Hands-on: ‘Starbear: Taxi’ is an Unbearably Cute Arcade Taxi Game with RC Spaceships

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Image courtesy Funktronic Labs

Funktronic Labs, the studio behind Cosmic Trip (2017), today launched their latest title, an arcade remote-controlled taxi game dubbed Starbear: Taxi (2018). Starbear: Taxi launched today on Rift, Vive, and Windows “Mixed Reality” VR headsets.

Oculus on Half Dome Prototype: ‘don’t expect to see everything in a product anytime soon’

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Image courtesy Oculus

At Facebook’s F8 developer conference Oculus revealed a glimpse at an intriguing new headset prototype dubbed ‘Half Dome’. Including a 140 degree field of view, varifocal displays, and what appears to be eye-tracking, the prototype is a tantalizing peek at the company’s research and what may lay ahead of us—just don’t expect it everything we saw “anytime soon,” says Oculus co-founder and Head of Rift Nate Mitchell.

Google Pays Homage to Film Pioneer Georges Méliès in VR Short ‘Back to the Moon’

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Image courtesy Google

Google is celebrating the life and artistry of French film pioneer Georges Méliès today with a charming VR short that commemorates his iconic silent films including the groundbreaking A Trip to the Moon (1902).

Cheeky Airport Security Game ‘TSA Frisky’ to Launch May 17th

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TSA Frisky is an upcoming room-scale game that turns the tables on travelers and their would-be airport security officers. The game, which appears to be a cheeky cross between Papers, Please (2013) and Job Simulator (2016), is slated to arrive on Steam for Oculus Rift, HTC Vive, and Windows VR Headsets on May 17th.

Oculus Claims Breakthrough in Hand-tracking Accuracy

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One of Facebook’s underlying goals for VR is to use it as a means of connecting distant people. While today friends can talk and play in a range of social VR applications, including Facebook Spaces, the representation of users in VR is still a caricature at best. At F8 this week, Oculus showed work being done on hand-tracking to bring more intuitive control and accurate avatars into VR.

Oculus Reveals 140 Degree VR Headset Prototype with Varifocal Displays

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Oculus 'Half Dome' prototype, Image courtesy Facebook

Oculus today at F8 overviewed some of the latest VR technology that they’d been working on internally. Among the projects mentioned is the ‘Half Dome’ prototype, a Rift-like headset with a 140 degree field of view, varifocal displays, and what appears to be eye-tracking.

Oculus Replaces ‘React VR’ Framework With Rebranded ‘React 360’

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Image courtesy Facebook

At Facebook’s F8 developer conference, Oculus today announced it’s both overhauling and rebranding React VR, the company’s open-source JavaScript library that lets developers create cross-platform WebVR experiences. Now dubbed React 360, the company says the framework now “provides clearer prioritization for our future roadmap.”

Palmer Luckey Posts Oculus Go Teardown, Revealing Possible Fix to Lengthen Battery Life

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Image courtesy Palmer Luckey

Oculus Go, the company’s $200 standalone VR headset, launched at Facebook’s F8 developer conference yesterday to much fanfare—likely because everyone in attendance got one free. Now that anyone can get their hands on one, Oculus founder and ex-employee Palmer Luckey took it upon himself to post a single image of the headset laid bare, revealing a few interesting bits including what might be a replaceable battery.

This Guy Modded Oculus Touch to Play ‘Beat Saber’ Darth Maul-style

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Image courtesy 'ragesaq'

Beat Saber (2018) is finally here, the block-slicing rhythm game that puts two lightsabers in your hands and tasks you with using your Jedi powers to slice to the beat. Less than a day since release, one Twitch streamer has already modded his Oculus Touch controller to play Darth Maul-style, aka with a single double-bladed lightsaber.

Watch Windows VR Controllers Stand up to ‘Beat Saber’s’ Hardest Song

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While high-end headsets like the Rift and Vive use external sensors for positional tracking, the Windows VR headsets use a fully ‘inside-out’ solution which eliminates the need for external trackers and simplifies setup, but certainly makes hand-tracking more challenging. While the Windows VR headsets are often criticized for the precision of their hand-tracking, I was surprised to find how well they hold up in practice even with a fast paced, highly active game like Beat Saber (2018).

Windows VR Support on Steam Leaves Early Access, Claims Significant Improvement Since Launch

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From left to right: Dell, HP, Lenovo, Acer "Windows Mixed Reality" headsets

Microsoft released its April Windows 10 update yesterday, and with it comes the official launch of SteamVR support for Windows “Mixed Reality” VR headsets.

‘Quill’ Artwork Can Now Be Shared With Friends in ‘Facebook Spaces’

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Image courtesy Facebook

Quill, Facebook’s VR painting and animation tool, is now getting a new and immersive avenue for sharing artwork created in the application. With today’s update, users can now share their artwork into Facebook Spaces, letting friends experience it together. Facebook VR artist Goro Fujita created a new short film animated in Quill and shared in Spaces as an example of the new capability.

Facebook Partners With RED Digital Cinema for Volumetric VR Camera

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Image courtesy Red Digital Cinema

Today at Facebook’s F8 developer conference the company announced a new partnership with RED Digital Cinema, a high-end digital film camera company, to create a VR camera based on Facebook’s Surround360 technology.

NextVR Partners With Oculus to Bring Live Events to ‘Oculus Venues’

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Image courtesy Oculus

NextVR, the live event VR broadcasting company, today announced a partnership with Oculus to bring live VR events to Oculus Venues, the company’s upcoming social viewing app that will allow mass viewing of events such as sports, concerts and comedy.

Oculus Go Review: Standalone VR Priced for the Masses

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Photo by Road to VR

Nearly seven months after its announcement back in October 2017, Oculus Go, the company’s first standalone VR headset, is finally here. The company’s thesis is that this affordably priced unit, which doesn’t rely on a docked smartphone, will make for a more seamless mobile VR experience. But does it go above and beyond Gear VR? Read on to find out.

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