the inpatient – Page 3 – Augmented & Virtual Reality Confabulation

October 29, 2017

New Japanese PlayStation VR Trailer Showcases Winter Releases

This holiday period is going to be a big deal for PlayStation VR owners. Following the successful launches of Gran Turismo Sport and No Heroes Allowed! VR, a number of big name titles are heading to the virtual reality (VR) platform in the coming months. Sony Interactive Entertainment Japan (SIEJ) has revealed a new trailer to showcase the full line-up.

gran turismo sport screenshot 1

Featured in the trailer are highly anticipated titles such as The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim VR, Bravo Team and The Inpatient from British studio Supermassive Games, fishing experience Monster of the Deep: Final Fantasy XV, Resident Evil VII biohazard’s latest downloadable content (DLC), entitled Not a Hero, the recently revealed Gungrave VR and the ultra violent DOOM VFR, as well as the aforementioned Gran Turismo Sport and No Heroes Allowed! VR.

All of the above titles are expected to receive both North American and European launches, however Gungrave VR does not currently have a release date penned-in for either territory. Of course, Gran Turismo Sport and No Heroes Allowed! VR are already available worldwide.

The PlayStation VR has recently seen a boost in sales in Japan, accredited to the launch of a new edition of the head-mounted display (HMD). This new model, known as CUH-ZVR2, launched earlier this month and brought with a number of small yet significant updates. Chief among these is a new embedded audio cabling option and high-dynamic range (HDR) passthrough on the control box, removing the need for PlayStation 4 Pro gamers to remove the PlayStation VR from their console when wishing to play traditional monitor-based videogames on a 4K HDR compatible television.

PlayStation VR 2 headset There’s currently no word on when the PlayStation VR CUH-ZVR2 model will launch in North America and Europe, however the recent discontinuation of the original PlayStation VR model suggests it won’t be long until this revised edition arrives at retail in the west. It should be noted that the PlayStation VR CUH-ZVR2 model will not see the HMD rise in price and is compatible with all existing PlayStation VR content.

The brand new Japanese trailer for the PlayStation VR winter line-up of videogame titles follows below, and VRFocus will keep you updated with all the latest details on every new videogame coming to the VR platform.

August 29, 2017

PSVR Games The Inpatient And Bravo Team Both Get 2017 Release Dates

Supermassive Games (developers of Until Dawn: Rush of Blood) revealed two new PlayStation VR titles at this year’s Electronic Entertainment Expo (E3) in June. After teasing fans with new psychological horror game, The Inpatient, and a PSVR Aim controller-fueled cover shooter, Bravo Team, both the developer and Sony remained quiet until today. Via a PlayStation Blog post this morning, Supermassive announced the release dates for both titles — they’ll be out on PSVR before the end of the year.

The Inpatient will hit store shelves and the PSN Store on November 21st, 2017, and Bravo Team does the same on December 5th, 2017. Here’s a new trailer for The Inpatient too, revealing a few more details about the psychological horror thriller’s story:

The game is set in Blackwood Sanitarium, a location that fans of the team’s first Until Dawn title will likely remember. This title will likely feature branching story elements that are similiar to the original Until Dawn and helped it earn critical acclaim. According to Supermassive executive producer Simon Harris in the blog post, “Your decisions and actions will determine the fate of people that you meet. You’ll get to influence and shape how the story unfolds as you witness the horrific events of the sanitarium’s final days.”

PSVR’s other upcoming title, Bravo Team, wasn’t as impressive during our E3 demo. The cover-based shooting mechanic worked well, but not being able to move at all other than popping from one cover spot to the next felt restrictive in the wake of Impulse Gear’s liberating Farpoint. We’ll have to wait and see how that one turns out.

Let us know what you think of each game, and if you’ll be picking them up later this year, down in the comments below!

Tagged with: Bravo Team, Supermassive Games, The Inpatient

August 29, 2017

Supermassive Games Confirm The Inpatient, Bravo Team Release Dates

We might’ve just had Gamescom for 2017 but it was this year’s E3 that brought us news of several new virtual reality (VR) videogames for Sony Interactive Entertainment’s (SIE’s) PlayStation VR headset. Today two of those videogames announced at E3 have release dates courtesy of the PlayStation Blog.

Bravo Team E32017 (2) The first up is first-person shooter Bravo Team, developed by Supermassive Games who previously brought to the PlayStation VR both Until Dawn: Rush of Blood and Tumble VR. Bravo Team puts you in a fast-paced combat scenario either in single player or online playing co-op with a friend.

VRFocus writer Peter Graham described the title in his preview as “Army of Two on steroids” and praised its use of the PlayStation Aim controller, describing the experience as “feeling very natural and intuitive”.

Bravo Team is set for release on 6th December 2017.

The second title to get a date is the other forthcoming PlayStation VR title from Supermassive Games, The Inpatient, which was revealed to be, in fact, a prequel to Until Dawn. Returning you to The Blackwood Pines Sanatorium in which owner Jefferson Bragg questions you on your past. A past which can be slightly fluid in how you remember it.

“For the most part videogame developers will give you ways of escaping, defending or attacking for that interactive element.” Explains Peter Graham in his preview, “Being a psychological horror experience that’s taken away, creating a far more uneasy feeling for the player.”

You won’t need to be quite as patient for The Inpatient as it will be released on 22nd November 2017. The title was recently confirmed to also be getting a retail release. Additionally a new trailer was released for The Inpatient which you can see below.

VRFocus will bring you more news on these and other VR titles from Supermassive Games in the near future.

August 29, 2017

Schock und Horror: The Inpatient für PSVR im Hands-on

Mit The Inpatient möchte Supermassive Games in diesem Jahr einen neuen Schocker für PlayStation VR (PSVR) bringen. In dem Horrorspiel wisst ihr nicht, ob ihr verrückt seid, oder ob euch die anderen Menschen nur einreden, dass ihr den Verstand verloren habt. Erschwerend kommt hinzu, dass ihr nur wenige Erinnerungen habt. Deshalb könnt ihr nicht einschätzen, welchen Personen ihr trauen könnt und von welchen ihr euch lieber fernhalten solltet. Das Spielt ist zwar kein direkter Until-Dawn-Titel, doch er übernimmt das Setting und spielt 60 Jahre vor den Ereignissen in Until Dawn.

The Inpatient: Im Rollstuhl und mit Move Controllern

In den ersten Minuten des Spiels seid ihr an einen Rollstuhl gefesselt und werdet von den Pflegern von Raum zu Raum gefahren. Diese Situation fühlte sich mit den Motion Controllern authentisch an. Man sieht beim Bewegen der Arme, dass sich der Charackter befreien will. Nach kurzer Zeit werdet ihr aber von dem Rollstuhl befreit und könnt euch frei im Raum mit den Move Controllern bewegen. Zwar funktionierte die Steuerung per Zielen und Knopf drücken ganz gut, aber wirklich überzeugend fühlt sich dieses Konzept nicht an.

Doch in der gezeigten Demo war das Laufen auch kein Kernelement des Spiels. Vielmehr ging es darum, Dialoge mit den Mitarbeitern der Psychatrie zu führen und zwischen zwei Antwortmöglichkeiten auszuwählen. Zwar funktioniert dies in VR gut, doch teilweise empfanden wir die Antwortmöglichkeiten auch als langweilig und unbedeutend. Uns war relativ schnell egal, welche mögliche Antwort wir auswählten. Großartig hingegen ist die Inszenierung der Dialoge, die Details und die Gestik und Mimik der Akteure. Somit wird aus dem VR-Spiel fast ein interaktive VR-Film, was in der Vergangenheit schon häufiger funktioniert hat.

Auch wenn das Spiel nicht primär auf Jump Scares setzt, so packten die Entwickler natürlich einen deftigen Schocker ans Ende der Vorführung, welcher uns trotz Gamescom-Umgebung vom Stuhl springen ließ. Wie stark die Dichte an Schockmomenten letztlich innerhalb der dreistündigen Kampagne sein wird, ist noch offen. Die gezeigte Demo nutzt die Möglichkeiten des PSVR-Systems zwar aus, doch sie deckt auch gleichzeitig die aktuellen Limitierung schmerzlich auf: Es ist definitiv Zeit für neue Move Controller, damit solche Spiele deutlich mehr glänzen können.

Der Beitrag Schock und Horror: The Inpatient für PSVR im Hands-on zuerst gesehen auf VR∙Nerds. VR·Nerds am Werk!

July 23, 2017

PlayStation VR Exclusive The Inpatient Confirmed for Retail Release

UK studio Supermassive Games has been a huge supporter of the PlayStation VR head-mounted display (HMD) since before its consumer release. A technical demonstration, Jurassic Encounter, showcased some wonderful interactivity with AI dinosaurs, while launch titles Tumble VR and Until Dawn: Rush of Blood have both become mainstays in the early adopter catalogues. Now, The Inpatient looks set to lead the HMD’s second holiday period’s line-up.

The Inpatient box art

Much like Until Dawn: Rush of Blood, The Inpatient will expand upon the universe of the hugely popular PlayStation 4 exclusive Until Dawn. Shortly after the announcement of the videogame at this year’s Electronic Entertainment Expo (E3), it was revealed that The Inpatient would act as a prequel to Until Dawn, set within the walls of the latter’s Sanatorium.

VRFocus has been hands-on with the videogame at E3, stating in a preview of The Inpatient: “The Inpatient looks set to offer an experience completely different to its predecessor Until Dawn – they’re both set in the same universe – a far more tactile tale, where exploring the story is much more key. It might be because of the hospital theme but playing the demo instantly feels very reminiscent of Wilson’s Heart for Oculus Rift and that’s no bad thing.”

Though no official release date for The Inpatient has yet been announced, the title is expected to be available late in 2017. Pre-orders for the boxed edition of The Inpatient are already available at a number of retailers including Play Asia – both EU and NA editions – and Amazon. VRFocus will keep you updated with all the latest details on The Inpatient and other VR titles from Supermassive Games.

June 21, 2017

E3 2017: Hands-On With The Creepy World Of The Inpatient

I love scary games. Resident Evil 7 is probably my favorite VR game to date and is very likely my overall favorite game this year that isn’t part of the Zelda franchise. That being said, demoing supposedly scary games in a convention setting is usually a bad idea. The lights are bright, the sounds are loud, and the constant shuffling of bodies makes it hard to really focus on the experience at hand. But in the case of when I played The Inpatient from Supermassive Games and Sony, none of that was the case.

At E3 2017 one of Sony’s press demo areas was located behind its main booth on a back wall of the expo hall and behind a check-in desk that filtered out non-press individuals. The demo area was secluded, private, and extremely quiet. Add in the fact that I was wearing a PlayStation VR (PSVR) headset to block out visual distractions and an over-ear headset to immerse my senses in the sounds of the game and it was pretty close to what it’d be like playing at home by myself.

I was a huge fan of Until Dawn when it first came out and thought Until Dawn: Rush of Blood was a clever on-rails shooter based in the same universe. Much to my delight at E3 we learned that The Inpatient is actually a prequel that takes place decades before the original game with different characters in familiar places. You’ll likely recognize some of the locations in the trailer above if you played the PS4’s choose-your-own-adventure title that began the franchise.

For my demo I started by waking up strapped into a chair. An ominous doctor paced in front of me before leaning in extremely close to my face and talking to me. Off to the sides dialog options appeared that I could choose from to progress the conversation. The game’s demo representative told me that in the final build of the game some basic voice recognition would be there as well so instead of selection a dialog option you could just speak the words associated with it. For example, to have my character say something like, “Tell me the truth right now!” in response to an NPC, the game may have a word like “Scared” behind it, which I could say with my own mouth and trigger the full response. For this demo I just had to pick using head tracked pointing and the X button.

While sitting in this chair my character was forced to recall the same memory several times in an attempt to fully remember what happened. Each time the memory got shorter and the doctor got more upset, causing him to eventually give up and send me back to my room. It was a thrilling encounter even though it involved zero movement. It reminded me of the interrogation scene from PlayStation VR Worlds’ The London Heist, although the proportions felt a little off. The doctor’s face in The Inpatient seemed more like a giant staring down at me than a correctly sized human head. That stuff is really tough to nail down with VR perspectives because when watching off-screen as others played it looked fine.

The rest of my demo had me walking around a room in what appeared to be a mental hospital. Before long things got weird and I was back in a hallway slowly taking one step at a time down the hall when BOOM, jump scare. A horrific orderly appeared right in front of me to turn and scream with one of the most grotesque faces I’ve seen. Jump scares are cheap ways of getting your audience scared, but when they work well and send chills down my spine, I consider it worth the trouble.

After I reached the end of the slowly building hallway that was ripe with ominous voices and sounds…my demo ended. It wasn’t long, but it did a great job of establishing the tone and mood of the game. The representative told me those dialog choices will factor into some true branching narrative points and make the game different for everyone that plays it, similar to how Until Dawn worked. Supermassive seems to be a big fan of the “Butterfly Effect” in their development processes.

The Inpatient is a PSVR-exclusive currently slated for release next year in 2018. Supermassive is also working on Bravo Team, another PSVR-exclusive, as well as a dual-screen interactive team experience called Hidden Agenda for non-VR play. What do you think of the game so far? Let us know what you think in the comments down below!

Tagged with: Supermassive Games, The Inpatient, Until dawn

June 18, 2017

Watch The Trailer For Until Dawn’s Prequel, The Inpatient

To say the Electronic Entertainment Expo (E3) 2017 has had a great showing of PlayStation VR games would an understatement. We saw loads of fantastic virtual reality (VR) titles, including two more from Until Dawn developers Supermassive Games, who brought this fascinating trailer for The Inpatient.

The Inpatient is a PlayStation VR exclusive, set 60 years before the events of Until Dawn inside The Sanatorium before it falls into disrepair. The player will have to interact with patients and staff inside the Sanatorium to discover their motivations and character story arcs, slowly uncovering the mysteries of your amnesiac protagonist, and the Sanatorium’s owner.

The Inpatient’s director, Nick Bowen, has shared his excitement for the title; “With The Inpatient, we used psychological horror themes to infiltrate the player’s subconscious and draw them further into the story. Our team spent a lot of time working to create a sense of isolation and fear, making extensive use of immersive 3D binaural audio to complement the amazing visuals and further transport them into their unfamiliar new home.”

The psychological horror VR experience was written with Until Dawn’s scriptwriters, Larry Fessenden and Graham Reznick to keep the videogame’s story and lore accurate.

Take a look at The Inpatient’s trailer below for everything you need to know about the PlayStation VR exclusive.

For all the latest VR news, make sure to keep reading VRFocus.

June 14, 2017

E3 2017 ‘Day 3’ Roundup: We Play ‘Moss’ & ‘The Impatient’, Archangel & Sparc Dated, Kopin 2k VR Headset Hands On

Here’s our roundup of news from E3 day 3. We go hands on with newly announced PSVR titles Moss and The Impatient. Archangel and Sparc for PSVR get a release dates, more details of Gran Turismo Sport‘s VR support are revealed and we go hands on with Kopin’s 2k per eye, super lightweight microdisplay VR headset.

No Heroes Allowed! VR gets Western release:

image courtesy Sony Japan Studio, Acquire

While it missed the main ‘PlayStation VR Game’ segment of Sony’s keynote, another PSVR title was announced at E3 this week – the quirky Japanese real-time strategy game with the unusual title V! What Did I Do to Deserve This, My Lord? R will see a Western release, named No Heroes Allowed! VR. The game is due to launch this Fall, although there is no firm date at this time.

Mech Shooter Archangel coming first to PSVR:

Skydance Interactive’s first original VR title Archangel, which is being developed for all major VR platforms, will launch first on PSVR. The high-intensity mech shooter arrives in July, with an exclusive two-week window on PlayStation VR before coming to Vive and Rift.

Hands-on with PSVR game Moss:

One of the 5 brand new VR games shown during Sony’s E3 keynote, Moss was perhaps the most striking. We’ve now had some hands-on time with Polyarc Games’ adorable platformer. The 15 minute demo covered 5 puzzle-laden areas and some combat, and our first impressions are very positive.

Sparc receives timed exclusivity on PSVR:

The VR sports game from CCP Games, famous for developing Eve Online, and VR spinoffs Eve: Valkyrie and Gunjack was expected to launch on Vive, Rift and PSVR this year. However, Sparc is now confirmed to be launching exclusively on PSVR ‘first’ in Q3 2017.

Hands-on with PSVR game The Inpatient:

We tried a short demo of newly-announced VR title The Inpatient, one of two new PSVR games from Supermassive Games. The psychological horror game is set in the Blackwood Sanatorium featured in Until Dawn (2015), with the demo showcasing some ‘intensely human-like character animations and excellent voice acting’.

Gran Turismo Sport shown on PSVR with significant limitations:

Sony’s flagship racing simulator was given a shiny new trailer for E3 this week, along with a newly-adjusted release window of Fall 2017. While not the first time Polyphony Digital’s upcoming racing sim has been shown running on PSVR, the game’s VR mode has been confirmed to be limited to 1v1 offline racing.

Kopin shows high resolution, lightweight VR headset prototypes:

And in non-PSVR news… microdisplay and optics manufacturer Kopin is at E3 touting a new prototype headset featuring ‘Lightning’, a 1-inch display with 2,048 x 2,048 per-eye resolution and running at 120Hz. A great benefit of using microdisplays is the resultant headset form factor, which is far more compact and lighter than any current consumer design. It remains to be seen whether this size of display can combine effectively with lenses to achieve a large, immersive FOV for VR.

The post E3 2017 ‘Day 3’ Roundup: We Play ‘Moss’ & ‘The Impatient’, Archangel & Sparc Dated, Kopin 2k VR Headset Hands On appeared first on Road to VR.

June 14, 2017

New Details on Until Dawn’s VR Prequel, The Inpatient

The Electronic Entertainment Expo (E3) 2017 has given us loads of new virtual reality (VR) games to sink our teeth into, and the PlayStation press conference offered some of the most exciting titles. One of the games we want to play most is the prequel to Until Dawn, The Inpatient.

The Inpatient takes place 60 years prior to the events of Until Dawn in The Blackwood Pines Sanatorium – we spotted these details in the first trailer.

Now The Inpatient’s Game Director, Nick Bowen, has written a post for the PlayStation Blog sharing new details on the VR psychological horror experience.

Playing as a patient with amnesia, you are approached by the Sanatorium’s owner, Jefferson Bragg – seen in the trailer – as he questions you. You play out the videogame slowly discovering who you are, and why you’ve been held in the Sanatorium.

The game will heavily involve the player interacting with the other characters in the Sanatorium – both patients and staff – discovering their own story arcs, personalities and motivations.

As with most VR games, immersion has been at the forefront of the developers’ minds, with Bowen saying; “We’ve designed everything so that it really feels like you are in the game. If you look down you’ll see your body, hands and feet. You can also speak out loud to engage with the characters.”

The team are doubling down on the power of VR to enhance psychological horror; “With The Inpatient, we used psychological horror themes to infiltrate the player’s subconscious and draw them further into the story. Our team spent a lot of time working to create a sense of isolation and fear, making extensive use of immersive 3D binaural audio to complement the amazing visuals and further transport them into their unfamiliar new home.”

The game was written with closer cooperation with Until Dawn scriptwriters, Larry Fessenden and Graham Reznick. This is to create an authentic Until Dawn experience that enhances and expands the lore of the universe whilst remaining coherent and believable.

The Inpatient is releasing on PlayStation VR – for more on Supermassive Games’ VR projects and everything else from E3 2017, stay on VRFocus.

June 14, 2017

‘The Inpatient’ Creates a Human Connection with Superb Facial Animation, Then Abruptly Severs It

Supermassive Games, the makers of VR titles Until Dawn: Rush of Blood (2016) and Tumble VR (2016), are coming out with a new psychological horror game for PSVR called The Inpatient that seems to offer a level of realism thanks to some very well-tuned facial motion capture. We went hands on at the Sony booth at this year’s E3 to find out just what Supermassive had in store.

Set in the Blackwood Sanatorium, the very same seen in Until Dawn (2015), I awake to find myself strapped to a chair in a dark room. Facing Jefferson Bragg, the owner of the Sanatorium, I’m told I have amnesia and that I desperately need to remember what happened ‘that night’. Bragg comes close, nearly touching my nose and motions to a shadowy figure in the corner, “The Doctor.”

Telling from Bragg’s Father Knows Best (1954) vibe and the weirdly antique devices and decor, I’m guessing we’re in the ’50s, some 60 years before Until Dawn took place.

From what I gather during the demo, the game makes heavy use of dialogue trees. Supermassive says these will eventually react via audio input, meaning you’ll be able to answer NPCs in real-time with your voice. For the purposes of the demo I answered the binary questions (“Yes, I remember.” – “No, I don’t remember”) with a simple button press of the dualshock 4 controller as the audio input option wasn’t available.

In effort to remember that fateful night, I jump into a memory sequence and find myself standing in a supply closet looking through wooden slats. A man is searching for me and shouting. Peering through the slats, I see that where his face should be is a blurry, unrecognizable mess. The faceless man is brandishing a strange flashlight in his hand, shouting frantically. I can’t move. He flings the door open and blinds me with the light, and suddenly I’m back in the strange chair with the fatherly Bragg.

Talking some more with the remarkably human-looking Bragg, I jump back and forth between the same memory sequence in search of more relevant details before he sedates me with a syringe and I’m carted off to my room by an orderly. I think I was wearing a doctor’s coat in the memory.

Now I’m in my room, seemingly ripped straight from One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest (1975). I chat with the orderly a bit, a man with a kind face and an easygoing attitude. He suggests I take a nap and I oblige. And that’s when things get weird – well, weirder. I appear in a rotting corridor, not unlike the Sanatorium. A ghostly version of the orderly beckons me down the corridor, disappearing and reappearing within inches of my face (read: jump scare). Concluding the demo, I was faced with a fork in the nightmarish hall: follow the orderly from hell, or a strange deer-human chimera. Flipping a mental coin, I chase the deer-person and am immediately captured in a cage. Demo over. Fade to black.

Visually the game’s characters are extremely lifelike, showing a close attention to detail that was no doubt the result of belabored facial motion capture. Looking into each of their faces, I was left waiting for the uncanny valley to rear its ugly head, for the condescending smiles and eyebrow raises to lag or somehow tell my brain I was seeing clever, albeit imperfect digital puppets. The expectation never quite manifested during my brief time with The Inpatient demo.

Despite the intensely human-like character animations and excellent voice acting, I felt there were some slight issues with scale during the demo. I’m not a giant person, but looking down at myself and at the characters in front of me, I felt a twinge of regret that the game was fumbling somewhat on the immersion factor by making everyone a little bigger than real life would have them, something I found apparent when Bragg got up good and close to me.

Since it was only a 10-15 minute demo, I can’t say for sure how robust the dialogue system really is and how much affect you have on the world. Supermassive maintains that the full game will allow you to navigate different branches of the narrative and even experience different endings, something I’ll be looking forward to in the full review hopefully sometime soon.

No release date has been established for The Inpatient, but we’ll be keeping our eyes peeled in the meantime.

The post ‘The Inpatient’ Creates a Human Connection with Superb Facial Animation, Then Abruptly Severs It appeared first on Road to VR.