Made by Hyperbolic Magnetism, an indie game studio based in the Czech Republic. Beat Saber was showcased at Unite Europe in Amsterdam. It’s a combination of Guitar Hero and Fruit Ninja in virtual reality (VR) videogame with light sabers. There are several VR videogames that already exist that touch on the realm of Star Wars. FromStar Wars: Trials on Tatooine where you have to repair the iconic Millennium Falcon and defend R2-D2 from storm troopers with a light saber to the fan made mod of VR game Robo Recall. However, this is one that’s based on your talent in music and rhythm.
There were several VR videogames that were showcased at Unite, but thanks to Hyperbolic Magnetism’s mixed reality set up (and perhaps standing at the entrance of one of the domes) there was a huge crowd people trying to beat one another to get the high score. Always a good sign for potential VR games that would do well at arcades, parties or something to play socially with friends. The game is in alpha stage and will be available for early access in September for the HTC Vive, Oculus and perhaps the PlayStation VR. In the future, they’re looking to find a way to add an editor so players can be jedi dancers to their own songs.
Prior to launch Oculus VR announced that an Xbox One controller would be included as standard with the Oculus Rift. The argument was that the game pad had become a standardised universal input familiar to both gamers and general consumer audiences. Even to this day many new virtual reality (VR) software titles utilise the Xbox One controller as their main input, and for certain videogames and experiences there’s no immediate need to change this.
Xbox One Game Pad Launch & Price
With the Xbox One controller included as standard there’s no issue in acquiring the device. However, for those looking for a replacement an edition including the wireless transmitter required is typically available for under £60 GBP.
How to Use the Xbox One Game Pad
The Xbox One controller can be utilised with the Oculus Rift in the exact same way as is standard on PC. With the included wireless transmitter connected via USB, the Xbox One controller operates as any standard PC game pad and will be automatically detected by the Oculus Home software.
Some minor issues with connectivity late last year were overcome by a quick update for the controller’s software, suggesting that Oculus VR is keen to ensure that the Xbox One game pad remains a piece of the Oculus Rift’s input puzzle for some time to come.
Apps and Games Compatible with the Xbox One Game Pad
The list of applications and videogames compatible with the Xbox One controller is extensive. Literally hundreds of titles on the Oculus Store remain designed solely for the Xbox One controller with no intention of updating to the Oculus Touch motion-controllers. As with the Oculus Remote, compatible titles feature an image displaying their support of the Xbox One controller.
Long term application of the Xbox One Game Pad
While Oculus Touch is becoming the de facto input solution for many videogame developers, it’s unlikely that it will replace the Xbox One controller wholesale any time soon. There are many applications that simply aren’t suited to motion-control, and thus a familiar input solution will still take precedent.
The Oculus Remote is a small device included with every Oculus Rift purchase. Intended to simplify actions and input, the Oculus Remote is and oft-forgotten input device, but as intended it can be a great starting point for those yet to experience the full width-and-breadth of what virtual reality (VR) is capable of.
Oculus Remote Launch & Price
As stated above, the Oculus Remote is included with all Oculus Rift purchases as standard. If you buy an Oculus Rift, you will receive an Oculus Remote as part of the package.
How to Use the Oculus Remote
The Oculus Remote features three-degrees-of-freedom (3 DoF) tracking, similar to the Google Daydream controller. Users can simply aim and click to access options in a menu or application. Furthermore, gesture control is available within compatible apps or videogames.
It should be noted that while many of the Oculus Rift launch titles are compatible with the Oculus Remote, it’s long been deemed an unnecessary addition to the package. As such, few developers even mentioned whether or not they support the device.
Apps and Games Compatible with the Oculus Remote
The variety of applications and videogames compatible with the Oculus Remote is extensive. The device is listed as a control option for those titles which support it (see the below icon) in Oculus Home, and a quick browse through the store will see that the number is very limited.
Farlands, and Animal Crossing inspired exploration and daily routine videogame is perhaps the best title to introduce the basic functions of the Oculus Remote, while Ascension VR, Hitman GO: VR Edition and BlazeRush are arguably targeted towards more experienced gamers.
Social applications vTime and AltSpace VR as well as Virtual Desktop and Deskverse, tools to bring your desktop into VR, also include compatibility with the Oculus Remote as standard.
Long term application of the Oculus Remote
It’s hard to argue there’s much worth in continued support of the Oculus Remote with Oculus Touch now available. It’s surely only a matter of time until the Oculus Remote is removed from the Oculus Rift bundle, and as such developers not supporting the input solution in new projects would not receive much criticism for their decision to omit the device. However, for newcomers not familiar with complicated input systems the Oculus Remote is certainly a good place to get started.
I’m feeling pretty good as I sit down and write this. Tired? Yes. Thirsty? Yes. But pretty good despite being sticky in a number of places you don’t particularly want to get sticky. Now there’s a heck of an image to start you with.
That’s because for the first time in a long time the stars, it feels like, have aligned and I’ve been able to get down to actually get down to the gym during a time when I’m not: a) Working. b) Exhausted from my shockingly bad sleep cycle. c) Sick or d) Prevented by one of life’s little landmines it likes to put in your path whenever everything seems to be going just tickety-boo. The reason I want to go to the gym is obvious: I’m an (almost) mid-thirties guy who spends most of his time tied via an HDMI cord to a desk for work and recreation. The results of this lifestyle are to be expected: I need to lose a bit of weight. That’s both for health purposes and personal satisfaction, as well as maybe assist with – as my long-exasperated friends can attest – my utterly unfailing hatred of… me. Don’t like this column? Want to tell me how terrible I am as a person. Please. You’re a rank amateur in comparison to me on me. Seriously, you’d just be embarrassing yourself.
It’s early days but I got to focus myself, blast out a quick session and have come back feeling pretty jazzed to start the day. I enjoy going to the gym. I always have. I’ve found I learn something each time I go. Should things continue to work out I might even be able to start thinking of plans to build up some strength in my wrists and shoulders – the latter being a long-standing annoyance I may have mentioned briefly on a previous column. I tore… something… in my shoulder. Following straining something in it the day prior. Sometimes chivalry can get you nothing but a very annoying lingering pain that’s kindly stuck around since my teens. It’s perhaps time to address it. Especially if I can get on the actual machines I want to and don’t have to worry about Steroid Steve swaggering around the place, with every flex of his biceps making some sort of loud dubstep breakdown and making everyone feel terrible for existing.
You’re probably wondering what all this has to do with virtual reality (VR). If so you probably don’t read VR vs. that much – don’t worry, we’re getting to point in the column where I make the point of the column. If you see what I mean.
I never really got to address everything coming out of the last VR vs., mainly because I was finally able to get away for a few days rest following several weeks of solid working and very long hours. Or as we call it at VRFocus, “Every Damn June”. Yes, the event that was the Electronic Entertainment Expo 2017, or to put it more concisely, this year’s E3 is almost a distant memory at this point. Consigned to the history books by time and the fact everyone needs to start worrying about Gamescom – Europe’s premier gaming event. And you can bet that will be more of the same June brought.
Whilst VR performed quite well at E3 there were some people conspicuous by their absence. Where exactly were Oculus and Vive? Oh, I know each head mounted display (HMD) appeared thanks to this game or that game and Oculus got a shout out as part of the eSports talk on the PC Gaming Show specifically when talk turned to Echo Arena. I’m sure there were a number of ‘representatives’ there too. Other than that, though… where were they? As I’ve said many times – heck, I even said it in the story that immediately precedes this feature – VR isn’t just about videogames but about many industries. That said it doesn’t mean videogames aren’t an important part of their business, because they are. So at the biggest show for the biggest industry related to their products and the one most associated with their product not really being there is a rather curious decision.
Was it too expensive? Well we all know how much E3 costs to attend let alone to attend and actually present. It’s why every year during the ‘post-mortem’ phase and in the run up to the event itself you hear various mumblings about whether or not attending the event can be justified financially. I’m reasonably sure HTC can afford it though and I hear on the grapevine Oculus aren’t short of a few bucks. Although it could all just be an unsubstantiated rumour, I guess.
It’s not like VR hasn’t earnt its place. Did they have nothing to show? Well clearly not and I’m sure each organisation has plenty in the pipeline and out now to make up a booth pretty easily. Maybe Oculus are waiting for Oculus Connect – but that’s playing to the existing audience. Could Valve have shown off their new Knuckles controller for Vive to much aplomb? Could people have got hands on with it – public or press? Quite possibly.
I honestly think it was a mistake for them to not be visibly in attendance, after all you want people to get hands on with VR because that’s how people learn to understand VR. We’ve all known that since day one. So why deny an opportunity to push your product, the products and partners that use your platform, educate the general gamer and rack up some interest. At the very least both would have been able to gauge the mood. Get actual first-hand feedback from the general gaming audience, discover what titles coming up prove popular. And get a gist of where each company and product needs to improve, either in quality, or presentation, or reputation. You’d get to address concerns and misconceptions at the root.
Companies and products much like people need a tune up every now and then to get themselves ready for what’s to come. E3 could’ve been a good way for HTC and Oculus to get a bit of a shakedown before kicking into the second half of the year. Their own little trip to the gym to get themselves in shape. Instead Sony and the PlayStation VR have stolen a march yet again, and it has only reinforced the view for many that PlayStation VR is the true leader in VR for gaming.
Which leaves only one question for the Oculus and HTC boys and girls – what exactly are you going to do about it? If only there was an event where you could showcase how awesome you were to the core audience you’re trying to entice…
VRFocus has already covered Brass Tactics in this previous preview, but it’s always good to get a refreshing look at the same game. From the makers of Age of Empires II comes a real-time strategy (RTS) videogame where you have to destroy the enemies’ castle and defend your own. Hidden Path Entertainment has several other virtual reality (VR) titles on different platforms, but Oculus has funded and supported the making of Brass Tactics, so it makes sense that the videogame is coming exclusively to Oculus Rift with Touch later this Fall.
Brass Tactics has a five mission campaign and a skirmish mode as well, with head-to-head versus and an interesting two player co-op against an AI opponent with two different personality types. You’ve got twenty minutes to defeat the enemy and this game will feel very familiar to anybody who has played RTS games. It’s tabletop, and you’ll be able to see what your enemy is doing on the map. Expect to be kept on your toes as you try and outsmart, outflank and outmaneuver your enemy.
To find out more about the videogame watch the video below.
Whether you’re an experienced designer, programmer, engineer, or maybe you’ve just been inspired after reading VRFocus articles, the jobs listed here are located worldwide, from major game players to humble indie developers – the one thing they all have in common is that they are all jobs in VR.
As usual, you can check last week’s edition for further job listings. If you are an employer looking for someone to fill a role in a VR or AR related area and want that position to be featured on next week’s VR Job Hub, please send details to either pgraham@vrfocus.com or keva@vrfocus.com.
Check back with VRFocus next Sunday at 3PM BST every Sunday for the latest roles in the VR industry.
It’s the start of a new month but the end of June had plenty to offer in the way of virtual reality (VR) sporting announcements. LiveLike has teamed up with Fox Sports to broadcast three Gold Cup games, later this month NextVR will broadcast El Clásico live for the first time and German tech company SAP has created an immersive experience on board a catamaran.
LiveLike and Fox Sports to Broadcast Three Gold Cup Games in 360 as Part of new ‘Virtual Suite’
Fox Sports has been a regular on This Week in VR Sports, having partnered with another regular NextVR on boxing as well as other sports including American Football. This week however is the turn of traditional (European) football – or soccer if you like – with Fox partnering with San Francisco-based startup LiveLike to showcase three Gold Cup matches in 360-degrees.
This is all part of a new virtual suite powered by LiveLike called Fox Sports VR App, with the CONCACAF Soccer Gold Cup being used to promote the app. Users get to overlook the field, being able to select different camera angles, checkout the suite and chat with friends – represented by basic avatars, view pre-produced content, and more.
To see what it’s all about take a look at the video below. The matches begin at the end of the week with the US team playing Panama on 8th July.
NextVR to Live Broadcast FC Barcelona v Real Madrid C.F This Month
Regular VRFocus readers should be well aware of NextVR by now, as the company tends to be fairly prominent in the field of 360-degree sports broadcasting. Later this month El Clásico Miami will be taking place, featuring football heavy weights FC Barcelona and Real Madrid C.F., and naturally NextVR will be livestreaming the proceedings.
La Liga rivals FC Barcelona and Real Madrid C.F. will be going head to head on 29th July, 2017 at Hard Rock Stadium in Miami Gardens, Florida, with Real Madrid C.F. making a record fifth appearance in the International Champions Cup (ICC), having played in every year of the tournament’s history.
NextVR will be broadcasting El Clásico live in 360-degrees for the first time. It’ll feature dedicated announcers, the halftime show experience and behind-the-scenes footage exclusive to VR headsets. Multiple cameras positioned along the pitch and throughout Hard Rock Stadium will transport fans into the heart of the action.
Fans with a Samsung Gear VR headset or Google Daydream View, can download the free NextVR app from the Oculus Store or the Google Play Store respectively.
Go Extreme Sailing with SAP+You: The Smarter Skipper Experience
Ever wanted to see what extreme sailing on vessels like a catamaran is all about but never quite fancied all the pressure and stress that goes with it? Well SAP, a German tech company that’s fond of sponsoring this type of sport has created an immersive experience called SAP+You: The Smarter Skipper experience.
The experience puts the viewer on a replica catamaran, getting up close and personal with the extreme sailors. Fans of extreme sailing will get be able to get greater insight into the sport, watching the sailors race whilst being fed relevant data such as real-time wind conditions, boat speed and water currents.
“When you get to sit on the boat virtually, you almost feel how it lifts up and picks up speed,” said Milan Cerny, the technology and innovation lead of SAP’s Global Sponsorships business, reports SportTechie.
“In virtual reality, you’re in the middle of the action,” Cerny added. “You’re getting the thrill, understanding what’s going on and how (sailors) are interacting with what devices on the boat and deciding where they should go. You could see how far competitors are behind you, if they’re approaching the boat. It’s an interactive way and playful way to understand the measures that are important to win a race.”
Unity has helped support videogame developers on all platforms, but it looks like they’ve managed to find a way to simplify the processing of creating a videogame by bringing in new features such as Timeline, Unity teams, Cinemachine and much more. What’s so great about these new features is that it enables teams to work on a videogame together at the same time as well as making it easier for videogame devs to control the way in which characters move, are animated as well as controlling when and where the camera moves.
VRFocus‘ Nina Salomons talks to Unity’s XR Evangelist Sarah Stumbo about what Unity is doing when it comes to virtual reality (VR). She explains that these new features are not specifically for conventional gaming but also apply to VR videogames. It can be very expensive and very frustrating for developers to have to upgrade, change and optimize their experience for new headsets being released and their subsequent updates. It seems that Unity aims to fix this with the XR Toolkit.
She discusses that the XR Toolkit will help improve inputs, allowing for developers to create a single experience that can be cross-platform and go on all headsets, including Microsoft’s mixed reality headsets. She also mentions that VRTK and how that is a higher level features for virtual reality. What’s very clear is that Unity aims to help support the community, hoping to create an environment and online community where developers can help support each other when building XR applications for the future. Unity 2017.1 is available now in beta, Check out the video below to get more information.
Evidence for the human need to share experiences stretches back to the earliest cave paintings. Scenes from real life or the artist’s imagination were recreated and displayed for others to share. Social interactions have accompanied almost all communication platforms. Reading and writing facilitated theatre and the formal play, early movies facilitated the cinema industry, radio and television broadcasts resulted in families and friends huddled around a single device to consume sports and entertainment. This article explores how innovators are making Virtual Reality (VR) a social experience.
Social interaction within VR can be distilled into three core elements – speech, movement, and emotional expression. Speech is easily captured and communicated using a microphone and VOIP. All VR devices support capture of head movement, and many capture arm/ hand movement. A surprising amount of non-verbal communication can be inferred from these movements, particularly gestures and gesticulations. Whilst elements of body language can be communicated in VR, the communication of emotional expression is lacking. As a work-around some VR social apps are relying on user-triggered emoticons and arm movement tracking to imply feelings and reactions. We’ve seen some interesting demos from Oculus and others using cameras to capture mouth movements. Eye tracking will provide improved face to face interaction but eye tracking by itself is not sufficient.
Whilst we await the release of emotionally expressive VR, there are still a number of companies creating social platforms. One of the largest is AltspaceVR, founded by former SpaceX engineer Eric Romo. AltspaceVR is freemium software that supports high- and low-end VR headsets, as well as a 2D experience on computers and mobile. It allows users to chat, watch videos, and join a range of special events, from NBC News Q&A sessions to live music. Like many early social VR spaces, it’s similar to a VR-based Second Life –built less around sophisticated communication, and more around sharing experiences.
AltspaceVR focuses on simplicity and shared experiences.
For emotional interaction, Altspace focuses largely on voice and physical movement. As platform-agnostic software, it features many ways to communicate physical movement for social interaction – everything from simple controller-based movement, through to full-body motion tracking with Microsoft’s Kinect. However, this approach limits the sophistication of social interaction between platforms – users won’t often have equally elaborate set-ups, and so some modes of interaction might not be reciprocated. In terms of emotional expression Altspace supports a range of emoticons, largely selected by the user through a menu. It also supports eye tracking but, again, this is dependent on the VR platform being used supporting it. The main focus appears to be on connecting with friends and sharing experiences like live events or streamed video in a VR setting, which it does very effectively.
In real life, gaming is naturally a social experience and so it’s inevitable that social spaces are being built and enable playing together. The gaming community has always been quick to embrace new technology that allows them to share play time in new ways. As such, many social applications for VR are heavily game-based, offering up a variety of minigames and tools for users. For example, Sports Bar VR offers competitive pool, darts, and skeeball, Anyland invites users to add and tinker with anything (really, pretty much anything) to their avatars or environment, and Rec Room has online multiplayer paintball, dodgeball, disc golf, charades, and more. These games have simple avatars, often cartoony and without arms, but all players can communicate through voice, movement, emoticons, and hand-gestures. In Rec Room, a fist bump results in an explosion of light – physical interaction is used to perform actions, and now you’ve formed a private party to go play paintball.
Rec Room’s use of the game charades is great for showing the capacity for fun brought with physical interaction in the digital world; getting someone halfway across the world to correctly guess that you’re acting out the movie Jaws in your office is a strange but compelling pastime. VR gaming social spaces focus on the fun of physically interacting and exploring the world and other users around you, and anything they miss in the subtleties of communication are often compensated for with absurdity and silliness from fellow players.
Gaming spaces like Rec Room revel in communicating through exaggerated avatars and situations.
In April Facebook finally launched its own foray into social VR with Facebook Spaces. In Spaces, users are represented by a cartoon avatar, with customised hair, face, and clothing. Spaces integrates Facebook services heavily – users can share photos and videos, take their own inside the space (to share on Facebook, of course), play simple games, or call non-spaces users through Messenger.
Interaction in Facebook Spaces is simple, but effective.
Facebook Spaces is part of a third subset of social VR applications – one step beyond sandboxes like AltspaceVR that focus on sharing content, Spaces is a polished experience built around all aspects of communication. Spaces is sophisticated and modern, and seems to pay quite a lot of attention to conveying authentic interaction. The Oculus Rift headset’s tracking communicate head, arm, and hand gestures to others in the social space reliably and universally. Facebook also invested time in making human-like avatars. Development lead Mike Book stated, “Facebook is about authentic identity, which is fundamentally about humans”, and this ethos is carried through to Space’s characters, who are stylised, but also authentically human and full of emotional range.
Facebook Spaces’ avatars, though stylised, look and feel human in their actions.
What makes Facebook Spaces interesting is the focus on communicating the emotional aspects of conversation. Like many similar applications, avatars’ mouths move in time with microphone output. In addition, the eye positioning of all users is interpreted, creating “eye contact” with others. Given that eye contact is a key form of nonverbal communication, this is a very important development. Spaces also integrates a wide range of emoticons, triggered by movement and by buttons on the Oculus touch controllers. Movement-based emoticons enable some spontaneity in the conversation, but, as Book says, “You have to invoke them. They’re not supposed to be accidental.” The need to deliberately remember to respond in a certain way abstracts emotional communication. Nevertheless, interaction-focused social spaces in VR are making big steps forward to providing authentic human communication in the space.
BigScreen VRhas an interesting approach. Here, the social element largely revolves around sharing 2D content within VR. Users can share their work, games or entertainment content by allowing others to view their PC screen. Lip sync and inferred gaze tracking adds to the interactivity or the cartoony avatars. According to CEO Darshan Shankar, engagement levels have been impressive, and to show their commitment to this new way of collaborating the company holds its meeting in VR.
Most VR platforms can be divided into these three subsets – sharing experiences, gaming, or authentically communicating. In the fledgling VR industry, developers largely haven’t yet looked to tackle more than two of these at a time. While sharing experiences and gaming in VR are natural fits that have seen massive growth, authentic communication in VR is still difficult to implement successfully. While almost all platforms support good interactions in speech and movement, emotional expression is still largely based on emoticons that have to be purposefully triggered by users.
At Emteq, we are working to deliver a virtual reality experience that can interpret and respond to a user’s emotional state. Our Faceteq™ technology allows user avatars to react in conjunction with the user’s own facial expressions – essential to truly authentic communication. Our expression recognition solution will integrate to common headsets and capture the wearer’s expressions accurately. We believe this affective computing is the key to authentic VR and AR social interaction, and will open up new avenues in digital social spaces. . If you’re interested in learning more, do get in touch.
Mobile virtual reality (VR) head-mounted displays (HMDs) such as Samsung Gear VR and Google Cardboard have dominated the market thanks to being cheap and easy to get to grips with. Needing a smartphone to power them hasn’t really impeded sales – Samsung has been offering loads of promotions while Cardboard could easily be picked up for free – but this year there’s going to be plenty more competition coming from standalone headsets. These are being designed as a middle ground between mobile and PC-based devices, offering a complete package with no additional hassles. One company hoping to capture the imagination of VR consumers is Pico, and it’s recently been showcasing it’s latest product, the Goblin.
First impressions of the Pico Goblin are good, with the all-in-one device feeling light weight and sturdy. The main body of the headset has the usual array of buttons for setting up and controlling the headset, with a dial on the top – similar to Gear VR – with which you can focus the image, and the power button. On the right hand side there are volume controls, a ‘home’ button taking you back to the main interface and a select button.
Most of the time you’ll be using the supplied remote control which has 3DoF tracking – so does the headset – for full interaction with all the videogames and experiences. Again this felt well designed and not too cheap and plastic. The front face has a very simple layout with a touchpad for the majority of input and a smaller home button. Whilst using the device in a couple of videogames it behaved as accurately and precisely as those of competitors such as Google Daydream, although it doesn’t have a trigger underneath.
As with all 3DoF tracking you can easily point and select but there’s no depth control as you get in higher-end devices like Oculus Rift and HTC Vive for example. That’s no mark against it – the Pico Goblin is significantly cheaper at $269 USD/£249 GBP – but it certainly does limit interaction somewhat. At that price it also comes in cheaper the Daydream and Gear VR when factoring in the cost of a compatible smartphone.
To actually wear and use the Pico Goblin was very comfortable – actually more so than the two aforementioned rivals – with the soft padding certainly providing a snug, enclosed fit. The straps were quick and simple to adjust with the whole device providing a premium experience that makes you wonder why there aren’t more of these on the market.
There were several experiences available when Pico demoed the Goblin at the Electronic Entertainment Expo (E3) 2017, two of which were the usual shooting affair. The first was a wave shooter with goblins and other such enemies attacking from most directions. To fend them off a crossbow was provided which could fire almost as fast as the touchpad could be pressed. The touchpad also allowed for teleportation should too many enemies close in.
The other title – both names were in Chinese – mixed up strategy and shooting. Players are fixed to one location and given a harpoon like gun to grab nearby boxes which could be pulled in to gain items. These would range from toy soldiers to cans of bug spray, or small metal robots to protect against loads of insects coming to get you. It was all very quaint and easy to grasp with little challenge. Both titles felt very much like tech demos more than fully fledged videogames, and that’s one thing that might undo Chinese headsets like this one if they don’t get significant developer support.
All in all, the Pico Goblin is a brilliant all-in-one headset for what it offers. The image is sharp and clear, and the build quality seems good without further extensive testing for long term durability. In terms of rivaling some of the bigger names in the industry Pico certainly has a compelling product. The big question still remains regarding content, which could be its achilles heel if it wants to compete.
Xbox One Game Pad Launch & Price
Was it too expensive? Well we all know how much E3 costs to attend let alone to attend and actually present. It’s why every year during the ‘post-mortem’ phase and in the run up to the event itself you hear various mumblings about whether or not attending the event can be justified financially. I’m reasonably sure HTC can afford it though and I hear on the grapevine Oculus aren’t short of a few bucks. Although it could all just be an unsubstantiated rumour, I guess.
