Facebook’s impressive Oculus Quest standalone VR headset will is getting a serious rival when it launches this spring.
To compete with the Quest, HTC’s releasing the Vive Focus Plus, its own standalone VR headset with built-in head and hand-tracking …
Category: Virtual Reality
No Man’s Sky’s next update will let you explore infinite space in virtual reality
No Man’s Sky just figured out a way to make a wildly absorbing space exploration game even more immersive. Announced during Sony’s first PlayStation State of Play update, No Man’s Sky devotees will soon be able to explore an endless procedurally generated universe in virtual reality. Hello Games’ Sean Murray followed Sony’s news with a […]
View More No Man’s Sky’s next update will let you explore infinite space in virtual realityOn the ground with TechCrunch at GDC 2019
The Game Developers Conference was held last week in San Francisco and we wanted to get together to discuss what we saw at the show for Extra Crunch members. VR, gaming engines, Unity, Unreal and Epic were just some of the topics we touched upon. But perhaps the biggest of all was Google’s new game-streaming […]
View More On the ground with TechCrunch at GDC 2019Alibaba acquires Israeli VR startup Infinity Augmented Reality
Infinity Augmented Reality, an Israeli virtual reality startup, has been acquired by Alibaba, the companies announced this weekend. The deal’s terms were not disclosed. Alibaba and InfinityAR have had a strategic partnership since 2016, when Alibaba Group led InfinityAR’s Series C. Since then, the two have collaborated on augmented reality, computer vision and artificial intelligence […]
View More Alibaba acquires Israeli VR startup Infinity Augmented RealityNintendo’s Labo: VR Kit is not Virtual Boy 2.0
Even the most successful tech company is going to have a stumble from time to time. Nintendo’s 45 years in the video game industry is spotted with a few doozies, but none are more infamous than the Virtual Boy. The 1994 portable console was marketed as an early home entry into virtual reality, but in […]
View More Nintendo’s Labo: VR Kit is not Virtual Boy 2.0Nintendo is on to something with its simple and cheap Labo-powered VR
It was announced as “simple VR.” And that’s exactly what it delivers.
Nintendo chose wisely in using Labo to plot the company’s path into a virtual reality future. There’s already a global market familiar with the idea of “cardboard VR” — and cardboard, of course, is the glue that holds Labo together — and the low-tech approach keeps the price family-friendly.
Now, having actually spent some time playing with the Labo VR Kit, I’m happy to confirm: It’s good stuff.
Let’s talk about what’s in the box first. A basic $40 starter set gets you the VR Kit software, the cardboard pieces you’ll need to build the headset — which includes a hard plastic component for the lenses — and the Toy-Con Blaster, one of several build-it-yourself peripherals that work in tandem with the headset. Read more…
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View More Nintendo is on to something with its simple and cheap Labo-powered VRHands-on with the Oculus Rift S: the ‘S’ stands for Subpar
The Oculus Rift S is a bit of an odd one. Three years after the Rift’s initial launch, Oculus has released a product that feels like a lateral move rather than a leap forward. It’s better in a few ways and worse in a few ways. After spending some time playing with it and spending […]
View More Hands-on with the Oculus Rift S: the ‘S’ stands for SubparThe Oculus Rift S is indeed real and arrives in spring for $399
After years of high-profile onstage announcements, Oculus has decided to quietly deliver the successor to its flagship Rift virtual reality headset, confirming most bits of our October report with the release of the new Oculus Rift S. As we first reported, the biggest improvements to the Oculus Rift S are a move to the company’s […]
View More The Oculus Rift S is indeed real and arrives in spring for $399Media fragmentation is annoying consumers
Deloitte’s Technology, Media and Telecommunications division published its 13th-annual Digital Media Trends survey, focused on identifying changes in the ways US consumers engage with various types of media. Led by an independent research firm, the survey had roughly 2,000 consumer respondents across demographics – with the report categorizing respondents based on age (Gen-Z: ages 14-21, […]
View More Media fragmentation is annoying consumersCamera maker Insta360 raises $30M as it eyes 2020 IPO
Insta360, one of the pioneers in making 360-degree cameras, just raised $30 million in a Series C+ funding round from Chinese investors including Everest Venture Capital, MG Holdings and Huajin Capital. The Shenzhen-based camera maker declines to disclose its latest valuation. It plans to use the fresh proceeds in research and development, marketing and after-sales services […]
View More Camera maker Insta360 raises $30M as it eyes 2020 IPORendered or real? Real-time ray tracing makes cars look convincingly realistic.
The hyper-realistic reflection of light on the ground in front of the car should’ve given it away, but I was so distracted by the realness of everything else that I didn’t pick up on the clues that the BMW 8 series coupe I was looking at wasn’t the r…
View More Rendered or real? Real-time ray tracing makes cars look convincingly realistic.HP built a better version of the Oculus Rift
HP honestly isn’t generally a brand most associate with being at the cutting edge of new technologies, but the company’s new HP Reverb is probably the best PC-powered consumer VR headset out there when balancing price and feature set. It’s not only a big win for HP, but a big win for the Windows Mixed […]
View More HP built a better version of the Oculus Rift