Extended Reality (XR) - Page 49

Stop me if you've heard this one: You're on an exotic island enjoying the not-so-friendly company of deadly dinosaurs and soon discover that scavenging for weapons and relying on your wits are the crucial keys to your survival. That sounds like a recipe for a thrilling -- and potentially scary as hell -- VR experience. That's what CloudGate Studios wants to deliver with Island 359, coming to SteamVR Early Access this summer for the HTC Vive.

Cloudgate is headed up by former Square Enix CEO Mike Fischer, and founded by two game developers who understand how to evoke terror inside VR: Steve Bowler and Jeremy Chapman, creators of The Brookhaven Experiment.

"In our past VR experience, we were very lucky to be able to innovate in a way that really resonated with players," said Bowler. "As CloudGate, we're looking to take it a step further and do things on VR that no one has ever tried or done before."

Insomniac Games, the studio known best for console-centric classics like Resistance and Ratchet & Clank, are straying well outside their comfort zone and releasing three virtual reality titles on the Oculus Rift this year. Their first is Lovecraftian horror adventure title Edge of Nowhere, available right now.

If there's two things Insomniac Games is known for, it's a witty sense of humor and imaginative weaponry. So when I previewed Edge of Nowhere at a press event earlier this year and discovered they'd traded in these hallmarks for psychological horror, I was initially skeptical. But as the 30 minute demo unfolded, I became convinced that Insomniac is as adept at telling a story rife with terror as they are telling one filled with laughs and wildly creative arsenals.

Today you can make that judgment for yourself. Edge of Nowhere draws heavy inspiration from H.P. Lovecraft's At the Mountains of Madness and leans on the inescapable presence of VR to make players feel truly immersed, truly awestruck, and downright horrified at some of the scenarios they must encounter.

Sony is doing everything in their power to ensure PlayStation fans who can't physically get to this year's E3 don't feel left out, including broadcasting more than 18 hours of video content across Twitch, YouTube, and 85 theaters across North America. But what I keyed into from Sony's E3 announcement today is a list of 10 playable PlayStation VR demos on the show floor.

Note that's it not an exhaustive list (for example, RIGS is clearly MIA) , as Sony teases that these are only "some" of the playable games at the L.A. Convention Center. At the very least, we know we'll be able to get eyes on with the following 10 PlayStation VR titles: Battlezone, 100ft Robot Golf, Psychonauts in the Rhombus of Ruin, Wayward Sky, Thumper, Rez Infinite, Super Hypercube, Harmonix Music VR, EVE: Valkyrie, and Headmaster.

Keep your eye on 100ft Robot Golf, by the way. This game looks like supreme amounts of silly fun.

If you own an HTC Vive, chances are incredibly high that you've played Valve's The Lab, an awesome collection of demos showcasing what roomscale VR is all about. Today The Lab gets even better, and even teaches Fetchbot a new trick.

The "Appliance of Science" update is out now, and adds a few gameplay tweaks and fixes to various aspects of gameplay. The most important by far is the addition of global leaderboards and "endless" play modes for Xortex, Slingshot, and Longbow. While these are tragically short slices of what I can only hope will be developed into full game releases someday, they're still ridiculous amounts of fun and adding a layer of competition to the mix only increases their replayability.

For those of you fond of Fetchbot but not fond of his thieving ways, Valve has also taught him not to steal your new toys from the table. You can also now skip the iconic Valve intro, but I'm not sure why anyone would want to do that.

Computex 2016 -- During our HTC Vive booth appointment at Computex, an HTC representative suggested that the company is planning internal development of their own virtual reality games.

HTC had a number of impressive VR experiences to show us in Taipei, and we'll have hands-on previews for you to check out in the next few days. One of those experiences was Front Defense, a WWII-era tower defense game that was technically developed by Fantahorn Studio. However, that studio is partially comprised of current HTC employees, and HTC has sponsored this particular team for the express purpose of creating VR content.

This business model seems reminiscent of what Oculus is doing with studios like Insomniac Games. Upcoming Rift titles like The Unspoken are funded by Oculus and exclusive to their platform. However, this prompted me to ask our appointment guide, HTC Corporate Communications Supervisor Jessica Tan, if HTC is planning to develop additional Vive games internally, and she answered in the affirmative.

Samsung recently highlighted the fact that they've captured 1 million Gear VR users, and it looks like they want to snag even more with a Father's Day-themed promotion that lets new Galaxy S6 users in on the free virtual reality fun.

When Samsung launched the Galaxy S7 and S7 Edge phones, it coupled it with a tantalizing freebie: an Oculus-powered VR headset. Now through June 19, they're dramatically expanding that promotion to let a wider range of mobile phone consumers in on the action. The promo still includes the Galaxy S7 phones, but It now encompasses the Galaxy S6 Edge, Galaxy S6 Edge, Galaxy S6, and the Galaxy Note 5.

The offer is valid for a huge variety of retailers and carriers, and apparently the promo also includes a $150 "VR Content Experience."

Computex 2016 -- MSI's aptly named Backpack PC enables portable VR experiences and removes that pesky cable from the floor. It may not be an exercise in practicality, but it is a bold glimpse into the near future.

I feel like VR backpacks are the punchline to so many jokes in the industry right now. After all, as much as I may love and believe in virtual reality, it's not necessarily a widely adopted technology. Yet. So you'd think a custom hard shell backpack stuffed with a specialized, battery-powered PC might be about as niche as things come right now. You'd be right.

However, I really think specialized system mods like this might inspire VR game developers to push the envelope even further, especially in the realm of arcade-level multiplayer experiences at home. VR LAN party, anyone?

Computex 2016 - The new ASUS VR headset makes a surprise visit on the Computex show floor in Taipei.

The ASUS VR headset has made a mysterious appearance at the company's Computex booth, showing off a first glimpse at the upcoming mobile-powered headset. ASUS has provided no context on the headset itself and didn't mention it at its Zenvolution reveal showcase. Despite the lack of details, we do know the ASUS VR headset will launch on the second half of 2017.

Since the headset has an apparent diagonal width of 5.7-inches, it could be powered by ASUS' newly revealed ZenFone 3 Deluxe flagship smartphone. We speculate that the ASUS-branded mobile VR headset could also be powered by Google's new Daydream VR platform.

ESA's official E3 2016 website lists a "Xbox One VR" category, further hinting that Xbox will leverage the Oculus Rift to face-off against Sony's PlayStation VR.

Earlier today we reported that the Oculus Rift headset may be supported on Microsoft's new upgraded 4K-ready Xbox (codenamed Scorpio). Anonymous devs confirmed Xbox VR projects to Ars Technica, adding further evidence to Kotaku's previous leaks. Now the official E3 site seems to corroborate those claims.

The E3 site lists four companies under the "Xbox One virtual reality" section, all of which are non-coincidentally working on VR games. The list includes Rebellion (Battlezone), Maximum Games (Loading Human), 3DRudder, who designed a feet-based VR controller, and Readily Studio, a Chinese outsourcing studio who builds VR games. What's more is that Rebellion's Battlezone and Maximum's Loading Human games are all confirmed for the Oculus Rift and PSVR, lumping on even more evidence the Rift could be used on the Xbox Scorpio.

When a company thinks outside of the square, you don't think of an entire gaming PC in a backpack. Well, that's what HP has just unveiled; a gaming PC in a backpack, ready for VR.

HP's unnamed backpack PC can be configured with an Intel Core i5 or Core i7 processor, up to 32GB of RAM, and a video card. HP promises that the weight will be under 10 pounds, with two fans that will push the heat out of the PC, and a waist belt that has two batteries that power both the CPU, and the GPU separately.

This backpack makes sense, as the Oculus Rift and HTC Vive both have cables tethered to the PC - but when you've got the HP backpack on, that is no longer an issue. HP will be included a wireless display, mouse and keyboard as part of the package, and will iterate on the design of the VR backpack the more that people try it out. Right now, there's no ETA on when HP will release its VR backpack.

Hit Rockstar games like Red Dead Redemption and Grand Theft Auto could one day get VR adaptations, but only when VR becomes "consumer's platform of choice".

"I think in general these are all opportunities. I've talked about VR in the past--there's a lot of excitement in the marketplace, and a lot of our people are excited too. We're still in our R&D route because this still isn't a consumer business. We want to be really clear: if this is the consumer's platform of choice, we'll bring our IP's to it aggressively and ambitiously. We just tend not to vote when we don't have to," Take-Two Interactive CEO Strauss Zelnick said during an investor relations call.

Given how expansive Take-Two's labels are--Rockstar Games, 2K Games, 2K Sports, Irrational Games--we could see a huge number of IPs getting remade on VR, including GTA, BioShock, Red Dead Redemption and a huge offering of sports titles. The publisher is all about chasing new opportunities, but isn't ready to gamble on VR just yet--not until it becomes bigger and more gamers own an HTC Vive, Oculus Rift, or PlayStation VR.

Google I/O is taking place right now, with the search giant untiling its plans for VR with the announcement of its Daydream VR platform.

Google's new Daydream VR platform includes smartphones, headsets, controllers and apps - and will run on Android-powered smartphones, with under 20ms of latency says Google's VP of VR, Clay Bavor. Bavor said: "VR should be mobile, approachable". In a statement, Google said: "Together with Android manufacturers, we're working on upcoming phones, and sharing designs with them for a VR viewer and controller that will be really immersive, comfortable and intuitive to use. Your favorite apps and games will be coming to Daydream too, including Google's-like YouTube, Street View, Play Movies, Google Photos and the Play Store. More to come this fall".

Developers have already started work on Daydream VR, with Resolution Games' CEO Tommy Palm saying: "With Daydream's potential reach and accessibility and the current mobile VR headsets on the market, mobile is on track to become the number one VR platform in regards to headsets in the marketplace and potential for mainstream adoption. We are very excited to have been invited to be a part of Google's new VR initiative. We feel we share the same vision for VR and are looking forward to working together to increase VR's spread into mainstream and setting additional standards for the future of VR".

Crytek has been pushing into the world of VR for a while now, with the Crysis developer announcing it has signed up 6 more universities into its VR First program.

The developer has added The University of Canterbury (New Zealand), Kajaani University of Applied Sciences (Finland), University College London (UK), Manchester Metropolitan University (UK), Oklahoma University (USA), and Tallinn Technical University (Estonia). Crytek first announced VR First in January, offering up its CryEngine source code for schools and free access to the required VR hardware from various companies.

At the time, Crytek's Ferhan Özkan said: "Collaborating with the IEEE dramatically broadens the potential reach of VR First and emphasizes our commitment to ensuring the program makes a genuine impact on the landscape of VR research and development at the grassroots level".

Oculus continues its path towards VR enlightenment, announcing its new initiative 'VR for Good'. Oculus will use VR for Good to partner with 10 nonprofits with "rising filmmakers" to make 360-degree videos for VR.

Organizations will be provided with two days worth of training at the Facebook HQ, Nokia OZO camera, and even post-production help. The collection of videos will be displayed at Sundance next year, which will give filmmakers a huge stage to launch from. The VR startup will also help students who are interested in VR, with Oculus working with 9 high schools throughout the San Francisco area with professional filmmakers to make short 360-degree videos about their communities.

Better yet, the students will get to use a Samsung Gear VR, Galaxy S6 smartphone and Rocoh Theta S 360 camera, editing software and help from mentors in order to create their short films. At the end of it, the finished videos will be on Facebook and Oculus Video when the six-week program has ended.

We all know how exciting the world of VR is right now, but Payday developer Starbreeze AB has just announced it has joined forces with Acer for the StarVR VR HMD. Some of you might even remember Starbreeze teasing its interesting StarVR headset last year at E3, which featured a huge 5120x1440 display.

The two companies are going to work together on the design, manufacturing, promotion, marketing and sales of the StarVR HMD - for both the professional- and location-based entertainment market. Starbreeze CEO Bo Andersson Klint explains: "Since our launch in June 2015, we have had an amazing start with StarVR. By partnering with Acer we shift gears yet again to firmly position us as the leader in top-end VR experiences. Acer is an excellent, experienced and prominent hardware partner that will accelerate us in realizing and producing a high-definition, high-fidelity VR headset. We've been working with a clear roadmap for our VR strategy from day one, and are now about to realize one of the first major collaborations we set out to achieve. The future for StarVR is now set and extremely exciting".

Acer Corporate President and CEO Jason Chen added: "Acer is thrilled to join forces with Starbreeze in bringing the StarVR head-mounted display to the market. We are devoting R&D resources across multiple aspects of the VR ecosystem for a coherent and high-quality experience, while just last month Acer announced powerful desktops and notebooks fully-ready for StarVR. Starbreeze and Acer share the same goal of delivering best-in-class VR applications, and we look forward to unlocking new VR possibilities together with this partnership".

Ubisoft is preparing to release games on Sony's PlayStation VR, and has already adapted its first-party games engines for the new platform. The publisher also confirmed it'll release new PSVR games later this year, and a "surprising" new VR game in Q3 of its Fiscal Year 2017.

"We continue to be very interested in VR. We are going to launch a few games this year, we don't expect them to do big revenue, but we have good experiences there. So we'll surprise a few people. In Q3 we'll announce a new title that's promising. Yes, VR is coming, we are active and Sony is doing a good job in presenting PlayStation VR, and we see a good momentum," Ubisoft CEO Yves Guillemot said during the company's FY16 conference call.

Guillemot affirms that Ubisoft is ready for VR and has already made a push to adapt its engines. "But we are very disciplined on VR but we won't spend too many resources on it until there's enough demand and market for VR. But we've learned a lot at the moment. We've adapted our engines so they can be ready when the market picks up."

NVIDIA hit a home run with its new GeForce GTX 1080, with a huge concentration on VR - including the release of the super-fun VR Funhouse.

VR Funhouse is still in development, but it includes some awesome activities - where you get to shoot 'goo guns', shoot arrows and even throw around some balls around. I've played around with it for a few minutes so far, but it was really immersive, reminding me of my experience and time with Toy Box on the Oculus Rift at CES 2016.

We're going to spend some more time with VR Funhouse later today, but I did notice that the system was powered by not one, not two, but three GeForce GTX 1080 video cards. One of them acts as a standalone, dedicated GPU for PhysX, as VR Funhouse is a huge experiment for PhysX within the VR Funhouse world.

Manus VR has been working on gloves for VR, but now the company is working on full tracking for your arms, with the HTC Vive.

The company teased its VR gloves last year, but have just now released footage of an experiment they've been playing around with where your arm and elbow movements are pulled into the VR world on the HTC Vive. This could be a huge deal, as it'll pave the way for serious VR experiences using your entire upper body for games like boxing, archery, and more.

The two controllers that ship with the HTC Vive get strapped to your arms, but Manus has been clear that this is just for now, things could change in the future. The question is, would you wear Vive controllers on your arm to get them working in the VR world? I know I would.

The full specifications for Microsoft's self-contained HoloLens AR headset have been unveiled, showing a suite of specifically optimized hardware.

HoloLens sports mobile-grade specs with 2GB of onboard RAM, a 1.04GHz Intel Atom CPU (14nm Airmont), and just 64GB of storage. Keep in mind the HoloLens will likely be powered by highly optimized software, so the hardware isn't the full picture. Microsoft doesn't exactly detail the specifics of the mysterious Holographic Processing Unit (HPU), which can process whole terabytes of real-time data from the headsets sensors. Interestingly enough, the storage is actually enough for a full suite of apps and games, as Windows Central notes that most of the content doesn't require a lot of installation space. The battery is pretty meager, though, offering just 2 hours of uptime.

Windows 10.0.11802.1033 ( 32-bit)

If anything, VR is most certainly not like the other myriad of technologies that have tried to increase immersion. In fact, it is precisely what we need to do that. Helping set-up an Oculus Rift over the weekend for a friend was surprisingly eye-opening.; VR could easily be mainstream.