Report: Google is Developing a Standalone AR Headset to Rival HoloLens
NextVR Introduces NBA 2017-2018 MVP Highlight Reel in Virtual Reality
Humble Bundle Spring Sale Offers up to 75% Off Top VR Titles, Ends May 24th
Humble Bundle just started their big Spring Sale, which is now offering between 10-75% off on over 20 top VR titles.
Play VR RTS ‘Skyworld’ This Weekend for Free on Rift, Vive & Windows VR
Vertigo Games is hosting a free access weekend starting now for their VR RTS Skyworld, which will be available through both Steam (Rift, Vive, Windows VR) and the Oculus Store (Rift).
Oculus Mobile Store Now Lets Devs Offer DLC, Coming to Rift Store Soon
It appears the age of paid downloadable content in VR is rapidly approaching us. Oculus developers will now be able to add discrete DLC to their games on Oculus Go and Samsung Gear VR. Oculus Rift support isn’t far behind.
‘Gears of War’ Creator Cliff Bleszinski Reveals VR Concept Titles Amidst Studio Shutdown
Boss Key Productions, the North Carolina-based developer behind the unfortunately ill-received first-person shooters LawBreakers (2017) and Radical Heights (2018), is out of business. While both games failed to spark commercial interest, leading to the closure of Boss Key, the studio head and former Gears of War lead designer Cliff Bleszinski took to Twitter in a cathartic post-mortem where he showed off a few VR games the studio had considered before its demise.
Oculus & ESL Partner on eSports VR League with $220,000 in Prizes, Including ‘Echo Combat’
After launching the VR ‘VR Challenge League’ last year, Oculus and ESL are partnering once again for what they’re calling “Season 2” of their VR eSports initiative. Rebranded as ‘VR League’, the new season is offering $220,000 in prizes for competitors and an expanded game roster which will include the highly anticipated Echo Combat when it launches later this year.
‘Sacralith’ Review – a Superb VR Bowshooter With High Action & Real Narrative
Moscow-based indie developer Odd Meter isn’t a household name in VR development yet, but with their latest game Sacralith: The Archer’s Tale (2018), that may change somewhat. It’s a surprisingly clever bow shooting game draped in impressively polished visuals – making clear strides into ‘AAA’ territory.
HTC Says Watching ‘Ready Player One’ Boosts VR Purchase Intent in China
Hands-on: VR Goes Skydiving at iFLY – The Ultimate Haptic Simulation
iFLY, a leading provider of indoor skydiving facilities, today launched their iFLY VR initiative which combines the company’s indoor skydiving experience with immersive visuals powered by a Gear VR headset. I got to try to experience for myself at the company’s SF Bay location.
Merging RL with VR Events via SVVR’s Reality Portals & MULTIVERSE
Today is the five-year anniversary for Silicon Valley Virtual Reality meetup, and founder Karl Krantz is announcing a couple of new initiatives as SVVR reorganizes itself as a public-benefit corporation. They’re going to be formally announcing their MULTIVERSE initiative that is going to be bringing Reality Portals to VR events, which will allow people virtually attend VR events put on by SVVR and others through social VR experiences like High Fidelity. They’ve created a screen that can be placed at VR events that provides a low-latency window into a VR world (and vice versa), allowing for serendipitous interactions between co-located events and the virtual attendees.
Newly Revealed ‘Superhot Japan’ Isn’t Getting a VR Counterpart (for now)
SUPERHOT (2016), the massively successful slow-mo shooter for PC and console, already has a built-for-VR version for Oculus Rift, HTC Vive and PSVR—SUPERHOT VR (2017)—but now that the team has licensed the IP to Japanese developers GameTomo, you may be curious if the next installment of red dude-shattering fun is getting another VR counterpart as well. According to the developers, it isn’t likely to arrive at launch, although there’s still hope.
Valve’s New Site Affirms Role of VR in Company’s Future, Teases “Top secret” Games
“We make games, Steam, and hardware. Join us,” says the first line of Valve’s newly redesigned website—in big bold red letters—bringing its look more in line with 2010’s design language than the previous version that screamed ‘late 2000’s’. Along with the new look is a clear emphasis on hardware as a central part of Valve’s future, with VR positioned as the cutting edge of the company’s work.
AntVR’s MIX AR Headset Kickstarter Blasts Past $50,000 Funding Goal in 8 Hours
AntVR, the Beijing-based headset company, has something worth celebrating within only a few hours of launching their AR headset MIX Kickstarter yesterday. After only eight hours on the crowdfunding site, the company has already reached their goal of $50,000, and it doesn’t show signs of stopping.
Amazon’s VR/AR Creation Tool ‘Sumerian’ Now Available to General Public
Amazon today announced that Sumerian, a tool that aims to make creating web-based applications for VR/AR and traditional monitors an easy process, is now available to the general public. First announced at last year’s AWS re:Invent, Amazon Sumerian touts the ability to easy publish 3D content to any browser that supports WebGL or WebVR graphics rendering, including Daydream, HTC Vive, Oculus Rift, and iOS mobile devices.
