Page 22 - GAMES
P. 22
THE TIMES ®
AUSTRALIA
Independent Media Inspiring Minds
culture (one favourite being Commander Keen!).
Photo: tom mclean this truly was just like any of the expos that were
put on in the states. there were very few big titles
on display, which can be attributed to a number
of things (end of the cosole life, frst time PAx in
Australia, the cost of a plane ticket, etc.) but this
was offset by the indie developer footprint; there
were roughly a dozen games on show from big in-
die devs (oxymoron, right?) like halfbrick and also
frst timers who had been hand-picked to appear
on the foor. there was all sorts of tech on display,
from a liquid nitrogen cooled overclocked PC, to
portable controllers for mobile devices, but what
really stood out for us was the oculus rift (or).
the or is the virtual reality system that gamers have
been waiting for, for a very long time. it s a very
light head mounted unit that connects to your de-
vice via hdmi. there is a screen for each of your
eyes, which allows it to create an immersive 3d
view and gyroscopic sensors built in that track your
head movements. Being that the or has only been
released to developers, the game i tried out was a
very basic driving game; the graphics were quite
average and the environment was a relatively bare
obstacle course of ramps and traffc cones. All of that
next, we decided to tackle the Showroom foor. melted away once i started playing. i was confned
in the queue, i had seen a few people in Cosplay, to using a keyboard to control the vehicle, but there
but it seemed that they had multiplied since our was something truly surreal about being able to look
time inside the main theatre. Everywhere i looked, i where i wanted to go and then turn the car in that
saw characters from video games, anime and pop- direction. if i looked down, i could see the car s inte-
rior. When reversing, i was able to look behind me.
Continues on page 25
Photo: tom mclean Photo: tom mclean
22 Independent Media Inspiring Minds
AUSTRALIA
Independent Media Inspiring Minds
culture (one favourite being Commander Keen!).
Photo: tom mclean this truly was just like any of the expos that were
put on in the states. there were very few big titles
on display, which can be attributed to a number
of things (end of the cosole life, frst time PAx in
Australia, the cost of a plane ticket, etc.) but this
was offset by the indie developer footprint; there
were roughly a dozen games on show from big in-
die devs (oxymoron, right?) like halfbrick and also
frst timers who had been hand-picked to appear
on the foor. there was all sorts of tech on display,
from a liquid nitrogen cooled overclocked PC, to
portable controllers for mobile devices, but what
really stood out for us was the oculus rift (or).
the or is the virtual reality system that gamers have
been waiting for, for a very long time. it s a very
light head mounted unit that connects to your de-
vice via hdmi. there is a screen for each of your
eyes, which allows it to create an immersive 3d
view and gyroscopic sensors built in that track your
head movements. Being that the or has only been
released to developers, the game i tried out was a
very basic driving game; the graphics were quite
average and the environment was a relatively bare
obstacle course of ramps and traffc cones. All of that
next, we decided to tackle the Showroom foor. melted away once i started playing. i was confned
in the queue, i had seen a few people in Cosplay, to using a keyboard to control the vehicle, but there
but it seemed that they had multiplied since our was something truly surreal about being able to look
time inside the main theatre. Everywhere i looked, i where i wanted to go and then turn the car in that
saw characters from video games, anime and pop- direction. if i looked down, i could see the car s inte-
rior. When reversing, i was able to look behind me.
Continues on page 25
Photo: tom mclean Photo: tom mclean
22 Independent Media Inspiring Minds
