The studio used the interface for their two most recent titles, Floor Plan & Along Together. But TButt has also been used by other studios, most notably by Tender Claws for their hit Virtual Virtual Reality.
Turbo Button additionally stated that the interface already supports Oculus Quest, and that several in development Quest titles are already using it.
The issue TButt aims to solve is the fragmentation that exists between VR platforms SDKs of today. Without an interface like this developers have to rewrite code to achieve the same result on different VR platforms. TButt abstracts input, performance settings, tracking data, and more.
Input (handling controllers) is a core focus of the interface. Input is the most significant difference between VR platforms today. TButt handles everything from basic 3DoF laser pointers to dual 6DoF controllers. A useful feature is that it allows for emulating a 3DoF controller in the Unity editor for more rapid development than pushing a full build to a standalone headset.
TButt supports the Oculus, SteamVR, Windows MR and DayDream platforms. Crucially, it also complies with the publishing requirements of the default stores for each platform, meaning it can be used to ship real games.
TButt is free and open source, leveraging the popular MIT Licence. This lets any developer use and modify it even for commercial projects. It’s encouraging to see the spirit of co-operation in the VR development community- hopefully it lives on as VR enters the mainstream market in coming years.
Turning off a Nintendo Switch controller is a little bit trickier than it is on other systems. Here's how to turn off a Nintendo Switch controller, whether it's the Joy-Con or the Pro Controller.
Community Download is a weekly discussion-focused articles series published every Monday in which we pose a single, core question to you all, our readers, in the spirit of fostering discussion and debate.
Today is the final day of 2018 which means it’s time for reflection. As we look back on the year and celebrate some of the best games and experiences it brought to our headsets, it’s time to look forward to the future as well.
By all accounts, 2019 is shaping up to be an important year for immersive technology industries. Facebook is betting big on standalone VR following the success of the Oculus Go with its fully 6DOF Oculus Quest headset and two controller combo to offer “Rift quality experiences” at the all-in-one cost of just $399. We tried it at OC5 and were all blown away by the tracking quality and visual clarity of games like Tennis Scramble and Superhot VR.
Oculus Quest on display at Oculus Connect 5 | Photo Credit: David Jagneaux, UploadVR
This is also going to be an important year for the PSVR as Sony starts to shift focus to the PlayStation 5 and (presumably) the next iteration of their VR platform. With no presence at E3 this year it’s going to be a very different show and other than a handful of titles like Megalith and Blood & Truth there isn’t much on the horizon for next year after Sony absolutely demolished the competition with a slew of amazing exclusives this year.
For HTC we’re mostly just waiting to see what happens next. The Vive Pro and Vive Focus both came out this year, as well as the Vive Wireless Adapter, but the software side is still lacking. Without any real exclusives to speak of and the vast majority of the Vive ecosystem living mostly on Valve’s Steam could be problematic for HTC in the long-term.
Then you’ve got the scrappy Windows VR platform, the constantly evolving mobile VR landscape between Google Daydream and now the Oculus Go, new contenders like Shadow VR and Pimax, and so much more. There’s a lot going on in our industry right now — and that doesn’t even start to consider AR platforms like HoloLens or Magic Leap.
So, with so many questions and moving parts still: What are your predictions for the VR/AR market in 2019? Who will rise to the top and who will fall? Do you think the Oculus Quest can sell a million (or two million) headsets in a single year?
Let us know your thoughts down in the comments below!
Did you know we stream games over on Twitch? We’re getting into a rhythm that will allow us to stream VR games each and every weekday (except in the case of holidays or traveling for events of course) and we’re having a lot of fun doing it. We’ve moved all of our VR game streams to Twitch and want you to help us build a community.
Every week we will post a new Livestream Schedule like this. You can click here to see all past livestream archives and scheduled streams. This way everyone can anticipate what’s coming for the week and know when to tune in. If you have suggestions for games you want to see us stream next, leave those ideas down in the comments below!
We’ll embed archived versions of each stream after they’re done and if we’re live right now when you’re reading this then you can watch right here.
Tuesday, January 1st 2018 @ 1:00 PM PT
Vengeful Rites on Rift
Vengeful Rites is a VR RPG that’s been on our radar for a long time and we’re finally going to check it out. With an intuitive combat system and lots of freedom to explore, it’s like a spiritual successor to Vanishing Realms from a new developer.
Wednesday, January 2nd 2018 @ 11:30 AM PT
Electronauts on Rift
We’re back behind the DJ booth in Electronauts on Wednesday spinning up some funky beats and catchy tunes. Survios released three different VR games and experiences this year and as the middle-child of their release schedule, we don’t want Electronauts to be forgotten.
Thursday, January 3rd 2018 @ 1:00 PM PT
From Other Suns Co-Op on Rift
From Other Suns is still one of our favorite Rift games and is an excellent shooter to play with friends in co-op due to the procedural generation and replayable premise. We’re diving back in for some co-op fun on this one today.
Friday, January 4th 2018 @ 1:00 PM PT
Beat Saber Custom Songs on Rift
We’re topping off the week with Beat Saber, the viral sensation that’s still just as fun to play now as the first time. This will be our last stream of the week and the last one for a little while because CES is the following week. We’ll focus on doing custom songs and letting viewers decide which songs we play.
Epic Games added a new Boom Box item to Fortnite, giving players the ability to destroy others' structures using the power of music. A special New Year's Eve event has also been spotted.
Windows XP and Windows Vista will no longer be supported by Steam starting January 1. Although you might be able to run an offline machine for XP gaming, Valve is keen to push everyone to upgrade.
Unless you have a functional Nintendo 64 or a Wii U, the only way to play most of the Nintendo 64's vast library is through emulators. Here are the best N64 emulators for PC and Android.
As of firmware update 4.0, all PlayStation 4 consoles support HDR, but if you're not playing with it on, you're missing out on some major graphical enhancements. This guide will show you how to set up HDR Gaming on your 4K/HDR TV and PlayStation 4 or PlayStation 4 Pro consoles.
If you're serious about games, a good graphics card is essential. There’s no one-size-fits-all option for graphics cards, but our recommendations can help you pick from the best graphics cards for your needs.
Virtual reality (VR) headsets like Oculus Go can be a great way to while away the hours on a long trip, playing videogames or watching your favourite movies. FlixBus, a tech-savvy bus service that began in Europe before expanding to the US this year has announced a new pilot experience where customers can immerse themselves in VR.
Powered by Inflight VR, the VR service uses Pico Goblin 2 headsets, with four of them on board each bus. They’ll be loaded with approximately 50 videogames, travel and cinematic experiences to help make those hours fly by.
Limited to routes from Tucson, Phoenix, Los Angeles and San Diego, the service will be piloted for 3 months. Passengers wishing to make use of the feature will need to book the Panorama Seats at the front of the bus. “Each of the below FlixBus rides will be equipped with four virtual reality headsets, reserved for passengers who book the Panorama Seats located at the front of the bus on the top level,” explains the company. “Simply choose “Seat Reservation” while booking your ticket, then select the “Panorama Seats” option. Each passenger with glasses will receive an instruction manual to assist in their #FlixVR experience. The FlixBus virtual reality experience is offered at no additional fee.”
FlixBus Routes featuring #FlixVR
University of Arizona – Tucson – Tempe – Phoenix Airport
University of Arizona – Tucson – Tempe – Phoenix Airport – Kingman N – Arizona/Nevada – Henderson – Las Vegas Downtown – Las Vegas Strip
Tempe – Phoenix Airport – Kingman N – Arizona/Nevada – Henderson – Las Vegas Downtown – Las Vegas Strip
University of Arizona – Tucson – Tempe – Phoenix Airport – Flagstaff
LA Downtown – San Bernardino – Barstow Station – Las Vegas Strip – Las Vegas Downtown
San Diego – Escondido – Riverside – San Bernardino – Las Vegas Strip – Las Vegas Downtown
These routes have been chosen as they tend to be straight and smooth with few winding sections, reports TechCrunch, helping reduce the possibility of motion sickness.
The VR experience has already been tested in Spain and France, but it’s unclear as to whether FlixBus has plans to roll the feature out to more countries in Europe. If that does happen VRFocus will let you know as soon as it does.
Gear Club Unlimited 2 arrives exclusively on the Nintendo Switch on December 4th with over 50 licensed cars, a customizable driving experience, online and local multiplayer, and a chance to play as a professional race car driver.
Early in December, rapper Soulja Boy began selling video game consoles that were apparently using illegal versions of games from companies like Nintendo and Capcom. The consoles are no longer available.
The iPhone has some of our favorite games available for any mobile platform. Here are the best iPhone games for every big-name genre, whether you're into puzzles, strategy, or something else entirely.
Smartphones have come to dominate photography, with companies more than ever viewing the camera as an essential part of the device. The rise of 360-degree photography meant that consumers had to actually buy cameras again, but there are innovators like FusionLens looking to merge those two worlds. Having launched a smartphone attachment last year, the company is back with a Kickstarter campaign for its latest design FusionLens 2.0.
A dual lens camera attachment for the iPhone X, XS, XS Max and XR, FusionLens 2.0 allows mobile photographers to shoot in a range of settings, from wide-angle to 360-degrees. The wide-angle feature turns the iPhone lens into an 8mm camera, while its Anamorphic format is a cinematography technique offering a 23:9 aspect ratio.
A clip-on system with each 30mm lens module providing 210° field of view (FOV), Fusion Lens was looking to raise HK$20,000 by the middle of January 2019. The campaign has already managed to raise almost HK$60,000 (approximately £6,000 GBP).
Early bird backing tiers are still available, with iPhone XR owners able to pre-order the FusionLens 2.0 for HK$392 (£39), while iPhone X/XS/XS Max owners can pre-order the device for HK$431 (£43). There’s also a Pro Kit, Travel Kit and Premium Kit available, adding a phone case, travel case for FusionLens 2.0 or both respectively.
Once the Kickstarter has been completed, FusionLens expects to start shipping to backers in March 2019.
Alongside the FusionLens 2.0 attachment, there’s the additional app for all your control needs. Thanks to the advanced computational photography algorithm built into the app, users can change their shooting results without actually changing the lens.
“We never stop enhancing the product. We see great potential in computational photography technologies,” said Tim Lo, CEO of FusionLens in a statement. “There are a lot more interesting features coming to surprise our consumers.”
VRFocus will continue its coverage of the latest 360-degree cameras, reporting back with any further announcements from FusionLens.
Looking to score Nintendo's latest hybrid console? We've smoked out the best Nintendo Switch deals right here, including discounts on standalone consoles, as well as bundles that feature games like Super Smash Bros. Ultimate.
Atlus has officially confirmed Persona 5 R for the PlayStation 4, with more information to be released in March 2019. The reveal debunked rumors that the game will be a Nintendo Switch exclusive.
The biggest Kickstarter project of this year is a board game themed around a dark version of Arthurian legend. The Tainted Grail: The Fall of Avalon Kickstarter raised a massive $6.2 million from over 40,000 backers.
While you can't wear Sonic's iconic shoes just yet, there have been a number of collaborations between known footwear brands and video game companies, and here are some of the most intriguing ones that you can find.
Now that Christmas is done and dusted tomorrow is the last day of 2018, and what a year it has been. If you’re looking for a change of pace and wish to enter the exciting worlds of virtual reality (VR) or augmented reality (AR), then take a closer look at these vacancies.
Don’t forget, if there wasn’t anything that took your fancy this week there’s always last week’s listings on The VR Job Hubto check as well.
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 Peter Graham (pgraham@vrfocus.com).
We’ll see you next week on VRFocus at the usual time of 3PM (UK) for another selection of jobs from around the world.
Sony Interactive Entertainment (SIE) launched its annual winter PlayStation Store sale just before Christmas, with plenty of digital savings. If you haven’t yet had a chance to look – or stopped to breathe because of everything going on – VRFocus has taken a look at all that’s on offer, compiling a list of some of the best titles and their prices.
We’ve managed to find 167 pieces of virtual reality (VR) content in the PlayStation Store Sale, which is a decent selection of titles for PlayStation VR. These include some of the best and most well respected VR experiences for the head-mounted display (HMD), videogames that should not only be in everyone’s library if possible but also excellent examples of VR content for newbies. Here are a few of our favourites:
Don’t forget to take a look at VRFocus’ ‘The Best PlayStation VR Games of 2018‘ for ideas about which title to purchase next, there’s still plenty of time as the sale doesn’t end until 10th January. For further VR deals and offers, keep reading VRFocus.
Monster Hunter: World quietly added a crossover event with Assassin's Creed. Players will be able to take on the appearances of Bayek from Assassin's Creed: Origins and Ezio Auditore, last seen in Assassin's Creed: Revelations.
Looking to learn how to uninstall Steam games? You've come to the right place. In this guide, we walk you through the process step by step, whether you want Steam to do it for you, or handle the process manually.
Steam Store is the de facto shopping location of choice for most PC gamers. Now Steam has released information on the best selling games of the year, sharing a list of the top 100 Steam games as measured by gross revenue.
The Nintendo Switch came into its second year on the market riding high. Sony released a dazzling set of exclusive games. Microsoft gobbled up game studios left and right. Who were the winners and losers of the console wars 2018?
Researchers at the University of Cambridge developed a virtual reality app which vizualizes cancerous tumours. The project was part of the Cancer Research UK Cambridge Institute (CRUK) Grand Challenge Awards.
The tumour to be analyzed is cut into wafer thin slices which are stained with markers. These slices are digitally scanned and the system constructs a 3D representation of the tumour from these scans. The model can be magnified and rotated in a virtual lab.
Graphic from Cancer Research UK
The software features networking allowing researchers to view the tumour together, even remotely over the internet. Each user is represented with a basic 3D avatar and can communicate with their voice. This kind of direct remote collaboration was much more difficult with existing technologies.
In the past researchers relied on 2D scans or basic 3D models on a monitor. Neither provides the easy level of understanding of depth that VR does. Seeing tumours in this way may allow researchers to more easily identify patterns in how they spread throughout tissue.
Starlight is a well-known charity organization with the mission to create “moments of joy and comfort for hospitalized kids and their families” through a variety of initiatives. Initiatives include issuing gowns that let kids dress up as whatever they want to feel powerful, fun centers with things like video games, and Starlight Sites to transform hospitals into fun play zones. The most recent program, Starlight Xperience, is all about bringing the magic of virtual reality to the hospital.
In partnership with Google and Lenovo, Starlight delivers a Starlight Xperience kit to participating hospitals. The VR headset is a custom Lenovo Mirage Solo headset pre-loaded with over 20 VR experiences and customized for hospital use. The kit also includes headset-mounted headphones, charging cables, and a branded carrying case. Inside the headset the software has all been modified as well so instead of being in the Daydream UI you’re actually inside of a Starlight-branded portal with strict access to only the pre-approved age-appropriate content.
The Starlight Xperience
“Starlight is a 35-year old charity with a mission to make the hospital experience for seriously ill kids and family as positive, fun, and comfortable as possible,” said Chris Helfrich, CEO of Starlight in an interview with UploadVR. “We see children getting immersed in VR during painful medical procedures and the immersive distraction therapy lessens the need for heavy painkillers and anesthesia. VR can even take the place of pain killers in some cases.”
Distraction therapy is a well-studied and well-documented form of therapy. The tricky thing is finding the right balance of stimuli. If something is purely passive, such as watching a video, it may not be enough. But if it’s too intensive and challenging, children give up or get frustrated, which exacerbates pain during a procedure.
The Magic of VR
“Our partners at Stanford developed very basic games that let administrators click a button to make it more challenging on the fly,” says Helfrich. “That lets them administer more of a cognitive load, forcing them to focus extra hard when the need is higher, so they’re fully distracted during the most painful points.”
“Whether they want to go snorkeling in the ocean or on a trip to the top of Mt. Everest, we accommodate as many interests as possible,” says Helfrich.
The types of experiences on offer vary as well, but they’ve partnered with Disney for some apps, such as the Droid Repair Bay, to deliver familiar characters in an interactive space.
“Just because you’re in the hospital doesn’t mean you shouldn’t be able to experience the wonder and magic of child life,” says Helfrich.
The coolest skins in Fortnite are some of the hardest to find and we know how difficult it can be. From the outfits players deem the best to how to get them -- everything you need to know is right here.
2018 has been a wild year for video games, with several trends popping up over the course of the year. These are the biggest gaming trends of 2018, including DLC practices and the explosion of esports.
We got to try out the new Nerf Rival Overwatch blasters and were impressed with how close they resemble their in-game counterparts, but they aren't exactly the best bang for your buck.
From Software president Hidetaka Miyazaki recently revealed that the studio has two unannounced games in the works. This could point to Bloodborne 2, which fans have been asking for since the first released in 2015.
There are a lot of VR shooters, especially on Steam for PC headsets. Between Onward, Pavlov, Stand Out, Zero Killed, War Dust, Zero Caliber, and countless others there are more than just a couple of ways to get your FPS thrills with a Rift, Vive, or Windows VR headset. One of the latest new ones to hit the market just two weeks ago, Contractors, is certainly one to keep on your radar. It’s focused on fast-paced gameplay, sharp visuals, and lots of action to keep players coming back for more.
We’ll be playing Contractors on Rift using a two Touch controllers. We’re starting right around 1:00 PM PT and we’ll aim to last for about an hour and a half or more. We’ll be livestreaming to the UploadVRTwitch page where you can interact with us directly and chat among yourselves. Streaming is something we’re going to double down on doing more often very soon so you should get in on the ground floor of our Twitch community early! You can see the full stream once it’s live right here:
You can see our most recent past archived streams over on the UploadVR Twitch archive right here. There’s lots of good stuff there! And don’t forget to check out our coverage of other VR shooters like Firewall Zero Hour on PSVR, the Battlefield-like War Dust on PC, or the original realism-focused team-based VR FPS, Onward.
Let us know which games or discussions you want us to livestream next and don’t forget to follow the Twitch channel and sign up for notifications.
Samsung’s Gear VR headset was once the dominant mobile head-mounted display (HMD), it featured everywhere, in Samsung’s Unpacked events, standard videogame conferences, and institutions the world over as they looked to entertain visitors with new technology. But that position and stature have slowly faded, Samsung isn’t bundling the device with smartphones as it did and with the arrival of Oculus Go, VR enthusiasts can now go mobile with even more ease. That being said, there are a lot of Gear VR owners out there, and developers are still supporting the HMD. So here are VRFocus’ ten favourite videogames from the latest twelve months.
The Best Samsung Gear VR Games of 2018
Slightly Heroes – Hatrabbit Entertainment
Whilst this isn’t a dedicated Gear VR title that’s no bad thing. In fact that works to Slightly Heroes advantage as the videogame is a one vs one online multiplayer, with cross-platform support, enabling you to battle those on Oculus Go, Oculus Rift, HTC Vive, Google Daydream, Windows Mixed Reality, Lenovo Mirage Solo, and the non-VR Android app. This should ensure there’s always someone to match against. If not there’s always AI enemies to dispatch.
Arca’s Path VR – Dream Reality Entertainment
Arca’s Path VRtakes the gameplay style of classics like Marble Madness and updates it for VR headsets. Featuring a dark storyline where you play a girl tricked by an evil witch, you’ve been turned into a ball and must navigate 25 labyrinthine levels in a bid to free yourself and return home. To do this, Dream Reality Interactive has employed a gaze-based control mechanism, meaning you just need to look where you want to go.
Narrows – Resolution Games
Narrows lets you take to the high seas, heading to the Caribbean during the golden age of piracy to make your fortune. Combining real-time crew-management with ship-to-ship combat, there are plenty of customization options to tweak your cannons and crew for battle, plus rogue-like replayability. Gameplay also includes swashbuckling sword fights, charting your own course, and making sure your crew of misfits are healthy and fed.
Covert – White Elk
Covertfeatures asymmetrical gameplay that lets two players work together to pull off a high-profile heist, whether they’re inside or outside of VR. This works by the VR player having to pull off the heist while their mate acts as the hacker accomplice on a mobile device, feeding them vital information. Being the multiplayer title that it is, make sure the mobile device is compatible with the app, Android 7.0 or iOS 6 and above.
Eclipse: Edge of Light – White Elk
Eclipse: Edge of Light’sstory finds you crash landing on a sentient planet. Upon discovering the ruins of an ancient civilization, you then come across a device known as The Artifact, allowing you to interact with their technology whilst bestowing seemingly magical powers upon you. In order to uncover the secrets of the planet and this long-lost civilization, eventually hoping to escape, players must recover the pieces of The Artifact that have been scattered across the landscape.
Virtual Virtual Reality – Tender Claws
Virtual Virtual Reality is a narrative-driven comedy adventure about VR and AI. Players use virtual VR headsets to explore over 50 unique virtual realities, delving into the story behind AI service Activitude. As bizarre as this all sounds, Tender Claws’ VR experience is a great introduction to VR.
Catan VR – Experiment 7
Mixing traditional boardgame gameplay with the immersive online gaming that only VR can provide, Experiment 7’s Catan VRis a polished example of the genre. Featuring both single-player and multiplayer online modes, up to four people can play against one another in cross-platform gameplay, with players taking the role of settlers who need to establish colonies on the islands of Catan, acquiring resources to build infrastructure and roads whilst engaging in trade with other players.
Racket Fury: Table Tennis VR – 10Ants Hill
For those who enjoy a bit of sport, Racket Fury: Table Tennis VRoffers a single-player campaign with four Cups to play through. Each of the 16 opponents have their own temper and unique style of play meaing players will have to think on their feet and adjust their strategy with each new opponent they face.
Astraeus – E McNeill
Like E McNeill’s three previous VR videogames, Darknet, Tactera, and Skylight, Astraeusis another deviously simple looking real-time strategy (RTS) experience that becomes a lot more complex the longer you play. Astraeus is a VR asteroid mining title where you need to build a mining network from dozens of bases and watch as hundreds of ships swarm around you. Your job is to control these swarms of mining drones, create the bases, and outpace the competition in Campaign, Skirmish, and asynchronous multiplayer modes.
The Wizards: Trials of Meliora – Carbon Studio
The Wizards: Trials of Meliora is the next step in Carbon Studio’s spellbinding adventure. Designed specifically for mobile devices, the videogame enables players to wield powerful spells as they defend the realm. There are five levels to complete with four gesture-based spells to master. You’ll also be able to upgrade the spells to inflict greater damage and cause more chaos. One for those who enjoy a good magical fight.
Editor’s Note: With so many new people getting VR headsets this holiday season we thought it would be valuable to republish this listicle from 2017 focused on ways to overcome VR motion sickness. If you’re experiencing severe effects the best thing you can do is take off the headset and stop right away, but there are some other steps to take that might help you grow more accustomed to the immersive realm more quickly.
Motion sickness: it’s far from the flashiest aspect of VR, but it’s a real problem for some people when they put on a headset and enter a virtual world. VR motion sickness happens when your eyes tell your brain you’re moving around in a VR environment, but your body feels like it’s sitting in a chair or standing still. If you’re prone to the problem, these conflicting inputs cause you to feel miserable. Specifically, you might experience sensations like nausea, dizziness, headaches, sweating, excessive salivating, or all of the above. Even worse, these symptoms can continue for hours after you take off the headset and compound together.
Even if you’ve experienced VR motion sickness first-hand, don’t give up hope just yet. It’s possible to mitigate and even overcome VR-induced motion sickness altogether. We’ve already gone over a few tips that developers can use to limit reactions here, so we’ve included some advice specifically for consumers below. Next time you’re having issues, give some of these a try.
Baby Steps
Let’s say you’ve had a bad experience playing a VR game. You tried it, and the moment you started moving around in the virtual world, your stomach lurched and your head started to spin. You might not be inclined to venture back into VR, but if you give up now, you’ll be depriving yourself of some truly amazing experiences. It’s actually possible to overcome VR motion sickness without using any crazy tricks at all. You can do it simply by taking it slow.
If a game makes you feel queasy, start out by limiting your play sessions to just a few minutes at a time. When you start feeling uncomfortable, shut your eyes, breathe deeply, and take a short break before trying again. If you gradually increase the time you spend in those games, there’s a good chance you’ll overcome the discomfort in just a few days’ time. Before long, you’ll be cruising around imaginary worlds like a pro. For many people, getting their “VR legs” just takes patience and practice.
Have Someone Tell You You’ll Be Okay
This one sounds bizarre, but at least one study suggests it’s rooted in scientific fact. According to the report, you may be able to overcome VR motion sickness simply by having someone tell you you’re going to be fine. The study focused on naval cadets who, prior to boarding their assigned vessel, were told they were unlikely to suffer from seasickness, regardless of whether it was true.
As a result, the cadets who’d been given this “verbal placebo” got seasick at a lower rate than cadets who hadn’t. Assuming the findings are accurate, this method could help anyone who’s anxious about VR motion sickness before trying. Now you just have to get over your anxiety about asking someone for such a strange favor.
Eat Ginger Beforehand
That thin, slippery garnish that comes with your sushi isn’t just for cleansing your palate. According to some studies, it’s also good for kneecapping nausea before it starts. If you eat ginger — or take a ginger supplement — an hour or two before putting on a VR headset, you may lower your chances of losing your lunch. Whether it works for you or not, it’s as good an excuse as any to make some quick additions or alterations to your diet.
Aim a Fan at Yourself
Another potential VR motion sickness cure that might sound strange is to have a fan blowing your direction while you play. It’s not clear why a cool breeze on your skin makes you less likely to hurl, but many nausea-prone forum goers have reported that it does indeed stop the discomfort before it starts. If you have a fan handy and you’ve struggled in a VR game, why not give it a shot? At the very least maybe it will help stop you from sweating inside the headset so much.
Take Dramamine
If you’ve ever felt seasick on a boat or gotten dizzy from reading in a car, there’s a good chance someone recommended you take Dramamine. Dramamine is an antiemetic medicine you can use to curb any symptoms you might get from motion sickness — which includes the VR-induced variety.
Dramamine comes in a number of forms, from standard pills to chewable tablets, and under a number of brand names. There’s even one that’s designed to provide 24 hours of nausea protection, which would be a good fit for anyone who likes to marathon their way through games.
Wear a Wristband
If you’re looking for a potential solution that doesn’t involve taking medication, Sea-Bands might be the right choice. Sea-Bands (and other similar products) are wristbands that put acupuncture pressure on what’s known as the Nei-Kuan point in your wrist. The result, for many people, is a reduced susceptibility to motion sickness. Like some other potential solutions on this list, Sea-Bands are primarily marketed toward travelers, but VR users have reported that they work in virtual worlds as well. You can buy Sea-Bands and other similar products online or at most drug stores.
Marijuana
If you live in an area where marijuana is legal and you’re old enough to use it, you may find the solution to VR motion sickness in medicinal weed. After all, one of the primary applications of medical marijuana is to curb nausea. It’s not for everyone, but if it works, it works.
Now the bad news: it’s possible none of these potential solutions will help you feel better in motion-heavy VR experiences. If none of them work for you, your best option is simply to avoid playing games that bring motion sickness on. Racing games, flying games, and games that let you move freely to explore virtual worlds are good ones to avoid if you’re susceptible to VR motion sickness.
On the plus side, that leaves plenty of VR experiences as fair game. If you simply focus only on games and apps where your viewpoint remains locked in place, or only lets you move through actual roomscale movement or teleportation, you’ll probably fare just fine.
Bethesda will release The Elder Scrolls: The Official Cookbook in March, to allow fans of the series to bring the dishes of Tamriel into the real world. The cookbook will contain over 60 recipes, including the previewed Saltrice Porridge.
We all want virtual reality (VR) to get to the stage where it’s fully immersive to the point of reality. There’s still a fair way to go until that happens but every year is another step closer. FeelReal Inc. is one company looking to push multi-sensory immersion, with a device called the FeelReal VR Mask, designed not only to provide smells, but also vibrations, and blasts of air or mist onto a player’s face.
The company has been working on its design for several years now, originally holding an unsuccessful Kickstarter campaign back in 2015. Now FeelReal Inc. is back with a new and improved design for VR headsets, with plans to launch another Kickstarter in the near future.
Unlike the VAQSO VR scent device for example, which purely releases smells according to what the VR player is seeing, the FeelReal VR Mask takes this idea and pushes it another step further with the addition of tactile sensations. When it comes to odour, FeelReal has developed a scent generator that holds replaceable cartridges with 9 individual aroma capsules. Users can choose and combine any of the 255 scents available in the store, with all FeelReal aromas exclusively designed by acclaimed perfumer, Olfactologist, and perfume critic Bogdan Zubchenko.
As for the tactile sensations, these are essentially different haptic solutions, with the FeelReal VR Mask able to produce Water Mist, Heat, Wind and Vibration, to cater for any virtual situation. Whether that’s watching a 360-degree movie feeling the rain on your cheeks or racing through the hills, feeling the cool mountain breeze on your face.
FeelReal Inc. hasn’t confirmed when the Kickstarter will go live or how much the company is planning to raise. The previous campaign aimed for $50,000 USD, only achieving $24,000, with development devices starting from $250. A lot of time has passed since then, with new images of the device making it look like a much more consumer-ready device, compatible with a wide variety of headsets including Oculus Rift, HTC Vive, Oculus Go and PlayStation VR.
When FeelReal Inc. releases further details regarding the device and its Kickstarter launch, VRFocus will let you know.
The nonprofit organization Limbitless creates free bionic arms for children to use like they would a traditional arm. Digital Trends talked to Limbitless about its arms and partnerships with game franchises.
Last month, Facebook added basic support for HTC Vive to the Oculus Unity Integration. In the December release the company expanded that support, as well as reducing the GPU cost of Oculus Rift support.
Rift Performance Improvement
The Rift’s GPU performance improvement in Unity apps has been achieved by making the occlusion mesh culling “more aggressive”. This should free up some GPU time for rendering. However, it comes at the cost of making the editor preview smaller.
OVROverlay: Vive Support & New Sample
The latest feature of Oculus Integration to support the HTC Vive (and in theory any SteamVR headet) is OVROverlay. This is the Oculus compositor layers system, sometimes called “TimeWarp layers”. On HTC Vive these layers will be passed to SteamVR’s compositor.
Image from Oculus Developer Guide
CTO John Carmack often espouses the importance of rendering UI & text via TimeWarp layers. He went as far as calling it “the biggest” tip for sharp text in VR. OVROverlay is the way to do this in Unity.
As well as adding support for OVROverlay to HTC Vive, this update also adds a new sample scene & tutorial for the feature. Carmack has often noted in his public talks that many developers still don’t utilize this, so the new sample scene should be a great help. If you’re a developer of a VR app that doesn’t use compositor layers for your text, we recommend checking it out. VR headsets are low enough resolution as it is, so you should use all the software tricks available.
Oculus Unity Profiler
The final addition of 1.32 is the Oculus Profiler Panel, a popup window for Unity specifically made for profiling VR performance. It works on Rift apps locally and from Oculus Go over USB. The release notes state that the feature doesn’t work properly on Gear VR yet. This is a welcome addition and should make finding the cause of performance issues easier.
The season 7, week 4 challenges have arrived in Fortnite Battle Royale. The biggest challenge this week looks to be the Fortnite fireworks challenge where players must launch fireworks at three different locations on the map. Here's how to complete it so you can receive this week's reward.
Valve released a list of the 100 top selling VR games on Steam in 2018.
More than 1,000 titles released on Steam this year with VR support, according to Bellevue, Washington-based Valve Corporation. The vast majority of the releases are VR-only but the only completely new 2018 VR release to reach the top “platinum” tier of gross revenue on Steam was Beat Saber — which sold more than 100,000 copies in its first month of availability on PC this year.
We’ve linked to our reviews below for most of the titles in the platinum, gold and silver tiers. Other top selling VR titles at the platinum level include Fallout 4, Gorn, Orbus, H3VR, Pavlov, Skyrim (which released on PC in 2018 but appeared on PSVR in 2017), Superhot, Job Simulator, Onward, Arizona Sunshine and one title intended for adults only.
Gold tier of top grossing VR content on Steam in 2018.
Silver tier of top grossing VR content on Steam in 2018.
You can check out the 2016 and 2017 lists as well, with a lot of titles on 2018’s list also represented in previous years. The full list on Steam also includes 60 games at the bronze tier as well as a new section this year that lists top releases of 2018.
FlixBus Routes featuring #FlixVR
