Invent an exciting new games technology. Imagine all the possibilities. New worlds, new forms of interaction, new creativity mediums, maybe even new ways of humans interacting with each other.
Let's be honest. It's going to end up being all about guns, isn't it?
And so it is that Unreal/Gears of War studio Epic's Oculus Rift-exclusive first-person shooter Robo Recall [official site] joins Serious Sam VR and SUPERHOT VR in the so-far short roster of virtual reality titles I can see myself revisiting relatively often. What these have in common is, of course, face-shooting. I'm not proud, but I did have a bloody good time.
]]>I've already yammered about the design and capabilities of the Oculus Touch motion controller hardware itself, and now it's time to talk software. Around 50 Touch-enabled VR games and apps launched this week - more than I can feasibly hope to look at, but I've been able to finger-gun and swipe and prod in enough of 'em to give you a clear sense of what this whole experience is like right now for games and software, and whether the Touch is generally a goer or not.
Also: SUPERHOT.
]]>I've been playing with them there Oculus Touch controllers for the last few days - a pair of wireless, motion-tracking handheld devices that, in theory, bring the Oculus Rift more in line with the HTC Vive and its wavy, donut-ended pointers. Turns out they're quite a bit better.
]]>Oculus Touch, the handheld VR controllers that let you throw balls and knives at things that don’t exist, will come out on December 6. The whole kit costs $199 and includes two sensors needed to detect the controllers. Of course, if you want to play in a bigger space you might need another sensor – and that’s another $79. Not to mention that you will then be dragging wires all over your living room as if you’re setting traps for rabbits. This was all announced at the Oculus Connect 3 conference. But how many games will there be? And what will they be? Well, come with me and I’ll tell you.
]]>My arms are aching, I'm anxious and I want to be standing on solid ground again. I'm just about as uncomfortable as I can remember being while playing a game, and I think that's a good thing.
At Gamescom, I played two games using the Oculus Touch that impressed me. One was Wilson's Heart, a horror game that reminded me of Frictional's work, and the other was a climbing game. It wasn't the horror game that caused my anxiety to spike, it was The Climb. After playing, I spoke to Jason Rubin, formerly of Naughty Dog and now head of Oculus' “first-party initiatives”. He's spent the last two years figuring out what VR gaming is capable of, and working with game studios to identify projects that might work and problems that might arise. We talked about what is possible now and what the future might hold.
]]>Cybergoggleeers, please play Galaxy Golf [official site] and allow me to live vicariously through you. It looks like Super Mario Galaxy crazy golf and I'm sorry I can't find out for myself. Yes, I know I'm the kind of dreadful VR sceptic who calls this latest fad a "fad". That I'm always saying we're years away from the future others will tell you is already here. That I insist it's not even proper VR unless if you die in the game, you die in real life. But I still want to blast balls between dinky planetoids.
]]>Killing Floor bills itself as "survival horror" but it's not really. Don't get me wrong, it and its sequel Killing Floor 2 are great wave survival FPSs - with their onslaught of Zeds, waves of chainsaw-wielding monstrosities, and the positively formidable Patriarch - but jump scares and the blind panic levied by running out of ammo doesn't exactly constitute horror, does it?
Killing Floor: Incursion [official site], the "intense" co-op VR shooter announced this week by developers Tripwire, on the other hand, looks bloody terrifying! Take a peak below, I dare you.
]]>The Oculus Touch has been delayed. Originally planned for release in 'Q2' of 2016, the VR motion controllers are now due to arrive in the back of the year according to an update on the Oculus site. The Rift headset remains on course for release in the first quarter of the year, with pre-orders "launching very soon".
The header image represents my feelings.
]]>Oculus Connect 2 is currently taking place in California and it's brought with it a dozen announcements. No, not the price - though it'll be at least $300. No, not a more specific release date than "Q1 2016", though they did say the Touch controllers would be out Q2 2016. But if you want to know about watching Netflix in a virtual reality cinema, playing Minecraft on a VR headset, and which games are being developed specifically for the Oculus Rift and Oculus Touch, then read on for details and videos.
]]>Tinseltown is awash with virtual stars this week, thanks to the Oculus Connect event. Hatsune Miku has pressed her hands into virtual concrete on Hollywood Boulevard, Palmer Luckey is delighting tourists outside Grauman's Chinese Theatre with his levitation, and Epic Games have unveiled a new Unreal Engine 4 VR tech demo.
Named Bullet Train, it's an idea for a first-person shooter using Oculus Rift or Gear VR cybergoggles along with the Oculus Touch handheld motion controllers. And... look, I know I'm a decrepit cane-waving VR sceptic to you, but I swear it looks like a fancier version of Dactyl Nightmare. See:
]]>The Oculus press conference in LA ahead of E3 has come to a close (though you can watch the rebroadcast here), and we now know what the consumer version of the Rift VR headset will look like, that it will come with an XBox One controller, and that Oculus have developed their own motion controller called the Oculus Touch. Step below for a brief round-up of the most important news from the conference, a trailer showing the headset, and mention of a couple of the new games that were shown at the event.
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