Road to VR

VR Developers Are Increasingly Prioritizing VR Arcades for Content Distribution

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Jun 10, 2017

vrsenal — Photo courtesy VRsenal

The virtual reality industry is poised for a transformative five years. While consumer VR equipment is still cost prohibitive for many, location-based ‘VR arcade’ businesses offer a chance for consumers to experience high-end VR equipment without a big up-front investment. And it’s catching on. Especially in China, location-based virtual reality entertainment (LBVRE) is enjoying remarkable traction, where spending on out-of-home entertainment is high. VR developers are increasingly prioritizing this avenue to monetize their content.

DisplayLink to Show ‘XR’ WiGig Wireless VR System at E3 Capable of Dual 4k @120Hz

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Jun 10, 2017

displaylink-xr-toms-guide-1-crop — Image Courtesy Tom's Guide

Another entrant in the rapidly burgeoning wireless VR segment appears as DisplayLink prepares to present their new WiGig 60Ghz wireless VR technology at next week’s E3 convention and, according to a recent hands-on, it’s looking pretty impressive.

Google’s Tango Engineering Director, Johnny Lee, on AR Capabilities Enabled by Depth Sensors

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Jun 9, 2017

Augmented Reality has played a huge role at the developer conferences for Microsoft, Apple, Facebook, and Google, which is a great sign that the industry is moving towards spatially-aware computing. Microsoft is the only company to start with head-mounted AR with the HoloLens while the other three companies are starting with phone-based AR. They are using machine learning with the phone camera to do six degree-of-freedom tracking, but Google’s Project Tango is the only phone solution that’s starting with a depth-sensor camera.

Apple and Valve Have Worked Together for Nearly a Year to Bring VR to MacOS

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Jun 9, 2017

apple-vr-htc-vive-2 — Photo courtesy Apple

Apple’s broad embrace of VR this week shows that the company has had virtual reality support on its roadmap for quite some time. During a session at WWDC, Apple and Valve confirmed they’ve been working together for nearly a year to bring SteamVR and OpenVR to MacOS.

Visualizing An Invisible Cyber War with ‘Zero Days VR’

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Jun 9, 2017

There’s an invisible cyber war that’s happening between major nation states, and Zero Days VR takes you inside of it in a completely new way using virtual reality. You go on a journey into a hyper-stylized cyberspace world where you embody the Stuxnet computer virus as it navigates programmable logic controllers, changes code, and destroys Iranian nuclear centrifuges.

4 Dev Demos Showing Off Apple’s New ARKit Tracking

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Dominic Brennan

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Jun 9, 2017

overwatch-arkit — Photo courtesy Cody Brown

Showcased at Apple’s Worldwide Developer Conference this week, ARKit is a new core technology for iOS 11, due to launch this Fall, soon to enable augmented reality features on hundreds of millions of iPhones and iPads. As the iOS 11 developer beta is already available, we’re starting to see some interesting real-world tests of ARKit, showing off the tracking that’s achievable with nothing more than a camera.

HTC Sweetens Viveport Subscription Deal with 75 More VR Games

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Jun 8, 2017

viveport-subscription — image courtesy HTC

HTC launched its interesting Viveport Subscription service back in April; for $7/month, the program lets users choose five VR games from a pool of available apps, and grants them unlimited access. The company is sweetening the deal with 75 additional titles to choose from, including a number of notable games.

NBA Finals Prove That VR Sports Broadcasting is Maturing, But There’s Still Missing Pieces

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Jun 8, 2017

nextvr-camera — Image courtesy NextVR

Sports in VR is squarely in the realm of low-hanging VR that you often hear rattled off on five fingers when broaching the topic of industries VR will revolutionize. And while it’s easy to imagine, actual execution is a completely different story. With VR sports broadcasting deals being signed with the world’s biggest sporting leagues, the space is clearly maturing, but there’s still some missing pieces needed to boost this use case out of novelty and into orbit.

Updated: Vive Deluxe Audio Strap Sells Out at Launch, Vive Pre Requires Conversion Kit

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Jun 8, 2017

htc-vive-delux-audio-strap — HTC Vive with Deluxe Audio Strap | Photo courtesy HTC

The hotly anticipated Vive Deluxe Audio Strap launched just yesterday and the initial stock has already been nabbed, apparently putting the unit out of stock in both the US and EU regions. HTC has also confirmed that the upgraded headstrap isn’t compatible with the Vive pre, along with investigating some deterioration issues with the strap’s foam padding.

Oculus Brings Rift to 90 Libraries in California for Public Access VR

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Dominic Brennan

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Jun 8, 2017

oculus-rift-libraries — Image courtesy Oculus

Oculus has announced a pilot program to place 100 Rifts and Oculus Ready PCs in 90 libraries throughout the state of California, from the Oregon border down to Mexico. Detailed on the Oculus Blog, the new partnership with the California State Library hopes to highlight the educational potential of VR, as well as provide easy access to VR hardware within the heart of local communities.

‘EVE: Valkyrie’ Gets 33% Price Cut Across All Headsets

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Jun 8, 2017

EVE: Valkyrie (2016), one of the first games to launch on the Oculus Rift (and eventually found its way to PSVR and the HTC Vive), is getting a big price cut.

‘DiRT 4’ Launch Lacks VR Support but Codemasters Hasn’t Ruled It Out Just Yet

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Dominic Brennan

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Jun 6, 2017

Codemasters’ new entry into their long-running rally game series launches this week for Xbox One, PS4 and PC. Unlike its predecessor DiRT Rally, DiRT 4 currently features no VR support on PC or PSVR, but a future update is possible.

Bringing Fun & Whimsey Into Your Home with ‘Woorld’, Winner of Google Play’s ‘Best AR Experience’

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Jun 6, 2017

Funomena’s Woorld won the ‘Best AR Experience’ category at the recent 2017 Google Play awards. In the game you scan your room with a Google Tango-enabled phone, and then you’re encouraged to decorate your space with extremely cute art and characters designed by Katamari’s Keita Takahashi. Part of the gameplay in Woorld is to figure out how to combine different objects together in order to unlock new objects and portions of the story in your space.

Here’s the Star Wars VR Demo Apple Showed During Their Keynote

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Dominic Brennan

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Jun 6, 2017

At yesterday’s keynote at the Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC) 2017, Apple revealed the new iMac Pro and updated 27” Retina iMac, both of which are VR-ready, along with a slew of other VR related product updates. John Knoll, chief creative officer at Industrial Light & Magic, presented a mixed reality Star Wars themed live demo of VR content created on Mac and played on the Vive.

Apple’s ARKit is Bringing Augmented Reality to “hundreds of millions of iPhones and iPads”

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Jun 5, 2017

ARKit LEGO — image courtesy TIME

Apple’s annual Worldwide Developer Conference (WWDC) is here, and today’s keynote saw a number of VR-specific announcements including Apple’s first VR-ready computers to go along with the launch of the company’s newest macOS High Sierra. While the company is finally going ‘VR-native’ for desktop, Apple is also zeroing in on augmented reality for iOS 11 with the entrance of their newly revealed app developer kit ‘ARKit’.

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