SXSW Gaming Awards – Augmented & Virtual Reality Confabulation

March 23, 2021

Half-Life: Alyx Currently 40% off to Celebrate 1st Anniversary

Doesn’t time fly? Can you believe, considering all that’s happened, that it’s been 12 months since Valve released what was undoubtedly the best virtual reality (VR) videogame currently available, Half-Life: Alyx. The epic sci-fi shooter has won numerous awards – including VRFocus’ very own ‘Game of the Year’ – and if you happen to own a SteamVR compatible headset and have yet to play it, Half-Life: Alyx is currently on sale.

There’s a 40% discount – which could be its biggest yet, in the Steam Winter Sale it was 25% – until the end of March, a good enough reason to dive in or how about the 98% positive rating the videogame has received from Steam reviewers. For more awards praise, Half-Life: Alyx also took home the 2021 SXSW Gaming Awards VR Game of the Year this past weekend.

Those awards were hosted by IGN and as part of the event Valve’s Robin Walker discussed Half-Life: Alyx’s development. He revealed that while the team were sceptical of the reaction to its ending they were happy with the response: “So yeah, the reaction from people to the story and the narrative choices we made at the end have been really energising.”

Half-Life: Alyx was a big deal in a number of ways, not only was it pivotal as a showcase of what VR could do, it finally gave fans of the franchise something to play as the last title, Half-Life 2: Episode 2, launched way back in 2007. Walker was quizzed about Episode 2 and whether a followup was ‘hot on its heels’ to which he responded: “I think hot on its heels might be a bit optimistic.” Valve being Valve it won’t rush anything. As the narrative plays such an important part in Half-Life fans have been eager to see where it goes. Half-Life: Alyx was more of a sidestep because it was set between Half-life and Half-Life 2.

While you can enjoy the base videogame for a stunning VR experience, fans know there’s far more to play with. Play through it and enjoy over three hours of developer commentary. Thanks to Steam Workshop support and the community of mod-makers there’s an almost endless supply of mods you can add to Half-Life: Alyx, offering new enemies, weapons, levels and more. You can enjoy a spot of bowling, golf, or download the eight Return to Rapture levels putting you inside the Bioshock universe!

VRFocus will continue its coverage of Half-Life: Alyx, reporting back with the latest updates.

March 22, 2021

Zombieland: Headshot Fever Hits Oculus Quest This Week

XR Games revealed its next virtual reality (VR) title in the form of Zombieland: Headshot Fever at the start of the month. As part of the SXSW Gaming Awards held over the weekend, the studio announced that the Oculus Quest version would be arriving this week, on Thursday in fact.

Zombieland: Headshot Fever is an arcade shooter, where players have to pop heads as quickly as possible, gaining score multipliers to land on the global leaderboards. While you can hit the zombies elsewhere, two quick headshots activate the ‘Adrenaline Mode’ which slows time for even bigger scores using shotguns, revolvers, assault rifles and more.

As part of the launch announcement, it was also revealed that XR Games has partnered with the VR Master League (VRML) to organise Zombieland Invitational esports events during 2021. Open to all players, you can sign-up for the Zombieland Invitational over on the official website.

“XR Games set out to make a VR game that was all about tight, focussed, shooting gameplay with nuanced mechanics driving a superior level of skill. Watching the influencers in the first Zombieland Invitational demonstrated to us the degree of excellence that players can develop, which becomes apparent when you play the game,” said Bobby Thandi, Founder and CEO, XR Games in a statement.

“We’re thrilled to collaborate with XR Games to provide backup in this fight against zombies,” says Alex ‘DaKinMan’, Founder and CEO of VR Master League. “Growing competitive scenes and showcasing exciting competitive VR is our focus in VRML. Providing services for events such as this Zombieland VR Invitational is one of our goals and we’re glad to be a part of it!”

Officially licensed by Sony Pictures, Zombieland: Headshot Fever will feature Tallahassee, Wichita, Columbus and Little Rock from the movie franchise and their likenesses, with Abigail Breslin voicing her Little Rock character – Tallahassee will be voiced by Woody Harrelson’s brother, Brett.

Zombieland: Headshot Fever will launch this Thursday, 25th March for Oculus Quest. Other platforms including Oculus Rift, HTC Vive, Windows Mixed Reality headsets, and PlayStation VR will arrive at a later date. For further updates on the arcade shooter, keep reading VRFocus.

March 22, 2021

SXSW Gaming Awards: Half-Life: Alyx Wins, Zombieland VR Coming March 25

The winners of the SXSW Gaming Awards for 2020 were announced last weekend as part of SXSW Online, which also included some more details about upcoming VR title Zombieland VR: Headshot Fever.

There’s only one specific VR category in the SXSW Gaming Awards — VR Game of the Year — which went, somewhat unsurprisingly, to Half-Life: Alyx. It beat out some tough competition, including Down the Rabbit Hole, Medal of Honor: Above and Beyond, Star Wars: Squadrons and The Walking Dead: Saints & Sinners.

In other categories, some titles with optional VR support took home awards as well. Dreams won the Matthew Crump Culture Innovation Award, while Microsoft Flight Simulator won the Excellence in Technical Achievement category.

The awards also featured some more Zombieland VR: Headshot Fever news, an upcoming VR FPS announced earlier in the month. We knew the game was coming this Spring, but it’s even closer than we thought — the game will release later this week on March 25 for Quest. The release schedule for other platforms will be announced later.

Additionally, XR Games also announced a collaboration with VR esports organization VR Master League (VRML) to produce the “Zombieland VR: Headshot Fever Invitational.” The invitation was announced with a mini promotional tournament featuring VR YouTubers and influencers, as seen in the video above, hosted and casted by esports personality Alex “Goldenboy” Mendes. There are sign-ups already available on the Zombieland VR site.

February 16, 2021

Half-Life: Alyx & Star Wars: Squadrons Among SXSW Gaming Awards VR Nominees

South by Southwest (SXSW) has announced it’ll be hosting its annual gaming awards in March, revealing 43 nominees across 12 different categories. That includes a virtual reality (VR) category with some of the most prominent titles of the last 12 months in the running like Valve’s Half-Life: Alyx and Motive Studios’ Star Wars: Squadrons.

This year’s VR category features five nominees with few surprises. Half-Life: Alyx has been nominated in almost every VR award going whilst cross-platform Star Wars: Squadrons was a big hit towards the end of 2020. Also on the list are The Walking Dead: Saints & Sinners one of the best zombie survival videogames in VR, and Down the Rabbit Hole, a little gem of a puzzle title from Cortopia Studios.

Possibly the most controversial on the list is Medal of Honor: Above and Beyond by Respawn Entertainment. The highly anticipated WWII shooter offers a single-player campaign, multiplayer and interviews with veterans, yet suffered from pacing, high specification requirements and other issues.

The 2021 SXSW Gaming Awards has partnered with IGN to produce the event, presented by Discord on Saturday, 20th March at 7:00pm CT, broadcast live on SXSW Online, ign.com, and on Twitch. Public voting is open now across the board with the winners decided by a weighted total between staff, advisory board input and public voting.

“Gaming is a key part of the creative ecosystem that makes up SXSW, and provides our community an opportunity to honour the achievements with the brightest minds in the field,” said Hugh Forrest, Chief Programming Officer for SXSW in a statement.

“We’ve learned so much from our communities on Discord over the last year. The power that games can have in bringing people together no matter where you are in the world inspires us.”said Tesa Aragones, Chief Marketing Officer at Discord. “Creating space for people to come together to share the things they love – music, games, and anything else that interests them – is core to our beliefs and we are proud to support the SXSW Gaming Awards as the presenting sponsor.”

The main SXSW Online event runs from 16th – 20th March 2020 featuring keynotes, conference sessions, Music Festival showcases, Film Festival screening and more. Don’t miss the Virtual Cinema area where you’ll be able to view works including 4 Feet High VR, Finding Pandora X, Namoo, and Paper Birds to name a few. For further updates, keep reading VRFocus.