Over the course of the last 50 years, capital markets have significantly codified a generational model approach consumer technology products. New “generations” of products are expected to come at a regular pace and provide increased features and reliability at the same prices. But depending upon the product type, the typical life cycle from one generation to the next can vary greatly. With the first wave of VR headsets now available to consumers, the time will come for the next generation to be announced and eventually launch. But when?
‘RaceRoom’ Racing Sim Gets Initial Rift and Vive Support Through SteamVR
RaceRoom Racing Experience has received a major update that introduces Vive and Rift support through SteamVR. The update also includes a number of improvements and adds new content to this often underappreciated racing sim.
Animated Short ‘Pearl’ is VR’s First Oscar Nominated Film
Pearl (2016), a 360 animated short film from director Patrick Osborne and Google’s Advanced Technology and Projects group (ATAP), has landed an Academy Award nomination for this year’s best animated short film, making it the first VR film in the running for an Oscar.
HTC Opens Applications for Free Vive Tracker Dev Kit
HTC announced earlier in January that they’d be giving away 1,000 Vive Trackers to developers. Applications to get your hands on one of the Trackers are now open through February 7th.
Developer Owlchemy Labs Talks Keys to Early VR Indie Success
Owlchemy Labs recently announced that Job Simulator has grossed over $3 million, making it one of the most successful indie VR titles to date, and so it’s worth reflecting on some of the design principles of agency and plausibility that have proven to be some of the key affordances of the virtual reality medium. I had a chance to talk to Owlchemy Labs’ Cy Wise at PAX West where she shared with me some guiding principles for Job Simulator as well as some of the more existential reactions from users questioning the nature o reality.
‘SUPERHOT VR’ Getting New Challenge Modes in February Update
Superhot VR is one of our favorite Oculus Touch launch titles. Like many of the best VR games so far, the thing we craved the most was more. A new update will extend the replayability of the game with several new modes that amp up the challenge.
Experts Share 6 Legal Considerations to Know Before Jumping into the VR/AR Industry
Earlier this month, a panel of legal experts met at the SIXR Legal Workshop to discuss legal challenges in VR and AR development and how to navigate them. While VR and AR startups have many of the same legal needs as other tech companies, there are some challenges that are unique to the VR and AR space. While the panel focused mainly on the US legal system, some of their guidance also applies in other countries.
Google VR/AR Team Seeks New Hire to “drive multiple hardware projects simultaneously from prototype to mass production”
A flurry of new job postings suggests Google is ramping up a team to create new consumer VR/AR hardware that goes beyond their Daydream View headset.
Quantifying Touch on 15 Dimensions with SynTouch
SynTouch has created a system that can quantify the sense of touch on fifteen different dimensions called the SynTouch Standard, and they’re one of the most impressive haptic start-ups that I’ve seen so far. SynTouch isn’t creating haptic displays per se, but they are capturing the data that will vital for other VR haptic companies to work towards creating a display that’s capable of simulating a wide variety of different textures. SynTouch lists Oculus as one of their partners, and they’re also providing their data to a number of other unannounced haptic companies.
Oculus Deploys New Age Rating System for VR Content
By March 1st 2017, every title in the Oculus Store will be assigned through the International Age Rating Coalition (IARC) rating process. IARC is a globally streamlined age classification process for digital games and mobile apps.