Author: Jamie Feltham

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Etee: Button-Free, Finger-Sensing VR Controller Starts Shipping In ‘Next Two Months’

Etee expects to start shipping its first batch of button-free VR controllers “in the next two months.”

Community & Business Development Manager Stephen Prior — also known as VR Bug — confirmed as much to the Between Realities team covering AWE 2022 for UploadVR last week (video to come). Prior explained that Etee had run into production issues due to the ongoing component shortage, but was now catching up with its first orders for Kickstarter backers.

“We’re in production right now and we’re expecting to ship in the next two months to our backers. We’re extremely fortunate, we have a good, understanding community that’s been behind us all the way. So we’ve got about 400 units that we’ll be shipping out in the next couple of months. And we’re having another production run later in the year for more pre-orders to fulfill those as well.”

Etee raised around $113,500 on Kickstarter last year. Most VR headsets and apps require two hand-tracked controllers with buttons similar to gamepads for consoles, and we’re starting to see the rise of controller-free hand-tracked apps too. Etee is unique in that it’s a physical controller with no buttons, though it does have a trackpad for your thumb at the top. The kit can sense your fingers for control similar to hand-tracking, but you’ll still be holding a physical object. We first went hands-on with the kit at CES in 2020.

The company says that, by recognizing specific gestures and identifying them as button presses from an HTC Vive controller, you can play the full range of SteamVR games with the device. We’ll be keen to test that out in the future. For now, pre-orders are still running with a 3DOF version costing around $250 and a 6DOF version fitted with a SteamVR tracker at around $325.

Did you back Etee and, if so, are you looking forward to trying the controllers out? Let us know in the comments below!

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Lynx R1 Now Shipping ‘Sometime This Summer’, Controllers Coming Later

The first units of the Lynx R1 mixed reality headset may not ship in June or July, as recently predicted.

The Lynx R1 is a new headset powered by the same X2 chip used in the Quest 2. It offers full VR alongside mixed reality experiences via passthrough cameras with color. It raised nearly $800,000 on Kickstarter in 2021. Addressing a shipping date for the device in a recent Q&A video, creator Stan Larroque said that the kit would launch “sometime during the summer”, citing issues with securing components for the kit. At GDC in March, Larroque was hopeful the kit would arrive this June or July.

“It’s a moving target,” Larroque said of the ship date. “As I told you, sometime during the summer. I know that’s not a good answer but that’s all I can tell you. We still need answers for some of the components. We’ve secured all of the components for the main board which was a pain but we still have some things to figure between Taiwan and China.”

Lynx R1 Gets New Shipping Estimate

Last month Lynx announced a round of investment, raising $4 million, and Larroque hinted that more funding news may arrive sometime in June.

Elsewhere, the kit creator also announced that Lynx will make and sell Quest-style controllers for the R1. Until now, the R1 has only featured hand-tracked input for both VR and MR experiences. But Larroque said these devices will be “the same kind of controllers that you know from the Quest devices with the ring, with the LEDs, tracked by cameras […] we are going to have exactly that.”

Designs for the controllers weren’t shown and Larroque warned that they wouldn’t have the same “volume” as Touch tracking, but they should allow you to play any game on SteamVR. “I’m not saying that the controllers are done,” Larroque added, “but it’s much better than what we anticipated with hand-tracking mixed [with] controllers.”

He also declined to give a price or timeline for the controllers, which seems to confirm they won’t be included with the headset itself at least at first.

Finally, Larroque also revealed that a previously-announced partnership with SideQuest to bring the platform to the R1 appears to have fallen through.

“[SideQuest] retracted the contract,” he explained. “I don’t why. I hope they’re good. Our door is still open but it looks like we won’t have SideQuest running at least as a first-class citizen on the headset. So we’re still going to have an app store, but at first I don’t think it’s going to be with SideQuest. I honestly don’t have an answer why, they just told me that it doesn’t look possible today.”

We’ve reached out to SideQuest to ask why this partnership may have fallen through and will update you if we hear back. For now, Larroque hopes to build Lynx’s own Android-based app store.

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Star Wars: Jedi Knight II VR Fan Remaster Gets A Demo This Week

You’ll be able to try out that really rather excellent-looking VR fan remaster of Star Wars: Jedi Knight II this week.

The project’s Twitter account announced that a free demo for the project will launch on June 10. This isn’t a full and final release for the project but instead the first part of the demo. Expect it to draw from the original game’s early missions. The demo had previously been available for the project’s Patron supporters.

Star Wars: Jedi Knight II VR Fan Remaster Demo Confirmed

Developed in Unreal Engine, we’ve been routinely impressed with video footage of this project. The original Jedi Knight II is known for its visceral lightsaber combat and this project looks to replicate that with VR controls. It’s also looks to take the original game’s decapitation mechanic to a whole new level, allowing you to behead troops or get much messier. We don’t say that as blood-thirsty monsters so much as, well, that’s what a lightsaber does, isn’t it?

More recently, the developer also revealed a look at force powers in the game, allowing players to push poor Stormtroopers around.

It’s a really promising project, though obviously not official by any means. Still, anyone that’s spent the last few years mastering their lightsaber moves with Blade & Sorcery mods will likely want to check it out.

Will you be trying the demo for the VR fan remaster of Star Wars: Jedi Knight II this week? Let us know in the comments below!

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Onward Updates, Hand-Tracked Shooters And Bocce – VR Games On Our Radar This Week

A first look at Onward’s next map and a new bocce experience are just some of the new VR games and updates on our radar this week!

Every week we get a lot of updates on new VR games at Upload – so much so that we don’t have time to cover them all. This week we talked about news from Resident Evil 8, Horizon Call of the Mountain, No Man’s Sky and more, but here are some other titles we didn’t get to take a look at.

Bocce Time!

Deep Dive Interactive has a VR take on bocce, allowing players to visit a wide range of courses, customize items and play online together. It’s due to hit Quest via App Lab and Steam on June 17.

Rogue Ascent

This hand-tracked, procedurally generated Quest shooter is the first to get native Twitch integration. That means streamers can interact with their audiences without having to life the headset off. It’s currently available in early access on App Lab.

Onward

Onward New Map

The monthly sitrep for the multiplayer VR shooter gave us our first look at the upcoming Intercept map alongside a host of other updates. It looks like we’ll be fighting in canyons outside the game’s other urban environments. No release date for this one yet.

Barn Finders VR

The flatscreen Barn Finders game gets a VR port. Inspired by reality TV shows, you search through abandoned barns, turning junk into treasure. It’s out now on Steam and you can download a demo, too.

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Here’s 3+ Minutes Of Into The Radius Quest 2 Gameplay

Developer CM Games has given us a lengthy new look at Quest 2 gameplay for VR shooter, Into The Radius.

Originally released for PC VR headsets, Into The Radius is a survival shooter inspired by games like the Stalker franchise. You explore a hostile wasteland relying on scavenged resources and weapons that you’ll need to maintain. The Quest 2 version is being developed by a separate team in close collaboration with CM.

New Into The Radius Quest 2 Gameplay Revealed

This week’s footage starts off with a look at cleaning your gear and loading out your inventory before heading off into the wastes. We see items like probes in action to locate anomalies and combat against the game’s shadowy enemies. Complete missions and you’ll earn cash to upgrade your gear.

As CM Games advises, you won’t be able to win every fight, making stealth another key part of the game. The full PC VR experience is being translated to Quest 2, but more updates are expected for the PC version in the future, too. We thought the game was a decent translation of Stalker to VR when we played it a few years ago, though it’s seen plenty of changes since then.

Currently Into The Radius is due to arrive on Quest 2 in September, with a closed beta planned for this summer. You can sign up to take part in that testing phase right here.

What did you make of the new Into The Radius Quest 2 gameplay? Let us know in the comments below and make sure to look out for another clip of the game at the Upload VR Showcase on June 9!

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BlockStar Is A Mix Of VR Shooter And Brick Breaker

BlockStar looks like a mix of VR shooter and brick breaker.

Set to release later this year, BlockStar is from Immersive Division, a team with experience working in the film industry on projects like Blade Runner 2049. Set in a dystopian future, players are tasked with racking up points as they blast blocks streaming towards them. Check out the latest trailer for the game below.

BlockStar VR Trailer

As the trailer reveals, players will head to a space station where they’ll take part in competitive tournaments, selecting weapons and then heading into televised matches to shoot down targets. You’ll need to rack up points to climb the leaderboard, get familiar with new weapons that come with their own advantages and issues and avoid blocks so as to not, y’know, die. Immersive Division says the game will feature 40 missions in its story mode.

You’ll be able to try a free demo for the game during Steam Next Fest later this month. For now, BlockStar is due to launch in Q3 of this year on PC, PSVR and Quest 2.

Will you be trying out BlockStar later this year? Let us know in the comments below!

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Horizon Call Of The Mountain To Feature Full Campaign And Separate River Ride Experience

Upcoming PSVR 2 exclusive Horizon Call Of The Mountain will feature both a core campaign and a mode for first-time VR users.

A PlayStation Blog post from narrative director Ben McCaw launched after yesterday’s reveal of a brand new trailer confirmed that Call of the Mountain isn’t just a small tech demo experience. There had been some speculation based on the January reveal trailer that the game would be a short, on-rails experience set in a boat.

Horizon Call of the Mountain Full Story Confirmed

Now we know that players will take on the role of a new character, Ryas, and explore new environments, taking on the series’ staple robo-dinosaurs with a bow and arrow. You can also expect platforming elements and the opportunity to meet out Horizon characters, including Aloy. In other words, it’s sounding much closer to the traditional Horizon games, just in VR.

But the post also reveals that, alongside the main story, there will be an “immersive River Ride experience.” This is designed to be an introductory VR experience, perhaps for first-time VR users. You’ll sit on the boat from the trailers and watch the world of Horizon come to life around you. McCaw says it’s “the perfect way for a player using the PS VR2 headset to share the magic of PS VR2 with your friends and family as they watch along on a connected display.”

In some senses, it sounds similar to the set of short VR experiences included in the PlayStation VR Worlds compliation at the launch of the original PSVR. This could be a great way to quickly introduce new people to PSVR 2 without having to acclimatize to uncomfortable movement or complex mechanics.

We don’t have a release date for Call of the Mountain just yet but, then again, PSVR 2 itself still doesn’t have a firm launch window.

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Every PSVR 2 Game Revealed At State Of Play

This week’s State of Play PlayStation Showcase was a big one for PSVR 2.

Sony promised a sneak peek of games for its upcoming headset and it didn’t disappoint. In case you’re catching up, here’s every PSVR 2 game announced and shown during the event.

Resident Evil 4 Remake (PSVR 2 Supported Content)

Sony kicked off the show with a bang. We got our first look at the anticipated remake of Capcom’s survival horror epic, Resident Evil 4. The game will be a reimagining of the 2005 original with updated controls and new story elements. But the end of the trailer also confirmed that the game with have “PSVR 2 Supported Content”.

Note that this doesn’t confirm the full game will be playable inside VR; it sounds like we might get an additional mode or something similar. Of course, you can already play the original Resident Evil 4 in VR on Quest 2, which is exclusive to that platform. Might that exclusivity deal have something to do with the PSVR 2 content on offer here?

Resident Evil 8

Still, even if we don’t get the full Resident Evil 4 Remake experience in PSVR 2, we will be getting all of last year’s horror hit, Resident Evil 8, in the headset. A trailer showed the game being played with PSVR 2, including full motion controls with new elements like manual reloading and dual wielding weapons.

This one had long been rumored for PSVR 2 support and it made sense given that Resident Evil 7 was one of the first AAA games to implement the original PSVR headset. We can’t wait to revist the entire game inside VR once PSVR 2 is out. Of course, if you can’t wait that long, there’s already an incredible VR mod on PC.

The Walking Dead: Saints & Sinners Chapter 2 – Retribution

Another easy win for PSVR 2, the follow-up to Saints & Sinners was confirmed to be coming to the headset in 2023. We got a new trailer showing us more of the game than we’ve ever seen before, and confirmation that it’ll hit the original PSVR in 2022 and PSVR 2 next year.

That latter point is pertinent, as it seems to be the biggest hint yet that Sony’s next headset won’t arrive until 2023. Either way, we’re excited we’ll get to play the next game in one of our favorite VR series on the new device.

No Man’s Sky

Once again, we’d predicted we’d get a look at Hello Games’ sci-fi epic running on PSVR 2 at the show and we weren’t disappointed. No Man’s Sky already includes great VR support on PS4 and PC, so it stands to reason that the PSVR 2 support will be great. Expect this support to come via a free update, much as the original VR integration did a few years ago.

Horizon Call of the Mountain

The PSVR 2 section of the show closed out with another look at the PSVR 2-exclusive. This time around we seemed to get definitive proof that this will be a full game and not just a short, on-rails experience. We saw the player wielding a bow and arrow to take on robotic dinosaurs, much as you do in the core series. More than that, though, this seemed to be a really compelling graphical showcase for PSVR 2, and we’re likely to see the headset’s other new features implemented, too.

And that’s all the announcements for PSVR 2 at this week’s State of Play. We still didn’t get any release information for the headset itself, though it’s looking increasingly likely we’ll get it in 2023.

What reveals got you excited? Did Sony convince you to pick the headset up? Let us know in the comments below!

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PlayStation Blog Post Hints PSVR 2 May Be Releasing In 2023

PSVR 2 may be launching in 2023, a PlayStation Blog post suggests.

A new post for the reveal of The Walking Dead: Saints & Sinners Chapter 2, which is coming to both PSVR and PSVR 2, includes the sentence: “The Walking Dead: Saints & Sinners – Chapter 2: Retribution is currently set to come to PSVR in late 2022 and PS VR2 in 2023.”

Now why would the game come to PSVR 1 this year and PSVR 2 next year? It’s far from confirmation, but this seems like the most obvious hint yet that PSVR 2 may launch in 2023 and not this year. We also didn’t get any mention of a price for the kit. Sony revealed several new titles for the device during the event, including a closer look at its flagship title, Horizon Call of the Mountain.

Just as the original PSVR connected to PS4, PSVR 2 connects to PS5 to run VR games. This time around, though, the device uses just a single cable to hook up to the console. The kit also includes an OLED display system that offers 2000×2040 resolution per eye with HDR support and a refresh rate of up to 120Hz.

There’s been plenty of speculation about exactly when Sony might release its new headset. The ongoing semiconductor shortage, brought about by the COVID-19 pandemic, has been hampering the supply of electronics across the globe. The PS5 itself is no exception – sales have fallen behind those of the PS4 in the same timeframe.

That will have likely made it hard for Sony to judge when to release a peripheral that itself relies on the install base of the PS5. Not to mention that PSVR 2 manufacturing will likely face its own restraints.

PSVR 2 was first confirmed in early 2021, but we didn’t see the headset itself until 2022.

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New Horizon Call Of The Mountain PSVR 2 Gameplay Revealed

We’ve just seen a fresh look at Sony’s first PSVR 2 exclusive, Horizon Call of the Mountain.

A deeper look at the game was revealed during PlayStation’s State of Play Showcase today, following on from its announcement at CES back in January. The gameplay seemed to confirm that players will embody a male character and be given access to a range of weapons and gadgets from the series. As expected, it looks like you’ll wield and bow and arrow as you fight robotic dinosaurs.

We also get a look at various environments and platforming elements. Release details weren’t confirmed, but we don’t know exactly when PSVR 2 itself is launching. It’s looking like it might be 2023, though. The latter half of the video talks about an update for flatscreen PS5 exclusive, Horizon Forbidden West.

That was all for now but, as PSVR followers PSVR Without Parole noted this week, you can also see a difference between the gameplay clip that debuted in January and today’s footage. Also revealed today was PSVR 2 support for Resident Evil 8 and the Resident Evil 4 Remake, as well as the PS5 version of No Man’s Sky. Expect to learn a lot more about PSVR 2 titles as we get closer to the headset’s launch, whenever that may be.

Are you excited for Horizon Call of the Mountain? Let us know in the comments below.