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Friday, 31 January 2020

Samsung Odyssey Bug-Eyed Patent, Quest’s Big Christmas & Win Audica! – VRecap

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There was a great mix of stories this week, from juicy headset rumors to VR success stories. Let’s jump right into the VRecap!

Okay, let’s state the facts here: These Samsung Odyssey patents are exciting, they’re not yet confirmed to be real, and they’d make me look like Jeff Goldblum in the worst way. It’s incredible how we’ve come so far in reducing bulky designs so quickly over the years, but Samsung is ready to throw it all away. Anyway, if you want to see more about the specs and less about it’s bugginess (get it, because the eyes), check out our article on it.

Oculus received the same Christmas present I’ve been asking for every year: five million dollars. It’s almost unsurprising to hear that they cashed in massively this Christmas – especially following the news of Quest being sold out during the holiday season.

And the last top story for this episode is the correction of the Steam’s VR hardware stats. VR is doing better than ever, we swear.

We’ve had two great ports this week, including Borderlands 2 VR on Index and Audica on Quest. Speaking of Audica on Quest, you’ve got a chance to grab a code for free in this week’s giveaway, courtesy of Harmonix! Enter the competition below for a chance to win – good luck!

GIVEAWAY: Win A Free Copy Of Audica On Oculus Quest!

There have been many great news stories this week but not all of them could make it into this episode, so here’s our honorable mentions for you:

Jesse Schell: ‘If Oculus Quest Can’t Succeed We Should Just Hang It Up’

Unity Now Supports Vulkan On Oculus Quest

February PlayStation Plus Games Include PSVR Shooter Firewall Zero Hour

Unity Deprecates Built-In Support For Daydream, Gear VR, And Valve’s OpenVR

Facebook Releases Beta Fix For Oculus Rift Stuttering Issue (But Not Link Yet)

Three New Free Beat Saber Songs Arrive In New Update From Cametek

Thanks for tuning in for another VRecap! See you same time next week.

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Audica Adds Four DLC Tracks Including Lizzo, The Weeknd, CHVRCHES

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Harmonix announced the addition of four more DLC tracks to Audica, including tracks from Lizzo, The Weeknd, CHVRCHES and Flo Rida. The tracks are available now, dropping just days after the Oculus Quest version of Audica released.

In our initial impressions of Audica on PC VR back in early access, we noted that the music library on offer was perhaps one of the weaker points at the time, with most of the music sounding similar and lacking diversity. This was one of the reasons it seemed hard to recommend Audica to anyone who was already enjoying Beat Saber.

However, since then the Audica library has really expanded and added some high profile tracks. As we noted earlier this week, the existing DLC tracks added since early access include high profile artists like Billie Eilish, Ariana Grande and Maroon 5. Now with this new drop of four DLC tracks, Harmonix is strengthening the selection even more.

The four new DLC tracks include Juice by Lizzo, Can’t Feel My Face by The Weeknd, The Mother We Share by CHVRCHES and GDFR by Flo Ride ft. Sage the Gemini and Lookas.

The DLC is available on all platforms, including the newly-launched Oculus Quest version of the game. I tried out Juice earlier today and had quite a bit of fun. It’s certainly nice to see rhythm games like Audica invoke such a wide and varied library of different songs – a book that Beat Games could probably take a page out of, in my opinion.

Will you be checking out these new DLC track in Audica? Let us know what you think in the comments.

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Editorial: If PSVR 2 Is To Be A Success, Sony Needs To Bring Out The Big Guns

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Earlier this week a rumor started circling, backed by respected outlets, that Resident Evil 8 would return to a first-person perspective.

Naturally, my first thought (and likely yours) was to what that could mean for VR support, which has been absent in the franchise since 2017’s Resident Evil 7. There’s been two admittedly very different Resident Evil games since and no VR support to speak of. The more I think about it, though, the more I’m convinced securing VR support for Resident Evil 8 is an essential step in Sony’s bid to win over skeptics with PSVR 2 and VR on PS5 in general.

Resident Evil 7’s surprise PSVR support — revealed in the middle of its historic E3 2016 press conference — sent a message for PSVR and the wider VR industry. It was an indication that VR wasn’t just going to be home to quirky, experimental experiences and franchises you’ve never heard of (even if, ultimately, the latter category hosts some of PSVR’s best games). More than anything, it was a promise that dedicated gamers would be rewarded for taking a risk on PSVR.

For the most part, Sony kept that promise over the past three and a bit years. Inarguably, PSVR performed far better than many skeptics would have believed, selling over 5 million units and amassing a hugely respectable library of games including big names like Skyrim VR and No Man’s Sky as well as compelling, VR-native properties like Blood & Truth and the wonderful Astro Bot: Rescue Mission.

But, overall, these releases have been few and far between; the last 6 months, in particular, have been noticeably barren for PSVR. August 2019’s release of No Man’s Sky Beyond was the last ‘big’ launch for the platform, and that won’t be followed up until at least the May 2020 launch of Iron Man VR. After that? Well, it may be a long wait for virtual salvation.

For its first run at the VR market, these shortcomings are frustrating, but understandable, especially given PS4’s relative lack of power compared to PCs. The next PSVR will be a headset with far less leniency paid its way. Much of PSVR’s life has been dominated by recurring discussions about how it is ‘early days’ for VR. The headset used decade-old tracking technology during a time when VR game design was still finding its footing. That can’t happen with PSVR 2; it must be a product that’s consumer ready from top to bottom.

But by the time Resident Evil 8 arrives we’ll be in a new era with very different expectations. Titles of Resident Evil’s size and scope made from the things learned after a half decade of VR game design would send the same kind of message Sony sent in 2016, especially when paired with the company’s stable of IP. Sony contends it cares about gamers and the games they play more than other companies, and doubling down on Resident Evil 8 in VR would reinforce that message for a new generation.

And that’s just the start of it. PSVR was also cursed with half-in VR modes like Gran Turismo Sport’s bare bones content. Gran Turismo 7, if it’s coming to PS5, needs to have full PSVR support. That is the level of commitment to the platform we should expect from Sony next generation, the level of commitment it needs to show to prove its serious about making VR a mainstream platform.

There are some quick wins the company could pull off in this category. Ports of some of the PC VR games that have evaded PSVR thus far are a must. Boneworks comes to mind, but Sony also needs to get Half-Life: Alyx running on a VR headset on PS5 as soon as humanly possible. Plus a rejuvenated backwards compatible library, which developers can patch to bring up to PC VR standards, will be essential.

PSVR 2 needs to be where Sony jumps from plucky experiments to a full fledged platform. To do that, it’s going to have to bring out the big guns. Let’s hope we see the company do just that in 2020.

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The VR Download EP13: New Odyssey, Walking Dead Crouching, Steam Hardware Survey, VR-AR-MR-XR

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VRMMO ‘OrbusVR’ to Launch Paid DLC Questlines This Year with ‘Mini Story Packs’

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OrbusVR, the virtual reality MMORPG, is getting heaps of new content this year, as the studio not only announced a continuation of the game’s ‘Explorer’s League’ questline, which is slated to bring multiple hours new gameplay next month, but also the first of a series of paid DLC ‘Mini Story Packs’ that promise to bring 10 -15 hours of additional content to the game.

Introduced last year, The Explorer’s League questline is getting its second phase starting February 10th, which is said to provide around 5-10 hours of new content and include rewards such as a Transmog chest piece, new dyes, achievements, and buildings upon completion of the storyline.

In light of the studio’s decision to make the game free-to-play up until level 10 on PC, it appears OrbusVR is looking towards paid DLC quests to keep players coming back for fresh content. The first paid Mini Story Pack is said to arrive Q2 2020, and will be priced at $10. The studio says it will include “all-new zones to explore, quest lines and NPCs, allowing you to experience Patreayl like you’ve never seen it before.”

Oculus Quest Duo Pack Discounts I Expect You To Die And The Under Presents

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This week’s Oculus Quest duo pack offers more savings on some of the platform’s lesser-known gems. You can currently grab I Expect You To Die and The Under Presents at a small discount.

Both games bundled together are going for $35.99, whereas they would have originally cost $44.98. It’s not the biggest price cut, but it’s a nice save to shave a few pennies off of two interesting Quest games. You have until Sunday to take advantage of the offer.

I Expect You To Die is Schell Games’ popular VR puzzler. You play as a secret agent dismantling evil plans from a secret organization. The escape room-style challenges make great use of VR. Plus, Schell Games has consistently added in new levels over the past few years (the final DLC went live in late 2019), significantly expanding the game’s value.

The Under Presents, meanwhile, is a more recent title from Virtual Virtual Reality developer, Tender Claws. It’s a sort of live VR theater in which actors give performances as you explore strange worlds. It has a set amount of content planned before it changes to a more pre-recorded format, so definitely jump into this one sooner rather than later.

The last duo bundle featured Sairento VR and Red Matter. These promotions seem to be doing a good job of highlighting some of Quest’s lesser known games beyond the usual heavy hitters like Beat Saber and Superhot.

Will you be picking up this bundle? What do you want to see in future duo packs? Let us know in the comments below.

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Social AR/VR Workspace ‘Spatial’ Secures $14M Series A Financing

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Spatial, a New York-based startup behind the eponymous real-time AR/VR collaboration platform, has secured $14 million in additional financing, bringing its overall funds to $22 million.

The latest funding round was led by White Star Capital, iNovia and Kakao Ventures, with continued participation from Instagram co-founder Mike Krieger and Zynga founder Mark Pincus. Existing Spatial investors also include the likes of Samsung NEXT, Baidu Ventures, and LG Ventures to name a few.

Founded in 2016 by Anand Agarawala and Jinha Lee, the company’s social AR/VR workspace has since gone on to include support for Microsoft HoloLens 2, Oculus Quest, Magic Leap 1, Qualcomm XR2, Android/iPhone mobile device and traditional monitors.