Oculus Rift
Latest
‘Angry Birds: Isle of Pigs’ washes ashore on PlayStation VR
If you're an Angry Birds diehard, you'll be happy to hear that Angry Birds VR: Isle of Pigs is available on PlayStation VR for $14.99. And Rovio and Resolution Games have added 13 new levels of play. Angry Birds VR: Isle of Pigs launched on Vive and Oculus Rift in February, and it looks like that was just the beginning. In addition to the new platform, the game makers hope to have 100 levels available by the end of the year.
The new Oculus Rift S arrives this spring for $399
Oculus announced at GDC today that an updated version of its Rift virtual reality headset is on the way this spring. Oculus Rift S will cost $399, an increase of $50 from the Rift, while it's set to offer improved resolution and the same integrated audio system as the Quest (which is also debuting in the spring) and Go headsets.
'Second Life' removes support for Oculus Rift
When Second Life patched in support for the Oculus Rift, Linden Lab was cautious to pitch its online world as a haven for virtual reality. "We're trying not to make too big of a deal out of it," Linden Lab CEO Ebbe Altberg said in 2014. "It's still early." That beta support went through several iterations over the years -- but now it's gone. Earlier this month, Linden Lab removed VR support from Second Life, and the company can't say when or if it will be back. The problem? It just wasn't good enough.
ICYMI: Kids abusing robots, solar powered balloon and more
#fivemin-widget-blogsmith-image-30596{display:none;} .cke_show_borders #fivemin-widget-blogsmith-image-30596, #postcontentcontainer #fivemin-widget-blogsmith-image-30596{width:570px;display:block;} try{document.getElementById("fivemin-widget-blogsmith-image-30596").style.display="none";}catch(e){}Today on In Case You Missed It: A piece of robot news out of Japan has us riveted, mostly because it's internationally understood that kids can be jerks. Researchers there studied how children treated a robot left to roam in a mall and basically, they just beat it up. Also out of Japan, a new heavy-duty piece of construction equipment can break down concrete debris with it's massive pinchers and also has it's own VR app for Oculus Rift. And the UK just launched the first ever solar-powered hot air balloon, which heats regular air with the sun's rays rather than Google's helium, which is found in Project Loon.
ICYMI: Gaming mood lighting, a shooting drone and more
#fivemin-widget-blogsmith-image-22597{display:none;} .cke_show_borders #fivemin-widget-blogsmith-image-22597, #postcontentcontainer #fivemin-widget-blogsmith-image-22597{width:570px;display:block;} try{document.getElementById("fivemin-widget-blogsmith-image-22597").style.display="none";}catch(e){}Today on In Case You Missed It: Virtual Reality by Oculus Rift is about to get way more tactile thanks to a newly acquired hand tracking tech company. Hue lights will now sync with an Xbox One game and oh man, the ambience on your next blood bath will be intense. And a YouTuber uploaded a video of a drone that fires a semiautomatic handgun, which makes crabby old men the world over pleased.
At E3, I saw the missing pieces of the VR puzzle
The excitement around virtual reality may have started when Sony unveiled Project Morpheus last year, but last week's E3 was its coming out party. The thing is, I've been around long enough to remember the hype and subsequent commercial flatline over gaming in stereoscopic 3D. So going into this year's grand gaming gala, I was skeptical -- I had that awkward tech history footnote in mind -- and to a point, I still am. But Oculus helped me get over that a bit. All it took was a game from a trusted developer -- Insomniac Games -- and an input solution that makes VR feel less isolating.
VR stock photos are coming to Oculus Rift
If virtual reality takes off like its backers hope, it'll create a whole new market for panoramic content -- 2D photos and video aren't going to cut it. That's why Getty has just launched 360° View for the Oculus Platform to offer an "engaging virtual reality experience of enchanting creative stills." Rather than smiling people doing ridiculous things, Getty said it's new library is about "transporting viewers to... the world's glitziest events, sports' major games and exotic locations around the world." Images now available in the Oculus Store include scenes from the Cannes Film Festival and 2014 World Cup.
Oculus offers $10 million to help indie developers make VR games
Oculus' top brass showed a slew of new VR games at a special event today -- including a closer look at the badass-looking EVE Valkyrie -- but they need more than big-name developers if they want the Rift to be a hit. That's why the company is earmarking $10 million to fund indie game makers who want to build the new big thing in virtual reality content. Coders, you'd better get crackin'.
Oculus' next big move is to make VR a social experience
VR turned me into a movie character -- a tiny, bright yellow firefly. But here's the best part: I got to experience it with someone next to me, both literally and virtually, in a dark room with headsets strapped to our heads. For Oculus Story Studio, arguably the Pixar of virtual reality, this is the first step in making the medium more social. And it's using its short film Lost, introduced earlier this year at Sundance, as a test bed. Still, whether we're talking about a cute movie or a fun game, most VR activities so far have one thing in common: They're solitary experiences. Oculus wants to change that.
With Story Studio, Oculus VR embarks on its Hollywood takeover
Around the time Oculus VR began experimenting internally with the creation of tech demos, investor Marc Andreessen, impressed with what he'd seen, urged Brendan Iribe, Oculus VR's CEO, to show them off to Hollywood. Andreessen believed the medium was a perfect fit for that industry. Iribe, in turn, showed his company's prototype Rift technology to an unnamed, major Hollywood director. That director, responding the way most do when they first encounter modern-day virtual reality, enthusiastically implored Iribe to join forces and create a feature film with it. Iribe immediately balked and shot down the offer. "I don't know the first thing about movies," he says of that initial conversation. That was then. Today, Oculus VR plans to figure out the entertainment industry in a big way. With Story Studio, an in-house innovation lab focused on exploring and sharing tools and techniques to craft entertainment experiences within VR, the Facebook-owned company is embarking on a different path. Outside "guest directors" will be brought in to work with the studio and lead Creative Director Saschka Unseld, a former Pixar director, in what is essentially a VR workshop. And along the way, Oculus hopes to refine what it means to inhabit VR on a cinematic level, beginning with its first animated short, Lost, which will debut at Sundance.
PAX South 2015: Hangin' with Frontier, playin' Elite on the Oculus Rift
Readers of the Choose My Adventure column may remember that I spent the month of September smuggling beer, shooting NPCs, and dodging space rocks in Frontier Developments' Elite: Dangerous. Though the game was in early beta, I found lots to do and lots to love about the space simulator that isn't that other space simulator. Realistic physics, challenging flight controls, and beautiful design work made the game stand out to me as unique and promising (other Massively staffers seem to agree), and I've revisited it since and enjoyed it every time. Thus, I jumped at the chance to check Elite out again at PAX South 2015, this time with the experience enhanced by a rad HOTAS setup and the ever-so-popular Oculus Rift. Guided by producer Eddie Symons, I bluffed my way through a combat demo and discovered that when it comes to shooting things in space, being able to look and fly separately is a great thing indeed.
Runtastic shows us what it's like to do a workout wearing an Oculus Rift
One of the more experimental things that Runtastic has on hand at its booth here at CES is a demonstration of a workout trainer that uses Oculus Rift to make exercise a little less boring. Unfortunately, at this superbly early point, it's hardly the most refined or elegant system to use. Still, if you're struggling to picture what it's like to use a virtual reality device as a personal trainer, then you've come to the right place.
We go virtual trail biking on a robotic smart bike
It takes you less than 30 seconds sitting on top of Activetainment's Ebove B\01 smart bike before you start wishing you could own one. Sure, there are plenty of static exercise bikes that let you follow a trail with the benefit of a tablet strapped on top. There are a lot fewer bikes that are set up on a gimbal that lifts up when you crest a hill and dips down when you hit the opposite side. When you factor in the fact that the bike has working gears and the effort you make represents the distance you travel, it's the closest thing we've seen to trail biking that doesn't involve getting muddy.
Leap Motion lets Oculus users switch between VR and reality
Picture the scene: You're watching a documentary with an Oculus Rift headset, when suddenly you need a drink or receive a text. You have to stop the film, rip off the goggles and give your eyes a second to adjust, only to reverse the entire process when you're done a few moments later. Leap Motion, the hand-tracking accessory that can be used in parallel with Oculus VR hardware, has a solution. A new 'Quick Switch' demo lets you alternate between VR and a video passthrough simply by waving your hand in front of your face. It's a quick gesture and the proximity required from the headset (between one and three inches) means you're unlikely to trigger it by mistake. The company says Quick Switch will soon be available as part of its 'Unity Core Assets: VR Edition' toolkit and could be added to any Unity app. Video passthrough is already available with Oculus VR and Samsung's new Gear VR headset, and we suspect it'll come as standard in the final Oculus Rift consumer model. In the meantime, Leap Motion's offering could prove useful, especially if you're exploring the Large Hadron Collider and accidentally knock over a mug on your coffee table.
Adrift is oxygen-deprived, due out for Oculus, PS4, Xbox One
Adrift is a new space-based game from Three One Zero, and it's coming to Oculus Rift, PS4, Xbox One and Steam in summer 2015, the developer announced tonight at The Game Awards. The first trailer for the game aired during the ceremony, showing a first-person astronaut with a strangely elongated helmet silhouette floating through a damaged space station, attempting to reach a bottle of oxygen before the astronaut's tank ran empty. It was slow and tense, and fairly beautiful. The game's description on its site reads, "ADR1FT is an immersive First Person Experience (FPX) that tells the story of an astronaut in peril. Floating silently amongst the wreckage of a destroyed space station with no memory and a severely damaged EVA suit, the only survivor struggles to determine the cause of the catastrophic event that took the lives of everyone on board. The player fights to stay alive by exploring the wreckage for precious resources, and overcomes the challenges of an unforgiving environment to repair the damaged emergency escape vehicle and safely return home." 505 Games is publishing Adrift.
Oculus Rift Pokémon game lets you throw Poké Balls in VR
It may not be the first time someone's remade Pokémon for the Oculus Rift, but it's probably the most exciting. By pairing the VR headset with a Leap Motion and Voice Attack, players of the Unofficial Pokémon Alpha Prototype can even pick up Poké Balls and throw them at vanquished opponents. Of course, the title is just a short unofficial demo made by a fan named Tipatat. But it's available to download and try for yourselves.. at least until the lawyers get their hands on it. All we have to do is hope that someone at The Pokémon Company or Nintendo sees some potential in being able to walk through Pallet Town in this way.
Bank builds Oculus app to fly you around your stocks and shares
Well hello there, I'm Augustus Q. Moneybags, inventor of the word "Funtrepreneur" and thrillionaire owner of Military Industrial Complex LLC. Now, I may be an internationally loved businessman, y'see, but that doesn't mean I'm too good at calculatin' those ol' numbers, y'see. Now, however, I don't have to, since I've been using this software from the nerds over at investment bank Fidelity that runs on those Oculus Rift doohickeys. Strap it onto your face and you're magically transported to a world of skyscrapers, each one representin' a stock in your portfolio, y'see.
Google Cardboard app immerses you in a Paul McCartney concert
Google took the VR world by surprise when it introduced its $20 DIY headset, Cardboard. Still, to this day, there's only so much anyone can do with it. Thankfully, there are third-party developers like Jaunt, which recently created a virtual reality experience that lets you share the stage with none other than Paul McCartney. With the app for Google Cardboard, you'll have the chance to immerse yourself in a performance of "Live and Let Die" from the legendary musician, featuring a 360-degree view, stereo 3D and deeply engaging audio. Jaunt states this is its first cinematic VR experience released to the public, adding that it will soon be bringing it to the Oculus Rift. Oh, and did we mention the app is free?
Catch a glimpse of Wander in Wednesday's live machinima
We've been keeping an eye on no-combat, exploration-driven sandbox Wander since its debut at PAX over a year ago. This week, you can keep an eye on it too. Creator Loki Davison says that his studio will be livestreaming the game tomorrow, but it won't be just any ol' gameplay walkthrough; it'll be a "pioneering live streamed drama" set in the gameworld, a piece of live machinima rarely seen in the genre. "Join Sylvania as she explores her dream of flying and realizes that what she is, isn't all she can be," Davison hints. "Azar however, might not approve." The stream begins at 7 p.m. EST on Wednesday, November 19th, on the official Wander Twitch channel.
South Park goes tripping on the Oculus Rift
South Park's latest season definitely seems to be taking a turn for the nerdy. Last week, Matt Stone, Trey Parker and crew lambasted freemium games that use shady business practices to make players spend more money. This week, South Park showed us a world where the Oculus Rift - a device that up to now has been primarily used for virtual reality gaming - is just a little too good of a device. Without spoiling too much, one of the boys has an Oculus Rift to show off to the group, and it isn't long before things spiral out of control (as they often do in the South Park universe). Watch the episode for yourself and ponder what diving into VR will really cost. [Image: Comedy Central]
