Tag Archives: Virtual Reality

Train2Game News Facebook buy Oculus Rift

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Oculus RiftThe news broke last night that Facebook has bought the Oculus Rift firm for $2 billion. The company is working on a virtual reality headset.

Oculus Rift got off the ground thanks to Kickstarter funding which allowed them to work on their virtual reality headset which would allow for extremely immersive gaming. Oculus’ crowdfunding campaign raised $2.4m, 10 times the amount originally sought, it then received a further $75m from investors. The Oculus Rift has yet to be released, but more than 75,000 orders for development kits have already been placed.

In a statement released by the Social Media Company, Facebook said it plans to expand the use of Oculus technologies to include “communications, media and entertainment, education and other areas”.

Commenting on the deal, Mr Zuckerberg said: “Mobile is the platform of today, and now we’re also getting ready for the platforms of tomorrow.”

The deal includes $400m in cash and just over 23 million Facebook shares, valued at $1.6bn. Oculus employees will also receive an additional $300m if the company achieves certain targets.

How this will affect the future of Oculus Rift is yet to be seen but the future is definitely on its way.

Source: BBC News

Train2Game News Sony VR Headset announced

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project_morpheusSony Worldwide Studios president Shuhei Yoshida revealed the PS4 virtual reality headset, codenamed ‘Project Morpheus’, during an industry presentation late on Tuesday at GDC.

Sony aired short video clips of a prototype version of the headset – which appeared to consist of Sony’s current HMZ head mounted display with a Move controller attached to the side – being used to play a first-person version of God of War 3. The corporation also showed a video of downloadable title Datura being tested with the device. Sony has been working on the VR headset for three years

“Virtual reality is the next innovation from from PlayStation that may well shape the future of games.” Yoshida announced.

Morpheus will seamlessly integrate with the PS4 Move controllers and the unit also can mirror its display on a TV, allowing others to spectacle gameplay. The headset also adopts 3D audio technology uniquely developed by SCE. In addition to sounds coming from front, behind, left and right, Morpheus recreates stereoscopic sounds heard from below and above the players, such as footsteps climbing up stairs below them, or engine noises of helicopters flying overhead.

Only a single VR headset will be connectible to a PS4 console at a time.

Release date and pricing were left undisclosed, with Sony only willing to say that it would be released “as soon as possible and for as low as possible”.

The tech specs released for Project Morpheus are below:

  • LCD panel size: 5 inches
  • Panel Resolution: 1920×RGB×1080 (960×RGB×1080 per eye)
  • 1000Hz head tracking
  • Field of View: 90 degrees
  • Sensors: Accelerometer, Gyroscope
  • Connection interface: HDMI + USB
  • 3D audio support
  • ‘Social Screen feature’ mirrors experience onto TV (Allows for unique asymmetric gameplay)
  • 3 meter working volume
  • Supports ‘forward prediction’
  • DualShock 4 and PS Move compatible
  • Highly adjustable unit
  • Direct on-board audio jack for headphones
  • No weight placed on nose or cheeks

 

Train2Game News: Valve Virtual Reality first look next week

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Valve logo Train2Game blog imageValve is just days away from releasing its own virtual reality software development kit, according to studio game designer Brian Coomer.

Speaking to the BBC, Coomer said the SDK would offer developers a standard method to provide an interface for virtual reality controllers.

Valve is expected to showcase the SDK and release it during the Steam Dev Days Conference next week, which takes place between January 14 and 15.

It is believed Valve is working on its own virtual reality technology, but will also support the Oculus Rift.

“There’s also technology in development at Valve based around head-tracking and headset manufacture and design,” he says.

“We are working with other companies right now but we have not made any specific announcements.”

As well as a VR SDK, Valve is expected to release a new toolset to assist developers with the creation of games for its Steam Machines, which uses the SteamOS and a unique haptic controller.

Train2Game News: Sony Virtual Reality Headset

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PS4 VR HeadsetStrong speculation has risen that Sony plans to enter the virtual reality gaming space in a big way with PlayStation 4.

Multiple sources have indicated that Sony’s VR headset will work similarly to Oculus’. Internally, the device has been demonstrated with Evolution Studios’ PS4 racer DriveClub, with players able to look around the cockpit of a car.

The Liverpool studio, Evolution Studios, is home to the Worldwide Studios Stereoscopic 3D team, which has worked on 3D game development since 2008. The team, and 3D chief Mick Hocking, have been relatively quiet since PlayStation’s ill-fated 3D push in 2011.

Amid the growing popularity of the Oculus Rift VR headset among the development community and a small number of gamers it will be interesting to see how this Sony headset will stand up.

Sony’s VR headset was set to appear in some form at German show Gamescom last week, but was pulled. It is now expect it to be unveiled next year.

Sony Worldwide Studios boss Shuhei Yoshida declined to comment when asked about VR in an interview with Eurogamer at Gamescom. “We don’t talk about that,” was all he’d say. This week Sony Computer Entertainment Europe declined to comment when contacted by Eurogamer.

This is certainly one to keep an eye on.

Train2Game News: Oculus Rift gets huge funding

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Oculus RiftOculus VR, maker of the anticipated Oculus Rift VR gaming headset, has secured $16 million in Series A funding.

The round was co-led by Spark Capital and Matrix Partners. Santo Politi, founder and general partner at Spark, and Antonio Rodriguez, serial entrepreneur and general partner at Matrix, have joined the company’s board of directors. Founders Fund as well as Formation 8 also participated in the round.

Oculus plans to use the funds to accelerate the development of its virtual reality hardware, software and services, and ultimately create a virtual reality platform for consumers.

“Oculus began with a single mission: to put players inside the game,” said Palmer Luckey, founder of Oculus VR and inventor of the Oculus Rift.

“This investment allows us to deliver immersive and affordable virtual reality to players everywhere.”

Oculus garnered lots of attention when it debut at last year’s E3. Oculus has since manufactured and shipped the Rift development kits purchased in its Kickstarter campaign, allowing game developers to create Oculus-ready applications and interactive content.

Spark Capital has previous backed other forward-thinking tech ventures, which have subsequently gained massive popularity, including Twitter and Tumblr. Matrix Partners’ achievements include early investments in some of the world’s most successful technology companies, such as Apple, SanDisk and others.

“What better way to mark our first anniversary than to announce our next phase of growth,” said Brendan Iribe, CEO of Oculus VR.

“There are still many challenging problems to solve, but with the support of these great investment partners, and our passionate community, we will continue to hire the brightest minds and stay laser focused on delivering the very best virtual reality platform possible.”

Oculus VR originally raised over $2.4 million through its Kickstarter campaign – almost ten times its fundraising goal.

Development kits are currently doing the rounds, but no commercial release date has been set for the product.

Train2Game News: Mid-week round up – 16.01.13

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Valve logoIt is that time of week for the Train2Game mid-week round up!

Valve has announced plans to to discuss a port of Team Fortress 2 to virtual reality goggles. The first talk will be programmer Joe Ludwig’s ‘What We Learned Porting Team Fortress 2 to Virtual Reality’ and it will explore the efforts of several employees over the last year to get the game to run in virtual reality goggles. In addition, Valve’s Michael Abrash will discuss the hardware challenges that lie ahead and possible solutions for virtual and augmented reality in ‘Why Virtual Reality is Hard (And Where it Might be Going).’

Square Enix have launched a new website to tease all fans of an upcoming iOS game. More information is to be released on January 17. The site has an image of what looks like a front end menu for the game which is called, Final Fantasy: All The Bravest. You can check out the website for yourself here: http://www.jp.square-enix.com/ff_atb/

Since Activision brought out Skylanders it has done very well and now Disney has seen it’s potential. They are now doing their own version with the announcement of Disney Infinity. Infinity will work in the same way as Skylanders, needing action figures and a “toy box” base to give players access to different worlds. Disney fans will recognize plenty of familiar faces, like Captain Jack Sparrow, the cast of the Incredibles, and Sully from Monsters Inc.

Surreal game creator Suda51 has revealed details of his next game, Killer is Dead. The game stars Mondo Zappa, a 35 year old American executioner that abides by a strict suit-and-tie policy and his left hand is a gun that can also transform into a drill and is used primarily to absorb an enemy’s blood for an “Adrenalin Burst” attack. The game’s antagonist is Victor, who can manipulate emotions through song. He’s appropriately styled to look like classic composer, except has a green face and glowing eyes.

Online and mobile are spearheading the game industry’s growth to a potential total valuation of $83 billion by 2016, according to new research. Conducted by Digi-Capital, the global games investment review states that online and mobile could have a revenue share of $48 billion in 2016, 55 per cent of the entire game industry. The biggest driver in mobile and tablet app revenue meanwhile will be free-to-play, which could deliver 55 per cent of revenue in the sector and account for 93 per cent of app downloads by 2016.

Train2Game News: Mid-week Round up of game news

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This will be a mid-week round up of all the biggest news in the gaming industry. Depending on the reaction it gets this may become a weekly post.

Gearbox’s Borderlands 2 comes out next week and in the lead up to that they have released the skill trees for the different classes available in the game. This is a good chance to see how the characters are going to play out through the game.

Valve has released a list of the first ten games being released through Steams Greenlight initiative. Some of the games on the list are Black Mesa the Half-Life mod and Project Zomboid. A full list of the Greenlight approved games can be found here.

The Wii U is having its release date and recommended retail price announced tomorrow. At 8am Nintendo will announce in a special webcast on the official Nintendo Direct Page. The release date is rumoured for UK release date early December with a possible price of £190.

Double Fine studios have accidentally released there first mobile title ahead of schedule. Thanks to some quick thinking from lead designer Kee Chi and the team behind the studios first mobile exclusive, the release turned into an unplanned beta.

Sony is ready to display a new virtual reality headset at the Tokyo Game Show. This follows the news of the Occulus Rift kickstarter and Valves augmented reality headset plans being released. The Sony headset will have a full 360 degree experience with head tracking and a live camera.

The last and possibly biggest bit of news is that this Friday the Train2Game world record attempt sponsored by Microsoft begins. The 48 hour event will see students creating games in the time they have using Windows 8. It is always fun and is always a great learning experience.