TOBII AND EIDOS MONTRÉAL ANNOUNCE EYE TRACKING FEATURES IN DEUS EX: MANKIND DIVIDED
Tobii Eye Tracking creates unique features, greater immersion for PC version
Montreal & Stockholm – 9 August 2016 – Tobii, the global leader in eye tracking, and Eidos® Montreal, the award winning studio, today announced that the PC version Deus Ex: Mankind Divided® will support multiple eye-tracking features. Powered by Tobii eye trackers, Tobii EyeX and the SteelSeries Sentry allow for greater game immersion, a cleaner UI, and enhanced navigation. A Tobii EyeX and Deus Ex® game bundle is set to be released on the 23rd of August.
“With the Deus Ex franchise being a window to the future, we always try to provide innovative, ground-breaking experiences for our players,” says André Vu, Executive Brand Director at Eidos Montréal. “The numerous Tobii eye tracking features built into the game will provide PC gamers an extra layer of immersion that blends perfectly with the futuristic universe depicted in Deus Ex.”
The Tobii EyeX, a 119€ (or UK equivalent) peripheral eye tracker that connects to any existing PC via USB, empowers gamers with new, more realistic experiences in their games. Eye tracking serves as an additional modality that adds to the game experience without taking anything away or restricting the gamer in any way. Tobii sees numerous opportunities for eye tracking to enhance game immersion and realism, including the development of more responsive characters that interact with you when you make eye contact or features that mimic the functions of the eye, like dynamic depth of field or light exposure.
“The commitment by Eidos Montréal and Square Enix® to bring eye tracking to the mega Deus Ex franchise is another demonstration of the industry’s belief in the value of eye tracking,” said Oscar Werner, president of Tobii Tech. “We applaud the team at Eidos Montréal for their forward thinking approach and drive to give their gamers more.”
Deus Ex: Mankind Divided comes with a ton of new innovations to make gamers salivate. With eye tracking integration, gameplay becomes more immersive as the gamer’s eye movement is harnessed to create more natural and more realistic actions, making them part of this futuristic, dystopian world. Tobii eye tracking features include:
· Aim at Gaze – Look at the target to take aim, then press a button and fire. This feature let players take out enemies using their natural gaze and will even work when locking the tesla gun for all-out mayhem.
· Extended View– Look to the edge of the screen and the game’s camera will pan – giving players a wider field of view with just a glance. The natural eye movement will allow further immersion into the game’s environment and let players control what they want to see – just as in real life.
· Icarus Dash at gaze – Simply look in the direction you want Adam to move in – even vertically. This will allow players you use the controls in a more fluid manner.
· Interact at gaze – This feature lets players move effortlessly using the natural gaze to intuitively interact with objects. Look at an object, press a button and automatically move towards it before picking it up.
· Clean UI– This feature lets player access UI info only when needed, giving them deeper immersion into the game’s environment. Look and they’ll appear. Look away, they’ll become nearly transparent. The screen is always covered fully in the game’s world, with the vital stats just a glance away. Helps you embrace the game’s environment. Helps players keep track of what you need to –when they need to.
· Cover at Gaze – This feature lets players find refuge when the heat is on just by gazing across the environment – highlighting places you can hide behind. (Not available on August 23, this feature will be available in an upcoming update.)
Deus Ex: Mankind Divided, the sequel to the critically acclaimed Deus Ex: Human Revolution®, builds on the franchise’s trademark choice and consequence, action RPG based gameplay, to create both a memorable and highly immersive experience. Players will once again take on the role of Adam Jensen, now an experienced covert agent, and will gain access to his new arsenal of customizable state-of-the-art weapons and augmentations. With time working against him, Adam must choose the right approach, along with whom to trust, in order to unravel a vast worldwide conspiracy. The game also includes Deus Ex: Mankind Divided – Breach, a new and innovative game mode. This new take on the game offers, for the very first time, an arcade approach on the gameplay ofDeus Ex: Mankind Divided, providing players with a unique puzzle shooter experience.
New Tobii EyeX customers will receive a free copy of Deus Ex: Mankind Divided when they purchase the Tobii EyeX and Deus Ex Bundle here.
To see the entire collection of Tobii Eye Tracking Enhanced games, click here.
About Eidos Montréal
Since its creation in 2007, Eidos Montréal has embraced the philosophy to always pursue excellence in game development, aiming to create immersive and captivating experiences for players. In 2011, the studio made its mark with the critically acclaimedDeus Ex: Human Revolution. Its sequel, Deus Ex: Mankind Divided, is scheduled for release in 2016. This latest entry into the franchise features the studios newly developedDawn Engine™, designed to support Eidos Montréal’s creative vision for both current and future game development. The studio also provides technical support for other Square Enix teams ranging from R&D, QA, and playtesting.
Eidos Montréal is part of the Square Enix group of companies. For more information on the studio, please visit https://eidosmontreal.com/, their Twitter account, or their LinkedInpage.
About Tobii
Tobii is the global leader in eye-tracking. Our vision is a world where all technology works in harmony with natural human behavior. Tobii operates through three business units: Tobii Dynavox makes specially designed computers that are controlled by eye movement or touch screens for use by people with special needs due to spinal cord injuries, CP, ALS or other medical conditions. Tobii Pro develops and sells eye-tracking equipment and services used today by more than 2,000 companies and 1,500 research institutions, including all of the world’s 50 highest ranked universities. Tobii Tech further develops Tobii’s technology for new volume markets such as computer games, personal computers, virtual reality and vehicles. Tobii is headquartered in Sweden and is listed on Nasdaq Stockholm (TOBII). The group has approximately 600 employees. For more information, please visit www.tobii.com .
DEUS EX: MANKIND DIVIDED © 2016 Square Enix Ltd. All Rights Reserved. DAWN ENGINE, DEUS EX, DEUS EX: MANKIND DIVIDED, DEUS EX: MANKIND DIVIDED – BREACH, DEUS EX: HUMAN REVOLUTION, EIDOS, and SQUARE ENIX are registered trademarks or trademarks of the Square Enix group of companies. Tobii Technology and the Tobii logo are either registered trademarks or trademarks of Tobii Technology in the United States and/or other countries. All other trademarks are properties of their respective owners.
This game takes place at a point in time where the name Batman is known by both criminals and hunted by the police as a vigilante but he is still at the beginning of his time behind the cowl since not only is Gordon still a Lieutenant but one of Batman’s standard gadgets, a smokebomb, is described as still being in a trial phase when used to subdue the thugs. Problem is, the thugs weren’t the only ones after something precious being kept by the mayor as Catwoman, or as the game initially calls her, a cat woman, is after a digital device.
Batman: The Telltale Series does something few other games revolving around the character do by placing a heavy emphasis on the amount of time spent as Bruce compared to Batman. This is demonstrated by a pleasing sequence during the initial conflict with the armed robbers as the scenes shift from the action back to Bruce recovering from his latest outing while talking, and being treated by, Alfred. This is also reflected well in how Bruce feels more at home in his bat cave, where he is in control, than anywhere else as those around him vie for his attention and power.
Choices made by the player so far are rather interesting and smaller in scope for the moment as players can either choose to attempt to placate a mob boss, be extremely aggressive as Batman, and even select between who to trust with vital information but for now these various choices don’t seem to play a major role in how things unfold in this first episode. This means that Realm of Shadows serves as something of a building block for everything that is to come and thankfully it manages to pull it off extremely well by introducing a number of characters that will play a major role in the future, be it friend or foe, and an intriguing storyline that fans will want to keep an eye on.
The exploration sequences also seem to have a bit more heft this time around as Batman, at least in this first episode, is able to examine the scene of a crime and can link together various pieces of evidence in order to piece together roughly what happened. This puzzle element is extremely small but it is a nice touch considering many would be hoping for some detective sequences here.
As for the voice work this title sports quite a few familiar names who come to work well with the cast of the game, including Troy Baker as the voice of Batman himself and a few other actors that certainly live up to the reputation of the characters they are portraying. It is worth noting that the game does explain that the batsuit features a voice modulator to lower the sound of Bruce’s voice but I found it to be rather iffy sounding in more than a few situations.
After being informed that Vault 88 was as far from finished as vaults come, with only the entrance area fully functioning in an effort to put up a front for investors, players must use the Workshop mode to clear out rubble, remove various debris, and activate the rest of the wings of the Vault that stretch all the way into a subway system and even a shop, making it hardly the safest and secure place one would expect.
These variables are chosen before every test and range from simply providing a better taste to a fountain drink machine to completely suppressing the drinker’s appetite and even going so far to draw images out of a dweller’s brain using an eye exam machine or simply generating a pleasant aroma from a workout bike. Depending on what players choose from with these variables the Overseer will either be happy or so angry she will leave the vault entirely thanks to the results and put the player in charge of what she deems a failure and letting players proceed to simply treat the giant area as any other settlement.
It is unfortunate to say that this also means that the game’s incredibly faulty snap building mode plays a big role in how much you’ll enjoy actually crafting rooms and hallways for your settlers to travel through since it continues to rely on how iffy the system is, often refusing to place pieces how you wish to or simply not being able to put them down altogether thanks to unseen obstacles. One major addition, at least for gamers on consoles such as myself, is the Vault-Tec population control terminal that allows players to create little quests through the VIP tracker to show exactly where your companions are, meaning if you managed to send someone off to an unknown settlement and lost them, they can be easily found now.
