During Facebook Connect, Ubisoft announced that it is developing two new games exclusively for the Oculus platform. Based on the Assassin’s Creed and Tom Clancy’s Splinter Cell franchises, both games deliver the signature fantasy of each brand through the unique immersive experience of VR.

Development of Assassin’s Creed and Tom Clancy’s Splinter Cell for VR will be led by Ubisoft’s Red Storm Entertainment, in collaboration with Ubisoft Reflections, Ubisoft Düsseldorf and Ubisoft Mumbai. Both games will be created from the ground up specifically for the Oculus platform, and each will include elements from the franchises that fans know and love. By bringing Assassin’s Creed and Tom Clancy’s Splinter Cell to VR, Ubisoft is continuing to innovate in this growing sector. A pioneer of new technology, Ubisoft has been developing VR experiences since 2016, with titles like Eagle Flight, Werewolves Within, and Star Trek Bridge Crew — all of which are available on the Oculus platform.

“We are always exploring new ways we can leverage technology to help us create memorable gaming experiences,” said Elizabeth Loverso, Vice President of Product Development, Ubisoft’s Red Storm Entertainment. “Oculus’s state-of-the-art hardware will enable us to bring the worlds of Assassin’s Creed and Tom Clancy’s Splinter Cell to life for fans in a new way. These games will take full advantage of Oculus’s technology to deliver immersive, visceral experiences that players won’t be able to find anywhere else.”

“We’re thrilled to work with Ubisoft in bringing two of their AAA franchises to VR. They’re an exceptional partner consistently creating ground-breaking content, and Assassin’s Creed and Tom Clancy’s Splinter Cell on the Oculus platform will be no different. Players will have dramatic, immersive experiences inside beloved worlds previously only available in 2D, and we’re so eager to bring these made-for-VR games to franchise fans and new audiences alike,” said Mike Verdu, VP of Content, Facebook Reality Labs.

Both titles are scheduled to release in the next couple of months.

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Little Witch Academia: VR Broom Racing (LWAVR), the VR racing game from UNIVRS, Inc. based on the famous anime, takes off on Oculus Quest in late 2020 then PSVR, Oculus Rift and SteamVR with support for Oculus Rift and HTC Vive in early 2021.

Directed by Junichi Yamamoto, whose past positions include opening and ending movie director on The Legend of Zelda: Link’s Awakening and storyboard artist of Batman Ninja, LWAVR puts fans in the shoes of a new student at Luna Nova Witchcraft Academy.

Learn to soar with the help and encouragement of fan-favorite characters from the popular anime while UNIVRS, Inc.’s motion sickness reduction technology keeps the focus on the exhilaration of flying.

Become part of an all new story told across more than 10 tracks spread throughout familiar areas around Luna Nova. Pair up with fellow students to be the first to cross the finish line or purify ghosts in single player mode, then join real-world friends via online multiplayer to explore the rich environments of Little Witch Academia in immersive VR.

Little Witch Academia is a Japanese anime series produced by Studio TRIGGER, one of the leading animation studios founded by the creators behind legendary shows such as Neon Genesis Evangelion. The series consists of two short films, the second of which found huge success on Kickstarter with $625,518 raised from 7,938 backers, and a 25-episode TV series currently available on Netflix.

Successfully funded on Kickstarter and Campfire, a Japanese popular crowdfunding platform, LWAVR raised over $165,000 USD in total between the two campaigns in July 2019. It was originally scheduled for release in June 2020, but adopting protective measures against COVID-19 has resulted in a change in plans.

LWAVR will be available on Oculus Quest in late 2020 while PSVR, Oculus Rift, and SteamVR versions will follow in early 2021. It will feature voice acting in English and Japanese from the talents who star in the anime.

Everyone that works on STG is a volunteer. If you like the site and it’s contents please think about donating. Even a small amount helps keep the servers running.

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New Orleans is the setting for The Walking Dead: Saints and Sinners, a VR game based on the comic book by Robert Kirkman.

Similar to Telltale’s Walking Dead games, Saints and Sinners is not a tie-in with The Walking Dead TV show. This is probably fortunate, as The Walking Dead: Survival Instinct, the 2013 game based on the TV show was not very well received.

Played via Valve’s SteamVR platform, Saints and Sinners is compatible with the Value Index, HTC Vive, Oculus rift and Window Mixed Reality VR platforms. I tested the game using HTC’s original Vive and the new Vive Cosmos, both without technical issues.

At the start, the game drops the player, referred to as “The Tourist” into a New Orleans cemetery, at night, without any weapons. The distant moans suggest that you are not alone.

Virtual reality is no stranger to zombie games. The likes of The Brookhaven Experiment and Arizona Sunshine have been terrorizing players in VR since the beginning. But this is The Walking Dead and reaching for your sidearm is all well and good, but the gunshots are likely to bring more walkers (zombies) to bear down on you.

Very early on in the game you get to realized that stealth and melee is the way to go. The game allows players to sneak up on an undead and grab its head with one hand, whilst plunging a screwdriver or other weapon into its temple with the other.

Rather grossly, the implement does get a little stuck and needs a bit of a shake to get out. The walkers ragdoll nicely on the end of your motion controllers, avoiding the feeling that you just passed your hand though their bodies (a la Skyrim VR).

The game is really designed as a seated experience, which I have no problem with. But players can also stand. I was very mindful that the game disables the SteamVR chaperone, which is potentially dangerous if you are swinging your arms about. It made me hesitant to reach out to attack walkers in case I hit my desk (my chair is on rollers, and I find I do move about). I also managed to tie myself up with the Vive’s cable.

The game comes with the usual comfort setting which can be adjusted depending on your sensitivity to VR sickness. I had no problems setting the game for smooth motion and turning, but it very much depends on your VR legs.

Dealing with the odd walker does make you feel like a superhero as take them out one by one, its only when confronted by a few too many than thing start to get dicey. In VR, being surrounded by walkers is pretty scary. You can tell yourself it’s just a game as much as you like, fumbling for your pistol as walking corpses stumble towards you feels oh so very real.

The game makes full use of player movements to grab your backpack or rifle from over your shoulder, sidearm from your holster and torch from your chest. All very immersive, but a bit clumsy if you find yourself surrounded, dropping your gun and having to reach for your backpack to get out your shiv. You also, sometimes have to climb, hand over-hand, so watch out if you have a ceiling fan! Personally, like Doom VFR and Skyrim VR, I’d have liked a gamepad option to enable me to enjoy the VR environment without having to wave my arms about.

The game is fairly linear, with a main story questline plus additional tasks obtained from NPCs. As you progress you come across human factions that, like in the comic book, become more of a danger than the walkers.

If you die, you go back to the last checkpoint, but with your kit left where you were killed. I wasn’t a fan of this gameplay element, giving the game an unnecessary bit of difficulty that I sometimes found a chore, especially if I lost everything among a horde of walkers.

The graphics offer a first-class VR experience. This is a full game and not a shooting gallery. Whilst not entirely photo-real, characters still look a bit cartoony, it looks real enough. New Orleans looks great and the silhouettes of shambling walkers milling about in the shadows, suitably chilling.

The Walking Dead: Saints and Sinners is a premium VR title that offers players a full-length VR gaming experience. It is designed with long play-sessions in mind, which may be too much for some. But it is a good game and moves VR in the direction that it should be going, away from short “VR experiences”. The game is certainly the best zombie VR title available right now, and possibly one of the best first-person VR games full-stop.

The post The Walking Dead: Saints and Sinners VR (PC) Review appeared first on Shane the Gamer.

Transpose, the dreamlike VR puzzle game from Entertainment One’s (eOne) Emmy Award-winning studio Secret Location, and creator of critically acclaimed VR titles, including Blasters of the Universe and Sleepy Hollow: VR Experience, officially released today.

Available globally for HTC VIVE, Oculus Rift, and PlayStationVR in the SIEA and SIEE regions, Transpose challenges players to record multiple overlapping versions of themselves that need to work together to solve increasingly intricate puzzles.

In room-scale VR, Transpose players use their spatial problem-solving skills to manipulate their past actions and the environment, as VR’s motion tracking capabilities record players’ movements and play them back in real time. With three unique worlds containing over 30 mystifying Levels, Transpose features nearly 8 hours of gameplay that challenges players to collect and sacrifice energy to power up a mysterious ancient machine.

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Today award-winning game developer Zatun has announced to us here at STG that the latest entry in their action-packed marksman series is set to launch on June 19th, 2018.

Prepare to embark on a global adventure as one of the top sharpshooters of the world in Sniper Rust VR for the Oculus Rift!

Gamers can download the Sniper Rust VR demo from Steam and the Oculus store to put their sniping skills to the test ahead of launch. The demo includes a full Level and access to shooting range mode.

Zatun is a cross-platform game development / art studio based out of Gujarat, India. They have collaborated on more than 200 leading game titles with over 300 clients, including 2K, Disney, Wargaming, Ubisoft, NECA and many others. Their F2P mobile shooter Sniper 3D Rust released last spring for iOS and Android devices.

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With The Talos Principle, Serious Sam developers, Croteam, ditched the mindless (but fun) violence of their previous endeavours. Instead we have a philosophical game that ponders about sentient A.I. and features some neat puzzles.

Despite being a few years old now, fans of The Talos Principle have been crying out for a virtual reality version of the game. Having been teased by Croteam and their Serious Sam VR releases, it was only a matter of time until we were given the opportunity to return to The Talos Principle in VR.

And that time is now. HTC Vive, Oculus Rift and Windows Mixed Reality equipped PC owners can now fully immerse themselves into the VR version of this award-winning puzzle game.

The Talos Principle VR is identical to the flat version but, as an added bonus, this new release includes the Road to Gehenna expansion.

Players take on the role of an un-named android charged with completing a serious of puzzles under the guidance of a god-like disembodied voice that calls itself Elohim. The open 3D world is restricted by barriers with empty slots for Tetris-style shapes that form keys.

In order to progress, these key pieces need be picked up from the centre of a series of puzzle. By relocating prism-topped tripods players can manipulate light beams to lower forcefields, knockout motion-sensing machine games, stop exploding drones and unlock gates.

At any one time there are a number of puzzles available, allowing players to leave a puzzle for later and try another.

The puzzles are set amongst the backdrop of what could be the ruins of human society. Reading optional information available on terminals players can read the personal accounts of the people that witnessed the end of humanity.

As you progress through the puzzles you open up new areas moving from lush vegetation, to desert and onto stone ruins. At the centre of the game world is a tower. Elohim forbids you from climbing it. But, of course, you are going to do exactly that.

The game offers up a very poignant question of what it is to be alive. The story is one that will keep you thinking long after you’ve finished the game.

In 2D The Talos Principle is a masterpiece of story-telling and puzzle gameplay. In VR you become that android A.I. exploring Elohim’s world first hand.

The VR game looks every bit as beautiful as it’s flatter brethren. The game gives players the choice of using DirectX or the more efficient Vulkan API. You are going to need a beast of a machine to run the game with the graphics turned up, so I’d suggest selecting the Vulkan graphics option.

The game can use a supersampling option to sharpen the visuals, but even with a i7 7700K and a GTX1080ti GPU you are not going to get much over x2 without some serious nausea-inducing juddering. Various locomotion methods are offered, with the smooth movement only recommended for players that are well and truly over their VR sickness.

The Talos Principle VR is a great use of virtual reality that really fits the story being told. It’s also a relatively mellow, though-provoking experience, rather than some twitchy affair that need lots of arm-waving. You are unlikely to push your fist though the wall, or you monitor as use casually make your way through Elohim’s trials.

If you have the rig and the VR kit to play it, I’d recommend The Talos Principle VR in a heartbeat.

The post The Talos Principle VR (HTC Vive) Review appeared first on Shane the Gamer.

Levity Play is excited to announce its multiplayer first-person shooter, Skyfront VR, will release on Steam Early Access on November the 10th, 2017.

Building upon the legacy of classic PC arena shooters, Skyfront VR is set to launch the genre forward into the realm of VR with a first for the form – the freedom of heated, aerial combat, without the worry of nausea that typically accompanies it.

Acknowledging the hurdle that motion sickness poses for many prospective VR gamers – particularly in the FPS space – Skyfront VR boasts unique locomotion mechanics that help to centre players and provide them with a more comfortable gameplay experience. Movement is handled by moving one’s hands, translating to 1:1 movement in this virtual, zero-gravity space. By forcing players to consciously guide their in-game movements with their physical body, this eliminates the sensory conflict that often occurs when movement is dictated by a joystick.

Combined with large, open arenas and collision dampening when approaching surfaces, Skyfront VR nails its balance between intuitive freedom of movement and the tight FPS gameplay players expect from an arena shooter.

Set against the backdrop of an idyllic future where mankind has mastered the laws of nature, players will battle for supremacy in zero-gravity arenas comprised of the cities of old, now floating in the sky. Marking its Steam Early Access launch, players will initially have access to 2 gorgeous arenas, Deathmatch and Team Deathmatch gametypes, 5 different weapons, 5 special abilities for turning the tide of battle, and a Bot Shootout practice mode, ensuring there’s no shortage of ways to make a mark on the skybound battlefield. Building upon this strong framework, Levity Play will continue to implement new modes, maps and features as it crafts Skyfront VR into the next generation of VR arena shooters.

So, get ready to make your move, boundary-free, in gravity-defying battle arenas. Pick your weapons wisely, set your abilities strategically and prepare to fight for VR glory!

The post Get Ready for the First Nausea-Free, Zero-G VR! appeared first on Shane the Gamer.

Independent developer Devious Technologies, in partnership with Carbon Incubator, today announced that their physics-based puzzle title Marble Land is launching on Oculus Rift, HTC Vive and Gear VR this November (2017), with Playstation VR and Google Daydream support planned in the coming months.

InMarble Land players manipulate futuristic Rube Goldberg-inspired devices scattered across ancient ruins, to guide a blue marble to its target destination.

“With Marble Land we are trying to bring back the arcade marble run experience to players and VR technology allows us to take this experience to the next level”, said George Tudor, the CEO of Devious Technologies. ”No time limit or pressure and unlimited tries make Marble Land, a relaxing fun experience, like a walk in the park. Marble Land will appeal to all the people who want to cut down on their stress levels and escape from reality.”

In Marble Land, players come up against 45 increasingly complex puzzles set on intricately designed platforms with a goal to clear the way for a blue marble to reach a green target. Players interact with the environment rather than the marble, manipulating various structures with different mechanics (changing the direction of the marble, teleporting it, etc) that affect the marble’s path with each change on the platform. Players are allowed to spawn an unlimited number of marbles while figuring out the correct configuration of the puzzle elements that would lead the marble into the target.

The post Marble Land Rolls Out on Virtual Reality appeared first on Shane the Gamer.

The Intel Conference and PC Gaming Show at E3 2017 has brought out the latest in PC gaming to the predominantly console based industry convention. Held at the beautiful theatre at the Ace Hotel in Los Angeles, Intel kicked off the event with an introduction to their new Core X series, including the i9 X, which will be available to pre-order next week.

From the conference, it seems that Intel is focusing their efforts more on VR experiences and e-sports, especially now that e-sports is being treated as a major sporting event with more fans watching than playing. This year alone the Intel Extreme Masters (“IEM”) had over 40 million viewers. As a result of their commitment to e-sports, Intel announced today that they are partnering with ESL and have been named as ESL’s global partner. In addition, Intel confirmed its $1 million prize pool in the new Intel grand slam with ESL.

For VR esports to grow, there needs to be a list of good titles and growth of the gamer base. Intel commits to this by introducing the multiplayer VR game, Echo Arena, which will be getting a free release with all Oculus Rift purchases. There will be an equivalent single-player VR alternative titled, alone Echo. Additionally, Intel will be expanding its partnership with ESL and Oculus Rift to bring together the VR Challenger League.

VR gaming isn’t all that Intel is focussed on as it has now partnered with Linkin Park to create VR Destination, a VR music experience that will provide a new experience for music fans  around the world. VR Destination will be available in July on Oculus Rift.

The event continued with the annual PC Gaming Show and was hosted by streaming and YouTube sensation Sean ‘Day 9’ Plott. The show essentially introduced upcoming PC gaming titles and all the latest in PC gaming.

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With the launch of the mighty Galaxy S8 smartphone Samsung quietly released a new version of their Gear VR unit.

The Gear VR, or differing variants of it have been around for a year and a bit, ourselves having reviewed the original Innovator Gear VR and the Retail Version last year.

Each and every unit is an astounding addition to your high end Samsung mobile device, and really shows what the phones are truly capable of.

The new Gear VR has had a much expected overhaul from it’s predecessor. Most notably the inclusion of a wand like bluetooth controller which via the Oculus Gear VR app will pair with your S8 meaning that you do not need to fiddle about, blindly, with the controls on the side of the Gear VR.

It’s not the first Controller that Samsung have released which works well with VR, the Samsung Gamepad was excellent – but when having a VR unit strapped to your face, maneuvering around the Gamepad’s buttons to control was a bit hit and miss at times.

The Gear VR Controller has none of these issues. Held in either the left or right hand there’s a quick alignment setup and you’re good to go. With the thumbstick-like D-Pad at the top and a trigger button to the lower front, gameplay (especially FPS Shooters) are an absolute joy to play. There’s also the necessary Home and Return buttons aswell as Volume control.

The Controller does require batteries though. Unlike the Gamepad Controller, it is sadly not rechargeable.

The Gear VR unit itself has not only had a colour change (from white to black), it’s design is more ergonomic, hugging ones face alot better, less heavy and pretty much is utilised as a VR viewer with your S8 (or S7) clipped in to the front, like the prior iterations.

That said, if you are used to using the Oculus unit for control, you can, the Home, Return and Touchpad are still there. This obviously means that it can be used independently from the Controller – and likewise, the Controller can be used on the handset without the Gear VR.

A good combination when your S8 is in a DeX cradle unit – you then have the ability to play games from your phone on a bigger desktop screen.

It’s a good mash up and really slates Samsung as the forerunner in the mobile tech market. Myself an avid fan of Virtual Reality see the Gear VR as less than a novelty but more of an expansion to the mobile kit for gaming, media watching and more.

There’s a wealth of games, 360 films and apps in the Oculus and Gear VR Store that are top notch and free ones do not mean less quality either.

The Gear VR teamed up with the Galaxy S8 allows you to explore in your own realm, your own world unlike any mobile device on the market.

Expand the horizons of what your mobile can do – go virtual with the Gear VR.

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