Mint Virtual Reality

Pimax issueda statement on their forums stating that their 8K headset will not be shipped to all backers this month as previously claimed. The statement was also sent out via email.

The company explained that the 4K LCD panels used in the Pimax 8K have been rejected at a much higher rate since they enacted stricter QA testing.

So when will the remaining backers of the 8K model get their headset? Pimax made clear that it would not be before the Chinese Spring Festival which runs until February 10th. This means it’ll be weeks or months before all are produced & shipped.

The 8K headset isn’t the company’s only offering however. There is also the ‘Pimax 5K+’. Despite having lower resolution (1440p) panels the visual quality of the 5K+ is actually preferred by many. This is another reminder of the important fact that resolution is only one spec of a panel. While marketing departments everywhere would have you believe otherwise, a lower resolution can look superior if the other specs of the panel are better by enough of a degree.

The 5K+ headset isn’t free of QA issues either however. Pimax now has a replacement program for a “black dots” issue. This is a flaw in some 5K+ units where, as in the name, black dots appear over the panel.

It’s now 16 months since the Pimax kickstarter launched. While the company has finally shipped almost all of its 5K+ model, backers of the original 8K are still waiting. When we spoke to Pimax at CES the company’s new Head of US Operations spoke of the many ways in which they plan to overcome their production, shipping and support issues- lets hope this is the year where they finally deliver.

Tagged with: pimax, Pimax 8K

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The Fortnite season 7, week 9 challenges have arrived as we near the end of this wintery season. One of the biggest challenges this week is to find and pop 10 Fortnite golden balloons. Here's where to find these balloons and how to pop them for this challenge so that you can get the reward.

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PC VR headset owners can start a band in VR with music-making app EXA: The Infinite Instrument.

The added multiplayer functionality in a new Early Access build gives players the ability to share music-making sessions with others around the world. One player hosts a room and EXA keeps layouts synced for the various instruments as well as “items, playback states, metronome, and live ringer events.”

“The room can be made available publicly, can be hidden until a player enters the room name, or can be limited to your local network (LAN). The room creator can even put players into a ‘spectator’ mode by disabling some of their room permissions,” developer Zach Kinstner wrote in an update explaining the change.

Calling All Bands

A video further explains the syncing functionality and how it might work better over lower latency conditions. Players can talk to one another and record loops in any network condition — arranging instruments, adding sounds and building up compositions together. Loops, however, transfer to other players upon completion. That process could take several seconds for detailed loops with lots of data to transfer, according to Kinstner. Musicians can add live sounds on top of the loops via their shared instruments — just like a real-life band — in extremely low latency sessions, like over a local area network.

“When latency is low, each player’s ringer events can transfer fast enough for other players to hear the full ringer sounds at the correct time,” Kinstner explains. “In these conditions, you could conceivably play a live performance in EXA, with everyone playing their virtual instruments at the same time, rather than sharing loops. With higher latency levels, you won’t hear the full sound from a ringer event. For example, if an event reaches you 80 milliseconds late, you’ll miss the first 80 milliseconds of that ringer’s sound. As latency increases, it becomes more difficult for live performers to stay in sync with each other, and players should collaborate using recorded loops instead.”

EXA lists support for Oculus Rift, HTC Vive and Windows Mixed Reality headsets.

Tagged with: band, Exa, music, perform

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Wargroove is a fantastical Advance Wars successor with beautiful pixelated visuals and rewarding grid-based combat. In addition to a meaty campaign, Wargroove has an intuitive map editor that lets you create robust campaigns of your own.

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Every month we aim to round up each and every VR game release for you in one single place — this is January’s list. Don’t worry — we’ll continue highlighting the best ones at the end of each week too.

With the door closed on December and all of 2018, we’ve just been through another great month of VR content. Between Borderlands 2 VR, Contractors, and Blade and Sorcery, there were lots of titles to look forward to last month. Now with January and the new year upon us, it’s time to take a look at what’s coming down the line next.

And if you’re a VR game developer planning to release a game soon — let us know! You can get in touch with me directly by emailing david@uploadvr.com or hit all of the editorial team by emailing tips@uploadvr.com. Please contact us about your upcoming releases so that we can know what you’re working on and include you in release lists!

Rift, Vive, and Windows VR Game Releases For January 2019

The Energy Lab (Free) – January 1st – Rift, Vive
I See You ($9.99) – January 1st – Vive
Warz: Horde ($29.99) – January 1st – Rift, Vive
Suburi ($5.99) – January 1st – Vive
Circuit Slinger (Free) – January 1st – Rift, Vive
Battlemage VR ($14.99) – January 2nd – Vive
SurReal Subway ($3.99) – January 3rd – Rift, Vive
Paradise Checkers VR ($4.99) – January 3rd – Rift
Space Ribbon ($9.99) – January 4th – Rift, Vive
VR Flight Simulator New York – Cessna ($9.99) – January 4th – Rift, Vive, Windows VR
Do Or Die ($19.99) – January 4th – Rift, Vive, Windows VR
Dungeon Maze ($5.99) – January 7th – Vive
Tabletop Gods ($19.99) – January 7th – Rift, Vive
We Are Showtime! ($9.99) – January 7th – Vive
Pocket Car: VRGround (Free) – January 8th – Vive
SiegeVR ($4.99) – January 8th – Rift
Wand Wars VR ($14.99) – January 8th – Rift, Vive
An Escape Room Series: Robbery at the Museum (Free) – January 9th – Rift
Escape the Forest ($11.99) – January 9th – Rift
The Last Day Defense (Free) – January 9th – Rift
Visionarium ($6.99) – January 10th – Rift, Vive
Mage VR – Mini Version (Free) – January 10th – Vive
Spuds Unearthed ($19.99) – January 10th – Rift, Vive
RideOp – VR Pro Edition DLC ($4.99) – January 10th – Rift, Vive
Flying Aces: Navy Pilot Simulator ($19.99) – January 10th – Rift
The Last Dinner (Free) – January 10th – Vive
Goalkeeper VR Challenge ($6.99) – January 10th – Rift
Cubes ($9.99) – January 11th – Vive
Temple of Pizza (Free) – January 13th – Rift
Be a Lord ($4.99) – January 14th – Rift
Galaxity (Free) – January 14th – Rift, Vive, Windows VR
Gun Beat ($6.99) – January 14th – Rift, Vive
War Online: Pacific (Free) – January 14th – Rift, Vive
Microsoft Maquette (Free) – January 15th – Rift, Vive, Windows VR
Rainbow Reactor ($9.99) – January 15th – Rift, Vive
Trickster VR: Co-Op Dungeon Crawler ($12.99) – January 15th – Rift, Vive, Windows VR
Sunset Giant ($16.99) – January 17th – Vive
Odyssey VR – The Deep Space Expedition ($11.99) – January 18th – Rift, Vive, Windows VR
Profundum ($19.99) – January 18th – Rift, Vive, Windows VR
VR Curling ($4.99) – January 18th – Rift, Vive, Windows VR
In Orbit (Free) – January 18th – Vive, Windows VR
Little Einar ($8.99) – January 18th – Rift, Vive, Windows VR
Hyper Visualizer (Free) – January 19th – Rift
VR Paper Star ($19.99) – January 21st – Vive
Aztec Tower ($4.99) – January 22nd – Vive
A Fisherman’s Tale ($14.99) – January 22nd – Rift, Vive, Windows VR (Our Review)
Mini Hockey VR ($4.99) – January 22nd – Vive
Diesel Express ($9.99) – January 23rd – Rift, Vive
Primitive (Free) – January 23rd – Rift, Vive, Windows VR
Taptiles ($9.99) – January 24th – Rift, Vive
IgKnight Food Fight ($6.99) – January 24th – Rift, Vive, Windows VR
The Last Survivor (Free) – January 24th – Rift, Vive, Windows VR
Derail Valley ($19.99) – January 25th – Rift, Vive, Windows VR
Dragon Roller Coaster VR ($3.99) – January 25th – Rift, Vive
Warzone VR ($9.99) – January 25th – Rift, Vive, Windows VR
Secret Savings ($9.99) – January 26th – Vive
Biathlon Battle VR ($9.99) – January 27th – Vive
Kungfucious – VR Kung Fu Wuxia Simulator (Free Demo) – January 28th – Rift, Vive, Windows VR
SCP-087 VR Survivor ($14.99) – Rift, Vive, Windows VR
Coffee VendoR (Free) – January 29th – Vive
WellTown (Free) – January 29th – Rift, Vive (More Info)
BreathePeace World (Free) – January 29th – Rift, Vive
Szen (Free) – January 30th – Vive
Letzte Worte VR (Free) – January 30th – Rift, Vive
Cubians: Combine ($9.99) – January 30th – Vive
Walk on Arrow ($9.99) – January 30th – Rift
Magic Realm Online ($18.99) – January 31st – Rift, Vive
Aira VR ($24.99) – January 31st – Rift, Vive
Disassembly VR ($29.99) – January 31st – Rift, Vive
Liberty Lane ($9.99) – January 31st – Rift
Don’t Look Back ($1.99) – January 31st – Rift
Mosh Pit Simulator ($19.99) – January 31st – Rift, Vive, Windows VR (Our Impressions)

Mobile VR Game Releases For January 2019

Alcove (Free) – January 7th – Go, Gear VR
Labyrinth Trap ($1.99) – January 8th – Go, Gear VR
Kapteyns Star ($4.99) – January 8th – Go, Gear VR
House of Terror (Free) – January 9th – Go, Gear VR
Wrong Voyage Ex ($1.99) – January 9th – Go, Gear VR
Video Poker VR ($4.99) – January 9th – Go, Gear VR
Balls and Hoops (Free) – January 9th – Go, Gear VR
Adrift and Alone ($4.99) – January 9th – Go, Gear VR
VR Mini Bowling ($4.99) – January 9th – Go, Gear VR
Board and Ball ($2.99) – January 9th – Go, Gear VR
Alpha Command ($3.99) – January 9th – Go, Gear VR
The Cooking Game VR ($7.99) – January 9th – Go, Gear VR
Power Solitaire VR (Free) – January 10th – Go, Gear VR
Number 5 ($4.99) – January 10th – Go, Gear VR
Revolver Widow ($1.99) – January 10th – Go, Gear VR
Dede Korkut Chronicles ($3.99) – January 10th – Go, Gear VR
VR Cool Reader (Free) – January 16th – Go
Gala Relax 5K (Free) – January 18th – Go, Gear VR
FireZone ($2.99) – January 22nd – Go, Gear VR
Mill VR: Nine Men’s Morris ($3.99) – January 22nd – Go
Japanese Pinball VR ($3.99) – January 22nd –  Go, Gear VR
Water Ride Extreme ($1.99) – January 22nd – Go, Gear VR
Judi Dench: My Oak Tree VR ($3.99) – January 24th – Go, Gear VR
Dragon Roller Coaster ($3.99) – January 25th – Go, Gear VR
Traveling While Black (Free) – January 25th – Go, Gear VR
Belvedere de degustation (Free) – January 29th – Go, Gear VR
After Class – Math ($4.99) – January 29th – Go, Gear  VR
Gran Teatro Nacional VR (Free) – January 29th – Go, Gear VR
EQQO ($4.99) – January 29th – Go
PetDrivr ($2.99) – January 29th – Go
Voitek VR (Free) – January 30th – Go
Shadows of Society (Free) – January 30th – Go, Gear VR
Et Moi (Free) – January 30th – Go
Jelly Beams ($4.99) – January 30th – Go, Gear VR
Marble Land ($6.99) – January 30th – Go, Gear VR
Unframed (Free) – January 31st – Go, Gear VR
Cocos: Shark Island ($4.99) – January 31st – Go, Gear VR

PSVR Game Releases For January 2019

Megalith ($29.99) – January 9th (Our Preview)
Smash Hit Plunder ($29.99) – January 15th – (Our Preview)
PSVR Demo Disc 3 (Free) – January 16th (Our Write Up)
Eden Tomorrow Demo (Free) – January 17th (Our Impressions)
Kingdom of Blades ($9.99) – January 17th
Hikaru Utada Laughter in the Dark Tour 2018: Hikari and Chikai (Free) – January 18th
Ace Combat 7: Skies Unknown ($59.99, Limited VR Support) – January 18th (Our Review)
A Fisherman’s Tale ($TBD) – January 22nd (Our Review)
Dream Match Tennis VR World Tour ($9.99) – January 23rd
Trainer VR ($14.99) – January 29th

As a point of emphasis: reach out to david@uploadvr.com or tips@uploadvr.com to let us know about your upcoming VR game releases!

Editor’s Note: This list will be continuously updated.

Tagged with: A Fisherman's Tale, ace combat 7, Megalith, new releases, VR games

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Steam users are voicing their displeasure over the Metro Exodus Epic Games store exclusivity deal by bombarding the Steam pages of the two previous Metro games with negative reviews.

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There’s a strand of VR madness that really works. Accounting+ embraces inevitable moral panics and judgment-free murder to create something entirely surreal. Job Simulator finds fun in the mundane, letting you live out your stupidest daydreams free from consequence. As the name implies, Mosh Pit Simulator has a slightly more traditional take on the zany possibilities of VR. It’s essentially a Goat Simulator wannabe inside a headset. I’m sorry to say the results are profoundly less interesting.

Don’t get me wrong, I had my giggles inside Mosh Pit Simulator’s creaky sandbox. Attaching missiles to a whale’s fin and then watching it corkscrew off into the sunset or punching rubbery humans through windows 50 stories high will always be at least a little funny. But it’s laughter I’ve already enjoyed in other, better games, and it wears too thin too fast.

If anything, this feels like a cautionary tale. Yes, there’s fun to be had being the last human on earth, but be careful what you wish for. Mosh Pit Simulator is set in a relatively small open world in which human’s bones have been turned to rubber and their brains resemble mush. In the sandbox mode, you can summon missiles and rotators that will send them and other objects spiraling off into space. It’s broken more often than not; humans clip through walls, collisions end with objects disappearing and the screen can stutter with how much it has to handle.

But any laughter you might get from it rings hollow across the game’s unsightly streets. These aren’t happy accidents; they’re glitches for the sake of glitches. Mosh Pit Simulator seems content with laughing at VR’s limitations rather than finding the deeper humor in what it does right. The world is also empty; there are some NPCs around but you have to summon most of them yourself in a shop. In the game’s single-player story (essentially a glorified tutorial), giant animals tour the town like clockwork. It fleshes the world out considerably. If the sandbox mode itself were this unpredictable I might find a reason to spend more than a few minutes inside it.

As it stands, this world feels dead and not intentionally so. There’s no audible impact when objects collide, making spectacular crashes feel lifeless. You can stick any two objects together but there often isn’t much point to it. The truth of the matter is that there just isn’t that much to do.

Now, I realize that I probably just don’t ‘get it’. I know that I’m being a Scrooge here and that people may mine hilarity from Mosh Pit. It’s probably the same people that find Drunkn Bar fight funny (I don’t). And, hey, more power to you. This has enough ammunition to fuel a few hours of streaming madness for sure. But a VR game that’s ultimately better watched than it is played is not something I can recommend.

Mosh Pit Simulator’s current state is a bit of a disappointment, then. This is all just the start, though. The game’s kicking off a proposed six-month Early Access phase today. If Mosh Pit wants to become the true Garry’s Mod of VR it’s going to need a heck of a lot more substance. As it stands, this is a virtual playground in dire need of some life.

Oh and might I add: bah humbug.

Mosh Pit Simulator is available now on Oculus Rift, HTC Vive and Windows VR for $19.99.

Tagged with: Mosh Pit Simulator

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Specialist virtual reality (VR) broadcaster NextVR has partnered with several of the biggest sporting associations to bring fans up close and immersive 360-degree action. Today, the company has announced a new partnership with the National Hockey League (NHL) in association with Disney Streaming Services, enabling hockey fans to enjoy more of their favourite sport.

To mark the start of the new partnership NHL fans will be able to watch last weekends 2019 Honda NHL All-Star Game which NextVR captured, available for free via the NHL channel on NextVR’s app.

“There couldn’t be a better time to add the NHL to our growing portfolio of content partnerships. The VR industry continues to gather momentum after a blockbuster holiday shopping season, and now more sports fans than ever will be able to immerse themselves in this completely new hockey VR experience,” said Danny Keens, VP of Content at NextVR in a statement. “NHL fans are passionate and always on the look-out for more action and adrenaline. This partnership will give them sensations that only fans at the arena have been able to experience so far.”

The All-Star Game is just the first in a much broader content lineup that NextVR has planned, with future NHL coverage set to feature post-game highlights which will showcase the speed and finesse of NHL‘s teams, the big hits, epic matchups and of course the goals. Neither the NHL or NextVR have said which games will be recorded and when further content will be rolled out.

“We are always looking to create new experiences for our passionate fans, and are pleased to partner with NextVR, a global leader in producing virtual reality content. Not every fan can experience our marquee events in-person, but NextVR‘s immersive content will bring fans closer to the on-ice action than ever before and make them feel like they are at a live NHL game,“ adds Chris Golier, NHL Vice President of Business Development.

The free NextVR app can be downloaded for the following platforms, direct from their own stores: Oculus Go, Oculus Rift, PlayStation VR, HTC Vive Pro, HTC Vive Focus, HTC Vive, Windows Mixed Reality, Pimax, Gear VR, and Google Daydream. For further NextVR updates, keep reading VRFocus.

VR startup Vreal is opening up the audience for its service more widely with the addition of a desktop mode for its streaming platform.

The Vreal service is integrated with a number of VR titles including Tilt Brush, Superhot, H3VR, Gorn, Blocks and Fantastic Contraption. The app allows folks to record their session in a virtual world for playback later. This new mode lets viewers navigate around a recorded scene to see the action from another angle without needing to put on a VR headset.

This new mode could be useful for folks who spend a lot of time in one of the compatible titles and want to grow an audience for those experiences. The app should let viewers get closer to the action than a traditional Twitch stream. In particular, creators in apps like Tilt Brush or Blocks might be able to explain how they are making something to future viewers who get right up to see every brush stroke.

The company uploaded the following video to demonstrate the new mode.

Vreal remains in early access on Steam. Earlier in January, the company added support for Gunheart, representing the first game built in Unreal Engine to get support for the service.

We’re curious to see what 2019 has in store for Vreal. There is still little in the way of details regarding next generation PC-based VR headsets and those new systems could have a major impact on adoption and usage of a streaming platform like Vreal. We’re expecting major updates in the coming months at events like Mobile World Congress, Game Developers Conference and even E3 which could reshape the market.

Tagged with: streaming, Vreal

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Facebook this week hosted their Q4 2018 earnings call, reporting their finances for the quarter. During the call Facebook CFO David Wehner stated:

Payments & Other Fees revenue was $274 million, up 42%. Sales of Oculus Go and the launch of Portal contributed to the revenue growth in the quarter.

This is the first time Oculus has been mentioned as a revenue source. In 2016 after the Rift launch Wehner had very different news, stating “It’s not going to be material to our financials this year.”

This seems to indicate that the Oculus Go is selling much better than Rift ever did. Remember these are revenue figures, not units, so multiple Go headsets need to be sold to generate the same revenue as one Rift.

At Oculus Connect 5, Oculus CTO John Carmack claimed Go headset sales “exceeded even my expectations”- and that he had been “the most optimistic”.

It’s important to note that “Payments & Other Fees” is the smallest section of Facebook’s revenue. The company’s main business is still advertising, which brought in over 98% of revenue.

Marketing Costs

The notable Oculus Go revenue didn’t come for free, however. Facebook’s total expenses were up by $1 billion – an increase of 62% compared to this time last year. When explaining this increase, Wehr included the marketing cost of Oculus Go:

In addition to continued investment in infrastructure, safety & security, and innovation, expenses were also driven by seasonal factors – including marketing efforts, notably the promotion of Portal and Oculus Go.

This likely refers to the celebrity marketing campaign Facebook threw in fall. Wiz Khalifa, Jonah Hill, Adam Levine, Leslie Jones, and Awkwafina were enlisted in an effort to sell the standalone headset. While Facebook doesn’t break down its marketing expenses in detail, we don’t imagine those stars work for cheap.

Profitability

No comments were made about the profitability of Go- only about raw revenue. At $199 it’s likely the headset is sold at or near cost. The Oculus Store is where the profits should come from.

But this early in the VR market Facebook may not care about profit yet. In a 2016 earnings call, CEO Mark Zuckerberg described VR’s profitability as “a 10-year thing”. But what does seem likely from this week’s comments is that Oculus Go is selling better than Rift ever did.

Tagged with: facebook, Oculus Go

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Aiming to take the ‘Weirdest VR Experience of 2019’ award, indie developer Sos Sosowski has just launched virtual reality (VR) experience Mosh Pit Simulator via Steam Early Access, and to say it’s almost nothing like what you’d expect is an understatement.

Mosh Pit Simulator doesn’t feature a stage, rock band or crowds of people throwing their drinks everywhere, instead, you have some very strange – and slightly creepy – humanoid figures that for some reason have no bones and so kind of behave like those Stretch Armstrong toys.

Sosowski explains that: “Mosh Pit Simulator is a hyper-interactive physical VR sandbox set in a world overrun by boneless and brainless humanoids that despite having no brains, still try to lead a normal life, even tho they don’t know how. So they keep crashing cars, breaking things and being generally goofy. The player’s job is to get in their way. Their generally harmless and don’t mean anything wrong, but you just kind of don’t like them.” So there you have it, a perfectly simple explanation.

When it comes to gameplay you have nearly 1 square km of an interactive city to explore (and destroy) at your will, using all sorts of weapons, explosives, basically anything you can lay your hands on. And if you can’t find it, well then build it, because sometimes you just have to create before you can destroy.

For the Early Access launch today there’s the entire city at your disposal full of all that fun stuff mentioned, plus a bizarre – as if things couldn’t get any weirder – story mode. Sosowski plans on keeping Most Pit Simulator in Early Access for around six months, in which time further modes will be added, including a Driver Mode – where you can drive around in the car and wreak havoc, Spider Mode – where you can sling yourself around, and Animatronics Mode – where you can create, record and playback animations. He does also have several other ideas which may or may not be added as Sosowski is making the title by himself.

Mosh Pit Simulator is available now for $19.99 USD with support for HTC Vive, Oculus Rift with Touch and Windows MR devices. As development progresses, VRFocus will keep you updated.

The vast majority of Oculus Go apps are best played with a motion controller. But there’s no denying that some games and experiences simply play better with a gamepad. Good news, then; SteelSeries’ latest product is an Oculus Go gamepad designed for gamers.

The SteelSeries Stratus Duo launched this week for $59.99. It comes with all the usual bells and whistles; dual analog sticks, four face buttons, a d-pad, and shoulder buttons. SteelSeries is keen to mention that the kit works with both the Oculus Go and the Gear VR headsets, though. It connects via Bluetooth.

The Stratus Duo also comes with over 20 hours of rechargeable battery life. It weighs in at 245g. Inside the box you’ll find a wireless USB adapter (which you won’t need for VR) and a Micro-USB charging cable.

Outside of Go and Gear, the Stratus Duo also supports Windows PCs and Android devices. It’s also compatible with Steam games, so you could use it with your Vive, Rift and Windows VR headsets too. With a Stratus Duo in hand, you can play some Go games that require a controller like the Herobound series. Other games like Republique also just play better with a gamepad.

You can also use console gamepads you already own for Oculus Go gaming but support can be finicky. It might be the more expensive choice, but a dedicated controller is definitely the better way to go if you’re serious about an Oculus Go gamepad. Whether or not the Stratus Duo is the best option we can’t say just yet; we haven’t gone hands-on with it ourselves.

You can order a Stratus Duo direct from SteelSeries’ website.

Tagged with: Oculus Go, SteelSeries, SteelSeries Stratus Duo, VR gamepad

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Undeterred by recent layoffs, VR broadcasting app NextVR is announcing a new partnership with the National Hockey League today. Get ready for NHL VR highlights.

NextVR is set to showcase highlights of key NHL games from the 2019 season in VR. The app now features a new NHL channel that will store the stereoscopic 3D content. To kick things off the company launched a VR experience captured at the All-Star Game in San Jose, California last Saturday. Content consists of post-game highlights so expect goals, saves and, of course, some good ol’ fashioned beat-downs.

It doesn’t look like there will be any live coverage of the games, but NextVR produces some of the best and clearest video we’ve yet seen in VR. It’s also free to watch around the world, which certainly helps.

“Not every fan can experience our marquee events in-person, but NextVR’s immersive content will bring fans closer to the on-ice action than ever before and make them feel like they are at a live NHL game,” Chris Golier, NHL Vice President of Business Development, said in a prepared statement.

You’ll be able to watch NHL VR content wherever the NextVR app is. That’s basically everywhere: Rift, Go, Gear, PSVR, Vive, Windows VR and Daydream all support the platform. NHL joins NextVR’s coverage of other major sporting events like the NBA.

Earlier this month we reported that NextVR had held ‘significant layoffs’. Speaking to UploadVR, the company cited VR’s slow growth as the reason for the layoffs but insisted that the majority of the company and its work wasn’t affected.

Tagged with: nextVR, NHL

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Originally announced back in 2016, Neat Corporation’s stealth experience Budget Cuts didn’t have a smooth run up to launch, suffering several delays before it arrived for HTC Vive and Oculus Rift in June 2018. This week the studio has confirmed it’s working on a PlayStation VR version, whilst considering the possibility that Budget Cuts may eventually come to Oculus Quest.

In a recent Twitter conversation, Neat Corporation responded to an inquiry about Budget Cuts coming to Oculus’ upcoming standalone headset. To which the studio said: “right now we are working on a PSVR version of budget cuts – quest will require even more of a performance optimization but we will look into it once we are “done” with PSVR!”

Whilst there are no further details on when this might happen, at least PlayStation VR owners know they’ll be getting one of the more unique and well-received PC VR titles from 2018.

What would be great is if Neat Corporation managed to squeeze Budget Cuts onto Oculus Quest, which has a Qualcomm Snapdragon 835 mobile processor on board. This could prove to be tricky for some of the larger Oculus Rift titles such as Budget Cuts, although not impossible as videogames like The Climb and Moss are being ported over. Oculus Quest would be a natural home for Budget Cuts as the title features plenty of sneaking around, hiding in vents and other small spaces, ideal for a wireless headset.

Budget Cuts is a stealth experience set in a world full of robots. You play an employee at mega-conglomerate TransCorp who finds out their job is in danger. After a mysterious package arrives you must then head out and save your job. To do this you need to sneak around the facilities, using whatever vents, ceiling crawl spaces and more to remain hidden. Should you be spotted then it’s time for some knife throwing action.

When Neat Corporation releases further details regarding Budget Cuts, VRFocus will let you know.

The Xbox One controller has fantastic battery life, but eventually your batteries will still die. To make it even better and ensure you never have to stop gaming, follow these tips.

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HTC’s upcoming Vive Cosmos VR headset has now recieved FCC approval. The FCC is a US regulatory agency with responsibility over wireless frequency use.

FCC filings publibly disclose the exact wireless frequencies a device uses, as well as the peak power output of each.

The filing finally puts to rest the speculation as to whether the Cosmos would be a wired or wireless headset. The only listed wireless frequency is 2.402-2.48 GHz with an ultra low 2.5 mW power output. This is identical to the frequency and power output the Vive and Vive Pro use to communicate with their tracked controllers.

Controllers send a relatively tiny amount of data compared to wireless VR. The WiFi connection on the Vive Focus is in a similar frequency yet draws 558.5 mW – over 200x as much. And that still isn’t enough for high quality wireless video.

At the Cosmos announcement event HTC was already describing the headset as “tethered”. However there was no cable visible. This led to speculation that it could have either optional wireless or that they could mean the headset was wirelessly “tethered”.

We reached out to HTC about this filing and a representative told us that on “day one” the product would be powered by “a tether to the PC similar to other Vives on the market today”. While HTC may well be planning a wireless adapter for Cosmos, what we know now is that the headset won’t have wireless built in.

Tagged with: fcc, htc, htc vive, HTC Vive Cosmos, wireless vr

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An issue with Microsoft's Xbox Live service has rendered some players' consoles essentially unusable, with black screens displayed on startup. Microsoft said it has identified the issue.

The post Xbox Live problems are making some players’ consoles unusable appeared first on Digital Trends.

Created by a crack team of foosball enthusiasts, FoosFit is the robot foosball trainer that promises to give you an intelligent opponent to practice your moves against. Here's how it works.

The post FoosFit foosball trainer gives you a robot opponent to hone your skills against appeared first on Digital Trends.

The developers behind groundbreaking VR title Budget Cuts are working on a PSVR version of the game.

The stealth title started as an early HTC Vive demo allowing players to teleport from place to place and throw knives at robots. After a multi-year production cycle, Budget Cuts released for PC headsets last year with thrilling gameplay that was held back by some bugs. The game has seen several updates since release, though, and its recent reviews on Steam skew toward very positive.

right now we are working on a PSVR version of budget cuts – quest will require even more of a performance optimization but we will look into it once we are “done” with PSVR!

— Neat Corporation (@NeatCorp) January 30, 2019

The PSVR version Neat Corporation developers are working on is likely to have some significant changes to account for forward-facing tracking on the headset. Nevertheless, that’s a big new title to look forward to for PSVR headset owners. We reached out to members of the Neat Corporation team to see if there’s a planned launch date for this version and we’ll update if we hear back.

As far as Oculus Quest, developers might find difficulty bringing the game down to the forthcoming standalone and its Qualcomm-based chipset. If it does make the jump to Quest at some point, though, it could be a perfect fit for the wireless system as the PC version of the game makes excellent use of 360-degree movement freedom.

Developer Marko Permanto recently recounted some early designs for Budget Cuts. The video, embedded below, does a good job showing how the creators started to hone in on their intuitive teleportation and inventory system in the game.

Tagged with: Budget Cuts, Neat Corporation

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The Game Boy Advance was the swan song of the Game Boy era. It also happened to have a boatload of amazing games. We decided to countdown our 25 favorite GBA games from both first-party and third-party.

The post The 25 best GBA games ever made appeared first on Digital Trends.

A leaked image showing potential in-game store prices for Anthem items has players concerned, as it appears to indicate new armor sets could cost as much as $20. These prices are not final, Bioware said.

The post Potential in-game store prices for ‘Anthem’ have players upset appeared first on Digital Trends.

The Piranha Plant character will arrive as a playable fighter in Super Smash Bros. Ultimate in February 2019. Here's how you can get the character for free using either a physical or digital version of the game.

The post How to get the Piranha Plant in ‘Super Smash Bros. Ultimate’ appeared first on Digital Trends.

From "DirectX Box" to "720," it's been a long, strange trip for Microsoft's Xbox gaming console. Here is what happened, from its odd beginnings to the rumored Scarlett console with streaming.

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A new report from industry analyst Daniel Ahmad claims that the majority of Sony's first-party studios have shifted their focus to the unannounced PlayStation 5 console. Sony will not attend E3 this year.

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'Diablo 3' season 16, the 'Season of Grandeur,' is live. It attempts to shake up the stale meta-game with a minor tweak, but it falls far short of what fans of the franchise want. Better games like 'Path of Exile' are eating Blizzard's lunch.

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Gaming giant Nintendo filed for a patent for a positional tracking system for glasses. The tracking is used to add a parallax effect to content on a 2D screen so it would appear 3D.

Despite being called ‘Eye Tracking Enabling 3D Viewing’, the system described actually tracks the glasses, not pupils. Multiple tracking methods are listed, including specific references to the use of an infrared camera and IR retroreflectors.

The user would be provided with the correct angle view of virtual objects. The glasses themselves could be frameless. This is similar to a Carnegie Mellon University research project from all the way back in 2007:

The described system in itself is not actually VR- to be clear. But the potential here is that Nintendo could build from this research if deciding to enter the VR market.

In 2016 Nintendo filed a patent for a VR headset design where the Switch would slide in. While the concept is similar to Samsung Gear VR, the patent was considered by many to be impractical due to the Switch’s weight and low resolution panel.

Back in August a group of hackers discovered a secret setting in the Nintendo Switch called ‘Test VR Mode’. A method called ‘SetVrModeEnabled’ was even discovered in the system code.

However as recently as January of last year, Nintendo downplayed their interest in virtual reality. A company representative stated “I doubt they can appeal to the mainstream”. Back in 2017, Reggie Fils-Aime claimed that there weren’t many “truly fun” VR games.

It’s clear that Nintendo is researching virtual reality and related technologies. But the company’s commitment to actually entering the market is much less certain. Given Nintendo’s ability to focus on fun core gameplay over flashy graphics however we very much so hope they do take a stab at VR.

Tagged with: nintendo, Nintendo Switch, nintendo vr, patents

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Universal Studios filed a patent application for a system for handling many VR users in a location based environment. Combined with previous patents, this could be a hint that the company plans on competing with The VOID location based VR experience.

The patent describes a system of “tracks” in the ceiling which VR headset cables are attached to. This would allow the users to traverse a large space without bumping into eachother. To be clear this isn’t a free roaming solution- the tracks guide the user along pre-determined paths.

An automated gateway entry system is depicted where the customer can enter the track and put on the headset in a queue.

At certain points along the track the bogie which the cable is attached is described as locking in place. This could be used for cutscene-like sections of the attraction, or to prevent users going backwards and colliding. Interestingly in one listed embodiment the VR headset is wireless- which seemingly would render the system pointless.

This isn’t the first VR patent application from Universal. In 2017 the company applied for a patent for the use of an augmented reality headset for a theme park ride. In 2018 it applied for a patent for a control system for a “virtual reality mobile pod”.

In late 2018 Orlando Rising reported that Universal has plans for a large land expansion. While this could be intended for a VR section, patent applications simply aren’t enough evidence to say conclusively. But if Universal Studios does add VR to their parks, it would be a welcome boost of confidence for the entire location based VR market.

Tagged with: location based, The Void, universal studios

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The new DLC fighter Piranha Plant is reportedly corrupting players' save data in Super Smash Bros. Ultimate if they used it in the All-Stars mode. The character was free for anyone who played the game before January 31.

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January Sales are coming to a close, but there’s a chance to save big in this PSVR sale.

The sale, which is now running on the US PlayStation Store, features some of the headset’s best games. Take note, however, that the promotion is for PS Plus members only. The highlight of the deals has to be Borderlands 2 VR. Gearbox’s so-so port of its shooter sequel hit the headset last month but has already had 25% slashed off of its price. It’s now down to $37.49.

But that’s far from the end of the savings. Resident Evil 7‘s Gold Edition, which features all of the DLC, is priced at $24.99. Astro Bot Robot Rescue is down to $31.99 and continues to be one of the best games on the platform. The super deal of the day must be Wipeout Omega Collection, which features some of the best VR support around for just $5.99. That’s two games with a bunch of racing both on and offline. Heck, even Ubisoft’s Star Trek: Bridge Crew is down all the way to $9.99 and the optional VR support will help you find others to play with.

Our pick? The excellent Statik for just $5.99. It’s a surreal puzzle game with an excellent core mechanic at its heart.

Don’t sleep on this sale. It’s a good time to get digging into PSVR’s back catalog seeing as we really don’t know what’s in store for the headset over the next few months. Sony’s Blood And Truth is on the way, but we’re still waiting on the reveal of some other titles.

Tagged with: Borderlands 2, PSVR, Resident Evil 7, sale, Statik

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In December 2018 indie developer Glock Software released an Early Access title called Puzzle Out VR, a videogame involving against the clock block placement. This week, the studio decided to release a free demo to give Oculus Rift and HTC Vive players a taste of the gameplay.

Set inside what looks like a white-walled prison floating in space – there’s a window with the Earth floating in the distance – Puzzle Out VR takes the classic block placement games of your childhood and gives it a virtual reality (VR) twist, with one wall made up of empty spaces and a selection of differently shaped pieces on the floor with which to place in the gaps. The difficulty comes from the fact that the wall is moving, making the play space ever smaller as time runs out, eventually squashing you.

Like any demo, the one Glock Software has created is a shortened version of the main experience, giving you an overall feel for the title across several levels. There’s even a story to go with the puzzler, stating: “It’s the age of commercial and cheap space travel which allows everyone to travel between planets in the solar system. You are on your journey back home to earth from an expedition to Mars to find rare crystals. As you approach the earth, a strange alien wall appears to hinder you from examine [sic] the crystals.”

With three crystals located inside the room, they do actually serve a purpose. Grab one and smash it against the moving wall to stop it for 10 seconds, useful if you’re running out of space and time to complete the level.

Designed as a full roomscale experience, Glock Software does advise that players will need a play area that’s approximately 2×2.3m in size. To download the title you’ll need to head to the official Glock Software website. The site does ask for a donation if you’d like to help an indie developer but you can still download the demo for free if you wish.

If you like the demo then you can always head on over to Puzzle Out VR’s Steam Early Access page and purchase the full experience for £4.79 GBP (about $5 USD). As development continues, VRFocus will keep you updated.