Today we're taking a peek at a new set of images of the next Oculus virtual reality headset. This newest headset has not yet been unveiled officially, so we're working with a limited set of leaked details. What we DO have is some rather vivid imagery of this headset from a couple of key angles.
There's a new Oculus headset in the mix this week, leaked via social media with a single bright, high definition image. This piece of hardware looks a lot like the last couple of Oculus VR headsets, this time coming with a self-contained VR sensor system (likely built on Android) with a pair of Oculus controllers and a white color scheme.
There was a time before computers had a controller called a mouse. There was a time before personal mobile phones had touchscreens. There was a time before humans harnessed the power of electricity to enable them to control and interact with the world around them in ways that'd be otherwise impossible. Google has a concept for a device that might launch the next generation into the future as a singular controller for the operation of all things digitally connected. It's sort of like a magic wand, and it's called the House Mouse.
Facebook is probably one of the last Big Tech companies you'd associate with virtual and augmented reality technologies but it has actually invested a lot of its resources into VR and AR, not even counting its acquisition of VR pioneer Oculus. Of course, Facebook's ideals for VR are more on the casual and social side and its Facebook Reality Labs is working on making that technology be less obnoxious and less uncomfortable, as if you were simply wearing rather large sunglasses.
In an announcement through Oculus today, Facebook revealed that it has acquired Ready at Dawn, the developer behind the hit virtual reality game Lone Echo, as well as lesser-known titles Echo Arena and Echo Combat. Facebook praised the studio, calling Ready at Dawn a 'veteran' in the game industry. Development continues on the sequel game Lone Echo II.
The past five months have seen a lot of sudden changes to how we interact with each other both socially and professionally. There has been an increase in the use of the Internet and computing devices, including smartphones, for work and to keep in touch with friends and families. HTC, however, notes that all these sudden innovations still make humans slaves to flat, two-dimensional screens. It is for that reason that it is launching a couple of XR apps to take that experience to the third dimension, calling it the Next Normal of computing.
Since the dawn of Star Wars, George Lucas's universe has expanded with stories from across the galaxy - and across time. In Star Wars: Squadrons, the gamer is dropped in to the cockpit of a starfighter at a key point in the history of the Rebellion, and the decline of the evil Galactic Empire. Much like Star Wars: Battlefront (2015), this game takes place (at least in part) just after the battle of Endor, after the destruction of the Death Star II.
Today we're taking a peek at the release details of Star Wars: Squadrons. This is the newest EA Games / Motive Studios release in the Star Wars universe, centered on 5v5 dogfights in starfighters piloted by New Republic (rebellion) pilots and pilots fighting on the side of the dying Galactic Empire. Now that the Death Star II has been destroyed, and both Darth Vader and Emperor Palpatine along with it - things are different, and attitudes have changed.
It seems that the VR and AR pendulum is swinging back to the smartphone side of things. Headsets started out as hulking boxes strapped to your head and wired to a computer but, thanks to Google, some got the idea of shoving a smartphone into that box instead and calling it a day. Realizing the limitations of phones, headset makers like HTC moved away towards standalone devices but may now be moving back to smartphone-powered gear, this time for XR glasses.
It's been a little while since we last heard from Lenovo's VR arm, but today the company is back with a new headset. Today Lenovo unveiled the Mirage VR S3, an all-in-one headset it created with the help of the folks at Pico Interactive. With a 4K display and hands-free functionality that doesn't need the included paddle controller, it sounds like the Mirage VR S3 could be a very capable headset.
Half-Life Alyx is the first major game in the franchise to come out in years but its high requirements made it a no-go for many fans of the franchise. Valve may have boosted sales of its Index VR system and perhaps other compatible VR gear but that is still a small number compared to Half-Life fans still left hanging. Unsurprisingly, there have been a few attempts at getting Alyx to run on screens that are flat as pancakes but this Pancake FPS Starter Kit looks to be one of the most promising and slightly more confusing ones.
Virtual reality is supposed to give the illusion of being in an artificial yet believable world. Given today's technologies, however, that doesn't always look believable not just in graphics quality but also in how things move. Liquids are one of the hardest things to get right and Valve had a simple solution for those in Half-Life: Alyx that involved simply ignoring they even exist. The latest update, however, finally brings some semblance of reality and lets you play with all kinds of liquids that you might not even have access to in the real world.