Category: Beat Saber

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Fall Out Boy Music Pack Thumps Onto Beat Saber This Week

As if Beat Saber wasn’t already filled with premium tracks from internationally celebrated artists, today it has been revealed that Fall Out Boy will be joining the roster alongside the likes of Green Day, Billy Eilish, Imagine Dragons, Lady Gaga, Skrillex and many more.

Fall Out Boy fans will be able to slice their way through eight of the band’s most famous tracks including This Ain’t A Scene, It’s An Arms Race and Dance, Dance; the full setlist is below. And it wouldn’t have that rock vibe without a new environment, so that’s exactly what you get, a grand stage filled with lasers, pyrotechnics and video screens (for some music video action, maybe?).

  • Centuries
  • Thnks fr th Mmrs
  • This Ain’t A Scene, It’s An Arms Race
  • Immortals
  • My Songs Know What You Did In The Dark (Light Em Up)
  • I Don’t Care
  • Dance, Dance
  • Irresistible

“Our shows are flat out filled with pyro—it’s rock n roll,” says Fall Out Boy’s Pete Wentz over on the Oculus Blog. “That’s why our first VR collab had to have a TON of it… this will be the biggest rock show that Beat Saber has ever seen. Turn it up!”

Beat Saber - Fall Out Boy

The addition of Fall Out Boy continues Beat Saber’s dominance at the top of VR’s rhythm action genre. There are many vying for players but Beat Saber captured the VR crowd early on thanks to its instinctive gameplay that’s intensely difficult on the expert modes. Most recently, Beat Saber dropped a new update adding two new block types alongside its fifth soundtrack.

The Fall Out Boy Music Pack arrives for Meta platforms on 31st March 2022 ( mention of PSVR or SteamVR at the moment), priced at $10.99 USD for the whole pack or $1.99 per song. For continued updates, keep reading gmw3.

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Beat Saber: New Notes on the Block

Like many, my favourite VR game is Beat Saber. The last time I checked, I had logged over 75 hours playing this lightsaber wielding, modern musical masterpiece. So, whenever a new music pack comes out, I dash to my PlayStation (I really need a Quest version) and download it. And while I’ve loved slashing blocks to Lady Gaga, Linkin Park and even BTS, nothing compares to when the Beat Saber crew put together new tracks, and more importantly, new gameplay mechanics.

With Beat Saber Soundtrack V developer Beat Games not only brings us six new tracks, but also, two new note blocks. For the first time since the original release, they are branching out from the standard blocks, bombs and obstacles. Before we get into the new mechanics, let’s take a look at those songs:

  • Schwank – $1.78
  • Ewok – Curtains (All Night Long)
  • Camellia – Final-Boss-Chan
  • Tanger – Firestarter
  • The Living Tombstone – I Want be a Machine
  • Jaroslav Beck feat. Meredith Bull – Magic

If you want to listen to the new songs in advance, you can do so right here.

Each new song feels as high energy as those which have come before, but they each feature a more euphoric tone compared to previous releases. There are more sustained notes which soar and wave, cresting up before iconic beat drops. Where past soundtrack updates seemed to focus on difficulty, this pack is establishing new gameplay mechanics, and using the music to showcase them.

There’s a reason the tracks each feature sustained notes and longer stretches of melody; ‘arc’ notes. These new notes can be spotted easily, as they use the traditional note block as a starting point. You’ll notice an arc of light emitting from the block; this connects through other notes and ends on a block of the same colour. You don’t have to follow the sweeping arc as displayed, you can wave your hands around, but for me, following the curves made everything feel more natural, more musical, and gave me a better sense of expression.

The next new note block is the ‘chain’. This block can be seen as a standard block which looks like it’s had a trip through a shredder. Beat Games is using these notes to express a rapid sequence of notes. Previously a short, staccato eight note effect would have needed eight separate note blocks in quick succession, now however, they are represented by ‘chain’ blocks. You might be thinking, ‘well, that sounds easier’ but the ‘chain’ notes curve a little like the ‘arc’ notes above, so striking them requires a bit more of a flourish from your hands.

Whenever a new pack of songs is released, I always play them on hard difficulty. It’s where I have the most fun and plenty of challenge. The addition of the two new note blocks has seemingly increased the difficulty, even though the notes feel easier to play. While the game feels that bit more difficult, it also feels completely revitalised.

Accompanying the new soundtrack, is a whole new lighting system for the stages. While this may not have a substantial impact on the playing of the game, the new effects elevate each stage, making it feel more encompassing. By the end of my play session, I wanted these new notes in every other Beat Games soundtrack pack. In fact, when the last note of the pack was played, Beat Saber felt like a whole new game.

Beat Saber Soundtrack V is out now on all platforms, and it’s completely free.

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Beat Saber Surprise Launches New Arc & Chain Notes, OST 5 For Free

After a brief tease last week, Beat Saber just launched a free new update featuring new songs and new mechanics.

Today’s 1.20.0 update includes the recently-announced Official Soundtrack 5 (or OST5), which consists of six new songs that bring 36 new maps in total to the rhythm game. As the name suggests, these are new songs created specifically for Beat Saber, and don’t have any world-famous artists like the recent DLC packs. Get a look at one of the new tracks using the note types in the tweet below.

New Beat Saber Music & Mechanics Released

Included in the full tracklist is a new track from Beat Games’ Music Director, Jaroslav Beck, who has worked on much of the original music for the game. Here’s the full list:

– Schwank – $1.78
– Ewok – Curtains (All Night Long)
– Camellia – Final-Boss-Chan
– Tanger – Firestarter
– The Living Tombstone – I Wanna Be A Machine
– Jaroslav Beck feat. Meredith Bull – Magic

Also added in this update at the Arc and Chain notes. We’ve seen these teased for the past few months now; Chains are designed to present continous sounds and have you guide your blade, whilst Arcs have you hold the note in a certain position before bringing them crashing down. You’ll be able to find these new notes implemented into the new songs.

Finally, the update implements a new lighting system that features 136 lasers you utilize in the level editor.

These are some of the biggest changes we’ve seen to Beat Saber in a while and set the game up for more diverse tracks and visuals heading deeper into 2022. We’ll bring you impressions from these changes soon.

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‘Beat Saber’ OST 5 Music Pack Launches Today, Including New Block Mechanics & 6 New Songs

Beat Saber, VR’s favorite rhythm game, has been going strong for nearly four years now and shows no signs of slowing. Today the Meta-owned studio behind the title, Beat Games, launched its next free music pack, OST 5, which is introducing some recently teased block mechanics as well as six new songs.

Update (March 8th, 2022): The new OST 5 music pack adds six new songs to Beat Saber’s music library. Here’s the song list:

  • Schwank: “$1.78”
  • EEWK: “’Curtains (All Night Long)”
  • Camellia: “Final-Boss-Chan”
  • Tanger: “Firestarter”
  • The Living Tombstone: “I Wanna Be A Machine”
  • Jaroslav Beck feat. Meredith Bull: “Magic”

You can learn more about the new block mechanics in the release trailer, as well as the original article below:

Original Article (March 1st, 2022): Beat Saber launched in Early Access back in 2018 and in short order showed its ‘killer app’ potential. Following the game’s full launch in 2019, Beat Saber has become VR’s most popular, and likely profitable, game to date. The game has been so popular that Meta bought the studio behind the game, Beat Games, later that year.

The game is not only still going strong, but looks poised to evolve.

Today Beat Game announced the next free music pack for Beat Saber dubbed OST 5, saying it will arrive “soon.” (see update)

Beyond just adding more free levels to the base game (which is priced at $30 and available on Quest, PC VR, and PSVR), OST 5 could be the moment that Beat Saber sees the introduction of new block mechanics and a new lighting system, both of which the studio has teased since the start of the year.

Back in January the studio teased two distinct new mechanics. The first is the addition of lines which players must trace with their sabers; it looks like these lines can be used by themselves or preceding blocks in order to guide the player’s saber to the blocks along a specific path. The second new mechanic is strings of mini-blocks which also encourage the player to cut along a specific path, but in this case each contribute their own beat to the song.

It would be difficult to update old songs for these new mechanics, so it seems likely that they would be introduced along with new songs, like those coming in OST 5.

OST 5 could also bring a revamped lighting system the studio has been working on, which promises to give song makers and modders more control over the visual effects that accompany each song. The studio said in mid-February that the system would be coming as “part of our next release,” though it isn’t entirely clear if this would coincide with OST 5.

We’ll have to wait and see whether OST 5 brings these new systems to Beat Saber, but what we can say almost for certain is that the new song pack will push the game’s base song count above 40 (given 37 base tracks currently in the game and an average of five songs for recent OSTs). The bulk of the game’s official music—99 additional tracks, largely from well known artists—are available as paid DLC.

The post ‘Beat Saber’ OST 5 Music Pack Launches Today, Including New Block Mechanics & 6 New Songs appeared first on Road to VR.

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New Beat Saber Music: Original Soundtrack V Coming Soon

There’s new Beat Saber music on the way – the Original Soundtrack V (or OST 5) pack is coming soon.

Beat Games just teased the news over on Twitter along with a quick video teasing what’s almost certainly one of the tracks included in the new pack. There was no date given for OST 5 just yet, but we never have to wait too long between a pack’s announcement and release.

Beat Saber OST5 Incoming

As the name suggests, this pack won’t feature high-profile artists but instead return to Beat Saber’s roots and deliver a set of original songs for the game, just like those that first released on the platform years ago. Typically, OST packs have been released for free, though Beat Games hasn’t confirmed if that trend will continue with this new installment. It’s likely to hit all of the game’s existing platforms, though.

This is the first OST update for the game to be added in roughly a year as Beat Games has doubled down on premium content from artists like Billie Eilish and Lady Gaga. We thought the last installment was an appreciated but ultimately disappointing attempt to try something new, as it focused on a heavier type of music. Certainly, the song in the teasers suggests this pack will be closer to Beat Saber’s original tone.

Looking for more Beat Saber? We recently ranked our favorite packs for the music game mammoth. What are you hoping to see from OST 5? Let us know in the comments below!

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Beat Saber’s Newest Blocks Let You Slide to the Rhythm

Beat Saber undoubtedly has to be the most popular virtual reality (VR) videogame, just look at its permanent number one ranking on the PlayStation VR download charts. Developer Beat Games hasn’t rested bringing new features to the rhythm game, with the next to arrive introducing some new block types.

As you can see from the short teaser video Beat Games released this week, these new blocks look like they’ve burst apart, hence why they’re called Burst Sliders, Road to VR reports. The first portion contains the directional arrow whilst the thin ‘slices’ all have to be cut through adding a very defined sweeping motion to the gameplay.

Those ‘slices’ are referred to as ‘elements’ by the dev team who indicate that there’s no limit to the number of elements a Burst Slider can contain. As the trailer showcases, some Burst Sliders contain four elements whilst others contain nine. That could lead to some twirling block cutting in the future.

Keeping with the slide theme, you may notice the sabers in the video featuring what looks like light trails. These are in fact ‘Sliders’, guide lines that lead to a starter block. Whilst they are there to aid the next slice, they have another gameplay element, getting the player even more involved with the song. Following these sliders won’t add any more points to your score but they do add a touch of haptic feedback.

Beat Saber - Slider

Finally, there’s going to be one smaller, community requested addition; diagonal dot blocks, yey! All of these features are slated to arrive in the next Beat Saber update, although there’s no clear indication when that’ll be.

Having seen the likes of multiplayer and 360-degree gameplay modes added since its original launch Beat Saber hasn’t lost any momentum over the years. As and when further updates are announced, gmw3 will keep you updated.

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VR’s Most Popular Game is Mixing Up Its Formula with New Blocks & Mechanics

Beat Saber is getting a good slice of new mechanics soon that aim to change up the game’s feel by introducing some long-awaited block styles that may just make you a more stylish player.

A short video popped up yesterday that shows off some new block types that are said to come to the game soon.

Outside of the game’s addition of 360 gameplay mode in 2019, and ‘angled window’ blocks released in the game’s Timbaland Music Pack back in 2020, the new blocks represent one of the biggest changes to come to the game since launch.

Official Lead Level Creator for BeatSaber ‘Freeek’ hosted a Q&A session where they defined each of the new blocks/mechanics and their functions. Here’s the breakdown of what you’re seeing above:

Sliders

Sliders are highlighted lines that lead from a starter block to the next, or no note at all. They primarily act as a guide, but also get the user to engage with the music by moving to the beat.

Image courtesy Beat Games, Meta

Sliders are dynamic elements—similar to a string tied to the end of your saber—which lead the player into cooler, or more efficient slicing patterns. Following the slider isn’t scored, however there is a haptic feedback when you’ve hit them so you know when you’re on track.

Burst Sliders

Burst Sliders are slinky-style blocks that, similar to the slider mentioned above, guide the player into a requisite slicing pattern. The difference here is the player must slice completely through the burst sliders to achieve the maximum points.

Image courtesy Beat Games, Meta

The team calls the individual slinky bits ‘elements’. Elements aren’t limited in number, so it seems to create room for some increasingly longer and windier slicing gameplay.

Each element has a haptic feedback, and is scored at 20 points per block, with the principal starter block scored much higher. Elements aren’t slice-angle dependent, and only require the player hit them somehow, unlike traditional blocks which measure entry/exit angle as a part of scoring methodology.

Diagonal Dots

Diagonal dots are pretty straightforward. It’s more of a minor request that cosmetically changes the dot block’s orientation.

Image courtesy Beat Games, Meta

For reference, the dot block is a scored block that lets the user choose which direction to slice in. No, it’s not for stabbing!

It’s uncertain when Beat Saber will get the new new blocks, however lead developer Jan ‘Split’ Ilavsky mentions that it’s coming in the “next update” along with more stuff—just what that stuff is, we can’t say.

The post VR’s Most Popular Game is Mixing Up Its Formula with New Blocks & Mechanics appeared first on Road to VR.

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Beat Saber zeigt neue BlĂścke

Die Entwickler und Entwicklerinnen von Beat Saber haben auf Twitter neue BlĂścke in Aussicht gestellt.

Beat Saber zeigt neue BlĂścke

Im Video auf Twitter werden zwei Arten an Blöcken gezeigt, die es noch nicht in das Spiel geschafft haben. Eine neue Sorte erinnert optisch an eine Ziehharmonika und gibt eine Bahn für einen großen Schwung mit dem Lichtschwert vor. Diese Blöcke wurden jedoch bereits vor wenigen Tagen angekündigt. Komplett neu hingegen sind die Blöcke, die einen Energiestrahl erzeugen:

Aktuell ist noch nicht klar, wann die neuen BlĂścke eingefĂźhrt werden. Beat Saber ist seit 2019 Teil von Meta und somit ist davon auszugehen, dass das Update zumindest fĂźr die Meta-Plattformen erscheinen wird.

Beat Saber ist vermutlich das erfolgreichste VR-Spiel überhaupt und ist auf allen VR-Plattformen fast ständig in den Listen der meist verkauften Titel. Und die Reise ist noch lange nicht beendet. Das Spiel wird stetig verbessert, ausgebaut und erhält regelmäßig kostenpflichte Musik-Packs von bekannten Künstlern und Künstlerinnen.

Die Meta Quest 2 ist in Deutschland derzeit nicht verfĂźgbar. Ihr kĂśnnt sie aber Ăźber Amazon Frankreich schnell und einfach bestellen. Hier findet ihr eine kleine Anleitung. Unseren Langzeittest zur Brille findet ihr hier.

(Quelle: Upload VR)

Der Beitrag Beat Saber zeigt neue Blöcke zuerst gesehen auf VR∙Nerds. VR·Nerds am Werk!

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Beat Saber Teases First Gameplay Showing New Block Types

The developers of Beat Saber previewed some interesting new gameplay coming “soon” to one of VR’s most popular titles.

The 34-second long clip is jam-packed with visuals that may take a few watches to pick apart, but suffice it to say the video shows a decent look at the the new thinly sliced blocks — enough to get the impression that they are  likely to introduce some of the biggest changes to Beat Saber’s core gameplay since the addition of 360-degree maps and multiplayer.

Give it a few watches via the tweet embedded below:

In case you missed it, near the end of the video before the “Beat Saber” logo appears we see a wall of blue boxes incoming with a pair of hidden red boxes. These hidden boxes are actually revealed in advance by an energy wafting off the red saber, pictured below, that grows in intensity as it points to the rapidly approaching obstacles.

Beat Saber is of course made by Prague-based Beat Games, which Facebook acquired in 2019 in the first of several VR development studio acquisitions on its path to going Meta. The game has perpetually got a home among some of the top games in VR and the developers have continually added a number of big name artists to the rhythm slicing in a series of DLC packs.

Have you been able to pick apart any other details from the gameplay video? Please share in the comments below!

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Beat Saber Is Getting A New Block Type

It looks like Beat Saber is getting a new block type.

Yesterday the game’s official Twitter account posted an image of a block that appeared to be sliced into segments, creating a curve. At the time it wasn’t clear if this was a direct tease for something new in-game but, since then, the game’s lead level creator, Freeek has confirmed that this is an entirely new type of block, which many in the community are referring to as ‘Sliders’.

Beat Saber New Block Type Incoming

You can imagine, then, this block type getting players to make longer, more directed swipes than the quick flicks that will slice up the original blocks. Freeek also noted that the new type has been in development for a long time now, but will not feature in old tracks. Instead, they’ll be implemented into upcoming releases. Currently, there are no new tracks or DLC announced for the game, but there’s no doubt plenty of new content lined up for 2022. The Lady Gaga Pack is now just over a month old, and we’re really quite fond of it.

By our count, this is the first time Beat Games has added a significant new feature to the actual core gameplay of Beat Saber since it left early access on PC. That’s not counting various optional modifiers and, of course, the many mods that can completely change how you play the game (remember FeetSaber?).

What do you make of Beat Saber’s new block type? Let us know in the comments below!