FirePanda’s Nick Pittom talks ‘Gaze Cues’ and the Art of VR Storytelling at SWVR 2015

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Apr 12, 2015

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.

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‘Surge’ is a Real-time VR Music Video You Don’t Want to Miss

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Ben Lang

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Apr 11, 2015

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Surge is an impressive real-time VR music video built in Unreal Engine 4 that’s definitely worth your time.

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Watch this Team Build an Oculus Rift Star Wars Pod Racing Game Live at Bitcamp (Video)

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Paul James

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Apr 11, 2015

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‘Crystal Rift’ Hits Steam Early Access on April 20th with First Act and Editor Playable

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Paul James

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Apr 11, 2015

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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.

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Epic New ‘Descent: Underground’ Trailer Shows Promise, Kickstarter in Final Hours

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Paul James

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Apr 10, 2015

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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.

Descent: Underground Kickstarter

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.

Galaxy S6 and S6 Edge Launch Today, Gear VR ‘1.5’ Compatible and Available from All Major Carriers

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Scott Hayden

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Apr 10, 2015

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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.

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WEARVR Weekly Top Ten VR Downloads – April 10th

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Ben Lang

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Apr 10, 2015

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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.

2015 Proto Awards Submissions Open July 1st, 2015

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Scott Hayden

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Apr 9, 2015

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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!

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Unello Design Brings VR Meditation to Google Cardboard with ‘Zen Zone’ and ‘Nebuland’

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Scott Hayden

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Apr 9, 2015

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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.

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Freefly VR Smartphone Adapter Launches Today – 18% Discount for Road to VR Readers

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Ben Lang

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Apr 9, 2015

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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.

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WEARVR Top Ten VR Horror Downloads – All Time

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Ben Lang

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Apr 8, 2015

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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?

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.

‘Level-Ups’: the Motorized Stilts that Provide Vertical Force Feedback in VR (video)

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Scott Hayden

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Apr 8, 2015

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Standing-up interactions are coming to VR sooner than we can pronounce ‘HTC Vive’ correctly (like ‘revive’ minus the ‘re’), and although flat virtual surfaces are a breeze to get around, what about stairs? ledges? curbs? You know, all of those little banal pieces of architecture that make streets, houses, and mountain pathways possible? Researchers at Hasso-Plattner-Institute in Potsdam, Germany aim to find out with their prototype device: ‘Level-Ups’

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Latest Version of ‘Virtual Desktop’ is Here, The Free App That Makes Your Entire Windows Computer Oculus Rift-capable

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Ben Lang

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Apr 8, 2015

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While futurists have contemplated for years what virtual reality computing might one day look like, there’s a simple solution to using your Windows computer in VR today, it’s called Virtual Desktop, and we’ve got a look at the latest version (0.9.25) that you can download and use right now.

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Sony’s Dave Ranyard Talks Project Morpheus VR Development and Accessibility at SWVR 2015

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Paul James

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Apr 8, 2015

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SWVR‘s inaugural UK event in February attracted a great selection of industry talent to talk on their experiences developing for VR. One such talk was given by Sony London Studios’ Director Dave Ranyard, whose team is working heavily with the Playstation VR headset Project Morpheus. Their aim, to try and find out what works and what doesn’t in this brave new entertainment platform. Road to VR’s Jon Tustain sat down with Ranyard after his talk to find out a little more.

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6 Free GDC 2015 Presentations VR Developers Should Watch

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Scott Hayden

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Apr 7, 2015

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Virtual reality was without a doubt this year’s hot topic at GDC 2015 in San Francisco, with talks presented by major hardware producers and indie game devs alike covering a wide array of VR-centric challenges and opportunities. Now GDC has published a number of these talks for free for eager VR devs that missed out on all the action.

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