Summary: When Max wishes for his annoying little brother, Felix, to be whisked away by unknown evil forces, he gets more than he bargained for. Armed only with a marker and a hope of undoing what he has just done, he sets out on a perilous journey across deserts, eerie lantern-lit bogs, ancient temples and lush green forests to get his younger sibling back. Along the way Max gains the power to manipulate his environment and overcome seemingly impossible obstacles.



Critic Score:

Official Xbox Magazine
Jan 3, 2014
"The “a-ha” moments when you successfully combine your various marker powers to navigate a pitch-black cave, escape the clutches of a pursuing beast, or access a seemingly out-of-reach ledge made us feel like Mensa members."

Sequel to Sequel
with Peter Brown

ravely Default (originally titled Bravely Default: Flying Fairy) came out in Japan in 2012, and Europe in 2013. Now, a year and a half after its debut, it's finally available to 3DS owners in North America. During that time, the game underwent a litany of changes, earning a rerelease in Japan under a new subtitle, Bravely Default: For the Sequel. As the name implies, Silicon Studio, the team behind Bravely Default, is already working on the successor: Bravely Second. Interestingly enough, according to producer Tomoya Asano, Bravely Default was originally envisioned as a sequel to a preexisting game from another series: Final Fantasy: The 4 Heroes of Light.

Asano said, "As it turns out, we originally, in the early planning stages, were looking at this project as a sequel to Final Fantasy: The 4 Heroes of Light, and we had spoken to Silicon Studio who had created a demo for that project, and we liked what we saw and decided to work with them."

Though Bravely Default eventually moved away from the Final Fantasy brand, it retains several ties to the series, causing many players to refer to it as the best Final Fantasy game in years.
Bravely Default producer, Tomoya Asano.

"There are certainly some elements, like the turn-based battles or the job system or traveling around the world looking for crystals, that will feel like familiar elements to fans of the classic Final Fantasy series, but the reason that they exist in this game is that we know that these are elements that are going to make for ease of play and a comfortable play experience.

"I think that it's possible that some of the similarity of item names are due to the fact that we originally conceived of this as a sequel to Final Fantasy: The 4 Heroes of Light; it might be just an artifact of that process. But there's also some deliberate thinking about it as well in that we know that people that were fans of the Final Fantasy series, and there certainly were a lot of them, enjoy seeing similar elements, and we know that it's fun for them."

Does that mean the game was designed to mimic classic Final Fantasy games, first and foremost? It may seem that way at first but once you dig into the combat and town-building system, you immediately realize there's more to Bravely Default than things lifted from Final Fantasy's playbook, and it begins to form an identity of its own. Asano points out that "we have also incorporated lots of interesting new elements that have not been seen in games in that series up till now."

Producer; Tomoya Asano.

Dragon Ball Z: Battle of Z is a fighting video game based on the manga and anime franchise Dragon Ball, and is the first new game in the series to be released since Dragon Ball Z: For Kinect in 2012. The game was developed by Artdink and published by Namco Bandai Games. This entry features the first video game appearance of Goku's Super Saiyan God form.

Development:

Battle of Z was confirmed to be in development on January 14, 2013. It will feature a four-player mode, an eight-player "Battle Royale", online multiplayer, and dynamic boss battles. The game has been confirmed for a worldwide release. It is a multi-player based game, though single-player is an available feature.


Overview:


Battle of Z is a team fighting action title that lets up to eight players battle it out against one another in a gameplay and graphical style similar to those of Dragon Ball: Zenkai Battle Royale. The game can have up to four players in cooperative play, and lets players perform attacks together and heal one another. It also supports online multiplayer battles, and PS Vita ad-hoc connection. A multiplayer restriction in this game is that two players can not play on the same console; the developers say this is due to wanting a player having the best possible graphics in full screen. Battle of Z features over 70 characters, as well as team battles against giant characters such as Great Ape Vegeta, Great Ape Gohan, and Hirudegarn.

The game features more than 70 characters. Instead of transformations grouped together into one character, they are actually separated into each transformation each. The pre-order offer comes in with 2 exclusive in-game DLC Characters: Super Vegito and Super Saiyan Bardock, available solely via pre-order across Europe, America, and Australasia. Day 1 Edition includes a bonus DLC code for Goku in Naruto Sage Mode costume.

To further celebrate the release of the game, NAMCO BANDAI Games Europe is providing fans with some unique Pre-order and Day 1 offers, now including the GOKU Edition: a Collector's Edition for PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 which features the full game with the unique GOKU (Naruto Uzumaki Sage Mode) Costume DLC, an art book with privileged content from the developers' team, and an exclusive SUPER SAIYAN GOKU figurine (25 cm height).


Gameplay:


Players can be very successful in high-speed battles on the ground and in the air. The game's key feature is team battle action of four versus four. Teammates share a special energy meter called GENKI Gauge. This meter increases when attacking opponents and, when filled, allows the character to perform an ultimate attack. Any of the teammates can decide to give or use energy from the gauge in order to perform an attack. Playable characters can team up to perform techniques such as Synchro Rush, Meteor Chain, and Revive Soul. Meteor Chain involves partners teaming up to launch attack after attack, following up each other's attacks and timing it so the opponent has no time to counter.[3] Using Meteor Chains is an effective way to get the GENKI Gauge to fill up quickly. Synchro Rush is rushing the opponent at the same time, resulting in simultaneous hits. Revive Soul is reviving a fallen partner, giving them energy to get back in the battle. Also, thanks to Energy Share, teammates can share ki with each others. Villains can team up with Heroes in the game, but they do not show appreciation when given ki or extra energy to heal. There are four different battle types for playable characters:

Fighting Type: skilled at close combat, can combo with melee attacks. Attack Type moves are Kaio-ken Attack, Dance of the Sword, Recoome Kick.
Ki Blast Type: skilled at long range battle, can make consecutive attacks using the GENKI Gauge. Ki Blast Type moves are Consecutive Energy Blast, Death Beam, Spirit Ball.
Support Type: powers such as health regeneration and support abilities. Support Type moves are Health regain blast, Fighting Pose.
Interference Type: adept at abilities that interfere with the enemy's movements. Interference Type moves are Solar Flare, Chocolate Beam, Drain Energy.

There is a unique feature system that allows players to modify (edit) characters using ability/or customization cards. By collecting and equipping cards, characters that might not be suited to battle can be boosted to make them more capable, alternatively they can be given abilities that make their natural strengths more pronounced.

Modes

Game modes include Single Missions, Multi Missions, and Team Battles.


Single Mission

In this mode, it is possible to fight as either the Z Fighters or their antagonists. 60 missions are featured, ordered in Saiyan Saga (Z Fighters route and Saiyan route), Frieza Saga (Z Fighters route and Planet Trade Organization route), Cell Saga (Z Fighters route and Androids route), Majin Buu Saga (Z Fighters route and Majin Buu route), Another Age, Extra Age, and Special Age. The original manga/anime story is modified to include team battles, such as the fight with Frieza which, instead of Goku being the only character to face the tyrant, also includes Piccolo, Gohan, and Krillin for the final battle on Namek. Also included is a special history which is based on the Saiyans if something involving them had happened differently. Another scenario made for the game has a battle against all of Goku's family, including Bardock and Goten.


CO-OP Battle

This mode allows 4 players to join online to complete missions in cooperation. It allows players who have difficulty to complete missions alone to find means to complete them online.
Team Battle

This mode includes Shin Battle Mode and Battle Royal. Shin Battle Mode allows up to 4 players to join in order to complete missions in a competition, and Battle Royal allows the combatants to fight against each other not organized in teams. The game will have four different battle modes- normal battle, score battle, Battle Royal, and Dragon Ball Grab.

Normal Battle: This is a standard 4-on-4 battle. Each team is alloted with the ability to "Retry" a certain amount of times after members are defeated. The first team who drops to 0 in the "Retry" count loses the game.

Score Battle: This is a 4-on-4 battle. To reach the highest score possible, each team has to knockout as many people as possible from the other team in a certain amount of time.

Battle Royal: This is a free-for-all, where every man is for himself. Each player will have to knockout the other and reach the highest score possible. All 8 players will battle for the same and unique crown!

Dragon Ball Grab: 2 teams of 4 players will fight for the 7 Dragon Balls dispersed in the field. The first team who collects all of the Dragon Balls wins the game. If neither team manages to do that in the allotted time, the one having the highest number wins.


Character customization

Customize character
Battle of Z brings back the feature to edit a character to make them the strongest character. It is shown that cards and card slots are the method for editing characters.

Edit costume
Battle of Z introduces the feature to edit the color pattern of character's costume.


Characters

Goku (Base: Fighting Type, Super Saiyan: Fighting Type, Super Saiyan 2, Super Saiyan 3, Super Saiyan God: Fighting Type)
Kid Gohan (Support Type)
Teen Gohan (Base: Support Type, Super Saiyan: Fighting, Support Type, Super Saiyan 2: Fighting Type)
Adolescent Gohan (Super Saiyan 2)
Ultimate Gohan
Piccolo (Ki Blast, Interference Type)
Krillin (Support, Interference Type)
Yamcha (Support, Interference Type)
Tien Shinhan (Interference Type)
Future Trunks (Sword) (Base: Fighting, Support Type, Super Saiyan: Fighting Type)
Future Trunks (Super Saiyan: Ki Blast Type, Super Trunks: Fighting Type)
Kid Trunks (Base: Support, Interference Type, Super Saiyan)
Goten (Base: Support, Interference Type, Super Saiyan)
Gotenks (Base, Super Saiyan, Super Saiyan 3)
Bardock (Ki Blast Type)
Saibaman (Interference Type)
Raditz (Ki Blast Type)
Nappa (Fighting Type)
Vegeta (Base: Ki Blast Type, Super Saiyan, Super Vegeta: Ki Blast Type, Super Saiyan 2, Majin)
Guldo (Interference Type)
Jeice (Support Type)
Burter (Fighting, Interference Type)
Recoome (Fighting Type)
Captain Ginyu (Ki Blast, Support Type)
Frieza (1st Form: Ki Blast, Interference Type, 2nd Form: Fighting Type, 3rd Form: Ki Blast Type, Final Form: Ki Blast, Interference Type, Full Power: Fighting Type)
Frieza Soldier (Ki Blast Type)
Cooler (Base: Ki Blast Type, Final Form: Fighting Type)
Meta-Cooler (Ki Blast Type)
Dr. Gero (Interference Type)
Android 19 (Interference Type)
Android 18 (Support Type)
Android 17 (Fighting, Support Type)
Android 16 (Fighting Type)
Cell (Imperfect Form, Semi-Perfect Form, Perfect Form, Super Perfect Form)
Cell Jr.
Broly (Super Saiyan: Ki Blast Type, Legendary Super Saiyan: Fighting Type)
Dabura (Ki Blast, Interference Type)
Majin Buu (Support, Interference Type)
Super Buu (Base: Fighting Type, Gohan Absorbed: Ki Blast, Interference Type)
Kid Buu (Fighting, Interference Type)
Beerus (Fighting Type)
Whis (Fighting, Support Type)

On the latest PlayStation Blog podcast, President of Sony Computer Entertainment Worldwide Shuhei Yoshida revealed that From Software's Demon's Souls and Dark Souls - his second favorite games of the last generation - inspired much of the PlayStation 4's design.

"Lots of things these games - Demon’s Souls and Dark Souls – did, like leaving the message to other people asynchronously so you feel connected but not really connected at the same time, all of these things inspired us when we were designing the system features for PS4.

"The sharing features - I enjoy so much watching people playing Dark Souls on YouTube. These games still have special place in my memory."

Sony is heavily focused on this sort of seamless social integration with its latest console, which is the first to offer players the opportunity to remotely jump into the games of others, alongside sharing capabilities and integrated streaming.

Gears of War 3 knows exactly what it is: a badass simulator.

Developer Epic Games strives to bookend the Gears trilogy with the most definitive third-person shooter gameplay of this generation while attempting to tidy up any and all loose story ends and shoehorn a bro-motional lump in your throat in the process.

At the former, Gears 3 ultimately succeeds, especially in its rich suite of multiplayer content. Even the singleplayer campaign somehow manages to feel fresh despite rather conservative changes and a palpable sense of deja-vu coloring the majority of the campaign. As for the latter? Shakespeare this ain't, and Gears 3 struggles at times with its forced attempts at heart-string pluckery, but I can forgive it as much; gore-starved guns adorned with toothy chainsaws easily atone for any cheesiness suffered along the way.

Destroyed beauty, hope runs deep, brothers; to the end. Part poetry, mostly marketing slang, the Gears 3 story continues with what amounts to a blood-drenched tale of woe, suffering, loss and absolution, cathartica that stands out in harsh relief when framed by the '80s era Schwarzenegger-ness of most of the dialogue. Cue the attendant grimaces, bro-vado and non-stop X-TREME one-liners. Translation: Gears 3 delivers exactly what you'd expect on the story side, ironically good news for longtime fans. For the rest of you, roll your eyes, chuckle and carry on. It's not Gears of War and Peace, people!

Things on Sera have gone from really sucky to really-really-sucky in Gears 3. The Coalition of Ordered Government, aka COG, has all but disbanded and fallen even farther out of favor with Stranded and survivors alike, if that were even possible. The action follows Marcus Fenix and Delta Squad's last stand against the Locust and every garden variety of Lambent, creatures that have become infected by Sera's yellow glowing Imulsion fuel.

Drama aplenty ensues, along with lots of surprises for all your favorite giant macho dudes. Dom sports a scruffy playoff beard and overalls, Cole faces a serious mid-life crisis, bad guys spurt out from the ground like Locust geysers (gone are the Emergence Holes, replaced by the aforementioned geyser action and troop-spewing stalks), there are more Carmines and wouldn't you know it, Marcus' dad is alive. WTF, Epic?

Everything about Gears 3 exudes polish. On the surface, it easily outperforms its two predecessors. Crisp visuals, fractured lighting and billowy smoke effects bring the world to life, giving this final and ever-decaying vision of Sera a tangible sense of place. The sound design creates one of the more cohesive combinations of music and sound effects in any game, fashioning an immediately recognizable experience.

At its heart, Gears tells a story of survival. Everything you do over the course of the five-act story revolves around endurance. You'll go from escaping ambushes to scrounging for supplies to scavenging fuel to using ammo-less Retro Lancers in nasty-ass bayonet fights. Everything feels solemnly desperate and dire, a motif the designers use to great effect throughout the campaign.





Delta Squad has grown and changed, bringing the total number of playable characters to eight, adding the now-armored Anya Stroud, Samantha "Sam" Byrne and Jayson "Jace" Strattonplus to the ranks alongside Marcus, Dom, Cole, Baird and, of course, Carmine.

Gears 3 feels exactly the way you'd expect it to feel, but better, as everything's been overhauled and fine-tuned. The roadie run feels faster, snapping into cover works better and combat has been tightened-up. Plus you can kick fools while you vault over cover, which seriously rules. There's a ton of new implements of doom with which to shoot, impale, gouge and chew up your enemies with, including weapons like the Digger, a gun that allows you to fire a grenade underground for sneaky AOE kills, and the Silverback, a sweet power loader outfitted with chainguns (YES!!!) taken right out of Aliens.

Overall, a few keg-o-rator moments (who gathers around a watercooler to talk about Gears?) will stick with you from the campaign. Nothing quite as iconic as the first Berzerker encounter from Gears 1 or the Brumak rodeo from Gears 2, but rest assured, you'll want to start the slow clap around the midway mark of the game during a sequence that features arguably the best use of music in a game since the finale of Red Dead Redemption

From the Lancer, with its chainsaw bayonet, to the devastating Oneshot there is nothing like seeing your opponent turn into nothing but bits and pieces of gory flesh. Checkout the following pages to learn more from the expertise of veteran COGs, and what they have to say about how to get the most gore for the least amount of hassle.


Starter Weapons are the weapons that you begin with in any of the missions in Gears of War. These weapons also have unlockable and purchaseable skins, as well as their own strengths and weaknesses. You can't however, change your pistol with a grenade loadout, and will always be outfitted with the starter weapons.

Each of the starter weapons has distincitive attributes. Try all of the guns and choose the guns which suit your own playing style.
Rifles

Lancer- The COG's primary assault rifle. Sports the iconic Chainsaw Attachment for close quarters pain. Large mags and fierce stopping power makes this a great medium range weapon.
Hammerburst Rifle- The Hammerburst is the locust 's own solution to combating the Lancer. It's a semi-auto rifle, that's not only accurate, but functional at even the longest of ranges.
Retro Lancer- A Pendulum Era rifle, the Retro Lancer was reintroduced to the battlefield following the sinking of Jacinto. With an angry recoil that hinders long range effectiveness and high power, the Retro packs a punch at closer ranges. Instead of the newer "Chainsaw" bayonet the Lancer has, the Retro Lancer has a classic, knife bayonet.

Shotguns

Gnasher Shotgun- A powerful shotgun with an 8 shell capacity, effective at medium range, but even deadlier up close. Accurate fire can cut down several foes quickly.
Sawed-Off Shotgun- A double-barrel shotgun that packs a punch at close range, and impossible to use at any other distance with a very long reload time. It has a total of four shells of ammo but can hold six total.

Pistols

Snub Pistol- The standard sidearm for the COG. Low damage with high accuracy and firing rate. Unique in that you can melee directly after firing the weapon.


Grenades

Smoke Grenade- The smoke grenade is very useful in some situations. Not only does it deploy smoke but it also stuns enemies that are caught in the blast as well as making an enemy drop a meatshield or a weapon

Apart from your starting weapons, there exist other tools of death scattered around each map. Be there first to ensure that your opponents do not gain an upper hand.

Pickup weapons include:

Gorgon Pistol (SMG) - A locust machine-pistol, the Gorgon's fast fire-rate makes it an excellent close range weapon, particularly behind a meat shield.

Longshot Sniper Rifle - Long ranged death, the Longshot can deliver melon-popping rounds at extreme ranges when in the hands of an experienced operator.

Scorcher Flamethrower - An enemy the size of a fridge is scary, but an enemy spewing intensely hot flames is terrifying as hell. Continuous flames can burn the opposition into submission from up close. The active reload for the Scorcher yields further range.

Hammer of Dawn - The most powerful weapon in the COG arsenal, the Hammer rains down death from above dealing massive damage on impact provided you have a line of sight and have access to open sky.

Digger Launcher - Firing small diggers that tunnel underground before springing into the air and exploding. The digger is the ultimate cover negator.

Boltok Revolver- A high powered six shooter and the Locust Horde's issued sidearm, the Boltok can kill in two shots provided the last meets the face. An excellent headshot weapon in the right hands. The active reload allows you to fire much faster.

Torque Bow - the Torque Bow fires explosive arrows with supreme accuracy. Those unfortunate enough to be hit die in moments. A skilled user can achieve headshots, possibly catching others in the ensuing explosion.

Boomshot - A grenade launcher capable of multiple kills. Aim for the feet from a medium distance for maximum effect. A wise operator will take care to not fire too close to avoid being killed.


Outside of the standard Gears of War armament, there are a few "heavy weapons" available. Heavy Weapons must be carried by two hands and in one instance requires the use of two players. These weapons limit your mobility, making you slower and preventing you from sprinting or sometimes from taking cover.

The Heavy Weapons are as follows:

Mulcher Chaingun- With high damage and an insane rate of fire, the Mulcher spews lead like no other. Those caught in the way are sure to fall to pieces under the Mulcher's withering fire. Can be hip-fired although it is strongly recommended that you aim while you use it. You can also aim the Mulcher by mounting it on cover.

Mortar- Basically a tube that propels high-explosive shells over long distances, the Mortar can massacre an entire team in the hands of an accurate gunner. Spot enemies to aid the Mortar gunner in his conquest for a body count.

Oneshot- The most powerful weapon in the conventional COG arsenal, the Oneshot as it name suggests can fell most targets with one hit and can even destroy a deployed Boomshield. A brief priming sequence and a targeting laser belies this weapons deadly intent.

Vulcan Cannon- If the Mulcher has an insane rate of fire, the Vulcan possesses an even crazier rate of fire. Mere seconds pass before the Vulcan eats through its ammo supply. Additionally, a second player must also retrieve the ammo box to supply the gunner with a steady steam of munitions.


Buildable Weapons can only be found in Horde Mode as they are actually Upgradable Fortifications that are built around the Command Points.

Buildable Weapons should not be under estimated, as they are more than capable of taking out heavy infantry and bosses.
Manned Turrets

Retro Lancer Turret- The level one turret gained in horde mode and the only turret found in online competitive multiplayer maps and is very in-accurate.
carries 600 rounds in horde, unlimited online.

Lancer Turret- the upgrade from the Retro Lancer Turret.
costing 2500 carries 600 rounds and is very accurate.

Boomshot Turret - Mounted onto the Flying Gas Barges, the Boomshot turret holds 6 round of explosive ammo.
Used only in Act 2 of the Campaign

Unarmored Troika- the upgrade from the Lancer Turret.
costing 4000 points, dealing very high damage carrying 400 rounds.

Armored Troika- the final turret upgrade in horde that sports unbelievable accuracy and range, and an increased ammo count of 500 rounds.

Chaingun- Found only in the Campaign missions, this turret boasts an unbelievable high rate of fire that is offset by the speed at which in can overheat

Auto Turrets

Buildable in Horde Mode only, these turrets are also encountered in Beast Mode and can quickly turn any of the lower tier Locust into bits and pieces
Mechs

Silverback- Costs 12500 to buy and comes with arm-mounted chainguns, a "Cover Stance", and deadly rockets. This heavy machine can be found in Campaign, Horde, and Beast Mode.


There are four different types of grenades, all of them a Bolo grenade meaning that the device must be swung before being thrown. You start out with a smoke grenade and must retrieve the other's scattered around the map. Taking a meatshield allows you to "inherit" your victim's grenades as well.


Smoke: Your starting grenade, the smoke grenade doesn't do any damage but enemies caught in it's radius will flinch briefly and drop heavy weapons (like the Oneshot) and meatshields.


Frag: An explosive device, the Fragmentation Grenade boasts a wide kill zone and an even wider blast radius. Even if a foe escapes death, grave injury can easily occur. Throw at the feet for maximum results.


Ink: A baby Nemacyst attached to a bolo, the Ink grenade releases a deadly cloud of poisonous gas when thrown. Those caught close to the detonation will flinch, often allowing of several seconds of deadly exposure


Incendiary Grenade: A flame grenade, the incendiary spews burning doom on those unlucky enough to be set ablaze. Instant death occurs on direct contact, slow death can also befall those standing in the flames.

PC is "Far Superior" For Gaming, Says Nvidia

Recent Shenmue 3 Trademark Outed as Hoax

You may have seen talk of a Shenmue 3 trademark flying around the Internet this week. Unsurprisingly, Sega has confirmed that it was a fake.



"Sega has confirmed that the recent application for the trademark of Shenmue 3 is a fake and is looking into the origins of this application," the publisher said (thanks Eurogamer). Guess we Dreamcast-era kids will just have to keep on dreamin'.

Series creator Yu Suzuki certainly is - he's often said he'd still like to make Shenmue 3, if he could get the rights from Sega. At 2014's GDC conference, he will host a post-mortem on the original Shenmue (translated by PS4 architect Mark Cerny).

How Virtual Reality Will Change Gaming

Virtual Reality is still in its teething stage, still an experiment; a bunch of different companies and entrepreneurs flinging ideas and cash at the same problem from different directions, trying to get us closer to our holodeck future. But why now? Why, after years of resignation to arcades and horrors like the Virtual Boy are these start-ups able to challenge billion-dollar companies for control of gamers' living rooms?



"The technology was not ready," says Palmer Luckey, founder of OculusVR and the inventor of the Oculus Rift. "There have been some pretty great professional grade virtual reality systems, but they cost tens of thousands of dollars - far beyond what most consumers can buy. Making a VR headset takes more than good hardware, but recent advancements in display, sensor and render technology are what made all of this practical."

Steps forward in gaming hardware rarely happen without leaving one foot wedged in the past - just do a Google of 'worst ever consoles' and you'll find yourself clicking through a graveyard of grey plastic also-rans that launched with four games then flopped spectacularly out of existence. The Oculus Rift offers official support for a handful of games already - Team Fortress 2, Hawken, War Thunder and so on - but early adopters can already use third-party drivers like Vireio to jack into everything from Mirror's Edge to Minecraft. If VR is going to be more than just 3D TV all over again, backwards compatibility is key.



The Omni treadmill, for instance, can be used with any game that uses the standard WASD key movement set-up. While playing, gamers can walk, run, sidestep, jump, crouch - the complete first-person athlete's repertoire. And while it works best with a headset like the Rift, players without a VR headset can use it with a regular TV or monitor set-up and a controller - provided they don't turn away from the screen, obviously.

This modular set-up will be typical as home VR grows in popularity - different devices working together to create the best overall experience. "I don't think that everything will converge into a single package or device - the free market will make sure of that," says Luckey. So the question mark hanging over consumer VR technology is which separate systems will combine to create the best virtual experience - and what the stumbling blocks will be along the way.



For a start, there's the tricky question of physical feedback in a non-physical environment. Which is to say, while in Skyrim my towering Nord hero might be bringing a battleaxe to bone-crunching stop in the face of a howling bandit, in real life my arm's going to keep going on its arc and end with me punching myself in the nethers. Which, you'll recall, doesn't ever happen in The Matrix. And while haptic feedback (little buzzers like you find in phones) might go some of the way towards fixing this problem, Paul Yost - head of YEI Technology and the creator of the PrioVR, which uses a set of straps and motion-tracking sensors to give players highly accurate full-body tracking - thinks it may just be something that players will have to get used to.

"Even simple games like PacMan don't have 1:1 feedback," says Yost. "The human mind is great at adapting to changes in both perception and expectations. Perhaps future iterations of the PrioVR will include force-feedback systems, but even without those, the human mind is terrific at filling in the gaps."



My towering Nord also faces another problem - he might be too towering for his (or my) own good. "People are sensitive to how tall they should be, which is a problem for most [first-person] games that peg the player as four to five feet tall," says Luckey. It's another strange thought - how would it feel to step into the boots of a character that was ten feet tall, then look down at ourselves to see our feet four or five feet further away than they feel they should be? You can't save the world from dragons if you're tottering about like a baby giraffe on a growth spurt.


29 Nov 2013
How Virtual Reality Will Change Gaming
193
Your living room in 2018.

By Richard WordsworthWhen I was little, I never wanted a jetpack. I still don't. My Lego men had jetpacks, and even five-year-old me could see that if you bent their stubby little legs back, the twin jets of flame coming out the back of the engines would melt their plastic feet. Rubbish. When I was little, I wanted virtual reality, like in Tron. And now it's basically here. It even plays Hawken - which basically makes it a jetpack anyway.

Joyless cynics might argue it's not quite Tron yet. VR is still in its teething stage, still an experiment; a bunch of different companies and entrepreneurs flinging ideas and cash at the same problem from different directions, trying to get us closer to our holodeck future. But why now? Why, after years of resignation to arcades and horrors like the Virtual Boy are these start-ups able to challenge billion-dollar companies for control of gamers' living rooms?

"The technology was not ready," says Palmer Luckey, founder of OculusVR and the inventor of the Oculus Rift. "There have been some pretty great professional grade virtual reality systems, but they cost tens of thousands of dollars - far beyond what most consumers can buy. Making a VR headset takes more than good hardware, but recent advancements in display, sensor and render technology are what made all of this practical."

“

Recent advancements in display, sensor and render technology are what made all of this practical."

Steps forward in gaming hardware rarely happen without leaving one foot wedged in the past - just do a Google of 'worst ever consoles' and you'll find yourself clicking through a graveyard of grey plastic also-rans that launched with four games then flopped spectacularly out of existence. The Oculus Rift offers official support for a handful of games already - Team Fortress 2, Hawken, War Thunder and so on - but early adopters can already use third-party drivers like Vireio to jack into everything from Mirror's Edge to Minecraft. If VR is going to be more than just 3D TV all over again, backwards compatibility is key.

The Omni treadmill, for instance, can be used with any game that uses the standard WASD key movement set-up. While playing, gamers can walk, run, sidestep, jump, crouch - the complete first-person athlete's repertoire. And while it works best with a headset like the Rift, players without a VR headset can use it with a regular TV or monitor set-up and a controller - provided they don't turn away from the screen, obviously.

This modular set-up will be typical as home VR grows in popularity - different devices working together to create the best overall experience. "I don't think that everything will converge into a single package or device - the free market will make sure of that," says Luckey. So the question mark hanging over consumer VR technology is which separate systems will combine to create the best virtual experience - and what the stumbling blocks will be along the way.

10:34
IGN AU Talks Oculus Rift

For a start, there's the tricky question of physical feedback in a non-physical environment. Which is to say, while in Skyrim my towering Nord hero might be bringing a battleaxe to bone-crunching stop in the face of a howling bandit, in real life my arm's going to keep going on its arc and end with me punching myself in the nethers. Which, you'll recall, doesn't ever happen in The Matrix. And while haptic feedback (little buzzers like you find in phones) might go some of the way towards fixing this problem, Paul Yost - head of YEI Technology and the creator of the PrioVR, which uses a set of straps and motion-tracking sensors to give players highly accurate full-body tracking - thinks it may just be something that players will have to get used to.
“

The human mind is great at adapting to changes in both perception and expectations."

"Even simple games like PacMan don't have 1:1 feedback," says Yost. "The human mind is great at adapting to changes in both perception and expectations. Perhaps future iterations of the PrioVR will include force-feedback systems, but even without those, the human mind is terrific at filling in the gaps."

My towering Nord also faces another problem - he might be too towering for his (or my) own good. "People are sensitive to how tall they should be, which is a problem for most [first-person] games that peg the player as four to five feet tall," says Luckey. It's another strange thought - how would it feel to step into the boots of a character that was ten feet tall, then look down at ourselves to see our feet four or five feet further away than they feel they should be? You can't save the world from dragons if you're tottering about like a baby giraffe on a growth spurt.

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Hawken Oculus Rift Commentary

Playing current first-person games on a treadmill like the Omni also raises an interesting problem for - ahem - 'less ambulatory' gamers. Rushing your lithe special forces veteran round Call of Duty for six hours while your real-world body slowly expands to fill the sofa like melting cheese is fine, but clamber onto a treadmill and try doing the same and many players' hearts are going to pop like water balloons.

"Games designed for the Omni can take [the fitness] aspect into account," says Jan Goetgeluk, founder of Virtuix, which makes the Omni treadmill. "[But] games designed for a game controller or keyboard [have never had] to worry about how far the avatar needs to run to complete objectives or travel. Having seats and benches in games will no longer be a novelty, but needed for rests between missions.

"That said," he adds, "you don't always need to play on the Omni; sometimes you just want to sit on a couch and play Skyrim."

More immediate than the issue of fitness for most gamers will be that of price. If you were, today, to purchase the Rift, the Omni and the PrioVR sensor rig (to provide sight, omnidirectional movement and full body-tracking) then your VR set-up alone would cost you $1,148 (based on a $300 developer version of the Rift, a $499 pre-order Omni and the lowest possible Kickstarter pledge that gives the full-body set of PrioVR sensors, $349). That's about £715. And sure, those numbers are a little fudged (only the Omni has a consumer price tag, and even that could change once it passes the pre-order stage), and the cost will drop rapidly as competitors come to market. But it's still enough to make VR, for the moment, a niche luxury rather than a gaming must-have.

Which means that either the cost of VR will have to drop dramatically (which all parties are certain it will, especially once competing products like Sony's own recently-announced VR headset hit the market), or our virtual reality set-ups will have to start doing more than just letting us romp around in video games.

One thing VR could change dramatically is the home office. The Oculus Rift already has several different software tools that turn the headset, effectively, into a replacement computer monitor. And because you're working in a virtual space, you can opt to split the display into as many simulated monitors as you like, like a real-life multiple monitor set-up without the monstrous price tag. According to Luckey, working from a virtual office like this also means an escape from your humdrum, cabinets-and-water-coolers workplace. If you feel like working on a beach today, or in the middle of a forest, there will be a simulation for that. And once the resolution improves to a level to support this kind of use, the tumbling price of hardware could see headsets competing with monitors on price, too.



Goetgeluk predicts a whole new market waiting for VR adopters: virtual fitness. In an introductory video on the Virtuix Kickstarter page, the developers invite gamers to imagine waking up and going for a jog in Skyrim each morning. Instead of running on a regular treadmill watching Bargain Hunt, or weaving past tutting shoppers on the pavement, Virtuix could offer joggers a lap of the Champs Elysees, a point-to-point race at the bottom of the sea or a power-walking excursion on the surface of Mars.

Finally, outside of the home market, systems like the PrioVR could bring accurate motion-tracking to everyone from artists and musicians to animation studios and indie game developers. Luckey and Yost even talk about 'telepresence' - having someone with a sensor right and headset controlling a robotic body hundreds of miles away. With the addition of accurate finger-tracking (high on the agenda for the PrioVR team), rigs like this could provide enough accuracy to let engineers, rescue workers and so on work without ever putting themselves in harm’s way.

"Why fly technicians around the world when they can operate repair bots from a home office?" asks Luckey. "Why send firefighters into burning buildings if telerobotic suits can do it more safely?"

For next-generation virtual reality to succeed where its clunky forebears failed, it has to be more than just an entertainment tool - more than just a novel way of consuming the games we already have. Different technologies will come and go - for every N64 there'll be a Virtual Boy - but in five years time we'll have a market: different competing products driving down prices and ramping up innovation. And with development cycles for triple-A games commonly stretching over three or four years, we'll also have the first generation of built-for-VR games - dedicated software replacing reverse-engineering and jerry-rigging.

"Full body motion-tracking, haptic feedback, eye-tracking and locomotion devices are going to need to get massively better before we can have a proper holodeck," says Luckey. "But getting most of the way there will happen pretty quickly. There are crazy things going on in research labs today; hopefully they will advance enough to start plugging into the Matrix within our lifetime.

"[But] more than that, the most important thing that will improve is software. People have barely scratched the surface in terms of VR game design - the next five years are going to be a wild ride."

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