Augmented & Virtual Reality Confabulation
What Augmented Reality and Virtual Reality developers are talking about
The Electronic Entertainment Expo (E3) is one of the largest annual gaming events in the world, thrown by the Entertainment Software Association every summer in Los Angeles. Gamers everywhere eagerly await announcements about the following year’s game and hardware releases from major players like Microsoft, Sony, Nintendo, EA, Ubisoft and Bethesda, along with countless smaller […]
The post E3 2018: Complete Coverage appeared first on Digital Trends.
When it comes to virtual reality (VR) and augmented reality (AR) hardware tends to be big and bulky, however Kopin wants to change this by making smaller chips made for VR and AR. VRFocus spoke to Stuart Nixdorff, Senior Vice President of Kopin, about how their engineers are designing ultra-small 4K display chip as well as their head mounted display (HMD) called Elf VR.
Kopin’s products range from ultra-small displays, optics and speed enhancement technology, to head-gesture command, low-power ASIC’s, packaging and system reference designs. Their costumers range from consumers to enterprise, as well as military. Nixdorff explains that they’re very much like Intel, working on core display and component technologies.
Kopin’s presence at the Electronic Entertainment Expo (E3) 2017 means that they are interested in working together with developers working in the videogame industry throughout North America. Nixdorff explains that the Elf VR HMD is open to the first hundred developers as well as OEM companies, with no public pricing. He showcases their small chip in the video and explains how Elf VR has a small component new display technology that is capable of 4K displays and only an inch in size. He claims that the chip can significantly increase the resolution of the display inside the HMD. When asked which companies Kopin are working together with Nixdorff says various companies from the US, Europe and Asia.
The Elf VR has no AR capabilities, however Nixdorff says that Kopin engineers are busy trying to make both VR and AR more accessible to consumers by making consumer hardware products smaller, lighter and easier form factors. He explains that both the Oculus and HTC Vive developer kit was bulky and large in size, whilst Elf VR is their first developer kit and significantly smaller in size.
Whilst this video was made at E3, Elf VR has been shipping over the summer and will be coming out early 2018. Kopin will be at CES 2018, Las Vegas, next month, with various products in both VR, AR and audio. VRFocus will keep you up to date on the company’s latest products, but to find out more watch the video below.
Announced back in June this year, Game Cooks have been working on VINDICTA for Steam VR on HTC Vive and is now also available on Oculus Rift. VRFocus speak to Anthony Geara, Lead 3D Artist at Game Cooks about the videogame at Electronic Entertainment Expo (E3).
The videogame is a virtual reality (VR), first-person shooter (FPS) where the player takes on the role of Agent V, who has been sent to infiltrate the fortified headquarters of the sinister UB Industries. UB Industries are looking to build a robot army in an attempt to take over the world. A whole variety of robots face the player, from the expected humanoid robot to big mechanical spiders, all of which need to be taken out so UB Industries plan can be foiled.
Geara explains that you have around four to eight hours of gameplay with around 12-13 weapons ranging from pistols, shotguns, assault rifles to the grenade launcher. Now that the title is available for both the HTC Vive and Oculus Rift, whilst it may be that Game Cooks are working on a multiplayer and co-op of VINDICTA for VR arcades.
Watch the video below to find out more:
It’s been some considerable time since this year’s Electronic Entertainment Expo, otherwise known as E3. But one of the more curious announcements at the time, and one that caught many (including ourselves) by surprise was that of Final Fantasy XV virtual reality (VR) spin-off title Monster of the Deep: Final Fantasy XV. It wasn’t just that it was a title that was based off of the main videogame’s fishing mechanic – although there was a degree of surprise that fishing of all things would be the focus – but that there had already been a Final Fantasy XV VR experience revealed at E3 in 2016. In fact, that had even been its title, Final Fantasy XV: VR Experience. It was also known as the Episode Prompto.
Final Fantasy XV: VR Experience was more content that stood alongside the main game as opposed to it being a specific title. It also wasn’t the best, as VRFocus Editor Kevin Joyce noted at the time in his preview: “It’s essentially a demo of what Square Enix views as the potential for VR blindly rolled into a product with the hope of success being bred from the attachment of a powerful franchise. A cynical view perhaps, but one which is hard to avoid given the poor quality of the Final Fantasy XV: VR Experience preview build on offer.”
Despite this its absence a year later was both unexpected and unexplained. What had become of the title? It had at one stage been slated to be DLC. Had it been reworked or would we ever even see it again? The answer to the last part of the question is apparently no. With Square Enix issuing an official statement on the matter that first made its way to Gamespot.
“Final Fantasy XV: VR Experience at E3 2016 was a technology demo that we showcased. Since then, we have learned much from the technology and have leveraged our learnings from the Episode Prompto DLC. The result of that is our first PlayStation VR title, Monster of the Deep: Final Fantasy XV.”
With the 2016 project now confirmed dead, focus fully falls on Monster of the Deep, gameplay details of which were revealed just under a month ago. We will of course bring you more details about the videogame as soon as we are able. For everything related to PlayStation VR stay tuned to VRFocus.
Behind closed doors at the Electronic Entertainment Expo (E3) VRFocus managed to get an interview with Damjan Mravunac the CMO of Croteam. The Croatian based studio are best known for Serious Sam VR: The First Encounter, Serious Sam: The Last Hope and Serious Sam VR: The Second Encounter. VRFocus writer Peter Graham wrote a rave review about the videogame here.
The Talos Principle was a huge hit back in 2014. This philosophical puzzler has a narrative that is supposed to make you question life and the universe. It also has various puzzles, and the Croteam team received various requests to make the Talos Principle a virtual reality (VR) game. Based around Talos, a giant bronze man in Greek mythology – apparently this is a must play game in VR. The feedback from the few who managed to play it has been incredible according to Damjan, no release date has been given yet and the CroTeam want to expand to support more headsets in the future.
To find out more watch the video below.
VRFocus has already covered various virtual reality (VR) accessories you may want to own to make your life easier by Nyko Technologies, such as the Charge Block and Charge Link for the PlayStation VR controllers or the VR Anti-Nausea Wristband. Chris Arbogast, Director of Sales and Marketing for Nyko Technologies showcased the company’s latest range of third party accessories at last month’s Electronic Entertainment Expo (E3). In this video Arbogast shows off the PlayPad VR, a wireless Bluetooth controller. Retailing at $49.99 USD it’s set to be released this Fall in the US and will be released internationally at a later date. Any videogames on Gear VR that have controller support will be compatible.
Here are some key features:
Checkout VRFocus’ interview with Arbogast to find out more on the PlayPad VR.
VRFocus recently caught up with Kyle McCullough the VP for Digital and Gaming from SpectreVision, the firm set up by actor Elijah Wood and movie directors Daniel Noah and Josh C.Waller, to discuss why SpectreVision has moved into virtual reality (VR), the future of storytelling, SpectreVision’s relationship with Ubisoft and how it came to make Transference.
Transference, a psychological, story-driven, thriller videogame. The experience shown at the Electronic Entertainment Expo (E3) last month was a prequel to the finished title currently in development. It’s due to be released for the Oculus Rift, PlayStation VR and HTC Vive in Spring 2018. Aiming to blur the lines between movies, players are asked to explore memories of man’s life by travelling between different moments of his existence.
Nina Salomons asks McCullough about why SpectreVision moved into VR: “From SpectreVision coming from the filmmaking world, we’ve done movies like A Girl walks home alone at Night (2014), The Boy, Cooties (2014), The Greasy Strangler (2016) and all of these really unique stories. We like to tell unique stories in unique ways and so VR was obviously the next path to continue to tell unique stories and hopefully more unique ways.”
Spectrevision didn’t have a goal when the company approached Ubisoft a couple of years ago at E3, just knowing they wanted to something in VR. McCullough explains that “it’s become very clear to us now that games are totally where those stories are told.” He points that that interactivity, which is so key in gaming is integral for good storytelling in virtual reality. So will storytelling change? McCullough believes it will always stay the same structure that it’s been from the beginning of time, however with virtual reality comes a whole new set of tools. These tools can be used to tell new inventive ways for storytelling. By offering immersion it really does seem like you can tap into someone’s mind more than the conventional two dimensional screen.
SpectreVision started doing workshops in Montreal with the Ubisoft’s Fun House team and quickly started to develop the story behind Transference. SpectreVision worked on the narrative, the design and bringing emotions to the game. McCullough explains that “the story itself is totally dependent on the ideas of virtual reality in order to get it’s point across.” The close collaboration with Ubisoft means that the narrative and game are one and the same, with no clear division between the two.
The biggest lessons he’s learned in virtual reality are many, but the one thing he’s had to learn the most is keeping audience engagement in VR as well as trying to keep a player to stay there for the full experience. Watch the video below to find out more.
“Are you guys also having insects fly all over the place at you?”
As work questions go I wasn’t really expecting that one. I looked around my little bedroom office for any invading insect hordes I’d, in my work focused state, neglected to see. But there were no armies at the gate. No cartoon picnics being carried off into the night.
“Can’t say I am.” I typed back in reply. The response came fast.
“THEY ARE EVERYWHERE!” Nina insisted, “I kid you not – it’s an infestation.”
“Flying ants?” Asked Peter, newly arriving onto the scene to start his working day.
“YES.” Nina confirmed. “And baby flying insects. In my hair. In my clothes. On my arms. On my screen.
On my legs. Crawling everywhere.” How very Linkin Park.
A discussion on what exactly Nina could do followed which revolved around getting bug spray. Peter suggested an old schoolyard remedy.
“Just get any can of spray and a lighter, that’ll kill them. Although don’t point it at anything flammable!”
“I believe tradition dictates a can of Lynx deodorant.” I added, remembering the usual secondary school post-gym activity of avoiding whatever idiot was setting the benches on fire following a good spray down.
“Bug spray might be more expensive.” Said Peter sagely, “And Eva’s spot on with the Lynx suggestion.”
“What do you guys think I AM?” Nina thundered. “A man that smokes?”
Chuckling I left them all to their highly geotargeted insect apocalypse, and instead mulled over a few topics for discussion this week. Flicking through Friday to Sunday’s posts after a satisfying three-day weekend and it seems Nina wasn’t the only one getting antsy. It seems that Microsoft are too, in that they know they want to do something in virtual reality (VR) they just don’t quite know what that something is.
E3 was very much about Microsoft’s reveal of what Project Scorpio would be, and things seemed geared up for a possible VR announcement as a part of that. When the time came and what ended up being the Xbox One X was revealed it seemed that VR was on the backburner for the console. Or was it? In the hours following the announcement we got conflicting interviews from Xbox personnel on where VR stood on console. Going from on one hand Phil Spencer somewhat unsubtly turning all of the BBC’s questions about VR support to answers about how Microsoft is making all these mixed reality (MR) headsets and isn’t that great. To Larry Hryb (aka Major Nelson) revealing that the Xbox One X can certainly handle VR. The only common mantra being the industry get out of jail free card that “we’re not sharing any details today”, which still lends itself far more to “we’ll tell you later” than “no”. After all its far easier to just say no – it’s the end of the discussion then.
So, a hint of promise with a dash of confusion and a slight air of discomfort. Not totally unsurprising really. Video game companies despite what their carefully crafted marketing image might lead you to believe are just like any other company. Full of overtaxed staff like you or I, desperately trying to make it through another day without succumbing to the madness. Silently loathing the next department over for causing more work and the other continental branches for their failings. Indeed, scrape away the veneer and you’ll like as not find an organisation one email away from anarchy and one broken coffee machine away from everyone collectively setting the photocopiers on fire. The printers having long been doomed to run out of toner thanks to either Derek or Janice in the finance department printing out a thirty page marketing report they need exactly three pages from, and have done so in the wrong paper orientation. Resulting in a whole forest being consumed in the subsequent three-hundred pages. Oh and they wanted two copies? Ahhh damnit…
Now though, through another voice – that of Dave McCarthy – we hear that Microsoft are focusing on VR for PC and not for Xbox at all. Again, not a strict no necessarily, but definitely a ‘we don’t care about this at the moment’ response. This is a tad surprising as it’s not like Microsoft haven’t had the time to think about VR on Xbox One X and they’ve already confirmed it can be done. So why wouldn’t you want to make those forthcoming Windows 10 VR HMDs doubly sellable by having them work on both PC and console? Seems a heck of a selling point to me.
Which is of course what you want as a marketeer for a product you want a unique selling point – a USP. Equally, although you’ll never see this in any marketing textbook, you want if possible to take a USP away from the competition. At the moment PlayStation 4 and the PlayStation 4 Pro has that USP in that you can play VR games on the system. I remember reading comments on N4G at the time of E3 and seeing one that proudly proclaimed “PlayStation is the juggernaut of console VR!” Of course it is rather easy to be the juggernaut of something when you’re the only party associated with something. It’s a bit like saying triangles are the juggernauts of three sided shapes. Nor would I say it is Microsoft shooting themselves in the foot as one commenter said, after all I’m not sure you can really say that when you have a vested interest in the other foot too.
At the end of the day Microsoft need to get on the same page and be clear about how they go forward. Being hesitant about VR on console is only going to strengthen Sony’s hand. VR on consoles sells. There are people out there who are picking the PlayStation 4 Pro over considering the Xbox One X. They need to be determined, less unsure, less antsy when questioned about it. If you’ve said it can do it no problem, what exactly is stopping you apart from the courage of your convictions.
I wonder if anyone thought to actually close the window to stop those flying ants…
VRFocus interviews Peter Dawe, co-founder of New Island Studios Inc. about Escape VR, an escape room title for the Samsung Gear VR. The videogame was released last December with one room, where the player has to either find a way to escape the room before the bomb goes off, or figure out a way to diffuse it. This can be done by finding ways to open the safes on the wall, where they’ll find more clues.
Both Peter and his partner Victor were studying mechanical engineering and were so inspired by what virtual reality (VR) had to offer they decided to take the leap and make their first game, and on top of that make it in virtual reality (VR). Around Newfoundland, Canada, there are various real physical escape rooms which they enjoyed and felt were missing in the realm of VR, at least something they’d want to play. Dawe explains that it was a steep learning curve teaching themselves how to script and deal with simulation sickness, however that they’ve decided VR is what they love and want to continue doing as a studio.
A new room is set to be released this Summer and another at the end of Fall. They hope to expand to the Oculus Rift, HTC Vive and Google Daydream with potentially some other VR experiences down the pipeline. Watch the video below to find out more.
If you’re a big fan of first-person shooters (FPS) and virtual reality (VR) then you might have heard of Gunheart. Created by developers who have a background in FPS videogames such as Gears of War and Halo, Drifter Entertainment, you know you’re in for a good videogame.
Gunheart throws you into a futurist world where you have the options of three weapons. A shotgun, because an FPS is incomplete without one, a crossbow where you can guide and control the bolt with one controller to hit enemies hiding behind cover as well as a giant spinning disc lovingly called the death disc where you can slash straight through enemies.
VRFocus interviewed Ray Davis the CEO of Drifter Entertainment, and he explains that there are three major biomes where you have to adjust your strategy to face various enemies in different play modes. What’s really interesting about Gunheart is that this will always change from mission to mission, so no matter what map or gamemode you choose enemies will always be changing. You won’t play the same game twice. The idea is you can drop in, do a few missions, kill and collect rewards and drop out again. Davis hopes that as VR becomes more popular that online co-op will grow. The title will launch for HTC Vive and Oculus Rift with Touch and whilst you’re waiting in the lobby you can also play around with Tetris blocks or alternatively annoy friends with arrows because friendly fire is on.
To find out more watch the video below.
