Mint Virtual Reality

Developers will deliver high-quality content and network remotely

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The gaming event will return in 2021

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Prime Day 2020 won't arrive until July, but that doesn't mean we can't start getting into the spirit now.

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On this DT Live, we break down the top-trending stories in tech, including the Google/Apple COVID-19 tracker.

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You might be better off waiting for the Xbox Series X to release.

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nDreams’ upcoming virtual reality (VR) title Phantom: Covert Ops looks set to offer one of the most promising stealth experiences of 2020. Today, the developer has announced that the voice actor behind Solid Snake in Metal Gear Solid, David Hayter will be voicing Phantom: Covert Ops‘ lead antagonist.

In Phantom: Covert Ops players are tasked with infiltrating a Cold War naval installation run by disgraced ex-Soviet General Zhurov (Hayter). The entire videogame takes place on water with players having to manoeuvre around in a kayak.

“Phantom: Covert Ops is a ground-breaking next-level VR game and one of the finest stealth games I’ve ever seen or been part of,” commented Hayter in a statement. “Without doubt, virtual reality brings a new level of immersion to gaming and to be a part of that was incredibly exciting.”

The kayak has a range of useful items within easy reach of the player, offering both stealth and loud approaches. A silenced sniper rifle and pistol to quietly take down guards, or an MP5 and C4 if they don’t want to be as subtle.

“Having someone of David’s calibre portray one of the main characters in the game speaks volumes about what we’re trying to achieve with Phantom,” said Tom Gillo, VP of Development at nDreams. “Oculus headset owners and fans of stealth games like Metal Gear Solid, will leap at the chance to take on this villain!”

Originally demoing Phantom: Covert Ops during the Electronic Entertainment Expo (E3) 2019, VRFocus’ first impressions found that: “What’s been shown has great promise” and could be “Potentially nDreams’ best VR game to date.”

nDreams previously announced that Phantom: Covert Ops will arrive on 25th June 2020 exclusive to Oculus Quest and Oculus Rift headsets. Take a look at the latest trailer below and as further details are released, VRFocus will keep you updated.

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Xbox One X is the most powerful console, but should you get it?

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The PS4 Pro is close to a PC in both its options and problems.

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Ready At Dawn announced that starting May 5 Echo Arena will be available in open beta on Oculus Quest.

The reveal came in a developer update to the Oculus blog related to work-from-home changes due to the COVID-19 pandemic. According to Ready At Dawn, development on Lone Echo II “has been greatly impacted” but they still intend to launch the game in 2020 with more updates coming soon. As far as the Oculus Quest version of their zero-g sport Echo Arena:

“VR has allowed us to reconnect in a new way, not only with our teammates, but also with the community at large,” the blog states. “We are therefore making our upcoming Open Beta for Echo VR on Oculus Quest available to everyone until the official launch later this year.”

We got into the closed beta recently for the game and captured video play through a full match. Check it out here:

The game seems to be shaping up incredibly well on Oculus Quest. The wireless freedom is eye-opening and it seems to run solidly on Facebook’s standalone headset. We’re looking forward to playing more in the coming weeks with more people now that it’ll be more accessible to all Quest owners. The game could end up being one of the big competitive draws for Oculus Quest headsets as the year progresses.

Echo Arena will be free to play when it is completed for Quest as well, and it will feature cross-play with Rift players.

Will you be playing Ready At Dawn’s Echo Arena on Quest? Let us know in the comments below.

The post Ready At Dawn Sets May 5 For Start Of Quest’s Echo Arena Open Beta appeared first on UploadVR.

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Hyper Dash is a new fast-paced multiplayer shooter available on SideQuest featuring cross-play with PC VR.

You can try the alpha testing release right now and Hyper Dash is free while still in development.

The game supports up to 5 versus 5 player matches in VR with spectators who can log in without a headset. The non-VR participants control a drone that can be seen in game. There are eight weapons currently in the game that are all one handed so you can dual wield. It features three modes:

• Payload is like Overwatch and Team Fortress 2
• Domination challenges teams to capture three points and hold them for five seconds to score and the first team to three points wins
• Capture Point is a mode where you try to hold a point in the middle of the map for 300 seconds

The game combines multiple movement systems including smooth locomotion and rail grinding that gets you around a map quickly after a respawn. There’s also a dash/teleport mechanic described as the main way of moving around in the game but it is limited to three dashes at a time. The dashes recharge and you can boost the dashes to five with a pickup located around the map.

“You can point your dash preview arc to where you want to dash. If you let go of the button you dash to the highlighted location in a fraction of a second,” Triangle Factory developer Jeroen Dessaux explained in a direct message. “The dash leaves a visible trail so players see where you went and it’s not too disorienting.”

The alpha release available now publicly also includes new sprinting features the developers are testing where “if you click the joystick button you will use 1 dash bar, but start sprinting for a few seconds,” Dessaux explained. “This is useful in a few situations. Some players wanted this and using the dash bar to restrict it seems like a good tradeoff. It also leaves a dash trail to make you more visible.” You can also sprint on the rails as well.

No price has been decided for the final game yet but it will be a paid title when it is finished and the developers say Facebook gave them the go ahead for eventual release on the Quest Oculus Store.

“We’ll keep working on the game and take in community feedback, and release new builds at the end of each month until we release,” Dessaux explained in an email.

Check out the latest trailer here:

You can find the PC version of the game — which should work with both Oculus Rift and SteamVR headsets — in the game’s Discord server. You can also find the development version of Hyper Dash on SideQuest here.

The post Hyper Dash Available Now On SideQuest With PC VR Cross-Play appeared first on UploadVR.

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The PlayStation 4 Slim is the default choice for anyone who doesn’t have a PS4.

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Super Smash Bros. Ultimate has the most characters to unlock in the series. Here's how to get new fighters.

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Animal Crossing: New Horizons is way better with friends. Here is how to add friends an earn Nook Miles!

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Local co-op and online multiplayer modes make it possible to play with friends even when you're not together.

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The latest in Ubisoft's hit franchise is coming this holiday season

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Huh, Phantom: Covert Ops?!

That’s right, the legendary voice of Solid Snake himself, David Hayter, is appearing in nDreams’ upcoming VR stealth game, which we’ve already compared to the Metal Gear Solid series. Hayter will be playing General Zhurov, the ex-Soviet antagonist that runs the rogue Cold War-era naval installation that players infiltrate by kyack in the game. Whereas gamers are used to bringing Hayter along for the ride as they take down Metal Gear (except for Metal Gear Solid 5 but we don’t talk about that), this time they’ll be facing off against him. Check his work out in the new trailer below.

“This is sort of the gamer’s opportunity to take on Solid Snake now that he’s older and gone completely insane,” Hayter told me in an interview last week.

“It’s funny,” he later added, “my whole career I played heroes. I was Solid Snake, I was Captain America. And when I turned 40 it all turned to villains.”

nDreams itself sought out Hayter for the role as a nod to stealth gaming’s past. For the actor and screenwriter, it was a chance to not only return to a beloved genre but to try VR itself; the studio sent him an Oculus Quest. “You really feel — I hope they don’t mind me saying this but you really feel like Solid Snake in that kyack and moving through. So the ability to take on the antagonist role and shut that down was really fun and interesting. And I felt like this was a nice launching pad into the next-generation of what stealth games were going to be.”

It’s not actually Hayter’s first VR role; he appeared in episodic stealth series Republique, which was ported to VR a few years ago, and also had a little-known role in Oculus Rift launch app, Farlands. But this will be his biggest appearance in a native headset game yet.

“I did know that a lot of the character was going to come through in public address systems that are sort of barking orders,” he said. “So I will say it was a pretty extreme performance that took a lot out of me. I had to dominate this world, it’s like being the voice of God in this game.”

Now that he’s self-isolating like the rest of us, Hayter has been checking out a lot more of what VR has to offer. “I’ve been using it quite a bit,” he said. “I got The Room, which is so beautiful and amazing. My daughter and I do a lot of escape rooms and I got that. I’m about to get A Fisherman’s Tale, I haven’t tried that yet but it looks amazing. Vader Immortal was stunning, and playing in the lightsaber dojo quite a bit.”

Phantom: Covert Ops releases on June 25 for Oculus Rift and Quest. Check back soon for more coverage of the game.

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Facebook’s standalone headset the Oculus Quest is coming up on its first birthday next month and it’s likely to be a big event. That’s because the device has done so well, with the company’s latest earning call detailing its impact on revenue whilst acknowledging the shortage in stock.

During the investor call Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg was asked about the performance of the social platform’s gaming sector including its investment in Oculus.

Zuckerberg responded by saying: “And on the virtual reality side, this has always been a longterm vision. Quest has surpassed our expectations. I wish we could make more of them faster during this period.

“I do think that it’s one of those areas whereas people can’t go out into the world as much, the ability to have technology that allows us to be physically present or feel present even when we can’t be physically together, whether that’s Quest or Portal, or any of the software that we’re building around video presence, that stuff has certainly seen especially large spikes in usage.”

When it comes to Oculus Quest that usage would likely be much higher if there were sufficient stock. There has been the odd occasion Oculus’ website has shown availability, but most of the time there is none.

“And it’s possible that this brings — accelerate some of the trends around adoption of things like virtual or augmented reality, but I’m not sure what will happen there long term,” Zuckerberg adds. “But in the near term, I’m quite pleased with how Quest is doing, and I wish we could make more of them.”

Facebook makes most of its money through advertising revenue, however, elsewhere on the call CFO David Wehner revealed that ‘other revenue’ has increased by 80 percent to $297 million USD: ‘driven primarily by sales of Oculus products,’ he noted. Unfortunately, there was no mention of how many headsets Facebook has actually sold.

This continues the positive outlook for Oculus Quest as last month saw Facebook announce that over 20 titles generated revenue of $1 million. VRFocus will continue its coverage of Oculus Quest, reporting back with the latest platform updates.

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Vittorio Romeo’s excellent Quake VR mod is one of the first games we’ve seen to take direct inspiration from the recent launch of Half-Life: Alyx.

Appearing in the v0.0.4 update — which is out now — is a Gravity Glove-style system that allows you to reach out to select items, flick your wrist back and catch them in your hand. From the looks of the system, seen in the trailer below, it works just like it did in Alyx. We loved the implementation there, so we’ll be eager to see how it feels in a classic game.

Of course, that’s far from all 0.0.4 brings. The developer has also added support for dual-wielding weapons, so you can hack away at goons with two melee items, or target two enemies at once with firearms. Plus weapons and items can now be tossed at foes when you don’t want them anymore. Heftier additions to your arsenal like rifles and shotguns, meanwhile, can now be gripped with two hands instead of just one.

Elsewhere there’s now a grappling hook to zip through levels with (which looks especially vomit-inducing), new weapons to wield and, quite importantly, support for Quake’s first mission pack, Scourge of Armagon. So even if you’ve torn through the entire original game already, there’s reason to jump back in here.

Finally, on the note of comfort, the developer added teleportation locomotion, which should make things a little more palatable for the more nausea-inclined among us.

We were really impressed with this take on Quake VR when we tried it earlier this year, and now it looks even better than it was before. You can download the mod from here though, of course, you’ll need to own Quake itself to play it.

The post Quake VR Mod Update Adds Half-Life: Alyx-Style Gravity Gloves And More appeared first on UploadVR.

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There have been plenty of hardware examples designed to make virtual reality (VR) as immersive as possible whilst reducing motion sickness. From Virtuix and its Omni treadmill to the seated Yaw VR motion simulator they all have their pros and cons when looking for that ideal solution. Quite possibly the most impressive to look at is Wellington, New Zealand-based Eight360‘s motion simulator NOVA.

The brainchild of Terry Miller and George Heather-Smith, NOVA offers a completely untethered platform for VR simulations and gaming purposes. Developed over the past 4 years, NOVA’s spherical design allows for unlimited rotation in whichever direction the user decides thanks to three omni wheels.

Now in its third iteration which is ready for commercial production, everything is contained inside the giant sphere which the user sits in; PC, battery, chair and harness, VR headset and then the required control scheme – a steering wheel and pedals for example. The entire unit is built with standard off the shelf parts where possible for easy maintenance.

Taking up just over 2x2m of floor space and weighing in at less than 500 kg (1,100 lb) the motion simulator is already compatible with titles such as DCS: World, X-Plane and NoLimits2 – Roller Coaster simulator. NOVA has been designed to simulate as many vehicle forces as possible, whether that’s a plane tilting to the bumps and crashes of a racing experience like Dirt Rally.

While the NOVA certainly looks impressive and you’re probably adding it to your VR wish list, its not aimed at the gaming market and likely won’t be appearing in your local VR arcade. The company is looking at various industrial and military use cases due to the costs involved. Eight360’s first customer was the New Zealand Defence Force (NZDF). “We’re looking to lease them as a hardware as a service model,” Miller said to New Atlas. “With ongoing maintenance and upgrades. It’ll be on the order of US$150k a year. So heavy, yeah.”

Eight360 has now begun taking orders for the NOVA from interested organisations. As the company continues to expand, VRFocus will keep you updated.

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The event includes top tennis stars, with more than $1 million going to charity

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The post Best SteamVR Games (Spring 2020) appeared first on UploadVR.

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With many countries in lockdown and those staff that can now have to work from home, online meeting platforms such as Zoom or Google Hangouts have become even more important for companies worldwide. Current technology means that these can range from simple video conferences all the way up to interactive discussions using virtual or augmented reality (VR/AR) technology. HTC Vive has now added its hat into the ring with the beta launch of Vive Sync.

First revealed back in 2018, Vive Sync was initially created by 2 Bears Studio (Super Puzzle Galaxy, Arcade Saga) as an internal collaboration tool between its worldwide offices. Since that announcement, the platform has been in a closed beta, accessible by invitation only. That changes today as Vive Sync moves into an open beta phase for business and their employees to test out.

Compatible with all of HTC Vive’s headset range, from Vive Cosmos and the Vive Pro Eye to standalone headset Vive Focus Plus, Vive Sync also supports a viewing mode on Android and iOS mobile devices. The platform has a range of useful features to make VR meetings immersive and customisable, from avatars to importing useful files.

Supporting up to 30 attendees simultaneously, Vive Sync has a variety of meeting rooms depending on user preference. Teams can create their own avatars simply by taking a selfie which gives them a base to work from, adjusting further by selecting body types, hairstyle, skin tone, glasses and other accessories. There’s even full-body tracking for natural movement representation.

When it comes to working in Vive Sync the platform integrates with Microsoft OneDrive and OneDrive so users can securely access their files in VR, from PowerPoints to PDFs and videos. The same goes for 3D models. Thanks to support for FBX and OBJ files, as well as Unity Asset Bundles, importing and reviewing 3D assets is also possible.

Vive Sync is being designed so that’s it’s hardware-agnostic much like retail platform Viveport. While it’s just HTC Vive headsets which are supported, to begin with, PC VR devices like Oculus Rift as well as Oculus Quest are slated to receive support by the end of the year.

For further details on Vive Sync check out this webinar from David Sapienza, AVP Content Production at HTC Vive. When more features are rolled out VRFocus will let you know.

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HTC is launching its remote VR collaboration tool Vive Sync today, in a free open beta. The tool allows businesses working remotely to meet in virtual spaces using customizable avatars.

While the tool was announced last year, it is beginning an open beta from today, available for businesses and remote workers. With COVID-19 forcing many businesses and teams to work remotely from home, the timing of the Vive Sync beta make sense. Up to 30 users can participate simultaneously in a Vive Sync session with avatars that can be customized using the Sync Avatar Creator application on mobile devices.

Vive Sync aims to fit several different purposes with its sessions ranging from a virtual business meeting to an online press conference or remote classroom. Sync sessions can be held in either a conference room or auditorium setting, depending on what is more appropriate. There’s also support for importing and viewing files from One Drive during sessions, as well as the ability to place and examine 3D models in the virtual space. Non-VR participants can also join sessions through a “PC viewer.”

Currently, Sync only supports the Vive ecosystem of headsets – the HTC Vive, Vive Pro, Vive Focus and Vive Cosmos. HTC says it plans for future upgrades to the tool to include support for Oculus Rift, Oculus Quest, Valve Index and Windows MR headsets. Host controls and recording capabilities are also planned features.

Vive Sync is just one element of HTC’s increased focused on virtual meetings and conferences – last month, their annual Vive Ecosystem Conference shifted online and took place entirely in VR.

Vive Sync is currently available to download now for all HTC Vive headsets.

The post Vive Sync Available In Free Open Beta From Today For VR Collaboration appeared first on UploadVR.

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Final Fantasy VII Remake's toughest challenge comes from hard mode. Here are the best tactics for beating it.

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In an earnings call with investors Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg said Oculus “Quest has surpassed our expectations.”

“I wish we could make more of them faster during this period,” he said. “I’m quite pleased with how Quest is doing and I wish we could make more of them.”

While Facebook remains solidly an ad-driven business, Oculus products are driving growth in the company’s “Other” category of revenue. Quest in particular was mentioned in the company’s last quarterly earnings in January as driving growth while “Oculus Products” were reportedly mentioned as leading to first quarter “Other” revenue of $297 million, up 80 percent over the same quarter a year ago.

Facebook hasn’t released sales numbers for any of its consumer VR headsets so the revenue figure and comments during earnings calls remain some of the only ways to judge the health of its VR business. Oculus Quest has been backordered or not available for purchase for months, even before the COVID-19 pandemic, but in the last few weeks stock has returned to the company’s own website with more frequency. If you ordered one this week, though, the official Oculus site said it wouldn’t ship until the end of May.

“As people can’t go out into the world as much, the ability to have technology that allows us to…feel present even when we can’t be physically together  — whether that’s Quest, or Portal, or any of the software that we’re building around video presence — that stuff has certainly seen especially large spikes in usage,” Zuckerberg said. “And it’s possible that this…accelerates some of the trends around adoption of virtual or augmented reality, but I’m not sure what’ll happen there long-term.”

Facebook continues to invest billions annually in VR and AR research and development. The money is seen as a long term bet that the technologies will create more personal connections that “defy distance.” The company employed a strict console-like curation policy for content sold from its store on Oculus Quest. While SideQuest offers an alternative route for developers to distribute products for the headset, we hear from a number of Quest developers they’re seeing some of their strongest sales on any VR platform for Facebook’s standalone.

 

The post Mark Zuckerberg: Oculus Quest “Has Surpassed Our Expectations” appeared first on UploadVR.

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Get ready to set sail and explore northern Europe

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Magic Leap sent owners of its AR headsets a warning that they need to update their devices due to an issue related to the battery.

Developers received the email Tuesday April 28, less than a full week after massive layoffs on April 22 left the organization a fraction of its former size. The email to developers warns of a “critical” update to the software on the device because in “extremely isolated incidents” the battery contained in the processing pack for the AR headset “may expand or swell…when plugged into a charger continuously for an extended period of time.” The processor pack, called a “Lightpack”, is worn on the body during use.

There’s also a website posted about the “Critical OS Update for Magic Leap One Creator Edition and Magic Leap 1” which explains that the software update will “minimize the likelihood of swelling” by activating a “Battery Saver Mode” when it is “connected to a charger for extended periods of time.” The company also suggests owners of the headset “to examine the bottom of your Lightpack to determine if the black silicone cover shows any signs of the battery inside of the Lightpack swelling (such as if you see the edge of the black silicone beginning to lift away or any sort of deformation on the bottom).”

The company says those affected can receive a “replacement device, free of charge.” I asked Magic Leap representatives if there’s a fire risk associated with the battery swelling issue and they’ve told me there’s “no evidence that there’s a fire risk.”

Magic Leap raised more than $2 billion for its AR efforts over the years but reportedly only sold 6,000 units of its first headset in the first six months.

The post Magic Leap Warns Of ‘Critical’ Battery Issue Days After Huge Layoffs appeared first on UploadVR.

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Just over a year ago virtual reality (VR) developer Flight School Studio (Manifest 99, Island Time) revealed a partnership with Ringling College of Art and Design to mentor students on the newly-founded VR Development BFA degree programme. Now the first title from the course is on its way to Steam, with Wet Dog Corp arriving next week.

Gameplay revolves around the lucrative world of keeping pets clean, more specifically our canine friends. Set to offer a fun and frantic experience, your task is to get these pooches primed and ready for their owners within a specific time limit.

Wash them, dry them and make sure no dirt is left behind across eight levels with mutts ranging from pugs and corgies to chihuahuas and more.

While Flight school studio provided key insights in VR videogame design such as pre-production and asset creation, Ringling College students AJ Mize, Cain Hopkins and Makayla Hensley did the rest.

“There is no better way to learn than to actually have some skin in the game,” said Morgan Woolverton, interim department head of Ringling College’s Game Art and Virtual Reality Development programs in a statement. “When the students originally committed to the idea of making a product that would ship, they understood that this was an education on steroids. It is a unique educational experience to say the least.”

“This is an exciting partnership for our team at Flight School because we can shape the VR and game industry’s future talent,” explained Brandon Oldenburg, Flight School Studio CCO. “Even better, our team is endlessly inspired by the students’ ambitions and that makes any crew stronger and more innovative. It’s a true win-win for both Ringling and our team, many of whom are Ringling alumni.”

A new set of students are currently working on a project called Glitch Out VR. Originally planned to debut at SXSW Gaming, currently, the title is being developed remotely by the students.

Wet Dog Corp will arrive via Steam on 4th May supporting Oculus Rift, HTC Vive and Valve Index. It’ll be free to download and play. For further updates from Flight School Studio keep reading VRFocus.

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Ultrawide displays not only boost your overall productivity but provide a more immersive gaming experience.

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Another leaked mode is similar to Overwatch

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And so the circle is complete; the very last story expansion to Arizona Sunshine launches on Oculus Quest today.

The Damned, which we first revealed for PC VR and PSVR headsets at last year’s E3 VR Showcase, is now live (or soon will be) on Facebook’s standalone headset. As the name suggests, this expansion is set on an enormous dam. Taking place before the original game, you play as a US Special Forces agent that must reactive the facility’s generators. It’s easier said than done; zombies litter the place as you’d expect. Check it out in the trailer below.

And thus about another hour of headshots and dual-wielding VR antics ensues. As with the rest of the game, The Damned can be played in single-player or co-op with a friend.

Arizona came to Quest last year, and Vertigo has been regularly rolling out its DLC plan since. With the arrival of The Damned, however, the complete Arizona Sunshine experience is now available on Oculus Quest, nearly four years after the base game originally launched on Steam.

Elsewhere, we’re looking forward to getting an update on Vertigo’s next big zombie shooter, After The Fall, at some point. It’s been a while since the team last talked about it.

The Damned costs $4.99 and, although Arizona Sunshine itself doesn’t support cross-buy on Quest, each DLC pack does. So if you already own The Damned on the Oculus Rift store you’ll get it for free here.

Will you be picking up The Damned on Quest? Let us know in the comments below!

The post Arizona Sunshine’s Final Expansion Launches On Quest Today appeared first on UploadVR.

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Augmented reality (AR) has yet to catch up to the aspirations many developers have for the technology, with high-end devices like Microsoft’s HoloLens 2 and Magic Leap 1 still relatively bulky – certainly not stylish – while consumer smartphone-based AR has its own limitations. British semiconductor IP and IoT software company Arm recently commissioned a report on AR’s future, consumer interest in the tech and what needs to happen for widescale adoption.

Consumers aren’t that averse to AR, in fact, there’s a great deal of positivity towards the technology thanks to current efforts; both for mobile and glasses-based AR.

The report mainly deals with glasses-based AR, looking at consumer interest for standalone ‘Everyday AR Glasses’ which are the hardest to achieve in engineering terms and those which require external connections – either to a mobile device or battery/processor unit – like Nreal Light.

58 percent of respondents said they were either extremely- or very likely to buy AR devices designed for everyday use – dropping to 47 percent for a wired connection.

While hardware design will play heavily into whether consumers want to wear these devices, they also need solid reasons to in the first place. Use cases such as interactive entertainment and guidance for tasks such as DIY or cooking heavily featured but topping the poll was language translation (56 percent of respondents). Apps like Google Translate already offer a basic AR function to translate signage or menus into a required language, having it built into glasses would be a boon for those who love to travel (when everyone can travel again).

When it comes to preferences across the genders women were found to be most interested in using AR to make life easier. Men, on the other hand, were simply attracted to the latest technology and especially interested in the gaming potential.

Unsurprisingly, those who have to wear regular glasses showed a higher interest in AR version, but not by much. The highest category of interest came from far-sighted users at 67 percent with interest from those who don’t use any glasses for visual impairment dropping to 53 percent.

As for age groups expected commonalities occur. The 16-24 age group showed the most positive response to wearing AR with the 55-64 the lowest (79 percent and 45 percent respectively). The report also found that the younger generation are actually happier to stay connected to their smartphones while each subsequent age group showed a greater interest in using AR to make tasks easier.

AR most certainly has a future with major companies like Facebook, Microsoft and Apple all working towards similar connected goals. Arm expects this to happen in the next ten years. How this will happen is a different question entirely.

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Whether you're into the competitive gaming scene or casual streams, there's a Fortnite streamer for everyone.

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With hundreds of Star Wars games, it can be difficult to find one worth your time. Here are our favorites.

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Not all villagers are as likable as others. If you're not crazy about a villager, you can help them move out.

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You might be stuck at home but that isn’t stopping Oculus from putting on some live content to keep everyone entertained. Multi-platinum recording artist Offset and a few friends will be holding a live music stream via Oculus Venues today with Wiz Khalifa following suit next week.

Oculus Venues and Supersphere will be presenting Offset and Friends at 4pm PT (12am BST) featuring fellow hip-hop artists Young Thug, Rich the Kid, and SAINt JHN.

The one-night-only event is a VR-exclusive to the Oculus Venues app for Oculus Quest or Oculus Go as well as being available live on Offset’s Facebook page. Offset will also be spearheading a charitable initiative for the Atlanta Community Food Bank, personally donating 200,000 meals while viewers can also pledge their support from as little as $1 USD.

“As someone raised in metro Atlanta, this event is the perfect opportunity for me to give back to the community that has supported me throughout my childhood and my career,” Offset said in a statement. “I am looking forward to putting on an immersive, one-of-a-kind show for my fans and joining the Atlanta Community Food Bank in their fight against hunger.”

“We are extremely grateful to Offset, Young Thug, Rich the Kid, and SAINt JHN for helping us offer nourishment to struggling seniors, hardworking families, and hungry children,” said Sarah Fonder-Kristy, Chief Development Officer for the Atlanta Community Food Bank. “The need for meals has more than doubled since the start of the COVID-19 outbreak, and the donations we receive from this event will be instrumental in our work to provide that relief.”

The music doesn’t stop there as Wiz Khalifa will be stepping into VR and Oculus Venues on Wednesday 6th May, starting 4pm PT (12am BST). The Grammy-nominated artist will perform some of his biggest hits as well as new tracks from his latest EP, The Saga of Wiz Khalifa.

Oculus Venues has played host to several music stars over the last year, including Post Malone and Billy Eilish. The app is free to download for either headset and also plays host to sports events, comedy shows and other entertainment. VRFocus will continue its coverage of Oculus Venues, reporting back with the latest concert announcements.

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The creators of The Walking Dead: Saints & Sinners belives its work with VR physics, along with other projects, will lead to a “second generation” of VR games.

Skydance Interactive chief technologist and co-founder Peter Akeman said as much in a recent interview with VentureBeat (see below). “Let’s take three titles that just launched and do physical things,” Akeman said. “Let’s say Boneworks, we’ll take Walking Dead: Saints & Sinners, we’ll take Half-Life. All of us have games where we’re interacting with physical objects. Each one of us had to solve that problem on our own, in isolation. It’s like the early days of 3D where no one had done it and everyone was at home writing their own graphics engine.”

But, now that games with those basics are releasing, Akeman believes the next generation of VR games will go even deeper.

“So everyone is inventing the basics now, but then they’re out there and once they’re out there and a few different kicks have been had at it, these things are gonna standardize,” he explained. “And what you’ll then see is you’ll go from Quake to Half-Life, to put ancient metaphors to work here. Once the vocabulary of shooters gets developed, you’ll see a story emerge, you’ll get second-tier gameplay and deeper stuff emerging and I think the same thing’s going to be true here where, as the basic vocabulary gets laid down, we’re going to see second generation product that evolves and takes much deeper hand-play. It’s built on top of those mechanical rules that become standardized and people become familiar with.”

We’ve written along the lines of what Akeman is talking about before. The advances these games make in terms of physical interaction is unlocking a new type of native VR right before our eyes. The question is where it goes from here; can developers unlock this same potential on more accessible, lower-powered headsets like Oculus Quest? Saints & Sinners is coming to the platform and a Boneworks spin-off is in the works, so hopefully, we’ll have an answer soon.

The post Walking Dead Dev: VR Physics Standardization Will Lead To ‘Second Generation’ Games appeared first on UploadVR.

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We’ve seen a lot of different approaches to solving VR haptics over the past few years. It’s safe to say that Wireality is unlike any other, though.

Revealed earlier this month from researchers at Carnegie Mellon University and the Future Interfaces Group, Wireality attaches spring-loaded cables to your fingers a little like a puppet. Connected to a shoulder-mounted device, the kit works with a given VR world to sense when your hand is about to come into contact with a virtual object and stop your fingers in the relevant position.

The aim is to give you the illusion of, say, resting your hand on a wall or wrapping your fingers around a railing. Check it out in the video below. It’s like VR haptics by way of puppetry.

This approach, the researchers say, has a lot of benefits. For starters, the system locks your fingers in place when touching a virtual object, but doesn’t require more power to keep it there. Researchers say it uses 0.024 mWh per actuation.

Perhaps most importantly, though, the entire system was created using less than $35 worth of components, whereas other VR haptics systems currently cost in the thousands.

But, fairly obviously, there’s a lot of hurdles for Wireality to overcome. A lot of what makes consumer VR haptics tough is making it simple and accessible for users. Hooking up an array of cables to your digits and mounting a device to your shoulder before putting on a headset is anything but convenient. It’s also bound to limit how freely you can move your hands in VR, which isn’t something we’d be quick to trade-off.

Plus the system can only apply the illusion of touching a surface to a few parts of the hand; if you were to press your hand flat against a wall, say, you wouldn’t actually feel it on most of your palm with the current setup.

But it’s certainly an interesting avenue for future research.

The post Wireality Is A Low-Cost VR Haptics System That Turns You Into A Puppet appeared first on UploadVR.

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Last month VRFocus reported on training solution specialist Talespin securing new investment, helping expand deployment. Today, the company has announced its latest training modules under the banner of ‘Leading Through Uncertainty,’ designed to help companies navigate difficult scenarios in times of crisis.

Due to the impact the current coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic is having on businesses and the workforce, Talespin has tailored these new modules towards CEO’s, team leaders and other executives.

Utilizing role play with virtual human avatars the ‘Leading Through Uncertainty’ helps users practice key communication skills to deal with today’s challenging situation. These skills include active listening, understanding and empathizing with employees, de-escalation, succinct communication, and self-awareness. 

The five ‘Leading Through Uncertainty’ Learning modules are:

• Part I: Creating Calmness Through Succinct Communication
• Part II: Regulating Emotions During Uncertain Times
• Part III: Communicating Productively with a Distraught Employee
• Part IV: De-Escalating an Emotionally Charged Situation
• Part V: Disagreeing Productively During Challenging Times

“The COVID-19 pandemic has sent every organization into a period of self-reflection as we ask ourselves: what we can do right now to better take care of our people and customers,” said Talespin CEO and Co-Founder Kyle Jackson in a statement. “We saw ‘Leading Through Uncertainty’ as a way to help organizations take a people-first approach to their business operations, enabling them to leverage XR, one of the most impactful learning and empowerment technologies we’ve ever seen, to better prepare their leaders and teams. COVID-19 has forced us all to face workforce disruption on an accelerated timeline, with remote work, talent gaps, digital transformation, and other ‘future of work’ trends now present as mission-critical challenges, and we’ve designed our platform and our company from the beginning to answer these disruptions.”

The learning modules will be available across both virtual reality (VR) and desktop platforms via Talespin Runway and Cornerstone Ondemand. Runway has a range of other modules such as insurance-specific VR training for areas like water damage or physical car damage.

For further updates on Talespin’s training solutions, keep reading VRFocus.

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Mozilla release browser-based social platform Hubs back in 2018 allowing anyone to create rooms and share content. This week the company has rolled out an enterprise-focused version for Amazon Web Services (AWS) called Hubs Cloud so organisations can create their own social locations dependant on need.

Offered as an Early Access product on AWS, Hubs Cloud provides the same underlying architecture as Hubs; being able to build social spaces for a range of use cases, whether that’s industrial or educational, just this time through their AWS account.

That means companies and other organisations can operate immersive spaces for their own private or public use, with highly customisable options for branding and styling, security as well as media. They can also create a custom version of the software to add unique features and functionality.

Hubs Cloud is still compatible with the same avatars and scenes from Hubs for quick and simple setups before users delve further into the usability features. From there they can upload their own 3D content to build a platform catering to their needs.

The service is available in Personal and Enterprise editions, the former providing a smaller instance size and limits to system-wide scalability to keep costs lower. Both versions offer the same features, while billing is based on hourly metering and the instance sizes used. Plus a cost estimation calculator is available so companies know how much to budget for.

Hubs Cloud is compatible with a range of devices thanks to its web-based format, from VR headsets to desktop PC’s and mobile devices, so anyone can connect. It’s very much like hosting your own 2D website but in 3D, providing versatility and scalability, opening up immersive VR content even further.

As Mozilla continues to expand its web-based VR offerings from Hubs to Firefox Reality, VRFocus will keep you updated.

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Ever wanted to be a dog groomer? What about a highly efficient dog groomer with guns that fire soap and water to get through an assembly line of puppers in record time?

Wet Dog Corp has the answer to your incredibly specific wish.

This new game, arriving on PC VR headsets next week via Steam, is developed by students of Ringling College of Art and Design as mentored by Flight School Studio, the team behind Island Time and Manifest 99. In it, an array of scruffy puppers line up on a conveyor belt, desperately in need of a good scrub. Take a look below and try not to “d’awww” too hard.

As you can see, this is dog grooming by way of Job Simulator. Projectile soap is applied thick and fast, and good boys and girls need to be treated as quickly as possible.

Okay, so maybe don’t expect the deepest, most complex gameplay experience out of this one. But there are 13 different types of dogs, eight levels to master and three washing tools to use including wash, rinse and, of course, the all-important dry. It might be a good way to distract the younger among us during this period of self-isolation?

Wet Dog Corp will be free to download on May 4th. The team behind it is also working on another VR game, Glitch Out, which was planned for reveal at SXSW 2020 before the festival was canceled. Hopefully we’ll get a better look at that one in the near future.

The post Wet Dog Corp Is Job Simulator Meets Pet Grooming appeared first on UploadVR.

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The Oculus Quest now has a Dynamic Fixed Foveated Rendering (FFR) feature, which developers can use instead of manually setting the FFR level.

UPDATE April 28: this feature is now available for Unity, the game engine used for the majority of Oculus Quest content.

This article was originally published December 20:

Fixed Foveated Rendering is a rendering feature that developers can use on Oculus Quest. It renders the peripheral of the lenses at a lower resolution than the center, making it easier for the software to maintain a consistent and comfortable frame rate by shaving down detail in places that are less noticeable. There are four levels of FFR developers can choose from: Low, Medium, High, and High Top.

FFR can make it easier for developers to port their PC VR games to Quest. However, the High and High Top can be very noticeable for the user. As we stated in our review of the Quest headset:

In the game’s opening training montage I couldn’t help but point my eyes down and see two blurs for feet running on a treadmill. Tilting my head up over text to move it into the foveated area revealed the scale and size of the effect

Dynamic FFR allows developers to let the Oculus system dynamically adapt the level of foveation based on the GPU utilization. This means that unless it is needed at that time for performance, users won’t see the pixelation and blur seen in some Quest titles today.

The feature is off by default, however, so developers will need to add it to their games via a software update to get the benefits.

For Unity, this can be done by setting useDynamicFixedFoveatedRendering to true on the OVRManager script.

The post Oculus Quest Gets Dynamic Fixed Foveated Rendering To Balance Quality & Performance appeared first on UploadVR.

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Cloudhead Games says its arcade shooter Pistol Whip should launch on PSVR this summer.

The cinematic shooter with rhythm elements debuted on PC VR and Oculus Quest in November and looks like it should be a nice fit for PSVR given its forward-facing design. I rated Pistol Whip 5/5 because of its satisfying gameplay and addictive challenge curve which starts with an auto-assist mode that makes you feel like a badass John Wick. The title gains significant depth with built -in modifiers like a Deadeye mode that takes away the superpowered aiming.

There’s no specific release date announced yet for the game.

The game launched with 10 tracks or “scenes” inspired by various sci-fi and action movies set to thumping music. Since release Cloudhead added four more free tracks to bring the total to 14 as of this writing. The latest addition, called Dark Skies, is my favorite.

Check out the gameplay video of the latest track:

After PSVR release Cloudhead Games is planning “exciting new content updates, modifiers, and more to be revealed in the months after launch.”

We are still waiting on a new release date announcement for Iron Man VR on PSVR after COVID-19-related delays. The confirmation of Pistol Whip for release on PSVR should be a welcome addition to the release schedule for PlayStation 4 owners. We’ll bring you the latest on Pistol Whip as soon as we have it.

PlayStation VR owners, are you excited to finally play Pistol Whip this summer? Let us know in the comments below.

The post Pistol Whip Confirmed For PSVR Release This Summer appeared first on UploadVR.

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The PlayStation VR has some great virtual reality (VR) titles available but there are plenty of PC-based videogames that would work well on the system. Cloudhead Games seems to think so as the developer has just announced it’ll be porting the excellent Pistol Whip this summer.

Pistol Whip combines both rhythm action gameplay with the feeling of being an unstoppable badass, most often compared to John Wick. Gameplay is fairly straight forward, gun in hand you have to survive levels – called ‘scenes’ – by taking down enemies however you like, shooting them in the face of throwing in a quick gun butt.

As this is a rhythm action experience surviving isn’t enough, you also want to score as many points as possible; achieved by hitting targets to the beat or chaining them together. With a highly stylised visual design and some pounding tracks to play to, Pistol Whip is one of those non-stop sensory assaults.

To further mix up the gameplay players can select from a range of modifiers, removing the aim assist or adding a second gun. Each one affecting the score multiplier in some way.

When it comes to the PlayStation VR version Cloudhead Games has confirmed Pistol Whip can be played with one PlayStation Move controller by default, with intuitive gestures to reload and melee. Due to the hectic nature of the gameplay Pistol Whip also makes for a decent workout tool.

The studio has continually updated Pistol Whip since its release for PC VR headsets and Oculus Quest in November 2019, adding new scenes as well as other content improvements, the latest being Dark Skies. These are all expected to be part of the PlayStation VR version. Once it has been released new content updates will follow in the months to come.

Check out VRFocus‘ review of Pistol Whip which awarded the title a decent four-star rating, noting: “Pistol Whip is huge amounts of fun even on the easiest difficulty setting, suitable for VR players no matter their skill level.”

Cloudhead Games has pencilled in a summer 2020 window for Pistol Whip’s release for PlayStation VR. When further details are made available VRFocus will let you know.

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You can still find the Nintendo Switch at these stores

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Need some new clothes but can't find what you need at Able Sisters' shop? Find Kicks and check out his stock.

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Community created custom maps have long been a staple of Beat Saber, the untouchable king of VR rhythm games.

However, a new tool that utilizes neural networks and artificial intelligence might change the entire custom map scene. Beat Sage, which released last week, is able to generate a custom Beat Saber map out of any song on YouTube. Not only that but, with the right song, it actually works shockingly well.

We know what you’re thinking — tools like Beat Sage that auto-generate maps for rhythm games are average at best, dismal as worst. They never work as well as you hope they do, right? Well usually that is the case — Audioshield’s implementation is lacking by 2020 standards — however, Beat Sage provides amazingly good results when given the right type of music. It works better than any other comparative tools I’ve tried, and in some cases it generates custom maps that I found more consistent and enjoyable than some community-made ones.

The one catch is that only certain types of music work well. As expected, most slow ballads or rock music will produce strange (or just boring) results. However, if you give Beat Sage a pop track with a very strong beat and electronic tone, the results are incredible. Don’t believe us? Just check out some examples in the video below.

As you can see, Beat Sage’s generated maps work remarkably well and are genuinely fun to play. While occasionally there are a few hitches, the maps often play in a similar style, and similar difficulty level, to the official Beat Saber tracks. There’s a specific reason for that too — the tool’s AI actually learnt what to generate based off Beat Saber levels created by humans, like the official tracks. Here’s how the Beat Sage developers explain it on their site:

Beat Sage uses two neural networks to map an audio file into a plausible Beat Saber level. These neural networks were trained on Beat Saber levels created by humans. The first neural network listens to the audio and predicts at what points in time blocks should be placed. The second neural network looks at the predicted timings and maps each to a timestamp to a block type (e.g. red up, blue down, red up + blue down).

These neural networks are the reason Beat Sage maps work so well, while also managing to capture the essence and subtleties of Beat Games’ mappings.

It’s all the work of Chris Donahue and Abhay Agarwal, who are actively developing Beat Sage alongside their day jobs. While chatting with them earlier today, they wanted to stress that the tool is still actively in development, and improvements will continue to be made. While Beat Sage is incredibly impressive already, hopefully it will only get better from here.

In particular, upcoming changes to the AI will address problematic mappings that limit visibility or hinder your flow, which can be a problem with the current tracks. Beat Sage only supports standard notes, bombs and Normal through to Expert+ difficulties at the moment, but they’re planning to add more features (like walls and 90/360 degree modes) as they build support through their Patreon.

While the tool isn’t perfect and doesn’t work with all styles of music, it is still the absolute best AI track generator I’ve seen for any rhythm game. It produces levels which are not only a ball to play, but also challenging and similar in style to the official Beat Saber maps. You can try out Beat Sage for yourself now, with even more improvements to the AI to come in the future.

The post New AI Tool Turns Any Song Into A Custom Beat Saber Map, And It Really Works appeared first on UploadVR.

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A new SideQuest prototype from Realities.io turns 3D models captured with photogrammetry into puzzles you can put together in VR.

Puzzling Places is a “very early” prototype concept for an Oculus Quest puzzle game that sees the player putting together 3D models made from captures of real places. The prototype was put together over the last several weeks in social isolation by the folks at Realities.io, a company which made the technology used for The Key and other VR projects. It only features one puzzle at the time of this writing because the creators wanted to release it quickly to get feedback on the concept. The included puzzle is described as fairly difficult with 98 pieces of the Tatev Monastery in Armenia, so if you’re looking for a VR alternative to real life puzzling this looks like an intriguing concept.

“We’ve had the idea of Puzzling Places floating around our heads for a while. One day, due to a Unity import error, the pieces of a scanned environment were scrambled around the scene. Someone made a joke that fixing this by hand would like making a 3D jigsaw puzzle, and so the idea was born,” Realitis.io photogrammetry expert Azad Balabanian wrote in a prepared statement. “When the Coronavirus Crisis travel restrictions forced us to postpone some of our planned scanning projects, the lockdown forcing us to work from home, and physical jigsaw puzzles selling out everywhere, we decided to make the best out of the situation.”

Check out the trailer below:

The game also includes audio recorded on location and the ability to “force pull” puzzle pieces toward you with the promise of more features to come.

You can download the Puzzling Places prototype free for Oculus Quest now from SideQuest. If you’re unfamiliar with sideloading content onto the Oculus Quest standalone we put together a guide that walks you through all the steps involved.

The post Sidequest Prototype Puzzling Places Turns 3D Model Into 98-Piece Puzzle appeared first on UploadVR.

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Felix & Paul Studios has a long illustrious history creating live-action immersive content, especially when it comes to working with Cirque du Soleil. The studio has now revealed its latest collaboration Alegría – A Spark of Light due for release in a couple of days.

The sixth virtual reality (VR) production Felix & Paul Studios and Cirque du Soleil have made together Alegría – A Spark of Light promises to be the studios’ most ambitious to date.

Offering a 14-minute experience of Cirque du Soleil’s iconic production, it was created with an elaborate set of over 100 cameras and mirrors; Felix & Paul using its latest camera system and post-production platform. As well as several camera designs custom-built for this experience, its latest camera the Gen4 was employed for the first time on a Cirque du Soleil production.

This is also the first time the pair have used CGI effects in a project, creating objects like the floating crystal seen below to increase the visual spectacle.

‘’From the mind-bending amount of VR cameras that were used on set to create realistic reflections of the performers and acrobats, to the elaborate post-production process our team devised and forged through to produce the various tableaux of this piece, this project raises the bar for what can
be accomplished through an immersive cinematic experience,” said Paul Raphaël and Félix Lajeunesse, co-founders and creative directors of Felix & Paul Studios in a statement.

Alegría – A Spark of Light will be made available on Thursday 30th April on the U+VR platform in South Korea, while fans around the rest of the world can use Oculus Go or Samsung Gear VR.

As mentioned this is Felix & Paul Studios sixth time working with Cirque du Soleil, the first being Zarkana followed by Inside the Box of Kurios. The studios’ other works include Gymnasia, The People’s House: Inside the White House with Barack and Michelle Obama and Marshall from Detroit.

Check out the trailer below and for further updates from Felix & Paul Studios keep reading VRFocus.

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