Paris Games Weeks is taking place in Paris, France, and the PlayStation press conference took place earlier today. The presentation was filled with all sorts of information about upcoming PS4 titles. Many of them were very exciting, and you can find our report of it here. What I was looking for was all things VR, and Sony did not disappoint on that front.
With consumer virtual reality hardware approaching primetime, we're starting to see more information about the VR games that are on the horizon. So far we've seen some short demos and passive experiences, but few things that felt like real games, worthy of a new platform release. If the preview of what's to come is any indication, it doesn't appear as though the demos we've been shown are reason to worry.
VR eSports
The first VR game that Sony talked about is called RIGZ: Mechanized Combat League. This title is being marketed as a virtual reality eSports game, and the trailer that was shown really emphasized the excitement and fast-paced nature of the game. RIGZ has players in mech-warrior-like machines with heavy artillery. There appears to be different classes of RIG that have different abilities, but the presentation didn't go into tremendous detail describing the game. It's unclear exactly how the game works, but it appears one player has to reach a central point in the map and jump through a hoop to score points, while opponents are trying to blow your RIG up. If the trailer is any indication of how the game will play, this one appears a wild ride.
Prepare To Be Scared
Speaking of wild rides, the second game announced for Playstation VR is Until Dawn: Rush of Blood. Supermassive games designed the horror experience from the ground up as a virtual reality game, and it will be a PSVR exclusive title.
Next, Crytek's Cevat Yerli took to the stage to announce a new title being built exclusively for virtual reality using Cryengine VR. Crytek's new title, Robinson: The Journey, puts you face to face with dinosaurs in a jungle setting. The trailer for the game has you being prompted by a floating computerized ball (similar to how Destiny starts), to play a game of "don't get squashed" as it guides you through the trampling feet of Brontosaurs and other prehistoric creatures. Soon you find out why the dinos were running the other direction.
There's been a recent theme of making VR experiences that tie in to movies to give fans a unique peek into the world of the movie in question. Recently one of those experiences was created for The Walk, the Sony Pictures movie about Philippe Petit, the high-wire artist who walked a tight rope between the twin towers in the 1970s. Today, Sony revealed that The Walk VR will be available to try at home on PSVR next year. The company played a quick video of people trying The Walk and how they reacted to the experience, and their reactions tell the story. The Walk must be truly terrifying.
Back To The Games
A trailer for a game called Battlezone was played for the crowd. The game was not described in any detail; it was only to say that it will debut on PSVR as a timed exclusive before moving to other platforms.
Sony confirmed at least 10 titles coming to PSVR in 2016, including RIGZ: Mechanized Combat League, Eve: Valkyrie, The London Heist, The Walk, Battlezone, Megaton Rainfall, Robinson: The Journey, Heavensward: Final Fantasy XIV, Until Dawn: Rush of Blood and Tekken 7. Kazunori Yamauchi, creator of Gran Tourismo, also confirmed that the next iteration of the famous racing series, Gran Tourismo Sport, will be adding support for Playstation VR. The company also revealed that there are over 200 developers currently working on PSVR titles, so there will be many more announcements in the future.
Eight of the announced games are available to try on the Paris Games Week show floor, but the company didn't reveal the entire list to the crowd. We do know that The London Heist, RIGZ and Battlezone are available to try.
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