interview – Page 5 – Augmented & Virtual Reality Confabulation

January 8, 2020

Interview And Demo With The $8,000 Military-Grade Dual 4K XTAL VR Headset At CES 2020

At CES 2020 this week, VRgineers announced a new version of its XTAL high-end headset for enterprise priced at $7,890, including business grade support.

The original XTAL was announced back in summer 2018. For $5,800 it featured dual 1440p OLED panels, 70Hz refresh rate, custom lenses with 180° field of view, eye tracking for automatic IPD, and built in Leap Motion controller-free hand tracking.

This new XTAL ditches OLED for dual 4K LCD displays instead. While VRgineers calls this “8K” (just like Pimax does), it’s important to note that the industry definition of 8K is actually 4 times as many pixels than 4K, not twice. This is because you need to multiply both axis of resolution. Hopefully VR companies stop using misleading terminology for the sake of marketing in future.

For more information read here or watch the interview and demo above.

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October 30, 2019

Stormland Interview: Game Progression, Co-Op, And End Game Content

Stormland is the next game from Insomniac Games and it’s due out this November. We spoke with the Lead Designer about co-op, game progression, and end-game content back at OC6.

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September 10, 2019

Vanishing Realms: Making A VR RPG As A Solo Indie Developer

Vanishing Realms just exited Early Access and released its massive expansion DLC, The Sundered Rift. We had great things to say in our full review and took some time to send a few questions over Kelly Bailey from Indimo Labs about its development that spanned across nearly four years.

Kelly Bailey has been hard at work on Vanishing Realms ever since first getting an HTC Vive developer kit in late 2015 and the hard work shows. Bailey previously worked at Valve, specifically on the Half-Life franchise, and has been focused on VR since founding Indimo Labs.

vanishing realms sundered rift featured image

Below are all of the questions we sent Bailey over email, as well as his unedited responses:

UploadVR: How has the reception to the expansion been so far? Has it been going well?

Kelly Bailey: The new Expansion has been quite well received, some fun play-through videos starting to show up, reviews are very positive. It’s really rewarding to see players getting creative with the new types of melee and ranged weapons, the little Spirit Guide seems make people smile, people seem to be enjoying playing through the new environments. I got a little carried away in the final six months of development, and somehow the Expansion grew to become larger than the base game. It wasn’t really planned that way, just a consequence of iterating on new ideas and integrating playtest feedback.

UVR: What is the biggest difference between developing and releasing VR content now in mid-2019 vs. 2016 when VR was brand new?

KB: There is certainly more hardware to support in 2019, and the tools available to developers have come a long way. Way back in 2016, VR Devs all needed to figure out the fundamental interactions, such as moving the player around the world, interacting with objects, constraining the player to world boundaries, designing a VR-friendly UI etc. Now developers can download various plugins to help solve those problems, and the barrier to entry is definitely lower now.

UVR: Looking back, would you have done anything differently in developing Vanishing Realms?

KB: I launched the base game in Early Access in 2016, then spent a year or so updating it with a ton of new features and expanded content. Community feedback was super helpful, definitely made the game better. By late 2017 I’d pushed the base game pretty far and felt it was ready to ship, however I ultimately decided to keep the game in Early Access during the development of the Expansion. I announced this to the community late 2017, and forged ahead. Remaining in Early Access allowed me to easily share content and code between the base game and expansion, and I felt it was important to maintain the freedom to experiment with the code right up the final launch day. I tend to develop in a very iterative way, and many of the features that ended up in the base game or Expansion started as “what-if” experiments. The game’s melee combat system, UI, climbing, throwable weapons, various forms of monster AI, new player locomotion modes, a complete hard mode, expanded mid-game dungeon and outdoor areas – all had quite a few versions and many were delivered as later updates to the base game. Some changes, like the more detailed outdoor areas, where just delivered in the base game this month.

However this method of working also tends to make it difficult to predict a delivery schedule, and that relatively long development period in Early Access made it hard to communicate the ongoing plan to newer customers. In retrospect, it would have been a much clearer message to customers had I shipped the base game out of Early Access back in 2017, rather than waiting until the Expansion was also complete. I would have also communicated more frequently, rather than keeping my head down working in the code for months on end!

So overall, I would have maintained a simpler plan with a simpler message. By keeping the code sharing simple, I inadvertently created a very complex messaging problem that I never really solved.

UVR: Are there plans for more expansions or a sequel? Or a new IP?

KB: Having just come off of a very intensive and extended work schedule, it still feels too soon to start planning next steps. I truly enjoy creating games, I’ve been doing it for over 20 years now – I don’t think Vanishing Realms: The Sundered Rift is my last game. Right now, however, I’m focused on getting some surfing in!

UVR: Do you have any interest in working with a publisher, or is 100% indie something you’re proud to continue doing?

KB: The great thing about working on a team with a publisher is the leverage you have – all the game’s content can be crafted as a unified, original vision for instance. The down side is that I believe most publishers would not have been willing to take the kinds of risks that I took in developing Vanishing Realms. I did not have a detailed development schedule, at the outset I had a very loose vision of the product, and I worked almost entirely iteratively. I added many, many features based on direct customer feedback, all without a fixed final delivery schedule or budget. I believe that kind of freedom made the game much better in the end, but it would have driven a budget and schedule conscious publisher a bit crazy!

UVR: How large is the team that worked on the initial Vanishing Realms EA release and how large is the team that worked on 1..0 + Sundered Rift?

KB: The Base Game and the Expansion were both single-developer projects.

UVR: Are there any plans for Quest or PSVR versions?

KB: Both platforms are super interesting. I don’t have a dev kit for either right now.

UVR: What would your main points of advice be to VR developers, as someone that’s been making VR content since before Vive/Rift even shipped?

KB: Some questions that might be useful to a new VR developer:

Am I taking advantage of the latest VR plugins? It doesn’t make much sense these days to write your own player movement system, input system, UI etc.

Am I controlling the budget? Although it’s growing, VR is still a much smaller customer base than the PC market. There’s a reason many VR titles are built by small teams.

Am I playtesting with people of differing size, age, experience? This is super important in VR. You’re building an environment that must fit diverse body sizes and abilities.

Do my playtesters think the game is fun? Would they keep playing? Continue iterating until the answer is consistently YES. Ask what their high and low points were during the playtest.

Does my game contain features that are interesting and unique in VR? The medium is still so new, you have a chance as a VR developer to create something that literally no one in history has ever experienced before. That’s a pretty fun idea.

UVR: Anything else you’d like to add?

KB: Vanishing Realms: The Sundered Rift is available on Steam here.

For more on Vanishing Realms and The Sundered Rift, check out our full review right here.

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August 31, 2019

The 5 Most Interesting Things John Carmack Told Joe Rogan

Facebook’s Oculus technical guide John Carmack answered questions from podcast host Joe Rogan this week covering a range of subjects.

The more than 2-hour talk is a lot to take in and we’ve noticed various news outlets pulling out a few comments from the subjects Carmack touched upon, like whether the law should limit the length of an adult’s workday, or whether head-mounted AR is feasible short term.

We’ve listened to Carmack speak for many years now and we don’t think his comments parse out well into just a sentence or two. Instead, then, I’ve transcribed some of the most interesting segments from Rogan’s interview with Carmack.

Artificial General Intelligence

“I think that we will have — we will potentially have — clear signs of [Artificial General Intelligence] maybe as soon as a decade from now. Now lots of people disagree, the majority of scientists working on it think ‘oh its gonna be like at least few decades’, and you still have a few hold outs who say ‘oh it can’t happen at all’, but I’m a strict materialist and I think our minds are just our body in action, and there’s no reason why we can’t wind up simulating that in some way.”

Mark Zuckerberg

“Nobody can actually give them credit for it, but like Mark Zuckerberg and the Facebook leadership, they talk about the mission is to connect the world — and you know its like of course the Facebook CEO is going to be mouthing these things — but like I really legitimately do think that the Facebook leadership is doing this because they think that’s a positive thing, and I agree with them. Now I’m not a very social person, I’m an introvert, I’m a hermit mode sort of person so much of the time, but I think that this is — again — a good thing. You know, that connecting more people, giving them the opportunity to find people they wouldn’t otherwise be interacting with — people they wouldn’t have even known existed in many cases. I think we’ll come out of this looking back at this decades in the future and look back at there will be all the tragic things that happened on social media but, on net, its gonna be good.”

Work and Obsession

“I like working a 60 hour work week. I like being productive. Nowadays I have family and kids, and I usually miss that target by a bit now. But if I ever don’t hit 50 hours a week I feel I’m being a slacker — you know, I like building things, I like creating things and making forward progress, this sense of in some small way I’m helping build the future. I’m proud of the work that I do. Now in a big company like Oculus, or even Facebook is now, I probably only get to spend about 50 percent of my time actually programming, the other half is being in meetings, trying to convince people about things, pushing on strategy, doing all that type of stuff. I don’t actually manage anyone, I’d be a poor manager. At best I can lead by example and provide some kind of inspiration to follow behind, but I’ve never been good at trying to figure out how to get the best out of individual people.”

“But I do love taking a retreat where I‘ll work out with my wife and family and say, ok, I’m going to take a week or something and I’m just going to be by myself — I’m going to do nothing but programming. I’m going to largely cut myself off from the Internet…I used to do this by literally flying to another state.”

. . .

“There are people that think there literally should be laws that should prevent people from working that hard, and I always have to argue against that — where there is a power to obsession and by being able to absolutely obsess over something — and throw your life’s work — instead of work-life balance, it’s your life’s work — and everybody will point back to, ‘oh yeah that worked well for you, you were the founder of a company, you were in a position where you got to make your own decisions, but is that ok to say for the 19-year-old out of a game dev program that’s being overworked for it’? And I have to always be aware that my view into the industry is very colored by, obviously, my experiences. I never actually worked inside of one of the big — EA, Activision — studios, and it’s possible that they have some valid criticisms but I still come down on — I think its great when people throw themselves at it beyond the point of what even other people think is reasonable. They have free will. They’ve chosen to do that. And if that’s what they think is going to help get them closer to their goals, I’m not going to make that impossible for them. ”

Augmented Reality

Microsfot's HoloLens 2 — Microsfot’s HoloLens 2

“There are still fundamentally unsolved problems in display technology to do the magic thing that we would really like [from see-through augmented reality]. So you step back to saying that, well, what you you saw in Quest when you saw the world through that obviously its low res, its low frame rate, its not good, but we could fix all that. You could say lets go high res, color, high refresh rate…we would call that a passthrough, rather than a see-through, augmented reality system, and we could absolutely build that technology and we could make that pretty good. But then it comes down to — what do we expect sort of a user story to be? If you had something like that, would you be wearing this boxy thing out into the world? Riding the bus with it and doing different things? We have a little bit of hard time seeing the kind of socially acceptable way that you’re running around, going about your life, with sort of a shoebox-sized thing on your head.”

“Everybody agrees if it came down to sunglasses — everybody in the world is going to want something like that if if gives them these magical abilities and it can turn into virtual reality or augmented reality. Its an open question whether there’s an in-between layer. If we get down to the point where its something like swim goggles, or very thin sort of ski goggles, something that’s half or a quarter of the volume of what we’ve got there — would that be something that people would want to wear for long periods of the day? I lean towards no, but we haven’t built it so we don’t know yet.”

Virtual Reality And Economics

Chief Scientist Michael Abrash presenting a Facebook display concept at Oculus Connect 5 in 2018.

The promise of VR is it’s to make the world as you want it. Where people do not have — it is just not possible on Earth to give everybody all that they would want. Not everybody can have Richard Branson’s private island. There’s just not enough islands in the world to give them to people. But even on a much more mundane level, not everyone can have a mansion of a house. Not everyone can even necessarily have a home theater room. And these are things that we can simulate to some degree in virtual reality. Now the simulation is not as good as the real thing. Again, if you are rich and you have your own home theater, and mansion, and private island — good for you — we may still be able to offer you the convenience of being able to instantaneously get to different places. But you’re still probably not the people that are gonna benefit most. But most of the people in the world aren’t in that position. Most of the people in the world live in relatively cramped quarters that are not what they would choose to be if they had unlimited resources. And the technology curves on these things — they are $400 now — these follow the price curves of phones in many ways.

…

We can have virtual reality devices that can get cheap enough that lots and lots of people will be able to have these. And we can make better and better software and it can be a better world in many ways. Now everybody points towards, like there’s this piece of art that goes around the internet…people say ‘oh this is the world you’re trying to build — people plugged into virtual reality that ignore the world around them. And of course the first rejoinder to that: “Is his life really better if he takes them off? And he’s in this horrible place there?” But more concretely, like, I just came from in Dallas its 100 degrees this week there. We change the world around us in all that we do. We live in air conditioning and people nowadays don’t generally go ‘oh you’re not experiencing the world around you because of you air conditioning you should be out there REALLY experiencing the world…that is what human beings do. We bend the world to our will and I think that a virtual reality that lets people do things that would not be possible in the world or, when it comes down to it, not economical. A lot of people react negatively to any talk of economics but it is resource allocation. You know you have to make decisions about where things go and I think, economically, we can deliver more value to a lot of people in this virtual sense.”

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August 22, 2019

Interview: The Walking Dead Onslaught Features 7-Part Campaign And Replayable Co-Op

The Walking Dead Onslaught is fast approaching its launch window this Fall 2019 and we’ve got some details about the game’s campaign, co-op features, and gameplay in this recorded interview.

Back at E3 2019 we talked to Survios Chief Creative Officer and Co-Founder James Iliff about the upcoming game. Prior to the interview we also went hands-on with the game for the first time, which you can read more about here, and got to see the gore and dismember first hand from inside the headset. My demo was on an original Rift but it’s also coming to other PC VR platforms as well as PSVR later this year.

In the interview, which you can watch above, we talked about the game’s seven-part long campaign, the inclusion of full co-op for the campaign, and the secondary challenge mode that’s designed to be essentially infinitely replayable — including co-op support there as well.

Notably The Walking Dead Onslaught features an arm-swinging locomotion movement system, as well as stick movement, and you can see all of that in action in the video as well. Melee combat felt visceral and satisfying, as did the pistol, shotgun, and assault rifle that I got to try. Four of the most iconic characters from the show will be playable (meaning Rick, Michonne, Daryl, and Carol) and it will also include iconic weapons from throughout the series. Narratively it takes place in the Season 8 or Season 9 portion of the show’s lineage.

Let us know what you think after watching and leave any comments or questions down below!

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March 28, 2019

Facebook’s Jason Rubin on Quest, Rift S, & the Direction of Oculus

Last week at GDC Oculus revealed their first new PC VR headset in three years, the Rift S. We sat down with Facebook’s Jason Rubin, VP of AR/VR Content & Partnerships, to learn more about the strategy behind Quest and Rift S, and where Oculus is trying to steer its ecosystem.

Jason Rubin joined Oculus in 2014 and has been a key figure in guiding the company’s content investments and strategy. Following the recent Oculus shakeup and deeper absorption into Facebook, Rubin is now overseeing AR and VR content & partnerships at Facebook. Rubin has been a key spokesperson and a tempered voice for Oculus throughout his time at the company; he is also seen as one of the last visible pillars of the ‘old’ Oculus.

In a wide-ranging interview with Rubin at GDC 2019 last week, we got to learn more about why the company believes that the Rift S is the right choice to push its VR ecosystem to reach a critical point of sustainability.

Rubin was quick to say that Oculus expects to deliver a next-gen headset down the road, but explained why the company doesn’t believe that now is the right time for a ‘Rift 2’.

“Beyond any shadow of a doubt, at some point we will have a next generation [headset] where we add some sort of feature that breaks all the old stuff and makes it either not work or seem obsolete,” he said. But the company presently believes that growing a cohesive audience is more important than pushing technical boundaries.

“Our goal is to bring as many people into the ecosystem as possible. Bifurcating the ecosystem with a Rift and a Rift 2—just to put that out there—is not the right thing to do right now.”

Finch Technologies Interview: Bringing 6DoF Control to Everyone

Over the course of CES 2019 VRFocus saw some interesting and awesome technology for both virtual reality (VR) and augmented reality (AR) use. One company demonstrating a rather unique controller system was Finch Technologies, with its FinchShift controllers and FinchTrackers. So naturally, VRFocus had to sit down with CEO and Co-founder of the company Gary Yamamoto to find out more.

FinchShift

The whole purpose of FinchShift is to bring six degrees-of-freedom control (6DoF) to a wide variety of platforms, not just VR. The system has been designed to allow pure 360-degree, room-scale freedom with just a pair of controllers and a pair of armband mounted FinchTrackers, whether you’re using a basic Samsung Gear VR or headset slightly more high tech like HTC Vive Focus.

In VRFocus’ hands-on preview from last week we wrote: “From what VRFocus saw of FinchShift and the FinchTrackers, it looks to be one of the best systems yet to provide out-of-the-box room-scale control for a wide variety of VR and non-VR systems.”

Yamamoto explains that thanks to a combination of the FinchShift hardware and software the company developed, its able to accurately model a person’s entire upper body, to track it real-time in VR, all from four data points. In the future Finch Technologies plans to release a skeletal model for the lower body, all users would need are additional Finch Trackers.

FinchShift

He goes on to explain the different use cases wireless 6DoF controllers are suitable for, mentioning, in particular, the healthcare space for training purposes. This is one of the reasons why the FinchShift controllers have those additional lights on them, allowing headsets with cameras to perform even finer calibrations when setting up, for such tasks as simulating surgery.

Currently, the FinchShift controllers aren’t quite ready for widespread consumer rollout. You can order them from the Finch Technologies website for $249 – which includes the two FinchShift controllers and two FinchTrackers – but they’re more geared towards developer at the moment as the system does come supplied with the software development kit (SDK).

Check out the full interview with Yamamoto below, and for further updates on FinchShift, keep reading VRFocus.

February 22, 2018

Konrad the Kitten: Interview mit dem Cat Creator Konrad Kunze

Am Freitag, den 23. Februar 2018 verlässt das VR-Spiel Konrad the Kitten nach über 18 Monaten den Early Access auf Steam und wechselt in den Full Release. Für uns VR Nerds ein guter Grund, mal nachzufragen. Zum Beispiel, wie man auf die Idee kommt, einen Touch Controller an ein Plüschtier zu heften und den Kuschlfreund so in die virtuelle Realität zu holen. Konrad Kunze, Freund von Kätzchen und Hundewelpen sowie Kopf von Konrad the Kitten, stellte sich unseren Fragen.

Konrad the Kitten VR

Konrad Kunze und Konrad the Kitten

VR Nerds: Wer steht eigentlich hinter Konrad the Kitten?

Konrad Kunze: Die Idee zum Spiel kommt von mir und ich setze es mit FusionPlay um. Die Muttergesellschaft IT Sonix Custom Development aus Leipzig beschäftigt über einhundert Mitarbeiter, von denen ich mir je nach Bedarf welche „ausleihen“ kann. Der größte Vorteil ist aber die große Anzahl an Testern. Da das Testen als Arbeitszeit gilt, stellen sich viele äußerst gerne zur Verfügung.

Konrad Kunze Konrad the Kitten

VR Nerds: Was war der Grundgedanke zu Konrad the Kitten? Warum eine Katze?

Kunze: Ursprünglich war das Spiel als Geschenk zum Jahrestag für meine Liebste gedacht und noch ein Spaßprojekt. Ich mag zwar Katzen, habe aber selbst keine. Meine Lebensgefährtin hat mich aber angesteckt. Generell kann ich mich trotz meines Alters für niedliche Dinge begeistern. Nicht nur für Katzenbabies, sondern auch für Hundewelpen.

VR Nerds: Die Besonderheit von eurem Spiel ist ja die Möglichkeit, einen Touch Controller an einem Plüschtier befestigen zu können, das dann getrackt wird. Wie kommt man auf so etwas?

Kunze: Ich hatte viel mit der Verwendung der Vive Controller experimentiert und auch in den News die verrücktesten Experimente verfolgt. Dabei kam mir der Gedanke, einen realen Gegenstand zu tracken und sehr schnell war die Idee da, dafür ein Plüschtier zu nehmen. Das passt doch perfekt, um das Gefühl einer flauschigen Katze zu vermitteln. Die erste Testversion war übrigens eine Kinderwärmflasche, die wie eine Kuh aussah. Dort war es noch perfekt, dass das Gewicht eher dem einer echten Katze ähnelte. Letztlich war die kleine Idee so überzeugend, dass ich bei FusionPlay ein Projekt daraus machen konnte und wir uns entschlossen haben, ein richtiges Spiel auf dieser Basis zu produzieren.

VR Nerds: Was war die größte Herausforderung für euch, die VR-Erfahrung umzusetzen? Worauf seid ihr besonders stolz?

Kunze: Es gab eine Menge Probleme die wir lösen mussten, die andere Spiele sicher so gar nicht kennen. Am stolzesten sind wir vermutlich auf die Kalibrierung der Katze. Der kleine Vorgang am Start des Spiels sorgt dafür, dass im Plüschtiermodus die Katze perfekt eingestellt ist. Dabei werden die Fußbodenhöhe, die Position des Controllers am Plüschtier und der Befestigungswinkel ermittelt. Das Spiel korrigiert subtil die Position, sodass die Katze perfekt auf dem Boden steht, wenn man das Plüschtier auf dem Boden ablegt. Im Hand-Modus nutzen wir die Kalibrierung ebenfalls, da allerdings nur, um den virtuellen Fußboden 10 cm über dem echten zu platzieren. Damit verhindern wir, dass der Spieler bei der Mäusejagd den Controller in den Fußboden rammt.

VR Nerds: Konrad the Kitten erschien ja bereits im Sommer 2016 und geht jetzt in den Full Release. Was hat sich in der Zeit getan?

Kunze: Eine ganze Menge. Ursprünglich starteten wir mit drei Regionen: Haus, Wald und Strand. In der Version 0.3 ersetzten wir das Haus um die drei Räume Küche, Bad und Wohnzimmer. Später kam noch der Schuppen als Optionsmenü hinzu. Am Anfang hatte das Kätzchen nur drei zufällige Wünsche. Ein richtiges Tamagotchi wurde erst mit Version 0.4 und dem „Needs & Wishes“ System daraus, das Bedürfnisse hinzugefügt. Beispiel: Isst die Katze oft, muss sie irgendwann aufs Katzenklo, danach brauch sie dann Hygiene. Danach führten wir die Langzeitattribute Liebe, Erziehung und Gesundheit ein. Kümmert man sich also oft und gut um das Kätzchen, wird es einen immer mehr lieben, gut erzogen sein und gesund bleiben. Das wiederum ermöglicht es, die Katze schneller hochzuleveln.

Grafik und Texturen haben sich in Konrad the Kitten in den letzten Monaten verbessert.

Um auch nach dem Freischalten aller Regionen und Objekte ein Ziel für den Spieler zu haben, haben wir in Version 0.5 den Bärenladen eingebaut. In diesem lassen sich über 50 Accessoires freischalten und somit das Kätzchen nach eigenen Wünschen gestalten. Dabei war es uns wichtig, sowohl niedliche wie auch witzige Accessoires dabei zu haben. Zum Schluss haben wir uns dann um die Optimierung des Einstiegs in das Spiel gekümmert. Dazu haben wir ein Tutorial entwickelt und den Intro-Bereich neu gestaltet. Hier konnten wir das Feedback aus dem Early Access besonders gut gebrauchen.

Ansonsten haben wir zum Beispiel die UI komplett neu gestaltet und eine integrierte 3D-UI entworfen, die Grafik kontinuierlich aufgebohrt, 3D-Modelle optimiert und die Texturen verbessert.

VR Nerds: VR und AR: Wo siehst du die Zukunft, welche Entwicklung ist besonders spannend?

Kunze: Das ist sehr unterschiedlich. Im Industriebereich sehe ich für AR eine sehr interessante Zukunft. Mit AR kann man die Arbeit erleichtern und effizienter gestalten, indem man Mitarbeitern in Echtzeit relevante Informationen einblendet. Zum Beispiel sieht der Lagerarbeiter, wo er hin muss, oder der Stahlkocher bekommt eine Statusanzeigen über jeder Maschine angezeigt.

Im VR Segment sieht das ganz anders aus. Für VR sehen wir eher die Zukunft im Bereich Unterhaltung. Im Gegensatz zu AR lädt VR den Nutzer ein, die reale Welt auszublenden und in einer virtuellen Welt abzutauchen. Nur dadurch ist es möglich, dass man sich in seinem Lieblingsspiel oder Lieblingsfilm nicht mehr wie ein Zuschauer sondern wie der Hauptdarsteller fühlt. Allein die erste Generation an VR-Systemen für Konsumenten – so unperfekt sie auch noch sind – ermöglicht es Menschen schon, auf unglaubliche Weise in Spiele und Filme einzutauchen. Wir sind davon überzeugt, dass hier ein ganz neuer Zweig der Unterhaltung entsteht, der neben Fernsehen, Internet, Radio und Kino ein Bestandteil unserer Gesellschaft werden wird.

VR Nerds: Noch konnte VR den Massenmarkt allerdings nicht erreichen. Wann wird das geschehen?

Kunze: Das wird dann passieren, wenn Geräte auf den Markt kommen, die bequem sind, keine Kabel besitzen, 6DoF Tracking beherrschen, 4K-Displays besitzen und trotzdem erschwinglich sind. Die aktuell günstigen 3DoF-Systeme halte ich eher für kontraproduktiv für die Branche. Das macht das Erklären von VR und „nicht so ganz richtiges VR“ sehr schwierig. Ich persönlich vermute, dass wir in rund fünf Jahren einen Massenmarkt etabliert haben. Das entspricht dann vermutlich der dritten Generation an VR-Systemen.

VR Nerds: Herzlichen Dank für das Gespräch. Wir drücken euch die Daumen für einen erfolgreichen Start im Full Release.

Konrad the Kitten ist für 15 Euro über Steam erhältlich und unterstützt offiziell die Oculus Rift, HTC Vive sowie Windows Mixed Reality Headsets. Wer Chris und Konrad beim Spielen des plüschigen VR-Titels zuschauen und Eindrücke gewinnen will, sehe sich unser Video an.

Der Beitrag Konrad the Kitten: Interview mit dem Cat Creator Konrad Kunze zuerst gesehen auf VR∙Nerds. VR·Nerds am Werk!

January 31, 2018

See Wireless VR In Action In Our TPCast Untethered Showcase

Still one of the biggest barriers for many existing virtual reality (VR) owners happens to be wires. Wires and cables dragging behind the user and potentially causing a mishap, since they’re often far out of view. As a result, there’s naturally a lot of demand for untethered VR that will allow users to experience, and TPCast are one of the few companies offering a comprehensive kit that allows for untethered VR experiences.

TPCast are striving to offer users the best possible wireless VR experience, which is why we’ve already seen a TPCast 2.0, which lowers latency and overall offers an even better untethered VR experience.

We also have a full TPCast set up guide ready for you to use, if you’re interested in getting started with untethered VR experiences.

Untethered VR is definitely going to be a focus for a lot of companies going forward, as demonstrated by HTC announced their HTC Vive Wireless Adapter, which we tried, and found to be promising, though a show floor wasn’t the best place to test it. TPCast have the advantage of already having a working product on the market that it is constantly improving on.

We talk to Udi Yuhjtman, TPCast’s General Manager for Americas, and he talks to us about TPCast’s vision, the product, and what’s in store for the future of the company. Yuhjtman reaffirms that PC is always going to be the place to experience the highest quality, premier VR experiences, and therefore isn’t too concerned about mobile and all in one head-mounted displays (HMDs) taking up the market share of untethered VR.

Regardless of which HTC Vive HMD you’re using, either the Vive or the Vive Pro, you’ll be able to use the TPCast wireless kit in order to get an untethered experience running. Sure to be a relief to any VR fans out there who have already put their preorders down for the new HTC Vive Pro.

Watch the full video interview and showcase below for more insight from Udi Yuhjtman, and stay on VRFocus for all of the latest VR news, technology and more.

January 31, 2018

Zeiss VR’s Dave Hodgson Shows Us the New One Connect Steam VR HMD

Playing big budget virtual reality (VR) videogames on a beefy PC is a dream come true for many VR fans, but for others, it’s still just a bit too far out of the ideal price range. Zeiss VR have seized this opportunity, and with their new Zeiss VR One Connect head-mounted display (HMD), they intend to bring the wealth of content Steam VR has to offer to those without expensive HMDs, and instead will allow users to experience everything with just the HMD shell and your mobile phone. The device was displayed at CES 2018, Las Vegas, and the company is excited to launch the product soon.

Nina got the low down on the new HMD directly from Zeiss Team Leader Dave Hodgson, and in the interview video below he reveals to us Zeiss VR’s logic behind their new product and their future plans.

After the release of the Zeiss VR One Plus the company quickly learned that although people love the HMD, they needed more and more content to be able to view, use and experience. That’s where the new Zeiss VR One Connect comes in, a very similar product that will essentially become a Steam VR compatible VR HMD. It’ll come with two VR controllers, which will give users access to hundreds of Steam VR videogames and experiences, completely solving the issue of not enough content.

By Hodgson’s own admission, the experience isn’t quite up to the standard of other HMDs on the market, such as the Oculus Rift or HTC Vive, but user impressions are incredibly favourable, with higher latency than the other HMDs, but overall a much better performance than many would expect from a mobile phone acting as a display.

The best part is that users of both Android and iOS devices will be able to use the Zeiss VR One Connect, going back as far as the iPhone 6. It’s a great piece of kit which offers an interesting entry point to VR for budget conscious consumers.

You can see the full interview and Nina trying out the device in the video below, for all of the latest information on Zeiss VR, make sure to keep reading VRFocus.