This friday, the 18th of July, Road to VR will be hosting a live roundtable discussion about VR, in VR. The entire team will be assembling across half the globe inside the Riftmax virtual reality software to talk VR. Anyone is welcome to be a member of the live audience.
Today Wales Interactive launches Infinity Runner, which is exactly what it sounds like—an infinite running game like many found on mobile platforms. The team appears to have successfully ported the genre from mobile to PC, but does it work as a virtual reality game for the Oculus Rift?
We’ve been waiting for a playable slice of White Lotus Interactive’s Oculus Rift enabled title ‘Xing: The Land Beyond’ since the team teased it might be on its way shortly after this year’s E3 expo.
The game, which successfully completed its Kickstarter campaign last year, is a first person, puzzle / adventure title, very much influenced by the classic Myst series on PC. The 3 person team have wowed visitors at recent expos, and stands as one of the most promising title in development for Oculus’ VR Headset. The newly released demo seems to be a version of demos shown at those shows.
Our idea is to take players on a beautiful, fantastical and spiritual journey through the afterlife. It is non-combative and there are no time-restraints. We want players to feel intrigued by the story and puzzles presented, but also relaxed in the lush environments we create using the Unreal Engine 4.
You can grab the demo via Oculus’ ‘Share’ portal here. The team would also like to hear what you thought of the demo, you can let them know via this short survey. Finally, you can keep up to date with the White Lotus Interactive team and Xing’s development here.
Flying in virtual reality, a commonly held wish by enthusiasts since the dawn of the technology. The prospect of swooping over virtual landscapes, your mind convinced your body has taken flight is an extremely enticing one. Now that virtual reality technology is becoming a more and more accessible with the advent of the Oculus Rift, attention turns on how best to achieve this experience. There’s one thing you’ll certainly need for that realistic touch, convincing virtual terrain.
Australian company Aerometrex are working on just that. They are digital aerial mapping specialists who have focussed on providing realistic captures of towns and cities across the real world in order for them to to be realised in the virtual world.
The company flies dedicated UAVs carrying sophisticated cameras across the desired location capturing extremely high resolution and geospatially mapped photos of the area. Combined with 3D depth sensing technologies (collectively known as aero3Dpro), this allows the company to produce astonishingly accurate and lifelike 3D models based on the captured data.
The captured imagery is adjusted, corrected and assembled by sophisticated software to produce a 3D map you can take a very convincing flight over.
The company recently released a video demonstrating one of their 3D models being presented through the Oculus Rift (video top), and it’s an intriguing idea for presenting and communicating 3D space on such a large scale to people efficiently and effectively. OF course, all I want to do is zoom about pretending to be Superman – something that the video captures quite nicely.
As Aerometrex are focussed on corporate cliental however, it’s currently unclear if they’re ever likely to release tastes of the experiences on offer to the general public. The are apparently working on integrating Myo support, the gesture capturing hardware which senses muscle movement and translates it into input data, which would certainly allow naturalistic flight controls.
You can find more about Aerometrex here, and their dedicated aero3Dpro page here.
VRelia, a Spanish company recently formed with the aim of providing users with high resolution VR Headsets, has announced a partnership with ImmersiON, a startup formed from the key players behind TD Vision, a company with a history in 3D technologies and video codecs.
We first covered VRelia back in February, at which time they were planning to offer not one but three different VR headsets to compete directly with Oculus VR’s Rift. Since then, it looks like the company has returned to the drawing board and has now paired down it’s offering count to 2. The VREye Go, a headset smartphone harness much like that which we’ve seen from vRase, Durovis and countless others. The VREye Pro offers what’s claimed to be 2 x 5.9″ Full HD (1080p) display panels which the company claims delivers an effective resolution of 2190 x 1920, a slightly confusing figure given that 2 x 1080 (vertical resolution of a full HD panel) = 2160.
The products sold by ImmersiON share the same base specs as above and adds what looks to be dual front facing cameras in order to facilitate augmented reality experiences. It’s also key to point out that the images of all these HMDs are at this stage merely renders, and that should you choose to opt for pre-ordering one of the ImmersiON devices, you’re also opting in to beta test early versions of the new VR headsets as it seems there’s no final hardware as yet not to mention a complete absence of pricing. Furthermore, there’s no clear indication when those placing their orders might receive actual hardware.
TDVision seems to have had their hand in many technologies over the years, including the production of their own VR Headset, the TD Visor. It’s their software platform called AlterSpace which is highlighted in a recent press release announcing the partnership though and this seems to take the form of an online collaboration, chat and social VR hub where people can hang out in VR, share online content and socialise. Beyond that, it’s not too clear how the software plays a part in pushing the VREye headsets, or even if / when it will be made available – the Alterspace website seems completely unfinished and the only documentation I could find on TDVision’s website seemed to describe concepts and planned features only.
Competition is great, on that we can all agree. But right now it’s simply unclear precisely what this announcement means for the VR Industry. With hardware that’s yet to enter the beta stage and an unclear roadmap for ImmersiON’s value added software packages, we’ll just have to wait and see.
Altspace (formerly Qualia3D) is announcing that they’ve raised $2.5 million in venture capital to develop a shared virtual reality browsing environment. Investors include Google Ventures, Formation 8, Dolby Family Ventures, and more. Altspace is developing a shared VR environment with a heavy focus on browser-based interactivity.
Virtual Reality is still and emerging (perhaps re-emerging) technology and gaming platform. As such, new surprises and interesting uses of the technology are never far away right now. ‘Aliens, Trolls and Dragons’ is an Action Adventure game with native Oculus Rift support that offers VR enthusiasts an over-the-shoulder 3rd person view on the the gameworld.
Lucky’s Tale blew some minds at E3, not necessarily because it looked particularly world shattering in terms of either gameplay or visuals, but because it was a slap in the face for anyone who believed virtual reality gaming was restricted to a first person view. A console style platformer, with an inventive on-rails and freestyle camera mapped to your head movements was a pleasant surprise indeed. ‘Aliens, Trolls and Dragons’ offers up a 3rd person view, with a Gears of War style offset view, mapped to head tracking.
In a new 12 minute gameplay video demonstrating the game’s native Oculus Rift support with the player glancing around the gameworld as their on screen protagonist slashes enemies with swords and surveys the environment. It’s a great looking game and certainly one of the better independently developed Oculus Rift titles out there.
The game itself is developed by Polish code house Kubold and will transport the player to a future where space travel has allowed mankind to reach far into the universe. You play a security officer from a crash-landed vessel, on a planet that bears an eerie resemblance to medieval earth. Your task, to find and free your crew mates by kicking the humanoid alien’s butts.
‘Aliens, Trolls and Dragons’ is due out fall 2015 but will be delivered in an episodic format, the remaining chapters to be released later. You can find more on ‘Aliens, Trolls and Dragons’ at the homepage here and Kubold’s site here.
Guest writer Kevin Williams lifts the lid on a game which missed the glare of the media spotlight at E3 2014—Digital Combat Simulator.
During E3 2014, there was a crowded assortment of demonstrators on the Oculus VR booth. One of the exclusives that was only shown to a select group was from Eagle Dynamics, famous for the release of their ultra-realistic flight simulator brand Digital Combat Simulator (DCS), the free-to-play digital battlefield game, focusing on a military aircraft simulation.
The company partnered with Oculus VR to present the latest version of their hyper-realistic simulator platform on the DK2; an early prototype demonstration allowed viewers to be placed in a selection of realistic recreations of extreme fight planes—their cockpits lovingly recreated and able to be experienced through the VR Headset.
This early glimpse at the new software build showed the promise of what ultra-realistic flight simulation in a VR head-mount offers. Though the demonstration did not have any ground-targets, or air combat, the flight model still put the DK2 through its paces.
The sim was demonstrated by a consultant on the Oculus booth from the Imperial War Museum (Duxford, England) US military division. Limited information is available at this time into the planned release of the simulation title or how the relationship with Oculus VR will work (at this time the game was not a Oculus VR exclusive but being used as a proof of concept for the new development kit), more information on the release schedule and the final support of this title by Eagle Dynamics and Oculus VR planned to be revealed for later in the year. The first of the full flight simulation that will populate VR development, alongside race vehicles and the plethora of space flight projects in the works”
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Kevin got to try out the flight simulator for himself and summarised his feeling thus:
– The ability to use the DK2 tracking to look round the detailed cockpit was amazing
– They so far sadly had no ground targets, but it was possible to see the flight model offered a new level of immersion
– Unlike the space simulators seen (Elite: Dangerous, EVE: Valkyrie) at E3, this was a major step forward in what VR HMD immersion can offer
As one of the first fully-fledged flight simulators to get the Oculus treatment, and given cockpit based experiences lend themselves extremely well to Oculus’ vision of the seated VR model, we’ve got high hopes for DCS in VR. We’ll of course keep our ears to the ground and update you on any news as we find it.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR – Kevin Williams has an extensive background in the development and sales of the latest amusement and attraction applications and technologies. The UK born specialist in the pay-to-play scene; is well-known through his consultancy KWP; and as a prolific writer and presenter (along with his own news service The Stinger Report), covering the
emergence of the new entertainment market. Kevin has co-authored a book covering the sector called ‘The Out-of-Home Interactive Entertainment Frontier’ (published by Gower). And is the founding chairman of DNA Association, focuses on the digital Out-of Home interactive entertainment sector.
Kevin can be reached at – kwp@thestingerreport.com – http://www.thestingerreport.com
Earlier this week, Oculus VR announced Oculus Connect, a VR developer conference to be hosted at the end of September in Los Angeles, California. Registration was slated to open this morning at midnight, but Oculus says they need more time before registration will be ready.
We’ve been following Austrian company Cyberith and its virtual reality locomotion ‘controller’ the ‘Virtualizer’ for a while now. The Virtualizer is an omnidirectional treadmill which uses a flat base with low friction which enables a user to run, crouch and jump with movement data captured and mapped to in game controls. The team have come along way since their public debut at Gamescom last year, where they barely made it to the show with a functional prototype.
Since then they’ve been all over the world promoting the Virtualizer, scooping awards and spreading the word that there is a viable alternative to the Virtuix Omni, one that you can jump and crouch in no less.
Now, the company have re-branded themselves and announced that the long awaited Kickstarter campaign, hinted at back in our original interview with Cyberith’s CEO Tuncay Cakmak almost a year ago. The Kickstarter launches on the 23rd of July and will give backers the opportunity to get their hands on the third revision of the Virtualizer. In it’s latest promotional literature is keen to emphasise differentiators between it and it’s only real rival right now, the Virtuix Omni. From the press release:
To guarantee for an optimal immersive experience, the Virtualizer has a flat base plate, resulting in a natural walking sensation.
Using a flat base plate ensures a completely immersive experience. By using e.g. a bowl shaped base plate, the user’s feet hit the slope of the bowl earlier than expected. The resulting discrepancy between visual and tactile information immensely breaks immersion.
Omnidirectional treadmills are by definition, never going to be subtle devices. However, the company is keen to emphasise the portability and practicalities of owning such a thing:
The Virtualizer can be taken apart into its five core parts in a matter of minutes. The three pillars are 100cm (39.4”) high and the base plate has a diameter of also 100cm (39.4”). The distance between the center of the base plate and one pillar is 80cm (31.5”).
As a consequence of the vertically moveable ring-construction, the Virtualizer is accessible for a lot of different body shapes. The height of the user is thus almost irrelevant, but the theoretical limits are at 1m (3ft 3”) as minimum and 2.10m (6ft 11”) as maximum. The Virtualizer supports weight up to 120kg (265lbs). Importantly, it should be noted that the user’s hip measurement should not exceed 125cm (49”) in circumference.
This is a serious piece of gaming equipment, but it only requires a single USB connection for power and hooking up to your PC – what’s more, you can play in your socks!
No details yet as to the structure, goal or rewards to be offered by the Kickstarter campaign, but we’ll of course let you know the minute we know more.
We wish the Cyberith team the best of luck with the Kickstarter campaign, and we hope to get our hands (feet) on the latest prototype at Gamescom this year. In the mean time, check our their brand new website here.
An exclusive report from SamMobile has dug up what it alleges are official assets surrounding Samsung’s rumored VR smartphone adapter. The report claims that the device will be called ‘Gear VR’ and be announced at IFA 2014 in early September.
Zero Latency, who has been developing a full-body virtual reality zombie experience, has just passed their $25,000 crowdfunding target with five days remaining. The funds are being raised to further develop the system and the backer rewards offer tickets to experience the action for yourself, assuming you’re near Melbourne, Australia.
It’s DK2 month, with swaths of developers and enthusiasts eagerly awaiting a knock on the door from their local delivery man. An anonymous source has revealed an unboxing of the highly anticipated Oculus Rift DK2.
Oculus VR today announced that the company will be hosting ‘Oculus Connect’ a VR-focused conference in Los Angeles, California this September. The company has also announced the acquisition, and open-sourcing, of RakNet, a networking middleware used in the games industry.
We wrote about Atajrubah recently and noted that the development team had moved to Unreal Engine 4 after spending much of the game’s life up to that point as a UE3 project. The Oculus Rift enabled open world survival game with an Arabian flavour looked great in example screenshots from the time.
Developer Nexy Media has released a new developer update announcing 3 new team members, update on gameplay elements and a new video which shows the stark contrast between UE3 and UE4’s rendering capabilities. It’s yet more affirmation that UE4 has been gathering a great reputation with indie developers like Nexy. We reported not long ago on White Lotus Interactive’s shift yo Epic’s new game engine and their almost universally positive experience when they too made the leap from UE3.
You can catch the full developer update here and catch our previous article on Atajrubah, here.
