C-Smash VRS receives a free update next month, adding co-op and new gameplay modes to the PSVR 2 exclusive.
Released last month after receiving a free demo in March, C-Smash VRS is a VR reboot of SEGA's Cosmic Smash, which mixes Squash and Breakout with a first-person perspective. Recently confirmed on Twitter, RapidEyeMovers and Wolf & Wood outlined some key features planned for this upcoming update.
Like the universe itself, C-Smash VRS keeps expanding.
Here are just a few of the things coming to the game in August - entirely for free.
Partially detailed last month on PlayStation Blog, the update's highlights include 'Infinity Mode', which offers a dynamically generated arena that keeps changing with the music." Co-Op support is coming, though it's unclear how that will work. The music player lets you listen to the soundtrack, new levels are being added, there's a collaboration with UNKLE and more.
We had high praise in our recommended C-Smash VRS review, stating it "stylishly adapts this arcade classic for PSVR 2."
RapidEyeMovers and Wolf & Wood have done Cosmic Smash justice with this VR reimagining and I found C-Smash VRS successfully tapping into that "one more game" mindset. While Journey isn't a long campaign and the arcade-style gameplay doesn't have significant depth, there's strength in its simplicity that makes it an easy recommendation.
C-Smash VRS is available now exclusively on PSVR 2, while the content update arrives this August.
Meta introduced a new game called ‘Super Rumble‘ to Horizon Worlds, something the company hopes will showcase a new generation of improved experiences on its own social VR platform.
Released after a successful beta weekend in May, the free-for-all first-person shooter is said to highlight new improvements to Horizon Worlds, such as “better graphics, deeper gameplay, and a variety of quests and rewards.”
Players can choose from six superpowers before each session, allowing them to outmaneuver opponents and develop their playstyles. Here’s how Meta describes each power:
Super Dash gives you super speed
Super Jump lets you launch into the air with explosive force
Super Ammosaves you from having to reload
Super Tough reduces the damage you’ll take from each hit
Super Net lets you immobilize other players
Super Punch lets you attack with a powerful punch
Super Rumble is aiming to offer a fast-paced experience, which serves up to two to six players, with each match lasting five minutes. The game also serves as a launching point for a new integrated system of player levels, quests, rewards, the latter of which includes avatar clothing, emotes, and nameplate titles.
Check out the action below:
We’ve seen a few first-party worlds alongside a number of third-party brand engagement experiences on Horizon Worlds since the platform launched in late 2021, however going the ‘full featured’ minigame route is a fairly recent move that has more potential to attract and keep users. It’s certainly helped Rec Room to become one of the most prolific social VR platforms to thrive on both VR headsets and traditional flatscreen devices.
Interestingly enough, this comes only one day after Meta opened Quest up the online gaming powerhouse Roblox, which is in direct competition with Horizon Worlds. Now, Quest users can choose between Roblox, Rec Room, VRChat, Horizon Worlds, and Gym Class to name a few of the top free social VR platforms.
Tomorrow, Meta and Ready at Dawn are shutting down Echo VR, the free-to-play game that helped pioneer VR sports. Get in now before they pull the plug.
Meta made no secret it was shutting down the zero-gravity sport Echo VR and its PC-only squad shooter variant, Echo Combat, having announced earlier this year it was sunsetting the games come August 1st at 10 AM PT (local time here). That means fans only have a few hours left to play before the multiplayer-only games are unceremoniously disconnected from Meta’s servers.
Echo VR fans didn’t go down without a fight though. Some spirited protests against the shutdown even included a dedicated fan group flying an airplane-towed message over Meta’s HQ in Menlo Park back in March, stating “ZUCK, DON’T KILL VR ESPORTS FIGHTFORECHO.COM”. Both online and offline protests fell on deaf ears though. The URL mentioned above now leads to a 404, and it’s pretty clear by now that Meta didn’t change their collective minds.
The studio recently released the Echo VR OST on YouTube, which feels like small recompense for killing consistently one of the best-rated and most popular free titles on Quest. Ready at Dawn, which was acquired by Meta in 2020, explained earlier this year the shutdown was made for “many good reasons [,] chief among them is the studio coming together to focus on our next project.”
Both Ready at Dawn and Onward studio Downpour Interactive found themselves caught up in one of the multiple rounds of layoffs to hit Meta earlier this year. To boot, Ready at Dawn has yet to reveal what’s next. Whatever it is though, we’re hoping it has many of the same hard-won learnings baked in, like Echo VR and its narrative games Lone Echo did. In the meantime, check out the OST playlist below.
In this week's episode of the Between Realities VR Podcast, Alex and Skeeva host XR Community Manager Max Noir.
Max reveals how she got involved in building the XR ecosystem in Uganda. Other topics include how artists are leveraging VR technology and the impact VR experiences can have on first-time users.
Smilegate announced that the Crossfire universe’s first VR game, Crossfire: Sierra Squad, is coming to PSVR 2 and SteamVR headsets next month.
Launching on August 29th, Crossfire: Sierra Squad promises both a 13-mission solo campaign and a number of co-op modes, which includes 50 squad campaign missions for both single and two-player co-op, and a Horde Mode for up to four-player co-op.
The studio says there are 39 types of weapons at your disposal, including pistols, rifles, grenades and sniper rifles—more than enough ways to dispatch the game’s 17 different types of enemies.
Here’s how Smilegate describes the action:
In Crossfire: Sierra Squad, you are the leader of an elite paramilitary fireteam within the Global Risk organization. As the story narrative will explain to you in-game, during your mission you will unexpectedly tangle with the rival Black List organization and find out that there is something very big at play which calls for your expertise. Battle a variety of crafty enemies in a relentless search for the truth, and prove why you were selected as the intrepid leader of the most feared special unit in existence – Sierra Squad.
You can now wishlist Crossfire: Siera Squad on PSVR 2 and Steam. When the game launches next month, it will be priced at $30.
It’s Saturday morning, early 1988, and the atmosphere in my local arcade is electric.
My older brother along with at least a dozen other denim-clad pre-teens are crowded around the Operation Wolf machine that I’m playing. Except today, I’m not just playing; today, I am absolutely crushing it.
A supportive hand ruffles my messy blonde mullet as the pixelated bodies fall to the floor. I quickly wipe my palms across my tie-dyed tank top. Gripping the hard plastic Uzi attached to the arcade cabinet, I am transformed. No longer a dorky 8 year old wearing improbably short shorts, I am now Rambo incarnate and it’s time to bring the pain.
In 1987, this was what it was like to play Operation Wolf. Minding-bending, state-of-the-art, 8-bit brilliance. With the franchise returning for its VR debut 36 years later, it’s time to find out how much times have really changed.
Operation Wolf Returns: First Mission VR – The Facts
Platforms: Quest, SteamVR, Pico, PSVR 2 (Review conducted on Quest 2) Release Date: Out now Developer: Microids Price: $29.99
Having Flashbacks
Operation Wolf Returns: First Mission is a reboot of the classic 80s arcade shooter, brought into VR and available on Quest, Pico, PSVR 2 and PC VR headsets. Where the original was a side-scrolling light gun game, the VR incarnation is a first-person, on-rails shooter that effectively achieves the same general feeling as the arcade original.
Hostages will meander through the battle with the urgency of a distracted toddler. Extra points are awarded for letting them amble to safety, but the stakes are so low that avoiding the bystanders quickly becomes more a suggestion than a requirement.
There are six levels which take 10-15 minutes each to complete, all of which culminate in an entirely forgettable boss fight. There are three difficulty settings to choose from, as well as leaderboards to compete on and an uninspired endless wave mode. Once you complete the 90-minute nostalgia-laden campaign, there’s little reason to load the game up again.
Going Retro
Operation Wolf Returns plays very closely to its source material. In fact, the similarities to the original are both its biggest strength and its greatest weakness. Amid the trend of bringing classic ‘boomer shooters’ into VR, there is an understanding that nostalgia alone is not enough to drive a compelling experience. Gameplay has evolved and gamers expect more – simply recreating a classic exactly as it was risks the game feeling dangerously dated.
Thus it is with Operation Wolf.
The settings and voice acting are all perfectly aligned with their 80s counterpart. If you experienced the original, there will doubtless be a thrill in finding yourself inside a childhood memory. However, this fond reminiscence swiftly fades as the lack of modern VR features becomes apparent. There is no manual reloading or holstering of weapons, nor are there any meaningful environmental interactions. You don’t even have the ability to open or close your off hand – it just floats there like an inanimate afterthought. The end result feels like playing something with 8-bit depth inside your cutting edge virtual reality headset.
Apocalypse No
The action in Operation Wolf Returns is rudimentary at best. The gunplay is basic and despite having four weapons at your disposal, one of them is clearly superior to others – not that it makes much difference which one you use anyway. Switching weapons merely involves pushing your left thumbstick in one of four directions. Grenades can be thrown by pressing the grip button and directing a limp, arcing projectile indicator to exactly where you want it to land – barely any physical movement required.
As the levels drift by, the same assortment of enemies continue to pop out in unsurprising locations and with the reaction time of snails. They go down in a near-instant, dropping the same few perks each time they die, including uninspired gun icons representing ammo that you can shoot to pick up. It all begins to feel repetitive – and boring – before the first stage is even complete.
The minimal level of challenge comes from ducking around enemy bullets in an attempt to insert an element of physicality. While this is a modern staple of VR shooters, it feels severely undercooked in Operation Wolf. Where games like Pistol Whip ask the player to weave an almost dance-like route between bullets, Operation Wolf seems more intent on pulling your attention in one direction only to then hit you in the back from another.
This is less annoying than it could be thanks to the unlimited continues, which ultimately then make it absolutely impossible to die. Not only can you continue at will, but in doing so you suffer no discernible consequence. Progress, ammo, items; nothing resets upon dying. You simply choose to continue and jump back into the exact moment you left, as if nothing happened. The entire concept of having ‘lives’ is rendered moot and it utterly destroys any potential for tension throughout the campaign.
Sound and Vision
Graphically, Operation Wolf attempts to present a modernized version of the gritty pixel art of the classic version. Unfortunately, the art direction misses the mark and lacks polish. Though the visuals avoid the trope of leaning into pixel art to sell a retro vibe, they instead tread an awkward middle ground that looks unrefined and indistinct. The backgrounds may be vibrant and colorful, but consist of blocky and indistinct models with jagged edges everywhere you look. The enemy characters are 3D upgrades of the pixelated 80s designs, but with little stylization nor sense of identity.
When it comes to sound design, a conscious decision has been made to revel in the sound quality of 80s games. Sadly, the attempt at transposing sonic components of a bygone era feels less kitsch or charming and instead sounds tinny and lacking gravitas. The one exception is the main voice over, which is campy, rich and familiar, briefly selling that feeling of stepping inside an after school special.
Operation Wolf Returns – Comfort
Operation Wolf Returns: First Mission VR is an on-rails affair, so players will need to be able to tolerate some level of artificial movement in VR. The movement is slow and predominantly in a single direction, but there are absolutely no comfort options available, so players who are susceptible to smooth locomotion may wish to be careful.
Operation Wolf Returns: First Mission VR Review – Final Verdict
Operation Wolf Returns: First Mission VR succeeds in administering a small dose of arcade nostalgia. However, it not only fails to reach the benchmark of modern VR shooters, but falls short of offering a compelling experience from the very first stage. The short, shallow campaign replicates the simple gameplay loop of an 80s arcade game, but forgets to add enough – or anything – to make it relevant to a modern VR audience.
UploadVR focuses on a label system for reviews, rather than a numeric score. Our reviews fall into one of four categories: Essential, Recommended, Avoid and reviews that we leave unlabeled. You can read more about ourreview guidelines here.
Half-Life: Alyx is on sale this weekend, available for a record low price.
Valve's flagship VR game is one sale this weekend, available for $20.39 – 66% off its regular price of $59.99. The offer is available until August 4.
The game's previous lowest sale price was just a bit higher at $23.99 (60% off). Usually these kind of big discounts only come into play during Steam's seasonal or holiday sales, but this record discount on Alyx has come out of nowhere and isn't accompanied by an event or larger sale across the store.
If you own a VR-ready PC setup and haven't already picked up Alyx then it's definitely worth picking up at this price – but also, why on earth haven't you got it already?
For that (likely very small) subset of PC VR players who haven't tried out Alyx yet, it is arguably the best PC VR experience available and rivaled by very few others. Here's a snippet from our 2020 review:
[Alyx is] a stunningly produced, meticulously refined capping off of the past four years of VR learnings. Its 10+ hours of best-in-class combat, evolving level design and, every so often, moments of truly inventive ideas swiftly establishes it as a new benchmark for the platform.
You can read the full review below and pick up Alyx on the Steam Store for $20.39 until August 4.
Roblox is now available on Meta Quest VR headsets via App LAb.
The popular game creation platform - arguably a metaverse - arrived on Quest App Lab, to be followed by a full Quest Store release at a later date. App Lab apps are meant to be shared via URL, and aren't surfaced in the store interface unless you search by exact name.
Roblox has 66 million daily and over 200 million monthly active users - around as much as Minecraft and Fortnite combined. This user base reportedly includes over half of American children under 16.
Around 45% of Roblox users are under 13. The official minimum age to use Meta Quest headsets is 13, but later this year Meta is reducing that age to 10 years old with the introduction of preteen accounts. As any Rec Room or Population One player will tell you though, plenty of preteens already use Quest 2 regardless.
The new VR checkbox in Experience settings.
Roblox lets creators import custom models and run custom Lua scripts, so performance can vary greatly between Experiences (Roblox worlds). Good performance is much more important in VR than non-VR platforms though, as in VR judder and stutter from dropping frames makes many people feel physically sick.
To help with this issue, Roblox is adding a new 'VR' device type checkbox to experience setting. This will be on by default for Experiences that use default player scripts, but off by default for all other Experiences. Roblox hopes the Open Beta will give creators time to ensure their Experiences run well on VR headsets.
Roblox already supports PC-based VR and has done for some time, and this VR checkbox will also apply to PC VR. Last month, Roblox replaced its separate SteamVR and Oculus PC API integration with OpenXR. This includes support for Quest Link, Rift and Rift S, Valve Index, and HTC Vive.
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Roblox in VR on PC
Roblox may be one of the most significant titles to arrive on the Quest platform, and could end up helping Meta sell the upcoming Quest 3 to a wider and younger market than any of its previous VR headsets this holiday season. It could however also divert attention and usage from Meta's own Horizon Worlds user created experiences platform, putting the company's significant investment to the test.
This article was originally published on July 12, 2023 with announcement of Roblox coming to Quest headsets and updated on July 27, 2023 with release on App Lab.
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As VR/XR technologies evolve, developing immersive applications is becoming significantly more feasible and filled with new possibilities. There has never been more opportunity for pioneering new content and solutions that can significantly contribute to the VR/XR landscape.
Varjo is dedicated to supporting developers in their journey to create impactful immersive content for end users. Varjo’s newDeveloper Discount Programoffers significant benefits to developers and content studios at the forefront of the industry. Until July 31st, developers are invited to apply to the program as individuals or on behalf of their organization to access substantial discounts and free setup support for all Varjo headsets and services.
Shaping content with Varjo opens the door to a new world of possibilities. Mixed reality has already carved a niche for itself across various industries worldwide, serving as an invaluable tool to design, build, and train with unmatched efficiency and realism. Next, we’ll explore different advanced features in mixed reality applications and learn how various organizations are harnessing the power of XR on a daily basis.
Are youdeveloping content with Varjo? Join our Discord communityto stay informed and gain new insights.
Mixed Reality Masking
With mixed reality masking, you can use any virtual object in your scene (plane, cube or complex mesh) to act as a “window” into the real world. This is especially useful if you want to bring real-world elements, such as instruments or controller devices into the virtual environment through one or many “windows”. For example, in flight simulation use cases, you can display a virtual flight scenario outside the cockpit, while simultaneously showing the real-life cockpit and the physical controls to the user.
Chroma Keying
Chroma keying involves removing a specific color (usually green or blue) from the background to overlay one image or video onto another. It enables high precision occlusion of virtual objects by real objects and is particularly useful in scenarios where accurate visibility of real objects is essential. Chroma keying can be applied to any VR application on the Varjo headset without modifying the code, making it versatile for various applications like racing setups, flight or driving simulation, training rooms, and much more.
Real-time reflections in mixed reality
Varjo XR-3 has the capability to use the video pass-through camera feed to create lighting conditions and reflections that match those in your current real-world location. This is extremely useful when blending virtual content with the real world, making the scene appear more natural and realistic. One practical application of this are design use cases, such as automotive or interior design, where digital objects should match their real world equivalents as accurately as possible.
Hand Tracking and Eye Tracking
Hand tracking allows you to interact in virtual and mixed reality environments without separate controllers. With hand tracking, you use your hands to control the virtual environment just as you would interact with the physical world. Varjo XR-3 and VR-3 headsets come with integrated Ultraleap hand tracking technology.
Varjo headsets also feature the fastest and most accurate integrated eye tracking at 200 Hz. Eye tracking allows recording and studying eye movements in virtual and mixed reality applications. It is used widely in different kinds of research and training to examine where the headset user is looking.
Multiapp
Did you know that you can already run multiple Varjo applications simultaneously? Varjo’s Multiapp feature allows users to simultaneously run multiple applications, each potentially utilizing different engines or image generators. This enables unique combinations, like using one application to render terrain and another for cockpit details or hand-tracking. Additionally, a second non-rendering application can access data, such as eye-tracking information, while another app handles the visual output.
House Flipper VR is making its way onto PSVR 2 on August 11.
One of the popular menial-tasked-turned-addictive-simulator games, House Flipper first released as a flatscreen title before it was reimagined as a VR release for the original Oculus Quest in 2020. It came to PC VR shortly after, but never made its way over to the original PSVR headset. Almost three years later, it'll finally its mark on PlayStation systems, arriving on PSVR 2.
The game sees you tackle neglected homes, clean them up and renovate them to your heart's content. You'll not only give the houses a structural makeover, but a decorative one too. Once the plaster is set and the paint patched up, you'll place furniture and appliances with the aim of pleasing the appraiser and selling for a profit.
Neither the Quest nor the SteamVR release fared incredibly well when it came to player reviews – the former is at just over three stars with 445 ratings, while the latter sits firmly at 'Mixed' reception with 177 reviews.
That said, players reviews aren't everything – with three years between releases, we're hoping that developer Frozen Way has been able to fashion this PSVR 2 release into something stunning and take proper advantage of the PS5's horsepower.
Meta rolled out a new "anti-abuse solution" to developers that may impact piracy on the Quest platform.
The Platform Integrity Attestation API "detects whether your app’s server is interacting with an untampered VR device and ensures your app is authentic." The application programming interface could be used for "hardware-based app bans" or as an "anti-piracy" measure, among other use cases.
"As the Meta Quest ecosystem continues to grow, both in terms of the number of apps being distributed and the size of the Meta Quest community, it's increasingly important to instill a consistent method for validating the integrity of apps in order to provide a secure and safe user experience for everyone," explains a Meta post written for developers.
The API is pitched as also being useful for securing device authentication and protecting financial and enterprise app data. Meta pitches the tool as "leveling up the security" of apps on Quest 2, Quest Pro, and the forthcoming Quest 3 headset.
We'll be curious to hear from Quest developers to see how this API affects their work as some have been deeply impacted by piracy in the past. We will update this post with relevant comments.
As far as VR treadmills go, Virtuix is the OG. While the company had set out to make a consumer VR treadmill a decade ago, market realities pushed the company into the out-of-home VR attraction space. But after all these years the company remains dead-set on selling a VR treadmill to consumers, and this time around it’s taking an all-in-one approach with the new Virtuix Omni One. I visited the company’s Austin, Texas headquarters to try it for myself.
The Virtuix Omni Backstory
Image courtesy Virtuix
The original Virtuix Omni treadmill started life way back in 2013 as wooden prototype built by a small group led by CEO Jan Goetgeluk. Thus the core idea was conceived a full three years before the first wave of consumer VR headsets appeared on the market in 2016.
The idea itself is simple. What if you had a treadmill on which you could run in any direction? With such a treadmill and a VR headset on your head, you could move your body and feel like you were really moving through the virtual world.
The execution of this idea, however, has been anything but simple.
Treadmills tend to be large, heavy, and expensive devices. And the Virtuix Omni was no exception. Although the company set out initially to build a device for consumers, the reality of the cost and complexity of such a device made it a challenging sell beyond early adopters. The ahead-of-its-time treadmill also suffered another key issue for the consumer VR space; the ‘ring’ support’ design prevented players from having a full range of motion, which made the treadmill a non-starter for many consumer VR games that expected players to be able to crouch, reach down to the ground, or move their arms around at their waist (where many games commonly place holsters for key items).
These challenges forced the company to pivot toward the out-of-home VR attraction space. Thus, the Omni Arena—a huge VR attraction that includes a pod of four of the company’s VR treadmills for multiplayer gameplay with custom content—was born. The system would go on to be installed in 73 entertainment spaces across the US and has become Virtuix’s bread-and-butter business.
Image courtesy Virtuix
Virtuix realized early on that VR was, at this stage, a fairly clunky proposition. Only early enthusiasts and computer experts had the skills and patience to set up and troubleshoot even consumer VR systems, let alone one that cobbled together complex hardware like a headset and VR treadmill. Expecting arcade attendants to figure out how to keep a system of four Virtuix Omni treadmills, VR headsets, and an array of networked computers powering it all, just wasn’t realistically going to work at scale.
That led the company to build Omni Arena like a giant all-in-one VR arcade. The company has impressively customized literally every step of the customer’s journey through the experience. From the moment they step into the enclosure they’re guided by video screen prompts about what they’re going to experience, how to slip on their special shoes, and how to get into the Virtuix Omni treadmill once it’s their turn.
Photo by Road to VR
The same, if not more, care has been paid to the operator’s experience. Omni Arena has everything to be a self-sustaining VR attraction. It doesn’t just come with the four treadmills, but also four headsets, controllers (with charging pods), SteamVR tracking base stations, and all the hardware to run the networked VR experiences and the pod’s software itself which not only manages all of the connected devices, but even captures footage of players (both in and outside of the game) and emails it to them as a memento of their experience. It also makes routine troubleshooting steps like headsets, computers, or SteamVR into a simple touchscreen button press through a custom interface for the operator. Omni Arena is truly an all-in-one product.
Virtuix Arena’s custom software makes it easy to manage all the computers and hardware that power the experience. | Photo by Road to VR
For a small company, Virtuix’s ability to focus on the holistic experience of its product is both rare and impressive.
Coming Full Circle
With the many lessons learned about creating an all-in-one experience for the out-of-home VR attraction space, the company is turning its attention back to the consumer realm with a brand new product—Virtuix Omni One.
Image courtesy Virtuix
With Omni One, Virtuix isn’t selling a VR treadmill. It’s selling an all-in-one system that includes the newly designed VR treadmill, a VR headset, and access to a library of custom-made content. It’s an ambitious approach, but one that reflects Virtuix’s ability to identify and address key problems with the overall experience it wants to deliver to customers.
The original ring design of the Omni meant players couldn’t crouch or have full movement of their arms around their waist. | Photo by Road to VR
One of those key points the company identified was the way that the original Omni design made compatibility with modern VR content a challenge. The support ring around the player mean their movement was restricted, both in their ability to crouch, lean, and move their arms with complete freedom.
That ‘simple’ problem necessitated a complete redesign of the treadmill. The Omni One now uses an arm support design that always stays behind the user. This gives you the ability to have a full range of motion while also running in any direction. The arm doesn’t actively hold you upright, but it provides the force that prevents you from running straight off the edge of the treadmill.
Another problem the company identified in its goal of delivering a consumer VR treadmill is the complexity of existing PC VR systems and getting players into the right content.
Even if Omni One customer was already an expert in PC VR and willing to put up with technical annoyances, having a tether to the computer means worrying about the user wrapping themselves up in the cable (or asking them to rig up a ceiling mounted cable management system).
Though the Omni One can still technically be used with a PC VR setup, this challenge pushed Virtuix to pair its treadmill with a standalone VR headset out of the box (Pico Neo 3, specifically). But it’s not just a headset, but a headset equipped with a custom-made Omni storefront serving up content that’s specifically made or adapted for the VR treadmill. The company even built its own ‘first steps’ experience, a surprisingly well-made introduction that introduces users to the magic of VR and teaches them how to move and feel comfortable with their controllers and treadmill.
And although sticker-shock has always been a challenge for Virtuix, the Omni One is actually not an unreasonable price… if you think of it as what it truly is: a treadmill that will give you a workout.
Typical exercise treadmills range in price from $500 to $2,000 or more. Omni One will be price at $2,600, including the $700 Pico Neo 3 headset (which the company stresses can also be used as a standard Pico headset (including PC VR streaming). That leaves the treadmill itself at $1,900, the cost of a high-end treadmill. The company is also promising an option to finance the Omni One for $65 per month.
And for those that really believe in Virtuix and its vision, through the company’s crowd-investment campaign it is offering a 20% discount on Omni One (or more, depending upon the amount invested). The campaign has raised $4.4 million to date.
Apple will start loaning Vision Pro kits to approved developers.
Developers need to submit an application, agree to terms and have an Apple developer account in order to be considered.
"Applications will be reviewed and priority will be given to applicants creating an app that takes advantage of visionOS features and capabilities," according to Apple's developer site.
Devs need to detail the development skills of their team and existing apps. Successful applicants will get help setting up the device as well as "check-ins with Apple experts for UI design and development guidance, and help refining your app."
The device needs to be returned upon request.
Back during the June announcement, Apple said it would open developer kit applications and offer compatibility evaluations as well developer labs to help approved developers on the path to release on Vision Pro. A few weeks later, Apple released the software development kit with a Mac-based simulator devs could use to begin work for the headset without hardware in hand to test it on.
One of PC VR gaming's visual powerhouses is 25 percent off for a limited time to mark the release of a huge update.
The 2.0 release of Hubris on Steam adds manual reloading, fine-tuned enemy AI with "enhanced reaction logic" as well as adjusted graphics and difficulty settings. The release notes also mention extensive updates to audio, including soundtrack changes and new voice work.
"Based on extensive player feedback, we've re-recorded the voice for the main protagonist, Lucia," the notes mention. "We've also introduced an option to turn off Lucia's in-game tips, allowing players to explore the world and uncover secrets on their own without assistance from their companion."
If you have an RTX card, Hubris on PC also implements NVIDIA's DLSS for "better performance and visuals".
We recommended Hubris in our initial review on PC VR, praising its visuals and thoughtful mechanics, and the game carries mostly positive reviews on Steam. Hubris is discounted on Steam from its regular price until July 31. The game is also available on Quest and PSVR 2 as well.
Netflix will reportedly "take a pass" on developing a native app for Apple Vision Pro, according to Bloomberg's Mark Gurman.
In this week's edition of his Power On newsletter, Gurman discusses the options available for developers to support Apple Vision Pro and create custom, native apps for the platform.
As announced by Apple during the Vision Pro reveal recently, the headset will support iPhone and iPad apps that can run unaltered on visionOS as well as those optimized or built from the ground up for visionOS. Gurman reports that Netflix will "take a pass" at developing the latter type of native app for visionOS. Gurman has been told "that the company has no current plans to develop a native app for Vision Pro" but "will still let its iPad app run on the headset unmodified."
Netflix did previously release a custom built-for-VR app for Quest, which places users on a sofa in a cabin environment with a large TV-like screen displaying Netflix content (pictured above). However, the app offers little customization and hasn't been updated or changed in quite some time.
Given the approach on Quest, it's not overly surprising that Netflix isn't planning on making an immediate splash on Vision Pro. When it comes to other streaming services, Disney+ is already confirmed to launch with a custom, native app for visionOS on day one, while Gurman speculates in this week's newsletter that a similar Prime Video app from Amazon might make an appearance on Apple's headset as well.
It seems we’re closer to seeing a viable workaround that could allow PSVR 2 owners to play PC VR games. iVRy, the most promising project dedicated to the task, is making good headway by unlocking the headset’s outer cameras for room-scale tracking.
The effort to hack PSVR 2 was initially put on hold earlier this year, which was understandably a let-down for anyone hoping to play PC VR-exclusive titles such as Half-Life: Alyx (2020), or social apps like Bigscreen or VRChat.
The indefinite pause on development didn’t last for long though, as earnest efforts resumed shortly afterwards when the project opened a Patreon to help support development.
In a recent tweet, iVRy creator Mediator Software outlined some new milestones reached after 143 days of development, which were unlocked recently by gaining access to PSVR 2’s camera. As a result, the project now has access to the headset’s 6DOF SLAM tracking, 3DOF IMU tracking, proximity sensor, raw stereo camera data, and distortion-corrected passthrough stereo camera data.
Day #143: PSVR2 camera access is working, so now we have:
– 6DOF SLAM tracking
– 3DOF IMU tracking
– Proximity sensor (headset worn or not)
– Raw (distorted) stereo camera data
– Pass-through (distortion corrected) stereo camera data pic.twitter.com/idJ7Qc2HLV
Mediator Software says they’re now focused on “understanding the PSVR2 data and putting in code in the driver to interpret it.”
And by now it’s pretty clear Sony isn’t making it simple. The creator says in a recent tweet the project has cost “over $13K in equipment and software to date, as well as hundreds of hours of work.” That includes things like custom sniffer boards and emulator boards.
While the iVRy creator has successfully booted up 6DOF PC VR content on PSVR 2 in the lab, baking that functionality into a future software release that’s broadly accessible will be a big challenge.
“Any use of the software requires an [hardware] adapter that doesn’t exist yet, so an early access version of the software wouldn’t be usable by anyone at all,” the creator says. “There may be some kind of limited run (maybe 100) of the reference adapters that we’re making, which may be offered via Patreon.”
To boot, work on PSVR 2’s optically-tracked Sense controllers have only just begun, with the studio noting that reverse engineering the controllers is “not going to be easy at all.”
“Working on controllers at this point, means that there is nothing further we can do with the headset part right now, not that there is nothing further we can or need to do with the headset part at all. There is still a lot that needs to be done there, including lots of unknowns,” the creator said.
So, while we’re closer than ever, we may still be waiting for some time on that ‘one-and-done’ software download that could potentially uncouple PSVR 2 from PS5 for good. In the meantime, the bulk of the projects updates are published through the project’s Patreon, which offers a $10 minimum monthly membership. You can also follow along via iVRy’s Twitter for the broader strokes.
Espire 2 drops Quest exclusivity with a Pico 4 port available now, joining a new content update with Weekly Challenges and leaderboards.
Previously seen in Espire 1: VR Operative, Weekly Challenges are "back by popular demand" in Espire 2 with Update 1.5. "Each week, players can expect new curated challenges from the developers, designed to test players skills and mettle as they compete with other players for the top score across the new leaderboard system," states Digital Lode in a press release.
Detailing Update 1.5 further, matchmaking improvements are also promised and on Quest 2 or Quest Pro – Espire 2 will no longer try matching you with accounts you previously blocked. It also introduces "significant under-the-hood improvements" to Espire 2's technical systems by upgrading from Unreal Engine version 4.26 to 4.27.
Digital Lode states this upgrade allows higher visual fidelity on all platforms, claiming Update 1.5 will also "pave the way" for the Mixed Reality update. Revealed last month during our UploadVR Summer Showcase 2023, these upcoming missions transform your living space into a stealth playground, and it's been "primarily designed for Quest 3."
Ziggy's Cosmic Adventures receives a final teaser trailer, offering a fresh look at the VR space sim.
First revealed over two years ago, Ziggy's Cosmic Adventures is a VR space sim with arcade-style combat. Piloting a one-man craft, you play as a bounty hunter who's taken possession of a small but powerful alien. With the Empire closing in, you're tasked with surviving their attacks while managing your spaceship. Arriving on Quest 2 and PC VR, you can watch the new trailer below.
Previously scheduled to launch last year, developer Stardust Collective told UploadVR in an email that it can't share a new release date yet. However, the team calls this final teaser "an important milestone" and confirms a full trailer will appear closer to release. That's hopefully not too far, especially given the game now has a Quest Store page and is listed as 'coming soon'.
We went hands-on with the Ziggy's Cosmic Adventures PC VR demo last year, believing it needed those "final touches" but praised its focus on full immersion.
It’s part of a select breed of VR games that wants to work with the platform’s limitations, not try and defy them. Everything’s interactive in this immersive cockpit simulator, and everything’s within arm’s reach too. There’s no smooth locomotion or teleporting, no climbing or lifting heavy objects – developer Stardust Collective wants to keep VR feeling tactile and tangible.
A release window remains unconfirmed, but Ziggy's Cosmic Adventures will launch on SteamVR and Quest.
Qualcomm says it's working with Meta to optimize its LLaMA AI models to run on-device.
In the tweet announcing the effort, Qualcomm lists 'XR' as one of the device categories.
We’re working with @Meta to optimize LLaMA #AI#LLMs to run completely on-device — smartphones, PCs, XR, auto, and IoT. Learn how this allows developers to reduce cloud costs and provide users with more private, reliable, and personalized experiences.https://t.co/YryaYr1waB
LLaMA is Meta's family of open source large language models (LLMs), using a similar transformer architecture as OpenAI's closed source GPT series.
This week Meta released LLaMA 2, which benchmarks show outperforms all other open source large language models and even comes close to OpenAI's GPT-3.5, the model powering the free version of ChatGPT.
Getting large language models to run at reasonable speeds on mobile chipsets though would be an enormous challenge, and may not happen any time soon - especially in VR where the system also needs enough overhead to run tracking and rendering at 72 frames per second minimum.
Running even the smallest variant of LLaMA 2, the 7 billion parameter model, for example requires 28GB of RAM at full precision. Lately, tinkerers have been experimenting with running LLMs at lower precision, requiring as little as 3.5GB of RAM, but this affects the output quality significantly, and it still requires considerable CPU and/or GPU resources.
If Qualcomm and Meta can eventually manage to get a LLaMA model running on a Quest headset it would open up a range of breakthrough use cases.
It could enable truly next generation NPCs, virtual characters you can actually have a conversation with, and you'd be able to interact with them to discover information in a game or experience. That could spark entirely new genres of experiences in headsets, more like Star Trek's holodeck and less like current video games.
But still, there's no indication that will be possible on-device any time soon. We've reached out to Meta and Qualcomm to ask for more specifics about their new partnership, and will update this article if we get a response.
The third I Expect You To Die game, Cog In The Machine, is on the way and we've gone hands-on with its first puzzles.
The developers at Schell are looking to build a richer world for the I Expect You To Die series with more story and depth backing up their particular brand of puzzling. The effort really kicked into gear with 2021's Spy And The Liar as Wil Wheaton voiced antagonist John Juniper in the sequel to the 2016 original. In our review, we noted the expanding scope of the series and teased that we'd be looking forward to what Schell does to build it out further with I Expect You To Die 3:
In many virtual worlds it is easy to get the sense your surroundings are paper-thin cardboard creations, but I Expect You To Die 2’s details push that notion entirely out of its reality to provide a rock-solid sense of total transportation.
Elsewhere, the studio is still expanding its first multiplayer VR experience, Among Us VR, with new content, and Until You Fall explores active single-player gameplay. The I Expect You To Die series, though, is building on a successful formula of spy-themed puzzles that both surprise and frustrate players on a try-again path through unexpected booby traps.
In case you're unfamiliar, every level in an I Expect You To Die game puts you in a new spy-themed setting. There's fast moving vehicles and heists, masks, lasers, poison and the constant threat of unexpected plots to kill you. You progress through levels through trial and error – surrounded by objects you can pull toward you with telekinesis to examine up close. Typically, you just toss it in a pile and start messing with something else until you figure out how it'll help you progress further in the story.
From the moment I picked up the very first object in the game and looked out the window of a cliffside estate, I could see the effort to push things just a little further than last time. There seems to be just a little more to see here than in past installments – like the walls had been extended outward just a bit– so there's more to take in visually. When I grabbed a picture off the shelf it sparked a comment from The Handler – a "main-in-the-chair" type guide who is always commenting about your missions – and he seemed to reminisce at the sight of the photo featuring Doctor Roxana Prism, suggesting there's a lot to learn about the game's villain too.
Dr. Prism is showcased in the opening sequence video embedded above featuring an original song performed by Haley Reinhart, and the promo materials for the game focus on her and her affinity for robots:
Roxana Prism, Doctor of Engineering is a former inventor for the Agency and the genius behind the implant in your brain, which allows agents to use telekinesis. She has been an invaluable leader and inspiration for our agents and is currently enjoying a well-earned retirement.
Dr. Prism’s last project with the Agency was a robot meant to replace human agents. Her hope was to limit the number of fatalities in the field, but the project was ultimately deemed unsuccessful. The circumstances surrounding her departure after the robot initiative are classified but all parties involved are considered to have parted on good terms.
The Research and Development team at the Agency would not be what it is today without the technological advancements made by Dr. Prism. Ensuring her safety is a top priority for our team, as is keeping her legacy alive.
I won't spoil much, but by the end of the first level you get a sense of glimpse of Dr. Prism and, again, it's clear that Schell is looking to push forward just a little bit from the shadowy appearances of John Juniper in the last game. This is a game looking to create more richly realized cinematic Bond-like moments for the player in each new installment.
We'll have more coverage in weeks ahead as part of our Upload Access series looking at Schell Game's latest spy puzzler.
Skydance Interactive revealed its upcoming plans for The Walking Dead: Saints & Sinners, and Chapter 1's getting enhanced for Quest 3.
Detailing its plans for Fall 2023, Skydance confirms "an enhanced version of Chapter 1 will be coming to Meta Quest 3" in the YouTube trailer's description. Quest 3 is a major specification increase over Quest 2 and it's backward compatible with existing content, so we'll be curious what specifically Skydance means by "enhanced version" here.
Additionally, Chapter 2: Retribution will receive a physical "Payback Edition" on PSVR 2 and the original PSVR this fall. Retailing for $50, that includes a steelbook case, “Keychainsaw” keycap and Payback Edition DLC with collectible postcards and other in-game content. Finally, Skydance confirmed Chapter 2 will reach Japan, South Korea, China, and other Asia-Pacific territories later this year on PC VR and PSVR 2.
Both chapters for The Walking Dead: Saints & Sinners arrive this Fall on Quest 3. Otherwise, you can play them now on PC VR, PSVR 2, Quest 2 and Quest Pro, alongside Chapter 1 on PSVR.
UploadVR produced this post in partnership with Schell Games.
I Expect You To Die 3: Cog in the Machine, the third game in an escape room VR puzzle franchise developed by award-winning development company Schell Games is on the horizon, and Agents must save the world from Zor’s schemes once more. Along with telekinetic abilities and familiar quips from The Handler, one of the core features of the game that empowers Agents to be their own 007 is the accessibility features found within I Expect You To Die 3 (IEYTD3) and the many other games in Schell Games’ portfolio.
Accessibility is a hot topic in the games industry right now, and rightfully so. Accessibility considerations, or lack thereof, can make or break the player experience, and it goes beyond localization or the ability to toggle game audio/background music on and off.
Over the past 20 years, Schell Games has sought ways to make accessibility an integral part of the development process before work starts on a game — not an afterthought once a game was close to being complete. The Accessibility Matrix, a document based on years of experience from the Schell Games team, breaks down accessibility into goals across nine categories. Goals are broken down into tenets such as Comfort, Mobility, and Language & Communication, acting as the guiding stars for the team as they create key game features.
The Accessibility Matrix helps teams intentionally add accessibility features that complement core gameplay. As such, IEYTD3 is shaping up to be the most accessible VR game in the company’s catalog.
IEYTD3 is playable with one or two hands, standing or seated. The game considers colorblindness and avoids potential triggers for motion sickness for the most comfortable experience possible. Schell Games took things one step further and built IEYTD3 with motion comfort settings, colorblindness filters, text captions, translation panels, a "skip level" button, and day-one localization support, creating an enjoyable experience for all players.
IEYTD isn’t the only Schell Games title to offer such features. Among Us VR, a virtual reality adaptation of Innersloth’s popular social deduction party game, offers SFX closed captions, player-to-player moderation, colorblindness filters, an epileptic flash test, and localization support. HistoryMaker VR, a free content creation tool that encourages students to retain knowledge as they embody and perform as historical figures, has several accessibility features. With adjustable text size, visual UI controls, audio toggles, and a desktop companion for external control, HistoryMaker VR ensures a user-friendly experience for all learners.
A question that often comes up when accessibility features are weighed against the changes it requires around gameplay or mechanics is, “Aren’t you giving up cool stuff?”
The answer: Nope.
At Schell Games, a game developed with accessibility in mind is a great game. The alternative is a different great game that fewer people can play. At the end of the day it’s a no-brainer to the team at Schell Games. Greater accessibility fuels innovation and allows as many learners, gamers, and secret agents, to enjoy as many of Schell Games’ titles as possible.
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Schell Games will launch I Expect You To Die 3: Cog in the Machine (IEYTD3), the third installment of a popular VR puzzle series this summer for Meta Quest 2/Pro and this fall for SteamVR. Like its predecessors, the three-quel challenges players in a race against time to outwit the Agency’s sworn enemy, Zoraxis, with even more thrilling scenarios of espionage, menacing locales, and of course, hilarious ways to die.
Keep up with the Schell Games team and its latest advancements in VR accessibility by following them on YouTube, Twitter, and Facebook or joining the #IEYTD Discord. To learn more about IEYTD3, sign up for the email newsletter on the game’s website, join the community Discord, or join the conversation on Twitter or Facebook.
Henry Stockdale
