Category: Oculus Store

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New Oculus Update Embraces 360 Room-scale, Adds Mixed Reality Capture

Version 1.16 of Oculus Rift software is beginning to roll out to all Rift users, adding support for Mixed Reality capture, a redesigned interface for future updates and issue reporting, a new Home environment and multilanguage support. The Store now supports 360°-only apps, and provides alerts before purchases if you don’t have an appropriate tracking setup.

Following the recent version 1.15 update, which added further optimisations to room-scale support and dropped the ‘experimental’ tag, Oculus have taken another step towards embracing room-scale VR experiences with version 1.16, which now allows 360°-only apps. Until now, all Rift content on the Oculus Store was required to support the ‘front-facing’ tracking mode, i.e. with one or two Oculus Sensors pointing in the same direction. When Oculus launched the Touch motion controllers in December, it included a single Oculus Sensor in the package, to add to the existing Sensor used for the Rift headset. The recommended setup of placing the two Sensors 3-6 feet apart directly in front of you remains the default configuration, but is no longer a requirement for Store approval. Now, developers can choose to support 360°-only, which is achieved by placing the two sensors diagonally opposite each other across the play area, or with the recommend three-sensor configuration.

Early support for mixed reality capture has also been added, but the release notes warn of a delay before this is practical, as developers will likely need to update their apps to fully support the feature. Mixed Reality footage has been shown with Oculus hardware before using custom solutions; this update marks a positive step towards simplifying the process.

The new update also improves the language support and redesigns the interface and technical process for updates, with the ability to read the full release notes from the Oculus software. Users will now be able to report issues directly from the software too. Oculus Home has also been given a new Cityscape environment, with the promise of more environments to come.

Full details and a recent history of Oculus software release notes is available here.

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Air Rhythm Action Videogame Airtone Available on Oculus Store and Steam Now

If you’re looking for a new virtual reality (VR) experience that’ll really send your heart rate soaring, Airtone might be just what you’re looking for. From developers historia Inc., Airtone is an aerial rhythm action game that’ll see you hitting notes while soaring through the skies.

You’ll meet Neon, a girl who was left behind on Mars, and play as her android partner collecting “Rhythm” from the world. The game promises a story mode, and collectible songs and objects to populate a home base with.

The game’s product page promises to “place you in a powerful rhythm gaming experience where you’ll feel like you’re tearing across the skies to the music.”

The only thing that might hold back some Oculus Rift owners is that the game requires motion controls to play – either HTC Vive’s Tracked Motion Controllers or the Oculus Touch controllers. HTC Vive owners will already have the necessary controllers of course, but Oculus Rift owners might need to buy an expensive peripheral to play this one.

The game is colourful and looks incredibly fluid, with worlds that bounce and pulse in time to the music – couple that with some addictive tunes and Airtone could be a great videogame for rhythm action fans.

Take a look at the trailer below to get a good idea of what flying with Neon and collecting Rhythm will be like. If you want to fly with Neon for yourself, take a look at Airtone on Steam or the Oculus Store.

For more on rhythm action games and everything VR, stay on VRFocus.

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Solitaire Gets Real In These New Power Solitaire VR Screenshots

Parkerhill Reality Labs’ Power Solitaire VR is out now, and wants to take solitaire to a whole new level with virtual reality (VR). Add some friends into the mix for online multiplayer, and you have a interesting take on the game we’ve all played.

But whether you want to play by yourself or with friends, you’ll find a challenge against bots or others in a variety of locations, all you need is an Oculus Rift, Oculus Rift DK2, or HTC Vive head-mounted display (HMD).

Take a look at the screenshots below, and if you want to experience solitaire in an all new dimension, check the game out on Steam and the Oculus Store.

For more on VR incarnations of classic card games and new releases, keep checking VRFocus.

 






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Interactive VR Film ‘Reaping Rewards’ Free on Steam Today

Reaping Rewards, an interactive virtual reality (VR) short film, is launching today on Steam for free, and soon the Oculus Store. Taking the role of a young Grim Reaper, you’re tasked with some tough choices on life and death.

Created by Limitless, who previously released their VR film Gary the Gull for free, the experience will make the player face heavy, emotional choices as their young Grim Reaper faces.

Directed by Matthew Ward, formerly of Bungie and Lucasfilm, with music by Glen Phillips, Reaping Rewards looks to be a fascinating and worthwhile experience – especially at the low price of free.

Tom Sanocki, founder and CEO of Limitless, truly believes in the power of VR to enhance the emotional connection we have with stories told in the medium; “For this showcase experience we wanted to push the boundaries of emotional connection in VR, and [Ward]’s story was a perfect fit.”

Sanocki continued; “Reaping Rewards is so different from anything we’ve seen yet in VR, and it’s been a great example of how our platform creates exceptional gains in efficiency and ease of use.”

Ward’s experience with Limitless seems incredibly positive, as he praises their creative environment; “Every filmmaker is looking for fresh new ways to present their story, and VR has so much potential. It was clear that Limitless wasn’t just focusing their VR platform on engaging character technology – they were looking for compelling stories to be told through those characters, with the audience taking an active participation in the story.”

“The Limitless VR Creative Environment enabled Reaping Rewards to not only engage the audience, but test them.  Through VR, this short became an exercise of the morality of humanity and a truly unique VR experience I hadn’t seen ever presented anywhere else.”

Hopefully this is just the start of Limitless VR Creative Environment growing and appearing in more VR experiences.

For more on VR experiences and short films, keep checking back with VRFocus.

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Oculus Store Implements IARC Age and Content Ratings System

Every country has its own rating system for videogame certification which can be an issue for developers looking to launch projects worldwide. Naturally large global companies look to implement the most universal solution, to make this process as easy as possible, so this week Oculus has announced it’ll be using the International Age Rating Coalition (IARC) rating system.

IARC is a ratings process that all developers will now need to use for experiences on Oculus Store. In an update on the Oculus Blog, the company states: “Moving forward, all titles in the Oculus Store will need to show age and content ratings assigned through the IARC rating process. This change will make it easier for developers to get age and content ratings for your app from multiple territories simultaneously. It also provides consumers a consistent set of familiar and trusted ratings that reflect their own cultural norms regarding content and age-appropriateness.”

What this means for developers either planning or those that have already published on the store is that all titles must now be rated no matter what. For new submissions it’ll be fairly easy as studios will receive an automatic prompt to go through the process. For those titles already on the store creators will need to update them with an IARC certificate by 1st March 2017 at the latest, otherwise they’ll be removed.

For the latest Oculus news, keep reading VRFocus.

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‘We Wait’ Is The First BBC Production For The Oculus Store, And It Is Free

‘We Wait’ Is The First BBC Production For The Oculus Store, And It Is Free

2016 has been a busy year in VR for the BBC, as it started to figure out what role the medium will play in its future by releasing a range of 360 and VR projects exploring the boundaries of the new medium. These projects covered a broad spectrum of subjects and audiences, ranging from harrowing experiences like Fire Rescue – which tells the story of a Christmas Day blaze from which firefighters saved the lives of six children – and the journey of a single mother Trafficked from Nicaragua to Mexico to The Turning Forest (a folkish fairy-tale experience for Google Daydream) and a series of companion 360-degree videos that put viewers next to the documentary crews filming the Planet Earth II series and offered highlights of the Rio Olympics.

“Our VR experiments this year have enabled us to look at the role the BBC should play at this early stage, raising important questions over how storytelling, pacing, direction, subtitling, sound and picture quality are all affected,” says Zillah Watson, executive producer, BBC R&D.

But We Wait is a first for the British broadcaster which saw the BBC Connected Studio collaborate with legendary Bristol-based animation studio Aardman Digital – the makers of Wallace & Gromit, Chicken Run, Shaun the Sheep – to produce a dramatization of the dangerous journey Syrian migrants take from Turkey to Greece on smuggler’s boats.

Like many content producers, the BBC is keen to explore the potential of VR as a Storytelling Medium, and the Syrian war and its resulting refugee crisis is a poignant subject that certainly lends itself well to powerful – if often uncomfortable – levels of immersion. Award-winning films such as Chris Milk’s Clouds Over Sidra and HOME/AAMIR –  produced in partnership with the National Theatre’s recently launched Immersive Storytelling Studio in London – are other examples of this.

We Wait – which is based on real migrant accounts gathered by BBC News – begins on a beach in Turkey and takes the viewer on board a boat crossing the Mediterranean. As the name hints, the objective here is to recreate the sense of anticipation and suspense those displaced people feel as they attempt to reach Europe.

“By putting the viewer at the heart of the story, we’re offering an immersive experience that would be impossible to reproduce through traditional reporting,” they stated in their release today.

Watson believes that VR could be a very interesting tool for telling news stories in the future beyond the confines of traditional reporting, something that people like Nonny de La Penna have also been exploring as a way to trigger empathy in audiences. Like de la Pena, Watson comes from a journalism background, working on TV, radio and web as well as documentary filmmaking before moving to BBC’s R&D department.

“We Wait has enabled us to explore how VR can deepen audiences’ understanding of a topic in a way they wouldn’t otherwise be able to experience, and with the film now going live on the Oculus store for the Rift it opens it up to a wider audience as we continue to develop the potential this emerging medium has to inform, educate and entertain.”

We Wait is now available globally and for free on the Oculus store.

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Oculus Slash ‘Feral Rites’ Price, Gift 6 Free Games to Existing Owners

In an interesting twist to Insomniac’s VR brawler Feral Rites‘ recent release, Oculus have slashed the price of the game to $29.99 from $49.99 stating the price was “too high”.

See Also: ‘Feral Rites’ Review
See Also: ‘Feral Rites’ Review

In an unusual move, Oculus have seemingly taken on board the critical and fan reaction to Incomniac Games’ recently released fantasy brawler Feral Rites. The title received a lukewarm critical reception on release and it seems those gamers who bought were none too happy with the product they received for the original price of $49.99.

In response however, not only have Oculus slashed the price of the game on the Oculus Store to $29.99, they’ve also emailed all of those who purchased the game at full price informing them that they have been gifted 6 free games as compensation. Those customer also have an option to a full refund as well.

Furthermore, Feral Rites has also now been added to the Fall sale on Oculus Store at an even lower price of $9.99. Oculus’ letter to customers (a copy of which was shared on reddit by user ChrisCypher):

Hi,

Oculus Studios, its developers, and its players are all pioneers in the new world of VR content. As such, we’re all learning as we go.

As you know, Oculus Studios and Insomniac Games recently released a game called Feral Rites. Our teams felt the product was of high quality and, due to the depth and length of play, a price of $49.99 was chosen. You were one of the dedicated VR enthusiasts that tried the game at that price. For that, we thank you!

After listening to the community the last few days, it has become evident to us that this price was too high. So we’ve decided to drop the price.

Today you’ll find Feral Rites for $29.99 on the Oculus store. We’ve also added the title to our Fall Sale at $9.99.

For pioneers like you, who gave the game a chance at the original price and gave us the valuable feedback we need, we’ve decided to add six Oculus Studios’ games to your account at no cost: 

  • AirMech Command
  • Damaged Core
  • Defense Grid 2: Enhanced VR Edition
  • Chronos
  • Edge of Nowhere
  • The Climb

The games should automatically appear in your library by Sunday, September 18. If you have questions, or if you’d rather have a refund of the purchase price, please contact the Oculus support team at support.oculus.com and click “Contact Us”.

We thank you for your trust in Oculus Studios and Insomniac Games, and appreciate your continued help as we bring VR to the world.
— Oculus Studios

Developers of Feral Rites, Insomniac Games, have posted an update to their website announcing the price change and compensation stating:

As we do with all our games, we’ve paid careful attention and responded to player feedback so far. We appreciate the support from everyone who has experienced Feral Rites, and we understand the concerns as well — especially about the game’s price. Effective immediately, the price of Feral Rites is $29.99. The game’s original price was largely based on all the work that went into it. We’re proud that Feral Rites is among the largest VR games of its kind available today.

It’s heartening to see Oculus, who are slowly but carefully building up a valuable user base for their Oculus Store content portal, to not only listen but react so swiftly to a game’s reception. Feral Rites was one of Oculus Studios’ key exclusive titles for the Rift and acknowledging there were issues with the way it was sold and taking action hopefully bodes well for the future.

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