Acer Windows VR Headset ‘OJO 500’ Finally Launches After 1 Year Delay

Remember when Acer’s OJO 500 launched last year? Yeah, we don’t either. In a perplexing move, the Taiwanese tech giant quietly opened up sales for its business-friendly Windows VR headset today, something that was slated to launch back in November 2018.

As far as hard specs go, OJO 500 was always poised to be a Johnny-come-lately, with its dual LCD displays offering a total resolution of 2,880 × 1,440 pixels running at 90Hz, the very same as their previous model (AH101-D8EY) from 2017.

What OJO 500 did offer though was a pretty attractive package for businesses. With its detachable display, washable soft and hard head strap, integrated audio, manual IPD adjustment, and even customizable faceplates, making for a not-so-unthinkable offering for companies looking for a tried and true headset variant boasting Microsoft’s mostly serviceable inside-out tracking.

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The headset was last advertised at $400, or €500 in the Eurozone, however starting today you can order from the European-facing Acer stores for €450/£400, as reported by German VR publication MIXED (German).

It hasn’t shown up on North American Acer stores yet, so it’s not sure if the USD pricing has changed at all. And yes, it comes with the standard Windows VR controller.

Acer hasn’t mentioned what’s happening with their higher-res ‘ConceptD’ version of OJO, but if OJO 500 is any indication, we won’t hear much about it either until it releases.

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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.

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VR Fitness Experience Viro Move Demo Now Available For PC VR

Viro Move, a new VR fitness experience, now has a downloadable demo on the Steam store for you to try out.

VR workouts are increasingly common – whether it be through dedicated fitness games, boxing simulators, or even just an intense session in Beat Saber or Super Hot. However, Viro Move is a new fitness experience in VR that combines all of the above.

As previously announced, Viro Move has three primary game types, one involving shooting (like Audica), another boxing (like BoxVR), and a third involving slashing à la Beat Saber. However, in the new demo launch trailer, we’ve got our first look at a new mode that will have you quickly switch between shooting targets, boxing and slashing blocks – all in a single level, while getting your blood pumping.

As you can see from the trailer, the way the levels operate looks to be somewhat derivative. That being said, having to quickly switch from slicing to shooting to boxing provides a lot of a variety. The game also look slightly less rhythm-focused since you’ll also have to physically move around a lot more – unlike the occasional wall dodge in Beat Saber, they look much more common – and drastic – in Viro Move.

With these variations from the classic Beat Saber formula, it’s pretty easy to see how you might feel exhausted after a Viro Move session or two. You can view more footage of the game and its different modes on the Viro Move YouTube channel.

The game currently has no release date, but you can download the demo now for the Index, Rift, Windows MR and HTC Vive on Steam. While the demo is just for PC VR, the full game will also be available on PSVR and Oculus Quest.

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Audio Trip Early Access Review: Competently Finds Its Rhythm

Audio Trip is out now in Early Access on Steam and we’ve spent a few days putting this latest VR rhythm action game through its paces. Read on to find out how it fares!

“Does VR really need another rhythm action game?”, you might be asking yourself right now. It seems like VR developers really love to make these types of games, especially given the runaway success of Beat Saber. I myself have played games like the aforementioned Beat Saber, BoxVR, Audica, Audioshield, and Dance Central VR. So really, I do mean it when I say that all of the niches that you could possibly fill in this subgenre have already basically been filled.

Well, all except for one, apparently: a decidedly chill rhythm action game that’s all about the finer parts of ‘flow’ and ‘free expression’, while also somehow forcing you to do stretchy aerobics in your pajamas. That’s, more or less, exactly the missing link between all other existing VR rhythm games that Audio Trip, the first game by developer Kinemotik, manages to fill.

Before I get ahead of myself, let me back this review right up. I absolutely hated the first hour I spent inside of Audio Trip. I thought the hands were too small and I struggled to reach any of the notes as they sped past me. I thought the notes themselves, especially the ribbons, were erratically placed and the game was poorly explained. When I kept failing songs on Beginner mode (which didn’t even feel too different from the other, harder modes), I felt like the fun had been vacuumed out before I even got a chance to really get into my groove. The tutorial didn’t help much either, sort of pushing me towards each individual element example-by-example, without further context, and then sending me back off.

But then I figured out the trick.

Audio Trip VR Rhythm Gameplay Footage:

What turned my whole experience around (for the better) was going into the options menu and turning on the little virtual dance instructor. She stands in front of you and performs the moves that the game expects you to perform on your own. Without her, the game is frantic to an almost unplayable degree. But with her, everything clicks into place. I also think that, before I had the proper instruction, I’d simply been approaching Audio Trip from the wrong angle.

When you’re so used to playing games like Beat Saber and BoxVR like I am, it becomes second nature to hit notes (or in this case, gems) as aggressively and skillfully as you can. Audio Trip, instead, is really all about having your hands in the right place at the right time, sort of like how you’d approach Dance Central VR. When approached correctly, what ends up happening is you get something of an aerobic dance class out of Audio Trip, with more focus on aerobics than on actually dancing. But also, you can dance if you want to. You can leave your friends behind.

Feature-wise, Audio Trip is a bit light in its current state. There are a grand total of 10 songs, playable in three modes (Beginner, Regular, and Expert), and each one is assigned a custom-made world that you move through over the course of the song. Its soundtrack boasts a decent, albeit limited blend of electronic and pop staples licensed out from recognizable artists like Skrillex, Lada Gaga, Rafaël Frost, and a few others. One thing that stood out here was the Quick Trip option, which lets you play a much shorter version of a song.

AudioTrip3

The worlds, which are definitely beautiful and nice to look at, are not related to gameplay in any direct way. As such, they’re overshadowed by the gameplay itself eating so much of your focus. The dramatic backdrops can even be distracting at times, generally when a track arrangement starts to become complex and the ‘chill’ aspect of Audio Trip is diminished in favor of focusing on landing notes right.

That said, it would have been cool to see the gameplay visuals correspond more with the backdrop, ala Tetris Effect. I’d even say that it’s a legitimate shame that the clear opportunity to mix gameplay and style was missed here, seeing as how much effort was evidently put into the design of each world.

Further, the notes in Audio Trip don’t correspond with any kind of sound effects when you land them. The lack thereof really makes the gameplay in Audio Trip fall flat faster if you aren’t already having fun finding your own rhythm. Sound cues, as a psychological component, are a significant part of what made Beat Saber so compelling and appealing in the first place. It’s no coincidence that the makers of BoxVR, arguably one of Beat Saber’s only meaningful competitors, finally added their own to match each hit.

Audio Trip Early Access Trailer:

Audio Trip Early Access Review Final Verdict

I have to hand it to Kinemotik for making a VR rhythm game that manages to add something new to a genre I thought had already been done to death and back. Even in Early Access form, Audio Trip is quite a bit of fun once you get accustomed to playing it, which is made far easier when you follow along with the virtual dance instructor. That said, it isn’t without its shortcomings. Even though it gets some slack for being in Early Access, it doesn’t immediately feel as approachable or fun as it could. The world environments and the gameplay itself are in conflict with each other at times, and the lack of hit sounds is an obvious improvement in the making.


Final Score: TBD


This review was conducted on an Oculus Rift S using the Early Access Steam version of the game. Since it is still in Early Access a score is not rendered at this time.

You can now get Audio Trip on Steam in Early Access for $20. It runs natively on all major PC VR headsets.

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[Update] Micro Center Sale Brings HP’s Windows Mixed Reality Headset to Just $150

Looking to get one of the best deals in PC VR headsets? Micro Center has slashed the price on HP’s Windows Mixed Reality headset down to just $150 for both the headset and included controllers.

Update (October 28th, 2019): Micro Center is altering the deal. Instead of $130, which was available late last week, HP’s Windows VR headset is now $150 with seemingly the same in-store availability. Pray they don’t alter it any further!

Original Article (October 25th, 2019): The catch is you’ll have to pick it up in-store, as the online shop seems to be entirely out of stock.

There’s almost two dozen stores currently in stock across the US, so you’ll need to reserve it at your local participating Micro Center before you lose the chance.

The headset’s MSRP is supposed to be $400, although you’ve probably seen it around for around the $200 – $250 mark on Amazon, Best Buy, etc. However you slice it though, $130 $150 is pretty much unbeatable.

Image courtesy Micro Center

It’s up to you whether you consider this a catch or not, but Windows Mixed Reality headsets aren’t exactly the top of the line specs-wise, with HP and a gang of other OEMs like Acer, Dell, and Lenovo tossing out similarly kitted VR headsets in October 2017.

All Windows Mixed Reality headsets, HP included, boast better headset and controller tracking than PSVR, which is thanks to a mostly competent inside-out tracking system (i.e. no need for tracking beacons or sensors), although the controller isn’t very ergonomic.

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Windows VR headsets (excluding Samsung Odyssey & Odyssey Plus) boast the same basic hardware specs: inside-out optical tracking, dual 1,440 × 1,440 LCD panels, 90Hz refresh, and around a 100 degree field of view.

Although not the most impressive PC VR headset out there, Windows headsets boast SteamVR support, meaning you can play almost any VR game on the world’s largest digital distribution platform. With that in mind, HP’s headset is plenty usable if you’re looking to get into PC VR gaming, making this deal a true bargain basement find.


Thanks goes out to SvenViking for spotting the news! 

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Bigscreen Getting Stylish Retro Cinema And Premium 3D Movie Screenings

Today Bigscreen is announcing its latest new theater environment: The Retro Cinema! This stylish destination looks like it will be perfect for binging old favorites with friends. Bigscreen TV is also getting a slew of new Halloween-focused channels and will roll out a slate of “premium 3D movie screenings” later this year.

Movie theater environments  are always popular with the VR community in Bigscreen (as evidenced by past updates like the Modern Cinema) so doing a throwback environment this time around was a no-brainer.

 

Additionally, Halloween is coming up fast next week so users will be able to check out some brand new Halloween-focused channels to get into the spooky mood. Until after Halloween Bigscreen TV is getting 10 new channels including Fear Factor, Disney Channel, The Addams Family, and more to spotlight terrifying Halloween-themed content.

Plus, all of the new theater environments are building towards an even bigger initiative very soon: premium 3D movie screenings. The ball started rolling on these two years ago when Bigscreen partnered with Paramount for Top Gun, and this December more screenings are planned for all VR headsets across several countries. There aren’t any other details yet, but it sounds exciting — especially if new movies could premiere this way in addition to revisiting classics.

We’ve got a round up of other content you can watch live in VR this week over here, but on the Bigscreen front more stuff is already in the works too. Every Thursday you can tune in for live Thursday Night NFL Football games and then in 2020 Bigscreen will get an internal Friends list that connects across platforms and it’ll be coming to PSVR as well.

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New AR And VR Game Releases For October 2019

Every month we aim to round up each and every AR and/or VR game release for you in one single place — this is October 2019’s list. Check the bolded and underlined entries for ones we feel are particularly worth your time.


Curious about what’s coming this month to a VR headset near you? Then we’ve got you covered. And don’t forget to watch VRecap every Friday and The VR Download live every Thursday to stay on top of the top news stories, top new releases, and enter into our weekly VR game giveaways.

If you’re a VR game developer planning to release a game soon — let us know! You can get in touch with me directly by emailing david@uploadvr.com or hit all of the editorial team by emailing tips@uploadvr.com. Please contact us about your upcoming releases so that we can know what you’re working on and include you in release lists!

Unless otherwise stated, all PC VR releases are the Steam versions.

Rift, Vive, Index, and Windows VR Game Releases For October 2019

Drums of War ($14.99) – October 1st – Rift, Vive, Index, Windows VR
Mars City ($6.99) – October 1st – Rift, Vive, Index
Ghost Productions: Wraith VR Total Knee Replacement Surgery Simulation (Free) – October 1st – Rift, Vive, Index, Windows VR
Imaginator ($24.99) – October 2nd – Rift, Vive
Struggle ($14.99) – October 3rd – Rift, Vive
101010 (Free) – October 3rd – Rift
Arabian Stones – The VR Sudoku Game ($4.99) – October 3rd – Rift, Vive, Index
Hyper Storm ($7.99) – October 3rd – Rift, Vive, Index
Funny Archery (Free) – October 4th – Vive, Index
Space Vikings Raiders VR ($9.99) – October 4th – Rift, Vive, Index, Windows VR
Linea VR ($5.99) – October 4th – Rift, Vive, Index, Windows VR
Home (Free) – October 6th – Vive
Epic Fun (Free) – October 7th – Rift via Home
Asgard’s Wrath ($39.99) – October 10th – Rift via Home (Our Review)
Instacalm VR ($4.99) – October 10th – Rift, Vive, Index
SoundTriggersVR ($49.99) – October 10th – Rift, Vive, Index
VR Toon Help Me ($5.99) – October 10th – Rift via Home
The Exorcist: Legion VR Deluxe Edition ($24.99) – October 10th – Rift, Vive, Index (Our Review)
Explore Fushimi Inari (Free) – October 11th – Rift, Vive
Bandit Point ($9.99) – October 11th – Rift, Vive, Index, Windows VR
VRAdventure ($4.99) – October 11th – Vive, Index
KENDO ($9.99) – October 11th – Vive, Index
Dwarven Defender ($7.99) – October 11th – Rift, Vive, Index
Noise ($2.99) – October 13th – Rift, Vive, Index
Spectro ($19.99) – October 15th – Rift, Vive
Tunnel VR ($2.99) – October 16th – Vive, Index
Desolatium – Chapter 1: Sanatorium (Free) – October 16th – Rift, Vive, Index
Kamile: The Fall ($4.99) – October 16th – Rift, Vive, Index, Windows VR
LOW-FI Alpha Dev Build ($35) – October 17th – Rift, Vive, Index, Windows VR
Snowman ($9.99) – October 17th – Rift via Home
Elite Escape ($3.99) – October 18th – Rift, Vive, Index, Windows VR
Song Beater: Quite My Tempo! ($14.99) – October 18th – Rift, Vive, Index, Windows VR
Premium Bowling ($19.99) – October 18th – Rift, Vive, Index, Windows VR
Tech Support 2077 (Free) – October 18th – Vive, Index
The Broken Seal: Arena ($4.99) – October 20th – Rift, Vive, Index, Windows VR
Borderlands 2 VR ($TBD) – October 22nd – Rift, Vive, Index (PSVR Review)
Audio Trip ($TBD) – October 24th – Rift, Vive, Index, Windows VR

Journey for Elysium ($TBD) – October 31st – Rift, Vive
MetrixVR ($TBD) – October 2019 – Rift, Vive, Index
Epic Fun ($TBD) – October 2019 – Rift, Vive, Index, Windows VR
Trauma Simulator ($TBD) – October 2019 – Rift

Oculus Quest, Go, And Gear VR Game Releases For October 2019

Dreadhalls ($9.99) – October 3rd – Quest
Kingspray Graffiti ($14.99) – October 17th – Quest
Color Balls ($4.99) – October 17th – Go, Gear VR
Neon Blast VR ($2.99) – October 17th – Go, Gear VR
Green Beret: Rebels Operation ($4.99) – October 17th – Go
Knockout League ($19.99) – October 17th – Quest (PC VR Review)
Discontinue (Free) – October 17th – Go
Synth Riders ($TBD) – October 31st – Quest

PSVR Game Releases For October 2019

Carly and the Reaperman – Escape from the Underworld ($19.99) – October 2nd
Concrete Genie ($29.99, Limited VR Support) – October 8th (VR Content Review)
Warzone ($14.99, Single-Player Only)October 15th
Wands ($19.99) – October 15th (Mobile VR Review)
Minotaur Arcade Volume 1 ($14.99) – October 21st

AR Game Releases For October 2019

Minecraft Earth Beta – October 21st (New Zealand and Iceland) – Smartphones (More details)


As a point of emphasis: reach out to david@uploadvr.com or tips@uploadvr.com to let us know about your upcoming VR game releases!

Editor’s Note: This list will be continuously updated.

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OC6 The Room VR Hands-On: Mysterious Puzzles And Impressive Visuals

This week at the Oculus Connect 6 (OC6) conference in San Jose, CA I got the chance to try out a brief demo of The Room VR: A Dark Matter from Fireproof Games, a newly announced entry in the long-running puzzle series.

The Room VR was announced during OC6 and they had two demo pods with Oculus Quest headsets set up for attendees to try out. During my demo Tatjana did a short interview with Barry Meade, Co-Founder and Director of Fireproof Games, with me playing in the background.

You can watch the interview here:

My demo took place mostly inside the London police station you can see in the gameplay footage sprinkled throughout the interview as well as in the trailer (embedded below) as I was tasked with trying to figure out what’s going on with some new evidence at the station.

If you’ve ever played an interaction-heavy puzzle-based game in VR before, the flow of The Room VR will be very familiar. I basically spent my time teleporting between various nodes in the police station that each had a bunch of objects and items for me to tinker with. For example, near the front was a project that I could use to flip through slides that had evidence and historical details, or I could go to the evidence locker and retrieve items.

Similar to the mobile line of The Room games, or even just physical Escape Rooms and VR-themed Escape games you might have played, it’s just as much about interpreting the objects you’re given as it is filling in the blanks. One of the key puzzles in the demo was figuring out which evidence locker had the item I needed to break into a safe. The safe I was trying to open was overrun by the titular “dark matter” and made it impossible to open normally.

Over at the evidence locker I can see that someone was arrested for safe cracking but their storage number is erased — naturally. So if I look down the list I could tell that each number was listed sequentially and the letter associated was (spoilers) assigned to the criminal’s last name. After realizing that I grabbed the item, opened the safe, and then used that item to solve another puzzle later on.

What stood out to me most though is that this demo was running on an Oculus Quest and it looked absolutely great. Visually all of the environments were sharp, I could go out on the balcony outside and look over the city at nighttime, and all of the physical interactions felt really, really good.

I didn’t get a sense too much of what the narrative is about exactly, but it certainly has a strong mysterious flavor that should hook existing fans of the genre.

We’ll be keeping an eye on Fireproof Games and The Room VR for more details as the months move on. The Room VR is slated to release within the first few months of 2020 and is coming to every major VR device included SteamVR headsets, Oculus Rift via Home, Oculus Quest, and PSVR. Check out the official website for Fireproof Games for more details.

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Middle School Students Can Now Learn About Microgravity Through VR

A new Microsoft Garage project, Microgravity Lab, presents teachers with a new and interactive way to teach middle school students about complex physics concepts in microgravity.

The experience will allow students to explore physics principles, including conservation of momentum and Newton’s 3nd and 3rd law, through the context of microgravity on the moon. Microgravity is a concept that is hard to explain and simulate on earth, and therefore easier to teach through a platform like VR.

The Microgravity Lab was developed by a Microsoft intern team in Vancouver, in collaboration with NASA. It simulates the conditions experienced by astronauts while in space, making it easier for students to understand these complex physics concepts.

“The concept of microgravity is often misunderstood by students who learn about astronauts on the International Space Station,” said Matthew E. Wallace, an education specialist for NASA. “Providing a virtual reality world for them to explore the phenomena of life on orbit is an excellent way to engage students and solidify their comprehension of concepts related to force, mass and gravitational acceleration.”

The experience is part of a wider collaboration between NASA and Microsoft that features to a collection of middle school lesson plans.

Teachers that are interested in using the Microgravity Lab in their classroom can request an invite through Microsoft. There’s also an extensive lesson plan that goes along with the experience, which takes place across four, 50-minute classes.

You can read more about the development of the experience in this Microsoft Garage blog post.

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Espire 1: VR Operative Delayed Again For ‘Several Weeks’ A Day Before Launch

Espire 1: VR Operative was slated to finally release on PC VR, Quest, and PSVR all at the same time tomorrow on September 24th but is getting delayed once again, this time for “several weeks” to work out lingering “stability and performance issues.”

Digital Lode and Tripwire made the announcement via an update posted on the Espire 1 Steam page today, just a mere day before the slated release. Launch issues are something that have plagued other VR games, such as Budget Cuts, previously.

According to the update:

“Throughout the year, we’ve been taking Espire 1 out to shows and meeting excited fans at events such as E3, Gamescom, PAX and others. During that time we’ve gotten invaluable feedback from those players and realized we would not be able to incorporate as much of it as we would like into the launch build.

And, while working with our partners doing Quality Assurance checks around the release candidate builds, it became clear that there were a few lingering issues that were not so readily apparent in previous testing. Currently we have found some stability and performance issues, that while not always impacting the player, will be frequent enough with sustained play that we feel it would hinder your enjoyment.”

As unfortunate and frustrating as the timing is, if it leads to a better game then it’s for the best. We’d been suspecting something was up considering we hadn’t yet received review code as of today, which is highly unusual.

The update goes on to say that they’ve decided to push the release date “back by several weeks while the team works on these issues,” but are still targeting a Fall 2019 release, which presumably means before December at the latest.

Jamie recently tried out a preview build of the game from the comfort of his own Rift S and had a lot of positive things to note, but did take issue with the less than intelligent AI and poor sound detection, both of which could spell trouble for a VR stealth game.

Previously we’d played it on the Oculus Quest, as well as on the original Rift, and even awarded it our Best of Show honor at E3 2019. It’s one of our most anticipated VR games of the year and we’re eager to see if this delay helps the team polish it up more before launch.

In the meantime, keep an eye on Panther VR, a new stealth game from the creators of VR Dungeon Knight currently on Kickstarter.

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