Valve Reveals 2018’s Top Selling VR Games on Steam (so far)
Just in time for the end of Steam’s summer sale, Valve has released a list of the top selling VR games of 2018 so far.
Valve: Monthly Active VR Users on Steam Are Up 160% Year-over-year
Speaking at an industry event last week, Valve offered an update on Steam, the company’s massive digital marketplace for PC games, including the continued growth the company has seen in the VR segment over the last year.
‘CalcFlow’ Studio Partners with HTC to Bring VR STEM Tools to Libraries Across California & Nevada
Periscape Brings VR Pop-up Installation to JFK International, Company in Talks with Over 200 Airports
Traveling through Terminal 4 on your way to, or through JFK International? Then you might have a chance to jump into VR thanks to Periscape VR’s recent pop-up installation that brings a number of high-quality PC VR games and experiences to international travellers.
‘Waba’ is a Virtual Pet That Aims to Wobble Your Heartstrings, Launching Next Week in Early Access
The heyday of virtual pets like Tamagotchi and Digimon may be long gone, reaching the height of their popularity in the late ’90s, but with new mediums come new possibilities, and new ways to interact with virtual pets too. Enter Waba, an impossibly cute, amorphous little guy that aims to wobble your heartstrings.
‘Waltz of the Wizard’ Studio Aldin Raises $1M to Fuse VR & AI in New Title
VR veterans Aldin, the indie studio behind Waltz of the Wizard and other early and innovative VR titles, has announced the closure of a $1 million Seed investment. The money will be used to support the studio’s next project which aims to create “believable virtual realities” by fusing VR and AI to push the boundary of interactive storytelling.
Chinese VR Zombie Action-shooter ‘The Walker’ Launches on PSVR Today
The Walker (2018) is a VR action-shooter from Haymaker that puts a six-shooter in one hand and magic talismans in the other—all to fend off zombies of increasingly horrific sizes in the streets of old Shanghai. The Walker is now available on PSVR in the US; EU players will have to wait until July 6th for the game to hit PSN.
Ultron & Venom Tapped as Next Villains in ‘Marvel Powers United VR’ Lineup
With Marvel Powers United VR headed to Rift next moth, the hype train for the official Marvel superhero co-op game from Sanzaru Games and Oculus Studios is just about left the station. The next set of villains on this list: the sentient (and evil) robot Ultron and the dastardly symbiote Venom.
This Developer Recreated ‘The Legend of Zelda’ Boss Battles in VR
For VR users, the following question inevitably arises in some shape or form: why isn’t ‘x-studio’ making my favorite ‘y’ game in VR? While the answer usually ends up being a lack of sufficient profit motive on the part of established studios, sometimes indie devs step up to deliver what people are clamoring for. Case in point: The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time (1998) in VR—at least tantalizing pieces of it, including epic (and super nostalgic) boss battles.
Plexus is a VR Glove With Finger Haptics & Multiple Tracking Standards, $250 Dev Kits Coming Soon
Plexus Immersive Corp, a San Francisco-based startup, announced a pair of VR gloves that integrate haptic feedback and interface with multiple tracking standards, including SteamVR, Oculus Rift, and Windows “Mixed Reality” VR. Dubbed Plexus, a pair of dev kit gloves will cost $250, and a waitlist in now available through the company’s website.
Report: Next-gen NVIDIA GPUs Will Boost VR Bandwidth With New Connector
A report from Tom’s Hardware states that NVIDIA’s next-generation GeForce GPUs, tentatively being referred to as the GTX 11-series, will include a new connector with enough bandwidth to support future VR headsets much higher resolutions and greater refresh rates.
Report: HTC Lays Off 1,500 Employees in Taiwan Manufacturing Division
HTC is reportedly laying off 1,500 employees in its Taiwan manufacturing division, something Bloomberg’s Taipei bureau chief Samson Ellis reports to be around 22% of HTC employees.
ISS Astronaut Uses Oculus Rift in Experiment to Understand How Space Affects Hand-eye Coordination
German ESA astronaut Alexander Gerst is participating in a study aboard the International Space Station (ISS) that’s designed to give Earth-bound researchers a better understanding of how sight, sound, and gravity impacts hand-eye coordination. Using a modified Oculus Rift, Gerst isn’t strapping in for fun and games though (even if Echo VR or Space Junkies would take on a whole new level of immersion).
Photorealistic VR Tour ‘Nefertari: Journey to Eternity’ Takes You Deep into a 3,000 Year-old Egyptian Tomb
Using state-of-the-art photogrammetry technology with millimeter accuracy, Simon Che de Boer of Reality Virtual and Experius VR have digitally scanned Nerfertari’s tomb, letting owners of Vive, Rift, and Windows VR headsets step inside the fabled burial site and learn about the over 3,000 year-old Egyptian queen’s life, religion, and culture.
Windows VR Headsets Seeing Slow But Steady Adoption on Steam
The monthly Steam hardware survey is out again, and while June hasn’t revealed any major upsets in the balances of usership between HTC Vive and Oculus Rift, the survey shows that Windows “Mixed Reality” VR headsets are making slow, but steady headway on the platform.
