall VR Abduction does not have a set release date, but will release prior to the film which is slated for a summer 2017 debut. There will also be VR and 360-degree behind the scenes clips available on the film’s Facebook page.
