The Switchback VR update patch notes describe many texture enhancements

The update patch notes are more detailed than the previous list of changes Supermassive Games revealed. It runs though the general improvements, the biggest of which is support for foveated rendering, which uses eye tracking to render the part of the screen the player is looking at at a higher resolution. Supermassive claims there is also better temporal anti-aliasing, textures, lighting, effects for wet objects, and overall effects, just to name a few. Most of these changes are visual in nature, but the studio has also added dynamic hit reactions to enemies.

These are just some of the alleged upgrades, as Supermassive detailed certain enhancements seen in each level. While quite massive, the studio explained that more support was on the way, but did not detail what was in store.

Players have been waiting for this update since its launch in March. Players and critics almost unanimously called out its muddy or blurry visuals to the point where Supermassive released a statement the following day.

After months of vague updates, the studio noted that it had missed its goal of releasing the update in late June and was aiming for the first two weeks of July. That window passed, which prompted Supermassive community manager Georgina Howlett to say that, despite it being 15 days later, the team meant two calendar weeks.

Here are the full Switchback VR update patch notes:

General

• Introduction of FSR (flexible scaled rasterization) and FR (foveated rendering) support to greatly improve visual quality.
• Enabled Temporal Anti-Aliasing (TAA) for a smoother image
• Optimisation pass throughout the game for improved performance and prevention of objects and textures ‘popping’ as the cart moves.
• Memory usage improvements
• Various crash fixes
• Reduction in loading times
• New and improved models and textures for environment objects
• New higher-quality textures for several enemies
• Improvements to visual effects throughout the game, including fire, headshots and more.
• Added dynamic hit reactions to several enemies.
• Improved lighting in several levels
• Improved the look of fog throughout the game.
• Various fixes and improvements to enemy animations
• Various fixes to clipping issues throughout the game.
• Improvements to headset vibration caused by obstacles.
• Fixes for cart / track audio and haptic feedback on the controllers Improved fading effects for destroyed materials.
• Adjusted position of various objects throughout the game so they are no longer floating.
• Added missing materials to various objects.
• Various improvements to collisions, making it easier to shoot objects.
• Various fixes to checkpoints and reloading levels
• Various adjustments to enemy pathing
• Added shadow casting from the cart light.
• Improved decals like blood and oil
• Added wet effect on hands and weapons when the player is under the rain.
• Loading icon brightens up when spinning faster.
• Turning down audio sound effects no longer turns off haptics.
• Added sound effects to non-damaging head impacts.
• Fixed an issue where the player’s vision got progressively darker in several levels.
• Fixed various streaming issues that cause the environment to ‘pop in’ throughout the game

UI Fixes

• Various fixes to subtitles in several languages
• Various fixes to voiceover and subtitles timings
• Fixed an issue where an incorrect score was displayed on the leaderboard screen after every chapter.
• Fixed an issue where some text was getting cut off at the ‘Journey So Far’ screen in several languages.
• Fixed an issue where subtitles were visible in the pause menu if the subtitle settings were adjusted whilst dialogue is playing.

Haunted Shipwreck

• General
  • New and improved textures for the enemies in these levels
  • Added dynamic hit reactions to zombies.
• Maiden Voyage
  • New and improved fire effects
  • Fixed multiple instances of enemies clipping into the cart.
  • Fixed multiple instances of enemies floating off the ground.
  • Adjusted floating objects throughout the level.
  • Fixed issue with the chain-link fence in the first area changing opacity as you approached it.
  • Adjusted collision on the puzzle assets so only the valves can be shot to trigger them.
  • Fixed an issue with enemies not being close enough to the cart to cause damage.
  • Adjusted the timings of the light flickering in the encounter after the ‘Meat Tunnel’.
  • Adjusted the speeds of enemies in the boat encounter.
  • Reworked the paths and tasks of enemies in the last fight for better timing.
  • Adjusted curtain material to prevent seeing through them Fixed an issue regarding shooting the grenade launcher at the swarm of rats caused the game to crash.
  • Fixed an issue with gaps in the water.
  • Fixed an issue where an enemy left alive behind the cart and could be heard throughout the level, despite being far away.
  • Fixed collisions so the swarm of rats no longer gets stuck on the track.
• Into the Ship’s Heart
  • Fixed an issue where dying after the first branching track did not reset the level.
  • Adjusted floating and clipping assets throughout the level.
  • Fixed an issue with the blood rain visual where sound effects were not playing correctly in the ship’s kitchen.
  • Fixed an issue with broken helicopter blades appearing before the helicopter crash at the end of the level.
  • Adjusted timings on the last encounter with the boss’ attack to prevent the player being hurt too early.
  • Improved the demon dog animations.
  • Balance fixes to the demon dog fights.
  • Added rain haptics on the last outdoor section.
  • Fixed an issue where we could see an invisible barrel exploding when the boss dies.

Cursed Forest

• General
  • Multiple adjustments and fixes to the fog throughout both levels for better visual quality
  • New and improved tree and foliage throughout both levels
  • New and improved fire effects throughout both levels
  • Added more dynamic hit reactions to the enemies.
• Abandon All Hope
  • Fixed an issue in the Black Cat bar where some objects were misaligned.
  • Made the headset vibration more intense during the bus crash.
  • Adjusted collisions on objects to allow for easier shooting.
  • Adjusted the paths of the giant bats in the tunnel.
  • Adjusted the fire visual effects so they no longer clip with the walls inside the burning house.
• Burning Trials
  • Lighting improvements throughout the level
  • Demon in the police station can now be properly interrupted during their attack.
  • Improved the visual appearance of the UV decal.
  • Fixed an issue that caused the dolls to sometimes crawl sideways on the ceiling or walls.
  • Fixed an issue that caused the last demon to not attack during the final phase of the fight.

Forsaken Ruins

• General
  • New and improved textures for the enemies
  • Added more dynamic hit reactions to enemies.
• Ancient Temple
  • Lighting improvements throughout the level
  • Shortened the eclipse scene so that the fight starts sooner.
  • Fixed an issue with Belial clipping into the cart.
  • Fixes to several floating objects
  • Added missing sound effects when the environment changes with the blinking mechanic.
  • Added missing sound effects on the rock falls.
• Into the Abyss
  • Lighting improvements throughout the level
  • Environment improvements throughout the level
  • Fixed an issue where the passenger could still be heard speaking despite being dead.
  • Improvements on timings and other issues with the boss fight

Doomed Hotel

• Enjoy Your Stay
  • Scythes now deal significantly more damage.
  • Fixed several instances of enemies clipping through the floor when appearing.
  • Fixed an issue where shooting the mirrors resulted in blood effects coming out of them.
• Panopticon
  • Visual improvements to the acid traps
  • Fixed an issue where repeatedly shooting one of the animatronics with the stun gun caused it to be pushed through walls.
  • Fixed an issue where shooting through the mattress killed an animatronic on the other side.
  • Significant improvements to the environment, particularly outdoor sections
  • Lighting improvements throughout the level, particularly in the final section

Switchback Levels

• Welcome to Inferno’s Ride
  • New and improved trees and foliage throughout the level
  • Adjusted collisions on objects to allow for easier shooting.
• Frozen Hell
  • Fixed various floating objects, duplicated objects and clipping issues in dolls and mannequins
  • Fixed noticeable holes in icy objects
  • Fixed an issue with voiceover and subtitles being out of sync at the end of the level.

The post Switchback VR Update Patch Notes List Numerous Improvements, More Updates Planned appeared first on PlayStation LifeStyle.

Some PSVR2 prototypes are comparatively rough

Sony released a lengthy and detailed report on these early designs on the PlayStation Blog and it was broken up into two sections: one for the headset and one for the controllers. The headset itself went through a number of iterations, and the post goes through seven of them.

Sony started this process in 2016 — the same year the first PSVR launched — and the prototypes began the following year. Finding out how to implement tracking and what kind of cameras to use seemed to take up a bulk of development. The first two prototypes appeared to just be some form of PSVR but with a camera on the outside and infrared trackers on it, both of which used outside-in tracking like the first PSVR (which is when an outside source like a camera tracks the headset).

The third prototype, while it did use the PSVR shell, was to test inside-out tracking, which is when the headset tracks its environment and is what PSVR2 uses. It even has the four cameras somewhat near their location on the final headset. The fourth prototype, as silly as it looked, had all sorts of cranks and dials on it to help the team figure out exactly where the cameras should go and how they should be angled. The fourth one has a more recognizable front shell but also a mess of wires and chips on it, as it was before the system-on-chip was implemented that integrates all multiple components.

Product manager Yasuo Takahashi also ran through various tidbits about the development. Functionality and comfortability were key aspects and the engineers had to find a balance between weight and durability during these various stages. Eye tracking was also a big feature the team wanted to pursue in order to push boundaries, and Takahashi mentioned how it was difficult to accommodate people who needed glasses or had different iris colors. The inclusion of the headset rumble was particularly quite strange, as it started by attaching a DualShock 4 rumble motor to the headset, which led to solid early results.

Research for the controllers also began in 2016 and prototyping started the next year, too. The team had to find out how many buttons it needed and how the touch detection, adaptive triggers, and haptic feedback would work. And similar to how early headset prototypes used PSVR tech, the first controller used the Move’s orb for tracking (which might be difficult to see on that light background).

The next set of pads had IR LEDs that were first where the grips are, but then they got put into the outer ring as that got introduced. Fitting everything into a smaller shell was a bigger problem, as some of the prototypes were far too big to comfortably hold for most people. The adaptive triggers, for example, are not the same exact ones in the DualSense and are just a bit smaller. Takahashi said the engineers had to work hard to slim it all down.

“Our goal was to balance the weight and center of gravity to make the controller easier to grip and hold for longer gameplay sessions,” said Takahashi. “We conducted extensive prototyping and user testing in order to achieve a comfortable fit. It was not enough to simply piece the components together; we had to make drastic changes to the internal structure. The next prototype is close to the final product, but the fit is not yet fully optimized.”

Developers gave input along the way on the number of buttons and other bits about tracking that might be more relevant to gameplay (like reaching to your back to grab an arrow, which might obscure the controller). The tracking camera on the headset was also adjusted based on feedback from certain developers in PlayStation Studios, showing that this was quite a collaborative process.

The post PSVR2 Prototypes Show the Many Steps to the Final Product appeared first on PlayStation LifeStyle.

The Firewall Ultra release date comes close to the series’ fifth anniversary

That price is just for the standard edition of the game, as there is also a $59.99 Digital Deluxe Edition. This comes with four contractor outfits, early unlocks for four contractors, four weapon camos, and the Operation Pass, which is “access to complete content for one future Operation.” No further details were given to clear up what the Operation Pass actually unlocks, and whatever it is doesn’t have a release date. Pre-orders are live now, and those who pre-order any edition get the Reaper X75 legendary weapon.

This information dropped alongside a new trailer going through a four-on-four multiplayer match on an oil rig, as well as a complementary PlayStation Blog post. First Contact explained that it will be looking to community comments after launch so it can “explore adding more content such as new weapons and contractors, maps, additional game modes, and possibly manual reloads.”

The latter was a hot topic among some, as the title currently has reloads tied solely to a button, something that VR shooters don’t often have. First Contact CEO Hess Barber reportedly left a comment on a YouTube video talking about an extra hardcore mode coming after launch with friendly fire, no aim assist, and manual reloads, but the studio hasn’t commented much on it since.

August 24 is also just days off the fifth anniversary of the first game, Firewall: Zero Hour. As First Contact stated, the 2018 title had a long tail of support full of paid DLC and free updates. The first installment didn’t get a PSVR2 upgrade, but that has meant Firewall Ultra will have a ton of improvements not previously seen in the franchise. Ultra supports eye tracking, finger touch detection, adaptive triggers, haptic feedback, dynamic lighting and shadows, and a PvE mode, the latter of which will be detailed at a later date.

The post Firewall Ultra Release Date Revealed for Tactical PSVR2 Shooter, Pre-Orders Now Live appeared first on PlayStation LifeStyle.

Vertigo 2 will release physically and digitally

According to UploadVR, both digital and physical versions of Vertigo 2 are planned for PSVR2 in 2023, although no firm release date was given. Described by its creator as “an immersive single-player first-person shooter with a focus on story, spectacle, and tactile VR gameplay,” Vertigo 2 was widely praised by critics and gamers following its PC launch in March and currently sits at an “Overwhelmingly Positive” rating on Steam. The announcement of the PSVR2 port closed out the Perp Games VR Summer Showcase, which also included more information on the PSVR2 release of Wanderer: The Fragments of Fate.

Created by solo developer Zach Tsiakalis-Brown, Vertigo 2’s gameplay is heavily inspired by classic Valve shooters like Portal and the Half-Life series. Featuring a heavily comedic tone throughout, Vertigo 2’s light-hearted gunplay should help it stand out against decidedly darker PSVR2 shooters like Hellsweeper VR. The game’s campaign mode is spread across 18 chapters filled with a wide array of alien enemies and some massive bosses that players can dispatch with Vertigo 2’s many unique weapons. Players will also be able to make their own fun using Vertigo 2’s built-in level editor, which even features scripting support for creating custom missions.

Tsiakalis-Brown had previously mentioned the possibility of a Vertigo PSVR2 port. Despite being a single developer, he tweeted it was “definitely a possibility” and that he’d love to do it.

8

Synapse Review (PSVR2): Fantastic Synaptic Tactics

Synapse throws platoons of standard soldiers, behemoths with couch-sized miniguns, a conga line of exploding goons, and Psycho Mantis-esque flying…

Reviews Michael Leri 4 weeks ago

Vertigo 2 is just one of many high-profile PC VR titles headed to PSVR2 in the coming months, which should help to address some concerns about a lack of quality titles for Sony’s headset. As part of a $2 billion dollar investment in game R&D announced by Sony Group earlier this week, the company plans to increase spending on development of VR, AR, and mixed-reality titles in the coming years.

The post Half-Life-Inspired Shooter Vertigo 2 Is Coming to PSVR2 appeared first on PlayStation LifeStyle.

The Wanderer: The Fragments of Fate PSVR2 upgrade has many new features

As detailed on the PlayStation Blog, Wanderer’s most immediately noticeable improvement is its visuals. Its NPCs and lighting system have been overhauled, which can be seen in the above video that compares the PSVR and PSVR2 versions. The protagonist has also been touched up, too, as players can now see their full bodies instead of floating limbs. Mighty Eyes also claimed it has created a “state-of-the-art player avatar system” and A.I. that will make players animate more convincingly. Characters have even been created using Epic Games’ MetaHumans system, which is, according to Epic, a “complete framework that gives any creator the power to create, animate, and use highly realistic human characters in any way imaginable.”

Mighty Eyes has also streamlined and added to the gameplay. More accurate physics mean that items move more realistically. The combat system has been redesigned around a new collection of weapons and enemies, and the team claims it will give players more freedom. And since platforming is driven by physics now and is much more interactive, levels have been redesigned to embrace this newfound mobility and, once again, offer more freedom. There are even three new levels.

Lastly, moving between time periods has also been changed to allow for more persistence to create a “seamless experience for when a player leaves a ‘time era’ (world) and returns” and means that “things are exactly as they left them.” Samuel, the talking watch from the original, also now has a new user interface, storage system, and an extra feature that lets players locate lost items, the latter of which was a criticism levied at the original.

Wanderer: The Fragments of Fate is still just scheduled for sometime in 2024 for PSVR2 and didn’t get a more exact release date. It’s also unclear what the upgrade path will be for owners of the PS4 title (if there is one). Wanderer was one of the last big titles for the original PSVR and released in January 2022. This VR game all about time travel came out to solid reviews, resulting in an average score of 85 on OpenCritic.

The post Wanderer: The Fragments of Fate PSVR2 Upgrade Boasts Numerous Visual Boosts, New Physics, & Gameplay Changes appeared first on PlayStation LifeStyle.

A PSVR2 on PC driver is possible down the line

Twitter user iVRy tweeted more about their breakthroughs about how PSVR2 can be used on PC. In a series of tweets, they noted that PSVR2 can be used on PC and that Sony is not actively trying to block it. They also explained that it will require some extra adapter “due to Sony’s design choices.”

iVRy also apparently posted one picture of PSVR2 running SteamVR on PC and another running Half-Life Alyx. They noted that this breakthrough “felt great” because it provided visual feedback from all the work they’d done so far.

8

Synapse Review (PSVR2): Fantastic Synaptic Tactics

Synapse throws platoons of standard soldiers, behemoths with couch-sized miniguns, a conga line of exploding goons, and Psycho Mantis-esque flying…

Reviews Michael Leri 4 weeks ago

This journey to get PSVR2 on PC is far from over, though. iVRy said that a PSVR2 driver won’t come out anytime soon and that there is no way to give estimates after explaining it would be a long process to get everything working. But there seems to be at least some foreseeable endpoint.

iVRy has posted many updates over the last four months, some of which haven’t been as optimistic. They claim it’s been a long and expensive project and even temporarily walked away from it at some point because of harassment from impatient Twitter users.

The post PSVR2 On PC Is Possible, Claims VR Driver Creator appeared first on PlayStation LifeStyle.

Synapse’s power comes from two main sources: the player’s telekinetic abilities and array of firearms designated to each hand. Gunplay is somewhat standard, but still incredibly smooth. Reloading avoids the tedium seen in other VR shooters, as the magazine doesn’t need to be manually ejected and inserted before pulling back the hammer. Instead, one button ejects the magazine and it just needs to be pushed back in. This can intuitively be done on any surface, with the other hand, or on the player’s body.

Cover is similarly simple to grasp, since anything can become a wall to hide behind. Grabbing a surface sticks players to it, and allows for quickly popping in and out of safety.

Shooting is a significant part of the game, but the true magic comes from how this melds with the telekinesis to elevate the experience. Moving things around is as simple as looking at it and pushing the correct trigger, as Synapse utilizes PSVR2’s eye-tracking technology. This ensures players can pluck exactly what they want almost every single time. It’s a brilliant example of how tech can improve gameplay; it’s much more natural to grab an object by looking at it than it is to move a cursor over it. Targeted objects even stick out from the monochrome backgrounds with a blue and violet hue.

This synergy makes the player a force to be reckoned with, as they fling soldiers with one hand while blasting with the other. Success and getting to higher levels is all about knowing how to efficiently rack up kills and retreat when it gets too sticky. While not an oppressive game, failing to deal with the constant pressure of Synapse’s hordes will lead to a premature restart. Feeling like a Jedi John Wick is where the game is at its best, and its thoughtful loop is built around that.

Getting to that state takes time, though. Not just because multitasking can be tricky at first, but also because Synapse is a roguelite with a sizable skill tree that locks players out of some abilities. Skill points unlock after hitting certain milestones, which adds a rewarding metagame that makes the following run a little easier. 

It sounds simple because it is, and that applies to many of its systems. While perks, spawn points, and weapons can change, runs aren’t too different from one another since it utilizes the same level layouts and four enemy types each time. There also aren’t any random or rare elements like bonus rooms, secrets, or impromptu bosses to add more layers of unpredictability.

This simplicity and relative stagnation between runs is what holds it back, since it rarely changes itself up like some of the best roguelites. Players can’t make builds or experience a new playstyle on the next run like they can with Hades or Dead Cells. Synapse is focused and doesn’t get stale over its runtime, but that’s come at the cost of replayability and variability fundamental to the genre. 

Its take on difficulty also bucks genre trends, but for the better. Rather than a static main difficulty that takes a while to overcome, Synapse has three stages that escalate after each successful run and unlock another part of the ending. This steady rise levels out the difficulty curve, and ensures players don’t hit a wall. A consistent challenge is much more satisfying than making small baby steps to a finale that can sometimes feel out of reach.

Synapse Review: The final verdict

Synapse’s roguelite elements are too light, but it’s a well-designed shooter that empowers players in ways only a VR game can. Developer nDreams has taken PSVR2’s eye-tracking and adaptive triggers and built them into the game’s mechanics without turning them into gimmicks. Snatching a barrel and detonating it over a group of hostiles is as gratifying as instinctively throwing back an incoming grenade while dumping submachine gun rounds with the other hand. It all combines to make for a thrilling VR shooter that excels for how it takes advantage of the hardware

Disclaimer: This Synapse review is based on a PS5 copy provided by the publisher. Reviewed on version 1.001.000.

The post Synapse Review (PSVR2): Fantastic Synaptic Tactics appeared first on PlayStation LifeStyle.

Is there an Until You Fall PSVR2 free upgrade?

Until You Fall is on the PlayStation Store for $24.99 and does not have a free upgrade. Schell Games noted on its Discord page that it is “an updated version of the game and will need to be purchased separately.” There’s not even a cheaper path for those who already have the roguelite melee game; it’s $24.99 or bust.

It was unlikely to be a free upgrade since it was one of the games included in the November 2021 PlayStation Plus lineup. PSVR games that were given away for free or part of PlayStation Plus have tended to not have free upgrades in the past, as evidenced by The Walking Dead: Saints and Sinners, Rez Infinite, and Thumper.

Schell Games explained that the Until You Fall PSVR2 port will have three two-handed weapons, enhanced visuals, and localization and subtitle options for nine languages. However, it didn’t offer more concrete details for any of those features.

The post Until You Fall PSVR2 Port Out Now, Isn’t a Free Upgrade appeared first on PlayStation LifeStyle.

A Pixel Ripped 1989 PSVR2 port is coming later

Creative director Ana Ribeiro told PlayStation LifeStyle that the team does want to do it, but it’s still busy with Pixel Ripped 1995 and doesn’t quite have enough people for both titles.

“1995 is a much newer game,” said Ribeiro. “There’s a team dedicated to working on 1995 for PSVR2. There’s still some work to do. It’s not so easy, but 1989 is such an old project that it would be too hard to focus on doing a port now. For now, we don’t have a dedicated team working on it. I can’t even say when the date will be. We will do it, but I just can’t say we are working on it now. We are focusing on 1995, but 1989 will come later because people are asking for it.”

Ribeiro also noted that VR has gotten to the point where she has “really wanted to go back and make Pixel Ripped 1989 with better hand tracking.” 1989 is the older game in the series and has the most room to be upgraded. A previous comment on Reddit from March also explained that the developer was “studying the best way to deal with 1989” and would share any new developments.

It’s not clear when 1989 will come out, as the 1995 PSVR2 port didn’t even come with a release date.

The post Pixel Ripped 1989 PSVR2 Port Update Given by Arvore appeared first on PlayStation LifeStyle.

Michael Leri: The Crystal Castle, Yar’s Revenge, and Fast Freddy levels are all quite different from the way they look in their actual games. Can you talk about remixing these worlds and making them fit Pixel Ripped 1978?

Ana Ribeiro: We didn’t want to exactly make the game cartridge like Crystal Castle and Yar’s Revenge because we didn’t want to change our game so much to make it like those games. So we felt like it was a better fit to do a scenario where there was a game world based on those games. That way we had more freedom to make something that fits with Pixel Ripped and also explore more of those IPs without changing them or having to be so precise about what it would be like to be inside Yar’s Revenge or Crystal Castle.

This is the first time we’ve made a game with another company’s IP, and we really worried about doing something that Atari wouldn’t be happy with. It was easy with Bentley [from Crystal Castle] because we already had a world like that before we joined Atari. We had a world that was based on a colorful environment. So there was a similar theme going on and we tried to look for an Atari character that fit with that world. So we decided to make Bentley’s world the colorful world.

We also had a quest where you have to find his bag, so [narrative designer Luisa Paes] suggested that we make something that fits with Crystal Castle’s world and Pixel Ripped’s. So we figured out how to mix up those worlds. On Yar’s Revenge, we did something cool with the graveyard.

What was that pre-Atari version of Pixel Ripped 1978 like? Can you speak more about that?

We only did homages in the past, so people would see Red Raccoon and know it was Sonic the Hedgehog. We had the Power System and everyone knew it was the Super Nintendo. We were doing that again with 1978, and we had this fake Atari company that everyone would know was Atari. We had this console called the Volcano. It had a different look. It wasn’t an exact copy of the Atari 2600, but you would recognize it as an Atari console.

We were in the middle of the process and finishing beta and then we got the Atari brand and had to think about what we could use. The base of the game was there, so we couldn’t change too much. But we managed to go back and the first things we changed were turning the console to an Atari 2600 and adding in the logos of the company. It was good because we hadn’t recorded the actors yet, so we could record them saying the names of the games.

But we wanted to make it something more, so we stopped for like two or three months just to get the most of what we could from Atari. And we not only could use the brands in the game, but the funds from Atari enabled us to have almost an extra year to develop the game. And we could go back and change some things that we had cut from the game. Like for example, we had this moment where you did something in the 2D game that affected the 3D world. This wasn’t in the game before. We were able to make a better game and also change those NPCs and make quests that would represent those worlds.

What did Atari mean to you and how does it fit within the game’s themes?

The game is about nostalgic moments and representing the history of games. Not just like a history book, but representing that feeling of having a 2600 console and the joystick in your hand. It’s a dream come true. It was my first video game console, so it’s crazy that this is actually happening.

I was born in 1983, but in Brazil in the 1980s, Nintendo got here really late and people played Atari for a long time. So Atari was my childhood until I played Phantom System, which is a console no one knows about it. Because Nintendo wasn’t in Brazil [for a long time], there was this console that played Nintendo games, but you played it with a Sega Genesis controller. In Brazil, we had really closed politics [and high tariffs] at that time. And it was really hard for companies outside of Brazil.

Nolan Bushnell calls the player on the in-game phone. Can you speak about that?

It was amazing and an honor. He’s the godfather of games. My first memory as a kid was my father coming home with a device that would control the television. We put a lot of cool people from the VR community in 1978, like we did with the other Pixel Ripped games. And this time we had this phone in the office and you can get many phone calls from Nolan, content creators, and Shuhei Yohida.

Shuhei Yoshida has tweeted about the series a few times. How has he been and how did you get him in the game?

When we released Pixel Ripped 1989, he said he was a fan of the game and he got in touch with us. And since we started talking to him, he’s been great and helping us with Sony and other contacts. We even met him in Japan when we went there. He has been in touch for every game ever since. And even for Pixel Ripped 1995, we had a card of Shuhei inside the game. And then when we did 1978, I was like, “Shuhei, you have to be in the game again.” So we recorded him in English, and then I asked him if he could do a message in Japanese because I thought it would be a funny joke.

He’s an awesome person and so humble and a good person at heart. I feel like he’s a friend every time we meet in person. He’s a true video game hero for the indie game developers.

You’ve talked about the feature of going into the game worlds from being cut from Pixel Ripped 1995. Can you give more details why it was cut for that game and how it feels to bring it back for this sequel?

It felt really good. In the previous games, cutting features was hard. Now, when we cut a feature, I always tell the team, “Don’t worry, it’s hard to cut features, but maybe this could be better in another game.” We are just now talking about something that we wanted to do and we thought it was so good that it could be another game. So it was actually good that we cut it. At the time, it was hard because we wanted players to walk around and explore Dot’s world. We planned the whole game like this and then we did the alpha version of it.

There was even a moment in 1995 where you are at this rental store, and there was this whole campaign where you would go inside the game world to get to the rental store. But then we had to cut all that and change it and then the game released without that, so when you go inside the game world, you are just in a cutscene. And when we started 1978, we knew we wanted to put that in the game because many reviews said they wanted to do something inside the game world.

It was frustrating for us and the fans. We knew we had to do something different because it’s the third episode. We didn’t want to just repeat the formula and change the year. 1970s nostalgia isn’t as strong as 1995 nostalgia, so we knew we had to explore more inside the game and do some more interesting things. And to make sure this feature made it in 1978, we built the game around it. The game world became more important than the real world this time.

You have previously said you had a vision for five Pixel Ripped games. Why five?

Pixel Ripped started as a student project with five levels. It was a little ambitious. It was a really big game and the first level was the 1970s. I actually built 1978 a long time ago because it was the first level of the game. And then the third level was 1989, and that was a 15-minute proof of concept. But then I had it in my heart that I had to do those five levels.

You’ve been doing VR games for so long and been able to grow with the medium. Can you speak to growing as a developer with VR?

The best and the worst part of being working with VR is that it is such a new medium that has changed so much and is evolving as you are working. There was no head or hand tracking for the first game. It gotten to the point where I really wanted to go back and make Pixel Ripped 1989 with better hand tracking. There was a moment where we had no similarities with the controllers. Each was different and we had to make a totally different setup for each game.

Even PlayStation was really different. You have the DualShock, which was actually a really good experience when you’re holding a controller in VR and in the real world. But we had to make a whole design for the PlayStation when we did 1995. I think it was the best gameplay experience because you would hold a controller in your hands in real life, but then the hard part was when you were grabbing objects.

It’s also challenging when designing games because you are making things that have never been done before. It is exciting, but also difficult because there’s no set recipe.

l still think there’s so much to explore and we are so early in the history that I feel like there’s gonna be so much more. Imagine when we get to the point where you connect straight to your brain! I like to compare it to the mobile industry. I feel like we are really close to the release of the first iPhone, which was that moment where everyone was using those BlackBerry phones. It was kind of there and people knew the potential, but it wasn’t there yet.

The team has previously said it is “studying the best way to deal with 1989.” Why does 1989 need more work when you’ve already confirmed 1995 for PSVR2? [Pixel Ripped 1995’s PSVR2 port just got a trailer, too]

1995 is a much newer game. There’s a team dedicated to working on 1995 for PSVR2. There’s still some work to do. It’s not so easy, but 1989 is such an old project that it would be too hard to focus on doing a port now. For now, we don’t have a dedicated team working on it. I can’t even say when the date will be. We will do it, but I just can’t say we are working on it now. We are focusing on 1995, but 1989 will come later because people are asking for it.

You’ve dressed up as Dot before. Are you into cosplaying?

I used to do cosplay before, but not professionally. I used to go to events dressed up as Shira, Naruto characters, Sakura, Conan, Harry Potter, Indiana Jones, and Lady Gaga. I used to dress up for every game event I’d go to because I thought it was fun.

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