Oculus VR explains why mobile virtual reality won’t poison the well
With all the talk of high-fidelity virtual reality coming from Oculus VR — the virtual reality headset company that’s now part of Facebook — it’s easy to believe that the only type of VR is PC-based. But that isn’t the case! Beyond what we learned recently about Samsung and Oculus working on a VR peripheral that uses your phone, Oculus has been open about working on a mobile software development kit for some time now. Heck, we even spoke with Oculus CTO John Carmack about it last year. “I think you’ll see the mobile SDK launch publicly before the consumer Rift comes out,” Oculus VP of Product Nate Mitchell told us this week at E3 2014. Beyond Samsung, a handful of developers are “experimenting with some high-end Android devices … building experiences and seeing what’s possible.”
But here’s the issue: Great VR requires serious horsepower. While the current range of flagship Android mobile devices are pretty powerful, they don’t hold a candle to even low-end gaming PCs. In so many words, isn’t Oculus worried that a subpar, Android-based VR experience could poison the well for the full Oculus Rift coming down the line? If your first experience with VR is a bad one, you may never try it again. “That’s a completely fair statement,” Mitchell said.
At the same time, he also said, “The fidelity that you can experience on mobile is pretty killer.” So, which is it? It’s sort of both.
“That’s a big reason why we’ve been holding it back,” Mitchell told us. “We’re really focusing on polishing it [the SDK] to get to the quality level it needs to be before we release it more broadly. And a lot of the key developers — it is in the hands of some key game developers who are working with it now — are making great progress.” He wouldn’t say exactly which mobile devices that devs are working with, but he did say it’s running on current “flagship” hardware (think: the Galaxy S4 — which is exactly what we heard is the phone powering Samsung’s headset).
As far as when we’ll hear more about Oculus VR products you can actually use at some point in 2014, Mitchell and co. say they’re holding back for “the latter half of the year.” When we speculated aloud that maybe such announcements were being held for an Oculus-run conference, Mitchell laughed and said, “Who can say?” The best he’d give us was this:
“As we move into the second half of this year and into 2015, there’s a lot of good stuff planned. It’s hard to say what consumers should expect because we’re still defining that ourselves, but with [Jason] Rubin on the content front, [Jason] Holtman on the platform front and then more excitement on the hardware side with some things we haven’t quite announced yet, plus the first-party content stuff. It’s gonna be an exciting… whatever! Future!”
‘Destiny’ runs at a higher resolution on Xbox One thanks to Kinect changes
It looks like Microsoft’s decision to let game developers access system resources previously reserved for Kinect features is already paying dividends. Bungie says that the resulting performance boost will let Destiny run on the Xbox One at a higher 1080p resolution while maintaining 30 frames per second; in short, it’s now as sharp-looking as the PS4 edition. Xbox head Phil Spencer also tells Major Nelson that the anything-goes shooter Sunset Overdrive will take advantage of the loosened requirements.
Whether or not you think the crisper visuals actually matter, they suggest that there’s an end in sight to the constant debates over lower resolutions in some Xbox One games, such as Titanfall and Watch Dogs. Cross-platform titles that don’t need the Xbox’s Kinect support now stand a better chance of looking the same on modern systems. That’s good news for Microsoft, which is still struggling to overtake Sony in console sales, but it’s particularly heartening for gamers — you can focus on enjoying good games instead of worrying that you got a raw deal.
After @xboxp3 interview I’ve been asking devs about impact of new Xbox sdk on perf. Bungie says it will get Destiny to 1080p/30fps on XB1.
– Geoff Keighley (@geoffkeighley) June 10, 2014
Filed under: Gaming, HD, Microsoft
Via: Eurogamer
Source: Geoff Keighley (Twitter), Major Nelson
Making your own Mario level is incredibly fun, but difficult to master
Today, I wrote my very own level of Super Mario Bros. at E3. Featuring a pyramid of goombas, several randomly placed pipes, a dozen mystery blocks in a row and countless coins scattered throughout, my creation was a jumbled mess; coming up with a cool world for Mario to navigate is a lot easier said than done. But it was mine.
In the first half of next year, Wii U owners will have the same opportunity thanks to a game called Mario Maker. It’s Nintendo’s first attempt at producing a level creator similar to LittleBigPlanet or Project Spark, and it tugged at my heartstrings. For a brief moment, I shared the same experience as a small group of video game designers: Armed with a Wii U GamePad and its included stylus, I placed enemies, pipes, platforms and other Mario obstacles anywhere I wanted. In my demo, I was allowed to choose between the original game’s 8-bit style and the high-def style from the franchise’s recent titles. And just to make sure my Mario genesis was actually playable, I was able to play through it in real time.
In edit mode, Mario Maker looks closer to a crude video editor or an early version of Photoshop than an actual game. Items, tiles and enemies line the top of the screen, while your current position in the world sits on the bottom. The mechanics are simple: Select an item from the top and then tap on the screen where you want to place it. If you plant a platform somewhere, you can then dictate which direction it moves in. (Reps told me that there’s no way to adjust how far each platform travels, however.) You can add wings to goombas or turtles, and if you place an enemy in a pipe, that enemy will start popping out at regular intervals. Once you hit the Play button in the bottom-left corner, it transforms into a real game that you can actually play through. This is where the difficult part of the process began: Randomly placing items on a level is one thing, but making everything work well together and helping Mario get through it successfully is another.
It took just a few minutes to create a simple level. Satisfied, I saved my masterpiece, but Nintendo hasn’t given any specific details on exactly what I can do with it after this point. Reps suggest that there will be ways to share it with others. Hopefully this means you’ll be able to upload levels and challenge family and friends. I’d also love to download curated playlists of custom-made levels to tide me over until the next Mario game comes out. The demo shown off at E3 is an early version of the game, which means there should be a lot more options and customizations to choose from when it’s ready next year. Sadly, there was no option to create warp pipes, nor were there any underground or water levels. While there aren’t many official answers yet, Nintendo has plenty of time to provide them before its general release.
PlayStation at E3 2014: an interview with Worldwide Studios head Shuhei Yoshida
Sony Computer Entertainment’s Shuhei Yoshida wants his company’s new game-streaming service, PlayStation Now, to be the Netflix of gaming. When it launches later this summer, it won’t be. In fact, it’s launching in open beta. “We have to walk before we run,” Yoshida told us in an interview this week at E3, the game industry’s big annual show in Los Angeles. He sees the service as a long-term plan, part of Sony’s ongoing initiative to bring PlayStation games to many devices. And that plan is just kicking off.
Beyond taking our questions, we also asked you fine folks for your questions. Yoshida, gregarious as ever, took the time to answer each; you’ll find that video below.
These are the biggest PlayStation games at E3 2014
The launch window is over. The PlayStation 4 is, for now, leading the sales charts and the best way for Sony to keep driving that momentum this generation is with — what else? — compelling games. This year’s showing at Sony’s E3 booth is no different than the last: You’ve got your smattering of indies, AAA titles and downloadable content. So what should you expect to add to your growing collection in 2014? We took a tour of Sony’s booth to find out.
The Order: 1886
Developer Ready at Dawn’s third-person shooter is set in an atmospheric London during the Second Industrial Revolution and pits the knights of the order against half-breeds — supernatural-like figures. You play as the quasi-immortal knight Galahad in an attempt to strike down the rebels trying to overtake the monarchy, as well as creatures like the lycans (that’s fancy for “werewolves”).
The playable demo on the show floor focused mostly on the game’s rote shooting mechanics, and stayed far away from The Order‘s promised supernatural element. But Sony also let us into a closed-door session that teased a protracted fight between Galahad and an impressively detailed lycan that shifted seamlessly between in-game cinematics, (dreaded) quick-time events and good ‘ol shooting. If there’s anything to praise The Order for, it’s that dynamic shift between real-time events and cut scenes. Sure the studio spent a fair amount of time researching London to get the surrounding landscape and in-game objects just right, but it’s still just another shooter, no matter how pretty it’s been dressed up.
LittleBigPlanet 3
Sackboy is back and, thankfully, much easier to control in this PS4 debut for the LittleBigPlanet franchise. For LittleBigPlanet 3, Media Molecule paid attention to fan feedback and made sure to tighten up Sackboy’s platforming controls, making his movements more precise and less slippery. The title also adds in three new helpers: Toggle for heavy lifting/speed, Swoop for flight and Oddsock for agility. Each of these new characters offers players unique abilities to tackle the multi-layered world’s many puzzle elements in the single player story mode or during level creation. And speaking of layers, the studio’s bumped the game’s level of depth to 16 layers, a massive increase from the previous title’s three. LittleBigPlanet 3 is absolutely gorgeous on the PS4 and with a vast library of user-generated levels available for download, it should make for an enticing, if not familiar addition to your PS4 library.
Entwined
If you’ve ever played Rez on the PS2, you’ll feel right at home with Pixelopus’ Entwined. There are no bad guys to take out, but the core flying mechanic through a trippy visual space is much the same. Players take on the role of two separated lovers — a frog and a bird — trying to reunite (into dragon form) as they fly through color-coordinated goals and gain power-ups. Entwined moves along on a rail and forces the player to control each character (and each side of their brain) simultaneously using the left and right analog sticks. The graphics are simple, yet brilliant and the game’s intoxicating score lends to its Zen vibe. And it’s already available on PSN. So gamers looking for an alternative to the kill kill kill mechanic we see so often shouldn’t hesitate to pick this relaxing title up.
CounterSpy
The two superpowers of the world are in a race to blow up the moon (yes — “blow up”) in CounterSpy and it’s up to you to foil their plans. This Cold War-inspired effort — the first from Dynamighty — adheres closely to the stealth genre with some first-person shooter twists that keep the 2.5D side-scrolling action from wearing thin. It’s not only a fun romp through a Bond-esque world, but it’s also beautifully designed. Which isn’t all that surprising considering the studio’s creative director is a former Pixar employee. CounterSpy will be available across PlayStation platforms, so you’ll have your pick when it hits this summer.
Driveclub
You might remember this one from last year’s E3. Driveclub was supposed to be a PS4 launch title, but developer Evolution Studios wasn’t quite happy with the game’s social framework. And with the blessing of Sony’s Worldwide Studios, the game got pushed back to a release this fall.
So what’s new? Well, for one thing, that longer development time means the game’s graphics are that much prettier, though it still runs at 1080p30. Small details like the deep draw distance, lighting effects, car damage and the ability to see into the driver’s dash in bright sunlight ensure the game’s status as a true next-gen title. But don’t go thinking this is a driving sim; controls for the various cars may be realistic, but Evolution Studios has layered on mini-challenges to keep you immersed in the fun even if you’re racing in dead last place. That said, the game really shines when you’re engaged in a friendly club vs. club networked multiplayer.
Helldivers
Swedish developer Arrowhead Games’ top-down shooter is the type of game that’s made for local multiplayer. Helldivers lets up to four players control delinquent space cops as they explore procedurally generated worlds and mercilessly slaughter hordes of alien enemies. The game leans heavily on co-op play, but there’s an interesting mechanic baked in that gives Helldivers added tension and difficulty: Players can wield a rich arsenal of weapons and exosuits to help clear out a level, but accessing each of them involves frantic sequenced button pushes (e.g., ‘down, down, down, down’ gets you a rifle). It’s maddening in practice, but we mean that in the best way possible.
[Image credit: Sony PlayStation]
PlayStation TV coming to the UK this autumn for £85
You may have heard that Sony is finally launching the PlayStation TV (or Vita TV as it was previously known) outside of Japan. We know that the mini-console will be priced at $99/€99 in North America and Europe respectively, but we were left in the dark over how much it would cost in the UK. Until now. Eurogamer reports that when it arrives in the autumn, the PlayStation TV will retail for £84.99. That’s a significant bump over the £60 (plus taxes) it would set you back if you went out to the US and bought one direct. To make matters worse, Sony won’t offer UK customers the PS3 DualShock controller bundle like it does in the US and Asia. That said, it’ll still mirror your PlayStation 4 screen and you’ll still be able to play lots of Vita games, PlayStation games and stream video content, as well as music and video from Sony’s own store.
Source: Eurogamer
Here are Nintendo’s new ‘Super Smash Bros.’ Amiibo toys for Wii U
Toy-based gaming is not only alive and well, it’s expanding to more franchises. This time it’s Nintendo’s turn: Following the footsteps of games like Skylanders and Disney Infinity, Nintendo announced the Amiibo, which are plastic figurines that you scan into your Wii U by holding them on the gamepad. As soon as the toy is scanned, its corresponding character — Mario is a primary example — appears in the game with its own unique score, experience points and skills. The point of doing this is so you can either partner with or fight against these virtual characters. Additionally, the more the Amiibo fights, the better it will become. The toys, which were shown off for the first time at E3, will initially be available for (and compatible with) Super Smash Bros. this holiday season, but more games will be compatible later on, such as Mario Kart 8 and Mario Party 10.
The Amiibo’s secret sauce is Near-Field Communications (NFC), the same short-length wireless communications standard used for mobile payments and Bluetooth pairing. Each action figure — which is just a hair taller than the average human finger — is embedded with crucial stats that gets transferred into the game as soon as you pair it with your gamepad; conversely, once you’re done playing, any new experience points, tactics or abilities you received during gameplay will be saved onto the Amiibo. These enhancements to your Amiibo’s profile can come either through battle or training, and thanks to the large number of customized moves and skills that you can rack up, you won’t have to worry about two Mario Amiibo figures being exactly alike.
There are a few different ways an Amiibo can be used in battle. You can have them fight other characters, team up with them, use them to take on your friends or go up against the Amiibo yourself. And according to Nintendo, going head-to-head against an Amiibo in Smash Bros. is more challenging and rewarding than if you were to fight the regular computer, since they’ll level up faster.
No prices have been announced, nor has Nintendo released details on how the figures will be utilized in upcoming games. For the holiday season, however, keep an eye out for Mario, Link, Princess Peach, Pikachu, Samus Aran and around five other characters who will be available at launch, with more planned for later. Nintendo also plans to come out with a NFC peripheral pad next year that will make it possible to use Amiibo with a 3DS.
Here’s what made Grim Fandango a legendary adventure game
When Double Fine said that it was reviving Grim Fandango for PlayStation systems, you may have been left scratching your head. Why remake a nearly 16 year old adventure game that many of today’s players would have never seen? Well, some of the original developers are more than happy to explain through a new mini documentary. They argue that the title was full of creative and technological breakthroughs. The setting was a unique fusion of Mexican folklore with film noir, and it was one of the first adventure games to embrace the possibilities of 3D. Rather than rely on an obvious point-and-click interface, it included then-novel concepts like using head tracking to point out interesting objects.
The company also had some practical reasons to push for a remake. Simply put, older disc-based games like this are increasingly unplayable; you may have to bootleg a copy and hack it just to play at all. Disney (which got the Grim Fandango license after buying Lucasfilm) wasn’t using the property, either, so there was nothing to lose by modernizing it. The retrospective may not get you to fork over cash for the PlayStation port, but it might give you a sense of why the Double Fine crew would resurrect a title that could easily have faded into history.
Filed under: Gaming, Software, Sony
Source: PlayStation Blog
Everything Nintendo did (and didn’t) announce at its digital E3 event
Nintendo once told us that if it didn’t change, it “might die,” but we never expected the company to turn into a puppet show. It happened anyway: Nintendo’s digital E3 event was hosted by Robot Chicken-sourced figures, complete with a demanding audience of stop-motion fans. We’ve got to give Nintendo credit — this is certainly a new approach to handling E3. What did the company actually announce, though? Lots of things: including a new, open-world Zelda game, a little bit of NFC wizardry and even a game starring Toad. After the event closed, Nintendo dropped a few more announcements from a “Nintendo Minute” event on the E3 show floor. Miss the show? You can rewatch it in its entirety here, or simply read on for Engadget’s full run-down.
Amiibo, Nintendo’s NFC initiative
When Nintendo launched the Wii U, we wondered what the company was planning to do with the GamePad’s NFC functionality. Now we know: toys, toys and toys. Amiibo is Nintendo’s answer to games like Skylanders and Disney Infinity, linking its games to figurines. Unlike those properties, however, Amiibo promises to work across several games, and will even have a 3DS peripheral. During its digital event, Nintendo showed how the toys integrate with Super Smash Bros, with each toy functioning as an AI combatant that can be used in single and multiplayer battles — but Amiibo functionality is planned for Mario Kart 8, Mario Party 10 and Yoshi’s Woolly World, as well as other, unannounced games. Speaking of…
Mario Party 10
The latest game in the Mario Party series was sadly left out of Nintendo’s main presentation, but reared its head during the company’s Amiibo follow-up presentation. Like its predecessors, Mario Party 10 promises friendship-testing multiplayer competition, but the latest installment seems to make one player the main antagonist: putting them in the role of Mario’s archnemesis, Bowser, with the powers to antagonize the rest of the players from the safety of the Wii U GamePad.
Play as yourself in Super Smash Bros.
Not satisfied with Nintendo’s roster of Super Smash Bros. fighters? Then make your own: Nintendo kicked off its event by announcing not only the game’s Amiibo support, but also the ability to throw your own Mii characters into the brawl. Mii fighters can use three different fighting styles: a Mario-like “brawler,” as a “swordfighter” like Link or as a Mega Man-esque “gunner.” Each of these classes can also select several special moves, making them the most customizable character in the game. Not into Miis? No worries — Nintendo announced that Kid Icarus’ Lady Palutena would be a playable character, too.
Yoshi’s Woolly World
The creators behind Yoshi’s yarn-based adventure took a few minutes to talk about how it’s different from that very similar-looking Kirby game we saw a few years back. Specifically, the developers talked about how exploration-focused they want the game to be, and how co-op gameplay factors into the game design. The team talked about how they knit actual Yoshi dolls to make sure that the character in-game looked realistic and slapped a released window on the title: Expect it sometime in 2015.
Captain Toad: Treasure Tracker
Unless he’s teaming up with Mario or driving a go-kart, Toad doesn’t get much action. That’s about to change: One of Nintendo’s least-expected announcements was Captain Toad: Treasure Tracker – a Wii U title derived from the Captain Toad mini-game from Super Mario 3D World. If you’re looking for something to do with your Wii U GamePad, this is the title for you: Players use the GamePad to manipulate elements in levels to help Toad (who can’t even jump) find treasure and overcome obstacles. There are not a lot of details on the title just yet, but the above trailer teases a few of the game’s GamePad-centric puzzles. It’s adorable, and it’s due out holiday 2014.
The Legend of Zelda goes open world in 2015
How did Eiji Aonuma kick off development of Nintendo’s next big Legend of Zelda game? By going back to the source, apparently. Aonuma says the original games allowed players to explore a wide area, but the series’ 3D iterations were less open and connected by comparison. The next game hopes to break that paradigm, and promises to allow players to enter any area of the game from almost any direction: Think of it like Skyrim in the land of Hyrule. Unfortunately, the title doesn’t have a proper name yet, just a release year — next year.
Pokémon Omega Ruby and Alpha Sapphire
Dig that fancy, new 3D game engine running Pokémon X and Y? Check out the above video: Nintendo’s using it to remake the series’ third-generation games as Pokémon Omega Ruby and Pokémon Alpha Sapphire. This includes the engine’s new dynamic battles and the Pokémon mega-evolutions introduced in the latest iteration. Catch’em all over again on November 21st.
Bayonetta 2 lets you dress up like Nintendo characters, play the first game
The Wii U is short on third-party exclusives; it’s true — but early on, it secured the Bayonetta franchise as a Nintendo-exclusive title. It was then, and still is, an odd exclusive for Nintendo’s family-friendly arena. Still, the company is doing its best to dress the game up for Nintendo’s audience, and the game’s heroine can now sport Metroid- and Legend of Zelda-themed outfits, at least in the original game. Oh, did we mention that Bayonetta 2 will come with the full original game for free? It totally does — both will be available (in one package, of course) in October of this year.
Play as Princess Zelda in Hyrule Warriors
Who has a flowing dress, a magical bow and the ability to slay hordes of moblins with a single blow? Why Princess Zelda, of course. The team behind Hyrule Warriors sat down during the digital event to talk about the challenges of merging the two series, but what really stuck out were the features and characters. Players will be able to take control of not only Link and Impa, but also Princess Zelda and Midna. Best of all, multiplayer won’t be limited by your TV’s split screen: Player 2 can keep their action exclusively on the Wii U GamePad, giving both players a full-screen experience. That game launches September 26th, 2014.
Kirby and the Rainbow Curse
Kirby’s first major outing on the Wii U echoes the character’s past: Kirby and the Rainbow Curse looks to be a spiritual successor to the Nintendo DS’ Kirby: Canvas Curse, a stylus-controlled platformer that had players directing Kirby by drawing lines on the handheld’s touchscreen. Rainbow looks to be more of the same, but in glorious HD — sadly, this title won’t hit shelves until sometime next year.
Xenoblade Chronicles X
Monolith Soft’s nebulous Wii U exclusive finally has a name, and that name is Xenoblade Chronicles X. This Japanese RPG is one of the system’s most anticipated niche titles, and it’s good to finally see it getting its own identity. That said, this open-world sci-fi game won’t land until 2015 — but check out the trailer to whet your appetite.
Mario Maker
If you’ve been lurking on gaming forums, you knew this was coming: Mario Maker, Nintendo’s Super Mario Bros. level editor. Nintendo’s digital event did tell us a little more about the game than leaks suggested though; in addition to being able to create custom levels in the classic NES style, the tool seems to allow players to switch between old and “new” Super Mario graphics on the fly. Start planning now — you won’t be building your own Mushroom Kingdom until 2015.
Splatoon
Splatoon offers a new spin on four-player arena combat: squid ink. Each team is defined by a specific color of ink, which they can swim through by transforming into a squid — allowing them to sneak, slide and ambush their enemies, provided they’re swimming through the correct hue. This arena-battle game is due out in the first half of next year.
Fantasy Life
As Nintendo’s digital event closed, the company continued its live broadcast from its E3 booth, quietly announcing titles that didn’t make the cut for the main show. After revealing the aforementioned addition to the Mario Party franchise, Nintendo’s team announced Fantasy Life for the 3DS — a create-a-fantasy RPG game that gives characters a chance to embark on their own fantasy adventure… or so Nintendo’s press release says. Check out the trailer above to judge for yourself and pick it up on September 16th, if you’re so inclined.
Professor Layton vs. Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney
Two of the most unique Nintendo properties are coming together for the first time: Professor Layton and Phoenix Wright are teaming up to end a witch hunt — and the title has finally been announced for Western shores: Look for it on September 16th, 2014.
eShop games
If you’ve been paying attention to the dates in this list, you know a lot of Nintendo’s best upcoming titles are going to have to wait until next year. Frankly, it’s a bit of a letdown — but the company has a backup plan: the Nintendo eShop. During its post-event broadcast, Nintendo played a teaser showcasing some of the digital content it plans to offer for the remainder of the year, including 3DS and Wii U games like Affordable Space Adventures, the Ace Attorney Trilogy, Thorium Wars: Attack of the Skyfighter, Chariot, Shovel Knight, STARWHAL: Just the tip, Gunman Clive 2, Citizens of Earth and tons of other titles. Hopefully, those will be enough to tide us over until next year.
And it’s not over yet…
Compared to Sony’s and Microsoft’s long presentations, Nintendo’s digital event seemed deceptively short — but don’t be fooled: It’s not actually over, not even now. Click on that above video and you’ll find that Nintendo is broadcasting continuous coverage for the remainder of the show, featuring developers and Nintendo employees exploring the company’s booth, playing games and quietly dropping bits of news every now and then. Nintendo is slowly trickling announcements on its Twitter feed, too — telling fans about upcoming titles like Pokémon Art Academy.
Is Nintendo’s new approach to E3 novel, or just annoying? Scroll down just a bit further and let us know what you think in our comments section.
AIVAnet 