Exploring Methods for Conveying Object Weight in Virtual Reality
With no way of generating resistive force feedback with today’s VR motion controllers, how can we make users feel and behave as though virtual objects have varying weights? Creative agency B-Reel explored several approaches and open sourced their experiments for others to learn from.
Update Opens the Door for Enhanced Roomscale Tracking with Rift and Touch
A recent update to Oculus Home has enabled support for tracking the Rift and Touch with up to four trackers, enabling robust coverage of a roomscale space.
Limited Edition DOTA 2 Championship HTC Vive Now Available
Feeling your immersive adventures leave you lacking in the style department? Want to stand out from the VR crowd? Then this new limited edition HTC Vive headset might be for you.
Memory Capture & Virtual Tourism for the Benefit of Those with Physical Disabilities
Roy Sherrill is enabling the time travelers from the future to get a sense of presence at a number of different tech and cultural events around the San Francisco Bay area. Roy’s been shooting a lot of 360 videos from his wheelchair at a number of different VR events this Spring and Summer, and he thinks of his selfie stick with a 360-degree bubblecam as a “wizard staff” and “portal stone.” When asked to explain why he’s recording all of this footage he says, “I capture slices of reality one moment at a time and save it in a bubble so that I can project others into it in the future so they can get the sense of presence as if they’re there themselves.” He’s enabling future members of the Society for Creative Anachronism to have a more direct experience of history as it unfolds.
Take an Immersive Drive Through the World’s Most Secretive Country
North Korea is one of the most secretive states in the world, but one man received permission from the nation’s strict regime to capture a drive through its capital Pyongyang. It’s a rare and immersive peek into a world few are allowed to witness.
Samsung’s New Standalone VR Headset May be Called ‘Odyssey’
Samsung reportedly confirmed back at the company’s own developer conference that a new, standalone VR headset was on it’s way and new trademark filings may indicate it’s name.
HTC Vive Accessory Store Now Stocks Things You Actually Need
Want to know how much a replacement HTC Vive Base Station or SteamVR controller would set you back should the worst happen? HTC’s Vive accessory store has been updated to include these items, along with some eye opening prices.
New Magic Leap Videos Shows AR Shopping and Voice Control
A new video of Magic Leap’s augmented reality tech in action was shown at a conference in China today.
Facebook CEO: ‘In Five to Ten Years AR Will Be Where VR is Today’
Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg says the company is working seriously on augmented reality R&D, but he believes it will take time for the technology to catch up to where VR is today.
Immersive Game Design Lessons from ‘Pokémon Go’
Pokémon Go has quickly become the #1 mobile game of all time, and while there’s been some debate as to whether it should be considered Augmented Reality or not, it’s clear that location-based gaming has taken to the next level.
I had a chance to unpack some of the game design principles to see how it’s optimized to facilitate cooperative social gameplay with Roadhouse Interactive’s VR Director Kayla Kinnunen at Casual Connect this week. Kayla talks about how Pokémon Go has connected her to more strangers in two weeks than in 15 years, how it’s changing her relationship with her wife, encouraging her to walk more, as well as some of the social contract issues and deeper lessons for the future of augmented and virtual reality gaming.
NVIDIA’s Next-gen Titan X Has 11 TFLOPS Performance, 12GB of Memory, and Costs 1 Arm and 1 Leg
This evening at an artificial intelligence event at Stanford, NVIDIA CEO Jen-Hsun Huang revealed the next-gen Titan X, the company’s crazy-powerful, crazy-expensive high-end GPU.
PlayStation VR Game Prices Previewed in Amazon Listings
Listings on Amazon have revealed prices for some PlayStation VR games, giving an idea of what Sony plans to charge for the first wave of virtual reality titles to hit the console platform.
NVIDIA Says New Foveated Rendering Technique is More Efficient, Virtually Unnoticeable
NVIDIA Research has demonstrated a new method of foveated rendering which the company says is nearly invisible to users. Researchers behind the new approach say the method can drastically reduce rendering workload, allowing for more detailed virtual reality scenes.
Designing a VR Experience for Streaming Spectators on VREAL
What are the game design considerations for creating a VR experience that will be compelling for not only the primary player, but also the spectators who may be watching it on a livestream with VREAL? This was the big question that I discussed with VREAL’s Director of Developer Relations Tadhg Kelly, who has been collaborating with VR developers to make sure that an experience works for both third-person spectators as well as the primary player.
