Sony is quietly releasing the new hardware refresh of PlayStation VR they announced last month in a newly revealed Skyrim VR bundle which delivers everything you need to jump into Tamriel with sword and fire spell in hand (except the PS4 and TV, that is).
For $450, the bundle includes the PSVR headset (CUH-ZVR2), PlayStation Camera, two PlayStation Move controllers, and Skyrim VR with Dawnguard, Hearthfire, and Dragonborn DLC. An updated demo disc also comes in the package, providing 13 game demos. Pre-orders are available in the US at Amazon with delivery slated for Skyrim VR’s November 17th launch.
image courtesy Sony
First seen on PSVR’s US site nonchalantly mentioned in the FAQ, Sony is bringing a minor hardware refresh to PSVR that promises to erase a few pain points. The updated headset features integrated audio, a slimmer connection cable, native support for High Dynamic Range (HDR) pass-through via its new Processor Unit—all while being 10g lighter. The current PSVR model (CUH-ZVR1) technically supports HDR pass-through, but you have to fiddle with HDMI cables every time you want to enable it, or buy an external switchbox if you wanted the clarity and maximum color reproduction the PS4 can provide.
You’ll be able to tell which unit a bundle carries by looking at the box, although admittedly that is easier said than done when looking at online listings, as it seems Sony is trying their best to not make a fuss out of the hardware refresh.
In fact, it was first thought the PSVR + Gran Turismo Sport bundle, which launches November 10th, would also contain the new updated PSVR, but a hard-to-read image confirms that the previous version (CUH-ZVR1) will be in the box.
image courtesy Sony
Besides the fact Skyrim VR is poised to be an instant fan favorite, the fact that new VR users get the very best bundle currently on offer, which includes the full-length game basically for free when you consider the current price of a the ‘all-in’ launch bundle is exactly $450—well, you can guess what’s going to be under a few trees this Christmas. That calculates out at $60 savings; the price when you buy Skyrim VR alone.
To tide yourselves over, check out the new TV spot for Skyrim VR that does its best to communicate just how immersive VR should feel.
When Bethesda Softworks announced the Creation Club back at this year’s Electronic Entertainment Expo (E3) the initial reaction was less than positive – as a quick glance at the like/dislike ratio for the announcement trailer will attest to. The vast majority of the Bethesda audience immediately connected what was being said in regards to Fallout 4 and The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim – Special Edition with events back in 2015. At that time Bethesda and Valve released paid mods for Skyrim onto Steam and the result was… messy. Both in the implementation of the system and the resultant fan backlash.
Bethesda have, since then, been working hard to underline that Creation Club most certainly is not that. “Mods will remain a free and open system where anyone can create and share what they’d like.” They explain on the official site “Also, we won’t allow any existing mods to be retrofitted into Creation Club, it must all be original content. Most of the Creation Club content is created internally, some with external partners who have worked on our games, and some by external Creators. All the content is approved, curated, and taken through the full internal dev cycle; including localization, polishing, and testing. This also guarantees that all content works together. We’ve looked at many ways to do “paid mods”, and the problems outweigh the benefits.” Before tellingly adding. “We’ve encountered many of those issues before.”
That being said, the Creation Club does use a storefront that does use credits bought with real money – which will explain why Bethesda’s apparent half-way house between what they tried to implement in 2015 and the unregulated mod community that has existed to date has still to win over many. And likely won’t.
But with new items, abilities, and gameplay coming to two of Bethesda’s key tentpole products, will it possible that its virtual reality (VR) adaptions – Fallout 4 VR and The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim VR – will also be receiving additional content created by Bethesda Games Studios and its partners? The answer is apparently, no. As confirmed in a recent response to a community discussion on Bethesda’s message board.
“There are no plans to release Creation Club content for either VR title.” Replied Bethesda Games Studios’ Community Content Manager Andrew Griffiths, posting under his community username of ‘Cartogriffi’. Before referring users back to an August interview given by Betheda’s Vice President Pete Hines about the company’s thoughts on VR going into it.
Whilst there will be no official support Griffiths was pragmatic as to whether or not the existing mods and content could be converted in some way by the community.
“We have some pretty resourceful fans, and they may figure out how to run mods unofficially, at least on the PC. But it’s worth noting that anything impacting performance is going to hit you a lot harder in VR.”
Fallout 4 VR is due for release for the HTC Vive on 12th December 2017 while The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim VR will be out later this month on 17th November 2017 for the PlayStation VR. It is also confirmed that Fallout 4 VR will also not be receiving any of the existing DLC for the title, something previopusly indicated in June. Be sure to read VRFocus‘ previews for both Fallout 4 VR and Skyrim VR and we’ll be sure to bring you more in the run up to launch on both titles, as well as Bethesda’s other VR offering, DOOM VFR.
Neben Doom VFRzählt Skyrim VR zu den begehrtesten Neuerscheinungen des Jahres. Seit Entwicklerstudio Bethesda das Veröffentlichungsdatum für den AAA-Titel nannte, lecken sich die Fans die Finger nach dem Spiel. Auf einer privaten PlayStation-Veranstaltung in San Francisco konnten Journalisten die neueste Demo-Version des Spiels testen und berichteten über die Vor- und Nachteile der VR-Edition von The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim.
Skyrim VR – Smooth Movement oder Teleportation
Die amerikanischen Journalisten von Upload VR konnten die neueste vorgestellte Demo-Version von Skyrim VR auf der Veranstaltung anspielen und berichteten über ihre Erfahrungen mit dem Titel. Entsprechend erhalten wir Einblicke über die Fortbewegungsmethode, Steuerung und die Grafik des Spiels. Der Spieler hat dem Bericht zufolge die Wahl zwischen Dualshock-4- oder PlayStation-Move-Controller. Beide Controller werden vom Spiel unterstützt und bringen jeweils eigenen Vor- und Nachteile mit sich.
So kann man sich mit dem Move-Controllern im Optionsmenüs zwischen Smooth Locomotion und Teleportation entscheiden. Auch die Drehgeschwindigkeit ist hier nach individuellen Wünschen einstellbar. Zur Fortbewegung zeigt man mit dem linken Controller in die gewünschte Richtung und hält den festgelegten Move-Knopf gedrückt. Dadurch bewegt sich der virtuelle Charakter vorwärts. Zur Drehung um die eigene Achse nutzt man die Knöpfe des rechten Controllers. Dies ist dem Tester zufolge zunächst ungewohnt, jedoch fühlt es sich nach einiger Zeit durchaus natürlich an und bringt ein immersives Spielgefühl mit sich.
Allerdings zeigen sich in Kampfsituationen Probleme mit dieser Form der Steuerung, denn die linke Hand kann nicht gleichzeitig für den Kampf und die Fortbewegung genutzt werden. Dadurch muss man sich beispielsweiße entscheiden, ob man mit einem Schild blocken oder zur Seite springen möchte.
Durch die Nutzung der Dualshock-4-Controller entstehen keine solche Schwierigkeiten. Dafür büßt man jedoch die immersive Erfahrung ein, die durch ein Schwingen des Schwertes oder dem Schießen mit einem Bogen mit Move-Controllern entsteht.
Eine für Skyrim-Veteranen zunächst ungewohnte Änderung ist die Fortbewegung auf der Weltkarte. Denn in der neuen VR-Version des Spiels ist es möglich, wie bei Google Earth VRin Vogelperspektiveüber die Welt von Himmelsrand zu sehen und direkt zum gewünschten Zielort zu reisen.
Problematische Steuerung in den Menüs und grafische Abstriche
Laut Bericht ist die Auswahl innerhalb der Menüs und des Inventars in der VR nicht optimal: Da man aufgrund des Rollenspiel-Stils des Spiels durch das Sortieren und Anlegen von Gegenständen und das Verteilen von Skillpunkten viel Zeit verbringt, zeigen sich die unvorteilhaften Steuerungsoptionen deutlich. Besonders mit den Move-Controllern wirkt dies kompliziert, wie der Tester berichtet.
In puncto Grafik liegt Skyrim VR hinter dem Standard neuerer Titel, sieht jedoch immer noch gut aus. Durch die VR-Adapation des Spiels mussten die Entwickler hier Abstriche machen. Allerdings ist dies ein Kompromiss, den Fans des Spiels wohl gerne in Kauf nehmen, um die Spieleweltin VR zu erleben.
Earlier this week at a private PlayStation press event in San Francisco, CA we got the chance to go hands-on with a full, updated build of The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim VR for PlayStation VR (PSVR) and came away impressed. Previous demos were teleportation movement only and now they’ve added full, smooth locomotion features with both Dualshock 4 and PS Move controllers.
When Skyrim VR releases for PSVR later this month it will include not only the full base game, but all three expansions (Hearthfire, Dawnguard, and Dragonborn) will be included in the package as well. For those unaware, a reasonable estimate for the amount of time it’d take to complete all of that content is easily upwards of over 100 hours. One big question though on everyone’s minds is: Will Skyrim VR have mod support?
Mods have been a huge part of The Elder Scrolls series for years on PC and with the release of Skyrim Special Edition on PS4 and Xbox One, console players finally got a taste of the magic that is tweaking and modifying games to your heart’s content. Want more spells? No problem. Want a few dozen more swords or new dungeons to explore? Go for it. Modding Skyrim made an already nearly limitless game truly endless. Unfortunately, it doesn’t look like that support will make its way to the VR iteration.
“Presently there is no mod support in the game. If it’s something we can figure out as a possibility we’ll let everybody know, but right now [Skyrim VR is] everything that’s in the base game plus all the DLC content.”
It’s a bummer for fans that may have held out hope that mod support would come to the PSVR version since the PS4 version has it, but the absence makes sense. Many of the visuals are downgraded in the PSVR edition and use different assets, so it isn’t exactly as easy as just porting over the same mods. Plus, many of the game files and interaction designs on the backend will be different to accommodate motion controls and head tracking.
What do you think of this news? Do you plan on picking up Skyrim VR on PSVR when it releases November 17th to re-explore the land of Tamriel? Let us know down in the comments below!
With Tokyo Game Show long gone and as we approach Halloween the event season is pretty much over and done with in the Northern Hemisphere. Particularly in Europe and America, with the only real exception being Sony’s annual PlayStation Experience event set to take place across the 9th and 10th of December. Other than this however it’s more a case of waiting out the rest of 2017 and what Autumn and Winter bring until the new year.
But that’s not taking into account the Southern Hemisphere where it’s currently the end of Spring, not Autumn, and Australia is gearing up for its iteration of PAX once again. It also seems, much as with PlayStation Experience, there’s going to be plenty for PlayStation VR fans to try out.
The line-up is as follows:
Gran Turismo Sport
“In PlayStation VR you’ll quite literally have the driving wheel at your fingertips. From hitting the brakes to turning a corner, experiencing Gran Turismo Sport in the PS VR headset will let players experience a true-to-life driving experience.”
The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim VR: The Elder Scrolls V
“Skyrim VR is a true, full-length open-world game for VR from award-winning developers, Bethesda Game Studios®. Skyrim VR reimagines the complete epic fantasy masterpiece with an unparalleled sense of scale, depth, and immersion.”
One of a trio of Bethesda titles coming to virtual reality (VR) along with DOOM VFR and Fallout 4 VR. You can read our recent preview here.
MONSTER OF THE DEEP: FINAL FANTASY XV:
“Dive into the story mode for an exhilarating, action-packed showdown with the notorious MONSTER OF THE DEEP, or take in the sights, sounds and scenery of FINAL FANTASY XV as you kick back and cast off in the free fishing mode.”
“It’s all or nothing in this heart-pumping PS VR firefight of intense combat and split-second tactical decision-making.”
A experience VRFocus likened to “Army of Two on steroids”, the title is one of two VR videogames in the works from Supermassive Games. (The other being The Inpatient.)
PAX Australia is from October 27th-29th 2017 at the Melbourne Convention and Exhibition Centre. News about the PlayStation VR is developing all the time, so be sure to check back with VRFocus regularly for the latest.
Virtual reality can breathe new life into old games, says video game expert Patrick Soulliere.
And Soulliere knows about games — he’s organized more than 100 online e-sports tournaments for Micron Technology that feature many professional gamers and has managed a full time professional gaming team at Stellar Lotus for more than a year.
The game he’s most excited about? Skyrim, which is due out this fall for PlayStation VR. Then there are also thee official add-ons, Dawnguard, Hearthfire, and Dragonborn.
“The soon-to-be-released virtual reality version is a way of playing Skyrim that’s new, unique, and never been seen before, which is exciting,” Soulliere told Hypergrid Business. “The updates will allow a player to experience the full universe of Skyrim in its entirety—wielding a sword or releasing a spell, or looking up to see a dragon flying overhead.”
Soulliere is the global eSports and gaming marketing manager at Micron. He also created the ESV TV, an eSports broadcasting live stream.
Other games, such as Mario 64, Zelda, the Starcraft series and many other classics, could be next.
“The possibility of merging childhood nostalgia and modern technology is intoxicating,” he said.
The news of Skyrim coming to PlayStation was announced at the PlayStation Media Showcase at E3 2017 Conference in Los Angeles, where Skyrim trailer was also revealed.
Virtual reality immersion helps users make better decisions when playing, improve their experience in playing these games, and navigate the scenes better. It also affords new ways to experience the game.
“For the Starcraft series, the implication would be huge in spectator mode,” said Soulliere. “You could plug into the map, quickly pick and choose what you want to watch, spin the camera to better see a battle, then look over and see a player cam and their reaction as they win the big battle– that would be amazing.”
But the conversion isn’t always easy, and can cost a lot of time and money.
Another challenge is that the best quality virtual reality technology is too expensive for all but the enthusiast-level user. We will need to wait until the cost of getting starting in high-end virtual reality gaming reaches about $200 so that these systems can become mainstream.
“Right now, to make a PC that can support virtual reality from scratch you are talking at least $800 in hardware,” he said. “As hardware improves and existing technology decreases in price, you will see that become more affordable from both a PC and a virtual reality headset perspective.”
Then there’s the movement issue.
Some games such as Zelda or Mario need the user to move inside physical environments.
“Most people have limited space in their room so if you had to run around you would be consistently hitting the boundaries of your play space, ruining the immersion,” he said. “Today’s virtual reality games currently point at a location but then you have to click a button to ‘teleport’ there, so you can stay stationary.”
Using a controller to move around, without the accompanying physical motion, gives many users motion sickness.
Bethesda Softworks makes some of the most elaborate and expansive games in the world—and now they’re making them in VR. Last week, the publisher confirmed that Fallout 4 VR, The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim VR, and Doom VFR will all release before year’s end on various platforms.
It was no big shock that they were coming; after all, we went hands-on with all three back at E3. Still, it’s surprising to see that all three are debuting around the same time, marking a huge push from Bethesda to assert itself in the still young consumer VR space this holiday season. And Fallout 4 VR and Skyrim VR are absolutely massive games, vastly larger than the average VR experience, because they’re the very same epic role-playing adventures already out for PC and consoles.
Why serve up these enormous games in VR? I asked Pete Hines, the publisher’s vice president of marketing and PR, at this past weekend’s QuakeCon expo outside Dallas, TX.
Open-World VR
“Honestly, a lot of it is down to how those games are built—they’re not level-based, they’re not carvable. You can’t really say, ‘Here, let’s take this chunk and make it a two, or three, or five-hour experience.’ They’re all one thing,” Hines explains. “So in looking at VR, the studio is like, ‘Well, that’s how we built it. Let’s see if it works as all one thing on VR platforms.’ And it turns out that it did. Obviously, we had to put a lot of work into UI, UX, and performance. You need people to understand how to interact with the game, and then performance-wise, make sure they’re not throwing up because you’re dropping frames. But we didn’t have to solve any of the, ‘Well, what are our quests, or the story, or characters, or stuff to do?’ Because all of that stuff was already done.”
Both games were already deeply immersive experiences on TVs and monitors, which is part of why they can potentially work so well in VR: they’re vast, incredibly detailed, and just a joy to explore. In fact, we’ve already picked out 11 places we can’t wait to explore in VR in both Skyrim VR and Fallout 4 VR, and that’s really just scratching the surface. Hines says that “live another life in another world” has been Bethesda Game Studios’ mantra from the start, and that virtual reality just elevates it dramatically for these open-environment games.
“VR takes that to another level, where you just have a much greater sense of place within this world. You’re up standing on a mountain and the snow is blowing. You just feel that on another level that you don’t get playing anything off of a monitor,” Hines says. “Somebody was asking, ‘For you, what really brings home those experiences?’ And honestly, it’s like when something huge is in front of you and you look at the top of it like this,” he adds, looking up to the ceiling.
“You’re not moving your mouse to do that, or a thumbstick. There’s just something about craning your neck up to look at the top of it that is just so much more of an ‘Oh shit’ moment than anything that you’ve had before,” Hines affirms. “Or playing Fallout and dropping your head to look at Dogmeat. It just makes him feel so much more like your dog, and so I think it’s just little stuff like that. Until you play it or experience it in VR, you don’t really have the same kind of appreciation for that sense of place in games like these.”
That said, one of the reasons that many from-scratch VR experiences are short is because it better fits the consumption habits of VR players. Fallout 4 and Skyrim can each be played for 100 hours apiece or more, which can be a lot easier to tolerate in long stretches on a screen rather than within a headset. Hines says “it’s possible” that people will play those games in VR for such spans, but he suspects it’ll be gradually over time instead of in marathon sessions.
“I think it’s going to be the kind of experience that folks are going to graze at,” Hines suggests. “I don’t see people binge-playing eight, 10, 12 hours for multiple days in a row like they did when those games first came out.”
Doom and Beyond
By contrast, Doom VFR is a bit closer to what we’ve seen in the VR space: it’s a more compact experience that’s been altered to better fit the VR play design. Developer id Software started with the heart of last year’s excellent Doom reboot, but that game was far too frantic and insanely paced to work in virtual reality. Well, at least without rampant motion sickness.
“[Fallout and Skyrim] from a pacing standpoint work just fine as a VR thing—there’s some stuff you need to do with how you move, and obviously the UI and UX,” Hines explains. “We didn’t have the problem of like, ‘Well, you’re moving too fast.’ [But] in Doom, you’re moving too fast. You simply can’t take a game where you’re that fast and aggressive, and mantling and jumping and double-jumping, and have anybody survive that for more than 35 seconds. Rather than making a 35-second game, they had to look at it like, ‘Well, how do we take that and translate it into VR?'”
Instead of constant movement and those wild, up-close-and-personal kill moves against demons, now you’ll teleport around (or nudge forward with a tap) and can execute “telefrag” maneuvers that let you teleport into a foe to finish it off. It “still makes you feel fast and aggressive,” Hines claims, but it shouldn’t make players feel queasy in the process. Additionally, some of Doom’s environments were reworked to better suit the VR experience.
“They were designed for somebody moving fast and mantling and jumping, which you’re not doing any of,” Hines explains. “We needed stuff that’s more purposeful for how you’re moving and working through Doom VFR.”
All three of Bethesda’s big VR games will ship within a one-month span, although they’re not all getting multiplatform launches from the start. Skyrim VR debuts first on PlayStation VR only, on November 17, with Doom VFR following on December 1 for both PlayStation VR and HTC Vive. Meanwhile, Fallout 4 VR will only hit HTC Vive first on its release date of December 12.
Why no Fallout 4 VR for PlayStation VR? Likewise, where is Skyrim VR for Vive? Hines couldn’t offer a definitive answer.
“I don’t know. We want to put it out on as many platforms as possible,” he said about Fallout 4 for PSVR, and suggested the same kind of scenario for Skyrim on Vive. “Whatever will work and be viable, we’re up for. This one is gonna be the first, and we’ll see what happens after that.”
Similarly, he wasn’t sure if any of the games would be compatible with the Oculus Rift via SteamVR at launch, but said he could check and get back to us. I’ve inquired about it since the interview with Bethesda PR and will update if we get a response.
I also asked why Skyrim VR is launching with all of the downloadable add-on content already bundled in, while Fallout 4 VR is not, and Hines says it’s all about the code they started with. “We had done some work already with Skyrim and the Game of the Year [Edition] that already had all of that stuff,” he explained. “It was more that that was the code base and starting point for doing the VR version, and that simply didn’t exist for Fallout. What we started with was just base game [for Fallout 4] and game of the year with all the DLC [for Skyrim], so that’s why those versions look like those versions.”
Will Fallout 4 VR eventually get that DLC as post-release content? “I don’t know,” says Hines.
Making an Impact
Ultimately, releasing all three of these large and visible VR experiences a couple weeks apart wasn’t some master plan from the start—that’s just how they all came together, claims Hines.
“It’s just how they lined up. We didn’t say, ‘Hey, let’s launch three games next year.’ What we do and take on comes out of what the studios are interested in, and they know better than anybody,” he says. “They know their tech, they know their platforms—so it was really a question of how long they were going to take, and how long they needed.”
And in the case of Bethesda Game Studios and the VR versions of both Skyrim and Fallout 4, we can probably thank Dallas’ own Escalation Studios. Bethesda acquired them earlier this year, and Hines says their work has been invaluable in getting those two games ready for release. “Without their help, I’m not sure if they’d make it out this year,” he affirms.
Debuting three large VR titles at the same time might seem like a risk for Bethesda, but Hines says their performance won’t necessarily dictate the company’s future in the space. “All of our studios are actively looking at and talking about what they want to do. Our focus right now is on these three, given that they’re all coming out this year,” he says. “But it’s something we’re actively involved in and working with. We just haven’t talked about any of our other going-forward plans yet.”
Disclosure: Bethesda provided flights and accommodations to the author to attend QuakeCon.
The show floor of a video game convention is really not the best place to try out an immersive, elaborate VR game, and yet that’s precisely the only way we’ve been able to get our hands on The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim VR and Fallout 4 VR so far.
Bethesda will release both games (plus DOOM VFR) this year between late November and early December, and there’s plenty of hype around the two vast role-playing conversions. At QuakeCon this weekend long lines formed as hopeful fans waited for a quick early taste of these beloved franchises in a new VR form… a really quick taste. I spent less than 20 minutes total between Skyrim VR and Fallout 4 VR due to the abbreviated demos.
UploadVR editors have already been hands-on with both conversions (linked above), but QuakeCon offered another opportunity to try out these hugely anticipated VR games now that their release dates have been pinned down. And it was my own first opportunity to take in both VR experiences, so here are my brief impressions from the short demos.
The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim VR
On PC and consoles Skyrim is an absolutely essential play for role-playing fans thanks to its rich, lived-in setting. Unfortunately, I’ve barely explored any of it personally (sorry!) And despite the hype surrounding its release, the VR version didn’t make the greatest impression at QuakeCon, and I can’t help but think it has a lot to do with the platform of choice: PlayStation VR.
Rather, it might be the platform and controllers of choice, since only PlayStation Move wands were available at the demo. The full game will support the DualShock 4 controller as well, and based on the moments I spent awkwardly stumbling around Skyrim, I have to believe a gamepad will be the far better option of the two.
Navigating with the Move controllers was painful at times. You can use the main button on the left Move controller to teleport around, but you’re also forced to use the lower buttons to rotate your body in either direction. That’s not so bad when you’re out in an open environment, but trying to navigate down a spiral staircase was hilariously terrible, and finding my way through a zigzagging, maze-like dungeon felt laborious.
No doubt: it hampered the experience to enough of a degree that I couldn’t imagine pouring potentially dozens of hours into the game. And ultimately, the demo wasn’t all that exciting. The puzzles were pre-solved and looting was disabled to encourage a smooth, speedy demo experience (all of that stuff will be in the full game, of course), but it just felt like a wonky stroll with a little bit of sword slashing and fire-blasting along the way.
It was the same Bleak Falls Barrow area that David explored back at E3, and I get his enthusiasm for Skyrim in VR: if you love this game, why wouldn’t you want to explore it again in VR? But without that built-in adoration, Skyrim VR left me feeling as cold as a Dovahkiin spending too long fumbling with the controls on the snowy slope outside Bleak Falls Barrow. Hopefully it feels better once the full game is playable and I can use a DualShock 4 instead.
Fallout 4 VR
From there, I shed the PlayStation VR headset and Move wands and changed into something a lot more viable for open-world exploration: the HTC Vive and its own motion controllers. Fallout 4 is not a far cry from Skyrim in terms of game design, swapping the traditional fantasy theme for a post-apocalyptic wasteland while keeping the immersion and overall approach.
But the feelings of comfort and control were like night and day between the demos. While Fallout 4 VR’s motion controls will take a while to get used to—and a handful of minutes was hardly enough to feel fluent and in command—navigation instantly felt improved with the Vive controllers. The trackpad of the left controller is used for movement, and since you can freely turn your body around and still be tracked (unlike on PlayStation VR), there’s no need for manually rotating your hero. You can still teleport to speed things up, but unlike Skyrim on PSVR, it’s not required to get around.
With less of a feeling that I was fighting the controls I had more of an opportunity to appreciate how Fallout 4 actually feels in VR, and what the headset brings to the equation. It’s incredibly cool to raise your left arm to look at your Pip-Boy wrist computer, for example, and the V.A.T.S. system works like bullet time in VR: you can slow down the action, line up your shot on an enemy, and fire to watch blood spatter all around you. It doesn’t speed up automatically once your aim is placed, so you can just keep pumping out slo-mo rounds as you please. It’s a delight.
And as Pete Hines, Bethesda’s VP of marketing and PR, said in our interview, you can look down at Dogmeat—your faithful canine companion—and he feels more real. He’s your virtual pup, right there alongside you on this wild VR adventure. Like Tal’s E3 demo (linked at the start of this article,) this one began at the Red Rocket gas station early in the game, but mine was cut off right after I took down the Deathclaw with the Power Armor equipped.
Still, while there was some fumbling to get a grip with all of the different commands at play, it immediately felt more comfortable than Skyrim, and I was better able to appreciate the world within the span of such a short demo. And it made me realize that Skyrim will probably play just fine on the HTC Vive, whenever Bethesda decides to pull the trigger on that version.
However, I doubt Fallout 4 VR is going to fare any better with the PlayStation Move controllers should it make the leap over to PS4. Hopefully the DualShock 4 controls prove a worthwhile alternative for Skyrim, and thus likely also a similar fit for Fallout 4 VR—should that make its way to console in the hopefully not-too-distant future.
Disclosure: Bethesda provided flights and accommodations to the author to attend QuakeCon.
In the build-up to QuakeCon 2017, which starts tomorrow, Bethesda has announced launch dates for their three major VR titles for the holiday season. Skyrim VR (PSVR) launches first on November 17th, followed by Doom VFR (PSVR, Vive) on December 1st, and finally Fallout 4 VR (Vive) on December 12th, rounding out what promises to be a very merry VR holiday.
Skyrim VR remains a PSVR-only title for now, but is likely to find its way to PC. Bethesda continue to refer to the PC versions of Doom VFR and Fallout 4 VR as ‘Vive’ games, but they are both likely to be playable with Oculus hardware, whether pseudo-officially via OpenVR’s support for the Rift, or with an unofficial workaround to unlock any purposefully imposed barriers, as we’ve seen with other SteamVR games which attempted to block Rift functionality.
The legendary annual QuakeCon is held in Dallas, Texas hosted by parent company ZeniMax Media is home to publisher Bethesda Softworks’ world-famous IP, with this year’s focus on the Quake World Championships esport competition. Attendees can also get hands-on time with a number of upcoming Bethesda-published games in the Exhibit Hall, including all three VR games, plus Quake Champions, The Evil Within 2, Wolfenstein II: The New Colossus and Dishonored: Death of the Outsider.
The hall will be open from Thursday to Saturday 10am–6pm daily. For further information on QuakeCon 2017, visit the official site.
Bethesda is bringing some of its biggest games in recent years to virtual reality in the coming months. In November, Skyrim will be officially ported to PSVR, with Doom VFR and Fallout 4 VR coming to the HTC Vive in December.
Whilst there will be no official support Griffiths was pragmatic as to whether or not the existing mods and content could be converted in some way by the community.
PAX Australia is from October 27th-29th 2017 at the Melbourne Convention and Exhibition Centre. News about the PlayStation VR is developing all the time, so be sure to check back with 
“The soon-to-be-released virtual reality version is a way of playing Skyrim that’s new, unique, and never been seen before, which is exciting,” Soulliere told Hypergrid Business. “The updates will allow a player to experience the full universe of Skyrim in its entirety—wielding a sword or releasing a spell, or looking up to see a dragon flying overhead.”
