Oculus Makes Improvements to Iteration Time for Unity Quest Developers

Oculus has introduced three changes to significantly speed up the iteration process for developers building Quest applications with Unity.

Because Quest is its own standalone headset, testing how an application will run on the requires packaging the application and then deploying it to the headset before being able to test it. Because this process can take a few minutes from the time you start packaging to the time you get to see your app in the headset, it’s very time consuming to test small changes. Iteration time—how quickly one can make changes and then see them—is a key factor in the efficient creation of any media. For developers building Quest applications, the faster the time between making changes and testing them, the more time they can spend honing their applications to be polished and perfromant.

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Oculus says long iteration time when building for Quest is a top pain point brought up by developers. The company has introduced three improvements for the Quest Unity integration which can drastically reduce iteration time. Two of the three changes are available with Unity 2018.1 and later, though one requires 2018.2 or later.

OVR Build APK and Run

The first is ‘OVR Build APK and Run’, a command which employs a cache to speed up the time it takes to package the app. Oculus says this method makes the same APK that would come from the normal ‘Unity Build and Run’, but does so 10–50% faster.

Image courtesy Oculus

OVR Quick Scene Preview

The second is ‘OVR Quick Scene Preview’ which automatically divides projects into multiple asset bundles and uploads them to Quest. After making changes to the app and using the command, only the bundles which contain changes need to be uploaded to the headset.

Image courtesy Oculus

Oculus tested OVR Quick Scene Preview with three published Quest apps—Beat Saber, Dead and Buried 2, and Superhot VR—and found that it drastically improved iteration time by more than 80% for each app.

Shader Stripping

The last change is what Oculus calls Shader Stripping (this one requires Unity 2018.2 or later) which can speed up both the ‘OVR Build APK and Run’ and ‘OVR Quick Scene Preview’ processes. Unity applications running on Quest only load Tier2 shaders, Oculus says, which means that it’s a waste to spend time packaging shaders of any other tier.

Image courtesy Oculus

Oculus also offered up an explanation for when developers should use ‘OVR Build APK and Run’ or ‘OVR Quick Scene Preview’:

OVR Quick Scene Preview is for fast iteration on scenes and assets and does not build an APK that is representative of your final project. As you are developing your project, OVR Quick Scene Preview is useful for reducing iteration time. When close to shipping or when wanting to see a closer representation of what your final project will look and run like, use OVR Build APK and Run. Both OVR Build APK and Run and OVR Quick Scene Preview build in development mode and should not be used to create a final shippable bundle.

For more details, Oculus points developers toward its developer documentation which has been updated with these new iteration improvements.

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‘Lone Echo II’ Development “greatly impacted” by Coronavirus but 2020 Launch Still Expected

With an initial release date set for 2019, Oculus told us last year that the highly anticipated Lone Echo II had been delayed to Q1 2020. With that release window behind us, developer Ready at Dawn now says the development of the game was hindered by the Coronavirus situation, but the game is still expected to launch in 2020.

Update (April 30th, 2020): While the once-delayed Q1 2020 release window for Lone Echo II had quietly come and gone, developer Ready at Dawn today acknowledged the additional delay, saying that development of the game has been hampered by the need to adopt to a studio-wide work from home policy.

In the last several weeks, we’ve all had to adapt to a new reality. Here at Ready At Dawn, we switched from the day-to-day collaboration of working in the studio, to everyone working from home. Since mid-March, we’ve had to find ways to reconnect and no method has been more impactful and effective for us than VR. As work progresses on our games, this new reality and dynamic has caused us to rethink some of our game development methodology. Development on Lone Echo II has been greatly impacted.

The studio still expects the game to launch in 2020, and is promising to share “more news on Lone Echo II very soon.”

The original article, which overviewed what was known about the game’s delays at the time, continues below.

Original Article (March 18th, 2020): Though GDC 2020 (which would have been held this week) was cancelled, Oculus has still been sharing a smattering of VR news this week. Last year the company told us the game had been delayed to Q1 2020, so we had expected to finally hear more about Lone Echo II this week, but Oculus tells Road to VR that it has no news to share.

With less than two weeks to the end of Q1, Lone Echo II looks certain to be further delayed beyond Q1, though Oculus hasn’t given us any further information on when to expect the game.

Developed by Ready at Dawn, Lone Echo II, is set to launch exclusively on Rift. The game was announced back in 2018 as the followup to one of the most lauded Oculus exclusive titles, Lone Echo (2017).

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Oculus and Ready at Dawn had shown us a polished preview of the game last year at E3 2019, so why the initial delay and now this further delay? It’s hard to say, but we have a few guesses.

For one, the game was announced well before Facebook launched Oculus Quest in May 2019. In the months since then, Facebook seems to have shifted much of its VR focus away from its PC-based Rift and toward the standalone Quest. The company also announced that Ready at Dawn would be bringing Echo Arena—the multiplayer sibling of Lone Echo—to Quest, and this project may have been given higher priority than getting Lone Echo II out the door. Ready at Dawn indicated as much back at the initial delay telling us:

“Today we confirmed that Ready At Dawn is bringing Echo Arena to Quest. In consideration of that project, we decided to push Lone Echo II out to 2020 so that we can give all our attention to that title once [Echo Arena on Quest] is out. We’re taking the time we need to do these titles justice,” Ru Weerasuriya, Ready at Dawn’s CEO and Creative Director, told Road to VR.

With Echo Arena only just reaching the closed testing phase next week, it makes sense that Lone Echo II has yet to launch.

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‘Echo VR’ Quest Beta Will Open to All Starting May 5th, Remain Open Until Launch

A version of Echo VR, the zero-G multiplayer Rift game from Ready at Dawn Studios, is coming to Oculus Quest later this year. The studio had planned for staggered closed betas, but now says that the Echo VR and Echo Arena beta on Quest will open to all starting May 5th.

Update (April 30th, 2020): Developer Ready at Dawn today announced a shift in its approach to the Echo VR Quest beta strategy. Starting May 5th, the company will open the Echo VR beta to all Quest users, and keep it open until the game’s full launch later this year.

The studio said the decision was prompted by realizing how important VR has been for the studio itself to stay connected while working remotely.

With our work from home situation forcing us to be disconnected physically, VR has allowed us to reconnect in a new way, not only with our teammates, but also with the community at large. We are therefore making our upcoming Open Beta for Echo VR on Oculus Quest available to everyone until the official launch later this year. Starting Tuesday, May 5th, we invite you to join us and collaborate with everyone at RAD, in continuing to build Echo VR on Quest.

The original article, which highlight the studio’s prior plans for staggered beta windows, continues below.

Original Article (April 8th, 2020): In the game’s next closed alpha, the studio will be including select players ranging from levels of 5 – 49, as the first wave of participants admitted to the initial closed alpha stage were picked from a pool of Level 50 players.

At the conclusion of the closed alphas, a closed beta will begin. The studio says that all players who signed up for testing will join existing community testers from the previous phases, and that testers will be able to access Tutorials, VS. AI, the Lobby, and the ‘Echo Arena’ game itself.

Image courtesy Ready at Dawn

Unlike the Rift version, it appears Echo VR for Quest will only include ‘Echo Arena’, the VR sports game, and not ‘Echo Combat’, the team-based shooter. Both are accessible on Rift under the Echo VR umbrella launcher, with ‘Echo Arena’ provided as a free game whilst ‘Echo Combat’ requires an in-app purchase of $10 to play. ‘Echo Arena’ is said to provide cross-play between Quest and Rift.

After the final invite-only phase concludes, a general open beta will begin which anyone can take part in.

Exactly when all of this will take place still isn’t certain; the studio says more info will be shared in subsequent blog posts and that dates have been omitted “to more easily flow between phases and pivot when necessary.”

If you’re interested in taking part of any part of testing Echo VR on Quest, head over to the registration form here.

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‘Phantom: Covert Ops’ Taps ‘Metal Gear Solid’ Snake Voice Actor for Main Protagonist

Oculus exclusive Phantom: Covert Ops is on track for its June 25th release date on Rift and Quest, and today developer nDreams has announced that David Hayter, the English voice of Solid Snake from the Metal Gear Solid franchise will voice the game’s lead villain, Nikolai Zhurov.

If it wasn’t clear enough from the name of the game, Phantom: Covert Ops is a stealth action game. And who more fitting to play the game’s lead protagonist than the voice of stealth gaming icon Solid Snake; David Hayter has voiced Snake in more than a dozen Metal Gear games dating back to the original Metal Gear Solid (1998).

In Phantom: Covert Ops Hayter plays the role of Nikolai Zhurov, an ex-Soviet General who wants to change the outcome of the Cold War.

Phantom: Covert Ops uniquely puts the player in a tactical kayak—no, we’re not joking, and in our preview of the game we found it’s actually a quite compelling bit of VR game design. nDreams says that the game’s story and missions will unfold over the course of a single night, as the player tries to stop Zhurov from executing a dastardly plan.

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As for Hayter, who voices Zhurov, this actually won’t be the first time he’s acted for a VR game; he voiced the character Dr. Kloog in Oculus’ first-party developed Farlands which was an original Rift launch title back in 2016. And if you want to get technical, he actually voiced a “VR” game back in 1999… Metal Gear Solid: VR Missions (no, this wasn’t actually a VR game, it just dealt with VR subject matter).

But Phantom is certainly the biggest VR production that Hayter has yet been part of. Speaking to Road to VR, he said that he’s a longtime gamer himself and had actually played some VR before taking on the role, including going to The VOID’s Star Wars: Secrets of the Empire, an out-of-home VR attraction.

Image courtesy nDreams

For Phantom, Hayter said nDreams sent him an Oculus Quest to try the game for himself. He found the kayak-based stealth action to be “a unique application of VR that I’ve never seen before,” and said the stealth vibe reminded him of Metal Gear.

Phantom: Covert Ops was originally set to release back in 2019, but was delayed into 2020. While the Coronavirus situation has delayed some games, luckily nDreams says that Phantom: Covert Ops is on track for its June 25th release date on Oculus Quest and Rift.

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HTC Unveils ‘Vive Sync’ Social VR Platform for Companies Looking to Go Virtual

In the time of social distancing and the new work-at-home culture, video conferencing has undoubtedly become king. Companies looking to get a little more out of meetings though, namely the ability to virtually chat face-to-face with colleagues, might be surprised to learn that HTC is now opening up its own productivity-focused social VR platform.

Update (April 30th, 2020): HTC today unveiled its new business-focused social VR platform, Vive Sync. The company will be offering Vive Sync for free to companies of all sizes throughout 2020, and is said to support up to 30 users currently.

As a social productivity device, Vive Sync is said to include support for OneDrive, which includes the ability to show PowerPoints, PDFs, marketing videos, or 3D models. In place of traditional note-taking, users will be able to use voice recognition to record notes, annotate with a 3D pen, and take screenshots. As for 3D assets, Vive Sync currently supports FBX and OBJ files, as well as Unity Asset Bundles.

Vive Sync currently only supports HTC headsets, however in the future the company is working to extend hardware compatibility to non-Vive headsets, as well as implement host controls and the ability to record full meetings sessions. You can find how to sign up at the company’s Vive Sync website.

Original Article (April 10th, 2020): Announced on Twitter by HTC Vive China President Alvin Wang Graylin, the company is pitching a virtual meeting service now that it says will be both budget and climate-friendly, and will allow users with and without VR headsets to participate.

#ViveEvents: We are now officially offering end-to-end #Virtual #Events/#Conference / #Exhibitions services globally to help businesses stay productive in the face of current challenges!Deliver!Budget & Climate friendly! #VR device not required. Contact us: events@vive.com pic.twitter.com/DOGNQ9Q1c1

— Alvin Wang Graylin (汪丛青) (@AGraylin) April 9, 2020

Called ‘Vive Events’, the service is meant to take the place of events such as conferences and expositions, and can support up to 5,000 simultaneous attendees, something Graylin says can scale higher if need be.

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This follows the company’s most recent Vive Ecosystems Conference (VEC) which was supposed to take place in the flesh last month, however was scrapped in light of the global coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic. Instead, HTC held the event virtually in education-focused social VR platform Engage, which featured keynotes and a developer meet up in mid-March.

There’s no word yet on whether HTC is creating a purpose-built platform, or licensing pre-existing service (see update). Interested businesses can however contact HTC by sending an email to events@vive.com to learn more.

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This Fan Brought ‘Quake’ to VR, Including 6DOF Controls & Melee

Quake (1996) from id Software defined the real-time 3D shooter genre, and now you can dive back into the ’90s head-first with this fan-built Quake VR mod.

Yes, we know what you’re thinking. Quake has been playable in VR at home since at least 2013, but never like this.

Created by indie developer Vittorio Romeo, Quake VR includes support for 6DOF controllers, and a host of other goodies that make it feel more like a proper port than the gamepad/3DOF headsets of old provided.

Now in its 0.0.4 version, Quake VR boasts dual-wielding weapons, which includes guns and melee weapons too. Punching, throwing axes, and force-grabbing objects is all supported. A body and holster system also allows you to easily store your weapons and switch between guns, just like native VR games do.

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Although the grappling hook is technically a cheat in the original game, which breaks some of the level progression if used liberally, you can use it in VR now too. Best of all, Romeo is making his work on Quake VR both open source and free to download, although he is also accepting donations.

Quake VR supports SteamVR headsets; users may need to modify controller setting in Steam’s binding menu first though to make sure all buttons are mapped correctly.

Romeo also says that since the VR version heavily relies on modified QuakeC files, mods or expansion packs may not be compatible out of the box, however they should be easy to port.

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Mojo Vision Raises an Additional $51M to Fund Smart Contact Lens Development

Mojo Vision announced it has raised more than $51 million in a Series B-1 investment round, something the company says will be used for further development on Mojo Lens, its smart contact lens.

The company’s latest funding round was led by New Enterprise Associates, and includes participation by Gradient Ventures, Khosla Ventures, Liberty Global Ventures, Struck Capital, Dolby Family Ventures, Motorola Solutions Venture Capital, Fusion Fund, Intellectus Partners, KDDI Open Innovation Fund, Numbase Group, InFocus Capital Partners, and others.

Dr. Greg Papadopoulos, PhD, venture partner at New Enterprise Associates, will join Mojo Vision’s board of directors.

The latest funding round brings Mojo Vision’s total funding to more than $159 million, with its penultimate round to date netting the company $58 million in March 2019.

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Mojo is Making Contacts Smarter with Its Incredibly Tiny Microdisplay

Back at CES 2020 in January, Mojo announced that it was building its smart contact lens with built-in display, Mojo Lens. Although the company admitted then that it was still years away from commercialization for consumers, Mojo is first planning to use its contacts for the visually impaired. Applications include real-time contrast and scene enhancement, something the company says will make navigation, obstacle avoidance, and personal interactions easier for the visually impaired.

“The unveiling of the details of our product development earlier this year has generated increased excitement and momentum around the potential of Mojo Lens,” said Mojo Vision CEO and co-founder Drew Perkins. “This new round of funding brings more support and capital from strategic investors and companies to help us continue our breakthrough technology development. It gets us closer to bringing the benefits of Mojo Lens to people with vision impairments, to enterprises and eventually, consumers.”

The smart contact lens is still in development, however Fast Company reported in January that Mojo Lens squeezes 70,000 pixels into less than half a millimeter, a green monochrome microLED served up directly to the eye’s fovea. Although it’s not an augmented reality system as such, the company seems to be making serious inroads to creating a truly wearable heads-up display (HUD), similar to Google Glass in function as opposed to an AR headset such as Microsoft’s HoloLens.

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‘Arizona Sunshine’ for Quest Gets Final DLC Drop with ‘The Damned DLC’

Vertigo Games has now released its final paid DLC for its co-op zombie shooter Arizona Sunshine (2017) on Oculus Quest.

First released on PSVR and PC headsets in October 2019, ‘The Damned DLC’ is now available on Oculus Quest, priced at $5.

This, the studio tells us, includes Oculus Store cross-buy support, so buying it for Quest will also allow you play it on Rift and vice versa.

The Damned DLC precedes the events of the main story, sending you and a team of US Special Forces to reactivate the generators of a massive hydroelectric dam to restore power to the military’s nuclear missile systems.

Priced at $40, Arizona Sunshine supports all major VR headsets, including PSVR, Oculus Rift, HTC Vive, Windows VR headsets, and Oculus Quest.

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VRMMO ‘OrbusVR’ Launches Paid DLC Questline with First Mini Story Pack

OrbusVR, the virtual reality MMORPG, is getting plenty of new content this year, as the studio not only released a continuation of the game’s ‘Explorer’s League’ questline early this year, but also the first of a series of paid DLC ‘Mini Story Packs’ that promise to bring 10 -15 hours of additional content to the game. Now the first of those paid Mini Story Packs is here.

Update (April 30th, 2020): Orbus Online has now released its first Mini Story Pack, called ‘Secrets of Mugwood’. Priced at $10, the studio says in a blog post that the decision to offer its Mini Story Packs as in-app purchases rather than release on Oculus or Steam storefronts was to better tie the content to your account, and not the store platform itself.

The Secrets of Mugwood appears to feature a new device that miniaturizes the player, offering a literal ‘Mini Story’ adventure that only those with the ‘micronizer’ can access. Check out the new promo video below.

Original Article (January 31st, 2020): Introduced last year, The Explorer’s League questline is getting its second phase starting February 10th, which is said to provide around 5-10 hours of new content and include rewards such as a Transmog chest piece, new dyes, achievements, and buildings upon completion of the storyline.

In light of the studio’s decision to make the game free-to-play up until level 10 on PC, it appears OrbusVR is looking towards paid DLC quests to keep players coming back for fresh content. The first paid Mini Story Pack is said to arrive Q2 2020, and will be priced at $10 (see update). The studio says it will include “all-new zones to explore, quest lines and NPCs, allowing you to experience Patreayl like you’ve never seen it before.”

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Here’s how Orbus Online describes it:

While the effects of Essence radiation are clearly visible throughout the land, no one has ever explored their effects on the micro ecosystems of Patreayl. Using the newly developed “micronizer” tool, shrink down and discover a miniature world teeming with life—as well as a few secret cities.

Meet the residents of a mushroom village, clamber up discarded barrels in a field, and find your way through a maze of underground tunnels.

This first Mini Story Pack will introduce around 10-15 hours of new gameplay. You will find new monsters, gear sets, a new mount, pet, house decor and achievements. Each new zone will be laden with hidden areas and secret passages—discovery of which will be aided with the addition of a new climbing mechanic!

Orbus says more information of its first Mini Story Pack will arrive in the coming months, so stay tuned to the studio’s blog for the latest.

OrbusVR supports SteamVR headsets via Steam, and Rift and Quest via the Oculus Store.

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Facebook’s Non-advertising Revenue ‘primarily driven by Oculus,’ up 80% to $297M

In Facebook’s Q1 2020 earnings call today, the company overviewed its latest financial situation and noted that Oculus products were a major contributor to $297 million in non-advertising revenue.

While Facebook makes the vast majority of its revenue from advertising, the company also separately reports non-advertising revenue which includes the sale of Oculus hardware and software, Portal video calling products, and more.

During the company’s Q1 2020 earnings call today, Facebook CFO David Wehner said that non-advertising revenue had reached $297 million, an increase of 80% year-over-year. Wehner specifically noted that the increase was “driven primarily by the sales of Oculus products.” He also reminded the audience that “we launched Quest in May 2019,” seemingly to suggest that the product has been selling well since then.

In the expense department, Wehner also said that Facebook’s R&D costs had grown 40% year-over-year, and that the increase was “driven primarily by investments in core product as well as our innovation efforts, particularly in AR/VR.”

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Responding to an audience question regarding the traction of Oculus products during the pandemic, Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg spoke directly to Quest, the company’s fully-featured standalone headset:

On the virtual reality side—this has always been a long-term vision—Quest has surpassed our expectations. I wish we could make more of them faster during this period. I do think that [considering the pandemic] it’s one of those areas where as people can’t go out and into the world as much, the ability to have technology that allows us to feel present even when we can’t be physically together—whether that’s quest or portal or any of the software that we’re building around video presence—that stuff has certainly seen especially large spikes in usage. And it’s possible that [the pandemic] accelerates some of the trends around virtual or augmented reality, but I’m not sure what will happen there long term. But in the near-term I’m quite pleased with how Quest is doing and I wish we could make more of them.

Last year after launch of Quest and well before the pandemic, Zuckerberg said, “we’re selling them as fast as we can make them.” As the 2019 holiday shopping period approached, it became increasingly hard to find Quest (and to some extent, Rift S) in stock. Shortly after the holidays the Coronavirus began to impact the availability of Oculus’ headsets, and since February it’s been very hard to directly purchase the headset from Oculus or retailers. It’s clear that Zuckerberg’s comments about wanting to be able to “make them faster” speaks to a desire to fulfill the demand the company is seeing.

This week seems to have given a glimmer of hope for those looking to get their hands on Quest; as we reported earlier today, global availability of Quest appears to be returning, though Rift S is still largely unavailable.

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Wireality is an Experimental Haptic Feedback Device Using Shoulder-mounted Strings

Carnegie Mellon University researchers published a paper recently that proposes a novel VR haptic feedback device, which unlike strictly hand-worn haptic devices, lets you feel objects in VR with a measure of ‘positional’ resistance.

Researchers Cathy Fang, Yang Zhang, Matthew Dworman, and Chris Harrison call it Wireality. It’s basically a self-contained, shoulder-worn device that allows you to feel resistance in your hands and fingers when you encounter larger obstacles in VR.

Retractable wires connect to your finger and hand joints, and are locked into place by shoulder-mounted solenoids when you encounter an object, letting you ‘feel’ the solidity of the object in its relation to the user.

Using a sort of exoskeleton (or exotendon) isn’t really a new concept when it comes to haptic gloves, as gloves such as HaptX and Dexmo are similarly designed to lock your joints in place, however this is the first we’ve seen that actually takes that self-contained concept and pushes it further into the third dimension. The gloves listed above create resistance and lock your individual fingers in place, which is helpful for manipulating small, singular objects, but not when it comes to larger objects such as walls, railings, and furniture. With both traditional motion controller buzz haptics and finger-only force feedback gloves, larger objects are essentially immaterial.

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It’s an interesting concept, although there are admittedly some drawbacks. The researchers highlight Wireality’s inability to provide resistive force in any other direction than perpendicular to the wearer’s body. Also, Wireality can’t fully simulate small ‘two-stage’ virtual devices such as buttons and switches because the shoulder-based solenoids can’t reposition themselves without first being released, meaning you won’t be able to feel a button or piano key and naturally depress it like you might in reality.

That said, the researchers have developed a lightweight, low-power device that they were able to create for only $35; one of the key design goals was to make it fit for consumers. Whether the design catches on, or finds itself integrated into another haptic controller still remains to be seen.

If you want a more in-depth look at Wireality, check out the full research paper here.

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John Legend, Tinashe to Play Live Shows in Social VR Platform ‘Wave’

Wave isn’t your garden variety social VR platform. With an emphasis on virtual raves, replete with immersive visualizations and regular live performances, it’s become the de facto concert platform for VR users. Now Wave says it’s bringing more artists this summer via its One Wave concert series, which will include artists such as John Legend, Tinashe, Jauz, Galantis, and more.

The series begins on Thursday, April 30th at 3PM PT (local time here) with a live show from the Church of Galantis. Wave says more show dates will be announced and rolled out over the next several months.

The One Wave series promises to bring more of the platform’s wild visualizations and custom environments, giving VR users access to a concert-going experience that simply isn’t possible outside of VR—especially now that large in-person events aren’t an option.

Performances are said to also stream across other social media and gaming platforms, something the studio says will let fans “socialize and interact with the artists as they perform, cheer as part of a global avatar audience, voting on key show moments, play mini games, and socialize with each other.”

“We are now living in a digital avatar culture. Through our proprietary technology and core gaming capabilities, Wave can go beyond the traditional live streaming concerts and create artist avatars, virtual environments and interactive experiences that truly immerse audiences at the nexus of gaming and entertainment,” said Wave CEO Adam Arrigo in a press statement. “The shows we’ve done with Tinashe, Lindsey Stirilng and Galantis are good examples of how we’ve successfully leveraged these technologies and we are excited to welcome John Legend and others who are joining the platform to elevate how they are creating, distributing and monetizing performances for their fans.”

To top it off, Wave is giving proceeds from the One Wave series to non-profit organizations that are in need of support during the current global COVID-19 pandemic, the studio says.

“The Ad Council will also be providing important public service messaging around mental health awareness and resources as an extension of its COVID-19 response efforts,” the studio says.

Wave is a free app that supports SteamVR headsets via Steam and Oculus Rift via the Oculus Store.

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Rhythm-shooter ‘Pistol Whip’ to Launch on PSVR This Summer

Pistol Whip (2019), the VR rhythm-shooter from Cloudhead Games, has been available on Oculus Quest and SteamVR-compatible headsets since late last year. However it seems PSVR owners will soon be able to get into the stylish shooting action too.

Cloudhead hasn’t said specifically when it will arrive on PSVR this summer, however the studio says it will continue supporting the game in the months following its release on PSVR with fresh content updates, new levels, customization options, “and more to be revealed,” the studio teases in a PS blog post.

In case you haven’t heard of it before, or seen the game’s cinematic-style action, we gave Pistol Whip Road to VR’s 2019 SteamVR Game of the Year Award for good reason. It has an uncanny ability to marry rhythm and shooting, and does so with a really unique flair. It’s one of those games that inspires the flow state, where you sync up with the game and simply react; you shoot baddies on the beat and automatically move forward at a constant, frenetic clip to the punchy beats of each level.

Cloudhead has been issuing regular monthly updates since its release in November 2019 that bring new content to the game, much of it inspired by different film genres each time. This comes part and parcel with new game modes, weapons, skins, etc—all of it free.

Make sure to check out our review of Pistol Whip to find out why we gave it a really solid [8/10].

The post Rhythm-shooter ‘Pistol Whip’ to Launch on PSVR This Summer appeared first on Road to VR.

Ream more: https://www.roadtovr.com/pistol-whip-psvr-launch-date/

Mozilla Launches ‘Hubs Cloud’ on AWS, the ‘WordPress of Social Virtual Spaces’

Mozilla today announced the launch of Hubs Cloud, an AWS-hosted service that allows organizations to run their own private virtual spaces that can be customized to their needs.

You may have heard of Hubs already; it’s Mozilla’s web-based social VR platform which makes it easy for participants across mobile, desktop, and VR to join together in virtual spaces directly through the web browser.

While anyone can make and join rooms for free in Hubs, Mozilla is now giving away the foundation of the platform so that organizations can use it as a basis for their own, self-hosted virtual spaces that can be customized and extended to their needs.

Hubs Cloud, available as of today in ‘Early Access’, can be spun up on an AWS server so that organizations can operate their own virtual spaces on their own domain and their own terms. It’s sort of like WordPress—a popular content management system that’s the foundation for many websites, from travel blogs to ecommerce stores—but instead of creating a flat website, Hubs Cloud creates virtual spaces which are fully owned and controlled by the host.

Mozilla says that Hubs Cloud allows for high-level customizations, like enabling organizations to run instances on their own domains and customize branding, avatars, and environments. For those looking to do even more, Hubs Cloud also opens the door for organizations to write their own expanded features and functionality, which is where things really get interesting.

For instance, an e-commerce company could adapt their payment system to their version of the platform to allow users to purchase goods directly from the company’s virtual showroom. Or maybe another company wants to use Hubs Cloud as their own private corporate meeting rooms—they could tie into their enterprise account system to require company credentials to access the rooms. Given that the Hubs code is open-source, the sky is the limit for organizations that want to extend the platform any way they see fit. And there’s also the opportunity for organizations to contribute code back to the project to make Hubs Cloud an even better starting point for others.

Hubs environments can be modified or created from scratch | Photo by Road to VR

Mozilla is making Hubs Cloud available on AWS in both Personal and Enterprise versions; while they have the same features, the company says that Personal is designed to run smaller instances to keep costs low, and has limits on system-wide scalability. While AWS is the first cloud provider to run Hubs Cloud, Mozilla says it’s working to bring the platform to DigitalOcean next.

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It’s a powerful move on Mozilla’s part because the company is acting as an enabler for virtual spaces on the web rather than trying to ‘own’ such spaces as part of its own closed ecosystem. Hell… you could even use Hubs Cloud as a basis for your own closed social VR ecosystem.

And that’s the point, actually. Mozilla’s goal with Hubs Cloud is to decentralize social virtual spaces by giving people the foundation to easily build and host their own, just like it’s easy to build and host your own website. The company explained as much in the Hubs “master plan” which we wrote about last week when it was first revealed that Hubs Cloud was soon to launch.

The post Mozilla Launches ‘Hubs Cloud’ on AWS, the ‘WordPress of Social Virtual Spaces’ appeared first on Road to VR.

Ream more: https://www.roadtovr.com/mozilla-hubs-cloud-launch-wordpress-social-virtual-spaces/

Quest & Rift S Stock Check – Headsets Shipping as Early as Tomorrow as Stock Appears to Return

Between high demand and manufacturing interruptions due to the Coronavirus, Oculus Quest and Rift S have been in extremely short supply, often commanding a 150% price premiums (or more) in aftermarket sales. Those looking to pick up an Oculus headset may not have to wait too much longer; a global stock check by Road to VR appears to indicate that stock for Oculus headsets is slowly returning.

We checked stock availability for direct purchases from Oculus.com for Quest (64GB), Quest (128GB), and Rift S across all regions where the headsets are sold. The latest shows that Oculus expects to ship new orders of Quest headsets in most countries within one week or less, and in some countries like Australia and New Zealand, within just a day. While the Rift S sees some regional near-term availability, it’s still unavailable in the bulk of countries where sold.

The reason for the disparity between the availability of Quest and Rift S isn’t clear at this time, but we’d guess that it’s related to the fact that Quest is manufactured by Oculus while Rift S is manufactured by Lenovo. It may also have to do with Facebook prioritizing Quest production given especially strong demand for the headset.

SEE ALSO

Oculus Explains Rift S Design & Manufacturing Partnership with Lenovo

Stock for direct purchases from Oculus seems to be returning more quickly than at retailers. In the US, Quest and Rift S remain sold out at all official retailers (though some like Amazon are offering the headsets from sellers charging considerably more than the MSRP).

Whether or not the latest availability represents just a small batch of headsets and a mere ‘blip’ in the overall picture, or a broader trend of availability going forward, isn’t yet clear.

Since Facebook announced back in early February that it expected the Coronavirus to impact the availability of its headsets, the company hasn’t provided any update on the situation, but we’ve reached out for comment. Shortages prompted the company to begin selling refurbished versions of the original Oculus Rift headset which it had discontinued the year prior.

According to the New York Times, China—where Oculus headsets are manufactured—has been steadily reopening its factories. “By some measures, China’s economy is getting back on track. By the end of February, most of its factories and mines had reopened, according to a variety of data, cranking out everything from steel to cellphones at a blistering pace through March. Industrial output rebounded to a near-record level,” reports Keith Bradsher, the publication’s Shanghai bureau chief.

Availability of Valve’s Index headset has also been substantially impacted by the Coronavirus, with new orders backordered by eight weeks or more across the board.

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Thanks to Daniel for the tip on new headset stock!

The post Quest & Rift S Stock Check – Headsets Shipping as Early as Tomorrow as Stock Appears to Return appeared first on Road to VR.

Ream more: https://www.roadtovr.com/oculus-quest-rift-s-stock-check-headset-availability-shipping-countries/

Supernatural VR - Subscription-Based Workout On Oculus Quest... Worth it?

Supernatural is a new subscription-based app that is supposed to be a full fitness package for VR. Let's check if it worth its price! ► Check out our VR equipment → https://www.amazon.com/shop/caschary ► Subscribe to see more videos like this one → https://goo.gl/bSJ6L8 During these lockdown times, I welcome VR fitness apps. So when Supernatural came out, it intrigued me because there’s a monthly fee attached. Now I want to know if that means if it will provide something we haven’t seen before? In this video, I answer this question! TIMESTAMPS 00:56 - Supernatural VR Introduction 01:47 - Supernatural VR Core gameplay mechanics 04:50 - Supernatural VR Conclusion LINKS * - Supernatural on the Oculus Quest store: https://www.oculus.com/experiences/quest/1830168170427369 - More info on Supernatural (FAQ): https://www.getsupernatural.com/faq - Get an Oculus Quest (US): https://bit.ly/oculusquest-cc - Get an Oculus Quest (UK): https://amzn.to/2Jip6Zg - Get an Oculus Quest (NL): http://bit.ly/2QlCpd2 (Coolblue) SUPPORT THE CONTENT ► Become our Patron (includes exclusive rewards) → http://bit.ly/PatreonCasandChary ► Become a Sponsor on YouTube (includes exclusive rewards) → http://bit.ly/JoinCasandChary ► Check out our VR Merch → http://bit.ly/casandchary-merch USE OUR LINKS TO SUPPORT US ► VRcover → http://bit.ly/CCVRCover ► VR Prescription Lens Adapters (5% discount code: "CAS&CHARY") → http://bit.ly/CCWidmoVR ► Oculus Quest Comfort Strap (5% discount code: "CAS&CHARY") → http://bit.ly/CCStudioformVR ► Play PC VR games with your Quest (10% discount code: "JWGTCASCHARY") → http://bit.ly/CCRiftcat ► More on our website → https://casandchary.com/discount-codes-affiliate-links/ OUR GEAR Our VR equipment → https://www.amazon.com/shop/caschary Full PC Specs → https://casandchary.com/vr-equipment/ GET LATEST UPDATES Twitter → https://twitter.com/CasandChary Facebook → https://www.facebook.com/casandchary/ Instagram → https://www.instagram.com/casandchary/ Join our Discord → https://discord.gg/YH52W2k A special thanks to these Patreon Champs for their support: - BaxornVR: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC1tmq8Y3jC7gNGvW7asmv1Q - Wintceas - Studioform VR - Andy - Albert - Ben P. - Steve Dunlap MUSIC Music we use is from Epidemic Sounds → http://bit.ly/CCEpidemicSound DISCLAIMER Links in this description may contain affiliate links. We may earn from qualifying purchases from these links (without costing you more). VR on! - Cas and Chary VR #supernaturalvr #vrfitness #oculusquest

‘Bigscreen’ Partners with Funimation to Bring 30+ Popular Anime Films On-Demand

Bigscreen, the social VR viewing platform, launched on-demand video a few days ago, letting users rent and view a library of 2D and 3D movies whenever they wanted. Now the studio revealed that they’ve partnered with Sony’s anime distribution company Funimation to bring some of the biggest names in anime to its rapidly expanding on-demand service.

Bigscreen founder Darshan Shankar tells Road to VR that with Friday’s release of on-demand video, that the platform successfully broke its all-time revenue record.

“This was a massive change to how Bigscreen works,” Shankar says. “People that attended our inaugural movie events over the weekend were able to experience many packed cinema rooms. I was shocked to see that most people stayed all the way until the credits.”

Now with Funimation involved, Bigscreen is able to show 30+ anime films to Bigscreen, including popular hits Akira, My Hero Academia: Two Heroes, and Attack on Titan. Check out the full list below.

Bigscreen now boasts a catalog of dozens of 2D and 3D films available for on-demand viewing, which includes the ability to control playback like you would any streaming service. The new on-demand system gives you 48 hours to finish your selected movie once you’ve started it, and will be available in up to 10 countries starting from $4 per film. Check out Bigscreen’s catalog of movies here for more.

And to inaugurate the new glut of on-demand anime offerings, the platform is holding live film screenings that begin on May 1st, which will be broadcast live on a pay-per-view basis at 6PM PT (local time here) at the cost of $4 per ticket.

As opposed to on-demand content, these live screening events are conducted like physical movie theaters, with specific starting and ending times. Theater space is technically unlimited though, with infinite screens hosting up to eight users for each theater, making it easy to pop in for a showing without having to queue.

Anime Movie Event Screenings

• May 1: Your Name
• May 8: My Hero Academia: Two Heroes
• May 15: Akira
• May 21: The Disappearance of Haruhi Suzumiya
• May 29: The Girl Who Leapt Through Time
• June 5: Sword of the Stranger
• June 12: I Am A Hero

Anime Movies On-Demand in Bigscreen

• Your Name
• Planetarian: Storyteller of the Stars
• The Disappearance of Haruhi Suzumiya Movie
• The Girl Who Leapt Through Time
• Steins Gate Movie
• Strike Witches Movie
• Fairy Tail Dragon Cry Movie
• Fairy Tail the Movie: Phoenix Priestess
• Ghost in the Shell: The New Movie
• Akira
• Attack on Titan Part 1
• Attack on Titan Part 2
• Shin Godzilla
• I Am A Hero
• Parasyte Part 1
• Parasyte Part 2
• My Hero Academia: Two Heroes
• Boy and the Beast
• Triguns Badland Rumble
• Death Note: Light Up the New World
• Death Note
• Death Note: The Last Name
• Psycho-Pass: The Movie
• Eden of the East: Air Communication
• Eden of the East: King of Eden
• Eden of the East: Paradise Lost
• Assassination Classroom The Movie: 365 Days’ Time
• Garo: Divine Flame
• Black Butler: Book of the Atlantic
• Sword of the Stranger
• The School Idol Movie: Over the Rainbow

The post ‘Bigscreen’ Partners with Funimation to Bring 30+ Popular Anime Films On-Demand appeared first on Road to VR.

Ream more: https://www.roadtovr.com/bigscreen-anime-funimation-on-demand/

‘Puzzling Places’ is a 3D Jigsaw Puzzle for Quest Featuring Stunning Photogrammetry Scans

Realities.io, the team behind the photogrammetry-based VR experience Realities (2016), today released a prototype version of their latest creation, a 3D VR jigsaw puzzle game for Oculus Quest called Puzzling Places.

The studio is currently seeking funding to eventually bring a full-feature version to the Oculus Store, however in the meantime the studio has made the prototype game available for free on SideQuest, the unofficial sideloading app store for Oculus Quest.

The project is still in pre-production, however with today’s prototype the studio is releasing one environment to get what they hope will be some early validation of the concept and feedback from the community to guide further development.

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Image courtesy Realities.io

Image courtesy Realities.io

Image courtesy Realities.io

Image courtesy Realities.io

Image courtesy Realities.io

Image courtesy Realities.io

The Realities team says Puzzling Places was made with “some of [their] most beautiful Photogrammetry scans,” with the first centered on the historic Tatev Monastery, a ninth-century Armenian Apostolic monastery located in southeastern Armenia. This, the studio tells us, includes immersive ambisonic spatial audio recorded on-site, and includes whole scans of both the interior and exterior of the monastery.

“The goal was to create a relaxing and meditative experience, giving you a very simple task: putting pieces together,” Realities.io tells Road to VR. “The game design, sound design, and environment design were all built around reinforcing that concept.”

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And where did the idea come from? Realities.io tells us it was actually a mistake that led them to create the unique puzzler.

“We’ve had the idea of Puzzling Places floating around our heads for a while. One day, due to a Unity import error, the pieces of a scanned environment were scrambled around the scene. Someone made a joke that fixing this by hand would like making a 3D jigsaw puzzle, and so the idea was born!” the studio says.

Founded in 2016, Realities.io is spent its early days in the Boost VC accelerator in San Mateo, California. Now based in Berlin, Germany, the studio has a number of VR films and experiences to its name, including Tribeca 2019’s Best Immersive Media award winner The Key, and Home After War, winner of the Best Use of Immersive Arts at SXSW 2019.

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Find out how to install SideQuest to play Puzzling Places and many more indie gems that are currently flying under the radar.

The post ‘Puzzling Places’ is a 3D Jigsaw Puzzle for Quest Featuring Stunning Photogrammetry Scans appeared first on Road to VR.

Ream more: https://www.roadtovr.com/puzzling-places-photogrammetry-jigsaw/

Hand-tracking Text Input System From Facebook Researchers Throws Out the Keyboard (sort of)

A prototype from Facebook Reality Labs researchers demonstrates a novel method for text input with controllerless hand-tracking. The system treats the hands and fingers as a sort of predictive keyboard which uses pinching gestures to select groups of letters.

Text input is crucial to many productivity tasks and it’s something which is still a challenge inside of AR and VR headsets. Yes, you can sit in front of a keyboard, but with a VR headset on you won’t be able to see the keyboard itself. For some very good typists, this isn’t an issue, but for most people it makes typing especially challenging. Even for good typists (or for AR headsets where the keyboard is visible), the need to sit in front of a keyboard keeps you chained to a desk, drastically reducing the freedom that you’d otherwise have with a fully tracked headset.

Voice input is one option, but problematic for several reasons. For one, it lacks discretion and privacy—anyone standing near you would not only have to hear you talk, but they would also hear the entire contents of your input. Another issue is that dictation is a somewhat different mode of thought than typing, and not as well suited for many common writing tasks.

A virtual keyboard in ‘Facebook Spaces’

Virtual keyboards are another option—where you use your fingers to poke at floating keys—but they’re too slow for serious writing tasks and lack physical feedback.

Facebook Reality Labs researchers have created a hand-tracking text input prototype, designed for AR and VR headsets, which throws out the keyboard as we know it.

Instead of touching keys on the keyboard, groups of keys are mapped to each finger. Instead of selecting a specific letter, you pinch with the finger corresponding to whichever color-coded group contains the desired key. As you go, the system attempts to predict which word you want based on context, similar to a mobile swiping keyboard. The researchers call the system PinchType.

PinchType overcomes many of the issues with typical virtual keyboards and voice input. It’s quiet, private, and looks to be much faster than hunt-and-peck on a floating virtual keyboard. It also provides feedback because you can feel when you touch your fingers together.

The researchers shared some initial findings from testing the system:

In a preliminary study with 14 participants, we investigated PinchType’s speed and accuracy on initial use, as well as its physical comfort relative to a mid-air keyboard. After entering 40 phrases, most people reported that PinchType was more comfortable than the mid-air keyboard. Most participants reached a mean speed of 12.54 WPM, or 20.07 WPM without the time spent correcting errors. This compares favorably to other thumb-to-finger virtual text entry methods.

But there’s some downsides. The system relies on accurate hand-tracking, and one of the most challenging facets of it—as seen from a head-mounted camera, it’s very common for fingers to be occluded by the back of the hand. Below, you can see that—as seen from the viewpoint—it’s ambiguous if the user is using their pinky or ring finger for the tap.

It’s very likely that the PinchType prototype was developed using high-end hand-tracking tech with external cameras (to remove sub-par accuracy from the equation). We’ll have to wait for the full details of the system to be published to know if the researchers believe these occluded cases present an issue for an inside-out hand-tracking system.

The PinchType prototype is the work of Facebook Reality Labs researchers Jacqui Fashimpaur, Kenrick Kin, and Matt Longest. The work was presented under the title Text Entry for Virtual and Augmented Reality Using Comfortable Thumb to Fingertip Pinches.

The work was published as part of CHI 2020, a conference focused on human-computer interaction.

The post Hand-tracking Text Input System From Facebook Researchers Throws Out the Keyboard (sort of) appeared first on Road to VR.

Ream more: https://www.roadtovr.com/pinchtype-hand-tracking-text-input-ar-vr-facebook-reality-labs/