Disney to Develop New “Top Secret” VR Short Film Following Success of ‘Cycles’
Walt Disney Animation Studios has approved another “top secret” VR short after the apparent success of Cycles (2018), the studio’s first foray into VR short films.
Out-of-home VR Destination Sandbox VR Closes $68M Series A Financing
The big investment deals that brought so many VR companies into the limelight have cooled down somewhat over the past two years, although that hasn’t stopped the Hong Kong-born VR destination company Sandbox VR from landing a $68 million Series A funding round.
PSVR Exclusive ‘StarBlood Arena’ to Go Offline in 6 Months
If you’re a fan of StarBlood Arena (2017), the online dogfighting arena exclusive to PSVR, you’re in for some bad news. Sony has decided to put an official expiration date on the title: July 25th, 2019.
VR Cameras Now on International Space Station to Capture Space Walks & Missions
Last month, TIME and Felix & Paul Studios launched VR cameras to the International Space Station (ISS) in a new project to bring viewers an intimate look aboard one of the most exclusive places in human existence.
Magic Leap’s AI ‘Mica’ Won’t Turn Off Your Lights, Play Your Music, or Give Directions
Magic Leap today released a blogpost detailing more motivation behind building Mica, the company’s upcoming AI announced at Leap Con last year. And Magic Leap doesn’t want Mica to be a run-of-the-mill AI assistant that carries out commands like “turn off the lights,” or “play something funky on Spotify,” either.
Cloudhead Games Teases Mystery VR Headset in Censored Image
Cloudhead Games CEO Denny Unger recently tweeted what appears to be an unreleased VR headset and motion controllers using SteamVR 2.0 tracking basestations.
Oculus Quest Experience ‘The Under Presents’ Debuts at Sundance 2019
Oculus today announced that it’s bringing two VR experiences to this year’s Sundance Film Festival— the previously announced Traveling While Black for Oculus Go & Rift, and the newly unveiled The Under Presents for Oculus Quest.
Oculus Just Made It Easier to Screencast Mobile VR Sessions to Your Phone
Oculus released screencasting in beta late last year, and while it’s been a great way of letting someone outside of VR see what’s happening during a VR session, the company just made this a lot easier in a recent update to the Oculus Mobile app.
Colin Farrell Narrates VR Series ‘Gloomy Eyes’, Debuting at Sundance 2019
Leap Motion Reveals Updated Project North Star AR Prototype Design
Last year Leap Motion, makers of hand-tracking technology, revealed Project North Star, an open-source AR headset prototype design meant to be a test bed for the kind of specs and features that more compact AR headsets will hopefully one day provide. This week the company revealed ‘Release 3’ of the headset which further refines the open-source design with the goal of making it “more inviting, less hacked together, and more reliable.”
PSVR Horror Shooter ‘Immortal Legacy: The Jade Cypher’ Gets March Launch Date, Trailer Here
China-based Viva Games today announced that their upcoming action-adventure horror title Kill X has now been renamed Immortal Legacy: The Jade Cypher. The shooter, which is exclusive to the PSVR platform, is slated to arrive March 20th.
Fable Studio Pivoting to “Virtual Beings,” Building Stories Around Persistent AI-powered Characters
Fable, founded by former Oculus Story Studio alumni, today announced a distinct pivot in their focus, moving from an immersive storytelling studio to a “virtual beings” company which plans to build persistent, AI-powered, characters which can interact naturally with viewers.
All GeForce RTX Laptops Are VR Capable, But Optional VirtualLink Branding Could Breed Confusion
Earlier this month NVIDIA announced that slew of hardware partners will be launching GeForce RTX gaming laptops which will include the company’s newest Turing-based RTX graphics. While the company has confirmed that all models with RTX 2060, 2070, and 2080 GPUs will technically have the GPU horsepower to run VR headsets, port confusion could trip up consumers who aren’t diligent about their purchase.
VR Thriller ‘Area of Darkness: Sentinel’ to Land on Rift, Vive & Windows VR Soon, Trailer Here
Area of Darkness: Sentinel is an upcoming VR psychological thriller adventure that just emerged from the shadows, arriving with a pretty slick trailer that’s promising quite a stack of features.
Live Planet Launches All-in-one System for 360 3D Livestreaming
Live Planet today announced the launch of the Live Planet VR System, an end-to-end pipeline for 360 stereoscopic livestreaming and distribution, including a custom camera & content management tools. The company claims that creators can go “from box to livestreaming within minutes.”
