Lenovo’s Daydream Standalone VR Headset ‘Mirage Solo’ Approved by FCC
Ahead of any official announcement, Lenovo’s upcoming Daydream standalone headset was recently approved by the FCC, suggesting the company is gearing up for launch soon.
IKEA is Gifting 14,000 VR Headsets to Its Employees This Holiday Season
The Swedish flat-pack furniture giant has made some impressive strides into virtual and augmented reality in the past few years, and to celebrate its success, the company is gifting VR headsets to its employees this year for the holidays.
Winter Vive Deal: $600 for HTC Vive, Audio Strap, ‘Fallout 4 VR’ + $50 Steam Voucher
While it may be too late to ship that shiny new VR headset to your home in time for Christmas, this may be the last chance to grab an HTC Vive at its Black Friday sale price. To sweeten the deal, HTC is also throwing in a $50 Steam voucher to start the new year off right.
After 3 Years in the Making, ‘Blade Runner 9732’ Fan Experience is Finally Coming to VR
More than three years in the making, Quentin Lengelé’s Blade Runner 9732 VR fan project is finally set to hit Steam on January 7th. The experience, which lets you stroll a screen-accurate replica of Blade Runner (1982) neo-noir protagonist Rick Deckard’s entire apartment, is coming to HTC Vive for free.
‘MuX’ Lets You Build Wild Musical Instruments from Scratch, Now in Early Access
Described by Danish developer Decochon as a “revolutionary music sandbox for VR”, MuX features virtual, low-level synth components that can be connected together and adjusted to generate unique sounds. The various tools allow the creation of complex electronic instruments, which can be easily shared with the community.
‘Light Strike Array’ Fuses PVP Combat with Novel Locomotion, Now in Early Access
For some games, VR locomotion is simply ends to a mean; getting you from point A to point B in an efficient manner so other game mechanics can take the spotlight. Not so in PvP battle arena Light Strike Array, which integrates a novel form of teleportation into the very heart of gameplay.
Road to VR’s 2017 Game of the Year Awards
It’s been a fantastic year for virtual reality games, and with VR titles hailing from ambitious indie studios and well-established developers alike, the prospect of having truly great games in VR is decidedly here. We at the Road to VR editorial staff, having explored content across VR platforms over the last year, have deliberated over the past few weeks and have come to a decision on 2017’s top honors.
Studio Behind ‘Surge’ Launches First VR Game ‘KIN’ on Gear VR, Headed to Rift in January 2018
House of Secrets, the Amsterdam-based studio behind acclaimed real-time VR music videos Surge (2015) and Apex (2017), have released their first full VR game, a puzzle platformer titled KIN. Now available on Gear VR for $10, the game will also be headed to Oculus Rift in January 2018.
KFC Releases Its Wacky VR Chicken-Frying Escape Room for Oculus Rift
When we first saw KFC created a bizarre BioShock-esque VR training experience, we weren’t sure if it was the company’s next attempt at creating a brand engagement advert, or if KFC really intended on using the wacky chicken-frying escape room to train its employees. While the company says they’re actually using the KFC The Hard Way to train employees, they’ve also released the experience for free on the Oculus Store for Rift—making it a little less clear of the company’s overall intentions.
Jaron Lanier’s Journey into VR: “Dawn of the New Everything”
Jaron Lanier is a pioneer of the first commercially-available virtual reality systems with his VPL Research Inc startup that was founded in 1984. He has written a memoir called Dawn of the New Everything about his life leading up to and during his transition from a country hippie hacker to a over-stressed Silicon Valley CEO.
Go Touch VR Raises $1 Million for Haptic VR Tech, Shows off DK1 Design
Go Touch VR, which is developing a simple haptic device that’s surprisingly effective, has raised €837,000 (approx. $1 million) in venture capital for ongoing development. The company has offered a look at the latest version of the VRTouch DK1 dev kit, which has come quite far from the 3D printed prototype we saw earlier this year.
‘Star Trek: Bridge Crew’ Adds Support for Windows VR Headsets and Non-VR Players – 50% Sale
Ubisoft’s cooperative VR bridge sim, Star Trek: Bridge Crew, is hoping to bolster player populations with a new update which opens the doors to both Windows VR headsets and non-VR players on PC.
‘Google Earth VR’ Update Adds Street View Navigation, Optimizes for Quicker Loading
Google Earth VR is pretty self-explanatory; it’s Google Earth, but available on VR headsets like Oculus Rift and HTC Vive. What isn’t so easy to communicate is the sheer immensity of the world around you as you view everything Google has captured on the planet Earth, replete with 3D rendered models and its vast stores of 360 shots from around the globe. Now, the company has updated Earth VR to allow for in-Street View navigation, meaning you can easily move from 360 sphere to 360 sphere just like on the flatscreen version of Google Maps.
Pimax Completes $15M Series A Funding Round
Pimax, the Shanghai-based VR headset manufacturer known for their upcoming wide field of view headset Pimax ‘8K’, have raised nearly $15 million in their first post-Kickstarter investment round.
‘Pokémon GO’ Now Uses Apple’s ARKit on iOS 11, Bringing Pokémon Closer to Reality
Pokémon GO, the massively successful location-based mobile game, just got an update on iOS 11 thanks to Apple’s ARKit that gives iPhone 6s and above more realistic Pokémon-catching encounters.
