Steam Direct, a new sign-up system for launching games on the store, is due to replace Greenlight in Spring 2017. Currently, any developer or publisher new to Steam is required to submit their game for approval through Greenlight, which involves a small fee and community voting; the new system may have different implications for VR developers.
Valve chief Gabe Newell is optimistic about the future of VR, considering the studio is in development of three VR titles—not mini-games or experiences, but “full” VR games—but what about the future of VR hardware?
The impressively svelte VRGE VR headset dock has passed the 50% mark of its $30,000 Kickstarter campaign goal. With support for the Vive, Rift, and PlayStation VR (and their respective controllers), the dock appears to be a smart accessory for VR early adopters, but it won’t be a sure thing until the campaign is fully funded.
Slightly Mad Studios has begun the promotional campaign for Project CARS 2, revealing a new trailer and some new details. Now due ‘late 2017’, the game has confirmed VR support for PC, while PSVR support is in development but not yet promised.
Ubisoft’s upcoming VR multiplayer game Star Trek: Bridge Crew is delayed again, this time to May 30th. The good news? Ubisoft is letting you choose the good ol’ NCC-1701 from ‘The Original Series’ (TOS) so you can play solo as captain, or as an officer in a crew of up to four online players.
With the news that WebVR is now supported in Google’s official Android Chrome browser and Daydream-supported phones have the ability to pop into virtual reality experiences just by clicking on a simple hyperlink, we’re more impatient than ever for WebVR to make its way to the standard Chrome browser for PC. But did you know you can try out the magic of WebVR experiences on HTC Vive right now? Easily one of the coolest VR experiences to date may only be a click away.
Following the recent unfavorable court decision which saw a $500 million judgement levied on Oculus and some of its founders last week, Facebook has shared a glimpse into what they call “the most advanced virtual and augmented reality research center and team in the world.”
Valve has confirmed that the company is in development of not one, but three “full” VR titles being built in conjunction with their ongoing VR development.
Recent updates to Oculus Home on both desktop and Gear VR have added a Voice Search feature which makes zipping around your VR content library much easier than the old method of digging through menus and thumbnails.
Experimental builds of Chrome for Android have seen ongoing development of WebVR functionality, but today is a major milestone as WebVR comes to the stable branch of Chrome on Android—that’s the same version that everyone on Android sees in Google’s Play Store and the same version that’s been installed between 1 and 5 billion times. Now those with a Daydream supported phone and headset can step into virtual reality experiences directly through the browser.
Launching originally for PlayStation VR, Robinson: The Journey was carefully optimized and tweaked to ensure consistent performance across all PS4 systems. The recently released Rift version—despite lacking Touch support—fortunately puts control into PC players hands, allowing you to max out the visuals, if your computer can handle it.
Robinson: The Journey, Crytek’s second VR title and former PSVR exclusive, has landed on the Oculus store. Priced at $40, the game unfortunately lacks support for Oculus’ Touch controllers, leaving players to use a gamepad to awkwardly facilitate the game’s many hand-based interactions.
Knockout League (2017) is a single-player, arcade-style boxing game that promises to get your heart pumping as you duck, block, and punch your way to victory. Harking back to NES classic Punch-Out!! (1987), you learn pretty quickly that a storm of punches—the moral equivalent of button-mashing—will get you nothing if you can’t time them correctly to your opponent’s repertoire of moves. So while Knockout League can’t promise what you might call “boxing sim” realism, it definitely delivers a lot of fun along with the stark realization that I clearly don’t get enough exercise.
Developer: Grab Games
Available On: Oculus Touch, HTC Vive (Oculus Home & Steam)
Reviewed on: HTC Vive
Release Date: January 24th, 2017
Note: This game is in Early Access which means the developers have deemed it incomplete and likely to see changes over time. This review is an assessment of the game’s current state, and will not receive a numerical score.
Intel says ‘Project Alloy’ is an open reference platform for companies who want to build advanced, all-in-one VR headsets. But the headset itself still in ong going development. Developers working closely with the headset have shared new details on what’s coming in the next version.
