Futurlab looks to followup their hit PSVR game Tiny Trax with a game featuring Mini-Mechs!

Independent studio Futurlab is embarking on an expansion campaign, as it gears up for its next PSVR project Mini-Mech Mayhem, a robot battle game, where you play the big buddy and your Mini-Mech partner is the little buddy..

Futurlab enjoyed a hit with its debut PSVR title Tiny Trax this summer, which followed the firm’s critically-acclaimed and best seller Velocity 2X. Mini-Mech Mayhem will be released in 2018, with further details to follow.

“Mini-Mech Mayhem sees us return to our passion of sci-fi,” said Futurlab’s MD James Marsden. “Having made our debut on PSVR with Tiny Trax, we’ve learnt a lot about the format and we’re looking forward to putting these new skills to work in Mini-Mech Mayhem soon.

“We also see Mini-Mech Mayhem as a metaphor for our studio. Futurlab is PlayStation’s little buddy and we, in turn, play the role of a big buddy to our staff.

“Just as PlayStation cares about fostering our creativity, by helping us explore new ideas, we foster the creativity in our team. We shield their passionate enthusiasm from the turbulent mayhem of the games industry, so they can create something they care about, at a pace of challenge that is manageable.

www.futurlab.co.uk

CatsAndVR Chats With: Jennifer Dowding, Senior Producer on the recently announced Co-Op FPS EVASION.

Evasion is an intense VR bullet hell game, designed to immerse players in high intensity co-op multiplayer combat in the same vein as Destiny and Halo. 

Announced today from the Archiact development team in Vancouver BC, Evasion is looking to deliver cinematic destructible environments and intense bullet hell action with an AI enemy
behavior system designed to make tactical movement and teamwork critical to your squad’s survival.

“Archiact has been crafting immersive VR entertainment since 2013,” said Kurt Busch, Studio Head at Archiact. “With Evasion, the team is using everything we’ve learned and weaving our experience into a truly genre-defining AAA title. With innovative locomotive movement and intense FPS gameplay, we’re convinced Evasion will prove a stand-out VR experience and we can’t wait for gamers to play it themselves.”
 

I had some hands on time with Evasion at a recent event and though the team seem to be looking to conjure Destiny with the art style it also does an excellent job of creating the level of gameplay that is known from that franchise. Evasion has an excellent locomotion system and the frantic co-op gameplay never gave me any motion sickness or framerate drops. The demo I played was very polished both in art and gameplay. If someone had said this was a Destiny VR prototype I would have believed them, instead this is a nice addition to the VR FPS landscape by a ragtag Vancouver team. I had a chance to learn more about the game when I chatted with Evasion's Senior Producer, Jennifer Dowding .

From compelling mission objectives, to powerful player class combinations and blockbuster-quality FX and destruction, Evasion is looking to more than hold its on the the VR FPS battleground. 

For more information, visit www.evasionvrgame.com and be first to apply for Beta access & latest news.

For exclusive updates, follow the official Evasion social channels at www.facebook.com/evasionVR and @evasionVR on Twitter.

Florida based Outer Brain Studios has released their indie VR horror game just in time for the season

Florida based development studio Outer Brain Studios have released their VR survival horror adventure ORGAN QUARTER. The title is available on Steam (for HTC Vive and Oculus Rift) now.

Organ Quarter is a 5–8 hour adventure taking place across a large, nightmarish urban environment. It is a homage to the classic survival horror games of the ‘90s: players will fight off enemies in carefully designed encounters, manage their ammunition and resources and solve puzzles all while using their map to navigate and unlock the secrets of the city.

The game is being designed to leverage hand-tracked and room-scale VR to provide the most intense and unsettling experience possible. Organ Quarter will bring horror into the realm of the intimate. Horror in your personal space, as well as in the world outside.

catsandvr.com/blog/

Virtro Entertainment to bring their take on the Wizard Of Oz to PSVR with Run Dorothy Run

Virtro Entertainment – the female-led VR indie game studio out of Vancouver, Canada, today announced the release of  Run Dorothy Run – an immersive endless-runner and rhythm VR game, with a cheeky take on the classic novel, "The Wonderful Wizard of Oz." The game is being released on Sony PlayStation VR in the Fall of 2017, with other platforms to follow shortly after.

Run, jive, and bop your way through the world of Oz to an electro-swing soundtrack while the story unfolds. Explore fantastical lands in your journey through the Emerald City, the Scorched Plains, the Wicked Witch's castle, and more. Clash with enemies, collect magic crystals, and activate power-ups, all to an irresistible dance beat. Unravel the curious alliance Dorothy makes with the Wizard of Oz to settle a score with the maybe-not-so-Wicked Witch. But don’t take yourself too seriously—navigate the crazy plot twists with your tongue firmly in your cheek.

“Right from the early days of development, we brought in play-testers each week to give us insights we could use to evolve the game into the rich story and immersive experience we have today,” said Jordan Brighton, Virtro’s cofounder and CEO. “We’ve had hundreds of play-testers, ranging from total newbies to VR aficionados. They loved the actual VR experience, but just as importantly, they loved the zany story-telling. Let’s just say ‘Ozzy’ and ‘Effy’ – who we know from the book as the Wizard and the Wicked Witch – emerge as you never imagined.”

Run Dorothy Run is a physically engaging, hyper-energetic, action-packed adventure. It is Virtro’s first title, and is designed specifically for virtual reality.

About Virtro Entertainment

An independent VR gaming studio based in Vancouver, Canada, Virtro was founded by the female Aussie duo Jordan and Lee Brighton. Virtro designs Everyone-Rated VR game titles that blend excellent storytelling, effects, art, music, and VR technology.  Virtro values a culture of inclusion and diversity –  in both the team and in the titles the team designs. www.virtro.ca .  Follow Virtro on Facebook, Twitter, andInstagram.

Transference from Elijah Wood's VR company SpectreVision is giving me nightmares.

"We want you take off the gear and still feel unsettled." -Lisa Whalen CEO of SpectreVision

I would say that Lisa Whalen is just doing her best to hype up the upcoming SpectreVision psychological horror title but then the nightmares keep coming back. Never has a game demo seeped into my psyche so much that I now dream using they layouts and elements presented in the demo. I talked in my post about LUNA is that I needed something like that to bring my heart rate down after playing Transference. http://www.catsandvr.com/blog/luna

Yeah I get it "Do you even horror game bro?" and yes I do.  I absolutely love horror games, from ClockTower to RE7 I have played many a horror game and consider myself able to handle them.

Transference is something else. The game feels like I am in David Cronenberg film staring Freddy Krueger in which I watch The Cell with them both. Transference is a psychological thriller and the first game collaboration between SpectreVision and Ubisoft looking to bridge the gap between movies and games.

Transference tells the destructive tale of a man’s obsession as you explore his digitally recreated memories and solve puzzles with a very unique art style to unveil the truth behind these troubled case subjects. The main puzzle that got my attention was a Jenga style puzzle to open a door, this puzzle made great use of the VR space and added to the nightmare. 

Spectrevision is actor Elijah Wood’s development company and they are bringing something special to VR when it launches for HTC Vive, Oculus Rift and PlayStation VR in Spring of 2018.

My issue is that I literally cannot get the game out of my head. I have been having dreams that use the level and art design of the demo and this is very disturbing to me. The game deals with PTSD and has triggered some of those elements in my mind. This is fucking mind fuck!

Lisa Whalen you have accomplished your goal with this demo. I'm hoping the rest of the game is as memorable. 

Transference is the CatsAndVR most anticipated VR game of 2018.

Oculus Connect Impressions: Dispatch from Here Be Dragons

Oculus Connect is perhaps my favorite VR event as it seems to be a point where people seem to get a recharge of VR enthusiasm. Last year I checked out some amazing games including ARKTICA.1 and the runaway VR hit Lone Echo. However, last year was a different time for me and after being with a VR company that dissolved a few months before OC4 and several projects not going the way I wanted I was looking for something to inspire me to love VR again.  

At the Oculus pre event mixer I met Will Cherry of Here Be Dragons who told me about their latest project Dispatch. I had heard about Dispatch when it premiered at the Venice Film Festival but figured I would have to wait until the consumer release to see it. Will was such a cool person I decided I would make sure to check Dispatch out when I had some time to demo. Here Be Dragons have created one of my favorite 360 experiences with their Mr. Robot 360 episode so I figured it would be good. 

Dispatch follows a small-town police dispatcher as he faces an all-night crime spree. The experience takes you inside the dispatcher’s perspective. There were 2 episodes of the Dispatch series ready to view at the event which created a 15 min experience. I did not go in expecting to much as it was a non interactive VR experience, how could it possibly blow me away.

Well my jaded understanding off what can be accomplished in a non interactive VR experience had to be completely thrown out the window. Dispatch is the closest thing I have ever felt to being inside a comic book, not as a participant but as the curious reader waiting in anticipation for what the next panel brings.  Dispatch made me feel like how I felt the very first time I read an X-Men comic book. This was not just a simple 360 experience this was a neo-noir cyber comic pop up book and I was the fly on the wall. I think of it as a popup book as it takes a flat medium and brings it to life in a unique way. Not a game but presence and true tension is created in the experience. 

Here Be Dragons took something I thought was simple and then gave me an experience I have never had before. The closest thing I can describe it as is a living breathing comic book. The jagged simplicity of the art style somehow created a sense of tension and danger that I shared with the characters in Dispatch. Dispatch put me in the mind of the police dispatcher and made me feel that I was the dispatcher. The lack of interaction in the experience actually added a level of immersion as it made me feel just as helpless as the dispatcher in this tale. Here Be Dragons have created a new work of art in this still fresh medium through classic filmmaking techniques applied in a new way. One scene in particular in where the camera pans back while a very intense scene takes place made me fell as if I was actually walking backwards trying to get out of this intense moment. 

Though the art style of Dispatch reminded me of the game Superhot it had the opposite effect on me. While Superhot made me think of it as a intense violence simulator that is not actually real the art style of Dispatch made me think of the things we do to mask the violence that is very real and present in the lives of many. 

Dispatch is one of the most unique adventures in storytelling I have had the chance to experience. I suggest you check it out when it launches on Gear VR and Rift November 21.

Dispatch is written and directed by Edward Robles and features Martin Starr, Julianna Guill and Graham Shiels.

“We created Dispatch to embrace the most compelling elements of virtual reality to make the experience as dramatic and entertaining as possible,” said Robles. “With a gripping narrative, immersive audio, and strong visual cues, Dispatch gives the viewer an up-close experience with what first responders go through on a daily basis.”

Dispatch from Here Be Dragons is our OC4 CatsAndVR Best Of Show: VR Storytelling.

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.
 

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

Prison Boss VR will help you realize your childhood dreams of doing hard time.

Prison Boss VR is a crafting and trading game using room-scale to turn your VR space into a jail cell! Craft cigarettes, alcohol and cookies for other inmates! Customize your cell as your reputation grows! Earn cash until you can’t store it anymore and become the Prison Boss!

When night falls, you’re free to craft anything you have the materials for. However, be sure to stay alert, as guards are patrolling and will put an end to your doings as soon as they spot your belongings. When the guards come, hide your things in your furniture to get through the night without losing the items you worked so hard for.

Take jobs to unlock new possibilities and grow your reputation. Trade stuff to earn money, so you can buy more materials for crafting. Find the balance between crafting for jobs and trading for money. Try to progress while earning enough cash to acquire new tools and improve your jail cell.

To learn every crafting recipe, you’ll need to become the Prison Boss of all 4 jails and escape from them! If you want to test your skills, go into Arcade mode where every material is unlocked right from the start and fight the clock to craft the most items you can!
 

• 11 Different Items Available For Crafting
• 4 Prisons With Over 80 Jobs to Complete
• Unlockable Arcade Mode 
• Play VR room-scale the way it was meant to be played
• Great jazzy soundtrack!

http://store.steampowered.com/app/673600/Prison_Boss_VR/

The Team Behind Goat Simulator to publish VR Puppet Charades Hybrid game Puppet Fever

Puppet Fever is  Coffee Stain’s (Goat Simulator) first VR project and marks Coffee Stain’s first contribution to making VR the future of gaming. It is developed by Swedish indie studio Coastalbyte.

Coastalbyte was early to pick up VR development and found a match made in heaven during Dreamhack Winter 2016. Coffee Stain Publishing hosted a VR game jam in order to scout new teams and projects. The jam resulted in a rough prototype of what was going to become Puppet Fever.

Puppet Fever is about acting, shouting and peeking inside of your friends' heads. In Puppet Fever players are taking turns to be the puppet master of a virtual puppet theatre. The puppet master serves as game show host, judge and actor as the other players guess the hidden word, much like a game of charades.

Puppet fever offers a novel way of playing with your friends in VR using only one headset.

www.catsandvr.com/blog/

Award winning VR FPS VINDICTA has a great update to go along with a great price drop.

Vindicta is a great VR FPS that is able to stand out from a very crowded marketplace with its innovative control scheme, smooth gun combat, and art style that seems like a mix of Portal and Half-Life. Vindicta was the winner of the recent Pocket Gamer VR Indie Pitch in San Francisco that included some amazing games including the upcoming game from CatsAndVR. 

VINDICTA recently got a great new update and a price drop to $14.99 making the game more accessible as the team enters full release mode 

This update, entitled The Hive, answers a lot of the comments people had and includes a lot of new content to make the shooter experience even more fun! 

Here are just a few of the features in the new update. 

• Overall fixes and adjustments
• Optimized enemy AI - enemies now seek you out and follow you
• Melee weapon - for out of ammo situations
• The Hive - new level with an hour worth of gameplay, awesome puzzles and tricky arena fights!
• Each existing level now has 15-30min more gameplay time
• 3 new enemy types
• New collectible shield

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

Cute upcoming PSVR title Moss to incorporate Sign Language as a communication option.

Moss is a single player action-adventure puzzle game for all ages. Built for virtual reality from the ground up, Moss reimagines classic action-adventure gameplay in a first-of-its-kind fully immersive environment. When I first watched the E3 trailer for Moss I was filled with awes. Now after a recent tweet from the Animation Director of the project I am filled with lots of joy.

Since she can only squeak, I figured I'd play around with ways she can communicate with the player. Also a great perk for our deaf players. pic.twitter.com/BAiPc8CUMO

— Richard Lico (@Foofinu) August 3, 2017

The cute heroic mouse creature in Moss is called Quill. Though Quill does not speak to the player Quill does communicate through squeaks and actions to help the player. Recently the team decided to see if adding sign language as an option to communicate would be well received. The above tweet was met with great response and it looks like it will be incorporated as a feature in this already excellent looking PSVR game.

Moss will be Polyarc's first title but the team is made of ex-Destiny and Halo developers so the force is strong with them. 

We’ve wanted to make this game from the very beginning—to take the core of what makes a great game and then bring it to life with the magic of VR. We’re so excited to finally share it with the world.”

— Tam Armstrong, Co-Founder and CEO of Polyarc

I know all the CatsAndVR fans out there are excited for this super cute Legend of Zelda-esq Brian Jacques influenced Playstation VR game to help showcase Sony's platform this holiday season.  

Add a bit of Ray Harryhausen and a dash of Ultraman and you have this 2 awesome for words F2P VR City Builder/Monster Battler from High Voltage Software!

One of my all time favorite video game companies High Voltage Software, (Dragon Front, Damaged Core, CONDUIT 2: THE SECOND ONE) released They Live to Destroy, a City Builder/Monster Battler, on an unsuspecting world today to Gear VR in association with Oculus Studios. Yes I woke up in shock and awe to this rad new game that truly speaks to my Misfit fan sensibilities. 

The free mobile VR game is full of towering monsters that besiege mankind and remind me of the Neo Geo classic King Of Monsters.  The art style and monster creation are so rad reminding me a bit of Ray Harryhausen mixed with Ultraman style Kaiju fantastico.  Construct your secret island lair, and then conquer all who have ever opposed you with nefarious alien technology and an army of unspeakable horrors.

• Create, upgrade, and personalize your own unique fiendish metropolis!
• Collect and control 40 unstoppable monstrosities!
• Raid and defend against opposition from around the globe for profit and glory!
• Photograph your monsters in action to document your cruel path to total world domination!

You control them, and… THEY LIVE TO DESTROY!

This may be the game....that actually had me stop writing the post to start playing it as soon as it installed. That just happened and I just returned to finish the post.

High Voltage Software has shipped 96 titles on nearly every console in existence since founding in 1993 near Chicago Illinois. Some titles include: The Conduit 1 & 2, Saints Row: Gat out of Hell, Saints Row 4: Re-elected, Damaged Core, Dragon Front, Injustice: Gods Among Us, Zone of the Enders 1 &2, Lego Racers, Leisure Suit Larry: Magna Cum Laude, and many more!

2017 Disney Accelerator company The VOID to work with Lucasfilm’s Immersive Entertainment division to create Star Wars: Secrets of the Empire hyper-reality experience.

Lucasfilm, ILMxLAB and The VOID today announced the new Star Wars: Secrets of the Empire hyper-reality experience. This ground-breaking experience will open to the public at two new VOID Experience Centers at Downtown Disney at Disneyland Resort and Disney Springs at Walt Disney World Resort beginning this holiday season, giving Star Wars fans the opportunity to step beyond reality and into a galaxy far, far away.

“At The VOID, we combine the magic of illusions, advanced technology and virtual reality to create fully immersive social experiences that take guests to new worlds,” said Curtis Hickman, co-founder and chief creative officer at The VOID. “A truly transformative experience is so much more than what you see with your eyes; it's what you hear, feel, touch, and even smell. Through the power of The VOID, guests who step into Star Wars: Secrets of the Empire won’t just see this world, they’ll know that they are part of this amazing story.”

ILMxLAB, Lucasfilm’s Immersive Entertainment division, created this first of its kind experience, in collaboration with The VOID. Star Wars: Secrets of the Empire will plunge guests directly into the iconic Star Wars galaxy. Guests will move freely throughout the untethered, social, and multi-sensory experience as they interact and engage with friends, family and Star Wars characters.

“At ILMxLAB, we want people to step inside the worlds of our stories,” explained Vicki Dobbs Beck, executive in charge of the division. “Through our collaboration with The VOID, we can make this happen as guests become active participants in an unfolding Star Wars adventure. By combining Lucasfilm's storytelling expertise with cutting-edge imagery, and immersive sound from the team at Skywalker Sound, while invoking all the senses, we hope to truly transport all those who experience Star Wars: Secrets of the Empire to a galaxy far, far away.”

Star Wars: Secrets of the Empire marks an important milestone in the continued expansion of The VOID, which also joined the 2017 Disney Accelerator earlier this year.

About The VOID

The VOID is a destination that inspires the exploration of fully immersive worlds with friends and family, creating memorable experiences together. By combining physical sets with real-time interactive effects, The VOID allows you to step beyond reality, engaging all your senses, transporting you to new and unimaginable worlds. In July 2016, The VOID opened its first public experience at Madame Tussauds New York. In 2017, The VOID expanded with locations at The Rec Room in Toronto and the company’s headquarters in the greater Salt Lake City area with additional locations planned for the second half of the year. For more information and to purchase tickets, visit www.thevoid.com and join @VOIDVR on Instagram, Facebook and Twitter.

About ILMxLAB

Founded in 2015, ILMxLAB, Lucasfilm’s Immersive Entertainment division, combines compelling storytelling, technological innovation and world-class production to create truly impactful, immersive entertainment experiences. ILMxLAB develops experiences for virtual reality, augmented/mixed reality, real-time cinema, theme park entertainment and narrative-based experiences for future platforms. For more information visit ilmxlab.com or follow @ILMxLAB on Twitter.

HP’S VR STRATEGY PAVES THE WAY FOR COMMERCIAL APPLICATIONS FOR VR.

HP’S VR STRATEGY PAVES THE WAY FOR COMMERCIAL APPLICATIONS FOR VR.

8/1/2017 - LOS ANGELES - “76% of virtual reality applications are geared towards video games” explains Xavier Garcia, VP for HP Z Workstations. And on Monday, HP announced a set of products as part of a broader strategy to diversify the VR landscape with offerings geared towards businesses. The two most noteworthy: A wireless VR workstation - The HP Z VR Backpack, and 13 Immersion centers slated to open globally.

THE BACK PACK - Solving Untethering

The backpack addresses a major hurdle for higher end VR developers - an untethered experience allowing full freedom of movement without sacrificing computing power. Partnering with giants like Intel, NVIDIA and VIVE (the major hardware giants in the space) HP hopes to solve the tethering problem by strapping the user with the workstation. Other solutions which include streaming the signal from the workstation to the headset (TP Cast for example) or offering an all inclusive headset (such as the GEAR VR or HTC Vive’s unreleased 3 DOF heasets)

Speaking with HP reps, it was clear that at the very highest end of the market, the mild inconvenience of carrying the workstation would be the only downside to giving enterprise clients a best in class VR experience. Streaming solutions as of yet, have resolution hiccups and are limited in multi-user experiences. All inclusive headsets such as Samsung Gear VR, are too underpowered when compared to high end workstations.

When demoed - the backpack itself felt super light weight (approximately 10 lbs), pretty quiet and didn’t overheat. I didn’t get a chance to demo it for longer than 15 minutes so the jury’s still out on how it performs over long periods but from what I could see and feel, It was a far superior experience to being tethered to a traditional workstation. It’s also built to be rugged - withstanding the demands of military and law enforcement training requirements. Lastly the pack can be charged with a docking station, and since I didn’t get a chance to test it for long periods of time I’m uncertain of how much power you’ll get with the pack.

The backpack will start at $3299 and will be available in September.

THE IMMERSION CENTERS

The second announcement addresses another hurdle - a crisis of imagination. The immersion centers hope to allow commercial clients to see VR applications applied to their businesses. Whether that be virtual showrooms, design and product prototyping or training applications.

This could go both ways - if the demos and applications are well thought out and targeted, it could help push commercial VR adoption. But, if the demos fall short it may turn off businesses from considering VR technology. I’m optimistic for the former, and applaud HP for making the investment. VR’s commercial adoption hinges on companies and business leaders finding value and use cases in the technology. Showcasing commercial applications, if done right, could help decision makers find these use cases.

While VR hasn’t yet become an integral part of industry or business in the same way the internet, smartphones or PC’s have, the big hardware manufactures think its adoption as another tool is around the corner. Hopefully, with manufacturers shifting their priorities towards businesses, we’ll be moving a little closer to that breakout moment.

www.catsandvr.com/blog/

New Micro Machines styled PSVR game Tiny Trax gets update to encourage new players to join in on the fun.

FuturLab has issued a patch for Tiny Trax, the innovative slot car drift racing experience described as ‘Micro Machines meets Scalextrix. Based on user and journalist feedback the team is adjusting the AI to ensure it’s more accessible for newcomers to enjoy. Though the multiplayer aspect of the game is great due to many having the same learning curve, the single player mode came equipped with a pretty hardcore AI in early levels of the PSVR race. 

FuturLab is rolling out the patch today to make difficulty level on the first cup lowered to ensure that new players can achieve a medal more fairly.

The game, from Award-winning Brighton-based studio FuturLab (Velocity 2X), immerses players in stunning virtual worlds surrounded by a variety of epic toy racing tracks, allowing them to control tiny cars from a child’s perspective, and watch them boost around their body, jump overhead and drift around bends.

The game has a robust online multiplayer mode for up to four players, with 12 tracks across three environments. The game already has a growing community and its good to see FuturLab listening closely to continue its growth. Just look at some of these fans of the game.

Tiny Trax is downloadable via the PlayStation Store in the US and Europe 

https://www.futurlab.co.uk/games/tiny-trax

RoVR is a super cute Doggo simulator that is part of an MIT accelerator program for playful stuff.

RoVR is a realistic VR doggo simulator from Ridgeline Labs. As part of a the first class of MIT's Play Labs summer accelerator focused on playful tech, Ridgeline Labs looks to bring tummy rubs and woofs to the VR ecosystem.  The name RoVR is also one of the best uses of using VR in a title. RoVR is Ridgeline Labs' first title, as a VR dog simulator players can raise, pet, customize, and do so much more with their new virtual best friend. 

Doggie treats and tummy rubs are the way into every dog's heart! 🐶❤️#madeWithUnity #VR #gamedev #indiedev #screenshotsaturday pic.twitter.com/GEA6fxmK5M

— Ridgeline Labs (@ridgelinelabs) July 16, 2017

As you may know CatsAndVR loves Caits but we have a special place for Doggos. Being in the SF Bay area it is a little hard to have a dog due to lack of space and pet rent so perhaps this can fill the void a bit...just don't tell the cats. 

The game looks to be pretty robust with fetch and dress up elements to be included in the game with numerous costumes. We should probably get more information later in the summer after the MIT accelerator concludes. 

Apparently dinosaurs like to play fetch too! #madeWithUnity #VR #gamedev #indiedev pic.twitter.com/mdGbMrz6b4

— Ridgeline Labs (@ridgelinelabs) July 8, 2017

Ridgeline Labs, an American independent VR game studio made up of Henry Zhou and Jeremy Slavitz . 

 

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

Cloudbase Prime is basically the modern day Jumping Flash reboot I have been waiting years for.

Cloudbase Prime has officially gotten a full release on PC, Mac, and Linux with a 10% launch discount available to gamers who buy the game during its launch week.  

Cloudbase Prime  is a goofy, cartoonish game where you jump a lot and shoot things, but it's also an ode to how the first-person games of my youth could make me feel real emotion with simple graphics, simple stories, and heart," commented creator Tyrus Peace.

I first heard about Cloudbase Prime at the Oculus Launchpad weekend workshop where I met the games creator. We chatted a bit about his current VR project he was working on and then he told me about this game. I was intrigued right away as the game reminds me of one of my all time favorite Playstation games of all time, Jumping Flash. 

Every E3 Sony Press conference I ever went to I hoped for a current gen Jumping Flash and surely this would be a PERFECT game for the PSVR. Of course I have not gotten that yet but I do now get a game that fills that void a little. I personally think Cloudbase Prime would be perfect for VR so maybe that happens in the future.

Cloudbase Prime  boasts levels built of modular terrain that you can move to solve puzzles, block missiles, and launch enemies to their doom. Find new weapons, special ammunition, and powers to upgrade your robot suit. You'll find ample use for them in fast, bouncy combat and a variety of massive boss fights. . Explore varied levels,  plumbing the weird depths of a gas giant's robotic wilderness. Climb huge robotic trees, swim inside giant jellyfish, and find lost cities in the clouds! The game has a clean, cartoony polygonal style. Players will discover why robots are mutating and acting all murdery via fully animated and voiced in-game story bits.

The game is currently available on Steam and Humble Store for the value price of a decent burrito ($8.99)

See the latest trailer here:  http://cloudbaseprime.com/latest-video

To find out more, visit:  http://store.steampowered.com/app/511250/Cloudbase_Prime/

Website:  http://cloudbaseprime.com/

Facebook:  Facebook/CloudbasePrime

Twitter: @TyrusPeace

About Floating Island Games

Floating Island Games is a small dev team composed of Tyrus Peace. Its goal is to make modern games that remind of old feelings while allowing Tyrus to stay home and help raise his family.

CCP Games vSport title Sparc gets a PS VR release date.

CCP Games announced today that Sparc™ – the energetic, competitive virtual reality game – will launch on PlayStation ®VR on Tuesday 29 August. On release, PS VR owners will be able to download Sparc for $29.99/ €29.99 SRP from the PlayStation ®Store.

Sparc is a virtual sport, or “vSport” - a unique full-body experience only possible in virtual reality, where the player’s VR equipment is their sports gear. In Sparc, players connect online to compete in fast-paced and physical one-on-one gameplay. Players use their two PlayStation ® Move motion controllers to throw projectiles across the court at their opponent, while dodging, blocking or deflecting any incoming shots.

Sparc combines skill-based and instinctual two-player gameplay with slick visuals to provide the PS VR community with a cutting-edge sporting challenge that looks and feels spectacular on PS4 and PS4 Pro.

Sparc includes rookie-level and pro-level difficulty game modes to suit both novice and advanced competitors. In addition, Sparc features “Courtside,” a freeform social area that allows for spectating in VR, where players can meet opponents, watch games in-person and queue up for their next match.

In Sparc’s solo challenges, players can take part in a series of timed events that test throwing and deflection accuracy, helping improve their skills and preparing them for human opponents.

Sparc also offers players a wide range of avatar customization options. Everything from the cut of their compression suit to the headgear they wear, the look of their “Gloves” and the colors of their gear can be personalized to achieve exceptionally eye-catching styles.

CCP is excited to see how PS VR players develop and refine their skills once they get their hands on – and head in – their upcoming vSport.

More details about Sparc can be found at www.playSparc.com and fans can follow Sparc on Facebook andTwitter.