By Malathi Nayak
In 2013, Oculus VR’s booth at Electronic Entertainment Expo, the gaming industry’s biggest annual convention, was relegated to a far corner of the showfloor near the restrooms.
What a difference a year makes. At the 2014 expo last week, the startup, which Facebook bought in March for $2bn, drew crowds of oglers for its latest virtual reality headset, Oculus Rift.
The change is a sign of the rising interest in virtual reality platforms among publishers and developers, who hope the years-old technology -- which creates a 360-degree view that immerses players in fantasy settings — can finally become a viable platform to reverse shrinking video game industry revenues and draw a new generation of users.
Whether gamers will buy into that remains to be seen, but Facebook’s big bet has jolted gaming companies into action.
At the expo, known as E3, Sony let gamers try out its virtual reality headset, Project Morpheus, and teased them with experiences such as zipping down a highway on a luge. Electronic Arts has dedicated research teams to explore virtual reality, even beyond headsets. Yves Guillemot, chief executive of French video game publisher Ubisoft, told Reuters his company is working on a virtual reality experience that’s “coming soon.”
The chief executive of Oculus, Brendan Iribe, has gone on a hiring spree for engineers, designers and developers to fine-tune the technology, develop games in-house, and convince others to make VR-content.
“It’s just the beginning. We’re all learning and making a lot of mistakes along the way,” Iribe said at the expo. Some developers say the Rift headset has undergone improvements in display technology in the past six months and is inching closer to overcoming perennial obstacles to mainstream adoption: nausea-inducing motion-blur, uncomfortably grainy displays and sheer bulk.
“I have rarely seen this kind of very ground-up, groundswell of developer support,” said Andrew House, group CEO of Sony Computer Entertainment. “Maybe its time has come.”
Oculus and Sony are expected to begin selling their devices next year, but content remains scarce. At E3, Playful Corp debuted adventure game “Lucky’s Tale” and CCP Games presented space combat game “Valkyrie.”
Technology companies struggle to entice developers to create content to drive a new platform. Developers tend to balk if the technology is untested.
“It’s a vicious cycle that’s hard to break unless someone spends a lot of money on a lot of content,” Wedbush Securities analyst Michael Pachter said. “I would bet on Oculus because Facebook’s got the money.”
Consulting firm KZero Worldswide projects revenue from virtual reality hardware and software of $90m in 2014, and over $2bn in 2015. Others urge caution.
“I have a belief in VR but I’m not 100 percent sold that we are ready today,” said Electronic Arts CEO Andrew Wilson.
Still, initial consumer interest is high. Hundreds of gamers lined up at E3 to the Oculus Rift, squirming and screeching along to Sega’s horror sci-fi game “Alien:Isolation.”
“It was definitely a cool technology, but it was a little bit disorienting at first,” said California gamer and programmer Michael de la Pena. “I’m a little bit sensitive to motion.”
Reuters
French video game star Ubisoft is bringing its blockbuster “Assassin’s Creed” game to home turf.
The sequel set for worldwide release on October 28 takes players to the streets of Paris during the French Revolution.
“I was surprised how realistic it could be,” Ubisoft chief and co-found Yves Guillemot said at a major E3 video game gathering.
“From the street names to how it was before compared to how it is now, you are really more into the details when it is your own city,” he said.
Billed as the most “dense and immersive” version of the hit franchise ever created, “Assassin’s Creed Unity” casts players in the role of a young man who grows into a master assassin and helps shape the fate of France during a tumultuous time.
“We have been working with lots of people to try to get the spirit of the French Revolution; what happened and why it happened,” Guillemot said.
The game strives to capture what people were feeling in France at the time.
Special editions include a “Guillotine Collectors Case” along with Notre Dame and Bastille themed packages.
Initially launched in 2007, “Assassin’s Creed” games have sold more than 76 million units worldwide to rank among top-selling video game lines.
The “Assassin’s Creed” franchise has grown to include novels, comic books, mobile games and films.
“Assassin’s Creed” was the first game to immerse players in a believable and mature experience inspired by historical events. Games have been set in Italy, Constantinople, and even colonial America. But this is the first time it will play out in France.
Versions of “Unity” will be tailored for play on Xbox One, PlayStation 4 and personal computers powered by Windows software.
The prior version of “Assassin’s Creed” put players in the boots of a bold pirate and tapped into mobile devices to expand play.
“Assassin’s Creed IV Black Flag” was set in the Caribbean during the “gritty and exotic” Golden Age of Pirates with a main character who is a descendant in a line of assassins given starring roles in the popular franchise.
Assassin’s protagonists have included a Renaissance Italian; a 12th-Century Syrian, and a Native American during the colonial period here.
AFP
The blockbuster "Batman: Arkham" video game franchise has a formidable new crime fighter: the Batmobile.
In the latest installment of the wildly popular game series, the caped crusader of DC Comics fame takes on villains with the help of weaponized wheels so intuitive that the car seems more like a partner than a mode of transportation.
A life-sized replica of the Batmobile drew crowds on Thursday on the show floor of the E3 video game gathering in Los Angeles, where publisher Warner Brothers Interactive Entertainment let the press behind closed doors to sample "Batman: Arkham Knight," the release of which was delayed until next year.
"The car is a massive new character in itself," said Zafer Coban, lead animator at Britain-based game-maker Rocksteady Studios.
The Batmobile is smoothly woven into game play, from speeding through fictional city Gotham to catch criminals to blasting away with missiles or being integral to solving puzzles impeding the Dark Knight's path.
As Batman swoops and glides around Gotham, the car seems to always know where he is and remains only seconds away to be at his side when he hits ground.
The Batmobile dramatically converts at player command from a nimble pursuit mode for high-speed driving to a battle mode where it is akin to a black armored tank and bristling with weapons.
In the interest of staying true to comic lore that Batman neither uses guns nor kills, Batmobile weapons are aimed at threats such as unmanned tanks or drones.
Rocksteady tapped into the power of new-generation PlayStation 4 and Xbox One consoles to make Gotham "humongous," according to Coban.
The "Arkham Knight" game world is five times bigger than that of the preceding title in the series.
Rocksteady kept their Batman character's piercing gaze and stern face, making sure he "never smiled."
"Batman is a man behind a mask," Coban said. "In the end, he is a man. He doesn't have super powers." AFP
