The Verge - Entertainments

The five coolest games from Upload VR’s E3 2021 showcase
Unplugged lets you play air guitar in VR this fall
Here’s everything announced at the outrageous Devolver MaxPass Plus event
E3 2021: all the news and announcements
Far Cry 6’s new trailer is an intense introduction to a terrifying Giancarlo Esposito
Watch the first trailer for Ubisoft’s gorgeous Avatar game
Ubisoft announces Mario + Rabbids sequel for 2022
Ubisoft’s extreme sports MMO Riders Republic is launching in September
Rainbow Six Extraction is full of creepy aliens in new trailers

The five coolest games from Upload VR’s E3 2021 showcase

Posted: 12 Jun 2021 04:32 PM PDT

Upload VR returned to E3 with its third annual showcase of the most inventive and intriguing games coming to VR. As the medium continues to mature year after year, it continues to be a platform for developers to innovate. While not all of the games shown were brand new announcements, we picked five of our favorites from the showcase that you can look forward to immersing yourself in soon.

Song in the Smoke

First announced for PSVR earlier this year, Song in the Smoke is a VR survival game and a departure for developer 17-Bit, better known for cartoony indie games like Skulls of the Shogun and Galak-Z. In a new developer diary, studio CEO Jake Kazdal explains how VR made him want to create not just a game but a fully living and breathing world. It's coming to Oculus Rift and Quest, and PSVR, this summer.

Unplugged

VR is home to many terrific rhythm games, but Unplugged may have the coolest hook. It's a game about playing air guitar, and by that, it means you really do only play with your hands thanks to hand-tracking technology on Quest and other supported PC VR. Better yet, the new trailer shows you can play The Offspring's 'The Kids Aren't Alright.' It's coming this fall.

Nerf Ultimate Championship

Who remembers playing Nerf? The reveal trailer admittedly doesn't give too much away but it looks stylish, those Nerf guns look terrific, and it's from Emmy-awarding winning VR studio Secret Location. It's an Oculus exclusive coming in 2022.

Sushi Ben VR

This stylish cel-shaded game sees you trying to save your favorite sushi bar from going out of business. However, instead of serving up sushi, your task is actually to convince other people to come eat there, so there's much more of a narrative focus, brought to life with some vibrant manga-style comic book panels. It's coming in 2022.

A Township Tale

Coming to Oculus Quest on July 15th, A Township Tale is an open world RPG designed specifically for VR, which wonderfully acknowledges how you and everyone else don't have any legs. You'll be able to forge a new identity, whether as a blacksmith, minter, woodcutter, warrior or archer, in an immersive fantasy world.

Unplugged lets you play air guitar in VR this fall

Posted: 12 Jun 2021 03:49 PM PDT

The studio behind the upcoming virtual reality air guitar game Unplugged gave an update at the Upload VR Showcase on Saturday and revealed one big band that will be part of the soundtrack.

Unplugged uses hand tracking technology to let you rock out on a guitar in VR, no gloves or special guitar controller needed. You can see where to "strum" by following a Guitar Hero-like stream of notes that roll in your direction, and you'll earn points for nailing your virtual chords and strums. It looks pretty impressive. (And speaking of Guitar Hero, that series' former lead guitarist Marcus Henderson is helping develop the game.)

In Saturday's trailer, developer Anotherway announced that The Offspring will be part of Unplugged's official soundtrack and teased that "we have bands in the soundtrack that we've always loved." The game will also have powerups, minigames, crowd interaction, and more.

Unplugged is set to release this fall for Oculus Quest and Steam VR headsets with hand tracking capabilities.

Here’s everything announced at the outrageous Devolver MaxPass Plus event

Posted: 12 Jun 2021 02:47 PM PDT

Devolver Digital made its return to E3 with another no-holds-barred satirical swipe at the games industry, taking shots at subscriptions, games as a service, and even NFTs. Dubbed the Devolver MaxPass Plus — "the new era of monetization as a service" — the spoof showcase features the infamous Devolver executive Nina Struthers and her cohorts extolling the ridiculous virtues of its new service.

But besides being the most irreverently entertaining segment of E3 (so far), the publisher also included some new game announcements. Here are the most notable:

Trek to Yomi

The first of these was the cinematic Trek to Yomi, with a trailer that's refreshingly not actually a pre-rendered cinematic. The black-and-white game follows a young samurai who is sworn to protect his town and the people he loves against all threats. The game is coming to PC, PlayStation 5, PlayStation 4, Xbox Series X/S, and Xbox One in 2022.

Wizard with a Gun

Wizard with a Gun lives up to its title as an online co-op sandbox survival game where you face dangerous creatures armed with magic and guns. It's coming to PC and consoles in 2022.

Inscryption

Inscryption comes from the creator of Pony Island and The Hex, which combines deckbuilding with roguelike mechanics, escape-room style puzzles, and psychological horror. It's coming to PC later this year.

Devolver Tumble Time

Despite the satirical trailer, Devolver Tumble Time is actually a real physics-based puzzle game featuring a roster of characters from Devolver Games. It's a free game coming to mobile, although there will probably be ads to watch, because nothing is ever really free.

Demon Throttle

Demon Throttle is an 8-bit game from developer Doinksoft, the creators of Gato Roboto. Besides its old-school gameplay, what makes this title stand out that it's not only a Nintendo Switch exclusive, it's a completely physical-only release from Special Reserve Games.

E3 2021: all the news and announcements

Posted: 12 Jun 2021 01:46 PM PDT

Follow the updates from some of gaming's biggest shows

After taking a year off, E3 2021 is here, bringing days of major gaming news and announcements through a series of remote events. The big reveals kicked off with Summer Game Fest's Kickoff Live event on June 10th, and E3 proper takes place from June 12th to June 15th, featuring events from Microsoft, Nintendo, Ubisoft, and more.

We'll be covering all of the news from the show, and you can keep up with everything right here.

Far Cry 6’s new trailer is an intense introduction to a terrifying Giancarlo Esposito

Posted: 12 Jun 2021 01:26 PM PDT

After introducing the guerrilla freedom fighter protagonist for Far Cry 6, Ubisoft's new trailer pivots back to the highlight of any new installment: its villain, Antón Castillo.

Played by Giancarlo Esposito, the despotic leader of the fictional island nation of Yara is seen making his terrifying entrance onboard a boat where the protagonist Dani is attempting to flee with a group, one of them who turns out to be Diego, Castillo's son.

The cinematic is a chilling introduction as he chews the scenery with his charisma before unleashing his brutality, which is surely the turning point for what making Dani join the resistance to overthrow the Yaran tyrant.

The Far Cry series is of course known for its iconic villains, and Ubisoft were keen to leverage this by announcing post-launch plans for Far Cry 6 that will actually let players see the other side of the story from past games.

In the Far Cry 6 season pass, you'll get to play as Vaas Montenegro (Far Cry 3), Pagan Min (Far Cry 4), and Joseph Seed (Far Cry 5) in three unique episodes as you delve inside these legendary villains' minds to uncover their backstories and experience what it's like to be the villain. Of course, as Esposito had said in an interview with Geoff Keighley during the Summer Game Fest Kickoff Live stream, none of them think they're the bad guy.

Michael Mando, Troy Baker, and Greg Bryk, also return to reprise the voice roles of Vaas, Pagan Min, and Joseph Seed respectively.

As an added bonus, the season pass will also include the cyberpunk-themed Far Cry 3: Blood Dragon.

Far Cry 6 launches on October 7th on Xbox Series X/S, Xbox One, PS5, PS4, PC, Stadia, and Amazon Luna.

Watch the first trailer for Ubisoft’s gorgeous Avatar game

Posted: 12 Jun 2021 01:15 PM PDT

Ubisoft capped off its E3 keynote with a big surprise: a first look at Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora. The next-gen take on James Cameron's world looks gorgeous, and Ubisoft says it's being built with its own Snowdrop engine at internal studio Massive.

Here's the story premise:

In this new, standalone story, play as a Na'vi and embark on a journey across the Western Frontier, a never-before-seen part of Pandora. Explore a living and reactive world inhabited by unique creatures and new characters, and push back the formidable RDA forces that threaten it.

The game appears to be built with next-gen hardware in mind. Frontiers of Pandora is slated for release on PC, PS5, and Xbox Series X / S, along with cloud services Google Stadia and Amazon Luna.

It also isn't the only sci-fi universe Ubisoft is exploring: the publisher previously revealed that it was making an open-world Star Wars game, which is also been made by Massive.

Ubisoft announces Mario + Rabbids sequel for 2022

Posted: 12 Jun 2021 01:11 PM PDT

Ubisoft's Mario and Rabbids crossover turn-based strategy game is getting a sequel for the Nintendo Switch: Mario + Rabbids: Sparks of Hope. Ubisoft revealed both a new cinematic trailer and a sneak peek at some gameplay on Saturday, as well as a launch date for sometime in 2022. The official announcement at Ubisoft Forward followed a leak hours before on Nintendo's own online store.

The first Mario + Rabbids title, Kingdom Battle, was originally revealed by Nintendo's Shigeru Miyamoto at Ubisoft's press conference at E3 2017. Despite the bizarre nature of its IP mashup, Kingdom Battle was one of the best early Switch games, mixing elements of the Mario and Rabbids characters with solid yet accessible X-COM-style tactical action. We called it "a shockingly good Nintendo Switch strategy game" in our review.

It's not necessarily surprising that a well-received game would get a sequel a few years later, but this is an uncharacteristic mistake from Nintendo. Here's how the Sparks of Hope page appeared on Nintendo's website earlier on Saturday:

And here are the three screenshots:

Update June 12, 4:11PM ET: Updated to reflect that the game has been officially announced.

Ubisoft’s extreme sports MMO Riders Republic is launching in September

Posted: 12 Jun 2021 12:44 PM PDT

Ubisoft's upcoming extreme sports MMO, Riders Republic, will launch on September 2nd, the company announced at its Ubisoft Forward show on Saturday.

In a nearly five-minute trailer, Ubisoft showed off some of the sports that you can play, including biking, snowboarding, and even wing suiting. The game will have a variety of modes, including mass races (with more than 50 players on next-gen consoles) and six vs. six trick battles. And you'll also be able to customize your player with all sorts of gear — in the trailer, I think I spotted a biker with a built-in ice cream stand on their bike, for example.

Riders Republic will be available on PS4, PS5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X / S, Google Stadia, Amazon Luna, and PC when it launches in September, and the game will support crossplay and cross-save across all platforms, Ubisoft says. You can register now for the chance to participate in upcoming betas for the game ahead of launch.

Rainbow Six Extraction is full of creepy aliens in new trailers

Posted: 12 Jun 2021 12:37 PM PDT

Previously known as Rainbow Six Quarantine, Ubisoft finally revealed Rainbow Six Extraction during its Ubisoft Forward conference on Saturday. The presentation started with a cinematic reveal; Extraction is set in the same Rainbow Six universe, featuring Siege operators such as Hibana, who's gone Missing in Action. United under the Rainbow Exogenous Analysis and Containment Team (REACT), you form a team with other operators on a rescue mission and face a creepy alien threat known as the Archean. Here's the trailer:

A deep dive gameplay trailer reveals Extraction as PvE co-op experience for up to three players where you'll be able to choose from a roster of 18 Rainbow Six Operators with their own unique gadgets, weapons, and abilities. Extraction is set across 12 maps, which feature procedurally generated challenges, and a diverse set of enemies and infestations that evolve into greater threats the deeper you go in. Working with your team, using tactics, and making tough decisions will be essential to survival.

Rainbow Six Extraction is coming to Xbox Series X, Xbox One, PlayStation 5, PlayStation 4, PC, and Stadia on September 16th.

Magnificent News

Sunday, June 13, 2021