Virtual Reality

As much as many people love the idea of room-scale virtual reality, the ‘reality’ is that most won’t have the space for it. What might be possible for a lot of people though, is a small scale room, a few metres by a few metres of clear space. That will be …

While you, I and a lot of enthusiasts and gamers are excited by virtual reality, there’s still a lot of people that have no idea what all the hype is about. Some just haven’t tried it, but others don’t believe in it and more still, have yet to even hear …

In-case you weren’t aware already, running a virtual reality headset is not something many PCs can do. In-fact, based on the recommended specifications, it’s something only a few per cent of PCs can do. That won’t always be the case though, with incoming software tweaks making it so VR could …

This week has been an exciting one with CES ongoing in Las Vegas, but Oculus nearly stole the show by launching its pre-orders earlier this week. Although buyers were asked to put down a little more than expected for their future HMD, detailed images of the headset and its accessories …

Yesterday’s launch of Oculus Rift Pre-Orders was rather manic, with thousands or perhaps even tens of thousands of people trying to buy the headset, despite it coming in at around double the expected cost. To answer some people’s concerns and others’ hopes for the future, Oculus founder Palmer Luckey took …

The Oculus Rift virtual reality headset is now available for pre-order, priced at $600 (£530 inc. shipping the UK). This is vastly more than the originally projected $300-$350 cost for the consumer head mounted display (HMD), but we were warned previously by Palmer Luckey and several others involved in its …

Altering reality is perhaps the biggest theme of the Consumer Electronics Show this year, but it’s not all about HTC and Oculus, as DAQRI has come up with an AR device of its own, powered by an Intel processor, RealSense 3D camera, and the ability to overlays schematics and blueprints …

NASA has been making a splash at this year’s CES, but not by showing off technological developments like crew capsules or rocket engines, but with virtual reality. The American space agency brought along a number of VR and AR headsets and is using them to give the public an experience …

The commercial release of virtual reality hardware is closer than ever before and with the announcement of Oculus Rift CV1 pre-orders opening up on 6th January, the hype train is hitting maximum speed. To help fan the flames of its boiler, Oculus founder Palmer Luckey announced that much like the …

HTC’s Viveport online store for virtual reality games, experiences and applications was learned about in mid-December through some investigative digging from fans, but it now looks to be available. Although there are no apps listed of yet, the system itself appears to be up and running, with libraries for purchased …

CES is going to have a lot of virtual reality hardware and software on show. HTC/Valve will probably showcase the final version of the Vive headset, Oculus is expected to announce the final price and specifications of the CV1 Rift and Samsung has now announced that it will be showing …

Even though it developed the first truly viable, commercial virtual reality solution, Oculus has known from day one that content is king. Which is why it’s bundling so much of it with the CV1 headset when it releases in Q1 2016. Along with the already announced Eve: Valkyrie, it’s now been …

One of the more noticeable (read: exterior) changes from the Oculus Rift DK2 virtual reality headset, to the CV1 launch model, is the inclusion of built-in headphones. Provided earcups don’t have much of a reputation for strong sound reproduction with other products, but Oculus assures us the Rift will do, …

While we won’t be getting an Oculus Rift pre-order option this side of Christmas, we’re not far away from being able to put money down on a first-generation, commercial VR solution. That stack of cash may be a bit taller than we initially thought though. In a number of tweets over …

Internal component, system and peripheral manufacturers, ASUS and Gigabyte, are working on their own takes on virtual reality headsets according to a new report. Expected to debut in 2016, the headsets will come from ASUS internal developments we’re told, while Gigabyte’s will come out of a partnership it has with Chinese …

When it became clear that Sony was working on a virtual reality solution for the PlayStaton 4, those who had experienced early VR with the DK1 and 2 were a little worried. The PS4 could barely handle 60 FPS at a decent resolution, let alone the 75+ it would need …

Oculus VR has known about virtual reality’s chicken and egg problem since day one. Without games and experiences ready to play, nobody would buy a VR headset, but without VR headsets, nobody would develop them. It’s assuaged that issue with developer kits over the past couple of years and to make sure …

Even though Oculus VR had a big lead in with fans of the head mounted display (HMD) technology, Valve and HTC have gone a long way to garnering their own following with the Vive and its Room Scale VR set up. However they’ve taken some flak as of late, as …

Tracking our hands in virtual reality has been something all of the big VR makers have been working on for the past year or so. Oculus has its Touch controllers which will release soon after the Rift CV1 and Valve/HTC have their motion tracking controllers, which will come with the …

In a leak on the HTC website, excited virtual reality fans have discovered the final, commercial version of the HTC Vive headset. It looks quite similar to the original, with a few noteworthy changes, but it’s the controllers that really look different. Overall though, everything is just much more polished, …

As much as the idea of walking around websites, rather than interacting with them on a 2D display might seem like a relic  from a ’90s future-tech story (anyone remember Net Force?) it’s actually something that some are already experimenting with. It’s hard though, so Mozilla has developed a technique …

It was way back in May 2015 that we were given a sneak peak at what the recommended specifications for the Oculus Rift CV1 headset would be and they weren’t insubstantial: a GTX 970, i5-4590 and 8GB of RAM. You also needed two USB 3.0 ports, but that’s now been …

Although Oculus is the darling of the virtual reality world, HTC’s Vive headset has been making waves since it started shipping out to developers who wanted to build games and experiences for its commercial release. However the general public have had a chance to play around with the headset and …

It looks like we’re going to have to wait just a few more months to get our hands on commercial virtual reality hardware, as both HTC/Valve and Oculus VR have announced delays. The former made a big official statement that they would be releasing another developer kit with around 7,000 …

With the impending release of commercial virtual reality headsets from the likes of Oculus and HTC/Valve, much talk has turned to what content will be available at launch. Some games and experiences have been announced as Oculus exclusives, but according to the company founder, Palmer Luckey, they won’t be exclusive …

Another big announcement at last night’s Game Awards 2015, was that Oculus and Harmonix are working on a virtual reality version of Rock Band. Players will get to strum away on plastic guitars to audiences that they can see and feel right in-front of them, and to help make sure …

Nokia isn’t a company that’s been particularly relevant for some time now, only really breaking headlines in recent years when it sold its smartphone division to Microsoft in 2013. However now it’s looking to reinvent itself with the launch of a virtual reality camera known as the Ozo, which delivers …

It’s looking more and more that Apple is looking to enter the VR market with content, if not eventually hardware too, as it’s been confirmed that it has purchased Faceshift, a company that’s motion capture tech is being used in the new Star Wars film. That capture technology is unique, …

Although you would certainly be the odd one out in most social groups to suggest there was a good reason to treat the different sexes any differently, there are undeniable physical distinctions. One of them appears to be that virtual reality motion sickness is more keenly felt by women than men, …

Polish doctors have become the first in the world to use virtual reality and a custom built application to help unblock a coronary artery. Instead of traditional catheter based percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) which uses 2D X-Ray images for guidance, surgeons were able to look at a 3D representation of the …