As the next generation of space sims approaches, what was once an out-of-favour genre is now looking to be a hot zone for innovation and cutting edge entertainment.
Frontier Developments’ Elite: Dangerous will be embracing the Oculus Rift virtual reality headset.
In an update to the Elite: Dangerous Kickstarter page, Executive Producer Michael Brookes wrote:
“Great news that we know many of you have been hoping for – today we’re announcing that Elite: Dangerous will support Oculus Rift… I’m sure you’ll also be pleased to learn that the Oculus Rift version of Elite:Dangerous will be available to ALL backers that have an Oculus Rift headset for no extra cost.”
Industry legend and CEO of Frontier Developments, David Braben said:
“We’ve been playing with the Oculus Rift dev kits and are excited about the potential – just glancing around your cockpit or being totally immersed in a space battle. Many of our backers have made it clear that they would like Oculus Rift support – and so do we! We’re very pleased with the results so far.”
Elite: Dangerous is the reinvention of the wireframe forefather of freeform space dogfighting and trading from the 1980s and, since the success of the Kickstarter campaign in January, has been starting to deliver some exciting material showing development progress.
In the latest video Dev Diary below, David Braben talks us through the making of the recent tech video which was used primarily to recruit a composer. The space battle was delivered by the in-game engine with only a few post-production effects added afterwards.
As he provides an interesting “director’s commentary”, Braben entertainingly critiques his own work by pointing out all the scientific inaccuracies where realism was sacrificed for putting on a good show.
If word gets out that all lasers are invisible unless in a dust cloud, he could end the genre he began. Next thing he’ll be claiming is that there’s no sound in space!
