Weekend Deal and New titles For Viveport

HTC Vive users have an opportunity to grab a Weekend Deal for horror title Grave VR, just in time for some spooky Halloween videogaming. Alternatively, several new titles are now available on the platform if horror is not your thing.

Grave VR is a survival horror title where light is your only weapon. Set in a barren desert, during the day players are relatively safe; able to explore their surroundings to find useful things, especially objects such as torches or flares. Once darkness falls, the dead come out to play, and light is your only means of survival – though not all enemies are weak to it. Grave VR is currently available on Viveport with a 50% discount, reducing the price from £13.93 (GBP) to £6.97.

New titles that have recently been added to Viveport include Masterpiece VR, a virtual reality (VR) sandbox tool for 3D modelling that lets users create a share 3D works of art within a VR environment. YOU by Sharecare is also new to the platform, a medical and healthcare app. Cat Sorter VR, a colourful tongue-in-cheek title where players need to fix up poor cats who have been created with shark fins or lobster claws and turn them back into the adorable fluffy creatures they are meant to be.

Another new title on Viveport is Manifest 99, a story-driven VR experience set aboard a train, featuring several mysterious characters whose backgrounds and motivations the player must unravel. For those who feel like something a bit more musical, there is Jam Studio VR, a musical VR experience that is designed to let anyone find out how it feels to create and compose music.

Further information can be found on the Viveport website.

VRFocus will continue to report on new discounts and deals for VR hardware and software.

Viveport Gives Developers 100% of Revenue Earned Over The Holidays

At this year’s Virtual Reality Developers Conference (VRDC), HTC announced a number of changes to Viveport to celebrate the one year anniversary of the app store and its subscription service. Developers will receive a 100% revenue share between October and the end of the year, Viveport Arcade Manager enters open beta, and a new toolset called the Viveport Scene SDK has launched.

According to the press release, Viveport is thanking the developers who contributed to its successful first year by “foregoing its platform fee” from October until the end of 2017.

In addition, the Viveport Arcade Manager, a content management system for out-of-home VR entertainment setups, is rolling out worldwide as an open beta, with developer revenue increasing from 50% to 70%.

An early release of the Viveport Scene SDK is also available now, which allows developers to create immersive previews for VR content. This aspect of VR app purchasing has been sorely lacking across every platform’s VR store, where aside from rare demos, the only previews have been flat images and video. Viveport Scene will allow developers to easily create “rich and interactive 3D environments streamed dynamically to the viewer” and “immersive 360 preview images that surround the user as they browse.”

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Viveport Gives Developers 100% of Revenue Earned Over The Holidays

At this year’s Virtual Reality Developers Conference (VRDC), HTC announced a number of changes to Viveport to celebrate the one year anniversary of the app store and its subscription service. Developers will receive a 100% revenue share between October and the end of the year, Viveport Arcade Manager enters open beta, and a new toolset called the Viveport Scene SDK has launched.

According to the press release, Viveport is thanking the developers who contributed to its successful first year by “foregoing its platform fee” from October until the end of 2017.

In addition, the Viveport Arcade Manager, a content management system for out-of-home VR entertainment setups, is rolling out worldwide as an open beta, with developer revenue increasing from 50% to 70%.

An early release of the Viveport Scene SDK is also available now, which allows developers to create immersive previews for VR content. This aspect of VR app purchasing has been sorely lacking across every platform’s VR store, where aside from rare demos, the only previews have been flat images and video. Viveport Scene will allow developers to easily create “rich and interactive 3D environments streamed dynamically to the viewer” and “immersive 360 preview images that surround the user as they browse.”

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Viveport Marks First Anniversary With Revenue Share

Viveport, the global app store for virtual relaity (VR) videogames and experience for the HTC Vive is marking its first year of operation with new features for Viveport developers and a boost the the revenue share.

Since launch, the subscription-based service introduced over 1,000 new VR experiences, along with new platforms and services, such as the Viveport Arcade Manager, a content and distribution management platform designed for managers and proprietors of location-based VR centres.

To celebrate its first anniversary, Viveport is introducing new features and enhancements, and in addition, will be forgoing its platform fee from October through to the end of December, 2017, allowing developers to keep the profits made through Viveport for the rest of the year.

The Viveport Arcade Manager will also be receiving upgrades, based on user feedback that should benefit operators, customers and developers. Developer revenue share for applications on the Viveport Arcade Manager will also increase from 50% to 7% to all developers receiving profits during the Christmas period.

The Viveport Scene SDK has also been announced, a new toolset with sill help developers create previews that can be showcased in Viveport to give customers better idea of the content available.

“From launching the first-ever subscription model for a VR app store to exceeding 1,000 titles available globally, to over 26,000 registered developers in our community, Viveport has grown by leaps and bounds over the past year.” said Rikard Steiber, President of Viveport. “We enter year two with exciting new features and improvements to continue our commitment to providing the best VR experience for Viveport customers and the most monetization options for developers.”

Further information can be found at the Viveport developer website.

VRFocus will continue to report on new developments for VR services and applications.

HTC Partners to Stream VR Games to Vive in China, Cutting VR-Ready PCs Out of the Equation

Oculus and HTC have already reduced the prices of their respective headsets, with the Oculus Rift now selling for $500 and HTC Vive for $600. While graphically-capable PCs are cheaper than ever thanks to new GPUs and software optimizations, you still need to pony up the cash for a min-spec system ($699 for an OEM-built machine). HTC hopes to address this in China with a new partnership between Dalian Television and Beijing Cyber Cloud to offer a set-top, cloud-based box—meaning you don’t need a traditional VR-ready rig to run VR games.

According to a report by Engadget, HTC will be trialing the new project in Dalian, China where it will offer access to games hosted on a digital marketplace separate from Viveport. While it only hosts “a few dozen” games, apps and a library of 360 videos at the moment, HTC says more content will be added over time, of course sourced from Viveport.

The service, which also includes is a 60 Mbps broadband connection, is positioning itself as a consumer streaming solution not unlike Spotify. Unlike Spotify however, HTC is also renting out the Vive alongside the set-top box, making for an all-in-one deal that gives newcomers everything they need to start experiencing virtual reality.

image courtesy Engadget

The set-top box and Vive bundle is reported to cost a one-time, refundable deposit of ¥3,000 yuan (~$455) including a monthly fee of around ¥500 yuan (~$76). Because the deposit is refundable in full, this essentially lets Dalian-based residents test out the headset at home before putting down the big bucks. The company also offers the choice to outright purchase a Vive with a one-year subscription to the service for ¥6,688 yuan (~$1,015). Considering the Vive’s unusually-high price in China, costing around $200 more than most other regional markets, the savings are apparent for customers still unsure about VR.

HTC Vive China Regional President Alvin Wang Graylin admits however some latency is to be expected, saying it would be “ok for most non-twitch apps.” There’s no word if the service can provide what’s largely considered the minimum acceptable latency at 20ms motion-to-photon.

This comes as a part of a larger trend by HTC to make Vive usership less financially daunting. The company already offers a game subscription service via Viveport that includes a collection of hundreds of games at $7 per month, and also maintains a similar subscription program (including headset) for location-based entertainment facilities like arcades or theme parks. Called Vive Arcace, this was also a ‘China-first’ program that latter went global.

One thing is for certain though: a the success of a streaming service like this highly depends on a fast, near latency-free connection—something countries (including the US) have to address before taking the digital plunge.

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Viveport Subscription Adds 8 New Games for July

HTC continues to expand the app selection on its Viveport subscription service, adding 8 new games for July, detailed on the official Vive blog. The $7/month service allows unlimited access to any 5 titles each month from a selection of over 150 games and apps.

Having recently doubled the Viveport app count, including some highly-rated titles such as Pierhead Arcade, Galaxy Golf, and Sairento VR, HTC has added a further 8 titles for July, including the innovative music tool LyraVR and well-received games like HoloBall and Twisted Arrow.

The 8 titles, which are usually priced on Steam from between $5 and $25, are Front Defensean arcade shooter published by Vive Studios, LyraVR – an Early Access music creation platform, Dwingle B.O.T – an interesting ‘escape room’ puzzler, Panzer Panic – a tank-based local multiplayer battle arena, Twisted Arrowan intense action shooter, #Archery and #SelfieTennistwo quirky games from VRUnicorns, and HoloBall – an intense ‘VR Pong’ sports game.

A free trial is also available on the Viveport subscription page.

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HTC Sweetens Viveport Subscription Deal with 75 More VR Games

HTC launched its interesting Viveport Subscription service back in April; for $7/month, the program lets users choose five VR games from a pool of available apps, and grants them unlimited access. The company is sweetening the deal with 75 additional titles to choose from, including a number of notable games.

While the industries of film, TV, music, and more, have embraced the subscription content model, the gaming space has thus far largely resisted its pull. With the state of VR content today—largely consisting of shorter and less polished games than what’s available in the traditional gaming sector—the idea of a subscription model might actually find a suitable home by allowing users to tour many VR experiences for a lower cost than buying them all outright.

To that end, HTC has launched Viveport Subscription which lets players pick five titles from a pool of VR games, and then gives them unlimited access to those games for the entire month. When the next month rolls around, players are free to select new games to try, or stick with the ones they like.

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Now a little more than a month since the initial launch of the service, the company is adding a batch of 75 additional titles to the Viveport Subscription lineup, which brings the total now to over 150, HTC says.

And while a bulk of what’s available through the service are lesser known indie titles (and a number of Eastern VR gamers being introduced to the Western market) we’ve spotted more than a handful of standouts being added in this new wave, significantly sweetening the deal. You can now browse all 150+ titles available through Viveport Subscription on the official site, but here are the games in the new batch that caught our eye, followed by their Steam rating in parenthesis.

Given that these games range from $5 to $25 alone, it would seem there’s definitely some value to be had for those wanting to tour many VR experiences to find what appeals to them. Better yet, you can get a free trial for a month over at the Viveport Subscription page.

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HTC Vive’s Anniversary Discount Goes Live One Day Early

Tomorrow will see HTC Vive celebrate its first anniversary since its consumer launch. Earlier this week HTC announced several promotions including a $100 USD/£100 GBP discount on new headset purchases. But due to the time difference with Taiwan, those offers are now available a day early.

Daniel O’Brien, GM of HTC Vive at HTC announced on Twitter: “Surprise! It’s 4/5 in Taiwan which means the Vive Anniversary Officially started. $100 Off Vive already available in US and Europe!”

HTC Vive mixed image

So that means both US and European customers thinking about purchasing a HTC Vive now have an extra day to play with.

Unfortunately, for those who already own the head-mounted display (HMD) and are looking to redeeming a free copy of Vive Studio’s action game Arcade Saga, or signing up to the Viveport subscription they’ll still have to wait until tomorrow for those to become available. Pre-registrations are still available through Viveport.com for those keen on getting access to the service when it goes live.

Ever since HTC Vive’s launch, the company has been actively pushing VR initiatives to support developers and the industry, from Viveport and Viveport M, to Vive X, Vive StudiosGlobal Virtual Reality Association and  Viveport Arcade.

For the latest HTC Vive news, keep reading VRFocus.

MakeVR Launches on HTC Vive

Virtual reality (VR) content creator Sixense and HTC Vive have announced the launch of MakeVR, a 3D modelling and computer-aided design engine on the HTC Vive.

MakeVR has has a somewhat troubled development, including a cancelled Kickstarter that occurred back in 2014. The software has been presented at a few events, enough that VRFocus managed to get hands-on for a preview. Developers Sixense say that the aim of MakeVR is to allow users of all ages and skill levels to create 3D content, without needing to know how to program or use often complex CAD software.

The software enables two-handed gesture control to allow objects to be created and edited. Using the HTC Vive’s room-scale capability means there is a large canvas for users to work on and create 3D models that are as simple or as detailed as the user desires. MakeVR also allows for models created within the virtual space to be exported as standard files for 3D printing.

“MakeVR is a first-of-its-kind advanced creativity app for VR,” said Joel Breton, Head of Vive Studios. “We recognise how the intuitive and immersive environment of VR will revolutionise digital modeling. We worked with Sixense to create MakeVR as an accessible yet advanced creativity app for Vive where room-scale VR gives creators a virtual workshop, and the use of natural physical motions brings unprecedented expressiveness and intuitiveness to object design.”

MakeVR on the Vive allows anyone to create 3D content as fast as they can think it up, then turn their virtual creations into physical objects with direct-to-3D printing,” said Amir Rubin, Co-founder and CEO of Sixense. “Our partnership with Vive Studios in developing MakeVR and introducing a new kind of advanced creativity app using the immersion of VR is a win for makers, designers and the 3D printing ecosystem.”

MakeVR is available through Viveport at a price of $19.99 USD. Sixense has also begun working on a professional version called MakeVR Pro, which the company hopes to have available later in the year.

VRFocus will keep you updated on MakeVR and other related titles.