Echo Arena is basically ultimate frisbee VR, and it completely consumed me at E3.
In a demo station at E3, I turn my head to watch a disc float by and activate my wrist jets to chase after it, weaving past floating obstacles and using my hands to guide me.
Reaching the disc, I grab it with my dominant hand and look up toward the diamond-shaped goal, about 30 feet away. With a flick, I launch the disc toward the open, glowing goal and nail it right in the middle, setting off sparks and a ripping guitar riff, earning my team three points.
In my ear a teammate says, “Nice throw, Kellen!”
They’re moving toward me pumping their arms up and down, gliding through an arena that looks like it’s been ripped right out of the Tron universe, etched with bold luminescent lines of blue and orange.
I raise my own arms in victory, only to realize that the disc is back in play. I jet my way back toward my team’s side of the arena to play some defense.
Echo Arena is a competitive, multiplayer, virtual reality game for the Oculus Rift, and out of everything I played at E3 this year, it left the biggest impression on me.
That impression: VR has the potential to be amazing, and really good VR can make you completely forget that you’re making an ass of yourself in front of a crowd of onlookers.
Echo Arena is basically zero-gravity ultimate frisbee with goals instead of endzones and you can punch people in the head to stun them. Here’s a look at how it works:
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Source: Mashable