Guest Lineup , Attendance Instructions, and Live Stream – Road to VR Live Roundtable Happens Tomorrow, July 18th at 11:30am EST
Tomorrow (Friday the 18th), Road to VR is hosting a live roundtable discussion inside of virtual reality. Anyone is welcome to be part of the live virtual audience, whether you have access to VR hardware or not. We will be joined by guests from the VR world representing different topics of discussion.
Latest UE4 Release Includes Time-Warping, Couch Knights Demo and is DK2 Ready
Unreal Engine 4 has only been on general release since March but has made quite an impression on developers. Its low cost of entry, wealth of supporting documentation, tutorials and its ‘no coding required’ approach to game development has given developers of all budgets and abilities access to cutting-edge 3D game technology.
Epic, the company behind Unreal Engine 4 have just announced the latest iteration. Version 4.3 promises over 500 updates. Amidst the tweaks and technology improvements such as a preview of Paper 3D, UE4’s 2D game specific toolset, IOS8 Metal API (Apple’s new performance focussed game APIs) and various rendering improvements, there are a few fairly exciting additions for virtual reality fans.
Oculus Rift DK2 Support Including Positional Tracking
As we reported recently, Oculus VR has delayed the shipment of the initial batch of DK2 units in order to apply spit and polish to their SDK (Software Development Kit). UE4 includes support for a preview of this latest version, 0.3.3, which includes support for the DK2 and its positional tracking capabilities. This means developers opting for UE4 can hit the ground running with their projects when DK2’s begin to ship – estimated to begin middle of next week.
‘Couch Knights’ Demo Released
At GDC 2014 back in March the much anticipated successor to Oculus’ hugely successful DK1 VR Headset was announced. What’s more, Oculus’ demo area was filled with the new units ready for developers to get their hands on. And, as has now become customary, Oculus teamed up with Epic to develop a demo that showcased DK2’s unique abilities – in particular the new IR LED based optical tracking system.
Couch Knights was quite a low key demo coming after the dazzling spectacle of CES 2014s ‘Crystal Cove’ prototype demos, which included EVE: Valkyrie and a UE4 Tower Defence style game which allowed you to stoop into the game world, peering at characters and details more closely.
Couch Knights is a simple title that places two players, both wearing VR Headsets, into a virtual living room sat comfortably. Both players can see each other’s avatars and (somewhat spookily) stare and lean in to take a close look at them. The gameplay is provided as both players control a 3D cartoon avatar, free to leap about the environment clobbering each other with tiny swords.
This will be one of the few DK2 enabled demos available to DK2 recipients when they finally receive their units over the coming weeks. And, as the project is loadable within the UE4 development environment, acts as a great ‘hello world!’ reference application for developers wanting to get a handle on positional tracking as quickly as possible.
‘Time-warping’ Implemented
Latency is one of VR’s biggest enemies and Oculus declared that unnecessarily delayed ‘motion to photons’ were unacceptable. One of their weapons in fighting latency is a concept called ‘time-warping’, adapted by former id founder and current Oculus VR CTO John Carmack.
Time-warping cuts latency by swiftly transforming a partially rendered frame using the scene’s Z-buffer information and the very latest snapshot of the VR Headset’s tracking data. The practical upshot is, the scene presented to you more closely reflects your physical movements – effectively reducing perceived latency.
If you struggled with that explanation (and, frankly, I wouldn’t blame you) – eVRdayVR‘s excellent video should help you grasp the concept.
Check out the Unreal Engine 4 website for details on the latest update and to sign up for developer access.
Exclusive: Eden River HD Preview – Tranquility Amidst a Sea of Action-packed VR Games, Launching August 8th (video)
Just because VR is more immersive doesn’t mean its only use is to get your adrenaline pumping. Aaron Lemke is one of only a few developers getting serious about relaxing and meditative virtual reality experiences. Eden River’s peaceful gameplay and hummable music provide a beautiful respite from not just the stressful real-world, but also from the usual conflict-driven gaming tropes. Lemke today is announcing that Eden River HD, an update to the original Eden River demo, will launch on August 8th. Road to VR has an exclusive early preview of this tranquil title.
Radial-G Just Earned Itself a Spot in My Oculus Rift Demos Folder (video)
As a fan of the Wipeout series, I absolutely had to try Tammeka Games’ Radial-G, a low-grav arcade racer with Oculus Rift virtual reality support. While I’ve long enjoyed the frenetic action-packed racing of Wipeout, could a similar title work in VR—with a cylindrical track no less—without also being a vomit simulator? I was delighted to find out that Radial-G is not only fun in virtual reality, but it somehow dodges simulator sickness with the same ease that its ships hover above the track.
First Oculus Rift DK2 Shipment Delayed to Polish New SDK
Oculus VR today has made an official announcement about the shipping status of the first batch of Rift DK2s. The shipment, which the company previously said would be leaving distribution facilities on the 14th of July, has been held to provide Oculus with more time to polish and test the latest version of the Oculus SDK.
News Bits: Oculus Now Accepting Registration for Connect Developer Conference
Early last week, Oculus VR announced its first official developer conference, Oculus Connect. Registration for the conference was expected to open on the 10th, but was delayed indefinitely. Today, Oculus has opened registration for the Connect VR developer conference.
Rev VR Podcast (Ep. 72): While We Wait For Our DK2, A Talk with VR Chat Developer Jesse Joudry
It is the week of July 14th, as the first shipments of the much anticipated Oculus Rift DK2 are expected to head to developers, and the VR community has one thing on their mind: when are they going to get an email, or a statement, or something to indicate where their DK2 is? Jesse and I have decided to be patient, and instead talk about a few other subjects to keep our minds off of it.
Valve’s SteamVR, Now with Support for Mac and Linux, Is the Best VR Web Browser Yet for the 2D Web (video)
While there are a number of people and projects currently working on what the future of VR on the web might look like, the question remains: how do we use the internet—as we know it today—in VR? One of SteamVR’s best features has nothing to do with gaming—its built-in web browser is the best way to view the 2D web in VR.
Join Road to VR for a Live VR Roundtable Discussion in Virtual Reality—Friday at 11:30am EST
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.
Review: Infinity Runner—The Game Nobody Thought Would Work with the Oculus Rift (for good reason)
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?
News Bits: Xing: The Land Beyond – ‘Rainforest’ Demo Released
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.
Aerometrex Combines Impressive 3D Mapping with VR for Intense Flyovers
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 Partners with ImmersiON to Offer VR Headsets and Content
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 Raises $2.5 Million From Google Ventures, Formation 8, and More for Shared VR Browsing Environment
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.
