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HTC Vive and Bandai Namco are bringing anime to VR
In a move that will surely delight every tech-obsessed otaku out there, HTC Vive and Bandai Namco have announced a partnership to bring popular anime experiences into VR.
'Sam & Max: This Time It's Virtual!' heads to Oculus Quest this summer
SteamVR, Viveport and PSVR releases will follow in 2021 and 2022.
HTC's unlimited VR service comes to Valve Index headsets
You'd think that Valve's Index headset would have supported Viveport Infinity from the outset given the premium price and backwards compatibility with HTC gear, but not so -- it's only just arriving now. As of August 29th, the Index has access to the unlimited VR service and its library of games, apps and videos. It costs the same $13 per month ($9 if you commit to a year), but there is a perk for splurging on the headset. Anyone with an Index can claim two months of free Infinity access during a promo lasting through all of September, whether or not you're already an Infinity member.
HBO's 'Westworld Awakening' VR game arrives August 20th
HBO has announced a Westworld virtual reality game, and you won't have to wait long before you can play it. Westworld Awakening -- which it produced with Survios, Kilter Films and the help of Westworld's showrunners -- will hit Oculus Store, Viveport and Steam Tuesday, but only for headsets linked to PCs. There aren't any current plans to release it for Oculus Quest. The game will also be playable in hundreds of VR arcades across the planet, and there's a pretty intense trailer to whet your appetite.
HTC's standalone VR kit will stream PC content via WiFi
We're still some way away from getting compact VR headsets that tap into cloud VR services via 5G, but for now, HTC has cooked up something that will let standalone 6DoF kits take advantage of a PC's processing power. In early Q4 this year, the Vive Focus Plus will gain a new feature dubbed Viveport Streaming, which gives it access to all Viveport content on a PC over a 5GHz WiFi connection. This means with that free update, the Vive Focus Plus will effectively double as a wireless headset for any VR-ready PC. The catch? You'll need to be a Viveport Infinity subscriber to enjoy such convenience.
'Game of Thrones' VR experience lets you join the Night's Watch
If you haven't quite come to terms with Game of Thrones ending, you might be pleased to learn there's a VR title based on the series arriving this week called Beyond The Wall. You'll join the Night's Watch and defend The Wall against an army of the dead in the game, which will be exclusive to HTC's Viveport Infinity subscription service.
HTC Viveport store will support Windows MR headsets on June 5th
HTC is continuing to widen access to its Viveport VR store. As of June 5th, all Windows Mixed Reality headsets will have access to Viveport, including its Viveport Infinity subscription service. Only about 200 of the 600 Infinity titles will work with WMR headsets out of the gate, but this should still significantly expand the catalog of titles you can try using Microsoft's official headset platform. Pony up for Infinity and you'll also get access to 'premium' material on Viveport Video.
HTC's unlimited VR service launches April 2nd for $99 per year
HTC is nearly ready to launch its unlimited Viveport Infinity service after months of teasing. The VR subscription tier is launching on April 2nd for $13 per month or $99 per year, and will offer more than 600 apps and games for both Vive headsets and Oculus Rift. Your access will also carry over to stand-alone headsets based on Vive's Wave platform. You'll also get perks such as a revised Viveport Video app, monthly 10 percent discount coupons and the occasional freebie.
Oculus Rift support is coming to HTC's Viveport VR store
The Oculus Rift is finally welcome in Viveport, HTC's VR store. When it launched in 2016, Viveport seemed a bit redundant, since it wasn't hard for Vive owners to find VR experiences on Steam. But it turned into a truly great deal last year with the addition of a subscription plan, allowing you to snag five VR titles monthly for a low fee (it was originally $6.99, now it's $8.99). For most gamers, that's a smarter option than blind buying games. Starting on September 4th, Oculus Rift owners will also be able to take part in everything Viveport has to offer -- even the subscription.
Google's latest VR Spotlight story watches you
Google's latest interactive Spotlight Story has an unusual twist... namely, it's watching you. The Piggy VR experience uses six-degrees-of-freedom movement tracking to have a pig respond to your gaze as its namesake character is tempted by a cake. Stare at Piggy and the porcine protagonist will look back with annoyance, guilt or surprise while trying to distract you. Look away, however, and Piggy may give in to cravings. Yes, it's easy to make jokes about a Google story that tracks what you're doing, but it's a clever way of involving the audience without disrupting the narrative.
HTC's Vive Pro headset is available to pre-order for $799
Once staunch rivals in high-end VR, it now seems Facebook-owned Oculus and HTC are treading different paths. While Oculus is gearing up to launch a more affordable standalone headset, HTC has gone in the opposite direction with the Vive Pro, a new top-of-the range facehugger announced at this year's CES. Today, HTC has revealed the Vive Pro is the antithesis of affordable at $799/£799, and that it's now available to pre-order globally ahead of its April 5th shipping date.
Flying with a VR headset isn't as dorky as it sounds
As a somewhat regular flyer, I had always been intrigued by the concept of wearing a head-mounted display for some immersive in-flight entertainment. However, I never really found the "cinema" part of existing "personal cinema" headsets pervasive at all. Watching a tiny video through those headsets is like sitting in the last row of an empty theater. I'm not going to pay $800 for that. Then came the smartphone-powered VR headsets, but their three-degree-of-freedom (3DoF) tracking for just the head was never precise enough for prolonged usage. It wasn't until the Vive Focus, HTC's $630 standalone 6DoF VR device for China (about $100 of which goes to local taxes), that I finally decided to give virtual reality a chance to prove itself as a worthy alternative to those in-flight touchscreens. Luckily for me, my wife didn't forbid me from bringing this bright blue headset to our vacation, as long as it would fit into my carry-on.
Viveport VR subscriptions will cost $2 more starting March 22nd
HTC launched a monthly subscription for VR apps last spring, allowing users to choose up to five titles per month for $6.99/£6.99. As of March 22nd though, the price of that Viveport plan is going up. The company announced today that beginning next month, a Viveport subscription will cost $8.99/£8.99. However, there are a few caveats. First, existing customers will stay with the original $6.99 price through "at least" the end of the year.
Pico's standalone 6DoF VR headset is compatible with Vive Wave
You might have missed the original Pico Neo VR headset back in April 2016, but the name is popping up again thanks to its re-release. Following the HTC Vive Focus, the new Pico Neo unveiled earlier today is yet another standalone VR headset with six-degree-of-freedom (6DoF) tracking, and thankfully, it looks a lot better than its predecessor. Much like the Vive Focus, what we have here is a dual-camera inside-out tracking system powered by Qualcomm's Snapdragon 835 (so it's likely based on the same development kit) with the same three-hour battery life, but it features a narrower 101-degree field of view instead of 110, and it packs a pair of 90 Hz 1,440 x 1,600 LCDs instead of AMOLED.
HTC Vive ditches the PC thanks to China's cloud VR service
One of the main obstacles to popularizing high-end VR amongst consumers is the total cost of ownership. HTC and Oculus have both done their part recently by slashing the prices of their VR kits to $599 and $499, respectively, but you'll still need to fork out at least another $800 if you don't already have a nice PC. That said, the lucky folks in China may soon no longer have to worry about the latter part. Over the weekend, HTC announced its partnership with Dalian Television and Beijing Cyber Cloud to launch the world's first cloud VR service for a commercial trial in Dalian, a city not far from North Korea. So rather than tethering a Vive system to a PC, it'll instead be hooked up to a set-top box with full access to the carrier's VR content store -- and not limited to just five apps per month like HTC's own Viveport subscription offering.
HTC's first standalone Vive headset is only available in China
At long last, HTC has released a PC-free version of the Vive... only you probably won't get to use it. The company has introduced a Vive Standalone headset that's intended strictly for the Chinese market. China's mobile space is red hot, HTC says, so it makes sense that to take advantage of this "momentum" with accessible VR hardware. It's not clear just how well the self-contained Vive will compare to its PC-bound counterpart in some respects (such as display resolution and comfort), but HTC is clearly focused on portability and cost over raw power.
VR arcades need to be social to succeed
Viveland, HTC's VR arcade, opened in Taipei eight months ago, with the Taiwanese company calling it the "world's first premium VR arcade." It has three jobs: make money, sell people on VR and serve as a testbed for future arcades that HTC plans to build around the globe. Since Engadget was in Taipei for Computex, it made sense to take the short cab ride across town to sample its charms. Now that I've seen Viveland and experienced what it has to offer, it's clear what these facilities need in order to succeed. High-end PCs and VR headsets are important, sure, but it's the social experience that will determine Viveland's success.
HTC launches a monthly subscription for Vive VR apps
Virtual reality is still in its infancy, so it's no surprise that most apps for the HTC Vive are smaller, experimental and ultimately expendable experiences. If you're a new headset owner, it can be hard to know which games are worth buying, or to get a good sense of what the medium has to offer without spending hundreds of dollars. To help, HTC is launching the Viveport Subscription, a scheme that offers five VR apps for $6.99 per month. You choose from a pool of 50 and can rotate your selection every four weeks, keeping your library and knowledge of the platform fresh.
Vive Studios' 'VR Sports' is exactly what it sounds like
The unmitigated phenomenon that was the Nintendo Wii had an everlasting effect on any medium with motion controllers: If you have hardware that can track hand movements, it needs to have its own "Wii Sports" game. Enter Vive Studios' latest virtual-reality game, VR Sports -- a lighthearted but surprisingly realistic-feeling ping-pong and tennis simulator. On March 15th, the game kicks off Vive Studios' spring lineup of VR games, which also includes a WWII defense shooter and a port of Sixaxis' virtual-reality CAD program.
Vive Video puts a personal home theater in HTC's VR headset
We've seen VR video theaters for Oculus and PlayStation VR, but now HTC has an upgrade in that department. Vive Video supports all kinds of media: 2D, 3D, 180-degree or full 360-degree, with options to make the environment as much of a realistic theater or distraction-free cinema as you'd like. Also, thanks to those positional sensors, wearers can move around in the surround videos and watch as it adapts to their perspective. Vive owners have already had the Vive Home Cinema app and any number of third party players to choose from, but this one looks a little more polished. The app is available in the Viveport app store, and comes with a teaser for the Invasion! 360-degree video.
