Facebook Connect is certainly the marquee VR event this month, but it looks like other companies are hoping to steal a bit of the spotlight. First HTC teased an upcoming product to be revealed next week, and now high-end headset marker Varjo says it plans to unveil its “most highly anticipated product release yet” on October 21st, just days before Facebook Connect on the 26th.
It’s been more than four years since the release of the lauded Lone Echo, but its sequel is finally just around the corner. Ahead of Lone Echo II’s release date on October 12th, Facebook’s VR studio Ready at Dawn has revealed a launch trailer teasing some of the action players can expect from the game.
Song in the Smoke is a prehistoric-flavored survival game that puts a clever, but not incredibly deep crafting system at its core. Far from damning, this introduces the sort of gameplay friction that will always leave you with just enough useable resources to move forward, but never enough to be comfortable as you explore the game’s one-way trip through an interesting and complex set of bespoke levels. Combat is a little lackluster and visuals feel muddy at times, but Song in the Smoke still manages to charm you even as you’re being hunted by a giant ethereal beast bigger than an SUV.
Canon, one of the world’s leading camera makers, today introduced a new dual-optic lens which captures 180° stereoscopic views through a single sensor on the company’s high-end EOS R5 camera.
Jurassic World Aftermath unabashedly hijacks the hide-and-seek gameplay of Alien Isolation (2014) while bringing it to VR with a Jurassic Park context and a unique and well executed visual style. With Part 2 now released as paid DLC, the game finally offers a complete narrative and gameplay arc.
HTC recently said that it will host an online Vive event next week, but has only teased minimal hints about what it plans to announce. Regulatory filings spotted by Road to VR suggest a new standalone HTC Vive headset will be revealed.
Respawn Entertainment and Oculus are taking the PC VR game Medal of Honor: Above and Beyond (2020) and slimming it down to fit on Oculus Quest 2 for launch later this year. Make sure to clear out plenty of space though, as the game is slated to take up a around “40-45GB,” the developer says.
Pico Interactive’s next generation headsets—the Pico Neo 3 Pro and 3 Pro Eye—are now shipping to businesses worldwide, and they’re looking to undercut both Oculus and HTC by offering a pretty appealing set of specs at one of the lowest prices we’ve seen targeted at enterprise.
Waltz of the Wizard is a spell-casting VR experience that got much deeper with the entrance of the ‘Natural Magic’ expansion on Quest and SteamVR headsets in July, which fundamentally changed the game by bringing a new magic-based combat system and a massive dungeon to fight through. Now Iceland-based studio Aldin Dynamics has pushed out the game’s first big update, called ‘Powers’, which includes a lot more than just a set of new magical powers.
Larcenauts (2021), the VR hero shooter from Impulse Gear, is getting its big ‘Zaruis Heist’ update starting today, which brings a good slice of new content to the game on Quest and PC VR headsets.
HTC is gearing up to hold what seems to be a new product unveiling on October 14th, or just ahead of Facebook Connect on the 28th of that month. The company says we’ll be hearing about some “big news in a small package.”
The Cretaceous game of cat & mouse on Quest, Jurassic World Aftermath, is due to get a major Part 2 DLC tomorrow which promises to bring new dino encounters, mini-game interactions, and a completion to the story started (and abruptly ended) in Part 1. We got an exclusive early look at the game with new details straight from the developers.
Back in July Facebook announced that it had spun up a new organization internally to begin building part of the metaverse, a series of interconnected virtual experiences and worlds that the company believes is the next step for human communication and interaction. As part of that effort Facebook this week announced that it’s earmarking $50 million to spend on external research and partnerships to help the company “ensure [our metaverse] products are developed responsibly.”
Lone Echo II, Ready at Dawn’s long-awaited sequel to the sci-fi adventure Oculus PC exclusive, was supposed to make its grand entrance back in August, but was delayed at the last minute to “later this year.” Now the studio says it’s officially set for launch on October 12th.
