What are the best processors for gaming you can buy? You don't need to spend a fortune to get an amazing gaming CPU and now that AMD is competitive again, there's more choice than ever.
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Sinespace is looking to create the big massively multiplayer online (MMO) sandbox experience for virtual reality (VR) where users will be able to live out a virtual life full of excitement and wonder. To help make this ambitious project possible the company has announced that it is launching a Certified Creators Program in an effort to help boost the creation of user-generated for the Sinespace.
The company are aiming to make the title standout from others in the market – such as the popular Second Life from Linden Lab – thanks to the project being able to change with the times. This includes new technology and graphics rendering to stop the title from become dated, keeping it fresh and appealing to users.
“Second Life is still running on a renderer that was written in 2002,” Said Adam Frisby, the chief technology officer at Sinespace talking to Venture Beat. “We are trying to build a virtual world that is future proof. The goal of what we are doing is to make it accessible to everyone.”
The team are building the title on the Unity engine and have been working on it since 2010, and are aiming to extend compatibility and improve its graphics over a long term period. Focusing on building player driven experiences, users are able to create, chat, interact, and play with the content they created within the world. Currently, according to Frisby talking to Venture Beat, the monthly users count has grown from 10,000 in June of this year to more than 15,000 in August. These players are also spending a fair amount of money to buy content from creators as well within the average revenue per paying user (ARPPU) in August raising to $20 (USD) from $17 in June.
The new Certified Creators Program will see content creators able to publish and sell their content in Sinespace instantly, without prior review by the Sinespace content team. The idea is that by allowing those with certified status to continue adding content to the title without any delay, the team will be able to combat copyright infringement which does can be an issue for those looking to get content out there and maintain intellectually property rights.
“We manually review and approve every item uploaded by uncertified creators before it goes into our store,” said Frisby. “This is a big part of how we keep pirated material out of Sinespace. It also allows us to invest time and resources in helping creators optimize their work. Since we have a growing community of established creators who we trust will upload original, high quality content, we’re delighted to launch this program.”
Users can sign up to Sinespace for free on the official website, along with applying for the Certified Creators Program there as well. VRFocus will be sure to bring you all the latest on Sinespace in the future, so stay tuned for more.
Developer Haptic Pulse have revealed that they are getting ready to start beta testing for their upcoming first-person shooter (FPS) virtual reality (VR) title Virtual Army Revolution. Before this happens however, the team are looking to build a community of active VR players to ensure that the title has a player base before launching the beta and letting people drop into the face-paced action of the title.
Virtual Army Revolution is an upcoming title that will put players in a modern military setting where they will experience arcade style gameplay. Set to offer nine multiplayer maps with four different game modes and over forty different weapons. A progression system that features over thirty ranks and allows player to unlock extra parts for their weapons will also ensure that there is always something to be working towards in this multiplayer FPS title.
Currently the team at Haptic Pulse are looking to build up a community of active VR users on their Discord channel before then providing access to the Steam Beta for Virtual Army Revolution. The team are currently planning to have two stages of testing for the beta. The first will be a select number of members picked from those who are most active within the community. They will get to test the game out for a week before anyone else gets the chance to. Stage two will the process of opening up the beta test to move members of the community until the whole community is able to get involved.
In order to start the beta testing though, Haptic Pulse are looking to build a community of around 300 active VR players. The sooner this milestone is met the sooner players will be able to start testing the title, so everyone is being encouraged to invite their friends. If you are interested in joining the community and getting a chance to test the title you can do so by joining the Discord here.
Virtual Army Revolution is currently in development and is expected to release with support for HTC Vive and Oculus Rift. Though no release date has been confirmed at the moment, VRFocus will be sure to bring you all the latest on the title in the future so stay tuned for more.
MoneyGram, a global provider of innovative money transfer and payment services announced earlier this week the grand opening of the MoneyGram Experience Center in Dallas. This store is designed to showcase the latest cutting-edge technologies, including biometric facial recognition and virtual reality (VR), to offer customers a quick, easy and unique digital transaction experience.
“We are excited to open the MoneyGram Experience Center to offer our customers a new and advanced money transfer experience,” said Alex Homes, MoneyGram’s Chairman and CEO. “MoneyGram is building the future digital payments ecosystem while also reimagining what the money transfer experience can be for our customers whether they are transacting in cash or on a digital platform. We are at the forefront of emerging digital transaction trends, creating new, convenient ways to send money to family and friends around the globe and our Experience Center will bring these innovations to our customers.”
Designed to streamline the way consumers transfer and send money today, the Experience Center is also home to MoneyGram’s first-ever Innovation Lab. This features new products that are currently still in development and offers customers the chance to test services and technologies before they are introduced to the market. This is a unique opportunity for MoneyGram to both engage with their consumers in real time and also familiarize the public with the ever-evolving money transfer and payment services industry.
While the Experience Center also boasts a number of new digital transaction options, consumers can also transact in cash which is still a vital need for many of MoneyGram’s customers. By being able to utilize cash and digital platforms to create a true omnichannel experience, MoneyGram is looking to position itself as a leader in the market that will help to shape the future of money transactions.
MoneyGram are recognized worldwide as a financial connection to friends and family and currently provide a rnage of different services be it online, through kiosks or in a local store. With the new Experience Center the company is hoping to showcase the future of the market to customers and build up more engagement and excitement around the technologies. The Experience Center is located at 7702 N. Central Expressway Dallas, Texas 75206.
For more on MoneyGram in the future, keep reading VRFocus.
Sometimes you need to let loose and move your body to the beat of the music and unleash a stunning display of rhythm and coordination. If you are looking for an intense arcade dancing experience for virtual reality (VR) however, then Dance Collider might be the title for you. Do you have what it takes to go up against a number of different opponents and come out on top as the ultimate dancer?
In Dance Collider, players set into the 24th century where dance battles take place in a series of vivid futuristic arenas complete with vibrant light-shows that provide people with a truly epic sensory experience. In order to be a successful dancer in this setting, players will need to prefect their technique and strike a pose to hit the incoming nodes that will get their body moving in time with the music.
Featuring 24 different dance battles to overcome and master, the action will never stop in Dance Collider. Players will go up against eight unique characters, each with their own distinct dancing style that has been motion captured to make them come to life in a truly immersive experience. On top of that, the dance patterns players will need to master are sure to work up a sweat meaning Dance Collider can also provide a healthy work out all while providing a lot of fun at the same time.
If you think you can go for the top of the chart then why not put your score up on the global and local leaderboards and compete with the rest of the world to be a dancing master. With multiple difficulties to test your skills and rack up the points, it will require a lot of work to reach that S rank but if you can pull it off then you will find yourself standing above the rest.
Dance Collider is currently available on Steam Early Access for £15.49 (GBP) with a discount of 10% on until October 4th, making the price only £13.94. The title supports both the HTC Vive and Oculus Rift headsets and requires motion controllers in order to play.
VRFocus will be sure to bring you more on the title in the future, so stay tuned for all the latest.
One of the most anticipated virtual reality (VR) videogames of the year is easily the upcoming Astro Bot: Rescue Mission from Sony Japan Studio. In this title players will get to experience not only cute robots on a grand adventure but also go up against some massive bosses. It is these characters that the latest behind-the-scenes trailer for the title explores as it gives players a better look at some of the bosses they will face and the design that went into making them and their encounter fun.
In the new trailer Nicolas Doucet, Creative Director at Sony Japan Studio sits down with members of the team to explore what makes these big bad bosses so unique. They are a very important part of Astro Bot: Rescue Mission and, as Doucet explains, “a very important in action games, in fact they are your motivation for playing the game in some extent.” These encounters with the massive bosses need to not only look and sound amazing but also feel fun to play. With a number of different gameplay systems in the title, ensuring each boss felt unique and different was a main focus for the team.
“I realized it was a big responsibility, but in a game there’s a lot of point that you have to get spot on if you want a good game.” Explains Tuyen Ngo, Gameplay Programmer. “Each boss we try to use a different gadget. Some of the bosses have the same gadget inside, but the use is always different.”
As each of the bosses are huge creatures that are full of life and character, making them feel real and believable while maintaining their scary appearance was also an important part of the process. This is where the animation team were able to come in, working alongside the programming and design team, to bring more life to the boss fights then what players might be expecting.
“I think on the animation side the important thing was the bosses need to be scary. We also wanted to create that other side to their personality that’s kind of weak. Right?” Explains Jamie Smith, Lead Animator. “So you’ll see in the gorilla boss, as soon as you pull the teeth, you get that real human feeling of the boss in pain but in a comical way. There’s this kind of intimidating, like, strong, scary side, but also there’s another human side underneath which for the player is, I think, a lot more enjoyable then just something that’s scary.”
Each of the bosses are found within a different environment as well and the team explain in the trailer that these impacted the design of the fights as well. How they could use the environment to create interesting gameplay mechanics that would engage the player and offer a challenge are want led to some of the gadgets and boss attacks being designed.
You can view the full trailer below to see a lot of boss fight gameplay and to hear more from the team on the creation of these impressive moments. Astro Bot: Rescue Mission is launching exclusively for PlayStation VR on 2nd October 2018 and for more on the title in the future, keep reading VRFocus.
As the last Sunday of September ticks by it is time for another entry in The VR Job Hub. This weekend there are a number of exciting job opportunities at a range of companies all working on immersive content. Maybe you want to be a Lead Unity Engineer at apelab, or how about a Marketing Manager at The Dream Corporation? Whatever you are looking for, there is sure to be something for everyone this week. So, what are you waiting for? Time to find your next job.
Every weekend VRFocus gathers together a number open position from across the virtual reality (VR), augmented reality (AR) and mixed reality (MR) industry, in locations around the globe, to help make finding the ideal job easier. Below are a selection of roles that are currently accepting applications across a number of disciplines, all within departments and companies that focus on VR, AR and MR.
|
Location |
Company |
Role |
Link |
| Les Acacias, Switzerland | apelab | Lead Unity Engineer | |
|
Les Acacias, Switzerland |
apelab | Mobile App Developer | |
|
Basingstoke, UK |
Lenovo |
AR/VR Technical Business Development Manager |
|
|
London, UK |
Mozilla |
Research Engineering Manager – MR Browsers |
|
|
Newport Beach, CA, US |
NextVR | C++/OpenGL Software Engineer | |
|
Newport Beach, CA, US |
NextVR | System Engineer | |
| Newport Beach, CA, US | NextVR | Production Manager | |
| London, UK | The Dream Corporation | Marketing Manager | |
| Melville, NY, US | Labrodex Studios | Director of Business Development | |
| Melville, NY, US | Labrodex Studios | Senior Animator | |
| Brighton, UK | Make Real | Immersive Learning Designer | |
| Brighton, UK | Make Real | Internal R&D Developer |
As always, if there was nothing in this week’s feature that was a good fit for you, you can always look at the previous edition of The VR Job Hub.
As always, if you are an employer looking for someone to fill an immersive technology related role – regardless of the industry – don’t forget you can send us the lowdown on the position and we’ll be sure to feature it in that following week’s feature. Details should be sent to myself (keva@vrfocus.com) and also Peter Graham (pgraham@vrfocus.com).
Check back with VRFocus next Sunday at the usual time of 3PM (UK) for another selection of jobs from around the industry.
Time for another entry of Something for the Weekend, the weekly series where VRFocus bring you a number of deals on virtual reality (VR) titles. We head to the PlayStation Store for the final Sunday of September to find the best deals on PlayStation VR titles. With experiences that will take you to the seven seas, outer space, and even into the eyes of an eagle. There is something for everyone this weekend. As always, be sure to check back every weekend for even more deals right here on VRFocus.
“Battlezone is arcade VR action at its finest, with options galore allowing players to uniquely hone their combat strategies. With both extensive single-player and multiplayer modes there’s enough here for countless hours of gameplay, so you can comfortably sit cocooned inside these rolling machines of destruction and never get bored, because quite frankly, it’s too much fun. PlayStation VR owners have been enjoying Battlezone for months, if you own an Oculus Rift or HTC Vive you don’t need to have second thoughts about this, Battlezone is one of the best VR titles out there.” – Read VRFocus’ Senior Staff Writer Peter Graham’s review of Battlezone.
Battlezone Gold Edition is available now for £12.99 (GBP) down from the usual £29.99.
Get ready to experience the life of a pirate as you step onto the famous Thousand Sunny Ship and meet the legendary Straw Hat Pirates. You’ll come face-to-face with members of the crew including Luffy, Zoro, Nami, Sanji, and many more while dealing with fierce battles that will see you firing cannons to defend the ship. Explore the ship, feel like a pirate and enter the world of One Piece.
One Piece: Grand Cruise is available now for only £5.79 (GBP) down from £7.99.
Time moves when you move. That is the core rule of this intense title that will see you having to use strategy and quick thinking to overcome the many challenges that await you. With no regenerating health bars, no conveniently place ammo and only one hit ending your life, you’ll need to be creative as you’ll outnumbered and outgunned. Grab weapons of fallen enemies to shoot, slice and maneuver your way through a hurricane of slow-motion bullets. Think you have the skills to make it out alive?
SUPERHOT VR is available now for £14.99 (GBP) down from £19.99.
“Despite some minor gripes, its clear that Apex Construct represents the way forward for VR videogames, an absorbing, intriguing experience that draws you in with a rich world complete with its own history and mysteries to be unravelled as well as a fluid combat system. Apex Construct is the standard by which future VR titles will be judged, and an indicator that VR has stepped up its game.” – Read VRFocus’ Staff Writer Rebecca Hills-Duty review of Apex Construct.
Apex Construct is available now for £12.99 (GBP) down from £24.99.
“Loading Human is the adventure game of the future. Your dying father, an esteemed scientist, has summoned you to his Antarctic base to undergo an intensive interstellar quest: retrieve the Quintessence, an elusive energy source that will help reverse the aging process.”
Loading Human: Chapter 1 is available now for £12.99 (GBP) down from £34.99.
After several attacks on the townsfolk, the medieval village of Gallowston has had enough. Players will be transport to the village where they must uncover the werewolves that have been causing all the trouble. To do this five to eight players will need to work together in a fast-paced game of hidden roles and social deduction to cleanse the town of the werewolves and uncover which player is the werewolf lying and betraying their friends in order to survive. Capturing the essence and competitive spirit of the tabletop game, this VR version will immersive players right into the fun.
Werewolves Within is available now for £12.99 (GBP) down from £24.99.
“Time Carnage is well-made, and is a fine, competent example of its genre, with some excellent music and sound design, though it ultimately fails to stand out amidst many other similar titles that litter VR videogame libraries. Shooting dinosaurs is still lots of fun, though.” – Read VRFocus’ Staff Writer Rebecca Hills-Duty review of Time Carnage.
Time Carnage is available now for £8.99 (GBP) down from £15.99.
Every wanted to step into the driving seat of a powerful car and drive around outlandish tracks? If so, then this is the title for you. Experience the thrill of racing like never before as you complete races and challenges on over 200 unique tracks across five difficulty levels. Think you can make it to the top of the worldwide rankings?
Trackmania Turbo is available now for £12.99 (GBP) down from £24.99.
“Fifty years after humans vanished from the face of the Earth, wildlife and nature reclaimed its cities, leaving you with a breathtaking city playground in Paris. As an eagle, you soar past iconic landmarks from the Eiffel Tower to Notre Dame Cathedral, and dive through narrow streets in order to fight opponents and protect your territory. Eagle Flight gives you the absolute liberty to explore Paris from a bird’s eye view!”
Eagle Flight is on sale now for £12.99 (GBP) down from the usual £34.99 with PlayStation Plus members saving an extra 5%.
“While Star Trek: Bridge Crew definitely appeals to the core fan base – Ubisoft has added the original USS Enterprise in there as well – non Star Trek fans of the franchise will also find something to like about the title, especially with a few mates playing. The production values are top notch making Star Trek: Bridge Crew one of those rare VR experiences that feels like a AAA title, and likely part of most VR gamers’ collections.” – VRFocus’ Senior Staff Writer Peter Graham’s review of Star Trek: Bridge Crew.
Star Trek: Bridge Crew is available now for £15.99 (GBP) down from £29.99.
That is all for this week but remember that VRFocus gathers all the best sales and deals every week, so check back next weekend at the same time to discover more.
Back in July of this year it was announced that the short story The Great C from the renowned sci-fi author Philip K. Dick, who is known for his odd and often twisted narratives which covered near-future and cyberpunk themes, would be getting adapted into virtual reality (VR). Now, sci-fi adventure will be releasing for everyone to enjoy next month as the immersive cinematic experience comes to the HTC Vive and Oculus Rift.
The story of the The Great C focuses on a young woman called Clare, who lives in a village under the control of the almighty computer. Each year, the village is forced to send a young person on a pilgrimage to appease the machine. Clare soon finds herself in a tough spot as her fiance is chosen for the pilgrimage and she must choose whether to accept the rules of her society, or try and fight back. It is within this story that viewers will be taken on a cinematic narrative journey to a post-apocalyptic future.
The Great C has been adapted into VR by Entertainment One’s studio Secret Location, who are using the project as a test bed for pushing the boundaries in VR editing, composition and structure. The project also features the musical talent of award-winning producer Tom Holkenborg, aka Junkie XL who is best known for his work composing soundtracks for Hollywood blockbusters such as Mad Max: Fury Road and Deadpool.
“I’m always looking for new technological advancements or mediums to experiment with in my composition work and The Great C was a unique project to explore VR, a really exciting new space with huge cinematic potential,” said Holkenborg in a statement about his involvement on the project earlier this month: “I love being at the cutting edge and The Great C allowed me to really push the envelope of what a film viewing and listening experience can be.”
The Great C will be releasing on HTC Vive and Oculus Rift on October 9th, 2018 with a PlayStation VR release to follow in 2019. The title runs for 37 minutes and will feature a poignant storyline, stunning environments and a powerful soundtrack. For more on the title in the future, keep reading VRFocus.
Developer Dance-Virtual have revealed their new virtual reality (VR) title that is designed to help users learn how to dance by teaching them Salsa step-by-step. Called Salsa-Virtual, the title is designed to help users learn how to dance by teaching them with a virtual dance partner in a safe and fun-filled virtual world where beginners will become professional dances in no time.
Set to release into Steam Early access in November, Salsa-Virtual has been created and designed by dancers and teachers with over 10 years of experience. This means that each lesson is not only verified to be effective and fun but also sure to be easy to follow and learn for dancers of all levels of experience.
Featuring virtual partners that will guide you through each of the steps required to perform the popular Latin dance, users will feel comfortable and at ease as they work through the lessons. Learn the basics of the forward and backwards movement, side stepping, Cumbria step, back breaks, follower’s underarm turn and cross body lead and much more.
Releasing into Early Access, the title is planned to stay there for about four to six months to allow for feedback and implementing appropriate changes. As the period continues the developers will bring more interactions with the virtual students for practicing moves to the title, along with haptic feedback on the controllers and refined animations. Other additions to the title will include more material for users to enjoy along with bug fixing and changes to improve the user experience as standard.
Salsa-Virtual will be releasing on November 1st, 2018 into Steam Early Access and will feature support for the HTC Vive, Oculus Rift and Windows Mixed Reality headsets. The title does require the use of motion controllers to ensure a user is performing the steps correctly as well. You can find more information on the title on the Steam store page but currently there is no pricing information available.
VRFocus will be sure to bring you all the latest on the title in the future and you can view one of the trailers for Salsa-Virtual below to get an idea for the title.
The Oscar-winning creative studio Framestore revealed earlier this week that it had partnered with the technology and motion capture specialists Noitom to work for Volkswagen Group China Import on developing the world’s first live virtual reality (VR) test drive experience. Released to the press and a crowd of VIPs in Zhuhai, China, the Hyper Reality Test Drive is an experience befitting for the all-new, technology-fulled Touareg.
Seated as a passenger in the all-new Touareg on a real-life stuck track, and equipped with a bespoke customised Oculus headset, guests are taken on an exhilarating high velocity chase through other-worldly lands, as the vehicle comes under extraterrestrial fire – with only its in-built technology to help out. Thanks to leveraging both the physical and virtual worlds, the experience offers users with an immersive encounter unlike anything they may have seen before.
Framestore scripted the experience, plotting a hero’s journey across a four-act structure that shines light on the Touareg’s advanced inbuilt technology. Central to the script are the Touareg’s next level features, which offer a heroic escape from the narrative’s tumult of dangers. Strategically placed throughout the experience, the features create suspense and thrill, and form critical 4D touchpoints between the virtual and physical worlds.
The physical experience covers acreage akin to a football pitch; the script’s journey was mapped, and 4D elements plotted to create action highlights. Thanks to a custom trigger system that ensures total synchronicity between in-game and real world moments for all six of the vehicles running the test drive at any one time. This is all made the much more exciting thanks to the bespoke soundtrack by Goldstein, engineered by GCVRS, as well as Mandarin and English voiceover to ensure that guests are fully immersed within the experience in their preferred language.
The experience, which is planned to be shown to media and investors in Zhuhai until the end of the moment before heading out on four regional roadshows around China, culminating in Beijing later this year. Those who are able to get to try out the experience will want to buckle up as the adventure will be sure to be thrilling ride. VRFocus will be sure to bring you all the latest on the Hyper Reality Test Drive in the future, so stay tuned for more.
The UK-based immersive virtual reality (VR) out of home entertainment company Immotion Group have announced that it is rolling out ImmotionVR brand into Spain, which represents a new market for the company. Having signed an exclusive franchise distribution partnership with a major local leisure operator, Climbing Planet, which will open and operate multiple ImmontionVR branded experiences centers and identify additional supply opportunities, across Spain.
The partnership will see Climbing Planet will be purchasing VR experience simulators from Immotion Group, who will receive an ongoing revenue share from each of the sites and thereby increasing the number of installed seats and positively impacting the cost of entering the consumer market. The first planned centre will open in a shopping centre in the Northern Spanish city of Logrono in November of this year, followed by a second centre at a similar space in Barcelona in December 2018.
“With a shared vision and a raft of experience that complements Immotion Group’s, we see Climbing Planet as an ideal partner to introduce our VR experience centres into Spain.” Says Martin Higginson, CEO of Immotion Group: “This deal will dramatically lower the cost of entering this exciting consumer market and we expect to benefit from the local knowledge that Climbing Planet benefits from, having rolled out VR experiences previously. The partnership highlights the exciting opportunities the Group continues to explore both within and outside the UK to allow more consumers to experience virtual reality, a lot of whom is for the first time.”
Growth within Spain will then be overseen by Climbing Planet who will use their strong knowledge of the regional market to identify additional sites in shopping centres and malls with high football to set up as new locations. Each of these VR centres will feature a number of Immotion Group’s VR experience simulators, ranging from VR motorcycles and cars, to VR cinema pods. There will also be the option to offer dedicated birthday parties thanks to separate rooms and even coffee areas.
“We are excited to be working with Immotion Group and to be bringing its experiences to Spanish consumers.” Says Carles Comas Chief Executive Officer of Climbing Planet S.L: “ImmotionVR provides us with a unique opportunity to launch the ultimate VR destination, and we expect it to be one of our main concepts in the next two years. Immotion Group has created an inspiring offering which fits with our passion to deliver next-generation experiences that provide customers with a taste of the future.”
As Immotion Group and Climbing Planet now progress with their expansion into the Spanish market, VRFocus will be sure to bring you all the latest on this in the future.
MelodyVR are known for bringing people immersive virtual reality (VR) music experiences and that is not about to change following the companies latest launch of exclusive releases. These include Imagine Dragons live at Red Rocks and AWOLNation live in London, along with the current chart toppers Post Malone, 5 Seconds of Summer and J Balvin on the platform’s show line-up.
“We are always looking for new ways to bring our fans into the live experience” said Dan Reynolds of Imagine Dragons, “there are only so many days in the year and a lot of places to tour. Working with MelodyVR means we can give a more immersive experience to fans who may not otherwise get to be there in person.”
In the coming months, MelodyVR will be live-streaming concerts to fans across the globe following a series of exclusive partnership with major venues. Fans will be able to enjoy several live performances regardless of age, where they live, or their budget. These immersive one-of-a-kind experiences allow fans to get up close and personal with their favourite bands and performers in full 360-degree videos of stunning shows and events.
“We work tirelessly to bring our music to life each night and partnering with MelodyVR to bring that experience to fans in a digital world is an exciting new opportunity,” says Aaron Bruno of AWOLNation. “We can’t wait for everyone to see it!”
The news of these new shows joining the platforms offerings comes following the Oculus Connect 5 keynote, in which Mark Zuckerberg spoke to the audience both at the event and online about the potential of VR and the bright future is has ahead and his goal for reaching one billion users. This message sits with MelodyVR well as their team of engineers, videographers, and music-industry veterans continue to bring users the best entertainment possible following their four year journey developing the proprietary software and technology.
MelodyVR already have a large collection of shows and events that users can enjoy and are ever growing the offering. This includes the recent deal with Alexandra Palace that will see their events come to the VR platform. VRFocus will be sure to bring you all the latest on the platform in the future, so stay tuned for more.
Digital Surgery, a health technology company working to reshape the future of surgery, has announced that its designation as an official Microsoft Mixed Reality Partner (MMRP). This exciting partnership will allow Digital Surgery the means to create mixed reality (MR) solution to improve the delivery of surgical care as part of the MMRP. Studies show that nearly one in seven patients hospitalized for major surgical procedures are readmitted within 30 days of discharge, with financial implications for the health system and clinical implications for the patients. Digital Surgery is working to utilize this new partnership, together with other demonstrated capabilities in artificial intelligence (AI), to power a radical shift in surgical care.
“The Microsoft recognition is truly an honor and sets the stage for our larger mission, which is to deliver safe surgical care for all. With our AI technology and database of digital surgical processes, we’ve trained a computer to understand surgical procedures and predict what happens next.” Explains Dr. Jean Nehme, CEO, Digital Surgery, discussing the strategic importance of the partnership: “With HoloLens, we open the exciting opportunity to use the system’s integrated camera as the visual recognition system to deliver even more immersive experiences for the entire surgical team. This collaboration is a critical part of our strategy to partner with the world’s best technology firms, especially providers of breakthrough hardware, to support the delivery of safer surgery. I am excited to see what we can accomplish together.”
By being a part of the MMRP, Digital Surgery will be able to leverage technology, knowledge and experience along with Microsoft’s HoloLens MR headset to bring their goal to reality. According to the Lancet Commission on Global Surgery, more than five billion people lack access to safe surgical care, with operative knowledge being one of the critical factors that has yet to scale globally. Addressing this problem is one of the goals of Digital Surgery by leveraging innovative technologies and intelligent operation systems.
“We are delighted to have Digital Surgery accredited as a Mixed Reality Partner. Given the pace of technological change, it is key that customers can access partners who understand mixed reality potential and have the proven ability to deliver transformative solutions.” Added Leila Martine, Product Director, Mixed Reality, Microsoft: “It’s great to see Microsoft HoloLens being added to Digital Surgery’s impressive content catalogue, and help us jointly shape the future of surgery and improvements in patient outcomes.”
VRFocus will be sure to bring you all the latest on the work from Digital Surgery as they now work as part of the MMRP, so stay tuned for more.
While Oculus is optimistic that its standalone Quest VR headset will deliver a quality experience, the headset was designed on a mobile chipset. That means its less of a Rift replacement and more like the VR equivalent of Nintendo’s Switch.
The post The Oculus Quest’s competitor isn’t Rift or Vive. It’s the Nintendo Switch appeared first on Digital Trends.
Back in late 2016 Oculus announced a new technology that was designed to help reduce the system hardware requirements for virtual reality (VR) experiences while maintain content quality across a wider array of hardware. The technology was titled Asynchronous Spacewarp (ASW) and uses frame-rate smoothing techniques to almost halve the computer processing unit (CPU) and graphic processing unit (GPU) time required to produce nearly the same output from the same content. Now a new version of ASW is on the way and with it the increased performance that technology provides will be expanded on further.
Look out for ASW 2.0 soon coming to an @Oculus Rift near you where we combine PTW with ASW. For more info we'll post our Rift PC SDK talk at #OC5 soon.
— Volga Aksoy (@volgaksoy) September 27, 2018
The news came from the recent Oculus Connect 5 event which features numerous announcements including the new Oculus Quest standalone head-mounted display (HMD). The newly announced ASW 2.0 however is equally as exciting thanks to the improvements it will bring to the experiences users will be able to enjoy.
One of the first big improvements for the technology is that it will be combined with Oculus’ Positional Timewarp (PTW) system to see the HMD motion correction to be handled by PTW rather than ASW. This combination of the two technologies will also see a number of benefits on both sides including leveraging PTW’s timing-free corrections and offering better activation and deactivation of ASW.
Thanks to both PTW and ASW working together, the new 2.0 version will be able to provide noticeable improvements to experiences that will result in less artefacting and stress on the hardware. The technology is also going to be better able to handle depth within titles and will enable more immersive results when users look around a scene and focus on objects at different distances. Again, the results will be more notable by users as they move around while developers will find it easier then before to manage and handle the technologies and the required processing power of their applications.
You can see the section from the Oculus Connect 5 PC SDK keynote that talks about ASW 2.0 in the below video at around the 31 minute mark.
VRFocus will be sure to bring you all the latest on this new version of the technology in the future, along with other updates to the Oculus Rift PC SDK so stay tuned for more.
Last year developer Astrofish Games released Ground Runner: Trials into Early Access and gave players the chance to engage in fast-paced, intense vehicle combat on hover bikes along with immersive first-person shooter (FPS) gameplay. Now, the London based virtual reality (VR) videogame development team have announced that the title will be leaving Early Access and releasing in full very soon.
Stepping into the shoes of a Ground Runner, a scavenger whose job is to scour the mining planet on your hoverbike, looking for precious Torsion Crystals – a newly discovered, extremely powerful resource, players will be in for a thrilling experience. It won’t just be a case of driving around at lighting speeds to collect crystals though as the planet it full of dangers to overcome. In order to survive out here, players will need to outrun and outgun the shadowy corporate Alliance that will do whatever they can to stop you and acquire the crystals for themselves.
Ground Runner: Trails is set to release this coming October and will the full release will come plenty of features and content for players to enjoy. This includes a full 360-degree field-of-view with hands-only controls for total immersion with your hoverbike being fully upgradable to suit your play style. Players will also be able to enjoy four varied weapons including a Electro-Pulse, Rocket Launcher, Beam Cannon and more with the option to use them single-handed or in duel-wielded.
The title comes with large-scale maps for the most immersive and intense multiplayer experience along with eight single-player missions to conquer as well. You’ll encounter multiple enemy types to overcome as well during these missions and can use the many different modes – such as Arcade Mode – to instantly jump right into the action. All of these modes and missions will reward players with plenty of loot in the form of credits and upgrades for your bike, meaning you’ll be unlocking content for hours in this title.
Ground Runner: Trials will be releasing this October and you can see the latest trailer for the videogame below. You can pick up the title now in Early Access on the Oculus Store for £14.99 (GBP) and for more on the title in the future, keep reading VRFocus.
The Los Angeles-based production company known for their digital and immersive story telling, Clever Fox, has announced that it has released two augmented reality (AR) experiences designed for the Facebook AR scene. Commonly known for their AR and virtual reality (VR) projects in the entertainment and music spaces, these new projects are the companies first steps into the Facebook AR world.
The first project is an immersive Facebook AR Effect for seminal recording artists Devo. This camera effect based on the iconic energy dome headwear allows users the chance to wear it for themselves. Devo has been getting a lot of attention recently with the performance back in June being on of the highlights of Oakland’s Burger Boogaloo event. The influential band were also featured back in a retrospective article published by Vice in August and the team at Clever Fox couldn’t be more proud to create the AR effect for the band.
Music is not the only area that Clever Fox are taking opportunities with Facebook’s AR platform. The team have also announced the soft launch of their apparel label semiFamous which features original designed augmented by Facebook’s AR camera.
“What we do at Clever Fox is always about entertaining people,” says chief creative officer Dekker Dreyer. “Whether it’s seeing something we made being enjoyed by fellow fans of Devo or making clothes we want to wear, it all starts with a sense of fun. We’re not the first artists to put forward augmented apparel, but we have a unique style and voice. Our sensibilities are what makes us different. Right now we’re testing the waters, but we’re running it like a streetwear boutique. It’s design-driven. The AR should be something fun and extra that comes with the product, not the only reason to buy it.”
Clever Fox are also partnering with artists from outside of the immersive media industry to create unique apparel designs at semiFamous. The first released design from an outside collaborator is a pair of colourful legging emblazoned with a yowling cartoon cat. Created by illustrator Emmet Helen, known for the cover art on Oni Press’s Rick and Morty comics, it marks the type of partnerships that Clever Fox wants to grow with the semiFamous brand.
“We couldn’t have done this last year,” says Clever Fox partner Julia Howe. “We’ve wanted to do something like this for a long time, but getting people to download a new app is an uphill battle. With Facebook’s AR platform we’re already installed on most smartphones. As AR continues to grow the experience of sharing content will continue to improve. Each platform has a strength and right now Facebook is the best place for us to launch this kind of experiment.”
The Devo AR Facebook Camera effect is available to download from their official page and the beta site of semiFamous is also live right now. VRFocus will be sure to bring you all the latest from Clever Fox in the future.
Oculus Connect 5 is now officially in the books! The past few days in San Jose, CA have been full of excitement and news for the VR industry from all of the upcoming Rift games like Stormland and Defector to the official announcement of the $399 standalone VR headset, Quest. We’ve got a lot to unpack today and discuss, along with a live Q&A for all your burning questions!
We’ll be livestreaming ourselves (that’s me, David Jagneaux and Ian Hamilton) from meat space as our actual selves in the real world in front of a green screen to show footage and images. The stream will be starting at approximately 2:20 PM PT and we’ll aim to last for around an hour or so. We’ll be livestreaming directly to the UploadVR Facebook page will also be using Restream to go directly to YouTube, Twitch, Periscope, and Mixer as well. Either way, you can see the full stream embedded right here down below once it’s up:
Embedded livestream coming soon
You can see our most recent archived streams over on the UploadVR Facebook Gaming portal right here. There’s lots of good stuff there!
Let us know which games or discussions you want us to livestream next. Comment with feedback down below!
The post Post-Oculus Connect 5 Q&A Livestream: Quest Details And Impressions appeared first on UploadVR.
The Pharma 4.0 Awards was created to recognise outstanding innovation and implementation of manufacturing systems in the pharmaceutical industry. This year’s award has gone to Vifor Pharma Group and its partner Goodly Innovations for the creation of a team-based augmented reality (AR) system.
The AR system was created in order to improve efficiency in the pharmaceutical manufacturing and packaging process. These processes are known to be complex, and the operators need to run through many detailed checklists to ensure no errors occur. The implementation of AR means that operators have detailed instructions for each step in the process.
By using AR, workflows can be adapted to real-life operations and operators can tick off each task as it is completed, and by using AR smart-glasses, operators hands can be free to complete other tasks.
“Applying augmented reality in our operations allowed us to improve the changeover process and increase productivity by up to 50% at our packaging plant,” said Dr. Benno Bischof, Head of Product Group, Technical Operations, in St. Gallen. “We have clearly demonstrated the potential of augmented reality by using it to create a dynamic teamwork system, unprecedented in our industry. This is the kind of innovative technology that we strive to use to improve our operations.”
“We set out to reduce the format change time by 30%, which at the time of our first prototype seemed like a bold objective. Now that we have real-life data from multiple installations, we are blown away by the results. Improving overall equipment effectiveness by 15 percentage points exceeded our expectations. It was also amazing to see error rates drop to virtually zero or on-boarding times become vastly accelerated,” said Robert Hoffmeister, CEO of Goodly Innovations. “We are very grateful for the trust and constructive feedback we got from the supportive teams at Vifor Pharma during this important early phase. Now we are just as excited to see the interest in OptiworX grow so rapidly in the industry.”
For future coverage of new and innovative uses of AR technology, keep checking back with VRFocus.
Oculus Connect might have stolen the headlines this week but there’s still a pretty healthy selection of new releases for PC VR headsets.
The latest game from Sprint Vector developer Survios is a tie-in to the upcoming Creed sequel. Slipping into the gloves of Adonis Creed, you step into the ring to take on opponents in a story that bridges the gap between the films, training with none other than Rocky Balboa himself in your downtime. Creed is the best all-round VR boxing game yet, though it’s the multiplayer support that really makes it.
One of VR’s most promising mech combat games is finally available via Early Access. Vox Machinae has you taking part in multiplayer or single-player battles with a fully interactive cockpit that you operate with motion controllers. Its explosive battles are some of the most fun you can have in VR, so make sure not to miss out.
This is the Hotel Transylvania-themed Beat Saber clone you’ve been waiting for. Wait, what? You haven’t been waiting for that? Well you’re getting it anyway. Designed to work with the titular Popstic peripheral, you attend a horrific disco, slicing up notes as they arrive on a beat and dodging incoming lasers. It’s mainly designed for arcades but if you’re so inclined this could be entertaining.
The post The Biggest Rift, Vive and Windows VR Releases Of The Week 09/23/18 appeared first on UploadVR.
No one should be buying any VR games this week because you should all be spending that money on Valkyria Chronicles 4, just saying.
Anyway, if you’re still insisting that money be spent on PSVR then there’s plenty of places to spend it. We’ve got the latest game from Survios and some other interesting experiments.
A new VR MOBA from a well-known Japanese developer. Dark Eclipse has players fighting for control of the battlefield by giving orders to three Leader units that will build towers and tear down your opponent’s structures. It’s got a great navigation system, though we suspect the game will have matchmaking issues in the near future. At least give it a try, seeing as it’s free.
The latest game from Sprint Vector developer Survios is a tie-in to the upcoming Creed sequel. Slipping into the gloves of Adonis Creed, you step into the ring to take on opponents in a story that bridges the gap between the films, training with none other than Rocky Balboa himself in your downtime. Creed is the best all-round VR boxing game yet, though it’s the multiplayer support that really makes it.
It’s great to see a more educational experience land on PSVR. This is a virtual museum that lets you explore historic art from across the world, each of which has been photo-scanned from its real-world counterpart. It’s not a game, then, but it’s a great example of the other kinds of experiences PSVR enables.
Tagged with: Creed: Rise to Glory
The post The Biggest PSVR Releases Of The Week 09/23/18 appeared first on UploadVR.
Every year in December Sony Interactive Entertainment (SIE) holds its annual PlayStation Experience event in Anaheim, California, not only allowing gamers to test the latest videogames but also revealing new and upcoming titles. Well it now turns out that it won’t be taking place in 2018.
On the PlayStation Blogcast released today, Sony Worldwide Studios Chairman Shawn Layden confirmed the consumer focused event won’t be held for the first time in four years in the US.
Explaining why Layden said: “For 2018, I know this is going to be a disappointment for some people, but we’ve decided not to hold PlayStation Experience. We won’t have it in the States this year. The reasons behind that really are, we don’t have, we have a lot of progress that we’re making in our games [and] we’re seeing that coming out, now that we have Spider-Man out the door we’re looking into 2019 with games like Dreams and Days Gone but we wouldn’t have enough to bring people, all together in some location in North America to have that event. We don’t want to set expectations really high and then not deliver on it.”
That will certainly annoy fans who enjoy travelling to the event to see the very latest that SIE has to offer, whilst putting a worrying twist on the lack of third-party titles that tend to make an appearance. Could this be Sony starting an early wind down to refocus efforts on its next console. While the rumour mill has been rife about PlayStation 5, there’s been no concrete details from the company just yet.
And what about PlayStation VR? The headsets sales of 3 million may trifle in comparison to the PlayStation 4’s 82 million+ but its still proved more popular than PC rivals Oculus Rift and HTC Vive. And there’s always a constant influx of titles for the device, including a number of notable exclusives.
What ever the case, VRFocus will continue to bring you the latest PlayStation VR news and updates.
Earlier this year, as Avengers: Infinity War was putting audiences on the edges of their seats all across the USA, a small start-up called Moviebill was working with the Regal Cinemas chain to bring an augmented reality (AR) enhanced magazine to cinema attendees, which provided a range of behind-the-scenes videos, interviews, games and other magazine content by utilising smartphone cameras. Since then, several more issues of the magazine have appeared, along with AR content. Now the company is revealing some of the details behind its operation.
Moviebill is a 28-page magazine which is available to customers at the Regal Cinemas theatre chain. The magazine is sponsored by advertising, and also features AR promotions which allow it to be handed out for free to theatre goers. The AR content is accessible by using the Regal Cinemas mobile app.
“Avengers fans waited a long time to see the new movie, and many of them bought their tickets at least one month in advance,” says Matthew Shreder, Publisher and Co-founder of Moviebill. “They got off their couches and drove several miles to their local movie theater. Committed, engaged fans like this are extremely valuable to our industry, and with Moviebill, we saw an opportunity to drive deeper engagement with them. Even today, four months after the release of Avengers, consumers are still scanning pages from the Avengers Moviebill and pulling content seamlessly from the cloud.”
Moviebill’s AR content is powered by Google Cloud Platform, which Shreder and the Moviebill staff found ideal for their needs: “With Google Cloud Platform, we’ve served our AR content to massive numbers of users without any outages or performance slowdowns,” says Shreder.
The company quickly discovered that the AR content promoted engagement in a way not possible with standard print media, as it discovered by analysing data using BigQuery: “This is the kind of valuable analytics we’re getting from BigQuery, and it helps us tell a compelling story to advertisers.”
There will no doubt be future AR-enhanced issues of Moviebill for Regal Cinemas customers to look forward to. For future coverage on new and innovative AR content, keep checking back with VRFocus.
