‘The Last Guardian’ is Getting a Free Standalone PSVR Experience Next Week
The Last Guardian (2016) is getting a standalone PSVR experience to let players interact with the majestic Trico face to face.
‘Rick and Morty: Virtual Rick-ality’ is Headed to PSVR in 2018 – Trailer
Rick and Morty: Virtual Rick-ality (2017) from developer Owlchemy Labs is headed to PlayStation VR next year.
Exclusive: Leap Motion Explores Ways to Make Controller-free Input More Intuitive and Immersive
There’s an intuitive appeal to using controller-free hand-tracking input like Leap Motion’s; there’s nothing quite like seeing your virtual hands and fingers move just like your own hands and fingers without the need to pick up and learn how to use a controller. But reaching out to touch and interact in this way can be jarring because there’s no physical feedback from the virtual world. When your expectation of feedback isn’t met, it can be unclear how to best interact with this new non-physical world. In a series of experiments, Leap Motion has been exploring how they can apply visual design to make controller-free input hand input more intuitive and immersive. Leap Motion’s Barrett Fox and Martin Schubert explain:
‘Front Defense: Heroes’ Early Access Review – Brief Glimpses of WWII Greatness
Front Defense: Heroes (2017), Fantahorn’s next installment of its WWII-themed shooter, is available in Early Access today for HTC Vive, now serving up multiplayer action in classic 5v5 shooter fashion. We don’t score reviews in Early Access, which is probably a good thing, because several game-breaking bugs are simply too prominent to make this anything other than a quick diversion at the moment.
Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 845 to Improve AR/VR Rendering & Reduce Power Consumption “by 30%”
Qualcomm introduced it’s new Snapdragon 845 mobile processor at the company’s tech summit in Hawaii this week, which Qualcomm says improves mobile AR/VR headset (branded to as ‘XR’, or ‘eXtended reality’) performance up to 30 percent in comparison to its predecessor, Snapdragon 835.
‘Archangel’ is Free this Weekend on Rift, Access Now Available
Archangel (2017), the single-player mech shooter from Skydance Interactive, is hosting a free-access weekend starting today, going until Monday at 3:00 AM ET (local time here).
Bethesda Gives a Peek into ‘Fallout 4 VR’ in Crash Course Intro to Game Mechanics
In preparation for Fallout 4 VR’s upcoming December 12th launch on HTC Vive, Bethesda takes us through our paces with an intro to the game’s control scheme, base building mechanic, and V.A.T.S. focused combat, giving us a quick preview of what to expect next week.
‘Resident Evil 7: Biohazard’ Nabs ‘Best VR/AR Game’ at The Game Awards 2017
The yearly fanfare of the Game Awards has come and gone, leaving Capcom with the award for Best VR/AR Game for their massively successful horror-adventure Resident Evil 7: Biohazard (2017), a game that equally supports both PSVR and traditional monitors.
Hands-on: Striker VR’s Latest Haptic Gun Prototype Brings a Host of Improvements
Striker VR is developing a haptic gun peripheral for out-of-home VR attractions, which has the most powerful and responsive recoil that I’ve ever tested. The company’s latest prototype, a verification model as the company nears its first manufacturing run, brings a host of improvements.
Sony Has Sold Over 2 Million PSVR Units Worldwide Since Launch
As a testament to the strength of high-quality VR with a relatively low entry price, Sony today announced they’ve sold more than 2 million units to consumers worldwide as of December 3rd, 2017.
‘Sprint Vector’ Closed Beta Launching in January, Intel to Sponsor eSports Tournament
California-based VR developer Survios has revealed their upcoming action game Sprint Vector will launch in closed beta in January 2018. The game will feature in eSports tournaments before its official launch, including the Intel-sponsored Alienware VR Cup.
Google Shares New Research into Foveated Rendering Techniques
Display resolutions are growing, but the graphical processing power to serve these displays with content isn’t growing at the same rate. Enter foveated rendering, a technique commonly held as one of the next logical steps in making VR headsets more immersive. While the idea itself is well understood; track the user’s eye movements and only render the most central area to the eye in high-definition, leaving the rest to fuzz in the peripheral unnoticed, it isn’t a fully solved problem at this stage. To that effect, Google Software Engineer Manager Behnam Bastani and Daydream Software Engineer Eric Turner recently posted a quick overview of a few techniques in the company’s nascent foveated rendering pipeline for AR/VR. Here’s a slightly less technical version:
Owlchemy Labs to Unveil Next VR Game Tonight at The Game Awards
Charged up from the multi-million dollar success of Job Simulator (2016) and its more recent game Rick and Morty: Virtual Rick-ality (2017), Owlchemy Labs recently revealed they’re teasing their next VR game at this year’s Game Awards.
HTC Announces Pricing, Pre-order Date & Specs for Vive Focus Standalone Headset
HTC today announced more specifics around Vive Focus, the company’s standalone mobile VR headset for China-based customers.
Apple Manufacturer Quanta Signs Deal to Mass Produce Lumus AR Display Modules
Quanta, a Fortune 500 company and one of the world’s largest original design manufacturers, has signed an agreement to mass produce AR display modules from Lumus, a company specializing in AR displays based on ‘waveguide’ optical technology. Lumus says the move “marks a significant step toward mainstream adoption of AR eyewear,” and expects consumer-priced AR headsets with Lumus tech to hit the market in 12 to 18 months.
