oculusrift
Latest
Oculus Touch will control over 30 games this year
Were you worried that Oculus' Touch controller would arrive without any games that used it? If you ask Oculus, there's no reason to worry. It's promising that over 30 Oculus Rift games will use the VR peripheral in 2016. Some of them are titles you'll know, like Rock Band VR and Serious Sam VR, while others are Touch-ready versions of existing VR experiences like Job Simulator and The Climb. Oculus itself will bundle a sculpting title, Oculus Medium.
'Superhot VR' brings time-bending shootouts to Oculus Rift
Superhot, the first-person shooter that slows down time whenever you're not moving, is coming to the Oculus Rift. The studio behind the game teased as much last month, but now we've got a trailer showing off how it plays. The biggest addition is the ability to dual-wield -- two fists, two firearms or one of each, depending on your situation. You'll be able to aim, fire and throw punches with the Oculus Touch controllers (which still aren't out) while dodging bullets Matrix-style with the Rift headset. Superhot's creators say the new game "isn't some port" but a "reimagined and redesigned" game built for VR. It'll launch sometime later this year -- there's no word on pricing or whether it'll come to other VR platforms in the future, such as the HTC Vive or PlayStation VR. If you're curious, you can play the original Superhot on PC, Mac, Linux or Xbox One right now.
The first 'Star Trek' VR game arrives this fall
If you're a Star Trek fan, the odds are that your dream game (outside of a Holodeck) involves helming a starship as if you were really on the bridge. Well, you're about to get your wish: Ubisoft has teased Star Trek: Bridge Crew, the sci-fi series' first-ever virtual reality game. The title is set in JJ Abrams' Star Trek universe, and has you taking on the captain, engineer, helm or tactical stations of the remarkably Enterprise-like starship Aegis as it resettles what's left of the Vulcan population. Think of it as a very sophisticated VR version of Spaceteam -- you have to coordinate with the rest of your crew to explore the galaxy and fight off enemies.
VTime lets you hang with friends in VR, whatever the hardware
As virtual reality goes more and more mainstream, there are still scant few options where you can just get your friends together and, you know... hang out in a VR world. Like, on the side of a cliff perhaps. Enter: vTime, which just rolled out an updated version for Gear VR, Google Cardboard and Oculus Rift.
Oculus' DRM could have unintentionally helped VR piracy
Oculus' recent software update that locked exclusive games to its hardware has already been circumvented. On Friday, Oculus implemented changes that -- among other things -- added "platform integrity checks." These checks disabled use of a popular tool called Revive that let Rift-only titles play on HTC's Vive. Over the weekend, the team behind Revive has released a new version that not only avoids Oculus' hardware check, it bypasses the part that confirms ownership of the software altogether -- raising concerns it could be used for piracy.
Oculus update stops you from using VR apps with HTC's Vive
HTC Vive and Oculus Rift owners generally have a lot in common, including access to many of the same apps and games. However, it looks like a gulf is opening up between the two virtual reality headsets. Oculus has released an app update whose improved "platform integrity checks" break support for Revive, an unofficial tool that lets Rift-specific apps (those in Oculus Home) run on HTC's gear. If you ask Revive's creators, they believe that Oculus is checking that its hardware is connected regardless of the app you're using -- previously, you only had to convince individual apps that there's a Rift attached.
Google's plans for VR are even more ambitious than we thought
In 2014, Google introduced Cardboard. It was literally just a cut-out piece of cardboard outfitted with Velcro strips, a pair of lenses and magnets. Insert your smartphone and voila, you got your very own VR View-Master. Though it seemed pretty silly at the time, Cardboard was Google's very first foray into virtual reality. Fast forward two years, and there's a whole cottage industry of Cardboard-compatible viewers -- not to mention lots of content made just for it. More than 5 million viewers have shipped and over 50 million Cardboard apps have been installed, as Google said at its keynote yesterday. Now, however, the company is ready for the next stage in its grand plan. Yesterday, Google announced Daydream, a platform that represents its most serious push yet into VR.
Google's Android-powered VR platform supports Unreal games
Yesterday during Google's annual I/O keynote, the company made a point of mentioning that Electronic Arts and Ubisoft -- two of the biggest third-party game studios -- were working on projects for Google's new virtual reality platform, Daydream. Now the company is ready to announce another: Epic Games. The latest version of the company's powerful and ubiquitous game-design toolset, Unreal Engine 4, is coming to Google's next-gen mobile VR system. For developers it ensures easy porting of existing apps to Daydream with little extra work required. For consumers, it means higher-quality mobile VR experiences, and maybe more of them too.
Play 'Hitman Go' on Gear VR and Oculus Rift tomorrow
Hitman Go is a smart reimagining of a languishing franchise that lit up mobile devices when it first launched in 2014. It took the painstaking stealth assassinations of the original Hitman series and transformed them into a minimalistic board game. Now it's headed to VR by way of the Gear VR and Oculus Rift tomorrow, May 12th.
'Rock Band VR' will only let you shred guitar
Abandon all hope, ye Rock Banders who live to bang on the drums, lovingly 'pluck' that bass or croon like you're America's next top someone -- for now, at least. According to UploadVR, developer Harmonix has confirmed that its upcoming Rock Band VR for Oculus Rift will only be playable with the guitar. Harmonix had hinted as much this past March when we attended a Rift preview event, saying that support for those three other instruments would likely be left off the table. But it seems like the effort to put the "band" back together in VR was just too challenging for the developer's first Rift effort. Instead, Harmonix has decided to perfect the immersive experience using only the guitar, which requires a clip-on Oculus Touch controller to track its placement in the virtual space.
Check out some of Studio Ghibli's 'Howl's Moving Castle' in VR
If you ever wanted to explore Howl's Moving Castle, now's your chance. That's assuming you own a virtual reality headset, that is. A scene from it, dubbed "The Meadow," is available for folks using Oculus Rift and HTC Vive right now. It comes from developer Nick Pittom, who's previously released interactive scenes based on Ghibli's other lauded work including My Neighbor Totoro and Spirited Away. "The Meadow" is bundled with other, older interactive scenes from Hayao Miyazaki's landmark films, and RoadtoVR writes that "the level of detail that each scene captures is really nothing short of astounding."
Oculus Rift comes to 48 Best Buy stores May 7th
On May 7th, Oculus will launch their brand new retail experience in 48 Best Buy stores across the country, with more locations expected to follow later this summer.
'VR LAN party' software launches for free on Thursday
Darshan Shankar has been working on bringing computer screens into a VR environment for two years, and on Thursday his BigScreen software will launch on Steam for the HTC Vive and Oculus Rift. Beta testers have been using it for a couple of months, but once it launches anyone with those VR headsets (and a powerful PC) will have access for free. Users can bring anything that displays on their normal Windows desktop to screens in virtual reality, with up to four people sharing one environment at a time. It uses positional audio to let users talk to each other within VR, but shared audio from the desktops is a feature that will arrive later, along with customizable avatars and Vive controller support.
Play 'EVE: Valkyrie' with friends on any VR platform
The rise of VR inspired devs to build an offshoot to the venerable intergalactic MMO EVE Online, one that deals less with politics and economy and more just...blowing stuff up. EVE: Valkyrie is out now on Oculus Rift and will be released on PlayStation VR and HTC Vive later in 2016 — but CCP games just announced that gamers can play with anyone regardless of their VR platform.
Oculus and 'Ratchet and Clank' studio reveal two more VR games
Insomniac Games and Oculus Studios have partnered to create Feral Rites, a 3D brawler set on a mystical island, and The Unspoken, a player-vs-player spellcasting game, both exclusively for the Oculus Rift VR headset. They're based in disparate realms of fantasy, from lush jungle temples to the mysterious shadows of big-city alleyways.
'Edge of Nowhere' and 'Song of the Deep' land in the summer
Edge of Nowhere and Song of the Deep sound like perfect games for the summer. Edge of Nowhere is a single-player VR game about the secrets hiding in Antarctica's ice sheets, and Song of the Deep is a 2D sidescroller that takes place under the sea -- that makes two cool titles coming out at the height of the year's heat index. Insomniac Games and Oculus Studios will release Edge of Nowhere on June 6th for the Oculus Rift, and Gamestop will publish Insomniac's Song of the Deep on July 12th for PlayStation 4, Xbox One and PC.
At Tribeca, this little VR match girl put Penrose on the map
Loosely based on Hans Christian Andersen's The Little Match Girl, Allumette, the latest virtual reality short to come from Penrose Studios, isn't some Disney-fied experience for children. Though set in a whimsical, cloud-borne city and populated by charming and mute marionette-like denizens, the short -- named after the French word for "match" -- is actually a surprisingly mature allegory about love, loss and the sacrifices parents make for their children. It's but one piece of a greater interactive virtual world Penrose is creating.
Oculus Rift vs. HTC Vive: What we've learned after the reviews
Well, it's finally happened. High-quality and immersive virtual reality is finally something anyone can have in her home — assuming you have a powerful PC and can shell out $600 for the Oculus Rift, or $800 for the HTC Vive. It's the realization of decades worth of VR research and sci-fi speculation, and it could end up having as big a societal impact as the introduction of the internet and smartphones.
Senator Al Franken takes on Oculus over VR data mining
With all of the groundbreaking aspects of virtual reality come a slew of new privacy concerns. Oculus, for example, says in its privacy policy it will track information about your location, physical movements, and how you're using the Oculus Rift headset. Most of that is pretty standard hat for any technology product today, though the notion of tracking your movements is something unique to VR. Still, it was only a matter of time until Senator Al Franken, a consumer advocate who has made a point of pushing back against invasive privacy policies like Uber's, weighed in.
Oculus Rift and HTC Vive buyers face shipping headaches
Your gleaming vision of a virtual reality future may have to wait a while. Both Oculus Rift and HTC Vive buyers are facing delays and other headaches that are preventing them from getting their VR headsets as quickly as expected. In the case of the Rift, Oculus is telling pre-order customers that there was an "unexpected component shortage" that's pushing back delivery. The company is promising free shipping to these early adopters as compensation, but they won't get updated shipping statuses until April 12th -- not fun if you were previously poised to get one within days.
