This week in video games, May 8, 2017: New developments in the VR world

This week, how you can become Catwoman on your smartphone; the synth soundtrack for Prey is now streaming; and we break down the details of the expansion packs coming to The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild. But first, a look at what's new in virtual reality.

Virtual reality on display at CVR 2017

Vancouver virtual-reality (VR) developer and publisher Archiact is one of the biggest such studios in Canada, and last weekend it hosted the second Consumer Virtual Reality event in the Vancouver Convention Centre.

Participating in the event were a number of studios, large and small, that are working in the virtual- and augmented-reality space, and while the platforms are nascent, looking at the exhibits provided a glimpse of the medium's potential.

There were plenty of game experiences that are in development, from the competitive dodgeball of Smashbox Arena to the player-versus-player action—sorry, sabre-toothed tiger versus sabre-toothed tiger—of Tooth & Claw.

But AR, VR, and mixed reality (MR) can be used much more widely. The technologies are being used for architecture, design, and construction. They are ideal for traveller and tourism experiences. Education, simulation, and training are all applications.

Archiact is delivering video from robots and drones to VR, which has incredible potential for things like search and rescue.

Brazilian-Canadian company Y Dreams has created Arkane, a VR platform that adds a jumpsuit and MSI's VR One backpack computer, which allows for more intense immersion because it can deliver smoother action and more complete body-mapping in the VR space.

Gaming, though, is where some of the most interesting experiments are happening. Cloudhead Games was at CVR with the second episode of The Gallery. The first episode, Call of the Starseed, was released a year ago and was one of the first VR games to reach sales of $1 million in revenue.

Heart of the Emberstone is a much bigger puzzle adventure, Cloudhead's Antony Stevens explained, and it has a dark fantasy tone that was inspired by things like '80s films The Dark Crystal and Labyrinth. Emberstone is expected to be ready for release later this spring, for HTC Vive and Oculus Rift.

Pre-register for Injustice 2's mobile version to get Catwoman

Injustice 2, the sequel to Warner Bros. Interactive's fighting game that stars DC comics characters battling each other, is getting a mobile companion.

In development for Android and iOS, the mobile game has its own unique story mode that follows the events of the console game as well as a mission-based mode, all created for short gaming experiences on the go.

Pre-registering your email address will get you Catwoman as an exclusive playable character when the game is released.

Prey soundtrack gets release along with sci-fi shooter

The highly anticipated sci-fi shooter Prey was released last Friday. So was the game's soundtrack, from musician Mick Gordon.

The soundtrack is available for purchase through Google Play and iTunes, and it's also streaming through Apple Music and Spotify.

The synthesizer-flavoured album has 14 tracks, a couple of which are partially credited to Arkane Studios co-founder Raphael Colantonio, who was also creative director on the game.

Details announced for the first update of Breath of the Wild

Breath of the Wild, the latest Zelda game available for Nintendo's Wii U and Switch consoles, is getting two expansions.

The downloadable content (DLC) packs are being sold as a bundle priced at $28.19.

The first, the Master Trials, will be releasing this summer and will add a Hard mode to the game, as well as Trial of the Sword, in which Link progresses through a series of enemy-filled rooms—there are about 45 of them—to awaken the true power of the Master Sword.

The Master Trials update will also add the "Hero's Path" feature, which marks the map with the routes Link has travelled for the last 200 hours of play time. Nintendo says that this feature will work retroactively, so you can play now and, when the expansion comes out this summer, you will be able to see where you've been exploring.

The second DLC is planned for release this holiday season.