Category: iron man vr

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5 PSVR Predictions For This Week’s State Of Play Broadcast

This Thursday’s State of Play broadcast might not have much in store for PS5, but that’s a good thing if you’re a fan of PSVR.

Sony already confirmed that this week’s show, which airs 1pm PT on August 6, will mainly focus on PS4 and PSVR titles. With the next-generation of consoles landing later this year, it’s swan song time for these two systems and we’re hoping both will go out in style.

So here’s our five predictions for PSVR at this week’s show. Don’t forget Sony also said the show will mainly consist of third-party titles.

Star Wars: Vader Immortal Release Date

This seems like the most likely announcement for this Thursday. A few months back the previously Oculus-exclusive Star Wars: Vader Immortal was confirmed to be coming to PSVR this summer. Well, summer’s nearly up and there’s no sign of the game just yet.  We’ve got our fingers crossed for an impending announcement of a date that’s, at the most, only a few weeks away.

Star Wars: Squadrons VR First Look

Funnily enough the other big game on the horizon for PSVR fans right now is another Star Wars game. Squadrons offers cockpit battles across a single-player campaign and multiplayer mode. We’re yet to see official gameplay for the game’s optional VR support, but this seems like the perfect time to show it off in full force.

Iron Man VR Updates

The excellent Iron Man VR launched on PSVR at the beginning of July and, in a post-launch interview, the game’s developer confirmed to us that additional challenges and updates were in the works. If you’re wanting to throw PSVR users a quick bone, a quick look at what’s next for Iron Man VR seems like a safe bet. That said, with a focus on third-party games, Iron Man VR may be off the cards.

The Walking Dead: Onslaught/After The Fall Return

These two zombie games have been lurking in the shadows of late. We got an update on Onslaught at the VR Showcase back in June and an interview with developer Survios last month, but we haven’t heard a peep from After The Fall this year. Both are confirmed for PSVR, so we’re hoping we’ll see more from them in the near future. This seems like the perfect candidate.

A New PC VR Port? Boneworks/Vertigo/The Wizards

This being the tail end of the PS4’s life cycle, we’re not expecting too many big new games on PSVR’s horizon right now. That said, Sony could still score some quick wins with long-requested ports. Zulubo Productions’ Vertigo Remastered would find a nice home on the console, and The Wizards: Dark Times deserves a spot in the library. Boneworks might be a little more ambitious, but we’d be all for a port ahead of PS5 or after.

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PSVR Exclusive Iron Man VR Hangs Onto Top 10 In UK Sales Charts

Iron Man VR has held its own in another week on the UK physical games sales charts.

The PSVR exclusive fell to the ninth spot in the top 10 according to the chart tracked by GfK and UKIE. The game debuted in second place last week, so it’s quite a sharp drop but still pretty impressive when you consider Iron Man VR is contending with games appearing on platforms with much better install bases. Iron Man VR sold more physical copies than new Nintendo Switch exclusive, Deadly Premonition 2 last week, for example.

As we said last week, it’s very possible that the boxed PlayStation Move bundle for the game, which gets you a copy of the experience and two motion controllers, is heavily contributing to Iron Man VR’s sustained position on the charts. Whenever PSVR itself goes on sale, for example, we see its pack-in title, PlayStation VR Worlds, sneaking back into the UK charts.

Again, we’re still waiting to see how the game performs through digital sales on the PlayStation Store, which we won’t hear about until early August.

Though some struggled with its technical shortcomings, we thought Iron Man VR was a great PSVR exclusive with fantastic controls and immersive action. Last week we published an extensive spoilercast with developer Camouflaj, in which we touched on both story and design. If you’re interested in learning more about the game and seeing what the future might look like for it, be sure to check that out.

We’ll probably see Iron Man VR slip out of the top 10 next week, but it looks like a top 40 position could still happen.

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Iron Man VR Spoilercast & Post-Mortem: An Hour With Director Ryan Payton

Iron Man VR took flight on PSVR last week, and left a whole lot to discuss in its wake.

Fortunately, we got to steal game director Ryan Payton from Camouflaj for an entire hour to talk about it. Below is our full spoilercast for Iron Man VR which, yes, includes lots and lots of spoilers.

Over the course of the interview, we spoke to Payton about the game’s story, its characters and the direction Camouflaj took Tony Stark. As you probably know, the game offers a full, story-driven campaign that explores the character of Tony and the cast around him in some unique ways. We talk about the comics that inspired the story and some of the easter eggs to look out for, as well as where some of your favorite characters might be in this universe.

But that’s not all; we also went deep into some of the criticisms of the game at launch, including some of the technical issues and structure of the story/gameplay. Payton spoke candidly about the reception since launch (both the good and bad) and the nature of VR game development in 2020. If you’re wondering why the team made certain design choices or how they pulled off some technical feats, you should definitely tune in.

This one’s for both VR and Marvel enthusiasts alike, then.  Make sure to read our review and accompanying editorial on why the game shows we need PSVR 2, too.

Iron Man VR is out on PSVR now, and debuted in the #2 spot for physical games sales in the UK last week.

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Iron Man VR Dev ‘Super Interested’ In Sequel, If The Game Performs

Want to see Iron Man VR 2? So does developer Camouflaj.

Note: There’s some spoilers for the ending of Iron Man VR in the following quote, we’ll warn you again before we get to them.

In a spoilercast interview with UploadVR which we’ll publish in full tomorrow, studio founder Ryan Payton touched on the possibility of a follow-up game.

“Look,” Payton began, “I don’t think there’s a developer out there that would work on a game like this, or an original IP and they’re not thinking about if the game’s successful and there’s a sequel, we could this, this and this, and we could set up these things. There’s so much we cut and that’s just the nature of game development, right?”

Okay, here’s where the spoilers kick in.

“And so, obviously, is there a tease at the end of our game where we think it would be really, really cool to be able to not only fly alongside Rescue but be her, for example? Of course, we talk about that stuff all the time, but ultimately it’s up to how the game performs, it’s up to our partners over at PlayStation and Marvel. But as developers we absolutely loved working on Marvel’s Iron Man VR and we would obviously be super interested to continue working on it.”

It’s not too surprising to hear that a potential Iron Man VR 2 depends on how this game sells. Fortunately, things seem to be off to a good start; the game hit the second spot in the UK’s physical sales chart last week.

Payton was understandably coy about where Camouflaj could take a sequel, but did touch on some of the classic comics the team would still like to explore.

“I’d be lying if I didn’t say that a lot of the team members look at Armor Wars and are really excited about what the potential of that could be,” he said. “Because one of the things we wanted to do early on but I had to hit the breaks on was having a lot of different armor for Iron Man to embody. I’m still really happy that we got the Mark 1 in there, really, really happy we got that in there, the team did a fantastic job on it. Do we want to have more armors? Of course, but we doubled down on the Impulse Armor and partially because it was so difficult and time-consuming to build each one of these armor sets.”

Presumably, any such sequel could appear on Sony’s PlayStation 5, which is launching this holiday season and, hopefully, a second PSVR headset. That could really help Camouflaj overcome some of the technical challenges that bother Iron Man VR, which Payton also touched on in the interview. You can follow along with everything we know about PSVR 2 so far right here.

As for Camouflaj itself? Payton says the studio wants to go bigger with VR whatever the future holds. “I think the future of Camouflaj, our hope and desire is to go even bigger,” he said.

“As a team, where we are now compared to where we were back in 2016 when we had no idea what we were doing in VR? We’re a totally different group. We’re much bigger, we’re even more ambitious than we were back in 2016 and we have a good sense for where VR is headed.”

What would you want to see in a potential Iron Man VR 2? Let us know in the comments below!

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Iron Man VR Dev Explains Load Times, Potential For Improvements

One of the biggest criticisms leveled at Marvel’s Iron Man VR in reviews last week was pretty much unanimous across the board; the load times are far too long.

We think Tony Stark’s VR debut is otherwise fantastic, but it’s true that the long waits between — and sometimes even during — levels mar the experience. In a spoilercast interview we’ll be publishing later this week game director Ryan Payton spoke about the possibility of those load times improving in post-launch updates, and the reasoning behind their length.

“I’m not gonna promise an update that’s going to vastly improve the load times because quite frankly I don’t know,” Payton explained. “It’s something that we’ve been working on for a while now.”

He explained that, at the beginning of the project, the team hadn’t made load times one of its biggest priorities. “I mean we all knew that we wanted to have reasonable load times, but it wasn’t like on my top 5 list of things we needed to do as we embraced the platform,” Payton said. “And so what we ended up doing was, as we were developing the game, we didn’t architect the game in a way that was pre-caching and pre-loading throughout missions to decrease the load times.

“That being said, that was a mistake I made and in fact one of the world’s experts in terms of VR game development, I won’t say who it is but he told me one day that load times in VR are exponentially more frustrating because you have the headset and there’s not much to do. So that’s a big reason we added elements of interactivity, like the tips on the right side you can click through them and read more lore.”

Continuing on, Payton got a little more technical about the nature of the game’s loading, and why it ended up being so long. He noted that, as the game neared release, he compiled a list of around 15 items he wanted to improve, including load times. “But the thing that winded up happening was, as we were getting closer to release, there are very strict guidelines when it comes to VR comfort and not just from PlayStation but from ourselves internally and, some people thought it was a Unity issue but it’s nothing to do with that, it’s my fault. It’s that, when you were loading in Unity and if you use that main thread, that main CPU to load, it actually can cause hitching.”

Hitching refers to framerate stutters which, yes, can be very uncomfortable in VR. “And so in the load times there was hitching and you can see a hall of mirrors, which is an absolute sin in VR,” Payton added. “So once we put the loading onto the back threads, the load times ballooned quite significantly, and then as we went up to release, the engineers just piled onto that problem and beat it down as best they could before release. There was some additional load times fixes that we had in place that we did not put into the game as they actually resulted in some crashes later in the game. We’re still looking at that and trying to improve.”

Payton concluded that Camouflaj was still “actively looking” at load times, but again wouldn’t commit to big improvements. “We chose to focus on the content of the game, which we’re really proud of, and we just hope that players can forgive those load times because I think there’s a lot of great content in the game,” he said.

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Iron Man VR Hits #2 In Weekly UK Physical Games Chart

Marvel’s Iron Man VR seems to be off to a flying start in the UK’s physical games chart.

The weekly chart, tracked by GFK and UKIE, places the PSVR exclusive in the second spot for its first week on the market. The chart only tracks physical sales of games in the UK, so it doesn’t include copies of the title sold on the PlayStation Store, but does put it in league with games appearing on other platforms.

Iron Man VR Sales Take Off

For example, Iron Man VR sold more copies than Animal Crossing: New Horizons last week, and beat out usual chart-toppers like Call of Duty: Modern Warfare and FIFA 20. The only game it’s behind is Sony’s other recent big launch, The Last Of Us Part 2.

It’s a somewhat surprising achievement given that Iron Man VR is limited to a much smaller install base than other consoles. PSVR has sold over 5 million units worldwide, whereas PS4 has topped 110 million in recent months. Bear in mind that Sony did sell an Iron Man VR bundle with a pair of PlayStation Move controllers, too, which surely helped it along that path.

We’ll be eager to see how the game ends up performing in the monthly PlayStation Store charts, too. We haven’t seen June’s charts yet, but Iron Man VR launched on July 3rd, so don’t expect it to make an impact until the July list is published in early August. In May’s chart, newcomer The Walking Dead: Saints & Sinners finally toppled Beat Saber from a long reign at the top.

We think Iron Man VR is a real treat, even if it’s held back by some technical difficulties. Have you picked the game up yet or are you waiting on it? Let us know in the comments below!

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Xbox Boss ‘Snuck In’ To See Iron Man VR During Development

We finally got our hands on Iron Man VR last week, but Xbox boss Phil Spencer got to see the game even earlier.

Over the weekend Spencer took to Twitter to reveal that developer Camouflaj had brought Spencer to its studio on numerous occasions to play the game over the course of development. It’s notable given that Iron Man VR is a PSVR exclusive published by Xbox rival, PlayStation itself.

In his tweet, Spencer noted that he was “Really proud of a local studio launching an impressive game.”

Now, before we all read too much into Spencer’s not-so-secretive trips and what they might mean for Xbox VR, it’s important to remember Camouflaj was founded by Ryan Payton who worked on Halo 4 before its release in 2012. It’s very likely these trips were based on that friendship rather than Spencer’s desire to research VR on Xbox.

Spencer was also lucky enough to see Half-Life: Alyx ahead of release but even after that experience insisted that VR was not a focus for its next-generation consoles, headlined by Xbox One Series X. In February, he confirmed Series X would not support VR at launch.

Still, we can but keep holding out hope. Last month Microsoft announced a partnership with Facebook after ditching Mixer game streaming, which might lay the foundation for VR support to come.

At least we can agree with Spencer that Iron Man VR is indeed an impressive game. We gave the experience 4/5 in our review, praising the game’s controls and story, even if some technical hiccups hold it back from becoming a true must-play.

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Editorial: Iron Man VR Shows Why We Need PSVR 2 Sooner Rather Than Later

By now there’s probably more than enough snappy Tony Stark quotes immortalized by Robert Downey Jr. that you could make an entire review of Iron Man VR just lifting from the movies.

But, reflecting upon the newly launched PSVR-exclusive’s technical performance, I can only think of one line from an iconic scene in Civil War: “You’re in dire need of an upgrade. Systemic – top to bottom.”

Iron Man VR is a brilliant, brilliant game. Its combat is some of the most intricate and thrilling you’ll find in VR today and its story goes to great lengths to cover new ground for a character that’s been pretty thoroughly explored over the past decade and a bit. But, like the Mark 1 armor that saves Tony from captivity, it can also be rusty, clunky and requires a lot of patience. It’s clear from playing even the game’s first mission that Iron Man VR is pushing PSVR and the PS4 to their limits, and that we’re way past due for a new model.

The game’s loading times, for example, are numerous and lengthy; a thrilling opening setpiece that sees Tony suit up mid-air is brought to a screeching halt as you transition from Stark to suit, and every time you die you’ll be waiting around a minute to get back into the action. The PS4 is trying desperately to keep pace with developer Camouflaj’s ambitions but ends up often squandering that of the action and storytelling.

Some environments, too, are on the unsightly side; a visit to Shanghai, China recalls PS2-era architecture. It’s undoubtedly the best that can be done to get a wide-open area running in PSVR with long draw-distances, but even then some of the game’s combat sequences see the framerate drop on a standard PS4, which is the first time I’ve noticed that happen after Sony’s reportedly rigorous Q&A process.

It’s the headset itself that puts up the best fight; Camouflaj’s impressive 360-degree design somehow manages to work despite PSVR’s traditional tracking limitations. But it’s not perfect, and the Move controllers still make for a mental minefield when first getting to grips with the game. Plus, after two play sessions I took my headset off to discover that the PSVR headset I’ve kept well-maintained since launch day now has twisted, mangled wires from the amount of turning; something you don’t see on wired PC headsets.

All of this is a sign that developer’s aspirations are outgrowing the limits of the aging PSVR headset. The console has had a fantastic 2020 thus far, with Iron Man, The Walking Dead: Saints & Sinners, Paper Beast and other great games whetting our appetite while we wait for Dreams, Pistol Whip and Star Wars: Squadrons, but it’s clear that in Tony Stark’s latest adventure — one that was supported and published by PlayStation itself no less — the system has met its match. Anyone that wants to go above and beyond Iron Man VR will need a better foundation.

Fortunately, it seems like more stable footing is nearly here. Sony’s PS5 boasts near-instant load times thanks to an onboard solid-state drive (SSD) and an increase in horsepower might make only slight differences for traditional games, but could do wonders for the scope and polish of VR titles. Comments from Sony’s R&D division, too, suggest that a potential PSVR successor could be wireless, or at least provide that option (follow everything we know about PSVR 2 right here). Bundle all that in with revised controllers and expected updates to tracking and screen resolution, and you have a headset that could well make a gigantic leap forward.

That promise has me looking forward to hopefully revisiting Iron Man VR on new hardware just as much as I eagerly anticipate a sequel. PS5 launches this holiday season and will support the original headset, but we’re yet to see what else Sony has in store for the future of VR.

Iron Man VR is available on PSVR now.

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Iron Man VR Launch Day Livestream: Watch Us Suit Up On PSVR!

For today’s livestream we’re diving into Iron Man VR, the newly released PSVR-exclusive superhero action game from Camouflaj and Sony. If you’re curious about how we livestream the way we do then look no further than this handy guide for general tips and this guide specific to our Oculus Quest setup.

Our review went live for Iron Man VR yesterday and I called it “an absolute triumph” of a VR game. It takes a while to get used to the controls and everything, but once you do, it’s absolutely liberating to lift off as Tony Stark in the iconic armor and take to the skies. There are lots of weapons to pick from and it packs a satisfying 8-hour campaign.

The stream is planned to start at about 11:00 AM PT and will last for around two hours. We’ll be hitting just our YouTube and I’ll be donning the suit in a fresh game, starting from scratch. By this time next week I hope to have completed my second complete playthrough from start to finish, live, on our channel! Jamie and/or Zeena will likely join to hang out and help out with chat.

You can see the full Iron Man VR stream embedded via YouTube right here down below once it’s up:

You can see lots of our past archived streams over in our YouTube playlist or even all livestreams here on UploadVR and various other gameplay highlights. There’s lots of good stuff there so make sure and subscribe to us on YouTube to stay up-to-date on gameplay videos, video reviews, live talk shows, interviews, and more original content!

And please let us know which games or discussions you want us to livestream next! We have lots of VR games in the queue that we would love to show off more completely.

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Iron Man VR Tips, Tricks And Things To Know Before You Start

Looking for Iron Man VR tips and tricks to get you started? We’ve got you covered!

Yup, Tony Stark takes flight on PSVR today, and we’re big fans of it. Camouflaj’s blockbuster isn’t just a great spectacle; it’s a genuinely deep and intense action game too. In fact if you don’t know what you’re doing, it can be pretty overwhelming.

We’ve conquered the game on the hardest difficulty, so we’re here to offer up some Iron Man VR tips to those struggling.

Kill Weaker Enemies First

Challenge in Iron Man VR doesn’t always stem from the strength of enemy attacks, so much as the number of them. The weakest class in the game will constantly be firing enemy orbs at you that, while largely harmless, can easily distract you from more powerful blows from tougher foes. When a wave of enemies come in, make sure to thin the herd as soon as possible so you can keep complete focus on tougher opponents.

Time Your Boosts And Make Some Distance

Iron Man VR

Dodging attacks in Iron Man VR often requires you to boost out of the way. It’s incredibly effective at avoiding basically anything thrown in your direction but it also requires a small recharge every time you use it, which can leave you vulnerable to powerful hits. A well-timed boost is the difference between life or death.

For the most part, the game’s also only designed to throw attacks at you when an enemy is facing you. Use this to your advantage; make constant twists and turns in your direction and, if health is really low, find a building or vehicle far off to take cover behind to help your armor recharge before heading back into the fray.

Lead With Auxillary Weapons, Follow-Through With Punches

It can be tempting to just rely on your trusty repulsor blasts in combat, but you’ll have a much easier time if you fully utilize Tony’s arsenal. Auxillary weapons mounted to your left and right arms can give you a great headstart in a fight if you unleash them as soon as enemies show up and are bunched closely together. Also don’t forget to punch; it’s another great way to dodge incoming fire, is deadly in its own right and can send enemies spiraling into others.

Know When To Quick Turn And When To Turn Naturally

iron man vr punch attack

Thanks to some incredible prediction algorithms, Iron Man VR is essentially the only PSVR game with Move support that can be played with 360 degrees of freedom. But the system isn’t perfect and you’ll need to get a feel for mixing up natural and quick turns, especially on hard difficulties. The quick turn is an essential feature in the game’s races and necessary when you find yourself getting wrapped up in wires.

Use Hover Mode

Iron Man VR is a game of mental arithmetic. Camouflaj has done a decent job making its control scheme as intuitive as possible on PlayStation Move, but it can often be too much to remember, especially when flying at 100 miles an hour. If you’re getting flustered, a good way to quickly gather yourself is to press the button for Hover Mode, which will bring Tony to an instant stop wherever you are. You can use this mode to get in some well-placed shots without having to move before boosting off again to avoid incoming fire. It’s a lifesaver.

Consider Normal Mode Before Hard Mode

iron man vr friday globe

If, like me, you like a challenge, then you might be tempted to play through Iron Man VR in Invincible Mode (Hard Mode) first time through. And it’s true, the game offers exhilarating combat in this mode, but it can also be incredibly frustrating. Checkpoints are few and far between, tracking and wire limitations can lead to cheap deaths and dying often means not only a long reload but rewatching a cutscene too.

Even with all the Iron Man VR tips listed above, this mode will still give you a real struggle. Remember this is a superhero game; you want to feel powerful. Hard Mode will always be there after your first playthrough, but we’d recommend seeing it through on Normal first.

Iron Man VR is available now on PSVR. Do you have any other Iron Man VR tips that have been working for you? Let us know in the comments below!

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