Road to VR

‘Skyrim VR’ Has Made Great Strides in Immersion Thanks to Mods

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Aug 23, 2021

skyrim vr steamvr pc (4) — Image courtesy Bethesda

The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim VR (2018) isn’t what you’d call a lazy VR port of the now decade-old open-world RPG, but it certainly leaves much to the imagination when it comes to the sort of immersion you’d expect to see in native VR titles. Like all things Skyrim, mods let you improve the experience in ways Bethesda simply won’t (like, ever), and a few mods in particular have done a lot for Skyrim VR on PC that will have you feeling much more at home in Tamriel.

PC VR Classic ‘Windlands’ Releases on Oculus Quest via App Lab

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Aug 23, 2021

Image courtesy Psytec Games

Windlands (2016), one of the founding pioneers of modern VR gaming, has made the quiet leap to Oculus Quest this past week where it lives on to finally serve up its dizzying heights and grappling hook-based movement scheme to the standalone headset.

SteamVR Update Lets You Float Desktop Windows Inside of Your VR Games

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Aug 20, 2021

steamvr-floating-virtual-desktop-window — Captured by Road to VR

The latest update to SteamVR, version 1.19.7, adds a great new feature which lets you float desktop or application windows inside of your VR games so that they’re always in view.

Unreal Engine Gets OpenXR Improvements Just in Time for Oculus Development Shift

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Aug 20, 2021

unreal-engine-4-27-openxr — Image courtesy Epic Games

The latest version of Unreal Engine 4, version 4.27, brings “production-ready” support for OpenXR. The change comes just in time for Oculus developers, as the company recently announced it’s fully moving open to the OpenXR standard for VR development going forward.

VR Studio Behind Movie Tie-in Games Aims to Kick-start Original IP with $2M Investment

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Aug 20, 2021

zombieland-vr — Image courtesy XR Games

UK-based VR studio XR Games, known for its recently released Zombieland VR game, announced this week that it has raised an additional £1.5 million (~$2 million) investment to expand its studio with 20 new jobs and a focus on original IP.

FTC Sues Facebook Over Alleged Monopolization – What it Could Mean for Oculus

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Aug 19, 2021

The United States Federal Trade Commission today announced it has filed an amended complaint with the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, renewing its effort to sue Facebook over alleged anticompetitive practices. The initial lawsuit was filed in late 2020 and was tossed out back in June by a judge which argued that the FTC failed to make its case. The Commission is seeking a remedy which includes spinning out Instagram and WhatsApp. Oculus, the company’s XR organization, is not directly mentioned in the suit, but the amended complaint brings the “metaverse” into the picture for the first time.

Stunning View Synthesis Algorithm Could Have Huge Implications for VR Capture

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Aug 19, 2021

As far as live-action VR video is concerned, volumetric video is the gold standard for immersion. And for static scene capture, the same holds true for photogrammetry. But both methods have limitations that detract from realism, especially when it comes to ‘view-dependent’ effects like specular highlights and lensing through translucent objects. Research from Thailand’s Vidyasirimedhi Institute of Science and Technology shows a stunning view synthesis algorithm that significantly boosts realism by handling such lighting effects accurately.

Facebook Surprise-launches New VR Meeting App With Virtual Desktops and up to 50 People

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Aug 19, 2021

Facebook today is surprise-launching a new app called Horizon Workrooms, a virtual collaboration space that connects both VR and video chat users. With the ability to bring a user’s PC or Mac desktop into the virtual room, the app takes a big step toward turning Quest 2 into a collaborative productivity device.

A VR Newcomer Just Raised $7 Million to Build Social VR Games

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Aug 18, 2021

VR developer ForeVR Games today announced it has raised an additional $7 million in seed capital, bringing its total capital raise to $8.5 million. The studio is focused on bringing classic real world games—like bowling—into VR with an emphasis on social play.

Facebook Connect Will be Held Online on October 28th

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Aug 18, 2021

mark-zuckerberg-oculus — Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg | Image courtesy Oculus

Facebook today announced that its XR conference, Facebook Connect (previously called Oculus Connect) will be held on October 28th. This is the second year running that the event has been in an online format due to the Coronavirus pandemic.

The Dismal Reception of ‘Carrier Command 2 VR’ is a Cautionary Tale

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Aug 18, 2021

carrier command 2 vr (3) — Image courtesy Geometa

Carrier Command 2 launched earlier this month alongside a separate version including full VR support. While the non-VR version of the game sits at a ‘Mostly Positive’ 75% user rating, the VR version quickly tanked to a 27% ‘Mostly Negative’ rating. A desire to cram VR into the game with limited testing and a lack of feedback from experienced VR players is the root cause. While developer Geometa is working hard to deliver fixes, this avoidable stumble right out of the gate hampers the odds of success for the VR version.

‘Myst’ VR Remake PC Release Date Revealed Alongside New Trailer

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Aug 17, 2021

Myst (2020) developer Cyan Worlds announced today that its VR remake of the game is finally due to launch on PC later this month.

‘Space Pirate Arena’ Launching Soon on Quest, Will Require a Huge Playspace

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Aug 17, 2021

space-pirate-arena — Image courtesy I-Illusions

Space Pirate Arena is an upcoming pseudo-sequel to VR classic Space Pirate Trainer (2017). All your training, it seems, was leading up to going head to head against other players in a huge virtual arena… and you’ll need an equally huge playspace in real life to play.

The 20 Best Rated & Most Popular Quest Games & Apps – August 2021

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Aug 16, 2021

While Oculus doesn’t offer much publicly in the way of understanding how well individual apps are performing across its VR storefronts, it’s possible to glean some insight by looking at apps relative to each other. Here’s a snapshot of the top 20 Oculus Quest games and apps as of August 2021.

You Can Finally Invite Friends to Your Quest or Rift Game with a Web Link

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Aug 16, 2021

It’s been a long time coming, but Oculus has finally provided a way for players to invite friends to their VR games through a simple web link that can be shared by text, email, DM, or… well, anywhere. This streamlines the action of meeting up with your friends for some virtual fun. For now only some apps support the feature until more developers decide to get on board.

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