Is Star Wars: Squadrons going to have VR support?
Yep, that’s why it’s in here.
It now sounds a bit nicer than I expected after all. They kinda have to try to fuck it up. They seem to have power management in, inertia in, in some capacity at least, different classes and some kind of objectives in mp even though it’s still just 5 v 5, it has to be fun at worst, if not exactly have longevity. Also they’ve yet to confirm the leak rumblings before the announcement where people said it’s “focused” on the multiplayer so perhaps the campaigns won’t be so bad, simple or short like the tacked on Battlefront II stuff. Hopefully…
A lovely user video for VTOL VR. It really shows off the game nicely, skim around, the first bit has some standard flying, then there’s a mission with both air and ground target segments, then a night stealth fan mission inspired by the movie Firefox, that one with Clint Eastwood as a pilot stealing a new prototype.
And other assorted recent stuff. Some are big, some jank but I love some of the indie ideas and progress.
I have to say Medal of Honor looks fantastic.
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So, Quest 2 has leaked ahead of today’s Facebook Connect conference. 6GB RAM and Snapdragon XR2 (2x faster than Quest’s 835 plus all the built in 5G/AI/camera stuff to take load off) sound good. 128GB and 256GB variants for storage I suppose. I don’t get why the Mixed Reality capture needs such a beast PC (even a 1080 GPU, I get the fast storage maybe), I almost thought it was talking about playing PCVR games there. PCVR is still working the same way, no wireless officially, just Link cable and still as a streaming video based solution I guess, which isn’t the ideal solution. Hopefully they try to get it working over 5G or Wi-Fi 6 at least. It may be problematic due to the higher resolution.
Other than that, it seems to be another solid kit depending on the price (I mean, hopefully it starts at 499 if not 449 or less) but not mind blowing for PCVR given the competition (Index, HP Reverb G2) and it’s a shame PC connectivity is stream based again. Still, with no competitors in sight, it will cement their dominance in stand alone all in one VR (at least until Apple shows their stuff), even more games will be able to be ported/made with the better specs (though some of the additional power will go to gover the higher resolution rather than better content). And of course if it’s pretty attractive for its all in one capabilities then it’s the one to get if you want both that and PCVR games, rather than choose just PC or buy two kits.
Still, strictly for PCVR, it’s just a revision, not a meaningful upgrade (so I guess the one to get from Oculus for NEW users if they don’t like the alternative brands). I wonder if they’ll also do an S2 that does things different or better (Hz? Fov?) as far as PCVR is concerned or if Quest 2 will go all in for both modes, maybe enable things like finger tracking for PCVR. I’m guessing that at the very least, they’re not going to be advancing their controller technology much at all even if they do offer an S2, given they’ve shown they want to use the same for both products. Maybe there won’t be an S2 at all, just Quest from now on.
For posterity. An awesome deal @ $299 (350 EUR) for an all in one and PC VR compatible VR kit.
https://www.oculus.com/blog/introducing-oculus-quest-2-the-next-generation-of-all-in-one-vr-gaming/
https://twitter.com/medalofhonor/status/1306291823963287552
https://twitter.com/oculus/status/1306294406442553344
I can understand folks who hate facebook but then they wouldn’t be buying their products regardless of the account used (and they better act the same for all the other equally bad multi billion dollar corporations) as it’s still their products and accounts. For the rest, meh. If Sony had bought Oculus and put out a PS Quest they too would use their PSN rather than maintain both. That’s all Facebook is doing. I just linked my Facebook account to my Oculus account to see what it actually does and there’s absolutely nothing that indicates anything Oculus related when I go to my normal Facebook account, while on the Oculus side it still just shows my nickname to folks so, it seems alright atm. It did give me the option to import friends and whatever else like it gives you such options when you log in on your phone for your contacts but I denied everything. Just for information purposes, I don’t have a Quest, just the original CV1. I don’t really intend to upgrade my VR kit before I first upgrade my PC and we get some affordable kits that offer great leaps forward like eye tracking and foveated rendering and better than Index finger tracking for modest prices. The 299 announcement almost changed my mind to get it just for the ease of use and better resolution for the price (and having it as a stand alone VR console on top is cool too) but, I’ll see what the competition is like after my PC upgrade. Maybe more new WMR kits to choose from or an Index Light or whatever else.
A significant difference is that PSN accounts are generally just used for gaming, whereas a Facebook account typically holds a lot more personal information about someone.
They could keep them seperate(ish), as with Instagram/Whatsapp which are also owned by Facebook.
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Been playing a lot of Rogue Squadrons in VR. It…is…freaking…awesome! I feel like I’m in the movies flying an X-Wing! And not just an X-Wing, but all the other ships as well as getting to play as the Empire, flying TIE fighters is fantastic!
After you learn the little nuances of flying it really feels like you’re a trained pilot! I pulled off a lot of cool maneuvers, and being able to do rolls, drift and fly by the skin of my teeth, making complex turns close up against the sides of Star Destroyers is something every Star Wars fan should experience if they have VR.
An I must say, the environments are incredibly detailed! From destroyed ship yards, to nebulas full of debris, to massive meteor fields, to orbiting planets. It is a sight to behold!
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I’m waiting for them to patch some issues regarding mapping inputs to different devices and high fps and stuff as I want to enjoy it at its best rather than use a gamepad or otherwise default controls but yes.
It’s far from a perfect game, there are things to be annoyed by and I doubt it’s going to be a classic of the Freespace 2 or X-Wing or TIE Fighter (not the ships, the games of the 90s) or even X-Wing Alliance caliber in terms of the campaign and mission variety (with the mp focus I guess it could be on par with X-Wing vs TIE Fighter, it was the black sheep of that series but still good fun at its core), but the ship controls are very well done (much like those oldies with the addition of the Tachyon: The Fringe style drift, though it wasn’t limited to boosting in that) and the feeling of being in the cockpits in VR is indeed unparalleled.
The scale of everything is jaw dropping and the design of the environments and the speed and agility of the ships gives you a honest rush, like you’re one wrong move away from flattening yourself against something harder than your ship while also juggling the actual mission and dog fighting or whatever it throws at you. Even the intro tutorial which has you flying around the imperial fleet as a friendly was exhilarating.
I’ve played other cockpit games in VR before, from Elite Dangerous to VTOL VR, many do their own thing great, but we needed someone to put us in the unique Star Wars fantasy in VR in this way, it’s special.
https://www.deca.net/decagear/
This upcoming VR kit by an unknown start up aims to offer 4320x2160 resolution, finger and pressure tracking, face and eye tracking and an extra hip sensor to decouple your orientation from HMD or controller direction (the two common options for VR games currently dictating the analog stick’s “forward” and other directions, they both have pros and cons), all for ~450, plus a ~50 battery add-on for wireless use!
It just sounds too good to be true and from the videos, janky as they are (they aren’t developing some awesome AAA game after all, they’re building new SteamVR hardware), they know what they’re talking about, the DecaMove stuff in particular hit home with the issues I have as someone who can’t wrap their head around controller direction movement and chooses HMD direction every time.
It’s great that there’s projects like this. The cost barrier to VR gaming can be quite high, so more budget friendly options are welcome.
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