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New Oculus Rift And Gear VR Releases For Week Of 02/05/17

New Oculus Rift And Gear VR Releases For Week Of 02/05/17

This is a bit of a slower week for new releases in the world of the Oculus Rift and Samsung Gear VR. Home isn’t exactly overflowing with new content at the moment, but there are still some high-quality options to pick from, namely Robinson: The Journey finally making its way to the more powerful Rift platform.

If you missed last week, you can see those new releases here. And don’t forget that UploadVR has a Steam community group complete with a curated list of recommendations so that you don’t have to waste any money finding out what’s good in the world of VR.

Plus — check out our list of the best Oculus Rift games and best Gear VR games for more suggestions!

Robinson: The Journey, from Crytek
Price: $39.99 (Rift)

Crytek’s first-person adventure was previously a PlayStation VR (PSVR) exclusive, but this week it comes to the Rift, still with gamepad support. You play as Robin, a young boy that crash lands on an alien planet and sets out in search for survivors from his spaceship. Exploration, environmental puzzles, and survival entail.

Recommendation: Robinson [Review: 7/10] is fun while it lasts, but not the most memorable adventure. Grab it if you’re in the mood for a single-player game but don’t mind the lack of Touch support.

Trickster VR, from Chisely Studio
Price: $12.99 (Rift)

Here’s another take on the dungeon crawler genre. Trickster lets you wield swords and other weapons as you head into battle with orcs. It’s pretty traditional, but solid combat and plenty of content make this one that’s worth looking into for anyone without anything to play on their Rift right now.

Recommendation: One for those that are dreaming of something like Diablo in first-person VR.

Gunship Battle 2 VR, from JOYCITY
Price: $9.99 (Gear VR)

You simply have to watch the above trailer for Gunship Battle 2. It’s got some of my favorite campy lines in a VR trailer that I don’t want to spoil here. All I’ll say is this is a pretty promising helicopter combat game that roots you down in a cockpit and has you ducking and dodging missiles as you return fire. Pretty solid for a new Gear VR title out of nowhere.

Recommendation: Definitely the Gear VR app to pick up this week.

Monzo VR, from Madfinger Games
Price: $6.99 (Rift and Gear VR)

Here’s a pretty interesting concept. Monzo allows you to build models of objects like tanks and cars, and even paint them and add decals. There’s a Rift version with Touch support too, which definitely seems like the better option if it’s available to you. One thing’s for sure, it saves on clean up.

Recommendation: A great way to practice model building before doing the real thing.

Thunderbird: The Legend Begins, from

Price: $5.99 (Rift)

In the first chapter of Thunderbird, The Legend Begins takes you into the heart of an ancient realm of myth and legend. This introductory chapter serves as an example of what can be achieved in a room-scale adventure experience.

Recommendation: Very short (15-20 minutes) but may be the introduction to a very universe of games.

Vision Therapy VR, from

Price: $2.99 (Rift)

Vision Therapy VR is just what the title says, providing a collection of exercises for your eye muscles.

Recommendation: Pretty functional and fun way to manage a part of your health. Not super useful for most people though.

VRog, from ByteRockers’ Games

Price: $2.99 (Rift, Currently Discounted)

The experience you’ve all been waiting for…the virtual life of a frog. In VRog you either leap your way around a pond and try to find something to eat, run away from a stork, or play in party mode to set scores against your friends.

Recommendation: Casual arcade fun for cheap. Grab it if you dig silly.

Pyro VR, from Virtual Light VR

Price: $8.99 (Rift)

This visually compelling experience asks you to let your inner pyromaniac loose in the safety of VR and tinker with a bunch of different types of fireworks. You can set up intricate firework shows or just blow everything up.

Recommendation: A unique way to get creative in VR, but a little pricey given the scope.

Break Time!, from Space Toast Games

Price: Free

Break Time! is a free physics sandbox where your task is simply to destroy all that you can. Grab items, slam them into things, or throw them across the room.

Recommendation: A free stress reliever! Grab it.

Tomorrow, from Future Lighthouse

Price: Free

In Tomorrow, take a journey through human evolution as you see them grow from prehistoric caves and amazonian jungles to the top of the Himalayas.

Recommendation: An experience that’s worth the free install. Grab it.

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Thunderbird Devs Don’t Consider 180-Degree Experiences ‘True VR’

Thunderbird Devs Don’t Consider 180-Degree Experiences ‘True VR’

Platform exclusivity, project funding, and cross-platform compatibility are hot-button issues in the VR industry. Many developers do their best to bring their games to as many devices as possible, but it doesn’t always work out that way. With the release of the Oculus Touch controllers late last year, we’re getting closer to a world of platform parity between the Rift and Vive, but some differences still exist in terms of how they handle full 360-degree roomscale tracking configurations.

The vast majority of the games on Oculus Home that include support for “experimental” roomscale setups also provide 180 options as well. According to Tony Davidson, founder at Innervision Games and developer of Thunderbird, that 180 tracking setup is the default configuration expected from the folks at Oculus to get your game on the Home Store in the first place, at least for the original launch lineup of titles for Touch.

We’ve asked for clarification from Oculus about whether this forward-facing support is a guideline or a requirement for developers supporting Oculus Touch. Games released after the Touch launch window, such as HordeZ and Unearthed Inc: The Lost Temple as well as some Gallery Apps, for example, only feature 360 support in Oculus Home, but those apps may not get the same level of attention or promotion within the store.

Thunderbird is a slow-paced, puzzle-focused, atmospheric adventure game. It takes heavy inspiration from genre classics like Myst (Obduction is a recent VR game from the creators of Myst, following a similar idea) and infuses those concepts with full roomscale support, requiring players to physically move around and interact with the environment to progress. It truly transports you to a beautiful fantastical world, placing you in the shoes of the game’s intrepid traveler.

We were blown away by the 20-minute introductory experience that lands on Steam today of Thunderbird: The Legend Begins. Naturally, something that requires so much interaction and activity from its users is best played with full 360 tracking and roomscale support.

“Back in the summer [of last year] when Oculus started investing heavily into content that supported motion controllers, we began discussions and working with them on creating a port of Thunderbird for their Touch launch,” explained Davidson in an email to UploadVR. “We spent a good deal of time trying to accommodate them on their default 180′ format requirement for Home but the results were far from ideal…The whole exclusive ordeal with Oculus last summer would have been a big help to our project but we just couldn’t agree with the whole 180′ approach and having us dumb-down our experience for them. After making all of the necessary changes to support a 180′ experience we ended up with a product that we felt was not representative of our vision of VR. There were so many sacrifices made to accommodate it and the end result was not very appealing and was considerably different compared to our original design.”

When Davidson mentions the need to “dumb-down” the game, it is not an exaggeration. Oculus’ sensors might have trouble tracking below your knees in the default 180 arrangement and there are objects you’ve got to pick up off the ground in Thunderbird. One puzzle in particular necessitates 360 movement and they couldn’t figure out an elegant and non-immersion breaking way around that hurdle that retained the quality of the game they wanted to ship.

“We tried very hard to make it work with our project but there were just too many obstacles blocking the way and in the end, we ended up with an experience that we just couldn’t endorse,” wrote Davidson. “For games like wave shooters it makes sense to limit the user to a 180′ format but for something like Thunderbird it’s a much different scenario. One of the key assets in our first chapter is a periscope that requires 360′ interaction and we spent days trying to redesign it so that it would work with a 180′ format but no matter what we tried, nothing worked. It was literally impossible to make a simple 360′ interaction like rotating a periscope functional within a front-facing format. In our case, we would have been forced to eliminate this from the experience entirely which would be a real shame because this is the type of interaction that is so fun to do in VR.”

As someone that has used Oculus with Touch in a variety of configurations, I can see why Oculus would prefer developers support the lowest common denominator (which is 180, front-facing tracking) when building apps for Touch. Anyone that has Touch should be able to play a game standing, facing forward, with two sensors since that is the easiest way to set it all up. I’ve expanded that to three or even four sensors personally at times to get a full 360 or roomscale effect, but not everyone with Touch can do that. Two months after release it is still considered an “experimental” arrangement by Oculus. In fact, recent patches have introduced bugs making the tracking even less reliable for some buyers.

“Thunderbird was originally designed from the ground up as a true room-scale experience with the intention of targeting the various location-based entertainment venues like the VR arcades that are popping up around the globe,” elaborated Davidson. “From the start, our intention with Thunderbird was to create a premium VR experience that showcases the full capabilities of room-scale VR and the Vive allowed us to really make progress in that direction…We personally don’t consider 180′ experiences to be true VR and so we won’t be offering this on Oculus Home. To us, VR is a 360′ experience by default and so we don’t want to dumb the experience down that far. At least not just yet because we really don’t support what Oculus is doing for VR with their default 180′ format.”

The version of Thunderbird players will try at home will have teleportation as a way of getting around though, in case your play space isn’t large enough, but if you have the room, you can freely move around just like you would in the large location-based booths they’ve demoed the experience in previously. Davidson’s issue isn’t so much with the existence of 180 tracking. It is just not the type of content he wants to create.

“It’s no secret that Oculus shunned the whole room-scale approach as being nothing more than a ‘niche within a niche, within a niche’ and so, fortunately for us, Valve and HTC had the insight to see its potential and gave us devs the option to create content that was more conducive to what I consider to be true Virtual Reality,” said Davidson. “I guess you could say that I’m a purist at heart because I’m not personally interested in creating or even playing games and watching movies in VR as much as I am in experiencing virtual environments with the same sort of freedom and interaction that we all enjoy in our actual realities…The seated experience is very limiting in terms of what we can offer as developers and the approach of restricting user’s movements to a front-facing format goes directly against our whole concept of VR which I believe, by default, is a 360′ experience.”

If you’ve only got a Rift, but do have the Touch controllers with a 360 setup, you’re not out of luck; Innervision still wants you to enjoy the game. They are still supporting the Oculus SDK through the version that is on Steam, so if you have the appropriate setup with your Rift you should still be able to enjoy it roomscale.

Thunderbird: The Legend Begins is a short, 20-minute interactive adventure (now available on Steam for $5.99) that serves as the foundation for the base game and lore. Longer chapters are expected to release soon episodically. More is coming soon.

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New Oculus Rift and Gear VR Releases For The Week Of 01/22/17

New Oculus Rift and Gear VR Releases For The Week Of 01/22/17

Another plentiful week of VR gaming awaits Gear VR owners today, and the Oculus Rift doesn’t have it too bad either. We’ve got the launch of a promising new boxing game, great cross-platform multiplayer titles, and a large suite of new mobile experiences to check out. Have fun!

If you missed last week, you can see those new releases here. And don’t forget that UploadVR has a Steam community group complete with a curated list of recommendations so that you don’t have to waste any money finding out what’s good in the world of VR.

Plus — check out our list of the best Oculus Rift games and best Gear VR games for more suggestions!

Knockout League, from Grab Games
Price: $17.99 (Rift)

This is an early access release of one of the most promising boxing games yet seen on Rift or Vive. Make your way up through the ranks using either system’s motion controllers to realistically throw punches and duck and dive out of the way of attacks.

Recommendation: One for boxing fans.

Jogger, from Sick Pixel Media
Price: $0.99 (Gear)

Jogger experiments with something we’ve see a handful of times on Gear VR; locomotion through running in place. It uses this system to make a frogger clone in which you’ll need to dodge incoming traffic as you run across roads.

Recommendation: For the price it’s worth checking out.

Ping Pong VR, from Exciting Reality
Price: $0.99 (Gear)

Yup, you guessed it, this does exactly what it says on the tin. Ping Pong VR is a colorful take on the popular pass time, and it even includes multiplayer support, which many Vive and Rift ping pong games don’t feature.

Recommendation: Definitely worth checking out.

TTORiNG Adventure: Mr. Breson’s keepsake, from VRotein
Price: $4.99 (Gear)

Last week we wrote about a TTORiNG game that had you interacting with a strange cartoonish character. This week he’s back in a strange detective story that, we won’t lie, looks outright terrifying at times.

Recommendation: If you need some surreal and possibly unintended scares, go for it.

Time Machine VR: Monsters of the Sea, from Minority Media
Price: $4.99 (Gear)

Released last year on Rift and more, Time Machine VR sent you back to the prehistoric age to study aquatic dinosaurs. This spin-off includes a slice of that experience with a handful of missions with which to explore the Jurassic era.

Recommendation: If you liked the original definitely check this out.

Panzer Panic, from Handy Games
Price: $9.99 (Rift)

Panzer Panic is a pretty good tank dueling game that came to Gear VR last year and now makes its way over to Rift with cross-play support. It’s a fun, colorful game that reminds you that gamepad-based VR is still relevant.

Recommendation: Definitely one for multiplayer fans.

Deus Ex: Mankind Divided – VR Experience, from Eidos Montreal

Price: Free to Play (Rift)

We recently covered this experience that was released completely out of nowhere from Square-Enix and it takes players on a tour of four iconic areas you come across in the Mankind Divided game.

Recommendation: Definitely give this a go for free. While there’s not much to interact with, it’s impressive to see a VR game so visually stunning.

Vector 36, from Red River Studio LLC

Price: $24.99 (Rift)

In Vector 36, players race across Mars’ terraformed surface in customizable hover vehicles. Racing is built on realistic physics and takes a good deal of skill to manage as you fit your ride with parts, accessories, and weapons to take on different race styles.

Recommendation: Certainly one of the best VR racers that really makes you feel like a pilot once you get the hang of the controls. A must have for fans of the genre.

Super Pixel Smash, from

Price: $4.79 (Rift, Currently Discounted)

This exciting title revives retro visuals and gameplay as you use your virtual paddle and gauntlet to break bricks and gain powerups. Keep swinging and climb the leaderboards to prove your skill.

Recommendation: A lot of fun. Grab it.

Daydream Blue, from

Price: $4.49 (Rift, Currently Discounted)

Daydream Blue drops you into a serene environment with a lake, campsite, and your robot pal to keep you company. There are a few treats to find and a multiplayer option as well.

Recommendation: This is ultimately a chill sandbox experience. Casual fun for a good price.

KART CHASER: THE BOOST VR, from

Price: $6.69 (Rift, Currently Discounted)

If you’ve been craving a Mario Kart-like racer for your VR device, Kart Chaser: The Boost is here for you. With 37 types of cars and two game modes across 13 tracks, this game brings a lot to the table.

Recommendation: This one is a blast for the price if you like racing games.

Awaken, from

Price: $25.49 (Rift, Currently Discounted)

Awaken combines creative puzzles and rhythm gameplay as you attempt to bring stars back to your world as the architect of light. The game also includes a level creation tool where you build your own puzzles and share with other players.

Recommendation:The price is a bit high, but level creation should lead to tons of new content over time.

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