Onward – Page 9 – Augmented & Virtual Reality Confabulation

May 19, 2018

Oculus & ESL: Start der 2. Saison der eSports-VR-Liga mit über 220K US-Dollar Preisgeld

Im letzten Jahr rief Oculus gemeinsam mit Intel und der ESL die VR-eSports-Liga ins Leben, in der professionelle Teams in den beiden VR-Titeln The Unspoken und Echo Arena bis zum Finale in Kattowitz gegeneinander antraten. Kürzlich verkündet Oculus die zweite Saison der VR-Liga in Kooperation mit der ESL, in der die Kontrahenten um ein Preisgeld in Höhe von 220.000 US-Dollar miteinander konkurrieren dürfen. Zusätzlich nehmen die Veranstalter insgesamt fünf weitere kompetitive VR-Spiele in die Liga auf und verändern das Turniersystem, um für mehr Flexibilität zu sorgen.

Zweite Saison der E-Sports-VR-Liga – Neues Turniersystem und fünf weitere VR-Titel

Die zweite Saison der VR-Liga startet am 18. Mai mit dem action-reichen Magierduell The Unspoken, indem die zauberaffinen Kontrahenten einen Monat lang gegeneinander antreten, um sich einen Platz an der Spitze der Liga zu sichern.

Bereits am 20. Mai folgen die Turniere für Echo Arena, in denen die Spieler in taktischen Drei-gegen-Drei-Duellen einen Monat lang in der Schwerelosigkeit um den Sieg kämpfen. Daraufhin beginnt am 4. Juni ebenfalls einen Monat lang erstmals die Rangliste für das rasante Rennspiel Sprint Vector. Auch der bisher unveröffentlichte VR-Shooter Echo Combat soll im späteren Verlauf des Jahres Teil der Turnierszene werden.

Echo Combat

Neben diesen VR-Titeln sollen zwei weitere bisher unbekannte Wettbewerbsspiele während der Monate Juli und August bekannt gegeben werden. Danach sollen nochmals drei weitere eSports-Spiele veröffentlicht werden. Zusätzlich findet vom 16. bis 17. Juni ein Einladungsturnier für die Community des Multiplayer-Shooters Onward aus der VR Master League statt, das gleichzeitig einem guten Zweck dienen soll: Die erzielten Gewinne sollen der Wohltätigkeitsorganisation Stack Up zugutekommen, einer Organisation zur Unterstützung von Kriegsveteranen durch Gaming.

Das diesjährige Finale der Liga soll nach fünf Monaten der Turnierphase auf der Oculus Connect 5 im Oktober 2018 stattfinden. Die Teilnehmer können dieses Jahr ein Preisgeld in Höhe von 220.000 US-Dollar gewinnen und partizipieren in einem flexibleren Turniersystem. Die Teilnahme ist auf der offiziellen Webseite der ESL möglich.

(Quellen: Upload VR | Oculus Blog | ESL VR | Video: VR League Youtube)

Der Beitrag Oculus & ESL: Start der 2. Saison der eSports-VR-Liga mit über 220K US-Dollar Preisgeld zuerst gesehen auf VR∙Nerds. VR·Nerds am Werk!

May 17, 2018

Oculus Announces VR League: Season 2 in Collaboration With ESL

While esports like CS:GO and League of Legends (LoL) are massively popular, attracting ever growing numbers of fans whilst offering even bigger prize funds, the virtual reality (VR) is hot on their heels. Last year Oculus, in partnership with ESL and Intel created the VR Challenger League featuring multiplayer titles like The Unspoken and Echo Arena that anyone could enter. Today, Oculus has again teamed up with ESL for a new-look VR League: Season 2.

Echo Arena artwork

For season 2 Oculus has expanded the lineup of vidoegames available, Echo Arena and The Unspoken return but are this time joined by Survios’ Sprint Vector and military simulator Onward. Up to seven titles are said to be participating across the five-month competitive period with three more still to be revealed.

The competition begins tomorrow 18th May, with a month of magical combat in The Unspoken. This will then be followed by a month of frenzied racing in Sprint Vector starting on 4th June. The titles for July and August will be revealed nearer the time.

For Echo Arena fans a four week competition will return on 20th May. Last year Echo Arena saw 258 players across 98 teams worldwide compete. Additionally, later in the year Echo Combat will be introduced to the VR League, with its own competition.

Sprint Vector Final screenshot1

“Oculus is committed to fostering long-term growth of the VR esports ecosystem, and Season 2—with its new format and additional games—is an amazing next step on this exciting journey,” says Oculus Head of Esports Christopher K. McKelvy in a statement.

Oculus’ VR League will also support the VR Master League with an Onward Invitational event from 16th – 17th June. The live event will be held at the ESL UK Studios, also benefiting Stack Up, a charity supporting US and Allied veterans with gaming.

VR League Season 2 will feature a prize pool in excess of $220K USD. The VR League is open only to legal residents of the 50 U.S./D.C., Canada, Austria, Belgium, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Iceland, Ireland, Italy, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, and United Kingdom, who are over the age of 13. For further updates on the tournament, keep reading VRFocus.

May 12, 2018

‘Onward’ Community Helps Raise Over $7,000 for Deceased Player’s Family

Onward (2017) is a military-style VR shooter with some of the most ardent players who regularly engage in a sort of amped-up version of paintball. It plays host to fierce competition, and with it comes a certain camaraderie that has bound players together in one of the most hardcore userships. An avid player passed away recently, and in an outpouring of support, many members of the Onward community responded by donating to his fiancé and young child via a GoFundMe fundraiser.

Austin Aiken, better know in Onward as ‘Capptin’, was a foreman in the tree service industry in Clearwater, Florida. Aiken passed away on May 1st at the age of 26 in a motorcycle accident. We didn’t know Capptin, so his family speaks on his behalf, taken from the GoFundMe description:

Austin was tragically killed in a motorcycle accident the evening of May 1, 2018. He leaves behind his fiancé Nikki McKenzie and his 2 year old son Aidan Aiken. Austin did not have any savings or life insurance. All donations received will go directly to Nikki and baby Aidan to help them stay in the home they shared with Austin.

At the time of this writing, the total amount has reached more than $7,800 through the family’s GoFundMe fundraiser. Around 16 Onward players have publicly donated, putting ‘Onward’ after their gamertag.

Onward developer Downpour Interactive also issued a statement in their latest update, which will see a pair of dog tags added to the starting area as an act of commemoration.

We also wanted to take a moment to acknowledge the recent passing away of a beloved member of the Onward community, Austin Aiken (better known in the community as ‘Capptin’). We found out the news early yesterday and that Austin’s fiancé had started a GoFundMe fundraiser to help with their finances as a result of his passing. We are absolutely blown away by the generosity of our community on the fundraiser and we’re extremely proud to have such incredible people playing our game. As a tribute to Austin, we’re adding a small commemoration into the game, in the form of dog tags in the loadout tent. Our thoughts and prayers go out to Austin’s friends and family.

– – — – –

VR is like a stem cell; it brings rise to many different things. It’s an outlet for creation, a place to play and explore – both alone and in the company of others—and while it no doubt offers a measure of insulation from the harsh realities outside, it can also bring us closer together, closing both the physical and mental gaps that separate us.

Our thoughts and hopes go out to Aiken’s family in their time of need.

The post ‘Onward’ Community Helps Raise Over $7,000 for Deceased Player’s Family appeared first on Road to VR.

May 4, 2018

Onward’s Next Update Revamps Inventory, Revisits Fan Fav Map

The next update for Downpour Interactive’s ever-popular Onward is nearly here, and it’s going to bring some big changes to the military VR shooter.

Update 1.2 is hitting in just over a weeks’ time on May 11th and will include an entirely re-done inventory system. This will make items droppable and even allow other players to share objects from their inventories. That means others can give you ammo when you’re running low and more. You’ll also be able to use any item with either your left or right hand. This could be a game changer for the multiplayer shooter, especially in team-based modes.

Next up is the return of a fan favorite map, renamed Cargo, while the Bazaar map can now be played at night. You can also find a new weapon, the TAR-21 rifle and many of the game’s weapon models have been upgraded. Also on the visuals front is updated lighting and shadows for every map.

Finally, as expected, there’ll be a wealth of bug fixes and tweaks in the latest update. Onward remains one of the best multiplayer shooters in VR, so now’s the perfect time to get onboard if you haven’t already.

Tagged with: onward

January 23, 2018

Onward am Wochenende kostenlos zocken (Rift)

Es gibt zwar unzählige Indie-Shooter für VR-Brillen, doch Onward ist definitiv eines der wenigen Spiele, das eine große Community aufbauen und halten konnte. Um die Maps dennoch mit frischen Pixelblut zu versorgen, wird der Titel am kommenden Wochenende komplett kostenlos spielbar sein. Der taktische Shooter steht auf Steam und auf Oculus Home bereit, jedoch werden nur Oculus-Home-Nutzer an dem gratis Wochenende partizipieren dürfen.

Onward am Wochenende kostenlos zocken

Onward ist vom Konzept her ein relativ klassischer 5v5 Shooter. Der Hauptunterschied zu Counter-Strike und Co. ist die Eingabe über die Motion Controller, das Nachladen und Zielen mit „echten“ Bewegungen und natürlich die VR-Ansicht. Ansonsten wurde das Rad nicht neu erfunden und genau dieser Umstand begeistert auch viele Fans, denn die Entwickler vereinen eine neue Technologie mit einem vertrauten Konzept. Selbst Valve konnte von Onward überzeugt werden. Das Unternehmen lud im letzten Jahr den Erfinder in die eigenen Büros zum Austausch und gemeinsamen Arbeiten ein.

Falls ihr Onward noch nicht besitzt und eine Oculus Rift oder eine HTC Vive mit Revive besitzt, dann solltet ihr unbedingt einen Blick in das Spiel werfen. Durch die aktive Community ist Onward eines der wenigen VR-Multiplayer-Spiele, bei denen zu jeder Tageszeit spannende Mitspieler gefunden werden.

Das kostenlose Wochenende wird vom 25.01.2018 um 19 Uhr bis zum 29.01.2018 um 9 Uhr laufen. Hier könnt ihr das Spiel in diesem Zeitraum kostenlos herunterladen.

(Quelle: Oculus)

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January 22, 2018

Multiplayer FPS Onward Holding Free Weekend on Oculus Rift

Military first-person simulator Onward arrived on the Oculus Store several months ago, created by indie developer Downpour Interactive. For those that have yet to try the videogame out, the studio will be offering a free weekend to those interested in some tactical, multiplayer gunfights.

Onward screenshot 1 Featuring 5v5 online battles where players have one life, no heads-up display, and no crosshairs, Onward also includes solo/co-op modes against AI opponents. To add to the realism Onward features dynamic time of day, weather effects, and multiple environments and scenarios to play through, as well as an artificial locomotion system to make the hectic gameplay as comfortable as possible.

The Onward free weekend is only available on the Oculus Store for Oculus Rift – there’s nothing on Steam for HTC Vive owners – beginning this Friday 25th January at 6pm GMT (1pm ET), running through to Monday 29th January at 8am GMT (3am ET). As it’s normally priced at £18.99 GBP a free weekend is a good way of trialing the shooter before purchasing.

Onward has over thirty different weapons to choose from, with a number of mods available in the game’s lobby, including red dot sights, flashlights, 12x scopes, and more to add a tactical advantage to each combat scenario. Recent additions include a Jungle map and a new game mode called “Evac”, letting new players dive in with friends and get to know the mechanics. This is especially useful for newbies as Onward doesn’t feature a ranking system, so will feature players of every skill level. And since the title has been on Steam Early Access since August 2016 – Onward only came to Oculus Store in November 2017 – expect there to be some highly proficient players.

Onward screenshot 3

Don’t forget that there’s more than one videogame running a free weekend this Saturday and Sunday. A little harder to get into, Survios will be running its closed beta for Sprint Vector. Starting last weekend – if you were quick on the ball VRFocus gave away some codes – the studio enlisted the help of players to test out the experience featuring the Fluid Locomotion System. Sign-ups are still available although not guaranteed.

If you’re unsuccessful with Sprint Vector then at least there’s Onward for some free gaming fun. For any further updates keep reading VRFocus.

January 22, 2018

Play ‘Onward’ Tactical Multiplayer Shooter for Free on Rift This Weekend

Onward, the tactical multiplayer shooter for Vive and Rift, is getting another free weekend – this time for Rift players on Oculus Home.

The free weekend begins January 25th at 1:00 PM ET and goes
until the 29th at 3:00 AM ET (your time here). Check out Onward on Oculus Home here.

Created by Downpour Interactive, Onward offers 5v5 online multiplayer, as well as solo/coop vs AI mode, and objective-based gameplay. With 30 different weapons at your disposal, all of which are modeled after real-world military weaponry, the focus of Onward is decidedly on creating realistic battles. Fans craving the usual assortment of heads-up displays or cross-hairs seen in other shooters need not apply.

Normally priced at $25, the free weekend should give you a chance to see if the mil sim-paced game is right for you. At this point in Early Access, there isn’t a ranking system in place, so expect to meet all levels of skill when you first start playing. This can be daunting, considering how much of a hardcore player base the game has garnered in the year and half since it launched into Early Access, but the free weekend should level the playing field somewhat as a glut of new players enter the game.

The post Play ‘Onward’ Tactical Multiplayer Shooter for Free on Rift This Weekend appeared first on Road to VR.

January 2, 2018

Fallout 4, Onward Among Steam’s Highest-Grossing VR Games Of 2017

Plenty of great VR titles came to the HTC Vive, Oculus Rift and Windows Mixed Reality headsets in 2017, but which sold the best? Steam has given us some idea.

Valve’s digital gaming store recently released its ‘Best of 2017’ lists, which recognizes the top earning games as measured by gross revenue for the past year. VR has its own section with Platinum, Gold, Silver and Bronze categories. It’s not clear as what revenue developers had to make to earn a spot in any section.

Several of VR’s best-known games and experiences feature in the Platinum category along with a few surprises. Despite releasing in the final weeks of the year on only being optimized for the HTC Vive, Bethesda’s Fallout 4 VR still found a place in the list, as did big games and apps like Tilt Brush, Superhot VR, Job Simulator, Arizona Sunshine, Raw Data and Rick and Morty: Virtual Rick-Ality. Other VR launch titles and indie efforts like Space Pirate Trainer, Audioshield and Onward also featured.

Perhaps the most unexpected editions, though, are RUST’s Hot Dogs, Horseshoes & Hand Grenades, which released in 2016, and Free Live’s brutal brawler, Gorn. Both of these games remain in Early Access for now.

The Gold category is also filled with some expected runner-ups. Rocksteady Games’ Batman: Arkham VR and id Software’s Doom VFR are perhaps the biggest names on the list, but welcome additions like Dead Effect 2 VR, I Expect You To Die, QuiVR, Paranormal Activity: The Lost Soul and Vanishing Realms show that players are seeking out well-made content with plenty to offer like The Talos Principle VR.

Surprisingly, some of 2017’s biggest releases don’t feature until the Silver category. Rockstar Games’ L.A. Noire: The VR Case Files, for example, may well have suffered from releasing just a few days after the $59.99 Fallout 4. Cloudhead Games’ The Gallery Episode 2: Heart of the Emberstone and Stress Level Zero’s Duck Season also featured here. Finally in the Bronze category are plenty of other notable inclusions like Killing Floor: Incursion, The Invisible Hours and Form.

Now that 2017 is behind us we’re looking forward to lots of big new releases in 2018. Will any of them claim a spot on next year’s list?

Tagged with: Fallout 4 VR, onward

November 21, 2017

Onward Creator: What’s Next ‘Might Be A Bit Controversial’

Onward remains to be one of the most popular and ambitious VR games on the market with almost 2,000 user reviews on Steam nearing a perfect 10/10 rating. When it originally released into Early Access on Steam over a year ago for HTC Vive it took the VR gaming world by surprise with its attention to detail, intense realism, and laser-sharp focus on delivering a fully immersive military-sim shooter. Not bad for one guy that dropped out of college to make his dream game.

After a year of updates, working out of the Valve offices, and hiring a small team of dedicated artists and programmers to work alongside him, Dante Buckley has his eyes set on the future for both Onward and his indie development studio, Downpour Interactive.

“I knew it would be popular, but I never expected it to be this popular,” Buckley tells me during a recent interview. His modesty is a constant theme every time I’ve spoken to him, even though he is technically now several peoples’ boss. “This is my first time actually leading a team. With my age and experience there has been a lot to learn but thankfully they’re really receptive and want to make fun games and willing to be led. So far everything has been going pretty well. They make my life a lot easier.”

In that statement he’s alluding to what his life was like when he was working on Onward basically by himself. With regards to his work-life balance, there simply wasn’t any. His life during that time was literally eat, sleep, and code. That’s it. It was unhealthy and unsustainable.

“It was hell,” Buckley admits. “I’d wake up, go to work by sitting on the computer all day, basically thinking in code while staying up until I couldn’t anymore, then go right back to sleep and start it all over again the next day. I was addicted and I loved it, but yeah. If I were to start another company I’d make sure to setup a structure in the beginning. It was bad.”

All that hard work has paid off though. When Onward first launched it was a relatively straight forward game with only a handful of maps and really just one competitive multiplayer game mode that tasked teams with killing each other or completing a singular objective. Now there are multiple different ways to play, including cooperative multiplayer against AI opponents, which help the game feel more fully realized.

To top things off on this long journey thus far, Onward finally released on Oculus Home for Oculus Rift and Touch officially two weeks ago — I found out because an Oculus PR representative told me so and actually was in charge of setting up the interview. This means in the past 12 months Buckley has gone from working at the Valve offices to being represented by Oculus’ PR team, which I find interesting.

“I feel like it’s just smart business to work with both equally and get the game out to as many people as possible so that they can have the best experience possible,” Buckley explains. “Just having it on both with SteamVR support and Oculus SDK support and working with both companies is important. In a lot of ways both of them helped shape who I am with Steam itself and Oculus even going back to the Kickstarter days and seeing them form and inspire me to get into VR.”

We still don’t really know what’s coming next, but that didn’t stop Buckley from dropping some hints during the interview. “What’s next will be announced before the end of the year and it might be a bit controversial when we decide to talk about it, but overall I think people will like it,” he says. “Most will be excited, but with any community sees changes there is backlash sometimes. It’s an announcement, within the next month or so. It’s exciting for sure.”

I tried pressing him to find out if these are changes coming to Onward or if this is news about a brand new game and all he would say is that it’s an announcement coming soon, so that’s not much to go on. In the past he’s alluded to a desire to work on emotionally-charged narrative-based experiences, so perhaps this will be a new game announcement and not anything to do with Onward.

For more details on Onward make sure to check out our Field Guide that’s full of tips to help you excel on the battlefield. You can buy Onward on Steam for Vive and Rift or on Oculus Home for Rift. Let us know what you think of the game down in the comments below!

Tagged with: downpour interactive, onward

November 11, 2017

Popular SteamVR Shooter ‘Onward’ Launches for Oculus Rift in Early Access With Cross-play

Onward (2016), the popular VR FPS known for serving up its ‘no-frills’ squad-based action, is now in Early Access on the Oculus Store. The tactical mil-sim shooter, which aims to appeal to fans of traditional shooters like Rainbow Six, Ghost Recon, or Counter-Strike, now features cross-play between both versions of the game—purchased through either Oculus or Steam.

Onward has supported Rift through SteamVR since it moved into Steam Early Access back in August 2016, although admittedly the Touch optimization was less than ideal until recently, with Touch getting a fresh button remapping a few days prior to launch on the Oculus Store.

As a bid to appeal to traditional FPS-players, Onward doesn’t feature teleportation—a common method of traversing large maps in VR—but rather has what you might call a ‘traditional’ locomotion scheme: smooth forward movement is locked to the physical direction of your hand, leaving you with the ability to look in a direction regardless of where you might be headed. As a locomotion style built initially for Vive’s trackpad, it’s had somewhat of a mixed reception on both platforms; either you can stomach it, or you can’t. Onward also offers a front-facing mode for Rift players that mitigates some of the discomfort by allowing snap-turning, and also lets you control your forward, backward and strafe controls via hand position and Touch’s joysticks themselves.

Oculus rates Onward a ‘moderately comfortable’ experience.

Onward dev and founder of Downpour Interactive Dante Buckley, who remains the driving force behind the game, says the team tightened down on Touch’s button mapping after its free weekend two months ago.

“We took a lot of the feedback from the free weekend and used it to help us shape a better control scheme for Onward,” says Buckley. “This new default control scheme is default, and we’ve added in some options for players to further tweak the experience to suit their preferences.”

The Early Access game features objective based game modes in 5v5 online multiplayer, and solo/coop multiplayer vs AI. With 30 different customizable weapons available, there’s plenty of ways to support your squad.

As a game that requires players to use coordination, communication, and most importantly marksmanship skill to complete objectives, giving players on both platforms equal attention is fundamental to keeping things fair. While the locomotion scheme is still an acquired taste for many, the hardcore adherents to the Onward way of life will continue to proselytize the game for its ability to deliver a traditional shooting experience—something many big studios have shied away from.