After announcing the launch of a VR studio last year, Justin Roiland, the co-creator of the hit animated show Rick and Morty, is set to deliver the keynote address at next week’s VRLA Expo 2017, April 14th and 15th.
Tactical Haptics, developers of the Reactive Grip controller, are showing their latest prototypes now with attachments for the Vive Tracker, Oculus Touch, and a custom-built SteamVR Tracking solution. The controller employs a unique solution to haptic feedback which aims to recreate the feeling of friction against objects in your hands rather than just rumble. The company is moving toward bringing a development kit of the device to developers.
Jump scares are universally hated by horror film and game enthusiasts alike for being ‘cheap thrills’, and are oft considered the low-hanging fruit of the genre. Suspense and existential dread however are much harder to manufacture in a horror game, and from what I’ve seen at this year’s GDC, Paranormal Activity: The Lost Soul has it in spades. As it stands, this isn’t some short ‘brand engagement’ piece like we’ve seen in the past either, but rather a true game that’s clearly intending to approach AAA status.
Robo Recall has been given a locomotion mod for those looking for a less-restrictive movement system. Epic Games’ new VR shooter employs a teleport mechanic for movement, but has full mod support, allowing for additional experimental control systems.
Peripheral manufacturer Bionik are building a Rift-life aftermarket integrated headphone solution for the PlayStation VR called ‘Mantis’ and, they look pretty neat too.
Alongside the $100 price cut of both Rift headset and Touch controllers, Oculus also permanently reduced the price of additional Sensors to $59. This is the first major price reduction for high-end PC VR hardware since launch.
At GDC 2017 this week we’ve gone hands-on with the latest prototype of StrikerVR’s ‘Arena Infinity’ haptic VR gun. Built (for now) for the out-of-home sector, the peripheral’s powerful haptics adapt from guns to chainsaws to grenade launchers and more.
Is Duck Season a game? Is a Hot Pocket a meal? Who needs labels anyway? Created by Stress Level Zero, developers of multiplayer shooter Hover Junkers (2016), Duck Season is something, that’s for sure. Part shooting game, part theater piece, part exploration experience, Duck Season defies the genre pigeonholing that would make this article easier to write.
“Adrenaline platformer” is the apt descriptor that Survios is using for their newly announced title, Sprint Vector. The core of the game is what the company is calling the Fluid Locomotion System, a synthesis of VR movement techniques seen elsewhere that together add up to a supremely satisfying way to move around VR worlds at high speed without getting dizzy.
According to UBS analyst Steven Milunovich, Apple could have over 1,000 engineers working on Augmented Reality technology in Israel, mostly at its major R&D centre in Herzliya. Milunovich maintains Apple might introduce AR features similar to Google’s Tango in the next iPhone.
Amazon announced VR support for Lumberyard, their free of cost CryEngine-based game engine, at last year’s GDC, but this year the company is pushing the feature specs of the engine, maintaining that Lumberyard is the first game engine to directly integrate temporal anti-aliasing, specular anti-aliasing and order-independent transparency.
ARK Park is a VR spin-off of ARK: Survival Evolved (2017) from Suzhou, China-based Snail Games. Letting you explore the habitats of the world’s wild mix of fictional and non-fictional pre-historic creatures, ARK Park is betting big on the pure wow-factor of coming face to face with dinos in what promises to be an experience brimming with possibilities for exploration.
Harmonix has revealed the music setlist you’ll be able to choose from and a new video which breaks down how to play the VR exclusive version of the game which the developer claims has been “designed from the ground up for VR.”
After hyping everyone up recently with a short teaser video, eye-tracking specialists Tobii have revealed more details and video examples their eye tracking in action at GDC, including integration with social VR application Rec Room.
As has been Epic Games’ style for many years, Robo Recall – built on the company’s Unreal Engine 4 – allows you to change the original game via the engine’s editor, giving you the tools you need to mod the title to your heart’s content.
