Oculus’ Mobile VR Jam begins today with prizes totaling $1 million. The company is incentivizing the creation of virtual reality games and experiences for the Samsung Gear VR headset, which Samsung built in collaboration with Oculus.
Ana Ribeiro, the creative mind behind the delightful retro gaming infused VR experience Pixel Rift (recently re-titled ‘Pixel Ripped’) talks to Road to VR’s Jon Tustain at the inaugural Southwest VR conference recently on how the project came to be and her desire to bring the classic 80’s and 90’s gaming experience to a new generation through the medium of virtual reality.
We reported a while back on a hobby project by 3D modeller Quentin Lengele to reproduce Rick Deckard’s apartment from the classic dystopian Sci-fi flick Blade Runner (1982). Well, the project received an update recently with screenshots showing great progress and some staggering attention to detail.
SWVR‘s (Southwest VR) inaugural UK event in February attracted a great selection of industry talent to talk on their experiences developing for VR. One of the current hot topics amongst creative thinkers in the VR space is how to tackle the storytelling challenges and grasp the narrative opportunities that virtual reality presents. Nick Pittom, who has pioneered VR storytelling through his acclaimed Studio Ghibli VR dioramas, has more experience than many in this area and was asked to speak on the subject at the event.
Surge is an impressive real-time VR music video built in Unreal Engine 4 that’s definitely worth your time.
Crystal Rift the “experiential horror challenge game” designed from the ground-up for VR headsets will launch on Valve’s Steam Platform via the Early Access program on April 20th where dungeon crawler aficionados will be able to get their hands on the first act of the game and a promising ‘in VR’ level editor.
The crowdfunded successor to the PC gaming classic Descent, Underground packs Oculus Rift and Steam VR / HTC Vive support and the impressive new trailer gives us a tantalising glimpse of what could be should it’s campaign succeed.
Along with Doom, Descent was one of the flagship games for PC that, should your setup have the legs, provided a glimpse at our inevitable 3D gaming future. Descent was ‘proper’ 3D too, both in terms of the cutting-edge rendering of subterranean caverns and the gameplay, with players required to navigate 3D space.
The new title adds virtual reality support (both HTC Vive and Oculus Rift claimed) and up to date visuals courtesy of Epic’s Unreal Engine 4. An ‘epic’ single player campaign is promised to backers as well as multiplayer support.
With just a few hours to go, the campaigns total is tantalisingly close to its $600,000 goal, so if you’ve been on the fence about supporting the campaign, nows the time to decide.
Starting today, Samsung Galaxy S6 and S6 Edge are available from all major wireless carriers, both of which will be compatible with the forthcoming second iteration of Samsung Gear VR.
In April, WEARVR and Road to VR are joining forces to bring you VR goodness from the WEARVR app marketplace, a cross-platform repository of virtual reality experiences. This video gives a glimpse of the top 10 most popular experiences from the last week.
Which is your favorite?
Interested in listing your app on WEARVR? The company encourages you to reach out to info@wearvr.com. In the next few weeks they’ll allow developers to manage their own listings and upload files directly.
The Proto Awards, virtual reality’s very own annual awards show, has now announced that July 1st, 2015 will be the starting date for submissions. If you’re looking to garner a little notoriety for your VR project, now is the time to get cracking!
Unello Design, the indie studio behind Eden River HD, has just released two new apps for Cardboard, Zen Zone and Nebuland. Taking a few ‘me time minutes’ in the middle of a hectic day was never so easy.
Freefly VR launches today, a VR smartphone adapter with a unique universal design for phones from 4.7 to 6.1-inches. Road to VR readers can take an exclusive 18% discount off a purchase of the headset.
In April, WEARVR and Road to VR are joining forces to bring you VR goodness from the WEARVR app marketplace, a cross-platform repository of virtual reality experiences. This video gives a glimpse of WEARVR’s top 10 most popular VR horror experiences of all time.
Which is your favorite?
See Also: Intense ‘Alone in the Rift’ Reaction Shows the Potential of Virtual Reality Horror Games
Interested in listing your app on WEARVR? The company encourages you to reach out to info@wearvr.com. In the next few weeks they’ll allow developers to manage their own listings and upload files directly.
