Extended Reality (XR) - Page 73

With the Oculus Rift taking most of the VR glory right now, even before we have a consumer edition in our hands, it's hard to get noticed in the world if you're a VR headset. Well, that's not the case for BlackRock VR, which just announced the Horizon V - the "world's first true 4K virtual reality headset".

The 4K Horizon V uses dual 7-inch 4K low-persistance OLED panels, which will take up 96% of your eye's FOV, which according to BlackRock will take "over the brain's neuro-optical system". The dual 4K displays will be pumping out over 8 million pixels of content to your eyes, with a massive 629PPI for crystal clear VR.

Better yet, the Horizon V will feature dual 4K front-mounted pass-thru cameras. These two cameras are activated by pressing the one-click "X-vision" button that is found on the top of the VR HMD, allowing you to see the world in front of you in 4K 3D. The Horizon V has a 17-point motion-tracking system, a proprietary system called V-motion. This will work well with the low-persistance screen, as there will be no ghosting, motion blur or motion sickness according to BlackRock.

Carbon Design Group, the company that helped make the Xbox 360 controller (and its transforming d-pad) and the Kinect for Microsoft, has been acquired by Oculus VR. Better yet, Oculus VR has said that it has been working with Carbon "for nearly a year on multiple unannounced projects".

Oculus VR said on its website: "We're thrilled to announce that we've agreed to acquire the Carbon Design team, one of the premier industrial design and product engineering teams in the country, with over 50 awards to their name. As part of the deal, the team will officially become a key component of the product engineering group at Oculus, operating from the Carbon studio in the Seattle area. They'll also be working closely with the Oculus R&D team based out of Redmond".

Carbon Design Group has been in business for over 20 years, and in that time has been a product design and development consultancy firm that has developed consumer, industrial and medical products for companies all across the world. Carbon hasn't just been working on video game consumer electronics, it has helped design computer mice, air purifiers, medical imaging equipment and much more.

E3 2014 - Palmer Luckey, the founder of Oculus VR, has had some absolutely beautiful words to say about the world of 30FPS gaming - which seems to be the center of the console world, even with the next-gen consoles in the Xbox One and PS4.

At E3 2014, Luckey was interviewed by LinusTechTips, where they asked what Luckey what he thought about 30FPS gaming, to which he replied with a very simple, but very precise: "it's not a good artistic decision, it's a failure". Personally, I 100% agree with Luckey, and have been a huge pusher of high refresh rate screens for quite some time. For the last 5 years or more, I have run 120Hz panels for gaming, as I cannot go back to 60Hz - no matter the panel, even at 4K.

It's great to see Luckey taking a huge stab here - but that quote is just glorious. 30FPS gaming does suck, and we're not sitting here laughing at everyone who doesn't have the hardware to run it, but once you do - 60FPS (or higher) and even more, 120FPS+ is where it is at. With the right panel, and a game that can truly handle 120FPS+, it is glorious.

The VR space is definitely heating up, with Oculus VR wanting to get its Rift headset into as many consumers' hands as possible - but what about Sony's PS4-exclusive VR headset, Project Morpheus?

Well, Sony is beginning to tease the specifications inside of its VR headset, something that should arrive with a 5-inch 1920x1080-pixel panel, with 90-degrees field of view. Where it'll get interesting, is that the PS4 game that the VR headset is rendering, will have to be running at 1920x1080 - which nearly half or more of the games on PS4 do not - and at a very high frame rate.

The increased FOV also doesn't help, as there are more things to render because of the higher field of view - so Sony is going to run into a few problems here. Anton Mikhailov, an Engineer from the Magic Lab in PlayStation's R&D group has said: "It is a tricky balance between all of these things. "Essentially, for a given resolution, let's take 1080p. It's a good sweet spot for developers: 1080p/60, it's a target they understand. If you go with 1080p/60, FOV over 100°, the pixel density starts to be quite low. So it starts to be hard to read text, stuff like that. So I feel for 1080p, [FOV of] 90°, 100° is a good sweet spot. If the screen res goes up, you can start to have higher FOVs. So I think there is a balancing game there. We're trying to make the most balanced system we can".

E3 2014 - VR will be mainstream in the coming years, and with the power of Facebook behind it, Oculus VR are going to be at the center of the VR storm. But during an interview with Ars Technica, Oculus VR's CEO Brendan Iribe had some great things to say about the first consumer Oculus Rift headset, where he hopes to see "just north of 1 million units" sold.

Where will Facebook's influence in the Rift come into play? Well, it will help with the pricing of the Rift, with Iribe saying that Mark Zuckerberg wants to ignore margins wherever possible, pushing the price of the Rift down to get them into the hands of as many consumers as possible. Iribe added: "I do too. But at the same time, we were planning to run a business, hopefully a break-even [or] profitable business off of this, not a money-losing business. Mark is much more in the mindset of 'Let's get this to scale with the best quality product at the lowest cost possible".

When the second consumer Oculus Rift is ready to hit the hands of consumers, Facebook's influence will be felt much more, as "It is going to allow us to deliver a much better consumer V2, that's for sure," according to Iribe. He continued: "There's a lot of rich content being made, but we need a lot more of it. As Mark says, as you start to get to race to scale there are a lot of opportunities to monetize that are really great for consumers, because they get a really low-cost product".

E3 2014 - I wrote a very emotional, but optimistic piece on the acquisition of Oculus VR by Facebook back in March, but one of the best guys I've met in the industry, Nate Mitchell, Oculus VR's VP of Product, has had some great words to say at E3 2014.

Mitchell spoke with Polygon at E3, where he said: "For us, we're all gamers, we're game developers, and if you look at our team, it's 90 percent industry veterans, so we have this big focus on games. We want this to be the best platform for VR games. I think, longer-term, we're all excited about the potential of everything you can do with VR, whether it's film or education or training or communication. Over time, I think you'll see more of that, but it's all really about games, and Facebook is excited about that, too".

One of the better parts of the talk, is that Mitchell said that Facebook has been both hands-off, and hands-on "in the best possible way". He continued: "Part of the Facebook deal is, 'Here's a buffet of resources, take advantage of whatever you want.' On the flip-side, they've also been super proactive in suggesting ideas. So as we've gone and said, hey, we want to bring on Jason Rubin, or we want to build these studios, they've said 100 percent, go for it".

Oculus VR continues to be a black hole for some of the best talent in the industry, with Jason Holtman joining the team that is now under the wings of Facebook. Holtman has both Microsoft and Valve on his resume, so this is a nice addition to the Oculus VR team.

Holtman will lead the business development and partnership of Oculus VR "with a focus on building the world's best developer and player VR ecosystem". During his introductory post, Holtman talked of his love for Battlezone, which was a green-and-white wireframe game on the Atari in the early 80s.

He wrote: "Battlezone is widely regarded as one of the first VR games, and looking back, those mountains still excite me. I want to fly, walk across alien landscapes, and nose around the Great Pyramids. And that's the most telling thing about VR: the possibilities are obvious, immediate, and endless. So, I'm humbled to become a part of this team. I'm not one of the pioneering scientists or engineers in virtual reality, but I am one of the people that can't stop grinning every time I see something new inside the headset, and I'm looking forward to helping shape the transformative experiences that inspire the next generation of developers".

Watch Dogs has launched, but definitely not without its fair share of problems. When it comes to recommended hardware for Ubisoft's open-world hacking extravaganza, it recommends a GPU with at least 2GB of VRAM - but this might change in the future, according to Watch Dogs' Technical Director, Sebastien Viard.

Viard tweeted: "Our PC progs are ... currently working on a patch to improve your experience thanks to your reports, stay tuned". There's no ETA on the patch, so we could be weeks or months away from it yet. The question now is, why does Watch Dogs have so many issues on PCs, when Dominic Guay, Senior Producer on Watch Dogs talked about the game, he said: "we chose the PC as our first target to have when we started developing Watch Dogs, so that we would have the flexibility to adapt to a different platform".

Now we have Viard chiming in, saying: "Watch Dogs can use 3+ GB of RAM on new-generation consoles for graphics, your PC GPU needs enough VRAM for ultra options due to the lack of unified memory". If Watch Dogs was developed on the PC first, it's a bit of a problem that there are so many issues with it so far.

We already know that Samsung is set to release its own VR headset, but now Engadget is reporting that Oculus VR is working with the South Korean electronics giant on a media-focused virtual reality headset.

Oculus VR will work on the software side of the headset, while Samsung builds the hardware. Oculus will be handing over early access to its mobile software development kit to Samsung, while it will also help with the user interface software. In exchange, Samsung will give Oculus VR early access to its next-gen OLED screens.

The deal is an interesting one, as it will propel Samsung into the VR market much quicker - and ahead of its competitors' devices, without pouring millions into R&D. Where this device will be different, is that it will use your smartphone, where it will plug into your smartphone. Samsung's upcoming VR headset won't sport its own display, instead your smartphone becomes the display.

It was only yesterday that we were reporting on Samsung's rumored VR headset, but now it is becoming much more real. VRFocus has unearthed a patent that the South Korean giant filed from last year, in August to be specific.

The patent describes Samsung's VR headset as 'a device that is worn by a user and displays an image in front of the user's eyes in a virtual reality system or an augmented reality system'. Samsung's VR headset will form a virtual image at a "predetermined distance" from the user, with images being created and blasted to each of the users' eyes. These two modules are also set at a "predetermined angle" in order to direct the users vision to a "target position".

Samsung specifically mentions the use of LCD and OLED panels, which could allow users to slot their smartphones into the VR headset, which would really change things up. The VR headset will still require a connection to a device, as this could just be a frame holder for the device. We did report that the VR headset would be Android-powered, but if you can slot in your Samsung phone - most of which are based on Android - then this would make sense.

VR headsets have been in the news a lot of late with the major purchase of the Oculus Rift VR headset and talk of Sony Project Morpheus. The problem with those two VR headsets is that they are very expensive. An Oculus Rift will set you back around $350 and when it gets old, you need to spend that much again to upgrade.

A new VR headset has turned up in Europe called the Virzzmo. Rather than being an actual headset like the Oculus, this device is a harness system for your head that will hold your smartphone in front of your face. It doesn't only hold your smartphone in front of your face, it also has some optical lenses inside that can turn what you see into stereoscopic 3D.

The Virzzmo will work with any smartphone that has a 4.7-inch or larger screen. The gyroscope inside the smartphone is also used for head tracking. One of the best things about the Virzzmo headset is that it is very cheap with a price of €50. Development kits are expected to land in June.

Facebook-owned Oculus Rift will take its virtual reality headsets into Chuck E. Cheese, with the restaurant testing the Rift during a six-week trial run in three select markets. The trial begins today in Dallas, Texas, with testing opening up in San Diego, California and Orlando, Florida later this month.

"Kids today have unprecedented access to game consoles and tablets," said Roger Cardinale, president, CEC Entertainment, Inc. "Our challenge is to deliver an experience not available at home, and there is no doubt virtual reality does just that. Oculus Rift technology is the next frontier in the gaming industry, and we're thrilled to be able to say it's part of the Chuck E. Cheese's lineup."

The consumer version of the Rift headset is scheduled for release in 2015, as technology enthusiasts continue to experiment with the popular headset. Meanwhile, there are 571 Chuck E. Chees locations in 48 states and eight countries, though the company will study how visitors react to using the virtual reality headset.

Palmer Luckey is set to become a household name over the years, but to us, he already is. Well, reaching the cover of WIRED magazine will surely speed that process up, with the founder of Oculus VR gracing the June 2014 cover.

Peter Rubin interviews Luckey in the issue, with a quote on the front sure to get most people's attention: "This kid is about to change gaming, movies, TV, music, design, medicine, sex, sports, art, travel, social networking, education - and reality. The Oculus Rift is here, and it will blow your mind". There's not a word I disagree with there, I agree that VR - and more specifically, the Oculus Rift - will change, everything.

According to Glassdoor.com, something that it describes itself as the "world's most transparent career community" where companies acquire talent, as well as a place for employees to rate their companies, id Software isn't going well at all.

A former id Software has claimed that the Doom and Quake developer has a lack of professionalism, where this person writes: "Expect lots of inappropriate jokes, comments and a generally unprofessional work environment. Our HR director quit recently over the many internal issues". It didn't stop there either, with some details on Doom 4 popping up. This person said that the entire technology team at id Software has left, for the virtual reality arms of Oculus VR - something former id Software guru John Carmack did back in August last year.

This person continued: "When all of the teams merged together to create the "new" Doom team 2 years ago, there was around 140+ developers to make the game. Now, there is only around 50. The non-stop attrition has gotten so bad, that they had to contract outside the company for the multiplayer portion of the game, and we have contractors doing a bulk of our art work".

The Epson Moverio BT-200 augmented reality smart glasses can now be purchased with a $699.99 price tag, and while the headset may not be stylish, could end up being a great tool for use in the enterprise space.

Epson first showed off the Moverio BT-200 during CES in January, and added intrigue by including two screens. The company says using the glasses is the equivalent of looking into an 80" HDTV right in your face, and requires a handheld touchpad to use.

"Moverio BT-200 is Epson's second-generation smart glasses and incorporate much of the feedback provided by both the AR developer and end-user communities," said Anna Jen, Epson America New Ventures/New Products Director, in a press statement. "With these improvements, Moverio BT-200 is poised to deliver an AR experience that will revolutionize workflow, training and repair in the enterprise environment."

Oculus VR CEO Brendan Iribe was at the TechCrunch Disrupt NY 2014 technology conference, where he teased that the company could release a massive VR MMO that would support one billion people simultaneously.

Iribe said that the VR MMO would require "a bigger network than exists in the world today," but considering the world's biggest social network now owns the VR startup, this could be an easy achievement. Before we see a VR MMO, Oculus VR wants users to be convinced they're talking to "real" people - so we have to have the graphics and ground work laid out over the next couple of years.

Most have been wondering when we'll see the Oculus Rift headset released to consumers, with that all being thrown up in the air after Facebook acquired the VR startup. Well, that announcement has been made at the Facebook F8 developer conference.

Oculus VR has said that it will release the Rift to consumers next year, but there are a few big, and good reasons why we're not getting it this year. The company is hiding an even better Rift inside the secret "Valve Room" in its Irvine, California-based HQ. Crystal Cove is the best public display of Rift so far, but this new Rift in the "special room" is reportedly even better.

Chris Dixon, a partner at Andreessen Horowitz, talked about this next-gen prototype, saying: "Crystal Cove is 50% of what they are running in LA. You go into a room. It's a special room. Fancier headset. ... In user testing it gets to a level of realism where almost all people feel that it's realistic". He continued: "Imagine everything you can see now, but it's a little bit pixelated. Eventually that [pixelation] will go away".

James Cameron is pretty much a household name thanks to directing movies like The Terminator and Terminator 2: Judgement Day, oh and Avatar. Cameron was asked some interesting questions during his Reddit AMA session.

Cameron was asked on whether he would be making any movies using VR devices, such as the Oculus Rift, where he said: "I personally would be very interested to find a way to incorporate VR and a narrative-filmmaking experience. So a narrative directed experience that has individuated pathways where you have choices that you make in real-time, I think that would be a lot of fun. I think it would be very technically daunting and expensive, to do it as the same quality level as a typical feature, but it would be fun to experiment with".

He continued, saying: "It sounds like a lot of fun. I don't think it would take over the feature film market though. I'm very familiar with VR, but I haven't seen the specific Oculus Rift device". Cameron will be getting his hands-on Oculus VR's headset soon enough, where the director of Avatar said: "I'm interested in it. I'm meant to see it some time in the next month or so, but I've been familiar with VR since its inception. In fact, virtual reality is a way of describing the way we work on Avatar, we work in a virtual workspace all day long. We use a 'virtual camera' which is how I create all the shots that are CG in the film, a window into a virtual reality that completely surrounds me".

Oculus VR is ramping up its Rift DK2 unit, which features a 1920x1080 display inside of the VR headset. GameFace Labs is a company you may not have heard of, but it has just announced that it is the first company to show off a prototype VR headset with a 2.5K display.

2.5K is just a fancy way of saying 2560x1440, where at this resolution, it is pushing out 78% more pixels than a 1080p-based display, such as the Oculus Rift DK2. Ed Mason, CEO of GameFace Labs explains: "The upgrade to 1280 x 1440 per eye is monumental. Individual pixels are hard to detect at first glance, making it a more immersive and comfortable experience in every single game and experience that we've tried. A lot of the 'presence' described by devs at the Valve [prototype VR headset] demonstration can be attributed to their use of higher resolution (and lower persistence) panels, which has a noticeable impact in suspending disbelief and tricking the brain".

Better yet, the company is just stopping at 2.5K, as it wants to get one of the most powerful mobile solutions into its VR headset, making mobile VR a reality. This is actually something I talked about Oculus VR doing, but it seems that GameFace Labs is the one we should be watching. The company is rubbing up against NVIDIA's very impressive Tegra K1 aka Jetson, which is a super powerful system-on-a-chip (SoC) solution that has a quad-core processor running at 2.3GHz with a 192-core GPU.

A new clever cryptocurrency mining malware has been located on digital video recorders (DVRs), in a continuing evolution of connected devices being targeted by security threats.

The malware actively searches for vulnerable devices, and then the exploit comes later. Researchers are still unsure how the camera DVRs are being infected with the malware, though with many home users installing custom surveillance systems at home, this could be a growing concern.

"After accessing a couple of the DVRs, we noticed that the malware was running on the