Weekend Downloads is part of our weekly update to bring you the latest additions to the Samsung Gear VR and Oculus Rift. We’re kicking off the weekend with a slew of new Gear VR content that coincides with the launch of the updated Gear VR headset.
There’s a little something for everyone to check out this week!
This Week’s New Gear VR and Oculus Rift Content (8/20/16)
GAMES:
Wands ($5.99 – Gear VR)
Time to dust off your sorcery skills. Set in 19th century Europe, Wands is a first-person, fully mobile, multiplayer VR experience that offers fast-paced magic duels against other players on Gear VR. Battle competitors or band together, unlock new spells, and win battles in your search for victory.
Smashing The Battle ($9.99 – Gear VR)
Set in the year 2085, a huge multiplex construction site becomes victim to a massive-scale hacking incident. Due to the hack, the construction robots start to attack the workers on site. Choose between two unique characters to fight the battle yourself, and see two unique stories unfold!
Jungle Dino VR ($9.99 – RIFT)
Dinosaur lovers rejoice. Jungle Dino VR takes you back in time, to a dinosaur-inhabited island where you can explore a variety of environments as well as 10 different carnivore and herbivore dinosaur species.
Intracranial Infiltration 3D Shooting – Motivator (FREE – Gear VR)
In the year 2044, an unknown lethargy virus causes people to lose their spirit. It’s up to you and your piloting skills to get the antibody “Motivator” to people to restore the spirit of mankind… Are you up to the task?
Spirit Journey ($2.99 – Gear VR)
Embark on a spiritual journey inside yourself. Find your way through the pitfalls of your own thoughts and memories with a calm mind and a fast hand. Do you have what it takes to master this journey?
Manchester (FREE – Gear VR)
Manchester is a top down “racing game”, where you have to switch lanes constantly in order to pass obstacles and avoid getting hit by rockets. With four lanes, each moving at a different speed, reaching the finish line will take a steady hand and quick reactions.
Zen Splash VR ($4.99 – Gear VR)
Discover your inner awareness of the now in this stylized game inspired by the concept of Zen. Through extended dodging and intense concentration on the present moment, you will enter a state of flow, and emerge from the game more relaxed and more refreshed.
ENTERTAINMENT:
The Elevator Ritual ($2.99 – Rift)
The Elevator Ritual is a first-person, interactive, short horror story from developer Samson Films. Playing as Sarah, a teenage student, you will enter the Elevator Ritual and end up in the Otherworld. Do you have the courage to escape?
ARTE360 VR (FREE – Gear VR)
From the European cultural network ARTE comes ARTE360 VR, the first broadcasting platform dedicated to distributing immersive, interactive, narrative cinema experiences in 360 degree and VR. Step inside a movie and see the scenes unfold all around you as if you were there. The content is regularly updated.
VR Noir (FREE – Gear VR)
VR Noir: A Day Before The Night is an interactive crime thriller that invites you to play the role of detective Veronica Coltrane, a burnt-out private detective with mounting debts and a dark past. Enter her world and get caught up in a high-stakes drama. Engage with local characters and virtual environments, solve puzzles and use your powers of observation to propel the storyline forward.
Stargate Media (FREE – Gear VR)
Travel to the amazing world of Norway without ever leaving your couch. This short film brings all of Norway’s majesty, from its scenery to its solar eclipses, right to you.
CONCEPTS:
Mayfair Patio Playground (FREE – Rift)
Set against the backdrop of a lakeside scene, Patio Playground immerses you in a relaxing, dynamic environment with a selection of vividly rendered products to inspire your inner decorator. What will you create?
VR Kaleidoscope Camera (FREE – Gear VR)
Look at the world from a different perspective. Turn your surroundings into magnificent structures that will impress you with their relaxing and meditative quality. The possibilities are endless.
Raven (FREE – Gear VR)
Raven is an immersive reimagined reading of Edgar Allen Poe’s ‘The Raven’. Transport yourself back in time to a fire lit 19th century parlor and experience for yourself that dark December night so famously described by Poe.
Space Marine Boot Camp (FREE – Gear VR)
Do you have what it takes to become a Space Marine? You’ll see soon enough in this humorous look at the future of space training! From chaotic Target Practice, Asteroid Field survival, right up to the intense Search & Destroy mission, find out if you have what it takes.
SAMSUNG VR CONTENT:
Chasing the Dream (Samsung and USA Basketball) – Trailer and Episode #1“Chasing the Dream” trailer and Episode One debuted this week on Samsung VR. “Chasing the Dream” is the second project in the Beyond the Frame series, spotlighting members of the USA Basketball Men’s National Team, including Klay Thompson and Paul George, and providing the players’ perspective in the weeks leading up to the Rio 2016 Olympic Games.
Five days. Twelve players. One dream. Chasing The Dream provides an immersive virtual reality experience with Team USA’s biggest men’s basketball stars as they prepare to go for the gold.
As part of Samsung Creators, HuffPost RYOT and Samsung this week launched the Rio Creator’s lab, an immersive creators studio capturing Rio’s vibrant cityscape in full 360 with Samsung Gear 360. Four episodes debuted on the service below.
Cristo Redentor (RYOT)
This 98 feet tall statue of Jesus Christ looms high above the city of Rio de Janeiro, with arms out stretched in a symbolic gesture of peace. Visit the site and see the views overlooking the city.
Praia Vermelho (RYOT)
Watch the sunrise on one of the most beautiful beaches in Rio, Praia Vermelha.
Leave Your Trash at Home (RYOT)
Guanabara is Brazil’s second largest bay, nestled in Rio de Janeiro, yet it has become a symbol of pollution and lack of infrastructure in the country. The sewage and pollution of the bay has become an nearly insurmountable problem, damaging the livelihood of the communities around it.
Rio in Motion (RYOT)
We follow skaters Leo Rodriguez and Junior Duo as they skate through beautiful and iconic parts of the city. Locations included Bowl do Arpoador on the scenic coastline, juxtaposed with the old – yet colorful – run down ramp inside the favela Rocinha.
