Charles Singletary – Page 3 – Augmented & Virtual Reality Confabulation

July 21, 2017

The Five Best HTC Vive Releases For The Week Of 07/16/17

As the VR ecosystem continues, so shall our coverage! Each week we’ll give a full list of all the releases per usual, but also highlight the 5 most interesting experiences each week. This week’s highlights go from 1 on 1 magical duels all the way to DJ’ing in a club, so you’re likely to find at least one thing that peaks your interest.

In the meantime, if you missed the previous iteration of this list, you can see those new releases here. And don’t forget that UploadVR has a Steam community group, complete with a curated list of recommendations so that you don’t have to waste any money finding out what’s good in the world of VR.

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.

inVokeR, from 8th Shore, Inc.

Price: $8.99 (Currently Discounted)

inVokeR is an Early Access PvP magical duel experience that has a lot of potential. In one on one matches, players will have to cast a combination of offensive and defensive spells strategically as you work to take down your adversary. You can train offline against bots in different modes until you’re comfortable enough to test your skills online against others in either public or private matches.

Space Conquest, from NyanBlade

Price: $8.09 (Currently Discounted)

In Early Access currently, Space Conquest is aiming to be a solid casual PvP shooter experience that promotes close-quarter combat with small maps. There’s 4-player competitive gameplay, bots, avatar customization, voice chat, pickups, and more but the game could certainly evolve throughout EA. Keep an eye on this or jump in now to help it grow.

Ultrawings, from Bit Planet Games, LLC

Price: $24.99

Ultrawings is an open-world, flight experience set on 3 vibrant and colorful islands. You have access to 3 unique aircraft as you take on various missions, earn money to buy new airports and vehicles, engage in a collection of mini-games, and more. The feeling of flight is true treat in VR and this is another opportunity to spread your wings. Read our full review of the original release on Rift + Touch here.

Lucky Night: Texas Hold’em VR, from Next Games

Price: Free To Play

Lucky Night is a visually impressive Texas Hold’em experience that allows for cross-play with Vive and Rift players. You can play with up to five other friends and see who has the most impressive virtual poker face by way of a customizable avatar and various emojis.

Disco Destruction, from Subjective

Price: Free

With a slight spin (heh) on the usual “keep customers happy” rhythm game, Disco Destruction employs you as a DJ where you must keep the dancers going. You’ll have to use your virtual vinyl to mix things up according to the mood of customers and make sure you don’t end up with things getting thrown at you as you work toward a high-score.

All Other New HTC Vive Releases on Steam

Microspy, from Immersion

Price: $2.24 (Currently Discounted)

Spirit Realm, from Mathew Reed, James Raymond

Price: Free To Play

Amazing Thailand VR Experience, from F.U.U.M. Co., Ltd.

Price: Free To Play

Rich life simulator VR, from bch waves studio

Price: $2.79 (Currently Discounted)

OzGrind Virtual Reality Showroom, from Viewport Studios

Price: Free To Play

Verto Studio VR, from Verto Studio LLC

Price: $20.09 (Currently Discounted)

Micro Cosmic Worlds, from Codon, Inc., Mist

Price: $8.99

Age of Heroes (VR), from Omnigames

Price: $29.99

Cutlass, from Demigon

Price: $19.99

OldMaidGirl, from Vrai

Price: $1.99

Mortal Blitz, from Skonec Entertainment

Price: $17.99 (Currently Discounted)

Chambered, from SegFault Games

Price: $5.99

Float Gallery, from Float Gallery

Price: Free

Dry Erase: Infinite VR Whiteboard, from Tom Sanders

Price: $9.99

Hoop Shot VR, from Central Coast Games

Price: $2.69 (Currently Discounted)

Bullet VR, from Mugle Studio

Price: $4.99

Batter Up! VR, from Polygon Dust Entertainment Ltd.

Price: $14.99

SoundLites, from ICON Interactive

Price: Free

New HTC Vive Releases on Viveport

HisWorldVr, from HugeHard

Price: $1.55

Holomeld, from HoloMeld

Price: $9.99

Tagged with: new releases, steam, Viveport

July 21, 2017

Superbright VR Debuts Co-Op Drawing Tool At 30 Year GIF Celebration

GIFs serve so many purposes but they have truly become the voice of a generation on social media. Giphy held a week-long gallery in June called TIME FRAME celebrating the GIF format that featured VR experiments, workshops, and creations from over 30 artists. One of the VR experiments came from Superbright VR and their collaborator Art404, as they took the opportunity to debut a new multi-user VR creative tool called Drawn.

At the event, two visitors at a time were able to play Drawn together as they created in a desert environment for a few minutes. The application wasn’t just introduced at the event with some demos for people to try out though; Professional VR artists took over after an hour and engaged in tag-team artist battles to really show off the platform before giving control back to the public.

Drawn allows for 20 users to create in the same virtual space at once but its also being treated as a social experiment of sorts. In the press release covering the appearance at TIME_FRAME, a few questions were posed related to how users interact with other in applications like Drawn:

How can we learn about other people using only virtual body movement and a drawing tool? How can you guide a shared, interactive experience without verbal interchange?

The release goes on to say that, over time, Superbright VR will be testing out a few features like audio tools and color coding to test some of their “social hypotheses”. There are quite a few creative tools in the VR ecosystem, but the co-op aspect is becoming more and more important as seen with Oculus’ recent addition of co-op to Oculus Medium. Taking co-op and expanding with some experimental interaction options could evolve the genre in pretty cool ways so, hopefully, other developers are paying attention.

Tagged with: Art404, Giphy, Superbright VR

July 21, 2017

NZXT’s BLD Tool For Custom Computers Lacks VR, But It’s In The Plans

More and more gamers are becoming interested in the PC gaming world, but there’s a general knowledge barrier keeping them from taking the leap. When making that transition, “build your own” is the general consensus but how much you save building your own gaming rig has gotten significantly smaller with more custom build options around and the convenience of just clicking a few options to get what you want is more appealing. NZXT, a computer manufacturer, has launched a new program called BLD that allows consumers to shape a gaming computer by specifying the game they want to play. Sadly, VR options are currently lacking.

On the BLD website, your computer purchase experience is ultimately spread across three parts: Select the games you want to play, specify your price range, and customize the suggested computer with final tweaks. We noticed quickly that there are no VR options on BLD at this current moment so we reached out to see if there were any plans to change this in the near future. NZXT’s Associate Public Relations Manager Wesley Ruscher responded to our email inquiry with this message:

“Regarding BLD and VR options, that is indeed a feature we plan to add to the service. Currently, we are working on a way of showing that a build is VR ready during the BLD customizing experience. Our S340 Elite, one of the case options offered on BLD, was designed to make a VR experience more user-friendly, as it offers an HDMI pass through on the top of the case and the NZXT puck (designed to hold headsets when not in use). So adding this information for BLD customers is important.

To when this feature will be implemented, I do not have a confirmed date, but it is in the pipeline of enhancements to come soon.

As for incorporating VR games into the BLD prediction formula, that will be a much harder task given the current population of PC gamers using VR. Not impossible, but this most likely won’t be a feature until there is a more mainstream adoption of VR.”

It goes without saying that the more accessibility around VR, the better. Tethered VR headsets provide the most engrossing experience at this current time, but having to consider PC composition in addition to how to set up VR hardware and tracking will turn away the average consumer. BLD is a great concept with a lot of potential and this is a solid opportunity to get a leg up on the competition by providing a welcoming tool that includes a growing medium. Hopefully, they’ll jump on this sooner rather than later.

Tagged with: NZXT

July 21, 2017

Watch The Conan At Comic-Con Pre-Show In 4k 360-Degree Video

Conan O’Brien is no stranger to immersive media. He’s hilariously declared the purpose of VR is sex and even taken a fun trip through Job Simulator on his show. O’Brien’s love for all things nerdy is also nothing new as he returns to Comic-Con for another year and Team Coco gets to experience the pre-con show in 360-degree video.

The San Diego Comic-Con pre-show will be hosted by comedy duo Chris Redd and Moses Storm. The two will appear in beautiful 4k, 360-degree video with the help of 4 Nokio Ozo cameras. The cameras will be situated to not only show a couple perspectives for the stage, but also a couple fan interaction stations. Yesterday’s show aired at 3:30 PM PT and the rest of the Comic-Con pre-shows are scheduled as follows:

Friday, 7/21: 3:30 PM
Saturday, 7/22: 12 PM
Sunday, 7/23: 7 PM (re-air of the Friday pre-show)

If you check out the 360 video collection on the Team Coco website, you’ll see that O’Brien and crew have been using the immersive format since all the way back in 2015. The impact of its use now is arguably higher considering the growing use of VR headsets and its good to see the continued utilization of 360-degree media for broadcasting.

In addition to the bonus 360-degree content that will be upload on the Team Coco Facebook and YouTube, viewers can also look forward to CONAN episodes featuring the casts for Lego Ninjago and Game of Thrones throughout the weekend.

Tagged with: Comic Con

July 21, 2017

Oculus Studios’ VR Shooter ARKTIKA.1 To Get An Ebook Companion Later This Year

In our hands-on with ARKTIKA.1, it’s noted that the game seems to have a lot that wants to express about its world. The decision to tell rather than show presents a mixed bag for gameplay, but a new partnership will give the creative team an opportunity to world build in a different way. Partnering with Del Ray Books, an imprint of the well know Random House publisher, 4A Games has inked a storytelling deal that will see a companion eBook launch in Q3 this year.

The news comes by way of a press release on Gamasutra and the upcoming eBook is titled ARKTIKA.1: My Name is Viktoria. 4A Games is known for their Metro series, a series adapted from books and known for their engaging narrative. Christie Golden, an American author with a long history of penning novels based on notable fictional worlds like Star Trek and Starcraft, helped shape the story for ARKTIKA.1 and she’ll also be involved in My Name is Viktoria.

“I couldn’t ask for more from 4A Games and my publisher, Del Rey Books,” Golden says in the press release. “We’ve worked together every step of the way to bring ARKTIKA.1 to life. I brought my A-game to this project, calling on my playwriting training to create sharp dialogue and utilizing my world-building skills to help complete the immersive experience virtual reality offers. Players looking to dive into the game’s universe by cozying up with a book have much to look forward to!”

VR experiences are built upon the appeal of immersion and are constantly used to supplement other forms of media, but expanding upon these virtual worlds with other mediums like books adds a degree of credibility to the gaming aspect of the industry. It’s good to see AAA games get AAA efforts and exposure.

“Story is at the heart of any AAA game – and we have some things to say about that! With our experience making post-apocalyptic games, we’re now taking players a hundred years in the future and presenting them with a dangerous yet hopeful world,” says Yevhen Fedorets, lead game designer on ARKTIKA.1. “We’re building environments filled with detail – resulting in believable, atmospheric locations. Immersion is all about connecting everything in the world with the player, and we found that this feeling of ‘being there’ is by far the best way to tell an engrossing story about survival.”

ARKTIKA.1 is due to release on Oculus Rift exclusively sometime this year. My Name is Viktoria is currently available to preorder on Amazon for $0.99 and has a release date of October 10th.

Tagged with: 4A Games, arktika.1

July 20, 2017

Experimental iPhone App Uses AR To Suspend Your Images In Mid-Air

Apple and augmented reality have both been mentioned in conversation a few times, most recently in our report on a new patent for Light Field AR. Now there’s a conversation about Apple AR of a different flavor due to a creator’s first experiment with apps. Reported on Gizmodo, creator Dan Monaghan’s Float0 gives you an image gallery on iOS that has pictures floating in mid-air.

Source: Dan Monaghan

In its current form, Float0 allows you to use the camera on your iPhone and a floating gallery appears through the display as you snap shots. Monaghan says it currently runs 60fps with no stutter or latency issues usually.

Dan Monaghan shares a bit more about his intentions for Float0 on his website, saying what has been shown thus far is only the beginning of an app “that will have sharing” and “lots of different ‘modes'”. Gizmodo’s reporter alludes to the app’s potential in a social space where a user could pull up their phones and see images taken at different venues. To take the idea further, it would be interesting to be able to exchange pictures in such a way or even set up scavenger hunts using Float0. For all we know, these ideas could be in the works and we’ll just have to wait and see what Monaghan comes up with.

July 19, 2017

Atmospheric VR Adventure Hit Obduction Gets PS VR Release Date

Myst and Riven by Cyan Studios are games that etched out permanent spaces in video game history. The VR gaming ecosystem sees a lot of new faces springing up to take advantage of the potential of virtual gaming, but the industry greatly benefits from a development team with an established gaming lineage. That’s exactly what happened with the well-received Obduction from Cyan Studios and now the spiritual successor to Myst and Riven is coming to PS VR on August 29th.

Obduction received an 8 out of 10 from us when you reviewed it in August of last year, the reviewer highlighting its wonderful world, clever puzzles, and satisfying gameplay. Despite VR being a young medium, Cyan somehow showed off terrific understanding of VR and how to use it to elicit visceral responses from players. PS VR players have had to wait nearly a year, but they’re finally getting a chance to experience one of the better titles VR has to offer.

“It’s been almost two decades since we created a product for console, and we couldn’t be happier about our return to PlayStation,” says Ceo of Cyan Rand Miller in the press release for the announcement. Miller adds that Cyan has been “working really hard to craft a special Obduction experience for both PS4 and PSVR” and that effort comes across in the pre-order offer. Pre-orders are available right now on the PlayStation Store and, if you choose to grab it before the August 29th launch, you’ll receive exclusive themes and avatars for your PS4 console.

Tagged with: Cyan Studios, obduction

July 18, 2017

Bovington Tank Museum Is Using VR/AR For An Exhibit

Museums are homes to so many facets of the world’s history, but many don’t realize the efforts that go into recreating and/or acquiring the different items on display. If somehow a certain challenge to acquire a rare artifact is insurmountable, as was true when the Bovington Tank Museum was unable to obtain one of the three last surviving Sturmtigers, VR and AR provide an immersive alternative. Partnering with Wargaming and app developer Gravity Jack, the Bovington Tank Museum will have a faithful virtually-recreated Sturmtiger crashing through their walls via AR. The experience will be available either by a Google Tango-enabled tablet or Microsoft Hololens and users will be able to disassemble the tank, tour the inside, or even shoot one of its rockets.

Wargaming is responsible for the wildly popular game World of Tanks so they have a wealth of experience with digital tanks. Combine that with Gravity Jack’s VR/AR pedigree and Bovington Tank Museum has a one-of-a-kind experience for patrons. The experience will be available either by a Google Tango-enabled tablet or Microsoft Hololens and users will be able to disassemble the tank, tour the inside, or even shoot one of its rockets.

“Augmented Reality allows visitors to explore the SturmTiger in a way that is not possible with a physical tank,” said Tracy Spaight, Director of Special Projects at Wargaming. “Countless studies show the power of agency and presence in an experience as a means of enhancing learning and retention. We believe that AR technology will help museums connect with a new generation of museum-goers and bring history alive in a way that was not possible before.”

There have been other efforts to preserve history and inform through VR/AR, like the VR Timescope in Paris. This VR and AR experience, beyond just bringing history to life, allows museum patrons to interact with it in a way they normally wouldn’t be able to “primarily for reasons of public safety,” as museum director Richard Smith said.

Tagged with: Gravity Jack, Wargamming

July 18, 2017

MelodyVR Bolsters Artist Stable With Sony Music Partnership

With VR developing as a premium and exciting new option for live events, various entities are working to secure partnerships with media companies for rights to their content. MelodyVR is largely dependant on those partnerships, giving them access to artists under different music labels, and they’ve locked in another major one that’s sure to benefit them in a big way. Following up the partnership with Warner Music in December 2016 and Universal Music Group inked in March this year, Billboard reports that Sony Music is the newest addition to the MelodyVR stable.

MelodyVR is a VR application that will give you premier access to live music events with perspectives from the stage or in the crowd. While it is only in the beta phase right now, the company has been laying a strong foundation with these music label partnerships and a recently announced deal with Microsoft that will see their content made available to all Windows 10 users.

Anthony Matchett is the CEO EVR Holdings, MelodyVR’s parent company, and a reported statement implies that having these partnerships provides “significant validation in regard to our market leading position, our ongoing success and the long-term value of our business”.

MelodyVR is being developed in a way that will see it launch with a large and diverse collection of content across all major platforms for VR and 360-degree media. It currently has a beta program that gives users early access and, if community feedback is acted upon expediently, MelodyVR could have a great future ahead.

July 18, 2017

There’s Virtual Mario And Dragonball Z At Bandai Namco’s VR Park

In April we reported that Bandai Namco was bringing the largest VR arcade of its kind in Japan’s Kabukicho district in Tokyo. Called VR Zone: Project I Can, we didn’t have a lot of details on coming attractions at the time but content inspired by anime like a Gundam-esque fighting game looked to be a part of the plan. A new report from the Nikkei Asian Review reveals that something anime related was definitely produced, albeit with a different flavor: Visitors will be able to take part in an experience called Dragonball Z VR: Master The Kamehameha.

The Kamehameha is a powerful ability in the world of Dragonball Z that involves firing a large energy beam from your hands. In Dragonball Z VR you’ll be guided by Goku, one of the show’s main characters, as you learn to fire a wave on your own. The experience only lasts for a short time but the VR headset along with a vibrating platform deeply immerses those that participate.

Image Credit: Nikkei Asia

The arcade, which opened last Friday, houses 96 VR machines that are all short experiences like DBZ VR (roughly 7 minutes). Other experiences include Mario Kart VR with a realistic kart for users to sit in and a winged-bike game called Hanechari that has fans blowing on you for a 4D sensation while pedaling. The report details that Japan’s amusement facility sales had consistently fallen for eight years up until 2014. 2015 saw a rise and, hopefully, the continued integration of VR in amusement parks will continue an upward trend or inspire an even larger jump.

If you live near or would like to plan a trip to Tokyo to visit the arcade, entry costs 4,400 yen ($38.95) and gives access to four attractions. Over time, various packages will likely come to fruition as the arcade grows in popularity.

Tagged with: bandai namco