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Submission + - Razer and Sensics Launch Open Source Virtual Reality Project and $199 VR Headset

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: At CES 2015 this week, computer peripheral maker Razer and HMD maker Sensics joined forces to launch the 'OSVR' (Open Source Virtual Reality) project which includes an open source SDK and an open source $199 VR headset called the HDK (Hacker Developer Kit) (http://www.roadtovr.com/razer-hacker-dev-kit-osvr-sensics/). The headset will sport a 1080p display, 90 degree field of view, and 3DOF headtracking; it is expected to ship in June. Razer and Sensics say that the headset was built to be modular and hackable, making it easy to 3D print a custom front cover or drop in a higher resolution display, for example. The companies say that schematics for the headset will be made freely available, licensed so openly that someone could even opt to manufacture and sell their own VR headset based on the plans. The OSVR SDK is designed to be compatible with number VR headsets and peripherals so that developers can write once to support a wide range of devices.

Submission + - PlayStation Android Emulator 'FPse' Gets Support for Google's VR Headset

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: 'FPse' is a well rated (4.5 stars across 32,000 reviews) PlayStation emulator for Android. A recent update enabled initial support for mobile VR devices (http://bit.ly/1HApg4C) including Google's 'Cardboard' (http://bit.ly/16tD4kp), a low-cost VR smartphone adapter. The update creates a split-screen image of a virtual screen for viewing with any smartphone VR adapter, allowing users to play classic PlayStation games up close and personal. With Google recently announcing they've shipped more than 500,000 Cardboard headsets (http://bit.ly/1AnySvy), there ought to be plenty happy fans of Sony's original PlayStation out there who will be taking a trip down nostalgia lane in VR.

Submission + - Sony, Facebook, Google, Samsung, Apple, and Microsoft Now All Have a Hand in VR (roadtovr.com)

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: The Oculus Kickstarter breathed new life into consumer virtual reality when it raised more than $2.4 million just three years ago. Now, at the onset of 2015, some of the world's biggest tech companies have a vested interest in the growing consumer virtual reality industry. Road to VR takes a look back at VR in 2014 and the path that lead these tech giants to start taking it seriously.

Submission + - Samsung Gear VR Mobile Headset Launches, First Reviews Surface (roadtovr.com)

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: For the world of virtual reality, today was a big day. Gear VR, the mobile VR headset powered by the Galaxy Note 4 and made in collaboration between Samsung and Oculus, became available for sale starting at $199 (http://bit.ly/12ZR5Vn). Unlike VR smartphone holders like Google Cardboard (http://bit.ly/1lpYuDk), the Note 4 taps into Gear VR's on-board sensors in a proprietary way that allows the mobile VR headset to achieve staggering sub-20ms latency. The first reviews are in, comparing Gear VR to Oculus' own Rift DK2 development kit.

Submission + - VR Controller and Recoil System Brings Real Recoil to Virtual Weapons (roadtovr.com)

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: STEM is a made-for-VR motion input controller that had a highly successful Kickstarter last year (http://kck.st/121itBs). The unit uses a hybrid of magnetic and inertial tracking that far surpasses anything you've seen from Kinect (http://bit.ly/12qgLcH). The company recently experimented by combining STEM with the impressive Striker VR (http://bit.ly/1mvyDfy) weapon recoil system. The result is a gun that looks and feels real in and out of VR, with real recoil that translates directly into the game thanks to STEM's impressively accurate tracking of the weapon's movement.

Submission + - Oculus Rift Allows Great-grandfather to Share Thanksgiving Dinner Remotely (roadtovr.com)

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: Martin has been using virtual reality technology at the Harbour Pointe Assisted Living Community in Washington state to put retired pilots back into the cockpit. For Thanksgiving he wanted to do something special so he dreamed up a scheme to let a great-grandfather in the community join his family remotely for Thanksgiving dinner. A 360 degree video of the family's dinner was recorded and then the great-grandfather experienced it remotely using the Oculus Rift. Although the dinner was recorded and not streamed live (yet), his family addressed the camera as though it was him, helping to make him feel part of the moment.

Submission + - Jaunt Puts Viewers Live on Stage with Paul McCartney in 360 degree 3D VR Footage (roadtovr.com)

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: Jaunt, who have raised more than $34 million in investments for their proprietary 360 degree 3D recording technology, today released their first publicly available content, an on-stage performance of Paul McCartney's 'Live and Let Die,' recorded in front of 70,000 fans at Candlestick Park in San Francisco earlier this year. The content, which is available at first in the form of an Android app for use with Google Cardboard and other smartphone VR adapters, lets users experience the performance in 360 degree video and audio from the crowd, backstage, and right next to McCartney. Jaunt says that the experience will soon be available on the Oculus Rift and Gear VR headsets.

Submission + - Kinect May Have Jaded Gamers on Motion, But Next-gen VR Input Impresses (roadtovr.com)

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: Kinect promised way more than it could ever deliver. Even Microsoft quickly abandoned their brazen move to include the Kinect 2 with all Xbox Ones. But just because the Kinect flopped doesn't mean that motion input is dead. Virtual reality's need for precise and natural input systems has caused a resurgence in R&D relating to motion input. Sixense's made-for-VR 'STEM' motion input controller uses a highly accurate hybrid of inertial and magnetic tracking technology. When translated to gameplay the results are nothing short of impressive, as shown in a new demo from the company which has players accurately hitting a ping pong ball and even imparting realistic spin.

Submission + - DreamWorks Animation's Warren Mayoss Shares Insights for New VR Developers (roadtovr.com)

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: Last week at Samsung's Developer Conference 2014, DreamWorks Animation's Warren Mayoss, Head of Technology Product Development, took to the keynote to proclaim that DreamWorks was working on VR with both the Oculus Rift and Samsung's mobile Gear VR headset. For developers interested in jumping into VR development, Mayoss shared insights that company has learned during their own experimentation and development.

Submission + - Preview 3 of Jaunt's Made-for-VR 360 3D Short Films (roadtovr.com)

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: Jaunt (http://www.jauntvr.com/), a company that's raised more than $34 million to create a platform for live-action cinematic virtual reality experiences, has set out to demonstrate their toolset by producing three made-for-VR short films that are shot in 360 degrees and in 3D. Road to VR has an exclusive preview of the films which the company says will have interactive trailers released very soon for Oculus Rift and Android (for use with Cardboard and other smartphone VR adapters).

Submission + - Hands-on with Fove's First Eye-tracking HMD Prototype (roadtovr.com)

Submitted by muterobert
muterobert writes: Eye-tracking is the future of VR Head mounted displays. Ben Lang gets to try out Fove's first publicly demonstrated prototype which detects where you're looking and uses that information as input for games and applications.

"Kojima walked me through a few different experiences demonstrating the eye tracking capabilities of the Fove HMD. The first had me in a dark city street with some futuristic-looking super-soldiers lined up before me. Looking at them caused me to shoot them and one after another they dropped to the ground after being blasted by my eyes."

Submission + - Samsung Gear VR Gets Wireless Positional Tracking Via Sixense STEM (roadtovr.com)

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: Samsung's Note 4 powered Gear VR is hotly anticipated as the first fully-fledged virtual reality headset to hit retail next month. It's an impressive system, but it lacks a crucial component to combat motion sickness, positional tracking.

Now, Sixense have announced that their cutting-edge VR motion control system 'STEM' has been adapted to work with the Gear VR — plugging a big gap in the devices feature set.

"Sixense’s Rubin went on to detail the company’s success with not only getting STEM tracking modules working with Gear VR, but claimed that they’ve managed to achieve around 7.5ms latency between STEM and the Note 4 via Bluetooth. This figure is impressively close to the company’s ‘full fat’ PC targeted system, which touts 4.2ms of latency."

Submission + - 'UniverseVR' Let's You Visualize 20 Billion Galaxies Using the Oculus Rift (roadtovr.com)

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: 'UniverseVR' uses data from the 'Millennium Simulation Project' to allow the real-time interactive VR visualization of some 20 billion galaxies. The Millennium Simulation Project (http://bit.ly/10i2nCg), run by the Max Planck Institute for Astrophysics, used more than a month of supercomputing time to simulate the evolution of billions of galaxies in a section of our universe that's 2 billion light-years wide. UniverseVR let's users explore the visualization of this simulation inside the Oculus Rift.

Submission + - 'NewRetroArcade' Uses VR to Send Players to a Brilliantly Detailed 80's Arcade (roadtovr.com)

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: Ever wish you could revisit the classic arcades of the 80's? Well grab an Oculus Rift and fire up your PC, because your wish just came true. Developer Digital Cybercherries (http://digitalcybercherries.com/) has just released 'NewRetroArcade', a brilliantly detailed 80's arcade with playable arcade machines—with classic games from the 80's and early 90's—bowling, basketball, darts, and more. Using the Oculus Rift, players feels as if they're strolling through the corridors of arcade machines, all blinking and buzzing for their attention. The best part? NewRetroArcade is completely free. The game is built on UE4 and represents an impressive benchmark for the kind of detailed scenes that indies can create within the game engine.

Submission + - Epic Games Talk Optimization: Getting 'Showdown' to 90 FPS in UE4 on Oculus Rift (roadtovr.com)

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: Oculus has repeatedly tapped Epic Games to whip up demos to show off new iterations of Oculus Rift VR headset hardware. The latest demo, built in UE4, is 'Showdown', an action-packed scene of slow motion explosions, bullets, and debris. The challenge? Oculus asked Epic to make it run at 90 FPS to match the 90 Hz refresh rate of the latest Oculus Rift 'Crescent Bay' prototype. At the Oculus Connect conference, two of the developers from the team that created the demo share the tricks and tools they used to hit that target on a single GPU.

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