Category: Audica

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Epic Games Acquires Dance Central, Rock Band Studio Harmonix

Epic Games’ metaverse bid now includes music game studio Harmonix, after an acquisition announcement yesterday.

Announced on its blog, Epic Games revealed it acquired Harmonix, the studio behind music games for both traditional and VR platforms. Some of the studio’s notable games include the Rock Band franchise (including Rock Band VR), VR rhythm game Audica and Oculus Quest launch title Dance Central.

And yes, the “metaverse” (the buzzword of the moment) even got a mention in the announcement post:

Harmonix has a track record of creating fun and engaging music experiences designed for everyone to enjoy. As we work to build the metaverse, this expertise is needed to reimagine how music is experienced, created and distributed. 

Don’t get too excited just yet — we don’t know yet whether Harmonix will be working on content we’ll consume in a VR headset. Epic Games says the studio will “collaborate closely with Epic to develop musical journeys and gameplay for Fortnite.”

Harmonix also clarified on its own blog that it will continue to support existing older games while also confirming the focus on ‘musical journeys’ for Fortnite. “While we’re not ready to share any specifics, the whole team is incredibly excited to get started. Stay tuned!”

Epic Games is one of the biggest game companies in the world — it’s behind the Unreal Engine game development toolset and the aforementioned battle-royale-turned-IP-crossover shooter Fortnite.

Meta took the spotlight with its metaverse-focused Connect keynote last month but plenty of companies have talked up this potential of an embodied form of the Web. Epic Games CEO Tim Sweeney is one of the biggest proponents, recently stating that the metaverse could become a “multitrillion-dollar part of the world economy.”

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Auducka Is What You Get When You Mix Duck Hunt And Audica (Really)

What do you get when you mix Harmonix’s rhythmic VR shooter, Audica, with classic light gun shooter, Duck Hunt? Auducka. Duh!

This rather brilliant app from developer Skid Vis is now available on SideQuest for Oculus Quest. Rather than the tense game of patience, reactions and aim that make the original Duck Hunt such a classic, this hilarious Frankenstein’s monster has poor feathered critters trying to escape your well-timed shots to the beat. It makes for a strangely soothing bit of synthy bird massacre.

Now there’s a sentence I didn’t think I’d write this week. Check out UploadVR’s Zeena Al-Obaidi taking a stab (or shot) at it below. Each of the game’s tracks is from an artist called Flawed Human Being, who sets a nice relaxed pace.

There’s four songs to the game and, though it’s obviously a bit of a joke, it’s actually pretty challenging. The game requires you to hold your hands high at all times so you’ll be getting a burn in your arms after a few songs. But with some practice and careful aim you can get the hang of it; Zeena’s very proud of coming in second on the leaderboard for one track.

You can get Auducka for free from SideQuest right here. Looking for more Duck Hunt adventures in VR? Well that’s a slightly strange craving but, if so, I should point you towards Duck Season, which is more like Duck Hunt mixed with Friday The 13th or something. Trust me, it’s better than it sounds.

The post Auducka Is What You Get When You Mix Duck Hunt And Audica (Really) appeared first on UploadVR.

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Coronavirus Slows Quest Production, AAA PSVR Studio Shuts & Win Rift Horror Game! – VRecap

It’s a beautiful day in the metaverse, won’t you be our neighbor in the VRecap? Let’s see what’s up with Oculus Quest, new releases for the week, and even how the coronavirus is affecting VR!

We may have just revealed our weekend movie plans. Anyway! Welcome back to your weekly roundup of the virtual headlines. This week brought with it a smattering of stories, some quite uplifting, but a few that aren’t so cheery.

Let’s start with Oculus Quest, shall we? Facebook’s VR standalone that could just got an update, adding enhanced hand-tracking features. Think that’s enough reason to finally buy a Quest? Well I have bad news; it’s out of stock until March in North America. Not only that but Facebook expects the coronavirus to impact production even further, so it could be a while before one arrives on your door step.

Next up, we’re talking Sony’s recent shuttering of its young Manchester Studio. The team was setup in 2015 to make PSVR games, but hadn’t even revealed its first project when the company announced the closure this week. What does that say for the highly-rumored PSVR 2?

Finally, there’s a new headset to talk about! Click the video above to get a glimpse of the Lynx-R1, a passthrough AR standalone device. Think it’s cool? How about $1,500 worth for cool? Because that’s what it costs.

Okay, onto releases, and this week we’re talking about two content drops. First up is Pistol Whip, which just added its latest free level. Then there’s also an update for Half-Life’s Oculus Quest mod that lets you play the Opposing Force expansion!

Finally, it’s time for our competition! This week we’re giving you the chance to win obscure Rift horror game, Happy Puppets. Want to be in with a chance of winning? Then jump on our Gleam in this very post.

GIVEAWAY: Win A Free Copy Of Hello Puppets on Oculus Rift!

There have been plenty of juicy stories this week, so here are just a few of the ones that didn’t make it into the VRecap:

Okay, it’s time to get out of here. We’ll see you next week! Catch up on past episodes here.

The post Coronavirus Slows Quest Production, AAA PSVR Studio Shuts & Win Rift Horror Game! – VRecap appeared first on UploadVR.

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Community Download: Why Do You Think VR Music Games Are So Popular?

Community Download is a weekly discussion-focused articles series published (usually) every Monday in which we pose a single, core question to you all, our readers, in the spirit of fostering discussion and debate. For today, we want to know why you think VR music games are so insanely popular compared to the rest of the VR market?

Back when consumer-grade VR was first starting to really take off in its current iteration in 2016, I did not expect music-based rhythm games to be the genre to really take the medium mainstream. I was wrong.

Ever since Beat Saber exploded onto the scene things have changed. Between Beat Games’ viral sensation, Audica from Harmonix, Audioshield from before both of them, and a slew of other music-based VR game, it’s impossible to look at Steam, PSN, or any of the Oculus Store platforms without coming across a few rhythm VR games. They’re truly everywhere.

My question then is: Why? What about rhythm, dancing, music, and generally audio-heavy games and experiences are so addictive and alluring in VR? Conventional wisdom might tell you that visually immersive and physical content would be the most popular in VR, but in reality it seems like Beat Saber defied logic and single-handedly created its own interpretation of a genre that’s fallen out of fashion with non-VR gamers.

What do you think it is about VR music games that makes them so popular? Is it just left over nostalgia and excitement from the era of DDR, Rock Band, and Guitar Hero, or is it something else? Let us know your thoughts down in the comments below!

The post Community Download: Why Do You Think VR Music Games Are So Popular? appeared first on UploadVR.

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Review: Audica

Rhythm-game experts Harmonix successfully released Audica for PC VR and PlayStation VR platforms towards the end of 2019, offering its own take on this genre which has exploded across all virtual reality (VR) headsets. It’s now the turn of Oculus Quest, offering owners a chance to see how good their shooting skills really are to a thumping beat.

Audica new screenshotUnlike others in this field – Beat Saber, Pistol Whip, Synth Riders – Audica’s gameplay doesn’t go for physicality, having to dodge objects or move an excessive amount. This is VR rhythm gaming stripped back to its core principles, being rewarded for accuracy and timing with lightning reflexes. Sure if you keep the guns held high your arms are going to feel the strain after a long session but don’t plan on adding Audica to a VR fitness regime, others are more suited to the task.

This is because Audica is more an advanced shooting gallery, matching the colours of the two guns you hold to all the targets appearing. By default, the guns are blue and orange, easily modified to a range of different hues if you so wish. Aesthetics aside, Audica has a range of targets to shoot, each varying slightly in its required action to maximise gameplay and keep things interesting. For example, some of the more advanced targets have ahead to shoot first and then a tail to follow, while others your gun needs to be either horizontal or vertical.

Sounds simple, doesn’t it? If you’ve played any of those aforementioned rivals on their harder difficulties then just wait until you try Audica. This isn’t a VR title you can just naively jump straight into the hard difficulty levels because you’re an expert on Beat Saber. There’s a much greater variance in the gameplay thanks to the multitude of targets on offer, possibly making Audica the most intense rhythm videogame for Oculus Quest.

Audica - Oculus QuestWhile it doesn’t offer the lavishness or untouchable feeling of Pistol Whip, you can easily tell the finesse that can only come from Harmonix. Like any videogame in this genre, the tracks are crucially important and the studio has a very solid history in this department. As such, Audica has one of the best song selections for a newly released title. EDM, DubStep are always going to be the popular choice because of the easy fit, yet the core listings include British power metal band Dragon Force and a Donna Summer remix. If you’re looking for music variety then Audica shouldn’t disappoint.

One feature that should make fans of stats happy is the end results board after completing each song. Here you’ll see how accurate you were, how on time each shot was and more, helping those hardcore players fine-tune their skills to challenge the upper leaderboards. The standard target has a total of 2000 points, 500 for hitting the thing then a maximum of 750 for accuracy and 750 for timing, giving plenty of scope for top tier scores to be very close, thus adding a highly competitive edge.

Audica is a mainly single-player experience offering a solo mode to play through all the tracks at your leisure or a campaign mode for a curated experience – a local group mode is available when friends are round. The campaign will unlock new gun and location designs whilst offering modifiers on certain songs to up the difficulty even further, making the guns invisible or removing the telegraphs which assist with timing each shot. On the subject of assistance, Audica does have a partial auto-aim option as default (which can be switched off). It won’t help to get a bullseye but it’ll aid players of any skill to hit the targets unless wildly off.    

Audica new screenshotIf you love rhythm-action videogames and are looking for a proper challenge then you can’t go too far wrong with Audica. It lacks the flair and charisma of rivals which draw far more attention but Harmonix’s latest is not to be overlooked. The music selection and challenging gameplay are the big plus points here, working well with the wireless freedom Oculus Quest offers.

80%

Awesome

  • Verdict
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Samsung Odyssey Bug-Eyed Patent, Quest’s Big Christmas & Win Audica! – VRecap

There was a great mix of stories this week, from juicy headset rumors to VR success stories. Let’s jump right into the VRecap!

Okay, let’s state the facts here: These Samsung Odyssey patents are exciting, they’re not yet confirmed to be real, and they’d make me look like Jeff Goldblum in the worst way. It’s incredible how we’ve come so far in reducing bulky designs so quickly over the years, but Samsung is ready to throw it all away. Anyway, if you want to see more about the specs and less about it’s bugginess (get it, because the eyes), check out our article on it.

Oculus received the same Christmas present I’ve been asking for every year: five million dollars. It’s almost unsurprising to hear that they cashed in massively this Christmas – especially following the news of Quest being sold out during the holiday season.

And the last top story for this episode is the correction of the Steam’s VR hardware stats. VR is doing better than ever, we swear.

We’ve had two great ports this week, including Borderlands 2 VR on Index and Audica on Quest. Speaking of Audica on Quest, you’ve got a chance to grab a code for free in this week’s giveaway, courtesy of Harmonix! Enter the competition below for a chance to win – good luck!

GIVEAWAY: Win A Free Copy Of Audica On Oculus Quest!

There have been many great news stories this week but not all of them could make it into this episode, so here’s our honorable mentions for you:

Jesse Schell: ‘If Oculus Quest Can’t Succeed We Should Just Hang It Up’

Unity Now Supports Vulkan On Oculus Quest

February PlayStation Plus Games Include PSVR Shooter Firewall Zero Hour

Unity Deprecates Built-In Support For Daydream, Gear VR, And Valve’s OpenVR

Facebook Releases Beta Fix For Oculus Rift Stuttering Issue (But Not Link Yet)

Three New Free Beat Saber Songs Arrive In New Update From Cametek

Thanks for tuning in for another VRecap! See you same time next week.

The post Samsung Odyssey Bug-Eyed Patent, Quest’s Big Christmas & Win Audica! – VRecap appeared first on UploadVR.

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Audica Adds Four DLC Tracks Including Lizzo, The Weeknd, CHVRCHES

Harmonix announced the addition of four more DLC tracks to Audica, including tracks from Lizzo, The Weeknd, CHVRCHES and Flo Rida. The tracks are available now, dropping just days after the Oculus Quest version of Audica released. 

In our initial impressions of Audica on PC VR back in early access, we noted that the music library on offer was perhaps one of the weaker points at the time, with most of the music sounding similar and lacking diversity. This was one of the reasons it seemed hard to recommend Audica to anyone who was already enjoying Beat Saber.

However, since then the Audica library has really expanded and added some high profile tracks. As we noted earlier this week, the existing DLC tracks added since early access include high profile artists like Billie Eilish, Ariana Grande and Maroon 5. Now with this new drop of four DLC tracks, Harmonix is strengthening the selection even more.

The four new DLC tracks include Juice by Lizzo, Can’t Feel My Face by The Weeknd, The Mother We Share by CHVRCHES and GDFR by Flo Ride ft. Sage the Gemini and Lookas.

The DLC is available on all platforms, including the newly-launched Oculus Quest version of the game. I tried out Juice earlier today and had quite a bit of fun. It’s certainly nice to see rhythm games like Audica invoke such a wide and varied library of different songs – a book that Beat Games could probably take a page out of, in my opinion.

Will you be checking out these new DLC track in Audica? Let us know what you think in the comments.

The post Audica Adds Four DLC Tracks Including Lizzo, The Weeknd, CHVRCHES appeared first on UploadVR.

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Audica Launches On Oculus Quest January 28 With Rift Cross-Buy

Initially announced last year at Oculus Connect 6, Audica is finally launching on the Oculus Quest on January 28. The Quest version of the music shooter was initially scheduled for a release last year, but will now launch next week after a small delay.

Oculus Quest is the last of a multitude of VR platforms that the game has reached. Initially launched on PC VR in early access, Audica left early access and also made its way to PSVR last year. The Oculus Quest version will also support cross-buy with the Rift version of the game, which is always welcome news.

We reviewed the game on PC VR back in early access, and had mixed feelings. While the game will probably be enjoyed by rhythm game fans, David did note that “if you’re picky about styles of music or already enamored with Beat Saber, we don’t think there is enough here to pull you in just yet.”

That being said, a lot has changed since early access, especially when it comes to the variety of song tracks. The PC VR and PSVR version of the game now have some very popular songs available as DLC, such as ‘bad guy’ by Billie Eilish and ‘Into You’ by Ariana Grande, which we can expect to launch on the Quest version of the game as well. That might sway some people into trying the game out.

Now that the game is out of early access and will soon be available on Quest, you can expect an updated review of Audica on the site soon, so keep an eye out for that.

Will you be picking up Audica on Quest? Let us know what you think in the comments below.

The post Audica Launches On Oculus Quest January 28 With Rift Cross-Buy appeared first on UploadVR.

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Rhythm Shooter ‘Audica’ to Launch on Quest Next Week with Rift Cross-buy

Audica (2019), the VR ‘rhythm shooter’ from Guitar Hero studio Harmonix, is officially set to arrive on Oculus Quest on January 28th. This, the studio said in a recent tweet, also includes cross-buy with the Rift version available through the Oculus Store.

Audica first launched on PC VR headsets in Early Access back in March 2019, and then later on PSVR late last year, which carried with it four new songs exclusive to PSVR as well as five paid DLC songs from household names such as 5 Seconds of Summer, Ariana Grande, Billie Eilish, Imagine Dragons, and Post Malone.

Now, the Quest version is set to arrive next week alongside four new paid DLC tracks and four free DLC songs that were once PSVR exclusives.

New Paid DLC Songs

  • Chvurches – “The Mother We Share”
  • Flo Ride Ft. Sage the Gemini and Lookas – “GDFR”
  • Lizzo – “Juice”
  • The Weeknd – “Can’t Feel My Face”
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'Beat Saber' Takes Top Spot as PSVR's Most Downloaded Game of 2019

Free Songs (previously PSVR exclusives)

  • ASMS – “Reeds of Mitatrush”
  • Darren Korb ft. Ashley Barrett – “We All Become”
  • James Egbert ft. Nina Sung – “Exit Wounds”
  • James Landino – “Funky Computer”

In Audica, players shoot and smash targets to the beat of a soundtrack; you’re tasked with not only trying to shoot on beat, but accurately too.

An Oculus Store page for the Quest version is already live. The game will be priced at the same $30 as the Rift version for new players, or free if you already own it on the Oculus platform.

The post Rhythm Shooter ‘Audica’ to Launch on Quest Next Week with Rift Cross-buy appeared first on Road to VR.

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Audica Leaves Early Access, Adds Campaign Mode & PlayStation VR Support

After its first foray into virtual reality (VR) with Rock Band VR in 2017, Harmonix returned earlier this year with Audica,  blending shooting mechanics with rhythm action gameplay. Today, the title has left Early Access, bringing with it new content and expanded headset support. 

Audica new screenshot

Audica 1.0 sees the addition of a dedicated campaign mode where you can play through the entire soundtrack across four tiers, each offering several challenges to complete. These can range from playing a song with invisible guns to reducing the reaction time to shoot each note. Successful completion of each tier unlocks the next, as well as rewarding you with new environments and blasters.

The launch also sees six more tracks added to the roster, bringing the total up to 33:

  • David Guetta ft. Sia – “Titanium (Cazzette’s Ant Seeking Hamster Remix)”
  • deadmau5 & Wolfgang Gartner – “Channel 42”
  • Logic & Marshmello – “Everyday”
  • ODESZA – “Loyal”
  • Polyphia – “G.O.A.T.”
  • Wolfgang Gartner – “Illmerica”

In addition to the core soundtrack four playable full-length Album Versions can be unlocked by playing through Audica’s campaign mode:

  • 1788-L & Blanke – “Destiny”
  • DragonForce – “Highway to Oblivion”
  • K/DA ft. Madison Beer, (G)I-DLE, Jaira Burns – “POP/STARS”
  • Zedd ft. Bahari – “Addicted To A Memory”

Audica new screenshot

If that’s not enough five DLC tracks are also available for purchase, either individually or as a pack:

  • 5 Seconds of Summer – “Youngblood”
  • Ariana Grande – “Into You”
  • Billie Eilish – “bad guy”
  • Imagine Dragons – “Believer”
  • Post Malone – “Better Now”

To finish all these musical shenanigans off there’s the PlayStation VR version. PlayStation VR players also get exclusive access to four free songs:

  • asms – “Reeds of Mitatrush”
  • Darren Korb ft. Ashley Barrett – “We All Become (from the Transistor: Original Soundtrack)”
  • James Egbert ft. Nina Sung – “Exit Wounds”
  • James Landino – “Funky Computer”

In Audica you’re armed with two guns, one blue one orange. It’s pretty much about precision target shooting to a beat, hitting a variety of single and multiple coloured targets to a soundtrack featuring some of the best artists in the pop and EDM space.

Supporting Oculus Rift, HTC Vive, Windows Mixed Reality and PlayStation VR headsets, Harmonix also has plans for additional content and updates in the near future. For further updates keep reading VRFocus.