Supernatural, the fitness subscription service available on the Oculus Quest platform, is introducing a new workout type — Supernatural Boxing.
The new boxing workouts are available from today and join the existing roster of content available on the platform, such as Supernatural’s full-body cardio workout and Supernatural Flow. Just like those existing offerings, boxing workouts will have three intensity levels — low, medium and high — which increase the pace and choreography of your jabs, cross, hooks, uppercuts and blocks to the beat of the music.
There are eight initial workouts available now, with three further workouts releasing each week. Each of the boxing sessions are guided by your preferred Supernatural coach, including some with the company’s Head of Fitness and Muay Thai athlete, Leanne Pedante, who we spoke to back in June.
As with Supernatural’s other workout offerings, the boxing workouts are available across 100 3D destinations, shot-on-location, with over 1000 music tracks including artists such as Lady Gaga, Billie Eilish, Lizzo, Kanye West, Fleetwood Mac, Beethoven, The Cure and more.
For beginners, you can start with a boxing training video, “Boxing Basics” from Coach Leanne and work your way up to the “Pros Only” video before moving on to the workouts.
Ian Fitz, the independent VR developer behind popular VR boxing simulator, Thrill of the Fight, stated in an email to a Reddit user that even though his game designed to theoretically work well without controllers, it would not be getting support for Quest hand-tracking due to the device’s current limitations.
Thrill of the Fight is a very active and very intense VR game that pits players against AI-controlled opponents in boxing rings. As opposed to games like Creed: Rise to Glory or Knockout League, which are a bit more arcade-style, Thrill of the Fight is more focused on simulation-style gameplay. To that end, it feels more like you’re actually boxing than most others.
Since accuracy is extremely important in a game like this, Quest’s hand tracking wasn’t quite good enough (at this stage) to work for his game, according to Fitz. The full email states:
“TotF [Thrill of the Fight] was intentionally designed to be usable without button presses and so would theoretically work great with hand tracking. I’ve played around with the hand tracking on Quest though, and it doesn’t seem capable enough to handle the gameplay of TotF. The hand tracking only works when it has a good view of your hands in a specific area in front of the headset. It loses track of the hands if they are too close to the headset, too far away, or too far to the sides, so it doesn’t handle blocking or punching well.”
Based on that logic, it makes sense why the most practical use cases for hand-tracking on Quest right now revolve around menu and UI navigation and very light interactions rather than actively punching and moving around a lot. Maybe in a future iteration of the Quest when cameras have a wider tracking volume and can keep up with fast hand speeds things will be different.
We’ve reached out to Fitz as well directly for additional comment on the topic and will update this post if we hear back.
Which games do you most want to play with hand-tracking on Quest? Let us know down in the comments below!
Another contender is stepping into the ring on Oculus Quest. Grab Games’ Knockout League hits the platform soon.
The slapstick VR boxing game will launch on the standalone headset on October 17. An Oculus Store listing for the game confirms as much.
Knockout League is a little different from other VR boxing games like Creed: Rise to Glory and The Thrill Of The Fight (both of which are either on or coming to Quest). While the game does have a deep combat system, it’s far from a simulation. Your enemies, for example, range from a mad scientist using technology to confront you to, well, a tea-drinking octopus named Sir Octopunch. Need I say more?
We were quite fond of Knockout League when it first launched on PC VR headsets. “Knockout League is a VR game that makes no qualms with trying to hide what it is or fool you into thinking it’s something more,” we wrote. “This is about as direct a translation of the classic Punch-Out!! arcade-style gameplay as you’re going to find and it absolutely works, even if it lacks some originality.”
The game’s since come to PSVR too.
The store listing confirms that the game will support cross-buy. That means if you bought the Rift version of the game on the Oculus Store, you’ll get it for free on Quest. Otherwise, it’ll cost $19.99.
There’s plenty more Quest goodness on the way, too. Synth Riders is due before the end of the month and Pistol Whip finally arrives in early November. Best charge those headsets.
Will you be buying Knockout League Quest? Let us know in the comments below!
CREED: Rise to Glory is a boxing game that aims to get you up and sweating with what promises to deliver the Rocky-style underdog victory that couch jockies like me have always dreamed about. While the campaign is both shorter and lighter on story than it probably could have been, it delivers some heavy-hitting game mechanics that do pretty well considering you’re effectively punching at air.
Developer: Survios Available On: Steam (Vive, Rift,), Oculus Store (Rift), PlayStation Store (PSVR) Reviewed On: Oculus Rift, HTC Vive Release Date: September 25th, 2018
Gameplay
There’s not much to know about the story behind Creed: Rise to Glory. Like in the films, you follow series protagonist Adonis “Hollywood” Creed, the son of Apollo Creed, and fight to become the champ.
Story elements are told through a radio program playing in the gym, which serves as your sanctuary where you can train before fights and hear a little bit about the boxing world outside of the gym’s four walls. A single flashback of you punching out a bouncer and presumably losing a love interest are light padding to the game’s main event: dodging and making sure your stamina isn’t too low so you can land effective punches during matches. And while I felt the story definitely could have played out to a grander, more dramatic effect with a longer arc than what its six primary enemies provided, the most important things are strong fundamentals and being engaging enough to revisit, which is clearly the case in Creed: Rise to Glory.
Image courtesy Survios
As someone who’s never boxed before, I can’t really say with much certainty how true Creed VR is to the actual sport, but it appears to have been game-ified well into arcade territory. The Rocky films, and by extension the Creed films, are fantastical fights that probably could never happen in reality anyway. Like with many sports films, the technicality of the sport is mostly lost in those big dramatized moments that challenge the main character, and help them come to a hard-won resolution. Stepping into the ring with the lights, the crowd, and the announcer, it easily matched up to my already warped expectations of how boxing is portrayed in film—that much I can say with confidence; I felt like I was in a movie, and it was awesome.
Iconic training montages with Rocky Balboa, voiced with a convincing-enough impression of Sylvester Stallone, prefaced most fights, giving you that all important cinematic touchstone.
Image captured by Road to VR
Introducing what Survios calls ‘Phantom Melee Technology’, Creed uses a sort of body desynchronization when either your stamina is low, or when you’re staggered from a powerful punch. Low stamina is indicated by the color of your gloves, which will flash red to make sure you know your punches will be slower than your actual physical ability to shadow box. This keeps you on the guard more than you might otherwise be, as the only way to recuperate stamina is by holding you hands still. Enemies will also dodge and block your hits too, making them more than just simple punching bags.
Getting staggered happens in two stages. A powerful punch can put you in a quick out-of-body experience that requires you to match up your hands to two targets, allowing you to pop back into the fight.
Image captured by Road to VR
More devastating punches can knock you way out of the ring, requiring you to ‘run’ back and jump back into your body. These are fun and truly creative ways of making you feel like you’re hanging on to a bare thread in the more difficult matches.
Image captured by Road to VR
A few methods of activating slow motion sequences really drive home the cinematic nature of the game, as you dodge a punch or land a big hit that places temporary target’s on your opponent’s body.
All of these systems work extremely well, but the learning curve is somewhat steep. There is no visible HP or stamina bar, so spending some extra time in training is probably a good thing so you can start to really feel out how many hits you can take and how many you can give before throwing yourself at the actual matches.
I beat the campaign mode in about an hour an a half on normal difficulty, although that was stretched out over several sessions simply based on my own admittedly out-of-shape cardio abilities. It’s easy to see using Creed: Rise to Glory in an actual cardio routine to get less than active people (like me) up from the chair and getting their heart pumping. I felt enemies weren’t terribly varied in the attack styles, as it seems difficulty is mostly based more on the NPC’s individual punch strength and HP.
While I was left somewhat disappointed by the shortness of the campaign mode, thankfully you can mix and match enemies, gyms, and boxing locales in free play. Another big addition recently announced to arrive on all platforms is PvP online multiplayer. Online multiplayer presents a good opportunity to really turn the technical difficulty up, as live players exploit tactics that NPCs simply can’t think of, like running around the ring and going for a drive-by punch. These online battles are intense, and provided some of my most tiring battles.
While at times on the cartoonish side, character models and their animations are very well-done and can be genuinely intimidating too. Seeing a near seven foot-tall guy trying to hit me in the face isn’t something I’m really used to, and even though nothing bad can happen outside of accidentally punching a wall/TV/monitor, there are some moments before the fight when you subconsciously size up the competition.
Image captured by Road to VR
Impressive and realistic set pieces help ground you in the world, although it’s clear Creed: Rise to Glory is definitely bucking up against some of the inherent limitations of the current state of VR. Without any bodily feedback outside of the controller’s haptics, it’s difficult to completely immerse yourself in the act of dodging and blocking, two things that require more than visual cues to accomplish. Oftentimes I had my gloves up, obscuring my vision, and without force feedback (which at this point isn’t possible), you just have to rely on the controller’s buzzy haptics and the game’s visual cues to tell if you’ve hit your opponent or pulled your punch too early. That said, it’s great to know that Creed VR has entirely bypassed the ‘waggle simulator’ trend of earlier titles, as it not only requires you to punch quickly, but do it accurately for the sake of lost stamina.
The game’s AI is pretty darn good. At moments I could feel the AI sussing out my head’s position and aiming accurately for my noggin despite I had dodged an earlier punch. NPCs feel mostly solid, although you can actually run through them if you want.
Image captured by Road to VR
While based mostly on room-scale movement, there are moments when you need to artificially move from point A to point B, including when you square off at the beginning of the fight and during moments when you’re knocked out and have to run back to your body to continue the fight. Moving in the game is accomplished by swinging your arms while holding down the applicable buttons on each controller, which sends you sliding forward. Artificial locomotion is generally useless during fights, so it usually comes down to standing in place and punching it out like rock’em sock’em robots, albeit with a little more finesse and dodging/blocking abilities.
Both room-scale and the game’s only other locomotion scheme, detailed above, are extremely comfortable ways of moving around VR.
That said, this is a very physical standing game that will get your heart beating, and definitely get you sweating through the padding on your headset if you’re not careful. That’s not so much a knock on the game’s comfort rating as it is an advisory to plan ahead. Pop on some gym shorts for an extended session, because you’ll soon be huffing and puffing with all the dodging, bobbing and punching you’ll be doing.
Like with many more physical VR games, there’s a risk of hyperextending your arms alla tennis elbow, so it may be best to take frequent breaks if you have some pre-existing joint issues.
This has been republished from late May 2018 to coincide with E3 week.
For a few weeks in real life last year I went to a boxing gym. Before long I injured my wrist and eventually stopped going because having a kid has a way of limiting your time (plus I’m lazy.) However, I jump at the chance to get up and move around when in VR. Livestreaming Beat Saber has been a ton of fun and reviewing games like Knockout League or Sparc helped me work up a good sweat. Now Creed: Rise to Glory may soon be added to my list of favorite VR games to use as exercise.
During a recent pre-E3 demo showcase from Sony, I got the chance to go hands-on with Creed once again. Previously, I played the game on Vive at GDC earlier this year, but this was my first chance to play it on the PSVR. Luckily, I hardly noticed a difference.
Creed: Rise to Glory has the feel of something that might be marketed as a movie tie-in game, especially since Creed II is set to hit theaters later this year, but it stands on its own as far as we can tell. In fact, other than seeing Rocky at the start of my demo before I started training I’d never have known this game was related to Rocky or Creed at all.
Perhaps they’ll incorporate more references to the source material before release, because I’m told a lot of stuff that we’ve seen at preview events is all just placeholder for now. For example, the voice over for Rocky that’s currently used in the demo is one of the worst Sylvester Stallone impressions I’ve ever heard, but thankfully it isn’t final.
In terms of content, this build was basically the same as the GDC demo. I was fighting a new opponent this time, someone a bit faster but who did less damage, so it was a little different.
The core of what makes Creed special among VR boxing titles is how it threads the needle between silly, arcade boxing like Knockout League and realism-focused simulation along the lines of Thrill of the Fight. I compared it to Fight Night in my previous article and that feels pretty accurate still.
Survios created what they’re referring to as “Phantom Melee” system that helps players simulate what it would feel like to actually be in a fight. Since you can’t actually force a player to get knocked back or to feel a hit in the face, they have you mimic your character’s movements at key scenes to replicate the reactions.
It’s a bit hard to explain, but if you watch the video included above (or here) you can see it in action during my demo. Specifically, watch from the 1:12 point in the video.
Boxing as a sport is a great fit for VR because of how active it is and how focused it is on hand movement. Since motion controllers (and headsets) do a great job of tracking movement already, it’s a natural fit.
Plus, since you’re always facing straight ahead to match up with your opponent you don’t need to spin around in 360-degrees or move around your room, so the PSVR’s tracking limitations are never noticed. I was able to duck and weave and dodge around without ever losing tracking at all.
Creed: Rise to Glory is slated for a Fall 2018 release on Rift, Vive, and PSVR. And for PSVR players, there will be an exclusive character for fans: young Rocky Balboa!
Let us know what you think of Creed so far down in the comments below!
While I’ve never personally followed boxing as a sport very closely, I absolutely love boxing movies. All six of the mainline Rocky films, Creed, Southpaw, Cinderella Man, The Fighter, and tons of others are frequently counted among my all-time favorites. Naturally, when I heard Survios, the developers of one of the most physically demanding VR games around (Sprint Vector) were working on an official Creed boxing game, I was immediately interested.
In Creed: Rise to Glory you put on the gloves of none other than Adonis Creed (played by Michael B. Jordan in the film) and train directly under the legendary Rocky Balboa. When we first learned about Creed: Rise to Glory, Survios’ “Phantom Melee Technology” was a big part of it, which institutes a virtual stamina meter, among a slew of other clever mechanics.
At first it seems like artificial limitations on the action would hinder the immersion, but it actually makes it feel even more visceral and intense in a few different ways. For starters, when you get hit hard, in other VR games your character would react dramatically but you would physically have no reason to in the real world. What happens in Creed is that your character will reel back with his hands in the air, like he just got punched, and time freezes. You’ve then got to mirror his pose to regain control of the character, forcing you to feel the impact of the hit, or at least the after effect.
Another example is with your punch fatigue. If you tire Creed out too quickly, then your in-game hands will start to lag behind your real world hands to simulate that sluggish feeling of exhaustion. It’s almost like your character’s body won’t react and respond as quickly as your mind wants it to — just like in a real boxing ring.
One of the last touches to the system is when you get knocked down. Instead of looking up at the ceiling and having to complete an arbitrary mini game, your “phantom” gets knocked out of your body and sent flying across the arena. Then, you instead are forced to drum your hands as quickly as possible at your sides to run back to your body and repossess it before the time runs out. It sounds a bit silly, but in practice it pretty accurately replicates the panicked, “Oh crap!” feeling a boxer might feel when struggling to stand back up. It gets your heart rate going and, if you time it right, you can even carry that running momentum into a massive return punch as soon as you’re back on your feet.
Creed: Rise to Glory really reminded me of the Fight Night series not only in terms of its hybrid realism-meets-arcade presentation, but also in terms of some of the game mechanics as well. If you duck and weave at the exact right moment, then time actually slows down for a brief moment as your opponent is opened up for a vicious counter attack. I landed some of my most satisfying uppercuts and hooks this way.
You can’t stand there and rabbit punch in Creed, either, since the Phantom Melee physics system accurately tracks the force and speed of your punches. Prior to my fight, I got the chance to unload on some training dummies and that really helped sync my movements up before the fight.
Survios wasn’t ready to confirm official plans for multiplayer at this time, but did mention that the gameplay systems were built with that possibility in mind. It’s unclear how connected to the forthcoming Creed II the VR game will be, but you can probably expect some cross-promotional endeavors in a few months.
Creed: Rise to Glory is slated to release later this year around the same time as the upcoming Creed II. Let us know if you think this one has the Eye of the Tiger down in the comments below!
It was back in August last year that we first brought you details of the connection between former boxing champion Floyd Mayweather and virtual reality (VR) with the then announcement that Mayweather was planning to open up several gyms and fitness centres, as well as that he was planing the launch of a Mayweather Boxing & Fitness VR experience that would, it was said, allow people at home to follow along with Mayweather’s workout routine. Allowing you to feel the burn alongside “Money” Mayweather himself.
The VR experience and its accompanying mobile app, were to be part of an initiative to maximise the number of people who could access a high-quality training experience and also be assistance to those who do not have access to traditional gyms, for whatever reason. Today that proposal has become a reality, and it has become so at the 2018 edition of the International Consumer Electronics Show (CES).
Coming to Mayweather Boxing + Fitness locations individual users will be able to virtually train one-on-one with the undisputed champion.
Available at Mayweather Boxing + Fitness tech-enabled gym locations, the flagship location of which will be opening later this month in Los Angeles, the virtual workout is just one mere session but spans a full twelve week program of sessions which feature Mayweather as your coach. These are in addition to the standard boxing workouts available at the gyms.
“Boxing gave me a platform to become a world-class athlete, and I’m using those skills to build a global fitness platform that will help people to train better and smarter,” explains Mayweather, who will be demonstrating the app at a press event later today and even challenging some of the press to see if they’ve got what it takes to be a boxer. “I’ve seen how the fitness industry has evolved; and now we’re taking it to the next level, not only by incorporating the workouts that I used throughout my career, but also by investing in cutting-edge technology and making that a core part of our offering.”
Mayweather will be joined at the event by James Williams, the CEO of Mayweather Boxing + Fitness. Speaking on the launch he said, “The fitness industry is evolving quickly, and consumers are increasingly demanding more effective ways to train, many of which incorporate new forms of technology. With our flagship gym location set to open this month, we’re creating a one-of-a-kind fitness experience that combines the most effective programming in the industry with fully immersive tech experiences – all tailored to the everyday fitness consumer.”
The VR fitness program covers a variety of workouts that will increase in difficult as the weeks progress, provides both high intensity cardio training and boxing skill-based workouts with the headset, an HTC Vive and its controllers, tracking movements and allowing the calculation of punch intensity and tracking the number of calories burned.
VRFocus will be bringing you more details on the VR training on offer as we get them. For more stories about VR, sport and fitness check out most recent edition of This Week In VR Sport.
2018 has only just kicked off and we’re already seeing augmented reality (AR) and virtual reality (VR) technology move further and further into the mainstream space and, of course, we’ve got more sports news to report on. Sports teams and broadcasters around the world are quickly coming to terms with how VR and AR can enhance the experience for fans, and they’re wasting no time getting started.
2018 has only just begun, but the year is already looking incredibly promising…
Fox Sports Preparing for Augmented Reality SkyCam
Needless to say, if Fox Sports are broadcasting a live sports event, the stadium will be well equipped. Dozens of cameras capable of super slow-mo action, and SkyCams so every angle is recorded for posterity. Fox are now looking towards AR to make their broadcasts more interesting and interactive than ever before.
In collaboration with Sports Media Technologies, SkyCam and Vizrt, Mike Davies has said that they are putting “together a recipe” for AR technology to work with the SkyCam.
“It’s a bit of an orchestration because the pilot of the SkyCam needs to be flying around the object as if it were an object on the field. If you break through it, it’s not going to look real,” says Davies.
As reported by TVTechnology, the set up should allow Fox Sports to put lines down the football fields and have motion graphics and other effects on the 2D field, but with motion tracking so the elements can follow players and locations accurately. We look forward to seeing the tech in action.
Boxer Anthony Yarde Spectates His Own Match in 360
Hearing your own voice on a recording is weird. Seeing yourself in videos can be odd, too. Now, seeing yourself in full 3D, punching another man in the face? It’s an experience not many of us will have, but Anthony Yarde seems to enjoy the show.
Watching his previous victory in 360 degrees thanks to BT Sport, Yarde is visibly elated seeing himself move around the boxing ring, and enjoys taking a look at the commentators, too. Well worth watching Yarde get excited about his shining moment.
Colleage Football App Comes with Augmented Reality Features
It won’t be long until you can just point your phone at anything in the world and get a detailed read out of information about it. Augmented reality technology almost guarantees it’ll happen; but before that, we’ll be able to scan sports team logos to buy tickets and get information about our favourite teams.
As reported by Sports Techie, the app will be built by Mandt Media, who have worked with sports teams on VR and AR applications before. CEO Neil Mandt has said; “Location-based augmented reality is something that’s going to go beyond just events, it’s going to become part of our lives. Users can get information quickly using the device in their pocket.”
For all of the latest updates in the world of VR and AR in sport, make sure to keep reading VRFocus.
There’s a lot of physical exertion in a great deal of virtual experiences, some designed specifically with this in mind and others reaching such heightened levels simply as a byproduct of gameplay design. Boxing, otherwise known as the sweet science, is known to have one of the most grueling training regiments of all sports and a handful of VR games try to whip you into fighting shape with varying results.
Currently there are decent boxing experiences to be found but none with a major recognized name or fighter supporting them. That’s going to change in the near future as former champion Manny Pacquiao is teaming up with Korean game developer Appnori for a new game.
Social media and boxing publications are abuzz after Pacquiao’s questionable loss to Jeff Horn a few days ago, a decision that seems to have completely shocked the boxing community. While this VR partnership may seem like poor timing, Pacquiao’s spot in boxing history is forever solidified. Pacquiao shared in the press release that connecting boxing to the technology is one of his dreams and with rising VR tech, “I [am] one step forward to my dream.”
There’s not much known about the game just yet other than the fact that Pacquiao would be your trainer in the game. Once you’ve reached a certain point, you can take your skills online and face other fighters. In a unique twist, if you perform well online, you’ll apparently be invited to a real-life tournament where Pacquiao may referee. The Appnori team is viewing this as a unique spin on VR Esports. We’ll keep you updated on this game as more information becomes available.
Let us know what you think down in the comments below!
NextVR seems to be quite the busy bee. The virtual reality company continues to be a constant when it comes to live streaming major events, having just wrapped up highlights from New Orleans for NBA All-Star Weekend.
This weekend, VR users will have the best seats in the house as FOX Sports and NextVR partner up to stream three Premier Boxing Champions matches including the long-awaited fight between undefeated fighters Deontay Wilder and Gerald Washington for the heavyweight title.
FOX Sports regularly broadcasts big sporting events. For example, they’ve had a running partnership with the UFC for headlining fights or even the fights leading up to pay-per-view cards. The partnership with the PBC is one that was established last year when NextVR and Fox Sports teamed up to broadcast Garcia vs Guerrero. This year they’ll be giving us a look into three matches, topped off with a meeting between two undefeated heavyweights:
Match 1: 10-round heavyweight fight between hard-hitting Dominic Breazeale (17-1, 15 KOs) and undefeated Izuagbe Ugonoh (17-0, 14 KOs).
Match 2: Junior middleweight title fight between once-beaten Tony Harrison (24-1, 20 KOs) and undefeated Jarrett Hurd (19-0, 13 KOs).
Match 3: Title fight against undefeated heavyweight champion Deontay Wilder (37-0-0, 36 KOs) as he defends his world title against unbeaten contender Gerald Washington (18-0-1, 12 KOs).
The live broadcast starts tonight at 8 p.m. ET and can be accessed via the NextVR app on Oculus Home or Google Play.
The VR experience and its accompanying mobile app, were to be part of an initiative to maximise the number of people who could access a high-quality training experience and also be assistance to those who do not have access to traditional gyms, for whatever reason. 
Mayweather will be joined at the event by James Williams, the CEO of Mayweather Boxing + Fitness. Speaking on the launch he said, “The fitness industry is evolving quickly, and consumers are increasingly demanding more effective ways to train, many of which incorporate new forms of technology. With our flagship gym location set to open this month, we’re creating a one-of-a-kind fitness experience that combines the most effective programming in the industry with fully immersive tech experiences – all tailored to the everyday fitness consumer.”
