Echo Arena - VR Ender's Game/Space Hockey

Games
1

Echo Arena is a zero gravity sports game in an arena ripped straight out of Ender’s Game that releases for free on July 20th. It is a multiplayer spinoff of “Lone Echo”, but it being promoted as it’s own game and pushed for esports by Oculus. It’s been quite the rage on the VR reddits once the beta came out a week ago. The next beta is on July 4th !

So the arena, like I said, is ripped straight out of Ender’s Game (the battle room). You float around in zero gravity, and can grab floating blocks and throw yourself off them for positioning and quick movement. You also have have thrusters on your wrist, so you can point your arm in the direction you want to thrust or rotate your wrist.

You start in a lobby area, which is hilarious fun just floating around and goofing off with people. The devs were even in there during the beta teaching players how to play.

The game itself is like hockey. There is a disc in the middle of the arena at the start. You can ride on these launcher tubes to get propelled into the arena and be the first person to grab the disc. You can punch people in the face to disable them, or put your hands up to your head to block a hit and disable a puncher.

The sense of presence in this 3d zero gravity arena is amazing. You also have very detailed robot hand, arm, and body models that are the best I’ve seen in VR. You can grab onto a surface at any angle and your hand will angle itself accordingly.

Imo this is the killer app that VR desperately needed.

https://youtu.be/vnVAsbzRIS8

2

Maybe, but I’m not excited about a zero gravity hockey game. It could be something that once I play I’m hooked, but the concept doesn’t interest me.

They really need ways for people to demo these games. They need VR arcades so I can go in, spend $25, and get an hour playing VR games I could also play at home with an Occulus or the Vive. Then I’d have a better idea of what I was buying into. Maybe these arcades exist and I don’t know about them?

3

There’s been a few, mostly in asia. Here’s an example of one:

4

If you have VR, the Echo Arena open beta is back up tonight at 5 Pm PT! (in 3 hours!).

I’m telling you, this is the most amazing experience I’ve had in VR, and I’ve been using the rift since DK1 days =)

Technically it is a rift game, but if you have Vive you can still get in through ReVive, although I’ve heard the controls may be a bit more difficult on a vive controller.