Saturday, 31 August 2019
Zero Latency: Analyzing What Makes For Good Location-Based VR Games
Recently I, along with UploadVR’s Digital Marketing Manager, Tatjana Vejnovic, got to try out two experiences at Zero Latency’s Melbourne location. Here are my impressions!
We’ve covered some of Zero Latency’s experiences before, but for those who are unfamiliar, the concept is pretty simple. Zero Latency allows you to take part in wireless co-op VR experiences with up to 8 players, all of which take place in a large open plan warehouse, allowing you to move somewhat freely within the game world without worrying about bumping into obstacles or walls.
All of Zero Latency’s locations use custom VR headsets, along with a proprietary custom assault gun for each player, for games which require one. They’re even now offering a new PvP experience, which we previously covered, and the Melbourne Zero Latency staff mentioned how they had just hosted their first PvP esports tournament the week before.
While at Zero Latency, Tatjana and I played two different sessions. The first was Zombie Outbreak, a fairly stock-standard VR co-op zombie shooter experience, with the added gimmick of free roaming in the large space. It features a well-worn narrative – a city has been infected by zombies, and you have to clear them out of the city. There are few gun upgrades here and there, but your standard gun can switch between being an assault rifle and a shotgun. The whole experience takes about 45 minutes and you move through various different scenes and set pieces until you reach the end.
The second session was split into two games, the first of which, Engineerium, was a puzzle-game with no gun prop, but lots of walking and exploring. You and your teammates walk through a trippy environment that makes you feel as if you’re walking parallel to the ground, sometimes upside down, and even in the opposite orientation to your peers as you solve basic puzzles over roughly 20 minutes.
The final part of session two featured a game called Singularity that was a sci-fi space shooter, similar in gameplay concept to Zombie Outbreak, but shorter in length at around only 25 minutes. It sees you and your team fight off hordes of robots on a spaceship, with a variety of different guns and more closed in corridors and spaces that see you move through the spaceship until you get to a final boss battle.
Both sessions took place in the exact same physical space, with the same hardware, however they could not have been more different. The first session, with Zombie Outbreak, was a frankly woeful experience, and left me extremely skeptical about Zero Latency as a whole. The session was constantly interrupted and paused for multiple reasons – someone would get too close to a wall, or sometimes the game supervisor would have to explain what was going on, sometimes two people would be too close together, causing the game to pause to avoid a collision. The system and gameplay became very frustrating, very quickly.
I wasn’t feeling that excited about heading into the second session. However, it was completely different. In both Engineerium and Singularity, we were barely interrupted, spare a few times here and there. The flow of the gameplay was much smoother and the whole experience felt much more polished. Our game supervisor barely needed to intervene in either game, and much less overall than in Zombie Outbreak. The session could not have been more different to the first – it was much more enjoyable.
I walked out of Zero Latency feeling quite confused. It was the same physical space, the same constraints, the same technology, and yet the two sessions felt like they were run by two different companies. The first session I would never willingly play again, whereas the second sessions was an experience I would willingly show to others as an introduction to the vast possibilities and immersion of VR.
On my way home, I realized why the difference was so stark – it comes down to gameplay and level design. Zombie Outbreak was designed with poor systems overall – it didn’t use the physical space well, it left newcomers confused, and it’s level layout meant that people often ended up bunched up and bumping into each other and the game’s boundaries. Singularity, which at its core is the same 8 person co-op shooter concept as Zombie Outbreak, felt much more thoughtfully design. Its levels provided direction and areas for each of the 8 players to explore, without getting into each other’s way too frequently.
After the second session, it struck me that Engineerium and Singularity had distinct, fun art-styles. On the other hand, Zombie Outbreak had a really muted colour palette with no defined style at all. It was trying to look realistic, but mostly just looked like any shooter game from the mid 2000s.
While this certainly had an impact on the games’ aesthetical appeal, it also affect the gameplay and how the groups approached the levels as well. With so many brown surfaces and dark colours, Zombie Outbreak’s aesthetic design never gave you a good indicator of where to go or how to move through the space. In fact, Zombie Outbreak takes advantage of the warehouse’s open plan space in the worst way possible – most of its environments are just a wide open street or large room you can walk around. This hypothetically sounds great, but in reality it means that all 8 players are rarely directed anywhere in a clear manner, so everyone just gravitates to the edges of the game area boundaries, where enemies spawn. People tended to just bunch up in groups.
In our session, this lead to what seemed like endless game pauses – due to person-to-person collisions or people standing too close to walls – and lots of directions from the game’s supervision via our headsets. Our supervisor would often had to direct stragglers or confused players in the right direction, as the game’s art style and level layout doesn’t give much clear assistance.
On the flip side, Singularity’s levels understand that just because you have a big open warehouse to play in, you shouldn’t necessarily design your game to take advantage of that in a literal way. They’ve taken the space and made virtual walls, corridors and small rooms. It’s not just a big open space with no barriers, it’s a proper spaceship that feels closed in and almost claustrophobic. However, ironically this means you end up exploring and walking around more than you do in the large, empty space in Zombie Outbreak. You always have a good idea of where to go, as the corridors direct you to the right area, and it gives players frequent opportunities to break off into groups. With less players bunched up in the same spaces, you have less collisions. The superior level design also meant the supervisor doesn’t have to chime in with advice very often, because the layout of the ship naturally directs you without assistance. The difference this makes to the overall experience is literally game-changing.
Singularity felt like a game that was designed to take advantage of a large open space in a way that facilitates maximum immersion. Zombie Outbreak felt like it was designed simply to showcase the vast dimensions of the warehouse floor plan, which in turn makes the experience feel less tailored and much more frustrating.
Singularity’s design also means that you lose track of your physical position in the warehouse itself, due to its turning corridors and clever design. You can never quite tell where you’re standing in the physical warehouse, compared to where you started. In Zombie Outbreak, the levels generally always resembled the shape of the warehouse’s play area, so I was always vaguely aware of where I was physically in the real world, which feels much less immersive.
The puzzle game, Engineerium, is on a whole different level in this regard. The game is set on floating blocks that turn, move and rotate to completely separate your group and completely immerse you until you have no idea where you are in the physical space. You can’t even begin to think about where you are in the physical space, because the game has played so many visual and design tricks on your mind that make it near impossible to contemplate.
Without spoiling too much, in some parts of Engineerium you’ll look up and see a fellow player standing upside down above you, or standing perpendicular to you on a platform angled at 90 degrees. While you know that everyone is still standing flat in the physical game space, it’s a miracle of design that this effect can be achieved while ensuring no one bumps into each other in real life. It left me truly puzzled and amazed – it’s a dazzling effect and a great use of the physical space.
While Engineerium doesn’t use the gun props, the usage of the physical gun prop in Singularity and Zombie Outbreak were implemented quite differently as well. The gun itself was better represented in Singularity than it was in Zombie Outbreak – in the former, the gun model in-game matched the physical prop quite well, and even showed you the physical buttons on the in-game model, so they were easier to locate while playing. The Zombie Outbreak in-game model didn’t fully match the physical gun prop, and the buttons weren’t represented on the game’s model. This meant I often had to fiddle with the physical prop to find the buttons, as you couldn’t locate them by looking at the in-game model. It was a minor inconvenience, but another way the design of one game helped create a much better experience overall compared to the other.
Leaving Zero Latency, I came away with a new perspective. Without knowing both sessions were run by Zero Latency at the Melbourne warehouse, I would have said the two sessions were run by different companies and not affiliated in any way. Singularity and Engineerium felt like experiences that took the potential that the large warehouse space offered, and used it in a way that immerses you and surprises you with minimal interruptions. On the other hand, Zombie Outbreak simply felt like you had been plonked in a generic zombie VR game and the designers had drawn a large Oculus-style guardian barrier around the warehouse floor, leaving you to contend for space with the other players, with no real direction.
It just goes to show the degree to which game design can affect a VR experience. You can have the same physical space with the same hardware, but if you haven’t put thought into a game’s design, it can quickly fall flat. To some who are new or inexperienced, VR technology can still feel like a gimmick or something they’ve never experienced. In those situations, developers can often get away with sub-par game design, as the focus is on the technology. However, as the technology becomes more mainstream, this is quickly changing.
VR developers need to make sure that their level design, art style and gameplay are developing at a pace that matches the expectations of consumers that are becoming increasingly used to VR technology. Zero Latency is the perfect example of both the good and bad ends of that spectrum.
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‘Borderlands 2 VR’ to Launch on PC This Fall, PSVR Version Gets Free DLC Soon
Borderlands 2 VR (2018) is finally headed out of PSVR exclusivity, with launch on PC slated for sometime this Fall. The PSVR version, which debuted on PS4 late last year, is also getting a massive DLC drop for free, coming September 6th.
At PAX West yesterday, Gearbox Software announced that the free DLC campaigns coming to PSVR in September will feature a bevy of content including: Captain Scarlet and Her Pirate’s Booty, Mr. Torgue’s Campaign of Carnage, Sir Hammerlock’s Big Game Hunt, and Tiny Tina’s Assault on Dragon Keep, according to Eurogamer.
Additionally, you’ll also be able to play Creature Slaughter Dome, the Mechromancer and Psycho classes, all five Headhunter DLC packs, both Ultimate Vault Hunter Upgrade Packs, and the Vault Hunter Heads and Skin packs.
And yes, the so-called Bad Ass Mega Fun pack (BAMF pack) DLC is also headed to Borderlands 2 VR for PC.
Other than that, there’s not much else to go on at this time for the PC version. Neither its publisher 2k Games nor developer Gearbox Software has mentioned which platform it will land on, be it Steam, Epic Games Store, Oculus Store or otherwise. We assume the standard SteamVR-compatible headsets apply, although it hasn’t been specified yet.
It’s also unknown whether it will bring co-op play to the game, as it’s sorely lacking in the PSVR version. We’re hoping for yes, although it’s possible the studios want to maintain basic feature parity with the PSVR version (pre-DLC).
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Friday, 30 August 2019
Road to VR Readership Survey 2019
Road to VR is running a survey with our partner Gamer Network to better understand our audience. Your participation is entirely optional and anonymous, but we’d be thrilled if you’d share your responses with us.
You may recall that Road to VR partnered with Eurogamer parent company Gamer Network in 2017. In an era where many publications are allowing paid and sponsored content to increasingly bleed into editorial, this partnership allows us to create an important firewall between editorial and advertising activities on Road to VR.
The Readership Survey takes about 10 minutes to complete and is shared across Gamer Network sister sites. It covers a range of topics: your gaming tastes and habits, what gaming equipment you own or intend to buy, which gaming sites you read, your other and so on. The survey is anonymous and we won’t be able to tell who you are by the answers you give.
The survey helps us build an accurate picture of our audience and what they care about, so we know who we’re talking to. It also helps make sure there’s advertising on the site that’s relevant, and in so doing it helps us pay the bills and continue to bring you great coverage.
So, if you have a moment, please consider doing us a favour and fill out the questionnaire. Thanks!
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PSVR Launch Title ‘Driveclub VR’ to Be Delisted from PS Store Tomorrow
Sony is taking down a few beloved games from the PlayStation Store tomorrow, including Driveclub, Driveclub Bikes, and Driveclub VR.
Servers are said to remain online until March 31st, 2020, however the Driveclub series and their DLC will be removed from the store starting tomorrow.
At the time of this writing, European-facing PlayStation Stores have already removed Driveclub VR, although the US store shows it still available for $15.
Driveclub VR is one of the few VR titles to have a physical disc, so if you’re still looking to jump into the game post-delisting, you’ll at least have a few more months to do so before the plug is pulled for good on its optional online gameplay.
Sony says in its decommissioned games page that once the ax swings on March 31st, and the servers are officially unplugged, all Driveclub games will lose the ability to use season passes online, represent Clubs online in multiplayer events or tours, play online multiplayer and compete in challenges, create your own events, and compete in leader boards, or share stats and player progress.
Driveclub VR joins StarBlood Arena (2017) as another Sony-published VR title that just didn’t make the cut for continued store listing.
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Giveaway Livestream: Win A Copy Of Acron: Attack of the Squirrels!
Curious about how we livestream the way we do? Then look no further than this handy guide for general tips and this guide specific to our Oculus Quest setup. For today we’re playing Acron: Attack of the Squirrels and giving out FIVE copies of the for Steam LIVE while streaming.
We’re back again with another livestream planned for today 8/30/19 @11:00AM PT on the UploadVR YouTube, Facebook, Twitter, and Mixer.
Acron: Attack of the Squirrels just released this week as the latest VR party game that aims to pit friends against one another. To find out more about why we’re such big fans, make sure to read and watch our review here. In short, it’s just simple fun. The VR user plays as a animated tree that throws sap and explosive pine cones at squirrels who are controlled smartphone users connected to the game wirelessly. The goal is for the squirrel players to steal acorns and for the VR tree player to stop them. Each squirrel has a different special ability and it results in some chaotic and crazy matches.
For the giveaway, you’ve got to watch along life and type !raffle into the chat once the giveaway starts and then respond if your name is announced as a winner. That’s it!
Or if you want a chance to win a Quest key, you can enter into that giveaway here.
The stream is planned to start around 11:00 AM PT today and we’ll aim to last for about an hour or two. We’ll be hitting YouTube, Twitter, Mixer, and Facebook all at once. You can see the full stream embedded via YouTube right here down below once it’s up:
Embedded livestream coming soon
You can see lots of our past archived streams over in our YouTube playlist, as well as various other gameplay highlights. There’s lots of good stuff there so make sure and subscribe to us on YouTube to stay up-to-date on gameplay videos, video reviews, interviews, and more original content!
And please let us know which games or discussions you want us to livestream next! We have lots of VR games in the queue that we would love to show off more completely.
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End Space Brings TIE Fighter-Inspired Spaceship Battles To Oculus Quest
Orange Bridge Studios launched its spaceship flight battling game End Space on Oculus Quest.
Available now for $15 with cross-buy support for Rift, End Space should satisfy some Oculus Quest buyers who haven’t found many games on Facebook’s standalone VR headset that fulfill the dream of flying — or battling — in a versatile spaceship. I tried out the game and captured the first 15 minutes of gameplay. It took me a few minutes to get used to default controls which lock ship movement to head movement and gun targeting to the direction Oculus Touch controllers are pointed.
A version of the ambitious space battling project shipped previously on practically every VR platform, including Google Cardboard versions for both iOS and Android. Back in 2016 David Jagneaux wrote a deep dive with the sibling creators and their inspirations from the 1990’s game Star Wars: TIE Fighter. From that article:
“The game is heavily influenced by Star Wars: TIE Fighter, a 1990’s Star Wars space shooter from Lucasarts,” said Lee Wasilenko. “When we got involved in VR that was the game we desperately wanted to play more than any other. As a result, Justin decided to start working on a VR space sim and End Space is the result. In addition, in 2014 most of the VR games out there were little more than tech demos (since it was only devs with the hardware and everyone was just sharing what they had starting throwing together) and we desperately wanted to see a full fledged VR space sim.”
So many years after they started, End Space remains a remarkable technical achievement on Oculus Quest bringing its highly maneuverable cockpit to the standalone VR system.
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VRecap #6: New Beat Saber Track, Vader Immortal Returns & Win Acron!
It’s playtime; this week’s VRecap is gaming heaven.
Gamescom may have been last week but this week’s recap has even more news for fans of fun. There’s plenty of fresh content to be talking about, including a new update for Beat Saber with a bunch of new songs and features. Then we take a trip to a galaxy far, far away to catch up with the latest on Star Wars: Vader Immortal. Oh, and there’s an update to a game from Valve (no, not the one we all want to hear about).
Elsewhere, this week is chock full of new releases. We’ll give you a quick glimpse of Acron: Attack of the Squirrels (which we quite liked), Vanishing Realms (which we really liked) and Hotel R’n’R (which we think we like but haven’t played enough of yet). Of course, this would be a VRecap without some sort of mention of No Man’s Sky, and this week we have your latest comments on the game.
Finally we’re giving you the chance to win Acron on Oculus Quest. Resolution Games’ nutty party title finds a perfect home on Oculus’ standalone headset, so don’t miss out on a chance to grab it for free. All you need to do is follow the link right here (very shortly).
Okay, that about does it for this week. September awaits and it brings with it Oculus Connect and, hopefully, some other big news too. Oh, and we’ll finally get to play Espire 1. Let us know what you make of this week’s VRecap in the comments!
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Playful Studios raises $23 million for spectator-enabled games
Google Releases Real-time Mobile Hand Tracking to R&D Community
Google has released to researchers and developers its own mobile device-based hand tracking method using machine learning, something Google R call a “new approach to hand perception.”
First unveiled at CVPR 2019 back in June, Google’s on-device, real-time hand tracking method is now available for developers to explore—implemented in MediaPipe, an open source cross-platform framework for developers looking to build processing pipelines to handle perceptual data, like video and audio.
The approach is said to provide high-fidelity hand and finger tracking via machine learning, which can infer 21 3D ‘keypoints’ of a hand from just a single frame.
“Whereas current state-of-the-art approaches rely primarily on powerful desktop environments for inference, our method achieves real-time performance on a mobile phone, and even scales to multiple hands,” say in a blog post.
Google Research hopes its hand-tracking methods will spark in the community “creative use cases, stimulating new applications and new research avenues.”
explain that there are three primary systems at play in their hand tracking method, a palm detector model (called BlazePalm), a ‘hand landmark’ model that returns high fidelity 3D hand keypoints, and a gesture recognizer that classifies keypoint configuration into a discrete set of gestures.
Here’s a few salient bits, boiled down from the full blog post:
- The BlazePalm technique is touted to achieve an average precision of 95.7% in palm detection, researchers claim.
- The model learns a consistent internal hand pose representation and is robust even to partially visible hands and self-occlusions.
- The existing pipeline supports counting gestures from multiple cultures, e.g. American, European, and Chinese, and various hand signs including “Thumb up”, closed fist, “OK”, “Rock”, and “Spiderman”.
- Google is open sourcing its hand tracking and gesture recognition pipeline in the MediaPipe framework, accompanied with the relevant end-to-end usage scenario and source code, here.
In the future, say Google Research plans on continuing its hand tracking work with more robust and stable tracking, and also hopes to enlarge the amount of gestures it can reliably detect. Moreover, they hope to also support dynamic gestures, which could be a boon for machine learning-based sign language translation and fluid hand gesture controls.
Not only that, but having more reliable on-device hand tracking is a necessity for AR headsets moving forward; as long as headsets rely on outward-facing cameras to visualize the world, understanding that world will continue to be a problem for machine learning to address.
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Microsoft’s AltspaceVR social space hits Oculus Quest on September 12
Thursday, 29 August 2019
VR Racing Sim ‘DiRT Rally’ Available Free From Humble Bundle
Digital game storefront Humble Bundle is offering DiRT Rally for free, now through September 1st. The version of the game being given away is via Steam with official support for the Oculus Rift, though unofficial support for other SteamVR headsets should work via the Revive mod.
DiRT Rally 2.0 may may have just gotten support for Rift, Index, and Vive, but if you’re looking to get a taste of a great VR sim racing game for free, head on over to Humble Bundle where the original Dirt Rally is being given away until 10AM PT on September 1st. The only thing you’ll need to do to claim the game is sign up for the Humble Bundle newsletter.
The version of the game being given being given away is via Steam, which officially includes support for the Oculus Rift. Other SteamVR headsets like Vive and Index should work via the Revive mod.
While the game works fine with a gamepad, like all sim racers, Dirt Rally is going to play best and feel the most immersive with a proper wheel and pedal setup, and we’ve got a great selection of picks to get you started right here.
If you’re hungering for more VR racing sim options, you can also check out Project CARS 2 (2017), which is currently on sale at a 75% discount at Humble Bundle. The game is also via Steam and officially supports Index, Vive, Rift, and Windows VR headsets.
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Oculus CTO Carmack downplays consumer AR, calls Magic Leap overhyped
The Lab Hand Update Gameplay With Steam Audio And Finger Tracking (Valve)
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SculptrVR Arrives On Oculus Quest With Multiplayer Voxel Playground
Voxel-based art and multiplayer playground software SculptrVR is available now on Oculus Quest.
The creativity software first launched on Steam in 2016 and its primary developer, Nathan Rowe, repeatedly refined and rebuilt the application over the last three years. Now available for $9.99 on Quest it includes a collection of tools for singleplayer or multiplayer shaping of voxel worlds, along with cross-play support with players in other Oculus-based headsets. One of the application’s key features allows the player to resize themselves for an incredible playground experience which toys with your sense of scale. For creatives, the feature also allows for some detail work in the sculpting app.
There’s climbing, hang gliding and even rockets you can fire to drill little — or large — holes in the surrounding landscape. While there are other art apps available on Quest like Tilt Brush and Gravity Sketch — SculptrVR is a different sort of experience. Facebook’s own VR art apps, Quill and Medium, aren’t available on the headset either. SculptrVR is no means a replacement for the lack of No Man’s Sky and Minecraft on Quest, but its exploratory and creative gameplay could certainly fill the gap for some.
I talked with Rowe this week in Quest and asked him some questions about the path his software took to the standalone VR headset from Facebook. The 12-minute tour was recorded entirely on Quest in SculptrVR.
SculptrVR is listed as having cross-buy with Rift, so if you own the application already from Oculus for Rift it should already be playable inside Quest.
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Beat Saber New Free Official Music Livestream: Playing OST Vol. III
Curious about how we livestream the way we do? Then look no further than this handy guide for general tips and this guide specific to our Oculus Quest setup. For today we’re playing the new music just released in Beat Saber.
We’re back again with another livestream planned for today 8/29/19 @12:00PM PT on the UploadVR YouTube, Facebook, Twitter, and Mixer.
Beat Saber just released six brand new songs as part of OST Vol. III for free as well as a suite of new features such as color customization, improved swing accuracy detection, and other bug fixes. This brings the total number of songs available, including paid DLC, to around 40 if my math is correct. Plus the infinitely long list of custom user-created song maps for non-official music.
The stream is planned to start around 12:00 PM PT today and we’ll aim to last for about an hour or two. We’ll be hitting YouTube, Twitter, Mixer, and Facebook all at once. You can see the full stream embedded via YouTube right here down below once it’s up:
Embedded livestream coming soon
You can see lots of our past archived streams over in our YouTube playlist, including past Beat Saber streams, and various other gameplay highlights. There’s lots of good stuff there so make sure and subscribe to us on YouTube to stay up-to-date on gameplay videos, video reviews, interviews, and more original content!
And please let us know which games or discussions you want us to livestream next! We have lots of VR games in the queue that we would love to show off more completely.
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NextVR Brings Its Live Streamed Events to Oculus Quest
NextVR, the VR livestreaming event app, is now available on Oculus Quest for free, which is said to come alongside a new technology that promises clearer and sharper video rendering.
The studio calls the new rendering technology ‘PAVE’, which is said to enable new features like enhanced in-experience graphic overlays (e.g. stats, instant replays) and forthcoming multi-user interactions such as multi-user game trivia during timeouts.
Previously, NextVR content was only available on Quest via the Oculus Venues app, which provides communal viewing of select real-time live events. In contrast, the NextVR app is a single-user experience that also provides replays and extra content too.
“NextVR is pairing our newest rendering technology with Oculus Quest to provide an outstanding fan experience.” said David Cole, NextVR co-founder & CEO, “We’re launching with a collection of experiences that best demonstrate the capabilities of our technology including a show this September 10th hosted by Pete Davidson recorded live at Gotham Comedy Club in New York City.”
In addition to Quest support, the studio is also adding an exclusive ‘Best on Quest’ channel with a curated group of “new and optimized experiences,” among which is the NBA Finals Game Six Highlights with access to the Toronto Raptors locker room celebration, NHRA Drag Racing, Day to Night Timelapse and select concerts.
NextVR’s supported platforms now include Oculus Quest, Samsung Gear VR, PSVR, Google Daydream, Windows VR headsets, Oculus Go, Oculus Rift, HTC Vive, and Valve Index.
Check out the schedule below for NextVR’s 30 Days of LIVE Events:
- Sunday, 9/1 | shallou in Concert | 6pm PT
- Monday, 9/2 | Wood & Wire in Concert | 6pm PT
- Tuesday, 9/3 | Erika Wennerstrom in Concert | 6pm PT
- Wednesday, 9/4 | UCB: Comedy and Magic | 6pm PT
- Thursday, 9/5 | Live From Gotham Comedy Club | 6pm PT
- Friday, 9/6 | SoFar Sounds | 6pm PT
- Saturday, 9/7 | HIRIE in Concert | 6pm PT
- Sunday, 9/8 | jackLNDN in Concert | 6pm PT
- Monday, 9/9 | UCB: Big Grande | 6pm PT
- Tuesday, 9/10 | Gotham Comedy Club Featuring Pete Davidson | 7pm PT*- *Exclusively on Oculus Quest, Go and Gear VR
- Wednesday, 9/11 | Batsu! | 6pm PT
- Thursday, 9/12 | Live from Gotham Comedy Club | 6pm PT
- Friday, 9/13 | UCB: Mystery on Fyre Island | 6pm PT
- Saturday, 9/14 | UCB: Squadron | 6pm PT
- Sunday, 9/15 | Paranormal Evidence: Pennhurst Asylum | 6pm PT
- Monday, 9/16 | Live Music Now: Preservation Hall | 6pm PT
- Tuesday, 9/17 | Live Music Now: Preservation Hall | 6pm PT
- Wednesday, 9/18 | Batsu! | 6pm PT
- Thursday, 9/19 | Live from Gotham Comedy Club | 6pm PT
- Friday, 9/20 | SoFar Sounds | 6pm PT
- Saturday, 9/21 | World of Dance: Dallas | 6pm PT
- Sunday, 9/22 | Paranormal Evidence: Rolling Hills Asylum | 6pm PT
- Monday, 9/23 | RJD2 in Concert | 6pm PT
- Tuesday, 9/24 | Sound Cipher | 6pm PT
- Wednesday, 9/25 | BrewHaha Comedy | 6pm PT
- Thursday, 9/26 | Live From Gotham Comedy Club | 6pm PT
- Friday, 9/27 | Watsky in Concert | 6pm PT
- Saturday, 9/28 | Best of NHRA | 6pm PT
- Sunday, 9/29 | Paranormal Evidence: Missouri State Penitentiary | 6pm PT
- Monday, 9/30 | Best of NBA Finals | 6pm PT
Keep an eye on more scheduled events by heading to the NextVR website.
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‘Beat Saber’ Gets Free Music Pack ‘OST Vol. 3’ on All Supported Platforms
Beat Games, the studio behind the popular block-slashing rhythm game Beat Saber (2018), today released a free update that brings with it six new playable tracks to the game, and a few new features and improvements too.
The OST Vol. 3 music pack is now live on all supported platforms, which includes Steam (HTC Vive, Oculus Rift, Valve Index, Windows VR headsets), the Oculus Store (Rift, Quest), and the PlayStation Store (PSVR).
Original Soundtrack Vol. 3 includes:
- Origins – by Jaroslav Beck and Jan Ilavsky featuring Mutrix
- Reason For Living – by Morgan Page
- Give A Little Love – by Pegboard Nerds
- Full Charge – by Pixl
- Immortal – by Slippy
- Burning Sands – by Boom Kitty
Before jumping in for some block-slashing fun, you can also preview, download or stream OST Vol. 3 from multiple services, including Apple Music, Google Music, Amazon, Spotify, and more.
Today’s update also includes new features and improvements for the game including:
- Color scheme (for notes/sabers, obstacles and lights) override and customization.
- Level environment override.
- More precise swing angles detection.
- Improved lighting.
- Tweaked note jump start positions and speed in Expert+ difficulty for Crystallized, Cycle Hit and WHAT THE CAT!?
- Minor fixes in WHAT THE CAT!? beatmaps.
- Fixed bug when game doesn’t start properly if player data gets somehow corrupted.
It’s been a pretty busy summer for Beat Saber, as the game has not only received three free tracks from EDM artist Camellia in late July, but also a 10 paid tracks from the Grammy Award-winning rock band Imagine Dragons.
And yes, we’re still waiting on the fabled 360 game mode, which was teased back at E3 2019 in June.
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Hands-on ‘Acron: Attack of the Squirrels!’ Might Be My New Favorite VR Party Game
There’s a few great VR party games out there, including the reigning champion Keep Talking and Nobody Explodes (2015), although I think a new game is poised to take the VR Party Crown. Resolution Games, the studio behind Bait! (2016) and Angry Birds VR: Isle of Pigs (2019), released arguably their most promising title yet today, the unique couch co-op game Acron: Attack of the Squirrels!
We haven’t had access to a review copy before launch, although I did get an extended chance to go hands-on with a near-final version at Gamescom last week, which showed off a couch co-op experience that was not only extremely well-balanced, but one that you can truly break out at parties for hours’ worth of fun.
Acron supports Oculus Rift, HTC Vive, and Oculus Quest. If you’re like me, you’re constantly looking for great Quest titles, and this one easily ranks among the best out there, especially as one of the few VR party games that, in my opinion, has really nailed what makes async VR gaming fun and accessible.
In case you haven’t heard about Acron, here’s the gist: a single player wears a VR headset and takes the role of Giant Tree Guy, who has to defend against an onslaught of tiny squirrels that are eager to steal all four of the golden nuts. You can do this by tossing one of three ammo types that spawn in front of you, which will either slow down or knockout the pint-sized enemies. If a squirrel pal gets too close, you can also physically grab them and toss them around like rag dolls too.
The squirrels, played by up to four users on mobile devices, have special abilities too though, which come in handy when Giant Tree Guy is accurately throwing a large number of projectiles. Depending on which of the four squirrels you choose, you can deploy a shield, dig a transport hole to get you closer to the base of the tree, sprint super fast, or build Lemmings-style bridges to help you get closer to the golden nuts. With all four squirrels working in concert, a less than attentive Tree Guy can be easily overwhelmed in the madness of it all.
The squirrels also constantly respawn, so it’s a race against the clock to either attack or defend the precious nuts. I can’t stress enough how important it is to communicate between team members so you aren’t all rushing with the same squirrel type, and have a cohesive plan.
There’s also fun extras like mushrooms that become jumping pads, pumpkins that serve as cover, bushes so you can get sneaky, and dynamic environments that change to create temporary obstacles such as watery moats that appear and disappear periodically. A total of six maps offers a variety of scenery though, with some favoring the squirrels and others more straight forward for the Trees.
Games are password protected, and can be played both locally and over the Internet, although it’s much more fun to have a bunch of people over scrambling to see who’s going to be the Tree next. Games can be played with a minimum of at least two other players.
All of this culminates into an extremely fun time that will no doubt have you fighting over who gets to be the Tree next, and who is maining the chunky little squirrel, Chunk, way too much.
Check out my play session below, which features me and the Resolution Games team getting pretty rowdy. There may be some appearance of lag in the video, although this is chalked up to the studo’s capture method, which includes the views of each mobile player and the POV of the VR player, yours truly. The game played very smoothly, both on mobile and in VR.
We have a proper review incoming, so check back for a deeper look of what make ‘Acron: Attack of the Squirrels’ tick.
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Acron: Attack of the Squirrels Review (Resolution Games) – Rift, Vive, Quest
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Viveport Infinity VR Subscription Service Now Supports Valve Index
Today HTC have announced that the Valve Index VR headset is being added to the list of supported headsets for the Viveport Infinity app subscription service.
The virtual reality app subscription service Viveport Infinity is now available for Valve’s Index VR headset, HTC announced, bringing all-you-can-watch and -play content to the most deluxe consumer VR platform yet available. Starting today and running through September, Index users will receive two months of free service, regardless of whether they’re already Viveport Infinity members.
For $12 per month — $9 monthly if prepaid annually — Viveport Infinity users get access to hundreds of VR apps and games that can be used across multiple PC VR headsets, including HTC’s own Vive, Oculus Rift, and Windows Mixed Reality headsets. The company says it’s now offering “much more top-rated VR games and apps” to users, thanks to greater developer engagement.
While some have called Viveport Infinity the Netflix of VR, HTC is marketing the service as an opportunity for new VR users to “discover their favorite VR games, apps and videos,” potentially making purchases of content sampled in the library. Infinity adds new apps and games each month to keep its catalog interesting, while also offering Viveport Video content, frequent coupons, and free app giveaways to members.
Valve Index users can take advantage of the free two-month promo deal through this link by downloading the Viveport desktop app and plugging the Index into the PC for verification. New users will begin a two-month trial of Viveport Infinity, while existing users will get two months of free service added to their accounts.
This post by Jeremy Horowitz originally appeared first on VentureBeat.
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Beat Saber Update Adds 6 New Songs And New Features For Free
Swinging arms at the ready; today’s Beat Saber update adds yet more songs for free.
Beat Games just launched its next major patch for the smash hit indie VR game. Headlining the update are six new songs, officially labeled ‘Original Soundtrack Vol. 3′. The tracklist includes a new track from Jaroslav Beck, Beat Games’ former CEO who recently stepped down to focus on music for the game.
But that’s not all. This update also brings the previously-promised color customization system. It allows you to select your own colors for sabers, notes and lights. No more Jedi red and blue for you. There’s also a new level environment override option.
Elsewhere this update brings a host of tweaks and fixes. Beat Games is promising improved lighting effects and more precise detection of angles when you swing. Some of the songs themselves have been slightly tweaked and a bug that stopped the game for starting properly has been addressed.
Beat Saber Update Tracklist
The update should be live on all platforms now. Here’s the tracklist for the OST 3, which you can listen to here:
Jaroslav Beck, Jan Ilavsky – Origins (ft. Mutrix)
Morgan Page – Reason For Living
Pegboard Nerds – Give A Little Love
PIXL – Full Charge
Slippy – Immortal
Boom Kitty – Burning Sands
There’s plenty more to come from Beat Saber land, though. We’re still awaiting the arrival of 360-degree levels, which we first saw at E3. These will definitely be appearing on Oculus Quest, but other platforms aren’t yet confirmed. Beat Games is also working on a third premium track pack, though we don’t know when that will launch. Last week Beck also announced plans to start funding indie VR developers as a means of giving back to the community. We’ll be sure to keep you updated with all the latest from the game going forward.
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Valve Adds Index Controllers, Physics Overhaul To The Lab
Valve is finally adding Index Controller support to its popular VR showcase, The Lab. But that’s not all.
The SteamVR creator today announced The Lab Hands-On Update. The Lab was a free experience that launched alongside the HTC Vive in 2016. Set in Valve’s Portal universe, the app featured several different minigames and experiences designed to showcase the potential of VR. To this day it remains one of the most polished and enjoyable VR games on Steam.
Hands-On is the app’s first major update in nearly three years. Headlining the update is support for SteamVR’s new skeletal input system. Yes, that means The Lab now includes full support for the Index Controller’s finger-tracking, but it also allows you to reassign actions on any given controller to find a configuration that works for you.
Moreover, Hands-On overhauls The Lab’s physics and interactions. Valve says that nearly every object in the game now physically reacts to your hands. That means you can’t freely pass your hands through, say a coffee mug. Instead, the object will be pushed by your hand as if it were a physical object. Items can, of course, also be picked up and toyed with in all the ways you’d expect (including, according to Valve, being smashed).
Elsewhere Hands-On also includes support for Steam Audio, bringing in better spatialized sounds. Valve is also promising optimization improvements, upgrading the game to a modern version of its engine. As such, the game will be able to run in higher resolutions. Better yet, support for different frame rates (other than 90 Hz) has been added. That means Index owners with beefy rigs should be able to enjoy it in 120 Hz.
Updated support for The Lab is welcome, but we’re still waiting on news about Valve’s flagship VR game. Last we heard it was coming this year, so hopefully we’ll hear more about it soon.
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HTC brings Viveport Infinity to Valve’s Index VR headset
Viveport Now Supports Valve Index, Owners Get 2 Free Months of Infinity
HTC today announced that Viveport, the company’s digital distribution platform for VR games, now supports Valve Index. Much like their previous promotion for Oculus Rift users, Valve Index owners will be able redeem two free months of Viveport Infinity, the platform’s Netflix-style subscription service that lets you play any and all participating games for a monthly fee.
Throughout the month of September, both new and existing Viveport Infinity members who own a Valve Index can redeem two free months of Infinity, which includes periodic discounts on games as well as access to premium Viveport Video content.
HTC says Valve Index members will gain access to “hundreds of top-rated VR titles” including Ninja Legends, A Fisherman’s Tale, Apex Construct, Fujii, Gun Club, Angry Birds VR and I Expect You To Die.
To activate your free trial, simply head to this page to download Viveport, make sure you Valve Index is plugged in, and accept the free offer once you’ve booted up Viveport.
And if you’ve heard bad things about Viveport, you may want to check again before writing it off entirely. It’s changed quite a bit since it was launched three years ago, and I personally think Infinity has helped earn Viveport a second chance. Whatever the case, the two free month trial period should give you more than enough time to figure out whether Infinity is right for you.
The inclusion of Index support brings Viveport at near-parity with Steam in terms of headsets supported, which also includes HTC Vive, Oculus Rift, and Windows VR headsets.
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HTC's unlimited VR service comes to Valve Index headsets
You'd think that Valve's Index headset would have supported Viveport Infinity from the outset given the premium price and backwards compatibility with HTC gear, but not so -- it's only just arriving now. As of August 29th, the Index has access to th...from Engadget RSS Feed https://ift.tt/2MLn0nq
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Report: Microsoft’s HoloLens 2 Set To Launch Next Month
It seems like we finally have a release window for HoloLens 2, and it’s fast approaching.
Reuters reports that the AR headset will go on sale in September. Executive Vice President of Artificial Intelligence and Research Group, Harry Shum, reportedly said as much on-stage at Shanghai’s World Artificial Intelligence Conference today. We have, of course, reached out to Microsoft itself to confirm whether or not this is true.
HoloLens 2: The Story So Far
HoloLens 2 was revealed back at the 2019 Mobile World Congress event in Barcelona. It is, as the name suggests, an updated take on Microsoft’s augmented reality headset, projecting virtual images into the real world and letting you interact with them. The kit’s been available to pre-order since February for $3,500.
Take note, though, that HoloLens 2 is strictly not a consumer product. Like the first version of the device, it’s squarely aimed at enterprise opportunities. Meanwhile, the Magic Leap One Creator Edition offers a comparable experience with more consumer-oriented experiences for $2,295.
In an interview with UploadVR following the kit’s reveal, Microsoft’s Greg Sullivan reasoned that consumer AR hardware was likely years out. “The way that we think about it, and I think it was echoed by Tim Sweeney’s statement last night, is that the consumer journey is probably measured in years,” Sullivan said. “That said we’ve confirmed that our belief that mixed reality at large is, to some degree, the future of the interaction model. We think it is profound value in freeing the digital world from these flat screens that it’s been trapped in for decades and bringing it into the real world with us.”
We got to try HoloLens 2 for ourselves. The field of view is certainly improved, though still an issue, but the headset is a much lighter and more comfortable fit overall. We’ll let you know the latest on the kit’s release as and when it happens.
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Wednesday, 28 August 2019
‘Rec Room’ Reveals New Virtual Obstacle Course Mini-game ‘Stunt Runner’
Social VR activity hub Rec Room today introduced a new mini-game called ‘Stunt Runner’. Looking a bit like Sprint Vector, the game will have players speeding through a virtual obstacle course.
Set for launch in September, ‘Stunt Runner’ will pit four players in a virtual race with wall running, climbing, vaulting, bouncing, and more.
‘Stunt Runner’ will come as a free update, joining a host of other mini-game activities in Rec Room, a widely cross-platform social VR app which also allows players to build their own user-generated rooms and activities.
‘Stunt Runner’ will also support non-VR Rec Room players; developer Against Gravity has steadily rolled out non-VR access to the game, currently available on PC, PSVR, and iOS
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Groundhog Day: Like Father Like Son Dev Diary Reveals Inspirations For The VR Sequel (Tequila Works)
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Rec Room Stunt Runner Trailer (Against Gravity)
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Stormland Features Trailer (Insomniac Games) – Rift
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Hands-On With The VRGO Mini
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