CCP games, the developers behind EVE: Valkyrie, have revealed their next made-for-VR title Sparc, a futuristic TRON-esque sports title for HTC Vive, PlayStation VR and Oculus Rift & Touch.
This is Sparc, a new multiplayer sports title from the developers that brought us the slick online space combat shooter EVE: Valkyrie, one of the first VR-only titles ever to be announced by a major developer.
There’s a chance that Sparc may look a tad familiar and that’s because you may have seen it in an earlier form, originally sporting the codename ‘Project Arena’, an internal CCP VR demo that graduated to be shown to attendees of last year’s EVE Fanfest 2016. Described at the time as a competitive full body VR experience. That already polished demo has evolved into an even slicker looking title, now set for release on all VR platforms later this year.
“After our early experiments with standing VR gameplay, we were excited by the idea of building an original sport designed for the current generation of VR hardware. We’ve designed Sparc so that players can express and improve their skill through their physical actions.” said Morgan Godat, Executive Producer at CCP Atlanta. “Ultimately, we want players to think of Sparc as a virtual court in their living room where they can meet and compete with other players from around the world.”
Sparc will allow you to join players online to spectate or compete in matches but will also feature single player focused elements too if you really can’t stand other people. Should you venture online, CCP promise a full ‘free form’ social area to hangout while watching courtside. More detail on the game will be revealed later in year, in the mean time take a look at this excellent mixed reality the team released after the title’s original debut as Project Arena last year. Meanwhile, Sparc will be playable on the show floor at GDC 2017.
Knockout League (2017) is a single-player, arcade-style boxing game that promises to get your heart pumping as you duck, block, and punch your way to victory. Harking back to NES classic Punch-Out!! (1987), you learn pretty quickly that a storm of punches—the moral equivalent of button-mashing—will get you nothing if you can’t time them correctly to your opponent’s repertoire of moves. So while Knockout League can’t promise what you might call “boxing sim” realism, it definitely delivers a lot of fun along with the stark realization that I clearly don’t get enough exercise.
Knockout League Details:
Developer: Grab Games Available On: Oculus Touch, HTC Vive (Oculus Home & Steam) Reviewed on: HTC Vive Release Date: January 24th, 2017
Note: This game is in Early Access which means the developers have deemed it incomplete and likely to see changes over time. This review is an assessment of the game’s current state, and will not receive a numerical score.
Gameplay
The game starts out with a simple training session that details all of the moves you need to know as you go against the 4 available opponents; Brazilian fighter ‘Tri-Tip’, warrior princess ‘Crimson Fang’, saber-wielding pirate ‘Scurvy Jones’, and posh English octopus ‘Sir Octopunch’.
Each of them has a signature power move that they unleash, oftentimes after you attempt a KO. Of course, taking one of these to the face can mean a near instant game over, but dodging a few punches afterwards thankfully lets you recoup your health automatically. You’ll know when you’re almost down for the count though, as each punch landed on your soft, baby face makes the world a little less colorful and also applies a ‘punch-drunk filter’ to further distort your vision.
The moment you time it just right though, and successfully dodge or block the move and deliver a series of counter blows, you really can’t help but feel like Rocky Balboa (the times he didn’t get beaten, obviously).
Knockout League reallyseems like its ready for prime time with its patently smooth scene modeling and character animations, but the paltry sum of only 4 AI opponents means you can complete the entire game in about an hour. This can be forgiven somewhat since it’s still in Early Access, and the developers have said they’ll be adding more unique opponents and additional game modes in the next 3-5 months. Hopefully it will be enough time to add more features, because as it stands currently, there isn’t any type of spendable in-game currency or any other customization options outside of picking your own name.
That said, this is one of those games you’ll force on your friends and family to try, because while definitely a shorter experience, it’s something that is sure to get plenty of laughs while testing the aerobic ability of everyone involved. Playing through each boss is certainly a workout, one that left me heaving a little more than I rightly should.
Immersion
Since this isn’t a boxing simulator, you should know there’s a few limitations put on you from the very beginning. Firstly, don’t think that you can back away from a punch in Knockout League or use the whole ring’s space to your advantage, because the game only provides you with about a square meter of space to move in—and that’s regardless of how large your room-scale setup can manage. Leaving this pre-set area will pause the game, so this forces you to actively engage your opponent in a few ways that the AI can react to, necessitating ducking and moving either to left or right of punches instead of instinctively backing up.
Fights are forward-facing, so besides ducking and moving out of the way of punches, you’ll have to block too. This wasn’t exactly my strong suit, as I could rarely activate a block in time. I couldn’t really tell if it was my fault, or the fault of the game, because quickly bringing my hands up to cover my face and activating the split-second blocking mechanic usually resulted in a smack to the jaw. I quickly learned to block though on the last boss, Sir Octopunch, because he would toss multiple impossible-to-dodge, boxing-glove clad tentacles at a time.
Punching, like in Punch-out!! is extremely mechanical, and relies purely on your ability to find out when the AI opponent is vulnerable—usually before a signature powermove, leaving them wide open to a sock right in the kisser. This, again, is another time when you have to abandon your real world expectations of fighting. There was zero reaction because I didn’t punch at the AI’s specified time, even when opponents seemed vulnerable and I clearly landed punches to an unprotected spot like the stomach or the head. Knockout League is an arcade-style game, so you’ll have to train your reptile brain to accept all of that as the punches fly.
Comfort
There is no artificial locomotion in Knockout League, meaning there’s little chance that you’ll feel any different from walking around in the real world. This makes this, and games like this, an exceedingly comfortable experience to play for extended amounts of time.
Through no fault of its own, Knockout League can get your VR headset a little sweaty after a while, so if you’re seriously thinking of playing the game for more than 15 minutes, you should consider some sort of removable cover to protect your headset’s facial interface from absorbing your smelly, bacteria-laced face goo. Both Best Buy and individual sellers on Amazon offer suitable solutions should you want to stop living like a grease-faced ham demon.
Summary
While still in Early Access, and in need of more features, opponents, and general customization to bolster replay value, ‘Knockout League’ is by far the most fun you’ll have getting punched in the face. The game’s art direction and atmosphere is extremely competent and the opponents movements, although necessarily predictable, give you quite a workout. There’s no denying the game’s charm as it harks back to arcade boxing days of old.
Wrestling, especially the WWE, is an incredible window into sports drama. Since inception, this American past time has maintained a degree of excitement built upon high-flying athletes, bloody rivalries, infectious personalities, and stylish violence. Business Insider sat down with Michelle Wilson, WWE’s Chief Revenue and Marketing Officer, about the growing amount of digital content they’ve created, and revealed fans may get the chance to leap from the top ropes with VR as the driving force for some new ideas.
The crux of these newer developments, as so put forth by Wilson during the interview, revolves around the company’s understanding that they’re no longer creating content just for those watching on television, but also on other media devices. They’re adapting to Snapchat and Facebook live with their digital team of 100 – 120 people, including many that utilize those types of social platforms regularly. They’ve shifted over the last five years, growing from 750 hours of content every year to 1500 across long-form television production and the short-form stylings that fit on the more quickly consumed formats like YouTube. They may soon be adding another format to their repertoire as well.
“VR is a really interesting thing to watch for us,” Wilson said. “We know that our fans want to be literally in the ring with our superstars. So I think AR and VR is something we’re really paying attention to.” She goes on to point out that “where” fans will be able to experience these is what they’re thinking about and, in response to a question, she said they’re already testing and evaluating VR and AR technology.
The WWE has already embraced 360-degree video, showing off a new perspective on some of the exciting moments from their television broadcasts.
