Dutch developer Vanguard Games, best known for its work on Halo: Spartan Assault and Halo: Spartan Strike, announced Thursday that it has merged with virtual reality developer Force Field, and will pivot from mobile and console game development to work exclusively on virtual and augmented reality entertainment. The company claims that its 60-person staff makes it one the largest studios now working exclusively on VR/AR software.
“We kicked off in this new direction nearly a year ago through our partnership with Oculus and absolutely fell in love with the possibilities of this new platform,” Force Field CEO Arthur Houtman said. “We believe in the incredibly potent future of VR and AR and have made the bold decision to refocus our entire company. Based on our legacy, awesome talent, studio size and deep relationships with the platforms, we feel confident that Force Field is in a unique position to create high quality games, interactive entertainment and experiences in virtual reality.”
The studio said its first project will be an as-yet-unannounced VR game for the Oculus Rift. Though the studio was vague about the nature of the game in the announcement, the Force Field website describes the game as “a core action game with a tactical twist,” which is on track to launch in “late 2016.” Force Field said more details about the game will be announced later this year.
“Force Field has shown itself to be a talented team with the creative and technical skills to bring experiences to life,” Oculus Studios chief Jason Rubin said in a prepared statement. “VR opens the door to an incredible future of immersive entertainment. Its exciting to see established studios like Force Field jumping in with both feet.”
According to the website, the studio is also working on a “branded ride experience” for space travel company XCOR, and “a number of showcases” — read: tech demos — for a “leading” head-mounted augmented reality display.
Google Play is borrowing one of the Nintendo Switch’s most useful little tricks. A new Sidekick tool called Playbacks captures a short clip after something interesting has already happened, sparing players from running a screen recorder throughout an entire game.
Playbacks is part of Google Play Store v53.8 and keeps saved clips on the phone. Google first announced it earlier this month, but the new Play Store update marks its arrival for players. Anyone who has watched a perfect win vanish because the record button came too late already understands the appeal.
Imagine tapping a Zelda icon on your iPhone and jumping straight into Hyrule. A new open-source project called nxnative makes that possible by repackaging Switch games you’ve bought into apps for iPhone, iPad, and Mac, with no emulator in the middle.
Why does this run so well on Apple devices?