The second coming of VR has been built around magic moments. Come meet the dinosaur on Oculus Dreamdeck! Hang out with the shark in VR Worlds! Experience the virtual k-hole that is Rez Infinite! The novelty might be wearing a little thin after 12 months on the shelves and in our living rooms, but this is still a medium that has the capacity to delight and surprise. At GDC a couple of weeks ago I was witness to another magic moment that convinced me there might be something to this VR lark after all.
It came courtesy of CCP, a studio that's done well to get in on the ground floor with VR, with Eve Valkyrie hitting the launch of both Oculus Rift and Playstation VR - and still a strong candidate for one of VR's finest standalone experiences. For CCP's next project, its Atlanta office is working on Sparc, an all-new future sports IP built from the ground up for virtual reality. And it's the studio's first video game project set outside the Eve universe in its 20 year history. No pressure then.
If it's stepping away from the fiction, it's at least leaning on the strong foundations laid out by Eve Valkyrie and by the intimate knowledge it's earned in VR. Sparc has the polish and comfort you'd expect of a second generation VR title, and it's built around the improved control introduced with the likes of Oculus Touch (and PlayStation VR's Move controllers, which will also be supported). It's an aggressive take on squash with future sports trimmings, with two players squaring up across a small court and hurling balls at each other.
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