Augmented & Virtual Reality Confabulation
What Augmented Reality and Virtual Reality developers are talking about
The creative first-person shooter Superhot is among the free games offered through Xbox Games With Gold in March. As always, all four games are playable on Xbox One, with two also on Xbox 360.
The post March’s Xbox Games With Gold freebies arrive a day early appeared first on Digital Trends.
Sairento VR (2018), a VR ninja action game from indie developer Mixed Realms, ended its year-long stint in Steam Early Access today. The game, which features both single player and multiplayer modes, also launched on Oculus Home today.
Sairento VR launches out of Early Access with a new single player campaign mode that lets you hone your slow-motion, high-flying ninja moves as you shoot pistols and physically hack away with your katanas at the game’s ‘cyber ninja’ enemies. The game also includes a single player arcade mode, multiplayer co-op and PvP mode.
One of the most attractive bits about the game is its unique locomotion system, which is best described as a ‘point-and-click’ system that lets you quickly bound through the air with the ability to triple jump and wall-run your way to almost any target, making for fast-paced action across a relatively large map. From what we’ve played in Early Access, it proves to be a really interesting mash-up of Raw Data (2017) and Superhot VR (2017).
Releasing the news on the game’s Steam page, the developers say that despite exiting Early Access, there’s still a few things to be done.
As many of you have rightly pointed out, an exit from EA is just a technicality. It does not mean that we will be washing our hands off it from now on. While it does mean that we believe all the elements required to make a full game are in place, we still want to continue ironing out the remaining imperfections. We also want to add more content periodically to reward our fans’ loyalty and support for a while more.
Our only regret is that we cannot make the Campaign mode as robust as we would like it to be due to a lack of resources, although we really did try our very best.
Yet, despite its flaws, we think that Sairento is a game that we can all be proud of. And by we, we mean you and us. Sairento VR is a result of the cumulative efforts of both your constructive feedback and our hard work. Without you, Sairento won’t exist in its current form and we want to salute you for that. As such, we have dedicated the About page in the game to you. This page is about you and not about us. Please check it out.
Sairento VR is currently on sale for $25.50 on Humble Store, a 15% reduction from its normal $30 price tag. You can also purchase direct from Steam (Vive & Rift) or from Oculus Home (Rift).
The post ‘Sairento VR’ Exits Steam Early Access Today, Launches on Oculus Home appeared first on Road to VR.
Superhot: Mind Control Delete is a stand-alone expansion to last year's game, and it will be completely free to current players. The game launches on Steam's Early Access on December 7.
The post ‘Superhot: Mind Control Delete’ expansion will be free to current players appeared first on Digital Trends.
“Oh hey, I’ve been keeping up with your Op-Eds.”
“Op-Eds?” I found myself echoing back at the speaker of the statement tiredly.
My sleep is notoriously bad as I’ve mentioned previously. Indeed, it is 3:30am as I write this and whilst very tired indeed I am unable to find rest. Which over time really does not help how you feel. I was ‘fresh’ off the back of a very rough night in a hotel I was staying in with a friend with whom I had travelled down south to Portsmouth the day prior for an annual gathering of pals. Unfortunately, I was feeling every one of the 48 hours I had been awake for prior to that. The 48 hour thing has become quite the regular companion. So much so I had begun joking with friends that I was now following the day revealed as the galactic standard in the film Men In Black. On checking just now I find that it was a 37 hour day in the film, thus meaning I’m even out of sync in that fiction. Damn.
I blinked forcibly trying to bring my friend into focus. “Op-Eds…” I repeated, trying to get the cogs to turn. Or at least the teeth on them to mesh. That’d be a good start.
After what felt like forever but was probably only half a second it suddenly dawned on me that he meant this. These. He meant VR vs. I immediately felt slightly embarrassed as he works in the games industry. I’m always very flattered when professionals in ‘the biz’ tell me they read my work. That now a couple of friends in the industry had been following my writings – something I wasn’t aware of – I was, frankly, a bit touched.
“They’re….quite something.”
“Quite something?” Ah. I laughed. “Well they’re certainly unlike our usual output yes. But that’s deliberate. I don’t claim to be an expert, I just give the low-down on things as I see them as a Regular-ish Joe. I just claim to be me, silly pop culture references and all.”
“They are a bit silly.” He smiled.
“Good!” I leaned a bit back in my chair. “If you’re gonna ask me to write a weekly column you shouldn’t be too surprised that it’s me who writes it.” I winked…. and then I changed the subject as quickly as I could. You see I have been notably absent from here for the last couple of weeks as I took a small holiday to burn up some extra time that I had accrued. By the time Gamescom is over I will no doubt have a bunch of accrued time again. Such is the way of things. Usually I get dragged back in for one reason or another, mostly my own desire to help out in a pinch. However, for my own good I decided this time I wanted, no, needed to just get away from everything. I wanted to go virtual reality (VR) cold turkey. The industry could just get along and do what it needed to do for a bit. I on the other hand was going to do some me things. I was going to play games, edit videos I’d been meaning to. Read a book. I’d even bought a bunch of painting equipment and was going to give oil painting a go. I’ve somewhat failed on that one, having only managed to sort the easel out yesterday afternoon. Still at least I have everything I need now. The point is that at the time I was very happy in having nothing to do with VR.
How hard could it be to avoid, right?
Breakfast followed, as per tradition, at a local cafe where the 50% of the group up in the morning took it upon ourselves to lay waste to an unfeasible amount of sausages, eggs, hash browns, beans and bacon. When a conversation about VR kicked off. I wasn’t quite sure why but two of my friends began discussing the pros and cons of the tech – for gaming, naturally. Strangely I played no part in the conversation occurring. It just… happened. I remember thinking that was probably notable for some reason, before doing my best ostrich impersonation and stuck my head in the sand (or breakfast in this case) and pretending it wasn’t going on.
No. I vowed. I am not going to be drawn into things.
The talk came to its conclusion soon enough and before I knew it we were off into town, dodging a surprise rainstorm and making our way through part of the city centre to chill out at the park. That was the idea but then I saw the gang gravitating to some sort of tented area in the middle of the pedestrianised area where people were playing video games. I was rather surprised to rapidly discover that they weren’t just any games either. There were four PlayStation 4 units setup with the PlayStation VR courtesy of GAME. Gaggh.
Two of the more curious members of the group quickly had an HMD on their heads, experiencing Battlezone and another title I didn’t quite catch. Was VR just following me around? I took a couple of snaps for the VRFocus Twitter account (I could hardly ignore it could I?) and then sat down on a bench, my head still feeling kind of fuzzy as I offered some suggestions for systems and games for those who had expressed an interest. Quick as a flash though we were on our way again, and this time into GAME itself where my friend (and host) worked, specifically in its Belong gaming section. Something that for some reason I keep thinking is Beyond and not Belong. Of course, along with an eSports gaming setup it also has an HTC Vive people can try out for various sessions. I should have known, of course. It was discovered the Vive now possessed Superhot VR and before you could say Jack Robinson my friends were queuing up to take out virtual bad guys.
I’ll be honest – most of them were bloody terrible. But the point was that not only was everyone in the group enthralled it was getting an audience in terms of people in the store. People were entertained and intrigued. I passed on joining in the bottle throwing and gun shooting and by the end several of my friends were mulling over the best systems again. I chuckled ruefully. It seems I had failed in my bid to escape VR because the shadow of the damn thing was following me all around town. Which made me wonder; as much as the press talk about VR ‘becoming mainstream’ what does that mean? Because you could, theoretically anyway, argue that a judgement as to when something is mainstream is when it is everywhere and you just can get away from it. On that basis VR was certainly mainstream that day.
Talk about the tech kept popping up throughout the day but soon the day was at an end. Laying back on the bed I stared up at the ceiling and contemplated things. I had been defeated by VR. But at the very least I had seen that it was because it was resonating with people so much. That people of all ages were still learning what VR can do and were fascinated to see the magic in action. Still. At least now I could put thoughts of it to rest and, finally, get some rest myself. I let my mind slowly drift away.
“Hey.” The friend I was staying with said from the bed next to me, looking up from his tablet. “There’s a VR Ready PC here that’s designed like a Borg Cube and-”
Ah nuts.
So, you’ve either got your hands on an Oculus Rift or an Oculus Quest with the help of Link, and now you want to know what to download first (besides the free stuff). Here’s our breakdown of the top 10 Rift platform games that you should definitely play. Like right now.
Before we start, don’t forget that your Rift (and Quest with Link) also works with compatible games purchased through Steam. Thanks to Valve’s open SteamVR platform and OpenVR APIs, Steam supports HTC Vive, Windows VR, Valve Index, and Oculus Rift equally, so you can shop around for even more titles that aren’t published on the Oculus Store provided the developer enabled support.
HTC Vive owners can play all of these too with the help of Revive, a software hack that hooks Vive into Oculus Store exclusives. Without further ado, these are our top 10 Rift games in no particular order.
From Insomniac Games comes the open-world adventure Stormland, a real study in good shooting mechanics, excellent locomotion schemes, and not to mention a two-player co-op mode so you and a Rift/Quest-owning buddy can battle all the evil robots the cloud-filled world has to offer. Half of the fun is picking your combat tactics; are you a silent killer, ripping out an unsuspecting enemy’s heath pack and skitter away to safety, or are you the ‘jump from a 200-foot tower like Deadpool’ kind of person with reckless abandon? It’s up to you!
Check out why we gave Stormland a [9/10] in our review.
I don’t know about you, but being a Viking god was always on my list of things to do before leaving this world for Valhalla. It just so happens that Sanzaru Games has produced one of the best VR games to date, as this melee combat adventure has so much story, combat, dungeon crawling, and looting that you’ll easily invest 20 hours on the low side, but come back for at least 40 to get everything out of what has turned out to be one of the funnest and most well-realized VR titles to date
Read our review of Asgard’s Wrath to find out why we gave it an [8.8/10].
Here we have two halves of the same zero-G coin: first-person action-adventure game Lone Echo (2017) and it’s multiplayer counterpart Echo Arena (2017). As impressive feats of engineering in their own rights, both games feature an undoubtedly comfortable zero-G locomotion system that lets you fly through the air without the slightest hint of motion sickness.
Lone Echo is the sort of cinematic sci-fi narrative that engages the player with its excellent voice acting, impressive visuals, and a deep and memorable story. Combined with its innovative locomotion system, it’s truly a gem of a game worth playing—if only to say you’ve been to the edge of the Universe and back. Check out why we gave Lone Echo a solid [9/10] in our review.
‘Lone Echo’ on Rift ‘Echo VR’ on Rift
Where Lone Echo is plodding and tactful in its storytelling, Echo VR amps up the speed, throwing you in an online team sport that’s a fun mix of soccer and ultimate Frisbee… in space. The best part? It’s free to own permanently. Echo Combat, the first-person shooter expansion to Echo VR, isn’t here yet, but it’s also shown that the high-flying, zero-G locomotion mechanic is definitely suited to other game genres.
This three-part Star Wars cinematic experience arrives from ILMxLabs, Lucas Films’ skunkworks which is known for having churned out some of the highest-quality immersive content to date.
‘Vader Immortal’ Series on Rift
Vader Immortal is more of a VR ‘experience’ than it is a outright game, presenting the user with a 45-minute adventure for each episode, however each comes with its own game area that lets you practice all of your Jedi skills in what’s called the ‘Lightsaber Dojo’. In other, less capable hands, this would be a hokey add-on, but here it actually works and makes sense. All in all, it definitely deserves to be on the list however you slice it.
Created by Prague-based indie team Beat Studio, Beat Saber (2018) is a funky and incredibly stylish rhythm game that will have you slicing blocks to the beat of high-BPM dance music. While the idea is simple, the execution is magnificent. Beat Saber gives you a mess of songs to play, each with four difficulty levels to master, the highest being expert which will have you feeling like a 21st century techno-Jedi.
Check out our review of Beat Saber on PSVR to find out why we gave it a [8.9/10].
If you haven’t played the PC or console version of SUPERHOT (2016) before, get ready for a new take on the FPS genre with its strategy-based shooting missions. Designed from the ground-up for VR headsets, SUPERHOT VR (2016) is an entirely separate game in the same vein as its flatscreen counterpart. The iconic red baddies (and their bullets) move only when you do, so you can line up your shot, punch a guy in the face, dodge a bullet, and toss a bottle across the room, shattering their red-glass heads in what feels intensely immersive and satisfying—because you’re doing it all with your own two hands. That and you’ll feel like a badass no matter whose basement you live in.
Find out why we gave Superhot VR [9.1/10] in our review.
People used to think that fast-paced, high-action games would be too disorienting for new virtual reality users, but in Epic Games’ Robo Recall (2017), you can teleport around at full speed as you blast away at the game’s evil (and hilarious) robot army. If being able to tear your enemies literally limb from limb and beat a robot over the head with their own dismembered arm isn’t astounding enough, the level of detail and polish put into this game will make you reassess what’s possible in VR.
Find out why we gave Robo Recall [8.5/10] in our review.
From the co-creator of Rick and Morty comes the 3D platformer Trover Saves the Universe. 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. You’re partnered with Trover, a little purple eye-hole monster who isn’t a huge fan of working or being put in the position of having to save the universe.
‘Trover Saves the Universe’ on Rift
We haven’t had a chance to review Trover Saves the Universe, although it’s currently sitting at a very respectable [4.76/5] on the Oculus Store.
Schell Games has only just pushed out the last DLC installment of the hit spy-themed puzzler I Expect You to Die (2016). It’s on basically every platform now, and for good reason: it’s incredibly clever, well-built, and easy enough to pick up while being hard enough not to want to put down.
I Expect You to Die is currently sitting at a good [4.66/5] on the Oculus Store.
Once a PSVR exclusive, Moss (2017) has now made its way to PC VR headsets, letting you control your cute little mouse buddy, Quill, on your adventures through a large and dangerous world. Stylistically, Moss hits a home run with its impressive diorama-style visuals and interactive elements that lets you, the player (aka ‘The Reader’) move puzzle pieces around and also take over the minds of enemies as Quill slashes through the world to recover her lost uncle. Puzzles may not be the most difficult, but Moss has effectively set up a universe begging for more sequels to further flesh out the enticing world Polyarc Games has created.
See why we gave it a [7.9/10] in our review on PSVR.
If the list doesn’t have the game you’ve been eyeing for months, definitely check out our reviews for some more gaming greats on Oculus Rift, HTC Vive, and PSVR.
Update (November 19th, 2019): We’ve done a long-due overhaul of the list, expanding it from five to 10 games. We’ve also done away with the ranking system. If you’re looking for a more quantified list by user review rankings, check out The Top 20 Best & Most Rated Rift Games & Apps.
The post The 10 Best Games for Oculus Rift appeared first on Road to VR.
Sony’s E3 press conference saw a rush of reveals coming to the company’s PlayStation 4 headset PSVR, including a full release of Skyrim VR coming in November and a list of VR exclusives soon to follow. Among them is the stylized and the ever so cool Superhot VR (2016) finally coming to PSVR.
Update 07/18: updated exact release date.
While currently only available on Oculus Rift and HTC Vive since its initial release back in December, Superhot VR is officially coming to PlayStation VR on 19th July in Europe, and on 21st July in North America, launching alongside Superhot for PS4. Both PS4 game and PSVR-only Superhot VR will cost $24.99 separately, or together in a ‘Mind is Software’ bundle for $39.99.
Reviewing on Oculus Rift with Touch, we rated Superhot VR a solid 9.1/10. It’s a seriously fun title that gives you a bullet-time mechanic that translates phenomenally well to VR. Like a living puzzle, each bullet/punch/explosion is an opportunity to feel like the action hero-badass you always wished you were. While there isn’t much of a story to follow, it’s certainly an unabashedly unique and heart-pumping game currently out for VR headsets. Despite only clocking in at a little over 2 hours of gameplay, it’s one of those games you’ll pick up again and again, if only to show your friends just how cool you can feel while grabbing a pistol out of a bad guy’s hand, shattering another guy with a punch and shooting down a row of the offending crystalline red guys from across the room.
After playing the Oculus version of Superhot VR, Road to VR Executive Editor Ben Lang had this to say:
Every movement matters. Every pull of the trigger counts. My body is anchored inside the virtual world because I have to dodge punches, knives, and bullets—it’s interacting with me in a significant way. Enemies aim well, and you have to dodge better to stay alive. Like Neo stopping the bullets for the first time at the end of The Matrix, I wanted to be able to hold up my hand and say “No,” to what I knew in an instant was the end of the game that had come a bit too soon. But, despite my training, I was not The One.
We haven’t seen pre-order up for the PSVR version of Superhot VR yet, but we’ll keep our eyes peeled and update as more info comes in.
The post ‘Superhot VR’ is Coming to PSVR This Week appeared first on Road to VR.
The Oculus Rift turns one next Tuesday. This time last year we could hardly believe the age of consumer VR was nearly upon us, and now I’m struggling to come to terms with how quickly it’s moving. It really feels like it hasn’t been any time at all since Rift released, but it’s still hard to keep track of all that’s happened over the past 365 days.
I didn’t actually get my own Rift until September, mainly on the account of wanting to spare myself the madness of waiting for a unit to arrive. I was doubly relieved I’d decided to wait when Oculus started to struggle to meet shipping demands. Honestly, I don’t know how some of you coped with having your pre-orders pushed back weeks and months. I’d have gone crazy. Instead I sat back and decided it was best to let things get ironed out and wait until I could make a few simple clicks and have one show up at my door the next day. By then there would be a healthy slate of games to check out too beyond the already-impressive launch line-up.
Waiting wasn’t that hard; though I longed to be able to pull a Rift (or Vive) over my eyes without the ever so pressured feeling of knowing a developer was watching me, I’ve been an early adopter enough times before to know the caveats that come with the dedication, especially with VR.
Watching the first few weeks of launch was a mixed experience, though. It was wonderful to see so many amazed reactions from people that had kept the faith for multiple years, even if the frustrations of not getting a unit understandably drowned them out.
When I did finally get my unit, I played it cool. I knew Touch was mere months away and would be when I really dived in, but there were some games I had to check out on gamepad.
I’m going to remember Rift’s gamepad-only days fondly, even if I only joined the club towards the end of that era. Roomscale VR with position-tracked controls is undoubtedly the way forward, but there’s something to be said about the sheer simplicity of the gamepad game, free from the nagging concerns of the physical space around you. They may not have been revolutionary, but I appreciated the more traditionally thrills of Edge of Nowhere and Chronos. I think it’s important we remember those types of games as we head further into the age of Oculus Touch.
That said, Superhot was a game changer for me like I’m sure it was for many others. It just made so much sense inside the Rift; a unique blend of puzzle and shooter that captialized on VR’s ability to empower better than anything that’s came before or after. I caught glimpses of that in Robo Recall this month, too, though ultimately I agree with our review in that it’s far too repetitive to really be remembered as one of VR’s greatest triumphs.
Still, VR is an emotive powerhouse and I don’t think we’ve really realised how to unlock that side of it yet. We’re scratching the surface with things like Dear Angelica, sure, but the past year’s content was all about gamey excitement and thrills, the likes of which we can get on consoles and in movie theaters already.
My year in the Rift has been fun, if not as consistently mind-blowing as I might have hoped. I’ve seen a taste of what’s to come, though, and I’m confident the second year will be even more impressive than the first.
Tagged with: chronos, Edge of Nowhere, oculus, oculus rift, superhot
Last week’s VRTV was all about the Game Developer’s Conference (GDC) 2017, with masses of virtual reality (VR) news and content coming from the event. While this week maybe somewhat quieter there’s still plenty of VR news going on with Nina bringing you the next recap.
The episode covers SUPERHOT VR’s new ‘Forever’ update, significantly expanding upon the gameplay modes available. Studio Roqovan also gets a look in with its next update, adding new characters, a map and more.
For fans of Owlchemy Labs’ Job Simulator, there’s lots of new mechandise available should you want a t-shirt, magnets or other officially endorsed stuff. And for those wanting to head to the Virtual Reality World Congress (VRWC) we’re offering a 20 percent discount on tickets.
Checkout the next episode below for further info, and stay tuned to VRFocus and VRTV for more news info and videos.
2016 was the year of VR hardware and it’s looking like 2017 is the year of software and accessories, but there are still many skeptics about the potential of the industry. Because of those, supporters and detractors clamor for whatever data is made available from sales to time spent playing on VR platforms and more. As development charges forward, developers are interested in statistics deeper embedded within their games as well, especially those that could help them create better VR experiences. Aldin Dynamics, a studio founded in 2013 that works exclusively on VR content, has a powerful analytic tool called Ghostline and they’ve started fostering partnerships with other dev studios to use the tool with their games.
Aldin Dynamics is starting things off by sharing their Ghostline program with Cloudhead Games and the SUPERHOT team, who both have created top experiences in the VR ecosystem. SUPERHOT and The Gallery – Call of the Starseed both received 9s out of 10 from our team at Upload and both are maintaining “Very Positive” ratings on Steam at the time of this writing. Even though the high reviews allude to these developers having a solid grasp on what they’re doing, the VR ecosystem is incredibly young and developers will want to take special note of what they’re doing wrong as well as right for future projects. The immersive nature of VR presents a lot of data about players that wouldn’t be considered in traditional game development, so tools like Ghostline will be crucial going forward.
Content from Ghostline Data Insights PDF For Waltz of the Wizard
To offer up an idea of what Ghostline offers, Aldine Dynamics shared the information gathered from Waltz of the Wizard which is another one of the best performing VR titles on Steam. The document has the expected information like the amount of people playing with more in-depth info like the average duration of a play session and what days of the week people play. It goes beyond that into unique VR territory with tracking of player height and how regularly they utilized room-scale, both important things to note for future games. A notable takeaway is that players using room-scale would play for longer periods than those just standing in one spot. The full PDF shows the potential of Ghostline and will hopefully inspire devs to use the tool and apply what they learn going forward.
Developers that are interested in partnering with Aldine Dynamics for Ghostline can reach out to the team via info@aldindynamics.com or sign up for their newsletter to stay informed on early access for the tool.
Tagged with: Aldine Dynamics, analytics, cloudhead games, Ghostline, superhot, the gallery
Aldin Dynamics, the Icelandic virtual reality (VR) company behind Waltz of the Wizard, has announced a partnership programme for its VR experience analysis tool Ghostline. In the first phase of its programme the studio has already collaborated with Cloudhead Games and SUPERHOT.
Ghostline was first announced back in September 2015, designed specifically for VR experience analysis and design optimization. Studio’s can use the tools to focus development efforts and offer invaluable insights into the complex relationship between user behavior, content design and VR system setups.
As well as the partnership programme, Aldin Dynamics has released Ghostline insights for its VR experience Waltz of the Wizard on HTC Vive. With an ‘overwhelmingly positive’ feedback score on Steam, the studio reports its seen over 300,000 sessions from over 100,000 players since its initial release in May 2016. Other stats include the average play time sits at 19 minutes, 37 percent of players were from the US representing the largest audience, China had the largest room-scale play areas while Japan had the smallest, and Waltz of the Wizard saw a 284 percent download spike between November to December 2016.
For developers interested in Ghostline Aldin invites VR industry professionals to sign up to the Ghostline Early Access newsletter for further information.
Select partners will be joining the private program in 2017, and for further updates, keep reading VRFocus.
