“Embodiment is one of VR’s biggest strengths, allowing for unrivalled expressive roleplay as you step inside a virtual body and experience the world through it,” wrote studio head Glenn Brace in the post. “One of our core goals with Reach was to push embodiment further than ever before through a responsive full-body avatar that gives you a true sense of presence in the world in a way that’s only possible in VR. Whether you’re reaching for a ledge, dangling above a perilous drop, or dodging an enemy attack, your actions feel natural and fully grounded in the world.”

In the post, Brace also emphasises how important traversal is as a core gameplay pillar of Reach. Rather than simply being a way for players to get from one point to another, traversal is an important part of gameplay that takes advantage of Reach’s full-body awareness of the player. This allows for players to pull realistic-looking parkour moves as they explore the game’s underground world.

When it comes to some of the other aspects of gameplay, Brace noted that player agency is “right at the heart of the game.” This comes from giving players plenty of freedom in how they take on the various combat encounters of the game. Each tool and weapon, for instance, has multiple functions that can adapt to the player’s situation, from combat, to traversal, and even puzzle solving.

As for the PS VR2 version of Reach, Brace has noted that the Sense controllers part of Sony’s VR headset allow for haptic feedback and adaptive triggers to offer more immersive gameplay. This, according to Brace, will let the player “feel the weight, and resistance of objects and surfaces” throughout their time with the game. The game will also make use of the PlayStation VR2’s 4K capabilities to offer high-resolution textures and smooth gameplay.

Reach is coming to PC VR (via Steam), Meta Quest 3 and PlayStation VR2 on October 16. Announcing this, nDreams Elevation had released a trailer back in August that also showcased the game’s pre-order bonuses, which include a Traditional Ferran Outfit, an Ornate Bow, a Ferran Guard Shield, Traditional Gauntlets, and an Ornate Drone.

The studio had also released another trailer during PC Gaming Show – Tokyo Direct last week where it showcased the world of the game. The trailer gave us a look at the underground vistas offered up by Reach’s setting of the city of Ferra, as well as some of the enemies that players will get to face. The story in the title will revolve around the protagonist falling into the depths while looking for an important Power Core.

Along with this, nDream has also revealed that those who pre-order Reach will get bonus goodies – a Traditional Ferran Outfit, an Ornate Bow, a Ferran Guard Shield, Traditional Gauntlets, and an Ornate Drone.

The trailer also gives us more glimpses at the gameplay of Reach, while also revealing the story reason for the protagonist having access to the tools that she does, including gauntlets that power up her attacks, as well as a shield that can be used to block attacks, as a thrown weapon, and even as a tool to help with platforming by creating new makeshift platforms.

A closer look at the gameplay of Reach was first showcased earlier this month with an extended trailer that gave us a look at the title’s earlier parts. This trailer showed off the intense combat of the game that will have players make use of their bow, a variety of special arrows, and a shield, as they take on multiple enemies while making full use of the verticality offered by the game’s 3D environments. Players can also grab weapons off fallen enemies to take out remaining, widening the arsenal even further.

On the traversal side of things, Reach will focus quite a bit on fast-paced parkour, complete with ziplines, narrow ledges, and wide gaps to jump over. The player will also have access to a grappling hook to help them zip through some of the wider zones of Reach, and there are also upgrades, like special gloves that can stick to metallic surfaces, or arrows that can stick to walls to give players new ways to traverse the environment.

The story of Reach has the player take on the role of a reluctant hero who finds themselves thrown into a dangerous journey in an attempt to uncover the secrets behind a long-forgotten underground civilisation, and how it turned to ruins. We got to see hints of this story play out in the earlier trailer, which started things off with the protagonist looking for a “Power Core” that humanity depends on before things go wrong and the player finds themselves thrown deeper underground.

Being a VR-only game, Reach will feature a host of features exclusive to the medium, including full-body awareness for hardware that can support it, as well as intense set pieces that involve not only epic boss fights, but also fights against military vehicles like helicopters and trucks filled with enemy combatants.

Some of the clips of gameplay shown off in the official Steam page for Reach also indicate that players will get to hop around between different worlds, both on the surface of the earth as well as underground as they dodge falling debris and enemy gunfire to make their way through.

In Reach, players will take on the role of a reluctant hero who finds themselves thrown into a dangerous journey to uncover the secrets of what exactly happened to an underground civilization. Among the title’s key features are full-body awareness and presence for gameplay, as well as tactile interactions that players can experience thanks to the title’s advanced physics engine.

As the gameplay shows off, there are quite a few ways for the player to interact with the world around them in Reach. Along with running, jumping and climbing, players can also make use of ziplines and grappling hooks. Along with this, there are also new abilities that players can unlock, such as being able to grab on to metallic surfaces to climb up, and arrows that stick to walls, giving the player a new way to climb up otherwise impassable walls.

Along with the plenty of traversal options, Reach will also feature combat, both through regular encounters as well as epic set pieces. To take these combat encounters on, players will be able to make use of a range of different kinds of weapons, from a simple bow and arrow, to automatic guns. The combat will also allow players to make full use of their traversal abilities to get into more favourable positions against enemies that might outnumber them.

While we do get to see quite a bit of gameplay, we don’t really get much in the way of story, however. Things start off simple enough, with the protagonist digging into some technologically advanced ruins to get their hands on a “Power Core” that humanity depends on. Right as this goal is reached, things start escalating, and the protagonist now has a seemingly-unstoppable monster chasing them as they fall deeper and deeper into the underground cavern amidst falling ruins.

Earlier this year, Sony had announced a price cut for the PlayStation VR2. The VR headset is now priced at $399.99. There is also a PlayStation VR2 Horizon Call of the Mountain bundle available at the same price. The base set includes the PS VR2 headset, PS VR2 Sense controllers, and a pair of stereo headphones. The Horizon bundle also includes a PlayStation Store voucher for the game.

Considering the fact that the PlayStation VR2 turned out to not be as successful as Sony was hoping for, former executive from PlayStation Shuhei Yoshida spoke about how he was wrong about the VR headset. He had believed that the PS VR2 would invite comparisons with the PS2 in terms of sales. However, Yoshida said, “I’m sorry I was wrong – PS VR2 didn’t become PS2.”

If you’re interested in more VR games to play on your PS5 using PlayStation VR2, also check out Resident Evil 4 Remake, as well as Zombie Army VR.

Out this year for PlayStation VR2, Meta Quest 3 and Steam VR, the title sees players investigating an underground civilization to unearth its secrets (and hopefully survive in the process). There’s a heavy emphasis on parkour with “advanced physics” and “gesture-driven traversal,” but you’re a “reluctant hero” of sorts, so it should be interesting to see how this plays into the narrative.

There’s also plenty of shooting to be had, though alongside guns, the player can wield a bow and arrow. You even have a shield for blocking damage and which can be tossed, Captain America-style.

Reach will receive more details and an in-depth gameplay showcase at the VR Developer Direct on June 10th. Impressions from publications like UploadVR are also in the works, so expect them to drop in the coming days and stay tuned for more details.

Bungie have confirmed the release of the first of the many updates for their megaton First Person Shooter title, Halo: Reach. This new update will “addresses a variety of issues in addition to tweaking some of the existing core gametypes and playlists.”

Bungie says another update later this month will be adding matchmaking to the campaign it will be moving Infection into its own Living Dead playlist.

Check out all the things added/fixed via the new update below:

PLAYLISTS

Rumble Pit
* Added Crazy King
* Added Juggernaut
* Removed Oddball on Asylum

Team Slayer
* Removed SWAT
* Removed Classic
* Weights adjusted based on voting data

Team SWAT (New!)
* Based on existing Team Slayer SWAT offering
* Removed Hemorrhage
* Replaced Zealot with Arena Zealot map variant

Team Objective
* Added Crazy King
* Added several gametypes on Powerhouse (CTF, Assault, Stockpile, Crazy King, 3 Plots)
* Removed heavy vehicles from all 4v4 Team Objective gametypes

Multi Team
* Added Rocket Race

Big Team Battle
* Added Crazy King
* Removed SWAT
* Removed Snipers from Boneyard
* Weights adjusted based on voting data

Doubles Arena
* Removed Slayer Pro for Season 2
* Removed Boardwalk
* Replaced Zealot with Arena Zealot map variant

Team Arena
* Removed Slayer Pro for Season 2
* Replaced Zealot with Arena Zealot map variant

MAPS

Arena Zealot (New!)
* Added a softkill zone to the space area
* Modified initial spawns so enemies cannot see each other

Zealot
* Objects can no longer be dropped into the boot_base

Asylum
* Removed multiple duplicate Headhunter score zones

Boneyard
* Changed the base object for territories from a hill marker to a flag stand
* Objects can no longer come to rest on the out of bounds cliff behind the scaffolding where the Invasion core is captured
* Players can no longer sit in the out of bounds area under the ship scaffolding

Pinnacle
* Health Packs should not respawn after 15 seconds

Hemorrhage
* Landmine removed from Red team’s west cliff
* Respawn time for all Mongoose vehicles is now 45 seconds
* Scorpions replaced with Wraiths (4 minute respawn)

Paradiso
* Respawn timer for Concussion Rifle at Red base is now 30 seconds to match Concussion Rifle at Blue base

Reflection
* Changed the base object for territories from a hill marker to a flag stand

Boardwalk
* Changed the base object for territories from a hill marker to a flag stand

Powerhouse
* Respawn timer for all Needler weapons is now 45 seconds

GAMETYPES

Global Changes
* Slayer DMR now has motion tracker enabled
* Evade has replaced Hologram for all gametypes in which players can hold objects (CTF, Assault, Stockpile, Oddball)
* Evade has replaced Dropshield for gametypes which create concentrated gameplay in specific areas (Crazy King, Territories, Oddball)
* All Classic gametypes should now include Sprint as default equipment

King of the Hill
* Teams are now always able to correctly score points
* Players standing in the hill no longer receive extra points upon returning from a host migration

Rocket Race
* Players now attached to vehicles after being on foot for 10 seconds
* Flipped vehicles will be detected to prevent players from attaching to a non-upright vehicle
* Added functionality for tracking and reporting rotations
* Fountain of Mongeese should no longer be possible (don’t ask)
* Players are no longer able to jack another teams Mongoose
* Players are no longer forced into a specific role of driver or gunner
* All players start with a Rocket Launcher
* Players move at 50% speed, do significantly reduced damage and are marked with a nav icon
* Players on foot are now able to score points in Rocket Race

Juggernaut
* The Juggernaut no longer sees other players as allies upon returning from a host migration
* New clients after a host migration will no longer lose their Juggernaut status

Territories
* All teams now have separate capture timers for each territory
* Locked territories will no longer prevent players from using equipment
* The flag in the territory is now attached if the territory is a flag stand object
* Added a HUD_Widget to display contested status to players inside a territory
* The progress bar for a territory will now show as full when that territory is being contested (capture progress is saved and will appear again once the territory is no longer contested)
* Random flag clothes will no longer disappear after a round transition

Oddball
* Bombs in Hot Potato now properly report carry time
* Multiple hot potato bombs will no longer spawn in the same location
* The carry time reported stat will now always be correct after a host migration has occurred
* Players carrying the oddball during a host migration will no longer receive extra points

Stockpile
* All stockpile flags are now attached to their spawn location if it is a flag stand

Invasion
* The game score is now set per frame tick based off of the current phase
* A failsafe game end timer has been added to catch any possible bad cases of Invasion games not ending properly

Invasion: Boneyard
* The core will now reset whenever it is thrown through a shield door into a spawning location in Phase 3

Invasion (Assault) and Assault
* Added sudden death to Invasion (Assault) and Assault gametypes

Race
* Players who die before the first checkpoint will no longer spawn in a random location on the map

[Bungie]

Halo: Reach failed to sell well in Japan in its first week, and it was pretty much a given, since Pokemon Black and White were recently released. This week though, the impossible has happened: Halo: Reach is not even in the Top 20 in Japan’s charts- well, they don’t like shooters. In fact, there are no Xbox 360 games in the Top 20 list.

As expected though, Pokemon Black and White are still topping the charts, and Black Leopard: A New Tale of Yakuza for the PSP is in the second position.

Check out the full figures here:

01. [NDS] Pokemon Black / White (Pokemon Co.) – 828.580 / 3.386.358 (-68%)
02. [PSP] Black Leopard: A New Tale of Yakuza (Sega) – 174.213 / NEW
03. [WII] Wii Party (Nintendo) – 43.077 / 1.040.102 (+18%)
04. [PSP] Durarara!! 3-way Standoff (ASCII Media Works) – 21.566 / NEW
05. [PSP] Monster Hunter Diary: Pokapoka Ailu Village (Capcom) – 18.652 / 447.329 (-35%)
06. [NDS] One Piece: Gigant Battle (Bandai Namco) – 14.339 / 174.316 (-49%)
07. [PS3] Front Mission: Evolved (Square Enix) – 10.421 / 61.504 (-80%)
08. [PSP] Shin Koihime Musou: Otome Ryouran Sangokushi Engi – Wu-Hen (Yeti) – 10.240 / NEW
09. [PSP] Yu-Gi-Oh! 5D’s Tag Force 5 (Konami) – 9.805 / 55.684 (-79%)
10. [PS3] Winning Post 7 2010 (Koei Tecmo) – 9.714 / NEW
11. [NDS] Taiko Drum Master DS: Dororon! Battle With the Ghouls!! (Bandai Namco) – 9.653 / 225.166 (+11%)
12. [WII] Super Mario Galaxy 2 (Nintendo) – 9.414 / 834.955 (+15%)
13. [WII] Wii Fit Plus (Nintendo) – 7.720 / 2.074.733 (+11%)
14. [PSP] Monster Hunter Freedom Unite [PSP the Best Reprint] (Capcom) – 7.585 / 430.362 (+7%)
15. [NDS] Inazuma Eleven 3: World Challenge!! Spark / Bomber (Level 5) – 7.526 / 843.883 (-6%)
16. [PSP] Winning Post 7 2010 (Koei Tecmo) – 6.355 / NEW
17. [NDS] Art Academy (Nintendo) – 6.314 / 180.030 (-3%)
18. [WII] Mario Kart Wii (Nintendo) – 6.191 / 2.937.740 (+16%)
19. [NDS] Friend Collection (Nintendo) – 5.999 / 3.424.869 (-8%)
20. [WII] New Super Mario Bros. Wii (Nintendo) – 5.891 / 3.996.368

[NeoGAF]

Bungie has done all the math, and they have provided us with the full- and probably the final- stats for their megaton, Halo: Reach. 70 million + Halo: Reach games have already been played, and 6000 human years have been spent playing Reach multiplayer.

Bungie also say:

• On Tuesday, 09/14/2010 at approximately 1:30 pm PST, just a few hours after launch, Halo: Reach’s online unique user count had already completely eclipsed Halo 3’s total tally for the entirety of the week (09/13 through 09/20).
• To account for the same number of online players found in Halo: Reach during that same window (just six days), we had to run the numbers for Halo 3 going all the way back to 8/6/2010, encompassing a full 45 days of Halo 3 play!
• Ultimately, Halo: Reach’s online population for the first week dwarfed Halo 3’s by comparison, snagging four times the number of total unique users and decimating Halo 3’s all time high of concurrent users by more than 65%.

Check out the full stats below:

Wow, and all of that in just one week!

[Bungie]

PLEASE BE WARNED THAT THIS NEWS ITEM CONTAINS MAJOR SPOILERS. FOR THOSE OF YOU WHO HAVE NOT YET COMPLETED THE CAMPAIGN OF HALO: REACH, READ AT YOUR OWN RISK.

Halo: Reach had an awesome ending, one that will be remembered for many years to come. It shows Noble 6 standing against overwhelming waves of Covenant forces, as he fights them off with all his might, and ultimately dissolves into oblivion, i.e dies a brutal death (depending upon how the player wishes to die. I just threw a grenade at myself).

Bungie, while talking with UGO, have revealed why they chose for such a non-conventional yet explosive ending,

Bungie’s Marcus Lehto, father of the Halo franchise, said: “Well, the game’s a tragedy overall. We wanted to tell the story of the Spartans sacrificing everything they had, and we thought it would be a cop-out if we didn’t really bring it to a true ending with the Spartan that you create and that you fight with through the entire campaign and all the way to the very bitter end. If we didn’t actually do the right thing to that character and bring them down with the planet…

“After they had already succeeded in making sure that one thing that gave humanity any hope was actually saved, (we decided) they were going to go out all gung-ho and guns blazing. It was a crazy, controversial thing within our studio.

“We had a lot of people who were like, ‘No, we shouldn’t end it that way. We should allow the player to play on and, in their heads, keep living.’ But we wanted to bring it to a close.”

Bungie also revealed that they were considering cutting out the ending, to make the game more of a cliffhanger. Executive producer Joe Tung said: “I think the inside scoop about the ending is that it was one of the parts of the game that we wrestled with for months, and there were many different iterations with the ending. There was a point where the ending didn’t happen at all like it happened now. It was so important to us that the game ended well.

“Not just from a game perspective, but from the perspective of Bungie saying goodbye to the entire universe. We spent so much time wrestling with how to end the game, and I think it ended up being such a great farewell, not just for the game, but for the entire involvement in the universe and a fitting farewell to Halo from Bungie.”

You can check out all the Halo: Reach related stuff here.

Halo: Reach is super-successful already, and it’s been only a week since it got released. After recent reports that Halo: Reach topped the UK charts, beating even Sony’s new motion sensor, Move, and that Halo: Reach was the biggest entertainment launch this year, it is a given that Halo: Reach is obviously very successful.

Microsoft’s director of entertainment and marketing, Stephen McGill, told MCV, that the opening week sales of Halo: Reach were ‘staggering.’

“We obviously believed in the potential of Reach, and of Halo as a franchise, but to make over $200m sales on day one is a staggering result,” he said.

“The reception the game has received has been phenomenal. Halo: Reach has proved itself to be the biggest entertainment launch of 2010 and the best-selling Xbox exclusive in history.

“In this first week alone over 2,000 human years have already been spent globally playing the campaign and multiplayer, not to mention the Forge and Theatre mode – that’s an utterly incredible.”

UKIE Director General, Michael Rawlinson said that Halo’s success was “excellent news for the video games and interactive entertainment industry.”

“With one in every three people classifying themselves as gamers, and with over half of UK households containing at least one video games console, the UK video games market is in great shape for the future,” he said.

You can check out our review for Halo: Reach here.

As we reported earlier, Halo: Reach, Microsoft’s recently released First Person Shooter megaton, has been selling like hot cakes- even better. After it managed to sell 330,000 units on the first day of it’s release in UK alone, it was pretty much confirmed for a fact that Halo: Reach will indeed become very successful in UK. It was also confirmed recently that Halo: Reach beat Halo 3’s record by 20,000 copies and Halo 3: ODST’s by nearly 200,000 copied.

Anyway, Halo: Reach has emerged as the top selling game in UK according to Chart-Track‘s recently released UK figures. Sports Champions, a launch title released recently alongside Sony’s motion controller, the PS Move, came in at #2 while Start The Party! and Racket Sports for Move debuted at 29 and 32 respectively. NHL 11 was at the 26th position.

01. Halo Reach (Microsoft)
02. Sports Champions (Sony)
03. Mafia II (Take-Two)
04. Toy Story 3 (Disney)
05. Prince Of Persia: The Forgotten Sands (Ubisoft)
06. Tom Clancy’s HAWX 2 (Ubisoft)
07. Kane & Lynch 2: Dog Days (Square Enix) (Square Enix)
08. Just Dance (Ubisoft)
09. Tiger Woods PGA Tour 11 (EA)
10. Red Dead Redemption (Rockstar)

Well, it deserves all the success. We loved the game. Check out our review here.