‘Pixel Ripped’ Studio Announces ‘PAWBALL’, a Free-to-Play VR Soccer Game with Cats

ARVORE, the studio behind the Pixel Ripped VR game franchise, announced it’s currently developing a VR soccer game called PAWBALL, which aims to get you leaping around and scoring goals like only a feline can.

On the studio’s Discord (invite link), Arvore Community Manager Freddy Pavão reveals the idea initially came from wanting dinosaurs to play soccer, although the team eventually settled on cats, which can move around in interesting and dynamic ways.

“With the change to our feline friends, the main idea for the game (and all the prototypes that came after) got a whole new range of possibilities,” Pavão says. “The game is still about soccer, but now using verticality, as the cats can jump super high, climb, hit the ball in aerial attacks, and so on. It is by far our game with the most possibilities for gameplay diversity, as players can do basically whatever they want to hit the ball and score a goal.”

Developer Ana Ribeiro shows off a peek at an early build:

https://twitter.com/Anagamedev/status/1760801918647931163

Like many free-to-play games, the studio says it will be providing cosmetic upgrades. Granted, it’s still early days, however hopeful testers could also soon get their chance with early builds, which the studio says it will provide without the need of a non-disclosure agreement (NDA) like many studios tend to do with still-in-development betas. That could arrive as early as June, Arvore says.

There’s no indication yet on what platforms the game is targeting either, however you can bet the free-to-play game will be searching for the widest possible distribution in hopes of replicating the sort of viral success of an obvious analogue, Gorilla Tag.

The primate-focused game of tag reported early last year it had garnered $26 million in revenue since its 2021 launch. That’s a tall order to fill, although if a pretty simple game of immersive tag can do it, maybe cats playing soccer can too?

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‘Racket Club’ Update Brings More Flexibility with New Rules and Fan Favorite Modes

The recently released VR racket sport Racket Club (2023) just got its first major update, which brings a host of new rules and modes to the game for a more customized experience on the court.

Resolution Games, which is also known for Demeo (2021), Blaston (2020) and the new Apple Vision Pro app Game Room (2024), released the ‘A New Spin’ update for Racket Club across Quest, Pico and SteamVR, now including:

  • Unranked Play – Not every competition needs to move you up the ladder; jump into casual games with other players any time
  • New Point System – Choose from the existing Ultra Rally points system or single point rallies in any match
  • Wall Serve Rules – Players can choose if they want to allow touching the back and side walls on serves
  • New Singles Drills – Mastered the existing training mode? Players can now practice and improve their accuracy and techniques with fresh drills in the singles court
  • Player Stats – Track your progress, see how you’ve performed and more in a complete redesign of the Player Profile menu
  • Fresh Threads – Play your best when you look your best with all new cosmetics now available to unlock
Image courtesy Resolution Games

The update comes just two months after Racket Club’s initial release, which the studio says has seen 370,000 matches played to date, no doubt thanks to its super recognizable gameplay, which is a bit like a cross of popular racket sports such as tennis, racquetball and paddleball.

Mathieu Castelli, Chief Creative Officer at Resolution Games, says the update “builds on a strong base and feedback from our wonderful community to offer optional rule adjustments and more. In the same way basketball fans were able to create their own variations over the years – from 3-on-3 to H-O-R-S-E – we want to give Racket Club players the same flexibility to iterate on the foundation we’ve built for a brand new racketsport.”

You can grab Racket Club on Quest 2/3/Pro, SteamVR, and Pico VR headsets, priced at $25. To see all of the stuff from ‘A New Spin’ update in action, check out the trailer below:

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VR Remake of Dreamcast Classic ‘Cosmic Smash’ to Release on Quest & Pico in April

Sega’s iconic block-breaker Cosmic Smash (2001) came to VR for the first time last summer in C-Smash VRS (2023) on PSVR 2. Now the studios say the futuristic racket sport is set to leave platform exclusivity as it’s scheduled to arrive on Quest and Pico headsets in April.

Studios RapidEyeMovers and Wolf & Wood announced C-Smash VRS is coming to Quest 2/3/Pro and Pico 4 starting on April 4th.

Players of the game will also see some new features, including the addition of cross-platform Global Leaderboards which will let players challenge one another’s top positions across multiple game modes.

The studios say we can also look forward to cross-platform multiplayer at some point, as it’s certainly “on the future roadmap,” but no word on when.

You may remember the original when it launched on Sega Dreamcast in 2001, or when it came to arcades throughout Europe and Japan. C-Smash VRS brings an immersive twist to Cosmic Smash’s low gravity squash-meets-blockbreaker gameplay, including single player, co-op, 1v1 multiplayer modes, and an AI vs. mode.

In addition to expanding the racket sport to other VR platforms, C-Smash VRS will also give new users a nostalgic taste of Cosmic Smash’s iconic OST, bringing an inspired score by DJ Ken Ishii (Rez Infinite), Danalogue (The Comet is Coming, Soccer 96), and UK music legends UNKLE.

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Only 1 Day Remains to Play ‘Echo VR’ Before Servers Go Dark

Tomorrow, Meta and Ready at Dawn are shutting down Echo VR, the free-to-play game that helped pioneer VR sports. Get in now before they pull the plug.

Meta made no secret it was shutting down the zero-gravity sport Echo VR and its PC-only squad shooter variant, Echo Combat, having announced earlier this year it was sunsetting the games come August 1st at 10 AM PT (local time here). That means fans only have a few hours left to play before the multiplayer-only games are unceremoniously disconnected from Meta’s servers.

Echo VR fans didn’t go down without a fight though. Some spirited protests against the shutdown even included a dedicated fan group flying an airplane-towed message over Meta’s HQ in Menlo Park back in March, stating “ZUCK, DON’T KILL VR ESPORTS FIGHTFORECHO.COM”. Both online and offline protests fell on deaf ears though. The URL mentioned above now leads to a 404, and it’s pretty clear by now that Meta didn’t change their collective minds.

The studio recently released the Echo VR OST on YouTube, which feels like small recompense for killing consistently one of the best-rated and most popular free titles on Quest. Ready at Dawn, which was acquired by Meta in 2020, explained earlier this year the shutdown was made for “many good reasons [,] chief among them is the studio coming together to focus on our next project.”

Both Ready at Dawn and Onward studio Downpour Interactive found themselves caught up in one of the multiple rounds of layoffs to hit Meta earlier this year. To boot, Ready at Dawn has yet to reveal what’s next. Whatever it is though, we’re hoping it has many of the same hard-won learnings baked in, like Echo VR and its narrative games Lone Echo did. In the meantime, check out the OST playlist below.

New Video Explores How ‘Racket Club’ is Reimagining Tennis for VR

Resolution Games, the studio behind Demeo (2021), Blaston (2020), and Angry Birds VR: Isle of Pigs (2019), shared more info on how it’s engineering a new sport for its upcoming game Racket Club.

The studio released a new behind-the-scenes video that goes into detail about how Racket Club is played, where it came from, and what sets it apart from other racket sport experiences in VR.

In the video, chief creative officer Mathieu Castelli explains how Racket Club was built with realism in mind, offering up a sort of gameplay that could easily translate to real courts.

Castelli says that a big step in the project was modeling the “right feeling of impact” of when the ball hits the racket, something that is fairly mathematically complex. Another was defining the space so users could play naturally at home, and not need in-game locomotion stuff like teleportation. In the end, it comes down to body positioning and swing accuracy, something that is a 1:1 translation from physical racket sports.

While the basic physicality of Racket Club could translate to a real-world court, there’s a few things that VR simply does better, Castelli explains. As players gain expertise, the glass enclosures lower, increasing the chance of knocking the ball out of the court. Impressively long rallies, or the classic back and forth shots between players, can also give you more points, which can turn around a match in one go.

Racket Club is set to release on the Quest platform and PC VR headsets sometime in 2023. In the meantime, you can wishlist the game on Steam and the Meta Quest Store.

VR Sport ‘Racket Club’ Action Revealed in New Trailer, Created by ‘Demeo’ & ‘Blaston’ Studio

Resolution Games, the studio behind Blaston (2020) and Demeo (2021), showed off its upcoming VR sports game Racket Club for the first time during Meta’s Quest Gaming Showcase.

Taking inspiration from many of the world’s most popular racket games, such as Tennis, Padel, Pickleball, and Squash, the new trailer released today shows off what Resolution Games calls “the first real look at how Racket Club is played.”

Here’s how the describes the action:

When players step onto the court, they’ll find the play area for their matches surrounded by four clear walls — each providing a surface for the ball to bounce off to keep it in play and provide a new dimension for strategic gameplay. The more times players can hit the ball back and forth during each rally, the higher the points value for the player that takes it. This “points rally” mechanic introduces a unique blend of risk and reward that’s not typically found in racket sports. Players will need to read their opponent’s behavior to determine just the right time to break their reluctant cooperation on any given rally and win the points for themselves.

The court size in Racket Club has been designed with living rooms in mind, giving players the ability to fully immerse themselves in racket sport VR play while keeping their footwork within a safe boundary. This allows for natural movement in all its forms, from traversing the court to taking big swings at just the right angles.

The built-for-VR racket sport is set to include both single player and online multiplayer, which at launch will include singles (1v1) and doubles (2v2) multiplayer in addition to single player career mode. You can wishlist the game today on the Quest Store.

Sports Training App ‘REZZIL PLAYER’ Coming to PSVR 2 Soon

Indie VR studio REZZIL today announced it’s bringing REZZIL PLAYER, the VR sports training game, to PSVR 2 soon.

Initially launched on Quest in 2021 and later brought to SteamVR headsets in 2022, Rezzil Player offers up a growing collection of sports training games that aim to improve performance and reaction times across sports like football, soccer, and basketball. The immersive training game now boasts over 160 levels and 40 items of sports kit for avatars.

The studio announced Rezzil Player is officially coming to PSVR 2 during its launch window, which PlayStation says extends into March.

The studio says the PSVR 2 version is slated to use the next-gen headset’s advanced features, including haptic feedback to feel the impact of a ball on their head, and eye-tracking for foveated rendering.

“We are thrilled to announce the release of REZZIL PLAYER on PlayStation VR 2,” said Gareth Thatcher, Director at Rezzil. “Combining our virtual and physical sports training games with the power of PlayStation 5 is something we are proud of and excited to bring to a new audience.”

Rezzil Player is set to launch on PSVR 2 for $10 “within the official launch window,” the studio says, which PlayStation has defined as starting at the headset’s launch on February 22nd leading into March.

We’ll keep our eyes peeled for a more precise launch date and PlayStation Store links in the coming weeks.

Sense Arena Secures $3M to Expand Ice Hockey VR Training Tools, Add New Sports

VR ice hockey training company Sense Arena announced that it’s closed a $3 million investment round, something the startup says will be used to support continued development on its ice hockey training platform as well as expand to new sports.

The funding round was led by J&T Ventures, and includes previous backers Miton and SYNER. According to Crunchbase, this brings the company’s overall outside investment to just over $5 million.

Founded in 2017, the Prague-based company has already become the official VR training provider for a number of NHL teams, including the Arizona Coyotes, Las Vegas Golden Knights, Los Angeles Kings, and New Jersey Devils. Sense Arena counts 30 professional hockey teams, and nine NCAA programs (including Harvard, Northeastern, and Quinnipiac) and 40 individual NHL players and youth hockey organizations from around the world.

The company says its platform, which launched in 2018, is engineered to “enhance read-and-react skills and cognitive performance for both skaters and goalies” in combination with Meta Quest and standard hockey equipment. Sense Arena says it provides performance feedback and recommendations, allowing athletes to make adjustments and advancements in real time.

Check out a short explanation of what a coaching session looks like with some in-app footage, presented by Brian Daccord, Sense Arena’s Director of Goaltending Development and former NHL goaltending coach and scout.

“Some of the top hockey players currently training with Sense Arena include Philipp Grubauer of the Seattle Kraken, Dawson Mercer of the New Jersey Devils, and Northeastern University’s Devon Levi, who earned the 2022 Mike Richter Award given to the top goaltender in NCAA Division I men’s ice hockey,” the company says in a press statement.

“Sense Arena has developed cutting-edge virtual reality training to help athletes maximize their potential and we feel supremely confident in Bob’s vision for the future of sports training,” said Martin Kešner, co-founder of J&T Ventures. “We believe that Sense Arena has only scratched the surface of its potential. We are excited to help them elevate their technology and increase its application around the sports world.”

To date, the company has shipped over 2,500 installations of Sense Arena across 40 countries. You can check out the range of gear and requirements over at the Sense Arena Store for more.

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VR’s First Official NFL Game ‘NFL PRO ERA’ Makes You the Quarterback, Coming to Quest & PSVR Fall 2022

During Meta’s Quest Gaming Showcase today, we finally caught a glimpse of VR’s first official NFL game, NFL PRO ERA, which promises to let you QB for your favorite team as you make your path to the Super Bowl.

Developers StatusPRO unveiled NFL PRO ERA today for the first time, VR’s first officially-licensed NFL game. In NFL PRO ERA, you take the role of quarterback, and participate in games and drills, but also the ability to play catch virtually with your friends online in your favorite NFL stadium.

StatusPRO says NFL PRO ERA is slated to arrive at some point in Fall 2022 on Meta Quest and PlayStation VR.

NFL Pro Era’s first trailer, which was released today during the showcase, features an up-close view from NFL quarterback Lamar Jackson’s perspective, and pre-alpha gameplay set to a voiceover from acclaimed hip hop artist and former NFL draft prospect Tobe Nwigwe.

“Utilizing player data was a must-have to create a truly authentic NFL player experience,” said Troy Jones, co-founder and Chief Executive Officer of StatusPRO. “We felt today’s Meta Quest Gaming Showcase provided the perfect opportunity for StatusPRO to share a sneak peek of NFL PRO ERA. Through our product, fans will feel the excitement of what it’s like to be an NFL quarterback such as Lamar Jackson and stare in the face of a pass rush while maintaining command of the offense. Fans will get to experience the energy of thousands of fans cheering in their favorite stadium, while gaining a new appreciation for what it takes to compete at the highest level.”

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An Official NFL Game is Coming to Quest & PSVR

The National Football League (NFL) and sports tech company StatusPRO, announced at GDC 2022 that they’re partnering to create an NFL-licensed VR game, which is targeting Meta Quest and PSVR.

The game, which is still unnamed, is said to “bring fans closer to the gridiron than ever before, allowing them to play like a professional football player through a first-person 3D immersive experience.”

StatusPRO says the NFL game aims to “recreate what it actually feels like to step out on the field [and let fans] transform into pro athletes.”

“Virtual reality gaming is rapidly expanding and our partnership with StatusPRO allows us to explore a new immersive version of NFL gaming with support of the two largest VR platforms within this emerging space,” said Joe Ruggiero, SVP, Consumer Products at the NFL. “We are seeing a growing number of fans engaging with VR and we’re excited to launch the first-ever VR gaming title that complements our existing offerings in the market today.”

Founded by former football players Andrew Hawkins and Troy Jones in 2020, StatusPRO combines training data with XR headsets with the aim to appeal to football coaches, players, and also fans. The studio is known for creating the Lamar Jackson Experience, which lets you step into Baltimore Ravens quarterback Lamar Jackson’s shoes and recreate real highlight plays.

There’s still no word on when the virtual reality NFL game will arrive, or how substantial of an experience it will be in comparison to the NFL’s long-running football series Madden NFL. We’ll be keeping an eye on StatusPro’s twitter and website in the meantime.

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