Gamers of a certain age rejoice! The first ‘true’ 3D First Person Shooter that spawned a generation of FPS nuts, Quake (id Software, 1996), has been given the Oculus Rift treatment. We take a quick look back at the Quake legend and it’s future, in VR.
You’ve read our article on the VIP Preview of The Gallery: Six Elements, now read the Mini Q&A. We catch up with Denny Unger, Creative Director at Cloudhead Games, to find out about what development life is like post-kickstarter.
Lunar Flight is an independently produced PC game by developer Shovsoft which challenges the player to master to nuances of low gravity flight. With Oculus Rift support on the way, Lunar Flight is set to become one of the most full-featured Rift experiences to date.
CXC Simulations knows a thing or two about racing simulators — they build some of the best in the world. And now they’re testing their premium racing simulation system with the Oculus Rift.
Yuval Boger is the CEO of Sensics, a company focused on the professional HMD market — used for research, military training, and high-end simulation. Recently I spoke with Boger about the state of virtual reality and the interplay between the consumer and professional fields of head mounted displays.
A few months back, Google Glass took its very first shower. Now, Sensics CEO Yuval Boger takes the zSight 810 ruggedized HMD for a dip to prove its durability.
Virtuix has released a new video showing Minecraft being played on two Omni’s with the Oculus Rift. Will future LAN centers one day be filled with rows of Omnis?
The Virtuix Omni is an omnidirectional treadmill made for virtual reality gaming. The device is in the midst of an already successful Kickstarter that is on it’s way to raising more than 1 million dollars.
Virtuix used the Minecrift mod to add unofficial Oculus Rift support to Minecraft. The CEO of Virtuix, Jan Goetgeluk, tells me that “Even though the Minecraft graphics seem unsuited for VR, the game is actually a blast with Rift + Omni.”
The Kinect-based tracking still looks iffy. Virtuix plans to ship the Omni with their own tracking solution that should be better suited for the task than the Kinect. Made-for-Omni games are likely to have more seamless implementation of player movement.
Sadly, there were no VR-related surprises from the big console manufacturers at E3 this year. However, Microsoft’s Kinect 2.0 could become a key virtual reality input device thanks to a rich set of features and substantially improved performance.
Valve has announced that the latest release of their Source Engine SDK has been released and that it now includes full support for the Oculus Rift Virtual Reality head mounted display.
As you may know Andrew Reisse, co-founders of the Virtual Reality startup Oculus VR, died tragically in a hit-and-run motor accident last month. Oculus have now announced details of a Memorial Fund to commemorate his life.
Speaking at the Ignite: Seattle event back in May, Joe Ludwig, Programmer at Valve Software (Half-Life 2, Team Fortress 2) delivers a brief, irreverent summary of the history and current state of Virtual Reality.
Today Sixense, creator of the technology found in the Razer Hydra, announced a new wireless tracking development kit that will essentially come to form the Hydra 2. The company, which formerly sold its technology through Razer, will be marketing the device under its own name and working “directly with developers to create software for the upcoming consumer version…”
Yesterday I demoed the Oculus Rift headset to a friend for the first time. After my usual playlist of demos, I put him into Alone in the Rift, a brief virtual reality horror demo. The ensuing reaction shows the potential of virtual reality horror games.
