‘Bigscreen’ Brings ‘Rick & Morty’, ‘The Eric Andre Show’ & More to Free TV Selection

Bigscreen, the social viewing platform for VR headsets, just launched a number of new free TV channels including Rick and Morty, Aqua Teen Hunger Force, Samurai Jack, Robot Chicken, The Venture Bros, and The Eric Andre Show.

Bigscreen first added its TV livestream back in July 2019, which at the time brought over 50 channels to the free app. With its recent additions, users can now select from 172 channels—all of which are available for free in public rooms. Some channels are region-specific, but a majority can be viewed from anywhere.

“Today’s new TV channels all have an age restriction on it, requiring users to consent that they are 18 or older before entering,” the studio says in an update. “Bigscreen’s built-in Parental Controls also allow parents to prevent their children from entering any of these 18+ rooms, public rooms, or social situations.”

Besides being able to chat with others face-to-face, Bigscreen also lets users rent 3D movies, watch your own local media through its internal video player, and mirror your desktop into a room—letting you watch and share practically anything you want in VR.

The studio says there’s plenty of new features coming down the pipeline for 2021 too. A Friends System is still in the works along with built-in YouTube support, and the ability to make private TV-viewing rooms. The studio is also set to roll out new servers which it says will “dramatically improve the video/audio streaming quality.”

Something users have been asking for a while now is a Remote Desktop feature, which will allow you to stream your Windows desktop to Quest. Thankfully, that’s also slated to arrive sometime in 2021.

The update is now live across all supported platforms which includes SteamVR, Oculus Rift, Oculus Quest, and Oculus Go.

The post ‘Bigscreen’ Brings ‘Rick & Morty’, ‘The Eric Andre Show’ & More to Free TV Selection appeared first on Road to VR.

New Bigscreen TV Channels Feature Rick And Morty, Eric Andre Show And More

Bigscreen announced that is is launching additional free TV channels today, featuring streams of popular shows such as Rick and Morty, The Eric Andre Show and more.

The new channels will join the ever-growing list of free TV streams available on Bigscreen as part of Bigscreen TV. These rooms use ad-supported public streams from sites such as YouTube and Twitch and play them in public social rooms, allowing users to join a public TV channel room and enjoy the show with the company of other users.

The new channels added today will be screening Rick and Morty, The Eric Andre Show, Aqua Teen Hunger Force, Samurai Jack, Robot Chicken, The Venture Bros and many other shows. This brings the total number of free TV channels available on Bigscreen up to 172. The new channels  will also require users to confirm that they are over 18 years of age before entering the room.

bigscreen rick and morty

Currently, TV channel streams are only available in public social rooms on Bigscreen. However, the developers noted that they are working on a feature that will soon allow users to bring up any of the free TV channels in their own private room as well, to be enjoyed alone or with friends.

Speaking of friends, the Bigscreen devs are also developing a friends system for the app that they expect to arrive sometime this year, alongside “new servers that dramatically improve the video/audio streaming quality, a new Remote Desktop feature with ultra-low latency desktop streaming to the Quest, and more!”

Things look set to be a big year for Bigscreen — the devs recently spoke about the impact of the Quest 2 launch on their app, stating it had a ‘massive’ knock-on effect.

Bigscreen Introduces Free Rick and Morty, Samurai Jack & Robot Chicken TV Channels

Bigscreen

Bigscreen launched its TV feature back in 2019, continually adding more features and content since then. Today, Bigscreen TV is expanding that roster of channels to cater to all viewers, especially if you enjoy animation.

Bigscreen

14 new channels have been introduced such as Rick and Morty, Aqua Teen Hunger Force, Samurai Jack, Robot Chicken, The Venture Bros, and The Eric Andre Show. All in all, that means Bigscreen now has more than 172 free TV channels available.

If you’ve not tried the service yet Bigscreen doesn’t host these channels, instead, they’re free internet live streams from websites such as Twitch and YouTube. As such, the content is usually ad-supported and can be region-restricted, so it’s possible you won’t be able to access all the channels depending on where you live. These new channels require consent that users are 18 or older before entering with Parental Controls available so parents can stop their kids from accessing these areas.

All of Bigscreen TV’s channels are designed to be social experiences, so you can watch some of your favourite shows with other fans. Currently in development is the ability to host TV channels in private rooms. Bigscreen hasn’t said when this might become available.

Bigscreen TV Robot Chicken

There are more updates planned for Bigscreen during the course of 2021 including a Friends System, new servers that improve the video/audio streaming quality, and a new Remote Desktop feature with ultra-low latency desktop streaming to the Oculus Quest. When it comes to the long-awaited PlayStation VR port, that is still on the roadmap, but Bigscreen hasn’t settled on a date yet.

Alongside the TV channels, Bigscreen users can also rent 3D movies, watch their own video files using the Videoplayer, or use the app for its original purpose and stream a Windows desktop screen into a virtual room.

Bigscreen is free to download for HTC Vive, Valve Index, Windows Mixed Reality, Oculus Rift, and Oculus Quest. For further updates, keep reading  VRFocus.

Oculus Quest Custom Home Environments Include Simpsons House And More

Everything you do on your Oculus Quest starts in the home environment – you can change your settings, purchase apps and launch yourself into virtual worlds. Users now have a way to create custom home environments, including locations from The Simpsons and other popular movies and TV shows.

From late last year, Facebook started to gradually roll out new environments to Oculus Quest users. While not everyone received the new environments immediately (and some still may not have received them), the feature allows Quest users to choose between the default Oculus Home environment and two new official Oculus environments, including a classic home location from the original Rift and a winter lodge.

However, users also found a way to use custom 3D environments in place of the new Oculus environments. While this method is not officially sanctioned by Oculus and is facilitated by third-party tools such as SideQuest, users created some amazing new environments based on famous settings from pop culture movies and TV shows.

As you can see, we tried out a bunch of custom environments such as the house from the Simpsons, the throne room from Game of Thrones, the garage from Rick and Morty and a version of Oculus’ winter lodge environment that replaces the standard skyline with a skyline of Gotham City.

The environments are impressive and surprisingly detailed. The video doesn’t do the environments justice either – while the default Quest homes are quite small, I maxed out the allowed guardian boundaries for the throne room and still didn’t have enough room to walk around the entire environment. Likewise, there is something very surreal about standing in the iconic Simpsons living room that you don’t quite get from the video.

We recommend trying the environments out for yourself. We’ll be writing up a proper how-to article on the process of installing custom environments, but until then, you can join the Quest Custom Home’s Discord server, where you can find some basic instructions and links to the custom environments.

Have you tried out some custom environments on your Quest already? Let us know your favorites in the comments below and keep an eye out for our how-to guide in the coming days.

The post Oculus Quest Custom Home Environments Include Simpsons House And More appeared first on UploadVR.

Job Simulator Has Now Sold Over 1 Million Units

Google-owned VR development studio Owlchemy Labs announced today that it had reached a massive sales milestone for its breakout hit, Job Simulator [original Vive review from 2016], which has now surpassed one million units sold.

Job Simulator originally launched for HTC Vive back in the first half of 2016, nearly four years ago, and is a great example of a game that’s easy to pick up and endlessly fun to play repeatedly. It has universal appeal with a sense of humor for all ages and requires very little in the way of tutorialization. In a lot of ways, it was VR’s truly first big hit back before headsets had even officially launched.

Since release it has also made its way to the Oculus Rift when Touch controllers released, the PSVR, and the Oculus Quest putting it on every major VR platform. Owlchemy Labs is also the developer of Rick and Morty: Virtual-Rickality and Vacation Simulator, two follow-ups that build upon the foundation laid in Job Simulator.

This is a massive sales milestone to reach. When compared to traditional non-VR video games, one million units is still seen as a huge success for non-AAA products, especially in the indie space. Few VR games have reached this point. Beat Saber revealed the number back in March of 2019 after its viral success and Sean Murray from Hello Games estimated that at least one million of his players had VR headsets already before No Man’s Sky got its VR update — counting the new copies that were sold it could likely be over that figure as well. Estimates also put around one million have played Resident Evil 7 in VR on PSVR, but it has sold far more copies overall as part of a massive Capcom AAA franchise that’s also playable outside of VR.

“We first developed Job Simulator as something that could only exist in VR. It was built for hardware that wasn’t yet available to consumers and was a very risky product.” says Owlchemy Labs CEOwl Devin Reimer in the company blog post. “Job Simulator going platinum shows that the consumer VR market is capable of generating huge hits. We’re delighted that Job Simulator has found a diverse audience that enjoys our game.“

Regardless of how you look at it, this is a big milestone. As VR continues to grow and reach mainstream adoption, expect to see more breakout success stories like this.

The post Job Simulator Has Now Sold Over 1 Million Units appeared first on UploadVR.

This ‘Rick & Morty’ Fan Remade Rick’s Toilet in VR

Not current on the latest season of Rick and Morty? Well, it’s revealed in episode two of the latest season that Rick, the genius misanthrope that he is, has a secret toilet on a depopulated paradise planet where he can relax, unwind, and truly feel alone with his thoughts. And now you can too—provided you own an Oculus Quest or Oculus Go.

The aptly-named Rick’s Toilet app was a quick side project created by Evan Stimpson, an indie developer at Soulcom Studios who’s currently on working on a flying car racing game for Quest and Go called Skylane.

You won’t find Rick’sToilet on the Oculus Store though, but rather on the unofficial sideload repository, SideQuest.

While the free app was originally built for Go, Stimpson has since added support for Quest as well. And now you too can pinch one off in paradise as you gaze over the picturesque mountains and sparkling aurora on your very own off-world crapper.

To sideload Rick’s Toilet, or any other app from SideQuest, you simply need to install SideQuest on you computer, set it up on you Quest/Go, and connect the headset to your computer via a USB cable. Follow the how-to section on the SideQuest website for more information. And wash your hands, you filth animals.

The post This ‘Rick & Morty’ Fan Remade Rick’s Toilet in VR appeared first on Road to VR.

Vacation Simulator Gets Subtitle Support For Six Different Languages

Today Owlchemy Labs released a major update for Vacation Simulator that adds in subtitles for multiple languages along with a slew of visual enhancements to aid accessibility for players.

Supported subtitle languages include English, French, German, Japanese, Korean, and Spanish which is a great selection of option for players around the world. Coincidentally, the news comes just a day after Sanzaru Games and Oculus Studios announced similar support is coming to Asgard’s Wrath soon as well.

“Crafting subtitles in VR required a massive overhaul of industry best practices—but we truly believe in ‘VR for Everyone’ and are proud to bring VR to a whole new audience with this update,” says Peter Galbraith, Developer at Owlchemy Labs, in a prepared statement. “From the deaf and hard of hearing community to players around the world, everyone deserves a vacation.”

Just like everything Owlchemy Labs does, the subtitles feel like organic parts of the world in Vacation Simulator and are super playful. In a blog post about the update, the company details the process and methodology of adding support emphasizing the importance of making them feel like they “belong” in the world so as to avoid words simply floating for no reason in your field of view.

They’re shown at the depth of the speaker so they feel anchored and even go transparent when you need to interact with things behind them. When you’re streaming or recording footage, they’re shown at the bottom of the screen in Spectator Mode to make for a better viewer experience.

The subtitles update is out now on Steam and Oculus Home with the PSVR update coming soon. When the Quest version launches this feature will be included from day one later this year. There’s no word on if this feature will come to Job Simulator and Rick and Morty VR.

The post Vacation Simulator Gets Subtitle Support For Six Different Languages appeared first on UploadVR.

The Biggest PSVR Releases Of The Week 04/08/18

The Biggest PSVR Releases Of The Week 04/08/18

 

Still playing WipEout VR? Yeah, good call, but if you don’t have a Rift or Vive then there’s one big release you probably have been missing out on until now that could pull you away and it features a mad scientist + his grandson going on crazy adventures.

If you missed last week’s releases, you can see those here. UploadVR also launched the ‘UploadVR PSVR Community’ on PlayStation 4! Join up, find other gamers to play with, and engage in discussions with them. Also, don’t forget to check out our list of the 9 Best PlayStation VR Games if you need any extra inspiration.

Rick and Morty: Virtual Rick-ality, from Owlchemy Labs

Price: $29.99

The creators of Job Simulator expanded on that game’s core premise to deliver a hilarious adventure across multiple dimensions in this Rick and Morty VR extravaganza. Not to mention a spoof of Roy: A Life Well-Lived that’s sure to earn its fair share of replays. Definitely recommended for fans of Job Simulator or fans of the cartoon.

Read our full review and making of feature for more details.

Operation Warcade, from Ivanovich Games

Price: $19.99

Operation Warcade is like an arcade cabinet wave shooter transported into VR. The mechanics are fine, it plays well, and it captures the right tone, but it’s just not that inventive or fun to play in the grand scheme of things. Maybe worth it on a steep sale.

Time Carnage, from Wales Interactive

Price: $19.99

Time Carnage is another uninspired wave shooter that does nothing to move the genre forward or offer up a creative spin on existing tropes. You point, you shoot, you rinse, and you repeat. We’d recommend passing on this one.

Read our full review.

Tagged with: , , ,

Dr. Splorchy Presents: Space Heroes für Daydream vorgestellt

Das Entwicklerstudio Squanch Games entwickelt in Kooperation mit Google eine exklusive Spielereihe für die Daydream. Der erste VR-Titel der Reihe, Dr. Splorchy Presents: Space Heroes, wird aktuell auf der GDC 2018 vorgestellt und weist den unverkennbaren Humor des Rick-and-MortyMitschöpfers Justin Roiland auf.

Dr. Splorchy Presents: Space Heroes – VR-Abenteuer im Stil von Rick und Morty

Dr. Splorchy Presents: Space Heroes dreht sich um zwei Weltraumhelden, die dem verrückten Wissenschaftler Dr. Splorchy zur Seite stehen. Der beauftragt die beiden Brüder mit der Aufgabe, eine Massenvernichtungswaffe auf dem Raumschiff des bösartigen Spacelords außer Gefecht zu setzen und dadurch die Welt und das komplette Universum vor der anstehenden Katastrophe zu bewahren.

Dr.-Splorchy-Presents-Space-Heroes-Google-Daydream

Das Entwicklerstudio Squanch Games wurde von Justin Roiland (Mitgründer von Rick and Morty) und Tonya Watson gegründet, die den einzigartigen Humor der erfolgreichen Animationsserie in eigenen VR-Spielen umsetzen wollen. Dafür gründeten die beiden im Jahr 2016 ihr eigenes Studio Squanchtendo, das aus markenrechtlichen Gründen später umbenannt wurde.

Dr.-Splorchy-Presents-Space-Heroes-Google-Daydream

Vermutlich handelt es sich bei den bisher gezeigten Screenshots um einen VR-Shooter mit Adventure-Elementen, jedoch sind noch nicht allzu viele weitere Informationen zum VR-Titel bekannt. Auch die eigens von Dr. Splorchy veröffentlichten Presseinformationen geben nur wenig Auskunft über die Inhalte des Spiels: „Damit ihr mit eurem primitiven Erdenverstand versteht, was hier vor sich geht, müsste ich den größten Teil eures Gehirns entfernen und ihn durch einen Computer ersetzen, der so fortgeschritten ist, dass er noch nicht einmal erfunden wurde. Also nein, ich werde euch keine Infos für eure schwachsinnige Pressemitteilung schicken.“

Dr. Splorchy Presents: Space Heroes wird derzeit auf der GDC 2018 präsentiert, demnächst sollten weitere Informationen zum exklusiven Spiel für Google Daydream zur Verfügung stehen – noch bevor Google den passenden Quantencomputer in unser Gehirn einsetzen kann.

(Quellen: Upload VR | Squanch Games | Video: Sqaunch Games Youtube)

Der Beitrag Dr. Splorchy Presents: Space Heroes für Daydream vorgestellt zuerst gesehen auf VR∙Nerds. VR·Nerds am Werk!

Google and Squanch Games Team up for New Daydream Exclusive, ‘Dr. Splorchy Presents: Space Heroes’

In partnership with Google, developers Squanch Games have revealed Dr. Splorchy Presents: Space Heroes, the first in a series of exclusive games for the Daydream VR platform. Announced today, the game is playable on the GDC show floor at Google’s booth.

The game centres around scientist Dr. Splorchy, who evidently has no interest in what we say here, as in his own words, his experience with VR is “so beyond the capability of your understanding that if I were to try to explain them to your primitive earth mind I would have to rip out most of your brain and replace it with a computer so powerful it hasn’t even been invented yet, so no, I will not send you a blurb for your stupid press release.”

Image courtesy Squanch Games

This particular brand of humour comes from Squanch Games co-founder Justin Roiland, best known as the co-creator of animated comedy series Rick and Morty. He formed a VR development studio with Tanya Watson in 2016 called Squanchtendo, changing their name to Squanch Games late last year. Their first game, Accounting (2016), developed with Crows Crows Crows for SteamVR, launched in enhanced form as Accounting+ (2017) on PSVR.

Roiland and Watson appear to have been superseded by “Senior Lead Master Game Developer” Dr. Splorchy, saying “we’re tremendously fortunate to have found such a creative and experienced partner in Dr. Splorchy, an incredible genius that we have definitely not grown to be deeply concerned about or afraid of over the course of our relationship” under what they both describe as “definitely not duress.”

Image courtesy Squanch Games

As Dr. Splorchy isn’t being forthcoming with information, not much is known about his new game, but we’ll try to check out the project at Google’s booth at GDC to learn more. Going by the teaser and the screenshots, it could feature adventure elements as well as first person shooter action. In the meantime, you could follow Dr. Splorchy’s various social media accounts: his blog, Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook.

The post Google and Squanch Games Team up for New Daydream Exclusive, ‘Dr. Splorchy Presents: Space Heroes’ appeared first on Road to VR.