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Samsung's Galaxy Note 10 isn't compatible with its VR headset
Samsung's newly announced Galaxy Note phones won't work with the Gear VR headset, the tech giant has confirmed to Engadget. You won't be able to use the Note 10 and its bigger sibling, the Note 10+, with the brand's virtual reality device, like tech analyst Anshel Sag first reported (via The Verge). After unveiling the Galaxy Note 9, Samsung released a Type-C adapter that gave it a way to work with the VR headset designed for its predecessor. That doesn't seem to be the case this time around.
Amazon Prime Video comes to Oculus VR headsets
You now have yet another major video service to watch on your Oculus VR headset. Amazon has released a Prime Video VR app that allows Oculus Quest, Go, and Gear VR owners to stream the internet behemoth's shows in a virtual space. There will even be 360-degree videos to watch, although there are just 10 "handpicked" titles that include the climate change documentary Greenland Melting and the animated short Invasion.
BBC releases free ‘Doctor Who’ VR short
Doctor Who fans who can't bear the long wait for the twelfth season are in for a treat. The BBC has released Doctor Who: The Runaway, an animated short VR film based on the classic British sci-fi series and voiced by its own Jodie Whittaker, who reprises her role as the show's time-traveling protagonist. Based on the BBC's description, The Runaway throws you into the topsy-turvy universe of Doctor Who right away. You wake up inside the TARDIS after being in a collision with a teenage space bomb named the Volta. In a race against time, you and Doctor Who must get Volta home to his parents before he falls prey to some dangerous distractions.
The Galaxy S10 will support Samsung Gear VR
Things have been quiet for Samsung's Gear VR recently. Once upon a time the company would launch a new headset alongside its latest Galaxy flagships, but it hasn't done that for a while. That's not to say that the Gear VR is dead, though, as Samsung has just confirmed that it'll be supported by the new Galaxy S10, which was unveiled yesterday.
The new Gear VR is Samsung's public bet that VR is consumer-ready
When Samsung announced the newest edition of its mobile virtual reality headset Gear VR, created in partnership with Oculus, it was less about hardware innovation and more of a statement: VR is consumer-ready. Yes, the headset's overall weight has been significantly reduced and its touchpad's been redesigned for easier access. But it's the combination of its $99 price point, range of compatible (and current) Samsung smartphones and multimedia content like Netflix that could finally usher this new medium into households everywhere. "Virtual reality that's accessible to consumers is still very young and so it was all about developing the ecosystem," said Jim Willson, director of immersive products and VR at Samsung, of GearVR's watershed moment. "We had to make sure there was enough content, both in terms of video content ... and on the gaming side."
Oculus names VR Jam finalists, and here are some of them
Oculus VR's apps and games contest for the Samsung Gear VR Innovator Edition is in full swing. The 2015 Mobile VR Jam contest received quite a number of interesting submissions, including a game that puts you in the POV of a bullet, one that wants you to fight blind, and another that lets you text and drive without putting real people in danger. Alas, the company has no choice but to narrow the entries down to 61 finalists for the competition, 37 of which are games and 24 are apps or experiences for the virtual reality headset. Before any of them wins part of the $1 million prize pool, though, a panel of ten judges will examine them further in the next few days until they come up with a list of winners for June 3rd. You can browse through a select few of the finalists below (in addition to the ones we listed above, all of which made the cut), but you can also look at the full list on the contest website.
New VR game lets you be the bullet
Remember Superhot? It let you dodge bullets by controlling time à la The Matrix, but a new VR game takes that premise even farther by making you the bullet. Drift is a game for Samsung's Gear VR, developed by a pair of programmers during the course of Oculus' Mobile VR Jam. The idea is pretty simple: after a bullet is fired from a gun, your viewpoint changes to its trajectory. Time is considerably slowed down and you can alter the bullet's path by looking left or right. You move around the bizarre orange environment past the crash test dummy-like characters until you spot your target: the green guy.
VR game 'SMS Racing' trivializes texting while driving
Texting while driving is against the law and it can put you and other people on the road in serious danger. That can't be understated. However, when it's your main objective when playing a virtual reality racing game, it can also be seriously good fun. That's the premise of SMS Racing, a diminutive game from Turbo Button that pits you against other racers as you drive, text and ultimately smash your way to victory.
You can pre-order Samsung's new Gear VR for Galaxy S6 on April 24
If you just snapped up a Galaxy S6 or S6 Edge, it won't be too long until you can get your hands on Samsung's new Gear VR headset. Samsung just announced that the revamped Gear VR will be available for pre-order on April 24 on Best Buy's website. There's no word on how much it'll cost you, but hopefully it'll be somewhere around the original Gear VR's $200 price. If pre-ordering isn't your thing, you can pick it up from Samsung's online store and Best Buy's site on May 8, as well as its retail stores on May 15. And yes, you'll also be able to try it on at some Best Buy locations. While the Gear VR didn't impress us as much as HTC's Vive virtual reality headset, it's still an improvement over its predecessor, with a lighter frame and higher amount of pixels per inch (due to the S6's slightly sharper screen). It's not exactly a reason to pick up a Galaxy S6 or S6 Edge yet, but that could change over the next year as Samsung adds more VR content.
Samsung's new virtual reality headset works with the Galaxy S6
The original Gear VR headset actually made a little headway, even getting picked up by Best Buy. Its main barrier to entry, aside from its $199 price point, is limited device compatibility: If you don't have a Galaxy Note 4, you can't use the Gear VR. With Samsung today launching not one, but two flagship smartphones, the number of VR-compatible smartphones from Samsung has just tripled. Presenting the aptly named Gear VR Innovator Edition for Galaxy S6 and S6 edge.
The Godmother of Virtual Reality: Nonny de la Peña
"Print stuff didn't scratch the itch. Documentary didn't scratch the itch. TV drama didn't scratch the itch. It wasn't until I started building this stuff. There was no way I could do anything else. I just couldn't do anything else. I don't know even how to explain that. And I think sometimes I wanna shoot myself in the head that I can't do anything else because it just motivates me. [VR] drives me. This is such a visceral empathy generator. It can make people feel in a way that nothing, no other platform I've ever worked in can successfully do in this way." Let that stand as your introduction to Nonny de la Peña, the woman pioneering a new form of journalism that aims to place viewers within news stories via virtual reality. That vision has culminated in Emblematic Group, her content- and VR hardware-focused company that she runs along with her brother in Los Angeles.
Fox's journey into virtual reality begins with 'Wild'
Virtual reality is going to the movies and Hollywood's excited about it. Or, at the very least, the execs at 20th Century Fox's specialty division Fox Searchlight are cautiously and thoughtfully wading into the deep end of this new medium. For its film Wild, starring Reese Witherspoon and Laura Dern, the studio has crafted what it's calling a companion VR piece with the help of Montreal-based VR artists/directors Paul Raphaël and Félix Lajeunesse, and it was demoed at CES in Las Vegas this week for select press.
Looking into the future: Samsung Gear VR review
You can finally buy a virtual reality headset and use it in your home. Right now -- today -- that is possible. It doesn't cost $10,000 and it doesn't come with caveats like, "This is made for developers." Samsung is officially the first to market with an accessible, impressive virtual reality headset, all powered by software from Facebook's recently acquired Oculus VR team. That alone is very exciting: We are standing at the precipice of a new medium, finally technologically possible. Wireless, consumer-grade virtual reality! In your home! Today! Samsung's Gear VR is both an astounding feat and an illuminating vision into our near future; it's the closest anyone's come to making virtual reality into a palatable consumer experience, and a stark example of how far we still have to go before that dream is completely realized.
Oculus releases mobile SDK, Gear VR coming in December
The Samsung Gear VR, a mobile virtual reality headset powered by Oculus technology that uses a Samsung Galaxy Note 4 smartphone (sold separately) for its display, will be available in North America starting this December at a pricepoint of $200, Oculus has revealed. The first-run "Innovator Editon" can also be bundled with a Bluetooth gamepad for an additional $50, and you can pre-register for more news updates directly through Samsung. If you lean more toward being a virtual reality developer rather than a virtual reality consumer, there's still good news to be had, as Oculus has released their mobile software development kit (SDK) for you to tinker and play with. The current SDK is geared (no pun intended) specifically for the Gear VR and the Note 4, and includes the full source code for Oculus Cinema, Oculus 360 Photos and Oculus 360 Video. Unfortunately, there's still no official release date for the PC version of Oculus' VR headset, the Rift. However, reports suggest a mid-2015 window for the consumer beta. [Image: Oculus]
Sound Off! What's the best virtual reality experience right now?
There's no way around it. Virtual reality gaming is heading our way (despite some folks' opinions to the contrary). A ton of companies are currently working on fancy head gear and we've seen announcements about the Carl Zeiss VR One, Samsung Gear VR, Sony Morpheus, Oculus Rift and even Google's crazy cardboard experiment. For those of you lucky enough to have one of these rare devices, head over to the Engadget forums and tell us the best VR gaming experiences you can have right now. [Image credit: Neilson Barnard / Getty Images]
Oculus-powered Samsung Gear VR headset coming this year
Samsung and Oculus have partnered for a mobile virtual reality headset to be used with the upcoming Samsung Galaxy Note 4, the companies announced this week. They're calling it the Samsung Gear VR, and it will be available later this year as an "Innovator Edition." The Gear VR slots in the Note 4 to use as a screen, so there are no wires or extra hook-ups to worry about lugging around. Otherwise, it functions pretty much the same as its big brother, the Oculus Rift, albeit with a lower level of performance. The field of view on the Gear VR, for instance, is 96 degrees - four shy of the Rift. If you're wondering why it's called the Innovator Edition, Oculus has a blog post explaining: "It's an early-access, beta-version of the device for developers and enthusiasts rather than a final consumer product. Content creators can experiment and build totally new experiences while users explore the bleeding edge of mobile VR as it's being pioneered," the company writes. No release date for the device has been given for the Gear VR, but when it launches there will be several virtual reality experiences and games available, including Darknet - a game we saw at PAX Prime last weekend - Oculus Cinema - a virtual movie theater - and Legendary's Pacific Rim Jaeger Pilot - a VR experience we heard about during Comic-Con. Our friends at Engadget have a hands-on video, pictures and their own thoughts on the device if you want to learn more. [Image: Samsung]
Samsung's virtual reality headset might look something like this
Samsung's in-development virtual reality headset will look like the mockup above when it's officially revealed later this year, according to a report form SamMobile. Samsung had reportedly partnered with Oculus Rift creator Oculus VR this year in a bid to develop its own VR headset technology. According to reports, Samsung's headset will work in conjunction with a USB-connected smartphone, instead of using its own dedicated hardware like the Oculus Rift and Sony's Project Morpheus. A side-mounted touchpad will aid user navigation. Codenamed "Gear VR," Samsung's headset is expected to debut at the IFA 2014 trade show in September. Though Engadget notes that developer kits exist, Samsung has not yet officially announced Gear VR or its release plans. [Image: Samsung / SamMobile]
Samsung's 'Gear VR' trademark sounds a lot like a virtual reality headset
Heard some of those Samsung VR headset murmurs? Well, you probably heard them from us, but here's the latest updates: the company has just registered a trademark for "Gear VR". The Engadget editorial team had posited a few naming ideas for Samsung's VR wearable on a recent podcast, but it seems the company is keeping it simple. Gear would fold said device into its family of wearables, while VR stands for... well, we're not going to spell it out. [Thanks to everyone that sent this in!]
