CastAR (formerly Technical Illusions) today announced a $15 million Series A fundraising round to continue development of their augmented reality glasses of the same name. The company previously raised just over $1 million on Kickstarter in late 2013.
Cosmo Scharf, a good friend of the Rev VR Podcast, returns once again to talk about all of the exciting VR events happening in Los Angeles this year. With the VRLA Summer Expo and the second annual Proto Awards just around the corner, the VRLA team has a full lineup of VR to share with us.
Crystal Rift, the grid-based dungeon crawler by developer Psytec Games, has just received an update via Steam Early Access which includes the introduction of a whole host of monster enemies for you to encounter. Also, news of the team’s HTC Vive support which is currently in development.
Here’s a brand new gameplay video featuring the new Guerilla Cambridge crafted sports mech shooter ‘Rigs: Mechanized Combat League‘ for the PS4 and Project Morpheus.
Ever wondered if Dance Dance Revolution would work in VR? Ever wondered why anyone would even try? Well, developer Corey Drake did it and we wanted to know why and how, so we asked him.
Immerse yourself in the vast, beautiful world of EVE Online via this new 360 video which aims to illustrate the hugely popular MMO from CCP Games at its grandest.
Stress Level Zero, the developers behind forthcoming HTC Vive / Steam VR title Hover Junkers, have come up with a series of concept titles for the Microsoft Hololens which we’d love to see become a reality.
The Peterson Case is a title from developers Quarter Circle Games which places you in the shoes of detective Franklin Reinhardt as he tries to unravel the mystery behind 2 missing families. Built in Unity 5 with VR support, it looks both wonderfully atmospheric and frankly terrifying.
This short trailer for upcoming title ‘Planets’ demonstrates how the HTC Vive can let you create a ‘room scale’ solar system of your very own.
The SHVR Vive Jam in Shanghai enters its second day. Developers have put pen to paper fingers to keyboard to begin executing their ideas. The 14 teams have access to three HTC Vive development kits for testing in 30 minute blocks. They’d better use their time wisely as submissions are due at 4pm tomorrow.
Since beginning my journey learning and writing about VR in 2011, I’ve talked with hordes of believers and critics alike. Through it all, I’ve found three common arguments touted by skeptics of the adoption of VR in the consumer market. Having immersed myself in this new era of VR for years now, I feel confident in responding to these concerns.
CCP Games, makers of Eve: Online and the upcoming multi-headset title Eve: Valkyrie, are expanding the Eve universe to Samsung Gear VR with their new mobile release Gunjack. The game isn’t only jaw-droppingly beautiful, (and despite my penchant for gaze-shooter hate) it’s actually really fun.
Pendleton Ward, aka @buenothebear on Twitter, the creator of the hit surreal fantasy animation Adventure Time, seems to have ‘gone full VR’, what’s more – judging by the content, he looks to be a fan.
If you haven’t head of Adventure Time, leave now and check it out immediately. It’s one of the most original, surreal, scary and warmly funny series to hit TV in years. It follows best friends Finn (the human) and Jake (the dog) on their adventures in a bizarre fantasy land – which is about as effective a synopsis as I can give … just go and watch it.
Anyway, Adventure Time‘s creator Pendleton Ward has a habit of elaborate and length twitter personality switches. His latest account switch comes in the form of ‘`+! VR INFORMER ¡+`’, a faux VR news channel seemingly dedicated to posting at once outlandish and strangely practical musings on virtual reality, with a touch of lampoonery thrown in. Interestingly though, the drawings do show that either Ward is pretty keen on researching his spoofs or he actually is an informed, closet VR geek.
Seen those videos of a oculus rift rigged up onto a 10 ft pole on some kids back.. i wanna try that man.. real bad.. pic.twitter.com/STG1Qdvesg
— `+! VR INFORMER ¡+` (@buenothebear) August 12, 2015
Seemingly the above initial illustration sparked the continuing series of images. Perhaps Ward spotted this project from a little while ago.
y'all.. the sixense stem system will still be relevant.. virtual cocktails.. gonna need 'em to stick on yer cups man! pic.twitter.com/cqYFrgPqj0
— `+! VR INFORMER ¡+` (@buenothebear) August 12, 2015
Here’s where Ward has either really done his homework or has patently been soaking up VR news from the last 12 months or so. The comment on and depiction of Sixense STEM is entirely topical, especially as he’s juxtaposed it with an HTC Vive controller and has himself holding the latest Oculus Touch controllers.
I wanna tilt my oculus down off my nose and look cool.. y'know? pic.twitter.com/rKYyCuPvv9
— `+! VR INFORMER ¡+` (@buenothebear) August 13, 2015
Whether intentional or not, the above image is a neat and amusing microcosm of comments from outside the VR enthusiast community, mainly centring around how much of a dork VR tends to make you look to those outside your virtual world.
— `+! VR INFORMER ¡+` (@buenothebear) August 13, 2015
The above is actually a fairly perceptive echo of a classic fear attached to the eventual prevalence of virtual reality – that of the temptation to entirely retreat to a virtual world of your choosing and eschewing the physical. I particularly like the continuing STEM theme with the tracked Coke bottle. Reminds me strongly of this rather famous and chilling vision of the future, ‘Reality’ by Eran Fowler:
How long Pendleton Ward will continue on his flights of VR fantasy and fancy via Twitter is unclear, but it’s encouraging to see that virtual reality is exposed to mainstream culture sufficiently now that those outside the VR community feel the technology is worthy of commenting on, even if it is to gently take the piss. Progress, truly.
To keep you connected to the action at this weekend’s SHVR Vive Jam in Shanghai we’re reporting directly from the event. On day one we take a look at the setup and structure of this weekend long dev session.
