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Submission + - 'About Face' Oculus Rift Accessory Blasts Through Kickstarter Goal in 24 Hours (roadtovr.com)

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: About Face is an accessory for the Oculus Rift DK1 and DK2 VR headsets (http://www.oculus.com/dk2/). It replaces the existing foam with an 'ergonomic insert' which allows the attachment of interchangeable liners that are purportedly more comfortable than the original and are also washable, allowing easy cleaning to remove sweat and skin oil. The Kickstarter campaign for About Face launched yesterday and has already broken through its $12,000 goal. The creators of the Kickstarter say they're already ready for manufacturing and backers can expect the product just a few weeks after the end of the Kickstarter.

Submission + - John Carmack's Brilliant Oculus Connect Keynote Probably Had Samsung Cringing (roadtovr.com)

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: John Carmack, famed keystone developer of 3D networked gaming, has now been working with virtual reality company Oculus for over a year. Much of that time has been spent collaborating with Samsung on the forthcoming Gear VR headset. At his keynote presentation during Oculus Connect, Carmack took to the stage with 90 unscripted minutes of no holds barred discussion of the last 12 months in VR. "I believe pretty strongly in being very frank and open about flaws and limitations so this is kind of where I go off message a little bit from the standard PR plan and talk very frankly about things," he said to applause from the audience.

Submission + - 8 Photos of Internal Samsung Gear VR Prototypes Revealed by Oculus (roadtovr.com)

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: At Oculus Connect, CEO Brendan Iribe took to the stage to talk about the company’s recent work, including their collaboration on Samsung’s Gear VR headset. During the presentation, Iribe showed photos of 8 previously unseen Gear VR prototypes. Samsung Gear VR, which is officially ‘Powered by Oculus’, has a tracker built-in which Oculus says is based on the tracker used in the Rift DK1. At the start of Oculus’ prototyping, the company was working with 3D printed housings and stuck the tracker to the front of Gear VR prototypes. By Prototype 5 (working by the units Oculus has revealed), they'd began using what appears to be the DK1 housing as a basis. Prototype 6 looks to be the first with a molded housing and possibly and internal tracker and appears to have two knobs for independent eye focus. Prototype 7 is the first to move on from and Oculus branded strap and add some aesthetic accents as well as a single center dial for focus. Prototype 8 approaches the final design quite closely, but we see some modification to the top head strap in the final version.

Submission + - Striker VR Thinks They Can Get Their Awesome VR Gun Recoil System Down to $55 (roadtovr.com)

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: The military has been looking for a powerful electronically-based recoil system for training to replace flawed pneumatic systems currently in use. Striker VR (http://strikervr.com/) came up with a solution that provides more recoil, better response, and greater reliability. Road to VR's Ben Lang tried the system and says "After 10 seconds of testing, I was sold." (http://bit.ly/1C6dBry) The company is aiming the tech toward military and out-of-home venues to start, but they think they'll be able to bring it down to a mere $55 in a few years time for in-home virtual reality use.

Submission + - Oculus Open-sources First VR Headset Development Kit, the Rift DK1 (roadtovr.com)

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: During a session at Connect, Oculus' first developer conference, the company released the totality of the Oculus Rift DK1 plans to the public. Under an open-source license, anyone can now freely download the blueprints of the company's first VR headset and even manufacture and sell their own. The files include CAD models, circuit board designs, firmware, and more. At the same session, Oculus Engineer Nirav Patel elaborated on the challenges faced while manufacturing the Rift DK1.

Submission + - First Hands-on with the Incredible New Oculus Rift VR Headset (roadtovr.com)

Submitted by muterobert
muterobert writes: One of the stand-out demos put me in front of an alien on some sort of Moon-like world. The alien was looking at me and speaking in an unfamiliar tongue. When I moved my head, its gaze followed me. Its big and detailed eyes, combined with reaction to me as I moved, imbued it with a sense of living that was really cool. Spaceships flew over head and drew my gaze behind me, leading me to look at some incredibly detailed scenery.

Submission + - Hacker Awarded $25,000 for Identifying Security Exploits in Oculus Developer Cen (roadtovr.com)

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: A whitehat hacker scored some serious cash for identifying security vulnerabilities in Oculus VR’s developer portal. The exploits, which could have been used to plant malicious code in the Oculus SDK, among other mischievous things, have been patched and the hacker rewarded through Facebook’s ‘Bug Bounty’ program.

With Facebook’s acquisition of Oculus VR becoming official in July, the VR company is now covered under the social network’s Bug Bounty program which also covers other companies acquired by Facebook: Instagram, Parse, Onavo, and Moves.

A whitehat hacker, who goes by Jon (aka Bitquark), decided to take a look under the hood of the Oculus Developer Center, the official portal which hosts developer downloads and forums for discussion. What he found was several dangerous vulnerabilities that Facebook deemed worthy of a $25,000 reward.

Submission + - 60,000 Oculus Rift DK2 Orders, 20,000+ Units Shipped, New Orders Ship in October (roadtovr.com)

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: The much lauded Oculus Rift DK2 is in high demand. Shipping began at the end of July and Oculus says they've already shipped more than 20,000 of their 60,000 orders. The company recently updated their order page to indicate that new units are expected to ship starting in October. The Oculus Rift DK2 is the company’s second development kit which offers a number of major improvements over the original kit, called the DK1, which was the result of a successful Kickstarter back in August, 2012. Although the DK2 is intended for developers, the company openly offers the VR headset up for sale to anyone interested for $350. The Oculus Rift DK2s most notable enhancements are a higher resolution display and positional tracking capability as well as a number of other under-the-hood enhancements make the DK2 a huge improvement over its predecessor.

Submission + - Nintendo's 'Virtual Boy' HMD Could Get a New Game 19 Years After Discontinuation (roadtovr.com)

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: ZeroTransform, an indie VR studio, is running a Kickstarter for Vanguard V, a slick action-arcade title for virtual reality (http://kck.st/UzXcuJ). Far beyond the Kickstarter's goal of $198,000 is a stretch goal to develope a version of the game for Nintendo's 'Virtual Boy' head mounted display, nearly two decades after its discontinuation. After uncovering 'The VB Sacred Tech Scroll' (http://bit.ly/1uk6eeN), a 95 page document that spills the secrets of the Virtual Boy's hardware/software interface, ZeroTransform's Tech Director, says the studio is ready, willing, and able to create a version of Vanguard V that will run on genuine Virtual Boy hardware (http://bit.ly/1r5PLum).

Submission + - Update to 'VorpX' 3D Injection Driver Brings Oculus Rift DK2 Support to Skyrim, (roadtovr.com)

Submitted by Benz145
Benz145 writes: The much anticipated Oculus Rift DK2 VR headset is just starting to reach backers and enthusiasts. Users are early searching for every bit of DK2-compatible content they can get their hands on. VorpX, a 3D injection driver that makes non-VR games compatible for the Oculus Rift, is soon to release an update which will make many popular titles compatible with the DK2, like BioShock: Infinite, Battlefield 4, and Skyrim. A new video shows experimental positional tracking support for the DK2 in Skyrim.

Submission + - Samsung Galaxy Note 3 Touchscreen Hidden Inside Every Oculus Rift DK2 VR Headset (roadtovr.com)

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: It has been rumored for several months (http://bit.ly/RKDwmf) that Oculus, makers of the Rift VR headset, and Samsung, smartphone and noted high-density display manufacturer, have been working together on a VR smartphone adapter to be used with a forthcoming smartphone. The relationship is purportedly such that Oculus shares their VR expertise and unreleased VR SDK for Android in return for Samsung's high resolution displays. A surprising new clue comes from within the just-released Oculus Rift DK2 headset itself, inside which is the entire touchscreen and front bezel of the Samsung Galaxy Note 3 (http://bit.ly/UDj4FB). iFixit happened across the phone's panel in a teardown of the DK2 (http://bit.ly/1nWuJvT).

Submission + - The Oculus Rift DK2, In-Depth Review and DK1 Comparison (roadtovr.com)

Submitted by Benz145
Benz145 writes: The hotly anticipated Oculus Rift DK2 has begun arriving at doorsteps. The DK2s enhancements include optical positional tracking and a higher resolution panel, up from 1280×800 to 1920×1080 (1080p) and moved to a pentile-matrix OLED panel for display duties. This means higher levels of resolvable detail and a much reduced screen door effect. The panel features low persistence of vision, a technology pioneered by Valve that aims to cut motion artefacts by only displaying the latest, most correct display information relative to the user’s movements – as users of the DK1 will attest, its LCD panel was heavily prone to smearing, things are now much improved with the DK2.

Submission + - Day One With the Brand New Oculus Rift DK2: The Good, The Ugly and The Games (roadtovr.com)

Submitted by muterobert
muterobert writes: Paul James goes hands on with one of the first next-gen Oculus Rifts in the wild:

"After much hacking (and some kind developer linkage) I stepped into a DK2 enabled version of Technolust and lost myself utterly! The stunning attention to detail, neon on black really lets the OLED panel shine here. In fact, this experience was the closest I think I’ve ever some to presence in virtual reality thus far. Leaning in to check the myriad retro objects, gawking at the lighting and just generally being blown away by the experience. This game was fabulous on the DK1, it’s utterly compelling now."

Submission + - 'Genesis' is a VR Immersion-machine That Takes You on a Reality-bending Ride (roadtovr.com)

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: Kite & Lightning (http://bit.ly/1k6maYX), the developers behind the extraordinary 'Senza Peso' virtual reality mini-opera (http://bit.ly/1kWaRqe), have a metal machine parked in the middle of their office called Genesis. The device, which points eight speakers, two subwoofers, three tactile transducers, and a fan at a user laying down at its center, uses the Oculus Rift and the power of video, audio, and tactile feedback to send you on a wild ride that plays with your sense of what's 'up' and what's 'down'.

Submission + - Walkmouse is an Elegant, Motorised Omni-Directional Treadmill Built for VR (roadtovr.com)

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: Road to VR take a look at a new omni-direction treadmill with no harness that lets you move untethered through a virtual environment.

"The device houses 100s of motorised spirals which detect traction and respond by spinning under your feet to simulate the ground moving underneath them. At the same time, the unit reads input data from your actions which can be fed into an application or game experience."

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