‘TrainerVR’ is a Physics-based Model Train Set that Brings You Back to Simpler Times

Sumalab, a Spain-based indie studio, today released a model train game called TrainerVR (2017) which lets you snap together train tracks, set up little towns, and play with trains to your heart’s content (and all in room-scale VR). 

Modeled after wooden train sets, TrainerVR lets you create everything from simple tracks to an elaborate rail network by placing tracks, trains, cars, houses and track switchers—pretty much everything that comes with a BRIO train set—wherever you please. Since it’s virtual reality though, you’ll never be short on pieces as you grow your creations in size and complexity like you never could as a kid.

The best part? You don’t have to clean up when you’re done either (yes, you can smash your creations like Godzilla too).

TrainerVR was developed for both HTC Vive and Oculus Rift, and is currently for sale on Steam at a 30% discounted price, bringing it down from $15 to $10.50 for a limited time.

While it may be missing out on some features that might render it more appealing to a wider audience, like rideable trains and more interesting terrain than a simple white background, early reviews are promising, making for what appears to be an honest-to-goodness blast from the past.

Check out TrainerVR on Steam here.

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After 3 Years in the Making, ‘Blade Runner 9732’ Fan Experience is Finally Coming to VR

More than three years in the making, Quentin Lengelé’s Blade Runner 9732 VR fan project is finally set to hit Steam on January 7th. The experience, which lets you stroll a screen-accurate replica of Blade Runner (1982) neo-noir protagonist Rick Deckard’s entire apartment, is coming to HTC Vive for free.

Over the course of three years, we’ve seen plenty of tantalizing screenshots and devlog videos, but soon both VR and non-VR users will be able to peruse Deckard’s apartment as it was featured in the sci-fi classic Blade Runner. 

image courtesy Quentin Lengelé

As a freelance creative software engineer, Lengelé started the project as an exercise in 3DS Max height mapping, but it quickly grew into a personal challenge to bring himself closer to Blade Runner by creating the most accurate 3D replica of the film’s iconic apartment.

“After the [creating the] walls, I started to reproduce most of the furniture to get closer to the movie,” Lengelé writes on his Patreon. “I watched Blade Runner so many times, almost frame by frame, and I found a lot of items on propsummit.com and other furniture fan websites. It’s a job of patience with a lot of research to spot every single object but it was a real opportunity for me to explore new software, improve my modeling skills and be able to create a mythic virtual place in the meantime.”

image courtesy Quentin Lengelé

Atop the Deckard’s 97th floor apartment, you’ll be able to explore his the entire apartment including picking up the film’s iconic objects, playing the piano, taking a shower, starting the Esper machine and simply enjoying the rain falling on the balcony with a scotch in hand.

“The interactions are quite simple for now because I focused on exact replica modeling of the whole place to get the best immersion,” says Lengelé. “I really wanted to push attention to details and reproduce the lighting and sound atmosphere of this movie.”

Lengelé says in a blogpost that the game in currently under approval on Steam, but that if it doesn’t somehow launch before Christmas, he’ll “surely propose a way to download it before 7th January.”

While the Steam listing only denotes Vive support, Lengelé maintains his experience is built using OpenVR, meaning any supported headset (including Oculus Rift) shouldn’t have a problem popping into the experience.

 

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KFC Releases Its Wacky VR Chicken-Frying Escape Room for Oculus Rift

When we first saw KFC created a bizarre BioShock-esque VR training experience, we weren’t sure if it was the company’s next attempt at creating a brand engagement advert, or if KFC really intended on using the wacky chicken-frying escape room to train its employees. While the company says they’re actually using the KFC The Hard Way to train employees, they’ve also released the experience for free on the Oculus Store for Rift—making it a little less clear of the company’s overall intentions.

The objective: escape the clutches of the Colonel by learning how to fry chicken ‘the hard way’. The ultimate outcome: do exactly as the Colonel says and you’ll live to see that sweet $8.35-per-hour paycheck. It’s a quick (and free) experience, taking less than 10 minutes to complete, so I popped in for a look-see.

As an escape room, it fails miserably. The Colonel tells you how to do pretty much everything within a few seconds of incorrectly fumbling a piece of chicken, and there isn’t much to explore beyond the defined tasks ahead. As a less terrible way to teach employees the basic steps to preparing and cooking fried chicken, well, it seems to get the job done however.

Visuals are fairly impressive, although object interaction and hand presence could definitely be better. I found myself swiping at things just in reach, my hand passing through them to no avail. When I did grab onto something, it would automatically snap to a the desired hand position. This, combined with the lack of hand articulation possible with Touch controllers makes it a less immersive experience than I’d hoped going in. It’s certainly more entertaining than watching an employee training video in the back office, but that goes for almost any hands-on activity though.

laser beams stop you from tossing chicken on the floor, image courtesy KFC

Despite what KFC says, it’s clear its franchises won’t be installing a gaming PC and VR headset to actually train employees using KFC The Hard Way. It simply isn’t comprehensive enough, nor does it include anything more than a few tasks to teach you how to fry chicken. If you’ve ever worked at a fast food restaurant, you know just how many codified step-by-step tasks there really are, and this doesn’t scratch the surface of everything required to run a clean and safe restaurant.

Check out my full play-through below:

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‘Star Trek: Bridge Crew’ Adds Support for Windows VR Headsets and Non-VR Players – 50% Sale

Ubisoft’s cooperative VR bridge sim, Star Trek: Bridge Crew, is hoping to bolster player populations with a new update which opens the doors to both Windows VR headsets and non-VR players on PC.

Star Trek: Bridge Crew is a well produced and polished cooperative VR experience in which up to four players command the positions of Helm, Tactical, Engineer, and Captain, aboard a Federation vessel. The game is currently on sale on Steam with a juicy 50% discount.

Bridge Crew initially launched with wide-ranging headset support with cross-play between Rift, Vive, and PSVR players. Ubisoft is continuing to make the game widely accessible, today updating it to support the recently launched Windows VR headsets via Steam.

Hoping to further bolster the game’s population to ensure that players can find crewmates for space faring fun, today’s update also makes the game fully functional without a VR headset so that PC players who don’t have access to VR hardware can play the game right alongside VR friends. Because of the reduced performance demands of non-VR, PC players can expect to see some enhanced graphics, though thankfully VR players with powerful rigs can optionally turn on those enhancements as well. Ubisoft is also teasing further forthcoming updates to the game, but hasn’t revealed what’s in store.

SEE ALSO
'Star Trek: Bridge Crew' Review

Although Bridge Crew can be played solo with AI crew mates, now with voice-input, the game is the most fun when you’ve got human intelligence behind each role. With cross-play between all major tethered headsets and platforms, and now the addition of non-VR players, Ubisoft hopes to foster a critical mass of population for Bridge Crew, a challenge which has proven difficult for many VR titles.

Earlier this year we saw Eve: Valkyrie also open its doors to non-VR players (on both PC and PS4) to help bolster the multiplayer-only game’s prospects. Unfortunately it wasn’t enough to prevent developer CCP Games from selling off the studio that had built the game and announcing it would pause its VR initiatives for the time being—a fate hopefully not awaiting Ubisoft. Thankfully CCP has committed to ongoing support for their VR titles.

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‘Google Earth VR’ Update Adds Street View Navigation, Optimizes for Quicker Loading

Google Earth VR is pretty self-explanatory; it’s Google Earth, but available on VR headsets like Oculus Rift and HTC Vive. What isn’t so easy to communicate is the sheer immensity of the world around you as you view everything Google has captured on the planet Earth, replete with 3D rendered models and its vast stores of 360 shots from around the globe. Now, the company has updated Earth VR to allow for in-Street View navigation, meaning you can easily move from 360 sphere to 360 sphere just like on the flatscreen version of Google Maps.

Google first added Street View to Earth VR back in September, which let you enter any one of Google’s panoramic captures just by selecting it when you were nearby. It was more of a peek inside Street View than a proper implementation though, so the update presents a much easier way to walk around a city in VR should rendered geometry or textures fail to show the world’s true complexity.

For now, Street View navigation is accomplished by selecting the preview sphere and pulling the trigger (but not by placing the preview sphere over your head). From there, you can navigate 360 spheres simply by pointing in the direction of an adjacent sphere and selecting it.

Google also says in the initial announcement on Steam that they’ve “worked hard to make changes that more efficiently use your bandwidth, resulting in faster load times.” The company says the update will improve imagery load times on Internet connections that may have been slow in the past.

Check out Google Earth VR on Steam for Vive and Rift, and on the Oculus Store for Rift.

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‘Bigscreen’ Now Supports Windows VR, PSVR and Mobile Headsets Coming in 2018

Bigscreen, the social VR app which lets users connect in a virtual environment while retaining the ability to use (and share) their own PC desktop content, now supports Microsoft’s ‘Windows Mixed Reality’ VR headsets. In 2018, the app will offer cross-play with mobile users on Oculus Go, Gear VR, and Daydream, as well as PSVR.

Bigscreen is all about letting you do anything you can do normally on your PC—play games, watch movies, browse the web, and much more—but with your friends in VR. It’s a simple idea which is incredibly powerful given the depth of capabilities already available to your PC.

Having earlier this year made major strides in desktop streaming quality between users, and just recently debuting larger rooms that can support “dozens” of users, the company today broadened their offering to support the recently launched Windows VR headsets. Previously available on the Oculus store and Steam, Bigscreen is now also available on the Microsoft store. The app continues to be free, as it has been since launch.

Coming in 2018, Bigscreen is going to open its doors yet further. To start, sometime in Q1, the app will come to all major mobile VR platforms: Gear VR, Daydream, and the forthcoming Oculus Go headset. Following the mobile rollout, the app is also headed to PSVR.

But what to do on the mobile and PSVR versions of Bigscreen when those platforms aren’t backed by a Windows desktop from which to run PC games and apps? Fortunately, all versions will support cross-play, meaning the mobile and PSVR versions of the app will function largely as a means of consumption and communication—non-PC players will be able to join the rooms of PC players to chat and watch shared content; great for friends who just want to watch TV shows or movies together.

Speaking of movies, the mobile and PSVR versions of Bigscreen will also be able to tap into the platform’s forthcoming lineup of timed content screenings in the app’s cinema; in 2018, Bigscreen promises fresh weekly content being shown each week.

Up to today, Bigscreen tells Road to VR that the app has seen some 340,000 users across Rift and Vive.

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‘Bigscreen’ Now Supports Windows VR, PSVR and Mobile Headsets Coming in 2018

Bigscreen, the social VR app which lets users connect in a virtual environment while retaining the ability to use (and share) their own PC desktop content, now supports Microsoft’s ‘Windows Mixed Reality’ VR headsets. In 2018, the app will offer cross-play with mobile users on Oculus Go, Gear VR, and Daydream, as well as PSVR.

Bigscreen is all about letting you do anything you can do normally on your PC—play games, watch movies, browse the web, and much more—but with your friends in VR. It’s a simple idea which is incredibly powerful given the depth of capabilities already available to your PC.

Having earlier this year made major strides in desktop streaming quality between users, and just recently debuting larger rooms that can support “dozens” of users, the company today broadened their offering to support the recently launched Windows VR headsets. Previously available on the Oculus store and Steam, Bigscreen is now also available on the Microsoft store. The app continues to be free, as it has been since launch.

Coming in 2018, Bigscreen is going to open its doors yet further. To start, sometime in Q1, the app will come to all major mobile VR platforms: Gear VR, Daydream, and the forthcoming Oculus Go headset. Following the mobile rollout, the app is also headed to PSVR.

But what to do on the mobile and PSVR versions of Bigscreen when those platforms aren’t backed by a Windows desktop from which to run PC games and apps? Fortunately, all versions will support cross-play, meaning the mobile and PSVR versions of the app will function largely as a means of consumption and communication—non-PC players will be able to join the rooms of PC players to chat and watch shared content; great for friends who just want to watch TV shows or movies together.

Speaking of movies, the mobile and PSVR versions of Bigscreen will also be able to tap into the platform’s forthcoming lineup of timed content screenings in the app’s cinema; in 2018, Bigscreen promises fresh weekly content being shown each week.

Up to today, Bigscreen tells Road to VR that the app has seen some 340,000 users across Rift and Vive.

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‘Bigscreen’ Teams with Paramount Pictures on VR Cinema, Free Screenings of ‘Top Gun’ in 3D

Social VR app Bigscreen is teaming up with Paramount Pictures to debut a new virtual cinema inside of Bigscreen. The cinema will operate much like a real movie theater, offering timed screenings of Top Gun (1986) in 3D, free for a limited time. Players can join friends to watch together.

Bigscreen is a social VR app which lets users connect with friends in a virtual environment where everyone can use and share what’s on their own computer screen. One popular activity is to share videos and movies. The app had already introduced a movie theater environment, but now they’re kicking things up several notches with a new offering which will see official, timed movie showings.

Paramount Pictures is the first to team up with Bigscreen to bring content to the new cinema. Starting on December 29th at 6PM ET, the Bigscreen cinema will show free, timed screenings of Top Gun in 3D to Bigscreen users, supporting “a few dozen” users per theater, with the rest of the seats filled out by NPCs to give a sense of a packed house. The screenings are only available for US users and require Windows 10 (though Bigscreen in general is of course international and supports Windows 7, 8, and 10.

“Bigscreen’s virtual reality platform offers a new way for fans to experience films in their homes,” said Bob Buchi, President Worldwide Home Media Distribution, Paramount Pictures. “We’re excited to be a part of this experiment using cutting-edge technology to give fans a new entertainment option.”

Image courtesy Bigscreen

Bigscreen CEO Darshan Shankar says the team has anticipated the potential for trolling during showings, and so Bigscreen’s cinema screenings will include both a ‘Whisper Mode’, which means users outside of a very small radius won’t be able to hear each other, and what he called the ‘Troll Cage’, which makes players disappear if they try to walk too far from their seat.

SEE ALSO
'Bigscreen's' New Big Rooms Support Dozens of Users Simultaneously

Shankar also says that the company is building a content lineup to support the new cinema, and aims to offer fresh screenings each week in 2018, during which the company may experiment with monetization models for the official cinema content.

The post ‘Bigscreen’ Teams with Paramount Pictures on VR Cinema, Free Screenings of ‘Top Gun’ in 3D appeared first on Road to VR.

‘Bigscreen’ Free Screenings of ‘Top Gun’ in 3D Start Today, Check Showtimes Here

Social VR app Bigscreen is teaming up with Paramount Pictures to debut a new virtual cinema inside of Bigscreen. The cinema will operate much like a real movie theater, offering timed screenings of Top Gun (1986) in 3D, free for a limited time. Screenings start today, December 29th and go until December 31st. Players can join friends to watch together.

Update (12/19/17): Bigscreen has just published showtimes for ‘Top Gun’ in 3D. Check out the full schedule at the bottom of this article.

Bigscreen is a social VR app which lets users connect with friends in a virtual environment where everyone can use and share what’s on their own computer screen. One popular activity is to share videos and movies. The app had already introduced a movie theater environment, but now they’re kicking things up several notches with a new offering which will see official, timed movie showings.

Paramount Pictures is the first to team up with Bigscreen to bring content to the new cinema. Starting on December 29th at 6PM ET, the Bigscreen cinema will show free, timed screenings of Top Gun in 3D to Bigscreen users, supporting “a few dozen” users per theater, with the rest of the seats filled out by NPCs to give a sense of a packed house. The screenings are only available for US users and require Windows 10 (though Bigscreen in general is of course international and supports Windows 7, 8, and 10.

“Bigscreen’s virtual reality platform offers a new way for fans to experience films in their homes,” said Bob Buchi, President Worldwide Home Media Distribution, Paramount Pictures. “We’re excited to be a part of this experiment using cutting-edge technology to give fans a new entertainment option.”

Image courtesy Bigscreen

Bigscreen CEO Darshan Shankar says the team has anticipated the potential for trolling during showings, and so Bigscreen’s cinema screenings will include both a ‘Whisper Mode’, which means users outside of a very small radius won’t be able to hear each other, and what he called the ‘Troll Cage’, which makes players disappear if they try to walk too far from their seat.

SEE ALSO
'Bigscreen's' New Big Rooms Support Dozens of Users Simultaneously

Shankar also says that the company is building a content lineup to support the new cinema, and aims to offer fresh screenings each week in 2018, during which the company may experiment with monetization models for the official cinema content.

Showtimes (US only)

Starting December 29th at 6:00 PM ET (your local time here), showings will continue until December 31st at 2:00 AM ET.

To enter a screening, all you need to do is look at the top of a cinema entrance and an 8-second timer will count down before teleporting you and your friends automatically into the cinema. Check out Bigscreen’s official post here for more info.

The post ‘Bigscreen’ Free Screenings of ‘Top Gun’ in 3D Start Today, Check Showtimes Here appeared first on Road to VR.

‘Pavlov VR’ Update Includes Official Oculus Compatibility, Battle Royale Mode Slated for 2018

Pavlov VR, the Early Access VR shooter from indie developer davevillz, has a new badge under the ‘VR Support’ category on its Steam page which now indicates official support for Oculus Rift. Including a few minor bug fixes, the team added  the announcement that a Battle Royale mode will be coming to the game in 2018, no doubt capitalizing on the success of Players Unknown Battle Ground (PUBG).

Davevillz announced the update on the game’s Steam blog, saying the Oculus implementation “is at a point where im [sic] comfortable to mark it as compatible in the store page.” Davevillz admits however “there’s still a few issues that need to get improved and fixed overtime.”

The game was originally designed primarily for use with HTC Vive, although subsequent updates added things like snap-turning and Touch-specific button mapping to make using the Rift’s controllers a little easier. While Rift players could always play Pavlov VR thanks to Steam’s OpenVR API, it’s nice to know the game can boast official support for anyone without the understanding of how SteamVR works.

 

Davevillz says updates have been sparse because of the upcoming Battle Royale mode, slated for a 2018 release. He suggests you keep an eye on the game’s official Discord channel for scheduled play tests (we know we will).

It’s uncertain how the Battle Royale mode will work, as the game is mostly centered around close-quarters combat and maps ported/recreated from popular games such as Counter Strike and N64 classic GoldenEye 007 (1997). A new refocusing of the game to become more openworld, and hence more PUBG-like, would be an interesting turn to say the least.

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