nVidia Convrge Talk Details Upcoming ‘VR Direct’ Driver Features
The Convrge team pulled somewhat of a coup last week when Nathan Reed from nVidia, gave his presentation “VR Direct: How NVIDIA Technology Is Improving the VR Experience” to an assembled audience inside Convrge’s charmingly polygonal VR social space.
VR Support Coming to YouTube’s 360 Degree Video Playback
Earlier this month, YouTube officially threw the digital lever to enable 360 video support for the first time on the video sharing platform. At the time the official announcement of the new functionality didn’t include any mention of VR, though we speculated that it would surely be on the way.
And indeed it is. Since then we’ve learned, thanks to an article from Gizmodo’s Sean Hollister, that VR support for 360 videos is very much on YouTube’s radar.
“Imagine capturing a perfect sunset—or the birth of your child—then inviting someone to experience it in virtual reality. That’s coming, too,” Hollister wrote. “YouTube product manager Sanjeev Verma tells Gizmodo that Google Cardboard and stereoscopic 3D support are definitely on the roadmap. Livestreaming, as well.”
In addition to YouTube, there are a number of startups hoping to be the go-to place for streaming virtual reality video.
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.
