BREAKING: Rebellion Bringing Back Atari Battlezone in VR

[MrTwosheds]

Maybe Tap Dance will make a come back!

[GSH]

VR -- as an abstract idea -- sounds great. However, I'm a bit of a tech laggard -- I wait for things to get good before buying in. That saves me from paying early adopter extra price fees, and also I don't buy into dead-end technology. For example, a few years ago, 3D TVs were all the rage. And now they've more or less disappeared as a selling feature, replaced by 4K. I think 4K will probably survive, but I'm not replacing my perfectly good non-3D, 1080p flatscreen for 4K.

Yes, I've used an Occulus v2 at work with one of the demos. Ok. Not convincing me to spend $$$ plus the recommended GTX 970 ($349 and up on newegg) to jump in. If it becomes amazing, great, I'll buy it. Not before.

-- GSH

[MrTwosheds]

Yes for first person VR they really need to somehow connect the human input and avatar motion far more effectively than games have done up to now. In a tank game or flight sim sitting in a chair with a joystick works well, because that is what your supposed to be doing. But if the visual input is convincing, the human body is going to get upset by thinking it is running, jumping or dancing when it isn't. There could actually be serious health consequences from it being too convincing.

[Red Spot]

However, I'm a bit of a tech laggard -- I wait for things to get good before buying in.

Not convincing me to spend $$$ plus the recommended GTX 970 ($349 and up on newegg) to jump in. If it becomes amazing, great, I'll buy it. Not before.

I'm pretty much like that as well, and I will even raise you an; 'not untill it is within a normal pricerange'.
Ballpark number, I'd say €150,- for a 'it will get you started' package, €200,- at most. That means I need to be able to use it with a midrange PC.

[Felewin]

They just admitted to rebooting Battlezone 1998 as well!
http://www.thesixthaxis.com/2015/06/29/ ... ne-for-pc/
The way I see it, that's essentially a BZ2 reboot at the same time... they're the same genre, just with different takes.
I just wonder how much of the storyline will be retained, and how much will be new. If there isn't a continuation of the lore, then it's less a BZ3 and more a spiritual successor (like Bionite Origins meant to be). I'm happy with either!
This is the best news in a while!
Hopefully it will be moddable?

[Baconboy]

http://rebelliondevelopments.tumblr.com ... ezone-fans

[CivBase]

http://rebelliondevelopments.tumblr.com ... ezone-fans

When I read this, my brain started dripping out of my ears from anticipation. I'm plenty skeptical still now that the initial hype has faded, but at this point I can only be hopeful that the sort of RTS/FPS blend that Battlezone introduced may have finally found a new home. It's especially exciting knowing that the last game (Sniper Elite 3) was actually a pretty well developed game, even if it's a bit of a long shot from Battlezone's genre.

[DeusExCeteri]

They seem to imply that they'll be ignoring BZ2 (specifically saying they're remastering 1998 Battlezone) and if that's true I hope they at least include strong mod support so we the community can port everything into the sparkly new engine. Either way, to finally hear that BZ is receiving the same treatment that so many excellent games have gotten as of late brings a tear to my eye, I hope Rebellion really pulls through with this.

I would buy it, I would buy it nine times.

[Ded10c]

Mike Arkin did also say that the cat is only *partly* out of the bag, so it seems there are great things still to come.

[danrhodenizer]

I forgot these guys got the IP rights for Battlezone from Atari in 2013, smart move by them. I hope they take their time with it and do it justice. It's been a long wait, we can wait a bit longer for them to do it right. :- )

I can see them taking this onto consoles after PC, it's possible, especially with VR and/or voice commands. Though it also wouldn't be as hard as you think to get the RTS elements working smoothly on a controller.

[Ded10c]

Four minutes of unedited gameplay footage!
http://battlezone.wikia.com/wiki/File:B ... a_Gameplay

[LtFEED]

with all that money, that is the best they can do? Not very impressive to say the least. Looks like only a few people are working on that game, IMO. Didnt they announce this version like 6 months ago? and its still in Pre-alpha?

[Ded10c]

I'm not sure how there can be enough in that video to prompt that opinion. Are you commenting on the gameplay, which a) we've only seen four minutes of and b) is perfectly representative of the series? Are you commenting on the art style, which is a) attractive, b) exactly what they've been aiming for, and c) far from a priority for a pre-alpha?

Game development isn't an instant process. Five months is next to nothing. This is being developed by a relatively small company for hardware that hasn't been fully tested yet. Even Call of Duty games only happen once a year, and those are built by a massive team for the same hardware on the same engine with the same gameplay mechanics and relatively few changes from the last installment. A pre-alpha will typically consist of placeholder assets and have only basic gameplay in place - what they're showing us looks to be a great deal beyond that stage.

[TwinShadow]

with all that money, that is the best they can do? Not very impressive to say the least. Looks like only a few people are working on that game, IMO. Didnt they announce this version like 6 months ago? and its still in Pre-alpha?

You must have a very biased view in how real game development works or something. I may not fully understand it, but I do understand this much: A small team of developers can take considerably more time to create a game from scratch. To be able to show this much footage for a pre-alpha (which for the record, AH did put it very nicely) is quite impressive.

Looking at the footage, it actually is a nice upgrade from the original VR Battlezone I remember playing ages ago. The cockpit could use a bit of polish, but its anything but busy, and I like that. Even the interface isn't busy at all. Looking forward to seeing what Rebellion has up their sleeves further along in the process.

[General BlackDragon]

LtFeed, if you're curious about what he means by "busy", basically, compare the cockpit in the video to this:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aH81u8a8LJk