GDC 2014: Sony’s virtual reality steals the show in San Francisco – The Verge

Sony vs. Facebook: the battle for your reality has just begun

2014-03-28T14:30:04-04:00

Virtual reality is truly coming. There's no longer any question. In the span of a single week, two titans emerged to proclaim that VR would be the future of their industries. Facebook and Sony, companies which respectively defined social networking and personal electronics, each validated what plucky startup Oculus VR had been saying all along: that virtual reality will be a bold new medium for gaming, for communication, and much, much more. Facebook's play was to buy Oculus outright, spending $2 billion to bring an array of impressive talent under its wing, while Sony spent untold millions to introduce Project Morpheus, its own spin on the …

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Here’s how Sony unveiled its vision for virtual reality

2014-03-26T22:01:39-04:00

At the 2014 Game Developers Conference, Sony proclaimed that virtual reality was the future of gaming - and introduced the Project Morpheus virtual reality headset to back up that claim. Perhaps you were following along with our live blog, but if not, you can watch the reveal on YouTube today. Sony has uploaded the full hour-long presentation, which includes insight into the company's entire VR strategy alongside the reveal, as well as answers to burning questions from reporters like yours truly. If you're eager to know how Sony might position itself vis-a-vis Facebook in the VR space, look no further.

For even more perspective on VR, watch …

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The rock stars of gaming start their solo acts

2014-03-26T10:50:03-04:00

Last week, iconic Castlevania designer Koji Igarashi announced that he was leaving Konami. After more than two decades with the company, most of them spent on the same franchise, he decided to venture out on his own. Last year, Mega Man creator Keiji Inafune did the same, leaving developer Capcom to start an indie studio called Comcept, while Populous creator Peter Molyneux made a similar decision one year earlier. All are considered rock star designers. And all three have left the relative comfort of a major game developer to do something they otherwise couldn't - make the kinds of games they really want.

"This has been a want, and almost …

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The GameFace shows why Android isn’t ready to power a VR headset

2014-03-21T20:47:24-04:00

Since day one, Oculus has promised that its prototype virtual reality headset would one day support Android tablets and phones, but the company has never explained precisely how such a system might work. Now, we have some idea: GameFace Labs is showing off a prototype of an Android-based VR headset here at GDC 2014.

Unfortunately, the GameFace Mark IV prototype is pretty terrible in its current state. Though it uses a crisp 1080p screen like the latest Oculus Rift - and the exact same lens design as the original Oculus developer kit for a fairly wide field of view - it's downright uncomfortable to wear, laggy to use, and repeatedly lost tra …

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‘BioShock’ creator Ken Levine wants to make infinitely replayable video game plots

2014-03-21T17:47:30-04:00

The words "combinatorial explosion" have probably never come up in a video game storytelling talk as many times as they did with BioShock creator Ken Levine's "Narrative Legos." At the 2014 Game Developers Conference in San Francisco, Levine outlined an ambitious - if vague - idea for endlessly replayable, systems-based stories that he compares to a player-driven episode of Game of Thrones. When a slide deck offhandedly lists "build a web of nearly infinite relationship states" as a prerequisite, you're in for something that's at least compelling listening.

The hallmark of Levine's BioShock series is carefully paced, twist-driven story line …

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Microsoft’s gaming chief is optimistic about virtual reality

2014-03-21T15:05:42-04:00

Phil Spencer, Microsoft EVP

Virtual reality is the talk of the town at the 2014 Game Developers Conference, with Sony's Project Morpheus and a new Oculus Rift driving the conversation. But just because Microsoft didn't bring its own virtual reality headgear to GDC 2014 doesn't mean the company isn't interested. We cornered Microsoft Game Studios boss Phil Spencer before his panel today, and he tells us he actually believes VR could be commercially viable for gaming.

"We're right at the beginning of this."

Though Spencer stops short of saying that Microsoft is working on any commercial VR products, he says the Microsoft Research group has definitely experimented with th …

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Stand by for plot points: ‘Titanfall’ doesn’t need a story

2014-03-21T14:01:31-04:00

The 2014 Game Developers Conference is full of people who are conspicuously not playing Titanfall. Asking about what level someone reached is a simple yet effective bonding opportunity, as is talking about how much you'll play when you get home. And yet Titanfall, released less than a week before GDC, aptly demonstrates a recurring question from the conference: how do you give gamers the story they say they want in big-name titles, while dealing with the fact that we'll probably ignore most of it anyways?

Unlike the vast majority of first-person shooters, Titanfall does not have a single-player mode. Instead, its story campaign plays out as …

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This is weird Nintendo

2014-03-21T12:45:01-04:00

If we can glean anything from Nintendo's 124-year history, it's a willingness to experiment. The company, which originally sold playing cards, has at various points owned a taxi company, TV network, and even a love hotel chain. It wasn't until 1966, after over 75 years in business, that Nintendo released its first toy. The Ultra Hand was designed by Gunpei Yokoi, who would go on to make both the Game & Watch and Game Boy systems.

The Videogame History Museum is a traveling exhibit that tours the various gaming shows that happen throughout the year - including E3, PAX, and DICE. At this year's GDC, the museum set up a display showing the ver …

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Microsoft claims DirectX 12 will improve Xbox One games, won’t require new PC components

2014-03-20T15:49:39-04:00

Microsoft just announced DirectX 12, the latest version of the company's graphics APIs, at the 2014 Game Developers Conference. The reveal wasn't a surprise. What's surprising is that Microsoft says that existing computers, smartphones, and the existing Xbox One game console will see boosts in performance when the new tools arrive. Typically, new versions of DirectX have triggered hardware upgrade cycles, promising gorgeous new graphics for your games if you pony up cash to buy the latest chips. But with DirectX 12, four major chipmakers - Intel, AMD, Nvidia, and Qualcomm - announced that the new APIs would run on their existing chips. It's …

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Meet gaming’s punk rock label

2014-03-20T15:33:53-04:00

A glowing disco ball spins above a tiny, well-stocked bar in a dingy basement. Across the room are two armchairs, one with a horse mask resting on top, the other with a chicken mask. Resting in between is a tip jar filled with cash. The walls are lined with fan art from bloody indie games like Hotline Miami. For a brief period, this art gallery has been turned into a space meant to promote new video games. A few days earlier, the same publisher responsible for the show kicked off a weeklong sale, offering discounts on notable indie games like Vlambeer's recently launched Luftrausers and the upcoming Broforce. Each game was listed alongside de …

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