Virtual Reality Bomb Squad Game Releases For Gear VR

[Conrad Zimmerman]

Virtual Reality Bomb Squad Game Releases For Gear VR

Cooperative VR experience on sale now.

Isolation is a major concern about the coming push for virtual reality gaming, that there's an inherently anti-social aspect to donning a visor, separating players from other people. In a time when when gaming increasingly pushes toward sharing our experiences with others, VR runs counter to that momentum.

It doesn't have to be that way, as demonstrated by Keep Talking and Nobody Explodes [http://www.keeptalkinggame.com/], which released for the Samsung Gear VR this week. In this cooperative multiplayer game, one player wears a headset and is presented with a ticking bomb while the remaining players provide instructions on how to defuse it, using the bomb's instruction manual. The bomb designs are randomly selected, meaning the visor-wearing player must describe what they see from their view so that the other players can determine the correct actions to take.

Originally designed as part of the 2014 Global Game Jam, Keep Talking and Nobody Explodes was first distributed as a free game for use with the Oculus Rift Development Kit hardware. The Gear VR release represents the first retail launch of the game, which is also planned to be available in future for the consumer version of Oculus Rift and Sony's Morpheus headset.

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Keep Talking and Nobody Explodes is available now from the Gear VR store for $9.99.




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[CrystalShadow]

Yeah... VR does take the antisocial element of gaming to it's extreme conclusion.

Though... Taking into account the potential for multiplayer VR games, and the technology being worked on, it's conceivable that in the near future you can interact with someone in a VR environment with a surprising amount of body language being conveyed.

Just with existing tech you can potentially tell what someone's hand movements are, and where their head is pointed.
Things that exist in prototype form include eye tracking, and facial expression recognition...

When VR tech starts to get close to what it's like to be with a real person, can it still be said to be isolating?

What makes online interactions isolating after all tends to be that they are relatively pale reflections of what actual genuine human contact is like.
VR seems to be headed down a path where that may not really be quite as true in a VR environment as it would be in most digital environments...

Err... Massive tangent aside, the game actually sounds like an interesting concept. Though it's amusing to see something that depends on a printed manual in this day and age.
Given this game wouldn't work without the instructions... It's...
A rather peculiar concept, but I guess it's a fun idea that hasn't really been tried before, so, that's nothing to sneeze at.
Just hope it doesn't blow up in anyone's face...

Yeah... Yeah. I know. That was awful. XD