Mint Virtual Reality

Acer, ASUS and Razer are all fantastic brands for laptops that offer peak gaming, but can also be used for work (and other play).

via Mint VR

He's working on something with longtime collaborator Yoji Shinkawa

via Mint VR

Sony is also launching a free commemorative theme and a free online multiplayer weekend.

via Mint VR

Facebook’s VR research division is presenting prototype VR optics smaller than any we’ve seen yet for the annual SIGGRAPH computer graphics conference.

The ideas behind the “holographic near-eye display” could one day enable VR headsets with sunglasses form factor- but for now this is solely research with limitations.

Why Are VR Headsets So Bulky?

The primary driver of the size and bulk of today’s VR headsets is the optical design. Magnifying a display over a wide field of view requires a large, thick lens, and focusing it at a viewable distance requires a long gap to the display. After adding the housing needed to contain this system, even the most minimal designs end up over 350 grams.

The standalone Oculus Quest, with a battery, mobile chip and lens separation adjustment, weighs 571 grams. Many people find it hurts their face after a few minutes.

Panasonic and Pico have shown off prototypes of compact headsets using “pancake lenses”, and Huawei has already launched this as a product in China. Without a tracking system or battery, these headsets end up around 150 grams.

However, these current pancake lens designs have a number of unsolved flaws. They block around 75 percent of light which can make the image look dim and washed out. They may also show faint ghost versions of the image slightly misaligned, and this “ghosting” only gets worse as you try to improve the image with a brighter source.

Holographic Lenses

Facebook Reality Labs’ new approach is a thin film where focusing is done by holographic optics instead of by the bulk of the lens. ‘Hologram’ in this context just means a physical “recording” of how light interacts with an object- in this case a lens rather than a scene.

Facebook claims the research may be able “to deliver a field of view comparable to today’s VR headsets using only a thin film for a thickness of less than 9 mm.” The total weight of the display module is claimed as just 18 grams. However, this does not include the actual laser source, and nor do any of the images Facebook provided. “For our green-only sunglasses-like prototype, we measured an overall maximum field of view of approximately 92◦ ×69◦,” according to the research paper.

By using polarization-based optical folding, these ultra-lightweight lenses can be placed directly in front of the display source.

Because holographic elements disperse light, the only practical illumination source is lasers used at specific angles and wavelengths. The researchers were able to “inject” laser light into a 2.1″ 1600×1600 LCD, replacing the backlight.

The prototype is currently monochrome, only capable of displaying the color green. The researchers have a tabletop-sized proof of concept for multi-color, and believe bringing this to the sunglasses prototype is “viable” with further engineering.

The range of colors laser light can deliver (known as the color gamut) is significantly wider than LCD displays, and in fact slightly wider than even OLED, so this would represent a milestone achievement if it could be moved into a head-worn system.

Early Research, Lofty Goals

It’s important to understand that what’s being presented here is just early research for a new kind of display system. If it ever becomes a product, it will also need a tracking system. And unless it connects to your phone with a cable, it’d likely need a battery and mobile chipset too.

Facebook describes this research as being on the same miniaturization research “path” as Half Dome 2 and 3, which it presented at Oculus Connect 6 back in October.

Those headsets are much larger than what’s being shown here, but achieved a wider field of view while also having eye tracking and variable focus. FRL says future iterations of this sunglasses prototype could also be varifocal by moving the lenses on a range of just 1 millimeter. This could theoretically be achieved with tiny piezoelectric actuators.

For virtual reality to reach Mark Zuckerberg’s lofty goal of 1 billion users, headsets need to get significantly more comfortable while increasing realism. While designs like the Rift S “halo strap” can redistribute weight, this is more of a bandage than truly addressing the issue of bulk.

Like all early research, this idea may never pan out. Practical issues may emerge. Facebook is simultaneously exploring a number of novel compact display architectures. If it can make even one work, it could do to VR what LCD panels did to CRT monitors and televisions.

Facebook’s research paper concludes:

“Lightweight, high resolution, and sunglasses-like VR displays may be the key to enabling the next generation of demanding virtual reality applications that can be taken advantage of anywhere and for extended periods of time. We made progress towards this goal by proposing a new design space for virtual reality displays that combines polarization-based optical folding, holographic optics, and a host of supporting technologies to demonstrate full color display, sunglasses-like form factors, and high resolution across a series of hardware prototypes. Many practical challenges remain: we must achieve a full color display in a sunglasses-like form factor, obtain a larger viewing eye box, and work to suppress ghost images. In doing so, we hope to be one step closer to achieving ubiquitous and immersive computing platforms that increase productivity and bridge physical distance.”

The post Facebook Researchers Show The Most Compact VR Optics Yet appeared first on UploadVR.

via Mint VR

South Korean virtual reality (VR) developer SKonec Entertainment tends to focus mainly on the location-based entertainment (LBE) market in its home region. But it does occasionally dabble in the home market, most notably with arcade shooter Mortal Blitz a few years ago. Recently, it has been revealed the studio plans on releasing a multiplayer shooter called Mortal Blitz: Combat Arena for free on PlayStation VR in the coming months.

PlayStation’s Shuhei Yoshida made the announcement as part of the BitSummit Gaiden 2020 event which is all about indie developers. Mortal Blitz: Combat Arena will be a free to play experience coming to PlayStation VR in September with a beta released in August. What wasn’t clear was whether this info is purely for the Asian market or if it’s a global release.

Supporting a single-player mission-based mode as well as the core multiplayer which can have up to four players, Mortal Blitz: Combat Arena will include customizable weapons and items to pick up as well as Aim controller support.

In the multiplayer mode players have to teleport between platforms of varying heights to allow you an advantage over a lower positioned opponent. Light walls appear upon arrival to aid in defense but these can be destroyed with enough firepower.

In fact, VRFocus has played a previous incarnation of Mortal Blitz: Combat Arena during Gamescom 2019. SKonec Entertainment originally announced Battle Arena: Mortal Blitz as an LBE only experience back in 2018 before taking it to the Cologne-based event the following year.

While there are some graphical differences – this was running on a PC originally – the gameplay looks virtually identical. Battle Arena: Mortal Blitz was an enjoyable arena shooter and that was only with 2 players; with four VRFocus would imagine Mortal Blitz: Combat Arena is going to get seriously fast and frantic.

VRFocus has contacted SKonec Entertainment for further information regarding the launch of Mortal Blitz: Combat Arena and whether it’ll be global. When’s there’s further info to update you, we’ll let you know.

via Mint VR

The theme park was supposed to open this summer

via Mint VR

Just over a week ago, First Contact Entertainment released new details regarding its next first-person shooter (FPS), Solaris Offworld Combat. Since then the studio has also begun detailing further snippets such as the videogame featuring Aim controller support for PlayStation VR. The most recent sees the team confirm intentions to release a Steam version.

When Solaris Offworld Combat initially arrives in August it’ll only support Oculus Quest and Rift through the Oculus Store, followed by the PlayStation VR version at some point in 2020. There was never any mention of other headsets or platforms.

With Steam now confirmed to be part of First Contact Entertainment’s future plans this adds in the likelihood that Valve Index, HTC Vive/Vive Cosmos and Windows Mixed Reality headsets will gain support at some point in the future.

As a multiplayer, team-based shooter, Solaris Offworld Combat will live and breathe of its player community, so the more headsets it can support the better. Oculus Quest and PlayStation VR likely do have the biggest player bases, hence why they’re already confirmed. Even so, if you are an Oculus Rift owner who loves Steam, then at least you know it’s coming; when is another matter.

Set to offer a 4v4 arena-style sci-fi shooter, Solaris Offworld Combat will feature a core gameplay mode called ‘Control Point’. This entails teams having to work together to hold an area and win the match. Everyone starts with the same loadout, a Sentinel Disruptor pistol, then as they explore the arena they’ll be able to find an even more devastating array of weaponry which can include Grenade Launchers, Rocket Launchers, and Arc Rifles. There will be other pickups like health and shields, all of which appear as holograms from the floor.

Because of the mixture of locomotion controls, you’ll be able to slide along the floor in the heat of battle to grab new armaments on the fly. Solaris Offworld Combat will also include teleport locations known as Jump Points which can be used tactically to quickly traverse the arenas and flank opponents.

Solaris Offworld Combat will hit Oculus Quest and Rift on 27th August 2020. When a released date for the PlayStation VR version is released VRFocus will let you know.

via Mint VR