David Attenborough’s VR Experience ‘Hold the World’ Lands on Rift
Bell Says Latest Helicopter was Designed 10 Times Faster With VR
Bell Helicopter challenged its Innovation Team to accelerate its aircraft design process. Turning to VR as a key improvement to their design pipeline, the team created the FCX-001, the company’s first “concept aircraft,” in just six months.
HTC Joins VirtualLink to Support Connection Standard for Future VR Headsets
Back in July, many of VR’s biggest players announced the VirtualLink Consortium, a group unified around creating a connection standard for future VR headsets. HTC was seemingly the odd one out back at the initial announcement, but this week the company joined the group in support of the standard.
Report: Oculus is Planning a Modest Upgrade to Rift, Releasing Early as Next Year
Oculus co-founder and Facebook’s head of PC VR Brendan Iribe is leaving the company amidst a TechCrunch report that Facebook cancelled its second iteration of Rift. Now, a new report maintains the company is heading in a different direction with a much less ambitious upgrade to Rift than the recent ‘Half Dome’ prototype would suggest.
Target to Discount All PSVR Bundles by $100 on Black Friday
Retailers are already gearing up for this year’s big Black Friday deals, and Target is advertising one of the cheapest prices on PSVR bundles we’ve ever seen.
Report: Apple Nearly Acquired Leap Motion but the Deal Fell Through
According to a report from Business Insider, earlier this year Apple was on the verge of acquiring Leap Motion, but the deal fell through days before it was expected to close. According to the report, this is the second time in some six years that Apple had conversations with the company about an acquisition.
IMAX Shutters VR Experience Centre in New York, No New VR Investment in 2019
Last year, IMAX opened a number of VR Experience Centres in major cities across the world with the hopes of bringing movie-going crowds high-quality VR games and brand engagement experiences such as ILMxLab’s Star Wars: Trials on Tatoine. Now, the company has shut down their last remaining New York location, and has said they won’t be investing any more into VR during 2019.
Sony Licenses PSVR Headset Design to Lenovo for New Mirage Solo
Sony and Lenovo announced they’ve signed a two-year patent license agreement that will allow Lenovo to base a future VR headset off the PSVR industrial design.
Facebook Working to Bring ‘Quill’ Artwork to Oculus Quest
Quill is Facebook’s first-party VR art tool. While users can view Quill artwork in the program itself and inside of Facebook Spaces, the company is hoping to unlock the artwork by making it viewable on Oculus Quest too.
‘Apollo 11 VR’ Studio Partners with Shenandoah University to Create the Next Generation of VR Training Programs
Virginia’s Shenandoah University is the first in the state to offer a Bachelor of Arts and a Bachelor of Science in AR/VR design. To further round out the department’s facilities, the university announced it’s partnering with Immersive VR Education, the company behind VR experiences such as Apollo 11 VR (2016) and the VR learning platform Engage.
FundamentalVR Partners with Mayo Clinic to Develop VR Surgical Simulations, Raises $1.4M Financing
FundamentalVR, the training and data analysis technology platform, today announced a three-year deal to jointly develop surgical VR simulation and education products with Mayo Clinic, the world-renowned academic medical center. FundamentalVR has also raised an additional $1.4 million in financing by its existing investor Tern Plc, bringing its total to $2.45 million.
Vive Focus 6DOF Controller Dev Kit Uses Ultrasonic Tracking
HTC earlier this month revealed a 6DOF controller dev kit for the Vive Focus standalone headset. New details have emerged about the device this week.
Steam Halloween Sale Sees Massive Discounts on More Than Just VR Horror
Steam’s annual Halloween Sale is live, and it’s safe to say it’s the end-all of VR sales this Spooktober.
‘Tetris Effect’ is Getting a Limited-time Free Demo This Week, New Modes Revealed
Enhance today announced that their upcoming PSVR-compatible Tetris game Tetris Effect will have over 10 extra gameplay modes than previously revealed. A free trial demo of Tetris Effect will also be available the weekend before the game’s November 9th release.
Woojer’s Haptic Vest Garners Over $270,000 at Close of Kickstarter Campaign
Woojer, the company behind the haptic belt Strap, launched a Kickstarter campaign late last month for a new haptic vest, dubbed Ryg. Initially targeting a $50,000 funding goal, the campaign has seen strong support, not only claiming successful funding in the first three hours, but also garnering over $270,000 when the campaign closed last Friday.
