As promised, Road to VR’s first DK2 has arrived and, despite my strong urge to rip open the carton like a maniac, I managed restraint long enough to film this short (and somewhat rushed) unboxing video. Apologies for some out of focus moments here – I’ve added annotations to the video where I missed info or blatently forgot what I was talking about.
There’s already a more detailed photo based unboxing to come which will also include my first impressions on the DK2. Early preview: it doesn’t suck! ;)
After delaying the shipment of the first batch of Oculus Rift DK2 units, to afford an extra week of SDK polish, Oculus VR has now made available the latest version of the Rift SDK. The new Oculus SDK 0.4.0 beta adds the all-important positional tracking support, a separate Oculus Runtime package, and more.
Nick Pittom, the mind behind the nostalgic VR recreations of famous Studio Ghibli films, is shifting his focus from game development to CG VR cinema. In the meantime, he’s launched a zany Kickstarter campaign to pay his way to the Oculus Connect Conference and to build an Oculus Rift compatible experience based on his trip. I recently caught up with Pittom to learn more about his ongoing virtual reality development plans.
Oculus VR’s ‘Best Practices Guide’ collects the latest research on comfortable VR game design into one place to give developers a head start. As the first Oculus Rift DK2 units are shipping out, the company has updated the guide with a new section focusing on positional tracking.
After what seems like a very long wait (but in fact is only about 4 months) and at least one self-imposed delay (to resolve last minute SDK issues), it looks as if the first set of lucky DK2 pre-order owners are finally receiving joyful emails from Oculus stating that shipment is now imminent.
Today Zero Transform, Justin Moravetz’s new VR-dedicated indie studio, have launched a Kickstarter for one of the coolest games I’ve yet seen in VR, Vanguard Valkyrie. A demo for the Oculus Rift DK1 and DK2 is available today for all backer levels, including the $1 tier!
Cyberith has been teasing us with the Virtualizer, an omnidirectional VR treadmill, for what seems like ages. Today the device, which promises to allow you to physically walk around virtual worlds, finally launches on Kickstarter starting at $599.
VR Video is garnering a lot of attention at the moment, and you can almost hear the Hollywood populace scrambling to capture the buzz surrounding the Oculus Rift and virtual reality.
Jaunt VR are riding the wave of ever growing commercial and creative interest in 3D 360 degree films designed to be viewed in a VR headset. They recently secured $6.8M in VC funding to develop their specialist VR video hardware and software and are currently leading the charge into Hollywood, first with a ground-breaking short horror film, and now they’re heading direct to the red carpet to bring you immersive VR coverage from the recent Guardians of the Galaxy movie premiere.
Jaunt VR Camera Array, On the set of Black Mass
The pictures from the launch of the latest Marvel/Hollywood blockbuster look much the same as any other you might have glanced at in any glossy magazine. Look closer though and you’ll spot a somewhat incongruous and entirely alien looking piece of cutting edge camera technology. Jaunt’s distinctive 14 camera 360 3D array, which perches atop a pole adorned with what looks to be a 360 microphone array, certainly stands out. The important thing though is that the Jaunt team were allowed access to film the celebrity event and once edited, stitched, post-processed and assembled, it will present another first for VR—the virtual red carpet experience.
Jaunt were asked to film the event, held at the El Capitan theater on Hollywood Boulevard as part of its Artisan’s initiative, designed to highlight behind-the-camera talent. Kenneth Voelker from Jaunt was the lucky individual charged with toting the unusual VR Camera rig. Variety’s David Cohen, co-host of the event said “I think everyone’s still figuring out how to use virtual-reality video for event coverage. When it works, it has the potential to let millions feel that they’ve been to places few people ever get to go: A red carpet, a seat next to Jack at a Lakers game, you name it.”
Jaunt have told us that the plan is to give Oculus Rift owners everywhere the chance to see the results of this special event for themselves soon as they’ll be releasing a version to the public, the final details of where and when to be confirmed. We’ll of course keep you posted.
While simulating familiar experiences in virtual reality is interesting in its own right, the technology is also capable of creating experiences that are otherwise impossible—for instance, plummeting to Earth in a futuristic EVA suit while fending off an alien parasite. Vanguard Valkyrie, the first title from Justin Moravetz’s VR-dedicated studio, Zero Transform, is making it clear that the arcade action of decades past will come blazing into the VR realm.
It’s hard to overestimate the impact the news that Facebook, the social media behemoth, had agreed to acquire Oculus VR an 18 month old startup that Kickstarted virtual reality. Although it’s fair to say that there’s probably no one working for Oculus with illusions about how the news might first be greeted, I suspect more than a few were surprised at the severity and swiftness of the VR community’s reaction.
There were mock pictures of DK1’s being burned, reports emerged of DK2 pre-orders being cancelled in disgust. High profile Minecraft developer ‘Notch’ illustrated his disappointment by declaring all development for the Oculus Rift would now cease. Palmer Luckey, founder of Oculus VR also took some major flak on the subreddit /r/oculus as he explained and defended the decision to sell. It was a fairly tumultuous 48 hours.
But, as is the case with storms, it passed. The influx of VR community ‘outsiders’ took their bile elsewhere, DK2 pre-orders were quietly re-instated and a more reasoned form of debate resumed. When people put aside the knee-jerk response to everyone’s favourite Internet villain acquiring their beloved and plucky underdog and considered what this could mean for the future of virtual reality, it dawned on them that this could well be a very good thing indeed.
One of many ‘hilarious’ post Facebook acquisition VR Headset mockups
Meanwhile, the legal steps required to complete the process were being made. In April the US’s FCC declared the deal had passed its Anti-trust tests. Now, the California Department of Business Oversight has declared the merger fair – results of the hearing can be found here (WARNING: Legalese Alert!). This concludes the acquisition for the total and rather precise sum of $2,001,985,000 – largely made up in Facebook stock. The breakdown is reported thus:
The aggregate potential amount of consideration to be paid by Facebook in
exchange for all of Oculus VR’s outstanding stock on a fully-diluted basis 8
(the “Total Consideration”) is $460,000,000 in cash and 26,532,083
shares of Facebook Common Stock, of which $60,000,000 in cash (the
“Contingent Cash Payment Consideration”) and 3,460,706 shares of
Facebook Common Stock (the “Contingent Stock Payment
Consideration”) are payable and issuable, respectively, following the
Closing and upon the achievement of certain milestones (the “Contingent
Payment”).
For me, as someone who also ran the gamut of emotions upon reading (and writing) the news, I’m of the opinion that the merger was probably the best possible way to ensure Oculus VR’s vision of virtual reality achieves the momentum required to succeed. Subsequent statements from Oculus indicate the company can now not only focus on acquiring the best possible people but that the long awaited Oculus Rift CV1 (Consumer Version One) will be sold at near cost in order to get people onboard.
Congratulations to the Oculus VR team, I reckon Facebook landed a bargain!
VRLA is quickly becoming one of the biggest VR meetups in the LA region. After a successful second event this month, the organization is announcing their third gathering at New Deal Studios on August 16th. Hopefully the timing will be just right for people to try out the Oculus Rift DK2 which is expected to be in developer’s hands by the end of this month.
Today the Trinity Magnum launches on Kickstater. While there are a number of other options in the works, the Trinity Magnum is the first to approach VR input on the PC with an optical tracking solution. Priced at $100, the Magnum aims for affordability.
It feels like ages ago that Proton Pulse, one of the Oculus Rift’s most beloved early demos, was mysteriously shut down (with backers of the project refunded) after a successful Kickstarter. Justin Moravetz, the mind behind Proton Pulse, is today announcing a new VR-exclusive title called Vanguard Valkyrie. The game takes a completely different approach but maintains the flash and ease of use that made Proton Pulse so alluring.
