The SEGA Five: SEGA Games That Would Thrive in Virtual Reality

SEGAVRWhile not every single gamer is sold on Virtual Reality just yet, mostly due to the fact that it is rather expensive to even get a headset and compatible computer, the people that have experienced it all think its the future of gaming. While this is still open to debate, what I do know is that Virtual Reality has opened the door for older types of genres that SEGA pioneered in their long history to thrive. So today on The SEGA Five we will be discussing five genres that SEGA can revive with the help of Virtual Reality.

Before we get started I just want to say that these ideas are to make the games Virtual Reality compatible and not exclusive. I think this would mean that more gamers will be able to enjoy the games, VR headset or not.  The number of gamers with Virtual Reality headsets is too low to spend money on exclusives right now. So let’s get to it.

Infamous SEGA CD game ‘Desert Bus’ getting a sequel with VR support

DesertBusSEGACDDesert Bus has become a infamous game not only due to never having a official release, but universally being known as the ‘most boring game ever’ by many online publications. Is this an insult to the game? Nah. The game was a mini-game that was set to release in a compilation called Penn & Teller’s Smoke and Mirrors back in 1995 and was purposely mean’t to recreate a endless feeling  when driving through the Nevada desert.

Jillette announced the game via this weeks episode of Penn’s Sunday School:

“I’m working with Randy Pitchford. This is not announced publicly. We are going to do a€ —” this is a big, big deal —€” a new Desert Bus. And it’s just going to be for charities, so charities can use it to raise money.”

“He’s calling it Desert Bus 2.0. I’m calling it Desert Bus 1.0003. It’ll be a period piece, it’ll be set in 1992, like the original Desert Bus, just high-fidelity. We’re doing a couple other games. It’ll be a bundle of things. We’re talking to a bunch of people. It’ll probably be agnostic in terms of platform. It’ll probably be for the [Oculus] Rift and for the PlayStation VR.””

Yes, he is working with infamous CEO of Gearbox Software Randy Pitchford who is responsible for great titles like Alien: Colonal Marines and Duke Nukem Forever. While we all know the game is mean’t to be boring, its nice he is doing it for charity.

What do you guys think?

Fans get Phantasy Star Online 2 to run on the Oculus Rift

Phantasy Star Online 2 fan, HardLight602 has created this masterful first person mod for PSO2, allowing the use of the Oculus Rift headset. Taking roughly 6 months to develop this is no simple script mod.

“Everything you see in the video is entirely the modded behaviour of the game up to and including the stereoscopic distortion rendering.” – Hardlight602

On top of that HardLight602 has enabled inverse character rigging which aligns your characters in-game body with your own. This enables many of the weapons to be aimed simply by looking- your characters aim will follow your gaze.

Hit the jump and learn more about the mod.

How to unlock Oculus Rift support for Alien Isolation

Alien-Isolation
SEGA demoed Alien Isolation at E3 running on the Oculus Rift, then after stated that the game wasn’t going to ship with Oculus Rift support. This was partly true considering that the game that shipped didn’t have a selectable  Oculus Rift mode, but the code is still in the game. Here is how to unlock it.

1. Find the Alien Isolation DATA folder.
2. Open ENGINE_SETTINGS.XML
3. Edit the stereo options to the following:

<Setting name="Stereo Mode">
    <Quality name="Rift"   precedence="4"/>
    <Quality name="Off"   precedence="4"/>
</Setting>

Now set the Oculus Rift to ‘extended mode’ and in the Oculus config utility make sure you pause the service. Boot the game up and it should work. More information can be found in this detailed Reddit thread.

Alien Isolation on Oculus Rift is just a prototype

6f85cc46_alien_isolation_fanart_kopfstoff_2
If you guys read all our E3 2014 hands-on impressions, you guys probably saw that we got a chance to try a prototype of Alien Isolation on the Oculus Rift. According to Creative Assembly, the prototype is just that, a prototype. There is no active developement on a full version supporting the Oculus Rift.

“At present, it’s just a prototype and does not represent a game currently in development at this point in time. It’s a truly amazing experience though and brings the game to life in ways we could not have imagined when we started the project. It’s one of the most terrifying demos you’ll ever play.”  – SEGA’s statement to Eurogamer

I have a feeling that Oculus Rift support will come to the title on PC, just not at launch. But you never know, I find it sort of strange that they would show a demo for the Oculus Rift and say its not the game they will be selling the consumer… its not like the last Aliens game was false representation of what they showed at E3 or anything.

SEGAbits at E3 Preview: Alien Isolation on Oculus Rift

AlienIsolation

“Candygram.”

Terror in virtual reality awaited me as I waited for over an hour to check out the Oculus Rift for the first time. I didn’t waste the wait too much. I did go off and leave Nuckles87 in my place for a bit to play as Sonic in Smash Bros 3DS. I won my match and even had an adventure kicking some Koopa and Egg Robo butt. But that’s not why you’re reading this. So after getting inside and sitting on a nice sofa, the fine folks at Oculus strapped on my headgear and headphones and put me into the world of Ridley Scott’s Alien.