Tag Archive

Developer nDreams Brings Bloody Zombies to Xbox One, PS4, Oculus and HTC Vive This September

Posted on August 4, 2017 by Rae Michelle Richards

I probably lost you at the headline… Zombies and Virtual Reality? Is there a combination of things that been overdone in the past few years than immersive goggles and the undead? Well nDreams’ Bloody Zombies isn’t your typical wave based Zombie FPS title that has risen to flood the steam store as of late. It is more of a VR enhanced title with a cartoony art style and from the promotional trailers and materials looks like it will be one to keep an out on.

Bloody Zombies is a cel-shaded 2.5D brawler with colorful cartoony graphics reminiscent of Cel Damage HD or 2002’s XIII. It looks more like a gruesome over the top vibrant work of art come to life than it does the grey/brown mess other “realistic” zombie titles have adopted (is it fair to call a Zombie game realistic when it involves corpse reanimating themselves?) In this side scrolling beat ‘em up you and four friends get to explore a post apocalyptic London – finding new ways to re-murder the undead before they turn you into one of the shambling hordes. VR and non-VR players battle side by side with VR players being able to unlock hidden secrets for the rest of the party.

Anthony White, co-founder of Paw Print Games had this to say about their latest title in a recent press release:

“We’re massive fans of brawler games and have spent countless hours analyzing the genre, crafting Bloody Zombies in to a modern interpretation of the classics. VR adds a new twist to what is already a great TV experience; enhancing the gameplay and visuals and adding a wow factor. We can’t wait for people to get their hands on Bloody Zombies…”

Bloody Zombies is available for pre-order on both the PlayStation Network and Steam store front. It is currently priced at $15.19 CDN (including a pre-release 10% discount) on Steam, no official pricing is available on the North American PlayStation Store as of press time. It will launch worldwide on September 12th.

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The Next Product From Oculus: A More Affordable VR Headset

Posted on October 7, 2016 by Rae Michelle Richards

Virtual Reality has been all the buzz the last few years and 2016 has been “the year” for the technology – now that first adopters have been able to get their hands on VR products aimed squarely at consumers. Premium VR headsets like the Oculus Rift and HTC Vive have not only had high prices ranging in the hundreds of dollars but also require gaming rigs that can cost upwards of $1500 CDN. Today at Oculus Connect 3 the company announced that they have a more affordable option coming down the line thanks to an unnamed prototype headset that will standard apart from its existing product line.

This brand new headset was demonstrated during Mark Zuckerberg’s keynote address at OC3 – the prototype will sit between existing mobile Oculus sponsored solutions like the Samsung Gear VR and the full priced Oculus Rift. This device will work as a self contained VR experiences and will not require an expensive PC or a smartphone to provide immersive VR experiences.
No price for this new potential headset, release date or technical specs were discussed during the keynote. We also don’t know if it may work with a PC, similar to the way that the Samsung VR can with additional apps.

Does the idea of a “standalone Oculus Rift” appeal to you? Let us know in the comments section.

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Further Oculus Rift Delays Due To Microsoft?

Posted on April 12, 2016 by Broken Joysticks

Today Oculus announced further delays on Rift shipments, potentially as long as two months for some customers, sparking outrage amongst VR fans. The company confirmed once again that the delay was due to a component shortage, and that they were shipping units as quickly as possible. Oculus still remains tight-lipped on what component exactly has caused the shortage, but that hasn’t stopped Reddit users from speculating. Multiple theories, ranging from issues with the camera used to track the headset, to a lack of wireless Xbox One dongles, were made. According to a post to Reddit by a supposed Oculus employee, under the alias ‘cvinsider’, it may be due to Microsoft.Read More

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Marble Mountain Rolls in | Review

Posted on April 11, 2016 by Erika

Marble Mountain Logo

When I first looked at Marble Mountain, it reminded me of a game that I used to play back in my Commodore 64 days: Marble Madness back around 25 years ago. For people not familiar with that game, the goal was to guide the marble to the exit. Simple, right? With small pathways to navigate and obstacles that deliberately tried to knock you off, along with a very short timer proved many a gamer wrong. Lose enough marbles and you’ve lost the game while probably in a mood to throw a controller due to how difficult the game was. While this game looks deceptively easy to start out in, the difficulty ramps up decently quickly. Thankfully, this game gives some considerations and doesn’t have a lives limit, nor a strict time limit. Billed as combining the gameplay of Marble Madness and Super Monkey Ball (both game series I’ve played before), and giving a cinematic experience of Indiana Jones, Marble Mountain does a good job of conveying those concepts.Read More

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Consider Who Could Be There: Harassment in VR

Posted on March 28, 2016 by Renee Gittins

Today marks the official launch of the Oculus Rift, a high quality virtual reality headset with dozens of games to enjoy. As an avid fan and enthusiast for the medium, I am beyond excited for today.

However, I am not going to gush about my love of VR in this article, I am writing it to talk about a rather unpleasant experience:

I was harassed in virtual reality.Read More

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CCP Games Unleashes EVE: Valkyrie Launch Trailer

Posted on March 28, 2016 by Rae Michelle Richards

CCP Games has unleashed the launch trailer for their immersive spaceship combat title EVE: Valyrie which is exclusively available for the Oculus Rift.

Owen O’brien, the game’s executive producer, reflects on the journey the team has been on to bring the game to market. He remembers trying on his first modern VR headset three years ago and how the technology has advanced since then.

In part O’Brien wrote:

“I’m incredibly proud of what the team here in Newcastle have created, but what we have built is not an end in itself. Rather, it’s a basecamp to start from. Where we go from here is up to you. We want this to be the best competitive multiplayer game on the VR platform. But we don’t get to decide that. The players do. “

Eve: Valkyrie takes place in the same universe as CCP’s long running EVE universe, in the game players take the role a Capsuleer, one of the elite few who are able to use the Capsule technology to single handedly fly technologically advanced starships. Death isn’t the end for a capsuleer –  upon death their consciousness is transferred to a new clone body with all of the memories and experiences that the last incarnation had.

If you’re a sci-fi fan and don’t own a rift it doesn’t mean you shouldn’t watch this trailer – it’s narrated by none other than Battlestar Galatica veteran Katie Sackhoff!

EVE: Valkyrie is currently bundled with the consumer version of the Oculus RIFT. If you didn’t get your hands on a launch unit the game can be purchased through the Oculus Store for $59.99.

From CCP’s FAQ:

I didn’t pre-order an Oculus Rift, but I do want to own the EVE: Valkyrie Founder’s Pack. What can I do? 

After Rift pre-orders end on 28 March, the only way to get EVE: Valkyrie will be via the EVE: Valkyrie Founder’s Pack, which will be available for purchase on the EVE: Valkyrie website, through Oculus Home, and from select digital retailers, at a price of USD $59.99.

[youtube id=”8TmMIGOevis”]

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Broken Deals: Prepare For VR With This Excellent PC Hardware

Posted on March 28, 2016 by Rae Michelle Richards

Today is the big day – the first Oculus Rift consumer version (CV1)s have arrived to their owners homes. If you were one of the lucky few, well we’re all insanely jealous but we’ve also got some tips for you. If your PC rig isn’t quite up to snuff we’ve got some hardware suggestions for you – from processors to video cards we want our readers to be prepared for the VR future.Read More

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Oculus Shows Their Hand: Launch Title Prices

Posted on March 16, 2016 by Renee Gittins

Oculus revealed the prices of their release titles at the Oculus Game Day event. The event was held in San Francisco, just outside of the popular Game Developers Convention, dozens of games intended for launch were being shown.

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There is a huge range of prices for the launch content, Adventure Time: Magic Man’s Head Games listed as $4.99 while there are several $49.99 and $59.00 titles. Below is a list of the launch games, their “comfort” rating, and their prices:

Read More

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Preview: Dead & Buried Multiplayer on Oculus Rift with Touch

Posted on March 16, 2016 by Renee Gittins

A few blocks away from the ongoing Game Developers Conference, Oculus hosted an exclusive preview event for their launch titles and other games coming to the Oculus Rift shortly after launch. One of the games being shown was Dead & Buried, a gunslinger game that makes use of the Oculus’ Touch controllers.

Dead & Buried is being developed internally by Oculus Studios and the noticeable intent of the game is to highlight the Touch controllers. While Oculus has previously showcased their single player mode of the game, at the event they set up four stations with Dead & Buried and placed four players together at a time in a 2v2 shootout. Of the dozens of games at the event, it was clearly the most popular to both play and watch, gathering a bemused crowd of developers and media. 

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AMD Reveals Which CPUs They Recommend For Use With Oculus Rift

Posted on February 15, 2016 by Rae Michelle Richards

Owners of AMD hardware have been kept in the dark in terms of detailed specs for the upcoming Oculus Rift headset. Officially Oculus recommends that potential owners have a “Intel i5-4590 equivalent or greater” but that does very little except give the reader the exact processor that they might need if they were gaming on an intel based rig.

Thankfully AMD has stepped in with their own list of recommended processors for a smooth virtual reality experience. In general AMD is recommending that VR pioneers have at least a quad-core CPU running at 3.9GHZ minimum that is based upon the 2012 Piledriver architecture which continues to power the company’s existing high end desktop offerings.

Here’s the full list of recommended VR Ready processors according to Advanced Micro Devices:

  • FX-9590 (8 Core @ 4.7GHZ)
  • FX-9370 (8 Core @ 4.4 GHZ)
  • FX-8370 (8 Core @ 4.0 GHZ)
  • FX-8350 (8 Core @ 4.0GHZ)
  • FX-6350 (6 Core @ 3.9GHZ)
  • A10-7890 APU (4 Core @ 4.1 GHZ)
  • A10-7870 APU (4 Core @ 3.9 GHZ)
  • Athlon X4 880 (4 Core @ 4.0 GHZ)
  • Athlon X4 870 (4 Core @ 3.9GHZ)

Does your CPU meet the minimum recommended specs for VR as outlined by AMD? Thankfully Oculus’ official minimum specs do recommend an AMD graphics card – a Radeon 290 or greater.

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ASUS & Alienware Unveil First Oculus Ready PCs

Posted on February 10, 2016 by Rae Michelle Richards

2016 may very well be the year that virtual reality hits the mainstream with the impending release of both the HTC Vive and Oculus Rift. With the Rift set to ship to customers who pre-ordered starting later next month, March 28th, ASUS and Alienware have unveiled their lineups of “Oculus Ready” PCs.

Both manufacturers will be offering their systems either bundled with an Oculus Rift Cv1 headset or without. In terms of hardware configurations most of the bundles will utilize the Intel i5 6400 processor while ASUS & Alienware’s most expensive offerings will use the more powerful Intel Core i7-5820 processor. Depending on price point these prebuilt kits will contain a minimum of 8GB of DDR-4 RAM being reserved for the more expensive configurations. All of these builds, save for the Alienware Area 51, come standard with the Geforce 970, the Area 51 comes with the more powerful Geforce 980.

Pricing will most likely vary depending on region but as PC World points out, if you are in the United States be prepared to spend $1049 for ASUS’ lowest tier Oculus Ready build and $1699 USD for their most expensive (all prices minus cost of Oculus headset). Alienware’s entry level system the X51 R3 is comparable at $1199 but their most expensive model the Area 51 comes in at a mind-blowing $2549 USD! Certainly if you have that much cash to spend on a PC you could build it yourself for much less.

If you want to pre-order any of these systems you can do so (at least in America) at Amazon, Best Buy and oddly enough the Microsoft Store. Alienware has also opened their own Oculus Ready mini site where you can pre-order the X51 (minus Oculus headset).

It’s a bit odd that AMD hardware is nowhere to be found in any of these bundles despite the fact that AMD chipsets and Radeon Graphics Cards appear in the minimum specs released by Oculus. Perhaps this is an oversight? Regardless if you’re on a tighter budget and opt for an AMD rig over an Intel/NVidia combo you might be building it yourself.

Below are the specs for all of the rigs mentioned in this article:

Asus G11CD
Intel Core i5-6400
Nvidia GeForce GTX 970
8GB of DDR4 RAM
1TB hard drive

Asus ROG G20CB
Intel Core i5-6400
GTX 970
16GB of DDR4 RAM

Alienware Area 51
Intel Core i7-5820K
GTX 980
16GB of DDR4 RAM
128GB SSD
2TB hard drive

Alienware X51 R3
Intel Core i5-6400
GeForce GTX 970
8GB of DDR4 RAM
1TB hard drive

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Project C.A.R.S Gets VR Support With Upcoming Oculus Rift Patch

Posted on January 20, 2016 by Rae Michelle Richards

Last years’ Project C.A.R.S will be receiving an update this coming March which will enable stereoscopic 3D and head-tracking support for the consumer model of the Oculus Rift. Presumably this support will be delivered via a game update and will be free to all who own the game on Windows PC.

Slightly Mad Studios has said on their forums that they are tinkering with a number of improvements for the game internally. They are currently using the 0.8 SDK + Driver Set but are waiting for the consumer focused drivers to be released by Oculus before releasing the patch to the public.

Here’s the full quote from their forums:

“We’re internally working with the post 0.8 SDK that will be released along with the headset. We have a bunch of updates and features in the works already, but due to the newer SDK only rolling out to the general public when Oculus releases the headset, the Project CARS Oculus Rift updates will also be released at that time, right when you guys will be receiving your shiny new CV1 headsets.”

It is exciting to see developers go back and add VR support to their titles post-release. It certainly helps bump up the number of titles early adaptors will be able to play on the hardware without the compromises that 3D non-native VR can bring.

Project C.A.R.S was originally released on May 7th 2015 for Windows PC, Xbox One and PlayStation 4. Sony’s upcoming PlayStation VR headset will be supported on the PS4 version of C.A.R.S and has been demo’d at a few trade shows including TGS.

Some folks who have the development version of the Oculus Rift have already moded Project C.A.R.S to run on the hardware. Slightly Mad Studios has also been huge proponents of VR, stating that:

“Virtual reality is a perfect fit for racing games since the game world literally comes rushing towards you from the distance and the increased sense of depth and speed that stereoscopic vision affords you makes this incredibly real and tangible. So when you’re racing you get a much better perception of distances and position and you feel far more enveloped by that world rather than just looking through a window at it.”

[Source]

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A Few Things You Learn When Buying A Used Oculus Rift Off Of Kijiji

Posted on January 19, 2016 by Rae Michelle Richards

Two weeks ago while pursuing the online computer classifieds I came across something I didn’t think I’d see locally for some time, an Oculus VR headset at a reasonable price. After the announcement that Oculus wanted $600 USD for the upcoming consumer version (known as CV1 in the Oculus community) I figured my dreams of trying modern VR were all but washed away, except for maybe the odd industry convention for the foreseeable future. Here are three things that I’ve learned after acquiring and using my Oculus DK1 for more than a week.Read More

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What It’s Like Entering The World of Virtual Reality With A Vision Impairment

Posted on January 9, 2016 by Rae Michelle Richards

R2D2 Google Cardboard

With the Oculus Rift finally available for pre-order it’s easy to argue that the conversation surrounding virtual reality has never really been hotter. With all of the immersive enhancements that products like PlayStation VR, Oculus Rift, HTC Vive and Open VR are providing to players – stereoscopic 3D, head tracking etc. I’ve noticed very little discussion about what VR could mean to individuals with disabilities.  I’m near blind in one eye and after having an interest in virtual reality for a number of years I finally got the chance to try out VR recently. It was a hell of a ride and I’d like to share my experience with you.Read More

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Oculus Rift Priced; Internet Freaks Out

Posted on January 8, 2016 by Kenny Keelan

3047354-slide-s-1-oculus-rift-new-logo

Paradigm Shift

In case you missed it or you’ve been living underneath a gaming rock for the last little while, Oculus announced a price and start date for shipping for its Rift VR Headset: 599$ USD and March 28th. As one can expect, the reaction was generally the same as it is with things that have been hyped a lot: “gaming company does a thing; the internet freaks out.” I could talk about the reasoning behind such pricing, why some people think it’s outrageous, why I think it’s perfectly reasonable and should have been expected, and why expectations were set differently by Oculus, but that’s not entirely what I came to write about, here… what I’m talking about is how, at least, as far as the gaming industry is concerned, the internet freaks out about damn near everything the mainstream and it seems that there’s always something to complain about, no matter how reasonable or logical it is.Read More

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