Microsoft has undoubtedly been working on the next version of HoloLens, the company’s AR headset, but now we know a little more about what’s going into the next iteration: a Microsoft-built custom AI chip designed to carry out low-latency computer vision tasks.
Thanks to ReVive, a hack that lets SteamVR-compatible headsets play Oculus Rift exclusives, anyone with an HTC Vive can enjoy a number of unofficially supported games from the Oculus Store. Here we take a look at 5 of the games you shouldn’t miss—of course with the appended “buyer beware” warning that the Revive hack caries with it.
VR is in many ways awesome, but still in many ways lacking. Ease-of-use, especially when it comes to playing in VR with friends, is presently a huge pain point for the experience. Oculus’ solution to that pain point—announced more than seven months ago—launched on Gear VR where it was welcomed with open arms. Bizarrely, the same features remain painfully absent from Rift, Oculus’ high-end VR platform, especially in the face of major improvements to multiplayer VR gaming on SteamVR. Nate Mitchell, Head of Rift at Oculus, offers an update on the fate of Rooms and Parties on the Rift.
Racket: Nx is an impressively polished and physical VR arcade sport which plays like a mashup of futuristic racquetball and pinball. Currently in Early Access (and rated 99% positive), the game is due to get a major ‘Early Access 2’ update on July 27th that brings with it a host of improvements from physics to gameplay to music.
Ready Player One, the upcoming film directed by Steven Spielberg based on the VR-centric novel by Ernest Cline, just saw its first teaser trailer, released at this year’s San Diego Comic-Con.
What’s that building in the distance? Where’s the nearest Starbucks? How do I get to there from here? These are questions you’d likely find answers to in your smartphone’s map application—but with Apple’s ARKit, one developer showed it could be even easier with a recently revealed project that demonstrates the practical application of turn-by-turn directions and basic landmark-based orientation displayed in augmented reality.
A survey sponsored by HTC America is currently open on SurveyGizmo, with the option to enter a prize draw, which includes three Vive systems and seven gift cards worth $100 – $150. The sweepstakes is open to US residents, ending August 4th; full terms and conditions are detailed on the official Vive blog.
Omnigames, among one of the first companies to join HTC’s Vive X accelerator, has launched their “multiplayer combat VR game,” Age of Heroes, on Steam.
Oculus’ massive price drop that saw the cost of Rift + Touch slashed to only $400, is still going on for the next 4-5 weeks—but if you purchase through BestBuy.com, you can get EVE: Valkyrie, normally costing $40, for free.
Game studio HappyGiant and Tippett Studio, the production firm founded by stop-motion guru Phil Tippett, has launched HoloGrid: Monster Battle (2017) on Microsoft’s HoloLens platform. First appearing on Samsung Gear VR, the tactical strategy game combines elements of chess, board games, and collectible card games—of course with the grotesque HoloChess-style monsters spawned from the mind behind visual effects of the original Star Wars trilogy, Jurassic Park (1993), and RoboCop (1987).
Platform exclusivity is a divisive issue in VR; on one hand, big financial backing helps create awesome games like Lone Echo [9/10]—on the other hand, if you chose the ‘wrong’ headset, you’re boxed out of what might otherwise become one of your favorite games. Thanks to ReVive, a free hack which allows Vive users to play games from the Oculus platform, you can now play both Lone Echo and it’s free multiplayer companion game Echo Arena with an HTC Vive.
The team behind Daydream, Google’s mobile VR platform, is currently conducting experiments with the aim of broadening virtual reality’s usecase to include more interactive learning. With an experimental VR espresso maker at the ready, the team says “people learned faster and better in VR” than by watching training videos when put to the test on how to brew the real thing.
Casino VR Poker (2016), online multiplayer casino hosting live Texas hold’em, is offering real prizes in their ‘High Rollers’ poker tournament taking place on 20th August including multiple Oculus Rift + Touch bundles, hundred of dollars worth of gift cards, and Casino VR swag like t-shirts and playing cards.
A creative flight sim enthusiast has made a full cockpit setup that folds neatly away, transforming into an unassuming piece of furniture. Posting details of the build on Reddit, James ‘Maverick’ Turner explained the project was prompted by a move to an apartment that required a more efficient use of space, and the culmination of several years of creating a custom flight simulator rig.
Sometimes sci-fi games need only put you head-first into a shiny new world, let you inhabit a universe seemingly ripped from TV and film, and call it a job well done. Then there’s games that use science fiction as a backdrop to a more human story, one that’s been told a million times and in a million ways before, but because we’re human, we always love to hear. These stories co-exist alongside the awe-inspiring technology of holograms, faster-than-light travel, giant space ships, etc. Lone Echo, a first-person narrative-driven adventure, is one of those intensely human tales; a pretty big undertaking considering you’re a robot from the 22nd century.
