Tag: VR

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Daydream Blue gives players an open-world exploration game on Gear VR

Samsung’s Gear VR’s marketplace is slowing growing and Ralph VR is bringing it’s first title to the platform today. Early adopters of the VR hardware can now play Daydream Blue — an open-world exploration game.

The game is coming just two months ahead of the Gear VR’s full November release and will offer those who grab the tech a nice VR world to get lost in right away.

The project was initially launched by Richie Hoagan — the lead designer for Ralph VR — and his desire to look up at the sky and watch clouds go by in virtual reality.

The game has grown and is now a Gold Prize winner in the 2015 Oculus Mobile VR Jam and is positioned to give first time VR players a solid experience on the Oculus/Samsung Gear VR releasing in November.

The world is highly stylized, low-polygonal environment and simply offers a pleasant world for players to relax in. Players can craft some basics items as well, but development will continue to go on to expand the things players can interact with in the game.

Currently, players can reshape their environment with a malleable world. A few select mini-games are also available like golfing and fishing.

While there isn’t too much to do yet, the atmosphere has been set very well with wildlife roaming the wilderness and the time of day progressing as you play.

Ralph VR is promising two updates each month to Daydream Blue to keep a steady flow of content.

The title is available to current Samsung Gear VR owners for $9.99.

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Capcom’s KITCHEN Morpheus project sheds light on a genre seldom considered with VR

With the dawn of the VR age coming just a few years after the release of the new generation consoles just beginning to come to fruition the majority of the games showcased at the likes of E3, gamescom, and other gaming conventions or major gaming-related events has seemed to focus on some niche games along with some creative ways to play games designed for the traditional TV experience.

Now, as the ball starts rolling with virtual reality amid the major announcements pertaining to Oculus RIft, Morpheus, and SteamVR, Capcom is creating their own venture into a genre that has seemingly been omitted from the major VR spotlight — horror.

During E3 2015 the Japanese publisher/developer showed off a game — or more accurately, a tech demo currently known as “KITCHEN,” that is designed to showcase just how immersive a VR headset experience is. At the recent E3 convention the demo was made available, albeit access to it was restricted to the general public.

The experience is designed to be as atmospheric as possible to bring “an unprecedented level of sensory immersion.”

To envelope a player to this extreme of a level Capcom makes use of the upcoming Sony PlayStation 4 VR headset, Morpheus,  DTS Headphone: X to give players a great sense of surround sound, and a new unnamed game engine. These tools combined with the 1080p, 60fps output (capable of being upped to the Morpheus’ 120 frames per second output) make the play-through feel as life like as any game possibly can.

While KITCHEN isn’t exactly a new IP to expect from Capcom, it is something that heavily hits at what they’re considering and implementing in more titles we’ll see in the future when Morpheus releases on
PS4 and other VR headsets come to their respective consoles.

Check out just one of the many similar reactions of gamers’ first time playing this “next level benchmark.”

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It’s been 18 years. Will the love for Pokemon ever die down?

Over 18 years since Pokemon's initial Japan release, will Game Freak and Nintendo's franchise ever slow down?
Over 18 years since Pokemon’s initial Japan release, will Game Freak and Nintendo’s franchise ever slow down?

Over 18 years ago one of the most definable games of all time, one that would extend to multiple generations of gamers and quickly turn into a billion dollar franchise, was released.

With a total of 30 pokemon games,  and nine of them taking in $10 million or more, one may think there would be some sign that time would be running its course on the love of Pokemon.

But it hasn’t. Pokemon is proving the test of time with their highest selling games being relatively identical products. The most recent installment, Pokemon X/Y, has made over $12 million and is right on track with the sales of its predecessors. With the first generation of gamers who grew up with Pokemon Red/Blue in their early 20s, Nintendo finds ample support in the franchise for nearly every release.

With the older generation remaining loyal to the franchise and the consistent influx of children to adore the game as well, Nintendo has created a system in which they can consistently dominate two generations of gamers.

As the gamers who grew up with Pokemon Red/Blue get older and perhaps less attentive to the Pokemon franchise, there is an entire generation of gamers from Pokemon Ruby/Sapphire to take their place. This makes it incredibly hard to envision how the company’s support will ever waver.

The game itself has shown little need to change as well. The entire base of the game is no different than it was all those years ago. It wasn’t until the most recent release that a truly 3d world was even introduced.

While most games’ mechanics grow stale after a few years, Game Freak’s mantra to keep the core gameplay simple and similar to what has worked in the past is exactly the reason their franchise has thrived for so long. Nintendo as an entire company has shared this same outlook on gaming.

The gaming world is coming to a tipping point though. With the popularity of video games in general sky-rocketing, a massive push for higher resolutions, innovative features, and unique ideas raises the question if the beloved franchise will fall behind.

Nintendo has shown love for innovative ideas like the gamepad, motion sensor controls, and dual-screen interfaces. It’s certainly not an absurd idea for Virtual Reality to become the next step for Nintendo’s creative minds.

The main question is would Game Freak follow suit though? Could it at all be possible in 10 years for a virtual reality Pokemon game to exist?

Speculating the future is rather difficult. All that can really be said is that crucial decisions for the path of the franchise on the part of both Game Freak and Nintendo are sure to soon exist.