Road to VR

AntVR Launches ‘Mix’ AR Headset Kickstarter, Promising a 96-degree FOV Starting at $500

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May 15, 2018

AntVR, the Beijing-based company known for their 2014 VR headset Kickstarter, launched a new crowdfunding campaign today for an augmented reality headset dubbed ‘Mix’. AntVR says the PC-tethered AR headset, which starts at $500 without positional tracking, will have a 96-degree field of view (FOV), and the ability to use the SteamVR platform so users can play games originally intended for VR headsets—provided the game has a dark, or entirely black background.

Valve Brings Custom Keybinding to SteamVR, Letting VR Apps Support All Compatible Controllers

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May 15, 2018

SteamVR includes de facto support for several VR devices, although sometimes games just don’t support a particular controller—or if they do, it may not be configured properly. To remedy this, Valve has introduced a new SteamVR Input system, now in beta, that will let users create their own controller bindings and share them, so any game can hypothetically add support for any SteamVR-compatible controller, past, present or future.

16 Minutes of ‘Red Matter’ Gameplay Revealed – a Sci-fi Soviet Retrofuture Adventure

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May 14, 2018

Ahead of its launch later this month, we got a chance to dive into the beginning of Red Matter, an upcoming VR adventure puzzle exclusively for Oculus Rift that puts you in a wonderfully weird Soviet-style retrofuturistic world.

WEARVR Announces Winners of $10,000 ‘Remastered’ Competition – Bringing New Life to Old VR Favorites

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May 14, 2018

wearvr-remastered — Image courtesy WEARVR

It’s hard to believe it’s already been five years since the first Oculus Rift dev kits shipped to Kickstarter backers, many of them developers looking to create for the future of VR consumer hardware. As the medium inevitably marches on though, many of the earliest VR demos have fallen to the wayside. In a bid to revive some of these fan favorites, WEARVR, an independent virtual reality app store, started its $10,000 ‘Remastered Competition’ back in January—a challenge to see if the earliest VR developers could update their demos for today’s generation of hardware. Now the winners are in.

Playing ‘Beat Saber’ Could Burn the Same Number of Calories as Tennis

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May 14, 2018

beat-saber — Image courtesy Hyperbolic Magnetism

According to recent testing by the Virtual Reality Institute of Health and Exercise, Beat Saber (2018) may be more than just a fun way to spend an evening in. With all that block slicing, dodging and leaning, you could burn as many calories as playing tennis.

‘Silicon Valley’ VR Experience Lets You Explore Erlich Bachman’s Incubator, Now on Rift & Vive

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May 12, 2018

VR headset users now have a chance to walk into an interactive version of HBO’s Silicon Valley house. The Palo Alto home, which is owned by the series’ eccentric startup guru Erlich Bachman (T.J. Miller), was lovingly recreated in VR, replete with ‘always blue’ ball, foosball, and yes, even a bong.

‘Onward’ Community Helps Raise Over $7,000 for Deceased Player’s Family

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May 12, 2018

Onward (2017) is a military-style VR shooter with some of the most ardent players who regularly engage in a sort of amped-up version of paintball. It plays host to fierce competition, and with it comes a certain camaraderie that has bound players together in one of the most hardcore userships. An avid player passed away recently, and in an outpouring of support, many members of the Onward community responded by donating to his fiancé and young child via a GoFundMe fundraiser.

‘Beat Saber’ Lets You Become the Music Through Puzzles Your Body Solves – Creator Interview

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May 11, 2018

beat-saber — Image courtesy Beat Games

Beat Saber is a rhythm game that plays like an embodied puzzle game which creates a visceral connection to 10 custom music tracks. It’s similar to Soundboxing and Audio Shield, but you use extended lightsabers rather than your fists, which makes you feel like a ninja. I had a chance to talk with the chief programmer Jan Ilavsky and music composer Jaroslav Beck at GDC about the development of Beat Saber, some more details about their scoring algorithm, and where they’re taking it in the future.

INT Announces 2,228 PPI High Pixel Density AMOLED for VR Headsets

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May 11, 2018

vive-pro-display — The HTC Vive Pro display | Photo courtesy iFixit

When we saw the news that JDI, the Japanese display conglomerate founded by Sony, Toshiba and Hitachi, were developing a 1001ppi LCD display for VR headsets, it was clear that the race for ever-higher pixel densities was still alive and well. Now, we learn INT, a Taiwan-based display design firm, is developing a 2228 ppi AMOLED specifically designed for VR headsets.

‘Apex Construct’ Gets Free PSVR Demo, Now Available on US PSN Store

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May 11, 2018

apex-construct — Image courtesy Fast Travel Games

Sadly, demos aren’t really the norm for VR games, making it tough to know if that tantalizingly polished-looking game really works as well as it looks in trailers. Now, Apex Construct (2018) developers Fast Travel Games have released a demo on the PSN store, which ought to tip the balances a bit.

Multiplayer VR Shooter ‘Oval’ Lets You Create & Share Levels, Coming June to Early Access

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May 11, 2018

Oval is an upcoming VR shooter that lets you create, edit and share your own levels. The game, which is slated to hit Steam Early Access June 8th, will support HTC Vive, Oculus Rift, and Windows “Mixed Reality” VR headsets.

Google: Don’t Expect 6DOF Controllers for Lenovo Mirage Solo

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May 11, 2018

lenovo mirage solo (2) — Photo by Road to VR

If you’re waiting on positionally-tracked controllers for Google’s latest entry into the Daydream platform, the standalone 6DOF VR headset Lenovo Mirage Solo, you probably won’t ever see it, at least not from Google.

Exclusive: Designing Single-handed Shortcuts for VR & AR

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May 10, 2018

leap-motion-interface — Image courtesy Leap Motion

For new computing technologies to realize their full potential they need new user interfaces. The most essential interactions in virtual spaces are grounded in direct physical manipulations like pinching and grabbing, as these are universally accessible. However, the team at Leap Motion has also investigated more exotic and exciting interface paradigms from arm HUDs and digital wearables, to deployable widgets containing buttons, sliders, and even 3D trackballs and color pickers.

JDI is Developing a 1,001 PPI High Pixel Density LCD for VR Headsets

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May 10, 2018

oculus-rift-cv1-display — The Oculus Rift CV1 display | Photo courtesy iFixit (CC BY-NC-SA 3.0)

Japan Display Inc. (JDI), a display conglomerate created by Sony, Toshiba, and Hitachi, today announced the development of a high pixel density, 3.25-inch 1001ppi LCD created specifically for VR headsets.

‘Rick and Morty VR’ Tops the Charts for Most Downloaded PSVR Game in April

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May 10, 2018

rick and morty vr (5) — Image courtesy Adult Swim Games

Rick and Morty: Virtual Rick-ality (2017) seems to have done well enough to rate it the number one most downloaded game this past month on PSVR, beating out the VR stalwarts Job Simulator (2016) and Superhot VR (2017).

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