Augmented & Virtual Reality Confabulation
What Augmented Reality and Virtual Reality developers are talking about
Square Enix has confirmed that Final Fantasy XV pre-order bonus A King's Tale will be made available to all users for free via the Xbox Store and the PlayStation Store, starting from March 1.
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Square Enix has announced Project Prelude Rune, an upcoming RPG from Studio Istolia, a new subsidiary focused on telling rich stories. Hideo Baba, longtime producer of the Tales franchise, will serve as studio head.
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IO Interactive, developer of the Hitman games, may have let it slip in a job listing that it has a new IP in the works. The job ad has since been amended to omit the hint, but the cat's out of the bag.
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The first set of fixes, focused on gameplay, are on the way for the most maligned chapter in Final Fantasy XV, along with new stand-alone DLC chapter that puts players in the role of Gladio.
The post ‘Final Fantasy XV’ gets its first expansive update to Chapter 13 in March appeared first on Digital Trends.
Final Fantasy XII: The Zodiac Age will launch worldwide in July, while Final Fantasy XV players can look forward to all-new storyline DLC and Season Pass content starting next month.
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Eidos Montreal's Deus Ex series is reportedly being put on hiatus by publisher Square Enix following underwhelming sales of Mankind Divided. The studio is currently assisting Crytsal Dynamics on a new Avengers game.
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Marvel and Square Enix have announced a partnership that will bring a new Avengers game from Crystal Dynamics and Eidos Montreal. More information is expected to be revealed in 2018.
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Square Enix’s Deus Ex franchise is known for its gritty sci-fi atmosphere and visuals, putting players in a future dystopian universe. While there are no plans to bring the video game into virtual reality (VR) at present, Eidos Montreal has created something of a teaser with an immersive experience showcasing some AAA visuals.
Deus Ex: Mankind Divided – VR Experience isn’t a piece of interactive content, rather a showreel of what could be achieved in future VR titles. Supporting OCulus Rift, HTC Vive and OSVR head-mounted displays (HMDs), the experience allows you to explore four environments from the Deus Ex: Mankind Divided video game. These range from Dubai and Golem City to lead character Adam Jensen’s apartment, all recreated to be as visually stunning as possible in VR.
Alongside the environments, the VR experience features a selection of 3D models of the main characters and NPCs from Deus Ex: Mankind Divided, all created using the studios’ Dawn Engine.
Deus Ex: Mankind Divided – VR Experience may not be the VR version fans of the franchise want – being non-interactive – but it certainly shows that Eidos Montreal are dabbling with the technology, and who knows, there could eventually be a Deus EX VR in the future.
For further VR updates from Eidos Montreal and Square Enix, keep reading VRFocus.
Of all the game franchises that are currently active, few take place in worlds that feel as appropriate for VR experiences as Deus Ex. The latest entry, Mankind Divided, released in 2016 for PC, Xbox One, and PS4 platforms without VR support and takes place in a dystopian cyberpunk version of the year 2029. Players take on the role of Adam Jensen, an augmented human with cybernetic powers.
Although none of the games in the franchise have supported official VR integration, Square Enix and Eidos today quietly and surprisingly released a tiny, free VR Experience for Deus Ex: Mankind Divided on Steam. It only features a handful of environments, but you can freely move around and explore them, taking it a step above passive VR experiences that don’t allow you to explore anything at all.
The Deus Ex: Mankind Divided VR Experience supports both gamepad and motion controller inputs. I tried it with an Xbox One gamepad and the Vive’s wands. For the gamepad, I could move with the left thumbstick using full locomotion (not teleporting) as well as rotate my view with the right stick, or use the bumpers to snap rotate in predefined degrees in either direction laterally. I could also recenter the camera by pressing Y. Each room has a point you touch to advance to the next area and a point you touch to quit.
Similarly, the wands allowed full locomotion with the left touch pad, smooth rotation with the right touchpad, snap rotation with each wand’s triggers, and recentering with the right menu button. So while you can technically control yourself with the Vive wands, they’re not actually displayed in the world and you can’t interact with anything.
That all sounds like pretty basic stuff, but it is particularly interesting that they opted for full locomotion instead of teleportation, which seemed to be the prevailing default control scheme for these sorts of casual exploration VR experiences.
In the experience there are currently four environments to explore, including the city of Dubai. There isn’t much to it, it is not interactive, and it’s a far cry from being a real game, but it is easily one of the most visually impressive VR tour modes we’ve seen thus far. If this is a sample of what Square Enix and Eidos are capable of doing in VR, then we hope to see them create something fully immersive and playable next.
You can download the Deus Ex: Mankind Divided VR Experience for free on Steam right here. It supports Rift, Vive, and OSVR headsets. Even if you’re not a fan, it’s worth checking out for free just to see the gorgeous environments on display.
Tagged with: cyberpunk, Deus Ex, eidos, mankind divided, square enix
Deus Ex: Mankind Divided's second story expansion, A Criminal Past, sends hero Adam Jensen to a high-security prison. It takes place before the events of Mankind Divided and is part of the game's season pass.
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