A collection of virtual reality experiences were developed during a 24 hour coding marathon hosted by Comcast NBCUniversal in Hollywood earlier this month. We dropped in quickly after just getting back from the Samsung Developer Conference 2014 to investigate what was made.
The VRA’s are imminent, and as we approach what is believed to be a first of its kind – an awards ceremony held entirely in VR – here are the details of the developers that made the short lis plus where you can watch the event live.
VR Chat, the virtual reality social application, has been used to deliver one of the first university lectures through virtual reality. We talk to developer Jesse Joudrey about the project.
GE (General Electric) are celebrating the launch of a brand new $500 million facility in Rio, Brazil dedicated to researching the future of ‘subsea factories’ to mine oil and gas. The company decided to commission virtual experience auteurs Kite & Lightning (of Senza Peso and other well-known VR experiences) to build a VR experience to illustrate some of the extreme challenges involved.
An ominous, desolate world awaits, and you, the silent explorer, must traverse the remains of a once great civilization and unlock its secrets to escape the clutches of puzzle-induced insanity. Did you see someone over your shoulder? It couldn’t be. You’re alone, right? If this sounds familiar, then you’re in luck, because there’s something special on the rise for fans of the 1997 PC gaming hit Riven (1997)—it’s a new virtual reality game called Ethereon.
Dreamporte is a non-profit organisation set up to help bring the wonders of the world to underprivileged children. But they need help to achieve their goal: your 360 degree or 3D videos. We asked co-founder of the project, Kelly Zhang, to tell us what Dreamporte is and why it matters.
The Humble Bundle Store’s daily deal will net you 50% off of Alien Isolation, a survival-horror game which can be modified with relative ease to enable hidden Oculus Rift support. In addition to getting a great deal, 10% of your money goes to charitable organizations.
Radial-G from Tammeka Games may have struck out on their recent Kickstarter campaign, but the futuristic ‘pipe’ racer is back by popular demand via Steam Early Access with new tracks, ships and all important Oculus Rift menu integration.
The SVVR Meetup in Mountain View, CA is getting an early gift this year: Oculus is bringing their latest ‘Crescent Bay’ Rift prototype to the organization’s Holiday Party on December 11th, one of the first opportunities for the public to try the unit. The Holiday Party event also features a lineup of presentations, including the delivery of the first production-ready STEM system which will be given by Sixense to SVVR.
Move over Google Cardboard and Durovis Dive, because Pinć wants a seat at the mobile VR table, and with their new iPhone 6 case—which hides a small form factor VR headset—they’ll be needing a little elbow room.
If you thought a company like Apple was too big and too busy to concern itself with virtual reality, think again. A new job listing from the company seeks a software engineering who can create “high performance apps that integrate with Virtual Reality systems.”
At Samsung’s 2014 Developer Conference, it was finally announced that the Gear VR ‘Innovator Edition’ headset, powered by Samsung’s Galaxy Note 4 mobile phone, would be released in early December. The Note 4’s latest software update (v4.4.4) indicates Samsung is on track to deliver and reveals what might be in store for early adopters.
Leap Motion’s ‘3D Jam’ is a developer competition sponsored by IndieCade, and centers around the popular 3D motion controller, Leap Motion. With contestants vying for $75,000 in prizes, you can imagine that the competition to produce interactive environments that play well with the Oculus Rift-mountable sensor is pretty stiff. Previews are out and the finish line is near, with the competition is set to close on December 1st. Among them, we take a look at two crazy-awesome submissions in particular that have caught our attention here at Road to VR – Soundscape VR and Weightless.
Vireio Perception is a free, open source VR injection driver that can ‘graft’ VR support to non-VR games titles. The Vireio Perception team have just released RC1 of the driver which includes an innovative memory location scanner which promises to improve compatibility.
castAR, the augmented reality gaming system, have provided an update for Kickstarter backers eagerly awaiting news. The first ‘early’ design glasses have shipped! What’s more they filmed the journey of the very first set from packing to Post Office.
