Something for the Weekend: PSVR Halloween Hijinx (2018 Edition)

As we’re only a couple of days away from a major holiday – though how ‘major’ Halloween actually is probably depends more on where you live, than anything – you’d expect there’d be Halloween sales on all over the place. And you’d be right, as we’ve already featured several offers for suitably spooky virtual reality (VR) experiences on the site throughout October. Viveport being a recent example.

PlayStation VRHowever, this week’s scheduled platform for Something For The Weekend is PlayStation VR; and there hasn’t actually been anything much on the PlayStation Store expressly for VR.  That said there are still titles on sale, and ones that are a part of their own Halloween offer. So, let’s look at those titles and content packs that have made the (price) cut.

Please note: Deals are accurate as of the UK PlayStation Store and may not be available in all regions. Also, PS Plus membership may also result in additional money off on some titles.

Until Dawn: Rush of Blood

To quote VRFocus’ review on the title: “Until Dawn is a story driven horror videogame, with the player’s in-game decisions having a direct influence on the outcome for each of the characters involved. A convoluted journey through an unwelcoming world. Until Dawn: Rush of Blood is a far more straight forward affair. It’s a shooting gallery, pure and simple, but when played in VR it’s far more appealing than could it could ever sound on paper.”

Until Dawn: Rush of Blood is currently available for £7.99 (GBP), effectively half price from its usual mark of £15.99.

Kona VR Bundle

The first of several bundles featuring VR to get a price drop on the PlayStation Store this week, the Kona VR Bundle includes the full game Kona, plus the upgrade to VR DLC. Kona puts players in the role of a detective hired to investigate the vandalism of a businessman’s summer home. The local Canadian community is suspected of being behind things, but  the detective finds the area deserted. So, what is really going on?

The Kona VR Bundle is currently available for £7.99, half price from £15.99.

The Exorcist: Legion VR – Complete Series

To quote Rebecca when she recently reviewed chapter five of Wolf & Wood’s VR excursion into the greater world of The Exorcist: “NOPE! NOPE! NOPE!” If you want a good scare, this bundle of all five chapters is right up your street.

The compete series is 28% off currently on PlayStation Store, from £24.99 to £17.99.

The Exorcist: Legion VR - Chapter 4 Samaritan

Oasis Games Shooter Bundle

Not everything with money off this week can be classified as a horror game.

While the VR releases from Oasis Games aren’t everyone’s cup of tea (see: Ace Banana) there are some that are worth a look (see: Pixel Gear). This bundle gives you the option to check out both ends of the spectrum, with the pair getting a hefty discount from £19.99 to a far more reasonable £6.19 – a 69% discount. You can find it on the PlayStation Store here.

DOOM VFR

DOOM VFR brings the fast-paced, brutal gameplay fans of the series love to virtual reality.” Says the PlayStation Store description. “Immerse yourself in the UAC facility on Mars and the depths of Hell, as your skills are put to the test through intense combat and challenging puzzle-solving. Play as a cybernetic survivor who is activated by the UAC to fight the demon invasion, maintain order, and prevent catastrophic failure at the Mars facility. ”

What more is there to say? Get ripping and tearing for £12.99, just over a third off the regular £19.99 price.

DOOM VFR screenshot

Killing Floor: Incursion

A standalone experience based on Tripwire Interactive’s Killing Floor franchise, Killing Floor: Incursion takes players into the world of the Horzine Security Forces as they team up with allies to fend off the horrific Zed hordes using pistols, shotguns, blades and more.

Save 36% on Killing Floor: Incursion now from £24.99 to £15.99.

Killing Floor: Incursion screenshot

Weeping Doll

Another Oasis Games title, Weeping Doll is only £2.49 for a short time. Playing as the maid of a Japanese family living in a very Victorian looking home, Weeping Doll has players exploring different environments to solve puzzles as a tortured girl’s doll takes revenge on her parents.

Weeping Doll title

Arizona Sunshine

Its Halloween, so of course Vertigo Games’ zombie shooter is in the deal. There’s a hefty 60% off the title, clocking in at £12.99 (down from £32.99) and it’s also one of those titles that has a possible PS Plus discount.

Find out why so many want to play it and why it’s one of the titles making the leap to becoming a location-based experience (LBE). Just try to keep your brains and blood inside yourself when you do.

Arizona Sunshine PlayStation VR screenshot

The Inpatient

“Discover true fear at the abandoned Blackwood Pines Sanatorium. Awaken into a living nightmare as a patient with no memory of who you are – in a spine-chilling mystery set 60 years before the events of PS4 hit Until Dawn. Live the horror through the immersion of VR as deep, personal fears, psychological terror and heart-shredding jump scares wait in the darkness.”

Get ready to wrestle with more than a few moral dilemmas as you figure out who you can trust in the PSVR title from Supermassive Games. Save £14 on the regular store price for a limited time, with the price at £15.99.

Random Note of Appreciation: Whoever changed the “Key Features” on the standard store description to “Key Symptoms”? Well done. We loved that little detail even if no one else noticed it.

Check out more titles on next week’s edition of Something for the Weekend as we head into November.

PlayStation VR Party: The Best Games for a Fun Night with Friends

The launch of the PlayStation VR has been deemed a success by many, with even Sony Interactive Entertainment (SIE) seemingly caught unawares by the demand for the virtual reality (VR) hardware. But satisfying the early adopters is a much easier task than achieving mass market appeal, as has been seen time-and-again with peripherals in the videogame industry. One ideal is for those early adopters to become evangelists for the hardware, but doing so takes just the right kind of software.

Keen to ensure that VR can be enjoyed by families and friends as well as the core videogame demographic, every early adopter of the head-mounted display (HMD) should consider a purchase of PlayStation VR Worlds. A selection of mini-games both family friendly and more maturely themed, PlayStation VR Worlds offers a taste of the potential of VR without daunting newcomers with the possibility of a ten hour experience; or even just an hour, for that matter. Once that initial boundary has fallen what else can PlayStation VR offer to get the party swinging?

The Playroom VR

Playroom VR – Sony Interactive Entertainment

Playroom VR is a free download for all PlayStation VR early adopters, so why haven’t you got it yet? Well you probably have, and already have dived into the couch multiplayer style mini-games included. The essence of Playroom VR is that players armed with a DualShock 4 controller both work with and against the player wearing the PlayStation VR HMD. Monster Escape grants the solo HMD wearing player the ability to crush their foes as they combat one-to-four players who are trying to evade the large green beast towering down upon them, while Ghost House has the players working co-operatively to hunt supernatural beings in a cartoon haunted house. Playroom VR is a fantastic way of demonstrating this new technology without the fear of the many complicated implications of VR.

Werewolves Within screenshot 1

Werewolves Within – Ubisoft

A somewhat underrated PlayStation VR title, Werewolves Within is the essence of social interaction in VR. Although there’s no local multiplayer option – meaning the laughs will come from sharing the HMD around your friends opposed to getting the better of one another – Werewolves Within is an elaborate guessing game that is as fun as you choose to make it. Don’t underestimate the comedy value of merging new players online with the friends sat next to you on the couch.

Carnival Games VR-Alleyball

Carnival Games VR – 2K Games

One of the biggest selling franchises on the hugely successful Nintendo Wii console is also available on PlayStation VR, however this time around things are a bit different. Those looking for an immediate and accessible videogame to play with their family or a friend unacquainted with VR – or videogames as a whole, for that matter – could do far worse. Carnival Games VR promises a palatable experience with extremely low barriers for entry.

Ace Banana – Oasis Games

Ace Banana tasks the players with defending a pile of bananas from evil invader monkeys. Who doesn’t want to do that? You’ll have to put your archery skills to the test using PlayStation Move controllers in a VR experience that is designed to increase in difficulty as players choose their own play style: from short bursts to longer endurance tests. What’s more, the entire videogame can be played co-operatively. How’s that for multiplayer monkey-wrangling?

Sports Bar VR - checkers

Sports Bar VR – CherryPop Games

Much like Werewolves Within, Sports Bar VR isn’t social multiplayer for local players. However, it is the most social VR experience currently offered across any HMD. Originally launched as Pool Nation VR on HTC Vive, the PlayStation VR version lags a little behind the debut due to the lack of roomscale tracking, however CherryPop Games has worked very hard to ensure that the experience of being in a virtual space with complete strangers is just as entertaining. The name change came about due to the fact that pool became just one element of the videogame, with air hockey, ball games, darts and more now included as standard.

Eagle Flight, Pinball FX2, Surgeon Simulator: ER and More Added to PlayStation VR Sale

While the Oculus and Steam winter sales have now ended, PlayStation VR owners are getting even more deals with 14 new titles added to the January sale.

Sony Interactive Entertainment (SIE) launched its PlayStation sale just before Christmas, with 13 virtual reality (VR) videogames included. Those discounts end today, but the newly featured titles below are on offer until 20th January 2017. The deals aren’t available in every territory so check your PlayStation Store to see which ones have been included, all the discounts and prices listed below are for the UK.

PlayStationVR_130906_2

  • Ace Banana – £7.39 (was £11.49 GBP)
  • Eagle Flight – £24.99 (was £34.99)
  • Keep Talking and Nobody Explodes – £7.99 (was £11.99)
  • KISMET – £3.99 (was £5.79)
  • Loading Human: Chapter 1 – £19.99 (was £34.99)
  • Pinball FX2 VR – £9.49 (was £11.99)
  • Pixel Gear – £5.79 (was £8.99)
  • Robinson: The Journey – £34.99 (was £54.99)
  • SUPERHYPERCUBE – £15.99 (was £24.99)
  • Surgeon Simulator: Experience Reality – £12.99 (was £15.99)
  • The Brookhaven Experiment – £10.99 (was £14.99)
  • VEV: Viva Ex Vivo‎ VR Edition – £2.49 (was £3.99)
  • Weeping Doll – £5.79 (was £7.99)
  • Werewolves Within – £15.99 (was £24.99)

So if you’ve still got some cash left over from Christmas now’s a good time to build your PlayStation VR library. For the latest PlayStation VR news, keep reading VRFocus.

Watch How You Shoot the Apes and Protect Beautiful Lady Bananas in Ace Banana

Ace Banana released its launch trailer along with the release of itself as well as the PlayStation VR head-mounted display (HMD), and it is the first virtual reality (VR) title to come from the plethora of games to be published by Oasis Games.

Ace Banana_Art

Below you can watch the gameplay trailer for Ace Banana, and even though it isn’t all that long, it shoots you straight into the middle of the action of the title. You can see how players use controllers as a bow and arrow to aim at offending monkeys, hitting them once or even multiple times in order to protect your special stash of bananas. These bananas become so special that you can even seemingly transform them into pretty nice looking girl bananas – very strange.

For more on the latest gameplay and launch trailers for the PlayStation VR, as well as all the news, updates, and features in the world of VR, make sure to check back with VRFocus.

Ace Banana’s Launch Trailer Shows Off Its Variety of Enemy Primates

Ace Banana is one of the titles to be published by Oasis Games, and VRFocus has already given its opinion on the title after writing up a preview. Now you don’t need to just imagine what it will look like, but you can check it out in this official launch trailer.

As the preview explained, there is an incredible variety of naughty monkeys that are threatening your stack of bananas that you are trying to protect – well, now there is even a massive robo boss monkey to be seen who you will have to face with your bow and arrow.

Ace Banana_Boss Battle1

For more on the latest trailers of releases for the PlayStation VR, as well as all the news, updates, and features in the world of VR. make sure to check back with VRFocus.

50 Days of PS VR #5: ‘Ace Banana’ Makes You a VR Legolas… If Orks Were Monkeys

50 Days of PS VR #5: ‘Ace Banana’ Makes You a VR Legolas… If Orks Were Monkeys

5 days to go until the launch of PlayStation VR! We’re counting down to the release of Sony’s VR headset on October 13th by highlighting one game a day for its anticipated release. Today we’re raising our bow and taking on the monkey army with Ace Banana. 

You know, for a platform launch involving motion control, PlayStation VR has surprisingly few games that let you fire a bow and arrow. When Move hit a few years ago there were plenty, and you can already use the ancient weaponry in countless HTC Vive games, but you won’t have much of a chance to get your best Legolas impression on when PS VR hits next week. That is unless you pick up Ace Banana.

To be clear, Ace Banana doesn’t actually have a bow and arrow, it has a snake, or a weight bar, or any number of other items that are completely inappropriate for firing pointed objects at high speeds. That’s the kind of game this wave-based experience is; slapstick, colorful, and potentially heaps off fun.

In Ace Banana you’re going to fight off swarms of monkeys. You have a pile of delicious yellow fruits and the little chimps want to get their hands on them. You’ll take them out one-by-one by realistically pulling back on your bow and letting arrows fly. It can be tricky to aim, though there’s an assist to help you make perfect shots.

Enemies come in different shapes and sizes, many taking more than one hit to bring down. Boss encounters add to the challenge, with monkeys commanding huge robots that will leap around and steal your bananas in seconds. You’ll be able to warp around different points on a map to get the best vantage point too.

This isn’t going to be a revolutionary PS VR title, but it has a decent shot at being a fun one. When Ace Banana clicks you’re constantly at work firing arrows every second and feeling the pressure mount as monkeys arrive in swarms. If your arm starts to ache from holding it up for so long, that just means you’re doing your job right.

Ace Banana will be out launch day, October 13th, on PlayStation VR.

50 DAYS OF PS VR COUNTDOWN

The Best of PlayStation VR Launch: Party Games

Sony Interactive Entertainment (SIE) has gone to great lengths to ensure that the launch of PlayStation VR defeats many of the naysayers, no less than in the realms of social experiences. Keen to ensure that virtual reality (VR) can be enjoyed by families and friends as well as the core videogame demographic, every early adopter of the head-mounted display (HMD) will receive multiplayer-centric Playroom VR for free. Bargain, right?

There’s also PlayStation VR Worlds to consider. While it may not be a ‘party game’ per se, the implementation of SIE’s social screen initiative – wherein one player uses the HMD while another assists through a separate view on the television or mobile device – proposes some very interesting potential gameplay mechanics. It’s inherently limited by design at present, though much like VR as a medium is destined to evolve in years to come.

In the meantime, having friends and family round for a spate of couch multiplayer is important for expanding the potential audience of not just PlayStation VR, but the medium as a whole, and the below titles are your best bet for doing just that on day one.

Playroom VR – Sony Interactive Entertainment

As stated above, Playroom VR will be a free download for all PlayStation VR early adopters. So that’s an easy decision. But what exactly will you be doing with this software? Well, in true couch multiplayer style, there’s a selection of mini-games included that have players working both with and against the player wearing the PlayStation VR HMD. Monster Escape places the solo HMD wearing in the position of chasing down one-to-four players sharing the television screen and using DualShock 4 controllers to evade the large green beast towering down upon them, whereas Ghost House has the players working co-operatively to hunt supernatural beings in a cartoon haunted house. Playroom VR is a fantastic way of demonstrating this new technology without the fear of the many complicated implications of VR.

Playroom VR: Monster Escape key art

Carnival Games VR – 2K Games

One of the biggest selling franchises on the hugely successful Nintendo Wii console is coming to PlayStation VR. This should divide audiences into two camps immediately: those open to casual videogames and those who refuse to accept them. Those in the latter camp are best just ignoring its existence, but those looking for a videogame to play with their mother or father, son or daughter, or partner or friend unacquainted with videogames could do far worse. Carnival Games VR promises a palatable experience with extremely low barriers for entry.

Carnival Games key art

Ace Banana – Oasis Games

Not exactly the most high profile launch title for the PlayStation VR, Ace Banana tasks the players with defending a pile of bananas from evil invader monkeys. To do this, you’ll have to put your archery skills to the test using PlayStation Move controllers. What makes Ace Banana stand out as a party videogame is that the levels are keenly designed to increase in difficulty from short bursts to longer endurance tests, and that the entire videogame can be played co-operatively.

Ace Banana screenshot

The Best PlayStation VR Launch Titles
The Best Horror Games for PlayStation VR The Best Platform Games for PlayStation VR The Best Racing Games for PlayStation VR
The Best Party Games for PlayStation VR The Best Shooting Games for PlayStation VR

Four of Oasis Games’ Five PlayStation VR Titles Get Launch Dates

At Sony Interactive Entertainment’s (SIE’s) PlayStation VR Asia Conference in July the company revealed a wide range of new titles for the headset by local indie studios and publishers. Seven videogames were shown from Chinese partners, with five coming from publisher Oasis Games Ltd. Today the company has announced launch dates or windows for four of these five projects.

Time of Virtual Reality’s (TVR) Ace Banana has been confirmed as a day one release on 13th October, with Pixel Gear from Geronimo Interactive on 20th October and Weeping Doll from TianShe Media shortly after on 27th October. Additionally, Nekcom’s DYING: Reborn has been confirmed for January 2017 while details on Mixip will be announced at a later date.

Pixel Gear

“We are immensely proud to have a strong and diverse PS VR lineup to offer players starting with our October launch titles,” said Alen Wu, Global Business Director for Oasis Games. “On October 13, we look forward to having our fun arcade archery game, Ace Banana out, with our shoot-em-up Pixel Gear and the dark, story driven psychological adventure, Weeping Doll to follow in the coming weeks in October. It’s going to be a great month for VR fans!”

The titles offer a mixture a gameplay styles and genres. Ace Banana’s a single-player and multiplayer co-op gallery shooter in which players assume the role of a Banana Archer who must protect a stash of bananas from hordes of mischievous monkeys. TVR’s other virtual reality (VR) title Mixip which doesn’t yet have a release date, is an arcade space shooter.

Pixel Gear is another shooter in a similar vein to Ace Banana, where enemies attack player in waves. This time though there are cartoon monsters, zombies and ghosts as enemies to defeat. The videogame features six levels, upgradeable weapons and  powerups that can slow down time.

Weeping Doll and DYING: Reborn are the complete opposite of the previous two, going down the horror route. Weeping Doll is a, story-driven psychological adventure with puzzle elements, where dolls come alive, animated and fuelled by the negative thoughts of their child owners. While DYING: Reborn is a horror-themed puzzle game in which players must work their way through a variety of rooms by examining, collecting and using items found along the way to figure out the puzzles.

VRFocus will continue its coverage of Oasis Games, reporting back with the latest updates.

Chinese Studio Oasis Games Have Five PlayStation Launch Titles

Sony Interactive Entertainment (SIE) has been quite selective when it comes to allowing developers create games for its PlayStation VR head-mounted display (HMD) that will be coming out in October, but one studio has had the opportunity to create five different titles for its release.

Oasis Games, a Chinese publishing partner of Sony Computer Entertainment Shanghai (SCES), has shared its five titles that will be coming to PlayStation VR for 13th October on the PlayStation Blog. Each of these titles seem to differ a fair amount from each other, and range from survival horrors to playful pixelated shooters.

Pixel Gear

“Oasis Games is creating a wide range of fun titles for PlayStation VR, as shown in our launch lineup that ranges from colorful arcade archery to spooky horror to 3D pixel shooter,” said Alen Wu, business director for Oasis Games in a press release. “We are proud to have so many titles slated for the launch window, more than any other publisher, and this is a testament to our commitment to providing entertaining experiences for the global PS VR audience.”

Ace Banana is the first title detailed, and it puts the player into the shoes of a Banana Archer protecting their stash of bananas against cheeky monkeys trying ot grab at your goods. Using your Move controllers, you will simulate using a bow and arrow to impale the primates in both single and multiplayer.

mixip

The next title shouldn’t be mistaken by its screenshot featured on the blog post, as it is much more sinister, but in a way that makes it seem chaotic good. Weeping Doll is a story-driven horror adventure where dolls come to life, animated by angry thoughts when their children owners are wronged. Players will work through puzzles as an abused girl’s doll takes revenge on her parents.

Pixel Gear lightens the mood from the previous title as it is a pixelated colourful 3D shoot ’em up with wacky cartoon monsters and ghost enemies. Objects will be interactive, and weapons can be upgraded to slow down time.

Another scary one comes from Oasis Games with Dying: Reborn, but it is more familiar to us as it is an escape the room kind of title – only with more scary features than usual.

And finally, Mixip is an arcade space shooter where you control two ships at once, dodge heavy fire, upgrade your weapons, and take down bosses.

For more on these titles and all VR news, make sure to check back with VRFocus.