Amazon today announced the launch of Prime Video VR on Oculus Quest, Go, and Gear VR. In addition to bringing the entire Prime Video catalog onto the headsets, Amazon is also for the first time adding VR content to its Prime Video library.
Despite securing $280 million from Japan’s largest telecom earlier this summer, we’ve heard surprisingly little from the multi-billion dollar AR startup of late regarding its flagship headset, Magic Leap One. Now, the company has announced a number of new features coming to ML1 in its latest Lumin OS 0.97 and SDK 0.22 updates, which includes hand tracking with proper occlusion masking, “out of the box” multiplayer support, and a few other goodies that ideally position the platform to appeal to future consumers.
WhiteMoon Dreams, the developers behind PSVR arena shooter StarBlood Arena (2017), released a statement recently bidding farewell to its community. Earlier this year, the studio announced that their online-only game would be going dark; the official date for server shutdown is Thursday, July 25th.
Later this year Oculus Quest is going to get access to a heap of new VR content thanks to support for Oculus Go apps via official emulation.
While Oculus Quest was devoid of any of Facebook’s social VR applications at launch, Oculus Venues is finally available for the headset. That means that, for the first time, Quest users will have a first-party social experience in which they can also connect to Oculus Go and Gear VR users (but not Rift).
Oculus Quest and Rift S use similar inside-out tracking which relies on cameras on the headsets to not only track the user’s head but also their hands. While this works well in many cases, at launch there was something of a deadzone when bringing the hands very close to the headset which could lead to spotty tracking. With an update now rolling out publicly to Quest and Rift S, Oculus says that tracking in this specific area has been improved.
EDM artist REZZ is hosting a world premiere listening party of her new album ‘Beyond the Senses’ in Wave, a social VR rave platform. The event kicks off at 3PM PT [your timezone here].
XR Games today announced that the franchise’s next Angry Birds VR game is set to launch on PSVR on August 6th; the game was created in partnership with XR Games, Sony’s VR team and Rovio Entertainment.
Tetris Effect (2018), the latest entry in the iconic tile-stacker series, is officially available starting today on PC, which also includes support for VR headsets.
NextVR, the company known for its live VR broadcasts in sports and entertainment, is getting ready to bring the Liverpool FC vs. Sporting Club of Portugal friendly match to US-based Oculus Go & Gear VR users this week.
Back in 2016, director Jon Favreau, in association with immersive studio Wevr, released the Gnomes & Goblins preview, a demo of an (at the time) ambitious VR film project. While it was well received, it lay nearly forgotten as the years passed with no sign of a full release. Hope has been reignited thanks to a recently revamped website teasing that project is “coming soon.”
Star Wars: Vader Immortal is a three part VR “narrative adventure” and Oculus exclusive. Episode I launched on Quest and Rift earlier this year. Little is known about Episode II, including its release date, but this week the creators shared a glimpse of what’s to come.
HTC and the American Museum of Natural History announced early this year that the Manhattan-based institution’s ‘T. rex: The Ultimate Predator’ exhibit was getting a VR experience that would let museum-goers collaborate to build a Tyrannosaurus rex bone-by-bone in virtual reality. Starting today, you can now jump into the app with your VR headset at home.
