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Oculus will host its first games showcase on April 21st
Expect updates on 'Star Wars: Tales from the Galaxy’s Edge' and 'Pistol Whip.'
'Galaxy's Edge' lets you choose your own 'Star Wars' VR adventure
After finishing up the latest episode of The Mandalorian, I slipped on my Oculus Quest 2, loaded up ILMxLAB's Star Wars: Tales from the Galaxy's Edge, and was immediately thrust right into the world I was watching on my TV. Vader Immortal, ILMxLAB's previous VR series, was a classic narrative told across three episodes. Tales from the Galaxy's Edge — which launches today on the Oculus Quest store for $25 — is something different.
Frank Oz returns as Yoda in 'Star Wars: Tales from the Galaxy's Edge'
Yoda's voice actor, Frank Oz, returns for Star Wars: Takes from the Galaxy's Edge on Oculus Quest.
Anthony Daniels will play C-3PO in 'Tales from the Galaxy's Edge'
Star Wars: Tales from the Galaxy's Edge, the upcoming VR spin-off of Disney's popular Star Wars-themed attraction, will feature a familiar voice.
A ‘Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge’ VR game is coming later this year
Now you can experience the world of 'Galaxy's Edge' without having to hike all the way to your nearest Disney resort.
'Vader Immortal' comes to PlayStation VR this summer
'Vader Immortal' will be available on PlayStation VR this summer, expanding the Star Wars experience beyond Oculus headsets.
Check out the trailer for the final episode of Darth Vader's VR saga
LucasFilm's ILMxLAB has shared a new trailer for the upcoming final episode of its excellent Vader Immortal VR game series. While short, the minute-and-a-half long clip is dense with details.
Face Darth Vader himself in the final episode of his Oculus VR saga
If you're still reeling from the second episode of Vader Immortal, ILMxLAB's Star Wars VR series for the Oculus Quest and Rift, you won't have to wait long for the final entry. The studio announced today that the third episode of Vader Immortal will arrive on November 21st for $10, just in time for the long Thanksgiving weekend. Not only that, ILMxLAB revealed what many of us expected (and something I've long dreamed of): the series will culminate in a lightsaber dual with Darth Vader himself.
'Avengers Damage Control' is the ideal VR follow-up to 'Endgame'
If you're still emotionally wiped out by Avengers Endgame, The Void and ILMxLAB's latest VR entry might soothe your geeky soul. Avengers Damage Control is more than just a mere virtual reality game, like the upcoming Iron Man title for the PlayStation VR. Instead, it's a prime example of what The Void does best: Building large-scale multi-player VR experiences mapped to physical sets. It's a dream come true for anyone who's ever wanted to fight alongside their favorite Marvel superheroes -- just be prepared to shell out $40 to experience it.
How ILMxLAB's 'Vader Immortal' is bringing 'Star Wars' into VR
The first episode of ILMxLAB's Vader Immortal for the Oculus Quest and Rift got everything right: the scale of volcanic Mustafar, the imposing presence of Darth Vader himself, and the joy of swinging a light saber. Where could they go next? How about more force powers and even deeper Star Wars lore cuts. Vader Immortal episode 2 had its surprise launch on Wednesday, the first day of the Oculus Connect 6 conference. Unfortunately, I didn't have my Quest on hand to sit through the entire episode, but based on its training dojo alone, I'm sure it'll please Star Wars fans.
'Vader Immortal' is the Star Wars VR game I've been waiting for
Star Wars and virtual reality always seemed like the perfect mix. Long before the Oculus Rift and HTC Vive were released a few years ago, I was eager to slip on a VR headset, hop in a rusty smuggler ship and wield a light saber of my own. While we've seen a few stabs at Star Wars VR experiences, they've either been too simplistic or hard to access. But just as I was about to give up hope, along comes a guy cloaked in black, carrying a red light saber. It turns out, Darth Vader was my Star Wars VR savior.
'Star Wars' VR game 'Vader Immortal' teases story details in trailer
One of the launch titles you'll get to check out on Oculus Quest when it arrives this spring is Vader Immortal, a virtual reality series set in the Star Wars universe. Rift and Rift S owners won't miss out, though -- the game is coming to those headsets too, as revealed at Star Wars Celebration alongside a trailer for the first episode.
The Void’s extra-sensory VR does what home experiences can’t
I walked through The Void's virtual reality center in the Las Vegas Venetian twice. The first time, armed with headset and wireless backpack, I was shuttled through Ralph Breaks VR, the company's latest experience. I saw my own shiny animated pink hands as I touched the walls and picked up a rifle -- both in the game and real life. Then, I ducked behind a café counter before firing pancakes at bunnies. When the area caught fire, my skin felt heat; when standing precariously on a skyscraper ledge I felt the vertigo-inducing wind on my face.
Google brings high-end 3D graphics to mobile VR with Seurat
With Seurat, Google is giving game developers and movie studios a simple way to bring their 3D imagery down to mobile VR. Named after the French painter, Seurat can break down complex 3D scenes so that they can be easily rendered on phones. It basically takes the headache out of manually scaling down a 3D scene.
Magic Leap teams with Lucasfilm for 'Star Wars' AR experiences
Magic Leap, the mysterious augmented reality company, is teaming up with Lucasfilm and its ILMxLAB to create immersive Star Wars experiences, the companies announced today at Wired's Business Conference. As part of the news, they also revealed our closest look yet at Magic Leap's technology in action with a demo video featuring everyone's favorite droids, C-3PO and R2-D2, projected in a typical office environment. It was shot on actual Magic Leap hardware, according to ILMxLAB's John Gaeta (best known for his work on the Matrix films), using a standard digital camera. One look, and you'll see why Magic Leap has amassed an astounding $1.39 billion in funding without shipping an actual product.
'Star Wars: Trials on Tatooine' VR experiment revealed
Last week we got an inadvertent early peek at a new Star Wars VR experience from Industrial Light & Magic, and now the full trailer has been revealed. RoadtoVR has the Trials on Tatooine trailer in its full glory, and it's even better in motion than the stills could reveal. You no longer have to take our word for it, this HTC Vive-linked "experiment" is way better than the Jakku Spy app that came out for Google Cardboard last year.
A 'Star Wars' VR experiment is coming soon to HTC Vive
Last year Industrial Light & Magic teased an HTC Vive VR tie-in experience (the old teaser clip is embedded after the break) to go along with The Force Awakens and to celebrate the launch of its ILM Experience Lab. Apparently its release was delayed along with the headset, but with the Vive due April 5th, it could be arrive at or near launch. Earlier this evening a short YouTube teaser for Star Wars: Trials on Tatooine appeared on the ILMVisualFX YouTube channel before going private, and it showed something that goes well beyond the Jakku Spy experience we saw last year for Google Cardboard. Update: The full trailer has been revealed at GDC, check it out here.
'Star Wars' and the coming holographic cinema revolution
"AR is going to hit us like a big bang," says ILMxLab creative director John Gaeta when I ask him whether augmented reality, as that holographic technology is known, has been undervalued by the public and press. "We're just trying to point out right from the beginning that there will be a form of AR that will be as hi-fidelity as the cinema that you see at some point. I can't say what year that'll be. But at some point, we'll have intimate holo-experiences with performance and things like that."
Sundance's experimental New Frontier looks beyond virtual reality
Virtual reality found itself front and center of Utah's wintery celebrity village earlier this year, virtually dominating the conversation around this past Sundance Film Festival. The technology, a burgeoning new medium for artists, game developers, filmmakers, and journalists alike, had reached a cultural tipping point, with the Park City fest playing host to the announcement of a dedicated VR animation studio from Facebook-owned Oculus VR and ten VR projects that stole the headlines from Sundance's edgy, experimental New Frontier showcase."Last year was one of those historic moments where it was like the perfect storm," says Shari Frilot, chief curator of New Frontier's VR-heavy 2015 showcase. "Not only were there significant developments in the technology and a commitment by storytellers, content creators, filmmakers and journalists to grasp onto it, [but] there was also this ramping up of industry -- manufacturing, as well as kind of peaking of interest in more mainstream content creators. That all converged at the festival in a way that was really explosive. ... That's sort of the unicorn that came out of New Frontier."
