The GDC machine is in full force. We’re about a month away from the show at this point and things are starting to heat up in my inbox. Yesterday, Oculus reached out to UploadVR with details about a pre-GDC press-only demo event in which they will feature a number of new Rift and Oculus Quest demos. We were granted permission to share the following details.
Specifically, the email indicates many of the demos will be for “not-yet-announced” games, in addition to a brand new demo for Stormland and the first-ever hands-on opportunity with Asgard’s Wrath.
We already knew Quest would have a big presence at GDC this year. Back at OC5 Facebook confirmed the standalone headset is due out in Spring, which means it must be releasing in just a few short months. At that same event Mark Zuckerberg said it would launch with 50+ games and we only know about maybe 10 of them so far and have only tried four. That leaves a lot of question marks — but we have some ideas.
Hopefully we get confirmation of popular existing titles like Rec Room and Beat Saber coming to Quest, as those would surely help sell headsets, but more than anything what we’d like to see are actual brand-new experiences made for Quest rather than just ports. That’s where the real quality is going to come from.
The pre-GDC event is happening on Monday, March 18th and is embargoed for that following Wednesday, March 20th so you’ll have to wait until then to see what we think of the demos. We will also have the chance to conduct updated interviews with Jason Rubin, VP of AR/VR Content and Partnerships and Nate Mitchell, Head of VR Product.
Let us know your thoughts on the details of this event and if you have any questions that we should keep in mind leading up to the show down in the comments below!
Starting this Friday is the annual PAX South videogame event in San Antonio, Texas, featuring two days of gaming goodness. Of course, no event is complete without a bit of virtual reality (VR) awesomeness taking place, with some of the most anticipated titles set to make an appearance during the show.
It seems that Oculus will be returning to the event in full force, taking a selection of titles that are due to make an appearance on Oculus Rift. One of VRFocus most eagerly awaited videogames of 2019 is Insomniac Games’ Stormland. An epic sci-fi adventure, Stormland puts you in the role of a robot who just happens to be a gardener on a lush alien planet. That was until The Tempest shattered your android body, so you must head out across the planet to augment yourself and save your friends. The title will feature both single-player and multiplayer options, with players having complete freedom to run, climb and fly across the expansive terrain.
When VRFocusfirst previewed the title we said that: ‘Stormland is undoubtedly Insomniac Games’ most ambitious VR project to date.’
Or for a bit of spy action then there’s Defector. Another Oculus Rift exclusive, Defector is the work of Wilson’s Heart developer Twisted Pixel and Oculus Studios. Defector is a high octane homage to all those great spy movies, with ridiculous stunts, plenty of guns, cars, and of course a little gambling.
Both Stormland and Defector will be available in the VR Freeplay area on the PAX show floor.
Also at the show will be BigBox VR with its upcoming battle royale title Population: ONE. Population: ONE aims to build upon the success of Bigbox VR’s first virtual reality (VR) videogame, Smashbox Arena. You’ll be able to climb, fly and build in 12v12 team wars and 24-player free for all modes, with cross-play compatibility for HTC Vive, Oculus Rift and Windows Mixed Reality headsets.
For those that like their strategy titles then there’s Phaser Lock Interactive’s Final Assault. A WWII themed real-time strategy (RTS) that puts you in command of jeeps, tanks, and artillery in massive ground battles as the skies erupt in bullets, flak and dynamic dogfights. You’ll be able to order tactical air strikes and bombing runs as you advance your troops by drawing paths for precise, direct combat towards the enemy.
There will be plenty more hands-on demos so for more information, head over to the official PAX Website. For the further updates on the videogames mentioned, keep reading VRFocus.
Oculus is bringing two highly anticipated Rift exclusives to PAX South in San Antonio, Texas this year: Stormland and Defector.
Stormland, a sci-fi adventure from Insomniac Games, first debuted at PAX West last summer. It was available through a pop-up installation for a one-day only affair back in August, and hasn’t publicly demoed since.
Stormland is touted for its open world narrative which lets you interact with the world through a number of ways, be it scaling mountains, jumping over chasms, or soaring through alien world ‘slipstreams’ that shift as you play. The game is said to be both single-player and multiplayer; a phenomenon called ‘The Tempest’ rearranges the world each week to reveal new challenges.
Defector, a Rift exclusive from Wilson’s Heart (2017) studio Twisted Pixel, first debuted at PAX East in April 2018. Essentially, Defector stitches together a number of action sequences in a variety of play-styles and branching pathways, promising plenty of replayability. Twisted Pixel set out to build something of a hybrid between Mission: Impossible and Fast and the Furious.
We went hands-on with Defectorlast year, and the action-heavy demo seemed to impress Road to VR’s Ben Lang.
In the demo I played I was given the choice of whether I wanted to jump out of the plane or fight my way out. Both choices led to totally different segments of the game: one had me clinging for my life to the outside of a plane in a sort of climbing mini game, while the other led me into a gun fight, a fist fight, and ultimately to driving a sports car out of the plane’s cargo hold.
Oculus will be also publicly demoing the upcoming battle royale shooter Population: Onefrom Big Box. There are also a few tournaments to look forward to as well, including:
Die diesjährige Pax South 2019 steht bevor, um uns mit neuen Spieleinformationen zu versorgen. Facebook kündigte innerhalb des Oculus-Blogs bereits die Präsentation von drei spannenden VR-Titeln für die Oculus Rift an. So soll es spielbare Demos von Stormland, Defector und POPULATION: ONE geben.
Pax South 2019 – Oculus führt Stormland, Defector und POPULATION: ONE vor
Stormland
Das Gameplay des kommenden Open-World-Abenteuers Stormland von Entwicklerstudio Insomniac Games wurde erstmals auf der PAX West 2018 vorgeführt und begeisterte die Tester vor Ort.
In der Rolle eines Roboters können sich die Spieler darin intuitiv durch die frei begehbare Sci-Fi-Welt bewegen, um verschollene Artgenossen zu finden. Mit diversen Feuerwaffen und Schildfeatures gilt es so, Feinde zu bekämpfen und jede Menge zu entdecken.
Wir dürfen gespannt sein, welche neuen Features in der angekündigten Demo auf der kommenden Spielemesse vorgestellt werden.
Defector
In Defector treten die Spieler in die Fußstapfen von Spionen, wie James Bond, um sich mit zahlreichen Feuerwaffen, speziellen Gadgets und schicken Autos in actionreiche Situationen zu begeben.
So bietet der VR-Titel eine Singleplayer-Geschichte, welche mit dramatischen Action-Szenen aufgewertet wird und euch dadurch in übertrieben tödliche Situationen befördert. Wer also schon immer gerne einmal mit einem schnellen Sportwagen aus einem fliegenden Flugzeug abspringen wollte, erhält hier eine gute Gelegenheit dazu.
POPULATION: ONE
Das VR-Battle-Royale POPULATION: ONE von Entwicklerstudio BigBox VR schickt euch dagegen in einen knallharten Überlebenskampf auf einer riesigen Karte. So dürfen die Spieler in den virtuellen Gefilden ihr taktisches Geschick beweisen und natürlich jede Menge looten und ballern.
Zusätzlich versprechen die verantwortlichen Devs ein freies Bewegungssystem namens FreeMotion, wodurch man sämtliche Strukturen frei begehen kann. So ist das Klettern und Fliegen mit einem Jetpack möglich. Außerdem soll das Errichten von Schutzwällen, im Stil von Fortnite möglich sein, um sich Schutzwälle vor Feinden zu errichten. Insgesamt 24 Spieler können gleichzeitig in verschiedenen Spielmodi antreten. Dazu zählen 12-gegen-12-Kämpfe oder ein Free-for-All.
Die Pax South 2019 findet vom 18. bis 20. Januar 2019 in San Antonio in Texas in Amerika statt.
Facebook announced that it will host demos of its upcoming high budget Oculus Rift exclusives Stormland and Defector at PAX South 2019.
PAX is a collection of gaming festivals held each year since 2004. PAX South is held in San Antonio, Texas. This year it will take place on January 18th-20th. Oculus has had a presence at at least one PAX event per year since 2013.
Both titles are funded by Oculus Studios- Facebook’s VR content division.
Stormland
Stormland is an open world co-op adventure from Insomniac Games.
The game features a vast open world that is part procedural and part hand crafted. It also features mechanics like crafting and climbing. The graphics look incredible- this may be the best looking made for VR open world title yet.
Insomniac’s previous VR titles were 3rd person Lovecraftian adventure Edge of Nowhere [9/10] and 1vs1 wizard dueling game The Unspoken [9/10]. Outside VR they developed hit titles like Spyro the Dragon, Ratchet & Clank, and the Resistance series. More recently they developed Marvel’s Spider-Man.
Defector
Defector is an action packed spy game from Twisted Pixel Games that turns you into Jason Bourne (or James Bond, if you prefer). Originally slated for 2018, the game was delayed to some time this year.
We’ve tried this game a few times now- most recently at Oculus Connect 5. Each time we tried it we had a blast. This game probably won’t make you think, but its endless over the top action sequences are downright fun.
Twisted Pixel previously developed Wilson’s Heart [9/10], an incredible VR black & white mystery thriller reminiscent of The Twilight Zone.
What Of Oculus Quest?
Neither game is slated to release on the upcoming Oculus Quest standalone headset. At Oculus Connect 5, Twisted Pixel were listed as working on a Quest title or port however, so it’s possible Defector will see a port. Insomniac was not listed.
It seems unlikely that either game will come to the Quest however as we got the impression that each pushes the boundaries of even PC VR. Standalone systems are significantly less powerful than a PC.
You only need to take a look at VRFocus’ ‘Best Oculus Rift Games of 2018‘ to see some of the awesome content the PC-based headset has managed to deliver over the course of 2018. So now it’s time to look towards the future and the next 12 months. VRFocus has chosen five virtual reality (VR) videogames that you should be keeping an eye on, some due very soon while others are a bit more ambiguous in their release windows.
The Best Oculus Rift Games Coming in 2019
Lone Echo II – Ready at Dawn
While not entirely a surprise, Ready at Dawn’s sci-fi sequel Lone Echo II was certainly the biggest videogame announcement during Oculus Connect 5 (OC5) a few months ago. It continues the story of Jack and Liv from where Lone Echo left off, with a teaser trailer showing Liv fixing the players robotic character Jack. Exclusive to Oculus Rift, few other details have been released regarding how Ready at Dawn plan to expand the storyline or the expansion of features. This info will probably arrive during the Game Developers Conference (GDC) in March.
Lone Echo II only has a release window of 2019 at the moment.
A Fisherman’s Tale – InnerspaceVR
While most of the videogames on this list don’t offer a specific launch date, InnerspaceVR’s mind-bending puzzle experience A Fisherman’s Talemost certainly does. A single-player puzzle adventure, A Fisherman’s Tale is all about thinking outside the box, as the title plays with dimensions and scale. It’s only through interacting with the central lighthouse model as Bob the fisherman that the puzzles can be solved and Bob can turn the lighthouse on.
A Fisherman’s Tale is a multiplatform release, being published by Vertigo Games on 22nd January.
Stormland – Insomniac Games
VR veterans Insomniac Games (The Unspoken, Edge of Nowhere, Feral Rites) are looking to dominate 2019 with ambitious open-world adventure Stormland. Another sci-fi epic that’s going to be competing against Lone Echo II for players attention, Stormland puts you in the role of a robot who just happens to be a gardener on a lush alien planet. That was until The Tempest shattered your android body, so you must head out across the planet to augment yourself and save your friends. The title will feature both single-player and multiplayer options, with players having complete freedom to run, climb and fly across the expansive terrain.
Stormland is another Oculus Rift exclusive which has a tentative 2019 release window.
Defector – Twisted Pixel
2019 definitely seems to be the year Oculus Rift developers are pushing the technology harder than ever, aiming to offer VR fans even richer and more hands-on experiences. Wilson’s Heartstudio Twisted Pixel in conjunction with Oculus Studios is working on a spy adventure called Defector. First revealed as part of Oculus Rift’s second anniversary, Defector is a high octane homage to all those great spy movies, with ridiculous stunts, plenty of guns, cars, and of course a little gambling.
Exclusive to Oculus Rift, Defector was originally due for release in 2018, but slipped into 2019 for undisclosed reasons. No specific launch date has yet been confirmed.
Unannounced Title – Respawn Entertainment
This is the big mystery on this list – which also makes it the most exciting. Respawn Entertainment is the studio behind Titanfall and Star Wars Battlefront. The team announced work on a VR title back in 2017 – and no it’s not based/related to either of those titles – and have been super secretive ever since. No title for the project has been revealed, not even a teasing image or two, just a 2019 date and the knowledge that Respawn Entertainment looks to be playing to its strengths with job listings describing a “AAA VR shooter game”.
Only the Oculus Studios logo has been seen next to Respawn’s, so this looks to be another Oculus Rift exclusive, due out at some point this year.
This year was awesome for VR gaming, but 2019 is looking even brighter with a slew of highly polished titles coming to PSVR, Oculus Rift and HTC Vive.
Here we take a look at 15 tantalizing VR titles confirmed for release in 2019.
Don’t miss the ‘To Be Announced’ section below either, which features eight high-profile games that don’t have release dates yet, but will hopefully come out in 2019 too.
Population: One is an upcoming battle royale shooter from the studio behind VR indie hit Smashbox Arena (2016). Population: One is offering a ton of fun mechanics such as the ability to climb anything, build forts, fly, and shoot the ever-living crap out of everyone with a variety of scrounged weapons as you battle for that tasty chicken dinner.
Studio description: The Tempest shattered your android body. Now you must journey through an ever-changing cloudscape to augment yourself and save your friends. Explore an expansive world with complete freedom—bound up cliffs, glide across chasms, and fly through the slipstream with velocity. Detonate explosives, harness electricity, and wield makeshift weapons to overcome titanium sentries and monolithic guardians. Play single-player, or explore forgotten ruins together.
Studio description: You are elite Special Forces soldier Ryan Marks, on a desperate mission to save his family from a ruthless criminal overlord. Grab your PS Move motion controllers and blast anyone in your way as you go face to face with enemies, uncover secrets and experience the thrill of the chase in a high-octane action narrative inspired by PlayStation VR Worlds’ ‘The London Heist’ experience.
Studio description: Jack and Liv are back in Lone Echo II. Return to the rings of Saturn in this highly-anticipated sequel, to unravel the mysteries of Lone Echo and journey deeper into space – past the very boundaries of time itself.
Studio description: Deliver cargo or smuggle alien lifeforms on your rickety ship all across the galaxy! In Failspace the pressure is always on you and your crew. Fix those leaks, pull those levers and crank those handles to maximum in short but increasingly difficult cargo missions.
Studio description: Overcome impossible odds and survive certain death scenarios in the undercover spy thriller that VR has been waiting for. It’s a zero-sum world where facing danger head-on is a requirement, and success favors those who embrace it. In this exciting Oculus exclusive, the enemy will stop at nothing to gain an advantage. To defeat them, you and your team of elite operatives must use every advanced weapon, cutting-edge technology, and deceptive tactic in your arsenal.
Studio description: Bend and twist reality in A Fisherman’s Tale, the mind-bending VR puzzle adventure game in which being turned upside down and inside out is not merely a play on words.
The free multiplayer Typhon Hunter update to Prey: Mooncrash is already out for console and PC, but support for all major VR platforms is coming next year. Like PropHunt in Gary’s Mod, one player is assigned as the hunter (Morgan Yu) while the others try to hide out and evade detection as typhons, the game’s alien race of mimics that can turn into everyday objects like mugs, chairs—practically anything you can think of.
ACE COMBAT 7 is unfortunately not entirely playable in VR, as the game’s campaign is focused on PS4 users, although Bandai Namco has created a handful of missions developed specifically for the PSVR that the studio says will provide “several hours of VR gameplay.”
Studio description: Wonderful. Your dogs have been dognapped by a beaked lunatic who stuffed them into his eye holes and is using their life essence to destroy the universe. Does that make any sense? You’ve partnered with Trover, a little purple eye hole monster to save them. Find power babies and plug them into his eye holes so that he can absorb their power, track down Glorkon, and save your dogs (and the Universe).
We don’t know much about gameplay mechanics yet, but it’s possible the Magic Leap One release of Angry Birds: FPS – First Person Slingshotmay hold some answers. Resolution Games was also involved in its making, a title that does away with the standard side-scrolling gameplay for a more immersive first-person experience of physically shooting a slingshot at the 3D piggy fort.
Respawn Entertainment, the studio behind Titanfall and Call of Duty, has partnered with Oculus to develop what they call “a major VR release.” There’s not much on the books about the game yet, including the title or specific release date, but it promises battlefield realism that will give you a chance to “experience life closer to what a soldier would experience in real combat.”
Studio description: First you JOBBED, now you VACATION. Visit Vacation Island and experience RECREATION, optimal RELAXATION, and classic human past times like SUNBURN. Vacation Island offers all this and more so that you can discover the lost art of TIME OFF.
Studio description: A visceral, jetpack-fueled VR Arcade Shooter where you fly through deadly Orbital Arenas in hostile space, facing off in extreme battles. You are now part of the elite Tribes of gun-slinging Spacers who battle it out in treacherous 2v2 and 1v1 battles.
Studio description: ZED is the story of an aging artist, lost in regret, and the haze of dementia. Inside the dreamscape of this creative mind come undone, players reassemble the artist’s fragmented memories into a final, lasting legacy: a loving final gift to his unborn granddaughter.
Eagre Games is a new studio led by original Myst (1993) artist Chuck Carter. Zed will be the first game published by Cyan Ventures, Cyan’s newly formed publishing arm.
To Be Announced
3 Games from Valve
Image courtesy Valve
Platform: Rift, Vive (unannounced)
Developer: Valve
Valve is still famously mum on its three games originally confirmed back in February 2017, and yes, we’re still waiting on all of them. [Insert tired Half-Life 3 joke here].
Valve has produced The Lab (2016) and plenty of content for the SteamVR Home that all really demonstrate just how uniquely qualified they are to produce full-length VR games. Fingers crosses we hear something definitive this year.
Originally teased at PSX 2015 with a slated release for an October 2016, High Wire Games’ has slipped into what looks to be a 2019 release. In Golem, you play as an adventurous kid who has been seriously injured. You are stuck at home in your bed, dreaming of exploring the outside world. The minds behind the game are ex-Bungie staffers, including Halo composer Marty O’Donnell.
Playful Corp, the minds behind Rift launch title Lucky’s Tale (2016), had a bit of a scare recently when pre-orders for their upcoming side-scrolling platformer Star Child were mysteriously cancelled. Never fear, Star Child is still in production, although the release date is unknown at this time.
From the makers of Myst (1993) and Obduction (2016) comes another VR puzzler, this time promising more steampunk goodness. It’s still heavily under wraps, but Cyan calls it a “resplendent, magical, journey — a monumental voyage through four diverse and curious realms, working in concert with an ever-present, clockwork companion, and the support and instruction of a long-dead, ethereal mentor.”
Borderlands 2 VR is already available on PSVR, but it’s more than likely that the loot-em and shoot-em action game is headed to PC VR headsets too. According to a new promo video, Sony is confirming that Borderlands 2 VR is a timed exclusive, giving it at very least a five month minimum on the PSVR platform; a hypothetical PC VR launch date could come as early as May 14th, 2019.
The minds behind early successes Senza Peso (2014) and Insurgent (2015) have been busy developing their first full-fledged VR game. Called Bebylon Battle Royale, the VR melee party brawler puts ridiculously dressed infants into kart-based Smash Bros-style combat.
The studio previously targeted an early 2018 release, although now it seems it’s heading towards 2019.
Insomniac Games has become something of a leading name in the creation of virtual reality (VR) videogames. As the company is responsible for popular multiplayer VR title The Unspoken. As a result, its upcoming VR title, Stormland, is highly anticipated among VR fans.
At the Oculus Connect 5 conference, Nina of VRFocus caught up with Chad Dezern, Chief Creative Officer of Insomniac Games, who spoke about how his company is working alongside Oculus to create Stormland.
“This year at OC5 we’re showcasing Stormland, our latest VR game, which is all about experience the freedom of exploring the open world in VR” Dezern explained, laying out the basis of its upcoming VR title.
Asked about what lessons the development team are bringing from previous VR projects to Stormland, Dezern said: “It’s been a process of learning what works well with movement mechanics in VR and building each game to include more of that. We started out with 3rd-person games, which was a nice segway from our console experience. We ended up with The Unspoken, which used a teleport mechanic, so we weren’t so focussed on the movement. But finally we’re working with an open-world structure in Stormland, so there’s a host of movement mechanics.”
Speaking about the source of inspiration of Stormland, Dezern said: “Everything for us in Stormland is about creating a pervasive sense of wonder. So we created this world that just begs to be discovered, there’s something beautiful to find atop every rock you can climb.”
Explaining the story and objective of Stormland, Dezern said: “You play as an android gardener and you’re the caretaker of a lush alien planet. A malevolent alien force destroys your word and smashes your android body. So you have to journey to this mysterious civilisation above the thunderheads to repair your body and save your friends.”
The full video interview can be viewed below. For further coverage of Stormland and other upcoming VR titles, keep checking back with VRFocus.
During the Electronic Entertainment Expo (E3) 2018 in June Insomniac Games revealed the first details of its next virtual reality (VR) adventure, an epic sci-fi tale involving robots called Stormland. Now, with Oculus Connect 5 underway the studio has been letting attendees get the first taste of what’s to come. Naturally VRFocus was at the front of the queue and we’ve got some gameplay footage to show you.
Created in collaboration with Oculus Studios, Stormland is an open world action‐adventure putting you in the role of a robot who just happens to be a gardener on a lush alien planet. That was until The Tempest shattered your android body, so you must head out across the planet to augment yourself and save your friends.
Insomniac Games has built an expansive world to explore, with your robot body able to freely navigate it by bounding up cliffs, gliding across chasms or flying through slipstreams. Additionally, you’ll also be able to detonate explosives, harness electricity, and wield makeshift weapons to face hostiles. But to do all this you’ll need to upgrade your body by collecting specific alloys found around the environment. These can then be used to buy the upgrades you’ll need to progress at certain locations.
All of this can be seen in VRFocus’ gameplay video below, as we run through the verdant landscape learning how to shoot, glide and find the resources necessary to survive.
This is only a short gameplay glimpse at what’s to come – Insomniac didn’t want us revealing too much – with Stormland exclusively launching on Oculus Rift at some point in 2019. From current impressions the sci-fi adventure is looking to be one of the most anticipated VR titles for next year.
VRFocus is at Oculus Connect 5 for the duration, continuing to bring you the latest news and announcements from the event.
It’s that time of the year when Oculus grabs all of the virtual reality (VR) attention with its fifth annual event, Oculus Connect 5 (OC5), taking place in California over the next couple of days. Of course VRFocus is there to bring you all the latest news and announcements from the conference so we caught up with the head of Oculus Rift team Nate Mitchell to find out more.
Being the consumer focused event that OC5 tends to be there are plenty of videogame announcements from some of the biggest developers in the field, with the likes of Insomniac Games showcasing its upcoming sci-fi adventure Stormland, Phaser Lock Interactive with Final Assault and Ready at Dawn with Lone Echo II and Echo Combat.
While 2018 has certainly been a big year for Oculus with the launch of Oculus Go back in May, Mitchell predicts an even bigger year ahead saying: “2019 is going to be the year of some of the best content that we’ve seen to date. And I think that’s showcased here [OC5], but it’s the development community taking everything to the next level. And so if you’re a gamer there’s never been a better time to jump into VR.”
Alongside all the videogames to play over the two days there will be plenty of talks and sessions for guests to attend, teaching developers the latest VR practices, and how to make awesome immersive content for Oculus Rift.
Check out the video below to see learn more about what Mitchell has to say regarding the VR industry, not only just for home users but also for the industry at large, whether that’s training and simulation or location-based entertainment (LBE) which has been rapidly growing over the past couple of years thanks to companies like The VOID and its Star Wars: Secrets of the Empireexperience or Zero Latency and its territory expansion.
VRFocuswill be bringing you the latest hands-on from OC5 so stay here for further updates.
