Lenovo Mirage VR180 Camera Now Available for Pre-order, Launches May 4th
Lenovo Mirage Camera, the company’s 4K 180-degree stereoscopic VR camera, is now available in pre-order for $300, and is slated to launch May 4th.
TPCAST Launches Business Edition Wireless VR Adapter, Up to 4 Simultaneous Vives
TPCAST, the Beijing-based makers of 60GHz wireless VR transmitters, launched their previously announced Business Edition (BE) Wireless VR Adapter in North America today. The setup is said to include support for up to four simultaneous users occupying a single space.
Vive Pro ‘Recommended Spec’ Seeks GTX 1070, Drops 1060 to ‘Minimum Spec’
Because VR is so demanding, hardware makers have issue ‘Recommended’ or ‘VR Ready’ guidelines to help customers understand what kind of hardware they need for a good VR experience. For the most part, the VR industry’s biggest players have agreed on the key parts of that recommended hardware. With the introduction of the Vive Pro, HTC is now suggesting the more powerful GTX 1070 as its ‘Recommended Spec’ for the Vive Pro, differing from the GTX 1060 suggested for use with other major headsets.
Infinadeck VR Treadmill Shows Improvements With Vive Trackers, Launches This Week
Infinadeck is an active omnidirectional VR treadmill which has been in development since at least 2014. A new video shows the treadmill now using Vive Trackers for enhanced tracking, which appears to have increased the responsiveness of the device. The Infinadeck is set to launch this week.
Hands-on: Massless Wants to Bring High-precision Stylus Input to VR
HTC Releases 3 ‘Ready Player One’ VR Experiences in ‘OASIS Beta’, Now Free on Viveport
HTC showed off eight Ready Player One-inspired experiences at the film’s debut event at SXSW. Now, the company has released three of these experiences on Viveport in a single download called Ready Player One: OASIS Beta.
Oculus Affirms Commitment to Rift, Believes PC Will Lead the VR Industry for the Next Decade
Over the last year, Oculus’ public hardware ambitions have mostly centered around their upcoming standalone headsets (Oculus Go and Santa Cruz), with little to say about what’s next for the company’s PC VR headset, the Rift. Addressing a small but growing anxiety among their Rift user base—that Oculus is shifting focus away from PC VR in its efforts to push mobile VR—the company affirmed at GDC that its commitment to the PC VR ecosystem hasn’t changed, and the company believes PC will lead the VR industry for the next decade.
Hands-on: ‘Beat Saber’ is Every Bit as Fun as It Looks
At GDC this year, I had a chance to step into Beat Saber, an upcoming rhythm game from Czech Republic-based indie studio Hyperbolic Magnetism that tasks you with slicing flying cubes with lightsabers to electronic dance music. If that sounds cool to you, then you’re in luck. It is cool – but more than that, it’s also ridiculously well executed.
Leap Motion ‘Virtual Wearable’ AR Prototype is a Potent Glimpse at the Future of Your Smartphone
Because VR can take over our entire reality, it can be great for entertainment. But when it comes to AR, the hope is that the tech will be a transient and beneficial addition to reality, rather than taking over your world completely. But figuring out how that works means first understanding how we can interact with AR information at a basic level, like being able to do the same kinds of simple, information-driven tasks that you do hundreds of times per day with your smartphone. Leap Motion, a maker of hand-tracking software and hardware, has been experimenting with exactly that, and is teasing some very interesting results.
‘Catan VR’ Launches with Cross-play for Rift and Gear VR, Headed to Oculus Go
Based on Klaus Teuber’s popular board game Settlers of Catan (1995), the VR version of Catan is available now on Oculus Rift and Gear VR, and will be a launch title for Oculus Go. The game features cross-play multiplayer, and is said to be coming to more VR platforms in the future.
Kat VR Announces New ‘Mini’ Version of Its VR Treadmill, Kickstarter Coming Soon
Kat VR, a China-based company known for their crowdfunded Kat Walk VR treadmill, are hitting Kickstarter again soon with a new design that promises to accommodate smaller spaces.
AR-Enhanced ‘Warhammer’ Trading Card Game to Launch July 2018
Warhammer Age of Sigmar Champions is an upcoming physical and digital trading card game coming to iOS, Android, and PC in July. Announced at GDC 2018, the augmented reality experience uses PlayFusion’s proprietary ‘Enhanced Reality Engine’ to unlock gameplay options on the physical cards when using mobile devices.
Oculus to Scrap Trackpads on Santa Cruz Controllers in Favor of Buttons & Sticks
At GDC 2018 this week, Oculus revealed some additional details surrounding their high-end standalone VR headset prototype, Santa Cruz. Among those details, the company plans to replace the current controllers’ trackpads with buttons and sticks, much like the Rift.
Hands-on: ‘Dr. Splorchy’ is Another Justin Roiland™ Fever Dream That Defies a Concise Headline
Squanch Games, the studio behind Accounting+ (2018) and brainchild of Rick and Morty creator Justin Roiland, is coming out with a new Daydream exclusive that follows the exploits of the titular Dr. Splorchy, plopping you aboard a spaceship with dangerous bugs that you have to shoot for a reasons that seem strangely improvised.
Magic Leap Shows Prototype Headset Progress Since 2014
At a sponsored GDC 2018 session, the still mysterious augmented reality company Magic Leap has revealed how their prototype hardware has evolved from 2014 to present day.
