With every mega-corporation and their mega-dog throwing fat sacks of cash at Virtual Reality right now, and a multitude of headsets available, it’s easy to forget that nobody really> has any idea what they’re doing right now. While consensus on how to advance headset technology seems to be fairly universal, every company seems to have their own idea of how to control things in virtual space. Valve’s stopgap solution until folks can agree on stuff is SteamVR Input, a unified control-binding system for (quelle surprise) SteamVR.

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Valve’s new game Artifact has a vague release window of 2018, but thanks to a bit of jealousy on Gabe Newell’s part it won’t be the only Valve game we can look forward to in the next few years. Who do we have to thank for this? Nintendo. (more…)

A short while ago, I got to stick my sweaty face into HTC’s second generation PC VR headset, the Vive Pro, which was on show in the UK for the first time. The headset boasts a higher resolution and OLED displays, among other upgrades, and so the question is whether or not this can overcome VR’s visual shortcomings and give the medium a much-needed second wind.

Well, it’s definitely a big improvement – but that’s also something of a double-edged sword. (more…)

Lately there’s been no small amount of worry that folk who pre-ordered Valve & HTC’s future-goggles weren’t likely to get them at the predicted time – which, for the first-wave of adopters, should be any day now. With reports of payments being automatically cancelled, deliveries being delayed and express shipping add-ons defaulting back to economy, folk were getting shaky – especially as the more definite delays to Oculus Rift shipments had set something of a precedent. The future might be here, but getting it into a cardboard box and onto a lorry is another matter entirely, it seems.

HTC have now broken cover about the problems, attempting to clear things up and reassure people that they’re not looking at major delays. … [visit site to read more]

Are you sold on VR yet? While there are a few upcoming games I think look spectacular – such as Universe Sandbox 2 – not to mention a few that I’ve played and have enjoyed, I’m not completely there yet myself. Valve’s in-development SteamVR Desktop Theatre Mode isn’t quite the golden ticket to bypassing my skepticism, however it does seem pretty interesting. Essentially, it’s a virtual theater that lets you play standard, non-VR games on an enlarged, encompassing display.

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2016 is the year when the wealthy shall ascend into virtual reality, leaving the rest of us behind to refill their tubes of nutrient paste, massage their feet, and empty their buckets. The Oculus Rift is launching in March for $600/ 500, while the HTC Vive coming in April for $800 (plus, probably, tax and shipping), and they demand a hefty PC to power ‘em too. Our lad Jeremy has talked about the hardware needed for cybergoggles but now there’s a simple way to test if your hogbox is up to it.

Valve have released the SteamVR Performance Test, a program which shows some Portal-y scenes to rate your performance.

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Alec and Graham have both had a go on SteamVR, aka the HTC Vive (as described here and here). Yes, aren’t they glorious, beautiful, shining examples of humanity? You can touch them if you like. No, not there. And not for that long. What are you.. ew, no, no, get off>.

Actually, just stand over there and avert your eyes while they have a big old natter about what worked best, what might go wrong in practice, where this might all lead to, whether this is basically MAGIC, Valve vs Oculus and whether the hell we should let children use this thing. … [visit site to read more]

Through a series of fortunate events, I found myself in a backroom at EGX Rezzed last week, wearing a plastic box on my face, clutching a wand-shaped controller in each hand and walking around digital worlds. I was trying out SteamVR, aka the HTC Vive, and it was… well, in the longer term I need to go and have a hard think about how to meaningfully convey experiences* with essentially involve perceiving new realities. For now, I’ll be merely practical. … [visit site to read more]

I’ve used the Oculus Rift DK1, HD and DK2 for hours and hours and enjoyed my time with each of them immensely, but on each occasion, I’d feel some sense of relief upon taking the headset off. Relief that my head could cool down, relief my eyes could relax, relief that I hadn’t thrown up.

When my twenty minutes with Valve and HTC’s Vive came to an end, I felt no relief. Instead, I only felt disappointed that I couldn’t continue exploring the 3D painting demo or playing with the specially-designed Portal 2 vignette.

… [visit site to read more]

“There were once places beyond reach,” explains the chap hired to provide grandiose gravelly vocals on the overblown launch video for Valve’s virtual reality system, Vive.

“Sights unseen,” he adds as some guy dramatically takes an entire cosmic dustcloud to the face. “They called to us and let us hear. A world within ours – wild and without end. Welcome to a new reality.”

That new reality involves a slightly farty-sounding bottle of hot sauce being shaken over a virtual reality steak.

… [visit site to read more]