The next steps are being taken for the mixed reality (MR) head-mounted displays (HMD’s) to be the next big thing. Microsoft has been focusing on their MR HMD’s,working together with Acer, Asus, Dell, HP and Lenovo with motion controllers – these MR headsets will be launching later this year.
It may not look like there are is a lot of content at the moment, but there are already quite a few exciting items that will be available for the MR HMDs in the near future. Most notably, Microsoft has announced they’re working alongside 343 Industries on some Halo Projects for MR. Alex Kipman, Technical Fellow and Hololens creator said, “It’s my pleasure to let you know that we are working with 343 Industries to bring future Halo experiences into mixed reality”.
67 apps or videogames have been listed for their MR HMDs with some maybe more Chinese oriented apps. Windows MR HMDs will also have Steam VR compatibility. How this is going to work hasn’t been stated – either developers will need to add support to their titles individually or Valve’s OpenVR driver might be utilized – just like HTC Vive and Oculus Rift, to provide easier access to Steam VR’s library.
Jaunt’s own VR app ‘Jaunt VR’ is set to use Microsoft’s Cortana for voice navigation and content adaptive streaming. The launch of the app will feature Jaunt’s first interactive cinematic 6DOF, Free the Night directed by Nicole McDonald, where you pick lights out of the skyline and place them back into the night sky.
Pre-orders for the Windows 10 development kit version of the MR headsets opened back in May. Then earlier this month the HP and Acer devices became available for anyone to buy through the Microsoft Store – although these are currently showing as out of stock. Microsoft’s Alex Kipman said at Microsoft’s Build 2017 event that the development versions will be fundamentally the same as the consumer versions when they are finally released.
