Apple is Snapping up Many of Magic Leap’s Former Employees
It seems now that many of Magic Leap’s recently laid-off employees are helping Apple with its own AR headset ambitions.
Librestream Secures $24M Series D Funding to Expand Its AR-powered Worker Platform
Librestream, an enterprise-focused AR company, today announced it’s raised a $24 million Series D financing round. The Winnipeg, Canada-based company says the funds will be used to expand its ‘Augmented Worker’ services into Asia, the Middle East, Africa, and Latin America.
Facebook is Retiring Oculus Go, Announces New Content Distribution Platform for Quest
Facebook announced that, at the end of this year, it will officially retire Oculus Go, its 3DOF standalone headset. In early 2021, the company will also be making way for more apps on Quest with a new content distribution platform that will be separate from the Oculus Store.
Pimax’s Long-awaited Eye & Hand Tracking Modules Shipping to Backers “in a month”
Pimax has announced that both eye and hand tracking modules, both of which were included as stretch goals in its original 2017 Pimax “8K” headset Kickstarter, are shipping out to backers soon.
10 VR Flight Combat Games to Hone Your Skills Ahead of ‘Star Wars: Squadrons’
Looking to dust off your flying skills before jumping into the cockpit of an X-wing or TIE fighter? Before EA’s upcoming space combat game Star Wars: Squadrons launches on PC VR and PSVR October 2nd, you may consider popping into a few of these VR-compatible flight combat games to get a head start on the competition.
‘Boneworks’ Brings Zombie Warehouse Arena & New Board Gun in 1.5 Update
Boneworks (2019), the physics-based shooter from Stress Level Zero, just got its 1.5 update, bringing along with it a new arena-style map inspired by the Nazi Zombies game mode in the Call of Duty franchise and a few other goodies too.
WalkinVR Add-on Makes VR More Accessible to Disabled Gamers, Steam Launch Next Week
WalkinVR is a custom locomotion driver for SteamVR which offers a range of tools to help gamers with disabilities adapt VR games to their needs. The utility is set to launch for free on Steam next week.
Facebook Buys Its Third VR Studio, ‘Lone Echo’ Developer Ready at Dawn
Facebook announced today that it has acquired Ready at Dawn, marking the company’s third VR studio buyout. The 17 year old game studio is most recently known for its acclaimed VR titles, Lone Echo and Echo VR, both published by Facebook’s Oculus Studios. Ready at Dawn’s next VR title, Lone Echo II is due to launch later this year.
New ‘Firewall Zero Hour’ Update ‘Operation: Syndicate’ Coming Tomorrow
Firewall Zero Hour (2018), the team-based shooter from First Contact Entertainment, is getting a new DLC drop called Operation: Syndicate tomorrow, which brings a new map, gun, and contractor to the game.
‘Star Citizen’ Dev on VR Support: “I have no doubt we will get there”
Star Citizen, the space adventure game seemingly in perpetual Early Access, has been committed to adding VR support since well before consumer headsets existed. As time passes though and the game grows evermore ambitious in scope and scale, the possibility of VR support seems to have been indefinitely back-burnered. Not so, says one of the studio’s team members. Support for VR headsets will eventually come.
Valve Adds Experimental Stereo-correct Passthrough View to Index
Valve’s Index headset has had a passthrough view feature since launch, but the company has just released an experimental update which aims to make the view through the cameras more realistic by creating a synthetic image that more closely matches what your eyes should actually see.
Qualcomm & HTC Partner to Offer Vive WAVE Platform to All Snapdragon-based Headsets
HTC has announced that it will offer its Vive WAVE mobile VR platform to all Snapdragon-based headsets. The move means that headset makers will be able to adopt HTC’s ready-made headset OS (instead of developing their own) and gain instant content compatibility with a pre-existing VR app ecosystem.
EA: Playing ‘Star Wars: Squadrons’ in VR Will Be “more like being a real pilot”
Star Wars: Squadrons is coming to PC, consoles, and VR headsets on October 2nd. And while we got our first look at gameplay of the upcoming dogfighter in a special premier last night, it’s still not entirely clear what’s at stake for VR players.
‘Bebylon Battle Royale’ Purportedly Launching This Year, But We’re Not Holding Our Breath
Bebylon Battle Royale was first announced by studio Kite & Lightning back in 2015. Coming off of several impressive early VR experiences, the pivot toward a full fledged game was an exciting new path for the studio. But with sporadic updates on the game’s development over the last four years—and some radical changes in scope—it isn’t entirely clear what the studio will deliver, even if the game does launch this year.
‘Star Wars: Squadrons’ Gets First Gameplay Trailer, October Release Date
Just a week after the surprise reveal of Star Wars: Squadrons (and confirmation of full VR support on PC and PSVR), we’re already getting our first glimpse of gameplay. What’s more, it won’t be long before you can hop in your spaceship; the Star Wars: Squadrons release date is set for October 2nd.
