Straight out of Early Access on May 18th, Detached (2017) promises to deliver that free-flying experience, complete with smooth-turning that only a section of the most hard-core first-person VR junkies crave. Offering a single-player mission based on navigation puzzles and an online capture-the-flag multiplayer, space pioneers hoping for a long-term solution to their need for exciting and comfortable zero-G fun may have to look elsewhere.
Oculus Research, the VR and AR R&D division of the company, today announced a new display technology that they’re calling the “Focal Surface Display.” The display aims to improve the vergence-accommodation conflict that plagues today’s VR headsets. The company calls the work “groundbreaking.”
Farpoint, one of the most anticipated titles for PlayStation VR, hits stores tomorrow along with the new VR device it was designed alongside, the PSVR Aim Controller. Sony has published details of the design decisions that drove development of one of the oddest looking gaming peripherals ever built.
Here’s the launch trailer for newly released zombie-themed brawler ‘Bloody Zombies‘ from developers of ‘The Assembly‘ nDreams and Paw Print Games. But before you roll your eyes at the prospect of yet another undead VR wave shooter, this one’s a little different.
Having founded Oculus in 2012 and been an important face for the company throughout its growth from fledgling startup to $2 billion acquisition by Facebook and beyond, it was a shock to see Palmer Luckey leave the company just two months ago. Having shied away from the public eye since September 2016 after the ousting of a polarizing political position, Luckey has gone on record in an interview for the first time since leaving the company.
Thursday morning at Microsoft’s Build conference, the company announced the opening of pre-orders for two new VR dev kits. Developers in the US and Canada can now pre-order the Acer ($299) and HP ($329) Mixed Reality headsets. Delivery of the headsets is scheduled for August 2017. I was able to get hands on with the dev kit version of the Acer headset at Build this week and organized my thoughts into broad categories below.
In a recent interview, HTC Vive General Manager Daniel O’Brien provided a carefully-worded answer when asked specifically about a ‘Vive 2’. HTC’s current VR headset is now over year old; PC VR hardware cycles are anticipated to last somewhere between 1 and 3 years.
WalkinVR is an upcoming driver for SteamVR designed to assist physical movement in a VR by moving or even resizing the virtual space relative to the user. It is currently in beta testing, with an initial release due at the end of May.
A job listing for a Senior Design Manager position on Microsoft’s “Xbox Mixed Reality team” says that the company is “looking to build a massively social gaming and entertainment experience for both the PC and the console.”
As of the upcoming version 1.15, Oculus software will “fully support” the three-sensor room-scale configuration, giving VR players a large 360 degree playspace to roam, similar to the experience the Vive offered out of the gate. The update was revealed by Oculus staff on the community forum, and is now available in pre-release form for testing, available in the Public Test Channel of the Oculus software.
Announced on Vertigo Games’ social media channels and via the PlayStation Blog, VR zombie shooter Arizona Sunshine has been confirmed for a June release on PlayStation VR, along with support for the new PSVR Aim controller. The zombie wave-based shooter initially launched on HTC Vive and Oculus Rift in December 2016, becoming one of the fastest-selling VR games on PC.
At today’s Microsoft Build 2017 presentation, creators at Cirque du Soleil demonstrated a custom creative toolset on stage using HoloLens technology. The world-class theater production company says the tools can be used to greatly enhance and accelerate the set design process for future shows thanks to real-time local digital collaborative design. But, speaking to Microsoft’s self-described Mixed Reality “spectrum,” it was also demonstrated how a remote VR user could seamless collaborate as if they were standing on stage with the others.
Microsoft Technical Fellow and chief inventor of HoloLens, Alex Kipman, took the stage today at Microsoft Build 2017 to show off a number of upcoming mixed reality hardware and software streaming out of the company and its partners. Among the announcements—including pre-orders of Windows Holographic Headsets from Acer and HP and a new VR hand controller—was a teaser for more to come at E3 in June.
Battlezone (2016), the low-poly, high-action reboot of the classic Atari game, launched as a timed exclusive with PlayStation VR when it hit shelves in October of last year. Today owners of HTC Vive, Oculus Rift, and OSVR can now strap into the cockpit of the game’s sci-fi hovertanks.
Today Microsoft has unveiled their Windows Mixed Reality motion controllers. The controllers fill in a major gap in Microsoft’s strategy to become the “most complete platform across the broadest range of mixed reality devices and experiences.”
