I’m three columns into this series of Oculus Rift round-ups, and it’s telling that so far I haven’t covered anything that would fit the formalist description of a game. No, I’m not getting involved in anyone’s tiresome war about Proteus or Gone Home, but sticking to a more universal whipping boy – the first-gen Oculus’ issues with readable text, usable HUDs and motion sickness. Clearly VR still being the wild west plays a major role in keeping devs from making large-scale games for it, as does there being a limited install base for now, but the real problem is getting any of this stuff past experiment status. Let’s look at some of the games which try to regardless. … [visit site to read more]

Journal is the latest game from Richard Perrin, creator of brilliant abstract puzzle/madness-fest Kairo. It’s also absolutely nothing like Kairo – at least, on a surface level. Journal is the story of a young girl lost in a temple of trials that’s perhaps even more desolately lonely than Kairo’s cavernous halls: growing up. It’s an adventure about human relationships, but even with that in mind, Perrin’s main inspiration for it is anything but expected. Last year, he lost his father. The week Kairo launched, his world fell apart.>

(more…)