‘Resident Evil 4 VR’ is the Fastest-selling Quest Game to Date

Meta today announced that Resident Evil 4 VR is the fastest selling game on Quest to date. The game quickly became one of the most rated titles on Quest just a few weeks after launch.

Resident Evil 4 VR is the most recognizable game to be ported to VR in quite some time, and Meta made a big deal about it with loads of marketing around its launch. That effort seems to have paid off as the game is the fastest selling Quest title to date. According to Meta, that’s based on gross revenue generated in the game’s first week on the store. The company confirmed as much today alongside its announcement that ‘The Mercenaries’ DLC would be coming to Resident Evil 4 VR as a free update next year (more on that here).

After just about five weeks since launch, Resident Evil 4 VR has garnered 4,225 reviews, making it the 17th most rated game on the headset. It’s still a long way from the most rated title overall—that’s held by Beat Saber with a staggering 39,000 reviews to date—but it’s off to a pretty good start.

Based on the reviews, price of the game, and Meta’s confirmation of the title’s record-setting momentum, we estimate that Resident Evil 4 VR has generated around $8.5 million in revenue so far.

There’s no telling exactly how much the game’s broad marketing is responsible for its sales, but beyond just being popular, the game has also been pretty well received. Resident Evil 4 VR currently holds an average user rating of 4.66 out of 5 and a Metacritic rating of 85 out of 100. You can read our full review of the game here.

You can see where Resident Evil 4 VR ranks among other games in our latest analysis of the top Quest titles.

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Unplugged Air Guitar Comes To PCVR’s Valve Index Controllers In December

Thrilling air guitar game Unplugged is coming to Steam and bringing its breakthrough finger-tracked gameplay to the Valve Index Controllers on December 2.

In his review, Harry Baker wrote Unplugged offers “a completely unmatched experience and technical accomplishment on Oculus Quest” as it brings to life an activity that “up until now, only existed in your imagination.” He pointed out, for example, the game can make you feel like a guitar-playing rockstar even if you’re not actually learning real guitar, or even holding anything but the air in your hands. We’re going to be curious, then, how the title feels when you’ve got Valve’s Index Controllers strapped behind your knuckles and tapping against your fingertips.

Valve Index Controller Hand Open Wear

Valve’s controllers had been in development for many years and went on sale for SteamVR-tracked PC VR systems in 2019 — about as long as Oculus Quest has been on sale. The Valve Index Controllers feature straps which allow for full release of the grip, as well as a soft inner surface for sensing the position of fingers. The controllers offer full hand tracking capabilities to PC VR developers but, outside of a tech demo from Cloudhead Games and an optional feature in Half-Life: Alyx which allowed players to crush cans in their grip, not many developers have taken advantage of finger-tracking features in PC VR. The controllers still work with most PC VR games out of the box, of course, and more can be adapted via an easy to use mapping interface. Unplugged, then, is likely to represent the most interesting use of the Valve Index Controllers that we’ve seen in a very long time. The Steam page for the game notes: “REQUIRES VALVE INDEX CONTROLLERS OR HAND-TRACKING TO PLAY.”Valve Index

The game comes from developer Anotherway and publisher Vertigo Games and owners of the Valve Index Controllers can wishlist it now on Steam. The Steam debut will arrive alongside a new song from Steel Panther called ‘Eyes of the Panther’ as well as an update to the Quest version that will add Passthrough support. On Quest, the list of venues to play will include a mixed reality option to show your surrounding physical environment.

 

Facebook Selling Refurbished Rift CV1s In US For $300 As Rift S Remains Out Of Stock

The Oculus Rift S and Quest are still out of stock, so in the US Facebook is temporarily selling a “limited supply” of refurbished original Rifts for $299.

That’s $100 less than the Rift S, which is priced at $399. The listing is only available in the USA.

The original Oculus Rift launched in mid 2016 for $600. This didn’t include the Touch controllers, which launched in December of that year for $200. In 2017, Facebook unified into a Rift+Touch package priced at $400- that’s what’s on offer here.

Facebook says any refurbished Rift will be free of visible cosmetic imperfections, have no scratches on the lenses, no dents, and any repairs used original components.

If you’re not happy with the headset, returns are available for 30 days. If there’s an issue with it however, there’s a 6 month warranty. That’s only half the standard warranty, and would actually be illegal in almost all other developed countries.

So how does the Rift “CV1” hold up in 2020? We got one of ours out of storage and played a little Half-Life: Alyx with it.

What Holds Up Well

The Rift CV1 is the only Oculus headset so far designed to be high end, rather than balanced with affordability. The headset has a premium feel with a cloth exterior, and more importantly it’s compact, light, and comfortable to wear.

Unlike the Rift S, the lens separation is adjustable, allowing it to accommodate a wide range of users.

The integrated headphones on the Oculus Rift are a lot better than they look

Rift features great integrated headphones. It was the first consumer headset to do this, pushing VR audio forwards- and leading to disappointment from many when Rift S and Quest were announced using a basic strap audio system with poor quality & low volume.

What Simply Doesn’t

The main problem with the Rift CV1 was always its tracking system. It’s awkward to set up, clunky, and often incompatible with motherboards. If you move your sensors at all you’ll need to redo setup. And unless you go to the effort of wall mounting them your controllers will track poorly when near the floor.

These problems get worse the more sensors you add. The Rift comes with two sensors in the box, but for high quality “room scale” tracking (today taken for granted) you’ll need to acquire a third.

While OLED panels give the screen great contrast, the relatively low resolution is jarring compared to modern headsets. You’ll find yourself leaning in much more often to read text, and distant objects will be hard to identify.

The biggest problem with the display system though is the “god rays” on the lenses. In high contrast scenes this can be incredibly distracting.

Should You Buy One?

$300 feels like a high price for a headset released four years ago. At the end of its life, the headset was offered for $350 brand new. We’d have expected this to be priced more around the $200 mark.

But it can still play any VR game the Rift S can. So if you just can’t wait for other headsets to come back in stock and you’re aware of the limitations, this could be your path into PC VR.

If your interpupillary distance is outside the recommended range for the Rift S, it may even be a superior experience for you.

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Mobile AR Game Minecraft Earth Is Now Available In The United Kingdom

Death, taxes and Minecraft Earth launch countries – that’s what it feels like lately, with new launch countries for the mobile AR game popping up every few days. This time, it’s the United Kingdom’s turn to get building.

People living in the UK can now download the game, which is in early access and launching gradually worldwide, a few countries at a time. The United Kingdom joins New Zealand, Iceland, Australia, Mexico, Sweden, Canada, South Korea and the Philippines as launch countries. There is still no word on a United States launch, but given that the UK is one of the bigger markets that the game has launched in, a US launch might be coming soon.

The mobile AR game is Minecraft’s response to Pokemon Go and other map-based mobile games that get you out of the house and exploring the real world, intertwined with AR elements. You can build structures, craft weapons, collect materials by exploring your real-world neighborhood and fight monsters in AR during the “adventure” events scattered across the map.

While the game does share similarities to other map-based AR games, it also has its own nice Minecraft-spin to it that offers some nice points of difference. I’ve been able to try the game out here in Australia already, so you can expect a first impressions piece on the game soon.

What are your thoughts on Minecraft Earth? Have you tried the game out, and are you still waiting for it to launch in your country? Let us know in the comments below.

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The VR Download Is Now Available On All Major Podcast Platforms

UploadVR’s weekly podcast, The VR Download, is now available on all major podcast platforms!

Unlike regular video podcasts, The VR Download is broadcast from a virtual reality studio! Our team are together in a virtual space, giving us many of the benefits of a studio even though we live on different continents.

The show is hosted by our Operations Manager, Kyle Riesenbeck. Kyle was formerly the host of the Rev VR Podcast, a popular VR podcast back in the days of Oculus development kits.

Apple Podcasts

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Google Podcasts

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On any smart speaker or smart display powered by Google, you can say “Hey Google, play the latest episode of The VR Download“!

Spotify

Alexa / TuneIn

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Since TuneIn is built in to Alexa, on any smart speaker or smart display powered by Alexa, you can say “Alexa, play the latest episode of The VR Download“!

Stitcher

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YouTube

Of course, the podcast will always be LIVE first on YouTube. Make sure to subscribe to our channel to get notified when each episode is live!

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We also have other great content on our channel such as showcases, The VR Culture Show, VR game trailers, and clips of research towards next-generation VR.

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PlayStation 5 to Launch Holiday 2020, Including New Controller with Improved Haptics

It was confirmed back in April that Sony’s upcoming next-gen console would include support for the current-gen PSVR. In a new exclusive interview with Wired, the company further revealed that not only is PlayStation 5 slated to arrive holiday season 2020, but that an improved gamepad with better haptic feedback and “adaptive triggers” will come along with it.

Lead system architect Mark Cerny revealed a prototype controller to Wired, something described as an “unlabeled matte-black doohickey that looks an awful lot like the PS4’s DualShock 4.”

Notable new features include a USB Type-C connector for charging/data transmission, a larger-capacity battery, improved on-board speakers, and heavier overall weight, which was described as less weighty than an Xbox One controller with batteries.

But one of the really interesting things to come to the new gamepad is its “adaptive triggers” which offer varying levels of resistance. This essentially lets developers fine-tune the triggers (L2/R2) to increase tension when needed, like when you’re shooting different styles of guns or driving in variable terrain.

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Sony Announces 4.2 Million PlayStation VR Units Sold

Wired also reports that the next gamepad (still unnamed) boasts haptic feedback engines “far more capable than the rumble motor console gamers are used to, with highly programmable voice-coil actuators located in the left and right grips of the controller.”

To demonstrate, Sony’s Japan Studio put together a few short demos—the same team behind The Playroom VR (2016) and Astro Bot Rescue Mission (2018).

Here’s what Wired’s Peter Rubin experienced:

“In the most impressive, I ran a character through a platform level featuring a number of different surfaces, all of which gave distinct—and surprisingly immersive—tactile experiences. Sand felt slow and sloggy; mud felt slow and soggy. On ice, a high-frequency response made the thumbsticks really feel like my character was gliding. Jumping into a pool, I got a sense of the resistance of the water; on a wooden bridge, a bouncy sensation,”

Playing a version of Gran Turismo Sport, which was ported to a PS5 dev kit, the controller appeared to offer a greater nuance of haptic feedback, differentiating between different road types with a lighter and harder feel.

Although the lack of news on the next iteration on PSVR is somewhat disheartening, better haptic feedback and wider developer support for the new PS5 gamepad nay very well pave the way for a better PSVR 2 motion controller too, which could incorporate many of the features listed above. That’s of course only healthy conjecture, although as it is now, anything is better than that 2010-era PS Move controllers at this point.

The article makes no mention of whether that 2020 release date will come alongside a prospective PSVR 2, however the company previously confirmed in May that a simultaneous launch was pretty unlikely.

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