Virtual reality games Wilson’s Heart and Battlezone are standout award winners from last week’s Gamescom, Europe’s largest gaming conference. In addition, the PlayStation VR system is recognized as the best hardware of the conference.
Wilson’s Heart (hands-on) is a black-and-white psychological suspense game scheduled for early 2017 that makes great use of the Oculus Touch hand controllers for a variety of actions, from opening doors to touching a dead body. The game by Twisted Pixel was selected as the best VR game of the conference and it’s one of the most anticipated VR titles for us here at Upload too.
Battlezone (hands-on) was selected as the best casual game. That’s an impressive award given that it’s only been confirmed for VR platforms so far. It’s coming to PlayStation 4 via PS VR first on October 13 followed by Steam sometime after. The title has been confirmed for Oculus Rift as well. The game’s official website notes that Rebellion is a multi-platform developer and “we’re looking into other platforms too,” so a non-VR version might also come down the line.
The game from Rebellion is a ground-up reconstruction of the tank genre in VR, a genre the original Battlezone helped establish back in 1980. The new game puts you in the cockpit of a powerful tank fighting a variety of colorful AI-controlled enemies.
The winners of the Gamescom awards were selected from more than 200 entries by an international jury. The awards — particularly the win by Battlezone in the casual category — highlights the rising profile VR games and hardware are reaching within the gaming community. The Rift, Vive, and Gear VR are already on the market and PlayStation VR is poised for a big debut in just a couple months.
These awards point out how the gaming industry and its fan base is changing to recognize the achievement of VR-specific titles within the broader gaming universe.
