Survey: 78% of AR/VR Developers Not Planning Platform-exclusive Content
In a survey published by VRDC, AR and VR developers are largely leaning toward platform agnostic development for their next projects.
PlayStation VR Pre-Orders Had “Quickest Sellout in GameStop’s History”
GameStop executives have revealed that the last pre-order event for the soon-to-be-released PlayStation VR was the “Quickest Sellout” in the company’s history.
Oculus is Working on a ‘Chaperone’-like Boundary System for Touch
Physically moving your body around to move through the virtual world is a great way to enhance immersion, but it can be potentially dangerous if users lose a sense of their real world surroundings. To keep users safe, Valve introduced what they call the ‘Chaperone’ for the HTC Vive headset, a virtual wall which appears when needed to keep users from exiting a safe playspace. Oculus is working on their own version of such a system which will be especially important for the upcoming launch of their Touch VR controllers.
Highlights from the SIGGRAPH 2016 VR Village with Denise Quesnel
There was a VR Village again this year at the SIGGRAPH 2016 conference where a lot of experimental interactive technologies were on display. I had a chance to talk to the program chair Denise Quesnel about some of the content themes and technologies this year at the SIGGRAPH VR Village as well as the different technology trends that were emerging.
‘Obduction’ Oculus Rift Support Coming “in a few weeks,” Included With All Copies of the Game
Obduction, the hotly anticipated adventure puzzle game from the creators of Myst (1993), launched on PC on August 24th, but did so before the Oculus Rift version of the game was ready for release. Now the creators say it will be a little bit longer, but eventually anyone with the game will get access to the Rift version.
‘Rick and Morty’ Co-creator & Former Epic Games Exec. Producer Form New VR Studio, Squanchtendo
With a name that could only have come from the mind of Rick and Morty co-creator Justin Roiland, Squanchtendo is a VR game studio founded by Roiland and former Epic Games producer Tanya Watson to “[combine] edgy, mature comedy with refined, high-end gameplay mechanics and stories.”
Uncorporeal Claims They Can Create 3D VR Scenes from Your Photos
Uncorporeal are unveiling what it terms as it’s “Holographic Photography Technology” which the team claim will allow anyone with a smartphone to create 360 VR viewable scenes with 3D parallax from a few dozen photos.
Amazon’s VR-capable Lumberyard Game Engine Sustained by AWS Cloud Services
Back in February, Amazon announced that they had purchased and forked Crytek’s CryEngine and made the full source code available in a free AAA VRgame engine offering called Lumberyard. The only catch is that if you want to use any public cloud service, then you have to use Amazon Web Service offerings.
This Live Mixed Reality Solution Uses Kinect to Eliminate Green Screen
This project uses Kinect depth cameras to the fuse virtual and the real to produce real-time mixed reality footage with no green screens required, all using Microsoft’s depth camera Kinect.
Free Shipping on Oculus Rift Through August 31st
According to the official Oculus product page, the company is offering free shipping on Rift orders through the end of the month.
‘PlayStation VR Worlds’ Gets New Features to Improve Casual and Competitive Play
PlayStation VR Worlds is a collection of VR mini-games created by Sony’s talented London Studio. The studio has detailed new features designed to improve first-time VR experiences for those showing VR to their friends and family, and competitive features to keep gamers coming back for more.
Sos Sosowski’s ‘Mosh Pit Simulator’ is Disturbing, Funny, and Unapologetically Terrible
A video game is a reflection of its maker, and usually the smaller the developer team, the more clear it is to see something of its creator within. I think I caught a glimpse of project creator Sos Sosowski somewhere in Mosh Pit Simulator, a game currently in development that according to him is supposed to “bring mayhem upon a crazy world of weird humans in virtual reality.” It was bright, insane, and off-putting, and held together with spit and glue, but deeply and undeniably interesting.
Dexta Shows Off Latest Exoskeleton Gloves That Let You Touch VR
Dexta Robotics are looking to create the next generation VR input device, one that not only lets you interact with virtual objects but also lets you sense the size and solidity of them, letting you touch virtual reality. This is the Dexmo exoskeleton glove.
‘Call of Duty: Infinite Warfare’ VR Experience to be Shown on PSVR at Official Fan Event
Debuting early next month at Call of Duty XP 2016, the official fan celebration hosted by Activision, attendees will have a chance to see what’s being called an “exclusive” Call of Duty VR experience running on PlayStation VR.
