It has been announced that the popular post-apocalyptic game, Fallout 4, will be available for virtual reality play on the HTC Vive next year.
Bethesda Softworks bombshell at E3
Peter Hines, a Vice President at Bethesda Softworks, made the surprise announcement at the E3 press event on Sunday, and fans of the Fallout franchise will no doubt be waiting impatiently for the arrival in 2017.
The game will be released at some point next year, but no firm date has been given.
Fallout 4 in VR
Fallout 4 is an all action RPG (role-playing game), created and distributed by Bethesda Softworks. The game is set in Boston, in the year 2287, in the aftermath of a nuclear war.
With the announcement, came an opportunity for those at the expo to play with a demo version. The demo was a very reportedly a very minimal experience, and either there is still a lot of work to be done before next year, or Bethesda have decided to hold a lot back for the time being.
One aspect that has been addressed though, is the potential for ‘motion’ sickness that people can suffer from with VR when travelling large distances. In the game, you can point at a destination and you will be instantly transported to that location, avoiding this unfortunate side affect.
More to come form Bethesda and HTC Vive
Fallout 4 isn’t the only title to go VR. Bethesda Softworks also announced that Doom, another popular title in their stable of games, will be getting the virtual reality upgrade.
This will also be available on the HTC Vive but as yet no information has been released as to when we can expect, what the game developers are already describing as, “a virtual tour of Hell.”
HTC Vive strikes an early blow in VR battle
The HTC Vive is joint venture between HTC and Valve, to offer VR. It one of the forerunners in the new technology and is competing with Oculus, recently acquired by Facebook and Samsung Gear VR. There is no word as to whether these games by Bethesda will also be made available on these other platforms.
E3, short for Electronic Entertainment Expo, is a annual trade show for the gaming industry. This year it is held in Los Angeles.
