My colleague Andrew Webster and I slightly disagree about the setting of Raw Data, a virtual reality shooter that developer Survios Studios showed off at last week’s Game Developers Conference. He speculates that Raw Data allegorizes a future in which Amazon has purchased defense robotics company Boston Dynamics, then protected its warehouses from data thieves with an army of small drones and humanoid robots. I think that no self-respecting exploitative future corporation would resort to crude violence so easily, when it could use a far cheaper combination of shame, emotional blackmail, and economic coercion. But that doesn’t matter, because the point is that Andrew and I fought drones and robots together at GDC, and it was great.
Raw Data lets you and a friend fight robots with virtual reality laser swords
is a senior tech and policy editor focused on online platforms and free expression. Adi has covered virtual and augmented reality, the history of computing, and more for The Verge since 2011.
Raw Data is built for the HTC Vive and Oculus Rift, once Oculus releases its Touch motion controllers. It’s a cooperative game about taking down waves of enemies with a variety of motion-controlled weapons, from guns to bows to energy katanas. We didn’t quite get the hang of working together during our demo, but with more time, we could have started coordinating our attacks to protect the small and precious ring of space we called our own.
Survios plans to open Raw Data for early access on Steam in April, with an unknown final release date.
Follow topics and authors from this story to see more like this in your personalized homepage feed and to receive email updates.
