Valve today confirmed that the Coronavirus outbreak has impacted production of the Index VR headset and other hardware. While the company tells us it still expects that new stock will be available ahead of the launch of Half-Life: Alyx on March 23rd, there will be “far fewer units” than the company had anticipated.
Facebook and Sony today announced they won’t be attending the annual GDC conference in San Francisco next month other Coronavirus concerns. GDC has historically been a key event for both Facebook/Oculus and Sony, with major announcements and previews of what would come from each company’s VR ventures throughout the rest of the year. Facebook, at least, says it will still share its planned announcements despite not attending the show.
No Man’s Sky (2016) has been on a roll lately with its continuous updates ever since its big ‘Beyond’ refresh in Summer 2019, which brought along with it VR support for PS4 and PC versions of the game. Now, developers Hello Games have released its ‘Living Ship’ update, which brings the first new starship since ‘Atlas Rises’, it’s 1.3 update released in 2017.
As if announcing three new Cosmos headsets wasn’t enough, HTC today also revealed Vive Proton. The company is calling this a “prototype” headset with two different flavors: a standalone VR headset and a ‘VR viewer’ which would be powered by a tethered device like a smartphone.
Buckle up, this one’s a doozy. HTC today introduced three new variants of its Vive Cosmos VR headset. Joining the original Cosmos is Cosmos Elite, Cosmos Play, and Cosmos XR. The four variants of the headset aim to cover a diverse set of customer interests.
SpringboardVR, the content distribution platform for VR arcades, has partnered with Cloudhead Games and eSports organizers The Virtual Athletics League (VAL) to bring a Pistol Whip (2019) tournament next month to more than 500 arcade locations as well as at-home players.
Thanks to its motion-tracked input, VR can be a surprisingly physical activity, and even a great workout if you’re playing the right games. This article explains why working out in VR is game-changing for those of us who have a hard time staying motivated with a typical gym routine. We’ll also highlight games and accessories which improve VR as a fitness activity.
LYNX is a startup building a standalone MR headset that’s primarily focused on passthrough AR scenarios for enterprise applications. The France-based company revealed its R-1 headset earlier this month and expects to deliver the first units this Summer for $1,500. We spoke to founder Stan Larroque to learn more about the company’s background, ambitions, and tech.
Sandbox VR, the location-based VR attraction, will be opening up to third-party developers soon, as the company will be releasing an SDK for its Sandbox ‘holodeck’ VR attraction platform.
After its launch in December, one common Boneworks gripe was the lack of any mid-level checkpoints, which meant players had to complete entire levels in a single play session otherwise they would lose their progress and be forced to restart the current level. A big update released today introduces a mid-level checkpoint system and brings new content, climbing improvements, and more.
Oculus brought controllerless hand-tracking to Oculus Quest as an experimental feature back in December, and while it’s useful for navigating around the headset’s menus when you don’t want to pick up the controllers, developers have begun prototyping more creative uses for the tech.
The Walking Deal: Saints & Sinners (2020), a VR game based on The Walking Dead comic book series, had its fair share of success when it launched on PC VR headsets late last month. Now, it appears Skydance Interactive’s zombie-slaying thriller can add another notch to the handle of its bloody baseball bat.
Dreams, Media Molecule’s creation-focused game, launched out of Early Access lat week, but without the hotly-awaited addition of PSVR support. Although the studio has spoken very little about its plans to support PSVR in the preceding months, a Video Games Chronicle interview with studio co-founder Mark Healey reveals VR support for Dreams is coming down the bend—notably before multiplayer online support arrives.
Last week Google released a beta of Chrome 81 for Android, Chrome OS, Linux, macOS, and Windows, which means a stable version is just around the corner. One of the most important updates to arrive in Chrome 81 is the ability to use web-based AR apps.
Japan Display Inc. (JDI), a display conglomerate created by Sony, Toshiba, and Hitachi, today announced the mass production of a new high pixel density, 2.1-inch 1,058 LCD display created for VR ‘glasses’ style headsets.
