Just the other day on Li360 I was discussing the night sky and how amazing the sight of it is, and how one location was trying to fight the danger of losing it to light pollution. Of course, there is a couple of guaranteed ways to get a good look at that which exists above us all, but that requires either a rather large telescope or a lot training, a lot of money and a very big rocket.
But it is indeed to space we go again for today’s edition of Life In 360°, this time thanks to a relatively recent video from the American Museum of Natural History. That might seem a little odd but as you will see there’s much to discuss as we take a trip through the solar system to Saturn, Jupiter and Mars to check out space volcanoes. (Which as topics go sounds pretty awesome.)
I’ll let them fill you in on the specifics.
“Here on Earth, volcanic eruptions are dramatic manifestations of our dynamic planet. Elsewhere in our solar system, awe-inspiring extra-terrestrial volcanoes—both active and extinct—provide clues to planetary formation and hints of how life may have formed. Join us for a 360° virtual expedition to Mars’s massive shield volcano Olympus Mons, the violent surface of Jupiter’s moon Io, and the icy jets of Saturn’s moon Enceladus.”
Join us again soon for more examples of how 360 degree video is being used on another edition of Life In 360°.
In a modern world there are lights galore allowing humanity to ‘operate’, as it were, far beyond the time the sun has set. But in our quest to experience the wonders of the evening have we lost perhaps the greatest sight the night can behold?
If you’re in a city you’re not likely to see much if you look up into the sky at night. You might pick out the odd star here and there, but you’re more likely to see Venus or even the International Space Station as well as the occasional aeroplane, naturally enough.
Anyone who has spent any time at night in the countryside will be able to tell you that with the removal of what is termed ‘light pollution’ to have the true night sky revealed to you is a sight truly to see. Yet even in the country you will suffer somewhat from that light being given off from the houses, streetlamps and other buildings in the vague vicinity to where you are.
In The Endangered Starry Sky, a video from back in July this year, the team from CNN look into one location that is actively trying to keep the stars in the sky. As the team explain below:
“As the glow of light pollution from cities and towns endangers our view of the night sky, gaze up at the stars from Zion National Park in southern Utah. The park is taking steps to become an official “Dark Sky Place” in hopes of preserving its nocturnal vistas.”
Check out that video here and come back to VRFocus in a couple of days’ time when we’ll have some yet another example of how broadcasters and individuals are using 360 degree video to show a new look at the world around them. Until then be sure to check out all the latest news and features elsewhere on the site.
VR companies around the world are planning to offer live views of the Earth from space within the next few years
It’s the dream of any would-be space tourist: seeing our home planet from above. First you see the Earth’s horizon curve away, and then the luminous thin envelope of atmosphere that keeps us all alive comes into focus.
As you cross the daylight side of Earth, you look down to see gigantic landscapes – mountains and valleys – beneath you. As your orbit continues, so night falls and the city lights turn on. Now you can see the human landscape of the planet.
Straight out of Early Access on May 18th, Detached (2017) promises to deliver that free-flying experience, complete with smooth-turning that only a section of the most hard-core first-person VR junkies crave. Offering a single-player mission based on navigation puzzles and an online capture-the-flag multiplayer, space pioneers hoping for a long-term solution to their need for exciting and comfortable zero-G fun may have to look elsewhere.
Developer: Anshar Studios Available On:Home (Oculus Touch), Steam (HTC Vive, Oculus Touch, OSVR) Reviewed On: Oculus Touch, HTC Vive Release Date: May, 18 2017
Gameplay
A deserted space station seems like a real treasure for two scavengers looking for loot. Another routine salvage. Everything is going according to plan. Suddenly, system alerts indicate a problem in the cargo area. It turns out that a group of scammers has infiltrated the station and will do anything to seize its precious cargo. The startup procedure has been initiated… There’s no time for retreat…
Primed with TV series like Firefly (2002), Cowboy Bebop (1998), andfilms like Event Horizon (1997) and the Aliens franchise, going on a real life space salvaging mission sounds like serious fun. Unfortunately, the text above is little more than flimsy pretext for zipping around a single level filled with a small collection of space hubs—indoor environments that ultimately deliver humdrum, navigation-based puzzle-mazes.
Interiors, while beautifully rendered, are strangely aseptic in Detached besides the odd fuel canister or oxygen tank. While both fuel and oxygen are finite, there was only a single moment when I almost ran out of air, and that was only because I began to ignore all of the tanks littered throughout the game. With no real need to survive, my interest generally fell on the puzzles ahead.
the only task here is opening a single door, image courtesy Anshar Studios
Most puzzles are simple with the most difficult tending to be time trials which come down to how well you can maneuver in the zero-G environment. In the end, I felt like 3/4 of the hubs were overly consumed with tutorializing the various systems; boost, shield and rockets, than letting you genuinely explore.
Locomotion in Detached is achieved either through hand controllers or gamepad, the latter of which felt more natural despite the environmental suit (EV suit), flight stick theme the game is running with. The game is a forward-facing experience best piloted from the safety of a chair. I talk more about the game’s locomotion and some of its drawbacks in the ‘Comfort’ section.
get everything on-line and you’re done, image captured by Road to VR
The single-player mission took me about an hour to complete, and although the open space scenery promises some awe-inspiring vistas and a modicum of that ‘space pirate feel’ I was hoping for, I couldn’t help but feel like I was on rails going from hub to hub. Boost gates are placed tactically throughout the map, which promise convenience but also detract from the ‘found wreckage’ feeling the game professes in its description.
Finishing the single-player portion, I was then urged by the game to play the online multiplayer, a capture-the-flag mode taking place on two maps. Only the original map made for Early Access was available to me though, so I can’t speak to the quality of the second. Using shields, boost and your EMP rockets, you’re tasked with out-flying and neutralizing your opponent so you can grab and return a randomly spawning flag.
If multiplayer is supposed to be the star of the show, there’s still much that studio needs to do to ensure ongoing interest for old and new players alike. Despite offering a few truly fun sessions of hide and seek as you hunt down your opponent and reclaim the flag, I have some concerns about the overall health of the multi-player mode. It’s pretty straight forward, and admittedly much more fun then a the single-player game, but with only two maps currently available and only a capture-the-flag mode, replay value doesn’t look promising. Also, with no apparent ranking system in place, you’ll also be randomly matched with another person regardless of how much time either of you’ve been playing. And if you have mastered the game’s locomotion, the danger of your sole opponent rage quitting (ending the match) is a real barrier to creating a healthy player base.
Immersion
Scenery alone can go a long way in terms of creating immersion, and lower budget, albeit competently-built productions like Detached definitely capitalize in this area with some good-looking environments. Yes, they’re too clean to be believed, and yes, they’re obviously contrived for the purpose of being a puzzle and nothing more, but they do look quite good.
Your shadow projected on a nearby wall or asteroid certainly does the trick too.
image captured by Road to VR
Wearing your trusty space helmet, you’re given a heads-up display (HUD) populated with oxygen/fuel indicators and mission objectives, all useful in their own right. These near-field elements are projected at an uncomfortably close distance though, making me less willing to pay attention to them. This is because current VR headsets don’t let you see near-field objects like you would outside of the headset. Without going into too much detail, it has to do with the fact that your eyeballs are converging correctly on a digital object, but you’re not focusing the way you normally would because the light from the display is focused at the incorrect distance. Check out this article on dynamic focus tech in AR for the full explanation.
A big hit to immersion comes when you try to reach out and touch something, like batting away a canister. You’ll soon find your hands are nothing more than ghostly controllers, and fiddly ones at that.
Comfort
Admittedly the studio offers some forewarning when it calls Detached “an extreme VR experience that simulates sudden and dramatic acceleration, freefalling, twisting, and rolling,” but this advisory doesn’t excuse it entirely. While the game provides you with a helmet that offers the ‘anchored feeling’ of a cockpit, this isn’t a panacea to the zero-G locomotion scheme. Let’s talk about smacking into shit.
image courtesy Anshar Studios
In most first-person VR games, when you slam into something or otherwise encounter an immutable barrier, you’re treated with some degree of respect, which could mean a fade to black, or a reduction of physics so you’re gently slowed to a halt. But slamming into a wall or a simple fuel canister in Detached—which happens constantly because of the close quarters—invariablysends you head-over-heels on a spinning, wild ride that doesn’t stop even when you’re dead, making you scramble for the ‘reload’ button on the screen as your virtual POV is tossed about willy-nilly.
Since the game makes heavy use of the boost function and is chock-full o’ low ceilings and random pipework, you’re bound to hit something on accident eventually. The last hub, to my anguish, was exactly this—a sort of proving ground for every game mechanic you learned along the way. Disorientation due to the repeated us the same interiors and too many blunt force deaths forced me out of the headset and onto my couch for a few hours because I stupidly thought I had my “VR legs.” Reentry was a less attractive prospect.
To my surprise, there are actually two locomotion styles on offer, but neither seem to fix what was mentioned above.
It’s been a while since I’ve played a game like Detached, and although I personally think it has more in common with an Oculus Rift DK1-era PC port than a modern made-for-VR game, there is obviously still a group of people who prefer the front-facing, vestibular system-whirling wild rides it has on offer. I don’t think I’m wrong when I say most of us left those behind and never, ever want to look back.
This is a review of the full version of the game which is due on Thursday, May 18th.
Space, science and engineering. We do like a bit of that here on VRFocus, and so do you judging by the interest in a recent story on the site. Which brought news about NASA creating, via Unreal Engine, a virtual simulation of the International Space Station (ISS) for the education and training of astronauts.
So considering that, I thought we’d have something space related again this morning for our first Life In 360 video of the week. We won’t be up in space itself though, not even orbiting the Earth or being high in our atmosphere. We’re staying very definitely on terra firma for this as we head over to Mississippi and the Stennis Space Center where back on 22nd February 2017 NASA tested their RS-25 engine in a hot-fire test. One of a series of tests which are designed to put the engine, an upgraded version of those used in the fleet of former space shuttles, through the various stresses and strains you can expect in a launch scenario.
So settle back and ger ready to be surrounded by fire, smoke, steam and spray as 512,000 lbs of engine thrust is unleashed. Check back throughout the day on VRFocusor more virtual reality (VR) news, reviews and interviews.
During a press briefing at GDC 2017, Ubisoft’s VP of Digital Publishing, Chris Early revealed that the highly anticipated VR game, Star Trek: Bridge Crew is going to be a “40 plus hour experience.”
According to Early, these hours will be distributed over the course of several different game modes. There will be “scripted missions” that follow a more linear story path and give you the chance to follow a cohesive chain of events. And there will also be the non-linear “Ongoing Voyages” mode that provides randomized missions to dive into solo or with friends
These ongoing missions will be procedurally generated, according to Early and will follow the “classic” Star Trek recipe. Start with one bold space exploring crew, add one unexpected challenge, add in a dash of last minute crisis and solve for X. Early expects that fans of the source material will be thrilled by the types of missions and various aesthetic touches in Bridge Crew.
“It’s really just pure Star Trek. We really wanted to take that typical chain of events and translate it into a really fun and satisfying VR game,” Early said.
Bridge Crew puts you in a seat on the bridge of a Federation starship. You will be put in charge of one specific portion of the ship: weapons, transporters, engines etc. Your job is to execute your role at the right time and in the right way in order to complete the mission and keep your ship from being blown out of the cosmos.
Here’s the official synopsis for Bridge Crew:
Developed specifically for VR, Star Trek: Bridge Crew will immerse you in the Star Trek universe. Explore a largely uncharted sector of space known as The Trench with your friends on board of the USS Aegis. In co-op, form a crew of four players to serve in the roles of Captain, Helm, Tactical or Engineer.
Now there’s even more to get excited about for our Most Anticipated Game of 2016, but we’re going to have to anticipate it for a while now. Bridge Crew was recently delayed again to a May 30, 2017 release date. We’ll give Ubisoft all the Federation Credits we have if they don’t delay it again.
Get ready to suit up and head out into space once more: the visually-stunning Homebound is hitting the Oculus Rift and HTC Vive very soon.
Sweden-based Quixel, best known for its high fidelity graphics creation tools, recently confirmed that its very own VR experience will be releasing on February 16th via Steam. That’s a little later than we had anticipated; the developer was originally planning to launch it late last year. You can watch a new trailer for the experience below, which showcases the game’s remarkably sharp visuals, achieved with the help of Epic Games’ Unreal Engine 4.
Tonally, it has to be said Homebound looks similar to another beautiful VR game, ADR1FT [Review: 6/10], and its focus on survival in the aftermath of a massive accident is almost identical to that game too. That said, Homebound looks to be at least a little different to Three One Zero’s title, which was often likened to ‘Gone Home in space’. It’s split into three levels, for one thing, lasting around 10 – 30 minutes in total.
It’s a short experience to say the least, then, but Quixel has assured UploadVR that it will have a “low price” for those worried about getting their money’s worth. There will be some replayability to it too: the game will feature a time attack mode, letting you revisit its three levels over and over again to try and beat other player’s scores, and secrets will be hidden within each environment.
Hopefully the extra development time has allowed the developer to refine its motion control support; we found them to be a little imprecise when we took a look at the game last September. Overall though, we thought the experience was very promising, catching that harrowing sense of isolation that VR can give you with ease.
We’ll look to bring you full impressions of Homebound when it launches in two weeks’ time.
Christmas and winter themed events, virtual tours, skating, creative contests, parties, dances have already hit ground running in various grids. A number of grids are also offering you to hunt and win cash and other gifts, or buy lands at cheaper prices. Many will also be hosting new year parties as the year comes to a close.
Decorate a Christmas tree and win some cash at ZanGrid
(Image courtesy ZanGrid.)
A Live Chrismas Tree Decorating contest will also be hosted on Tuesday, December 20 from 10 a.m to 2 p.m. Pacific Time at the Ho Ho Ho. It will bring together builders, designers and casual users and will involve creating a live Christmas tree within 4 hours. Participants will be provided with a tree to decorate and can dress the tree as much as they like, use prims without limits and upload textures.
All entries will be entered into a contest with winners being announced after the contest is over. The top 4 winners will be paid through paypal: first winner will get 50 USD, second 25 USD, third 15 USD and foruth will go home with 10 USD.
The hypergrid address is: hg.zangrid.ch:8002:Ho Ho Ho
A Christmas Hour will take place this Sunday, December 18 from 11 p.m. to 12 p.m. Pacific at the Partyland region, featuring live performance with Khiron Ametza.
The last Christmas party of the year is the Christmas Party is coming on Saturday, December 23 from 10 p.m to 12 p.m SLT at the Partyland, featuring great music and glass of wine to wish everyone a Merry Christmas.
The grid is also hosting the End of Year Party on Friday, December 30 from 10 p.m to 12 p.m SLT at the Partyland, featuring music and glass of wine to wish everyone a happy new year.
The hypergrid address is: hg.zangrid.ch:8002:partyland
(Image courtesy Sofee Supermarine.)
Greece region is also themed for Christmas and you can make Christmas Tours around the world and take a tour to many great places including attractions in Athens.
The hypergrid address is: hg.zangrid.ch:8002:Greece
The grid has also announced, on its Twitter page, a winter offer of $5 monthly for 3750 prims
Hunt for Christmas gifts and win prices at YrGrid
(Image courtesy YRGrid.)
YRGrid is hosting a Christmas gift hunting event on their grid starting from Wednesday, December 21 until Sunday, January 1 2017 where users can login and search for a Christmas Gift Box all around the grid. After finding the box, a user will get 1000 Bitcoins.
“We hope this will get more people to explore YRGrid,” YRGrid CEO Kit Myoo told Hypergrid Business.
Christmas holiday also comes early for former users of Kaneva grid that is closing down, because YRGrid is offering them a special promotion this season after verifying that they are former Kaneva users.
“However, we still can offer them buy one get one free for our region or membership packets or buy one month and get one month free offer,” said Myoo. “They just have to contact our support using contact@yrgrid.com and announce that he or she has come from Kaneva, and we would love to guide them through how to explore YRGrid.”
The hypergrid address is: grid.yrgrid.com:8002
Get gifts at Kroatan
(Image courtesy Kroatan Grid.)
Kroatan Grid will host the Kroatan Advent Calendar from Thursday, December 1 to Saturday, December 24 on region Eternal Ice where you can get free gift everyday by visiting a winter region.
“Past gifts will be available at the two market stalls next to calendar until middle of January,” Hunt Manager at Kroatan Bink Draconia told Hypergrid Business.
The hypergrid address is: kroatan.de:80002:Eternal Ice
Win a surprise box at Seanchai Library
(Image courtesy Seanchai Library.)
Seanchai Library has a Mystic Rule snow-filled sim dedicated for this holiday featuring 100 booths at this holiday event up to Sunday, January 1 featuring a mini-hunt where you could win a surprise box, entertainment, rides, gachas, shopping, ice skating and dancing. The Library is hosting the Winter Ice Christmas Festival 2016 featuring sky-rail, skiing, sledding, skating and a Santa sleigh ride. You can also attend concerts and host a romantic dinner in a Christmas restaurant.
You can also enjoy a Winter Hunt for Team Fox where you have until Wednesday, February 15 to hunt for 34 free high-quality gifts in designer stores and shopping areas. You can also discover romantic hideways, ice skate, dance or ride horses in the winter wonderland. All the donations will go to Team Fox to Find a Cure for Parkinson’s.
Other winter events include the LUNA Winter Fair 2016 for RFL that runs until Saturday, December 31 featuring a hunt, live music and deejays, a fun ride, ice-skating and snowboarding and the 2016 Winter Showcase & Winter Art Show that runs until Tuesday, December 19 featuring music and live performances from 80 artists, DJeeing, two hunts and shopping.
The hypergrid address is: grid.kitely.com:8002:Seanchai
The grid also has a Christmas themed region Christmas Island at Kitely. The hypergrid address is: grid.kitely.com:8002:CHRISTMAS ISLAND.
Win prizes at Adult Grid
(Image courtesy The Adult Grid.)
Adult Grid is hosting the Christmas Build Contest until Friday, December 23. They are giving out a 10 by 10 building area for free where members can build up to 500 prims using mesh and low tag scripts that do not cause lag.
The hypergrid address is: theadultgrid.com:8002:Polynasia
Win audio system at Green World Grid
(Image courtesy Green World Grid.)
Green World grid will host a Christmas Hunt and Freebies everyday starting on Sunday, December 18 from 8. 45 p.m Pacific until Friday, December 29 starting at 9 a.m. Pacific Time, where you can win freebies and a puzzle part for the raffle of the main prize. You can win an audio stream with up to 50 listeners for your events for one year.
The hypergrid address is: greenworld.online:9022:StartPunkt
The World of Seasons will also be decorated for Christmas this year.
The hypergrid address is: greenworld.online:9022:world of seasons
Great Canadian Grid is renting regions again for the holidays
(Image courtesy Great Canadian Grid.)
Great Canadian Grid is offering you a Christmas Special to buy 2 by 2 variable regions as well as commercial and residential regions for $15 CAD until Saturday, December 31. Those coming from Kaneva, another virtual world which shut down last month, are also invited to move to the grid, Roddie Macchi told Hypergrid Business.
Great Canadian has had a moratorium on new region sales lately to help keep a small grid atmosphere.
“The recent outcome from poachers, competitors and all around disrespect from those who I fought so hard to keep the grid going after all the attacks we had, has made me decide to just keep a nice small drama free community grid again,” said Macchi. “Those who are still here are here for the right reasons — family and friends. It’s nice to have it back to how it was before, back to my cottage country grid. It’s nice.”
The hypergrid address is: greatcanadiangrid.ca:8002:Welcome
AllCity
AllCity is also running a land sale this holiday season.
(Image courtesy AllCity.)
Movies and themed rides at OSgrid
OSgrid has a Christmas themed region by the name That Place, which is hosting three themed attractions this Christmas season. It has the Captain Eo where you can get a Michael Jackson themed ride, That Place Theater which is currently showing Nightmare Before Christmas movie, and Star Tours where you can check the recreation of the Star Tours (Star Wars) .
The hypergrid address is: hg.osgrid.org:80:That Place
Ice skating at DigiWorldz
DigiWorldz will host a Christmas Party on Monday, December 19 from 12 p.m to 8 p.m Pacific Time at the Bandits South region, featuring an ugly sweater contest, ice skating, a gift exchange and Christmas seasonal music.
(Image courtesy DigiWorldz.)
The hypergrid address is digiworldz.com:8002:Bandits South
The Winter Wonderland is also already decorated for winter and you can take enjoy wonder trips during this season. Once you arrive, a teleporter chooses your destination and during the travel, you can find Crossroads, a Tube Ride, Ice Skating, Ski Hill, Ski Lodge, and Ski Base as your options.
The hypergrid address is: digiworldz.com:8002: Winter Wonderland
Self-guided tours at Exo-Life
(Image courtesy Exo-Life.)
Exo-Life has eight regions in winter mode, and all are decorated for the holidays. Christmas Parties at the grid begun on Monday, December 12 but they are also hosting another Christmas Party on Wednesday, December 21 from 4 p.m. Pacific Time at the Central Plaza on the Garden Island hypergrid-enabled region, featuring self-guided tours, gifts and hangout.
The Exo-Life Hanukkah Celebration will be held on Monday, December 26 from 5 p.m. to 9 p.m. Pacific Time at the Hanukkah Village on the Lost Sea East hypergrid-enabled region, featuring self-guided tours, gifts and a hangout.
The grid is also hosting its New Year’s Formal Ball event on Saturday, December 31 from 6 p.m. to 10 p.m. Pacific Time at the Ballroom on the Grapefruit hypergrid-enabled region, featuring classical music and dancing.
The hypergrid address is: hg.exo-life.onl:8032
Also for hypergrid travelers, the Hanukkah Village OAR will be displayed this year on the Lost Sea East region while the Winter Wonderland OAR will be displayed in it’s regular world location on Strawberry region. These OARs can be downloaded at the Exo-Life Creations download page. You also need to set your viewer’s ‘Sun Position’ to ‘Estate Time’ for best effects.
Show your builds and celebrate new year at Kitely
Kitely is showing a range of festive freebies hidden away in the Green Dragon Tavern at the Worlds End Winter Showroom. Some of the freebies include Snowman, Crows, Snow Machine, Presents, and a Christmas Tree in the picture. You can also find free pre-configured scenes to create winter wonderlands. The event is open to all hypergrid travelers.
(Image courtesy Babble Arts Center.)
The hypergrid address is: grid.kitely.com:8002:Worlds End Winter Showroom
Kitely will host the New Year’s Eve party at the BabbleOn at the Babbles Arts Center on Sunday, January 1 from 2 p.m. to 5.50 p.m. Pacific Time.
The hypergrid address is: grid.kitely.com:8002:Babble Arts Center
Get creative at DreamNation
(Image courtesy DreamNation.)
The DreamNation grid is holding its fifth birthday celebration during this holiday seasons with the 2016 Winter Festival on Sunday, December 17 and Monday, December 18 and will be using the event or festival to encourage creativity among members of the grid.
“This year’s Winter Festival is built around the theme ‘Five’ and residents will be encouraged to explore the idea of ‘Five’ in imaginative ways,” the grid announced in a press release. “There will also be concerts with live bands performing, parties with some of virtual life’s best DJs, and boating trips, train rides and a festival fair.”
The hypergrid address is: world.dreamnation.net:8002
Show your builds at Tangle Grid
(Image courtesy Tangle Grid.)
Tangle Grid is hosting a Winter EXPO until Janunary 13, 2017 at Expo Isle where participants will be free to place anything for everyone else to see. You can contact Leslie King at lesliekling@tanglegrid.com if interested.
The hypergrid address is: tanglegrid.net:8002:HG Station 1
Party at Genesis MetaVerse
(Image courtesy Genesis Metarverse.)
Genesis MetaVerse will host a Christmas event from Friday, December 23 and a New Year event that doubles as the official grand opening ceremony on Sunday, January 1, 2017. You can watch out for their events page for details on date for the Christmas party. As the grid prepares for opening, it has revamped its system and server to look more promising, told Hypergrid Business.
“We have had a lot of improvements and you can possibly tell from the numbers with a lot of new signups at roughly an average of 10 a day and new regions at roughly six a day and a lot are coming over from other grids after they have had new issue,” “Here at GMV it is not about making money, never has it been.”
The hypergrid address is: genesis-grid.org:8002: Welcome Island
Party at Littlefield Grid
Littlefield Grid is hosting a Christmas Celebration from Saturday, December 24 at 8 p.m PST and Sunday, December 25 at 8 p.m PST at the Christmas Island. It will feature music, dancing, Christmas gifts and socializing.
The hypergrid address is: hg:lfgrid.com:8002:Christmas Island
The region is already open and you can do ice skating, sleigh rides and other activities.
There will be an Annual Starfleet Christmas Dance on Monday, December 18 from 10 p.m to 12 p.m AST featuring music with Jeremy Nightshade as DJ for the event.
The hypergrid address is grid.3rdrockgrid.com:8002:Starfleet Astraios
The Rosy O Grady Chritmas Show on the Ice Stage Vector will be held on Wednesday, December 21 from 1 p.m to 2 p.m AST featuring live performance with OGrady.
The hypergrid address is grid.3rdrockgrid.com:8002:vector
Virtual Highway
(Image courtesy Virtual Highway.)
Virtual Highway is hosting The Christmas Lounge on Thursday, December 20 from 6 p.m VHC and a host of music sessions on Sunday, December 25 from 2 p.m VHC.
You can also check this list for over 20 more options of regions you can visit.
Off the hypergrid: dance at Space
(Image courtesy Sine Wave Entertainment.)
Space, a browser-based virtual world, will host a Christmas Party on Friday, December 22 from 8 p.m to 11 p.m Eastern Time at the Winter Festival Aero Pines Park, featuring music with DJ Marvin of Sonic Waves Radio. Another Christmas Party will be at the same region on Friday, December 23 from 7 p.m to 10 p.m PST, featuring music with DJ The Sandman.
Space is not an OpenSim world, but Adam Frisby, one of the founders of the OpenSimulator project, is also the CEO of Sine Wave Entertainment, the company that operates Space.
Because you can apparently never have too many VR space shooters, here’s another one! Space Stalker actually fares pretty well overall if you get past the promotional screenshots that seem to accentuate the assets of the extremely fit woman pilot you play in the game as much as the actual game itself. Honestly, I get that it’s hard to differentiate your app in the overcrowded app store, but really?
In reality, Space Stalker is a bit distinct for several different reasons.
The levels move between straight up rail shooting targeting sequences and flying and shooting bits with more control. It’s an interesting mix of styles, but mostly amounts to shooting things all the time. Even when you can steer your nimble fighter around, it’s still within a confined area, which is likely an attempt to prevent overt motion sickness across different VR platforms (the game is both in the Gear VR store and on the general Google Play store for Cardboard and, presumably, Daydream).
Russian developer, Fibrum, has done a commendable job of creating a nice sense of space even within the confined levels. The missions are visually broken up with things like giant asteroids and even structures, which helps keep the flying interesting, but also serves as a technical way to keep the focus on things closer to you. There’s a decent sense of depth to the view as well.
Overall, Space Stalker looks quite good too. Ship design is interesting, the asteroids and other sights are detailed, and your cockpit is cool looking. You can even look down and see your character’s body, which bears more than a passing resemblance to the woman pilot in EVE: Valkyrie.
Space Stalker doesn’t require a control pad, but does support and recommend one. Oddly, I enjoyed just using my head to fly around and aim, tapping the side touch panel to unleash righteous fury on evil space trash. Swiping up reloads, swiping right switches weapons. Head tracking is absolutely the preferred way to play the on-rails segments of the levels, where our stalwart space character slides over the gunner chair of her ship and has a variety of guns and rockets at her disposal.
Aiming simply by looking at a ship remains an entertainment gimmick in VR, because it’s a control style that makes sense. Things get a little more dicey when playing in the bits where you actively control the ship. Here, the ship and the aiming reticle move wherever you look, so aiming and dodging at the same time becomes rather difficult.
This is especially a problem in crowded asteroid fields (and other obstacle-filled environments), since not hitting the large indestructible rock things is paramount to survival. And since enemies seldom line up to make sure you can kill them and duck through gaps, you have to choose to either aim or evade. Obviously, a control pad makes such situations far easier to deal with, but playing without one certainly isn’t impossible.
Space Stalker definitely fits the bill and checks all the boxes for a decent VR space shooter, but I’m starting to lose track of games that match that description. The action is solid enough though to make this particular shooter worth a look over several others we’ve seen lately. That said, this is clearly a more ‘arcade’ style shooter. The levels are linear, much of the game is played entirely on rails, and there isn’t much variety in how the game plays overall.
Final Score:6/10 – Decent
Space Stalker does it’s thing well enough, but without much fanfare. The head tracking controls work nicely and are fun, everything looks pretty good, and it’s not a bad excursion into VR space. But there are so many options in this genre, it’s difficult to escape the noise. You’ll likely have some fun with it, just don’t expect much depth.
You can access Space Stalker on Gear VR through the Oculus Home store now, for $6.99. Read our Game Review Guidelines for more information on how we arrived at this score.
Rogue One: A Star Wars Story is just over a month away from hitting theaters, and we’re hoping Battlefield developer DICE’s companion VR experience, Star Wars Battlefront Rogue One: X-wing VR Mission, will arrive on PlayStation VR around the same time. But DICE isn’t the only developer with a hand in the demo.
As you’ll probably know, another studio is also working on official Star Wars VR content, the Industrial Light and Magic Experience Lab (ILMxLAB). So far this team, announced in mid-2015, has put out its own experience in a galaxy far, far away: Star Wars: Trials on Tatooine for the HTC Vive. We’ve always assumed that this group’s work was separate from the upcoming PS VR demo, which releases this year for free for Star Wars: Battlefront owners, but it was actually the result of “a very close collaboration” with ILMxLAB.
That is according to Rob Bredow, chief technology officer at Lucasfilm. He recently told DigitalTrends that the two studios “share assets back and forth”, suggesting that DICE’s work is helping ILMxLAB too. “If you look at some of the stuff that DICE has shared at technical conferences like SIGGRAPH, you’ll notice a lot of familiar things,” he said.
The Rogue One mission is set to arrive first on PlayStation VR. Published by Electronic Arts, the Rogue One X-Wing Mission is also being made with the help of UK-based studio, Criterion. It’s set to be a small experience and not a full game. ILMxLAB, meanwhile, is now working on a narrative-driven Star Wars VR piece that stars iconic franchise villain, Darth Vader. Sadly, Bredow didn’t have much more to share on when that might be releasing.
But it is indeed to space we go again for today’s edition of Life In 360°, this time thanks to a relatively recent video from the American Museum of Natural History. That might seem a little odd but as you will see there’s much to discuss as we take a trip through the solar system to Saturn, Jupiter and Mars to check out space volcanoes. (Which as topics go sounds pretty awesome.)
