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Catch up on all the virtual reality news from Sundance
Right now is an exciting time for VR, and this year's Sundance Film Festival is full proof of that. Over the past few days, we've experienced new virtual reality horizons and got to know some of the visionaries who have jump-started the technology. VR, arguably in its second life, has opened up a novel medium for storytelling and a way to create deeply immersive experiences for most any audience -- be it with films, video games or, why not, a full-body flight simulator. Here's the best part: This is only the beginning.
Here are the first films from Oculus Story Studio
Look out, Hollywood, because Oculus VR is coming for you. Earlier today, the Facebook-owned company introduced its new film division Story Studio, as it looks to broaden its horizons and experiment with narrative through virtual reality. The first short film to come out of Oculus VR's in-house movie lab is Lost, which is making its debut at Sundance. In addition to that, Story Studio has revealed that it's already working on more shorts with a VR twist to them, all expected to appeal to different audiences. Along with Lost, there's also going to be Dear Angelica, Bullfighter and Henry, plus two other films that haven't been announced yet.
With Story Studio, Oculus VR embarks on its Hollywood takeover
Around the time Oculus VR began experimenting internally with the creation of tech demos, investor Marc Andreessen, impressed with what he'd seen, urged Brendan Iribe, Oculus VR's CEO, to show them off to Hollywood. Andreessen believed the medium was a perfect fit for that industry. Iribe, in turn, showed his company's prototype Rift technology to an unnamed, major Hollywood director. That director, responding the way most do when they first encounter modern-day virtual reality, enthusiastically implored Iribe to join forces and create a feature film with it. Iribe immediately balked and shot down the offer. "I don't know the first thing about movies," he says of that initial conversation. That was then. Today, Oculus VR plans to figure out the entertainment industry in a big way. With Story Studio, an in-house innovation lab focused on exploring and sharing tools and techniques to craft entertainment experiences within VR, the Facebook-owned company is embarking on a different path. Outside "guest directors" will be brought in to work with the studio and lead Creative Director Saschka Unseld, a former Pixar director, in what is essentially a VR workshop. And along the way, Oculus hopes to refine what it means to inhabit VR on a cinematic level, beginning with its first animated short, Lost, which will debut at Sundance.
Toyota's VR driving simulator teaches teens to focus on the road
You can tell people that distracted driving is bad and make laws preventing it, but that won't necessarily make the dangers sink in. Toyota thinks it has a way to convey the risks to impressionable minds, however. Its new TeenDrive365 education initiative includes an Oculus Rift-powered virtual reality simulator that challenges both teens and parents to keep their eyes on the road despite a horde of distractions, ranging from text messages to talkative friends in the back seats. As you'd guess, the VR is meant to produce a more realistic experience -- it's more tempting to look down at your imaginary phone than it would be if you were staring at a regular screen.
The challenges ahead for Oculus VR as it creates the consumer Rift
"As always, the consumer Rift is in progress and we're making great progress," says Oculus VR Product VP Nate Mitchell. He told me that this week, but you could really pull versions of that response from any of the half dozen interviews we've done with Oculus VR in the past few years. It's the elephant in the room that Oculus brings with it from trade show to trade show: When is this thing going to be a consumer product? There's still no answer in January 2015, as of this year's CES. Will there be an answer in 2015? Maybe! Your guess is as good as ours, but Mitchell offered us something slightly more optimistic:"We're on an awesome path to consumer VR and I do think that 2015 for better, for worse is gonna be a really big year for VR. Even at CES, we're already seeing it. 2015 is gonna be a big year for VR, whether it's from Oculus or otherwise, and we're excited to be a part of it."
Facebook just bought a speech recognition company
Facebook is clearly eager to check out new interface concepts these days. Just months after its acquisition of Oculus VR wrapped up, it's buying a speech recognition company, Wit.ai. The social network isn't saying just what it plans to do with its new purchase, but Wit.ai's focus has been on a platform for voice-guided natural language interfaces. It's not a stretch to see Facebook giving you ways to dictate your status updates or chats. Also, voice recognition is particularly important for virtual reality, where you can't always reach for a keyboard -- this may play an important role in Oculus' immersive experiences going forward.
Samsung just added a 360-degree video store to its VR headset
Since launch in early December, the virtual reality headset released by Samsung and Oculus VR has received a steady drip of new content. Each Tuesday, a handful of new apps launches for Gear VR -- new games (Temple Run!), new experiences (a Paul McCartney performance!). Thus far, nothing's been spectacular enough to remark about; the overall selection of content, gaming or otherwise, is still on the light side. This week changes that, with the release of "Milk VR." The free app from Samsung contains a healthy dose of new 360-degree video content, in both streaming and downloadable format. The actual selection of videos is available on a Samsung website of the same name, right here. It's not exactly a flood of videos, but it's a hell of a lot more than the small sample packed in at launch.
Oculus is buying a company that brings hands into virtual reality
Right now, the term "virtual reality" still means "headset" for most people. What we should really think when we read "virtual reality" is first-person immersion. The headset -- like Oculus VR's Rift, Sony's Project Morpheus, and Samsung's Gear VR -- is simply the first tool for creating that sense of immersion or "presence." But once you're in a headset, the first things you do are the undoable: reach out with your physical hands into virtual reality. It's not exactly surprising, then, that Oculus VR would acquire Nimble VR -- the company behind Nimble Sense, a camera and software combo that brings the world around you into virtual reality. Think of it like Kinect: cameras that are able to track your skeletal movement and create a point cloud around you, which then translate that data into a virtual representation on-the-fly.Still confused? We've got a video hands-on of Nimble VR's Sense camera from early November below the break, used in-tandem with Oculus VR's second Rift development kit (pictured above).
Samsung's virtual reality headset, Gear VR: what you need to know
Samsung's virtual reality headset, dubbed "Gear VR," is available for purchase as of today. For those not following the last three years of virtual reality's return from obscurity, today is a big day: Gear VR is the first virtual reality headset available to general consumers. Though Sony's PlayStation arm and Facebook's Oculus VR have high-powered development kits in the wild, Samsung's the first major electronics company to go to market with a VR headset. Almost, at least -- the headset's full name is, "Gear VR Innovator Edition." In fact, when you buy the headset on Samsung's website, you have to agree to this condition: "I understand the Gear VR is an Innovator Edition device targeted specifically to developers or early adopters of technology." So, what's the goal with Gear VR for Samsung? And what are its plans for the future? We asked Nick DiCarlo, VP/GM of immersive products and VR at Samsung, in an interview this morning. Head below for his answers, and for the full list of apps coming to Gear VR today.
You can buy Samsung's virtual reality headset right now for $200
Consumer virtual reality is kind of, sort of, almost a reality. It's basically a reality today, actually, as Samsung's virtual reality headset -- "Gear VR" -- is available for purchase online. As previously reported, the headset will set you back $200 and it requires a Note 4 smartphone to act as its screen. The device is dubbed "Innovator Edition" by Samsung, and the Korean phone giant clearly isn't joking around with that phrase: the product order page requires you to acknowledge that you're buying a, "device targeted specifically to developers or early adopters of technology." So, how is it, and should you buy it? When we last used it at IFA 2014, we were impressed (check out our hands-on below the break). Whether you should buy it, however? We can't tell you just yet -- expect a full review of Samsung's Gear VR from Engadget just as soon as we get our hands (heads?) on one. If you just can't wait for the review, here's where you can buy Gear VR right now.
Oculus VR's software development kit for mobile is now available
When Oculus VR hired away legendary programmer John Carmack from id Software, there was a specific intention: Carmack's commitment to virtual reality, specifically as it pertained to mobile VR. The first major fruit of Carmack's work over the past year is now available for you to download, as Oculus VR today announced the release of its mobile software development kit. So, what can you do with it? You can make stuff for Samsung and Oculus VR's joint venture: Gear VR. Specifically, the SDK is meant for use with the Note 4, which powers virtual experiences in Gear VR.
James Cameron thinks current VR technology is 'a yawn'
Coming from the man who created Terminator and Avatar, two of the most highly recognized sci-fi franchises, you'd think James Cameron would be excited about the rise of virtual reality in the past couple of years. But not so fast. Yesterday, during an interview at the WSJD Live conference, Cameron expressed that he isn't really impressed by the current stage of VR technology. "There seems to be a lot of excitement around something that, to me, is a yawn, frankly," said Cameron when the topic of virtual reality was brought up. "What will the level of interactivity with the user be other than just 'I can stand and look around'? If you want to move through a virtual reality, it's called a video game. It's been around forever."
Engadget Daily: GoPro Hero4, the gospel of virtual reality and more!
Hey, want to spice up your Monday evening? Check out our news highlights from the last 24 hours, including the GoPro Hero4, everything you need to know about the Bash shell flaw, and more. You know you want to.
The gospel of virtual reality according to Oculus
This past Saturday, I found myself in the front row of what felt like an old-time revival, only instead of religious zealots, I was surrounded by roughly 800 disciples of virtual reality. Onstage at the inaugural Oculus Connect VR developer conference, the high priests of the medium, Palmer Luckey, Brendan Iribe, Michael Abrash and John Carmack preached the gospel of presence -- the Holy Grail of virtual reality. Presence is a simple concept to grok once you've experienced it, though describing the feeling can be difficult. Essentially, presence is shorthand for what results when you fool the human brain into perceiving a virtual world as it does the real one.
Oculus lets you tinker with the code and design of its first VR headset
If you've ever wanted to modify a virtual reality headset (or even create one from scratch), Oculus VR just gave you a big head start on your project. The Facebook-owned firm has opened up the code, mechanical elements and design for its first VR wearable, the Oculus Rift DK1. Provided you have the know-how and tools, you can now build upon everything Oculus learned in its early days about screens, head tracking and ergonomics. The source material won't help you recreate the more advanced technology of newer Rift kits or the Gear VR, but it should be worth a look if you're curious about the inner workings of immersive displays.
New Oculus Rift prototype brings out the best in virtual reality
Presence. It's the ability of VR headsets to fool your mind and body into thinking that you are actually in a virtual world, and that experience is what Oculus seeks to deliver with its latest prototype. Code-named Crescent Bay, it's an evolution of the DK2 headset that only recently started making its way into the hands of developers. I got to try out the new hardware today at Oculus Connect, the company's inaugural developer conference. Come live vicariously through me, dear reader, as I tell you how it went.
Oculus wants a VR app store for every device you can think of
When we saw the Samsung Gear VR at IFA, Oculus CTO John Carmack showed us a basic version of an app store made for mobile virtual reality. But when the headset ships to consumers sometime later this year, the VR outfit has bigger plans. It's rebranding the current Oculus Share "store" into Oculus Platform and turning it into a launcher of sorts for apps and other experiences, as noticed by TechCrunch. Platform will act as common store across the firm's entire platform including the Rift and mobile. Like the prototype from earlier this month, the store will exist within virtual reality and will house games, apps and stuff like the virtual movie theater, Oculus Cinema.
The new Oculus Rift headset is Crescent Bay and has built-in audio
Oculus VR has a new headset. CEO Brendan Iribe showed the prototype, dubbed Crescent Bay, off today at the first Oculus Connect conference. It has built-in audio, it's lighter and packs 360-degree motion tracking. Iribe says that the jump between the new prototype and the previous developer kit (DK) is as dramatic as the jump between DK1 and the recently shipped DK2. Of course, it has a higher resolution screen and refresh rate, but the focus on this version though, seems to be audio. The headset sports onboard headphones that apparently can be removed if you'd rather use your own, and custom audio software (with help from the University of Maryland's RealSpace3D tech) to make "presence" much more convincing. "We're working on audio as aggressively as we're working on the vision side," Iribe said. Which makes sense, considering that sound is at least half of the experience for most entertainment.
Oculus co-founders donate $35 million to erect computer science wing at University of Maryland
New York City is a town of names: Rockefeller, Astor, Trump. Legacies of the vast wealth held by dynastic families in early 20th century New York City. America's college campuses are littered with the same convention; wealthy alumni donate large sums to expand a university, and subsequently name that expansion after themselves. The University of Maryland, for instance, is getting a $35 million computer science wing from two of Oculus VR's co-founders. And what's it named? "The Brendan Iribe Center for Computer Science and Innovation," apparently, after Oculus VR CEO Brendan Iribe. Oculus chief software architect (and co-founder) Michael Antonov is footing another $4 million. The new facility is planned to "feature state-of-the-art maker spaces," says UMD's Jayanth Banavar. Iribe describes it as, "designed for hackers, makers and engineers, which will help give rise to future breakthroughs, products and startups that will transform the way we live and interact with the world around us." More bluntly, the space is being built to educate the next generation of virtual reality and other future computing platforms. "This gift positions Maryland to be one of the leading institutions for virtual reality in the world," Iribe says.
How Samsung's VR headset convinced John Carmack to join Oculus VR
John Carmack's name isn't synonymous with virtual reality just yet. He's still "the guy who led programming on Doom and Wolfenstein" to most folks; the co-founder of acclaimed development studio id Software. And that's exactly why it was such a big deal when he suddenly left id Software last year to join Oculus VR as chief technical officer. Though Palmer Luckey and co. helped sway him with their own Rift headset, Carmack was eventually sold on the gig by Samsung's mobile VR concept: Gear VR. "That was really the prime thing that motivated me to decide: No, I'm gonna devote 100 percent of my attention and focus to Oculus," he told Engadget in an interview this week.
