Killing Floor: Incursion to debut new playable content at Oculus Connect 4

Tripwire Interactive is excited to return to Oculus Connect 4 on October 11-12 and will be participating in an exclusive talk discussing their recently released Oculus Touch exclusive action horror title, Killing Floor: Incursion. Key members of the Tripwire team will also be on-hand to introduce brand-new content – a new gameplay mode that is coming to the game in the future as a free update for owners of Killing Floor: Incursion. During the talk, titled Killing Floor to Shattered Ceilings: Leveraging Established IP to Break Into VR, the team will be discussing the challenges and key learnings in bringing their smash-hit Killing Floor franchise to virtual reality.

Show attendees will also get an exclusive chance to play new content coming to Killing Floor: Incursion later this year! The developer will be on the show floor in the “Oculus Anywhere” section with a demo of the upcoming Holdout mode. In Holdout mode players will experience arcade-like, over the top action as they’re dropped into a random location in one of the game maps and tasked to defend that position for as long as possible. Quick thinking and creativity will be required, as players will begin with a pistol and knife and must scavenge better weapons and ammunition to survive against increasingly challenging waves of Zeds.

Oculus Connect 4 2017 Details:

What: Killing Floor: Incursion show floor hands-on demos at Oculus Connect 4

Who: Tripwire Interactive (Creators of the Killing Floor franchise and Killing Floor: Incursion)

When: Wednesday and Thursday, October 11-12, 2017

Check out the winning gaming entry from the MIT Media Lab Reality Virtually Hackathon

Action Bear is a puzzle game set in a bankrupt 1950's toy factory where you play as an unfinished prototype trying to gather human body parts to become a person. The team of Lucas Rizzotto, Sam Barnes, Dulce Baegra, and Anselm Hook created this game in 24 hours during the MIT Media Lab Reality Virtually Hackathon. Dulce and Anselm are part of the SF based River Studios so I'm hoping to be able to demo this soon. 

The hackathon was held at the MIT Media lab and was a chance for many to showcase their capabilities of VR and AR in several categories. 

Category 1: Healthcare and Medicine: Allow physicians or medical administrators to improve care experiences.

Category 2: Entertainment: Make an audience member feel like they are part of the film with either virtual or augmented immersion in a story. 

Category 3: Education: Provide new tools to educators to help them accelerate the learning process or to reach those who do not have traditional instructional methods available.

Category 4: Sports: Help coaches and athletes fine tune their game through the use of augmented reality, virtual reality for practice, training, or game-day play needs.

Category 5: Architecture, Engineering and Construction: Provide new tools to enhance the scope of architecture and construction in traditional methods and also immersive means for specification development of projects

Category 6: Gaming: Design, architect and develop games to be played in an AR/VR environment including scene development and game logic including single / multi-player games. 

Category 7: Retail: Allows users to buy and sell goods within an AR/VR environment, potentially leveraging virtual store fronts and digital markets. 

CatsAndVR.com will be looking to following up several of the winners of the MIT Hackathon and bring you the ongoing development of the projects.
 

VR Film COLLISIONS Snags Emmy for Outstanding New Approaches: Documentary

Jaunt Inc., today announced the groundbreaking VR work COLLISIONS, a Sundance Institute New Frontier | Jaunt VR Residency Program project, has won an Emmy for the Outstanding New Approaches: Documentary category at Thursday night’s 38th Annual News and Documentary Emmy Awards in New York City. Director Lynette Wallworth, Producer Nicole Newnham, and Jaunt VR Producer Patrick Meegan were on-stage to accept the award.

Wallworth, an acclaimed Australian artist and documentary filmmaker, is known for producing immersive artworks that provoke profoundly emotional responses. COLLISIONS is a virtual reality journey to the land of indigenous elder Nyarri Morgan and the Martu tribe in the remote Western Australian Pilbara desert, living as hundreds of generations before them have, with no exposure to the Western world. Nyarri’s first contact with Western culture came in the 1950’s via a dramatic collision between his traditional world view and the cutting edge of Western science and technology, when he witnessed first-hand and with no context, the testing of an atomic bomb. COLLISIONS focuses on the need to consider future generations, as we dive head-long into the fourth industrial revolution.

Speaking immediately after the Award presentation Wallworth said, “This immersive technology allowed the impact of Nyarri's story to be felt in a way that other forms could not and the timing of the story’s release proved to be prescient. As the world watches a newly emerging nuclear standoff, Nyarri’s powerful first hand account, translated into our most contemporary of mediums, is a story that has waited over 50 years to be told. COLLISIONS is a story for this moment and it needed these technologies to deliver it.”

Newnham added, “It was exciting to leverage the technology of VR to realize Lynette’s vision. VR enabled the viewer to viscerally experience Nyarri’s homeland, and to witness the atomic test from his point of view. It’s incredibly emotional. The possibilities for storytelling in this medium are profound.”

This is the fifth Emmy nomination for Newnham and her first win. It is the first nomination for Wallworth.

Through the extraordinary visualization capabilities offered by virtual reality, COLLISIONS, takes viewers on a profoundly emotional, immersive journey—standing alongside Nyarri, as he recounts this life changing collision with the extreme edge of Western science and technology, and the impact it will have for generations to come.

“Working on COLLISIONS was an incredible experience,” said Meegan. “Lynette and Nicole were working in the VR medium for the first time, but worked tirelessly to harness its potential in order to tell Nyarri’s story in the only way it could properly be told, and Nyarri understood the technology from the moment we arrived.”

COLLISIONS premiered jointly at Sundance Film Festival and at the World Economic Forum, Davos. COLLISIONS was the first VR work to be commissioned by the World Economic Forum and the Forum is an Executive Producer of the work. COLLISIONS has gone on to provoke meaningful change on a global level forcing leaders to reconsider the effect of policies on the environment and health of the earth. Screenings have been held for decision makers at the Trimble Forum for Disarmament, Washington, the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty meetings in Vienna, the Climate Action Summit Washington and the UN General Assembly meetings, New York. Viewers of this film represent some of the world’s major nuclear powers, heads of state, heads of industry, celebrities and more including the President of Argentina and the King of Belgium, cultural leaders including will.i.am, Olafur Eliasson and Yo-Yo Ma, as well as a large number of government ministers. Hans Blix who viewed the work in Vienna commented that the world needed immersive works like COLLISIONS to illustrate the truly corrosive power of nuclear weapons as they remain for most people”...an abstract concept.”

Find the full immersive experience here, on the Jaunt VR App and website.

TOKiMONSTA and TheWaveVR To Release First Full-Length Interactive Album in Virtual Reality on October 8th

LA producer TOKiMONSTA and social VR music platform TheWaveVR have announced a special interactive version of TOKi’s new album, Lune Rouge, which drops October 6th via her label Young Art Records. The VR portion of the album titled the Lune Rouge Experience will launch Sunday, October 8th at 6:00pm Pacific Time and will be available to any HTC Vive or Oculus Rift VR headset owners through TheWaveVR’s free app on Steam in the US. Programmed specifically for VR with art direction from Strangeloop, the experience will let fans explore a planet inspired by the album artwork, dance in an interstellar rave under an exploding sun, and remix a 3D world built out of  TOKiMONSTA's music.

Lune Rouge is TOKiMONSTA’s third full-length album, and the first since her recovery from a rare brain disease that forced her to relearn how to write music. “Being able to play Coachella three months after having the surgery was very significant to me,” she recently told Pitchfork.  “If I can do something like this, anyone can.”

The Lune Rouge Experience is the fifth flagship show to debut on TheWaveVR platform in a concert series aimed at pushing the boundaries of live music in VR. Previous shows included Ninja Tune artist Ash Koosha’s AKTUAL, as well as Strangeloop’s N-FOLD, which was released in association with BRAINFEEDER. “We wanted to do something special to support TOKi’s release, and create an entire world around the record,” said TheWaveVR’s CEO and Co-Founder Adam Arrigo. “Our goal as a company is to help artists create new experiences that let their fans get closer to their artistic vision. The Lune Rouge Experience lets fans literally step inside the album and experience her music in a new, interactive dimension.”

www.tokimonsta.com

www.thewavevr.com

Oculus exclusive ARKTIKA.1 from the the creators of Metro 2033 to launch just in time for OC4

With Oculus Connect 4 right around the corner I have to deliver the great news that the CatsAndVR OC3 Game Of The Show ARKTIKA.1 is also right around the corner from 4A Games the company best known for developing the critically aclaimed Metro video game franchise.

In ARKTIKA.1, barbaric raiders and mutated cannibals push humanity to the brink during the Great Freeze, a man-made ice age . Survival is far from guaranteed – and only customizable weaponry and tactical thinking stand between you and a very cold grave. From the creators of Metro 2033, Metro: Last Light, and Metro Redux comes a new vision of the apocalypse. ARKTIKA.1 is a highly immersive, action-packed, first-person shooter designed exclusively for Oculus Touch.

STORY & GAMEPLAY
Nearly a century into the future – in the aftermath of a silent apocalypse – Earth has entered a new Ice Age known as the Great Freeze. Only the equatorial regions remain habitable, yet pockets of humanity still manage to survive in small numbers all over the planet. These regions of civilization sit on resource-rich, highly desirable territories to the north and south. As a mercenary hired by Citadel Security, you must protect one of the last colonies in the wastelands of old Russia from violent raiders, marauders, and horrifying creatures. ARKTIKA.1 is powered by the acclaimed 4A Engine and was built from the ground up for Oculus Touch. With breathtaking detail and superior shooting mechanics, ARKTIKA.1 is on a fast course to redefine the scope and graphical fidelity of VR first-person shooters.

KEY FEATURES
*   Immersive FPS action with full-body shooting mechanics.
*   Engaging combat featuring unique abilities such as touch, dodge and hide.
*   Some of the most impressive visuals ever seen in VR, thanks to the 4A Engine.
*   Intuitive controls for natural, realistic gameplay.
*   Atmospheric settings with a blend of post-apocalyptic and futuristic environments.
*   Advanced weapons with plenty of customization choices to suit your personal playstyle.
*   Visceral challenge with finely-tuned difficulty balance.
*   Deep, immersive storyline.
*   Available initially in English, Russian, and Ukrainian.

PRICING & AVAILABILITY
ARKTIKA.1 is set to arrive on October 10 and will be compatible with Oculus Touch. The game can be pre-ordered for $26.99 – 10% off the retail price.

Oculus Store:
https://www.oculus.com/experiences/rift/682000918570174

VR strategy game Skyworld will release October 17, 2017 on HTC Vive, Oculus Rift, and Windows Mixed Reality

Vertigo Games - creators of the award-winning VR shooter Arizona Sunshine - and Wolfdog Interactive today announce their VR strategy game Skyworld will release October 17, 2017 on HTC Vive, Oculus Rift, and Windows Mixed Reality. Pre-orders are available from today via Steam and Oculus Home. Furthermore, an early access beta will be held on October 6-8.

Priced at $39.99  / € 39,99 / £ 30,99,  Skyworld pre-orders receive a 25% discount and exclusive Berserker avatar masks. Players with these masks will stand out and strike fear in opponents in face-to-face multiplayer matches and skirmishes.

Lastly, an early access beta of the game will occur October 6-8, 2017. Interested HTC Vive and Oculus Rift owners may register for a drawing to join the beta by signing up for the Skyworld newsletter at the official website before 12am PST / 9am CEST on October 5, 2017.

Skyworld reinvents classic strategy gameplay for VR without compromising on gameplay depth by using intuitive VR controls and providing player feedback right on the VR battlefield. Step into intricately animated fantasy worlds where you are king and watch your battle maps come to life around you. Built in gaming sessions optimal for VR, Skyworld lets you conquer and reunite all Skyworlds in the full-size campaign and challenge friend or foe in online cross-platform multiplayer mode. 

Key features:

• Accessible Gameplay. Innovates traditional UIs with intuitive VR controls and in-world feedback
• Highly Interactable Fantasy Worlds. Puts highly interactable, animated fantasy worlds at your command, which you influence with every decision you make 
• Full-feature VR Game. Offers a story-based single player campaign, skirmish mode and online cross-platform multiplayer
• Reinvents Classic Strategy Gameplay for VR. Combines accessible, turn-based strategy and management gameplay with fast-paced real-time tactical battles
• Built from the Ground Up for VR.

Skyworld launches October 17, 2017 on Windows Mixed Reality, HTC Vive and Oculus Rift.

To stay up to date about Skyworld, find us Facebook and Twitter and subscribe to the newsletter on skyworld-game.com.

Microsoft acquires AltspaceVR to bolster their VR positioning.

In July AltspaceVR announced that it was closing its doors, stating that a funding deal fell through at the last minute. The following month, the company would go on to release the following statement “We are now in discussions with third parties to develop a sustainable solution to continue development and growth for the future,” Well it looks like we may now have an idea of who one of those third parties were as Microsoft has acquired the popular Social VR platform.

Announced at Microsoft’s Mixed Reality event in San Francisco Tuesday, Microsoft’s mixed reality lead Alex Kipman, went on to call Altspace “a pioneer in social mixed reality. 

AltspaceVR CEO Eric Romo said Tuesday that the company will continue to embrace the many platforms Altspace currently caters to and it unclear how the AltspaceVR brand and apps will continue under the Microsoft umbrella. 

When AltspaceVR was announced as shutting down in July and official "closed" in August it was met with much sadness in the community.

Though the terms of the acquisition by Microsoft has not been fully revealed and it is unknown of the status of the many employees of AltspaceVR this is a good sign for them. This is also a sign Microsoft wants to take on Facebook in the Social VR plane.

Update: After posting the AltspaceVR team reached out with a quote from AltspaceVR CEO Eric Romo as well as some answers to pending questions about the acquisition.

Quote from Eric:

"When we announced our closing, a common sentiment was that we were pioneers, if not ahead of our time. People were sad that they wouldn't be able to see what we could have built together with our community. I'm grateful that we get a chance to follow through on the story we started five years ago and see how much farther we can take this technology."

What events lead up to Microsoft's acquisition of AltspaceVR?

AltspaceVR announced their closure back in August. Many members of the AltspaceVR team worked hard in the following days and weeks to make sure the technology lived on. They connected with Alex Kipman and found a natural overlap between his goals for mixed reality and their hopes for the future of AltspaceVR. 

Why did Microsoft acquire AltspaceVR?

Microsoft is excited to incorporate communications technology into our mixed reality ecosystem. Today’s social experiences can be one sided: text, photos, and videos are posted by a single person, to be consumed by others later. But AltspaceVR takes social networks, combines them with real-time experiences, and leverages immersive presence to transcend beyond sharing posts to sharing situations. Situations of people, places, and things have deeper meaning and in turn, are more memorable. We’re excited to see how far this technology can go. 

What about AltspaceVR the company?

AltspaceVR will stay AltspaceVR. Microsoft is most interested in preserving the current community that uses AltspaceVR to connect and interact with new and old friends. These first few months will focus on fostering our community and making sure AltspaceVR remains a friendly, welcoming and vibrant place to hang out in virtual reality.  

What about AltspaceVR users?

It’s been a rollercoaster ride for AltspaceVR users and their team. The team will be spending a lot of the next few weeks talking to the AltspaceVR community and finding out how they can build an even better place to hang out in virtual reality. Their new partnership with Microsoft will be an adrenaline shot for AltspaceVR and they hope to bring new events, features and activities for their community to enjoy soon.

Will AltspaceVR stay cross-platform?

Yes. AltspaceVR will continue to work on PC and Mac in 2D mode, HTC Vive, Oculus Rift, Daydream by Google, and Samsung Gear VR. 

What does this mean for the AltspaceVR community? 

AltspaceVR will stay AltspaceVR. Microsoft is committed to being the best place in VR to hang out with a diverse community of people. 

Will AltspaceVR work on HoloLens?

The team is excited to see how AltspaceVR can be a part of Microsoft’s MR ecosystem but there aren’t plans to bring AltspaceVR to HoloLens now.  

CatsAndVR.com

HTC Vive to get a Fallout 4 VR bundle to be competitive during the holidays.

HTC VIVE™ today announced a new hardware bundle featuring Fallout 4® VR, one of the most anticipated VR titles to date. Starting today, October 2nd, customers who purchase an HTC Vive, will receive a free redemption code for Fallout 4 VR, a $59.99 value, which launches on December 12, 2017 (vive.com/fallout4-vr). Fallout 4, the legendary post-apocalyptic adventure from Bethesda Game Studios and winner of more than 200 'Best Of' awards, including the DICE and BAFTA Game of the Year, and most recently 'Best Virtual Reality Game' at gamescom 2017, finally comes in its entirety to VR. Fallout 4 VR includes the complete core game with all-new combat, crafting, and building systems fully reimagined for virtual reality.

"Fallout 4 VR is the most anticipated title for VR this holiday, and the game development team at Bethesda Game Studios is delivering on the promise with a full-length AAA open-world game that takes advantage of Vive's incredible room-scale immersion for a mind-blowing experience in the Wasteland," said Joel Breton, GM of Vive Studios. "The promise of a game with near endless content, including hundreds of locations, characters, and quests, fully playable in VR, is something that we have been focused on providing for the VR gaming community. We are now thrilled to provide this incredible game to new Vive owners and eagerly look forward to game's launch on Vive this December." 

CatsAndVR experienced the freedom of exploring the wasteland using Vive's room-scale technology and talked to a fan who came to VRDC just for the game to see his reactions.

http://www.catsandvr.com/blog/

A Work Of Heart: Owlchemy Labs Rick and Morty: Virtual Rick-ality @VRDC2107

At VRDC2017 Devin Reimer and Alex Schwartz (Chief Technology Owl and Chief Executive Owl, respectively) of Owlchemy presented their Postmortem on Rick and Morty: Virtual Rick-ality.

Owlchemy Labs originally began in the mobile and PC game space back in 2010. The team created the highly entertaining and successful VR game Job Simulator, which launched as a day-one launch title on HTC Vive, Oculus Rift, and PSVR with motion controllers. The game was a big hit with Rick And Morty co-creator Justin Roiland. The excellent job the team did with Job Simulator allowed them to gain the trust of Justin Roiland which led to Rick and Morty: Virtual Rick-ality, a collaboration with Adult Swim Games.

After listening to the postmortem I had even more respect to the Owlchemy team as the amount of effort they put into this game was truly an inspiration for game developers at all levels. 

"It was amazing to work on Rick and Morty: Virtual Rick-ality! Everyone at the studio were already such a huge fans of the show, and the show’s universe is so densely packed with hilarious bits. It was essentially a playground in which we could build absurd and hilarious moments. As for a specific proudest moment, showing our first playable demo at San Diego Comic Con has to be up there. The fans were floored by being able to experience their favorite show in VR and to finally feel like they had stepped into the cartoon. Watching people get completely absorbed into the experience and laughing out loud as Rick insulted them to their face was an unforgettable moment."- Alex Schwartz Chief Executive Owl in an interview with the VRDC team. 

VR has a ton of problems to solve and in working on Rick and Morty: Virtual Rick-ality the team created many additional problems for themselves. They did this out of true love of Rick And Morty as this was not a cash grab but a true work of heart. There were a ton of lessons learned throughout the process of building the game and the team shared many of the problems, solutions and hilarious prototypes. The team started from scratch as there were no 3d references for these characters at the time. 

The Owlchemy team created mechanics to truly create a Rick And Morty world and really reinvented the portal gun with the creative liberties they took to solve problems. 

Some of the liberties include moving the shelf in Rick's garage, adding a Real Fake Door in order to not access the house, adhering to the cannon that Portals must be shot on a flat surface and then creating new methods for portals to bring objects between scenes, death in a VR game, Meeseeks issues, and much much MUCH more. Just scroll through the insanity Owlchemy made for themselves with including the Combinator in the game. That spreadsheet of possible combinations is truly the work of Evil Morty level geniuses. 

You may be aware that Owlchemy Labs was acquired by a promising Bay Area Startup recently so lets hope that they help Owlchemy continue to grow and make awesome VR content. I look forward to the future of VR if the heart that Owlchemy has is an indicator of that future. 

http://www.catsandvr.com/blog/owlgoogle

Cats and Snack Cakes are the keys to great VR: Lessons learned from Jim Topel's rambling @VRDC2017

First I want to start out by saying yes a BIG part of the reason MINDSHOW is great is that you can finally fulfill your dreams of having a rap battle between a cat and a snack cake. This is the kind of design choices that builds community. 

Mindshow knows it's audience and has made choices accordingly including adding another cat to the lineup of zany characters you can create a seen with. Well those choices had to have their start somewhere and Jim Topel of the design team at Mindshow went into the history of those choices during his presentation at VRDC2017. Here are some things I learned as I tried to decipher the seemingly stream of consciousness notes I took down. 

1. The Original Proof of concept for Mindshow was Cop Vs Donut. I can see how the community could develop into being a VR battle rap platform. Though Mindshow has many characters including some licensed ones from Team Fortress 2 the Cat and the Snack Cake are some of the most popular. 
2. Jim Topel came from Harmonix where he worked on the Fantasia game for Kinect. He is invested in VR for the smiles of people that didn't think they could do something until the software he worked on helped them to do it. 
3. Mean time to giggle is a great metric for creativity and something the Mindshow team uses as a unit of measurement. 
4. Nursing, Crying, and Pooping are the only things ingrained in people. You need to really need to handhold them in the tutorial for a VR experience.  In the end the best way to retain knowledge is to have a revelation and it is your job as a VR designer to lead them to that revelation. 
5. Prioritize the important and weird aspects of your experience. 
6. Mirrors are important in VR. You must have the revelation the YOU are the character.
7. Keep the design human (Silly and Simple are ok)
8. Something something Jason Bateman, Senator Barkington, and John Clease's lecture on creativity that we should all watch. I will include that video here until Jim's VRDC2017 talk gets posted. 

Keep on making a great product Minshow and thanks for making me continue believe in VR.

Cortopia Studios bringing the award-winning mobile VR game Wands to Oculus Rift

Wands® was recently awarded ”Best VR Game” at the International Mobile Gaming Awards Global in San Francisco. Game critics have been spell-bound Wands and now it will be coming to the Oculus Rift. For players into magic, action, strategy, e-sports and VR, Wands on the Oculus Rift is a title soon to be on top of every gamer’s hotlist.experience. 

Hear from which direction you’re being attacked, physically dodge the incoming fireball, teleport and delve into the stunning graphics and map designs. The new Wands is a game strongly focused on immersion. Positional tracking enables the player to peek around corners, cast spells from different angles and further elaborate on strategic decisions necessary to compete for the top position on the global leaderboard. In the Beyond, your weapon of choice is your wand and with dozens of spells to choose from; you’ll find yourself refining strategies and spell selections over and over. Wands not only sets the bar for what a VR game can be, it creates a new magical space for competitive gaming.

Andreas Skoglund, new CEO of Cortopia Studios and prior producer at DICE, is very proud to present their new creation:

– With the launch on Oculus Rift, we have really made the game everything it can be with the high performance of the platform, taking full advantage of the additional features available, like positional tracking and advanced controllers to get you more in touch with your Wielder. I am really looking forward to see Wands in the hands of Rift owners.

Cross-platform play and enhanced magic

With an already active player base, Cortopia Studios has opened up the possibility of cross-platform play throughout all Wands’ current distributors (incl. Gear VR, Google Daydream and Pico). Wands goes above and beyond to engage the players, and with the Oculus Rift launch it’s safe to say that Wands aspires to fulfil any magical desires you might have from a competitive PvP VR game.

Get Wands on Oculus Rift today at http://bit.ly/WandsOculusRift

VRDC 2017 Spotlight: The Use Your Illusion: Creating Immersive Virtual Reality Worlds session

Writing about the talks at a conference can be tough unless some crazy game/product reveal happens or Kanye West or an equivalent celeb is involved. Generally these talks tend to be a meeting of the minds sharing their respective perspectives on certain aspects of an industry. However it is from these meeting of the minds that true understanding and growth of a new platform of creation can happen. One specific talk at VRDC stood out to me personally as a subversive attack through the pure passion of creation at those who are quick to call a platform dead before it has even taken its first true steps. The Use Your Illusion: Creating Immersive Virtual Reality Worlds session

The Use Your Illusion: Creating Immersive Virtual Reality Worlds session at VRDC was a collection of modern VR pioneers that are helping to create the grammar of immersive VR. In virtual reality, nothing is more important to the experience than transportive destination and immersive space. Panelists Will Smith (FOO Show), Chris Pruett (Oculus VR), Adam Orth (ADR1FT) and Dirk Van Welden (Space Pirate Trainer) all went through their joys and pains in creating believable and immersive VR worlds. Named after the famous Guns And Roses double album Use Your Illusion this panel challenged both the panelists and the audience to continue to fail at perfecting VR as that is the only way we can stop looking at VR experience creation as a collection of mechanic implementations but truly as a new way to push the limits of immersion. 

Right now we are at a pace where the technology in the language of VR is changing rapidly. It is obvious the  tech not there yet. Clearly there are technologies that can change the way and the way we perceive and interact with immersion. The tools in our hands right now are just a vague representation of the coming future of VR immersion. I am very glad the the creators involved in this panel have decided to make the leap in shaping the future of VR before the water becomes comfortable enough for full dive. Since the VRDC video of this session is not up yet I will add some videos showing the work of the people involved in the Use Your Illusion panel.

CatsAndVR.com

CCP Games Launches EVE: Valkyrie – Warzone, The First Fully Cross-Platform, Cross-Reality Videogame for VR, PC and PlayStation 4

Today, CCP Games released EVE: Valkyrie – Warzone™, taking the thrill and skill of competitive online space combat beyond VR to PlayStation®4 and PC gamers as the first fully cross-platform, cross-reality videogame. Since its initial announcement last month, CCP’s expanded first-person spaceship shooter has impressed fans and critics alike, with PCGamesN stating, “EVE: Valkyrie’s Warzone expansion turns it into Overwatch in space.”

New players can purchase EVE: Valkyrie - Warzone for $29.99 SRP from the PlayStation®Store, Steam® and Oculus Home, while all current EVE: Valkyrieowners will receive it as a free mandatory upgrade, expanding the base game to become EVE: Valkyrie – Warzone. With all new and expanded versions of the game, pilots can choose to play the game with or without a VR headset.

“EVE: Valkyrie was born in virtual reality and is now reborn for everyone” said Andrew Willans, Lead Game Designer at CCP’s Newcastle Studio. “With the introduction of Warzone, it’s a great time for all players to get involved in the gritty-but-glorious celestial arenas of EVE: Valkyrie.”

“Breaking down barriers is a big part of what keeps us on the forefront of the gaming industry,” said Hilmar Veigar Pétursson, CEO of CCP Games. “The evolution of EVE: Valkyrie to EVE: Valkyrie – Warzone brings the thrill of the playing this first-person spaceship shooter to its highest level of inclusiveness.”

Set in the the notorious sci-fi universe of EVE, EVE: Valkyrie – Warzone puts PC and PS4 gamers in the cockpit of heavily armed spaceships, enabling them to fly and fight alongside each other – both in and out of virtual reality – as they battle for legendary status in fast, fun, and intense multiplayer space combat.
EVE: Valkyrie - Warzone includes all the content and improvements released for EVE: Valkyrie since launch while dramatically enhancing the experience for new and current players alike. It introduces a next-generation fleet of iconic ships – including the new Covert class ship, “Shadow” – each one with their own distinctive role to play in battle. With new weapons – including powerful Ultra abilities – and a fully redesigned progression system for each ship, players will have more control over how they evolve their arsenal to suit their playstyle.

New to EVE: Valkyrie - Warzone will be the ‘Extraction’ game mode that puts capture-the-flag in outer space for an exhilarating gameplay experience. The Warzone expansion also features two new maps, “Fleet” and “Outpost,” as well as new Wormholes that introduce a fresh challenge each week. Players will also be able to fight for Spoils of War to earn Loot Capsules, enabling them to unlock a hangar-full of personalization options for their ships and pilot.

More information about the game can be found by visiting www.evevalkyrie.com and fans can follow EVE: Valkyrie - Warzone on Facebook, Twitter and YouTube. Current players can find out how the Warzoneexpansion will affect them by visiting www.evevalkyrie.com/changes.

HTC leads VRChat’s $4,000,000 Series A investment round

HTC leads VRChat’s $4,000,000 Series A investment round, alongside Brightstone VC, GVR Fund and Rothenberg Ventures. VRChat is a platform consisting of user generated content created in the Unity game engine   Avatars and environments on the Unity Store can be purchased, then quickly brought into VRChat and made social using their SDK. 

Imagine a world where anything is possible. Join a game of capture the flag in outer space. Share stories around a campfire while roasting marshmallows, then moments later experience a retro game of bowling with an alien and robot. In VRChat there is something around every corner that will delight, thanks to the power of true 

“Our goal is to enable anybody to create their own social VR experiences. Partnering with HTC gets us that much closer to achieving that, and driving social experiences for VR forward.”

-Graham Gaylor, CEO

“Not since the early Blizzard days have I experienced the right mix of passion, talent and magic on a project. Now that HTC Vive is part of the VRChat dream I foresee the making of something truly epic!”

-Ron Millar, Chief Creative Officer, VRChat

Neko Atsume VR Confirmed.

#2017PSカンファレンス　｜今年春 映画にもなった女性に人気のスマホゲーム『ねこあつめVR』((株)ヒットポイント)が2018年にPS VRに登場決定！ pic.twitter.com/8nqB5Pguoo

— プレイステーション公式 (@PlayStation_jp) September 19, 2017

During Sony’s conference at Tokyo Game Show, cat collecting sim Neko Atsume was confirmed as a VR experience coming to PlayStation VR in 2018. 

If you own an HTC Vive and still have not tried Mindshow you really don't care about VR....or probably were not in the Alpha. Mindshow is now on Steam Early Access for everybody!

Mindshow is a product built from a passion for VR. Not just because VR is cool but because we were promised the future when we were kids and still seeking it. 

“VR is still in its infancy, and there’s still a lot to learn about the way players interact with VR. By staging Mindshow in Early Access we can learn more about what players value and what they need. We are looking for an engaged community that is willing to test our assumptions and work through these challenges with us.”

“The Mindshow sandbox allows players to create VR native stories and export them to 2D. Starting from pre-made templates or a blank scene, players can use the expanding library of characters, props, and environments to record their performances.”

via The Mindshow Team. 

http://steamcommunity.com/games/Mindshow/announcements/detail/1435941268357933581

Mindshow lets you make animated movies in VR with your body and voice! Become 3D cartoon characters and act out all the parts. Film your show in VR and share the video with your friends on social media!

Mindshow is Walt Disney. Mindshow is Jim Henson. Mindshow is Steve Jobs. Mindshow is the spark in humanity that made them create characters out of the stars. Mindshow are the muppet babies playing make believe come to life. 

Mindshow reminded me that I started CatsAndVR.com to learn and to grow. In the end maybe this post did not fully explain what Mindshow really is or do the experience justice, but neither did the trailer. You have to experience it to really know that this is what we have been seeking in VR the whole time. You see in the end what Mindshow really is can just be described as inspiration captured and then shared for the sake of shared inspiration itself.

Mindshow is one of the reasons I continued to push into VR. I am happy others get to experience this wonderful product. Mindshow is also the last post I am doing on CatsAndVR for the immediate future. Its not like any one reads this but if you did thank you for the support, it meant a lot. 

Kind Regards,

Neranjan "Bobby Venom" Bissoon

My first taste of Mindshow catsandvr.com/blog/mindshow

For the love of CATS go play Cat Sorter VR!

Independent game developer and publisher Pawmigo Games has launched Cat Sorter VR, a virtual reality game where players find and fix faulty cats and restore them to normal. The game is available to download meow on Steam and Viveport for the HTC Vive for $12.99, but for those who act quick enough, Pawmigo is off-furing Cat Sorter VR at a special sale price of $9.99 for a limited time.

In Cat Sorter VR, a conveyor belt churns out a myriad of kitties, some featuring outlandish qualities including shark fins, dinosaur tails, vampire fangs or lobster arms. Players are challenged to sort and rebuild them as fast as they can and improve their scores.

“The Pawmigo team is made up of cat owners and game designers that were inspired to combine the two to create a really fun and entertaining experience that invites anyone and everyone to play, and also adds to the growing genre of accessible VR games,” said Spencer Stuard, Pawmigo Games founder and designer, and formerly of Nightschool Studio (creators of the award-winning OXENFREE video game). “We’re ecstatic to be able to introduce players to the humor and frantic gameplay of Cat Sorter VR, and bring a litter of silly kitties to players’ homes without the worry of cat allergies.”

The game can be played alone or in a group, with a design that is sure to bring out the cattitude in players as they compete with friends and family for bragging rights to become the ultimate cat sorter. The simple but intuitive control mechanics give players of all ages an opportunity to easily jump in.

For more information about the game, visit http://catsortervr.com.

Sneaky Bears is out for PlayStation VR!

WarDucks, a virtual reality game studio founded by a former Facebook employee, announces the launch of its game Sneaky Bears for PSVR and will soon release on the Oculus Rift and HTC Vive platforms. In Sneaky Bears, Frank, a twisted Teddy Bear Mastermind, has taken over a toy factory and has created an army of evil teddy bears to help with his quest to take over the world. Frank is sarcastic, ruthless, and hilarious, and he has made his army of teddy bear minions in his own image. They may look cute, but they are anything but cuddly!

Players face the evil bears in three different, challenging game modes armed to the teeth with weapons which include a toy gun, shotgun, water gun, and freeze gun, before they can unlock the ultimate Boss Level. In each level, sneaky little bears come at you from every angle; flying, running, and hitting you from afar until your head is spinning and your trigger fingers are numb. Whatever you do, don’t let ‘em catch you!

This is WarDucks’ first release on console and desktop virtual reality platforms, having previously launched two Top Grossing titles on the Samsung Gear VR. “We are all very excited about this release”, said Nikki Lannen, WarDucks founder & CEO. “The team had worked tirelessly and the result, Sneaky Bears, is a nice tribute to the 80’s alongside being a fun and entertaining title. We’re thrilled to finally be able to share it.”

Sneaky Bears is out now for PSVR in the US and will launch in Europe on August 31st at a 19.99 price point. Oculus Rift and HTC Vive support will follow very soon.

Take on the alien bunny hordes with some awesome VR weapons in Hangry Bunnies From Mars.

“Hangry Bunnies From Mars”, the first VR title from Studio229, is available today for the HTC Vive, with Oculus Touch launching soon.

Face off against an invading armada of adorable little killers with a serious case of mankind munchies in Hangry Bunnies From Mars, an exciting new VR shooter from Studio229. Join up with the Critter Death Squad (an unconventional extermination company) and arm yourself to the teeth with epic weaponry designed by the team’s unhinged mad scientist, get tactical updates from a KGB pizza delivery driver, and fight to keep Earth off the dinner menu.

Hangry Bunnies From Mars, the over-the-top shooter that pits you, the chief exterminator (who is definitely an expendable clone) for the Critter Death Squad, straight in the path of hungry+angry extraterrestrials. Fortunately, you have some epic transforming weapons that are perfect for critter extermination.

In Hangry Bunnies From Mars, you’ll take on the fluffy-wuffy armada in this replayable arcade adventure. You’ll suit up using some ridiculous weapons to take on these voracious varmints, all the while enjoying hilarious running commentary from Colin the British engineer and Vlad the Russian tactician. You’ll literally have a blast defending the city of New Los Angeles, all rendered with a vibrant art style in roomscale VR!

Game Highlights:

• Quick, easy-to-learn arcade gameplay with excellent replayability
• Take on hundreds of onscreen enemies at once, each with special characteristics
• Unique transforming weapons with powerful abilities
• Featuring iconic characters and comedic script written by Hollywood team
• Dynamic difficulty adjuster makes gameplay fun and challenging regardless of experience
• “Fluffy Wuffy” mode makes gameplay & content suitable for younger players, while “Really Hangry” mode amps up the difficulty for a bigger challenge

The game launches today, August 23rd, on Steam at $14.99 for the HTC Vive, with Oculus Touch support releasing shortly afterwards. www.hangrybunnies.com .

The fact KFC did not invite one their biggest fans to their VR event hurts!

In a special media event for the "media" KFC unveiled  a VR experience that seemed more like Bioshock than a VR Chicken Frying trainer. KFC's first foray into VR will be used as a promotional to regional general manager training classes, quarterly franchise meetings and during corporate onboardings in order to instill pride in KFC’s heritage and process.

According to George Felix, KFC’s U.S. director of advertising KFC cooks its kitchen fresh chicken from scratch in a process that requires an intensive 25-minute process that involves inspecting, rinsing, breading, racking and pressure frying.

According to Jonathan Minori who helped in the design of the VR project with Wieden + Kennedy Lodge the team tried to capture the essence of Willy Wonka in their portrayal of the Virtual Colonel. 

Overall I think its a pretty trippy campaign that goes along side the odd ball marketing KFC has been doing as of recent which includes publishing a romance novella starring Colonel Sanders, called Tender Wings of Desire, and launching a chicken sandwich into space

Being a life long fan of the legendary chicken brand I would have loved to be part of this but I guess Im only big enough to go to E3, GDC, and the fucking Super Bowl. Thanks KFC for alienating your fanbase. www.catsandvr.com/blog/catsandvrsuperbowl