Augmented Reality Startup Ubiquity6 Emerges from Stealth With $10.5M in Funding
Sony Drops PlayStation VR Price by $100, Bundles Now Starting at $300
Sony has announced a $100 price drop to their PlayStation VR headset across the board. The PSVR Doom VFR bundle now starts at $300 and the PSVR Skyrim bundle runs $350.
Hands-on: Ubisoft’s Upcoming VR Shooter ‘Space Junkies’ is All About Guns and Jet Packs
Ubisoft’s upcoming VR shooter Space Junkies, announced at last year’s E3, is promising some fast-paced, first-person action fueled by jet packs and an impressive assortment of guns. Getting into a multiplayer demo, I got a chance to fly high, whip around corners at some pretty impressive speeds, and get my hands on a unique array of futuristic weapons that completely stole the show.
‘Wipeout: Omega Collection’ PSVR Support Now Available in Free Update – Full Game & All Modes
PlayStation’s legendary anti-grav arcade racer can now proudly display the ‘PSVR-compatible’ badge thanks to a free update pushed out today to WipEout: Omega Collection for PS4.
Oculus Teases Upcoming Rift Title ‘Defector’, Debuting Next Week at PAX East
In a torrent of news surrounding the two-year anniversary of Rift’s commercial launch, Oculus today revealed a little more about one of upcoming Oculus-funded titles previously teased by VP of Content Jason Rubin.
‘Island Time VR’ to Launch on All Major Platforms April 3rd, ‘5 Ways to Die’ Launch Trailer Here
Island Time VR, a room-scale survival game from Flight School Studio, is launching April 3rd on PSVR, Oculus Rift, HTC Vive and other Steam VR-compatible headsets for $15. In preparation for your inevitable death ahead, Flight School also released a launch trailer showing the top 5 ways you can inadvertently kill yourself.
Play RTS ‘Brass Tactics’ for Free on Rift This Weekend, Play for a Chance to Win Prizes
Brass Tactics (2018), the VR real-time strategy game for Rift from Hidden Path Entertainment, is getting an open access weekend starting tomorrow, March 29th. Kicking off Oculus’ two-year celebration of the Rift headset, Oculus is also throwing out the chance to win special prizes.
2 Year Anniversary of Rift: Prizes, Sales, New Content and More
Two years ago today, Oculus launched the consumer version of Rift. To celebrate the occasion, the company has announced new content/updates, some pretty big sales, prizes, and even the chance to win a ‘Golden Account’ that gives you 100 of your favorite Rift games for free.
‘L.A. Noire: The VR Case Files’ is Officially Coming to Rift March 29th
Rockstar Games, the mega studio behind Grand Theft Auto, Red Dead Redemption, and plenty more, are officially bringing Oculus Rift support to its first VR title, L.A. Noire: The VR Case Files. The game, which previously launched on HTC Vive via Steam late last year, is an adaptation of L.A. Noire (2011), which has had a number of its missions reworked specifically for VR.
Oculus PC SDK Adds NVIDIA Lens Matched Shading to Boost Performance
Oculus’ PC SDK version 1.19 now supports NVIDIA’s VRWorks Lens Matched Shading (LMS) technique, offering “a performance boost and a slight quality improvement” on supported GPUs.
Exploring Space & Experiential Modulation of Time in VR with Felix & Paul Studios
Felix & Paul Studios had two experiences at Sundance this year: one featured the training of NASA astronauts in Space Explorers, and the other was a time-lapse VR story featuring characters from Wes Anderson’s new Ilse of Dogs film with a behind-the-scenes look at the production. Felix & Paul use their own custom camera technology, which means that they’re in a constant feedback loop of creating content, making innovations in cinematic VR camera technologies, which then opens up new storytelling possibilities. For their two pieces at Sundance, they created a cinematic VR camera that does time lapse for Ilse of Dogs, created a motion stabilization system to put a camera in a supersonic T-38 jet, created an underwater VR camera to shot astronauts training for space missions, and weatherized a camera rig to deal with extreme desert heat and sand storms.
New Jersey Utility Uses Augmented Reality to Visualise Underground Infrastructure
vGIS, a new geographic information system (GIS) visualisation platform from the Environmental Systems Research Institute (Esri) partner Meemim, is being used to view underground infrastructure while wearing Microsoft Hololens. Piloted by Toms River Municipal Utilities Authority in New Jersey, the technology is a practical application of augmented reality, allowing the user to ‘see’ utility lines under the street in real-time.
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.
