Tag: VR News

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Oculus Quest 2 System Apps Updated With 90Hz Support

Oculus Quest VR 90hz update

Oculus began rolling out a new update to the Oculus Quest 2 firmware that enables a variety of new features, introduces some key changes, and fixes a bunch of other stuff at once.

At the front and center of this software upgrade is system-wide support for 90Hz refresh rates which should deliver a substantial improvement to the overall user experience associated with the VR headset. The gadget technically supported 90Hz rendering from day one, but that was not the case for all of its system apps such as Expore, Store, Browser, and Oculus TV.

In fact, Facebook’s subsidiary was rather coy in talking about this feature prior to the headset’s October release, so this is more like them making good on their original promise instead of introducing a completely new functionality to the Quest 2. Some of the games that support 90Hz VR displays include Superhot, Beat Saber, Job Simulator, Echo VR, Space Pirate Trainer, and Racket: NX.

More such titles are promised to follow in the very near future as developers are still scrambling to update their games with 90Hz support. In the meantime, Oculus Link has been updated to allow for switching across 72Hz, 80Hz, and 90Hz mode directly from your Windows PC, depending on the exact level of performance your rig allows for.

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Unity Ditches OpenVR Support In Surprising Snub To Valve

unity-drops-official-support-openvr-valve-working-replacement

One of today’s most popular game engines, Unity, is ditching support for OpenVR in a surprising snub to Steam creators at Valve. The company announced the move earlier today, clarifying that it will also be ending support for Samsung’s GearVR and Google’s Daydream virtual reality platform as part of the same decision aimed at improving its operating efficiency.

Valve already confirmed it is working on a replacement for Unity’s lack of official support for its platform that wasn’t expected to affect OpenVR seeing how that particular technology ecosystem is still in active development and hasn’t been effectively abandoned by its creators like Daydream and GearVR were. For reference, OpenVR is the same technology that powers SteamVR, one of today’s most widely used VR APIs and a direct rival of Facebook’s Oculus solutions.

The decision appears to have been rooted in technical reasons, however, as Unity has so far offered support for the aforementioned VR systems through a plugin system that has since been abandoned in favor of more universal support for extended reality headgear. None of the older tech really fits the bill and so Unity Technologies is pulling the plug on them altogether, leaving Valve to figure out how to extend the support moving forward.

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Google’s Tilt Brush Just Got Ported To PS VR

Google's Tilt Brush

Tilt Brush, Google’s award-winning tool for creating works of art in a virtually real environment, is finally available on the PlayStation VR platform – and PS4, by extent – as of today. Google and PlayStation said this port is something fans of both companies have been clamoring for years.

They did not, however, reveal what made them finally pull the plug on the porting project right now, i.e. why haven’t they done so much sooner. Regardless, Tilt Brush is now here for everyone to download and enjoy for a one-time fee of $22.99. This is the same price attached to the PC version of the app. And in case you don’t have a PSVR setup ready to go, then a new PS Move Motion Controller Two-Pack & Tilt Brush Bundle are here to facilitate your entry point into the world of VR art.

Furthermore, if the PC platform is anything to go by, expect Tilt Brush to be regularly available on the PS Store at a discount. Apart from a PSVR headset and two PS Move motion controllers, the app also requires a PS Camera, and a PS4 console, ideally the PS4 Pro in order to function properly, though it should also be supported by the upcoming PS5.

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Iron Man VR To Include PSVR-PS5 Adapters

Iron Man VR To Include PSVR-PS5 Adapters

The numerous delays of Iron Man VR led to a situation in which many gamers who pre-ordered the much-anticipated release will only get to experience it on the next generation of Sony’s gaming consoles.

Unfortunately, the PlayStation VR headset won’t work natively with the PlayStation 5 console, or better said, it will require an adapter in order to communicate with the new PlayStation Camera.

Sony has now confirmed that this inconvenience will not affect players who already made the switch or will make the switch by the time Iron Man VR is finally released. As the Iron Man VR bundled, advertised as an entry point into the world of VR entertainment, will be shipping with these adapters in the U.S. and Canada. Which makes it the first such VR bundle to be confirmed outside of Japan.

The adapter in question still doesn’t have an official price tag, but hopefully won’t end up being too pricey to acquire. As everyone just assumed PSVR will work on the PS5 without any additional investments. And Sony itself hinted at this being the case on numerous occasions before revealing otherwise.

As for Iron Man VR, the bundle in question now retails at $350 and will most likely have its price slashed even further by this year’s holiday season.

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Extended Reality Entertainment Is Already A $6.7 Billion Industry

The extended reality market which includes both augmented reality and virtual reality technologies and associated content is already a $6.7 billion industry. In other words, that is how much it is expected to generate in revenue for 2020 alone, as per a new report coming out of imarket analytics company SuperData.

Which is a lot, but still falls short of the company’s original assessment for the global XR market, which pegged the industry to pull nearly $7 billion across the entirety of this year. Following the latest forecast revision, BigData projects the industry will nearly double over the course of the next two years, growing to $11.3 billion in annual revenue by 2023.

The main reason behind the $200 million correction is the lukewarm market reaction to the Oculus Quest 2 headset from Facebook which just released in the U.S. and abroad last month and was originally expected to be a much larger contributor to the yearly XR revenue report than it ended up being.

As for the near future, AR is expected to finally generate some additional momentum relative to its sister technology. And the lockdown we have been enduring throughout this year have, naturally, played a large part in the increase in AR and VR usage since people have been spending a lot more time at home than usual.

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You Can Now Buy Oculus Quest 2 In The U.S.

Oculus Quest 2 vr headset available to buy

Oculus is now selling its newest virtual reality headset, the Oculus Quest 2, across the United States. The Facebook subsidiary announced the gadget just several weeks back, presenting it as the ultimate blend of accessibility and prowess.

In other words, you will not be asked to shell out a four-digit figure in order to get this thing rendering virtually immersive environments in your living room. Instead, you are looking at an introductory price of just $299, which is $100 cheaper than even the last generation of the Quest. Today’s development marks the start of the Oculus Quest 2 U.S. pre-orders, to be exact. Oculus says the first shipments will start arriving to customers by October 13th.

You can pre-purchase the VR headset directly through Oculus, but also get one from GameStop, Best Buy, Walmart, and Target in the U.S. and Canada. Thanks to a 50% resolution jump and newer processor from Qualcomm, as well as 6GB of RAM in total, the Oculus Quest 2 is said to be ready for the next generation of VR gaming and other experiences.

It will also allow for high refresh rates of up to 90Hz, and that feature should be available from the very first day.

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Google Confirms It’s Killing Expeditions VR App

Google Expeditions VR app discontinued

Expeditions was one of the first forays into the world of virtual reality entertainment for many early adopters of the tech. In no small part because it was available on Google Cardboard setups.

And just like the latter, it is now set to bite the dust in the very near future. As Google has just confirmed it will be killing the said app in the very near future. More specifically, we have just over half a year left to enjoy Expeditions in all their glory. Come June 30th of next year, the app will be pulled from both the Google Play Store and Apple’s iOS App Store.

On the bright side, a decent chunk of all VR expeditions originally made for the said piece of software are currently in the process of migrating to Arts & Culture, a newer standalone app from Google which is available on many of today’s most popular VR platforms.

Not all of them, mind you, and the exact list of those that won’t survive this technological shift has yet to be publicized, assuming Google even intends to detail the contents of its decision to such a degree. So, give Expeditions one last spin while you still can.

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Sony Introduces Spatial Reality Display For Next-Gen Design Apps

Sony Introduces Spatial Reality Display

Sony Electronics has a new technology promising to usher in a new era of design apps. It’s called the Spatial Reality Display and is based on Sony’s previously introduced Eye-Sensing Light Field Display that the company already showcased at this year’s CES in Las Vegas, Nevada, back in early January.

The whole point of the tech is to make prototyping of complex 3D models and visual effects, especially those meant to move, i.e. animations, much easier than what has been the case so far. A lot of it is powered by the so-called high-speed vision sensor which tracks eye position in a three-dimensional space in order to render the most accurate, believable image possible, while requiring as little of the creator’s effort as possible, at that.

This is all without any use of artificial reality or virtual reality headsets, mind you, which is what makes this display a rather unique offering across any industry. Its rendering algorithms are baked in on a hardware level, with the product itself offering 15.6 inches of LCD real estate diagonally.

The SR Display can already be ordered from Sony Electronics and its official distributors in the U.S. It’s priced at $4,999.99, whereas Canadians will be asked to part with $6,649.99 CAD in exchange for one of these hi-tech designer tools.

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Doctors Begin Using HTC Vive VR Tech For Stroke Recovery

HTC Vive Tech Stroke

Medical professionals appear to have began warming up to virtual reality headsets. Or, better said, the idea of such tech solutions. But that’s more than enough reason to celebrate if you are a VR company. Especially if you used to have been much more but ended up stripped for parts after a series of horrible management decisions. Leaving you happy at any sign of a possibility that things might finally be looking up.

Cue today’s story from Seattle, where HTC Vive and Penumbra announced the REAL Immersive System, a customizable platform design to facilitate stroke recovery amid a wide patient demographic. Given the importance of rehabilitation in dealing with neurological trauma, modern medicine is progressively placing a gradually greater emphasis on any such activitiy with potential neuroplasticity benefits.

Those would be any factors helping the brain make sense of trauma by recompartmentalizing experiences in a way that helps a person better cope with trauma, whether physical, mental, or both, as is often the case with strokes. In effect, various VIVE VR headsets and other tech from HTC is now being put in use in stroke recovery through the said REAL Immersive System that HTC is hoping will expand beyond the U.S. in the future.

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HTC Brings Remote Collab App VIVE Sync Beta To The U.S.

Remote Collab App VIVE Sync

HTC is continuing to chug along the path toward virtual reality glory which it decided to traverse many years ago. And today, even as the overall global situation isn’t exactly ideal, the company actually seems to be in a decent position to start capitalizing on its early investments into VR technologies, both hardware and software alike.

Today, we are dealing with an update on the latter, as the American arm of the Taiwanese firm announced the U.S. launch of an open beta program for VIVE Sync, another VR app designed for the company’s head-mounted gadgets that seeks to enable remote collaborations virtually indistinghuishable from the real thing, if that makes sense.

Between remote surgery and Internet-enabled whiteboards, a surprisingly large number of today’s professions can actually be highly adaptable to this new work-from-home situation and today’s stateside debut of the VIVE Sync beta will hopefully go a long way toward proving that state of affairs, as per an official announcement from HTC.

Disclaimer: do not attempt to perform remote surgeries using this particular tool, it’s more like Facebook Spaces but with slightly less creepy characters instead of a highly specialized precision toolkit. The latter are on their way, as well, but largely depend on 5G rollouts in addition to VR hardware.

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Alcove Family VR Corner Coming To Oculus Quest

Alcove Family VR Corner Coming To Oculus Quest

An interactive family corner called Alcove is on its way to virtual reality environments by the way of an Oculus Quest port. Its developers describe it as a unique virtual environment for connecting with people you care about the most.

It is filled with miniature games, interactive trivia assignments, reactive art, and all other manners of curious content that will hopefully keep you and your loved ones entertained for hours on end, or as much as desired.

If that sounds familiar, it is because Alcove already had its debut inside Facebook’s VR ecosystem with the app’s arrival to the Oculus Go. As for the Oculus Quest, the more serious VR headset from Oculus will be getting its own version of Alcove on August 20th.

As was the case with the Oculus Go original the Oculus Quest version of Alcove will be entirely free to download and peruse at your own discretion. The port will include 360-degree city tours, air balloon rides, ocean dives, and all of the other unique features that made the original Alcove such a popular VR app on the Oculus Go.

There is currently no information on whether developers intend to attempt monetizing the app’s growing user base in the future.

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HTC, Gigabyte Partner For A Rarely Seen AORUS Laptop VR Bundle

AORUS Laptop VR Bundle

Taiwanese computer hardware veterans HTC and Gigabyte teamed up for something you don’t see everday: a gaming laptop VR bundled complete with a full-featured HDMI rig.

The latter, of course, comes in the form of the HTC Vive Cosmos or the Vive Cosmos Elite, depending on the exact package, though both combinations have today been introduced as part of the so-called Cosmos Series x AORUS 15G package.

The titular AORUS 15G is Gigabyte’s latest Windows gaming notebook which leaves very little to be desired no matter where you look. The kicker, naturally, is the price of this high-end tie-up. As neither of these two brands parts with their flagship offerings that easily. And the sole fact they have now temporarily joined forces hardly means either is eager to throw away the idea of healthy profit margins, aka the number one motivator for being in the highly competitive gaming PC market in the first place.

Especially when it comes to laptops, and even then, especially when you are looking for VR-optimized portable machines. As even today’s most powerful notebeooks are hardly made with VR in mind, but this bundle promises to change your mind about the portability of such room-scale, digitally surreal entertainment.

Oh, so long as you can afford the $2,249/$2,449 price tags attached to the two AORUS 15G packages containing the Vive Cosmos and Vive Cosmos Elite, respectively.

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(Refurbished) PSVR Headsets Drop To New Low Of $99

PSVR Headsets

The PlayStation VR headset has been arguably the most affordable entry point into the world of virtual reality entertainment for a good few years by now. At least when it comes to somewhat high-end experiences. And hunting refurbished products has been an excellent way of shaving off a lot of money from your next gadget purchase for even longer. See where we are going with this?

Regardless, GameStop is currently offering refurbished PSVR headsets for just $99, which is the new all-time low for Sony’s VR gadget by quite a margin. The deal appears to be limited to U.S. customers (sorry, Canada) and probably won’t last for long but it does redefine our perception of what a good value price for a PSVR is. Naturally, this offer does not include the PlayStation Move motion controllers, and neither does it have the PlayStation Camera, both of which are integral to experiencing any truly interactive VR content on your PlayStation 4 (Pro) console.

For reference, a comparably capable Oculus Rift – the original one from ages past – still goes for $300-$400, even as a refurbished unit in this day and age. Furthermore, the upcoming arrival of the PS5 will not be followed by a new generation of PSVR, making the original headset a sound investment even today, four years following its original market release.

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