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Facebook brings its social VR 'Spaces' to the HTC Vive
Earlier this year, Facebook unveiled Spaces, its inaugural attempt at bringing the social network to VR. And, seeing as Facebook also owns Oculus, it's no surprise that Spaces was a Rift-exclusive at launch. But, just as Facebook is on every platform and device imaginable, the plan for Spaces was always to have it spread far and wide as well. That's why starting today, Facebook is making Spaces available for the HTC Vive, marking the first time the app is going cross-platform.
I can finally do cartwheels in VR with HTC's Vive Focus
After fully unveiling the Vive Focus, HTC finally allowed lucky folks like myself to properly test out the six-degrees-of-freedom (6DoF) standalone VR headset. For the first time, I can actually walk around in VR without being tethered to a PC nor confined to a fixed space. It's a truly mobile VR solution -- more so than smartphone-based VR headsets, which only let you look around on the spot (3DoF). Naturally, I used this opportunity to test this 6DoF tracking to its limits, even if it meant doing cartwheels while wearing the Vive Focus.
HTC's standalone Vive Focus launches in China for $600
While we've already taken a good look at the Vive Focus standalone VR headset with 6DoF "world-scale" tracking, HTC had yet to reveal its detailed specs nor price, but almost a month later, we finally have some answers. First of all, as of December 12th, the device will be available for pre-ordering in China starting from 3,999 yuan or about $600, with shipment commencing in January next year. The base price isn't far off from the original PC-tethered Vive which is priced at $599 before tax in the US (in China it costs 5,488 yuan which is about $830). Better yet, that price applies to a new white version which, in my opinion, is much better looking than the original "electric blue" -- that's now a limited edition priced at 4,299 yuan (about $650).
HTC's latest VR investments include a brain control startup
HTC is continuing its quest to fund promising VR startups, and its latest batch includes a few pushing the boundaries of what's possible in virtual spaces. The Vive X program is backing 26 companies that include Neurable, the company building a brain control system for the Vive headset -- they'll have help fulfilling their vision of wand-free VR. Other notable investment targets include eLoupes' light-field based surgery imaging system, QuarkVR's 4K-per-eye simultaneous video streaming and Wewod's location-based VR (which has served customers like Disney and Nintendo).
VR at the Tate Modern's Modigliani exhibition is no gimmick
In recent years, HTC has partnered with several museums to cultivate VR as a tool for art and learning. New projects are always in the works, and recently the company launched the Vive Arts program, reaffirming its commitment to working with developers and cultural institutions to further explore VR as an artistic and educational medium. The first installation under the Vive Arts banner has now opened at London's Tate Modern gallery as part of a new exhibition celebrating late-19th/early-20th-century Italian painter and sculptor Amedeo Modigliani. And to its credit, the VR portion of this retrospective is no gimmick.
'Ghost In The Shell' VR arcade game is a four-on-four firefight
For everybody that's watched Ghost in the Shell and thought to themselves, "yes, I too would like to experience tearing tanks apart with my bare hands," your day has come. Well, sort of. After a four-month delay, Bandai Namco's VR Zone Shinjuku is finally ready to launch its Ghost in the Shell: Arise Stealth Hounds game with large-space full-body tracking.
HTC's Vive Tracker adds much-needed tactile control to VR
Virtual reality has made a lot of progress lately toward looking and sounding better, but we're still in the early stages of making it feel better on a tactile level. Standalone headsets like the upcoming Oculus Go and the just-announced HTC Vive Focus will definitely improve the experience by eliminating that pesky umbilical cord that connects you to a computer. However, the realism of many of these simulated worlds is still hamstrung by the need to handle a controller in order to interact with anything. HTC's Vive Tracker, available for pre-order today, goes a long way toward making VR feel more true to the experience it's meant to be simulating, replacing the usual plastic wand with accessories that can emulate the weight and feel of real-world tools like sports equipment and projectile weapons.
HTC Vive dropped its Google Daydream headset to focus on China
Throughout the Vive Focus event today, HTC never once referred to the headset as a Daydream VR device, which was a little odd given how it was first teased as one of the two standalone Daydream devices back at Google I/O. Then came this baffling statement from HTC shortly after the keynote: "We still have a great relationship with Google, but will not be bringing a standalone device to the Western markets on Daydream." In other words, the aforementioned Daydream collaboration between HTC and Google is no more, even though the Vive Focus lives on by way of the Vive Wave VR open platform. This cancellation was later confirmed by Clay Bavor, Google's Vice President of Virtual and Augmented Reality, though he also implied that the other standalone Daydream headset from Lenovo is still in the pipeline.
HTC Vive Focus hands-on: a promising start for next-gen mobile VR
We've already heard the news about HTC's Vive Focus, so it was only natural to get my hands dirty with this standalone 6DoF (six-degree-of-freedom) VR headset. As it turned out, HTC delivered pre-production units to several developers two weeks ago, in order to prep the demo area today. Soon after the opening keynote, I rushed over to the other room and managed to go through seven demos. Given the limited preparation time, the results were unsurprisingly mixed, but the best ones seem to prove that there's a lot of potential in this piece of kit.
HTC Vive Focus is a standalone VR headset with ‘world-scale’ tracking
After a couple of teases earlier this year, HTC has finally unveiled its upcoming standalone VR headset at today's Vive Developer Conference in Beijing. Dubbed the Vive Focus, this all-in-one device features inside-out 6-degree-of-freedom (6DoF) "world-scale" tracking, meaning it doesn't require external base stations nor sensors, so you can get positional tracking anywhere at any time -- even on a train or plane, should you wish to. While at least a couple of Chinese manufacturers have announced standalone 6DoF VR headsets before, HTC claims that the Focus will be the first of such kind to actually hit the market.
HTC's VR arts program brings exhibits to your home
Virtual reality is arguably a good medium for art: it not only enables creativity that just isn't possible if you stick to physical objects, it allows you to share pieces that would be difficult to appreciate staring at an ordinary computer screen. And HTC knows it. The company is launching Vive Arts, a "multi-million dollar" program that helps museums and other institutions fund, develop and share art in VR. And yes, this means apps you can use at home... including one that's right around the corner.
Steam will support VR in very large rooms
If you want to play a room-scale VR game using Steam's current tracking method, you need to do it in a 13-by-13 foot area. That's fine for your living room, but what if you want more space? Don't fret: Valve has announced that SteamVR Tracking 2.0 will support a cavernous 33 feet by 33 feet space starting in early 2018. You'll need four trackers to do it instead of two, but this could be very helpful for arcades or any other experience that could benefit from greater freedom of movement.
HTC gives Vive developers all app revenue for the rest of 2017
Now that HTC is all-in on Vive headsets and letting Google deal with its Pixel smartphone business, it has to deal with another reality: The public still isn't exactly sold on VR. To keep sales momentum going, it has announced a promotion aimed at attracting Vive app developers and keeping existing ones happy. Rather than taking its usual 30 percent cut, HTC will give 100 percent of app revenue to developers for the entire fourth quarter of 2017, starting in October.
VR throwback 'Duck Season' arrives September 14th
Stress Level Zero's Duck Season caught our eye for a number of reasons. It's not just a VR callback to the NES hit Duck Hunt, it's a broader celebration of '80s culture... with a horror twist, to boot. And now, you'll get to see whether or not it's as fun as it is weird. The studio has announced that Duck Season will be available on both Steam and the Oculus Store on September 14th. Yes, despite the early Vive-focused experience we saw in June, it'll be available for the Oculus Rift as well.
HTC cuts the Vive VR headset's price to $599
You knew HTC wouldn't let the Oculus Rift's price cut go unanswered for long. As of today, HTC has permanently lowered the price of the Vive headset by $200, to $599/£599. That's still $100 more than you'd pay for a Rift/Touch combo ($200 if you account for Oculus' summer sale), but it's far easier to swallow than before and might keep HTC's approach to room-scale VR under your consideration. As before, you get trial access to the Viveport monthly app subscription service as well as free titles like Everest VR.
Brain-controlled VR game hints at a hands-free future
We may be a long way off from a Holodeck-like virtual reality where your body is the controller, but Neurable might have the next closest thing. It recently unveiled a prototype peripheral that adds brain control to VR experiences. The device replaces the regular strap on an HTC Vive and uses specific brain signals (event-related potentials, not the EEG patterns you usually see) to trigger actions. In a showcase game, Awakening, you use your mind to escape a lab as if you had telekinetic powers -- you don't have to hold plastic wands as you battle robots and grab objects.
The next version of Firefox will include support for VR
Mozilla has been working on VR for a while now, with support for Oculus Rift in the Firefox nightly builds as far back as 2015. Currently announced at the end of July and set to start rolling out live on August 8th, the latest version of Firefox (55) is set to include WebVR, the technology that puts virtual reality into a web browser. This addition will bring Firefox up to par with both Google Chrome and Microsoft Edge, which added web-based VR support in February and April of this year, respectively.
HTC's first standalone Vive headset is only available in China
At long last, HTC has released a PC-free version of the Vive... only you probably won't get to use it. The company has introduced a Vive Standalone headset that's intended strictly for the Chinese market. China's mobile space is red hot, HTC says, so it makes sense that to take advantage of this "momentum" with accessible VR hardware. It's not clear just how well the self-contained Vive will compare to its PC-bound counterpart in some respects (such as display resolution and comfort), but HTC is clearly focused on portability and cost over raw power.
This Japanese VR arcade put me inside 'Mario Kart'
Back when Bandai Namco opened its first VR arcade in Tokyo last April, I was keen to check out its various HTC Vive-powered VR games. My first ride there would have been Gundam VR: Daiba Assault, just so I could get a taste of what it's like hitching a ride on a Gundam's hand. The problem was by the time I got to the city the following month, this pop-up store already had a three-month waiting list, and I never got around to visiting before it closed in October. Luckily, as of last Friday, VR Zone is back in new form. Not only is it now the world's largest VR arcade, but it's also moved to Shinjuku, a more accessible downtown area in Tokyo. And this time, it's staying for two years. More importantly, the arcade has added some widely anticipated games that may sound familiar to you -- namely, Mario Kart Arcade GP VR, Dragon Ball VR: Master the Kamehameha and Evangelion VR: The Soul Seat. As a bonus, Gundam VR has also been brought over from the previous site.
HTC's Vive Prime Day deal makes the Oculus Rift even better value
As tech brands go to war on Amazon Prime Day, Oculus has emerged triumphant over HTC in terms of value. The Vive, usually on sale for $800 has been reduced by a meager $100 to $700. Meanwhile, the Rift and Touch bundle -- already on a limited-time offer for $400/£400 -- now comes with a Prime Day perk of a $100 Amazon gift card (which makes it such a good deal it's currently out of stock). If you regularly drop a lot of dollar at Amazon, this essentially brings the price of the bundle down to $300, which is less than half the price of HTC's offering.
