Augmented & Virtual Reality Confabulation
What Augmented Reality and Virtual Reality developers are talking about
Id Software’s Rage saw the famous first-person shooter studio go in a decidedly more serious direction than its past game, and it didn’t always pay off. Rage 2, developed by Id and Avalanche Studios, arrives next spring.
The post Why is Bethesda making ‘Rage 2?’ We dove back into ‘Rage’ to find out appeared first on Digital Trends.
Killing Nazis is one of the gaming world’s most beloved pastimes. The original Wolfenstein 3D on PC is a classic FPS that, along with the likes of DOOM, helped put first-person shooters on the map as a viable game genre. Naturally, murdering Nazis is ingrained into the DNA of what makes a good FPS and that tradition is alive and well today.
Call of Duty returned to WWII last year and Battlefield V is returning to the setting this year. Wolfenstein is back and better than ever with New Colossus releasing to critical and commercial success last year and now, sticking to their trend of creating VR iterations of their most successful franchises, Bethesda is planning to release Wolfenstein: Cyberpilot in 2019.
The game was first announced this past weekend at Bethesda’s E3 2018 press conference, along with a Prey VR adaptation, and new Elder Scrolls game that will feature VR support, and we got the chance to go hands-on with the Wolfenstein title at Bethesda’s booth on the show floor. You can see some footage of the game down in the trailer below:
A big part of what makes Wolfenstein so popular, at least nowadays, is how well it mixes over-the-top action and violence with thoughtful, gut-punching narrative representations of a twisted alternate reality in which the Nazi regime is in power. It’s not just a silly shooter full of action and blood, like Serious Sam, but it juggles multiple tones very well. I’m not sure that Cyberpilot, the VR edition of the revered franchise, is following in those complex footsteps.
Cyberpilot takes place about 20 years after the events of New Colossus. You play a resistance fighter that’s a hacker which means instead of barging in the front door of the Nazi base guns blazing, you’ll instead take control of their own machines and turn them against them. In the demo I played that meant piloting one of the fearsome fire-breathing Panzerhunds, which is like a tank, mixed with a mech, mixed with a lot of fire.
The demo I played at Bethesda’s booth was about 15 minutes long running on a Vive Pro plus the forthcoming Vive Wireless Adapter. Visually, it’s just as impressive as you’d expect anything Bethesda touches to be, but that’s about as far as my excitement went.
Thankfully it’s not an on-rails shooter like Archangel was at launch, but the controls never felt very good. I controlled movement across levels with the left Vive wand’s track pad and steered the cockpit by moving the right Vive wand laterally across my view. The crosshair was attached to that controller’s aim and it’d rotate the cockpit itself if I moved my hand far enough in either direction.
My character’s hands were represented inside the cockpit, but he never seemed to interact with any of the HUD elements. Granted, this could be because he is a hacker and is just “virtually” piloting it, kind of like the Wakandan’s in Black Panther, but it still implied a bit of a disconnect.
My Panzerhund had two attacks: fire breath and a ramming attack. The fire breath had good range and did a lot of damage, but was lacking the punch I expected. Piloting a giant, ferocious beast like a Panzerhund should have made me feel powerful, but it really didn’t feel like it at all. I’d have preferred a machine gun, or missiles, or something with some haptic feedback and recoil of some kind. The fire breath just felt really bland and weak.
Bashing things was fun, although the only items in the environment I could really bash were all of the destroyed cars laying about. They were conveniently placed right in front of large groups of enemies so when I bashed a car it mowed them all over.
And that was about it. I went down a few sewers and corridors, lit a few Nazis on fire, and fought some oversized mechs and robots. I wanted to like it, and maybe the full game will be better, but as of now I’m not too impressed.
We still don’t know the release date, but Wolfenstein: Cyberpilot is currently slated for a 2019 release on multiple VR headsets. Let us know what you think down in the comments below!
Tagged with: Bethesda, Cyberpilot, e3, E3 2018, Wolfenstein, Wolfenstein: Cyberpilot
The post E3 2018 Hands-On – Wolfenstein: Cyberpilot VR Demo Is Just Plain Boring appeared first on UploadVR.
During Bethesda’s E3 Showcase, the company announced a new standalone VR title: Wolfenstein: Cyberpilot, a game set to launch sometime in 2019. Having talked to a Bethesda spokesperson, we can now confirm the upcoming VR game is targeting PSVR and HTC Vive with a prospective 2019 launch.
Update (06/12/18): A previous version of this article featured a leaked German version of the PSVR trailer. Having spoken to Bethesda reps, we have confirmed that ‘Wolfenstein: Cyberpilot’ is indeed headed for Vive and PSVR.
The original article follows below:
Orignal article (06/11/18): Set in Paris in 1980, you join The Resistance and fight the occupying Nazis with their own machines. Playing as a hacker, you take control of the fire-breathing Pazerhund and unleash holy hellfire and upturn cars on top of Nazi super soldiers.
Here’s Bethesda’s description:
The Resistance has upped its tech game in the two decades since the events of Wolfenstein II: The New Colossus. Wolfenstein: Cyberpilot drops you into the role of a resistance hacker on a mission to tear apart the Nazi forces in Paris using their own machines. Take control of a fire-breathing Panzerhund and more as you fight Nazis in the City of Love in order to aid the French resistance. Wolfenstein: Cyberpilot will be available as a standalone VR game in 2019. Saddle up, Cyberpilot. You’re one of us now.
At the time of its announcement yesterday, it wasn’t clear which platforms the game would target (see update), but if the PlayStation trailer is any indication, we can at least expect PSVR support.
Specifics are still thin on the ground, so we’ll be updating this piece as well as reporting on all things VR to develop from this year’s E3.
The post ‘Wolfenstein: Cyberpilot’ Confirmed for PSVR & Vive, Teaser Trailer Here appeared first on Road to VR.
Today during Bethesda’s E3 Showcase, the company announced a new standalone VR title: Wolfenstein: Cyberpilot, due to launch in 2019.
Details on Wolfenstein: Cyberpilot are slim so far, though we expect to go hands-on with the game at E3 this week, so stay tuned for more details; for now here’s what Bethesda is saying so far:
The Resistance has upped its tech game in the two decades since the events of Wolfenstein II: The New Colossus. Wolfenstein: Cyberpilot drops you into the role of a resistance hacker on a mission to tear apart the Nazi forces in Paris using their own machines. Take control of a fire-breathing Panzerhund and more as you fight Nazis in the City of Love in order to aid the French resistance. Wolfenstein: Cyberpilot will be available as a standalone VR game in 2019. Saddle up, Cyberpilot. You’re one of us now.
The company hasn’t announced which VR platforms the game will launch on, though the Bethesda’s previous VR titles have spanned SteamVR headsets and PlayStation VR. It also isn’t clear yet how the Wolfenstein VR title might tie in with the new non-VR Wolfenstein: Youngblood game which was also announced at the Bethesda E3 Showcase.
With several VR titles now under its belt (Doom VFR, Skyrim VR, and Fallout 4 VR), Bethesda appears happy with its early jump into the VR space, positioning itself as a pioneer in the VR with “no sign of slowing down.”
The news came in tandem with the announcement that Bethesda’s Prey (2017) is getting a DLC soon with two separate VR modes.
The post ‘Wolfenstein: Cyberpilot’ is a New Standalone VR Title Coming From Bethesda in 2019 appeared first on Road to VR.
According to the official 1.02 patch notes, the vault in Wolfenstein II's main menu and between-mission hub area is now unlocked. Other additions include The Freedom Chronicles Episode Zero and improvements for the PC and Xbox One X.
The post ‘Wolfenstein II’ unlocks the vault, adds new game modes in update appeared first on Digital Trends.
‘Wolfenstein II: The New Colossus’ offers more of everything from its beloved 2014 predecessor
The post ‘Wolfenstein II: The New Colossus’ Review appeared first on Digital Trends.
From the weapons we'll be able to use to the story, here is everything we know about Wolfenstein II: The New Colossus. The game is out this October on PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and PC.
The post Everything we know about ‘Wolfenstein II: The New Colossus’ appeared first on Digital Trends.
Wolfenstein II: The New Colossus is one of the best games we've seen at E3. Its collector's edition, which includes a GI Joe-like action figure of the main character, is just icing on the cake.
The post ‘Wolfenstein II: The New Colossus’ gets an awesome collector’s edition appeared first on Digital Trends.
Bethesda's E3 press conference was heavily influenced by existing projects, but that didn't stop the team from rolling out sequels to a few old favorites, and some new titles too.
The post Welcome to Bethesdaland! Here’s everything new from Bethesda’s 2017 E3 press conference appeared first on Digital Trends.
Bethesda's third E3 conference is shrouded in mystery. While we expect the official reveal of Wolfenstein: The New Colossus, other possible presentation games may be entirely new IPs. Watch the conference right here to find out!
The post Bethesda’s E3 2017 press conference is live at 9PM Pacific, watch it here appeared first on Digital Trends.