Category: dreams

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PSVR-compatible Maker Game ‘Dreams’ Ends Live Services in September, No PSVR 2 Support Planned

Media Molecule announced that Dreams, the PSVR-compatible maker-game within-a-game, is being spun down and that live services will be discontinued in September.

“As we continue to evaluate and evolve our priorities for the studio and Dreams, we’ve made the difficult decision to discontinue live support for Dreams after 1st September, 2023 to shift our focus to an exciting new project,” the studio says in an update announcing the news.

“You’ll continue to be able to play, create and share Dreams with others after September, but we won’t be releasing any more updates to the game or events such as DreamsCom, All Hallows’ Dreams or the Impy Awards.”

As you’d imagine, this also means we won’t be getting a PSVR 2 version of Dreams, with Media Molecule confirming planned releases for Dreams “do not include multiplayer, PS5/PSVR2/3D printing support.”

As a part of spin-down efforts, the studio is also cancelling all of its annual maker events such as DreamsCom, All Hallows’ Dreams and the Impy Awards.

Launched in February 2020, Dreams initially only included support for PS4 paired with flatscreen monitors. Better late than never, the studio included a free update in July 2020 that brought PSVR support to Dreams. 

Notably, within the first few days of release people were already creating bespoke VR content including everything from Beat Saber in Dreams to full-featured racing games, escape rooms, third-person platformers, and adventure games.

Media Molecule says it’s preparing to migrate to new servers in late May, which will come along with a host of new rules that will no doubt make the transition a little less abrupt.

Check out the new storage rules below:

Type Online Local
Storage Space 5GB 1GB
Photos 256 128
Creations 256 256
Versions 512 per creation 1024 across all creations
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Dreams Ends Updates In September, PSVR 2 Version Ruled Out

Media Molecule confirms it’s shutting down live service support for Dreams this September, also ruling out a PSVR 2 port.

Three years after releasing Dreams, Media Molecule revealed it made the decision “to shift our focus to an exciting new project,” stating this “is not Dreams 2, or the Dreams IP.” Crucially, Dreams won’t be delisted from the PlayStation Store, servers will remain online for sharing creations and critical bug fixes will still be fixed once live service shuts down. New updates are also promised before September, with Media Molecule stating this includes “the much anticipated Tren, and a significant improvement to animation and our last Create mode update.”

Media Molecule also reconfirmed its planning to migrate Dreams onto a new server in late May but advised “not every feature in Dreams has been compatible with the needed modifications to the server.” There’s only two listed changes for PSVR support, which states Dreams will make personalised comfort ratings visible on content, while comfort ratings on maps and collections are being removed. Otherwise, storage limits will be established for Creations (existing Creations excluded), the ability to archive Creations will be removed and replaced by a delete option, and more.

Sadly, the announcement also ends any hopes of a PSVR 2 port. On the blog post, an FAQ definitively states “the planned releases for Dreams do not include multiplayer, PS5/PSVR2/3D printing support.” The team was asked about a potential next-gen version back in September, when Sony confirmed that PSVR 2 wouldn’t support backwards compatibility. Media Molecule stated it wasn’t part of the current roadmap, but that didn’t stop fans from hoping those plans might change.

We praised Media Molecule’s latest game in our Dreams review, with PSVR support arriving nearly half a year after the flatscreen PS4 edition back in 2020. Though we believed creative mode did “not integrate with PSVR as naturally as hoped,” we considered it an “incredible, robust creation platform.”

Paired with the platform’s inherent comfort issues, its sprawling, untamed ecosystem can prove to be a minefield to navigate, but for every unwelcome rollercoaster ride (literally and figuratively), there’s another wish waiting to be fulfilled or something genuinely original to discover. The only way to truly judge Dreams is by the strength of its creations and those already speak for themselves; if you want to embrace VR’s experimental side, you shouldn’t miss it.

Dreams is available now on PSVR for $19.99.

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The Best PlayStation VR Games of 2020

PlayStation VR third anniversary

After four years the PlayStation VR is still going which is an accomplishment considering the lifespan of most virtual reality (VR) headsets. Even with PlayStation 5 now available, Sony Interactive Entertainment (SIE) has ensured continued compatibility whether you’re new to VR or not. For PlayStation VR owners there’s been plenty of content to choose from in 2020, so here’s 10 of the best.

PlayStation VR

Unlike previous years, PlayStation VR’s dominance has wained and with it, all the exclusives the platform was known for. There are still a couple on the list below, but most of the titles now tend to be multi-platform. That’s no bad thing as there are some great videogames on offer.

The Best PSVR Games of 2020

Marvel’s Iron Man VR

Let’s start with an exclusive though, in fact, PlayStation VR’s biggest exclusive of the year, Marvel’s Iron Man VR. After a series of delays developer Camouflaj released the highly anticipated title during the summer, providing players with the first proper chance to don the famous suit.

With a pair of PlayStation Move controllers you can take to the skies to battle new enemies, learning how to use the Repulsor Jets to dodge enemy attacks as well as shoot them. As the campaign progresses you can customise the suit with various offensive and defensive capabilities to suit the missions. This is the closest to being Iron Man you’ll ever get.

Iron Man VR

Paper Beast

One of the more unusual VR experience to arrive this year, Pixel Reef’s Paper Beast is a surreal puzzle adventure inside a world created from big data. In this simulated ecosystem, bizarre creatures have come to life, exhibiting similar characteristics to real-world animals.

The main campaign revolves around interacting with the creatures and environment to solve the various challenges, providing some awe-inspiring visuals along the way. In addition to the campaign, there’s a sandbox mode where you can build your own worlds. One of those videogames which showcase how unique VR can be.

Paper Beast

Final Assault

Originally released last year for PC VR headsets, after much work Phaser Lock Interactive managed to bring WWII strategy game Final Assault to PlayStation VR.

With a single-player campaign as well as cross-platform multiplayer, Final Assault is fully featured when it comes to content. You command ground and aerial troops like a table-top boardgame, dropping them in to lead an attack or setup defensive positions before pushing forward. The aim being to destroy your opponents base. Lots of fun if you like real-time strategy (RTS) titles.

Final Assault

Pixel Ripped 1995

When it comes to retro nostalgia in VR ARVORE’s Pixel Ripped series has got you covered. The latest is Pixel Ripped 1995, taking you back 25 years to a time where sprites were transitioning into 3D graphics.

Considered a golden era for videogames, Pixel Ripped 1995 features six levels containing nods to titles such as Streets of Rage, Mortal Kombat, Road Rash, Star Fox, Sonic the Hedgehog, Castlevania and many more. You play as Dot who needs to vanquish her arch enemy the evil Cyblin Lord, aided by a 9-year-old videogame fan called David. Gameplay jumps between 2D and 3D, where you have to deal with challenges both onscreen and off. Certain to put a smile on any players face.

Pixel Ripped 1995

Gorn

Not one for younger players unless you go straight into the settings to switch the gore off, Gorn is pure over-the-top violence in a comedic, cartoon style. You’re a gladiator and the aim here is to survive brutal arena fights using whatever weapons come to hand (or just use your hands).

No crimson paint is spared as you break bones and dismember opponents with knives, axes, maces, bows and even environmental obstacles. Everything has a bouncy, ragdoll effect, so enemies can be flung around whilst the weapons wobble around like giant sponges. Addictive in its simplicity, Gorn is also quite the workout due to the physical exertion of beating cartoon gladiators senseless.

Dreams

One for those who love to be creative as well as play videogames, Dreams was a major launch for PlayStation 4 early in the year, with VR support added a few months later.

Developer Media Molecule has created a title where you can play its own single-player experience as well as those from the rest of the Dreams community. If you want to delve deeper then there’s a massive selection of tools to build whatever you want, from a simple art piece to a videogame which can be shared with the world. A videogame with limitless possibilities.

Dreams - PSVR

Pistol Whip

Another 2019 title which finally made it to PlayStation VR, Cloudhead Games’ Pistol Whip is a rhythm-action videogame like no other. Evoking films like John Wick you can become an action-movie badass, shooting enemies and dodging to a thumping soundtrack.

With 15 on-rail ‘Scenes’, the gameplay is intense and physical, encouraging you to move out the way of bullets whilst firing off as many of your own. The visuals are just as dramatic, creating an all-encompassing experience which will make you sweat. Plus there are plenty of modifiers to make things harder whilst upping that score for top leaderboard positions. Then early next year PlayStation VR owners will be treated to free DLC Pistol Whip 2089.

Pistol Whip

Until You Fall

It was on VRFocus’ ‘Best Oculus Quest Games of 2020‘ list and now Schell Games’ Until You Fall has made it here as well. This is a hack-n-slash roguelite where death is cruel and the gameplay even more so.

It’s all about melee combat, fighting through the procedural world of Rokar where each run-through isn’t quite the same but you can become stronger in the process. Attack, block and parry relentless foes. Should you fail then returning to the hub means you can upgrade weapons or select new ones to change your strategy. Energetic like Gorn, however, Until You Fall requires far more precision.

Until You Fall

Star Wars: Squadrons

This videogame needs little introduction as it was the major release in October, strapping pilots into either Rebel or Imperial ships to battle in that far off galaxy. While you don’t necessarily need to be a fan of the franchise, it certainly helps when playing Star Wars Squadrons.

With single-player and multiplayer modes, in the story-driven campaign, you swap between the two opposing faction’s narratives, jumping into a selection of craft like the X-Wing or Tie Fighter. Over in multiplayer you have those same options, teaming up in a crew to take down Capital ships or engage in online dogfights. Great if you’re after a more comfortable, sat down VR experience.

Star Wars: Squadrons

The Walking Dead: Saints & Sinners

As the chaos of 2020 has managed to avoid a zombie apocalypse why not put yourself into one voluntarily with The Walking Dead: Saints & Sinners. A survival game set within a partially flooded New Orleans, make new friends, enemies and take down a few walkers along the way.

As a drifter you encounter warring factions vying for the few resources which remain whilst trying to scavenge your own in the derelict buildings and streets. Craft useful items and new weapons, blades are silent but will tire you out where guns have great stopping power as well as attracting attention. Outside of the main campaign, there’s The Trial horde mode if you just want some arcade action, killing waves of walkers. Plenty to keep you entertained and for practising those survival skills.

The Walking Dead: Saints & Sinners
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Half-Life: Alyx Wins Best VR/AR At The Game Awards

Half-Life: Alyx has won Best VR/AR Game at The Game Awards, beating out Star Wars: Squadrons, Iron Man VR and more.

While there are VR games games spread out into other categories, there’s only one specific VR/AR category and Alyx was up against some tough competition.

The full nominees for Best VR/AR Game were Star Wars: Squadrons, Iron Man VR, The Walking Dead: Saints & Sinners, Dreams and, the winner, Half-Life: Alyx.

Half-Life: Alyx was also nominated for Best Audio Design, Best Game Direction and Best Action Game. It lost all three –  Best Audio Design and Best Game Direction went to Naughty Dog’s The Last of Us Part II and Best Action Game to Supergiant’s Hades.

In other categories, Phasmophobia managed to take home the award for Best Debut Game. While Phasmophobia’s VR support is optional, it was the only game in the category with any form of VR support. It managed to beat out Carrion, Mortal Shell, Raji: An Ancient Epic and Roki.

No Man’s Sky, which offers VR support on many platforms, managed to take home Best Ongoing Game over Fortnite, Call of Duty: Warzone, Destiny 2 and Apex Legends. It was also nominated for Best Community Support, but lost to Fall Guys: Ultimate Knockout.

Microsoft Flight Simulator also won in the Best Simulation/Strategy Game category. The game doesn’t have VR support yet, but will later this month.

No VR games were nominated for the overall Game of the Year award, which went to The Last of Us: Part II.

You can see a full list of all of the Game Awards’ categories, nominees and winners here.

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Watch The Game Awards Tomorrow, Instagram AR Filters Available Now

It’s that time of year — awards season is upon us. For the gaming world, it all kicks off with The Game Awards, which goes live at 3:30pm PST tomorrow.

The Game Awards are one of the bigger annual awards ceremonies in the video games sphere. Not only are loads of awards handed out over several categories, but the ceremony is often littered with big game announcements as well. It’s a bit like the Oscars mixed with an E3 presentation.

In terms of VR and AR nominees, there’s a VR game nominated in 8 of the 29 categories, as well as a whole ‘Best VR/AR of the Year’ award. You can read our full breakdown of VR nominees across other categories, but here’s the shortlist for the Best of VR/AR category specifically:

– Dreams (Media Molecule/SIE)

– Half-Life: Alyx (Valve)

– MARVEL’s Iron Man VR (Camoflaj/SIE)

– STAR WARS: Squadrons (Motive Studios/EA)

– The Walking Dead: Saints & Sinners (Skydance Interactive)

What would be your choice to take home the award?

The Game Awards also announced that six exclusive AR Instagram filters are available now on the ceremony’s Instagram page, @thegameawards. Five of the filters overlay an AR design of a character from a nominated game onto your face — the Hades filter, for example, gives you black Zagreus-like hair, changes the color of your pupils and places you inside a Greek-theme photo frame. Sadly the filters focus on nominees from the general Game of the Year category, and none feature VR games.

The Game Awards will be streaming tomorrow on Twitch, YouTube and many other platforms from 3:30pm PST.

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The Game Awards 2020 Nominees Feature Half-Life: Alyx, No Man’s Sky, And More Across Multiple Categories

Today The Game Awards announced its 2020 nominees across a wide range of categories including Game of the Year, Best VR/AR Game of the Year, and more. At least one VR game appears in 8 out of 29 categories which, I’m fairly certain, is the most ever. Half-Life: Alyx is the most widely nominated.

Of course the big one for The Game Awards is obviously VR/AR Game of the Year and they’ve done a good job of selecting a wide range of experiences across multiple platforms. Here are the nominees:

best ar vr game awards 2020 nominees

The Game Awards: Best VR/AR of the Year

Dreams (Media Molecule/SIE)

Half-Life: Alyx (Valve)

MARVEL’s Iron Man VR (Camoflaj/SIE)

STAR WARS: Squadrons (Motive Studios/EA)

The Walking Dead: Saints & Sinners (Skydance Interactive)

Perhaps unsurprisingly, Half-Life: Alyx shows up multiple other times across the entire list of nominees as well. Here is the list of all other categories that include at least one VR game in their lists of nominees:

Best Game Direction

Final Fantasy VII Remake (Square Enix)

Ghost of Tsushima (Sucker Punch/SIE)

Hades (Supergiant Games)

Half-Life: Alyx (Valve)

The Last of Us Part II (Naughty Dog/SIE)

Best Audio Design

DOOM Eternal (id Software/Bethesda)

Half-Life: Alyx (Valve)

Ghost of Tsushima (Sucker Punch/SIE)

Resident Evil 3 (Capcom)

The Last of Us Part 2 (Naughty Dog/SIE)

Best Ongoing

Apex Legends (Respawn/EA)

Destiny 2 (Bungie)

Call of Duty Warzone (Infinity Ward/Activision)

Fortnite (Epic Games)

No Man’s Sky (Hello Games)

Best Community Support

Apex Legends (Respawn/EA)

Destiny 2 (Bungie)

Fall Guys (Mediatonic/Devolver)

Fortnite (Epic Games)

No Man’s Sky (Hello Games)

Valorant (Riot Games)

Best Action

DOOM Eternal (id Software/Bethesda)

Hades (Supergiant Games)

Half-Life: Alyx (Valve)

Nioh 2 (Team Ninja)

Streets of Rage 4 (DotEmu)

Best Sim/Strategy

Crusader Kings III (Paradox Development Studio/Paradox)

Desperados III (Mimimi Games/THQN)

Gears Tactics (Splash Damage/The Coalition/Xbox Game Studios)

Microsoft Flight Simulator (Asobo/Xbox Game Studios) – VR Support not out yet

XCOM: Chimera Squad (Firaxis/2K)

Best Debut Game

Carrion (Phobia Game Studio/Devolver)

Mortal Shell (Cold Symmetry/Playstack)

Raji: An Ancient Epic (Nodding Heads Games)

Röki (Polygon Treehouse/CI Games)

Phasmophobia (Kinetic Games)

What do you think of the nominees this year? What would you pick as your favorite VR game of 2020? You can find details on the jury panel here, but viewer votes also count as well. Make sure you sign in to vote to help pick the winners and let us know what you think down in the comments below!

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Half-Life: Alyx & More VR Games Nominated For 2020 Golden Joystick Awards

Voting for the 2020 Golden Joystick Awards is now live, with several VR nominations across a few categories.

The online ceremony will be held next month in November, and there are 18 categories available to the public. A few categories, including Ultimate Game of the Year, don’t have a shortlist just yet, but the bulk of the ceremony’s shortlists are here.

There’s no dedicated category for VR, so VR hardware, games and studios are splattered across a bunch of different areas, going up against some tough competition. There’s at least one VR nominee in half of the 18 categories this year, which is great recognition of the industry’s massive year.

Strangely, the Oculus Quest 2 is nominated for Best Gaming Hardware, despite not being available to the public yet. Given it’s a publicly-voted award, that’s an odd situation. You might get your hands on a Quest 2 in a few weeks before voting closes, but in the meantime you’ll have to settle for our review.

Here’s a list of every category featuring VR, with the VR nomination highlighted in italics:

Best Audio
The Last of Us: Part II
Ghost of Tsushima
Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order
Paradise Killer
Call of Duty: Warzone
Half-Life: Alyx
Streets Of Rage 4
Resident Evil 3

Best Game Community
Fall Guys
Minecraft
Animal Crossing: New Horizons
Dreams
Sea of Thieves
Warframe
Fortnite
Final Fantasy XIV

Best Game Expansion
Control: AWE
No Man’s Sky: Origins
Total War: WARHAMMER 2 – The Warden and the Paunch
Pokemon Sword & Shield – Expansion Pass
Final Fantasy XIV Patch 5.3 – Reflections in Crystal
The Sims 4 Star Wars: Journey to Batuu
Mortal Kombat 11: Aftermath
The Outer Worlds: Peril on Gorgon

Best Gaming Hardware
PC Engine Mini
Oculus Quest 2
Razer Kishi mobile pad for xCloud
NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3080
TCA Sidestick Airbus Edition
Vulcan 120 Aimo Keyboard
Turtle Beach Stealth 700 Gen 2

Best Visual Design
Ghost of Tsushima
Hades
Ori and the Will of the Wisps
Spiritfarer
Microsoft Flight Simulator (VR support coming Fall)
Half-Life: Alyx
The Last of Us Part II
Final Fantasy VII Remake

PC Game of the Year
Paradise Killer
Microsoft Flight Simulator (VR support coming Fall)
Hades
The Walking Dead: Saints & Sinners
Crusader Kings III
Valorant
Half-Life: Alyx
Death Stranding

PlayStation Game of the Year
The Last of Us Part II
Nioh 2
Ghost of Tsushima
Final Fantasy VII Remake
Marvel’s Iron Man VR
Spelunky 2
Dreams
Fall Guys

Studio of the Year
Mediatonic
Naughty Dog
Respawn
Paradox Studios
Sucker Punch
Infinity Ward
Media Molecule
Supergiant Games

It’s fantastic to see excellent VR games, such as Saints & Sinners, Alyx and Iron Man VR, nominated in the same categories some of the year’s best PC and console titles. It’ll be tough for them to take home the gold, but fingers crossed.

The 38th Golden Joystick Awards Ceremony will take place next month in November and voting is available online here.