Holo-Light Are Creating A Whole Series Of Mixed Reality End-User Applications

VRFocus went to Cologne’s Gamescom event earlier this year looking for virtual reality (VR) and augmented reality (AR), but surprisingly found a company specialising in mixed reality (MR). VRFocus spoke to Luis Bollinger, Co-Founder of German company Holo-Light about the applications they’re building for MR which includes Holo-View, Holo-Expo and Holo-Stylus. Currently these would be used with Microsoft’s Hololens, but it looks like they are preparing for future MR devices as well.

Last year at Gamescom there were only four staff members of Holo-Light, this year the team has expanded and has a total of 27 staff members working for them. Originating in Austria but now based in Munich, Holo-Light attended Gamescom in order to get contacts in the gaming industry as they predict developers and videogames companies are looking to build videogames for the future with their products. Bollinger explains that the MR community is very small at the moment but is on the rise and Holo-Light plan to have a network built and established for when MR does pick up.

Holo-Light showcased Holo-View; a 3D CAD visualisation tool, specifically made to help engineers create prototypes – and hopefully replace expensive 3D printing. Using drag and drop, Holo-Light want to allow users to load holograms of prototypes, enabling full interaction through a streamlined user interface. Allowing them to rotate, scale, move, select and highlight sections. Holo-View also allows for multiple users, which makes it useful for collaborating with colleagues on a prototype, or sharing work with customers. At the moment it’s being used in car manufacturing, for OAMS and viewing 3D models. Holo-Light want clients to use Holo-View to help create their own training, as well as use it for maintenance, quality control and training purposes.

Holo-Light also have another application that help display 3D objects, but it’s made specifically for exhibitions. It’s called Holo-Expo and it has already been used at trade shows to help exhibit and showcase products that are usually difficult to visualize. With Holo-Expo, users can highlight components and receive live data, doing so this using the HoloLens and 3D holograms of machine components.

The final product Holo-Light are working on is the Holo-Stylus. A pen made specifically to help those who have problems with gestures and the technology of the HoloLens. Bollinger explains that a pen is a great cross-platform device that would make it simple and easier to interact with holograms, much like Microsoft’s Surface pen. The pen would allow for users to pick holograms, show paths for machines and simplify the use of the Hololens and other MR devices. It will start retailing early next year at 8,000 Euros and will launch with Holo-Light’s SDK that’s Unity based.

Bollinger says that MR technology is still quite young and struggling, however if it was introduced properly and shown correctly there are many benefits to automation. Figures show companies can save money and time, and you can see a lot of smiling people when they understand it. Watch the video below to find out more.

Don’t Lose Sight Of Blind

Virtual reality (VR) is known for being truly immersive, blocking off your senses and is sometimes described as an ’empathy machine’. Blind was born at the 2014 global game jam where the devs took the ‘video’ out of ‘videogame’ and made players blind. By using a cane and tapping objects, soundwaves will bounce sound off objects and give you the ability to see again via echolocation.

You play a woman who wakes up from an accident in a strange house. Blind is not a horror videogame, but a psychological thriller adventure, where you have to solve puzzles in order to find out who you are, why you got there and what you’re doing in a very strange house.

Tap your cane to see by using echolocation.

Aided by binaural sound, Blind aims to truly immerse you with three to four hours of gameplay depending on how comfortable you feel moving and solving puzzles. It will be released to the Oculus Rift, HTC Vive, PlayStation VR and potentially Microsoft’s mixed reality headsets at Q1 in 2018.

Watch the video below to find out more.

Don’t Lose Sight Of Blind

Virtual reality (VR) is known for being truly immersive, blocking off your senses and is sometimes described as an ’empathy machine’. Blind was born at the 2014 global game jam where the devs took the ‘video’ out of ‘videogame’ and made players blind. By using a cane and tapping objects, soundwaves will bounce sound off objects and give you the ability to see again via echolocation.

You play a woman who wakes up from an accident in a strange house. Blind is not a horror videogame, but a psychological thriller adventure, where you have to solve puzzles in order to find out who you are, why you got there and what you’re doing in a very strange house.

Tap your cane to see by using echolocation.

Aided by binaural sound, Blind aims to truly immerse you with three to four hours of gameplay depending on how comfortable you feel moving and solving puzzles. It will be released to the Oculus Rift, HTC Vive, PlayStation VR and potentially Microsoft’s mixed reality headsets at Q1 in 2018.

Watch the video below to find out more.

Alfonso Del Cerro Talks About Being the Ultimate Superhero in Megaton Rainfall

Originally set to release on the 26th of September for the PlayStation VR, superhero virtual reality (VR) game Megaton Rainfall will now be released on the  17th of October. Nina Salomons from VRFocus discussed what the game was like after playing it at Gamescom, but in this video interview she asks developer Alfonso del Cerro what the game is all about. 

Alfonso del Cero, the developer of Pentadimensional Games tells VRFocus how in Megaton Rainfall, you have to save Earth from aliens that are attempting to destroy the world. The only pitfall is that because you are a superhero, you become a threat to the city you’re saving. This means you have to be careful not to shoot lasers at the city or its citizens as you attempt to kill the Aliens. Del Cero says, “You are indestructible in this game, but this city has a health bar and every time you kill human people, destroy buildings et cetera, the bar will go down and it will be game over.”

The game will be available on the PlayStation VR, but will come to SteamVR next year. Watch the video below to find out more.

 

Test Your Rhythm in Beat Saber

Czech indie game studio Hyperbolic Magnetism got to work on Beat Saber when they realised there was no great rhythm based game in virtual reality (VR). They started developing the game back in 2016 and showcased it at Unite Amsterdam, where it quickly drew an audience with attendees trying to beat each other’s high score. The game was shown on a HTC Vive and with the help of a green screen and tv screen, friends were able to see players slash at various cubes with light sabers in-game.

Vladimír Hrinčár tells VRFocus that Beat Saber has three songs available to play right now and upon release, it would have five. They hope to add more, but looking to add a level editor, to allow creative people to edit and make their own songs and levels. Beat Saber will be available for the HTC Vive and the Oculus Rift and perhaps on PlayStation VR in the near future.

Watch the video below to find out more.

Become the Ultimate Manager and Soccer Team in Sociable Soccer

Fans of FIFA and Pro Evolution Soccer will be happy that Sociable Soccer will be available for various virtual reality (VR) platforms. From the PlayStation VR, Samsung Gear VR, Steam Early Access and that includes Oculus Rift and HTC Vive. Sociable Soccer is set to release early 2018 and here’s a video interview with Jon Hare telling VRFocus the latest about his videogame.  

Jon Hare, who also happens to be the creator of Sensible Soccer, says that there aren’t many sports games for VR at the moment. Sociable Soccer will not only be cross-platform for VR players, but will also have 67 real world competitions with over 1,000 teams and 30,000 players. When the game is fully released there will be player cards as well to make the 100 hour single player experience something to be enjoyed for the long term.

Watch the video below to find out how motion sickness doesn’t play a role in Sociable Soccer and many more features.

Mastering the Skies in Ace Combat 7: Skies Unknown

What’s more beautiful than watching the clouds, sun and ocean beneath you? As you steer your fighter jet through the sky Ace Combat 7: Skies Unknown is a truly stunning videogame to experience and play in virtual reality (VR). Having played a few videogames on the PlayStation VR, this truly feels like you are flying in a fighter jet.From the makers of Project Cars 2, Bandai Namco have made Ace Combat 7: Skies Unknown a truly immersive VR videogame by adding a dynamic weather system. This enables players to hide in cloud cover as storms scramble your enemies maps, it also means that you have to have lightning reactions to real life threats pilots face. For example a particular storm can frost your aircraft’s canopy with ice if your altitude is too high. Your reactions also have to be on top form in order to dodge and outmanoeuvre your enemies as they lock their missiles onto your aircraft.

Launching in 2018 on the PlayStation VR, the videogame feels similar to Eve: Valkyrie in the sense of being put into a cockpit of a flying vehicle.  Sadly this is not a full videogame experience for VR. Ace Combat 7: Skies Unknown has no storyline or characters – rather it’s an arcade style fighting simulation. To find out more about the videogame stay tuned to VRFocus and watch the video below for a better understanding of the videogame.

 

What It’s Like To Be An Invincible Superhero In Megaton Rainfall

VRFocus recently wrote an article about the top Superhero videogames coming to virtual reality (VR) and Megaton Rainfall popped up. VRFocus has covered Megaton Rainfall for a while, and went off the radar. However Nina got hands with Megaton Rainfall at Gamescom and can give you insight on what the game is like.

The best way of describing Megaton Rainfall is like clicking a major city on Google Earth in VR, and flying towards that city to find aliens destroying it. Your job then is to protect the city from the spaceships and aliens without harming the city with your body or other powers, specifically your lasers. You can see the damage you or the aliens do to the city in a small bar on the left.

As you travel, blinkers will appear in order to prevent motion sickness. This means that your 360° visibility will suddenly turn to a 180 degree-like black sphere. Although the video says that a date has yet to come, we now know that Megaton Rainfall will be released on the 26th of September for the PlayStation 4 and PlaySation VR with more VR platforms in the works.

Watch the video below to find out more:

Nina is the Reason why Game Developers Make Horror Games Like Syndrome

Nina is not a big fan of VR horror videogames. This is self-evident if you’ve watched her try Paranormal Activity . If you are the type of person who enjoys horror videogames and like that scare factor of running around, helplessly trying to survive in the dark with barely any weapons or ammo. Then you’re in luck. VRFocus tried Syndrome for the PlayStation VR at Gamescom and a lot of screaming was heard from the Bigmoon Entertainment booth.

Announced back in 2015, Syndrome is now finally coming to PlayStation VR, HTC Vive and Oculus Rift on the 29th of September. This science fiction horror survival title asks players to survive as many days as possible on a ship where monsters and mutated crew members try to hunt you down.

With limited amount of ammo or guns, and enemies rushing at you at any sound you make – Nina recommends camouflaging and hiding in order to avoid them. It definitely is a trial and error videogame, and you will have to remember where certain objects are in order to open doors and progress to more days. Watch the video below to get a better idea.

Become a Table Tennis pro in ‘Racket Fury’ and Join the Division of Steel

Announced back in March this year and developed by Polish indie videogame studio 10Ants Hill, Racket Fury is the perfect videogame for you if you love virtual reality (VR) or ping pong/table tennis. Set in a futuristic sci-fi setting your objective in the single-player campaign is to beat 16 opponents in order to get into the Division of Steel – a famous and prestigious team in Racket Fury . The online multiplayer game mode allows players to play one-on-one with other Racket Fury players from around the world.

10Ants Hill put professional table tennis players in motion capture suits in order to make the animations of the robots you’re playing against are realistic as possible. Similarly, the ball will behave exactly the same way as in real life. The feedback they received from players who tried it was that the added realism and simulation made it much more fun.

Released on the 20th of July on Steam in early access, Racket Fury is available for the HTC Vive and Oculus Rift though it looks like 10Ants Hill might be bringing it to PlayStation VR in the near future as well. VRFocus spoke to Pawel Nitta, PR and Community Manager at 10Ants Hill about the videogame.  Watch the video below to find out more.