Category: vive day

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HTC Vive Celebrates Third Anniversary by Launching Viveport Video

Time flys when you’re having fun, and it was three years ago today that HTC Vive hit the consumer market. Since then, HTC Vive has celebrated with Vive Day, announcing new services, deals and giveaways. 2019 is no different, with the release of Viveport Video.

HTC Vive Pro

Compatible with both PC virtual reality (VR) hardware (HTC Vive, Oculus Rift, HTC Vive Pro etc) and Vive Wave devices (HTC Vive Focus, Vive Focus Plus, etc), Viveport Video provides access to a library of 2D, 180 and 360-degree videos.

A free download on Viveport, Steam, and soon on the Oculus store, the service has sports content from Major League Baseball, Red Bull TV, and McLaren Racing, music content from Red Bull Records, 1Culture and Ceek VR, plus the usual mix of cinematic experiences like Everest: the VR Film Experience, Dark Corner and FRONTLINE PBS.

“Immersive VR video experiences are an exciting and captivating way for users to connect with the things that interest them the most and with Viveport Video, they now have access to premium content across a variety of lifestyle genres,” said Rikard Steiber, President of Viveport. “Through Viveport Video, we’re enabling the developer community to finally be able to monetize their premium video content and share these experiences with a large audience.”

Viveport Infinity

As well as Viveport Video, the company also released its new subscription model Viveport Infinity earlier this week. New users can try a two-week free trial of the unlimited subscription service, able to access exclusive premium content on Viveport Video in addition to over 600 VR apps and videogames. Continuing the celebrations, Viveport Infinity members can claim five free Vive Studios titles until 7th April – Virtual Sports, Front Defense, Arcade Saga, Knockout League and AWAKE: Episode One.

And then there’s the fact that Viveport is also offering up to 90% off select videogames and apps until 7th April, plus new purchases of HTC Vive or HTC Vive Pro come with a 12-month Viveport Infinity membership.

Thought it was all over? Well not quite. Today at 12pm PST (8pm GMT) join the Vive team for a live stream on Twitch where they’ll be giving away prizes, including a 12 Month Viveport Subscription and an HTC Vive Pro kit. As further updates are released, VRFocus will let you know.

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HTC: Vive Pro Starter Kit Preis, 82-Euro-Gutschein [Update]

[Update] Inzwischen hat HTC auch die Preise für Europa genannt. Das Vive Pro Starter Kit mit VR Headset, SteamVR 1.0 Controllern und Sensor-Stationen kostet hier 1187 Euro. Für Besitzer der HTC Vive gibt es zudem einen Gutschein für den Viveport Store über 82 Euro sowie ein Jahr lang das Abo. Wer nur die Vive Pro kauft, erhält aktuell sechs Monate gratis. Das Abo ermöglicht es, sich fünf Titel aus einer Auswahl von VR-Erfahrungen im Monat auszuleihen. Regulär kostet das Jahresabo 90 Euro. Zur Feier des Vive Days morgen kann man das dreimonatige Viveport-Abo für die Hälfte abschließen. Auf der Webseite von HTC/Vive ist das Angebot noch nicht verfügbar, die Vive Pro geht ab morgen offiziell in den Verkauf.

Originalmeldung von heute morgen:

Mit der Preisgestaltung für die Vive Pro hat HTC viele Vive-Besitzer verärgert, wie der Hersteller erfahren musste. Nun reagiert HTC in einem Blog-Post und kündigt einige Goodies für Vive-Besitzer an. Außerdem ebnet HTC nun wie gestern schon berichtet einen Upgrade-Pfad. Im Vive Pro Starter Kit befinden sich das neue Headset mit Controllern und Lighthouse Stationen in der alten SteamVR-Version. Der Aufpreis beträgt 300 US-Dollar.

HTC kündigt Vive Pro Starter Kit offiziell an

In einem Blog-Post gibt HTC zu, dass es keinen klaren Upgrade-Pfad für viele Anwender gab. Schuld daran ist, dass HTC die Vive Pro nur als reines Headset ohne Zubehör anbietet. Die einzelnen Teile sind allerdings preislich unattraktiv. Wie berichtet, bundlet HTC alle notwendigen Teile und bietet damit die Möglichkeit, die Vive Pro mit SteamVR-1.0-Zubehör für einen vernünftigeren Preis zu kaufen. Im Vive Pro Starter Kit für 1.099 US-Dollar befindet sich dann nicht nur die Vive Pro, sondern auch zwei Controller und zwei Lighthouse-Stationen. Außerdem erhalten Käufer noch zwei Goodies, um den immer noch recht hohen Preis etwas schmackhafter zu machen: einen Gutschein über 100 Dollar für den eigenen Store sowie ein Jahr lang das Viveport-Abo. Eine Ankündigung der Preise für Europa steht noch aus. Käufer des Starter-Kits haben nun die Möglichkeit, ihre alte Brille im Set zu verkaufen – der hiesige Neupreis liegt bei knapp 600 Euro.

5. April: Vive Day mit kostenlosen VR-erfahrungen

Morgen am 5. April 2018 kommt nicht nur die Vive Pro auf den Markt, sondern die alte HTC Vive feiert auch ihr zweijähriges Jubiläum. Zum Vive Day erhalten Besitzer der Brille vier VR-Erfahrungen aus den Vive Studios kostenlos: Front Defense, Front Defense Heroes, Super Puzzle Galaxy Lite und Arcade Saga. Die Aktion läuft bis zum 8. April 2018. Außerdem erhalten alle Viveport-Abonnenten den Titel Everest VR kostenlos, das Abo für die dreimonatige Mitgliedschaft reduziert sich zudem auf die Hälfte. Zum Schluss kündigt HTC an, schon bald neue Informationen zu SteamVR 2.0 und einem neuen Vive-Pro-Paket veröffentlichen zu wollen.

(Quelle: HTC Blog Post)

Der Beitrag HTC: Vive Pro Starter Kit Preis, 82-Euro-Gutschein [Update] zuerst gesehen auf VR∙Nerds. VR·Nerds am Werk!

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Viveport Offering Free Titles and Subscription Discounts for Vive Day Celebrations

There’s a couple of days to go until HTC Vive celebrates its second anniversary, for anyone who owns the head-mounted display (HMD) Vive Day will be filled with free videogames, Viveport Subscription discounts and more. 

HTC Vive stock image 6

The celebrate Vive Day, Viveport will be offering four pieces of content from Vive Studios to every HTC Vive owner for free. They are: Front Defense, Front Defense Heroes, Super Puzzle Galaxy Lite and Arcade Saga. These titles can be redeemed via Viveport starting at 12:01am PDT on 4/4/18 through 11:59pm on 8/4/18.

If you already happen to be a Viveport Subscriber then there’s an additional freebie available. In the same time period as those above, all Viveport Subscribers will get a free copy of Everest VR from Solfar Studios.

Last but not least, if you’ve been tempted by the Viveport Subscription service but haven’t yet tried it out Viveport is offering a 50 percent discount on the 3-Month Viveport Subscription where you can choose five titles per month from more than 400 available.

Viveport_Sub

HTC Vive has continually looked at improving its service since the launch of Viveport in 2016. Some of the biggest changes have taken place over the last few months, with the introduction of Viveport VR as a new way for Viveport users to find and consume virtual reality (VR) content through the online store. Then last month HTC Vive increased the price of the Viveport Subscription, upping the monthly price from $6.99 USD to $8.99 for new users while current subscribers would see the cost stay the same for the rest of 2018.

The Viveport Developer Awards (VDAs) had its second event recently, with winners including The Gallery – Episode 2: Heart of the Emberstone, Gravity Sketch VR, OVERVIEW and REGENESIS Arcade DELUXE. And for fans of Ready Player One HTC Vive launched several experiences inspired by the film on Viveport, all available through the Oasis Beta app.

Expect plenty more news from HTC Vive as the year continues, especially with the up coming launch of HTC Vive Pro and Vive Focus later in the year, with VRFocus keep you updated with the latest announcements.

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VRTV: Be The Batman. Use The Force. And… Feel The Bullets?

It’s been a busy week for virtual reality (VR) and a bit of a party week as well. VRFocus video correspondent Nina Salomons steps out of the ongoing EVE Fanfest to bring you the lowdown on all the big stories of the last seven days for this week’s edition of VRTV. Which includes details of a certain brooding billionaire playboy slipping the confines of the PlayStation VR to bring vigilante justice to PC VR.

Both Star Wars and Star Trek fans have had something VR to celebrate this week as well, although one is decidedly more official than the other. PlayStation VR has had a number of releases confirmed and there’s also a new haptic vest is being released for VR player from D&E Tech. How comfortable would you be with being able to feel bullets and explosions though?

Find out more about the stories concerned here:

VRFocus will be back on Tuesday with a VRTV review and will return with another weekly round-up on Thursday.

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HTC Vive Video One Year in VR Takes a Developers Perspective

Wednesday is drawing to a close and so is HTC Vive’s ‘Vive Day – for the UK at least – and its naturally been filled with plenty of news items focused on the head-mounted display (HMD). To mark the occasion HTC has released a video called One Year in VR: Developer Perspective, getting views of the past year from teams around the world.

The video starts of with one half of the development team behind one of HTC Vive’s most well known, and well love titles, Fantastic Contraption’s Radial Games – Northway Games was the other half. Radial’s Andy Moore says that even though it’s only been a year it feels like ‘5 years of game development’.

It then goes on to feature Google, Owlchemy Labs (Job Simulator), Survios (Raw Data), Big Box VR (Smashbox Arena), Against Gravity (Rec Room), CloudGate Studio (Island 359), Cloudhead Games (The Gallery – Episode 1: Call of the Starseed), and IBM. The developers are quizzed on their favourite experiences, industry developments that surprised them, favourite VR demo story, and a big ‘wow’ moment.

There’s still a chance to grab some of the Vive Day offers, with Arcade Saga available for free through Viveport and a chunky discount on the headset itself. There’s also been some free anniversary backgrounds and desktop wallpapers made available. But the for existing HTC Vive owners the big draw today will likely be the Steam VR Anniversary Sale which actually runs until 12th April. 

VRFocus did its own developer reaction piece earlier today, talking to those new and not so new to the VR space on this first year and what the next 12 months could bring.

VRFocus will continue its coverage of HTC Vive reporting back with the latest announcements and updates.

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Vive Year One: Vive Team Talk about the First Year of the Vive’s Life

It’s been a year since HTC introduced the world to room-scale virtual reality (VR) with the HTC Vive. Not surprisingly, the team at Vive wanted to comment upon the event.

The Vive blog post remarked upon the aims they have, saying that the team “Wake(s) up every day focused on how to make VR scalable and profitable for the community, and on building a new future of computing.”

The Vive team say they are interested in developing and building the VR ecosystem for the long haul, and notes that the push toward targeting creators and creative people with the Vive Maker community. The post also says: “We are aggressively making moves to cement the future of VR. Whether it is Vive X, Viveport, Vive Studios, VR for Impact or a half dozen other initiatives we’re driving for the industry, we’ve diversified faster in the VR market than anyone in the industry.”

30 new companies have recently joined the Vive X Accelerator Program, which gives them access to funding and technology to create new VR projects. The team say this is part of a vital process of ensuring content developers are successful.

The post states that VR is bigger and more important than just how well a single videogame sells. The posts re-affirms Vive’s commitment to openness for the platform: “We fully intend to keep Vive open to developers and to be the best VR platform to develop for. One of the key driving forces for Viveport is our ability to provide new revenue streams to developers, which is a big part of why we just launched a VR Subscription service. Whether it is direct game sales, revenue from Arcade, subscription models or getting your content on more devices, we will be there.”

HTC Vive product 1

Vive are of the opinion that Education with be a rich source of growth for VR in future: “Education will also continue to be an area of investment. This year we will also see longer-term research as to VR’s impact on education. We’ve seen early studies out of classrooms in China that show VR has an immediate and measurable impact on test results, but we expect this research to expand and help provide educators with a roadmap to introducing VR.”

The post ends with the Vive team thanking everyone who has supported them and saying they are looking forward to a second year of development with VR and Vive.

VRFocus will bring you further updates on the HTC Vive when they come in.

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Steam Holds VR Anniversary Sale with Discounts up to 90%

It’s that time of year again to grab yourself a quick bargain. No matter what virtual reality (VR) head-mounted display you own there seems to be a software deal available for it. Today Steam has launched a VR Anniversary Sale in recognition of HTC Vive and there’s plenty to checkout.

In the Steam sale there’s 189 titles on discount – all of which VRFocus isn’t going to list –  with some sizable savings on offer. As with any Steam sale the discounts vary wildly, the minimum seems to be 10 percent while it maxes out at 90 percent. Titles such as Tilt Brush, Space Pirate Trainer, Super Pixel Smash, Audio Shield, Arizona Sunshine, Job Simulator and The Gallery – Episode 1: Call of the Starseed all make an appearance.

arizona sunshine

And one good thing about the Steam sale is that both HTC Vive and Oculus Rift users get to benefit. Last week Oculus held its own anniversary sale on its store, and PlayStation VR has got in on the action with its European PlayStation.Store offering an Easter sale.

HTC’s Vive Day promotions are only available today, whilst Steam’s VR Anniversary Sale with run though until 12 April 2017. Raw Data developer Survios is going one step further. Not only is it in the sale with a 20 percent discount, over the next four days the videogame is playable entirely for free.

Head on over to Steam to see what deals are available and for any further updates, keep reading VRFocus.

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HTC Vive Launches Anniversary Backgrounds and Desktop Wallpapers

Today is a celebration of all things HTC Vive related. If you hadn’t seen by now the consumer headset is one year old and there’s been a bunch of promotions for consumers. As a freebie, four anniversary backgrounds and desktop wallpapers have been released to jazz up your PC.

For Vive Day four background images for the SteamVR compositor are now available, changing the picture inside SteamVR for something a little more interesting. HTC Vive has also enlisted the talents of independent artist Android Jones for the image seen below.

VIVE-Day-minds-eye-vive-Android-Jones

If you fancy adding a Vive Day themed logo to your desktop then there are also four to choose from, supporting both PC and Mac.

All the pictures can be found on the Vive blog, along with instructions on how to set them up if you’re not too sure.

Other promotions for today only include a £100 GBP/$100 USD discount off the HTC Vive itself for new customers. Or if you already own the device, head on over to Viveport to bag a free copy of Arcade Saga, Vive Studio’s action game.

The Viveport Subscription Service as also launched, providing a new way to navigate the hundreds of apps on the platform. It’s $6.99 a month with users able to choose five titles from an ever-growing library of curated content. As an introductory offer new users also get a one month free trial.

VRFocus will continue its coverage of HTC Vive, reporting back with the latest updates.

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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 Studios, Global Virtual Reality Association and  Viveport Arcade.

For the latest HTC Vive news, keep reading VRFocus.