‘Chiaro and the Elixir of Life’ Review: a Thin Slice of Ghibli With a Side Order of Corn

Chiaro and the Elixir of Life (2018) is a single-player, story-driven adventure game with emphasis on puzzle-solving and some light platforming. Accompanied by your penguin robot pal Boka, you go out in search of the Elixir of Life, a special alchemical brew that brings life to machines like Boka. Grand Studio Ghibli-style set pieces, mostly fun characters, and some interesting puzzles are however hobbled by finicky object interaction and a tone-deaf script that doesn’t ever quite deliver the punch it promises.

Puzzle-Adventure ‘Twilight Path’ to Arrive Next Month on Rift & Vive, From Studio Behind ‘FORM’

Charm Games, the studio known for the critically-acclaimed VR puzzle game FORM (2017), today announced their upcoming puzzle-adventure Twilight Path is slated to release arrive soon on HTC Vive and Oculus Rift.

Synaptics Reveals VR Display Chip Targeting 1,000 PPI & Foveated Rendering

26

Synaptics, a developer of input and display components for computers, smartphones, and other devices, recently introduced a new version of its ClearView display driver chip which has been optimized for head-mounted displays with high density displays, including a specialized feature for foveated rendering.

Mech Combat Game ‘Vox Machinae’ Coming Soon to VR & PC, New Trailer Here

The long-awaited Vox Machinae is almost here, as developing studio Space Bullet Dynamics Corporation recently announced that the multiplayer mech battle game is finally heading into Early Access soon, supporting traditional monitors, HTC Vive, Oculus Rift and Windows VR headsets starting in early fall.

Steampunk Adventure ‘Chiaro & the Elixir of Life’ Launches on Vive, Rift & Windows VR

Chiaro and the Elixir of Life (2018), a first-person VR adventure from Montreal-based Martov Co., launched today on HTC Vive, Oculus Rift, and Windows VR headsets. The result of a successful Kickstarter campaign, which saw a complete funding total of $10,088 CAD (~$7,730 USD), Chiaro is the new indie studio’s first game.

Google Appears to Be Ramping Up R&D Efforts for “New and novel” AR/VR Lenses

Though there wasn’t much groundbreaking in the Daydream news shared at Google I/O this year, the company is growing its AR/VR team at an accelerated rate, suggesting Google has a number of things up its sleeve yet. One recent job listing which caught our eye suggests that the company is ramping up its R&D efforts for lenses, now hiring a ‘Diamond Turning Technician’ to assist with rapid prototyping of “new and novel” optics for AR and VR devices.

Ubisoft’s Psychological Thriller ‘Transference’ to Launch Next Week on Vive, Rift & PSVR

Elijah Wood’s studio SpectreVision and Ubisoft Montreal announced Transference at last year’s E3, a VR thriller-adventure that takes into something of a virtual reality inside a virtual reality. It’s only a few more days until the game is officially released, with the highly-polished Transference hitting all supported platforms next week.

‘I Expect You to Die’ Reaches $3 Million Revenue Mark Across All Platforms

I Expect You to Die (2016), the spy-themed puzzle game from Schell Games, generated $1 million in revenue between its late-2016 launch and August 2017. Now a little over a year later, the studio reports they’ve recently closed in on the $3 million mark.

Facebook Artist Makes a Case for VR Manga in Homage to Iconic ‘Dragon Ball’ Scene

5

As a current artist-in-residence on the Facebook Social VR team, Goro Fujita has been making some pretty impressive “quillistrations” as a part of his daily creative regime using Quill, Oculus’ first-party VR paint and drawing tool that he helped develop. In a few of his latest creations though, Fujita has been plumbing the possibilities of bringing comics to life in VR. As Fujita puts it, he’s now convinced “VR comics will be a thing.”

Survey: Help Devs Understand Real VR Users & Enter to Win $150 Amazon Gift Card

While there’s a steadily growing number of quality VR games, it’s still well understood that VR is in need of more great content. But what kinds of VR games should developers focus on creating? That’s one of the primary questions we want to help VR devs answer with a survey which aims to understand real VR users.