Category: Adam Orth

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Adam Orth On Quest And Standalone VR: ‘Everyone’s Going To Have Them At Some Point’

oculus quest vr

Former Firewall: Zero Hour developer Adam Orth thinks that standalone headsets like Oculus Quest could mark a turning point for the VR industry.

Speaking to Game Daily, Orth revealed that he has “three or four” VR projects “in the stages of being greenlit.” One of those includes work on a potential Oculus Quest game, though it’s yet to be approved by Oculus itself.

Orth left his role at First Contact Entertainment shortly before the release of Firewall, our 2018 VR Game of the Year. Before that he also worked on Oculus Rift launch title, Adrift. Now he’s back to working as an independent VR developer. He admitted it’s a risky business, but the arrival of standalone headsets should improve VR’s prospects.

“As a creator, I’m super okay with taking that graphics hit because I’m very comfortable and believe in designing and creating with boundaries,” Orth said. “I’m willing to take that hit because I believe in the freedom of wireless and the things that you can do there.”

He later added: “You’ve got to take risks right now if you want to do big things in VR. It’s the price of admission for developing [in VR]. But when you think about the Oculus Quest and the standalone headsets? Everyone’s going to have them at some point.”

Standalone headsets feature all the necessary compute power inside of the device itself. That means there’s no need for an expensive PC or smartphone. Headsets like the Oculus Quest also deliver six degrees of freedom (6DOF) positional tracking. Breaking down barriers to entry such as this has many hoping standalone headsets will increase VR adoption.

As for his projects, Orth has high hopes. “I have some ideas that I’m really excited about, probably more excited about than my other VR games,” he said.

Orth will be speaking at GDC 2019 in San Francisco next week. He’s one of a handful of talks VR devs shouldn’t miss.

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Firewall: Zero Hour Dev Adam Orth Departs First Contact

Firewall: Zero Hour Dev Adam Orth Departs First Contact

A few weeks before the launch of the hugely-anticipated Firewall: Zero Hour, developer Adam Orth has left the studio that made it.

Over on Twitter, Orth revealed that yesterday was his last day at First Contact Entertainment. “Finishing my work on FZH left me some time to reflect and realize there are some new things I want and need to explore,” he wrote.

There’s no reason to worry about the state of Firewall itself; the game went gold not long ago and will be launching exclusively on PSVR on August 28th. It’s a tactical multiplayer shooter that pits players in 4 v 4 battles, and we’re very much looking forward to it.

Still, Orth’s departure is somewhat surprising given the proximity to Firewall’s launch and the fact that he joined First Contact just 18 months ago. He made the move to the LA-based team after finishing up work on his first VR game, Adrift, which launched alongside the Oculus Rift. Developer Three One Zero was shuttered at the same time.

As for what’s next, Orth promised an update “soon-ish”, though his profile now notes that he’s “Mostly likely in VR”. Replying to one fan that hoped the developer would remain in VR, he wrote: “You know it, buddy. Always! Keep on supporting the game. Lots still to come!”

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ROM: Extraction Developer Teases ‘Something Cool’ is Coming to PlayStation VR Soon

Towards the end of 2016 First Contact Entertainment released its first virtual reality (VR) ROM: Extraction for Oculus Rift and HTC Vive. Now with the end of 2017 approaching the studio has teased it’ll be bring something to PlayStation VR by the end of the year.

Adam Orth – best know for creating Adr1ft prior to moving to First Contact – sent out a teasing tweet recently, simply stating: “Something cool coming from us for PSVR and PSVR Demo kiosks before the end of the year…” He then followed that with an image (seen below). Whilst the tease could relate to a new title, it most likely pertains to ROM:Extraction, which the studio announced back in June would be coming to Sony Interactive Entertainment’s (SIE) headset.

First Contact Entertainment Teaser

That summer reveal only stated a release this year, so with the days ticking away a November/December launch on PlayStation VR is looking most likely for ROM: Extraction. 

For the festive period Sony Interactive Entertainment America (SIEA) is bringing back its in-store demo program for  PlayStation VR – in the US – with more than 200 Best Buy and GameStop locations featuring a playable headset. Demos confirmed so far have included Gran Turismo Sport, Final Fantasy XV: Monster of the Deep, Superhot VR, Dino Frontier, Raw Data, and Voltron. And it looks like there’s another to add to that list, so you be able to try ROM: Extraction before you buy.

VRFocus will continue its coverage of First Contact, in the mean time why not check out all the videogames currently available for PlayStation VR.

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Adr1ft Dev Three One Zero Has ‘Run Its Course’, Adam Orth Joins First Contact

Adr1ft Dev Three One Zero Has ‘Run Its Course’, Adam Orth Joins First Contact

Three One Zero, the developer behind one of the most anticipated games of the Oculus Rift launch, has “run its course”, according to its founding member.

That would be Adam Orth, a former Microsoft employee who formed the startup studio after he left the company. Speaking to GamesBeat, Orth revealed that he is joining First Contact, the LA-based developer formed of videogame industry veterans that last year released polished VR shooter, ROM: Extraction.

Three One Zero only created one game, Adr1ft [Review: 6/10], which released alongside the Rift on March 28th, 2016. It was a story-driven experience that tasked players with surviving in the depths of space following a catastrophic accident that leaves them stranded in the debris of a station. Orth wrote the narrative as a metaphor for his experiences in the fallout of leaving Microsoft. He had teased other VR projects to come from the company, but it looks like these were not to be, unless he brought those concepts over to his new studio.

Visually stunning and atmospherically arresting, Adr1ft had a lot of potential, though it didn’t quite meet it. In our review we noted that there were “too many gameplay missteps” like poor VR integration and a tendency to make people ill to really make it worth playing. The game later came to the HTC Vive, though was also playable on standard monitors. A PS4 version was released, though PlayStation VR support wasn’t included.

Three One Zero’s shuttering was hinted at late last year with the below tweet.

In an interview, Orth said that he was proud of the work the team had carried out in its short time together. He joins First Contact as a creative strategist, saying that he is “all in on VR.” He also teased that the studio was “solving hard problems from the VR standpoint,” though didn’t share anything more specific.

ROM: Extraction will soon be getting DLC. As for other projects, they remain a mystery for now.

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