Here’s some excellent news for anyone interersted in the Oculus Rift. Adhesive Games, the studio behind the upcoming (and awesome looking) Hawken has announced in conjunction with Oculus that the title will be Oculus Rift ready when it launches this December. Hawken is an upcoming free-to-play ‘mech‘ title which I’ve had my eye on for some time. The game world has gone too long without a standout mech game. What already looked to be a visceral experience, with a world full of gritty detailed environments and massive battling robots, is now being taken to the next level thanks to Oculus Rift support.
Announced in the 6th Oculus Rift Kickstarter update, Hawken is free-to-play which means that anyone with an Oculus Rift head mounted display will be able to see what it feels like to pilot a mech in virtual reality for free. The studio promises the inclusion of a custom mech interior which gives Rift users the ability to look around the cockpit with head tracking. The interior will also have a custom HUD which will presumably make vital UI info more easy to read on the Rift.
Palmer and friends talk some big words about this in the video below:
When people try Hawken with a Rift, I think they’re going to understand all this hype, all the potential; what it means for the future of virtual reality.
Hawken is based on the Unreal Engine from Epic Games, one of the first engines to announce support for the Rift; this is one of the reasons that Rift integration with the game is possible. Hawken launches on December 12th, 2012 — unassembled Oculus Rift developer kits (the $275 tier) are expected to arrive in November while other tiers are on schedule for December.
