There's a lot of talk of Virtual Reality at the moment, with the announcement of Facebook's Oculus acquisition, Sony's debut of the Morpheus prototype and the news that there's a new kid on the block, the next year is looking quite exciting for VR enthusiasts. However, not everyone thinks the …
Read More »Tim Sweeney: Virtual reality will be bigger than smartphones
Tim Sweeney, a legendary game developer, said in an interview that virtual reality technologies will have higher influence on video games than the smartphones had. At present the VR technology is mostly aimed at game developers, researchers, enthusiasts and early adopters, but eventually it will not only appeal to loads …
Read More »Microsoft spends $150 million on wearable tech assets
Microsoft is starting to make moves in the wearable tech and virtual reality space as it has reportedly spent $150 million on augmented reality and head-mounted computing technology patents. The intellectual properties and patents were bought from Osterhout Design Group, a not so well known tech company that worked with industrial …
Read More »Carmack speaks out on Facebook’s Oculus acquisition
Many gamers were blind-sided by Facebook's recent acquisition of Oculus VR and it seems that even John Carmack wasn't aware that it was happening. However, after sitting on it for a few days, he has decided to speak positively about the move, stating that Facebook gets “the big picture” when …
Read More »Oculus VR hires video game guru Michael Abrash
Oculus VR, which is about to become a subsidiary of Facebook, has hired Michael Abrash, a renowned video game guru. At Oculus VR, Mr. Abrash will serve as the chief scientist, a logical position for a long-time evangelist of virtual reality technologies. What is noteworthy is that the legendary game …
Read More »Sony posts hands-on video of project Morpheus VR helmet
Sony Corp. has posted the first video covering hands-on experience with its code-named project Morpheus virtual reality helmet. The device seems to work perfectly with the PlayStation 4 video game console. [yframe url='http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LlS3Yx_aJH8′] The current iteration of the project Morpheus features a 5” panel with 1920×RGB×1080 (960×RGB×1080 per eye) resolution …
Read More »Microsoft: We have been playing with VR technology for quite a while
Microsoft Corp. has been quiet about virtual reality technologies and their support by its new-generation Xbox One console. However, it would be short-sighted to think that the company has not played with the tech. It certainly has. Phil Spencer, the head of Microsoft Game Studios, confirmed this during a conversation …
Read More »Oculus debuts Rift Devkit 2, opens pre-orders
As if in a counter attack to Sony's announcement of it's own Virtual Reality headset, Oculus has today debuted the Oculus Rift Devkit 2, the second developer version of its VR technology. It's upgraded, refreshed and tweaked to offer an all round superior experience to the original and brings us …
Read More »Console makers catching on to VR trend
Though you could argue that Nintendo has been well ahead of the curve with the creation of the 3Ds (technically a secondary, 3D display), Sony has always shown the most interest in the future of virtual reality technology – second of course to Oculus itself. In-fact at GDC this week, …
Read More »Sony to reveal ‘Oculus Rift beating’ VR headset next week
Sony Computer Entertainment (SCE) plans to unveil its virtual reality headset next week at the Game Developers Conference. No details are known in advance, but some game designers who have already tried the device are reported to have said that the upcoming VR helmet is considerably more advanced than Oculus …
Read More »Oculus Rift sales suspended due to component shortage
More than 50,000 Oculus Rift development kits have been sold but the company is currently unable to create more thanks to a shortage in the components that the Rift uses, an Oculus VR Community Manager has confirmed on the company's Sub Reddit. Community Manager, Andres Hernandez, wrote: “Certain components used in …
Read More »Xing is the best looking Rift Roller Coaster yet
When I held a Rift party towards the end of last year, inviting friends and relatives to come and try out all the different Oculus Rift demos I'd been playing, the handful that really stood out for people included a few of the roller coaster demos. However none of them …
Read More »John Carmack explains why he left id Software
When id Software founder and Doom programmer, John Carmack, originally left his former studio late last year to work on the Oculus Rift, the studio's parent company, Zenimax, merely said that Carmack was interested in “focusing on things other than game development at id.”, but it turns out that there's a …
Read More »Oculus CEO talks VR game premium pricing
Oculus has a big year ahead of it. Its Rift is likely to pass from excitable curiosity, to even more impressive technical product, to a real piece of consumer hardware before the end of the year. Its launch could usher in a new medium of entertainment and new gameplay experiences …
Read More »The NSA is worried about virtual reality terrorist recruiting
We heard a short while back that the NSA had, during its time playing watergate-world, sent a bunch of agents to also-play World of Warcraft, Second Life and a bunch of other MMOs, as it was believed that terrorists were using the virtual worlds to communicate with one another. While …
Read More »Valve to release virtual reality SDK in ‘days’
One of the big problems with virtual reality headsets like the Oculus Rift at the moment, is the same one that's plagued every other bit of revolutionary tech ever made – the chicken and egg scenario. In this instance, you don't want to develop a game for hardware that not …
Read More »Game with the Rift and a sensor suit at CES
If you've been reading much of Kitguru in the past month or so, you'll know I've been spending a fair bit of time playing around with my newly purchased Oculus Rift. I'm a bit late to the party, but I'm blown away, it's fun – though it does have some …
Read More »Oculus nets extra funding to produce consumer Rift
Maker of the world's most talked about virtual reality headset, Oculus, has managed to secure another $75 million worth of funding to help continue development on the consumer version of its Rift headset, set to be released towards the end of next year. This follows on from the initial $2.4 …
Read More »Mining the depths of the Oculus Rift forums
Whenever talk of the Oculus Rift comes up, you often hear about people converting already popular games over to it, like Mirror's Edge, or Skyrim or one of the F1 racing titles. Either that, or one of the very popular, rollercoaster demos that hit earlier this year. What I've found …
Read More »Valve to demo its own VR hardware next year
If you've been sat, drumming your fingers against your desk in your wait for the Oculus Rift HD version to become a mainstream consumer product, you're not alone; I've been doing it too. However there's nothing to speed up and improve an industry like competition, which is why I'm excited …
Read More »Ex-Valve devs Kickstarting augmented VR, head tracking glasses
Well the VR scene is certainly heating up. Oculus Rift is winding up towards its commercial release and Avegant is working on its own retinal projection system, but don't think for a second that this is going to be a two horse race. Remember those couple of Valve employees that …
Read More »Omni treadmill brings us one step closer to true virtual reality
Remember Lawnmower Man? If like me you saw that and began eagerly counting the days to when you too could fly through virtual reality with a pre-James Bond Pierce Brosnin, then you and I were both sorely dissapointed, as here we are over 20 years later and nothing much has …
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