Today Rothenberg Ventures has announced the launch of the first VR accelerator, ‘River’, created to jumpstart early-stage companies working on exciting virtual reality projects. To start, Rothenberg Ventures plans to invest $1 million across 10 companies, and they’re accepting applications starting today.
NextVR, a company focusing on live-broadcast 360 degree 3D VR video, has recently announced the first piece of content that they will publically release: Colplay’s Ghost Stories Virtual Reality Concert Experience. The company will start by releasing a VR video clip from the popular single A Sky Full of Stars which will soon be available on Samsung Gear VR, followed later by the full concert in VR.
Tammeka games, the UK based creators of “high-octane multi-player sci-fi racer” Radial-G, have made it to Steam via the Greenlight program. To celebrate, the team have released an ‘early access’ demo which includes new tracks and ships. We take it for a spin in VR.
With the Gear VR and Oculus Rift ‘Crescent Bay’ prototype currently in the spotlight, it shouldn’t be forgotten that Sony’s PS4 VR headset, Project Morpheus, is still brewing in the background. Development kits are out in the wild and work has already begun on bringing VR to Sony’s console. One developer wielding the white and glowing headset is Justin Moravetz of Zero Transform. Known for the VR titles Proton Pulse and Vanguard V, Moravetz shares his perspective on developing for Project Morpheus.
Deep inside the inlands of Florida, a technology conference was held that brought together a collection of virtual reality headsets and simulations that focused primarily on military applications. The event was called I/ITSEC (Interservice/Industry Training, Simulation and Education Conference) and was touted as the “world’s largest modeling, simulation, and training conference”.
Attendees to one of the longest running VR meetups around, the Silicon Valley Virtual Reality event, had an extra special treat in store for them this thanksgiving as Oculus dropped by with their latest feature prototype, the Crescent Bay. This video captures some of the demo recipient’s reactions.
With Samsung’s Gear VR now out in the wild, yet more developers will be inspired to get started with mobile VR development. While there are many parallels to regular mobile development, there’s also unfamiliar challenges to tackle. To help new developers get a head start, we asked E McNeil, developer of the Gear VR launch title, Darknet, to share what he’s learned.
Version 2 of the ’80s inspired NewRetroArcade is out, now offering an even wider selection of ’80s and ’90s emulated titles. The developers, DigitalCyberCherries, haven’t just swapped a few cabinets in the reminiscently dingy virtual arcade though, but have actually added support for yet more emulators including SNES, NES, and MAME to their already impressive list of vintage video games.
See Also: Review: ‘NewRetroArcade’ is a Must-play Homage to Video Game Culture Old and New
Every arcade cabinet is now up and running, including Street Fighter 2 (1991) and Out Run (1986), which were originally blocked by conveniently placed bar stools. A few other favorites like Metal Slug (1996) and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (1989) also make an appearance among the many new titles gracing the neon-lit gamer’s den.
DigitalCyberCherries has also added a PAL version SNES console in the corner (replete with pizza grease smudges) that gives you an even greater chance to relive the 16-bit glory days with titles like The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past (1991), Earthworm Jim (1995), and Star Fox (1993) to name a few.
The developers have made a concise choice in the new version of their NewRetroArcade tech demo: the team has decided to not sacrifice the nostalgic coziness of the arcade in favor of packing in both new and legacy titles from the preceding version—potentially expanding the hall’s modest footprint and ruining the vibe. Instead, the yet unmasked band of DigitalCyberBanditos have side-stepped the issue by allowing direct access to all of the games in a single emulator mode that serves up a solitary iteration of the ROM and corresponding platform of choice.
Whether it be on Nintendo, Super Nintendo, Game Boy, or the host of arcade titles emulated with MAME, NewRetroArcade still doesn’t ask for any quarters (or tokens), however many gamers would gladly feed in the dollar bills just to have the chance to upgrade the demo to multiplayer mode. Even the ability to post high-scores would be a welcome addition in the arcade, which admittedly can become a little lonely.
Considering the top-notch level of detail paid to this brilliantly realized space, we’re hoping DigitalCyberCherries has more up their collective sleeves.
Everyone’s got their favourite, retro-gaming experiences. What do you want to see in the next update?
Jaunt VR are seemingly working overtime to make up for their months running in stealth mode. A veritable flood of content is ushering forth from the company that’s specialising in producing and distributing stereoscopic 3D, 360 videos for VR. They’ve just released a further 4 mini-experiences, available for download now.
There’s something magical about flying, an almost legendary energy that taps into the fundamental will of all humans to be free — to control our own destiny in the face of certain peril. That’s how I imagine it to be anyway, because like most of us, I’ve been an airline coach-jockey my entire life, where courage is in dealing with the mundanities of confronting a space neither sufficient for my own legs, nor my Palmer Luckey-esque fits of hand flailing that subsequently result from having to block out a whole cabin’s worth of decade-old touch screens displaying Will and Grace or some such nonsense.
More life-like sea creatures are emerging from the depths of Dr. Llyrd ap Cenydd’s Ocean Rift, the underwater VR experience that’s soon to appear on Samsung’s Gear VR headset.
Yesterday Oculus announced that they’re acquiring Nimble VR, which launched a Kickstarter in October to fund creation of their motion input camera designed for VR headsets. Along with Nimble VR, 13th Lab and Chris Bregler also join the Oculus family.
It’s been just a few days and I’ve already been able to wow more people with VR through Gear VR than in the last month with the Oculus Rift DK2. Mobility is one of Gear VR’s biggest assets; at times, it feels like a DK2 in your pocket. I’ve showed Gear VR to family, taken it to friend’s houses, used it in the car, and even while eating sushi. But mobility isn’t the only place where Gear VR shines; the device undoubtedly represents the most complete and polished VR user experience to date.
Crystal Rift, a grid-based dungeon crawler game designed especially for VR, has reached their funding goal with only a few hours to spare until the official end of its crowdfunding campaign. In an effort to drum up more support, the lads have released their 8th update to their alpha version, with the final version hitting Steam sometime in July 2015.
The UK based developers Jon Hibbins (Squigs(1993) for Amiga) and Nick Pittom (aka “RedOfPaw”, the mind behind the Spirited Away recreation) have met their funding goal of £4000 (~$6200 for you colonial types) with less than 2 days left in the campaign. Although they’ve been successfully funded, there’s still time remaining to back the project and receive the game ahead of its official Steam release.
Plenty of £16 ($25) spots are left to support the campaign and receive a digital download of the final game in July 2015, along with an in-game mention and credit on the supporter page. For only 6 more quid (~$10) you can also reserve early beta access to the game, which is scheduled for April 2015.
To further entice prospective backers, they’ve released the 8th installment of their alpha demo for DK2, including a number of updates such as “more content, an improved map, more secrets, more story and new challenges.”
The free alpha also offers support for non-HMD users that want to get into the D&D-style chest looting and crystal grabbing business, although the PC version’s ‘right-click to look’ function greatly detracts from the game’s ominous simplicity.
If Crystal Rift can manage to scrape together some more copper farthings and sovereigns (more silly names for money) before the official end date of December 12th, they’ve also planned to push out more content.
Best of luck to the Crystal Rift team in their final few hours of the campaign, it’s an intriguing looking title and one we very much look forward to seeing more of in the coming months.
Samsung has reached out to let us know that Note 4 users on Verizon and Sprint can expect an update soon which will enable compatibility with Gear VR.
