Category: Oculus

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Swordsman Launches On App Lab For Quest, Alongside Advanced Combat Update

Originally scheduled for a late May release, melee combat game Swordsman VR is now available for Oculus Quest and Meta Quest 2 headsets via App Lab, alongside the advanced combat update launching for all platforms.

The advanced combat update adds over 1,000 new animations made possible by extensive motion capture and improvements to enemy AI prediction. While the game has been available on PC VR and PSVR for a while already, the update is available now for all platforms, coinciding with the Quest release.

On Reddit, the developers also addressed some promised features that are missing from the update, or features that are now no longer available. SinnStudio said that features like finishers, executions and grabbing enemies’ weapons were “affected by the new combat mechanics in significant ways and sadly, we were unable to complete them in time for the update.”

A Quest release for Swordsman VR was confirmed back in October 2021. Initially, developers SinnStudio wanted a full Quest Store release for the game, but Meta asked the studio to “take the direction of an App Lab release to gauge interest.”

It will be interesting to see whether the game picks up interest from the Quest user base, especially given its similarities to other physics-driven combat titles like Blade & Sorcery. We enjoyed parts of Blade & Sorcery, but also found it lacking in some features and encountered performance hitches on Quest 2. It overall felt “still two or three updates away from really escaping its tech demo roots, and … more like a preview both for what the finished product will look like.”

Could Swordsman VR scratch an itch that Blade & Sorcery: Nomad didn’t quite capitalize on? Let us know what you think in the comments. 

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Tenacious D Returned To The Studio To Record For Unplugged

Comedy rock duo Tenacious D returned to the studio specifically for VR game Unplugged to re-record a song’s vocals.

We recently spoke to Unplugged creator and Anotherway director Ricardo Acosta in our virtual studio to discuss the history of Unplugged and its development. One interesting tidbit from our talk revealed that Tenacious D re-recorded vocals for Unplugged so that their song Roadie could make it into the game.

The song (and the band) is one of Acosta’s all-time favorites and he used it in a very early prototype all the way back in 2015. But even after partnering with Vertigo Games in 2020 and beginning development on Unplugged, he wasn’t sure if they would be able to include the song.

After being unsuccessful in making contact with the band to secure the rights, Guitar Hero legend Marcus Henderson (brought on board by Vertigo) came to the rescue. “He was like, ‘Guys, leave it up to me. I’ll make it happen,'” said Acosta. “So somehow he contacted the manager of Tenacious D and started talking to them.”

With Henderson’s help, the rights to the song were secured. But another problem emerged — with a PEGI 12 rating, Roadie’s explicit and frequent F-bombs weren’t going to cut it. “So at another point we were like, ‘Okay, we have the song now, but we cannot use it because we are PEGI 12, so we have to take it out from the list.'”

Acosta made his peace with leaving the song off the tracklist. But, in his words, “maybe the stars were in a particular position that night.” Henderson was able to get Tenacious D back into the studio to re-record a clean version of Roadie, specifically for Unplugged, excluding all the swearing.

“It was insane,” said Acosta. “Knowing that my favorite band re-recorded a song just for the game. It’s insane. It’s just amazing. And a lot of people have complained about the fact that it’s a different version of the song, without the swearing. But I’m so proud of that. To me, it’s even better because it’s our song.”

Be sure to check back with UploadVR tomorrow morning as we publish our full interview and video charting the story on Unplugged.

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Anotherway Teases More Content & Music For Unplugged

“I would be very excited about Unplugged, if I knew what was going to happen.”

That’s what Anotherway director and Unplugged creator Ricardo Acosta told us in a snippet from our upcoming feature piece detailing the story of Unplugged’s development.

When I asked about Unplugged’s short and long-term future, Acosta revealed few specifics but teased a lot to come. Hot off the reveal of the Pantera DLC pack at the Upload VR Showcase, Ricardo hinted at more releases in the future. “We are working to add more music all the time. We want to add free music [as well], not just DLC. Also, I want to add more indie music because I think that there is a lot of really good indie music out there.”

In the short term, Unplugged will soon receive an accessibility update, adding features that will allow more players to enjoy the game, such as settings to help distinguish notes easier for color blind players. There’s also “another thing” coming in that update, but Acosta kept his lips sealed, only teasing that it’s “really big.” The title is published by Vertigo Games and stands as a stellar example of what’s possible with gameplay tuned for hand tracking input, with big plans over the long term.

“I cannot talk too much about it because Vertigo will kill me, but our plans are very big,” he said. “Unplugged is going to become bigger, at least in terms of features…I would be very excited about Unplugged if I knew what’s going to happen. Probably like in a year, Unplugged will be very different. It will have way more stuff. That’s it. That’s all I can say.”

What are you hoping comes to Unplugged in the next year? Let us know in the comments and keep an eye out for our full feature and video interview with Acosta this weekend.

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Mothergunship: Forge Available Now For Quest 2, SteamVR

Mothergunship: Forge is available for Quest 2 and PC VR headsets via Steam.

The game is a roguelike first-person VR shooter, and all-new spin-off and re-imagining of the 2018 PC title Mothergunship. The basic premise sees you fight off hordes of enemies in wave shooter style, but with the ability to craft ridiculous combinations of weaponry using connectors on your wrists.

The roguelike element means that you’ll reset each time you die, building new and interesting combos of weapons across every run.

When we went hands-on with the game back in March, Jamie came away quite impressed. While initially skeptical of another VR wave shooter, he noted that it was some of the most fun he’s had in that genre and that the VR adaptation isn’t just a tired rehash of the original.

The game appears to have the right mix of variety and structure to pull you through the wave shooter progression. It’s as much a rogue-lite as it is a wave shooter. Every time you enter a room in Mothergunship: Forge you’ll first clear out its enemies, collect a reward and then choose between two or three doors depending on what type of reward you want next. It might be a new gun part, weapon upgrade or currency for the in-run shop. When you die, crystals you’ve collected during your run will stack to afford you more permanent upgrades and help you progress further.

We should have a review out soon so check back with us and you can read our full hands-on from a few months ago here.

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Cosmonious High Accessibility Update Adds One-Handed Mode & More, Available Now

As revealed in our Upload VR Showcase, Cosmonious High’s accessibility update is available now, adding loads of new options to create an accessible experience for as many players as possible.

One of the biggest additions is one-handed mode, which means the entire game can be played with one hand from start to finish. This will kick in when the game automatically detects that the player is using just a single controller.

There’s also now more options for seated play — every table and workstation now has a handle so that the height can be easily adjusted, plus all animations and interactions will now work at any height.

Object interactions have also been improved, making some items easier to grab overall, plus tutorials have been adjusted to kick in if the player hasn’t played in a while or if the game detects that the player isn’t using certain powers.

Iconography has been changed across the game as well, so that more icons “effectively communicate complex instructions at a glance without having to read lots of text.”

In addition to accessibility updates, a few additions for localization and inclusivity have been made as well. The pronouns for each character in the game are now more clearly displayed, plus there’s now a “small human mode” switch at the registration desk and in the player’s backpack.

We enjoyed Cosmonious High when it released earlier this year, and given how it’s tilted at introducing newcomers to VR, this accessibility update makes a lot of sense. That being said, we also came away wondering when developer Owlchemy Labs might offer something with more depth for those well-acquainted with VR.

You can read more about Cosmonious’ accessibility update here.

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Ragnarock Hellfest Raid DLC Pack Available Now

A new trailer for Ragnarock’s Hellfest Raid debuted today at our Upload VR Showcase, confirming that the DLC pack is now available across all platforms.

Announced early last month, the Hellfest Raid is a new pack of DLC songs for VR rhythm game Ragnarock and a collaboration with one of the world’s biggest heavy metal festivals. The Hellfest Summer Open Air festival takes place annually in France, and now you’ll be able to bring a little piece of this year’s festival into VR.

Ragnarock Hellfest Raid DLC Pack Available Now

When the collaboration was announced, we knew that some of the artists from this year’s lineup would be featured in the DLC and speculated on who they might be. As confirmed in the trailer above, artists such as The Offspring, Dragonforce, Nightwish, Gojira and more will be included.

There’s also a sick new Hellfest environment to play in, which will you see you play your way to the main stage and crowd surf across hundreds of heavy metal fans. The DLC is available right now on both PC VR (Steam, Viveport) and Meta Quest.

It’s not the only heavy metal announcement from our Upload VR Showcase either — we also debuted a trailer for the next Unplugged DLC pack. It features the legendary metal band Pantera, and guess what? It’s also available right now. What a day for heavy metal and VR fans.

Will you be rocking out on the virtual Hellfest main stage in Ragnarock? Let us know in the comments below.

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Ghostbusters VR Confirmed For Release On PSVR 2

Sony Pictures Virtual Reality confirmed that Ghostbusters VR will also release on PSVR 2, after it was announced for Meta Quest 2 (formerly Oculus Quest 2) back in April.

That’s pretty much the only scrap of info we have on the PSVR 2 version for now — there’s no specific release date, but then again, we don’t even know when PSVR 2 itself is slated to launch yet.

There’s also no release date for the Quest 2 version of the game either, but we do know that it will be a Quest 2 exclusive at launch. The game was announced at the Meta Quest Gaming Showcase in April, which featured a line-up of games that were all said to release within a year of the showcase airing. At the latest then (and presuming no delays) Ghostbusters VR would be set for April 2023, with a PSVR 2 release sometime after that.

So far, details on the game are scarce. We know that it will feature both single and multiplayer modes with cooperative gameplay, but little else. You can view the first trailer embedded above, but bear in mind that it’s a cinematic trailer rendered in the game’s engine — it isn’t actual 1:1 gameplay footage.

Today also marks the anniversary of the original Ghostbusters film, released in 1984. The PSVR 2 release isn’t the only piece of VR news announced today for Ghostbusters fans either. Sony Pictures Virtual Reality also announced a new location-based VR experience called Ghostbusters VR Academy. This will let up to 4 players don proton packs and pilot a flying ECTO vehicle at over 400 locations worldwide — more info here.

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Stride Leaves Early Access On June 9 With Multiplayer Modes & More

Stride will leave Early Access on Steam on June 9 with the game’s full release update, adding multiplayer modes and more single player content.

It was just last week that we learned that Stride’s multiplayer update would arrive on Quest and SteamVR this month, but now we have a release date and many new details.

Joy Way also confirmed that multiplayer is only coming to the Steam and Meta Quest stores, with cross-platform play — Viveport and PSVR multiplayer support is currently not planned.

Stride’s Multiplayer will launch with 2 game modes, 4 maps, a player hub, matchmaking and social features (voice chat, player customization, etc.). The first game mode is ‘Horde’, which is a variation of tag:

In this mode, players take on the role of zombies or non-infected survivors. Survivors must avoid being touched by infected zombie players, while zombies must infect as many survivors as possible within the allotted time.

The second multiplayer mode ‘King of the Hill’, featured in the video embedded above, will see players “grab a crown and wear it longer than other players to win.”

Joy Way says it is working on further updates to multiplayer, featuring new modes, maps, private lobbies and more.

stride multiplayer

In terms of single player content, the full release patch will include a “major content update”, with more details to come closer to release. However, Joy Way teased that “hardcore and casual players, as well as fans of VR fitness, will definitely like it.”

Stride will continue to be updated post-full release, including work on single player story content, however, Joy Way says its “main focus for the near future will be on the multiplayer.”

Stride’s full release update launches June 9 for SteamVR and Meta Quest platforms.

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Walkabout Mini Golf Releases New El Dorado DLC Course

Mighty Coconut launched the latest DLC course for Walkabout Mini Golf this week centered around the mythical city of El Dorado.

El Dorado is the 12th course available in the game and the latest installment in the Lost Cities series of DLC maps released over the last few months.

Here’s a description of the new El Dorado map from Mighty Coconut:

In the highland jungles of South America lies the mythical city of gold: El Dorado. Putt your way through the ruins of an ancient civilization in the search for lost treasures, lost balls, putters, and just maybe the perfect game of Walkabout Mini Golf.

Mighty Coconut is currently targeting a release of one new map per month. Previous releases include the Gardens of Babylon and Shangri-La maps, as part of Lost Cities, and the Sweetopia course filled with sugary goodness.

Walkabout also received a free update in April adding a new welcome island that essentially acts as a re-imagined and interactive main menu area.

walkabout mini golf el dorado

There’s lots more on the horizon for Walkabout Mini Golf as well, including upcoming licensed DLC packs. The first licensed pack will introduce a course based on the 1986 Jim Henson film Labyrinth, to be followed by another pack that will breathe new life into the island from classic puzzle game Myst, re-imagined as a minigolf course.

Walkabout Mini Golf’s El Dorado DLC course is available now on Quest and SteamVR platforms for $2.99

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Stride Multiplayer Mode Set To Launch In June For Quest, SteamVR

Joy Way confirmed that multiplayer is coming to Stride for Quest and PC VR via Steam in June, with more details to come soon.

The developers announced the news via Reddit, accompanied by a new trailer showcasing the multiplayer mode in action.

As you can see in the trailer embedded above, you’ll be able to play with a number of different players, performing parkour moves across various maps. You’ll also seemingly be able to choose from a number of different outfits for your avatar and interact with other players in some non-parkour capacities.

In a comment on Reddit, Joy Way said it will share more details on the mode next week. There’s no details on multiplayer launch date for PSVR yet, with the launch next month seemingly targeting PC via Steam and Quest platforms only. It’s unclear whether the Oculus Store release for PC VR will also receive the multiplayer update in June as well.

Multiplayer has been a long time coming for Stride. Joy Way first began testing it in Alpha on PC almost a year ago, in June 2021, with plans to later bring the mode to all platforms. That test involved a mode called ‘Zombie Horde‘, which was essentially a version of tag where a group of players were cast as survivors and another group as zombies. The latter have to chase and tag the former — the last survivor standing was the winner of the round.

In November 2021, Joy Way took the test servers down and noted that improvements would be made based on player feedback. The studio also indicated that several other multiplayer modes were in development as well — hopefully we see those in the full launch next month.

Just earlier this month, Stride was restored to the Quest store after it was made unavailable for over a month, as part of a move from Meta to unlist apps with “financial entities” based in Russia. You can find more details on that story here.