Starbreeze continues to make strategic VR/AR partnerships as today it has announced a $1.65M acquisition of augmented reality and “toys to life” company ePawn, who bring them some intriguing technologies with potential applications for the immersive space.
At GDC this year, Sony revealed some of their first experiments into social VR with a four-person demo that was showing at their press event. The avatars looked like South Park characters, and the thumbs up or down gestures using the move controllers would trigger similar emoji-like expressions that were shown to the other avatars in the experience.
I had a chance to catch up with Ellie of Sony’s Online Technology Group to learn more about their iterative design process around discovering a locomotion technique that was comfortable, some of the most surprising and joy-induced social interactions that they discovered, cultivating the sense of shared spectacle, and creating objects that optimize communication between players. I also share some of my own memories and reflections of the experience as well, and it’s some positive signs that Sony is both exploring and innovating in the social VR space.
LISTEN TO THE VOICES OF VR PODCAST
Here’s an audience member’s recording of the same social VR demo that I experience at GDC. This was presented during a VRDC session:
Music: Fatality & Summer Trip
The announcement video for Pokémon Go, an “augmented reality” game for smartphones, opens by asking us to “imagine Pokémon in the real world.” And imagination is exactly what you’ll need to consider the game as landing anywhere within the realm of augmented reality.
Google is working to add fully immersive browsing capability to Chrome, allowing users to browse any part of the web in VR, not just those sites that are specially built for VR.
The Void are one of the first mixed reality experience specialists and their first big experience opens to the public July 1st at Madame Tussauds New York. It’s called Ghostbusters: Dimension and here’s a sneak peak.
AMD today launched the Radeon RX 480, the company’s budget-friendly GPU that promises to lower the barrier of entry into virtual reality. And while VR still isn’t exactly what you’d call cheap, budget-conscious consumers looking to upgrade their old gaming rigs or build new, VR-ready rigs should definitely take notice.
Social platform AltspaceVR welcomed voice actor and creator of cult show Rick and Morty, Justin Roiland who joined a virtual audience inside the social VR platform where he drew, riffed and generally entertained everyone.
New Retro Arcade has finally got the roomscale treatment with newly released support for the HTC Vive (and Oculus Rift CV1) through Steam.
Machine Learning has the potential to revolutionize so many different aspects of our lives, and it’s starting to enter into game development with IBM’s Watson.
Developer Digital Cybercherries has launched the New Retro Arcade Tech Demo on Steam for the HTC Vive. The tech demo is functionally identical to the game seen previously on the Oculus Rift, but now with support for the Vive’s roomscale capabilities and motion controllers, as well as support for the consumer version of the Oculus Rift.
Want to substantially improve image quality whilst immersed in your HTC Vive? Here’s details of a new tweak that allows you to engage supersampling in SteamVR and compatible games with the resulting differences impressive – as long as your system can handle it.
Taiwan-based electronics firm Acer recently announced an investment into game studio Starbreeze equating to the sum of $9M USD, an amount intended to further the manufacture and commercialization of Starbreeze’s high-FOV, high resolution StarVR headset.
The seminal comedy show Seinfeld has formed the basis of inspiration for the latest social VR experience as the famous apartment from the long-running show has been rebuilt in VR for you to enjoy immersively, along with a bunch of friends.
The Crystal Curse is death-defying puzzle game created by Sigtrap Games for HTC Vive. Make sure to invite your friends and family though, because much like the breakout hit Keep Talking and Nobody Explodes, The Crystal Curse requires more than one person to play.
