Yesterday Apple held a keynote presentation to update the world on their latest products. While the company didn’t have any announcements on the AR/VR front, it’s clear that it’s only a matter of time before they enter the fray.
Since announcing Project Alloy, a self-contained VR headset reference platform built with RealSense technology, Intel has released high resolution renders of the device providing an up close view of ports, buttons, and sensors.
At a special event in New York today, Sony took to the stage to introduce it’s long rumoured, more powerful console, previously referred to as ‘Neo’ – it’s called PlayStation 4 Pro and it’ll have some interesting enhancements for the forthcoming PlayStation VR headset.
Casino VR Poker, the online free-to-play casino hosting live Texas hold’em, has today launched on Oculus Home, now allowing users to play in a cross-platform space with either Gear VR or Oculus Rift. The Steam version with Rift support is ‘coming soon’.
Amid a global recall for the newly launched Note 7 due to exploding battery issues, Oculus warns that users should not use the device in the Gear VR headset prior to getting it replaced.
PlayStation VR arrives on October 13th, and with the promise of over 50 titles arriving by the end of year, Sony is sensibly providing demos of some of the key titles as a launch showcase.
Dexta’s exoskeleton glove is a haptic input system which is designed to give users a sense of touch in VR. These new videos which show how the company’s ‘Dextarity Interaction Engine’ gives developers the tools they need to get the virtual world to push back.
When Rand Miller was a kid, he played Dungeons & Dragons with his brother Robyn where they would go on adventures together exploring and creating imagined worlds. They wanted to embed that same sense of wonder and awe of exploration and discovery into a videogame, and so they were inspired to create Myst (1993) together. They tend to think of Myst, Riven (1997), and their latest adventure game Obduction more as places than games since you can’t die, and you’re learning more about the story of the world as you solve puzzles.
Intel recently announced the planned acquisition of Movidius Technologies, a company specializing in on-device vision processing units (VPUs) and algorithms involved in a number of areas such as deep learning, depth processing, navigation/mapping, and natural interactions.
Until Dawn: Rush of Blood is a literal ‘rail shooter’ for PlayStation VR.
Stephanie Harvey (aka “missharvey”) is a professional eSports gamer playing Counter-Strike: Global Offensive with the Counter Logic Gaming Red team. I had a chance to catch up with her at PAX West to talk about the future of eSports in VR, the ecosystem of announcers and observers that makes games more entertaining for spectators, her training schedule, core competencies for maintaining a competitive edge, and all of the various ingredients that have to emerge in order to have a viable VR eSports ecosystem.
With Valve’s move to open up its Lighthouse tracking technology to third parties, Triad Semiconductor is soon to be selling specialized chips which companies can use to create new VR headsets and peripherals with SteamVR Tracking.
If you’ve got a compatible Samsung phone, here’s a deal worth considering: the 2015 Gear VR headset can be bought brand new for $60.
Announced alongside the new Galaxy Note 7 smartphone last month, the 2016 Gear VR headset is new and improved, with thoughtful backward compatibility with prior Gear VR phones. Our pal Ritchie Djamhur explores the differences compared to the 2015 model.
Starbreeze, Acer and the StarVR team are celebrating a milestone this week as the very first headsets, sporting a unique 210 degree field of view, have rolled off the production line and are winging their way to IMAX, who’ll be using them to wow customers with new immersive content to be shown at IMAX venues.
