Sony gave away one of the best PlayStation VR games to some PlayStation 4 owners

By Aaron Mamiit August 25, 2019

Sony, which looks like it is getting into the holiday spirit very early, gave away free copies of PlayStation VR exclusive Astro Bot Rescue Mission to some lucky PlayStation 4 owners.

Several gamers took to websites and online forums to report that they received free copies of Astro Bot Rescue Mission. A post on the official PlayStation 4 sub-Reddit showed the email that the lucky people received.

“No catch, no strings… we’re just giving you a free PlayStation VR game,” said the image in the email, which contains a voucher code that the recipient will redeem on the PlayStation Store to start downloading Astro Bot Rescue Mission. According to the terms and conditions of the email, the offer is valid until December 2019, and that it is targeting select PlayStation Plus subscribers.

Sony’s selection process for who gets free copies of the popular PlayStation VR game remains unclear. The initial impression was that the Astro Bot Rescue Mission was being gifted to players who already own the virtual reality system, but according to the Reddit thread, some players who received the email do not own it. Perhaps the giveaway is serving the dual purpose of thanking those who have purchased the PlayStation VR, while also enticing those who do not own the system yet to buy it.

Astro Bot Rescue Mission, with a Metacritic score of 90, is widely considered one of the best virtual reality games not just on the PlayStation VR, but across all platforms. The game, which was released in October last year and is currently selling for $20, places players in the role of Astro, the captain Bot, as he goes on a mission to rescue his crew.

Sony previously said that improvements are heading to the design of the PlayStation VR‘s headset, to make it lighter and less encumbered by wires. There is also the possibility of the headset going wireless and integrating eye-tracking technology, though such a successor will likely not be ready to launch alongside the PlayStation 5.

For those who own the virtual reality system for the PlayStation 4, Digital Trends has compiled the best PlayStation VR games available for the platform.

Editors' Recommendations

Topics

Contributor

Aaron received a NES and a copy of Super Mario Bros. for Christmas when he was 4 years old, and he has been fascinated with…

Gaming

Does PlayStation 5 have a web browser?

Playstation 5 with a controller.

Sony added a bunch of great functionality to PS5, but one thing that's missing is a web browser. Unlike its predecessor, PS4, there's not a standard web browser you can access from your home screen. That's a bit of a letdown, as it feels like a huge step back from what was available years ago.

Thankfully, all is not lost. With a little elbow grease and a lot of ingenuity, you can access a web browser on PS5. The process is quite convoluted, and it's not the most user-friendly browser, but it's possible to surf the web on your fancy new-gen console.

Gaming

You need to try PlayStation VR2’s most psychedelic game yet

Key art for Akka Arrh shows psychedelic images.

You know that it's a busy year for gaming when a project by an industry legend launches with hardly any fanfare. That's exactly what happened in February 2023 with Akka Arrh. Created by Jeff Minter and his eccentric studio Llamasoft, the neon-tinted shooter is a remake of a 1982 Atari game that never saw the light of day after being deemed too difficult. Minter got the greenlight to revive the project, bringing it to life as a retro arcade shooter built in his unmistakable style.

While the project was exciting for game historians, it didn't exactly crack into the mainstream (it only has 37 user reviews on Steam). Thankfully, Akka Arrh getting a second chance to shine this week as its new PlayStation 5 version adds PlayStation VR2 support. While that might not be enough to make it a commercial hit, it does give PSVR2 owners a good reason to dust off their headset and check out a delightfully oddball project from one of gaming's true visionaries.
It's a trip
Akka Arrh is the rare example of a game that might be easier to explain on paper than in practice. In this throwback arcade shooter, players control a stationary ship that's tasked with protecting pods from attacking aliens. To fend off foes, players drop bombs that blow up in a different geometric pattern on each level's map. Every time an enemy touches that blast radius, it blows up in the same pattern, chaining to other enemies. The goal is to keep an uninterrupted chain going as long as possible by using a limited number of bullets to knock out foes that can't be destroyed by bombs and grabbing power-ups by hovering the cursor over them.

Gaming

PlayStation lays off 900 people and shuts down London Studio

Sony is the latest company in the video game industry to announce massive layoffs in 2024. We've learned that Sony Interactive Entertainment is letting go of about 900 people across several studios; PlayStation's London Studio will shut down as a result.

In a blog post, soon-to-depart Sony Interactive Entertainment President and CEO Jim Ryan says these cuts amount to about 8% of PlayStation's workforce. "Through discussions over the past few months about the evolving economic landscape, changes in the way we develop, distribute, and launch products, and ensuring our organization is future ready in this rapidly changing industry, we have concluded that tough decisions have become inevitable," Ryan explains. "The leadership team and I made the incredibly difficult decision to restructure operations, which regrettably includes a reduction in our workforce impacting very talented individuals who have contributed to our success."