The end of October saw a flurry of new updates for Vertigo Games’s virtual reality (VR) zombie titles Arizona Sunshine, including new screenshots, concept art and a special 360 degree trailer. Now there’s an additional update in the form of a special behind the scenes video from the developers.
The team discuses using Unity to push the limits of VR effects, including environmental flourishes and more graphical consequences for ending one of the undead.
Arizona Sunshine is currently set for release later this year for both the HTC Vive and the Oculus Rift head-mounted displays (HMDs) with the latter also possessing Oculus Touch compatibility. A PlayStation VR version has previously also been confirmed.
For more on the latest on Arizona Sunshine, as well as all the news, updates, and features in the world of VR, make sure to check back with VRFocus.
It’s certainly been a week of new information regarding Vertigo Games’ zombie first-person shooter, Arizona Sunshine. On Thursday the studio revealed a new immersive trailer that was available in 360-degrees and downloadable for Oculus Rift and HTC Vive. Yesterday VRFocus showcased several new screenshots set in and around the mines, and now there’s three concept pieces to feast your eyes on.
Concept art gives a great look at how a videogame came into being, detailing the ideas and methods the developer went through.
The first piece of artwork is set on the iconic Route 66, now a crumbling road stretching across the Arizona desert, a long abandoned diner a reminder of what life used to be like. The second image is an underground rail route, the electric lighting still works enough to illuminate the undead horde approaching. While the third shows the unnamed hero of the title, gun in hand as he heads towards the old gold mine.
Arizona Sunshine is due to launch later this year for Oculus Touch and HTC Vive. Next month the studio will be holding a closed beta to test the videogame prior to launch. Anybody that’s signed up to the Arizona Sunshine newsletter via the official website will be in with a chance of being chosen.
VRFocus will continue its coverage of Arizona Sunshine, reporting back with any further details.
Last week Vertigo Games released a new trailer for its upcoming virtual reality (VR) title Arizona Sunshine. The trailer was available as a 360-degree video and as a downloadable trailer to be viewed on either the Oculus Rift or HTC Vive head-mounted displays (HMDs). Now VRFocus has several new screenshots showcasing the some of the areas and enemies in store.
There are 8 images to look through showing some of the industrial areas including the outer and inner mines, crawling with zombies.
Built specifically for VR, Arizona Sunshine is set to launch later this year for HTC Vive and Oculus Touch. Using the headset’s motion controllers players will be able to handle, fire, and reload over 25 different weapons with realistic controls.
Vertigo Games will be launching a closed beta in November with players able to signup by subscribing to the newsletter.
VRFocus will continue its coverage of Arizona Sunshine, reporting back with further updates.
Due to launch later this year for Oculus Touch and HTC Vive is zombie first-person shooter (FPS) Arizona Sunshine. In development by Vertigo Games and Jaywalkers Interactive, the teams have been releasing snippets of info on the title for awhile now. Today sees the debut of a brand new virtual reality (VR) trailer, enabling fans to get a better look than ever before at the project.
The trailer takes viewers down the zombie infested highway that’s been shown in several screenshots previously. This time though the road is filled with the undead, crawling their way out of the mangled remains of cars or stumbling along, all in slow motion.
There are a couple of ways to watch the video. It’s shown below as a 360-degree version, with panning controlled with a keyboard or mouse. Or it can be viewed through the YouTube app on a smartphone with a compatible head-mounted display (HMD) like Google Cardboard. But for Oculus Rift and HTC Vive owners, they can download the trailer to their computer to watch via their headset. Simply head to the Arizona Sunshine website for the download link.
Arizona Sunshine has been built specifically for VR HMDs. Using motion controllers, players will be able to handle, fire, and reload over 25 different weapons with real-life movements. As the name suggests the videogame is set in Arizona, with players able to explore a series of huge southwestern American environments, including blistering-hot deserts, treacherous canyons and deep, dark mines.
It features both single-player and co-op multiplayer modes, with a campaign mode built in bite-sized chunks form a full narrative, gamers will be able to jump in for a short session or stay for the entire campaign. Whilst multiplayer features a co-op campaign mode and a Horde mode for up to four players.
A closed beta will also begin in November for those that have subscribed to the newsletter, and there’s still time if you’re interested.
VRFocus will continue its coverage of Arizona Sunshine, reporting back with any further announcements.
It’s a well-known issue that communicating what it feels like to see and play a game in VR using a traditional, flat, 2D screen is nearly impossible. Utilizing mixed reality helps — it lets people see the player inside the game world and provides a better representation of what it’s like — but nothing beats actually experiencing it inside an HMD itself. Luckily, that’s where 360-video helps bridge the gap.
Whether or not you think 360 video is VR or not, it’s undeniably more immersive than a flat video. That’s why Vertigo Games, the developer behind the zombie-killing fest Arizona Sunshine, opted to release a 360 ‘Apocalypse’ trailer for the upcoming action game. You can watch that embedded below.
We’ve seen 360 trailers for VR games before, but not nearly enough of them. Ideally, we think they should be the new standard for demonstrating a VR game. HTC, Valve, and Oculus should allow developers to display 360 trailers directly in the storefronts on Viveport, Steam, Oculus Home, respectively. Let players view them inside their Vive, Rift, or Gear VR without going to another app or downloading something. That small step would lend tremendous help towards communicating what it’s like to play certain VR games.
This particular trailer is just a slo-mo look at a scene where zombies are attacking a road full of vehicles — it’s nothing groundbreaking — but it’s several magnitudes more intense than just a normal game trailer when watched inside a VR headset.
When we played Arizona Sunshine last, we came away very impressed. While it’s just a zombie wave shooter at its core, you’re able to move around the environment using different hotspot waypoints and there is full cooperative multiplayer and singleplayer game modes.
The game is scheduled for a release this year in 2016, leaving just about two months before that window closes. When it does come out, it’s currently slated for the Oculus Rift, HTC Vive, and PlayStation VR.
It was announced last month that Arizona Sunshine would be getting a closed beta, and now the time has come to try to get on board with it if you are to be chosen from the newsletter subscriber list.
Closed beta for Arizona Sunshine will be kicking off in November, where selected players can try out the first dour levels of the game, ending at the Ol’ Dutchman Mine. In order to get on board with this, you will first and foremost need an HTC Vive or have access to Oculus Touch, and as well as this you will need to sign up with a valid email address, be at least 18 years old, accept the invitation and terms of service within three days of being selected, and of course you should have your own Steam or Oculus Home account.
The new level that has been added as to Arizona Sunshine is The Refinery, and the whole idea is the idea of sharing the weight of killing all the zombies, and having many places to hide and search from. “As you start the level, you notice something new. Signs of civilization. All you have to do is get past a horde of zombies and that enormous wall. You just can’t catch a break.This place looks like a fortress. Someone gets an A+ in zombie survival planning.”
For more on the latest on Arizona Sunshine, as well as all the news, updates, and features in the world of VR, make sure to check back with VRFocus.
Vertigo Games’ Arizona Sunshine has been a showcase for the gallery shooter genre in virtual reality (VR) for some time now, but as the official launch approaches the developers are keen to reveal more information about the videogame. Next up? Put away those guns.
Grenades and throwing knives are two very different types of weaponry, and yet in Arizona Sunshine are the perfect compliment to your ballistic arsenal. If you find yourself surrounded you can use a grenade to deal with one direction and unload your guns in the other directions. Throwing a knife offers a less noisy opportunity to kill zombies, plus have the advantage of being immediately collectable: simply pull it out of the dead zombie and use again.
Furthermore, Vertigo Games has also revealed a new firearm: the sniper rifle. From the most recent official update, the studio offered the following:
“So grenades and knives are great when you are up close, and we know you love the idea of literally being in the middle of the action, blasting zombies to pieces. However, some of you may not want to get that close. Well, we have the weapon for you. Meet the sniper rifle. Look down your scope and calmly drop zombies from the safety of your sniper perch or hide site. Just remember, sometimes zombies run in packs, and the sniper rifle will not be enough. You might want to carry a grenade for safety.”
Vertigo Games has stated that all of these new weapons will work on a minimum specification PC, however has also updated Arizona Sunshine’s recommended specification to 16GB RAM as, according to the update, ‘it takes some horsepower to run these physics and particles at 90FPS’.
Arizona Sunshine is currently set for release later this year on HTC Vive and for Oculus Rift with Oculus Touch compatibility, and a PlayStation VR version has also been confirmed. VRFocus will keep you updated with all the latest details on Arizona Sunshine and other forthcoming VR titles from Vertigo Games.
