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Android N gets a high-performance VR mode
Even the most stubborn fence-sitters have to admit it: Virtual reality is worming its way into the fabric of our culture. Part of VR's growth is due to the fact that we can now just strap phones to our faces and see other worlds, but that typically requires lots of work from phone makers like Samsung and LG to get their VR hardware and software working just right. The software side of that equation might have just gotten way easier to figure out, though, thanks to Google's announcement of a VR mode for Android N.
Playing an actual game with Oculus Rift: hands-on with Valve's Team Fortress 2 'VR Mode'
Valve's free-to-play first-person shooter, Team Fortress 2, is getting Oculus Rift support with its VR Mode update in the coming weeks. Think of it as a large beta test -- Oculus Rift dev kits ship to Kickstarter backers and Team Fortress 2 players on PC can snag a free update, thus feeding Valve valuable feedback on how people play TF2 with VR. The only thing left to know is perhaps the most important: how does it play? We found out just that on a recent visit to Valve's Bellevue, Wash., offices, where Valve programmer Joe Ludwig lead us through a hands-on demo of the game's VR Mode update on a near-final build of the Oculus Rift dev kit (not quite the one shipping to backers, but far more advanced than the previous Oculus prototypes we've used). Follow us beyond the break for detailed impressions of playing an actual game (read: not just tech demos) with the Oculus Rift VR headset.%Gallery-183116%
Valve's Joe Ludwig on the uncertain future of virtual reality and partnering with Oculus
It's a beautiful late winter day in Bellevue, Wash. Instead of enjoying the outdoors, I'm sitting in a rectangular white room with three programmers, surrounded by three walls covered in augmented reality markers. Not that I'm complaining: Valve Software's Joe Ludwig, the programmer in the room who most resembles a member of Anthrax, is walking me through his company's latest work in the world of virtual reality. It's the first anyone outside of Valve will see of the company's VR efforts thus far. As it turns out, the software company is working with Oculus VR to port the tremendously popular free-to-play first-person shooter, Team Fortress 2, to the upcoming Rift development kit. The free update, dubbed "VR Mode," is the latest benchmark in Valve's ongoing hardware initiative. "We think that both augmented and virtual reality are going to be a huge deal over the next several years," Ludwig tells us.%Gallery-183116%
Valve's Team Fortress 2 is Oculus Rift's first game, free 'VR Mode' update coming soon
We've known for some time now that Valve was working on virtual reality support for its perpetually updated free-to-play shooter, Team Fortress 2. The company's even giving a duo of talks at the upcoming Game Developer's Conference on the difficulties of game development for virtual reality. What we didn't know, however, is that said support is also headed to consumers as "VR Mode," and it'll get pushed to PC Team Fortress 2 players "sometime within the next couple of weeks." But how will you play it? Simple: Team Fortress 2 is the Oculus Rift's first official game. Valve programmer Joe Ludwig revealed as much during a recent visit Engadget paid to the Bellevue, Wash.-based game company. "This is a mode that everybody who has a Rift dev kit and access to Team Fortress 2 will be able to play, just on public and in the same servers that everybody else is playing in," Ludwig said. Of course, "everybody" doesn't include Mac or Linux TF2 players just yet. "We don't have a Mac or Linux SDK from Oculus quite yet, but once we get those, we'll get it ported over to those other platforms," he explained. Oculus tells us those SDKs are coming. "The Oculus SDK will only support Windows at launch, but we plan to add support for OS X and Linux as quickly as possible. It's just a matter of time," Oculus VP of product Nate Mitchell says. We'll have more from our visit to Valve in the coming hours, so keep an eye out! [Image credit: Michael Clinard]
