Ship Ahoy Now Supporting Oculus Rift

Developer OKAM Studios have announced that their virtual reality (VR) pirate title about dominating the seas now supports the Oculus Rift unit.

Ship Ahoy

The news comes direct from the developers posting on the Steam page for Ship Ahoy. This means that now the title can be played with both the HTC Vive and the Oculus Rift opening the doors to even more players jumping into the open beta. The indie studio based in Argentina have been working hard on their first multiplayer VR title for some time now, having released into open beta on Steam last month. Currently, Ship Ahoy offers players a chance to jump into a death match against players to see who is the best pirate of all, along with a number of single player mini games.

Ship Ahoy

Originally released with support for the HTC Vive, the now included support for Oculus Rift was a no-brained given it allows for more players to access the title. In the recent Steam Hardware and Software Survey, the Oculus Rift was the most popular VR headset of choice with a 49.26% of the market share. With that in mind, OKAM Studios are sure to see an increase in their player count thanks to the added support for the VR unit. The team have said that they are working on a PlayStation VR version as well but so far there are no updates on when that might happen.

Ship Ahoy is currently in an open beta state on Steam and is free-to-play for anyone who is interesting in trying it out. In his preview of the title, Peter Graham, Senior Staff Writer at VRFocus said: “Ship Ahoy has the makings of great, family friendly shooter. Where you can engage in some nautical combat that isn’t going to make you unwell. The videogame is somewhat sparse of certain elements and features but that’s not to say these won’t come in time. For its first VR videogame OKAM Studio is already doing a lot better than others, so hopefully the final title will stay afloat rather than meeting a watery end.”

For more on Ship Ahoy and the developers as OKAM Studio, keep reading VRFocus.

March 3, 2018

This Week In VR Sport: It’s a Football Start to March

For the first weekend of March VRFocus brings you another edition of This Week In VR Sport. With new technology being used to provide viewers with virtual reality (VR) highlights and augmented reality (AR) statistics, Real Madrid are creating VR content and a new VR solution to practicing football drills. This Week In VR Sport is all about the beautiful game.

La Liga Bringing 360 VR and AR to Football Matches

Spain’s professional football league, La Liga, have set up a partnership with Intel to allow fans to have access to more content then ever before. This includes 360-degree replays and AR statistics all thanks to the new technology that is being brought into stadiums. Thanks to 38 cameras placed around the outside of a stadium and using software to stitch the series of videos together, this results in a multi-angle view of highlights that viewers can explore at their own pace. This is further enhanced thanks to the SkyCam which hangs directly above the pitch and is also brought into the content available to viewers.

La Liga logo

Viewers will also be able to take advantage of what La Liga is calling the ‘Laser Wall’ which is a graphic overlay for statistics and even draws lines to help explain key moments during a match. The technology is also hoping to help reduce any controversies and/or conflicts that may occur by providing even more viewpoints for replays to be reviewed. La Liga is also considering releasing post-match content that would allow viewers to explore a matches highlights in their preferred angle, rather then watching what is delivered by the TV production team. On top of all this there are continued developments in the VR area to allow viewers a virtual room experience, in which they can watch a match, view details and become fully immersed in the moment.

Real Madrid Launch VR Channel

Continuing the news of Spanish football, Real Madrid have launched their own 360 degree and VR channel as part of The Dream VR app platform. The club plans to release monthly content on the channel, offering fans “a first-hand insight into the Real Madrid experience, which to date has been available to very limited number of fans.”

Real Madrid 360

The Dream VR app is one of the largest VR networks with over two million downloads across 180 countries. Real Madrid will be the first football club to release content onto the app and have their own VR channel. As more football clubs continue to explore the possibility of VR content and with Real Madrid taking the step forward, it is highly likely that more clubs will follow soon and begin creating their own channels.

The Dream VR app is available to download now on mobile device (iOS and Android) and smart televisions as well a number of VR platforms including Google Daydream, Oculus Rift, Samsung Gear and HTC Vive.

Mi-Hiepa Sports Might Be The Future of Football Drills

Mi Hiepa was announced a few months back but has recently been showing off what it can do for players at the Mobile World Congress show in Barcelona. Designed to allow coaches, managers, scouts and sports directors a rapid, standardised and measurable solution to train and review their talent pools. By taking advantage of VR technology the program allows both new and existing players to train in a number of live drills and track their results and progress all within virtual space. This is done thanks to the HTC Vive Pro and tracking units which allows for pinpoint accuracy in the tracking to ensure that players have a lifelike, full-body experience within the virtual space.

Not just aimed at finding new talent though, the solution is also designed to allow for cognitive coaching, rehabilitation, performance reviews and skill training. You can see a demotion of Mi Hiepa in the below video.

For more on immersive sport news keep reading VRFocus and remember to check back next week for another This Week In VR Sport.

March 3, 2018

Latest Windows 10 Insider Preview Build Breaks Windows Mixed Reality

If you are part of the Windows Insider Program in the Fast ring and use Windows Mixed Reality (MR) you might want to hold off on updating to the preview build 17112.

Windows 10 Mixed Reality key art

The Windows 10 Insider Program is designed to offer users a chance to test out the latest builds of Windows 10 before they are released to the general public. There are two sections to the Insider Program which offer users different access to builds. The Slow ring is for those who want to test builds that are pretty much ready for release with the Fast ring being the front of the testing program. It is in this Fast ring that build 17112 has been released and with it the problem that Windows MR is not working has been encountered.

As to be expected in any testing program, problems may and will occur but for build 17112 it seems that Microsoft have pushed it out to the Fast ring in full knowledge of the Windows MR problem. Writing on the Windows Experience Blog, Dona Sarkar and Brandon LeBlanc write: “There are two issues impacting the usability of Windows Mixed Reality on this build. Windows Mixed Reality runs at a very low frame rate (8-10fps) that could result in some physical discomfort. And there are multiple crashes at startup that will cause Windows Mixed Reality to not work.”

Windows 10 Pause Updates

If you are a Windows MR user then for now it would be best to hold off on updating to build 17112. To do this, users can pause the Insider Preview builds from installing by going to Settings > Update & Security > Windows Insider Program and pressing the “Stop Insider Preview builds” button and choosing “Pause updates for a bit”. Though the build includes a number of fixes, improvements and general changes to Windows 10 and remains stable enough for Microsoft to release, it is a shame that Windows MR has been rendered unable.

Elsewhere in the Windows 10 build 17112 users will experience issues with the Microsoft Store which may disappear or be completely broken. When trying to open an online-only file from OneDrive that hasn’t been downloaded to your PC before then there is a chance it will lead to a crash. Movies & TV crashes when navigating to the ‘Personal’ tab and a small number of users may encounter a reboot loop due to a failed installed when upgrading to the build.

Once again, Windows Insider Program users in the Fast ring will be the only ones with access to build 17112 at the moment and if you are wanting to avoid issues with Windows MR, make sure to avoid upgrading for now.

For more on this story as it developers and other MR related stories, keep reading VRFocus.

March 3, 2018

Anvio VR Opens New Venue in London

With full-body virtual reality (VR) experiences becoming more popular then ever, Moscow based company Anvio VR have announced that they have expanded their operation and opened a venue in London.

City Z 01

After the success of their first full-body VR title, City Z, Anvio VR looked to not only bring more experiences to the visitors but also expand to new locations to bring this technology to new audiences. Now, after a successful run in Moscow the company have opened a new venue in London which allows those in the UK a chance to drive into not one but two full-body VR experiences. This includes the City Z experience in which players will be giving a gun peripheral along with a sword and must face off against hordes of the undead in a fast paced, action packed combat situation that is sure to test your skills. Also available is the newly released puzzle adventure title, Lost Sanctuary which focuses more on puzzle solving and traversing the environment rather than combat.

Lost Sanctuary Hero

To those unfamiliar with full-body VR experiences, they allow a user to step beyond the lines of reality and virtual space and become completely immersed in the moment. With an Oculus Rift head mounted display (HMD), body tracking and no wires combined with the large, open space that Anvio VR has users are giving complete and total freedom. This means that a user can move around without the worry of space or cable length and even reach out to touch their group members that are right beside them. Thanks to the technology that Anvio VR use as well, all of this is possible with no latency and with support for up to four players.

Located just north of Kensington in the Whiteleys Shopping Centre, Queensway, those in or around London will find it easy to get to the venue and jump right in. Bookings must be made online and can be for groups of two, three or four people with prices ranging from £65 (GBP), £97.50 and £130 respectively.

Recently a number of other full-body VR experiences have made their way to London including that of Star Wars: Secrets Of The Empire which puts visitors into the beloved sci-fi world like never before.

For more on immersive VR and full-body experiences, keep reading VRFocus.

March 2, 2018

Anvio VR Release Second Full-Body Experience, Lost Sanctuary

Following the success of their first full-body virtual reality (VR) title, Anvio VR have released their second product in the form of a puzzle-adventure title named Lost Sanctuary.

Lost Sanctuary 01

In Lost Sanctuary, players must work together to descend deep below the ground in order to uncover a forgotten civilisation and discover the treasures that lie in wait. Up to four players can enter this ancient and abandoned city and must work together, solving puzzles and traversing the environment, in order to progress deeper into the heart of the city. Equipped with wrist mounted weaponry, players will be able to use the full-body tracking technology in conjunction with an Oculus Rift headset to have complete freedom of movement without the need to hold onto any peripherals.

The total immersion that comes from the full-body tracking solution that Anvio VR use allows the wearer to erase the lines between the physical and virtual worlds, enjoying the experience like never before. As Lost Sanctuary will see players entering a mysterious underground world, they can expect to find all sorts of sights below including ancient buildings that tower over them and large, glowing mushrooms that create fantasy locations full of danger. Lost Sanctuary is on the other end of the scale in comparison to Anvio VR’s other title, City Z, which put players up against the undead in a fast paced, close-quarter combat situation.

Lost Sanctuary 02

All of this is possible thanks to the advanced technology that Anvio VR uses to create a complete virtual world that is able to support large open spaces and physical interaction for up to four players. The large play area, complete wireless system and the latest in VR headsets and tracking ensure that a player has complete freedom with no latency. As all the equipment is supplied on site and there is no handheld weaponry required, Lost Sanctuary is completely accessible to any and all visitors.

Lost Sanctuary may only be the second title that Anvio VR has released but the team are committed to releasing more in the future, offering a diverse content library to visitors. With the guarantee that their will always be something new to try and the limitless possibilities of virtual space, Anvio VR will continue to create full-body VR experiences for the foreseeable future.

For more on immersive VR and updates on titles by Anvio VR, keep reading VRFocus.

March 2, 2018

VR Adventure Title Cloudborn Leaves Early Access

Released into Early Access a few months back in 2017, Cloudborn has finally reached a key milestone and released in full.

Cloudborn 1.0 01

Cloudborn is an immersive adventure title in which players need to climb through the remains of a lost civilization to discover a hidden fate. Making use of the ‘Momentum’ locomotion system, players need to make their actions count as they traverse through the world. With climbing, swinging and even grabbing objects all part of the movement system, players will be scaling anything and everything as they progress to the top. Coming out of Early Access means the title is now in a finished state that has seen plenty of work to ensure it is the best it can be.

Announced on the Steam page for the title, the update out of Early Access has been a long time coming and sees Cloudborn getting a number of improvements. The main focus for the update into a full release has been the artwork, seeing improvements to the shaders allowing for better visuals across the board. These improvements also mean that the performance of each one has been optimized to ensure an increased framerate with the same being applied to the lighting which has been redone as well. Elsewhere players can look forward to a number of bug fixes, optimizations to sound and gameplay, plus enhancements to gameplay mechanics and new props.

Cloudborn 1.0 02

With refinements found in the look, feel, performance and locomotion of Cloudborn the developers at Logtown Studios have done a grand job seeing the development through to this point. As part of the update the developer also released a few numbers from the project which showcase some of the work that has gone into the development of the title. This includes 2,064 art assets produced , 70,289 lines of code written, 1 baby born during the development cycle and 1,171 bags of tea consumed.

The release of Cloudborn out of Early Access is not the end of the story however as Logtown Studios has confirmed that work will continue with plenty of post-launch updates planned.

Cloudborn is currently available on PC via Steam for only £6.59 GBP down from £10.99 until the 9th March. The title supports both the Oculus Rift and HTC Vive. For more on Cloudborn in the future, keep reading VRFocus.

March 2, 2018

Ready Player One VR Experience Announced For SXSW

Attendees of this year’s South by Southwest (SXSW) will be able to get a taste of the upcoming release of Steven Spielberg’s new action adventure, Ready Player One, in a virtual reality (VR) experience.

Ready Player One 02

The release of the upcoming film is set for 29th March and in anticipation Ready Player One will be taking over the Brazos Hall, with a two-story experience. Included in the experience will be exciting VR content on a HTC Vive unit that allows visitors to create their own digital identity in the Ready Player One Avatar Creator. Once created, the digital recreation of themselves will be sent to their email so they can use it to their heart’s content.

The Ready Player One Experience starts outside where the exterior of the Brazos Hall is set to be transformed into the Stacks, the vertical trailer park which is the home of the main character in Ready Player One. Once a visitor has received their personal radio-frequency identification (RFID) wristband, they will be able to enter through another location from the film, Wade Watts’ Van, and then enter the OASIS where the real meat of the experience is found. The RFID wristbands will also keep score of visitors knowledge of ’80s trivia, arcade games or found hidden clues. These will be compiled into a leaderboard to win fun prizes including the grand prize of a HTC Vive.

SXSW 01

Also at the Ready Player One Experience plenty of sights and sounds for visitors to explore. This includes a Hot Topic Ready Player One Pop-Up, The Distracted Globe, 2045’s hottest nightclub that will offer plenty of Ready Player One themed cocktails and a stage packed with DJs and performers. On Sunday, 11th March, the venue will also hold a livestream, Ready Player One LIVE at SXSW, powered by Twitch and IMBb and will feature some of the stars and filmmakers from Ready Player One, hosted by Aisha Tyler and correspondent Alex Correa.

The Ready Player One Experience at SXSW will be open from Friday, 9th March until Sunday, 11th March. The SXSW conference will continue on until the 18th March, 2018.

For more on VR exhibitions and content keep reading VRFocus.

March 2, 2018

Starbear: Taxi is the Latest VR Videogame From Funktronic Labs

Developer Funktronic Labs, the minds behind virtual reality (VR) titles such as Cosmic Trip and Doggo’s Day Off have revealed their next title to be Starbear: Taxi.

Starbear: Taxi 01

The VR-exclusive title will have players controlling a spaceship as they pilot around a futuristic bear city and must race against the clock to taxi passengers about. The developers at Funktronic Labs describe the title as: “What happens when a game jam focused on mini worlds and new VR control schemes collides with cute, tiny bears drawn on a whiteboard? Starbear: Taxi!”

Starbear: Taxi is being built exclusively for VR offering players an immersive gameplay experience full of action-packed, fast paced taxi gameplay. Spaceships will be controlled with physics-based radio-controlled (RC) style flight controls offering both six degrees of freedom (6DoF) and three degrees of freedom (3DoF) as input methods. Flying around and crashing into objects and bears is likely to happen a lot in Starbear: Taxi but should not be a problem for your cute driver.

Starbear: Taxi 02

With a charming art design and arcade feel, Starbear: Taxi wants to give players a gameplay experience that will keep them hocked and wanting more. Once more, the title will feature a dynamic soundtrack which will adapt the music to suit a players play-style, making each session feel personal. Performance is also measured by score with leaderboards being included to prove who is the best bear taxi driver of all.

Starbear: Taxi is currently in development for a number of platforms including Steam VR with support for Oculus Rift and HTC Vive, PlayStation VR, Samsung Gear VR and Google Daydream. Currently there are no gameplay videos of Starbear: Taxi in action but the released screenshots and artwork show just how cute and charming the title looks to be. With so many platforms planned for release, there should be a way for anyone who is interested in the title to be able to play.

Though the release date has not been announced as of yet, once it is, along with further updates on the title, you can expect to find them here on VRFocus so make sure to check back.

March 2, 2018

Oculus Rift Takes the Lead in Steam Hardware Survey

Every month Value releases a Steam Hardware and Software Survey that details what is being used by the Steam community. The most recent one, which details February 2018, shows which of the virtual reality (VR) headsets is leading the way.

Oculus Rift & Touch

The Steam Hardware and Software Survey delivers data in two forms. One is a monthly breakdown of each catalog with percentage measurements, with the other being a graphic showing the change since September, 2016. Jumping right into it, the most favorable VR headset used by those who participated in the survey is that of the Oculus Rift which takes the lead at 0.14% of overall users. This is a change of +0.02% over the last month taking the lead from the HTC Vive by only 0.01%. Currently sitting at 0.13% the HTC Vive also saw a growth of +0.01% over the last month.

What is interesting however is that a recorded 0.01% of participation are using an Oculus Rift DK2, meaning the overall total for the Oculus Rift is in fact 0.15% to that 0.13% of the HTC Vive. In the grand scheme of things the overall usage for VR headsets since September, 2016 currently sits at the Oculus Rift holding a total of 49.26% of the user base. HTC Vive holds 45.38% and Windows Mixed Reality (MR) sits at 5.36%. Though it is hard to pinpoint the moment that the Oculus Rift overtook the HTC Vive you can see in the below graph the fluctuation between the ownership of each headset since September, 2016, likely around the summer of 2017 when Oculus Rift’s priced dropped significantly.

Steam Hardware Survey VR Headsets

In other news, the Steam Hardware and Software Survey also reveals that the current favorable graphics processing unit (GPU) is the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1060 with a 14.05% stack in the participation user data. Likewise, the central processing unit (CPU) are mostly running four cores with 71.99% of the share and clock in at between 3.0 Ghz to 3.29 Ghz. Roughly 34.81% of the share for CPU speeds. Given the high system requirements needed to support VR it is no surprise that the majority of users have put the above hardware in their machines.

Oculus Rift might be the leader in the Steam Hardware and Software Survey but when you look at the grand scheme of things, there is still a long way for VR to go. From the data for February, 2018, the overall percent of users with a VR headset of any brand is only 0.28%. With 14.05% of users running a NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1060, which is more than able to deliver outstanding VR performance, a large amount of those users don’t have a VR headset. With headset costs becoming more affordable and software continuing to create new experiences, this is surely to change in the coming years. If you are interested in seeing all the data for yourself, you can find it over on the Steam Hardware and Software Survey.

For more on VR and the growth of the industry, keep reading VRFocus.

March 2, 2018

Developers of Myst Reveal Upcoming VR Title Firmament

The developers behind Myst and Obduction have announced their next virtual reality (VR) game with the reveal of Firmament.

Firmament 01

Though details are currently thin on what players can expect from Firmament the announcement of the title is an exciting one given the work of developer Cyan in the past. Having released Obduction back in 2016, which was the successor to Myst, developer Cyan has clearly been hard at work on this new title. Said to be a “new VR experience” the titles website describes it as a “resplendent, magical, journey” and a “new steampunk adventure”. Players will be sent on a “monumental voyage through four diverse and curious realms, working in concert with an ever-present, clockwork companion, and the support and instruction of a long-dead, ethereal mentor.”

Firmament 02

The released teaser trailer clocks in at just under two and a half minutes, showing off plenty of stunning environments and interesting steampunk elements. The narrative that is delivered in the voice-over creates a tense atmosphere full of mystery and questions just waiting to be answered. With mentions of some sort of ‘arrival’ it seems that players will need to uncover the truth of what is happening in this cold, harsh world and find the answers they seek. With Firmament planned to be a VR release it can be expected that exploring every possible space and interacting with everything will be required.

With a proven track record and a stunning reveal Cyan clearly know how to get people excited for a release. Though no further details are available beyond the teaser trailer and the rather bare-bones website, Firmament is already shaping up to be a title worth keeping an eye on. With the focus on VR from the get go, it is possible that the title will be an outstanding experience but until gameplay is released and VRFocus can get hands on, that is up for debate.You can see the teaser trailer for yourself below.

Currently there are no details on a release window or potential platforms but you can be sure that these details will be released in due course and covered here on VRFocus.