Road to VR

VR Has Officially Ascended to ‘Crappy Last-Minute Gift’ Thanks to This AXE Bodywash Bundle

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Dec 20, 2017

axe body wash vr — image courtesy AXE

How about an unbreakable comb? A nylon travel tote? A loofah soaked in pheromones? No. This holiday season’s pervasive AXE bodywash bundles come with a VR headset, and while the headset in question isn’t the worst thing be thrown in for ‘free’ with a bag of teenage male-mist, it certainly isn’t the one your son/nephew/grandson really wants. But then again, you probably knew that deep down inside already anyway.

‘AUTO’: A Realistic Look at the Human Impact of Near-future Technology

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Dec 19, 2017

auto-vr — Image courtesy Steven Schardt

AUTO is a 360-video and morality tale available on Jaunt that takes a near-future look at the human impact of automation and emerging technology. It’s not a grotesque satire in the vein of Black Mirror, but it’s done in a more of a future realistic style that could be happening within the next 1–3 years—if not already.

Snapchat Launches Lens Studio for Making AR ‘Lenses’

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Dominic Brennan

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Dec 19, 2017

Lens Studio is a new Mac and Windows desktop app from Snap Inc. for creating, publishing, and sharing augmented reality objects and experiences in Snapchat, as overlays known as ‘Lenses’. The free software has several templates for getting started, and advanced tools for experienced users and professionals.

‘Facebook Spaces’ Gets HTC Vive Support, Now the Company’s First Cross-platform VR App

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Dec 19, 2017

facebook-spaces-artic-fishi — Image courtesy Meta

Oculus parent company Facebook today announced it’s bringing Spaces, the company’s own social VR app, to HTC Vive.

‘Pavlov VR’ Update Includes Official Oculus Compatibility, Battle Royale Mode Slated for 2018

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Dec 19, 2017

pavlov-vr-shotgun — Image courtesy Davevillz

Pavlov VR, the Early Access VR shooter from indie developer davevillz, has a new badge under the ‘VR Support’ category on its Steam page which now indicates official support for Oculus Rift. Including a few minor bug fixes, the team added the announcement that a Battle Royale mode will be coming to the game in 2018, no doubt capitalizing on the success of Players Unknown Battle Ground (PUBG).

‘Heart of the Emberstone: Coliseum’ Demo Offers a Free Taste of the Game’s Telekinetic Powers

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Dec 19, 2017

heart of the emberstone coliseum — image courtesy Cloudhead Games

Cloudhead Games, the studio known for pioneering several locomotion schemes during the creation of their well-received VR adventure series The Gallery, have just released a fresh demo for their latest game, The Gallery: Heart of the Emberstone (2017). The demo is a sandbox version of the Coliseum level that lets you get your hands on the game’s unique telekinetic powers before committing to the full game.

Magic Leap Reveals Music App Collaboration with Sigur Rós, New Images

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Dec 18, 2017

magic-leap-Tonandi-5 — Image courtesy Pitchfork, Magic Leap

Magic Leap today revealed a collaborative AR project with Icelandic band Sigur Rós, a musical experience which fills the player’s surroundings with ethereal visuals and an interactive soundscape.

‘In Death’ is a Medieval Roguelike Bow-shooter from ‘EVEREST VR’ Developer Sólfar Studios

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Dec 18, 2017

In quite the pivot from virtual tourism experience EVEREST VR (2016), Iceland-based Sólfar Studios has revealed their next VR project, In Death, a VR roguelike bow-shooter that promises procedurally generated crawling for loot and more.

Houston Fire Department on VR’s Potential to Enhance Firefighter Training

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Dec 18, 2017

htx-labs-fire — Image courtesy HTX Labs

Patrick Hagan is a technical specialist for the Houston Fire Department who had an opportunity to try out a VR demo by HTX Labs featuring an active shooter critical response training scenario. This demo inspired him to start collaborating with HTX Labs to see how virtual reality could be used train new firefighters, but also create atypical training scenarios for teams of firefighters.

Lytro is Positioning Its Light Field Tech as VR’s Master Capture Format

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Dec 17, 2017

lytro-reality-experience-2 — Image courtesy Lytro

Lytro, a leading light-field company, is positioning its light-field capture and playback technology as the ideal format for immersive content. The company is building a toolset for capturing, rendering, and intermingling both synthetic and live-action light-field experiences which can then be delivered at the highest quality playback supported by each individual platform.

‘L.A. Noire: The VR Case Files’ Review – A Virtual Scavenger Hunt

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la noire vr case files sceenshot (7) — Image courtesy Rockstar Games

L.A. Noire: The VR Case Files is the debut VR title from Rockstar Games, and a remake of unique action-detective game L.A. Noire which was released in 2011. LA Noire VR draws upon the same foundation of impressive facial motion capture that was a hallmark of the original; the remake offers up several cases from the original game that have been reworked for VR.

‘Raw Data’ Studio Survios Announces ‘Electronauts’ for Jamming Out in VR

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Dominic Brennan

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Dec 16, 2017

Electronauts-1 — Image courtesy Survios

Electronauts is a music creation tool built within an “interactive sonic environment” where users can make, remix, and perform music, regardless of skill level. This is the third VR project from California-based developer Survios, creators of VR action games Raw Data (2017) and the upcoming Sprint Vector.

‘L.A. Noire: The VR Case Files’ Workaround Adds Support for Rift and Windows VR Headsets

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Dec 16, 2017

la-noire-3 — Image courtesy Rockstar Games

L.A. Noire: The VR Case Files launched to much excitement yesterday, but it wasn’t long before it was revealed that the game explicitly blocks OpenVR-compatible headsets other than the Vive. Luckily a free, unofficial workaround has been released which adds support for the Oculus Rift and Windows VR headsets to LA Noire VR.

‘Nazi VR’ Documentary Shows How VR is Helping to Convict Nazi War Criminals

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Dec 15, 2017

nazi vr — image courtesy Mel films

More than 6,000 German soldiers worked at the Nazi concentration camp in Auschwitz. Now on the cusp of 2018, the ones that are still alive are in their 90s and 100s, so there’s very few left to actually pursue. That doesn’t mean the German state has given up prosecuting those involved though, as we see in a new documentary from Mel Films called Nazi VR that delves into how VR helped convict SS guard Reinhold Hanning last year. You can catch the full documentary at the bottom of the article.

Vive Focus Hands-on Video Emerges from China

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Dec 15, 2017

vive-focus-handon — image courtesy Engadget

Vive Focus, the first consumer-available standalone headset with six-degrees-of-freedom (6DoF) positional tracking, has officially launched in China. While HTC isn’t shipping Vive Focus outside the country, fresh reports of the headset’s tracking capability seem to be promising.

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