SteamVR Archives - VR World

Gaming, Hardware, News, Virtual Reality (VR), VR World

SteamVR adds resolution scaling feature for HTC Vive and other headsets

A common staple of PC gaming is the ability to change resolution and other graphical settings in accordance with your own machine’s performance levels. Despite how common this is in PC gaming, it’s actually surprisingly scarce in VR gaming (PC and console alike) due to the way that most VR titles are made to target a specific hardware configuration. A new feature for SteamVR hopes to alleviate this by adding a resolution-scaling feature to SteamVR. Screenshot credit: TechRadar.com The implementation of this feature opens up possibilities in two different directions. In one direction are people on the lower-end of the VR spec (GPU especially), who

Entertainment, HTC, News, Oculus, Virtual Reality (VR)

Paramount and Bigscreen to offer free VR screenings of Top Gun

Virtual reality cinema company Bigscreen has partnered with Paramount Home Media Distribution to virtually screen showings of Top Gun for 24 hours, commencing at 6pm EST on December 29th. The Bigscreen experience aims to bring the movie theatre experience to home audiences, allowing them to interact in a virtual lobby and watch videos on a virtual movie screen, complete with immersive sound and lighting. “Bigscreen’s virtual reality platform offers a new way for fans to experience films in their homes,” said Bob Buchi, President Worldwide Home Media Distribution, Paramount Pictures. “We’re excited to be a part of this experiment using cutting-edge technology to give fans

News, Virtual Reality (VR), VR World

LG’s VR Headset Named: What You Need To Know

At the Game Developers Conference (GDC) earlier this year, LG debuted a new VR headset. This headset was a SteamVR-powered prototype with an OLED display, a 110 degree field of view and a 90 hz refresh rate. Aside from the previously-mentioned tech specs, this headset also boasts a unique “visor” form factor, which allows much better display adjustments…up to and including flipping the display off without needing to remove the headset. Specs aside, Mobiel Kopien stumbled upon an LG trademark for something called the LG UltraGear. The UltraGear is a VR headset, according to the trademark. It stands to reason, then, that the UltraGear is the

Apple, Augmented Reality (AR), News, Software Programs, Virtual Reality (VR), VR World

Apple adds VR features to Final Cut Pro

Apple this week announced a significant upgrade to its pro video editing app, Final Cut Pro X. Released contemporaneously with the new, high-performance iMac Pro, the application introduces a variety of new features, including 360-degree VR video editing and support for full-resolution 8K video. Also upgraded are Apple’s Motion and Compression applications. Motion is Apple’s companion app that is used for creating and editing motion graphics, titling, and composting, while Compressor is intended for video and media compression. Among the new VR-specific features in Final cut Pro X are 360-degree 2D or 3D titles; VR-specific blurs, glows and other effects; controls to assist in editing

Entertainment, Google, News, Videos, Virtual Reality (VR), VR World

YouTube VR comes to Steam Early Access, issues ensue

YouTube is the biggest video distribution platform in the world, but it’s still prone to issues. Every major update to the site results in some backlash or another, and this often extends to YouTube implementations on other platforms as well. Today, that platform is SteamVR. So what happened? The YouTube VR application on Google Daydream lets users browse YouTube in a 3D space with full 360-degree visuals, allowing 360 videos to be watched in VR. This same application was ported from Daydream to SteamVR, and unfortunately, the Steam counterpart doesn’t seem to function quite as smoothly. For some users, the YouTube VR app outright doesn’t

Gaming, Hardware, Microsoft, Virtual Reality (VR), VR World, Windows

SteamVR Preview Coming To Windows Mixed Reality, Requires Higher Specs

SteamVR is essentially an extension of Steam, allowing a virtual hub for playing and purchasing VR applications. Since its release with the HTC Vive (and eventual compatibility with the Oculus Rift), SteamVR has been a favorite among VR enthusiasts everywhere. With the debut of Windows Mixed Reality headsets on PC, many were left wondering if Mixed Reality headsets could support the same software, and it looks like the answer to that question is a resounding yes. SteamVR is coming to Windows Mixed Reality headsets in an official preview state on November 15th, 2017. Full, official compatibility is somewhere further down the line, likely depending on the

Hardware, HTC, News, VR World

HTC Vive Pulls Out All Stops For Halloween

HTC is one of the biggest names in virtual reality, thanks mainly to their excellent HTC Vive headset. The HTC Vive has remained a favorite among enthusiasts for quite a while and even experienced steady price dropping since its release. As some may know, the Vive was produced in collaboration with Valve, the company behind Steam. As a part of Steam’s annual Halloween sale, HTC is pitching into the action by offering a free copy of Star Trek: Bridge Crew for those who purchase a Vive through its Steam page. But it doesn’t stop there: that wouldn’t be enough to justify its own article. In

Breaking, Business, Buying Guides, Event, News, VR World

FOLLOW-UP CYBER MONDAY DEALS ARE HERE

After an article on Black Friday we decided to do a Cyber Monday article as well. It’s easy for Cyber Monday to be overshadowed by the Black Friday hype, but this billion-dollar shopping holiday has its own unique qualities. Amazon Amazon’s web portal is pushing their own wares with 50+ percent discounts on own Kindle tablets and Alexa assistant. True Cyber Monday deals are being pushed in waves, so a person should pay attention to Amazon 2016 Cyber Monday landing page. Best Buy Best Buy has numerous amount of gadgets, computers and accessories. Check their Cyber Monday landing page here. Dell Cyber Monday at Dell brought discounts on all Inspiron

Breaking, Gaming, News, Rumors, Virtual Reality (VR), Wearables

Is Oculus Touch Priced at USD 199?

Even though they’re not the only VR headsets on the market, HTC Vive and Oculus Rift attract the most attention and command the mainstream media presence. When announced, Oculus Rift launch price of $599 presented a main advantage over HTC Vive’s $799. In markets such as the European Union, that price went as high as Euro 699 (Rift) vs. 899 (Vive). Translated into USD, $785 vs. 1010. From the very start, explanation for the Vive price was that the package enables “room scale VR,” with the included tracking solution (Lighthouse) and a pair of motion controllers, while the Oculus Rift only comes with a Microsoft Xbox controller.

Breaking, Game Developer Conference (GDC), Graphics, News, Nvidia, startups, Virtual Reality (VR), Wearables

GameFace Labs VR: Works Standalone and on the PC

During the Game Developers Conference, we encountered a young hardware development team named GameFace Labs. This small but rising startup is working on creating an ultimate VR experience, enabling you to use the device while you’re moving, and once you’re home – you can connect it to the PC. Unlike any other product on the market, there is no ‘collision of worlds’. HTC Vive and Oculus Rift are experiences that require a PC and are intended for internal use, while mobile headsets like the Samsung’s GearVR work wherever you are. With this concept, GameFace Labs wants to cover both angles. The concept behind the retail device will be to offer ultimate mobile

Breaking, Game Developer Conference (GDC), Graphics, News, Reviews, Software Programs, Virtual Reality (VR)

Basemark Launches New VR Benchmark VRScore

At the CryTek event today at GDC 2016, Basemark unveiled VRScore, a VR benchmark. This is a first ultra-demanding, high-resolution, high-texture benchmark coming from the team that worked together on numerous iterations of Futuremark’s 3DMark. They spun of from Futuremark, developing ‘Basemark’ benchmark for mobile devices, and now are entering the dynamic VR scene. “From the first moment sitting down with the Crytek team through the development of VRScore, we’ve been thoroughly impressed with their talent and hard working,” said Tero Sarkkinen, founder of Basemark, “Today, we together put the fruits of this collaboration for the first time for the general public to see and I am

Entertainment, Gaming, Hardware, Software Programs, Virtual Reality (VR), VR World

Manus VR Glove Dev Kit Pre-Orders to Open for $250

On Thursday, Manus VR said that pre-orders for the first Manus glove developer kit (DK1) will open its doors in Q2 2016. For $250, the kit will contain one pair of VR gloves, two wrist-mounted holders for the HTC Vive controller, various cables, plug-ins for the Unity and Unreal engines, an open-source SDK for five operating systems, and a demo game for each of those platforms. The kit will ship out to customers in Q3 2016. Currently compatible with only the HTC Vive VR headset, the Magus gloves will work on Android, Windows 7 and newer, Linux, Apple’s iOS and Mac OS X platforms. According

Breaking, Entertainment, Gaming, Graphics, Virtual Reality (VR), VR World

Valve Releases Session 1, 2 of SteamVR Dev Roundtable

Last week, Valve Software published the first session of its SteamVR Developer Roundtable, featuring VR developers Justin Liebregts (Cloudlands Minigolf), Andy Moore (Fantastic Contraption), Dylan Fitterer (Audioshield), Richard Stitselaar (Arizona Sunshine), Dave Walsh (Elite Dangerous), and Joachim Holmér (Budget Cuts). These “pioneers” spent just over 26 minutes talking about their experience developing virtual reality games for the SteamVR platform and the upcoming HTC Vive. The video opens up with Andy Moore talking about Fantastic Contraption, a building game for VR. He says most people don’t know how mind-blowing VR can be because they mostly see screenshots. He makes a valid point: after jumping into a

Breaking, Gaming, News, press releases, Virtual Reality (VR)

Valve Announces The Lab, New VR Experience

Valve Corporation sent out a short press release citing that SteamVR Benchmark is not the only piece of VR software the company is working on. During the next week’s Game Developer’s Conference, the company plans to introduce a compilation of different VR demos, targeting their SteamVR platform (read: HTC Vive). Without further adue, this is the press release in its entirety: “VALVE ANNOUNCES THE LAB March 7, 2016 — Valve has announced plans to debut “The Lab,” a compilation of new VR experiments, at next week’s Game Developers Conference in San Francisco, CA. Set in a pocket universe of Aperture Science, “The Lab” offers multiple ways

AMD, Breaking, Gaming, Graphics, Nvidia, Reviews, Virtual Reality (VR)

Valve VR Test: AMD Wins Against NVIDIA?

Update March 17th, 2016 16:52 GMT – The AMD R9 Nano x2 was the performance achieved by Radeon Pro Duo. We have discussed the SteamVR benchmark with Valve and they are working on expanding the benchmark score to incorporate more frames. The Fidelity test will stay just that (“Crank it up to 11”), but the benchmark will be enhanced to factor in the developments of graphics hardware. We will follow up as more developments around SteamVR happen. Original Article: Over the past three weeks, we saw two VR vendors releasing their tests to check can your machine deliver an optimal VR experience or not. As it goes, one vendor (Oculus) did

Augmented Reality (AR), Consumer Electronics Show (CES), Gaming, Hardware, News, Virtual Reality (VR), Wearables

Preview: HTC’s Vive Pre VR is a New Design

Several weeks ago, HTC came out with a statement that their Vive VR system, which is being developed together with Valve Corporation and their SteamVR platform – is being pushed back from December 2015 to April 2016. While the company kept mum on the reasons for the delay, they insisted it wasn’t related to manufacturing issues, but rather because of ‘technological breakthrough’. On CES 2016, HTC and Valve finally released the images of completed products, and we have to admit they look quite different compared to the Vive VR setup we tested in November. Under the retail product name HTC Vive Pre, the company introduced what is a third generation of