‘Rose Colored’ is an Impactful Sci-Fi Morality Tale in the Vein of ‘Black Mirror’
My favorite narrative VR piece that I’ve seen so far this year is Rose Colored by Adam Cosco that premiered at VRLA. It’s a science fiction morality tale that is asking us to look at a potential future of immersive technology. I’m cautious to say much more without spoiling his experience, and so I’d highly recommend checking out Rose Colored either on Vimeo, Facebook, or Samsung VR before listening to this interview.
Review: ‘The Mage’s Tale’
Stepping into The Mage’s Tale, a first-person dungeon crawler RPG that puts you in the enchanted boots of an apprentice mage, is a bit like jumping into your own personal ’80s sword and sorcery flick. With elemental magic at the ready, you get to experience classic dungeon crawler stuff like exploration, spell crafting, puzzles, and battle against a number of monster types—and all of it in the immersive realm of VR. While at times a little rough around the edges, The Mage’s Tale is a charming throwback that vaults you head-first into a dank and mysterious universe of inXile’s other series, The Bard’s Tale.
HTC Teases More AAA VR Content on the Way
One of the biggest VR stories at E3 2017 was that Bethesda’s Fallout 4 (2015), Doom (2016), and Skyrim (2011) are all coming to VR this year. VR gamers have been hungry for AAA content and it while Bethesda’s announcement is a great step in that direction, HTC says you can expect more on the way.
HTC Explains Why It Hasn’t Lowered the Price of the Vive
Despite its primary competitor, Oculus, making a major price cut to the Rift & Touch earlier this year, HTC’s Vive headset still sits at a hearty $800. The company’s GM of VR, Daniel O’Brien, tells us why HTC hasn’t cut the cost of their headset in response.
Oculus Begins ‘Summer of Rift’ Sale, $100 Credit for Rift & Touch Bundle Buyers
Oculus have announced they will be offering up to 60% price reductions on over 30 titles across the Oculus Store for the Rift and Gear VR from June 16th until July 5th. In addition, between now and June 24th, customers purchasing a Rift and Touch bundle [Amazon] will receive $100 in Store credit.
Racing Game “Sprint Vector” is an Intense Workout with VR Locomotion that Just Works
Sprint Vector is an “adrenaline platformer” racing game that relies upon a unique locomotion technique of swinging your arms in order to run through an obstacle course. It’s the latest game from Raw Data developer Survios, but with a much more light-hearted stylized art aesthetic that has a unique mash-up of a game show, extreme sports, and a competitive racing game with an Sonic-inspired obstacle course. It’s also a unique combination of active exercise with a combination of embodied and abstracted gameplay mechanics.
I had a chance to catch up with Sprint Vector game designer Andrew Abedian at GDC where we talked about the mechanics of racing, the internal habits that are being formed by Survios developers, the intensity of exercise and stamina required to play the game, achieving flow states, and it’s potential to evolve into a competitive eSport. It’s a super fun experience to watch other people play either in a tournament competition in mixed reality or just as a quirky form of VR performance art (examples down below).
New Oculus Update Embraces 360 Room-scale, Adds Mixed Reality Capture
Version 1.16 of Oculus Rift software is beginning to roll out to all Rift users, adding support for Mixed Reality capture, a redesigned interface for future updates and issue reporting, a new Home environment and multilanguage support. The Store now supports 360°-only apps, and provides alerts before purchases if you don’t have an appropriate tracking setup.
E3 2017 ‘Day 5’ Roundup: Phil Spencer on Xbox VR, ‘Space Junkies’ Hands-On, Android GameFace Adds SteamVR Tracking
As E3 2017 draws to a close, here’s our final roundup of news. Phil Spencer gives an enlightening interview with Giant Bomb, we go hands-on with Ubisoft’s new VR shooter Space Junkies, and try out the latest standalone VR headset from GameFace Labs.
GameFace Shows Lighthouse Tracking on Android, Aims to Be First VR Headset to Support SteamVR & Daydream
GameFace Labs, one of the earliest companies to begin development of a standalone VR headset, is back with the latest version of their prototype device now featuring SteamVR (AKA Lighthouse) tracking running on the Android-based system.
Xbox Head Phil Spencer Clarifies Stance on VR for Xbox One X in Refreshingly Candid Interview
Microsoft’s E3 2017 presentation concentrated on the new Xbox One X console, but made no mention of VR. After dodging questions for the first few days following the presentation, Phil Spencer, Head of Xbox, gave his thoughts on the games industry, the Xbox One X reveal, and Microsoft’s position in the VR space in a refreshingly candid interview with Giant Bomb’s Jeff Gerstmann last night.
E3 2017: HTC & Intel to Offer High-end Wireless VR Solution in “Early 2018”
At Computex 2017, Intel’s Gregory Bryant demonstrated the company’s wireless VR solution on stage. He claimed this was the first public showing of the HTC Vive using Intel’s WiGig technology, and further confirms that HTC is bringing the product to market in “early 2018.”
E3 2017 ‘Day 4’ Roundup: DisplayLink’s Impressive Wireless VR Solution, Bethesda on VR Support, ‘Walking Dead’ in VR, and More
Here’s our roundup of news from ‘day 4’ of E3 2017. New The Walking Dead games were revealed, Bethesda clarifies VR platform exclusivity stance, we go hands-on with Ace Combat 7, and try out DisplayLink’s XR wireless solution for the HTC Vive.
Hands-on: DisplayLink XR Wireless VR Tech is Top Notch, Lighter Than it Looks
At E3 2017, DisplayLink is touting their ‘XR’ wireless solution to eliminate the tether on VR headsets. Our hands-on with their reference device revealed a robust solution with impressive quality and unnoticeable latency.
Hands-on: ‘Ace Combat 7’ Campaign Not Playable on PSVR, Separate Mode to Offer ‘Several Hours of VR Gameplay’
Stepping into the Bandai Namco booth at E3 in Los Angeles, I got a hands-on with Ace Combat 7: Skies Unknown’s PSVR mode. Far from being just a single mission, the VR mode is apparently going to offer “several hours of VR gameplay” according to David Bonacci, Brand Manager at Bandai Namco Entertainment America.
