Gear VR Now Available in 9 Countries, Paid Store Still Stuck in US but Going Abroad “Soon” Says Oculus
Rev VR Podcast (Ep.99): Discussing the HTC Vive with Developers Jon Hibbins and Nick Pittom
Fresh from their experiences at EGX Rezzed in London, Jon and Nick join my on the podcast to discuss, and debate their findings about the Valve/HTC Vive virtual reality solution.
‘Diplopia’ Becomes ‘Vivid Vision’, Trials Get Underway – Interview with CEO James Blaha
Diplopia is a virtual reality title designed to provide targeted exercises for those suffering from vision issues. The team behind the application are rebranding, changing their name to Vivid Vision. Brian Hart caught up with CEO James Blaha to get up to speed on the latest in virtual reality vision therapy.
Rift Coaster Meets TRON in ‘Grid Coaster’, Demo Available Now
Grid Coaster is an Oculus Rift enabled roller coaster experience built on Unreal Engine 4 which wants to recall the aesthetics of 80’s sci-fi Disney classic TRON (1981).
SVVR Conference & Expo 2015 is Coming May 18th-19th, Early Bird Tickets Available Now
One of the first of its kind, the SVVR Conference & Expo was borne from one of the longest running virtual reality meet up groups. Now entering its second year, 2015’s show promises to be bigger and better, moving to considerably larger digs at the San Jose Convention Center. Book your early bird ticket now and save up to $100.
‘Ground Control’ and ‘Stompz’, Two Natural VR Controllers for Your Feet
The VR community has been rattling its cage for intuitive input devices for quite a while now, and because nobody really knows exactly what that means yet, we’re entertaining anything and everything until we do. Here we take a look at two Kickstarter campaigns currently in progress addressing just that: ‘Stompz’ and ‘Ground Control’, two small form factor input solutions designed to be used with those dangly useless things hiding under your desk right now (your feet).
ADR1FT Wins $15,000 in Latest Round of Unreal Developer Grants
We’re seriously excited for ADR1FT, a made-for-VR title which takes the ‘astronaut-in-peril’ themes seen in films like Gravity into the interactive realm with stunning visuals to boot. Happily, Epic Games seems to have recognised ADR1FT’s promise, awarding developer Three One Zero $15,000 one of the 3 final Unreal Developer Grants.
HTC Vive ‘Developer Edition’ Sign-ups Could Start Next Week
According to a report at Ars Technica, HTC’s VR Headset the ‘Vive’ could find its way into selected developers hands very soon for nothing. Sign-ups for the device may also begin as early as next week.
‘Action Star: Parachute’ VR Experience Has You Throwing Yourself Out of a Plane
Istanbul based digital workshop Codemodeon have come up with a VR experience which adopts some clever mechanics to sell the illusion of throwing yourself out of a plane and parachuting to an island paradise.
“They did it!” William Gibson is Given a Taste of Cyberspace via Gear VR
Legendary author of 80’s cyberpunk thriller Neuromancer, a book in which he famously coined the term ‘cyberspace’, takes a spin in virtual reality courtesy of Samsung’s Gear VR. It seems he was suitably impressed.
Steven Spielberg to Direct Film Adaptation of ‘Ready Player One’ VR Novel
Prolific director and producer Steven Spielberg is coming back to Warner Bros. to direct the film adaptation of Ready Player One, Ernest Cline’s lauded VR-centric novel set in a dystopian future.
Update: Facebook’s CTO May Have Just Hinted at a 2015 Release Date for the Oculus Rift
On stage at Facebook’s F8 conference, the company’s CTO, Mike Schroepfer, may have just let slip a hint at the Oculus Rift release date.
Oculus’ Michael Abrash ‘Why Virtual Reality Will Matter to You’ Livestream @ 10am PST
Today Oculus’ Chief Scientist, Michael Abrash, will take to the stage at Facebook’s F8 conference to expound upon virtual reality. As Abrash puts it, “Maybe not today, maybe not tomorrow, but someday and for the rest of your life—this talk will explain why you’re going to care about virtual reality and what it means for developers.”
Rev VR Podcast (Ep. 98): Catching up with Ikrima Elhassan from Kite & Lightning
It has been a while since the guys from Kite & Lightning have been on the show, but that doesn’t mean they haven’t been pumping out some amazing things since we last spoke. Ikrima takes some time out of his busy day to discuss their latest projects, and the current news in VR.
