Wednesday, August 31, 2016

Exclusive: Engage Is Out To Revolutionize Education One VR Lesson At A Time

The startup behind the Apollo 11 VR experience is launching an early version of the Engage education platform, and it’s a lot like the public VR education system in Ready Player One.

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Tuesday, August 30, 2016

VR Game Controllers Should Give us Superhero Capabilities, While Being Super Intuitive and Natural

For years the way to move in video games and 3D environments was pretty simple. You’d use a keyboard, a mouse, a 3D-mouse or the joysticks of a gamepad. Those were perfectly suited because of the distance between you and the screen. You were not in the 3D model or in the game, you were looking from the outside in.

HTC-backed VRVCA Investor Group Moves Meeting ‘Due to the Large Volume of Submissions’

HTC’s new VR Venture Capital Alliance (VRVCA) seems to be a hit. It’s proved so popular that its first meeting has already had to be rescheduled.

Dexmo Exoskeleton Tugs On Your Fingers To Simulate Touch In VR


A company called Dexta Robotics recently unveiled a new product that could end up revolutionizing the way VR hand tracking and interaction takes place. It’s called the “Dexmo” and it is a futuristic looking exo-skeleton that attaches over your hand like a glove. The glove is full of components that are able to communicate with a VR experience and help you actually feel virtual objects held in your actual hands.

Gear VR Capable Of Hand Tracking Via USB-C And Leap Motion


One of the big new features of the Samsung Note 7 and its new Gear VR is USB-C — the new standard that’s not only easier to connect because the plug is reversible, but can be used to communicate data with external devices like a thumb drive.


5 Revolutionary Educational and Professional Uses for Virtual Reality

Virtual Reality has a lot of potential uses, and not only in gaming and entertainment, although these are two areas that are likely to help drive the development and improvement of both hardware and software. VR is also being used in retail for example, by offering things  like virtual mannequins and is also proving popular in education and training. In these instances, VR offers accessibility to experiences and locations that might not otherwise be accessible.

The VR Accessories Market Is Only Getting Started

When you think of virtual reality, the first thing that comes to mind is a headset, and all the buzz around this industry is focused on these headsets. But while they certainly deserve to be the center of attention, the real potential can be unlocked through the VR accessories market.

Amazon Is Making Original VR Experiences, Likely For Prime Users

Amazon has the potential to be a major player in the VR industry, and a report today suggests it’s now taking the steps to be just that.

HTC VP Weighs In On VR’s Biggest Rivalry: “Oculus Is Not Our Competition”


Raymond Pao is the Vice President for new technologies at HTC. A longtime manufacturer of cell phones, smart phones, and other electronic devices, HTC recently branched out into a brand new territory through the release of its HTC Vive virtual reality headset. The Vive is a $799 piece of hardware that also requires a very powerful personal computer to function. That is a lot to stomach for the average consumer and the limited marketplace of interested VR customers is further segmented for HTC by the presence of another company offering a similarly powerful $599 VR headset: Facebook’s Oculus.

Intel’s Project Alloy: A Mobile VR Headset With ‘Multi-Room’ Positional Tracking

Intel introduced Project Alloy, a completely mobile headset intended to offer the ideal VR experience: Wireless with the freedom to move in any direction, hand tracking, collision warnings and “multi-room” tracking.

Windows Holographic Coming to Windows 10 PCs in 2017


If you’re using the HTC Vive, Oculus Rift, or any other mainstream headset, you know that productivity and business applications are already here. Virtual Desktop lets you access your PC from within a VR headset, Envelop lets you surround yourself in applications from all sides, and BigScreen makes your desktop browsing experience inherently social and collaborative.

VRLA: Where Hollywood Goes To VR


VRLA’s Summer Expo was the biggest they had ever had; by their own measurements there were over 6,000 attendees and they actually had to turn the event into a two-day experience. I attended the VRLA Summer Expo last weekend, and I gained some valuable insights about where VR content is going and where VR content is moving. The show kicked off with a series of major announcements including the VRLA founders announcing their own project’s release which is a VR movie creator called Mindshow that allows creators to import assets into VR and create VR movies.

Minecraft Finally Comes to The Oculus Rift Next Week

From Pokemon on Mars to VR raves, VRLA was everything you’d want from a VR convention and more!

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Virtual Reality Vests, Pokémon Mars and Reggie Watts: Highlights from VRLA

From Pokemon on Mars to VR raves, VRLA was everything you’d want from a VR convention and more!

‘Voxelus’ Now Lets You Build VR Worlds From Inside A Headset

Want to build VR worlds but don’t know your way around Unity or Unreal Engine? Voxelus may have the perfect solution for you.

Night Terrors Is The Horror Community's Answer to 'Pokemon GO'!

Over the past few years, mobile gaming has finally stepped out of the shadows and into the limelight. Recently, Pokemon GO has taken the world by storm with over 80 millions players active around the world. One aspect of the new onslaught of mobile games is the integration of socializing in the real world with game players.

Friday, August 5, 2016

Day 1 of VRLA!

Joe getting ready to rock VRLA! (Opens in 90 minutes). Truth is, I think he's most excited about getting another sticker for his laptop...

Valve is letting third-party peripherals use HTC Vive's tracker

Much like Valve open-sourced its Steam controller gamepad, it's doing something similar for the Vive VR headset's stand-out feature. The company has recently opened up SteamVR's room-scale 3D tracking system to anyone...

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Thursday, August 4, 2016

In Los Angeles for VRLA!


Our director of Sales, Giuseppe Zemba pretending to be on a really important phone call while getting ready for VRLA!

Stay tuned over the next few days for more exciting news and updates from VRLA!
VR Roller Coasters Bring Back The Forgotten Joy My Spinal Injury Took Away

1978’s Gemini was my favorite. Cedar Point’s dual track coaster was well past its prime by the new millennium. The wooden base had turned a weathered gray as if the ride was slowly rotting into dust. An entryway coated in ‘70s era orange and yellows wasn’t attention grabbing.

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VR Murder Mystery ‘Dead Secret’ Dated for HTC Vive


Indie developer Robot Invader has already brought its popular VR murder mystery, Dead Secret, to Gear VR and Oculus Rift, but soon HTC Vive owners will get to play it too.

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Experience the unknown with Hapto - intuitive controller for virtual reality

Hapto is a hand-held controller that allows you to explore virtual reality through natural and intuitive gestures.

Click here to check out the website!
Vive now offers accessories as well as replacement parts!

For those of you who already own a VIve, you’ve probably wondered how you’re going to get new parts for your set-up, as well as accessories for your already awesome VR rig. Vive now has an answer for that in the form of an accessories page on their site.

Click here to go to the Vive Accessories page
NVIDIA’S Eye-Tracking Tech Could Revolutionize Virtual Reality

A phenomenon first observed by Da Vinci is being used to make virtual images look more realistic.

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Apple’s Tim Cook On Augmented Reality: ‘It Will Be Huge’



During an earnings call with investors, Apple Inc.’s CEO Tim Cook hopped on the line to discuss the state of his company. The bulk of the call involved Cook lauding the promising sales of the new iPhone SE, the Apple Watch, and the tech juggernaut’s steady push into the Asian markets. However, during the question and answer period the subject of augmented reality came up and Cook’s responses are highly illuminating.

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BigScreen Update Finally Adds Desktop Audio Streaming Between Users


BigScreen is one of the best virtual desktop VR applications on the market and it provides a robust suite of features including a multi-user social environment for sharing your desktop, voice chat, head-tracked avatars, and more. But one big and often requested feature was missing from the experience: the ability to hear another user’s desktop audio.

Zuckerberg Claims Smartphones Will Make AR Mainstream, Not Glasses

Zuckerberg claimed as much in a recent investor’s call for Facebook’s second quarter results. Though the leader of the social networking giant didn’t have much new info to share about its virtual reality company, Oculus, Zuckerberg was quizzed about the future of AR and how it might fit in to upcoming plans. He noted that the company was “doing AR research” which included “testing lightweight versions” of AR apps like MSQRD, which is a face-animation app similar to Snapchat that Facebook acquired back in March 2016.

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Google’s ‘Pearl’ Is Coming To Steam With Tearjerking Upgrades

Pearl is a project from Google in a series of “Spotlight Stories” that function as explorations of the virtual reality medium. Some purists, though, sneer at 360-degree videos and that’s what Google’s main distribution portal, YouTube, is already built to ingest and distribute to people around the world. Even though an earlier project like Special Delivery is shown through YouTube, Google tried to explore interactivity beyond straightforward spherical videos. The Christmas-themed project would activate interesting things when you looked at them, ensuring you don’t miss a fun moment because you were turned away. Unfortunately, only some devices got the additional features and even if you had the right gadget in your hand it’s hard to figure out if you’re watching the correct version.

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Real-Time Motion Capture Demo Hints At Future VR Communication Features

An impressive demonstration of body motion and facial capture work at SIGGRAPH showed real-time movements from a live actor transferred to an avatar in a completely digitized scene. The demonstration shows how efficient professional tools are becoming that merge elements from real and digital realms for videogame cutscenes. It also could be seen as a preview of the believable avatars we’ll have when VR headsets include facial tracking.

HTC’s Vive X VR Accelerator Announces First Class of 33 Companies, VRVCA Expands to $12bn

The Vive X site has been updated with the first 22 groups to take advantage of the $100 million scheme. A final company was also named in the press release, bringing the total to 23, and a further 10 companies in stealth mode were also selected. Being a member of Vive X will give these teams access to some major new opportunities like investment from venture capital firms, expert advice on development and mentorship from experienced VR professionals, and some other networking and support benefits. We’ve listed the companies below, each of which will be joining the accelerator in either Beijing, San Francisco, Taipei or the newly announced Shenzhen location.

‘Minecraft’ Is Coming To Rift Soon, Touch Controllers Teased



Microsoft is planning to release its Rift version of Minecraft “in a few weeks.” Interestingly, an image of prototype Oculus Touch controllers appears on the Minecraft VR website.

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‘Island 359’ Debut Gameplay Trailer Shows Intense Dinosaur Killing Action


“Launching on Vive Early Access this summer, Island 359 immerses you in an intense and thrilling experience that has you fighting for your life. Dropped off on an island alone by way of helicopter, you have one mission: kill as many dinosaurs as possible, and then make your way safely off the island to collect your bounty.

Although you’re a trained mercenary with weapons and tools, the vicious dinosaurs are fighting for survival just as much as you are. Sprinting and hiding to outwit the dinosaurs, you’ll explore the expansive island in total isolation, and unsure of what’s around the corner.”

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