Oculus Makes Improvements to Iteration Time for Unity Quest Developers

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Oculus has introduced three changes to significantly speed up the iteration process for developers building Quest applications with Unity.

Because Quest is its own standalone headset, testing how an application will run on the requires packaging the application and then deploying it to the headset before being able to test it. Because this process can take a few minutes from the time you start packaging to the time you get to see your app in the headset, it’s very time consuming to test small changes. Iteration time—how quickly one can make changes and then see them—is a key factor in the efficient creation of any media. For developers building Quest applications, the faster the time between making changes and testing them, the more time they can spend honing their applications to be polished and perfromant.

SEE ALSO

Dev Shares Crash Course on VR Game Optimization for Oculus Quest & Mobile Hardware

Oculus says long iteration time when building for Quest is a top pain point brought up by developers. The company has introduced three improvements for the Quest Unity integration which can drastically reduce iteration time. Two of the three changes are available with Unity 2018.1 and later, though one requires 2018.2 or later.

OVR Build APK and Run

The first is ‘OVR Build APK and Run’, a command which employs a cache to speed up the time it takes to package the app. Oculus says this method makes the same APK that would come from the normal ‘Unity Build and Run’, but does so 10–50% faster.

Image courtesy Oculus

OVR Quick Scene Preview

The second is ‘OVR Quick Scene Preview’ which automatically divides projects into multiple asset bundles and uploads them to Quest. After making changes to the app and using the command, only the bundles which contain changes need to be uploaded to the headset.

Image courtesy Oculus

Oculus tested OVR Quick Scene Preview with three published Quest apps—Beat Saber, Dead and Buried 2, and Superhot VR—and found that it drastically improved iteration time by more than 80% for each app.

Shader Stripping

The last change is what Oculus calls Shader Stripping (this one requires Unity 2018.2 or later) which can speed up both the ‘OVR Build APK and Run’ and ‘OVR Quick Scene Preview’ processes. Unity applications running on Quest only load Tier2 shaders, Oculus says, which means that it’s a waste to spend time packaging shaders of any other tier.

Image courtesy Oculus

Oculus also offered up an explanation for when developers should use ‘OVR Build APK and Run’ or ‘OVR Quick Scene Preview’:

OVR Quick Scene Preview is for fast iteration on scenes and assets and does not build an APK that is representative of your final project. As you are developing your project, OVR Quick Scene Preview is useful for reducing iteration time. When close to shipping or when wanting to see a closer representation of what your final project will look and run like, use OVR Build APK and Run. Both OVR Build APK and Run and OVR Quick Scene Preview build in development mode and should not be used to create a final shippable bundle.

For more details, Oculus points developers toward its developer documentation which has been updated with these new iteration improvements.

The post Oculus Makes Improvements to Iteration Time for Unity Quest Developers appeared first on Road to VR.

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‘Lone Echo II’ Development “greatly impacted” by Coronavirus but Still Expected to Launch in 2020

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With an initial release date set for 2019, Oculus told us last year that the highly anticipated Lone Echo II had been delayed to Q1 2020. With that release window behind us, developer Ready at Dawn now says the development of the game was hindered by the Coronavirus situation, but the game is still expected to launch in 2020.

Update (April 30th, 2020): While the once-delayed Q1 2020 release window for Lone Echo II had quietly come and gone, developer Ready at Dawn today acknowledged the additional delay, saying that development of the game has been hampered by the need to adopt to a studio-wide work from home policy.

In the last several weeks, we’ve all had to adapt to a new reality. Here at Ready At Dawn, we switched from the day-to-day collaboration of working in the studio, to everyone working from home. Since mid-March, we’ve had to find ways to reconnect and no method has been more impactful and effective for us than VR. As work progresses on our games, this new reality and dynamic has caused us to rethink some of our game development methodology. Development on Lone Echo II has been greatly impacted.

The studio still expects the game to launch in 2020, and is promising to share “more news on Lone Echo II very soon.”

The original article, which overviewed what was known about the game’s delays at the time, continues below.

Original Article (March 18th, 2020): Though GDC 2020 (which would have been held this week) was cancelled, Oculus has still been sharing a smattering of VR news this week. Last year the company told us the game had been delayed to Q1 2020, so we had expected to finally hear more about Lone Echo II this week, but Oculus tells Road to VR that it has no news to share.

With less than two weeks to the end of Q1, Lone Echo II looks certain to be further delayed beyond Q1, though Oculus hasn’t given us any further information on when to expect the game.

Developed by Ready at Dawn, Lone Echo II, is set to launch exclusively on Rift. The game was announced back in 2018 as the followup to one of the most lauded Oculus exclusive titles, Lone Echo (2017).

SEE ALSO

'Lone Echo II' Roughly 50% Larger Than Its Predecessor, E3 Demo Reveals New Gameplay

Oculus and Ready at Dawn had shown us a polished preview of the game last year at E3 2019, so why the initial delay and now this further delay? It’s hard to say, but we have a few guesses.

For one, the game was announced well before Facebook launched Oculus Quest in May 2019. In the months since then, Facebook seems to have shifted much of its VR focus away from its PC-based Rift and toward the standalone Quest. The company also announced that Ready at Dawn would be bringing Echo Arena—the multiplayer sibling of Lone Echo—to Quest, and this project may have been given higher priority than getting Lone Echo II out the door. Ready at Dawn indicated as much back at the initial delay telling us:

“Today we confirmed that Ready At Dawn is bringing Echo Arena to Quest. In consideration of that project, we decided to push Lone Echo II out to 2020 so that we can give all our attention to that title once [Echo Arena on Quest] is out. We’re taking the time we need to do these titles justice,” Ru Weerasuriya, Ready at Dawn’s CEO and Creative Director, told Road to VR.

With Echo Arena only just reaching the closed testing phase next week, it makes sense that Lone Echo II has yet to launch.

The post ‘Lone Echo II’ Development “greatly impacted” by Coronavirus but Still Expected to Launch in 2020 appeared first on Road to VR.

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Echo Arena Open Beta Launches On Oculus Quest Next Week

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Ready at Dawn’s zero-g sports game will be available free to all users until its official release.

After two closed alphas and a single closed beta, Echo Arena will finally be available to all Oculus Quest users beginning next week as part of a free open beta which will run from May 5th until the titles official launch later this year.

Players will be able to download the game through the official Oculus Quest Store at which point they will then have access to the tutorial, in-game lobby, Player vs. A.I. mode, and the Echo Arena itself. Developer Ready at Dawn has stated that the Quest release will allow for cross-play with Oculus Rift players.

The official Oculus blog post goes on to provide several updates on Lone Echo II and the company as a whole:

“In the last several weeks, we’ve all had to adapt to a new reality. Here at Ready At Dawn, we switched from the day-to-day collaboration of working in the studio, to everyone working from home. Since mid-March, we’ve had to find ways to reconnect and no method has been more impactful and effective for us than VR. As work progresses on our games, this new reality and dynamic has caused us to rethink some of our game development methodology. Development on Lone Echo II has been greatly impacted. We know many of you have anxiously been awaiting its launch and, while we do intend to launch in 2020, we’ll have more news on Lone Echo II coming very soon.”

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Ready at Dawn kicked-off its Quest testing phase with a closed alpha open to a select number of Level 50 players, followed by a second closed alpha composed of select players levels 5 – 49. The company is currently in the middle of a closed beta which includes the aforementioned players as well as those who signed up for testing this past March.

Beginning next Tuesday, every Oculus Quest user will have the chance make a name for themselves in the arena; if they have the skills that is. Echo Arena is a fast-paced competitive sports experience requiring lightning-fast reflexes and solid team communication. Echo Arena originally launched on Oculus Rift in 2017; since then the existing player-base has developed various strategies and techniques for dominating in the arena. Quest players joining the action for the first time will need to adapt quickly if they hope to stand a chance.

Image Credit: Ready at Dawn

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This Should Be V.R.’s Moment. Why Is It Still So Niche?

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Ready At Dawn Sets May 5 For Start Of Quest’s Echo Arena Open Beta

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Ready At Dawn announced that starting May 5 Echo Arena will be available in open beta on Oculus Quest.

The reveal came in a developer update to the Oculus blog related to work-from-home changes due to the COVID-19 pandemic. According to Ready At Dawn, development on Lone Echo II “has been greatly impacted” but they still intend to launch the game in 2020 with more updates coming soon. As far as the Oculus Quest version of their zero-g sport Echo Arena:

“VR has allowed us to reconnect in a new way, not only with our teammates, but also with the community at large,” the blog states. “We are therefore making our upcoming Open Beta for Echo VR on Oculus Quest available to everyone until the official launch later this year.”

We got into the closed beta recently for the game and captured video play through a full match. Check it out here:

The game seems to be shaping up incredibly well on Oculus Quest. The wireless freedom is eye-opening and it seems to run solidly on Facebook’s standalone headset. We’re looking forward to playing more in the coming weeks with more people now that it’ll be more accessible to all Quest owners. The game could end up being one of the big competitive draws for Oculus Quest headsets as the year progresses.

Echo Arena will be free to play when it is completed for Quest as well, and it will feature cross-play with Rift players.

Will you be playing Ready At Dawn’s Echo Arena on Quest? Let us know in the comments below.

The post Ready At Dawn Sets May 5 For Start Of Quest’s Echo Arena Open Beta appeared first on UploadVR.

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Hyper Dash Available Now On SideQuest With PC VR Cross-Play

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Hyper Dash is a new fast-paced multiplayer shooter available on SideQuest featuring cross-play with PC VR.

You can try the alpha testing release right now and Hyper Dash is free while still in development.

The game supports up to 5 versus 5 player matches in VR with spectators who can log in without a headset. The non-VR participants control a drone that can be seen in game. There are eight weapons currently in the game that are all one handed so you can dual wield. It features three modes:

• Payload is like Overwatch and Team Fortress 2
• Domination challenges teams to capture three points and hold them for five seconds to score and the first team to three points wins
• Capture Point is a mode where you try to hold a point in the middle of the map for 300 seconds

The game combines multiple movement systems including smooth locomotion and rail grinding that gets you around a map quickly after a respawn. There’s also a dash/teleport mechanic described as the main way of moving around in the game but it is limited to three dashes at a time. The dashes recharge and you can boost the dashes to five with a pickup located around the map.

“You can point your dash preview arc to where you want to dash. If you let go of the button you dash to the highlighted location in a fraction of a second,” Triangle Factory developer Jeroen Dessaux explained in a direct message. “The dash leaves a visible trail so players see where you went and it’s not too disorienting.”

The alpha release available now publicly also includes new sprinting features the developers are testing where “if you click the joystick button you will use 1 dash bar, but start sprinting for a few seconds,” Dessaux explained. “This is useful in a few situations. Some players wanted this and using the dash bar to restrict it seems like a good tradeoff. It also leaves a dash trail to make you more visible.” You can also sprint on the rails as well.

No price has been decided for the final game yet but it will be a paid title when it is finished and the developers say Facebook gave them the go ahead for eventual release on the Quest Oculus Store.

“We’ll keep working on the game and take in community feedback, and release new builds at the end of each month until we release,” Dessaux explained in an email.

Check out the latest trailer here:

You can find the PC version of the game — which should work with both Oculus Rift and SteamVR headsets — in the game’s Discord server. You can also find the development version of Hyper Dash on SideQuest here.

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How to Choose Colleges With Virtual Tours

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‘Echo VR’ Quest Beta Will Open to All Starting May 5th, Remain Open Until Launch

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A version of Echo VR, the zero-G multiplayer Rift game from Ready at Dawn Studios, is coming to Oculus Quest at some point. Now, Ready at Dawn has released a roadmap to launch, which the studio says will also include an open beta for the game.

Update (April 30th, 2020): Developer Ready at Dawn today announced a shift in its approach to the Echo VR Quest beta strategy. Starting May 5th, the company will open the Echo VR beta to all Quest users, and keep it open until the game’s full launch later this year.

The studio said the decision was prompted by realizing how important VR has been for the studio itself to stay connected while working remotely.

With our work from home situation forcing us to be disconnected physically, VR has allowed us to reconnect in a new way, not only with our teammates, but also with the community at large. We are therefore making our upcoming Open Beta for Echo VR on Oculus Quest available to everyone until the official launch later this year. Starting Tuesday, May 5th, we invite you to join us and collaborate with everyone at RAD, in continuing to build Echo VR on Quest.

The original article, which highlight the studio’s prior plans for staggered beta windows, continues below.

Original Article (April 8th, 2020): In the game’s next closed alpha, the studio will be including select players ranging from levels of 5 – 49, as the first wave of participants admitted to the initial closed alpha stage were picked from a pool of Level 50 players.

At the conclusion of the closed alphas, a closed beta will begin. The studio says that all players who signed up for testing will join existing community testers from the previous phases, and that testers will be able to access Tutorials, VS. AI, the Lobby, and the ‘Echo Arena’ game itself.

Image courtesy Ready at Dawn

Unlike the Rift version, it appears Echo VR for Quest will only include ‘Echo Arena’, the VR sports game, and not ‘Echo Combat’, the team-based shooter. Both are accessible on Rift under the Echo VR umbrella launcher, with ‘Echo Arena’ provided as a free game whilst ‘Echo Combat’ requires an in-app purchase of $10 to play. ‘Echo Arena’ is said to provide cross-play between Quest and Rift.

After the final invite-only phase concludes, a general open beta will begin which anyone can take part in.

Exactly when all of this will take place still isn’t certain; the studio says more info will be shared in subsequent blog posts and that dates have been omitted “to more easily flow between phases and pivot when necessary.”

If you’re interested in taking part of any part of testing Echo VR on Quest, head over to the registration form here.

The post ‘Echo VR’ Quest Beta Will Open to All Starting May 5th, Remain Open Until Launch appeared first on Road to VR.

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Voice Of Solid Snake Plays The Main Bad Guy In Phantom: Covert Ops

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Veteran VA David Hayter plays the role of disgraced ex-Soviet General Zhurov.

Phantom: Covert Ops, nDreams’ long-awaited stealth-based VR shooter, is scheduled to arrive on Oculus Quest and Oculus Rift/Rift S headsets June 25th. Set in the year 1991, players step into the shoes (kayak?) of a special forces operative tasked with infiltrating a Cold War naval base located on the coast of the Black Sea. There they will engage hostile mercenery forces from the comfort of their tactical kayak in an attempt to prevent all-out war.

Today we received our first look at the games primary antagonist, General Nikolai Zhurov, a disgraced former-Soviet bent on turning the tides of the Cold War. He’s as ruthless as he is ugly, but the man knows how to deliver a monologue. Today’s “Villain Trailer” gives us our first-look at the dogmatic commander, played by legendary voice actor David Hayter; better known as the voice of Solid Snake and Naked Snake from the Metal Gear Solid series. He also has a few screen writing credits, including X-Men, X2, and Watchmen. Neat!

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“Phantom: Covert Ops is a ground-breaking next-level VR game and one of the finest stealth games I’ve ever seen or been part of,” stated Hayter in an official release. “Without doubt,virtual reality brings a new level of immersion to gaming and to be a part of that was incredibly exciting.”

That’s high-praise coming from the man who voices one of the most iconic steal-based characters in all of modern fiction.

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“Having someone of David’s calibre portray one of the main characters in the game speaks volumes about what we’re trying to achieve with Phantom,” added Tom Gillo, VP of Development at nDreams. “Oculus headset owners and fans of stealth games like Metal Gear Solid, will leap at the chance to take on this villain!”

Once again Phantom: Covert Ops arrives on Oculus Quest and Oculus Rift/Rift S June 25th.

Image Credit: nDreams

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Oculus sales are booming despite stock shortages

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When Facebook announced its latest financial results on Wednesday, it came as no surprise that the company said demand for advertising was down. But unexpectedly there was also a silver lining thanks to its virtual reality business.The company's non-...

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Solid Snake Actor David Hayter Returns To Stealth In Phantom: Covert Ops

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Huh, Phantom: Covert Ops?!

That’s right, the legendary voice of Solid Snake himself, David Hayter, is appearing in nDreams’ upcoming VR stealth game, which we’ve already compared to the Metal Gear Solid series. Hayter will be playing General Zhurov, the ex-Soviet antagonist that runs the rogue Cold War-era naval installation that players infiltrate by kyack in the game. Whereas gamers are used to bringing Hayter along for the ride as they take down Metal Gear (except for Metal Gear Solid 5 but we don’t talk about that), this time they’ll be facing off against him. Check his work out in the new trailer below.

“This is sort of the gamer’s opportunity to take on Solid Snake now that he’s older and gone completely insane,” Hayter told me in an interview last week.

“It’s funny,” he later added, “my whole career I played heroes. I was Solid Snake, I was Captain America. And when I turned 40 it all turned to villains.”

nDreams itself sought out Hayter for the role as a nod to stealth gaming’s past. For the actor and screenwriter, it was a chance to not only return to a beloved genre but to try VR itself; the studio sent him an Oculus Quest. “You really feel — I hope they don’t mind me saying this but you really feel like Solid Snake in that kyack and moving through. So the ability to take on the antagonist role and shut that down was really fun and interesting. And I felt like this was a nice launching pad into the next-generation of what stealth games were going to be.”

It’s not actually Hayter’s first VR role; he appeared in episodic stealth series Republique, which was ported to VR a few years ago, and also had a little-known role in Oculus Rift launch app, Farlands. But this will be his biggest appearance in a native headset game yet.

“I did know that a lot of the character was going to come through in public address systems that are sort of barking orders,” he said. “So I will say it was a pretty extreme performance that took a lot out of me. I had to dominate this world, it’s like being the voice of God in this game.”

Now that he’s self-isolating like the rest of us, Hayter has been checking out a lot more of what VR has to offer. “I’ve been using it quite a bit,” he said. “I got The Room, which is so beautiful and amazing. My daughter and I do a lot of escape rooms and I got that. I’m about to get A Fisherman’s Tale, I haven’t tried that yet but it looks amazing. Vader Immortal was stunning, and playing in the lightsaber dojo quite a bit.”

Phantom: Covert Ops releases on June 25 for Oculus Rift and Quest. Check back soon for more coverage of the game.

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‘Phantom: Covert Ops’ Taps ‘Metal Gear Solid’ Snake Voice Actor for Main Protagonist

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Oculus exclusive Phantom: Covert Ops is on track for its June 25th release date on Rift and Quest, and today developer nDreams has announced that David Hayter, the English voice of Solid Snake from the Metal Gear Solid franchise will voice the game’s lead villain, Nikolai Zhurov.

If it wasn’t clear enough from the name of the game, Phantom: Covert Ops is a stealth action game. And who more fitting to play the game’s lead protagonist than the voice of stealth gaming icon Solid Snake; David Hayter has voiced Snake in more than a dozen Metal Gear games dating back to the original Metal Gear Solid (1998).

In Phantom: Covert Ops Hayter plays the role of Nikolai Zhurov, an ex-Soviet General who wants to change the outcome of the Cold War.

Phantom: Covert Ops uniquely puts the player in a tactical kayak—no, we’re not joking, and in our preview of the game we found it’s actually a quite compelling bit of VR game design. nDreams says that the game’s story and missions will unfold over the course of a single night, as the player tries to stop Zhurov from executing a dastardly plan.

SEE ALSO

Hands-on: 'Phantom: Covert Ops' Boasts Smart VR Design and Big Potential

As for Hayter, who voices Zhurov, this actually won’t be the first time he’s acted for a VR game; he voiced the character Dr. Kloog in Oculus’ first-party developed Farlands which was an original Rift launch title back in 2016. And if you want to get technical, he actually voiced a “VR” game back in 1999… Metal Gear Solid: VR Missions (no, this wasn’t actually a VR game, it just dealt with VR subject matter).

But Phantom is certainly the biggest VR production that Hayter has yet been part of. Speaking to Road to VR, he said that he’s a longtime gamer himself and had actually played some VR before taking on the role, including going to The VOID’s Star Wars: Secrets of the Empire, an out-of-home VR attraction.

Image courtesy nDreams

For Phantom, Hayter said nDreams sent him an Oculus Quest to try the game for himself. He found the kayak-based stealth action to be “a unique application of VR that I’ve never seen before,” and said the stealth vibe reminded him of Metal Gear.

Phantom: Covert Ops was originally set to release back in 2019, but was delayed into 2020. While the Coronavirus situation has delayed some games, luckily nDreams says that Phantom: Covert Ops is on track for its June 25th release date on Oculus Quest and Rift.

The post ‘Phantom: Covert Ops’ Taps ‘Metal Gear Solid’ Snake Voice Actor for Main Protagonist appeared first on Road to VR.

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HTC Unveils ‘Vive Sync’ Social VR Platform for Companies Looking to Go Virtual

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In the time of social distancing and the new work-at-home culture, video conferencing has undoubtedly become king. Companies looking to get a little more out of meetings though, namely the ability to virtually chat face-to-face with colleagues, might be surprised to learn that HTC is now opening up its own productivity-focused social VR platform.

Update (April 30th, 2020): HTC today unveiled its new business-focused social VR platform, Vive Sync. The company will be offering Vive Sync for free to companies of all sizes throughout 2020, and is said to support up to 30 users currently.

As a social productivity device, Vive Sync is said to include support for OneDrive, which includes the ability to show PowerPoints, PDFs, marketing videos, or 3D models. In place of traditional note-taking, users will be able to use voice recognition to record notes, annotate with a 3D pen, and take screenshots. As for 3D assets, Vive Sync currently supports FBX and OBJ files, as well as Unity Asset Bundles.

Vive Sync currently only supports HTC headsets, however in the future the company is working to extend hardware compatibility to non-Vive headsets, as well as implement host controls and the ability to record full meetings sessions. You can find how to sign up at the company’s Vive Sync website.

Original Article (April 10th, 2020): Announced on Twitter by HTC Vive China President Alvin Wang Graylin, the company is pitching a virtual meeting service now that it says will be both budget and climate-friendly, and will allow users with and without VR headsets to participate.

#ViveEvents: We are now officially offering end-to-end #Virtual #Events/#Conference / #Exhibitions services globally to help businesses stay productive in the face of current challenges!Deliver!Budget & Climate friendly! #VR device not required. Contact us: events@vive.com pic.twitter.com/DOGNQ9Q1c1

— Alvin Wang Graylin (汪丛青) (@AGraylin) April 9, 2020

Called ‘Vive Events’, the service is meant to take the place of events such as conferences and expositions, and can support up to 5,000 simultaneous attendees, something Graylin says can scale higher if need be.

SEE ALSO

Apple Seeks to "identify new computational display technologies for AR/VR" with New Hires

This follows the company’s most recent Vive Ecosystems Conference (VEC) which was supposed to take place in the flesh last month, however was scrapped in light of the global coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic. Instead, HTC held the event virtually in education-focused social VR platform Engage, which featured keynotes and a developer meet up in mid-March.

There’s no word yet on whether HTC is creating a purpose-built platform, or licensing pre-existing service (see update). Interested businesses can however contact HTC by sending an email to events@vive.com to learn more.

The post HTC Unveils ‘Vive Sync’ Social VR Platform for Companies Looking to Go Virtual appeared first on Road to VR.

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This Fan Brought ‘Quake’ to VR, Including 6DOF Controls & Melee

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Quake (1996) from id Software defined the real-time 3D shooter genre, and now you can dive back into the ’90s head-first with this fan-built Quake VR mod.

Yes, we know what you’re thinking. Quake has been playable in VR at home since at least 2013, but never like this.

Created by indie developer Vittorio Romeo, Quake VR includes support for 6DOF controllers, and a host of other goodies that make it feel more like a proper port than the gamepad/3DOF headsets of old provided.

Now in its 0.0.4 version, Quake VR boasts dual-wielding weapons, which includes guns and melee weapons too. Punching, throwing axes, and force-grabbing objects is all supported. A body and holster system also allows you to easily store your weapons and switch between guns, just like native VR games do.

SEE ALSO

This 'Half-Life: Alyx' Mod Lets You Play 'Wolfenstein 3D' in VR

Although the grappling hook is technically a cheat in the original game, which breaks some of the level progression if used liberally, you can use it in VR now too. Best of all, Romeo is making his work on Quake VR both open source and free to download, although he is also accepting donations.

Quake VR supports SteamVR headsets; users may need to modify controller setting in Steam’s binding menu first though to make sure all buttons are mapped correctly.

Romeo also says that since the VR version heavily relies on modified QuakeC files, mods or expansion packs may not be compatible out of the box, however they should be easy to port.

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Tired of Zoom calls? HTC offers businesses virtual reality meetings.

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Hundreds of millions of people are taking online meetings from home due to the coronavirus lockdowns. And now they can do it in virtual reality. 

On Thursday, HTC announced its Vive Sync platform for business meetings in virtual reality is now in open beta. The platform has been in development since 2018, but now it's open to businesses of all sizes, for free. 

The experience of using Vive Sync should be familiar to anyone who has used VR apps before. First, you create your Vive Sync avatar, starting with a selfie and then customizing it further. Features like hairstyles, facial features, body types, and clothing options are customizable, and more customization options will come later, HTC says.  Read more...

More about Htc, Virtual Reality, Htc Vive Sync, Tech, and Vr Ar

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Quake VR Mod Update Adds Half-Life: Alyx-Style Gravity Gloves And More

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Vittorio Romeo’s excellent Quake VR mod is one of the first games we’ve seen to take direct inspiration from the recent launch of Half-Life: Alyx.

Appearing in the v0.0.4 update — which is out now — is a Gravity Glove-style system that allows you to reach out to select items, flick your wrist back and catch them in your hand. From the looks of the system, seen in the trailer below, it works just like it did in Alyx. We loved the implementation there, so we’ll be eager to see how it feels in a classic game.

Of course, that’s far from all 0.0.4 brings. The developer has also added support for dual-wielding weapons, so you can hack away at goons with two melee items, or target two enemies at once with firearms. Plus weapons and items can now be tossed at foes when you don’t want them anymore. Heftier additions to your arsenal like rifles and shotguns, meanwhile, can now be gripped with two hands instead of just one.

Elsewhere there’s now a grappling hook to zip through levels with (which looks especially vomit-inducing), new weapons to wield and, quite importantly, support for Quake’s first mission pack, Scourge of Armagon. So even if you’ve torn through the entire original game already, there’s reason to jump back in here.

Finally, on the note of comfort, the developer added teleportation locomotion, which should make things a little more palatable for the more nausea-inclined among us.

We were really impressed with this take on Quake VR when we tried it earlier this year, and now it looks even better than it was before. You can download the mod from here though, of course, you’ll need to own Quake itself to play it.

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Mojo Vision Raises an Additional $51M to Fund Smart Contact Lens Development

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Mojo Vision announced it has raised more than $51 million in a Series B-1 investment round, something the company says will be used for further development on Mojo Lens, its smart contact lens.

The company’s latest funding round was led by New Enterprise Associates, and includes participation by Gradient Ventures, Khosla Ventures, Liberty Global Ventures, Struck Capital, Dolby Family Ventures, Motorola Solutions Venture Capital, Fusion Fund, Intellectus Partners, KDDI Open Innovation Fund, Numbase Group, InFocus Capital Partners, and others.

Dr. Greg Papadopoulos, PhD, venture partner at New Enterprise Associates, will join Mojo Vision’s board of directors.

The latest funding round brings Mojo Vision’s total funding to more than $159 million, with its penultimate round to date netting the company $58 million in March 2019.

SEE ALSO

Mojo is Making Contacts Smarter with Its Incredibly Tiny Microdisplay

Back at CES 2020 in January, Mojo announced that it was building its smart contact lens with built-in display, Mojo Lens. Although the company admitted then that it was still years away from commercialization for consumers, Mojo is first planning to use its contacts for the visually impaired. Applications include real-time contrast and scene enhancement, something the company says will make navigation, obstacle avoidance, and personal interactions easier for the visually impaired.

“The unveiling of the details of our product development earlier this year has generated increased excitement and momentum around the potential of Mojo Lens,” said Mojo Vision CEO and co-founder Drew Perkins. “This new round of funding brings more support and capital from strategic investors and companies to help us continue our breakthrough technology development. It gets us closer to bringing the benefits of Mojo Lens to people with vision impairments, to enterprises and eventually, consumers.”

The smart contact lens is still in development, however Fast Company reported in January that Mojo Lens squeezes 70,000 pixels into less than half a millimeter, a green monochrome microLED served up directly to the eye’s fovea. Although it’s not an augmented reality system as such, the company seems to be making serious inroads to creating a truly wearable heads-up display (HUD), similar to Google Glass in function as opposed to an AR headset such as Microsoft’s HoloLens.

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‘Arizona Sunshine’ for Quest Gets Final DLC Drop with ‘The Damned DLC’

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Vertigo Games has now released its final paid DLC for its co-op zombie shooter Arizona Sunshine (2017) on Oculus Quest.

First released on PSVR and PC headsets in October 2019, ‘The Damned DLC’ is now available on Oculus Quest, priced at $5.

This, the studio tells us, includes Oculus Store cross-buy support, so buying it for Quest will also allow you play it on Rift and vice versa.

The Damned DLC precedes the events of the main story, sending you and a team of US Special Forces to reactivate the generators of a massive hydroelectric dam to restore power to the military’s nuclear missile systems.

Priced at $40, Arizona Sunshine supports all major VR headsets, including PSVR, Oculus Rift, HTC Vive, Windows VR headsets, and Oculus Quest.

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VRMMO ‘OrbusVR’ Launches Paid DLC Questline with First Mini Story Pack

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OrbusVR, the virtual reality MMORPG, is getting plenty of new content this year, as the studio not only released a continuation of the game’s ‘Explorer’s League’ questline early this year, but also the first of a series of paid DLC ‘Mini Story Packs’ that promise to bring 10 -15 hours of additional content to the game. Now the first of those paid Mini Story Packs is here.

Update (April 30th, 2020): Orbus Online has now released its first Mini Story Pack, called ‘Secrets of Mugwood’. Priced at $10, the studio says in a blog post that the decision to offer its Mini Story Packs as in-app purchases rather than release on Oculus or Steam storefronts was to better tie the content to your account, and not the store platform itself.

The Secrets of Mugwood appears to feature a new device that miniaturizes the player, offering a literal ‘Mini Story’ adventure that only those with the ‘micronizer’ can access. Check out the new promo video below.

Original Article (January 31st, 2020): Introduced last year, The Explorer’s League questline is getting its second phase starting February 10th, which is said to provide around 5-10 hours of new content and include rewards such as a Transmog chest piece, new dyes, achievements, and buildings upon completion of the storyline.

In light of the studio’s decision to make the game free-to-play up until level 10 on PC, it appears OrbusVR is looking towards paid DLC quests to keep players coming back for fresh content. The first paid Mini Story Pack is said to arrive Q2 2020, and will be priced at $10 (see update). The studio says it will include “all-new zones to explore, quest lines and NPCs, allowing you to experience Patreayl like you’ve never seen it before.”

SEE ALSO

MMORPG 'OrbusVR' Now Lets You Play for Free Until Level 10 on PC

Here’s how Orbus Online describes it:

While the effects of Essence radiation are clearly visible throughout the land, no one has ever explored their effects on the micro ecosystems of Patreayl. Using the newly developed “micronizer” tool, shrink down and discover a miniature world teeming with life—as well as a few secret cities.

Meet the residents of a mushroom village, clamber up discarded barrels in a field, and find your way through a maze of underground tunnels.

This first Mini Story Pack will introduce around 10-15 hours of new gameplay. You will find new monsters, gear sets, a new mount, pet, house decor and achievements. Each new zone will be laden with hidden areas and secret passages—discovery of which will be aided with the addition of a new climbing mechanic!

Orbus says more information of its first Mini Story Pack will arrive in the coming months, so stay tuned to the studio’s blog for the latest.

OrbusVR supports SteamVR headsets via Steam, and Rift and Quest via the Oculus Store.

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Best SteamVR Games (Spring 2020)

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Vive Sync Available In Free Open Beta From Today For VR Collaboration

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HTC is launching its remote VR collaboration tool Vive Sync today, in a free open beta. The tool allows businesses working remotely to meet in virtual spaces using customizable avatars.

While the tool was announced last year, it is beginning an open beta from today, available for businesses and remote workers. With COVID-19 forcing many businesses and teams to work remotely from home, the timing of the Vive Sync beta make sense. Up to 30 users can participate simultaneously in a Vive Sync session with avatars that can be customized using the Sync Avatar Creator application on mobile devices.

Vive Sync aims to fit several different purposes with its sessions ranging from a virtual business meeting to an online press conference or remote classroom. Sync sessions can be held in either a conference room or auditorium setting, depending on what is more appropriate. There’s also support for importing and viewing files from One Drive during sessions, as well as the ability to place and examine 3D models in the virtual space. Non-VR participants can also join sessions through a “PC viewer.”

Currently, Sync only supports the Vive ecosystem of headsets – the HTC Vive, Vive Pro, Vive Focus and Vive Cosmos. HTC says it plans for future upgrades to the tool to include support for Oculus Rift, Oculus Quest, Valve Index and Windows MR headsets. Host controls and recording capabilities are also planned features.

Vive Sync is just one element of HTC’s increased focused on virtual meetings and conferences – last month, their annual Vive Ecosystem Conference shifted online and took place entirely in VR.

Vive Sync is currently available to download now for all HTC Vive headsets.

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The Best Movies and TV Shows New to Netflix, Amazon and Stan in Australia in May

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Facebook’s Non-advertising Revenue ‘primarily driven by Oculus,’ up 80% to $297M

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In Facebook’s Q1 2020 earnings call today, the company overviewed its latest financial situation and noted that Oculus products were a major contributor to $297 million in non-advertising revenue.

While Facebook makes the vast majority of its revenue from advertising, the company also separately reports non-advertising revenue which includes the sale of Oculus hardware and software, Portal video calling products, and more.

During the company’s Q1 2020 earnings call today, Facebook CFO David Wehner said that non-advertising revenue had reached $297 million, an increase of 80% year-over-year. Wehner specifically noted that the increase was “driven primarily by the sales of Oculus products.” He also reminded the audience that “we launched Quest in May 2019,” seemingly to suggest that the product has been selling well since then.

In the expense department, Wehner also said that Facebook’s R&D costs had grown 40% year-over-year, and that the increase was “driven primarily by investments in core product as well as our innovation efforts, particularly in AR/VR.”

SEE ALSO

Facebook's Mark Zuckerberg Thinks AR/VR is a Solution to the Housing Crisis

Responding to an audience question regarding the traction of Oculus products during the pandemic, Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg spoke directly to Quest, the company’s fully-featured standalone headset:

On the virtual reality side—this has always been a long-term vision—Quest has surpassed our expectations. I wish we could make more of them faster during this period. I do think that [considering the pandemic] it’s one of those areas where as people can’t go out and into the world as much, the ability to have technology that allows us to feel present even when we can’t be physically together—whether that’s quest or portal or any of the software that we’re building around video presence—that stuff has certainly seen especially large spikes in usage. And it’s possible that [the pandemic] accelerates some of the trends around virtual or augmented reality, but I’m not sure what will happen there long term. But in the near-term I’m quite pleased with how Quest is doing and I wish we could make more of them.

Last year after launch of Quest and well before the pandemic, Zuckerberg said, “we’re selling them as fast as we can make them.” As the 2019 holiday shopping period approached, it became increasingly hard to find Quest (and to some extent, Rift S) in stock. Shortly after the holidays the Coronavirus began to impact the availability of Oculus’ headsets, and since February it’s been very hard to directly purchase the headset from Oculus or retailers. It’s clear that Zuckerberg’s comments about wanting to be able to “make them faster” speaks to a desire to fulfill the demand the company is seeing.

This week seems to have given a glimmer of hope for those looking to get their hands on Quest; as we reported earlier today, global availability of Quest appears to be returning, though Rift S is still largely unavailable.

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Mark Zuckerberg: Oculus Quest “Has Surpassed Our Expectations”

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In an earnings call with investors Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg said Oculus “Quest has surpassed our expectations.”

“I wish we could make more of them faster during this period,” he said. “I’m quite pleased with how Quest is doing and I wish we could make more of them.”

While Facebook remains solidly an ad-driven business, Oculus products are driving growth in the company’s “Other” category of revenue. Quest in particular was mentioned in the company’s last quarterly earnings in January as driving growth while “Oculus Products” were reportedly mentioned as leading to first quarter “Other” revenue of $297 million, up 80 percent over the same quarter a year ago.

Facebook hasn’t released sales numbers for any of its consumer VR headsets so the revenue figure and comments during earnings calls remain some of the only ways to judge the health of its VR business. Oculus Quest has been backordered or not available for purchase for months, even before the COVID-19 pandemic, but in the last few weeks stock has returned to the company’s own website with more frequency. If you ordered one this week, though, the official Oculus site said it wouldn’t ship until the end of May.

“As people can’t go out into the world as much, the ability to have technology that allows us to…feel present even when we can’t be physically together  — whether that’s Quest, or Portal, or any of the software that we’re building around video presence — that stuff has certainly seen especially large spikes in usage,” Zuckerberg said. “And it’s possible that this…accelerates some of the trends around adoption of virtual or augmented reality, but I’m not sure what’ll happen there long-term.”

Facebook continues to invest billions annually in VR and AR research and development. The money is seen as a long term bet that the technologies will create more personal connections that “defy distance.” The company employed a strict console-like curation policy for content sold from its store on Oculus Quest. While SideQuest offers an alternative route for developers to distribute products for the headset, we hear from a number of Quest developers they’re seeing some of their strongest sales on any VR platform for Facebook’s standalone.

 

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Assemble 3D Puzzles In VR With Puzzling Places On Oculus Quest

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Volumetric 3D capture adds a whole new dimension to the classic jigsaw experience.

Available now free on Oculus Quest headsets, Puzzle Places offers a fresh take on the conventional jigsaw experience, allowing users to assemble an intricately-detailed three-dimensional VR scene captured using volumetric photogrammetry—a unique form of 3D capture which involves taking a large number of photos and stitching them together to form realistic 3D models.

Broken up into 98 individual pieces, players assemble a gorgeous 3D scan of the Tatev Monastery recorded on-location in Armenia. Scattered throughout the environment are a handful of reference images portraying the monastery from various angles. Using their Touch controllers to “force pull” pieces into their hands, players can mix and match various parts of the environment until they correctly snap into place; by squeezing the grips, you can also zoom into the 3D scene for a better perspective. There’s even support for seated play, an especially helpful feature for those terrible at puzzles, yours truly included.

In addition to 3D visuals, Puzzle Places also feature ambisonic spatial audio with unlockable audio hotspots. Put simply, the audio will change depending on what portion of the 3D scene you’re closest to.

As developer Realities.io states in the apps description, Puzzle Places is still in its prototype phase, therefore fans can expect new features and additional puzzles as the team continues to refine the experience. If you happen to have any notes or suggestions, feel free to leave the team a message over at discord.gg/G5R5Q9E.

Puzzle Places is available for download free on Oculus Quest via SideQuest.

Image Credit: Realities.io

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Magic Leap Warns Of ‘Critical’ Battery Issue Days After Huge Layoffs

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Magic Leap sent owners of its AR headsets a warning that they need to update their devices due to an issue related to the battery.

Developers received the email Tuesday April 28, less than a full week after massive layoffs on April 22 left the organization a fraction of its former size. The email to developers warns of a “critical” update to the software on the device because in “extremely isolated incidents” the battery contained in the processing pack for the AR headset “may expand or swell…when plugged into a charger continuously for an extended period of time.” The processor pack, called a “Lightpack”, is worn on the body during use.

There’s also a website posted about the “Critical OS Update for Magic Leap One Creator Edition and Magic Leap 1” which explains that the software update will “minimize the likelihood of swelling” by activating a “Battery Saver Mode” when it is “connected to a charger for extended periods of time.” The company also suggests owners of the headset “to examine the bottom of your Lightpack to determine if the black silicone cover shows any signs of the battery inside of the Lightpack swelling (such as if you see the edge of the black silicone beginning to lift away or any sort of deformation on the bottom).”

The company says those affected can receive a “replacement device, free of charge.” I asked Magic Leap representatives if there’s a fire risk associated with the battery swelling issue and they’ve told me there’s “no evidence that there’s a fire risk.”

Magic Leap raised more than $2 billion for its AR efforts over the years but reportedly only sold 6,000 units of its first headset in the first six months.

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