A broad team of graphics researchers, universities, and technology companies are showcasing the latest research into digital human representation in VR at SIGGRAPH 2017. Advanced capture, rigging, and rendering techniques have resulted in an impressive new bar for the art of recreating the human likeness inside of a computer in real-time.
According to the latest figures from Valve’s Hardware & Software survey, Rift has reached its highest historical market share on Steam thanks to modest gains amid an ongoing sale. Despite the new high point, the HTC Vive still holds the majority share.
Scheduled for release in September starting at $3,300, the HP Z VR Backpack G1 Workstation is aimed at the commercial market, with high-performance components including an Intel Core i7 CPU and Nvidia Quadro GPU. It features a smart docking design for use as a VR backpack computer as well as a VR desktop, and includes two hot-swappable batteries for continuous tether-free VR use.
Software developer Shachar “Vice” Weis has described his first impressions of Acer’s Windows Mixed Reality VR headset dev kit on his blog. His company, Packet39, makers of VR game Orbital Injection, recently received the Developer Edition headset made by Acer, which was due for an August delivery alongside a similar headset from HP.
Decentraland is a virtual world that is using the Ethereum Blockchain to sell plots of virtual reality real estate. They’re selling an initial offering of the currency they call ‘MANA’, from August 8 to August 16, 2017, and they’ll have up to 2 million plots of virtual land that will be sold for 1000 MANA. They hope to create a virtual city with different thematic districts that will help with content discovery.
Meta announced and launched pre-orders for its Meta 2 AR headset dev kit more than a year ago, and expected to begin shipping the device at the end of 2016. While the company says a small number of headsets have indeed gone out the door, Meta acknowledged in May that manufacturing delays had prevented a bulk of pre-orderers from getting their headsets in a timely fashion. A recent update from the company suggests that shipping quantities will pick up in August.
OrbusVR, the upcoming VR MMORPG for Oculus Rift and HTC Vive, is going into a limited-time open alpha starting on July 28th, 2017 at 12 pm CT (your local time) and will last for approximately 60 hours.
Following this week’s news that AltspaceVR, one of the first social VR platforms, is shutting down, Oculus founder Palmer Luckey, who is no longer with the company, queried the community to ask if he should seek to save AtlspaceVR from closing.
Oculus has been on the receiving end of vocal criticism about its practices of funding the development of VR content with the requirement that it be exclusive to the Oculus platform. For many owners of the Rift’s rival, Vive, the biggest point of contention is that Oculus’ PC platform is only compatible with the Rift, which means the exclusive games the company funds can’t be played by the Vive without an unofficial workaround. However, Oculus say’s they’re interested in opening the door to their platform to any third-party VR headsets that want to come in.
‘Parties’ is a long awaited feature on the PC version of the Oculus platform that lets players form small groups to be able to talk to one another across VR apps. The feature is now rolling out to the Oculus Public Test Channel on PC, an opt-in test version of the software ahead of the full public rollout.
NextVR, a platform known for its VR live broadcasting of sporting and concert events, is creating original VR content in the form of a suspenseful show called Paranormal Evidence. The California-based VR broadcast company developed the program, described as “a virtual reality investigation exploring the unexplained phenomena reported at notoriously haunted locations.”
This evening AltspaceVR has announced it will be closing its doors for good on August 3rd. Founded in 2013, the social VR platform was one of the first to come online and connected tens of thousands of users monthly across a range of headsets.
When Ark Park was first revealed back in 2016, we were told it would be an educational experience allowing players “the opportunity to truly appreciate and understand dinosaurs in their natural habitat.” That seemed odd at the time, given that the title is a spinoff of Ark: Survival Evolved, a game that’s very much about survival and killing. A new trailer for Ark Park shows that the game will be something much different than initially expected.
