Motorola to Launch 360 Camera ‘Mod’ Alongside Latest Moto Z Phone
Motorola today unveiled their latest phone, the Moto Z2 Force Edition, and alongside it will come a 360-degree camera that the company says snaps onto any phone in the Moto Z lineup.
Arcade Slot Car Racer ‘Tiny Trax’ Launches on PlayStation VR
Tiny Trax (2017), the tiny slot car racing game, is now out for PlayStation VR. Created by Brighton-based studio FuturLab, Tiny Trax gives you the tiny HotWheels-sized cars from your childhood and lets you tear around and the room, do incredible jumps and drift around bends on a slot track otherwise impossible outside of VR.
Facebook Update Adds 4K 360 Video Streaming Support to VR Headsets and More
Facebook today announced new updates coming to their 360 streaming service including live 4k streaming support to VR headsets, image stabilization and a number of features that puts VR-ready 360 video more in line with the company’s standard streaming video service. Facebook also released a list of vetted 360 cameras and software suites so prospective content creators can jump straight into the 360 deep end with full knowledge that what they’re doing conforms to the company’s 360 streaming standards.
Using Google Earth VR to Study Awe – Towards a Virtual Overview Effect
One of the unique affordances of virtual reality is its power to convey the vastness of scale, which can invoke feelings of awe. Denise Quesnel is a graduate student at Simon Frasier University’s iSpace Lab, and she has been studying the process of invoking awe using Google Earth VR. She was inspired by Frank White’s work on The Overview Effect, which documented the worldview transformations of many astronauts after they observed the vastness of the Earth from the perspective of space.
HoloLens 2.0 to Put a Custom A.I. Chip at the Heart of Its On-board Processor
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.
10 Oculus Exclusives HTC Vive Owners Should Play Using Revive Hack
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.
Oculus’ Nate Mitchell on the Fate of ‘Rooms’ and ‘Parties’ on Rift
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.
Acclaimed ‘Racket: Nx’ Getting Major ‘Early Access 2’ Update This Week
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’ Film Gets First Teaser Trailer
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.
ARKit Project Shows Turn-by-Turn Directions in AR, Giving a Glimpse into Future of AR-enabled Maps
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.
HTC VR Survey Offers Vives & Gift Cards as Prizes, Aims to Understand VR Users
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.
MMO-like Dungeon Combat Game ‘Age of Heroes’ Launches From Vive X Portfolio Company Omnigames
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.
Get ‘EVE: Valkyrie’ Free When You Purchase Rift + Touch Bundle from Best Buy
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.
VFX Master Phil Tippett Brings His Grotesque Creations to HoloLens in ‘HoloGrid: Monster Battle’
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).
