Road to VR

HTC Partners to Stream VR Games to Vive in China, Cutting VR-Ready PCs Out of the Equation

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Sep 21, 2017

Oculus and HTC have already reduced the prices of their respective headsets, with the Oculus Rift now selling for $500 and HTC Vive for $600. While graphically-capable PCs are cheaper than ever thanks to new GPUs and software optimizations, you still need to pony up the cash for a min-spec system ($699 for an OEM-built machine). HTC hopes to address this in China with a new partnership between Dalian Television and Beijing Cyber Cloud to offer a set-top, cloud-based box—meaning you don’t need a traditional VR-ready rig to run VR games.

8 Cool AR Apps to Try Now That Apple iOS 11 is Here

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Sep 21, 2017

ikea-place — image courtesy IKEA

Apple’s newest iteration of the iOS mobile operating system is here, and with it comes the ability to turn your iOS 11 compatible device into an honest-to-goodness augmented reality viewer. Thanks to a few months of lead time with Apple’s developer tool ARKit, the App Store already has plenty of useful apps and interesting games boasting AR capabilities.

Promising Intel Proof of Concept Shows SteamVR Game Streaming to Smartphone Over WiFi

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Sep 21, 2017

intel portal ridge smartphone vr streaming (2) — Special thanks to model Kevin Joyce | Photo by Road to VR

Intel is exploring an interesting approach to making VR less expensive and more accessible. The company’s so-called ‘Portal Ridge’ system streams SteamVR content to a smartphone-based headset over WiFi while using the Vive Tracker and controllers for tracking of the headset and input.

Google Buys HTC Talent & IP for $1.1 Billion, Cash to Support HTC’s Focus on Smartphones, VR, & AR

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Sep 21, 2017

vive-x-accelerator-investment-htc — Image courtesy HTC

Following recent reports of an impending deal with Google to save HTC’s struggling business, news broke late Wednesday evening that the companies reached an agreement resulting in a $1.1 billion cash infusion for HTC.

‘OpenVR Recorder’ is a Powerful Tool for Capturing Tracking and Input Data

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Dominic Brennan

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Sep 21, 2017

openvr-recorder — image courtesy Brekel 3D

Jasper Brekelmans, a Netherlands-based 3D tech artist, has recently released a motion capture tool offering an easy way to record OpenVR tracking data from headsets, motion controllers and Vive Trackers for both Vive and Rift setups. Called OpenVR Recorder, the data collected by the program can be used for 3D animation and visual effects production, with many other potential applications in tracking and research.

Behind the Scenes of Felix & Paul’s Emmy-winning White House VR Documentary

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Sep 20, 2017

people's-house-barack obama — Image courtesy Felix & Paul Studios

The White House VR documentary People’s House by Felix & Paul Studios won a Emmy for the outstanding original interactive, and I had a chance to talk with Paul Raphael of Felix & Paul Studios about the challenges of producing a high-profile piece.

Preview: ‘The Gallery: Heart of the Emberstone’

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Sep 20, 2017

hero — image courtesy Cloudhead Games

The sequel to Cloudhead Games’ early room-scale VR hit, The Gallery: Episode 1 – Call of the Starseed (2016), is nearly here. We got our hands on a limited preview of the soon-to-release Heart of the Emberstone, and if the little we played accurately represents the fit and finish of the final product, we’re in for quite a treat.

Enthusiast Hacks Together Headset & 3D Game for the 34 Year Old Commodore 64

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Sep 20, 2017

The Commodore 64—a renowned 8-bit home computer system that debuted in 1983—may be approaching antique status at 34 years old, but one enthusiast has seen fit to make sure it doesn’t get left out of the VR craze.

Is Body Image from Perception or Attitude? – Studying Anorexia with VR Self-avatars

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Sep 20, 2017

Do patients with anorexia nervosa suffer from body image distortion due to how they perceive their body or is it due to attitudinal beliefs? Betty Mohler has been using VR technologies to study whether body representation is more perceptual or conceptual.

‘Driver4VR’ Emulates Vive Trackers With Kinect for Cheap VR Body Tracking

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Dominic Brennan

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Sep 19, 2017

vive-tracker-kinect-emulation — Based on images courtesy Microsoft, HTC

A new SteamVR mod from the developer behind WalkinVR now allows body tracking by emulating Vive Trackers via Kinect’s motion sensing data, enabling an inexpensive solution for full body motion tracking in VR. The driver, available at the official Driver4VR site, works for both Rift and Vive when running SteamVR; this could be particularly interesting for Rift users, as Oculus currently offer no ‘Vive Tracker’ equivalent.

Pimax Launches Kickstarter Today For 8K & 5K VR Headsets

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Sep 19, 2017

Pimax, the China-based VR headset manufacturer, just launched their Kickstarter for the hotly anticipated 8K and 5K VR headsets.

Sony is Bringing PS2 Classics ‘Gungrave’ & ‘Zone of the Enders’ to PSVR, Teaser Trailers Here

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Sep 19, 2017

Tokyo Game Show (TGS) is upon us, and Sony has today shown off some a few brand new teaser trailers at its PlayStation keynote. Among them were two PS2-era franchises getting new life on PlayStation VR: Zone of the Enders: The 2nd Runner and Gungrave.

Apple iOS 11 Rolls Out Today, Augmented Reality Apps Now Showing Up on App Store

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Sep 19, 2017

mlb at bat — image courtesy Apple

Apple is rolling out iOS 11 today, its mobile operating system that’s compatible with “hundreds of millions of devices” including iPhones going back to the iPhone 5s, and a variety of recent iPads. If your device is able to update (check here), that means you may be getting a number of features like an optimized App Store and a sleeker user interface, but it also means you can start to delve into the world of augmented reality too.

Crytek Adds HTC Vive & Oculus Touch Support to ‘Robinson: The Journey’

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Sep 19, 2017

Originally launched in November last year as a PSVR exclusive, Crytek’s Robinson: The Journey (2016) made its way early this year to Oculus Rift via Oculus Home and also eventually Steam too. Critically missing however was official support for HTC Vive and any support for motion controllers.

China’s Largest Messaging App ‘WeChat’ is Creating its Own AR Platform

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Sep 18, 2017

WeChat, known in China as the app that offers everything from messaging to a ubiquitous payment service, is getting its own augmented reality framework; at over 963 million active users, the popular Chinese app could put AR in the hands (and minds) in more than just the mobile tech savvy.

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