Carmack on Gear VR: “Hold Off” on Buying New Phone Until Connect 2
John Carmack, CTO at Oculus, has tweeted advice to those considering a new phone for VR that they should wait until after Oculus’ 2nd Connect conference next month.
SHVR Vive Jam Kicks off With 40 of China’s Top VR Developers
Today marks the start of the SHVR Vive Jam, a weekend-long event giving Chinese developers a chance to prototype room-scale experiences on the HTC Vive. Hosted at the Transist office in Shanghai, the jam has drawn developers from across China and beyond.
WEARVR Weekly Top Ten VR Downloads – August #2
Looking for something fun to play in VR? We’ve got the top 10 downloads from the last week on the WEARVR app marketplace, a cross-platform repository of virtual reality experiences.
10. REPSOL Offshore VR
Did you ever fly on a helicopter to an offshore oil platform? You will start the journey aboard on a helicopter flying to an oil platform in the middle of the sea. Once landed, you will have the chance to explore the whole platform.
There are 10 key projects hidden, can you find all of them?
Platforms: Oculus Rift DK1/DK2 (Windows / MAC)
9. EXPERIENCE BALI – Island of the Gods
Bali, the famed Island of the Gods, with its varied landscape of hills and mountains, rugged coastlines and sandy beaches, lush rice terraces and barren volcanic hillsides all providing a picturesque backdrop to its colourful, deeply spiritual and unique culture, stakes a serious claim to be paradise on earth. Join INTREPID360 on a journey through this incredible island, from Sunrise to Sunset. Relax, take a deep breath, and enjoy your trip.
Platforms: Oculus Rift DK1/DK2 (Windows / MAC)
EXPERIENCE BALI – Island of the Gods
8. Boursin Sensorium Virtual Reality Experience
Enjoy the Boursin Sensorium virtual reality experience as you journey through a decadent fridge packed full of delicious foods and Boursin ingredients. Sweep through the herb forest, duck beneath the towering vegetables, wind around giant bottles of bubbly, and dive into the cheese – we promise this is a journey like no other!
Platforms: Oculus Rift DK1/DK2 (Windows)
Boursin Sensorium Virtual Reality Experience
7. RC Playground
Experience the thrill of driving an RC Truck in the comfort of your home, without the expense!
Platforms: Oculus Rift DK1/DK2 (Windows)
6. TELEPORTALED – A VR Sci-Fi Comedy
The First Virtual Reality Comedy about Teleportation…we think.
Watch in 4K!
The download is an MP4 video file that will need to be run with a VR media player. We recommend Whirligig if using with the Oculus Rift.
Platforms: Oculus Rift DK1/DK2 (Windows/Mac), Android
TELEPORTALED – A VR Sci-Fi Comedy
5. Yana Virtual Relaxation
Take a deep breath and relax as the sun begins to set. Enjoy the star-filled night sky as the moon rises and a catamaran glides across the water. Is that a shooting star in the sky? Welcome the new day as the sun begins to rise over the tranquil waters.
Yana is a virtual reality relaxation experience that takes you to your own personal beach. The perfect getaway from a busy day at the office, or a great way to relax and clear your mind.
Platforms: Oculus Rift DK2 (Windows), Gear VR, Android
4. Dinotrek VR Experience
DinoTrek is a Virtual Reality immersive experience showing what it might have been like to live during the time of the dinosaurs! It is designed for Google Cardboard, by Geomedia, Inc. and HIVE VR.
Platforms: Oculus Rift DK2 (Windows), iOS
3. Unreal Villa Demo
This is Leeco Studio’s impressive first project on UE4 using 3ds Max, Marvelous Designer, Photoshop and Speedtree.
Platforms: Oculus Rift DK2 (Windows)
2. The Hum: Abductions
“The Hum:Abductions – VR Proof of Concept” is a VR experience created – by Totwise Studios – to share with you a first insight of their efforts creating The Hum:Abductions – the alien abduction horror game in which they are working. You will take the role of a man who will discover the terrible situation of his family, while beginning a journey to the unknown.
This Proof of Concept is not intended to show actual gameplay features from the final game.
Platforms: Oculus Rift DK2 (Windows)
1. Ziran: Passage to Nature
Inspired by Taroko Gorge in Taiwan. Take a relaxing boat ride on calm waters through nature with this short VR tech demo.
Platforms: Oculus Rift DK2 (Windows)
Unity Announces New Virtual and Augmented Reality Conference, ‘Vision Summit’
Unity have been present during and indeed a key component of VR’s current renaissance. The earliest major 3D game engine to support the Oculus Rift DK1, Unity 3D rendered VR games still number in the majority.
Now, Unity Technologies have announced that they’re reaffirming their commitment to the space with a dedicated virtual and augmented reality conference – the annual Vision Virtual and Augmented Reality Summit – aimed at supporting and tracking these rapidly evolving industries.
A press release issued by the company states:
The rapid advancement of virtual and augmented reality technologies is opening incredible new pathways for people to interact with digital creations. New commercial, entertainment, and educational experiences using VR and AR will be as transformative as the jump from television to the Internet. The Vision Conference will be a developer driven event focused on exploring the new opportunities, thought provoking challenges, and extraordinary potential presented by current and future VR and AR technology.
The new conference is resolutely developer focussed, with talks and panels “…aimed to extend knowledge and create discussion on a wide range of topics including conceptual and practical design, technology deep dives, and new challenges facing developers”.
The conference will also integrate a new awards ceremony – the Vision Awards, designed to celebrate achievements in the VR and AR space over the previous 12 months.
Unity are requesting submissions from those interested in presenting and talking at the new summit – due to be held at the Loews Hollywood Hotel February 10-11 next year.
Meanwhile, if you’d like to attend – you can sign up for the Vision Conference newsletter to get notified as soon as tickets go on sale.
NVIDIA ‘Gameworks VR’ Beta and New ‘VR SLI’ Enabled Drivers Now Available
NVIDIA’s VR specific driver and API enhancements took a step towards VR enthusiast reality today as the GPU giant launched the first beta release of Gameworks VR and a set of publicly available ‘Game Ready’ drivers are now available to take advantage of the new API’s features.
Rev VR Podcast (Ep. 107): Living Large in Seattle
I’ve finally settled into my new home and ready to pump out new content. In this episode, I share my zany journey from Cincinnati to Seattle, announce my new employer, and bring you up to speed on my status.
VideoStitch Brings Realtime 3D 360 Stitching and Streaming Solutions to SIGGRAPH
VideoStitch, a Paris based 360 video tech specialist, has brought it’s latest realtime 360 stitching solution to SIGGRAPH in LA this week – and it sounds pretty impressive.
Palmer Luckey’s Response to James Cameron’s VR Dismissal
Speaking to IGN recently, founder of Oculus Palmer Luckey has somewhat belatedly responded to James Cameron’s dismissal of virtual reality and in particular the Oculus Rift last year.
Cloudhead Games’ ‘Blink’ to Bring Nausea-free VR to HTC Vive this Holiday
Cloudhead Games, the developers behind one of the first successfully Kickstarted VR dedicated games, have announced their technique called ‘blink’, a locomotion system they claim eliminates nausea entirely from VR gaming.
More VR Juggling With the HTC Vive, This Time Wirelessly
Back in May, Owlchemy Labs, developer of the forthcoming Job Simulator, shared with us a video that highlighted the impressive precision of the SteamVR controllers along with the HTC Vive. Now with the wireless SteamVR controllers in hand, Owlchemy’s Alex Schwartz shows off some tether-free tosses.
Valve’s ‘Secret Shop’ HTC Vive Demo Introduces You to DotA 2’s Fantastic World Full of Magic
Valve showed off a special HTC Vive demo at this year’s Gamescom featuring the shopkeeper from the Dota 2 universe. There’s no telling yet, but Secret Shop looks extremely cohesive and shows a taste of what level of VR interaction may be just around the corner for the studio.
Hands On: ‘The Assembly’ Offers New ‘Comfort Mode’, a Multi-Pronged Attack on Sim-Sickness
nDreams, a UK based games studio producing upcoming VR title The Assembly, are declaring war on the discomfort commonly associated with first-person VR games. We sat down with Senior Designer Jackie Tetley and Communications Manager George Kelion at Gamescom 2015 to hear more about the game’s new ‘VR comfort mode’.
