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.
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.
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: 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).
When we saw Red Matter at a Oculus Connect 4 last year, we were immediately taken in by the adventure puzzle’s wonderfully weird, retrofuturistic vibe. Now, Madrid-based studio Vertical Robot tells us pre-orders are open today for Red Matter, with launch coming later this month on Rift.
Visospace, a Sydney, Australia-based team of engineers, recently launched their standing VR motion controller platform Alto100 crowdfunding campaign on Indiegogo in effort to tempt developers, beta testers, and early adopters to a unique style of locomoting through VR games and experiences.
In lieu of downloadable demos, Oculus has been offering free access weekends to select games to show off what VR multiplayer is all about. Up this weekend is Project CARS (2015), the VR racing simulator from Slightly Mad Studio that puts you in the driver’s seat of everything from go-karts to some of the most expensive (and therefore inaccessible) super cars the world has ever seen.
The Lenovo Mirage Solo, the first standalone Daydream headset, launched just last week. In our review we noted it odd that the headset didn’t have access to a VR web browser. But that’s soon to change, as Google has now confirmed that Chrome is on its way to standalone Daydream headsets.
Don’t abandon ship just yet, because Ubisoft is pushing out its first DLC for Star Trek: Bridge Crew (2017). If you’re a TNG fan, now is probably the time to toss out the synthehol and crack that hidden bottle of Romulan Ale in celebration.
Two years in the making, Budget Cuts has remained almost completely off the radar after briefly surfacing back in 2016, but this week at GDC 2018 the game has reemerged with fresh details, including a May 31st release date, which, for this promising title, still manages to feel like an eternity away.
Google today launched Tour Creator, a web-based tool that lets you easily build a VR ‘tour’ using imagery from Google Street View and even your own 360 photos. The company released the tool as a part of Teacher Appreciation Week, showcasing it in rural communities in across the US.
Since indie developers Hyperbolic Magnetism endorsed a few community-made level editors for their hit VR rhythm game Beat Saber (2018), people have been adding their own tracks to the lightsaber-wielding slicefest; it’s not only let creators up the difficulty, but also made it possible to make the game’s overall flow even more frenetic.
Later this year, Microsoft is increasing the cut developers earn when publishing on the Microsoft Store. The raise in revenue share is slated to affect developers of non-gaming apps, amounting to between 85-95 % of revenue going to the creator of the application depending on how customers find the content.
Samsung appears to be making a strategic partnership with Microsoft as it produces what Korean Times reports is a “powerful cordless headset that supports both augmented reality (AR) and virtual reality (VR).” The headset is said to make use of Microsoft’s “Mixed Reality” platform, and to make its debut at Berlin’s IFA technology fair in late August.
Today at Google I/O 2018, Google announced upgrades to its ARCore augmented reality technology, including a new feature called Cloud Anchors which will let developers create multi-user applications where devices can share an augmented environment.
