Tag Archives: oculus rift

Oculus “Doesn’t Condone” Actions of HTC Vive Hackers

Posted on by Ashley Allen
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Yesterday, an industrious coder released a homebrew software package that allows HTC Vive users to play the demos for Lucky’s Tale and Oculus Dreamdeck, both titles exclusive to the Oculus Rift. The an alpha build of the software – “a proof-of-concept compatibility layer between the Oculus SDK and OpenVR” – was released on GitHub by reddit user CrossVR to much buzz amongst VR users, but Oculus is understandably miffed about the matter.

“This is a hack, and we don’t condone it. Users should expect that hacked games won’t work indefinitely, as regular software updates to games, apps, and our platform are likely to break hacked software,” Oculus told GamesIndustry.biz.

While Oculus is unhappy about the “hack”, the software – named Revive – remains available on GitHub. It remains to be seen whether it will be subject to a cease and desist order, or a DMCA takedown, from the aggrieved company.

“It may work with plenty of other games, but that hasn’t been tested by myself. It’s still early days for this project, since it’s only been in development for a few weeks. In the future more games will be supported, but I’m glad to see such swift progress already,” CrossVR explained in his reddit post. Indicating a determination to continue work on the project, he added, “this is version 0.2 and there will be many more as there is still plenty of work to do.”

Oculus Pre-Order Deliveries Delayed by up to Two Months

Posted on by Ashley Allen
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Due to an “unexpected component shortage”, reported last week, some early pre-orders of the Oculus Rift have had their shipping dates delayed by up to two months, with one buyer – who pre-ordered 33 minutes after the VR device was made available on 6th January – being informed that he will have to wait until the end of May, at the earliest, for his order, reports RoadtoVR.

Another customer, commenting on reddit, revealed that, despite pre-ordering within 1 hour and 40 minutes of availability on 6th January, Oculus has delayed shipping their Rift, with an estimated delivery of between 13th-23rd June.

While pre-orderers have seen their order delayed by up to two months, all subsequent orders have been put back even further, with shipping of new orders pushed back until August.

Responding to numerous complaints on the Oculus subreddit, a customer support representative wrote:

“Kickstarter Backers, we’re changing your Order History to show “TBD” instead of the date as that date was applicable to the time in which we imported the orders. We’ve already fulfilled a large number of the orders and more are being fulfilled on a regular cadence.”

Also, in response to the furore, Oculus has begun refunding shipping costs on orders placed before 2nd April.

Analysts Expect VR to hit $895 Million for 2016

Posted on by Samuel Wan
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Virtual reality has been hailed as the next ‘thing’ that will catch consumer attention and drive innovation and growth in the technology industry. While it’s easy to see why VR might play out stronger than say 3D, the size of the burgeoning market appears to be massive. According to market analysts, Strategy Analytics, the virtual reality headset market will top $895 million. For an industry that is just really getting started, this is great news.

As expected, much of the value comes from the expensive Oculus Rift, HTC Vive and Sony PlayStation VR which are all going to release this year. With prices of $600, $800 and $400 respectively, it’s easy to see why the market is so big. The expectation is that these high-end headsets will account for 77% of the total revenue but only 13% of shipped units. After all, around 2.2 million Sony units would be enough to match the entire market value. Cheaper headsets like those based on smartphones will continue to see more though and be the VR most likely experienced by consumers.Furthermore, Strategy Analytics expects that VR will help drive a race in display resolution, storage and GPUs. This is due to the stringent and hefty requirements necessary to run VR games. Going forward it will be interesting to see what kind of hold VR will take and whether or not it will supplant traditional forms of content interaction.

Oculus Rift Terms And Conditions Allow Facebook to Deploy Targeted Adverts

Posted on by John Williamson
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Virtual reality headsets have the potential to revolutionize the way we enjoy various entertainment forms and even help train apprentices to learn new skills in a more practical manner. This year has already been significant for developing VR technology and bringing it the consumer market. However, the early adopter pricing for both the Oculus Rift and HTC Vive are well out of the reach of most users. Despite this, VR technology allows developers to start making unique games and there should be a fantastic library when devices become more affordable. Facebook’s acquisition of Oculus raised some questions about the headset’s target audience and possible emergence of social media advertising.

The Oculus Rift’s terms and conditions contains a number of interesting clauses about user data. According to The Guardian, Facebook is able to collect:

“Information about your physical movements and dimensions when you use a virtual reality headset”,

Facebook also added:

“We use the information we collect to send you promotional messages and content and otherwise market to you on and off our Services,” “We also use this information to measure how users respond to our marketing efforts.”

This means Facebook can use location data to monitor your position and collect information on how you use the Oculus Rift. More worryingly, the terms clearly state that your personal information can be passed onto “related companies”. This refers to other parts of the Facebook brand such as WhatsApp. Consumers concerned about their privacy will find these terms rather intrusive and might be enough to deter them from making a purchase. Facebook’s ability to use the data for advertising purposes isn’t ideal and something which many people anticipated when the company took the helm. Admittedly, it’s fairly common for companies to outline similar data gathering policies but this doesn’t make it acceptable.

Are you concerned by the Oculus Rift’s terms or feel they are being blown out of proportion?

Component Shortage Causes Delayed Deliveries for Some Oculus Rift Headsets

Posted on by Cernescu Andrei
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Those of you who are waiting for the delivery of your Oculus Rift virtual reality headsets might be a bit disappointed to hear that an unexpected component shortage is currently responsible for a series of delays. Even though this might sound like a huge inconvenience at first, it’s worth pointing out that Facebook-owned Oculus has agreed to provide free shipping for pre-orders, which will hopefully appease some eager customers. The news was revealed by CEO Brendan Iribe, who posted the following on Twitter:

“First set of Rifts are going out slower than we orig estimated, so we’re giving free shipping for all pre-orders.”

Keep in mind that he was referring to all pre-orders placed before midnight PT on April 1, as these are the ones that will be affected by the delay. Oculus has also sent an email to all affected customers, which said that an updated shipping date will be revealed on April 12. Priced at $599, these virtual reality headsets started shipping on March 28, but since HTC’s Vive VR headset will also start shipping on April 5, some Oculus Rifts won’t be the first VR headsets to reach their customers. At the time of writing, Oculus has not revealed any more information regarding the delay, but we will keep you posted.

Oculus Waives Shipping Fees for All Past Orders

Posted on by Alexander Neil
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The Oculus Rift may have won the race to be the first VR headset to be available to consumers, but it hasn’t been so easy for Oculus due to the boom in interest for the VR headset. The Rift began shipping out to consumers on the 28th of March, but many preorder customers are still yet to receive any notification that their device will be shipped to them. Now Oculus VR has admitted that they have been struggling to meet demands for the Rift, with CEO Brendan Iribe taking to Twitter to state that the first batch of Rifts was “going out slower than we orig(inally) estimated.” This was backed up by an email sent out to waiting customers, citing an “unexpected shortage” as the reason that many were still waiting.

We’ve been working through an unexpected component shortage, and unfortunately, that issue has impacted the original shipping estimates for some early customers. We’re working hard to get up-to-date ship windows, and you should expect to see your order status updated on oculus.com by Tuesday, April 12th.

In order to make it up to customers who had pre-ordered one of the headsets, Oculus stated that they will be disregarding any delivery charges for all orders that have already been placed. It’s not all delays, though, with many customers having received their Rifts on time, one even being delivered by Palmer Luckey himself! Hopefully, Oculus will be able to sort out this issue before their main rival, the HTC Vive makes it to market when both sides will have a fight on their hands.

Project CARS Falls Victim to the VR War

Posted on by Ashley Allen
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Slightly Mad Studios has released its 1.3 Oculus Rift SDK support for Project CARS this week, and with it revealed that crossplay between Oculus and HTC Vive users is not possible. While Project CARS supports both VR headsets, the HTC Vive – co-developed by Valve – is locked to Steam, while the Oculus Rift version of the game is only available from the Oculus homestore.

“Hey guys,” wrote Project CARS Director Stephen Viljoen on the game’s official forum. “Regarding MP and the various platforms, they are indeed separate platforms and we cannot support MP matchmaking between these two platforms. It’s not ideal, but that’s just how this platform separation works.”

So, while Slightly Mad Studios is certainly not to blame, its game is the first high-profile victim of the emerging VR war, which is sure to stoke the ire of gamers during the technology’s embryonic period.

Slightly Mad has been selling the VR capabilities of Project CARS hard for some time now, boasting that the game is one of the most feature-complete titles available for the new wave of headsets.

“Whenever I buy new hardware, whether that’s a new computer or console or sound system, I wanna show it off. And I want something to really test it,” Andy Tudor, the studio’s director, told iDigitalTimes. “So for those that are getting the Rift and wanna have a game that they can really dig their teeth into and pulls out all the stops both technically and graphically, Project CARS is the one for you.”

Oculus Founder Delivers First Consumer Unit in Person

Posted on by Alexander Neil
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The founder of Oculus VR, Palmer Luckey, decided that he would deliver the very first consumer version of the Oculus Rift VR headset himself. The lucky recipient? Ross Martin, an indie developer from Anchorage, Alaska, who was the first person to pre-order the consumer Rift, which will be arriving at the houses of the remaining customers starting on Monday.

The decision by Luckey to deliver the Rift had been a move that he desired for a long time but was only able to realize at the last moment, due to the obvious issues with the founder being out of the office just days before the product’s release. “This didn’t come together until the last second, I’ve had a bunch of things that I’ve wanted to do over the years, and I was pretty adamant,” Luckey told Polygon. “I said hey guys, I’ve been working on this since 2009, we’ve been working on Oculus since 2012, I’ll be damned if some random delivery guy is going to get the satisfaction of delivering the first Rift. That’s mine.”

Meanwhile, Martin, who documented his feelings on the experience on Twitter, first posting an image of the golden ticket from Charlie and the Chocolate Factory.  He continued to state that in further tweets “So grateful to Palmer Luckey and Oculus for coming all the way to Alaska,” and “You guys are super cool!” Leading up to the release, Martin had no idea that he was the first to order the Rift and when he received the call that it would be delivered early and in-person, he simply believed that all pre-orderers had gotten the same treatment. “I would never think that someone doing it by hand would be the first,” he said.

It is great to see that despite the Rift taking so long to come to market and moves that have been considered unpopular, such as their acquisition by Facebook, that Luckey and Oculus VR treat their customers well.

Virtual Desktop Lets You Use Your Whole PC in VR

Posted on by Alexander Neil
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Virtual reality technology has seen a massive surge recently, with a number of headsets to be released over the course of 2016. The typical usage of the technology is to allow more immersive gaming experiences but it is capable of so much more such as being a replacement for normal monitors in regular PC usage. The software that makes this possible is named Virtual Desktop and is set to be released on March 28th.

The idea behind the software is incredibly simple, it shows your standard PC desktops as floating panels in a full 360 degree VR environment. It also includes all the features it may need to render your regular monitors obsolete, including multiple monitor support and the ability to use your own pictures to make up the 360 background around your desktop(s), which they can be set to blend with. It even supports fully immersive music visualizations and the ability to watch movies in full VR, or even on the big-screen in VR cinema! In short, it lets you do your favourite things in VR, such as watch video without waiting for every service to bring out their own VR-compatible applications.

You can also play games in Virtual Desktop, with it including support for anything that runs from Steam and many games that don’t, with the creator reporting on Reddit that he had played Heroes of the Storm in VR. It even ran smoothly despite the graphics card in use being a GTX 770, which is made possible due to Virtual Desktop being incredibly lightweight and built using DirectX so it should have minimal impact on regular non-VR games played through it.

Tools like this are the ones that will move VR from being a gaming gimmick to something that is potentially useful for everyone on an everyday basis. It may hurt those who wish to sell purpose-specific VR tools, but for anyone getting an Oculus Rift or HTC Vive, Virtual Desktop could just be money well-spent, after all, it’s only $15! Although, you will have to use Windows 10 to use it to its full potential.

Valve Has VR Plans for Older Graphics Cards

Posted on by Ashley Allen
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Are you preparing your PC for the new advent of virtual reality? Well, don’t ditch that GTX 680 just yet. Alex Vlachos, a programmer for Valve, revealed during his GDC 2016 talk in San Francisco last week that the company is looking to lower its minimum spec for HTC Vive VR headset.

“As long as the GPU can hit 45 HZ we want for people to be able to run VR,” Vlachos told UploadVR, following his presentation, entitled Advanced VR Rendering. “We’ve said the recommended spec is a 970, same as Oculus, but we do want lesser GPUs to work. We’re trying to reduce the cost [of VR].”

“I can run Aperture [Valve’s Portal-themed VR demo] on a 680 without dropping frames at a lower quality, and, for me, that’s enough of a proof of concept,” Vlachos said during his talk. “Most art we’re seeing in VR isn’t as dense as that. So we should be pretty good to go…everything should be able to support that low-end hardware. But we need the right safety nets in place.”

The VR market is heating up this year, with pre-orders of the HTC Vive, Oculus Rift, and PlayStation VR going strong, and the imminent release of the Microsoft HoloLens later this month.

Oculus Rift Launch Games and Prices Revealed

Posted on by Alexander Neil
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With the long-awaited release date of the Oculus Rift virtual reality headset just around the corner, Oculus VR has finally announced the pricing for the entire launch-day lineup of games. The news was reported from Game Developers Conference (GDC) 2016, with Oculus making the big reveal on the third day of the event.

The rift’s launch will be accompanied by thirty games that will officially support the headset from day-one. The list of games includes a number of well-known and popular games that will be integrating full integration for the headset, including Project Cars and the already revealed Elite: Dangerous. The prices are as varied as the games themselves too, ranging from $59.99 for the EVE Valkyrie Founder’s Pack down to a number of more budget $9.99 titles. This means that the value of the pre-order offer that included a copy of EVE Valkyrie saves any early buyers a decent sum.

The variety of games that are launching with the Rift is similar to the rest of the PC gaming industry, with established AAA titles billing high while smaller indie titles aim for more buyers at a far more modest price point. Having the honour of being one of the thirty Rift release titles should help those smaller developers along too.

The full listing can be seen below:

  • ADR1FT – $19.99
  • Adventure Time: Magic Man’s Head Games – $4.99
  • AirMech: Command – $39.99
  • Albino Lullaby – $9.99
  • Audio Arena – $9.99
  • Project Cars – $49.99
  • Chronos – $49.99
  • Darknet – $9.99
  • Dead Secret – $14.99
  • Defense Grid 2 Enhanced VR Edition – $29.99
  • Dreadhalls – $9.99
  • Elite Dangerous: Deluxe Edition – $59.99
  • Esper 2 – $9.99
  • EVE Valkyrie Founder’s Pack – $59.99
  • Fly to KUMA – $14.99
  • EVE Gunjack – $9.99
  • Herobound SC – $9.99
  • KeepTalking and Nobody Explodes – $14.99
  • Lucky’s Tale – Bundled
  • Omega Agent – $14.99
  • Radial G – $24.99
  • Rooms – $14.99
  • Shufflepuck Cantina Deluxe VR – $9.99
  • Smashing the Battle – $19.99
  • Vanishing of Ethan Carter – N/A
  • Vektron Revenge – $9.99
  • VR Tennis Online – $24.99
  • Pinball FX2 VR – $14.99
  • Blaze Rush – N/A
  • Windlands – $19.99

AMD Reportedly Has 83% of VR Hardware Marketshare – Capsaicin

Posted on by Samuel Wan
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2016 may well go down as the year VR finally takes off for real. Sony and Microsoft have both been making progress towards VR and augmented reality while Oculus and HTC are set to launch the Rift and Vive respectively. Given the efforts and lengths AMD has gone to push VR, it should come to no surprise that a report has revealed that the company has a massive 83% lead in providing the hardware for VR capable systems.

Hardware wise, it is not surprising to see the lead over Nvidia. While PC hardware is a large segment of the VR market, only higher end systems are capable of producing the frames necessary for VR at 90fps and enough resolution for both eyes. Because of this, the PS4 is a viable candidate for VR adoption and with the APU inside it being AMD, Nvidia stands no chance in terms of sheer hardware market share for VR.

As noted many times during the Capsaicin event, AMD has been working with many developers in both gaming and other forms of media with LiquidVR and GPUOpen. AMD has also been on the forefront with developments like VR cafes and partnering with Oculus and HTC to ensure that the Rift and Vive work seamlessly with Radeon. There is even a Radeon VR Ready Premium program to ensure consumers are informed.

With the VR market still in it’s growing stages, AMD has seen an opportunity to get in before it’s competitors have a chance and secure a bastion of developer support and integration. Considering the price of VR capable hardware, AMD stands a good chance to reap a windfall when VR takes off. This can only bode well for AMD as for once they are ahead and hopefully will be able to leverage their position to help the rest of their business grow.

Elite: Dangerous Confirmed to Have Official Oculus Rift Support

Posted on by Alexander Neil
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Today, the Founder and CEO of Frontier Developments, David Braben, formally revealed in an interview with Ars Technica that popular space-sim, Elite: Dangerous, will have official support for the Oculus Rift. Elite: Dangerous was one of the first major games to include support for the Rift’s development kits, so this revelation is not entirely unexpected, despite the game lacking direct compatibility with later versions of the Oculus Rift SDK.

“We’re going to be on the Oculus store,” he revealed. “We’re supporting [the Oculus Rift runtime] one point naught and the consumer release at launch, which is March 28.” While Elite: Dangerous had already been patched to include support for SteamVR, making it possible to enjoy the game on your VR headset of choice, including the Rift DK2 and Vive Pre headsets, Frontier had not made any clear announcements on their stance for VR support going forwards.

What this means is that as well as Elite: Dangerous being available on the Oculus Rift storefront from day 1, including native support for the 1.0 runtime and SDK, Rift support for existing versions of the game purchased from Steam or Frontier themselves will be added via a free patch. This will provide an identical VR experience across all versions of the game (and even across headsets, such as the HTC Vive.)  When asked which headset he prefers to use personally, Braben’s only answer was a huge smile and that “Both parties have treated us very well.”

No doubt players will have a VR headset of choice in the future, but this official adoption of Oculus Rift support will surely bring attention to the soon-to-be-released headset. No doubt it will be argued which of the two is better in the near future when both devices are released, all we can hope for is that the players are the real winners in this!

AMD to Showcase VR and Gaming Innovations at GDC Capsaicin Webcast

Posted on by Samuel Wan
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With GDC just a week away, everyone is getting ready for major announcements from AMD and Nvidia. AMD however, will also be hosting their separate live streamed event at Ruby Skye in San Fransisco. Named after Capsaicin, a chemical behind a spicy pepper’s kick, AMD will be showcasing their latest innovations in Virtual Reality and Gaming. This means we may get a product reveal or too from the event as well as maybe some more.

Given the recent focus on VR, it is very likely that FuryX2 Gemini will finally be launched since the VR HMD are finally ready. This falls right in line with what has revealed about FuryX2 being ready already and the VR focus of the live stream.

In addition to that, we may finally get some more information about Polaris, though a launch may still be a long way away. March is still too early for Polaris to launch given the mid-2016 remarks but more demo units, especially higher end Polaris wouldn’t be out of the question.

Finally, we can expect AMD to showcase their LiquidVR solution in partnership with the Oculus Rift or HTC Vive. That will likely come along with their other gaming and VR oriented solutions and DX12. The event will be streamed on AMD’s investor relations page so be sure to check it out when the time comes.

Palmer Luckey Comments On Why Oculus Rift Doesn’t Support Mac

Posted on by Alexander Neil
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It would seem like Mac-using fans of the Oculus Rift may just be out of luck. Oculus founder Palmer Luckey spoke to ShackNews at an Xbox event and had some harsh comments about the popular Apple computers. His response to the question of whether the upcoming Oculus Rift would ever be compatible with Mac OS was simply “That is up to Apple. If they ever release a good computer, we will do it.”

While this may immediately seem like a comment aimed squarely at insulting Macs, it actually refers to Apple’s reluctance to utilize high-performance GPUs in their computers, instead settling for the anemic Intel integrated chipsets in the majority of their computers.

“You can buy a $6,000 Mac Pro with the top of the line AMD FirePro D700, and it still doesn’t match our recommended specs,” Luckey stated. “So if they prioritize higher-end GPUs like they used to for a while back in the day, we’d love to support Mac. But right now, there’s just not a single machine out there that supports it.”

The result is that despite the high cost of Macs pricing them at or above many powerful gaming PCs capable of handling VR. Regular and power users simply do not need the power of high-end GPUs and a Mac capable of handling the Rift would likely just inflate the price even further. Will Apple ever make a Mac capable of handling the Oculus Rift, or other VR headsets? It seems likely,  as they wouldn’t want to be left behind the curve on VR and AR products, though whether they later come out with their own specialist hardware instead of compatibility with existing products remains to be seen.

EA Believes The Mainstream VR Market is ‘a Few Years Off’

Posted on by John Williamson
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Virtual Reality is often perceived as the future of home entertainment and has the potential to offer unique experiences with a whole new level of immersion. However, VR devices have a very high barrier to entry and out of the reach of most people’s budget. This is a shame because there’s a lot of publicity surrounding VR and its future place within the gaming industry. As you might expect, VR technology is still fairly niche and it doesn’t make sense for publishers to fund huge VR projects. This is because they will not receive a return on their investment and alienate the majority of their user-base. EA’s CFO Blake Jorgensen, predicted during a presentation at the Morgan Stanley Technology, Media and Telecom Conference that mainstream VR could be be some time off:

“We are very prepared for being able to build VR games. We have made an investment over the last five years to move to a single engine that we built all our games on”

“We are experimenting with a couple of a different players today that are VR players and we are making some small [experimental] titles rather than full blown games. The fundamental issue is that we need to create a large market in VR before we invest 50 to 100 million dollars in a big title. And when I say a large market, today there are 80 or 60 million new gen consoles, Xbox and PlayStation, sitting on the top of 150 million older generation consoles so that is a larger market. ”

“VR will be great and there are going to be a lot of applications for that including gaming. But I think it will be a few years off before we have a substantial VR market. We are prepared about it, we are excited about it, we can see some experiments coming out from our studio in the years to come that will help people understand the power [of VR].”

I think this is an optimistic viewpoint because VR technology requires a lot of graphical horsepower, and the devices themselves will probably remain expensive for some time. Eventually, prices will fall and this should encourage people to take a risk and give VR a try!

Microsoft HoloLens Out This Month

Posted on by Ashley Allen
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Microsoft has announced that, one year after it was first unveiled, the HoloLens augmented reality headset is available for pre-order, and it’s not cheap. In a blog post, Alex Kipman, the Microsoft executive that has effectively adopted HoloLens as his baby, revealed that the Development Edition of the wireless AR headset can now be reserved, for the hefty sum of $3,000, before it ships on 30th March.

“I’m thrilled to announce that starting today, developer applicants will start receiving invitations to purchase the Microsoft HoloLens Development Edition – which will begin shipping on March 30th,” Kipman writes. “Today represents a monumental step forward. This is the first step in our journey to consumers. A step focused on our commercial partnerships and on supporting developers, who will help pave the way to consumer availability with amazing and new holographic experiences.”

“The future of technology will not be confined to just two dimensions – our future interaction with technology will more closely mirror our real world,” he adds. “Technology coexisting in our real, three-dimensional world, beyond screens and pixels. We believe that the future is holographic, and as a result, we will continue to empower the developers who will help bring that future to life.”

While the HoloLens release is a Development Edition, rather than a consumer release, $3,000 seems overpriced, especially compared with the sub-$1,000 price points of both the Oculus Rift and HTC Vive.

Sony Claims PS4 is More 60% Efficient than PC at VR

Posted on by Samuel Wan
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With VR headsets nearing launch, the focus has turned to looking at the platforms driving them. For the HTC Vive and Oculus Rift, the PC is the obvious choice but Sony will be rolling their own with the PlayStation VR. Richard Marks, the head of the PlayStation Magic Lab at Sony has recently shared more information about how VR will work on the PS4. The biggest points, however, are what Marks has to say about the performance.

“The hardware was designed and built for real time. It’s  a video gaming system so the operating system is very low latency and very tunable.”

According to Marks, the PS4 will be a better platform for VR. Most of the benefits are the usual ones that the console has, mainly the uniform hardware, setup and accessories that all PS4 owners will have. This will make it easier for developers to create games for the console. Performance is also better as the PS4 OS is designed for real-time gaming and is able to have much lower latency, in the area of 18ms. Low latency as we know is very critical to have an optimal VR experience.

“This isn’t my number, this is some middleware people said, that a console about the same specs as a PC, the console is about 60% more powerful, because of all that kind of direct access you have and knowing every piece as it should be and not having variability like this is a different process here and things like that. You can just tune things and get effectively 60% more performance.”

Finally, the main point Marks hammers home is that consoles simply perform better at VR than PCs. According to middleware vendors he has talked to, the PS4 should be 60% faster than a comparably specced PC.  This is due to the OS and the direct access to hardware the PS4 offers. Furthermore, the PS4 should be in the realm of a GTX 970 equipped PC in terms of VR.

It’s well-known that consoles are more tunable due to the direct hardware access it offers. A 60% boost might even be believable. The claim about the PS4 matching the GTX 970 though is pretty outlandish, though. That would entail an 110% boost in performance which is incompatible with the 60% figure. With DX12 and Vulcan coming as well, the PC may very well catch up to consoles very soon.

Valve Releases SteamVR Performance Test Utility

Posted on by John Williamson
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SteamVR is a virtual reality platform developed by Valve which offers an immersive 360 degrees full room experience and designed with the HTC Vive in mind. This incredible feat of technology uses laser-bases positional tracking and a detection system to prevents users from walking into physical objects in their environment. Virtual reality is often praised for its potential to revolutionize entertainment in a way never thought possible. Even though 2016 is the year when VR begins to really take off, it’s still a very expensive proposition which makes the HTC Vive a niche device. Recently, HTC announced the Vive would cost $799 which almost defies belief. Despite this, there is a great deal of potential and the prices will come down eventually.

As you might expect, VR devices require a fairly high specification PC, which alienates the potential user base. Both HTC and Oculus have released the minimum system requirements to achieve an optimal VR experience and inform users in the best possible way. However, to simplify the process even further, Valve has released a tool which scans your PC and provides a rating based on its suitability for SteamVR. The tool isn’t officially available on the Steam store right now because it keeps refreshing back to the main page. However, you can install it via steam://install/323910.

Reddit users have already been sharing the results and comparing various scores. Here we can see a really good configuration with a Fury X, and Intel Core i5-6600K. This showcases that the i5 variant without Hyperthreading isn’t a major issue when it comes to VR.

Here’s a slightly lower-end specification featuring an 8 core AMD FX 8320 processor and R9 380 graphics card. The wording of capable is interesting because this system’s GPU is technically below the HTC Vive’s requirements. It’s unclear what the difference will be between a capable and ready system. Perhaps, it’s to do with a smoother frame-rate, but surely Valve wants the VR experience to be consistent.

Is your system ready for VR?

HTC Vive – Eye Watering Price Revealed

Posted on by John Williamson
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There’s a great deal of anticipation surrounding the possibilities of virtual reality equipment in the gaming industry and other entertainment forms. Not only that, VR could be deployed to train new recruits in essential practical skills and help surgeons perform complex operations. Clearly, virtual reality has a huge potential but it’s going to take a considerable amount of time before the technology becomes mainstream. Recently, the $599 price point of the Oculus Rift shocked users expecting a significantly lower price point. This is well beyond the reach of most consumers especially when you take into account the cost of hardware to drive virtual reality headsets. Currently, VR manufacturers are focusing on producing the best possible experiences to encourage hardware sales. In theory, the pricing should reduce over time and become more accessible but the time frame for this is still unknown.

The HTC Vive’s retail price was confirmed at the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona and leaked by a number of publications prior to the official embargo. UploadVR reports that the Vive will cost a whopping $799 and ship with a controller for each hand and a pair of “Lighthouse” laser base stations designed to track movement. The device will also come with an internal microphone, and have Bluetooth functionality to communicate with various smartphones. Pre-orders for the unit will begin on February 29th, and the first shipments should commence in April.

It will be interesting to see if the higher price point affects sales compared to the Oculus Rift. Competition in the marketplace is great for consumers though and helps progress technology forward. 2016 is often described as the year of virtual reality, and this prediction looks set to be coming to fruition. Sadly at $799, the HTC Vive will remain a very niche device for those with big wallets, and this is a shame.

AMD Releases VR-Ready CPU List

Posted on by Samuel Wan
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With the arrival of the Oculus Rift, HTC Vive and other VR headsets later this year, the talk has turned to the hardware necessary to drive these displays. Unlike regular gaming, VR gaming will require much higher framerates, meaning higher performing hardware. While Oculus has released their own system hardware checker, it is missing many other potentially workable hardware, something AMD is remediating with their own CPU list.

As expected, the list contains the 2 top end 220W models, the FX 9590 and 9370, AMD’s top CPUs. Further down are the usual suspects for gaming systems, the FX 8370 and 8350 and the more budget FX 6350. Surprisingly, the 2M/4T Steamroller based A10 7890K and 7870K as well as the Athlon X4 880K and 870K. It looks like the list is mostly made up of faster-clocked CPUs either above 3.9Ghz with 3M/6T or based on the new Steamroller architecture. This is expected as VR requires a good amount of single-thread performance and higher frame rates than usual. It’s surprising that we don’t see the FX 4320 and 4350 given that those carry a hefty base clock as well.

Even with this list though, AMD has only tested the FX chips against VR, while the Steamroller chips are theoretically good enough. Intel still holds a strong lead in single-threaded performance so it really depends on how the VR titles if AMD will run well on them. AMD won’t have to worry soon though if Zen delivers later this year.

Oculus VR Requests FCC Approval before March Launch

Posted on by Cernescu Andrei
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Just in case you don’t know this already, products that use any part of the electromagnetic spectrum need to be certified by the FCC before they can actually be sold to the public in the United States. Obviously, this rule also applies to VR systems such as the HTC Vive and the Oculus Rift, and while the HTC Vive hs already asked for FCC approval back in December, the Oculus Rift has just begun to make its rounds prior to its official launch in March. Because Oculus VR has opened pre-orders for the Rift not too long ago, it makes sense for the company to submit all of the necessary documents to the FCC in order to make sure that it will actually be able to sell its product once it launches.

It looks like some of the documents in question are available to the public, but others are protected by a Confidentiality Request that conceals them from the public eye. These classified documents include block diagrams, schematics, bills of materials and theory of operations, but it’s also worth mentioning that Oculus has requested a limited confidential treatment for the product’s user manual, test set-up photos and internal photos. The available public documentation suggests that the Oculus Touch feature is located within the unit’s ‘battery well’, which means that we might be looking at a removable battery system. We’ll definitely find out more about the final version of the Oculus Rift after March 28.

Amazon Launches Virtual Reality Hub

Posted on by John Williamson
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Virtual Reality is often described as the future of home entertainment and could revolutionize the way we watch films, play games and engage in other pastimes. Since the advent of the Oculus VR development kit, other manufacturers have seen the potential for VR technology and decided to produce alternatives. As a result, VR is the current trend and received a great deal of media attention. While competition in the marketplace is great news, it can be overwhelming for consumers wanting to know the key differences between various products. Recently, Oculus unveiled the $599 retail launch price for the Rift which left some users extremely disappointed and felt it offered poor value. Thankfully, there are cheaper options but the pricing of HTC’s Vive and PlayStation VR is still unknown.

On another note, data from a study conducted during the Game Developers Conference indicates the amount of devs working on VR projects has increased from seven percent in 2015, to 16 percent in 2016. This is a marked increased and presumably, many studios are waiting to see the impact of VR before making any games built around the technology. As you might expect, 2016 will be the year when VR begins to enter retail channels and consumers finally get their hands on the polished models.

To help customers make a more informed decision, Amazon has launched a Virtual Reality Hub which contains videos about VR devices including the HTC Vive and Oculus Rift as well as a detailed FAQ describing everything you need to know about Virtual Reality. This section is written quite well and answers questions about the UK release date, costs, health implications and VR gaming. If you’re still unsure about the VR concept, it’s worth checking out to see what the furore is all about! Furthermore, you can set up e-mail notifications when more information arises about each product. I’d imagine this means Amazon will be a stockist of the main hardware launches and secure a good amount of units.

Nitero Promises Wireless VR in 2016

Posted on by Gareth Andrews
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One of the big features in 2016 will be virtual reality or VR. Virtual reality is the idea of becoming so immersed into an experience that it seems like you are actually there. The Oculus Rift is arguably the most well-known device to give you this experience, the downside of the experience is traditionally the need for cables. This could all change thanks to Nitero who are working on a solution for wireless VR.

If you wanted to send large amounts of information to a device you have two approaches, you can either send it via a cable, which limits movement but allows you to send data very quickly and at high quality, or you can send it wirelessly. Sending data wirelessly leads to signal issues and tends to be slower, meaning new technology like virtual reality tends to work more on wired connections.

Nitero CEO Pat Kelly is so confident that his company can release a product, with a hardware partner, in the second half of 2016 that involves a wireless VR device, that only “a meteor hitting the Earth” could stop them.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M065tVhG1q8&feature=youtu.be

Using 60GHz wireless and video compression techniques (similar to an approach Netflix is using to help stream their library to you), Nitero are looking to send virtual reality data with a “latency in the order of 100’s of microseconds”.

Being able to use new technology is great, not being held back by the cables that will entangle and prove a threat to your safety.

Oculus Rift Pre-Orders Now Available

Posted on by John Williamson
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Virtual reality is often described as a revolution in entertainment and the Oculus Rift demonstrated how visually stunning VR experiences can be. This inspired other companies to enter the VR market and look beyond traditional gaming purposes. VR has potential in the medical professional and can also put sports fans into the action in a way never thought possible. After a lengthy development period, the Oculus Rift retail model is now available for purchase and comes with an Xbox One controller, Oculus remote and VR sensor. Additionally, the unit is packaged with EVE Valkyrie and A Lucky’s Tale!

The Rift also utilizes integrated headphones designed for VR which creates a enthralling experience and expands the sense of depth during games. Of course, they can be removed and you can use the headphones of your choice.  The entire package will cost $599 plus sales tax and shipping which depends on your region. In the UK, expect a price of around £400. While this is a considered purchase, there is additional value with the includes extras and the Oculus Rift is a truly mind-blowing experience. This will be more than enough to encourage hardware enthusiasts to purchase. However, I doubt the mainstream customer will consider the Rift until there is a significant price cut or budget alternative. Please note, the Rift requires a high-end PC with the minimum specification listed below:

  • NVIDIA GTX 970 / AMD R9 290 equivalent or greater
  • Intel i5-4590 equivalent or greater
  • 8GB+ RAM
  • Compatible HDMI 1.3 video output
  • 3x USB 3.0 ports plus 1x USB 2.0 port
  • Windows 7 SP1 64 bit or newer

What do you think of the Oculus Rift’s launch price?

Original Oculus Backers to Receive Final Rift for Free

Posted on by Ashley Allen
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On the eve of making pre-orders of its hardware available, Oculus has announced that backers of the original Rift VR headset on Kickstarter will receive the final retail version of the hardware for free. Early backers were previously rewarded with the early Rift prototype kit and SDK but, as a show of gratitude, will also be presented with a free Kickstarter Edition of the retail Oculus Rift model, which includes two free games.

“Tomorrow, we’ll be opening Rift pre-orders on Oculus.com. This is a major milestone on the path to putting great VR in the hands of millions,” the new update on the Rift Kickstarter page reads. “As a small token of our appreciation for your support, all Kickstarter backers who pledged for a Rift development kit will get a free Kickstarter Edition Oculus Rift! And like all Rift pre-order purchasers, you’ll receive a bundled copy of Lucky’s Tale and EVE: Valkyrie.”

“To claim your free Rift,” the post adds, “fill out the survey you’ll receive from Kickstarter before February 1, 2016 and provide a shipping address that is located in one of the 20 countries Rift is launching in. For those who don’t live in one of those 20 countries, we’re working on an alternative, and you can let us know your preference in the form.”

Oculus Rift Preorder Date Finally Announced

Posted on by Alexander Neil
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Fans looking forward to the Oculus Rift have been kept waiting a long time, but finally, Oculus VR has announced that pre-orders for the Rift will be opening on Wednesday 6th of January. While Oculus VR has announced the pre-order date for the device, however, they’re still keeping a lot of important facts under wraps, such as the release date and device’s price. From previous comments by Oculus VR, the Rift is supposed to be shipping in Q1 of 2016 and the price being as much as over $350, we’ll have to wait until Wednesday to find out whether Oculus will hold true to this.

The Oculus Rift has been through a lot of ups and downs since it was originally funded on Kickstarter back in 2012. Backers of the project who had pledged over $300 were able to get their hands on an early development version of the Rift, which later became known as Development Kit 1 (DK1). DK1 units were shipped to the backers in early 2013, with a limited run of the device also being available on sale for $300 at around the same time. Since then the hardware has undergone multiple changes, with a Development Kit 2 version shipping in July 2014. DK2 touted almost double the individual eye resolution of DK1, as well as entirely new features such as positional tracking, separate from simple directional tracking. Most controversial in the Rift’s history has to be Oculus VR’s sale to Facebook, upsetting many backers by selling the crowdfunded startup for $2 billion in early 2014, which attracted the ire of many backers and influential figures in the gaming industry.

After so long, many wondered whether the Rift would ever really go on public sale, or whether it would continue to release more and more advanced development kits. With the Rift still unreleased, Oculus VR already has their eyes to the future, with plans for a “Rift 2” already in the pipeline for as soon as 2 years after the release of the Rift.

Are you looking forward to the chance to finally get an Oculus Rift for yourself, or will you be waiting for more details before committing to a purchase?