Top notch visuals

Running at 90hz on the highest resolution with no foveation and no reprojection, Nock looks better than ever on PS VR2. Crisp clean geometry and vibrant colors that’ll make your eyes happy. It’s a pretty sweet sight.

Feel the action with PS VR2 headset haptics

Nock is a physical sport, and now you can feel every bump of the ball on your headset. In the high-speed game of Nock, if you take your eye off the ball, you could end up on the wrong side of a knockout.

Spectator camera

Using the power of the PS5, we are able to render a second camera. With a variety of different camera options, this is perfect for streaming or having friends and family watch your dominance on the pitch.

As a bonus to our PS VR2 players, we’re throwing in a season pass with every purchase. This pass is your ticket to unlocking over 30 skins, bows, and blocks as you progress in the game.

One last thing, Nock supports crossplay with all major VR platforms. So, no matter what your friends are gaming on, you can all get in on the action together.

This is just the start. We truly can’t wait to see you out there.

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The show will run a bit over an hour, focusing on PS5 and PS VR2 games in development from top studios from around the world. Expect a glimpse at several new creations from PlayStation Studios, as well as spellbinding games from our third-party partners and indie creators.

The live broadcast starts next Thursday, 25 May at 3am (BKK/JKT) / 4AM (SG/KL/MNL) on YouTube and Twitch. Hope to see you there!

Regarding Co-streaming and Video-On-Demand (VOD)

Please note that this web broadcast may include copyrighted content (e.g. licensed music) that PlayStation does not control. We welcome and celebrate our amazing co-streamers and creators, but licensing agreements outside our control could possibly interfere with co-streams or VOD archives of this stream. 

If you’re planning to save this broadcast as a VOD to create recap videos, or to repost clips or segments from the show, we advise omitting any copyrighted music. 

Humanity is available starting today as a Day 1 PlayStation Plus Game Catalog title.*

Play Video

Inspired by the “flocking behavior of birds”

Shuhei Yoshida (SY): I heard that Nakamura-san likes to observe flocks of birds, and that’s where you found inspiration for Humanity. Can you tell us more about that? 

Yugo Nakamura(YN): I specialize in Interactive Design, and I like to spend my time programming, sharing my work, and creating visual experiences; I enjoy these things and that’s why I do them for a living. I think a lot of people like me have used a simulation program called “Boids,” which essentially simulates the flocking behavior of birds. If you focus on just a single creature, you’re able to create very organic movements just by programming three simple rules and connecting them. But in the case of birds, the simulation looked so alive, and it was fascinating to see how organically the flock of birds moved, even though it was based on such a simple mechanism. 

From there, I spent some time making a bite-size mobile game that used simple bird movements as motifs. It was like a racing game where you control a flock of birds. 

SY: It’s the one where you try to progress further into the game, right?

YN: Yes. In a regular racing game, you’re only responsible for controlling one car, but in this game, you basically had to control 300 different cars. If you made a small mistake, you lost 100 birds, but then eventually gained back 200!

SY: Game developers like us are always looking to surprise people by creating something that goes above and beyond what you’d expect from a hardware’s capabilities. So when I saw your game, I felt something similar. 

YN: I had similar thoughts as a consumer myself. I was shocked at how smoothly games ran back on the original PlayStation, and I thought that was such a great achievement. From there, I decided that since I already made a game with birds on a smartphone, next I wanted to create a system that controlled large groups of humans. That’s how the idea for Humanity was born. 

SY: Birds’ movements are driven completely by instinct, but in the case of humans, a mix of intellect and social conventions come into play. What aspects did you focus on when designing the movement of crowds of humans?

YN: My first eureka moment was when I saw huge crowds of people at Comic Market (Comiket) in Japan, all properly lined up and waiting patiently. I was fascinated by how the movement of that many people was so controlled and regulated – I think this sort of behavior is unique to humans who are not just herded by instinct.

“Humanity is something special” – how development started

SY: How did you meet Mizuguchi-san?

YN: I’ve always loved games, and I’d seen Mizuguchi-san many times in gaming magazines since his time at Sega. I was a fan of his work. I once had a chance to meet him briefly, but then I saw him again at Unity Developer’s Delight – a developer event hosted by Unity. There, one of our engineers, Yama, showcased a human crowd simulator demo which was the prototype for Humanity. Mizuguchi-san was one of the judges there, and he later got in touch.

Tetsuya Mizuguchi (TM): I met Yugo once at the Japan Media Arts Festival, hosted by Japan’s Agency for Cultural Affairs, but to me he was like a superstar creator that produced so many unique and creative products. If you turned on the TV you’d see a show that he produced, and if you walked the streets of Ginza, you’d see UNIQLO ads that he had worked on.

Enhance helps navigate the complexities of game design 

SY: Nakamura-san’s “tha ltd.” isn’t a game development studio. How does the collaboration between Enhance work?

YN: We aren’t a game studio, but our expertise lies in design and tech for interactive experiences. Even though we didn’t know much about video game design, we were overly optimistic at the beginning, and decided that our team will be responsible for development, and Enhance will take on the role of publisher and producer.

However, the deeper we went into development, we realized that game development was not at all like we had imagined. I realized rather early on that creating a fun gaming experience is not something an amateur can easily pull off, so I spoke to Mizuguchi-san to have seasoned game designers oversee our work. From there, we had staff from Enhance join our development as well.

The fun and terror of collectivized humanity

SY: I felt like the game’s title, Humanity, is ironic in a sense that it reflects how humanity as a concept can be perceived. Heaps of people walking around in hordes almost reminds me of a totalitarian society. I was really curious as to whether you developed the game with such irony in mind, or whether you were just genuinely interested in people. When creating a game, you have to implement a lot of rules, which may cause the game to end up becoming something that was not originally intended. Did you face any dilemma like that?

YN: Actually, the inspiration behind the game title is a T-shirt that I own with a logo that says “Humanity” – I thought that was a cool logo and the word itself had a nice ring to it. But when you think about it, Humanity has a very deep meaning, and when I reflected on how humanity plays a role in my daily life, many thoughts came to mind. Each and every one of us is generally kind and rational, and not many of us are inherently mad or crazy. However, this all changes drastically when it comes to ‘groups’. Politics, war, cancel culture on social media – people tend to go to extremes when they are part of a larger group. The title, Humanity, embodies the idea that humans gain a new trait when they come together.

When we view human beings as a cluster, and not as individuals, we may associate them with the totalitarian and homogenous image you mentioned earlier, and the fear and extremities that derive from that are certainly an important motif in the game.

SY: Visuals of the game evoke fear as well.

YN: It was even more terrifying and ruthless at the earlier stages. When you looked at a single human from a group’s perspective, they looked like a speck of dust or even a tiny piece of trash. Mizuguchi-san provided us with some guidance and we went in a more gentle direction.

Expanding the community with the Stage Creator

SY: What was the idea behind Stage Creator?

YN: Originally, the development team was working on a tool for level design, and we thought it would be fun to make it public. However, it was quite a challenge to develop it into something that users could play with a controller.

When we previously released the demo, I saw users creating stages that went far beyond our expectations, so I felt reassured that we made a good decision

SY: I felt the same with LittleBigPlanet and Dreams. It’s nice to see players leveraging the games in ways that the creators never imagined, and sharing their creations with other gamers. Humanity’s UI is also very well designed. Stages with high user ratings and recommendations are showcased at the top, allowing users to quickly discover fun and interesting community-made content. 

The world of Humanity in PS VR2

SY: In my position, I must bring up the fact that the game is compatible with PS VR2. The team at Enhance has produced VR masterpieces such as Rez Infinite and Tetris Effect: Connected, so I imagine it was a familiar process for Mizuguchi-san. What was your impression of VR as a medium, Yugo?

YN: I enjoy VR so I have been playing around with it since the early days, but I had an impression that the majority of VR content was immersive first-person experiences. When Mizuguchi-san suggested trying out VR, I didn’t think it would be a good fit for this game, but there were so many discoveries when I gave it a try. I didn’t realize VR was capable of capturing extremely detailed 3D human movements in such high resolution. We were able to utilize VR in a unique way, where the player can watch over small crowds of people walking around in an elaborate diorama, as if you’re observing a swarm of ants.

TM: Most of the VR games I have worked on so far are immersive first-person experiences, but I had a feeling that Humanity would be interesting to play from a third-person perspective – sort of like Sim City where you can walk around and get a bird’s eye view of everything. At first, members of the team were a little skeptical, but when we tried it out, everyone agreed that it was a good idea. The development went smoothly from there.

SY: Performance, such as framerate, can be a concern on VR. Did you run into any issues around that?

YN: It was quite challenging optimizing for PS VR, but we had a lot of leeway with PS VR2. I think we were able to achieve the level of detail we were aiming for, with the resolution of the PS VR2.

Tetsuya Mizuguchi’s take on the potential of PS VR2

SY: As a developer, how do you feel about PS VR2 overall – not just limited to Humanity?

TM: Compared to the original PS VR, the overall quality has improved dramatically, and I think it is an amazing generational leap forward. As a developer, I’m particularly interested and see a lot of potential in the new eye tracking feature.

Also, you may think that we at Enhance are obsessed with haptics – well, we are haha – but we are interested in building experiences that involve haptics. In that sense, the inclusion of haptic feedback in the headset is very significant. What I found out when I created the Synesthesia Suit for Rez Infinite, for example, is that when there is distance, you can experience the world through the senses of your whole body. You can feel the sensation of objects passing by or the alternating beat of the music. What only existed in the palm of your hands is now extended to the headset, so there are so many new possibilities.

A perfect chemistry of puzzles and narrative that make it worth playing till the end

SY: It’s been five years since development started. How do you feel looking back?

YN: We were struggling the whole time basically (haha). I mentioned earlier that the game was an extension of an interactive design we worked on, and there were parts of the process that were exactly as we had imagined and parts that were completely unexpected. The basic aspects of development were what we had expected, but the process of refining the game to make it more fun and enjoyable was very unique.

Extensive playtesting and listening to various user feedback is common practice in the game industry. Even when there were opinions I thought were okay to ignore, we diligently repeated the process of resolving them. We would eliminate even the slightest stress, and the end result would be a game that is pleasant and comfortable to play, even if you can’t quite complete it.

SY: Indeed, there is no stress when playing Humanity. You can retry immediately if you fail, and it drops you right back into the middle of what you have been doing. I felt that the game was being accommodating to the user and made them feel comfortable during gameplay.Players from around the globe enjoyed the demo released in February, and now the full version is available as part of the PlayStation Plus Game Catalog.How do you feel about that?

YN: In one word, I am terrified! The content I usually produce lasts five to 15 minutes at most. With videos, I only need to grab the attention of the viewer for that short amount of time, so I can focus on that and make it happen. Games, however, can take up to several tens of hours, so I cannot help but wonder if our game is really worth that amount of players’ time. As the creator, I don’t have that much objective confidence, and because I’ve been a part of the game’s development for so long I can’t say I’m objective anymore.

SY: Do you have a message for those who haven’t played Humanity yet?

YN: There may be people who don’t enjoy puzzles or are not too fond of it as a game genre, but I hope people will see past that and give it a try. Of course the puzzles are fun, but I encourage gamers to jump in and play around as if it’s a playground; move the crowds in various ways and experiment by making them do different things. You’ll see a lot of interesting behaviors and results. We put work in creating a game that you won’t get tired of.

It is part of the PlayStation Plus Game Catalog, so if you are already a member, you can play it whenever you feel like it. I’ll be delighted if everyone could give it a try.

TM: Humanity is a game that delivers a whole new experience. If you ask me what genre it is, I would probably say it is a puzzle game. I think it is easy enough for anyone to pick up – from children to the elderly, even our parents’ generation. Everything that happens is a spectacle, and that alone is interesting, but I think the game is about experiencing the narrative, and immersing yourself in the story of Humanity. 

It’s a fun game that can be enjoyed on your own, or have family and friends with you helping to solve the puzzles. You can also treat it like a party game where everyone beats the game together. I hope players enjoy the game in their own way, and are able to witness the end that we prepared for them.

*Humanity is available now on PS4, PS5, PS VR, and PS VR2. It’s also included with the PlayStation Plus Game Catalog with PlayStation Plus Extra and PlayStation Plus Premium memberships.

Building a PlayStation logo-themed stage

Using Humanity’s ultra-intuitive editor, you can let your imagination run wild. Whatever you’re in the mood for, a perplexing puzzle or a relaxing work of art, it’s easy to make it inside Humanity. The absolute best part is when you’re finished, you can share your creations with the world!

Get to know the Palette menu, which has everything you need to construct a stage. The basic building blocks of any level are…well, Blocks! To create the PlayStation stage you see here, we used the static (non-moving) and motorized (can be made to move along a pre-planned route) types, but many more options are available for your custom level. All you need are some Blocks, humans, and a Goal to send them to. If you have those three things, you’ve got yourself a working level! If you get stuck or need some help, the Stage Creator includes an extensive library of tutorial videos to assist you every step of the way. 

We’ll start by drawing the ‘S’ in the ‘PS’ logo. This will be the base for our puzzle. Next, we’ll create a pathway for the humans to walk on while avoiding the Others walking below and trying to stop us from collecting that precious Goldy. Finally, the ‘S’ snakes around and attaches to the back of a towering letter ‘P.’

That’s one giant PlayStation logo! 

Ahhhh, we forgot to add an essential piece! So, let’s bring up the Palette and drop in a Boulder. There, now it looks like it’s got a “registered” symbol. You didn’t see that one coming, huh? Get creative and don’t forget to have fun when designing your level!

Making a level fun to solve

Now that we’ve finished the basic design, we must add the puzzle aspects to the level. The humans will march along the S, climb the towering P and reach the three goals at the top. But wait, there’s a tricky part. Did you see that gold goal at the top? Use that cute Shiba Inu of yours, place commands, and escort your human flock with Goldy to the Goldy Goal. That’s no easy task, let me tell ya! Not only do you need to guide the Goldy in its own goal, but you’ll also need the humans flowing to the other two goals. You have to do all this and avoid the Others waiting to beat you down with their clubs.

Think you can finish our stage? With practice, I’m sure you can. The level is sitting in User Stages, waiting for you to take on the challenge:

“PlayStation Logo” Stage ID 001-157-8556. 

Once you beat it, you can rate and save it to your Favorites. It’s a five-star level for sure, right?

This PlayStation stage should illustrate just how flexible the editor is. If you’re a beginner, you can start much simpler. Here are a couple of tips:

• Not sure where to begin? Pick two mechanics in Humanity and mash them up. Pushable Blocks with Conveyor Belts. Fans with the Dog Switch. Climbable walls and water. Make a smaller puzzle and expand from there.
• Do your own take on a stage from Humanity’s Story Mode and remix/change some aspects of it.
• Pick a theme and see what you can design. Make a sculpture with the blocks and then design a puzzle afterward.

Bottom line—have fun. And don’t forget to share your stage with us, too! We are eager to see what people in the community can do with these tools.

You can get your hands on Humanity starting tomorrow, May 16, on PlayStation 5 or PlayStation 4. Play on your TV or optionally with PS VR2 or PS VR. The game is also part of the PlayStation Plus Game Catalog now available to PlayStation Plus Extra and Premium members.

We are so thankful for the positive feedback we received from this passionate community. We listened to PS VR players and improved the graphics as requested. It’s been amazing evolving our game into PS VR2, taking advantage of everything this incredible device has to offer to build an enhanced experience.

“Last Fall, Transformers: Beyond Reality gave our Transformers fans a new VR experience in which they could immerse themselves in. Now, with the title’s exciting evolution into PSVR2, the gameplay is even more enhanced and interactive.”

– Tom Warner SVP & GM, Action Brands Hasbro

You’ll notice a significant quality jump in Transformers Beyond Reality for PS VR2. Here are a few ways we leveraged evolving technology to enhance players’ overall experience:

Amping up the experience and balancing with improved visuals and 70fps+ performance

Building console games always involves a balancing act between framerate and visual fidelity. This is even more important in the medium of virtual reality, where dips in framerate can make an otherwise enjoyable experience physically unpleasant.

For PS VR2, these concerns have been addressed and minimized. Our team was positively ecstatic as we added detail to models and textures, ramped up reflections, and added atmospheric effects and visual effects seemingly without restrictions, while still holding a solid 70 frames per second. It was liberating.

30+ Enhanced gameplay moments and cinematics 

This extra performance has a tremendous impact on gameplay, as a more beautiful game and higher framerates make it easier to enjoy yourself. We were able to add and enhance over 30 moments to make the game more engaging. Many of those moments were made interactive (such as a notable scene in which a major enemy uses the environment against the player). Particular care was taken to ensure the action happens close to the player, for example with PS VR2’s 110-degree field of view it is immediately evident how large Optimus Prime, Grimlok, and Megatron really are in relation to the player.

Enhanced haptic feedback heightens action

In the development of VR games, it can be challenging to properly communicate game information to the player. Heads-up displays (HUDs) are useful, but in VR they are less effective. For the enhancements to Transformers Beyond Reality, we transitioned from showing an ammo counter to letting players feel when it’s time to reload through the resistance of the PS VR2 Sense controller adaptive triggers..

Our greatest revelation was in how we were able to enhance letting the player know they’re being attacked from off-screen. We experimented with red flashes, but it wasn’t effective because there was already so much happening on screen. Now whenever the player gets hit they feel this information via the headset haptics. It’s a natural and intuitive enhancement.

We were so happy to have the opportunity to improve the experience in Transformers Beyond Reality in response to fan requests. We invite previous payers to update your game for free and see the updates for yourself. For new players, we welcome you to explore your Transformers fandom in this exciting virtual reality adventure available now on PS VR2.

Gear up, and let’s roll out!

Play Video

PlayStation Blog: The Gran Turismo Movie is a notable departure from previous films you’ve directed—it’s not based on one of your screenplays, nor is it dystopian sci-fi. What drew you to this project?

Neill Blomkamp: So, it’s actually a dystopian science fiction script I sold to Sony that started the conversation. As the pre-production process went on I started to get very eager just to work on something, and at that point they said, “How about Gran Turismo?” My first thought was, “Wait, how do you make a film out of a racing simulator?” But I read the screenplay, and I personally own three [Nissan] R35 GTRs—I have a personal obsession with Nissan and the whole Nismo lineage—so I was immediately intrigued as a car lover. 

I’ve also been very close to video games in a lot of ways throughout my career, and I had never come across something like Gran Turismo where the movie itself treats the game as a game. It’s based on a true story about Jann Mardenborough who learned to drive playing the game before driving professionally in real life, competing against other real drivers. It’s just an amazing story. 

Another reason I signed on was because my stuff tends to be a lot darker and more dystopian, as you mentioned, but this movie felt, well, very inspirational. It had never crossed my mind that I would direct a movie where the audience would leave the theater feeling uplifted and inspired. This was really appealing to me.

Are there any particular creative challenges—or benefits—to working within an IP like this? 

One great thing is that there weren’t a bunch of executives who would say, “Well, actually, we think it should be like this.” If you’re working on another IP with a more established universe or narrative everyone has preconceived ideas about how things should be. But, with Gran Turismo, you have a well-known IP that doesn’t carry these preconceived notions about what its film adaptation should look like. This gave me a ton of creative freedom to just go out and, you know, make it. 

Without an established plotline or fictional universe to draw on, in what ways did you pay homage to the game? How did you extract the game’s DNA into something recognizable for a film?

For one, the film tries to take you along the journey of someone who first experienced these legendary tracks virtually, and then took what they learned within a simulation and applied it to a real-life scenario. And so, I tried to visually connect those two points together using a lot of the imagery from the GT games, like the lines you’d take driving the track and the markers and checkpoints, as well as the awards for leveling up and things like that. 

And then there are a whole bunch of smaller easter eggs—tiny moments like recreating some of the in-game victory poses that we got our actors to do in the movie. There’s also a ton of cool cars for gearheads to spot as well; we did our best to drop interesting cars all over the place whenever we could.

On that note, what are some of your favorite cars that make an appearance? 

I mean, there’s a Generation 1 NSX at the beginning of the film, which is a big deal for me. I have a lot of love for that car. 

And at the other end of the spectrum, we also wanted some really glitzy choices that would be true easter eggs for car lovers—like the Koenigsegg Gemera, a still-unreleased car, a 4-seater with 1700 horsepower. It’s kind of like a Bugatti Rolls Royce.

From the limited clips we’ve seen so far, it looks like some of the cinematography directly references the in-game chase camera. We also get glimpses of a pretty serious looking rig to film the cars at high speeds. Can you walk us through your process here?

Well, it really came down to creating something that would just be cool to watch on a large cinema screen, and for that we doubled down on FPV drones to carry IMAX sensor-approved cameras. There’s a ton of airborne, high-speed drone work in the film, and we utilized a pursuit-arm mounted to a high-speed vehicle. In this case, we actually mounted it to an R35 GTR, which could actually keep pace (pretty much) with a lot of the GT3 cars in the film.

So between that car and the drone work, you already have some cool dynamic angles. But, I was also obsessed with recreating camera angles players know from the game: so, for the third-person chase perspective, we built an R1 rig that could position a camera such that the entire car would fit within the frame. 

To capture the driver’s POV (cockpit view), our stunt driver would lie back so we could mount a camera where his head should be. We liked including nods to the game in these kinds of ways.

There’s a rich history of movies that depict the on- and off-track drama of motorsport, from classics like Le Mans and Gran Prix to the more recent Ford vs. Ferrari. Which films in the genre did you look to for inspiration, if any?

The one film that I can genuinely point to and say is directly referenced in Gran Turismo is Steve McQueen’s Le Mans. That movie is insane. You can tell how fast they’re going. You can tell how dangerous it is. You can even tell how polluting the cars are. It’s amazing.

In the beginning of that movie, they spend a ton of time pushing in on each character before the race—the hero, the villain, the clock—and then it starts rapidly cross-cutting between them. There’s a very similar sequence in our film with our protagonist and his opponents that was directly inspired by the McQueen classic.

Usually there’s someone exploding or some, like, genetically mutated creature running amok in my films. I just never would have thought in a trillion years that I would have made a race/sports movie. It’s even surprising now, saying it.

Gran Turismo 7 is now available on PlayStation 5 and PlayStation 4, as well as PlayStation VR2 following a free update earlier this year. 

Gran Turismo arrives exclusively in theaters this August.

But first what is Hubris all about. Hubris is a VR action-adventure game set in a unique and colorful sci-fi universe, with immersive movement options, including swimming, climbing, and jumping. Players will have to gather resources, craft food and upgrade their weapons to fight off alien wildlife, droids, and humanoid enemies.

The inclusion of foveated rendering is a significant enhancement for our game, which features complex and expansive scenes. This cutting-edge technology allows for a sharper resolution than anything previously achieved. The game’s textures and models are now several times clearer, while the frame rate remains stable.

Prepare for an even more immersive gameplay experience thanks to the advanced DualSense controller haptics. You’ll feel every action in the game, with feedback provided through both the controllers and headset. From swimming to shooting, every action has been customized with haptic feedback. Moreover, we’ve adjusted the weight of the guns to simulate an impactful feel, and the triggers adapt to the specifications of each weapon. The adaptive triggers have allowed us to significantly improve the precision of triggering alternative fire modes for both the shotgun and harpoon gun, making shooting guided missiles feel even more responsive. 

In addition, we have revamped the gun reloading mechanism and enhanced the aiming and iron sights of all the weapons. Additionally, new enemy variations have been introduced, requiring players to approach certain situations differently. The balancing has also been refined, providing a greater challenge for players on the hardest difficulty level and a more story-focused gameplay experience for those on the easiest difficulty level.

For a more complete experience the game features 3D audio technology. You can hear the exact location of your enemies and determine the right time to open fire based on their footsteps. In addition, we’ve incorporated a complete ambient music soundtrack that adapts to the player’s environment and combat state, making the game’s most tense moments even more complete.

We’re thrilled about the upcoming release of Hubris on PS VR 2, and we hope you are too! Get ready to explore the Twin Planet System this May. Join our Discord community to share your excitement for the release and be the first to know the exact launch date.

Today we’re talking new features, experiences, and everything PlayStation VR2!

One thing all Skaters need to experience in VR is the Mega Ramp! From a gameplay point of view, the mega ramp allows Players to catch air like never before, pulling off insane flip tricks and huge grabs over the iconic Mega Ramp, made famous by Skateboarding Legend Danny Way. Usually, the key gameplay dynamic of VR Skater is all about street skating. So, as well as being highly impressive and something the community wants, it offers a different gameplay mechanic in this separate immersive experience. Something completely new to the world of VR. 

Adaptive triggers

Announced first today on the PlayStation Blog, VR Skater will use the power of the PS VR2 to push immersion further! We plan to use the adaptive triggers to adjust tension when steering in-game. Giving the sensation of resistance you’d feel in a skateboard’s trucks and bushings in real life. VR fans and skaters will love this announcement as we’re trying to replicate even the most minor details of skating.

The controls replicate how tricks would be performed in real life. Swiping and scooping your hands as if they were feet to perform iconic skate tricks like kickflips, tre flips, hardflips, and many more! Feeling intuitive if you’ve ever stepped foot on a skateboard before. To perform grinds and slides, the player will hold buttons to apply rotation and pressure to individual sides of the board, giving players the freedom to skate how they want to. Whether it be tail or nose slides, 50-50 grinds, or many more. You can also work a series of grabs and the finger flip into your combos.

Customization

Skateboarding is a very creative outlet. From the tricks you perform, to the fashion and music embedded in the sport’s history. Customizing your board is an essential part of Skateboarding. Announced first here on the PlayStation blog, players will be able to customize their boards and grip tape using the Print Tablet! Reach a certain XP level and you’ll unlock the Print Tablet, allowing you to upload custom textures, and arrange them however you desire. This is a highly requested feature that we’re stoked to announce today!

But how does customization in VR Skater work? Head to the VR Skate shop where you can find all new decks, trucks, wheels, and grip tapes that you physically apply to create your perfect setup. You’ll be able to unlock new coloured decks, trucks, wheels & grip tapes by completing challenges and levelling up in-game. A feature that all skate fans are sure to love.

Who are Deficit Games?

Deficit Games is a small indie VR game studio from the Bavarian countryside founded in 2017. Before VR Skater, they released smaller mobile VR titles. Since founder and VR enthusiast Andi has strong roots in the skate and punk rock scene, looking at possible designs for a VR skateboarding game was a very organic decision. Then everything took its course and in 2022 the Early Access version of VR Skater was nominated for the German Games Award in the category of Technology and Innovation.

Both Perp Games and Deficit Games can’t wait to release VR Skater into the wild this Summer on PlayStation VR2!

You can Wishlist the game now on PlayStation Store. 

Each loadout comes stocked with two weapons, two items, running the gauntlet of full assault to support weaponry and all paired with a choice of two items that walk the line between explosive and defensive. These presets will be fully customizable. With multiple clips spent (and weapons reloaded with a button press) we were promptly deployed into a series of three round matches. 

As with the original Firewall Zero Hour, teamwork is still key, with sides switching defender and attacker roles as matches progress. The core experience is retooled with player feedback from Firewall Zero Hour (dedicated servers, new skills, contractors, maps, weapons and more) and gameplay and visuals are rebuilt thanks to PS VR2 features and a switch from Unreal Engine 4 to Unreal Engine 5. 

The eyes have it 

4v4 competitive matches are still the heart of Firewall. But First Contact has confirmed a PvE mode is also in the works that will be included come launch. More to come on that soon. 

PvP matches now play out as best of three rounds, with the PS5 SSD shifting players from safehouse to match map and back again in a near-blink of an eye. Eye-tracking makes weapon selection from an on-screen wheel swift and grants greater precision to your aim when closing one eye or looking down sights, subtly repositioning your gun to mirror exactly where you’re looking. 

Flashbangs will blind you if you look at them, but so will flashlights when shone directly in your eyes: in both instances your screen will go all-white for several seconds. Even with your sight restored you’ll briefly have double-vision if your blindness was caused by a flashbang. This, coupled with better hand tracking due to the Sense controller, teases a potentially brilliant strategy: a gun-mounted light’s beam can be hidden by putting your other hand in front of it. Hug a corner and hide your beam until an enemy approaches, then uncover to blind them. Closed eyes or averted gazes are the only deterrent – an inherent risk when bullets can come from any direction. 

And even if you’re benched in death before your teammates, you’re not out of the game. Perspective switches to a small number of security cameras stationed around the map which you can freely rotate around. Spot an opposing team member and keep your gaze locked on them: you’ll mark them with a red outline until they move out of sight. It’s an outline that can be seen by your team regardless of how many walls or stairwells are between them.

Loadouts for every occasion 

Every weapon has tailored haptic feedback so each feels distinct. A cool little detail (that you may want to check when in the safehouse rather than battle) is in the weapon triggers: the resistance to your virtual finger replicate the real-world analog to the gun you’re holding. 

Sharp eyes and quick wits are necessary skills to win matches in Firewall Ultra, but they’re not the only ones. Teams take turns to either defend or hack intel, and with maps ranging from claustrophobic offices with banks of computer desks and labyrinth like oil rigs, knowing the right balance of loadouts and team deployment are key. Known commodities like grenades, flashbangs are a must in an intense firefight, but carefully placed proximity mines and signal modifiers can turn any area into a trap or blind the opposing side’s tracking devices to keep them guessing. 

Keep an ear out 

Contractors will be a mix of returning faces and new characters, each boasting a unique skill. Couple that with an unlockable secondary skill that be equipped as part of your loadout and you’ve extra customization to your firefight approach. 

First Contact is flexing the strength of 3D Audio in Firewall Ultra. More immersive? Of course. But also potentially strategic. Honing in to footfalls helps you place exactly where an enemy is sweeping in from. That goes both ways, however. It grants an eclectic rhythm to rounds, attackers and defenders sneaking along low cover then charging across open ground or piling in as weapons go hot. You’ll need your ear to pick up exactly where a signal jammer is. The small black boxes emitting a tell-tale ping is easy to identify, not so easy to place. With maps dense with detail they can be placed in tight confines. Scouring can be rewarding in itself: Crypto make a return, these rare collectables grabbable on a first come, first serve basis. You can also earn this in-game currency through completing missions, doing well, as well as winning, matches. Collect and cash these in to unlock cosmetics, new guns, attachments for upgrades and new contractors. 

Along with those cosmetics and weapon attachments unlocked by players as they progress, First Contact promises a level of post-launch support similar to what the studio rolled out for Firewall Zero Hour. The shape of those things will come into focus in the next few months. But for now, PS VR2 owners can look forward to another round (or three) of tactical action. Bring a friend. Bring three. And make sure they’re all packing quick wits and fast trigger fingers.

Today, we are thrilled to announce that one of the features we will be introducing is player versus player (PvP) combat! We believe this feature will add a new layer of depth and excitement to Zenith. Players will now have the opportunity to test their skills against each other in a fun and engaging way.

Challenge yourself with thrilling one-on-one and team duels that will test your skills and push you to the limit. With our unique class system, including the brand new Cyber Ninja class, you can explore an endless variety of playstyles and strategies. While we are exploring additional options for PvP in future patches, Skyward Summit’s PvP will primarily focus on the implementation of one-on-one and team duels.

We believe that the addition of PvP in Zenith is a significant update that opens up new gameplay opportunities for players. We’re excited to see how players will explore new tactics, test their strategies, and learn from their opponents. We’re confident that PvP will provide a thrilling and engaging experience for our players.

Alongside the highly anticipated PvP mode, we’re excited to introduce the brand new Cyber Ninja class and a host of other thrilling additions. From player housing to resource harvesting and crafting, this patch has it all. We can’t wait for you to explore these exciting new systems and discover everything Skyward Summit has to offer.

Mark your calendars – the Skyward Summit patch is projected for release in Q2 2023. Stay tuned for more information and get ready for an unforgettable adventure.