oculusvr
Latest
Epic Games' new shooter is virtual reality's killer gaming app
"Everybody wants to be Neo." That's how Nick Whiting, lead programmer at Epic Games, describes the main thrust behind Bullet Train, the developer's recently announced virtual reality shooter for the Oculus Rift. What Whiting's referring to, of course, is "bullet time" -- that slow-motion technique made famous by the Matrix films. It's a core part of the gameplay in Bullet Train, which has the player madly teleporting (in slo-mo) around a train station and assassinating wave after wave of masked enemies with an assortment of available weapons. That I greatly enjoyed the demo, playable at Oculus' Connect 2 conference in Los Angeles, is a testament not only to how transformative Oculus' Touch controllers will be to VR, but also to how well Whiting and his partner Nick Donaldson understand VR design. It's also a major coup when it comes to winning over a certain segment of the gaming population: I simply don't like shooters; I like this shooter very much.
Oculus VP: 'Our number one goal is to make developers successful'
2015 is the year of virtual reality. That's been the consistent messaging coming out of Oculus VR's executive leadership since early this year. And with this week's announcement of a $99 Gear VR headset -- a mobile VR solution co-produced with Samsung -- and the promise of a retail Rift headset coming in early 2016, Oculus finally appears ready to make good on that promise. But although all the pieces of the VR puzzle seem to be coming together -- and the recent press has been (mostly) glowing -- there are still a lot of unknowns. Namely, will the average consumer, once properly introduced, buy into VR? I sat down with Nate Mitchell, Oculus VR's VP of Product, at the company's Connect 2 developer conference in Los Angeles to find out more about Gear VR's potential as a gateway to the Rift, what consumers can expect to come bundled with that first retail headset and whether we'll get to use it with Sony's PlayStation 4.
Fox is bringing more than 100 movies to the Oculus VR Cinema
While gaming and other fully immersive experiences have already flourished on VR, at least one studios is jumping in with a way to watch movies on the big (small) screen. Fox confirmed today at the Oculus Connect 2 event that the company is bringing more than 100 of its movies to the Oculus Store at launch. You'll watch the movies in the Oculus VR Cinema app, where you can watch movies in 2D or 3D on a huge virtual screen (you can see what it looks like after the break). Movies that are coming include Alien, Birdman, Taken, Die Hard, Office Space and more.
Oculus VR is getting Twitch streaming soon, Netflix today
At the Oculus Connect 2 event, the virtual reality company just announced that it's getting a number of video services streaming to VR. The biggest one, Netflix is going to launch an app "in about 20 minutes", but Twitch, Hulu, Vimeo and more are going to be right behind it. We didn't get a ton of details on the experience, but we expect to see something like the current Oculus Cinema, where viewers can watch movies in a virtual theater. For the Twitch app, viewers will be able to chat and comment on gaming streams they're watching too. The slide at the event also showed logos for Facebook (obviously), Fox, Lionsgate and even TiVo.
Watch the Oculus Connect 2 keynote right here
Can't make it to Hollywood for Oculus' second virtual reality conference, Oculus Connect 2? Fret not -- the Facebook-owned VR company will be livestreaming the event's opening keynote on Twitch. But better yet, because this is Oculus after all, there's also going to be a stream in virtual reality, which you can check out if you have one of Samsung's Gear VR headsets. The keynote, led by Oculus VR CEO Brendan Iribe, starts at 1PM ET today. To enjoy the 360-degree immersive experience, you'll need to download the NextVR app on your headset, otherwise we have a 2D way for you to watch the keynote right here.
'Henry' is Oculus' first, emotional step to making AI characters
If you've ever spent time in the company of young children watching colorful and cartoony TV shows geared to their innocence -- say something on Sprout or Nick Jr. -- then you'll know what it is to live in the world of Henry. The computer-animated virtual reality short about a lonely hedgehog is only the second to come from Oculus VR's newly founded Story Studio, an innovation lab of sorts for VR. But whereas most recent gaming- and entertainment-focused VR works have relied on cheap thrills, suspense and fear to dazzle viewers, Henry instead engages with empathy. "That was the big question for me: How are people going to connect with him?" says director Ramiro Lopez Dau of Henry's emotional bent. "So we came up with this character who has an obvious problem: He wants to hug people and he's super spiky. So that was the connection because everyone deserves a friend. And Henry doesn't have a flaw. He's just like that; he's a hedgehog. ... So it's more about, okay, there's some meaning here. You will find someone who will accept you for who you are, which is a very universal message. ... There's going to be a very strong point to feel empathy for this guy."
Oculus buys VR hand-tracking company Pebbles Interfaces
It's pretty easy to see why Oculus VR wanted to scoop up this company: Pebbles Interfaces specializes in technology that detects hand movement via "custom optics, sensor systems and algorithms," the Oculus blog explains. "Over time, technology breakthroughs in sensors will unlock new human interaction methods in VR and revolutionize the way people communicate in virtual worlds." We're talking about hands as controllers in virtual reality here. Pebbles joins the hardware engineering and computer vision teams at Oculus, where it hopes to make VR more immersive with improved human-computer interaction.
Oculus Touch gives you natural, hand-based VR control (update)
Oculus might be giving you an Xbox One controller to get your virtual reality experience off the ground, but what if you want more natural control? Don't worry, that's coming soon. Palmer Luckey and crew just took the wraps off of Oculus Touch, a hand controller system that lets you navigate the virutal world in a more natural way. Each grip includes both motion-based input as well as physical controls and haptic feedback -- in some cases, you'll feel what you touch in the VR space. There's no mention of pricing or whether Oculus Touch will be ready for the consumer Rift headset's early 2016 debut, but we're hoping there isn't a protracted wait.
Oculus accidentally reveals an early VR controller concept
The Oculus VR crew has been doling out hints about what the mainstream version of its headset will do, but the controller? It's been pretty tight-lipped so far. However, the company just gave an inadvertent clue as to what it's been working on. Fans have discovered a concept image that Oculus' Palmer Luckey says is an early "placeholder" for the company's controller work. The peripheral is "nowhere close to final," the executive adds, but it's implied that some of the underlying ideas will show up in the products you see at Oculus' big consumer event on June 11th. Not that it spoils much -- it's little more than a touchpad with basic navigation controls, so the odds are that there are some surprises left in store.
This is 'Henry,' Oculus Story Studio's second VR film
Oculus' big push into cinema began at the 2015 Sundance Film Festival, where it introduced its VR filmmaking endeavor, Story Studio. Back then, the company debuted Lost and revealed a list of other shorts it had plans for -- though it didn't go into much detail about them. Today, however, we're getting to know Henry, the second film from the virtual reality studio. Directed by Ramiro Lopes Dau, who previously worked on animation for Pixar's Brave and Monster University, Henry tells the story of a cute hedgehog that has trouble making friends because of his appearance. Oculus Story Studio describes it as a heartwarming comedy.
Oculus VR bought a firm that reconstructs 3D scenes in real time
I'm willing to bet that one of the best things about having Facebook in your back pocket is that your pocketbook is likely bottomless. How's that? Well, Oculus has acquired yet another company on its path to a retail model. This time it's Surreal Vision, a firm focused on "3D scene reconstruction" according to a recent post on the VR outfit's blog. "Great scene reconstruction will enable a new level of presence and telepresence, allowing you to move around the real world and interact with real-world objects from within VR," the post reads. So! This acquisition should help out quite a bit when it comes to building out the social spaces and experiences Oculus has been crowing about since Zuckerberg and Co. made their $2 billion purchase.
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.
Oculus founder sued for using confidential information
Palmer Luckey and his company, Oculus VR Inc, are being sued yet again. Total Recall Technologies, a company in Hawaii, is accusing Luckey of violating a confidentiality agreement that he signed as a former employee of the company. According to the lawsuit, he was hired about four years ago for the precise purpose of developing a head-mounted display. As such, they claim he was privy to information and feedback that he later used for the Kickstarter campaign to introduce his own version of a head-mounted display, Oculus Rift.
Oculus Rift goes mainstream early 2016
Quarter one 2016. It's the answer to a question we've asked basically every time we've spoken with Oculus VR since 2012: "When does the consumer version of the Rift come out?" Aside from that revelation, we're also getting our first look at the final design of the headset, but that's it! No word on price or launch games, experiences or Facebook apps, either. Come to think of it, "no" probably fits as an answer to any other question you might have at this point. Oculus teased that it'll have more to share soon, specifically hinting at June's Electronic Entertainment Expo (E3), but for now we'll just have to make do with these morsels. If Sony hoped to have early 2016 to itself in terms of VR for the masses with Project Morpheus, those dreams have effectively been dashed.
How serious are you about virtual reality?
The absolute best/worst virtual reality stock photo we could find Are you prepared to dedicate a room in your house to virtual reality? Perhaps you're a little less crazy than me, but you're okay with a wire running across your living room to a headset? Or maybe both of those sound crazy to you, but a headset that can plug into your phone is okay? These are the emerging options for virtual reality: a medium finally coming into its own, that's poised to disrupt industries and hairdos the world over.
The gizmo recreating smells in VR looks like a nightmare
Modern virtual reality is pretty adept at tricking your brain into thinking what you're seeing is real, so it seems natural that someone'd try to further that by adding your schnoz to the mix. The guilty party is Feelreal, and it's developed a battery-powered Bluetooth add-on for the Oculus Rift that'll pump seven scents and heated or cooled air into your face, according to The Verge. What do those smells entail? Ocean, jungle, fire, grass, powder, flowers and metal. Only a few of those sound pleasant, if I'm being honest. And based on what The Verge says, my guess is right: the GDC demo went from a soothing rainforest scene replete with a waterfall and actual mist-on-face, to a hellish nightmare that felt like a blow-dryer on the reporter's cheeks at a moment's notice. When it comes to tech and smells, I'll stick to bacon-scented push notifications thank you very much.
Bjork's next music video is made for virtual reality
Let's say for a moment that the experimental Oculus VR movies that came out of Sundance didn't do anything for you, but that Icelandic songwriters totally float your boat. You're in luck because Björk's upcoming video for "Stonemilker" will be available for Oculus Rift, according to an interview with Fast Company. She says that the platform is "almost more intimate than real life" and finds it exciting in general, citing its "crazy panoramic" abilities. Don't go thinking this means she'll release an entire album for it, similar to what she did with 2011's Biophilia being released as an app, though: "I only did that album because I felt like I had content that made sense, that could relate to the technology. It can't just be working with the gadget for the sake of the gadget. But also it's about budgets. You can do apps cheaply. Apps was kind of punk, actually. It was like starting a punk band again. Filming for Oculus Rift is not."
Oculus offers $1 million prize pool for Gear VR developers
Oculus VR has a challenge for aspiring game and app developers: Create something new and exciting for the Gear VR Innovator Edition, Samsung's Oculus-powered headset, and get a shot at a cash prize from a $1 million pool. The Oculus Mobile VR Jam 2015 kicks off on April 13 and ends on May 11, with sign-ups open now at ChallengePost. The Jam -- and the cash -- is split between two tracks, "Games" and "Apps or Experiences," with Platinum, Gold, Silver and Bronze winners in each segment. The top Platinum Game gets $200,000, while the Platinum App or Experience snags $100,000. There are multiple winners for each of the remaining ranks, and prizes bottom out at $10,000 for each Bronze victor.
Look directly at the 'Sunshine' with Oculus VR
Oculus Rift offers some pretty out of this world experiences (punching sharks and becoming a bird immediately come to mind), but getting an up-close and personal with the sun aren't among them. Until now, of course. That, my friends, is what Sunshine Observation Deck is for. If it looks familiar, that's because it's based off of a set from the 2007 Danny Boyle flick, Sunshine -- you know, the one that heavily influenced the original Dead Space and that's by far one of the best sci-fi flicks from the past ten years. Anyhow, the walkthrough lets you explore the movie's solar observation deck and adjoining science lab, witnessing Sol in its fiery majesty. You can't adjust the intensity of the filter brightness, but given that, you don't need to worry about catching a nasty sunburn, either.
'Tron'-like headphones, virtual reality at Sundance and other stories you might've missed this week!
We get it. It's been a busy week. Luckily, we're here to catch you up on the release date of the Apple Watch, VR headsets in Hollywood and all the other cool stuff you may have accidentally glossed over during five days on the daily grind.
