Category: psvr game

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‘Beat Saber’ Update Adds Three New Free Tracks from Artist Camellia

A Beat Saber update today adds three new tracks from EDM artist Camellia to all of the game’s platforms, as well as some new maps to existing songs for the game’s ‘One Saber’ mode.

Beat Games announced today that Beat Saber has gotten three new free tracks by Japanese EDM artist Camellia, which the studio says is “extremely well-known among rhythm game community and our players.”

Along with the new tracks, the studio said in its Steam announcement that the update adds some new maps to some of the game’s existing songs for the ‘One Saber’ mode.

Prior to this release, Beat Games has been teasing that players seeking a serious challenge would have something to look forward to, and it looks like ‘Cycle Hit’ will be the song to beat. The studio shared a full playthrough of the song on Expert+ and it certainly looks like a frenzy:

The new tracks come after the studio’s second paid DLC album, OST2, which offered up a cross-album collection of tracks from hit artist Imagine Dragons. Beat Games says they’re hard at work on OST3, but haven’t revealed any of its tracks or a release date yet. The studio’s CEO, Jaroslav Beck, announced earlier this month that he was stepping down to focus more of his time on the game’s music; Beck had produced the game’s original tracks.

In addition to new music headed to the game, the studio has also been working on an entirely new and intriguing ‘360 mode’ which we previewed last month.

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Ubisoft Launches ‘Space Junkies’ Non-VR Open Beta Today

Space Junkies (2019), Ubisoft Montpellier’s VR arena shooter, seems to be hunting for a larger playerbase as the studio today launched an open beta for non-VR PC users.

The open beta is available from July 25th – August 7th via Uplay (PC only) and includes cross-play with the platform’s standard mix of VR users.

To access the non-VR open beta, visit the official webpage to add it to your Ubisoft account, which will let you install the open beta via the ‘Free Game’ section in Uplay.

The open beta supports mouse & keyboard, and gamepad. Unlike the VR version, which suggests users have at least a Core i5-4590 or Ryzen5 1500X CPU, and a GTX 970 (4 GB) or RX 480X (8GB) GPU, the version for traditional monitors is predictably much more modest in the specs department.

At minimum, the PC-only version game (for 60FPS on low settings) requires a Core i5 2500k or AMD FX 6350, and Nvidia GTX660 or AMD Radeon R9 270X. Recommended specs for 82 FPS on ultra graphics settings are a Core i5 4590 with Nvidia GTX780.

It’s unsure what advantages/disadvantages PC players will have over their headset-wearing counterparts, although the beta will likely reveal just how balanced Ubisoft Montpellier has been able to make it.

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The studio has been quick to issue post-launch updates however, and has improved a few of the things we mentioned in our full review; we gave it a solid [7.7/10], so whatever the open beta reveals, it would be uncharacteristic of the studio to simply throw a massive advantage to PC users. It’s also unsure how the addition of traditional monitor support will affect its position as a budding VR eSport, as it would be the only game in ESL’s VR League that includes a player population using non-VR devices.

Space Junkies supports a wide swath of VR devices (with cross-play) including HTC Vive, Oculus Rift, Valve Index, Windows VR headsets, and PSVR. The game typically retails for $20; at the time of this writing the game is available through Humble Bundle for just $7.

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PSVR Shooter ‘StarBlood Arena’ Goes Dark Forever Starting July 25th

WhiteMoon Dreams, the developers behind PSVR arena shooter StarBlood Arena (2017), released a statement recently bidding farewell to its community. Earlier this year, the studio announced that their online-only game would be going dark; the official date for server shutdown is Thursday, July 25th.

A studio spokesperson took to Reddit late last week to offer a final goodbye and to assemble the game’s ultimate ‘Wednesday Night Wars’, a weekly call to the game’s playerbase to meet up and populate the servers every Wednesday.

Here’s an excerpt from what will likely be the studio’s last StarBlood Arena communiqué:

Of course this farewell hurts, but there’s some solace we can take in knowing that we’ve made so many friends – as have our players. I’m talking about lifelong bonds that you can’t quantify with sales figures or DAU analytics. I’ve received text messages with photos of SBA players meeting up in real life and heard stories of our players banding together during tough personal tragedies in life. Hell, I even had the entire community comfort me when I lost my dog and my favorite aunt in the same day, which for the record sucks and 10/10 would not play again. Point being, it’s very sad that we are sun setting, BUT the love in our hearts for each other and this game can’t ever be taken from us. Hey I feel kinda like I’m giving a Braveheart speech here.

Anyway, next Wednesday, please go fucking CRAZY. Play as much as you can, this is the final WnW. The flier says it starts at 6pm PST, but that’s more to pay homage to the tradition of the usual start time of the event – so play as much as you can before we go to bed. The event ends when the servers go down because the party don’t stop and such.

Before the game’s total shutdown, the studio had proposed the idea to the game’s publisher Sony of possibly including an offline mode that would populate the game with bots, however the same spokesperson says that the decision ultimately was rejected.

“Trust me, that’s what we’ve been fighting for, I get where you’re coming from,” the spokesperson said, answering a community question about the possibility of an offline mode.

StarBlood Arena first launched in April 2017 to a decidedly less than energetic reception. Like many online-only VR games, it struggled to gain the critical mass of players, which invariably led to a vicious cycle of low engagement levels and poor hourly user counts.

Before StarBlood Arena, WhiteMoon Dreams partnered with Private Press Interactive to launch a successful Kickstarter campaign to help fund non-VR title Warmachine: Tactics (2014), which garnered the studios over $1.5 million in backer funds. Most recently the studio released Super Life of Pixel (2018), a retro side-scroller for console and PC.

Although WhiteMoon hasn’t released any specific further plans to work in VR, the studio concluded the statement above by saying “Goodnight my sweet starbabies. We’ll be back.”

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‘Blood & Truth’ Free Demo Lands on PSVR Today

If you were skeptical about the $40 price tag on Sony’s latest PSVR exclusive, Blood & Truth (2019), the company has some good news: you can now play a healthy slice of the game for free starting today.

Sony says in a blog post that players will get to infiltrate an enemy compound, engage in an intense rooftop shootout and take part in a car chase—something the studio calls a “gameplay-heavy slice” of the game.

We gave the full game a solid [8.5/10] in our review for its strong gunplay coupled with its thoughtful, high-octane story that truly makes you feel like you’re in action hero ripped from the silver screen.

And while we finished the game in around four hours, Sony’s London Studio is actually getting ready to push out a new update for July 25th that they say includes some “fun post-game extras.”

We aren’t sure what those are yet, but it’s only a few more days away.

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‘I Expect You to Die’ Gets Brand New Level on All Supported Platforms

Schell Games announced their hit VR spy puzzle game I Expect You To Die (2017) just got a new bit of free DLC that brings with it a brand new level.

Update (July 17th, 2019): The game’s ‘Seat of Power’ update is now available on all supported platforms.

The original article follows below:

Original Article (June 10th, 2019): Called ‘Seat of Power’, Schell Games says in a press statement that the new level begins with the player placed at the head of the table in Dr. Zor’s boardroom, where you’re challenged to retrieve information and solve a series of puzzles to escape safely and avoid death. This sounds like more or less business as usual for the spy-themed game, although any addition to the critically acclaimed title is a welcome one.

‘Seat of Power’ is slated to arrive on July 16th on all supported platforms including PSVR, Oculus Quest, and PC VR headsets via Steam, the Oculus Store, and Windows Store.

The studio also mentioned it has another free level in the works too, which is slated to release sometime in late 2019, although there’s no information as to what the next DLC drop with entail.

In the meantime, you can check out the trailer below:

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SDCC 2019: ‘Doctor Who VR’ Game Lets You Pilot a Fully Functional TARDIS

At San Diego Comic Con (SDCC) this year, Oculus and BBC Studios are giving US crowds their first chance to demo the upcoming VR game Doctor Who: The Edge of Time.

The demo will be available at the BBC AMERICA Booth (#4129), which also includes a sneak peek of the show’s beloved space-time travel device, the TARDIS. SDCC is taking place from July 18th – 21st.

In the demo, fans will be able to co-pilot the TARDIS with the Doctor (voiced by Jodie Whittaker), and will be able to explore what the creators call “every nook and cranny and travelling across space and time to a series of wondrous locations, all within virtual reality.”

Image courtesy Maze Theory, BBC Studios

Developed by Maze Theory, Doctor Who: The Edge of Time is being created in close collaboration with the production team at BBC Studios.

To build a screen-accurate version of the TARDIS in VR, Maze Theory says in a press statement that they took “hundreds of photographs” using photogrammetry, which aims to bring a measure of photorealism to the game.

Image courtesy Maze Theory, BBC Studios

Taking over 1,200 hours to recreate the TARDIS, the team now only aimed to recreate the look of the space-time machine, but also set out to recreate the entire functionality of the controls as true to the show (including the infamous custard cream biscuit dispenser).

Doctor Who: The Edge of Time is described as a ‘feature-length’ VR game, and is slated to land on PSVR, Oculus Rift, Oculus Quest, HTC Vive and Vive Cosmos this September.

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Psychological Horror ‘Rise of Insanity’ Comes to PS4 with PSVR Support, Trailer Here

Rise of Insanity (2018) is a first-person psychological horror game that first came to PC and SteamVR-compatible headsets via Early Access back in summer 2017. Now, Poland-based Red Limb Studio has released its horror game on PS4, which includes support for PSVR.

Set in America in the ’70s, you step into the shoes of renowned psychologist Dr. Stephen Dowell; he’s dealing with a mysterious patient showing “contradictory symptoms” of some serious mental disorders. You’re tasked with uncovering the truth of what happened to your wife and child, and figuring out how the new patient is involved.

The studio says they took inspiration from movies such as The Shining, The Exorcist and Silent Hill.

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Like the PC VR version, the game doesn’t support tracked motion controllers, supporting only the DualShock 4 gamepad. The entire game is playable in VR, however Red Limb says in the store description that Rise of Insanity is “moderately intense in VR and may make some players uncomfortable.”

Although it’s not entirely clear why that’s the case, the studio notes on the game’s Steam FAQ that the PC VR version uses free locomotion (not teleportation), which can cause discomfort in some users.

Rise of Insanity is available starting today on the PlayStation Store for $13/€15/£12.

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Beat Games CEO Steps Down to Focus on ‘Beat Saber’ Music

Beat Games, the studio behind Beat Saber (2018), announced that company CEO Jaroslav Beck will be stepping down from his position to further pursue music deals for the studio’s block-slashing rhythm game.

Beat Games says in a multi-part tweet that Vladimir Hrincar, the co-creator behind Beat Saber (along with Jan Ilavsky), is taking over the role of the CEO.

Image courtesy Jaroslav Beck

Beck, known for creating much of the game’s original tracks, initially made a name for himself in the games industry by producing music compositions for several franchises, including music for Overwatch short films, an introduction trailer to StarCraft: Legacy of the Void, and trailers for EA Games’ Battlefield.

In 2016, Beck founded Epic Music Productions, a studio focusing on soundtrack music composition for both the games and movie industry.

In May 2018, Beck took over as CEO of the newly formed studio Beat Games, which was previously named Hyperbolic Magnetism.

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Beat Games says the transition will give Beck “much bigger flexibility in pursuing music opportunities and initiatives for Beat Saber and continue to deliver the best music content for our community.”

According to Beck’s LinkedIn, he now holds the position ‘Head of Music at Beat Games’.

The game’s most recent deal brought in a DLC pack with 10 playable tracks from American pop-rock band Imagine Dragons. The studio previously released a DLC pack from various electronic artists under the Monstercat recording label.

Beck is currently working on Beat Saber’s OST Vol. III, which still doesn’t have a release date yet at the time of this writing.

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CCP Games Releases First Major Update to ‘SPARC’ Despite 2017 VR Pullback

In late 2017, CCP Games shuttered their VR-producing studios, shifting their focus to PC and mobile games after selling off the Newcastle branch behind EVE: Valkryie (2016) and closing down the Atlanta-based branch behind SPARC (2017). Although CCP made a commitment to keep servers from going dark, it comes as great surprise that the studio has actually pushed out a significant update to the futuristic VR sports game.

The update, called the ‘Championship Update’, is said to include new cross-platform modes, including Custom and Ranked matches, and an improved Spectator Mode. In a press statement, CCP calls it Sparc’s “first major update.”

Here’s a quick breakdown of the updates landing today on all supported platforms:

  • Quick Play – This is the fastest way to get into the action with other players. Select the desired game mode (Basic or Advanced) and join through Quick Play, Public Custom Game or Create Your Own Game (to which other Quick Play players can join).
  • Custom Games – Browse a list of available games or choose to create a custom game with the desired game mode and privacy settings. Optional password settings are provided for both players and spectators.
  • Ranked – Compete in a cross-platform competitive mode using the Advanced rules. Players remain unranked until they have completed their first 10 matches, after which their recent record determines their tier (Legend, Diamond, Gold, Silver, Bronze) and position (1-100) within that tier.

Spectating tools have also changed somewhat. Custom games can be joined as a headless spectator that won’t occupy a player slot; the spectator is invisible to both players and other spectators. Players can also cycle through preset camera locations to view the action or free-fly using their controllers to propel themselves around the arena.

Sparc is available for $20 on Steam (Rift, Vive, Index), the Oculus Store (Rift), and the PlayStation Store (PSVR).

The studio hasn’t made any indication whether today’s update signals a move back towards active VR development, although it’s clear the studio has had enough success with Sparc to merit the manhours needed to push out today’s update. We’ve asked CCP for comment and will update when/if we hear back.

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Arena Shooter ‘Telefrag’ to Launch on PC VR & PSVR Next Week, Trailer Here

Anshar Studios, the team behind VR game Detached (2017), today announced that their latest project, Telefrag VR, is headed to PSVR and SteamVR-compatible VR headsets next week.

The 1v1 arena shooter is slated to arrive—including cross-platform support—on July 19th. The game currently has a Steam page (Rift, Vive, Index, Windows VR), however it will also be coming to the Oculus Store for Rift, and the PlayStation Store for PSVR. Telefrag VR will be priced at $25/€25.

We first got our hands on Telefrag VR at last year’s Gamescom, where we got to experience the topsy-turvy arenas and run around the game’s impossible geometry. Arenas are typically dotted with portals in addition to mind-bending ramps that show there is truly no right-side up to the world.

Besides your arsenal of weapons, one of Telefrag’s claim to fame is the player’s ability to teleport inside the other player, effectively killing them instantly (hence ‘telefrag’). Every weapon is also said to feature two firing modes and a unique teleportation attack too.

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Image courtesy Anshar Studios
Image courtesy Anshar Studios
Image courtesy Anshar Studios
Image courtesy Anshar Studios
Image courtesy Anshar Studios

Guns are purchased with coin (earned in-game) and grouped by the player into three selected loadouts. Like an intergalactic game of winner-takes-all, players wager their loadouts, and take the other player’s stuff when victorious. Both players also receive currency at the end of the match based on their score, and there’s also the option for the loser to buy back their lost loadout. A currency multiplier is applied for each match won, effectively introducing a sort of ‘win streak’ mechanic.

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As for locomotion, you might have also noticed players dashing around in the trailer; the dash mechanic comes alongside free locomotion. Your dash-teleport movements make both noise and leave a whispy trail behind you, so sneaking up on your opponent is much easier said than done. In my Gamescom hands-on, I felt the studio has pushed the envelope on what’s comfortable, although I admittedly had no issues thanks to a few clever mechanics to keep my lunch in my stomach where it belonged.

Check out our hands-on to learn more about Telefrag VR.

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