You’ll have to wait just a little longer to jump into zero gravity on Oculus Quest.
Ready at Dawn this week announced that its upcoming port of Echo Arena to the standalone VR headset has been delayed. It’s now coming some time in 2020, though there’s no specific timing beyond that. We weren’t entirely sure the game would be arriving this year so it doesn’t come as a huge surprise, but it’s a little disappointing all the same.
“To release the highest quality game possible, we’ve decided to delay Echo Arena’s launch on Quest until 2020,” the company said in a blog post. “We’re excited to bring Echo Arena, and all of its zero-g glory, to Quest soon!”
We announced Echo Arena for Quest during our E3 VR Showcase in June. Not only that, but we actually got to see it running back at OC6. David’s impressions were pretty much what he expected; the game is all present and accounted for, but it takes a slight visual hit on the mobile hardware.
“I would definitely play this version and would personally recommend it to Quest owners from what I’ve played,” he said. “Not having to worry about wires is reason enough to make Echo Arena on Quest one worth keeping on your radar because it feels great to spin around without issues. That being said, it just isn’t as good as on PC VR, but that should have been expected anyway.”
We’re still looking forward to this one, then.
Fear not; there’s still plenty of Quest goodness set to arrive in 2019. In fact, Pistol Whip launches on the headset today and we still have The Curious Tale Of The Stolen Pets, Doctor Who and more to look forward to. A bit more patience on the Echo front won’t hurt.
CREED: Rise to Glory is a boxing game that aims to get you up and sweating with what promises to deliver the Rocky-style underdog victory that couch jockies like me have always dreamed about. While the campaign is both shorter and lighter on story than it probably could have been, it delivers some heavy-hitting game mechanics that do pretty well considering you’re effectively punching at air.
Developer: Survios Available On: Steam (Vive, Rift,), Oculus Store (Rift), PlayStation Store (PSVR) Reviewed On: Oculus Rift, HTC Vive Release Date: September 25th, 2018
Gameplay
There’s not much to know about the story behind Creed: Rise to Glory. Like in the films, you follow series protagonist Adonis “Hollywood” Creed, the son of Apollo Creed, and fight to become the champ.
Story elements are told through a radio program playing in the gym, which serves as your sanctuary where you can train before fights and hear a little bit about the boxing world outside of the gym’s four walls. A single flashback of you punching out a bouncer and presumably losing a love interest are light padding to the game’s main event: dodging and making sure your stamina isn’t too low so you can land effective punches during matches. And while I felt the story definitely could have played out to a grander, more dramatic effect with a longer arc than what its six primary enemies provided, the most important things are strong fundamentals and being engaging enough to revisit, which is clearly the case in Creed: Rise to Glory.
Image courtesy Survios
As someone who’s never boxed before, I can’t really say with much certainty how true Creed VR is to the actual sport, but it appears to have been game-ified well into arcade territory. The Rocky films, and by extension the Creed films, are fantastical fights that probably could never happen in reality anyway. Like with many sports films, the technicality of the sport is mostly lost in those big dramatized moments that challenge the main character, and help them come to a hard-won resolution. Stepping into the ring with the lights, the crowd, and the announcer, it easily matched up to my already warped expectations of how boxing is portrayed in film—that much I can say with confidence; I felt like I was in a movie, and it was awesome.
Iconic training montages with Rocky Balboa, voiced with a convincing-enough impression of Sylvester Stallone, prefaced most fights, giving you that all important cinematic touchstone.
Image captured by Road to VR
Introducing what Survios calls ‘Phantom Melee Technology’, Creed uses a sort of body desynchronization when either your stamina is low, or when you’re staggered from a powerful punch. Low stamina is indicated by the color of your gloves, which will flash red to make sure you know your punches will be slower than your actual physical ability to shadow box. This keeps you on the guard more than you might otherwise be, as the only way to recuperate stamina is by holding you hands still. Enemies will also dodge and block your hits too, making them more than just simple punching bags.
Getting staggered happens in two stages. A powerful punch can put you in a quick out-of-body experience that requires you to match up your hands to two targets, allowing you to pop back into the fight.
Image captured by Road to VR
More devastating punches can knock you way out of the ring, requiring you to ‘run’ back and jump back into your body. These are fun and truly creative ways of making you feel like you’re hanging on to a bare thread in the more difficult matches.
Image captured by Road to VR
A few methods of activating slow motion sequences really drive home the cinematic nature of the game, as you dodge a punch or land a big hit that places temporary target’s on your opponent’s body.
All of these systems work extremely well, but the learning curve is somewhat steep. There is no visible HP or stamina bar, so spending some extra time in training is probably a good thing so you can start to really feel out how many hits you can take and how many you can give before throwing yourself at the actual matches.
I beat the campaign mode in about an hour an a half on normal difficulty, although that was stretched out over several sessions simply based on my own admittedly out-of-shape cardio abilities. It’s easy to see using Creed: Rise to Glory in an actual cardio routine to get less than active people (like me) up from the chair and getting their heart pumping. I felt enemies weren’t terribly varied in the attack styles, as it seems difficulty is mostly based more on the NPC’s individual punch strength and HP.
While I was left somewhat disappointed by the shortness of the campaign mode, thankfully you can mix and match enemies, gyms, and boxing locales in free play. Another big addition recently announced to arrive on all platforms is PvP online multiplayer. Online multiplayer presents a good opportunity to really turn the technical difficulty up, as live players exploit tactics that NPCs simply can’t think of, like running around the ring and going for a drive-by punch. These online battles are intense, and provided some of my most tiring battles.
While at times on the cartoonish side, character models and their animations are very well-done and can be genuinely intimidating too. Seeing a near seven foot-tall guy trying to hit me in the face isn’t something I’m really used to, and even though nothing bad can happen outside of accidentally punching a wall/TV/monitor, there are some moments before the fight when you subconsciously size up the competition.
Image captured by Road to VR
Impressive and realistic set pieces help ground you in the world, although it’s clear Creed: Rise to Glory is definitely bucking up against some of the inherent limitations of the current state of VR. Without any bodily feedback outside of the controller’s haptics, it’s difficult to completely immerse yourself in the act of dodging and blocking, two things that require more than visual cues to accomplish. Oftentimes I had my gloves up, obscuring my vision, and without force feedback (which at this point isn’t possible), you just have to rely on the controller’s buzzy haptics and the game’s visual cues to tell if you’ve hit your opponent or pulled your punch too early. That said, it’s great to know that Creed VR has entirely bypassed the ‘waggle simulator’ trend of earlier titles, as it not only requires you to punch quickly, but do it accurately for the sake of lost stamina.
The game’s AI is pretty darn good. At moments I could feel the AI sussing out my head’s position and aiming accurately for my noggin despite I had dodged an earlier punch. NPCs feel mostly solid, although you can actually run through them if you want.
Image captured by Road to VR
While based mostly on room-scale movement, there are moments when you need to artificially move from point A to point B, including when you square off at the beginning of the fight and during moments when you’re knocked out and have to run back to your body to continue the fight. Moving in the game is accomplished by swinging your arms while holding down the applicable buttons on each controller, which sends you sliding forward. Artificial locomotion is generally useless during fights, so it usually comes down to standing in place and punching it out like rock’em sock’em robots, albeit with a little more finesse and dodging/blocking abilities.
Both room-scale and the game’s only other locomotion scheme, detailed above, are extremely comfortable ways of moving around VR.
That said, this is a very physical standing game that will get your heart beating, and definitely get you sweating through the padding on your headset if you’re not careful. That’s not so much a knock on the game’s comfort rating as it is an advisory to plan ahead. Pop on some gym shorts for an extended session, because you’ll soon be huffing and puffing with all the dodging, bobbing and punching you’ll be doing.
Like with many more physical VR games, there’s a risk of hyperextending your arms alla tennis elbow, so it may be best to take frequent breaks if you have some pre-existing joint issues.
Oculus has confirmed that a number of VR eSports tournament finals are officially headed to Oculus Connect 5, the company’s annual developer conference.
Competing for a total cash prize pool of $120,000, tournament hopefuls will descend upon San Jose’s McEnery Convention Center on September 26th – 27th.
Live coverage of the tournament finals will begin at 11:30 am PT (local time here) both days of OC5 on VR League’s Facebook, Twitch, and YouTube channels.
The best bit: could get a shot at the prize money too. For more information on how to compete in each game’s ‘Last Chance Qualifier’, head over to the Oculus blogpost for relevant sign-up links.
Racket: NX (2018), the VR racket sports game, is now out of Early Access. Offering a surprising level of polish, fluid gameplay, and both an engaging single player and competitive multiplayer mode, Racket: NX has taken a fairly simple concept and fleshed it out to an ultimately fun (and addictive) conclusion.
Featuring breakable blocks like gaming classics Breakout or Arkanoid, Racket: NX pits you against a 360 degree domed wall filled with flashing yellow targets of various designs and placements. In a race against an ever dwindling energy meter, your job is simple: accurately break the blocks as fast as possible, collect energy pick-ups to refill your energy bar, and avoid the precariously placed energy-drainers which are littered throughout the multi-stage levels.
The game contains three principal modes: solo mode for classic single player gameplay, arcade mode for infinite survival with both classic and ‘zen’ mode, and multiplayer mode for one vs. one online battles.
Image courtesy One Hamsa
Single player mode features four increasingly hard difficulty level subsets: basic, advanced, hardcore and insane. To move up, you’ll have to complete at least four of the five bespoke levels in the preceding difficulty level. Each of these bespoke levels contains multiple stages, which take anywhere from three to ten minutes to pass in total.
Controls are very simple, as you only use one controller (left or right) with a single trigger pull acting as your only input, which retracts the ball to your racket wherever you’re facing. Besides the obvious benefit of getting your ball back quicker, this can be useful when your ball is flying dangerously close to energy drainers so you can pull it to safety mid-run. Smacking the ball harder will send your ball wall-sliding for those tasty combos, so a tactical ball retract is always useful.
Later in the game you run across things such as gravity wells that suck in your ball and spit it out somewhere else, and speed boosters that can either send your ball for a level-winning combo, or straight into a minefield of energy drainers. Floating power-ups such as scatter shots, extra points, and a temporary buff that changes all of the energy-drainers into positive energy pickups keep things moving at a fun, and always varied pace.
Image courtesy One Hamsa
While I had trouble at first with the racket (auto-aim is either non-existent or very subtle), after a few levels of brick-bashing and power-upping, I had a good enough grip on how to accurately smack the ball for a more or less consistent arc to my target. As I headed into ‘insane’ mode though, that’s where I really started to feel the rush of the clock ticking, the ball flying just one brick off its target, and that’s where I started to consistently lose a battle of what turned out to be a real test of ball-handing precision.
Abandoning my first real test of difficulty, I went off for my first multiplayer game to see how I stacked up after about an hour and half playing from the beginning tutorial through to the beginning of ‘insane’ mode. When I could find a match (more on that below), they usually turned out to be a thrilling competition that really combines everything you’ve learned in single player, but letting each player return the ball one at a time, which is color-coded when your serve is up.
Getting into a multiplayer game isn’t always easy due to unfortunately low player numbers. You can invite a friend to play, but the friend’s list isn’t as straight forward as I would have hoped. Contacting a friend through the Oculus app and starting an Oculus Party (voice chat) to coordinate—we were both on Rift and playing through the Oculus Store—we were unable to actually get into private match by sending the game’s match invite request. A tone would sound in the game when you were sent a request, but there wouldn’t be any obvious way to accept the invite afterwards. While this will no doubt be fixed in the future (it’s a crucial element, after all), at the time of launch getting into a private match seemed hopeless. We ended up both going for a competitive match at the same moment, and were fortuitously matched up. Now, back to the good.
With voice chat on as default, it was really cool to glance over for a chat, only see that the avatars are equally as futuristic (and befittingly weird) techno-lizards whose heads would articulate and pulse when they talk.
Image courtesy One Hamsa
Some niggles not withstanding, Racket: NX is a very solid experience gameplay-wise, which on its own is a pretty great thing to proclaim, but what really puts the cherry on the cake is the game’s impressive visuals. A bright and varied color palette helps you quickly distinguish target from trap, and combines a fun mix of translucent materials to give it that ultra slick, futuristic feeling.
The game’s music also helps set the scene, giving you a pulsing vibe that keeps you going until the energy meter’s tempo takes over for heart-pounding last-minute saves. You can replace it with your own music, but I never felt the need, as it fits to perfectly with the game.
Immersion
In a physical tennis game, learning where the edge of an actual racket is takes a bit of time when you start learning; a few key elements such as the weight of the racket, the vibration of hitting the ball, and how the racket cuts through the air all help us ‘feel’ where the ball hits, and know where it might land. In the physical world, this level of proprioception (knowing the position of your own body) helps the racket become a part of us, something that isn’t equally reflected in VR racket sports currently.
At times, it’s difficult to tell where the virtual racket is when it’s out of your field of view, and it’s not always clear at what angle the racket takes when you swing at the ball. When you do hit a ball, we miss out on that level of proprioception I talked about earlier, making it difficult to fully ground yourself in the virtual sport. That said, this can be overcome with practice though, as you get a better feel for the ball, and become more consistent in your racket hits. This isn’t so much a downfall of the game, but it’s a clear drawback of any racket sport in VR that uses stock motion controllers.
Outside of this, citing all of the game’s positives above, Racket: NX does everything it can to make you lose yourself in the task at hand.
Comfort
As a room-scale game that requires a 360 setup, Rift players may have a tougher time playing without a third sensor due to occlusion. Using a two-sensor, front-facing setup though didn’t create nearly as many issues as I thought I would have, as I only lost positional tracking for a moment and was still be able to return balls with the always-on rotational tracking of my single Touch controller.
Obviously three sensor setups and HTC Vive’s SteamVR base stations won’t have this problem, but it’s a valid warning nonetheless.
While you could play seated, provided you clear your space entirely, this is really a standing game that requires some physicality to play. I found myself switching between left and right hands to give my elbows a break too—but outside the obvious physical demands, the game is ultimately one of the most comfortable VR gameplay experiences you can have, thanks to the room-scale only nature of the game.
Racket: NX (2018), the futuristic VR racket game, has left Early Access on Steam and the Oculus Store.
Developed by Tel Aviv-based studio One Hamsa, Racket: NX puts a stylish VR spin on some classic game mechanics made famous in titles such as Breakout and Arkanoid. Using your single racket to break block targets, you go for the high score as you hammer the ball at the dome-shaped wall, hoping for that wall-sliding chain reaction to help you clear the level.
Racket: NX supports Oculus Rift, HTC Vive, and Windows VR headsets, and features two single player modes, and an intense multiplayer. You’ll definitely need to clear some space though, because once the targets start to envelop your entire 360 playing space, you can easily lose track of where you are (and how close you are to lamps, kittens, innocent bystanders).
Road to VR‘s Matthew MacGee was mightily impressed with Racket: NX in our Early Access review of the game, saying:
“At times it’s breathless entertainment, and a good rally will have you laughing at the sheer thrill of it all. It feels very pure, very old school, and very polished. For a game in the vanguard of the initial VR wave—embracing the most modern gaming tech—in the hands, it whisks you back to playgrounds and simpler times.”
The full title now boasts new powerups, more impressive visuals, a completely new solo campaign, and what One Hamsa calls a “much improved multiplayer.”
Image courtesy One Hamsa
While the thumping soundtrack fits really well for a heart-pounding session, you can also play with your own music now too, which is an available option through the game’s settings menu.
“Developing this game, the first One Hamsa release, has been a life changing experience for us,” the developers say in a statement on Steam. “We had many challenges along the way, and we can honestly say we would not have been able to withstand them if it wasn’t for our Early Access players. The love, enthusiasm, feedback and companionship you guys offered throughout made all the difference.”
RX: Racket is currently on sale for 25% off the usual $20 price tag, and is available from both Steam (Vive, Rift, Windows VR) and the Oculus Store (Rift).
The World Cup is due to kick off today, and Oculus announced that US residents will be able to watch select matches of the quadrennial football championship for free in Oculus Venues, the company’s social VR event viewing app for Oculus Go and Gear VR.
Oculus Venues, which first launched with Oculus Go back in early May and later came to Gear VR, lets you watch live events with ‘thousands’ of other fans in the same shared space, which in the case of the 2018 World Cup means a stadium full of VR headset owners watching the sporting event live as it unfolds. Presented by FOX Sports, Oculus Venues will play host to a few select matches. Check out the schedule below:
2018 World Cup Oculus Venues Schedule
June 17: Germany vs. Mexico – 8:00 am PT (local time)
June 20: Portugal vs. Morocco – 5:00 am PT (local time)
June 22: Brazil vs. Costa Rica – 5:00 am PT (local time)
June 24: England vs. Panama – 5:00 am PT (local time)
Check out Oculus Venues on Gear VR and Oculus Go (Facebook sign-in required).
Image courtesy Oculus, NextVR
For international viewers, a number of regionally accessible apps are available for watching the 2018 World Cup in VR, including coverage from BBC Sports VR (UK), DIRECTV Sports VR (Argentina, Chile, Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, Uruguay, Venezuela), Telemundo Deportes VR (US), ERT VR (Greece), MYTF1 VR (France), and SBS | Optus FIFA World Cup VR (Australia).
You can unlock World Cup coverage through your region’s app by authenticating through your pay TV provider.
If you’re on Oculus Rift, HTC Vive, or Windows “Mixed Reality” VR headsets, the BigScreen app will no doubt play host to informal viewings of World Cup 2018 matches; a handy feature of the peer-to-peer app that lets you stream anything from your monitor to anyone regardless of region.
The BBC is bringing live coverage of all 33 of its licensed World Cup 2018 matches from Russia to a new dedicated app, dubbed BBC Sport VR – FIFA World Cup Russia 2018. The app will support Gear VR, Oculus Go, PlayStation VR, and Google Cardboard; as with all BBC iPlayer content, it’s likely to be region locked to the UK though.
“Users will be transported to a fully immersive stadium experience, through headsets, as if they are sitting in their own hospitality box,” reports BBC Sports.
The VR app is said hit the respective app stores closer to the first match, which starts on June 14th with the Russia vs. Saudi Arabia match to kick it off.
Image courtesy BBC
User can expect a wide range of supporting content in the app, including live match stats that pop-up from the virtual coffee table, and different camera angles so users can watch from a standard viewing position, or sit behind either one of the goals to get up-close and personal with the goal keeper. A daily highlights package and other on-demand content will also be available through the app on multiple virtual big screen TVs in the VR environment.
Both the BBC and ITV hold exclusive rights to transmit the World Cup in the UK, while US viewers will rely on coverage from Fox, Telemundo and NBC Universo, making international streaming a strong unlikelihood.
VR users outside the UK might investigate BigScreen VR for less formal transmissions of World Cup 2018 coverage, as the screen sharing app lets you watch anything on your monitor and share it with other user in VR regardless of their location.
Once again it is time for VRFocus to bring you another entry of This Week In VR Sport. With a number of sports related virtual reality (VR) and augmented reality (AR) stories, this week has sports ranging from the launch of a VR Sports arcade in Dubai, Microsoft filed a patent for an arm-worn accessory and even a 13,000 feet free fall all within VR.
Dubai Sports Council Chief Hails Launch of VR Arcade
The head of the Dubai Sports Council has hailed the launch of the United Arab Emirates’s (UAE’s) first VR arcade, adding that VR is set to “change the sports scene forever”. The new VR Sports arcade is located in the VR Theme Park in Dubai Mall, and has been officially launched by international digital agency ARKub Interactive, in the presence of Saeed Hareb, secretary-general of the Dubai Sports Council.
The VR Sports arcade is home to over 20 different VR titles that are sure to give any sports fans or active families a fun and immersive way to play. This includes the chance to play basketball, football, skiing, golf and even cricket all within the VR Sports arcade. News agency WAM reported that Hareb said: “VR will change the sports scene forever. It will help in making workouts more effective and athletes will not even have to step out of their homes to train. VR Sports is a great new addition to Dubai’s sports scene, not just for virtual reality enthusiasts, but also sports professionals who are looking to improve their game. We at Dubai Sports Council are looking forward to working with VR Sports in our efforts to further enhance the sporting landscape of Dubai and add exciting new technological advances like VR.”
Though VR theme parks and arcades continue to be established around the world, including the Oriental Science Fiction Valley in China, the opening of the VR Sports arcade in Dubai Mall is key milestone for the Dubai Sports Council and ARKub Interactive. VRFocus will be sure to bring you all the latest on any developments on the VR Sports arcade.
Microsoft Patent Points Towards More Realistic Basketball
Microsoft have put a patent forward for an AR and VR accessory that could make interesting with the virtual world feel more realistic. The patent showcases a device is called an electrostatic side clutch and was originally filed in 2017 with it only recently being published by the United States Patent and Trademark office. The side clutch, which is the images is shown as an arm-worm accessory, would make use of haptic feedback motors to allow the user to feel resistance when interacting in a virtual environment.
“While mixed reality and virtual reality systems may provide an immersive visual and auditory experience, such systems may not provide a satisfying tactile experience for the user, in which virtual objects feel like real objects,” Microsoft said in the patent. “In particular, haptic device may be configured to provide resistive contact sensation in response to detection of contact between the body of the user in a virtual display object projected into a field of view,” Microsoft continued.
What is worth noting is that the experience shown in the picture is that of a user playing basketball within virtual space. The applications of the device could therefore be aimed at such a market, offering a more realistic gameplay experience. Further to the arm sleeve, a glove may also be worn to once again help replicate the real-world sensation of interaction. The different configurations for the device are detailed in the patent and show a range of different applications, all suitable for AR and VR use.
Though submitted by in 2017, and only a patent, it would not be a surprise to see Microsoft come out with a device like this that could work in conjunction with the Microsoft HoloLens, offering more immersive experiences and interaction. VRFocus will be sure to bring you all the latest on this story in the future.
IFLY Indoor Skydiving Announces New VR Experience
In case you missed it earlier in the week, the world’s largest indoor skydiving operator has announced a new VR experience offer an immersive 13,000 feet free fall ride. By taking state-of-the-art VR technology and combining it with 28 iFLY tunnels across the country, the company is hoping to offer visitors a unique experience unlike anything else all within a safe and controlled environment.
“The idea of a virtual reality flight experience has been a dream of the iFLY brand for more than two decades, but the technology wasn’t there,” said Dave Kirchhoff, iFLY CEO. “VR headsets are nothing new, and it’s something many of us have all experienced at a trade show or event, but nobody is applying VR technology to real-life scenarios like this. We are truly pushing boundaries to make this iFLY experience one-of-a-kind by making the dream of flight more tangible and more real than ever before.”
Guests who want to try the experience will need to go through a number of training requirements before preforming the immersive jump in VR. Beyond being used as a means of entertainment, the new experience could be a valuable tool in training jumpers before the real thing all while still offering that intense rush of free falling for 13,000 feet.
That is all for This Week In VR Sport. For more on immersive sport news keep reading VRFocus and remember to check back next week for another This Week In VR Sport.
Hot on the tail of Survios’ latest release, Sprint Vector (2018), the studio today announced their next VR project, Creed: Rise to Glory, a VR boxing game being developed in partnership with MGM as a complement to the upcoming Creed II movie. While there’s a handful of VR boxing games already available, Survios is promising something called ‘Phantom Melee Technology’, which the company says will offer “an authentic immersive experience that truly makes you feel like a boxing world champion.”
Survios’ latest VR title, Sprint Vector hinges entirely around a unique and highly effective locomotion system that the company calls Fluid Locomotion. The system allows players to navigate immersively and comfortably in VR at high speeds, and it’s clear that Survios put a lot of time and effort into developing the system.
With Creed: Rise to Glory, due out later this year, the company is building the game upon a new set of VR mechanics which Survios calls Phantom Melee Technology. The system, the company says, will enable a more realistic and immersive feeling of boxing in virtual reality:
Creed: Rise to Glory advances virtual reality through Survios’ new Phantom Melee Technology, addressing the ongoing challenge of crafting impactful VR melee combat through a player-avatar disconnect. Phantom Melee Technology relies on a combination of Responsive Control—which triggers strategic desynchronization when the player is staggered or knocked out—and Virtual Stamina, which mimics the slowing effects of fatigue after the player delivers frantic punches or a flurry of blows, to produce authentic hit reactions. The result is a believably intense, wholly immersive boxing sensation.
Survios is working with MGM (Creed IP holder and investor in Survios) on the new title, and the pair plan to bring it to both VR arcades and home VR headsets, though specific platforms haven’t yet been announced. In the game, players can expect to put on the gloves of Adonis Creed, son of heavyweight champion Apollo Creed, and get some coaching from Rocky Balboa.
“In all the VR experiences we build, we aim to make our players feel empowered, and Creed: Rise to Glory accomplishes this in a very cinematic and active way,” says James Iliff, Survios’ chief creative officer. “We’re throwing players into iconic boxing arenas, trading blows with the top fighters from the franchise, all while experiencing the thrills and showtime dramatics of the ultimate Hollywood-style boxing exhibition. With our new Phantom Melee Technology, the game provides an authentic immersive experience that truly makes you feel like a boxing world champion.”
It certainly sounds interesting, and made all the more intriguing thanks to Survios’ strong track record; we’ll have a chance to find out soon how well it all comes together as the company plans to demo the new title at GDC 2018 in San Francisco next week.
Major League Baseball’s Home Run Derby VR will let you step into the box and swing for the bleachers. The game, first trialed at All-Star FanFest back in June, is now heading to a total of 10 ballparks for the 2018 season, and also to consumers on PSVR and SteamVR-compatible headsets including HTC Vive and Oculus Rift.
Update (04/30/18): Both the Steam page and PSN page are now live, charging $20 for a chance to step into the virtual batter’s box at Marlins Park (Miami), Nationals Park (Washington, DC) and Progressive Field (Cleveland). The original article announcing availability follows below.
Original article (02/23/18): According to a Forbes report, a consumer version of the game will offer support for the platform’s respective motion controllers, and will feature virtual versions of all three All-Star Game locations: Miami’s Marlins Park, D.C.’s Nationals Park, and Cleveland’s Progressive Field, where the 2019 Midsummer Classic will be played.
There aren’t any pricing or other detail at this time, although MLB says they’ll be releasing it at a later date (see update above).
While the list of ballparks featuring the out-of-home version isn’t public yet, the report holds that at least two demonstrations are confirmed; one in Puerto Rico for the Indians and Twins games in April and the other in Mexico for the Dodgers and Padres games in May. Previous demos have included HTC Vive headsets coupled with Vive Trackers attached to physical baseball bats—something that’s definitely a surreal and immersive experience.
