Blog V Reality: September 2017

Saturday, 30 September 2017

Director Turns to Virtual Reality to Tastefully Show Tragedy

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October 1, 2017 at 01:28PM
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Discovery Channel Virtual Reality Glasses 3D with 360* Image Panning

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October 1, 2017 at 10:45AM
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September 28, 2017 at 11:02AM
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‘Luna’ to Launch October 17th on Rift, Vive, and Windows VR

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Luna is an intriguing looking title coming from indie studio Funomena, and backed by some of the minds behind indie PS3 blockbuster Journey (2012). The studio has announced a launch date for October 17th and that the game will be coming to the Rift, Vive, and Windows VR (and PC).

Journey’s executive producer, Robin Hunicke, and engine programmer, Martin Middleton, met at game studio Thatgamecompany (which developed Journey), and afterward came together to found Funomena in 2013 with the underlying idea that “games can have a positive impact on the world.”

When I previewed Luna back in late 2016 I found a game with great audio and visual design, though the experience felt more like… well, and experience than a game:

I enjoyed the visual and sound design, and liked the slightly creative and interactive musical elements in the terrarium at the end, however, I didn’t get a sense of what the broader gameplay might look like once fleshed out into a full game, and for the time being I didn’t feel a strong hook that made me eager to experience more of Luna’s world. I wanted to care about the adorable critters before me, or be enchanted by the gameplay, but at least the brief 10 minutes I spent with the game, I didn’t see hints of where that hook might emerge.

[…]

Luna is much different than most of what else is being created for VR right now, which is a good thing, but as the title continues development it seems like it could benefit from a more firm direction toward the ‘game’ or ‘experience’ categories, as sticking to the middle of the road could leave both camps unsatisfied.

With nearly a year of additional development time under the title’s belt, I’m hoping Luna‘s narrative and gameplay will have evolved to match its superb sound and visuals. The latest snippet from the Luna website gives an idea of what the title will offer:

The silence of a summer evening is disturbed by mysterious, haunting song. A majestic Owl’s call convinces a young Bird to swallow the last piece of the waning Moon, summoning an unexpected storm that blows the Bird far from its home.

Solve celestial puzzles and create miniature musical worlds. Re-awaken the shadowy forest, discover its hidden creatures, and reunite the fragmented Moon so Bird can find its way home.

Place, customize and interact with miniature, living terrariums.

Solve celestial puzzles to unlock their plants and animals.

Play musical flora and fauna to reveal Austin Wintory’s enchanting score.

The post ‘Luna’ to Launch October 17th on Rift, Vive, and Windows VR appeared first on Road to VR.

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October 1, 2017 at 05:20AM
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World’s Largest Cinema Chain, AMC, Leads $30M Investment to Bring VR to Movie Theaters

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October 1, 2017 at 04:44AM
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September 26, 2017 at 05:20AM
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Best HOTAS Controller for PlayStation VR

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Is there a HOTAS controller I can use with PlayStation VR?

Hands On Throttle And Stick (HOTAS) controllers are extremely popular in the flight simulator community and are now gaining a lot of traction in the VR world. These controllers essentially give you a ton of control over your airplane or spaceship, and you can also look and feel like a boss while playing. HOTAS controllers will usually have a familiar joystick for one hand and a throttle for the other.

With rumors of War Thunder and Elite: Dangerous coming to PlayStation VR, and with a few VR games already supported, including EVE: Valkyrie and Starblood Arena, you might be tempted to set up a cockpit in your VR space. Here's the best — and so far really the only — one you'll want to get for PlayStation VR.

Thrustmaster T.Flight HOTAS 4

The T.Flight HOTAS 4 from Thrustmaster (about $80) is the controller for PS4 and PSVR; it's even branded with the PlayStation logo and is black with blue accents to match your machine and to provide a nice offset for the white and blue PSVR. If you're also into PC gaming, a simple switch will set it over to work on your computer.

The base is weighted to keep it in place even when you're frantically evading an enemy, and the joystick has an adjustable resistance to best suit a heavy or light hand. To simulate a rudder function and to pivot your craft on a vertical axis, the joystick can be twisted left or right.

The attached throttle can actually be detached and moved aside to simulate a more realistic setup and to let you sit back and get into the game. Perhaps the best part is that both the joystick and throttle have all the buttons you find on a standard DualShock 4 controller, making it extremely easy for you to map out the controls how you see fit.

Ready to really feel like you're in the cockpit of your ship? Grab the T.Flight HOTAS 4 from Thrustmaster now.

See at Amazon

More HOTAS glory

Still not sure whether or not HOTAS is for you? Check out Editor-in-Chief Russell Holly's write-up about his time with HOTAS controllers in VR.

Using HOTAS controllers in VR is beyond amazing!

Updated September 27, 2017: We've refreshed this article to ensure you're still getting the best HOTAS controller for PSVR.

PlayStation VR

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Google, Facebook and Microsoft Line Up For VR Standalone Push

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Over the next two weeks we are expecting major announcements related to VR from Microsoft, Google and Facebook.

It couldn’t come at a better time for VR developers who spent the summer reading headline after headline about how VR is dead, fulfilling the prediction of Unity CEO John Riccitiello that journalists couldn’t stop themselves from writing negatively about the gap between analyst estimates and actual sales in the first year or so of VR’s mainstream adoption. The so-called “gap of disappointment” was made possible by analysts who model the growth of the industry in a straight line whereas Riccitiello suggested it is far more likely to see more of a curve to adoption — a slow start that suddenly ramps at an accelerated pace.

What will drive the adoption curve is the arrive of affordable standalone VR systems that require no PC or phone to operate. We’ll see the first of these arrive in the next few months. These, too, might start off with meager adoption as the first systems will likely make sacrifices in functionality, but over the next year or two we can expect a rapid increase in capabilities as new systems arrive that will offer an all-in-one package and none of the drawbacks of current VR systems. Here’s what to expect from announcements over the next two weeks.

Microsoft

Halo is coming to Microsoft-based immersive systems.

On Oct. 3 (Tuesday morning) Microsoft will give one final overview of its mixed reality strategy before its manufacturing partners, later this month, start shipping inexpensive but surprisingly capable PC-based virtual reality headsets. We know headsets are on the way from Dell, Lenovo, HP, Acer, ASUS and we’ve seen another leaked from Samsung. Pricing starts around $300 and they work with hand controllers which dramatically increase a sense of interactivity and overall immersion. These systems are compatible with the Microsoft’s Windows 10 “mixed reality” platform, promising compatibility with both the Windows Store and Steam, with a stellar line up of content on tap.

While all these headsets are expected to have a wired connection to a PC we know Microsoft is keenly aware of the value of a standalone system. It leads the augmented reality market with the standalone HoloLens. While HoloLens isn’t going for mass appeal as it costs $3,000, its tracking system locked Intel out of the market as it was being adapted to these less expensive PC-based VR headsets.

Microsoft is also expected to roll out the Xbox One X in November. At E3 2016, Microsoft suggested its future Xbox would be capable of high quality VR, but by E3 2017 there wasn’t a word about this feature. In between these events Microsoft revealed its partner-based strategy for Windows-based tethered VR headsets. Meanwhile AMD, which provides some of the processing chips inside the Xbox One X, purchased Nitero. Nitero made wireless technology specifically tuned to make VR headsets wireless while still offering high fidelity. The technology was good enough that it received investment from Valve before the acquisition. Could the Xbox One X have Nitero technology buried inside?

Microsoft is in a tricky place because its partners might be hurt if the company revealed a plan for the Xbox One X to support wireless VR in 2018 at the same time partners start shipping wired PC headsets. Nonetheless, Microsoft’s late 2017 entry into the VR market aims to hit a sweet spot between price, ease of setup and functionality that Facebook’s Oculus and HTC’s Vive have yet to match. The biggest remaining limitation to Microsoft’s approach — and thus the size of the VR market — is the wired connection. And Microsoft has the partnerships and technology lead needed to make that wire disappear very soon.

Google

On Oct. 4 (Wednesday morning) Google will reveal its product lineup for the holiday season.

Google’s Daydream View

Google just acquired a team from HTC responsible for the creation of the Pixel smartphone. Earlier this year the ad giant also acquired Owlchemy Labs, the creator of Job Simulator and Rick & Morty VR. During its developer conference earlier this year, Google revealed its WorldSense tracking technology ideal for VR and AR headsets.

We can reasonably expect a new version of the Pixel phone, perhaps a new Daydream headset and details around the first standalone VR headsets powered by Google expected to arrive at the end of this year from manufacturers like HTC. That said, we don’t know how you’ll interact with virtual worlds you visit inside these standalone systems.

Intel’s cancelled Alloy VR headset used an awkward combination of a headset that allowed full freedom of movement throughout a room with a hand controller that could only sense limited movement. It doesn’t feel right to be able to move your head around a virtual world freely but when you reach out and try to grab something that movement isn’t captured in the virtual world. That’s what it might feel like if Google used WorldSense tracking for a headset paired with its current Daydream controller.

Google is likely very aware of this limitation and spent years working on its computer vision technologies. So it is not out of the realm of possibility for the company to have figured out an immersive solution to this limitation with its next VR headsets.

Facebook’s Oculus

On Oct. 11 and 12 Facebook’s Oculus will be hosting Oculus Connect 4. The fourth developer conference from Facebook’s VR division will see a range of sessions and presentations outlining next steps from the company. It will also likely unleash a new VR headset prototype for developers and/or journalists to try. Last year this prototype was called Santa Cruz — a standalone headset that mashed together parts of the Rift and mobile efforts at Facebook. It offered movement freedom throughout a room.

Earlier this year reports emerged that Facebook was aiming for a $200 standalone that might be similar to the Gear VR. This system is likely not the future of Santa Cruz. In other words, Oculus is actively developing a range of standalone systems targeting both high and low ends.

In some ways Facebook is playing catch up to Microsoft and Google. The company was acquired in 2014 and has gone through an integration process that saw many employees upend their lives in Orange County, where Oculus was headquartered, and move closer to Facebook’s offices in Silicon Valley. Meanwhile, a huge injection of cash from Facebook led to the addition of lots of new people to the team alongside management restructuring. All this happened while teams at Google and Microsoft toiled away at some of the core problems, like computer vision, that Facebook would ultimately need to solve too.

What makes Facebook different from the efforts we’re seeing from Microsoft and Google is that the company doesn’t have any of the baggage from Android or Windows to support in developing its new ecosystem of VR headsets It’s a fresh start. Facebook’s VR decision makers are theoretically free to make choices that are best for the developers building for these systems and for the people who are buying them. When it comes to standalone VR headsets, Facebook’s teams likely won’t have to decide whether something works well with Android or with Windows.

Hopefully on Oct. 11 and 12 we’ll see what that difference really means.

Tagged with: facebook, google, microsoft

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Space Pirate Trainer Marks Official Release With Major Update

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The classic VR game celebrates it’s graduation from early access with new modes, enemies, guns and a generous discount.

Every virtual reality enthusiast has heard of Space Pirate Trainer. For many fans of the HTC Vive, including myself, it was the first experience we had in VR, serving as the catalyst for our eventual obsession with the technology.

It’s widely considered the Space Invaders of VR, not just for its similarities in terms of taking down wave after wave of alien enemies, but because of its importance as one of the first games to truly demonstrate the potential of VR. Now the game that helped popularize the medium is finally taking off its metaphorical training wheels and entering the market as a fully released title.

Available October 22nd via Steam VR at a 25% discount, this new version of the hit title is so chock full of new content, it feels like an entirely new game. In its previous iteration, SPT provided users with two guns featuring several different firing modes, a shield and a laser lasso to help than fend off waves of killer robot drones. This latest update adds a plethora of new weapons and equipment, as well as performance tweaks that take this already-stellar experience to new heights:

New Weapon: Volton, a lightsaber-like weapon that allows you to hit the lasers back at the droids. It also converts to a plasmalink, a whip-like weapon that can take a droid and smash it against the ground (or on other droids).
New Weapon: Ion grenade launcher. Press the trigger to launch a grenade, then press the trigger again to detonate.
New Weapon: Shotworks (like a shotgun)
New Powerups: shield, machine guns, homing bullets, gravity field and missiles
New Enemies
Party Mode: (limit the gameplay to a number of games or minutes) with a party mode scoreboard
VR Sense: when a drone fires outside of your view, the screen will flash subtly
Statistics at the end of the game
Graphics Updates: (new gun models and textures, particle and weapon effects), improved frame rates, supersampling and antialiasing options in the menu
Additional Challenges: bullet time effect now becomes weaker as your level increases, hardcore mode (no bullet time)

However the coolest update by far has to be the brand new turret defense system implemented on the ship, located behind the player. Three different firing modes (Tesla coil, laser turret, ray canon) can be used to fend off enemies automatically. Although the ray cannon operates under manual control by twisting your wrist. That’s freakin’ awesome…

The full official release for Space Pirate Trainer will be available October 22nd via Steam VR. Make sure you grab it quick though, as the company will be running a special 25% discount for a limited time. If you own a headset and have yet to check this game out, please do yourself a favor and pick up a copy. There’s no better way to blow the mind of a VR newbie than with a laser lasso and robot drones.

The post Space Pirate Trainer Marks Official Release With Major Update appeared first on VRScout.

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For Once, Microsoft Got The Jump On Google and Apple with HoloLens — Will It Last?

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Mixed reality (MR) is a new computing platform that‘s emerging from the current fields of augmented and virtual reality. MR blends the physical and the digital worlds into a single space, using a combination of cutting edge optical hardware and artificial intelligence (AI) software. Over the next 5 to 10 years, most industry analysts agree that the AR/VR market will be worth well north of $100 billion, with the vast majority coming from the AR side — in the form of consumer innovations in retail, location, or AI services. In terms of the enterprise market, that pie will be smaller, but will lean even more heavily toward AR and MR.

Currently, at the forefront of the MR revolution is the Microsoft HoloLens. Microsoft has uncharacteristically been early to market in this sector, with the HoloLens dominating almost all coverage of actual deployments of the technology. Although Microsoft enjoys an industry-leading position, it does face other threats from both new hardware entrants and established platform holders. Read on to see how the battle lines are being drawn — and what potential outcomes could emerge over the medium term.

In pole position

HoloLens moves the game on from the previous-generation MR devices — such as Google Glass — which provided little more than the ability to bring up text or simple icons over the user’s view. By contrast, the HoloLens is capable of both rendering full 3D objects and data as holograms, and of understanding the world around it in order to place those holograms in physical space. The self-contained nature of the HoloLens (it’s a full Windows 10 computer that doesn’t require wires or a network connection to function) makes it just as capable on a factory floor, or the middle of a construction site as it is in an office.

Thanks to the current generation’s $3,000 price, it is more likely it’ll be the next generation of MR devices that will revolutionize the consumer market. Meanwhile, industries as diverse as transportation, healthcare, industrial design and education are currently adopting MR via Microsoft’s device to disrupt existing business processes.

Current contenders

Consumer VR devices costing several hundred dollars from Oculus, HTC, and Sony run on powerful household desktop PCs that likely cost at least $1,000. They offer immersion in 3D worlds at what can be around $2,000 total, which could previously only be achieved with specialist installations costing $20,000 or more. Meanwhile, AR systems, such as Apple’s recent ARKit, allow mobile users to view the world through a window, with digital objects superimposed. Both mediums are potentially disruptive: VR primarily in the consumer space; AR primarily in the enterprise space — and have acted as gravity wells for venture funding over the 5 years, though both seem to remain perennially a few months from a great inflection point.

The emerging challengers

In new MR hardware, the two big players are Magic Leap, the $4 billion Florida-based behemoth; and Meta, the plucky Y-Combinator alumni with a comparatively teeny $73 million war chest. Despite their David-and-Goliath mismatch, Meta seem closer to actual product in the market, though neither have so far shipped devices to allow a true side-by-side comparison with Microsoft’s technology. If Magic Leap ever does ship a product, expect an all-out turf war for the enterprise space, as all that venture money may well end up being deployed to compete with an even more capable Hololens 2 that may emerge any time from late 2018.

The more interesting angle of attack on Microsoft’s current position may come from the very capable augmented reality support which both Apple and Google have added to their respective mobile platforms in 2017. The applications of ARKit and ARCore have mostly focused on the traditional ‘hold your phone up and look through it’ ergonomics, but many companies are looking past this by creating inexpensive head-mounted cradles which can transform a phone into a mixed reality device (think Google Cardboard for MR).

Disney’s recent collaboration with Lenovo to create a Star Wars head-mounted AR experience is based around this concept. If this approach proves popular with consumers, it could drastically narrow the considerable lead Microsoft has built up over its rivals Google and Apple, and bring MR to the consumer market — many years earlier than most analysts have forecast.

Final thoughts

Uptake of mixed reality has begun, but the sprint toward ubiquity has yet to start. Historically technologies take a while, then hit hard and transform fast. With so many major tech players investing in MR, that future seems assured — but the likely big winners right now are less clear. Ultimately, as with any new medium, it’ll be the players who find the most disruptive, high value use cases for the new capabilities MR enables. With its more consumer-focused siblings riding high in the headlines, challengers to the single dominant platform are lining up and enterprise adoption is accelerating, mixed reality is lined up for an interesting next few years.

Fracture Reality chief technical officer Rob Minson began his career in academia and holds a Ph.D in interactive simulation systems before moving into the video game industry, building interactive experiences and scalable online systems. This post by Rob Minson originally appeared on VenutreBeat.

Tagged with: microsoft

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Tripp Raises $4 Million For Mood-altering Virtual Reality Experiences

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A lot of people say that virtual reality will blow your mind. And that’s the point of Tripp, which has raised $4 million to make a VR experience that will alter your mood and your mind.

Mayfield Fund led the round and contributed most of the funds for the startup, which is working on “transformative experiences.” Nanea Reeves, CEO of Tripp, said in an interview with GamesBeat that the company views the experience more as a “journey” that exploits the sensory and immersive elements of VR to change the way a person feels.

“We are creating a native VR experience that changes the way a person feels,” said Reeves. “You can use Tripp to select from a catalog of different feelings, like pumping you up before a workout or calming you down after work.”

Tripp, based in Los Angeles and San Francisco, is working on a native VR game, or experience, that focuses on changing the way a person feels to help them live more happily and effectively. The experience will have a combination of audio and visual elements, gameplay mechanics, and meditation.

They are tapping into research that shows that digital and interactive experiences can have an effect on the brain. They note that we listen to music, play video games, browse social media, binge on our favorite shows — and our mental state changes. Tripp wants to give us more control over that change, giving us tools to slow down, disconnect from others, change our sleep patterns, or meditate.

“We have a common interest in science fiction and the far-reaching implications of it,” said Tim Chang, managing director at Mayfield Fund, in an interview with GamesBeat. “This is like VR net trips, not Netflix. It’s about altering your mood. VR can hack your perception and change things like your focus, state of anxiety, energy, or excitement level.”

(Chang will be a speaker on the future of science fiction and tech at our upcoming GamesBeat Summit 2018 event on April 9-10 in Berkeley, California).

Above: Tripp logo

Image Credit: Tripp

Reeves has worked for 15 years in mobile apps and games with her cofounder Zachary “Zack” Norman at places such as Jamdat Mobile and Electronic Arts. They are joined by chief technology officer Andreja Djokovic.

“We are combining multiple elements to create a completely immersive, supercharged experience that is crafted to put users in a different headspace,” said Reeves. “Using visuals, sounds and targeted interactivity to first create a state of calm, we then take you on a journey that can stimulate a number of different feelings and moods — enabling users to take a step back from their busy lives and enjoy a sensory experience unlike any other.”

Tripp’s focus is to create a state of mindfulness that isn’t just guided but happens “around” you. Tripp is focusing on VR market to build something that doesn’t exist on other platforms. And while the VR market is small, Tripp plans to expand to relevant platforms for “mixed reality.”

“We begin a journey and take you into a meditative state and then take you on a trip,” Reeves said. “We want to create experiences that give you that flow state that you have when you are playing a really great game.”

The team is still early in development and it doesn’t have something to show yet. Reeves said the experience will be procedural, or computer-generated so that it isn’t the same every time. It will tap a neural network, so that it can get better at delivering a targeted trip for each person.

Above: Eliot Peper (right), author of novels such as Cumulus, speaks with Tim Chang, managing director of Mayfield Fund, at GamesBeat Summit 2017.

Image Credit: Michael O’Donnell/VentureBeat

“Zach and I came up with the concept after making a solitaire game,” Reeves said. “We found we were immersed in VR and felt refreshed.”

Chang has been excited about “mind hacking” and the “quantified self” for a long time. He invested in brain game company Lumosity and quantified self firm Basis (which was acquired by Intel). His firm looked at 85 VR startups, and Tripp stood out from the pack because it was “interested in stimulation versus simulation.” Chang said this startup is more like “quantified emotion.”

“When we talked to him, he got it immediately,” Reeves said. “His contribution was tremendous. I’m in sync with him on mindfulness, transformative tech, and mind hacking.”

The team has a half-dozen or so people and is targeting a team of about ten people in the next couple of months, and it is working with an outside studio as well.

If you’re thinking this is a hippie drug startup, that might not be so crazy.

“It’s the recreational drug without the drug,” Chang said. “A lot of this was inspired by themes in books like” Nexus, Ramez Naam’s sci-fi trilogy about a mind-expanding drug. In the novel, the characters hack their own perception and give themselves a kind of superhuman shared consciousness. But Tripp isn’t purely science fiction.

“VR should be good for this because there is a lot of basis for this in research,” Chang said.

This post by Dean Takahashi originally appeared on VentureBeat.

Tagged with: Tripp

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VRTK helps devs get started in VR with open-source dev kit

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What’s becoming clear in VR development is that with the market split across Rift, Vive and PlayStation VR, the developers of some of the most successful apps like Job Simulator, Fantastic Contraption and Raw Data work hard to make their software work well across all three headsets.

Even if it is hard to stand out from dozens of apps launching each week, making a virtual world available across Steam, the PlayStation Store and Oculus increases the chances of a developer finding success. Though large teams working with big budgets often turn to the Unreal world engine from Epic Games for building VR products, the very well-funded Unity Technologies is the engine most indie developers use in bringing their products to fruition across multiple systems. Unity is used by a majority of VR developers and its asset store makes it easy for developers to find cheap or free tools with which to build more immersive worlds.

VRTK — the Virtual Reality Toolkit — is one of those Unity-based tools that a large group of indie creators used to jumpstart their efforts in VR development. The open source toolset was created by Harvey Ball, also known as TheStoneFox, after he bought an HTC Vive last year.

“I wanted to build something for it as I was new to game dev. I’d been using Unity for about a month just as a hobby,” Ball wrote to me. “I tried to use the SteamVR Unity plugin and found it confusing, realized a lot of people found it confusing and started VRTK as a way to help people get into developing for VR.”

Ball’s crowdfunding on Patreon for VRTK stands at nearly $2,000 per month and the community for the effort on Slack is populated by more than 2,000 members. Here’s a list of games made with the software. Ball works on VRTK in the evenings when he can but still holds a day job as a Web developer. He says the money from Patreon isn’t his income — it’s so that “if we as a community need something that requires money then we have budget for it.” He also launched a Kickstarter project earlier this year with a very high goal for a more ambitious roll out. Though it received more than 400 backers, the project fell short of its goal.

I asked Ball to break down why he is building VRTK as an open source solution and to break down the benefits of the tools:

I wanted to make it available to as many people as possible. My belief is the more people building for VR is only better for evolving the platform. VRTK is all about getting as many people as possible working together on solutions to common problems for the common good. Also making it accessible for people new to dev but with good ideas so to remove high barriers of entry. Charging for it would just limit that for people. Plus it enables developers to build for a crazy fragmented market, using VRTK means it just works on Steam, Oculus, PSVR, etc.

The initial benefit is the VRTK abstraction layer. So if you use VRTK components for the mechanics of the game then it just works on any supported SDK. So it just works on SteamVR or Oculus or PSVR without any coding. If you build something for SteamVR you have to either write your own abstraction layer or rewrite chunks of code for other SDKs. Some popular SteamVR games already are suffering from this where they can’t be easily ported to Oculus Home. If they had been built on top of VRTK then porting is easy.

Ball said he plans to add support for Microsoft’s Windows platform as soon as he gets his hands on the controllers.

We’ve heard developers swear by VRTK in the past, but I put a call out on Twitter to find out how the toolkit has helped developers and the response was pretty strong. I’ll embed some of those tweets at the bottom of this post, but Unity developer @Mcdoogleh offered a response that summed up a lot of what I heard. The dev is working on a project based on VRTK aiming to release next year, “and without question it would’ve taken me longer to develop without VRTK.”

“It’s useful to developers for quite a lot of reasons, one of them being that as far as VR development goes, prototyping is extremely tricky. So VRTK provides…features which are useful just to play around with,” Mcdoogleh said. “It’s also end to end… So you could just use VRTK as a foundation and build up from it or update as you go along to get the latest features. Anywhere from prototyping to a release product, again, highly useful. In addition, VRTK can provide a useful point of reference to other developers, so they may not necessarily want to use VRTK, but they can use components of it as a foundation for their own code. Lastly, it’s knowing that it’s going to be supported, Harvey has been very engaged in terms of talking with developers, and has fostered a community of developers who can help each other.”

The PC Gaming channel is presented by Intel^®'s Game Dev program.

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Hands-On: From Other Suns is a Procedurally Generated Multiplayer Starship Simulator

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From Other Suns, a brand new VR title by Gunfire Games, draws heavy inspiration from several existing concepts and combines them all together, effortlessly, into a fresh and shiny package. It’s got the ship and crew management of games like Star Trek: Bridge Crew and FTL, it’s got the cooperative first-person shooter elements of games like Onward and Borderlands, with tons of loot to gather and gear to acquire, and it’s got the crazy ragtag crew antics of something like Guardians of the Galaxy — you can watch the trailer below to catch all of the vibes.

Even though it’s designed primarily as a three-player cooperative multiplayer game, the first time I played From Other Suns at GDC 2017 this week I was on my own. The other two demo stations were occupied by players also playing alone so I’d be rolling solo for my first mission. It was like my own private trial by galactic fire, as it were.

Everything began aboard my starship as the onsite Gunfire Games developer walked me through the controls and movement systems. On my wrists are a couple of buttons I can press with my opposite hand to pull up things like the options window or a map screen. The Oculus Touch controller face buttons toggle an inventory and an equipment display.

The default, more comfortable, movement system was a bit unique. You start by pressing forward on the left analog stick and then as you move around you watch your avatar from a third-person perspective.

Once you let go of the analog stick, you immediately teleport back into your body as you’re standing still. It feels almost like an out of body experience, but is a good option for those sensitive to motion sickness. It seemed to be a decent stop-gap solution, but I can’t imagine someone playing the entire game this way. It’s just wonky and feels like an inferior way of experiencing it.

For me, I preferred the full locomotion movement. It worked very similarly to Onward, allowing me to freely move around the world with few issues.

Once I got that down, it was time for my mission briefing. I headed to the bridge and looked down at my star map. After I selected a space station that was in trouble, my commander informed me that robots had overtaken the vessel and killed everyone on board. Because of course they did.

I made my way back to the chamber with the teleportation pad and inspected the guns on the wall. My starting pistol was good, but not great. Each of the guns had different fire rates, magazine sizes, and damage output. One functioned like an energy rifle, another shot lighting bolts, and then another was sort of like a short range shotgun. Plenty of diversity with options for every situation.

Once my loadout was set I stepped onto the pad and beamed down onto the ship. The developers told me that in the real game, maps like this would be procedurally generated from tilesets. This means that no two mission will ever be the same due to randomization, but it won’t be as lifeless as a truly randomized area.

Knowing that killer robots were on the loose, I was much more cautious than when freely roaming my own starship. I slowly edged around corners, poked my head out from cover to sneak a look, and made sure to stay mobile.

Eventually I encountered my first enemy, a robotic adversary that resembled the droids from the Star Wars prequels a bit. He was flanked by two similar robots, so I started by poking out from around the corner, gunning for headshots with my pistol. Soon, I swapped to the automatic rifle and peppered the chest of the closest one until it dropped. Once they got too close I switched to the shotgun and blasted their heads off. It felt extremely satisfying, especially with full locomotion.

Upon death, the robots dropped a few glowing items. One was a shield, which I could hold in one hand and squeeze the trigger to activate — if it got hit too many times it’d break and need to recharge. The second glowing item was green and I found out it was a syringe, which I could stab myself with to heal. Stocking up on those saved me a few times later in the mission.

When I came came back to the booth at a later time I was able to hop into a multiplayer session with UploadVR’s own Senior Editor, Ian Hamilton. While exploring the starship I quickly realized that I could hear him just fine over voice chat, but he couldn’t hear me. It was just a minor hardware issue. I decided to use this to my advantage.

While this was technically a cooperative multiplayer game, the folks at Gunfire didn’t want to cut any corners. This is a hardcore game about manning a starship and trying to survive. Friendly fire happens. I learned this by opening fire on Ian as he was still trying to find his way around the ship; I could even hear the booth attendees talking to him over the microphone.

One thing led to another and I killed him in cold blood before the mission even started. I didn’t need him slowing me down, but he just respawned and joined me anyway.

While we were down there, team dynamics started to emerge. Whoever had the shield could walk in front, drawing fire and keeping enemies busy, while someone else headed up the rear taking aim with more powerful and precise weapons.

The inclusion of thrown weapons like EMP blasts to stun robots or grenades to blow apart large groups would be a welcomed addition if the developers decided to add them. Later on, large robots with rocket launcher weapons could demolish a fully charged shield in a single blow, making it clear this wouldn’t be an easy game when it finally releases.

During our time with the game, Gunfire also mentioned a suite of features that weren’t available in the demo we tried. For starters, while aboard your ship, you can actually engage other ships in combat. Gameplay during these moments would consist of sending crew members to repair parts of the ship and actively rerouting power to shields or guns during a fight.

Ultimately, even though I was more successful and actually beat the mission on my own before joining forces with Ian, playing as a team was rewarding and exciting. Perhaps with a more competent partner things wouldn’t have broken down so quickly.

I ended up killing him again out of pure spite before the demo was over. It didn’t make me feel any better.

From Other Suns is in development by Gunfire Games as an Oculus Rift with Touch exclusive, currently slated for Fall 2017. Even though it’s being built with three player co-op in mind, it’s still playable in single player as well.

[Editor’s Note] – This article was originally published in February during GDC 2017 and has been republished to coincide with the free Open Beta weekend happening at the time of publication.

Tagged with: from other suns, GDC, gunfire games, star trek

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Hands-on: ‘From Other Suns’ Open Beta

Friday, 29 September 2017

3D Virtual Reality Headset for 3D Movies and Games - VR Glasses with Stereo

3D Virtual Reality Headset for 3D Movies and Games - VR Glasses with Stereo
ID: 282674739999

Auction price: $32.99
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September 30, 2017 at 10:11AM
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VR Headset with Controller, Pasonomi VR Virtual Reality Headset w/ Bluetooth Rem

VR Headset with Controller, Pasonomi VR Virtual Reality Headset w/ Bluetooth Rem
ID: 232506425961

Auction price: $24.41
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September 30, 2017 at 09:52AM
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Pasonomi VR Glasses - 3D Virtual Reality Headset for iPhone 7/ 7 Plus/6s/6 plus/

Pasonomi VR Glasses - 3D Virtual Reality Headset for iPhone 7/ 7 Plus/6s/6 plus/
ID: 232506425570

Auction price: $24.41
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September 30, 2017 at 09:52AM
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Samsung GEAR VR Headset 2017 with Controller Virtual Reality Oculus (NEW IN BOX)

Samsung GEAR VR Headset 2017 with Controller Virtual Reality Oculus (NEW IN BOX)
ID: 162691772191

Auction price: $75.00
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September 30, 2017 at 09:25AM
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Freefly VR Virtual Reality Smartphone 3D Headset

Freefly VR Virtual Reality Smartphone 3D Headset
ID: 391897591203

Auction price: $29.99
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September 30, 2017 at 09:00AM
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Samsung Gear VR w/ Remote Controller Oculus Virtual Reality Headset 2017 SM-R324

Samsung Gear VR w/ Remote Controller Oculus Virtual Reality Headset 2017 SM-R324
ID: 182797558674

Auction price: $50.00
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September 30, 2017 at 06:07AM
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Finally, AR can help photographers and videographers plan that shoot

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Using AR, Blocker can help videographers and photographers visualize their shot from the angle to lighting. The app allows users to move people and objects around, adjust the sun and even look through the viewfinder.

The post Finally, AR can help photographers and videographers plan that shoot appeared first on Digital Trends.

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The Biggest PSVR Releases Of The Week 09/24/17

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A pretty nice selection of new PSVR games is ready and waiting for you this week.

If you missed last week’s releases then you can see them here. UploadVR has also launched the ‘UploadVR PSVR Community’ on PlayStation 4! Join up, find other gamers to play with, and engage in discussions with them.

Also, don’t forget to check out our list of the 9 Best PlayStation VR Games if you need any extra inspiration.

Voltron: VR Chronicles, from Digital Domain
Price: $14.99 (Rift)

Based on the ongoing Netflix cartoon, Voltron: VR Chronicles is essentially an episode of the show played out in VR. You take on the role of one of the mech-commanding paladins and journey across the galaxy in a polished, if brief adventure. Splendid visuals and authenticity help make up for one big oversight.

Recommendation: Fans of the cartoon will love it.

Light Tracer, from Oasis Games
Price: $15.99

A VR puzzle game in which you guide a young girl by shining a light for her to follow through a picturesque world. Navigate various traps and puzzles as you climb higher and higher. Not the most imaginative use of VR, but some interesting ideas here.

Recommendation: For puzzle lovers.

Chernobyl VR Project, from The Farm 51
Price: $9.99

An intriguing piece that uses a combination of 360 degree footage and computer-generated environments to tell the tragic story of the Chernobyl disaster and show the abandoned area as it looks today. Journey to several sights and explore a place you might otherwise never actually visit.

Recommendation: Definitely one for those with an interest in the subject.

HeroCade, from Lucid Sight
Price: £9.49 (EU launch)

A collection of VR games previously appearing on the likes of the Oculus Rift and Gear VR gathered for PSVR users. Many are from Lucid Sight itself, offering harmless fun, though the real standout is creepy VR horror game, Dreadhalls, which never fails to terrify with its procedural dungeons.

Recommendation: A great one to check out if you’ve been waiting.

Tagged with: new releases, PSN Store

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CYNOCULARS VIRTUAL REALITY HEADSET & REMOTE FOR 3D VIEW OF MOVIES AND GAMES New

CYNOCULARS VIRTUAL REALITY HEADSET & REMOTE FOR 3D VIEW OF MOVIES AND GAMES New
ID: 122731234538

Auction price: $13.25
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September 30, 2017 at 05:41AM
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The Biggest HTC Vive Releases Of The Week 09/24/17

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It’s a pretty strong week on Vive, with some games moving out of Early Access, some joining it, and other big launches from out of the blue. Best get downloading.

In the meantime, if you missed the previous iteration of this list, you can see those new releases here. And don’t forget that UploadVR has a Steam community group, complete with a curated list of recommendations so that you don’t have to waste any money finding out what’s good in the world of VR.

We also have a top list of the absolute best HTC Vive games — which is updated every few months with the latest and greatest options.

The Big Releases

Voltron: VR Chronicles, from Digital Domain
Price: $14.99 (Rift)

Recommendation: Fans of the cartoon will love it.

Cirque du Soleil, from Felix and Paul Studios
Price: Free (Rift)

The famed immersive filmmaking studio this week debuts its Cirque du Soleil content on PC-based headsets. Get a first-class ticket to some of the most spectacular acrobatics on the planet, all performed as if you were really there.

Recommendation: A great free download.

DWVR, from Mad Triangles
Price: $14.99 (Rift, currently discounted)

For those looking for a little shooter action this week, DWVR promises a Doom-esque adventure with big guns and demonic enemies. Finally moving out of early access, the game’s aim is to make you feel like a true badass, destroying enemies with enormous swords and more.

Recommendation: FPS fans should scoop it up.

Cloudborn, from Logtown Studios AB
Price: $14.99 (Rift, currently discounted)

An early access release of an intriguing-looking VR adventure in which you navigate ancient ruins by climbing along their beautiful remains. It looks like a cross between Windlands and The Climb, and that’s no bad thing.

Recommendation: A good one to support early on.

Also Available

2MD VR Football
Rome Circus Maximus: Chariot Race VR
Gurugedara
Hot Runback – VR Runner
RuneSage
BEAT.R.
Dronihilation VR

Tagged with: new releases, steam

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Procedural Co-Op Shooter From Other Suns Gets Free Open Beta This Weekend

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Update: The From Other Suns free Open Beta weekend is now live starting today, September 29th and will last until October 1st. You can download the game here and read our thoughts on it from GDC right here.

Original Story: In the first year of VR’s life when I went to a game convention there was a short list of VR experiences I could almost always guarantee we would play. Sports games were obvious choices, as were the wave shooters, and cockpit simulators. In the middle to fill in the rest of the content gaps were an assortment of other random games as a mixed bag of potential. When GDC 2017 rolled around at the start of this year though we started to see the next wave of VR games and what it could look like. From Other Suns stood above the rest as an exciting, fresh, and wholly new type of VR co-op shooter.

Mixing elements of franchises like Star Trek, FTL, and Borderlands, From Other Suns is a procedurally generated cooperative multiplayer shooter that has you flying a ship all around the galaxy as you dock and loot other ships and planets, all with intense fast-paced shooter action and tons of loot. It’s like the Away Team version of Star Trek: Bridge Crew.

News came in today that the title will be hosting a totally free Open Beta weekend from September 29 until October 1st and we can’t wait to dive in for more.

As of right now it’s unclear if the content in that beta will be different from what we saw at GDC already earlier this year or if it will be the same demo. Fingers crossed for some new content.

Make sure to also read our detailed hands-on impressions here to get a good idea for what the game’s like and let us know what you think of it so far down in the comments below!

Tagged with: from other suns, gunfire games

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Multiplayer Sci-fi Shooter ‘From Other Suns’ Open Beta Weekend Begins

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The free open beta of From Other Suns, the multiplayer shooter from Gunfire Games, has arrived. You’ve got the entire weekend to test this interesting co-op space-faring action-adventure game.

Update (9/29/17): The From Other Suns open beta weekend is here. Have at it!

Oculus quietly announced the news, releasing word of the open beta with no other general release dates. The game’s open beta weekend will start September 29th and go until October 1st, coming exclusively to Rift.

We got a chance to play a demo of From Other Suns when it first debuted at this year’s GDC, with Road to VR’s Executive Editor Ben Lang drawing some clear similarities to the much beloved rogue-like FTL: Faster Than Light.

“From Other Suns aims to recreate the same sort of challenges and gameplay found in FTL—multiple crew members, permadeath, procedurally generated events and environments, ship management, and more—in a VR adventure FPS that’s built from the ground up for three-player co-op.”

Lang calls the pacing “a little slower and more deliberate than some VR FPS games out there, but that’s intentional,” saying that it plays “much like a dungeon crawler.”

Gunfire Games has produced a number of well-received VR games, including two very different action RPGs; Chronos (2016) and Herobound: Spirit Champion (2016), and western shooter Dead and Buried (2016).

Here’s what Gunfire had to say about From Other Suns:

Your own ship. A crew. Steady work. Things were going well until the Collapse. Now you and half of humanity are trapped on the far side of the wormhole with ruthless pirates, scheming corporations, and worse—new threats from outside known space. There’s danger at every jump on this side of the wormhole. You and up to two of your friends will tour the sector, upgrading your ship, stockpiling weapons, and fighting for your lives. And when you all die, you’ll discover new challenges in your next playthrough.Fight and try to save humanity, or just joyride through the galaxy until its extinction. Your call.

The post Multiplayer Sci-fi Shooter ‘From Other Suns’ Open Beta Weekend Begins appeared first on Road to VR.

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Snapchat World Lenses gets sponsored augmented reality characters

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Brands can now bring their characters to "life" using new sponsored augmented reality Snapchat World Lenses. The first two sponsored characters to arrive on the platform are from Warner Bros. and Bud Light.

The post Snapchat World Lenses gets sponsored augmented reality characters appeared first on Digital Trends.

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The Biggest Oculus Rift And Gear VR Releases Of The Week 09/24/17

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Best prepare your wallet; there’s plenty of choice for your Oculus Rift this week, from spell casting and gun-slinging to rabbit-blasting and exploration.

If you missed the previous entry of this list you can see those new releases here. And don’t forget that UploadVR has a Steam community group, complete with a curated list of recommendations so that you don’t have to waste any money finding out what’s good in the world of VR.

Plus — check out our list of the best Oculus Rift games and best Gear VR games for more suggestions!

The Big Releases

Wands, from Cortopia Studios
Price: $14.99 (Rift)

The popular mobile VR title has been remastered for the Oculus Rift and is looking fine. Head into various ancient arenas and cast spells to take down your opponents. With customizable attack options, teleportation locomotion and more, this looks like a worthy contender to The Unspoken’s throne.

Recommendation: A solid game you should definitely check out.

Hangry Bunnies from Mars, from Studio229
Price: $5.99 (Rift)

Here’s a new wave shooter that looks like it’s had a lot of time and effort poured into it. Hangry Bunnies has you blasting away vicious critters both big and small with crazy weaponry. It’s got an arcade influence that will have you chasing for high scores and playing again and again.

Recommendation: Shooter fans should snap this up.

Voltron: VR Chronicles, from Digital Domain
Price: $14.99 (Rift)

Recommendation: Fans of the cartoon will love it.

Cirque du Soleil, from Felix and Paul Studios
Price: Free (Rift)

Recommendation: A great free download.

DWVR, from Mad Triangles
Price: $14.99 (Rift, currently discounted)

Recommendation: FPS fans should scoop it up.

Cloudborn, from Logtown Studios AB
Price: $14.99 (Rift, currently discounted)

Recommendation: A good one to support early on.

Also Available

Skybox VR Player
Bending The Light
Chernobyl VR Project
Black Hole
Amazon Sights
My Principal Is An Alien
2MD VR Football
Rome Circus Maximus: Chariot Race VR
Gurugedara
Hot Runback – VR Runner
RuneSage
BEAT.R.
Dronihilation VR

Tagged with: new releases, Oculus Home, steam

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Samsung Gear VR - Virtual Reality Headset - Latest Edition (2016) NO ACCESSORIES

Samsung Gear VR - Virtual Reality Headset - Latest Edition (2016) NO ACCESSORIES
ID: 322793524629

Auction price: $15.99
Bid count:
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Buy it now: $15.99

September 30, 2017 at 03:45AM
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‘Bigscreen’ Update Brings Big Ease-of-use Improvements, Better Avatars

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Bigscreen is a social VR app which lets VR users bring their PC desktops into virtual reality, as if sitting at their computer next to friends or co-workers. Users inside of Bigscreen can see each other’s desktops which means they can watch movies, play games together, and plenty more. A new update launched today brings a range of much needed interaction improvements and better avatars.

Following a major update in July which drastically improved desktop streaming performance within the app, today’s ‘Avatar Update’ to Bigscreen finally gives avatars torsos; prior to the update, players were represented simply as a floating heads and hands.

Players can now choose between seven different body shapes, and hundreds of combinations of shirt types and colors, in addition to existing hair, eye, and skin options. Players can customize their avatar in a new mirror interface which offers easy experimentation.

Bigscreen may offer cool functionality, but using it with motion controllers was, in many ways, unintuitive. Today’s update makes things much easier: screens now have an in-world menu bar for making quick adjustments using direct input from your controllers (rather than needing to open a separate menu and fiddling with sliders). Meanwhile, the handy ‘Tablet’ window, from which you can control all of Bigscreen’s functions, has been updated for touch-input. So instead of using a laser pointer cursor, you can now intuitively poke and prod at the large buttons for more direct and intuitive control.

AMD users who have had issues with Bigscreen may want to take second look; the Avatar Update is said to “greatly [improve] stability and performance” on AMD graphics cards.

Bigscreen is available on both Oculus and Steam. Facebook Spaces recently debuted a similar desktop sharing feature.

The post ‘Bigscreen’ Update Brings Big Ease-of-use Improvements, Better Avatars appeared first on Road to VR.

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Rick And Morty VR Dev: ‘This IP Is Almost Anti-Canon And Was So Fun’

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Rick and Morty is comedic gold. It’s one of the funniest shows currently running and is featured on Cartoon Network’s Adult Swim nighttime segment. Co-created by Justin Roiland and Dan Harmon, the show follows it’s titular characters (Rick and Morty) on intergalactic sci-fi adventures through time and space. The humor is smart, sometimes subtle, and always on-point.

Last week at VRDC in San Francisco, CA the folks at Google-owned Owlchemy Labs (developers of Rick and Morty: Virtual Rick-ality and Job Simulator) hosted a postmortem discussion panel about the game’s development. During the discussion they talked about not only how they went about adapting a 2D cartoon IP for 3D VR worlds, but also general VR design principles to take note of for future designers and developers.

We previously spoke with Schwartz and several other members of Owlchemy, as well as Justin Roiland himself, about the game’s creation and what went into the process (video embedded above). For the most part it sounds like it was a typical cross-studio collaboration, with a few caveats.

For starters, Rick and Morty isn’t your everyday normal cartoon. “This IP is almost anti-canon and was so fun to work on,” Schwartz said during the VRDC panel. “We got a massive IP bible from Adult Swim to reference during the process, though.”

Schwartz described how loose the company was with regards to following things from the show as closely as possible. For example, the show is a flat 2D cartoon that never shows its characters or environments in three dimensions which means the team at Owlchemy had to take some creative license with adding that extra dimension.

On top of that are the everyday challenges that all VR designers face when making games like player comfort, locomotion, exploration, and even death. “Death in a VR game is very strange,” said Schwartz. “We didn’t want anything to feel punishing or take control away from the player.”

Their solution was to have the screen immediately cut to black and to present a single phone in the middle of a black and red room labeled as “Purgatory” for players to navigate. This way they have to physically pick up the phone and choose to return to the game world.

One of my favorite excerpts that was shared during the panel is the story of how Roiland recorded his voice work for both Rick and Morty in the game. The team at Owlchemy would write out dialog and record mock-up examples of the voice lines that Roiland would then listen to and re-record adding his own flavor and “off book” stylings.

Whether it be Rick and Morty: Virtual Rick-ality, Job Simulator, or whatever the team at Owlchemy is working on next, the team clearly has a firm grasp on what works and what doesn’t in VR. Now that they have an infusion of capital from their new owners, Google, we’re excited to see what the company releases next.

Let us know what you think of Owlchemy Labs and Rick and Morty: Virtual Rick-ality down in the comments below!

Tagged with: owlchemy labs, Rick and Morty, Rick and Morty: Virtual Rick-Ality

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Saturday, 30 September 2017

Thrustmaster T.Flight HOTAS 4

More HOTAS glory

Microsoft

Google

Facebook’s Oculus

In pole position

Current contenders

The emerging challengers

Final thoughts

Thanks for your interest in the PC Gaming channel

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Friday, 29 September 2017

Voltron: VR Chronicles, from Digital Domain Price: $14.99 (Rift)

Light Tracer, from Oasis Games Price: $15.99

Chernobyl VR Project, from The Farm 51 Price: $9.99

HeroCade, from Lucid Sight Price: £9.49 (EU launch)

The Big Releases

Voltron: VR Chronicles, from Digital Domain Price: $14.99 (Rift)

Cirque du Soleil, from Felix and Paul Studios Price: Free (Rift)

DWVR, from Mad Triangles Price: $14.99 (Rift, currently discounted)

Cloudborn, from Logtown Studios AB Price: $14.99 (Rift, currently discounted)

Also Available

The Big Releases

Wands, from Cortopia Studios Price: $14.99 (Rift)

Hangry Bunnies from Mars, from Studio229 Price: $5.99 (Rift)

Voltron: VR Chronicles, from Digital Domain Price: $14.99 (Rift)

Cirque du Soleil, from Felix and Paul Studios Price: Free (Rift)

DWVR, from Mad Triangles Price: $14.99 (Rift, currently discounted)

Cloudborn, from Logtown Studios AB Price: $14.99 (Rift, currently discounted)

Also Available

Voltron: VR Chronicles, from Digital Domain
Price: $14.99 (Rift)

Light Tracer, from Oasis Games
Price: $15.99

Chernobyl VR Project, from The Farm 51
Price: $9.99

HeroCade, from Lucid Sight
Price: £9.49 (EU launch)

Voltron: VR Chronicles, from Digital Domain
Price: $14.99 (Rift)

Cirque du Soleil, from Felix and Paul Studios
Price: Free (Rift)

DWVR, from Mad Triangles
Price: $14.99 (Rift, currently discounted)

Cloudborn, from Logtown Studios AB
Price: $14.99 (Rift, currently discounted)

Wands, from Cortopia Studios
Price: $14.99 (Rift)

Hangry Bunnies from Mars, from Studio229
Price: $5.99 (Rift)

Voltron: VR Chronicles, from Digital Domain
Price: $14.99 (Rift)

Cirque du Soleil, from Felix and Paul Studios
Price: Free (Rift)

DWVR, from Mad Triangles
Price: $14.99 (Rift, currently discounted)

Cloudborn, from Logtown Studios AB
Price: $14.99 (Rift, currently discounted)