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StarVR puts its developer headsets on hold amid financial woes
StarVR's headset plans are facing a serious setback. The company has confirmed to UploadVR that it's putting its StarVR One developer program "on hold" a month after starting sign-ups due to both problems with its "key overseas shareholder" and while it's in the midst of becoming a private company. One of StarVR's main stakeholders, Starbreeze, both filed for reconstruction (akin to bankruptcy) in Sweden and had to grapple with an arrest for insider trading. StarVR itself, meanwhile, has delisted itself from the Taipei Exchange Emerging Markets over concerns about the state of the VR industry.
StarVR's latest enterprise headset features built-in eye tracking
StarVR has a new virtual reality headset, dubbed the "One." We haven't heard from the company -- a collaboration between Swedish game developer Starbreeze and Acer -- since it was demoing its own The Walking Dead game back in 2015. Back then, what made its headset stand out from the crowd was its 210-degree field of view. If you're keeping track at home, that's over double what the Oculus Rift offers. The new headset promises the same impressive FOV, but with Tobii's eye-tracking technology baked in.
The best way to customize a supercar is in VR
To paraphrase Robin Williams, buying a $2.8 million supercar is God's way of telling you that you're making too much money. And yet there's a certain thrill in picking out the red leather trim that goes so well with a black carbon-fiber shell. Because that's what I picked to trick out the Pagani Huayra I could buy if I had Zuckerberg-level money. It's also the same way that members of the super rich will customize their own rides soon.
Starbreeze deal gives you more freedom to move in VR
If Starbreeze is going to get you wearing VR headsets in IMAX theaters and pods, it'll have to create a wow-inducing experience... and it might have taken one step closer toward that goal. The company has bought Nozon, a visual effects house whose recent breakthrough is an interactive parallax effect that gives you more freedom when watching computer-generated or 3D-scanned VR video. You ideally get quality closer to pre-rendered 3D, but the freedom to tilt your head and otherwise look around more naturally. You should feel more like you're present in a given scene, instead of staring at a giant video wall.
IMAX plans to bring virtual reality into theaters
In a move that we should have seen coming, IMAX announced that it'll be rolling out virtual reality experiences in multiplex theaters, malls and similar locations later this year. The news comes on the heels of Google's announcement yesterday that it's building a cinema-quality virtual reality camera with IMAX. Given that it's been delivering immersive theatrical experiences with giant screens for decades, it makes sense for IMAX to do something similar with smaller VR displays.
Acer will help Starbreeze make its VR headset
Starbreeze may be comparatively new to virtual reality headsets (and hardware in general), but it's getting some big allies in its corner. The Payday 2 game studio has revealed that Acer will help design, make and sell its theme park-oriented StarVR headset as part of a planned joint venture. Yes, the computer industry veteran is doing more than just making VR-ready PCs. While Starbreeze already has some help from outsiders (Toshiba is one of its partners), the alliance should give it a better shot at becoming a significant player in the VR world. And for Acer, this isn't just about entering an undiscovered country -- this and the company's existing mobile efforts are a hedge against a declining PC market. Update 6/25: The two sides have formalized their deal, and expect to ship the initial batch of VR headsets this year.
StarVR is a QHD headset with an ultra-wide field of view
Starbreeze, the game developer behind Payday 2, Syndicate and Brothers: A Tale of Two Sons, is getting into VR. The company has acquired hardware startup InfinitEye and is developing its prototype VR headset under a new name: StarVR. The device is unique because it offers a super-wide 210-degree field of view, which is more than double the 100 degrees found on the Oculus Rift. The headset also boasts two 5.5-inch Quad HD (2560x1440) displays, coupled with a fresnel lens design to give players an immersive VR experience. Motion tracking is handled with fiducial markers on the headset (not shown) and a combination of gyroscopes, accelerometers and magnetometers.
