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Submission + - Details of New 'Totem' VR Headset to Compete with the Oculus Rift (roadtovr.com)

Submitted by muterobert
muterobert writes: The True Player Gear Totem is a VR headset with similar specs to the Oculus Rift DK2. The final spec is planned to include a 1080p OLED display with low persistence and a 90 degree field of view. Unlike the Rift, it also has two 1080p cameras on the front that will allow for passthrough video and positional tracking. It contains onboard stereo surround sound and will have compatibility with PCs as well as game consoles.

Submission + - Gabe Newell Confirms That Valve is Prepping Source 2 Game Engine for Virtual Rea (roadtovr.com)

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: In a Q&A session on Reddit last night (http://bit.ly/1drsQB1) with Valve's Gabe Newell, the founder confirmed (http://bit.ly/1cuD4md) that the company is in the process of getting the highly anticipated Source 2 game engine "working well with VR," with Valve's Alex Vlachos, Senior Graphics Programmer, apparently leading the charge. Still no word on when the engine may ship.

Valve, who is openly collaborating with Oculus VR, demonstrated a VR headset prototype in January at Steam Dev Days (http://bit.ly/1c9Dgqk). The company also launched a beta version of SteamVR which offers Steam's 'Big Picture' mode in a format compatible with the Oculus Rift VR headset (http://bit.ly/1dlWXcL).

Submission + - PS4 VR Headset Is As Impressive As Valve's, Says PS4 Developer. (roadtovr.com)

Submitted by muterobert
muterobert writes: The existence of a Virtual Reality headset from Sony for their PS4 console has passed well beyond idle speculation over the past 12 months. We bring you new information from a PS4 developer.

Our source describes the HMD as having an FOV comparable to that of the Rift DK1 but with a much higher resolution. Further, the prototype our source had extensive time with, used 2 glowing orbs mounted atop the headset. Using a camera, assumed at this point to be the standard PS4 Stereo camera that launched alongside the console late last year, the system tracks the user’s head in 3D space – using the orbs to pinpoint position.

Submission + - 30 Minutes Inside Valve's Prototype Virtual Reality Headset (roadtovr.com)

Submitted by muterobert
muterobert writes: Owlchemy Labs, the developers behind the excellent Oculus Rift ready game, ‘Aaaaaaaculus!’, share their impressions of their time at Steam Dev Days and detail their experiences using Valve’s secretive virtual reality HMD prototype.

An Excerpt:

I was told to walk off of the cube and it was physically difficult to step forward into the space where there was no solid footing, even though I knew that there would be a solid floor with a rug right there for me. It’s amazing how the mind can trick you.

Submission + - Valve Launches SteamVR Beta for Virtual Reality On the Eve of Steam Dev Days (roadtovr.com)

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: Over the last few weeks, Valve has made some major advances in support for virtual reality. First was the announcement that they'd be showing prototype VR hardware that they believe is “what affordable VR hardware will be capable of within a couple of years.” (http://bit.ly/1m4rRar) Second, they've added a 'VR Support' category (http://bit.ly/1a3AuSS) to Steam for Oculus Rift games. Third, they are soon to release a VR SDK for Steam developers (http://bbc.in/1amXDxx). And now they've finally launched SteamVR Beta, a Big Picture mode for the Oculus Rift, and presumably also for future virtual reality headsets (http://bit.ly/1dlWXcL).

At Steam Dev Days next week, Valve has three VR talks planned: 'What VR Could, Should, and Almost Certainly Will Be within Two Years,' 'Virtual Reality and Steam,' and 'Porting Games to Virtual Reality' — the latter by Oculus co-founder and Rift inventor Palmer Luckey.

Submission + - First Glimpse of Oculus Rift 2.0 Found In Wired Article Image (roadtovr.com)

Submitted by muterobert
muterobert writes: [quote]
There are a couple of things of interest here. Firstly – the HMD itself seems to be a new construction – likely a unique working prototype. Secondly, note the thin orange cable which runs from the HMD (marked ‘B’ on the image) down onto the floor and up to what appears to be a wall mounted device with cables channelled into the whiteboard next to the monitor. Could this be an imaging device with an uplink to the new HMD? If so is this the first glimpse of the next generation Oculus Rift positional tracking rumoured to make an appearance at CES in January 2014?
[/quote]

Submission + - Valve Adds 'VR Support' Category to Steam - The VR Revolution is Underway (roadtovr.com)

Submitted by muterobert
muterobert writes: [quote]
Steam, Valve’s digital distribution platform, now includes a ‘VR Support’ category, making it easy to search the entire Steam library for Oculus Rift games. Currently four titles are listed as part of the category, with many sure to follow as Rift game developers mark their games with VR support.
[/quote]

Submission + - The Science Behind The InfinitEye's Panoramic Virtual Reality Experience (roadtovr.com)

Submitted by muterobert
muterobert writes: The Oculus Rift has competition, and it's incredible. The InfinitEye has a 210 Field of View (compared with the Oculus Rift's 90) and surrounds your peripheral vision in the game completely. Paul James from RoadToVR goes in-depth with the team behind the new device and finds out how high FOV Virtual Reality really works.

At the present time, we are using 4 renders, 2 per eye. Left eye renders are centered on left eye, the first render is rotated 90 left and the second looks straight ahead, building two sides of a cube. Right eye renders are centered on its position, the first is rotated 90 degree right and the second looks straight ahead, two sides of another cube. We then process those renders in a final pass, building the distorted image.

Submission + - Hands-on with Avegant's Impressive Virtual Retinal Head Mounted Display (roadtovr.com)

Submitted by muterobert
muterobert writes: "Avegant is creating a unique head mounted display that uses an impressive virtual retinal display, a screen-less technology that projects an image directly onto your retina."

"At one point I was looking at a sea turtle in shallow coral waters. Sunlight was beaming down from the surface and illuminating the turtle’s shell in a spectacular way—it was one of the most vivid and natural things I’ve ever seen on any display. The scene before me looked incredibly real, even though the field of view is not at immersive levels."

Submission + - RoadToVR - InfinitEye Exclusive Hands-On - the 210 Degree FOV Oculus Rift Beater (roadtovr.com)

Submitted by muterobert
muterobert writes: "InfinitEye is a prototype head mounted display that uses dual 1280×800 displays to create a massive 210 degree field of view. I traveled to Toulouse, France to be the first journalist in the world to go hands-on with the unit. These are my thoughts on the trip, the team, and the HMD itself."

"Natural and Panoramic Virtual Reality”

is the best phrase I can come up with that summarises the InfinitEye’s capabilities. If using the Oculus Rift is like opening the sunroof on a virtual world, the InfinitEye takes the roof clean off—at least if you base your opinion solely on horizontal FOV. But the new HMD also offers 1280×800 per eye in comparison the current Oculus Rift Dev Kit’s 640×800 (and only slightly fewer pixels per eye than the Oculus Rift HD prototype)"

Submission + - Oculus Rift Gets Half-Life 2, Outerra and 3D Box Fractal Flythrough! (roadtovr.com)

Submitted by Hesh
Hesh writes: Now that all 10,000 developers will have received their dev kits by the end of May (http://www.oculusvr.com/blog/shipping-update-replacement-rewards-vr-meet-ups-and-half-life-2-in-vr/) completely new experiences and updates to popular games are flooding in. Valve's classic, Half-Life 2, has finally gained VR support that actually works beautifully (http://www.roadtovr.com/2013/05/11/how-to-configure-half-life-2-beta-for-your-oculus-rift-gameplay-video-5730). Also, the open-world 3D engine Outerra has added initial support for the Rift which will open up the possibility of planet-sized procedurally generated environments (http://www.roadtovr.com/2013/05/19/outerra-oculus-rift-support-coming-soon-5996). Lastly, a fly through generated with Boxplorer2 tailored for the Oculus Rift gives the mind-blowing experience of what it is like to fly through 3D fractal worlds (http://www.roadtovr.com/2013/05/20/boxplorer-2-oculus-rift-support-3d-fractal-6004); realtime support for this should be possible on today's hardware so hopefully it will arrive sooner rather than later!

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