Category: Football Nation VR

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Football Nation VR Is Coming Home… To The Post Gamescom XR Review

While England might have missed out on winning the World Cup this year, there is still chance to snag a virtual trophy for attendees at the VRFocus post-Gamescom XR review event, as Cherry Pop Games will be bringing Football Nation VR to the event.

Football Nation VR is an upgraded version of VRFC: Virtual Reality Football Club, which brings in several expanded gameplay elements, including a tournament mode directly inspired by the World Cup.

Post Gamescom Review - Football Nation VRPlayers are able to put on a VR headset in order to take their place on a (virtual) professional team, and make their way up the leagues. Those who do well enough at running, kicking and tackling might even get the chance to play matches at the iconic Wembley Stadium, complete with a cheering crowd.

VRFC was a relatively simple five-a-side style football title, which offered some easily accessible sports experience for VR fans. Though VRFC was positively received for the most part, feedback from the community suggested that a more in-depth experience might be welcomed.

As a result, all 37 countries who took part in the 2018 World Cup are represented in Football Nation VR, and players can choose to take their place on any of the national teams. In the first round, players might be up against any of the other 36 teams, with the simple task ahead of them – score as many goals as possible.

Only 16 teams move forward to the second round, which then continues until only 8 teams, then four, until it is whittled down to one ultimate winner, who will get the chance to heft a virtual trophy.

Football Nation VR 2018

Cherry Pop Games will be bringing a playable version of the title for attendees at the Gamescom XR review event to try, alongside other new and upcoming VR titles from prominent VR developers, such as Rebellion and Firesprite.

You can apply for tickets to the post-Gamescom XR Review event at the Event Brite page, and further news about the event will continue to be covered here on VRFocus.

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This Week In VR Sport: VR ESports In China And Australia While Its All About Football At Home

Every week VRFocus brings you a number of sports and eSports related virtual reality (VR) and augmented reality (AR) stories as part of This Week In VR Sport. This week, HTC Vive and McLaren launch their Motorsports eSports series at ChinaJoy 2018, Australia is seeing a raise in the number of VR eSports fan and Cherry Pop Games release a new update and demo for their popular title Football Nation VR.

HTC Vive and McLaren Launch Their eSports Series In China

Back in July it was announced that HTC Vive would be partnering with McLaren to put on an eSports series. Now, the first VR Motorsports eSports Competition hosted by the two companies has taken place in China alongside a new Vive Focus system update as part of ChinaJoy 2018.

Known as the McLaren Shadow Project, the competition sees participants complete in a racing videogame that shadows the real F1 team, using the Vive Pro headset, in time trial-based races. The player who is able to earn the faster time will win a place in the finals which are set to take place in January, 2019. The overall winner of the program will win a seat in McLaren’s new eSports team , an opportunity to join the McLaren eSports development programme and a unique motorsport experience.

“Already, the dramatic impact of XR on the gaming industry is transformational, which is clearly demonstrated by the new class of immersive content we are showing at ChinaJoy!” Explained Alvin Wang Graylin, China President, HTC, talking to europeangaming: “As a category, eSports is being redefined by immersive technologies, and this cooperation between HTC Vive and McLaren to hold the world’s first official VR motorsport eSport event this week is bringing the worlds of virtual and physical sports closer together than ever.”

Graylin took to Twitter to share a number of images from the competition which can be seen below. As the competition continues ahead of the finals in a few months, VRFocus will be sure to bring you all the latest.

Australians Are Embracing VR eSports

Next Tier eSports

Australia is seeing an increasing number of people join in the eSports scene as the sport becomes more popular across the country. According to IoTHub, this movement is being helped by Next Tier Esports who have helped run events at two of the biggest gaming  conventions in the Northern Territory: Geekfest and Gecon. Not only does this mean a number of PC and console gaming areas are installed at the events but also VR setups.

Geekfest – operated by the City of Palmerston Council – expected 100 attendees in 2017, but ended up with over 700. The team at Next Teir Esports were on hand to help provide attendees with a means to play and become introduced to the concept of eSports including some VR titles. In 2018, Geekfest attracted over 1,500 attendees and the numbers are only set to raise.

Though other companies are helping to bring eSports into the lime light, including Flaktest Gaming and Throwdown Esports, it is Next Tier Esports who are looking to bring VR into the mix. With an ever growing eSports presences, VR is making waves that will not only see it offering exciting opportunities for players to engage in competitive play, but also as a great entertainment resource for consumers.

Football Nation VR Releases Free Demo On PlayStation VR

Football Nation VR 2018

Lastly this week, and in case you missed it, the fun and excitement of the 2018 World Cup can continue forever as Cherry Pop Games announced that their Football Nation VR videogame got a new update alongside the release of a demo. This means that PlayStation VR owners can download the demo and get stuck into the football action before picking up the full title.

The update that was released alongside it includes a bunch of new features such as a new striker mode, allowing players to try out penalty shoot outs in head-to-head online or offline fun. New custom teams, selectable AI difficulty, updates controls, new face to ball/goal button directing player goal orientation and an updated replay system.

“Our latest content update will fill the undeniable void left by the World Cup, one of our main focuses has been to improve the players experience, it was clear to us that the player wanted more memorable footballing moments – giving players the chance to be the star player and in doing this giving you more time on the ball,” commented Gemma Jessop, Cherry Pop Games, in a statement. “This is just one one in a list of game optimisations provided in this update, including; further control improvements, varying AI difficulty levels and the launch of a free demo on PlayStation VR so you can now jump in online and play for your country for free. It’s a great introduction to the new game mechanics.”

The free demo – which includes the striker mode – is available to download now on PlayStation VR with the update coming to both Oculus Rift and HTC Vive later this month.

That is all for This Week In VR Sport. For more on immersive sport news keep reading VRFocus and remember to check back next week for another This Week In VR Sport.
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Join VRFocus For A Post Gamescom XR Review This September

Events are tricky, sometimes there’s just only so much you can do to get to them or see everything there when you do. The next major event on the horizon is, of course, Gamescom next month and after a somewhat lackluster feeling E3 earlier this year, there’s a lot of expectation going in to it. 

Realities Centre Huckletree WestFor those not able to get to this year’s Gamescom event, taking place from August 21st 2018 through to the 25th in Cologne Germany, VRFocus is giving members of the UK XR community an extra opportunity to check out in person some of the virtual reality (VR) and augmented reality (AR) experiences that will be shown.  We’ve teamed up once again with the team at Realities Centre to present what is being called “The Post Gamescom #XR Review” – a chance to demo, connect and discuss everything to do with immersive technology that Gamescom reveals.

Amongst those currently confirmed as attending are Cherry Pop Games with Football Nation VR, Dream Reality Interactive and Rebellion’s physics-based platform title Arca’s Path VR and The Persistence,  Firesprite’s roguelike horror for PlayStation VR. Along with the opportunity to play the videogames on show there will also be a number of speakers and a panel discussing VR and AR’s role at this year’s Gamescom event and the latest in immersive technology news. Led by VRFocus‘ Editor and CEO Kevin Joyce and Nina Salomons who’ll be familiar to regular VRFocus readers from our regular interview videos.

“Gamescom is always a highlight in the annual videogames event calendar, and over the years has become one of the biggest showcases for new and exciting hardware and software.” Says Joyce, “Working with UK developers to bring their titles back to UK audiences is exactly the kind of opportunity that VRFocus was always designed to provide.”

“The UK XR community is hugely passionate, and the Realities Centre is keen to enable everyone access to all the latest developments whether or not they have the budget to attend international trade shows. Partnering with VRFocus for the Post Gamescom #XR Review enables Realities Centre further reach into the UK community and to attract the biggest names in XR.” adds Thomas Gere, Realities Centre CEO.

The Persistence
The Persistence

The event takes place on Thursday, 6th September 2018, at the Realities Centre at Huckletree West, Mediaworks, White City in London. Applications for tickets can be made at https://www.eventbrite.com/e/vr-gaming-showcase-with-gamescom-review-in-association-with-vrfocus-tickets-45551446603. Regular tickets are free, and demos and talks will begin at 7PM. Those who purchase a VIP ticket however will be able to gain access to the demos an hour earlier. Please see the Eventbrite listing for further details.

VRFocus will, of course, be keeping you fully up to date on all the VR and AR news over the Gamescom period. We also announced another event yesterday, the third VR Diversity Initiative (VRDI) meetup which is taking place at the end of this month. You can find out more details about that, here.

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VRFC Becomes Football Nation VR In Time For Russia World Cup

VRFC Becomes Football Nation VR In Time For Russia World Cup

VRFC should never have worked. VR has no business tackling football (or, for our American/incorrect naming audience, soccer) until you can truly bring your feet into a match, right? But, against all odds, Cherry Pop Games’ latest does work; the moment you stick your arm out to drag your foot along and stop a ball it becomes painfully clear that there is at least something here. Granted that something is closer to the kind of football you play with an inflatable bubble over you at a birthday party, but it’s close enough.

It’s time to stop turning your nose up at this sort-of-sport, then, because there’s never been a better time to jump in.

Just as Pool Nation VR was rebranded to Sports Bar VR, VRFC is soon to morph into Football Nation VR, signaling the arrival of a more complete edition of the game built upon feedback from fans, just in time for a certain World Cup.

Launching as a free update for existing users on PSVR, Rift and Vive, Football Nation trades the amateur atmosphere of a game of 5-a-side with friends for the big leagues. There’s now a massive stadium to play in, complete with a crowd to cheer you on, and the pitch size has been scaled up.

Teams are bigger, too. Up to 8 human players can joing 16-person matches, choosing either to all play on the same team against AI or split it down the middle and have computer-controlled opponents on both sides, too. You can now pick from 36 international ‘VR nations’ to play through a tournament mode.

To celebrate the game’s launch Cherry Pop is hosting a tournament of its own. Running over the weeks following the update’s launch, players will be able to back a team and try to win games to keep themselves in the league. Every win they earn gets three points added to a global leaderboard system for their chosen team. As weeks go by, teams with the least amount of points will be shaved off until the tournament arrives at its finals on July 21st. The timetable for the tournament is below.

I jumped back into the game to see a bit of the update a few weeks back, and it looks set to deliver what many football fans have wanted out of VRFC from the start. The stadiums, for starters, are to be admired in VR, and the bigger pitches introduce a little more strategy to the game. In the original game, it was all too easy for everyone to just charge at the ball without thinking, but the extra space gives you more room to open up opportunities with teammates. New features like penalties and solo player against AI give you more options, too.

If you’ve been on the bench with VRFC, it’s time to get in the game.

Tournament timetable:

Round 1 = 36 teams
Lasts 3 weeks: 7th June – 28th June 2018
Round 2 = 16 Teams
1 week 28th June – 5th July
Quarter Finals = 8 teams
1 week 5th July – 12th July
Semi Finals = 4 teams
1 week 12th – 19th July
Final = 2 teams
1 day 21st July 2019

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