In February, we pondered if Espire 1 could be the VR stealth game Metal Gear fans were clamoring for. Michael Wentworth-Bell started his project to fill a void that he only recognized because he personally wanted to see more stealth games on VR platforms and his prototype footage for Espire 1 showed off an impressive stealth shooter with fluid locomotion, engaging weapon/tool use, and even voice command elements to fully immerse you and make you feel like an ultra badass operative.
Despite a bit of silence, development charges forward for the intriguing stealth game and the first development diary has surfaced which details a couple game engine additions and new controller support.
From the video above, we can tell Espire 1 officially has adopted Oculus Touch support. The original tease of the game showed the dev playing with the HTC Vive controllers and, considering how features utilized the devices (using handheld cameras to peek around corners, rolling over enemy bodies), this announcement was likely not really up in the air and just a matter of time as development moved forward.
The other two elements shown off in the diary display the dedication to making this the stealth VR game fans of the genre expect and deserve. The first is an evolution of the locomotion within the game. Requested by fans after the prototype debut, Wentworth-Bell has welcomed realistic traversal and climbing to the game’s engine. Players will be able to grab protruding ledges to move hand-over-hand as they traverse areas realistically both vertically or horizontally.
The other feature, called the Physics Actor Messaging System, gives realistic properties to inanimate objects in Espire 1’s world. This ultimately means that items will give off realistic sounds as you use them to distract enemies. It even allows you to strike enemies in the head with weapons instead of shooting, giving you another stealthy option to take them out while saving ammo. Both of these features enhance the potential immersion of Espire 1 in a large way, laying a couple really solid stones on the path toward what is looking like a mechanically sound VR stealth game.
Wentworth-Bell apologized for going radio silent since the initial reveal of the game, saying that he simply was overwhelmed and unprepared for the massive reaction to the prototype video. He’s working full-time on the game now and if he continues to make massive improvements like what’s shown in this dev diary, he may end up with quite the game on his hands.
The utilization of media to expose users to other cultures is undergoing a bit of a minor renaissance currently.
“VR can create a feeling of presence,” says co-founder and CEO of SceneThere Marcus Olsson, in a prepared statement. “But until now the viewer has never been able to move around and explore the topic at hand. Our platform moves beyond that and allows viewers to walk around the city themselves.”
The platform he speaks of is one that transports users to Pyongyang, North Korea, a place that is especially inaccessible to tourists at current times. The experience is narrated by an expert on the area, features a wealth of perspectives to view the capital from, and is giving users a rare opportunity to form their own opinion on the polarizing country.
“We wanted to show how our VR platform can transcend borders and let you move around and experience a country or a topic first hand,” says Olsson. “I’d initially been invited to North Korea to speak about entrepreneurship and, because of that, I could film situations with my 360 camera that I wouldn’t have been able to do as a journalist.”
Olsson took full advantage of the opportunity, filming from 57 different positions along 10 locations in Pyongyang. SceneThere has only been around since 2016, but they leaped headfirst into impactful experiences. Previously, they gave users an informative look into the living conditions of a Brazilian favela and they’re tapping a specific talent to make this North Korean experience educational as well.
Andray Abrahamian is the executive director of Choson Exchange, a non-profit with the mission of educating entrepreneurial North Koreans in business practices via workshops, mentorships, and more. His work has made him an expert in Northeast Asian relations and the political economy of Korea, making him an invaluable source of information that is made available to anyone that uses SceneThere’s journey around Pyongyang. He narrates your time within the virtual space and gives insight into not only the landmarks but the traditions of the country.
This serves as just one example in the growing collection of ways VR and 360-degree media can take us into places we possibly wouldn’t be able to experience otherwise. You can download the experience for Gear VR or use the web viewer on SceneThere’s website.
VR established a foothold in 2016, putting a spotlight on the top headsets on the market. While some believe 2017 is the year that content will be the focus, affordable virtual reality experiences are under a microscope as well.
Kickstarter was instrumental in the birth of modern VR and now we have a new potential crowd-funded headset, the EXCHIMP, seeking to bridge the gap between low-cost and high-end performance.
The EXCHIMP Operating System, Nibiru.
Mobile VR headsets are largely limited by their resolution, so much that entire organizations like the NFL are waiting for the evolution of the technology. On the flipside, higher-end VR rigs are a bit too pricey for the average consumer. The EXCHIMP Al1 features elements of both, coupling the lightweight form factor of mobile VR with a high-quality QHD display. The headset is all in one as well, not requiring any external supply of power or storage (like a cellphone). It has 16GB of storage space filled with pre-installed content that will ultimately be determined by stretch-goals (it’s already fully funded at the core level with 43 days to go as of the time of this writing).
If the provided games aren’t to your liking, you can use WiFi to download VR games from the Google Play store and storage space can be expanded with a Micro SD card. The QHD display checks in at 2560 x 1440 pixels. The EXCHIMP Al1 also has a built-in battery that supplies up to 7+ hours of gameplay and a wired controller for input.
There’s potential here for sure, but we’ll have to wait and see how the framerate works out. Even the slightest stutter can limit the comfort of a VR experience, which would completely break the potential of the headset. Check out the Kickstarter page for yourself to see if you’re willing to be an early adopter.
VR and AR technologies are poised to impact many industries beyond gaming and entertainment and there are scatterings of examples already out in the wild. Educational platforms are immersing users into the human physiology with VR and now we have a new example of AR being used in a similarly invasive manner.
Scopis, a company in Berlin that specializes in surgical navigation and medical augmented/mixed technology, has announced a new platform that will be used to increase the precision of surgeons.
The Holographic Navigation Platform integrates the HoloLens device into Scopis’ image guidance navigation system, which projects on overlay directly onto the patient to assist the surgeon with spine surgery. Scopis adds additional 3D tracking to the overlay to improve the accuracy as well.
“Scopis’ holographic solution has the potential to make spine surgery more effective, safe, and precise,” says Chief of the Spinal Surgery Clinic at Vivantes Humboldt Hospital Professor Christian Woiciechowsky in the press release for the announcement. “Integrating mixed-reality tools into surgery is a huge technological advancement toward enhancing a surgeon’s vision and may provide greater benefits to patients.”
The use of HoloLens blows the surgical workflow wide open, not only guiding them in the work with an overlay but also allowing them to have other visuals like virtual monitors in view while not taking their eyes off the patient.
“Scopis’ Holographic Navigation Platform is a universal solution that offers specific advantages for spinal surgeries and can also be applied in the many other areas where the highest levels of precision and speed are critical. In neurosurgery, for example, brain tumors could be located faster and with higher accuracy,” said Bartosz Kosmecki, CEO and Founder of Scopis. “The development of this holographic platform further highlights Scopis’ leading role in medical mixed and augmented reality.”
At the time the above video was published, over 10,000 surgeries have been successfully completed using Scopis technology and the Holographic Navigation Platform has a lot of potential for use beyond spinal surgery. Doctors across other specialties and disciplines can easily benefit from having such a tool at their exposure, keeping a great deal of information in view while not leaving or turning away from surgical workspaces. Just like how elevator technicians are using AR to improve safety and workflow, this platform’s benefits are already being recognized in other fields.
A new week and a few new roles to immerse yourself within on this collection of new releases for HTC Vive. First up we have VRtender, an escapist experience of sorts where you learn to become a bartender with around 50 different real cocktail mixes to make for your patrons. Next up is Conductor, which we recently reviewed. It’s an adventure through a post-industrial apocalyptic world where you solve different puzzles as you maneuver down the tracks while driving a train.
We also have a top list of the absolute best HTC Vive games — which is updated every few months with the latest and greatest options.
New HTC Vive Releases on Steam
MovingPictures: VR Video and Image Viewer, from Aaron Kunkle
Price: $2.99
MovingPictures aims to be a simple, minimalist home for your video and image viewing pleasures. You can use one or two controllers to upload, move, and resize your media as you shape a comfortable viewing experience.
Recommendation: It’s definitely not the prettiest solution and there are others in the wild with more options.
Fine China, from Fine China Games
Price: $0.99
In Fine China, your goal is to move carefully throughout a handful of establishments without breaking too many things. You’ll accumulate a score based on what you have to pay for. There’s also the option to just embrace your inner bull and destroy everything. Your call.
Recommendation: This is an inexpensive high-score challenge you can do with friends and watch the hilarity ensue, but there isn’t much to it.
Elite Encounter, from BubbleFish Entertainment
Price: $4.99
With your own weapon and an unbreakable shield to move around, Elite Encounter is an arcade style VR shooter where you’re to take down as many enemy spaceships as possible. The game includes 3 different difficulty levels, aggressive enemy AI, and a lot of ships.
Recommendation: Pass on this one.
PsychLabVR, from Noah Robinson
Price: Free To Play
PsychLabVR is a virtual research center led by a psychology student at Vanderbilt University. The data collected during play will be used for a free, automated intervention to treat social anxiety. The team plans to update with more experiments and treatments.
Recommendation: Check it out and contribute to a potentially good cause.
Pixvana SPIN Play, from Pixvana, Inc.
Price: Free To Play
The SPIN Play app is an end-to-end solution for VR/360 content in multiple formats. Using Pixvana’s OPF format, users can play multiple types of encoded content in spherical form or a tile format.
Recommendation: Keep an eye on this as it evolves and more content becomes available.
Climbtime, from Saluda Systems
Price: $2.99
Climbtime challenges users to climb, fly, and glide around procedurally generated levels. Move quickly and efficiently to destroy cores as you chase leaderboard times. You can also explore real-world based terrain modeled after the Smoky Mountains, the Grand Canyon, and more.
Recommendation: The motion of climbing isn’t the most accurate but there’s fun to be had flying and gliding around.
VRIQ, from 3DIQ
Price: Free
VRIQ is a quick puzzle experience, challenging your problem-solving abilities within 5 minutes. Act quickly and then see how you match up against other users.
Recommendation: A free test of your ingenuity? Sure.
Strata inStudio VR, from Strata Mixed Reality, Inc.
Price: Free
Strata inStudio is a virtual playground for 3D models that includes 12 interactive preloaded environments. You can toggle physics to manipulate your models, utilize real-time lighting, and more.
Recommendation: This targets a pretty specific set of interests, but grab it if it tickles your fancy.
VRtender, from Further Beyond Studios
Price: $4.99
There have been plenty food vendor sims in VR, but what of the bartenders? In VRtender, you’ll make drinks and entertain patrons within a couple different modes. The game includes over 50 real-life cocktails so you just may be able to take this show on the road once you’ve become proficient.
Recommendation: I think you know already if you care about this or not. It’s aimed to be a sim-light experience.
Conductor, from Overflow
Price: $8.99 (Currently Discounted)
Taking place in a post-industrial apocalypse, Conductor is an action-adventure with puzzle elements. You work through the game on a locomotive and must engage in different activities to clear your path to escape the pursuit of Overcorp.
Recommendation: This one is a moody and interesting looking adventure that is worth your gaze. Read our review and give it a go.
Big Hit VR Baseball, from Big Hit Games
Price: $22.49 (Currently Discounted)
Big Hit VR challenges and hones your baseball skills, sending you sinkers, curveballs, and more all with realistic physics. Batting practice allows you to slow things down and get your timing and angles just right before heading into the Home Run Derby. You can also manipulate the ball size and tailor the game to your skill level.
Recommendation: This is a decent idea, but its issues limit the experience. Catch it on a steep sale.
Seance: The Unquiet, from Holospark
Price: Free To Play
This version of Seance: The Unquiet is a free demo that introduces you to an upcoming ghost story. You’re treated to the tense environment, jump scares, and wonderfully acted NPCs in anticipation of the full experience.
Recommendation: Absolutely check this one out. The voice acting alone is worth the effort and you can read more here.
VectorWars, from Red Iron Labs
Price: $2.99 (Currently Discounted)
VectorWars is an arcade style shooter that takes place in 2842 when the aliens finally attack. You play as Andy, an asteroid miner, that must defend humanity and continuously upgrade his ship while taking down the alien threat.
Recommendation: Getting this for VR doesn’t add a great deal to the experience. Pass for now.
Spud Cricket VR, from Hairy Man Games
Price: $7.99
Spud Cricket is a virtual cricket experience where you can play 5, 10, or 20 overs against a friend. The game also includes 3 difficulty levels and customizable settings for local multiplayer.
Recommendation: Pass for now, but keep an eye on it to see if it improves throughout Early Access.
Duel VR, from Booster Space
Price: $8.99 (Currently Discounted)
Including PvE and PvP, Duel VR is a western dueling game that includes 4 different weapons and 8 different characters to use in your online battles.
PC gaming hasn’t always had the strongest presence at E3 historically, which is disappointing considering the 1.2 billion strong worldwide audience the platform commands. Thankfully, for coming up on three consecutive years now, the PC Gamer Show has showcased some of what the powerful medium has to offer for the gaming industry. That’s likely to continue as PC content becomes more accessible and VR gaming becomes more prevalent. As of today, the third annual PC Gamer Show has been confirmed to take place during E3 on June 12th and will feature an increase in both Esport and VR content.
“We’re delighted to host another event that will give PC gaming the presence at E3 it deserves,” says PC Gamer’s global editor in chief Tim Clark in the press release for the announcement. “Since its inception, the PC Gaming Show’s goal has been to demonstrate the depth and breadth of creativity on the platform.”
Tripwire’s Killing Floor Incursion for Oculus Touch was revealed at last year’s PC Gamer Show and is likely to make another appearance in some way this time around. There’s no telling what the surprise announcements regarding VR will be, but this would be the perfect chance to show off Fallout 4 VR in more detail after Bethesda’s conference on Sunday.
Currently, the PC Gamer Show is sponsored by Bohemia Interactive, Microsoft, Tripwire, Republic of Gamers, Cygames, and Nexon with Intel serving as the Presenting Partner. Last year’s major Partnerr was AMD. Oculus was a partner last year as well and, though they aren’t listed (yet), the press release says more partners will be revealed in the coming weeks. In our breakdown of what we know about E3 this year it’s noted that Oculus won’t have a booth but, hopefully, they’ll at least make an appearance at the PC Gamer Show.
“The PC Gaming Show gives an incredible voice to the PC gaming community and Intel is excited to work alongside our industry partners to showcase the strength of the platform,” said Gregory Bryant, corporate vice president within CCG at Intel Corporation. “The state of innovation on the PC has never been stronger and we’re thrilled to share what’s next at E3.”
PC Gamer Show will likely be one of the primary homes for news regarding the HTC Vive and Oculus Rift, but we haven’t forgotten about Sony’s VR headset. Read our article here to see what Sony will have in store for the PSVR at E3.
The VRDC (Virtual Reality Developers Conference) welcomes experts on VR, AR, and mixed reality content to speak across a collection of disciplines including health care, journalism, film, and more. There are a ton of events featuring VR and AR this year, as you can see in our constantly evolving list of conferences and festivals, and the different sessions for these events are largely what set each conference apart. The VRDC team has revealed the first sessions and they come from the Games & Entertainment and Innovations conference tracks.
Starting a traditional game studio is a challenge not for the faint-hearted. However, making it as an indie game studio making VR games is beyond challenging. It can be downright mystifying! Playful will share what it’s learned over the years doing just that; everything from how to raise money, how to convince publishers to fund your games, how to manage a team that, no matter how talented, is facing a brand new industry with a steep learning curve, and how to create a sustainable culture on the leading edge of disruption. Come listen to how Playful signed a deal with Oculus to fund Lucky’s Tale, which became the only game bundled with the Oculus Rift at launch (EVE Valkyrie was only for pre-orders), and how they raised $25 million in funding to make VR games.
While video and text can help us communicate with friends and family, VR provides an even more immersive way to connect. With the power of presence, VR allows us to feel like we’re really there together with people we care about. From there we can hang out, have fun and share meaningful experiences together in virtual spaces. The developers of today will help shape the virtual social experiences of tomorrow. The opportunities are limitless. This session will explore the key components of building an immersive social experience with people at the center, and how virtual reality will enable us to engage in entirely new ways with our friends and family.
Hannah Gamiel will explore the triumphs and tribulations of the development of Obduction, a game by Cyan. Inc. (creators of Myst) that had an initial release in 2D and a successive release in VR for Oculus Rift, Vive, and (soon to be) PSVR. Topics discussed will be how Cyan laid out the foundation of generic VR systems during 2D development to ensure a successful transition to VR system engineering, assumptions made that hurt or helped VR development during the emergence of new VR hardware, and how lessons learned will help lay out the groundwork for future VR titles’ success.
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VRDC’s fall conference will include content across four specific tracks: Games & Entertainment, Brand Experience, Innovation, and Partners. The event takes place on September 21 and 22 and you can find attendee pass information here. If you’re interested in being an exhibitor, there’s information here.
Ultrahaptics, founded in 2013, specializes in a technology that provides haptic feedback without needing to wear or touch any type of gear. Called “mid-air haptics”, it uses ultrasound to project sensations onto users so they feel buttons and objects. With the recent series B funding round of $23 million, the company will be expanding globally and initiating entries into the VR and AR industries as well.
The mid-air haptic technology is currently available in three forms, with more information for each to be found on its website. First up, they have an opportunity for not-for-profit and academic entities to utilize the technology for R&D via an academic program. Second, the Touch Development Kit is available where you can freely create and manipulate the tech using a software suite provided. Lastly is the evaluation program, which seems like an Early Access format for the earliest of adopters.
“We are a global business and the range of investors now reflects this more than ever,” says Ultrahaptics CEO Steve Cliffe in their blog post announcing the new development. New investors represented in this round include Dolby Family Ventures and Cornes, entities that will expand their impact into key markets around the world. They were supported once again by IP Group and Woodford Investment as well.
The potential for haptic interaction is well documented as many companies create new gloves and rigs to recreate real-life sensations in digital spaces. Ultrahaptics has created working concepts for vehicles with Bosch and Harman, so it will be interesting to see what future VR/AR Ultrahaptics prototype solutions will look like.
In early March, we wrote about the upcoming GTC 2017 event and NVIDIA’s incredible opportunity for up to 10 companies or teams. Not only would those teams be able to showcase their non-gaming VR/AR creations to onlookers keen on seeing the ideas that represent significant steps forward in computing technology, they’d have an opportunity to win $30,000 and other prizes as well.
The submission process for the opportunity has closed and a whopping total of 120 startups applied to be a part of the contest. Of those included, 10 from that group have been chosen and are as follows:
Cavrnus Inc
Doghead Simulations
FundamentalVR
Funique VR
Kalloc Studios
Nurulize, Inc.
Opaque Media Group/Opaque Space
Sheencity
Theia Interactive
von waldkirch
All accepted applicants cannot have exceeded $5 million in total capital for their creations, so NVIDIA is giving this opportunity to teams with well-developed ideas that are right on the verge of being more fully realized tools and apps. Whether they win the prizes and cash, all 10 of these entities have a great shot to increase exposure and capture the interest of suitors as they move forward with development.
The competition starts on May 9th at 3:30 PT and attendees will be able to see exhibits from all 10 teams on May 11th in the GTC exhibit hall. If you wish to attend GTC, registration for passes is still available but will end on May 6th so jump on it quickly.
This is sponsored content which has been produced by UploadVR and brought to you by NVIDIA. NVIDIA did not have any input into the creation of this content.
Back at the start of March, we reported on a new analytics tool called Ghostline. Developed by Aldin Dynamics, this tool was crafted to be a window into different statistics related to VR usage — how people interact, for how long, and more. Aldin Dynamics shared their program with the developers of SUPERHOT and Gallery: Call of the Starseed, but gave those interested a peek at the stats for Waltz of the Wizard. Now they’re sharing a bit more info curated by the Ghostline tool, this time focused on the room-scale VR battle between Steam vs Oculus Home.
The report opens with a collection of interesting findings and one of the first things that jumps out is the fact that the NVIDIA GTX 1070 is the most popular graphics card for both Steam and Oculus users. As more begin to invest in VR-ready gear, statistics like this will stand out more and more. Another big thing to note is that Oculus tracking is improved almost two-fold when using 3 sensors instead of 2.
The CEO of Aldin Dynamics, Hrafn Thorisson, says that three sensors improve tracking with Rift so much so that it performs very similarly with Vive. He also cautions that “To be very clear, the report presents data from Waltz of the Wizard specifically, and tracking loss for that specific product — how content is designed can have an impact on tracking loss.” The design is crucial, of course, but this is definitely something to keep in mind. That small amount of players using 3 sensors (14.9%) will likely increase drastically if performance improvements like this are consistently recorded elsewhere.
The audiences across different countries are somewhat similar, except for SteamVR’s representation in China, and the play times aren’t very far off from each other either. An average playtime of around 28 minutes is notable as well.
When it comes to room-scale play, the difference in play space is pretty large. Steam has a sweet spot between 3-6 square meters but has few players using over 8 square meters of space. Only 6% of Oculus users go over 6 square meters and typically stick to 1-3.
These stats show only a small snapshot of the VR gaming community but, as Ghostline is used by more entities, creators will be able to shape their experiences to take advantage of player trends and build better content overall. You can read up more on Ghostline on their website and, if you’re a developer, submit for Early Access updates.
