Metal: Hellsinger VR Adapts The Rhythm Shooter This Year On Quest, Steam & PSVR 2

Metal: Hellsinger VR brings the flatscreen rhythm shooter to Quest, Steam & PSVR 2 later this year.

Developed by The Outsiders, Metal: Hellsinger previously appeared on flatscreen platforms in 2022 and has now been "reimagined from the ground up for VR" in collaboration with Lab42 Games. Playing as a half-demon called the Unknown, this tale of revenge sees you moving, dashing, slashing, and shooting demons to the rhythmic beat as you journey through the eight hells.

While the VR adaptation features changes like swapping "most" menus for an immersive hub area, you can expect to find the original game's full campaign, difficulty settings, and challenges. The soundtrack, with guest vocals from Serj Tankian (System of a Down), Randy Blythe (Lamb of God), and Alissa White-Gluz (Arch Enemy), is also unchanged.

However, don't expect Metal: Hellsinger VR to be a free update if you already own it on Steam or PS5. Separate store page listings suggest the VR version will require an additional purchase, though pricing details are currently unknown.

Metal: Hellsinger VR reaches the Meta Quest platform, Steam and PSVR 2 in 2024.

Meta Is Only Allowing A Few Quest Developers To Disable The Annoying Boundary In Mixed Reality

Quest mixed reality apps can disable the annoying safety boundary, but only a handful of whitelisted developers can ship this on the Quest Store and App Lab.

Boundary, formerly called Guardian, is certainly useful in virtual reality so you don't leave your playspace and bump into furniture and walls. But in most mixed reality apps it's superfluous, since you can already see the environment around you, and downright annoying because it means you can't utilize your full room as a playspace.

In the v57 system software changelog Meta said "some apps with mixed reality" will no longer have Boundary. But the company didn't say which apps this included, nor the mechanism for this happening.

UploadVR has now learned that any Quest app can disable Boundary when using passthrough by including the CONTEXTUAL_BOUNDARYLESS_APP flag in the manifest. However, the upload system for the Quest Store and App Lab will automatically reject any app version using this flag unless they're on a special Meta whitelist.

Currently whitelisted apps include:

Digital Lode tells UploadVR that the boundary existing in mixed reality mode was the #1 complaint from Espire 2: Stealth Operatives customers before this update, resulting in many 1-star reviews and refunds.

Why Not Let All Apps Do This?

So why not let all developers use this flag and get rid of the annoying boundary in mixed reality? We asked Meta's VP of VR Mark Rabkin a similar question on X around a year ago.

Rabkin pointed out that some apps flow quickly between VR and MR, blurring the boundary between the two content types. And he does have a point. If an app uses passthrough as the background but is covering most of your view with virtual objects such that you can't see your walls and furniture, shouldn't the Boundary kick in?

However, Rabkin did agree that "if you're in a mode where you can see all around you", Guardian should be "a lot more chill".

Meta's solution for now is reviewing apps on a case-by-case basis to determine whether it's safe to disable Boundary. This seems deeply unscalable, however, and the company will have to find a better solution if it's serious about making Quest a mainstream mixed reality platform, and especially if it hopes people will one day wear its headset passively throughout the day.

That solution will likely include replacing Boundary with something better altogether - as was seen in clips found in the firmware in the months before Quest 3 launched.

Quest 3 ‘Smart Guardian’ Room Scanning Setup Leaked
Clips appearing to show room scanning setup for Quest 3’s mixed reality and ‘Smart Guardian’ found in firmware:

In contrast, Apple Vision Pro's approach to this problem is to fade all virtual elements to transparent if your head moves further than 1.5 meters from where you started or gets near real-world objects. This avoids a visible boundary, but limits you to a 3-meter diameter circle.

How to use AI to write an opinion column

(Image by Maria Korolov via Adobe Firefly.)

So. You have some thoughts about where OpenSim is going. Or there’s a cool new fashion designer in OpenSim you want to tell people about. Or there’s a feature you’d really like to see implemented.

You’ve been thinking for a while about writing it up and sending it to Hypergrid Business to be published, but writing is just so much work!

Wouldn’t it be great if you could get an AI to read your mind and just write the article for you?

But you can’t. And if you just tell ChatGPT or Claude to “write an article about how great OpenSim is” you’ll get something generic and unreadable. Plus, it won’t have any of your unique insights or information that only you know, which is why you wanted to write the article in the first place.

(Image by Maria Korolov via Adobe Firefly.)

Here’s what you do.

If you’re like me, and think best while talking, then get a transcription app — I use the free Otter AI app and love it — and dictate your thoughts. Now, Otter only supports English, but there are other apps for other languages. Just Google for it.

Or, if you think in bullet point lists, create a list with the points you’d like to make. Don’t worry about grammar or spelling, or organization. Just do a brain dump.

Then open your favorite AI app — I recommend Claude AI because it doesn’t use your info for training data — and follow the following steps:

Cut-and-paste the following prompt:

I’d like to turn the following notes into an opinion column. The first thing I’d like you to do is read the notes and ask me questions. Is there anything that needs clarification or should be expanded on? Is there anything that doesn’t make sense? Are there any points that could use personal anecdotes or concrete examples? Thanks!

Then cut-and-paste your notes and hit the button to ask the question.

The AI should now ask you some follow-up questions. You can provide more information, or you can tell the AI to just skip that question, or ask the AI for what it would suggest.

Once you’re happy that everything has been pulled out of your head, you can go ahead and ask the AI to write the article.

Cut-and-paste the following prompt:

Please write a column based on my notes and our conversation. It should be in the first person, using Associated Press format, in a casual, blog writing style. Paragraphs should be short. Quotes should begin paragraphs. No conclusion needed. Use the inverted pyramid structure. Stick carefully just to the information that I provided.

Now it should provide you with a first draft of the column.

Now you can ask it to, say, rearrange sections, or add more information. And if it got anything wrong, tell it, and  Once you’re generally happy with how the column looks, ask the following questions:

  • Please review the story for accuracy. Are there any places where it contracts the information I gave you?
  • Please review the story’s organization and structure. Is the order the best possible order for this topic? Is anything repeated? Are any significant points not given enough time?
  • Please review the story for writing style. It should be casual and conversational, written at a fifth-grade level, and paragraphs should be short. Are there any areas that can be simplified or rewritten to be more personal?
  • Please review the story for grammar. Remember it should use American spelling and grammar and Associated Press style.

Then say:

Please rewrite the article per your recommendations.

Take one last look at the result. After all, this is going to go out under your name. Make sure that the AI isn’t putting words in your mouth that you wouldn’t say!

Now copy the final results into a separate document and make any edits you want to make. For example, you might change some wording to be more like something you’d say.

Also, add any relevant links. For example, if you’re talking about your OpenSim grid, add a link to the grid.

Then email it to me — in the body of the email is fine — at maria@hypergridbusiness.com. If you have snapshots or illustrations that you want to use, just attach them as JPG or PNG files to the email.

If you’d like to have AI generate an illustration to go with your column, I recommend that you use Adobe Firefly. Adobe only uses fully-licensed images for its training data — no lawsuits from artists here! — and pays artists when their work is used. In fact, the first payments to artists went out last September.

Use the “Widescreen (16:9)” aspect ratio for at least one image that you submit to Hypergrid Business, since we use wide images for the featured images on our site. You can also upload a reference image to give Firefly an idea of the kind of style you’re going for, or select a particular art or photography style from the lists provided.

Of course, you don’t have to submit your column to us! You can post it on your own blog or social media. And you can use the same approach to write any other kind of content — just adjust the prompt to fit. You can use this approach to write emails or to write marketing copy for your website.

And yes, being polite helps. The AIs seems to return better results when you’re nice to them.

Heavy Metal Rhythm Shooter ‘Metal: Hellsinger’ is Coming to Major VR Headsets This Year

Popular rhythm shooter Metal: Hellsinger (2022) is getting a VR version, bringing its frenetic action and metal-heavy soundtrack to all major VR headsets this year.

Games publisher Funcom and original developer The Outsiders announced that Metal: Hellsinger VR is being developed from the ground-up in collaboration with Lab42 Games, a Sumo Digital studio since 2020.

While a VR version has been a fan request for a while now, the game has now been confirmed to launch sometime this year on Quest 2/3/Pro, PSVR 2 and SteamVR headsets.

Image courtesy Funcom

Metal: Hellsinger VR is said to include the game’s original soundtrack, featuring artists such as Serj Tankian (System of a Down), Matt Heafy (Trivium), Alissa White-Gluz (Arch Enemy), Randy Blythe (Lamb of God), and more.

In addition to the usual array of weapons and demon baddies, the VR version will also lets you dual-wield pistols independently, reload manually, and slay to the beat with your blade, which the studios say will include room-scale play and stick-based standing and seated locomotion.

We’re hoping to hear about how it’s being brought to VR, as the original game (rated ‘Overwhelmingly Positive’ on Steam) offers up frenetic run and gun-style gameplay that is all about jumping impossible heights and blasting away at giant demons, which could be intense if ported directly without consideration for motion sickness.

Check out the trailer below:

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