GameFace Labs, one of the earliest companies to begin development of a standalone VR headset, is back with the latest version of their prototype device now featuring SteamVR (AKA Lighthouse) tracking running on the Android-based system.
Microsoft’s E3 2017 presentation concentrated on the new Xbox One X console, but made no mention of VR. After dodging questions for the first few days following the presentation, Phil Spencer, Head of Xbox, gave his thoughts on the games industry, the Xbox One X reveal, and Microsoft’s position in the VR space in a refreshingly candid interview with Giant Bomb’s Jeff Gerstmann last night.
At Computex 2017, Intel’s Gregory Bryant demonstrated the company’s wireless VR solution on stage. He claimed this was the first public showing of the HTC Vive using Intel’s WiGig technology, and further confirms that HTC is bringing the product to market in “early 2018.”
Here’s our roundup of news from ‘day 4’ of E3 2017. New The Walking Dead games were revealed, Bethesda clarifies VR platform exclusivity stance, we go hands-on with Ace Combat 7, and try out DisplayLink’s XR wireless solution for the HTC Vive.
At E3 2017, DisplayLink is touting their ‘XR’ wireless solution to eliminate the tether on VR headsets. Our hands-on with their reference device revealed a robust solution with impressive quality and unnoticeable latency.
Stepping into the Bandai Namco booth at E3 in Los Angeles, I got a hands-on with Ace Combat 7: Skies Unknown’s PSVR mode. Far from being just a single mission, the VR mode is apparently going to offer “several hours of VR gameplay” according to David Bonacci, Brand Manager at Bandai Namco Entertainment America.
Bethesda recently announced that Fallout 4 (2015) is coming to HTC Vive this October, and Skyrim (2011) is soon to follow sometime in late 2017 on PlayStation VR. Amidst talk of platform exclusivity, the company took to twitter to quell some fears in the community, tweeting out yesterday that they “plan on supporting as many platforms as [they] can.”
Skybound Entertainment in partnership with Skydance Interactive have confirmed that multiple interactive VR games based on the hugely popular The Walking Dead franchise are in the works.
Here’s our roundup of news from E3 day 3. We go hands on with newly announced PSVR titles Moss and The Impatient. Archangel and Sparc for PSVR get a release dates, more details of Gran Turismo Sport‘s VR support are revealed and we go hands on with Kopin’s 2k per eye, super lightweight microdisplay VR headset.
Anvio VR is a new, motion capture tracked VR experience that throws you and a bunch of friends into a warehouse-scale VR arena to battle, well, pretty much everything. It looks great!
Polyphony Digital’s latest iteration of the Gran Turismo driving simulator made an appearance at this week’s E3 2017 in Los Angeles, and was playable using a PSVR headset, but with some significant limitations. The game is due to launch exclusively on PS4 in Fall 2017.
Supermassive Games, the makers of VR titles Until Dawn: Rush of Blood (2016) and Tumble VR (2016), are coming out with a new psychological horror game for PSVR called The Inpatient that seems to offer a level of realism thanks to some very well-tuned facial motion capture. We went hands on at the Sony booth at this year’s E3 to find out just what Supermassive had in store.
AxonVR was awarded US Patent No. 9,652,037 of a “whole-body human-computer interface” on May 16th, which includes an external exoskeleton as well as a generalized haptic display made out of microfluidic technology. I had a chance to demo AxonVR’s HaptX™ haptic display that uses a “fluidic distribution laminate” with channels and actuators to form a fluidic integrated circuit of sorts that could simulate variable stiffness and friction of materials.
Now that E3 is in full swing, we had a chance to get our hands on the newly announced third-person action-adventure game Moss, a title for PSVR from Polyarc Games that follows the adorable but fierce little sword-wielding mouse Quill.
Following the revelations from the Microsoft and Bethesda presentations, this is a second roundup of news from E3 2017, currently taking place in Los Angeles. E3 technically starts today, but here’s what happened yesterday, with announcements from Intel, Ubisoft and Sony.
