Epic Games today announced that Unreal Engine 5 is now available in early access, including a new template for VR projects built on OpenXR 1.0, the industry-backed standard for building device-agnostic VR and AR applications.
Stress Level Zero announced in February of last year that it was working on a new game for Quest and SteamVR headsets that would incorporate the physics-based system from Boneworks (2019), the studio’s popular shooter-adventure for PC VR. It seems we may be getting a peek sometime soon.
The Oculus Quest-compatible version of Cybershoes, the VR locomotion peripheral, was successfully funded on Kickstarter late last year, and has been available direct from the creators for a few months now. The company has now made Cybershoes for Quest available through Amazon US though, and has shaved a few bucks off the price too.
Virtuix, the company behind the Omni VR treadmill, launched a crowd-based investment campaign late last year to support the launch of Virtuix Omni One, an at-home VR locomotion device for consumers. The campaign’s second phase (Series A-2) is nearly at its end, and Virtuix says the company has garnered $19 million from individual investors looking to get a piece of the company.
Wraith: The Oblivion – Afterlife has been available exclusively on Oculus headsets since its launch back in April, however now anyone with a SteamVR-compatible headset can take a crack at the patently creepy ‘World of Darkness’ horror adventure.
Gadgeteer, the Rube Goldberg-inspired physics VR game, left Early Access on PC VR headsets and Oculus Quest back in August of last year, although it wasn’t certain when PSVR users would get a crack at gadgeting. Now developer Metanaut says it’s coming to the PSVR platform on May 25th.
FitXR, the subscription-based VR workout app for Oculus Quest, launched its third in-game exercise regime which brings High Intensity Interval Training (HIIT) to the mix.
Waveguide optics are increasingly looking like the best near-term solution for creating AR glasses that are truly glasses-sized. Lumus is one such waveguide company and recently let their latest waveguide prototype, the 50° FOV ‘Maximus’, be examined under the proverbial microscope. Through-the-lens photos of Lumus Maximus reveal impressive ‘retina’ resolution of 60 PPD, along with excellent brightness and leading image uniformity.
This week Apple debuted new accessibility-focused features for iOS. Among them, the AssistiveTouch feature for Apple Watch allows for single-handed control of the watch by detecting clenching and pinching of the hand, as well as accelerometer-based control. The system looks awfully similar to work Apple and Facebook have done on XR input, and may prove a strong hint that Apple will lean into wrist-worn input for its rumored XR headset.
Snap Inc is making some definite strides into augmented reality territory as of late. It not only announced yesterday that its next-gen version of Spectacles will be a AR device, but it’s now come to light that the company is acquiring WaveOptics, the startup behind the AR optics within the Spectacles themselves.
NVIDIA’s Deep Learning Supersampling (DLSS) is a technology native to RTX cards which, through the power of onboard AI, can intelligently increase the resolution of rendered frames in games. DLSS has been available for VR for a few months now, and we’re just starting to see more games support the performance-boosting tech. NVIDIA says the first VR games on the list are Into the Radius (2020), No Man’s Sky (2016) and Wrench (2018).
Snap Inc, the company behind Snapchat, today announced its 4th generation Spectacles glasses. While the prior generations included only cameras for capturing first-person footage, the 4th generation Spectacles are the company’s first to include a display for real-time AR.
Puzzle Bobble (1994), also known as Bust-a-Move in the West, pioneered the tile-matching puzzle genre, not only inspiring generations of mobile games like Candy Crush Saga, but also spawning uncountable clones throughout the decades. The 2D game is known for its simple but elegant gameplay, and Puzzle Bobble VR: Vacation Odyssey makes a valiant effort at translating those time-tested ingredients into a 3D environment for the first time. Puzzle Bobble VR’s numerous and oftentimes simple levels may not hook you initially, although there’s something to this demure bubble-popping adaptation that makes it feel like it could really take flight in the future.
Developer Spare Parts Oasis and publisher Armor Games Studios announced that A Rogue Escape, a VR reimaging of PC puzzle game Nauticrawl (2019), is coming to PC VR headsets on June 10th.
