Starbreeze Studios – Page 3 – Augmented & Virtual Reality Confabulation

June 8, 2017

Starbreeze Studios Is Creating A StarVR Game For The Mummy

In a regularly growing occurrence, another film franchise is getting some VR love. The Mummy, which hits theaters this week, replaces Brendan Fraser with Tom Cruise as Universal Pictures attempts to revive and reboot the series. Indie VR developer Starbreeze Studios is well acquainted with adapting film to a VR gaming experience having done John Wick Chronicles for Lionsgate and they’re delivering the goods with The Mummy Prodigium Strike for the StarVR headset.

In The Mummy there’s an organization called Prodigium and, in this VR game, you play as one of their agents. You’re in a helicopter high above the action defending fellow agents from a collection of creatures as you work to capture The Mummy’s antagonist Ahmanet. Being location-based, the setup will utilize 4D elements to enhance the immersion of the virtual experience as players head to either Hollywood & Highland Center in LA or at an IMAX VR center in Los Angeles and New York City.

“As Universal makes a strategic push into gaming, we felt The Mummy was the perfect place to start,” says Universal’s Executive Vice President of Worldwide Games Chris Heatherly in the press release for the new development. “We worked with the best developers in their fields and took creative risks to imagine exciting new ways for fans to enter the Dark Universe.”

This new experience could lead to even more VR work for Starbreeze Studios and/or other developers, especially when considering Universal is using this as a jumping off point for their connected film world titled the Dark Universe. Over time Dark Universe will be establishing other characters such as Frankenstein and his bride, the Phantom of the Opera, Invisible Man, Hunchback of Notre Dame, and more. If Prodigium Strike catches on, unique experiences for the other properties will be hot commodities and Universal will likely jump at the opportunity.

Fans can experience The Mummy Prodigium Strike with a ticket purchase and they are available now for $15 on location at Hollywood & Highland, and for $12 at IMAX VR locations.

Tagged with: starbreeze studios, starvr

June 8, 2017

Tickets Now Available For The Mummy VR Experience

Location-based virtual reality (VR) spin-off of the new The Mummy movie from Universal Pictures, titled The Mummy Prodigium Strike now has tickets available.

Fans can experience The Mummy Prodigium Strike at the IMAX VR centres in Los Angeles and New York, or at the Hollywood & Highland Centre in Los Angeles. Tickets at the IMAX VR centre will cost $12 (USD) whereas tickets for the Hollywood & Highland Centre will cost $15.

The Mummy Prodigium Strike was developed as a partnership between Universal, IMAX and location-based VR content creators Starbreeze Studios. In the experience, players will take on the role of a Prodigium agent who has been tasked with locating and capturing the ancient Egyptian princess Ahmanet, a task complicated by the hordes of ravens, spiders and undead. Players will need to protect fellow agents as The Mummy increases in power. Like the movie it is based on, The Mummy Prodigium Strike is set in Universal’s ‘Dark Universe’ – a shared cinematic universe similar to Marvel’s cinematic universe.

The experience uses Starbreeze Studios 210-degree VR headset, the StarVR and several 4D elements to enhance and create a more immersive experience. The same technology was also used for The Walking Dead VR experience.

“As Universal makes a strategic push into gaming, we felt The Mummy was the perfect place to start,” said Chris Heatherly, Executive Vice President of Worldwide Games and Digital Platforms, Universal Brand Development. “We worked with the best developers in their fields and took creative risks to imagine exciting new ways for fans to enter the Dark Universe.”

A mobile spin-off title is also due to be launched later in June, and a console videogame for Xbox One, Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4 and Steam is expected to be launched in August.

VRFocus will bring you further news on location-based VR experiences as it becomes available.

May 10, 2017

VR FPS eSport Storm in Development for StarVR

Starbreeze has just finished its livestream and certainly shown its commitment to virtual reality (VR). Alongside the announcement of Payday 2 VR the studio saved a big teaser to last in the form of Storm, a multiplayer first-person shooter (FPS) for StarVR.

Storm is Starbreeze’s vision of VR’s future, featuring wireless combative gameplay set inside arenas. Utilising the StarVR Large Field Edition (LFE) head-mounted display (HMD), which has a 210-degree field of view (FOV) and a 5K resolution, players will don force feedback apparel and use tracked peripherals to shoot it out in what could be sci-fi locations.

STORM---Star-VR-3

As the StarVR HMD is being design as a location-based device, rather than one for home use, Starbreeze is looking at creating suitable content for this kind of roll out. So Storm being positioned as a competitive team-based multiplayer for VR esports tournaments, likely due to the massive popularity of titles such as Counter Strike, Dota 2 and League of Legends.

This is still very early days for Storm – no actual gameplay footage was shown in the video below – but it showcases Starbreeze’s growing intent for VR and that it isn’t a solitary experience.

This also puts the company in competition with THE VOID (Ghostbusters) and Zero Latency, both of whom have been carving out positions in the growing field.

VRFocus will continue its coverage of Starbreeze and Storm, reporting back with any further updates.

May 10, 2017

Starbreeze Announce Payday 2 VR for HTC Vive

There’s been plenty of livestreams happening today, with keynote addresses from Nvidia GPU Technology Conference and Microsoft Build 2017. Sandwiched in between them both Starbreeze decide to hold its own, revealing plenty of details about the company’s plans. Naturally virtual reality (VR) played a part and in a surprise announcement the studio has confirmed VR support for Payday 2.

Payday 2 VR is a VR extension of the original title that launched back in 2013. I’ve you already own Payday 2 and own a HTC Vive then it won’t cost a penny to play as it’s a free update. For those that don’t then Payday 2 retails for £14.99 GBP.

Payday-2-VR---2

Work on Payday 2 VR has been going on for a while, and it’ll feature all the content fans love from the franchise just in a more immersive way. Playing the VR version won’t be a separate session either, if you’ve poured countless hours into the videogame then you can still use your character in VR. Additionally, as a multiplayer title Payday 2 VR will also be fully cross-platform compatible so VR and PC players can combine their efforts.

Payday 2 is the work of Starbreeze internal studio OVERKILL which is also working on another little project called OVERKILL’s The Walking Dead. Recently the studio announced it was postponing the launch until 2018.

VRFocus will continue its coverage of Starbreeze and Payday 2 VR, reporting back with any further updates.

May 5, 2017

OVERKILL’s The Walking Dead Postponed Until 2018

Starbreeze AB, the company behind the StarVR head-mounted display (HMD), has announced the delay of OVERKILL’s The Walking Dead until 2018.

In an official statement Starbreeze CEO Bo Andersson Klint said: “Together with the development team for OVERKILL’s The Walking Dead, we have decided to extend the production schedule so that the title reaches its full potential and drive our original vision a further step. Together with Skybound Entertainment, we are fully dedicated to releasing an unforgettable experience for fans around the world and then continuing to support it with high quality content in coming years. ”

Overkill's The Walking Dead VR

OVERKILL’s The Walking Dead was first unveiled at the Electronic Entertainment Expo (E3), Los Angeles, back in June 2015, and since then Starbreeze Studios has frequently showcased the title at numerous events.

The popular TV series The Walking Dead series, created by Robert Kirkman, began in 2010, and OVERKILL – a Starbreeze Studio – decided to create an immersive co-op title based on that universe, exploring new exclusive characters and storylines.

Additionally, the studio has announced Starstream by Starbreeze, an exclusive live-streamed event taking place on 10th May. Broadcast on Twitch starting 9am PST /12pm EST/ 6pm CEST, it’ll feature first looks and previews, in depth interviews and more on OVERKILL’s The Walking Dead, PAYDAY 2, System Shock 3, Psychonauts 2, Dead by Daylight and a panel titled “Veterans of the Industry” featuring Warren Spector, Tim Schafer and Bo Andersson.

This week also saw Starbreeze reveal a collaboration with RED Games to bring multiplayer VR experience THE RAFT to StarVR.

With OVERKILL’s The Walking Dead postponed until the second half of 2018, the exact launch date is unknown. As further details are released VRFocus will bring you the latest updates.

April 30, 2017

Starbreeze enthüllt neue StarVR-Erfahrungen auf Next@Acer

Auf dem Event Next@Acer stellt Acer regelmäßig neue Soft- und Hardware vor, die in Kooperation mit ihren Partnern entwickelt wurde. Dazu zählt auch das schwedische Studio Starbreeze, welche neben Spielen auch VR-Produkte herstellen. Diese stellten ihre zukünftigen Pläne und Verbesserungen für das StarVR-Headset vor, das in Arcadehallen genutzt wird. Dazu zählen unter anderem eine verbesserte Auflösung und neuer Content für die StarVR-Plattform.

Immersive Filme mit StarVR

Das Unternehmen möchte sich nicht mehr nur auf Soft- und Hardware spezialisieren, sondern den Filmmarkt erschließen. Dies kündigte Bo Anderson Klint, der CEO des Unternehmens, auf dem Acer-Event an. Dafür entwickelte Starbreeze eine neue VR-Erfahrung, die den Nutzer direkt in Filme integrieren soll. Die VR-Erfahrung basiert nicht auf einer Spieleengine, sondern auf einem VFX-Setup. Dadurch können Filmemacher ihre Filmwerke zukünftig zu VR-Spektakeln machen, um die Zuschauer in eine immersive Erfahrung mit einzubeziehen. Dafür zuständig ist u. a. Brooks Brown, der Global Director für Virtual Reality des Unternehmens, der ebenfalls einige weitere zukünftig erscheinende VR-Spiele ankündigte. Leider ohne Einblicke in das Gameplay zu geben.

Neue VR-Spiele in Zusammenarbeit mit diversen Studios

Starbreeze

Die kommenden Titel entstehen alle in Kooperation mit verschiedenen Entwicklern. Das erste VR-Spiel Project Golem soll in Zusammenarbeit mit Desert Owl Games entstehen. Darin kämpft der Spieler gegen Aliens in der Größe eines Hochhauses. Mit dem Studio Lucky Hammers entsteht ein VR-Spiel namens Ape-X, das den Spieler in die Rolle eines gigantischen, kinetisch veränderten, mutierten Affen schlüpfen lässt. Dessen Ziel ist das Zerstören von Drohnen, während er im Stil von King Kong an Wolkenkratzern hängt. Mit dem Studio iNK Stories erstellen sie eine VR-Erfahrung namens Hero. Darin wird der Spieler in die Kriegszone in Syrien gebracht, um nicht nur selbst zu überleben, sondern auch andere zu retten. Für den letzten Titel The Raft arbeitet Starbreeze mit Red Games zusammen, um ein kooperatives Spiel für vier Spieler zu schaffen. Darin ist das Teamplay der Spieler gefordert, um eine Fahrt über einen verfluchten Fluss zu überleben. Weitere Titel sind Elementerra und Presenz.

Zusätzlich verschickte StarVR Development Kits an ausgewählte Partner, wie z. B. IMAX. Diese könnten für eine Verbesserung der VR-Arcadeerfahrungen sorgen.

(Quellen: UploadVR | Starbreeze Studios | StarVR)

Der Beitrag Starbreeze enthüllt neue StarVR-Erfahrungen auf Next@Acer zuerst gesehen auf VR∙Nerds. VR·Nerds am Werk!

April 27, 2017

Starbreeze Reveals New StarVR Experiences At Today’s Acer Event

The Next@Acer event serves as an opportunity for Acer to show off new upcoming hardware and software in development with partners. Starbreeze studios’ influence continues to be peppered throughout the virtual reality industry and they took the stage during Acer’s event to show off some new content for their StarVR headset, a piece of hardware finding homes in VR arcade installations. Chairman of StarVR Bo Anderson took the stage and boasted about a few of the upgrades to StarVR over the last 6 months since its introduction including improved resolution. He then revealed a collection of new content coming to the StarVR platform in the near future.

“Through software and hardware we like to enable people,” Anderson said during the conference. “And we really would like to enable the movie industry as well.” The segment following this statement showed off a new experience that welcomes users directly into movies. On the creative end, this particular experience isn’t working on a game engine but in a VFX setup that allows filmmakers to work their movie’s assets right into a cinematic VR event. Anderson then welcomes Brooks Brown to the stage. Brown is the Global Director of VR for Starbreeze Studios, who unveiled a handful of new StarVR experiences in the works — but didn’t show any real gameplay unfortunately.

In late March 2016, we reported on Starbreeze investing $750,000 in Freeform Labs and Brown spoke briefly on that before diving into some new upcoming StarVR games. Each of the different games is being created as a partnership with different developers. With Desert Owl Games, they’re creating a game where you fight 60-story tall aliens. With Lucky Hammers, you take on the role of a gigantic cybernetic mutant ape and take down drones as you hang from a skyscraper. They’re collaborating with iNK Stories, the developers of choice-driven narrative focused game Revolution 1979, for an experience called Hero that taps into VR’s capability of being an “empathy engine”. Lastly, they’re working with Red Games for a 4-player cooperative experience called The Raft. In it, the players must work together to survive a trip down a haunted river.

Anderson pointed out that they’ve shipped development kits for StarVR to select location-based partners such as IMAX, which has been home to StarVR at least as far back as February this year in their new dedicated VR space in Los Angeles, California (Anderson said there are “more to come” during the Acer event as well). These new creations sound like a diverse collection of content to bolster the VR arcade experience.

Tagged with: starbreeze studios, starvr

April 17, 2017

Hands-on: Latest StarVR Upgrades Highlight Ultra-wide FoV & Nearly Invisible Pixels

StarVR is a VR headset in development by Starbreeze Studios which aims to excel in two places: field of view and resolution; presently offering a whopping 210 degree field of view and 5120×1440 resolution. The latest version of the still in-development headset adds low-persistence to keep the image sharp even during head movement, better emphasizing the impressive pixel density which makes for a nearly invisible screen door effect.

Starbreeze’s goal with StarVR is to create a premium VR headset to sell into businesses wanting to deliver a premium VR experience to customers. The company already has some of its headsets operating inside the first IMAX VR Centre, a virtual reality arcade initiative headed by IMAX. That said, the headset is still under active development, and the company is still calling the latest version a development kit.

The StarVR headset initially launched at E3 2015, and while the field of view was certainly impressive, there was clearly a lot of work done to make the complex optics less visible and create an image that didn’t feel distorted. Since then, the company has made major strides in visuals and form-factor, which has turned the headset into something very promising.

At VRLA 2017 last week, I got to check out the very latest version of the StarVR headset and once again experience what I previously called “field of view envy;” after using this thing, you just don’t want to go back to the binocular-like feeling of ~100 degree headsets.

This time, things looked even better, thanks to continued form-factor refinements, a low-persistence display, and special content that can truly take advantage of all those pixels.

Low-persistence for Sharper Virtual Views

Let’s start with low-persistence. This is a display technique which greatly reduces blur which is otherwise caused by pixels on the screen staying lit for the entire time from one frame to the next (called full-persistence). With low-persistence, the pixels on the display are lit for only a fraction of the frame and then made dark until the next frame is ready to display.

Now you can imagine that this might cause a strobing effect as the display lights up and then goes dark between every frame, but actually if you can do this fast enough, it’s impossible to see. In fact, every major headset available on the market today already uses low-persistence. It’s an essential technique for keeping the image in the headset sharp as users pan their head around the virtual world.

Now that StarVR has implemented the technique, the fidelity of the image from a motion-blur standpoint comes in line with other headsets out there like the Vive and Rift. Granted, the current display is only running at 62Hz which is slightly faster than Gear VR, but slower than the 90Hz of the high-end desktop headsets, which means certain people sensitive to flicker might notice it. A major bump to the display’s refresh is in the works, but more on that another time.

Lighter Than it Looks

In addition to low-persistence, the form factor continues to see refinement. Gone is the bulky head-mount that was seen in the early iterations of the headset; despite the large dual displays, the headset is light enough for a simple flexible strap.

I only had the headset on for around 10 minutes continuously so it’s tough to say what the long-term comfort factor is like at this stage, but in my time with it I didn’t feel unreasonably encumbered by the weight.

That said, Rift, PSVR, and Vive have all shown that there’s benefits to be had from a smartly designed rigid strap system, so hopefully we’ll see that revisited on StarVR in the future.

Continue Reading on Page 2 >>

The post Hands-on: Latest StarVR Upgrades Highlight Ultra-wide FoV & Nearly Invisible Pixels appeared first on Road to VR.

March 19, 2017

The VR Job Hub: nDreams, Baobab Studios, Skydance Interactive and more

Whether you’re an experienced designer, programmer, engineer, or maybe you’ve just been inspired after reading VRFocus articles, the jobs listed here are located worldwide, from major game players to humble indie developers – the one thing they all have in common is that they are all jobs in VR.

View the new listings below for more information:

Location	Company	Role	Link
Farnborough, UK	nDreams	Video Editor	Click Here to Apply
Redwood City, CA	Baobab Studios	Gameplay Engineer	Click Here to Apply
Redwood City, CA	Baobab Studios	Junior Game Producer	Click Here to Apply
Marina del Rey, CA	Skydance Interactive	Multiplayer Level Designer	Click Here to Apply
Marina del Rey, CA	Skydance Interactive	VFX Artist	Click Here to Apply
Salt Lake City, UT	RED Games	Lead Engineer – VR & Mobile	Click Here to Apply
Paris, France	Starbreeze Studios	Senior SDK Engineer (Star VR)	Click Here to Apply
Paris, France	Starbreeze Studios	VR Solutions Engineer Star VR	Click Here to Apply

Look back at last week’s post for ongoing listings. If you’re an employer and are looking for someone to fill a VR or AR related gap on your workforce and would like your role to feature on next week’s VR Job Hub please send details of the role to either pgraham@vrfocus.com or keva@vrfocus.com

Check back with VRFocus at the new time of 3pm GMT every Sunday for the latest positions in this ever growing industry.

February 13, 2017

Review: John Wick Chronicles

Most gamers of any age will likely know that videogame movie tie-ins are ropy at best. Whether it’s a film created from a game or the other way around, there’s been a constant struggle to get the two entertainment worlds to successfully coalesce. The world of virtual reality (VR) is no different with this month seeing the release of John Wick Chronicles, coinciding with Keanu Reeves’ John Wick: Chapter 2 in cinemas. So has this been a successful partnership, well yes and no.

Created by Starbreeze Studios in collaboration with several other developers, John Wick Chronicles is what you’d expect, a gun filled, bullet flying, extravaganza of carnage and action. The infamous Continental hotel serves as the hub for the title, with the lobby and concierge accurately reproduced for that air of authenticity. It’s this attention to detail that can be seen across the entire production, whether its the graphics, gameplay or gun mechanics, John Wick Chronicles has been built to AAA standards.

You’ll be able to start off nice and easy, heading to the training room to get acquainted with shooting unlimited rounds of ammo at targets. This is all standard fare with duel wielding pistols, SMG’s, a shotgun and a sniper rifle with which to hone those aiming skills. After which you’ll want to get straight into the action and begin the first level, pitting you against waves of enemies armed to the teeth with guns, grenades and anything else they can throw at you.

It’s here where all that polish starts to come a little unstuck. That’s because John Wick Chronicles is a wave shooter, nothing wrong with that per se, but with such a high profile title using a gameplay mechanic so widely used in VR its certainly feels somewhat lacklustre that you’re essentially nailed to the spot. Using the HTC Vive’s room scale system does allow for duck and cover mechanics which certainly aid immersion, although this can be somewhat hampered depending on real world floor space.

Each level does its best to switch up the gameplay by having enemies appear all the way around you, at different levels and distances, requiring inventive use of the resources that are available. Do you stick to just pistols and try to take out long range enemies with a very good shot or switch to the sniper and then back again which can cost valuable time and life. This can involve some hectic fraught decisions during the intense gun battles but opponents generally come from one area at a time, so you’re not having to consciously keep track of every area. This is made even easier with the concierge continuously saying ‘check left’, ‘check right’, and so on. While helpful it can get annoying.

But the biggest issue with John Wick Chronicles is that of content. Aside from the training area there are only three levels available, which most players will probably get through in under an hour if they have a good run through – the second level is certainly tricky – making it feel somewhere between a tech demo and a fully fledged experience.

If John Wick Chronicles had been released in the middle of 2016 it could’ve been a showpiece for VR, expertly produced with taught gameplay and beautiful design. Coming out now though its almost having to play catch up, without offering anything new. With the likes of Raw Data on the market – which allows for movement and multiplayer options – for HTC Vive, the experience seems somewhat lacking. You’ll play it and enjoy it the once but that’ll be it, only starting it up again to showcase VR to your mates.