Virtua Sonic – Augmented & Virtual Reality Confabulation

September 22, 2020

Virtua Sonic Fan-Game Livestream: Gotta Go Fast In VR!

For today’s livestream we’re playing Virtua Sonic, a fan-made Sonic VR game for PC headsets! If you’re curious about how we livestream the way we do then look no further than this handy guide for general tips and this guide specific to our Oculus Quest setup.

Sometimes you just gotta go fast. Sonic knows that and that makes Sonic a pretty cool dude. Now, with the power of virtual reality and the sheer will and dedication of fan modders that sacrifice hours of work just so others can have fun, I too can go fast by playing Virtua Sonic VR!

You can read more about the fan-game right here in our original Virtua Sonic coverage from back in June and download it for yourself, for free, right here if you have a capable gaming PC and PC VR headset.

Our Virtua Sonic livestream is planned to start at about 12:00 PM PT today and will last for around an hour or so, give or take. We’ll be hitting just our YouTube and I’ll be streaming from an Oculus Rift S with two touch controllers. I’m flying solo on this one, pinning chat behind me to check periodically.

Check out the Virtua Sonic VR stream embedded right here and down below once live:

You can see lots of our past archived streams over in our YouTube playlist or even all livestreams here on UploadVR and various other gameplay highlights. There’s lots of good stuff there so make sure and subscribe to us on YouTube to stay up-to-date on gameplay videos, video reviews, live talk shows, interviews, and more original content!

And please let us know which games or discussions you want us to livestream next! We have lots of VR games in the queue that we would love to show off more completely. Let’s get ready to go!

June 26, 2020

Virtua Sonic VR Fan-Game Gets Blistering Fast Gameplay Trailer

There are lots of game franchises that we’ve thought would be good fits for VR and honestly Sonic was never one of them. But this looks super fun! The Sonic VR game is called Virtua Sonic and it’s in development from a very well-known modder and Sonic fan-game creator, SuperSonic68.

Watch 3:28 seconds of glorious blue blur speed in first-person VR right here:

Growing up I was a Sega Genesis kid. My brothers had the NES and SNES, which I got to use some, but the Genesis was the first console in our house that was considered mine so it has a special place in my heart. As a result, so too does Sonic. There are very few Sonic games I dislike, even of the 3D ones.

Needless to say, when I saw the footage for Virtua Sonic I got incredibly excited. Since this is a fan-made project the production values aren’t very high, animations are stiff, and it doesn’t really look like something that could be realistically released on consumer VR headsets. But all that being said — it looks extremely fun for what it is. And yes, you can turn off the nose at the bottom of your peripheral vision if you want.

In the YouTube video’s description there are more details about the goal of the project:

“This project’s goal is to push the boundaries of what sorts of experiences are capable in virtual reality, showcasing the potential of the medium as it pertains to high-speed action games.

In my research, I have discovered that it is not necessarily motion itself that gives players motion sickness, but a lack of expectation of how that motion is going to behave. For example: a roller coaster VR experience is completely out of the player’s control. They have no say in what they do and when things happen to them. Similarly, if a VR motion system moves a player in a way that they don’t expect, that can also disorient them. As such, so long as the player feels in control of themselves at all times, motion sickness should cease to be a hindrance to the player.”

The trailer was created to promote the game which will make its debut at SAGE 2020, the Sonic Amateur Games Expo. Yes, fan-made Sonic games have their own expo.

Keep an eye on SuperSonic68’s YouTube channel for more details on Virtua Sonic. It’s being designed to support all major PC VR headsets.

The post Virtua Sonic VR Fan-Game Gets Blistering Fast Gameplay Trailer appeared first on UploadVR.

June 25, 2020

‘Virtua Sonic’ Fan Experience Brings Sonic the Hedgehog to VR

Want to step into the iconic red boots of Sonic the Hedgehog? This fan-built VR experience will let you do just that, and with some serious attention to detail that Sonic fans are sure to appreciate.

Coming to the annual Sonic Amateur Games Expo (SAGE) 2020 in September is a new VR experience that lets you jump into a number of original Sonic the Hedgehog Zones. Called Virtua Sonic, users will be able to fight classic enemies, collect rings and use the terrain to your advantage to achieve high speeds.

As seen in the teaser trailer below, users run pretty similar to the locomotion scheme seen in Sprint Vector (2018), as you pump both arms in a skiiing motion. Users can also brake, jump high into the sky, dash mid-air, and slide along tracks.

“This project’s goal is to push the boundaries of what sorts of experiences are capable in virtual reality, showcasing the potential of the medium as it pertains to high-speed action games,” the developer says, who goes by the handle ‘SuperSonic68‘.

Virtua Sonic is said to support all SteamVR-compatible headsets such as HTC Vive, Valve Index, and Oculus Rift. Its creator however says there aren’t any plans to share it online before its debut at SAGE 2020, which takes place September 5th. We’re hoping we get the full-fat version after that, and it’s not stymied by any of the pesky litigation we’ve seen in other fan-built experiences.

In the meantime, if you’re looking for a playable Sonic VR experience to tide you over, NimSony’s Sonic VR prototype experience is still available for download.

The post ‘Virtua Sonic’ Fan Experience Brings Sonic the Hedgehog to VR appeared first on Road to VR.

June 24, 2020

Teaser Trailer Released for Fan-Made Virtua Sonic, Coming to PC VR Headsets

A lot of big videogame companies don’t like fans messing with their IP’s, creating their own little spin-offs. Sega doesn’t seem to mind so much, especially when it comes that beloved blue hedgehog Sonic. So much so that there’s even a dedicated event called Sonic Amateur Games Expo (SAGE). That’s where one dedicated creator will debut Virtua Sonic, built specifically for virtual reality (VR).

Built by SuperSonic68, a well-known creator behind Green Hill Paradise as well as the Bumper Engine, Virtua Sonic makes use of VR’s motion controllers to provide a gesture-based system for all forms of movement. This ranges from swinging your arms to move forward (holding move buttons), crossing your arms to roll and thrusting arms back to perform a homing attack to stomping the ground with a dual-arm raise and once at a certain speed swinging those arms back again to shift up a gear.

The Sonic The Hedgehog franchise is famous for its speed and rapid gameplay around the scene, not always a great mix for VR. “This project’s goal is to push the boundaries of what sorts of experiences are capable in virtual reality, showcasing the potential of the medium as it pertains to high-speed action games,” says the developer on YouTube.

“In my research, I have discovered that it is not necessarily motion itself that gives players motion sickness, but a lack of expectation of how that motion is going to behave.” He goes on to say: “so long as the player feels in control of themselves at all times, motion sickness should cease to be a hindrance to the player.”

From the looks of the initial teaser trailer shown below SuperSonic68 seems to be on the right track. While there’s no real way of knowing how comfortable Virtua Sonic is from a video, several of the gestures have been seen in other VR titles like Sprint Vector so they do work. As the trailer goes through all the main controls it’s easier to get a sense of how the gameplay works which is why the project is so promising.

Virtua Sonic will work with all SteamVR-compatible headsets like Oculus Rift, HTC Vive, Valve Index and Windows Mixed Reality. The SAGE 2020 expo is due to take place from 5th – 12th September so if you’re there (and if it goes ahead because of COVID-19) then don’t forget to check it out. As further details on Virtua Sonic are released, VRFocus will let you know.