Big Quest 2 Update Adds 90Hz Refresh Rate, Fitness Tracking, and Much More - Road to VR

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Oculus Quest 2 is getting a big update starting today with the rollout of the v23 software which brings a heap of improvements to the headset, including the launch of the ‘Oculus Move’ fitness tracking feature. Many of the updates also benefit the original Quest.

With a gradual rollout starting today, the Quest 2 v23 software update is bringing a bunch of enhancements to the headset. Facebook rolls out updates to users slowly, so not everyone will see the update right away, but you can check for an update manually to see if it’s available to you. Here’s how:

How to Update Quest and Quest 2

1. In your headset, bring up the Quest menu by pressing the Oculus button on your right controller. Find the Settings section (gear icon).
2. On the left of the Settings section select ‘About’ at the bottom of the list
3. Look next to the ‘Software Update’ label to see if a new version is available
4. Check the ‘Version’ label to see which version is currently installed

Note that some features in the update are experimental and will only be available to a subset of users for the time being.

So what’s in the v23 Quest 2 update? A lot. You can check out the complete release notes here, and we’ve got a breakdown of the major additions below, along with some extra details from Facebook.

90Hz Refresh Rate in Menus and Select Apps

Image courtesy Facebook

First and foremost, Quest 2 is finally getting updated to support 90Hz refresh rate out of the box for all system software and any apps that opt-in to run at that refresh rate. A higher refresh rate makes everything in the headset look smoother and feel a little more real.

Oculus had marketed Quest 2 as having a 90Hz refresh rate (compared to the 72Hz of the original Quest), but at launch it was limited to an opt-in experimental mode which only applied to the headset’s menus. The v23 update makes the 90Hz refresh rate the default in all system software, and also allows developers to update their apps to run at 90Hz if they choose (this will be based on whether the apps can maintain consistent 90 FPS).

Oculus Move Fitness Tracking

Image courtesy Facebook

Facebook is adding a new headset-wide fitness tracking feature to Quest and Quest 2 called Oculus Move. Using the tracked motion of your headset and controllers, the feature estimates the calories burned while playing games in VR and even allows you to set daily goals for fitness activity.

The company says the feature will ask for basic information like your weight, height, and sex to better estimate your calorie burn, and claims this information will “be stored locally on your headset and not shared with Facebook.” Providing the information is also optional; users can skip the step and still use the Oculus Move feature with averages used for the estimation instead.

Somewhat confusingly, the release notes say “these features and enhancements will become available throughout the week of 11/13/20,” but the Oculus Move section says, “Oculus Move is rolling out gradually starting next week,” so although the v23 software is a prerequisite, it sounds like Oculus Move might not start showing up for another week yet.

Reduced Latency and Quest Resolution Improvement

The release notes also indicate that Facebook has reduced overall latency on both Quest and Quest 2 through “software enhancements,” though details are sparse. We reached out to Facebook for additional details and it shared the following:

We implemented a latency reduction technology which can reduce motion to photon latency by managing frame timing according to the application’s actual workload. Compared with the existing fixed latency mode, it can achieve significant latency reduction for many cases. This is a mobile version of a technology already implemented in our PC software.

Specifically for the original Quest the v23 update will bring “improved image resolution” to the headset. Again, details in the release notes are minimal, but Facebook provided us with a bit more info:

Specifically, we increased the [render resolution] for the Home environment, including all System UI. This effectively increased the resolution there, so you’ll see improved crispness/clarity.

New Onboarding Tutorials

Image captured by Road to VR

To help users get up to speed with their new VR headset, Facebook says it has added “a series of mini tutorial experiences to introduce you to the basics of VR.” While the lovely First Steps experience is a great ‘intro to VR’, it seems the new tutorials will be focused on more specific use-cases, perhaps like navigating the system software, downloading new games, browsing the web, etc.

It isn’t yet clear if these will be fully immersive tutorials like First Steps, or more like step-by-step guides with floating boxes in the system menus. We’ll have to wait and see—Facebook says this particular feature is experimental and won’t be available to all users.

Voice Command Improvements

Voice Commands on Quest and Quest 2 are one of the best ways to quickly control your headset, like launching apps, opening menus, changing settings, or dictating text. The v23 update now adds automatic punctuation for dictation:

• As you speak, dictation will automatically fill in periods, commas, question marks and capitalization. Afterwards, you can give us a thumbs up or thumbs down to provide feedback on your experience.
• Note: This experience will gradually roll out to English speaking users in the US & Canada.

The dictation button has now been built into the search bar making it easier to search the Store with your voice.

The Voice Commands feature a a whole will also now become available to English speakers in Canada.

– – — – –

With such a big update to Quest and Quest 2, it’s clear that Facebook is continuing to put a ton of energy toward iterating on its standalone headsets and improving the experience over time through software. Keep your eye out for the v23 update, but remember that you might not be eligible to download it for a while yet.

November 14, 2020 at 04:57AM
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Big Quest 2 Update Adds 90Hz Refresh Rate, Fitness Tracking, and Much More - Road to VR

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Will This Glove Finally Let You Touch Stuff in VR? - Futurism

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A team of scientists at Cornell University has created a stretchable fiber-optic sensor that detect exactly what you’re doing with your fingers — a capability they say could revolutionize the way we interact with simulated objects in virtual reality.

“VR and AR immersion is based on motion capture. Touch is barely there at all,” said Rob Shepard, an engineering professor at Cornell who worked on the glove, in a statement. “Let’s say you want to have an augmented reality simulation that teaches you how to fix your car or change a tire. If you had a glove or something that could measure pressure, as well as motion, that augmented reality visualization could say, ‘Turn and then stop, so you don’t overtighten your lug nuts.’ There’s nothing out there that does that right now, but this is an avenue to do it.”

The prototype glove, as detailed in a new paper published in the journal Science today, can detect deformations including pressure, bending and straining.

The new sensor is made out of fiberoptic sensors that can tell how each finger is shifting based on the optical path of light. An onboard computer sorts the deformations into detailed data about your hand activity.

The glove uses some basic and very inexpensive technology: Bluetooth for wireless data transmission, a lithium ion battery for power, and several LEDs.

“We know that soft matters can be deformed in a very complicated, combinational way, and there are a lot of deformations happening at the same time,” said co-author Hedan Bai in the statement. “We wanted a sensor that could decouple these.”

The researchers are now investigating if the technology could be used in physical therapy and sports medicine. But perhaps its greatest promise would be to let users in VR interact convincingly with a virtual world.

“This skin is a way to allow ourselves and machines to measure tactile interactions in a way that we now currently use the cameras in our phones,” Shepard said. “It’s using vision to measure touch. This is the most convenient and practical way to do it in a scalable way.”

READ MORE: Stretchable skin sensor could help you touch things in VR [Engadget]

More on VR: New VR Headset Reads Your Biometrics to Find Your Breaking Point

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November 14, 2020 at 03:25AM
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Why Griffin Gaming Partners Is Making a 9-Figure Bet on Social Gaming (But Not VR) - TheWrap

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“Gaming is the fastest growing consumer trend in the world (and) eclipses every other form of media,” Managing Director Peter Levin tells TheWrap

Social features in games are helping to boost the rapid growth of gaming, said Levin, who co-founded Griffin Gaming Partners last year with games investor Phil Sanderson and LionTree managing director Nicholas Tuosto. For example, app analysis firm Sensor Tower reports developer Innersloth’s “Among Us” game, which surpassed 75 million installations in October and counts 217 million lifetime downloads, thanks to virality achieved during the pandemic. Sensor Tower estimates that cosmetic and in-game item sales topped $39 million this year. (The game was first released for mobile and PC in 2018.)

Activision Blizzard’s “Call of Duty: Modern Warfare” and its battle royale mode “Warzone” also grew exponentially during the pandemic because of multiplayer social features. Activision said one month after the “Warzone” release that 50 million people had dropped in to play.

“Amplified by the pandemic, gaming allows for people to recapture lost casual social moments from their day,” said Levin, adding that he usually plays games several nights a week with members of Immortals’ esports teams.

Also Read: Global Video Game Revenue Expected to Jump 20% This Year to $175 Billion

Griffin Gaming Partners’ most notable investments include Wave, a developer focused on producing virtual reality concerts for artists and Discord, a live video and voice chat for gaming squads. The video game hardware and software business was already on track to grow pre-pandemic, but since March player spending, time spent in-game, and the overall number of people playing games has increased exponentially.

Levin said Griffin’s $235 million fund raise will invest in gaming companies that meet this steadily growing player base where they are, which is most often on mobile devices. Mobile gaming is one of the fastest-growing segments in the entire gaming industry, and players in Asia and Europe often play more games on their phones than consoles.

Since Griffin isn’t big enough to invest in big-name gaming franchises, it plans to fund companies based in Northern Europe, the Middle East and South America, all areas where gaining is gaining steam.

Levin added that the firm will split capital roughly in half, with equal parts going to investments in North America and elsewhere around the globe. Levin gave loose parameters for games that he’s interested in funding and said the firm tries to remain flexible — but there are two areas of gaming it won’t touch.

Also Read: Sony's Gaming Division Drives Big Quarter, Despite Pandemic-Related Woes for Film Business

Levin is no stranger to gaming. In 2014, he helped launch the games vertical at Lionsgate, where he spearheaded efforts to turn popular film and television sagas into games. Titles he helped produce include a Tarantino-inspired game called “Reservoir Dogs Payday 2,” horror game series “Blair Witch,” and “John Wick Hex,” a game inspired by the popular Keanu Reeves-led franchise.

Levin said his time at Lionsgate — and before that, as CEO of Nerdist Industries — proved that the gaming industry is just beginning to explode internationally.

Games research firm NewZoo recently revised its yearly forecast and now predicts the industry will generate $175 billion in revenue by the end of the year. In September, gamers spent $10.7 billion on digital titles, a near record-setting figure that is only expected to grow, according to Nielsen’s gaming division SuperData.

About 82% of global consumers reported playing video games or watching gaming content online, Nielsen found at the height of worldwide coronavirus lockdowns.

Also Read: How Gaming Hub Addicting Games Revived Itself A Decade After Its Sale to Viacom

But don’t expect Griffin to put much money into esports or virtual reality. Though Levin is the chairman of Immortals Gaming Club’s board alongside Quibi co-founder Meg Whitman and heavily involved in the esports world, he is also leery about backing esports teams and game streaming. Still, he said Griffin will consider backing companies that provide services to larger streaming firms, like Amazon’s Twitch.

“I was probably the only interactive studio heads that didn’t invest in a VR business,” Levin said. “We’re excited for what the future of VR may bring the current state of play, but we haven’t seen a lot of opportunities to invest where (companies) have addressed some of the gaps that are missing.”

Virtual reality is still in its infancy, Levin said. “VR is for the most part, an antisocial experience,” Levin said. While there has been some initial success at location-based VR arcades — like Dreamscape Immersive or Downtown L.A.-based Two Bit Circus — their business models have been sidelined this year due to pandemic restrictions. “Having a discrete experience, while it may be very compelling and the numbers are climbing in the right direction,” he said, but “it still lacks some of the social hooks that current breakaway success games and genres have baked into them from the start.”

Socially-focused game developers will be a focus of Griffin Gaming Partners’ future investment plans, Levin said.

“There’s a cooperation component to gaming these days, and so there’s a lot of learnings that go on and entertainment opportunities (there),” he said. “We see that part of it as continuing to expand.”

November 14, 2020 at 05:36AM
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Latest Windows Update Includes Visual Improvements for HP Reverb G2 and Other WMR Headsets - Road to VR

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Valve, HP and Microsoft teamed up to create the new HP Reverb G2, and before it hits doorsteps this month there’s already a few software improvements to visual quality waiting for you in the latest version of Windows 10, which also affects some other Windows Mixed Reality VR headsets too.

Alex Vlachos, formerly of Valve and now working as a partner architect at Microsoft WMR, gave us a brief look at some of the visual improvements now live in the latest version of Windows 10.

The update features some notable tweaks including corrections to chromatic aberration and light leak, which, in addition to HP Reverb G2, also affect Samsung Odyssey+ and the original HP Reverb G1.

“For the Samsung Odyssey+, we were able to improve chromatic aberration artifacts at the periphery,” Vlachos explains in a blog post. “For the Reverb G1, we were able to improve chromatic aberration artifacts, reduce radial distortion, apply light leak correction, and improve rendering performance by about 8% in most applications from an updated and optimized hidden area mesh.”

And what does that mean exactly? Well, here’s a quick explanation about some of the visual software tweaks included in new Windows 10 update.

WMR Visual Quality Update

Correcting for visual artifacts isn’t simple work. Most modern VR headsets use Fresnel Lenses, a compact lens design created to have a larger aperture (also called ‘eye box’) and a shorter focal length than a standard, ‘smooth’ convex lens. Those circular ridges in your VR headset’s lenses are actually the edges of multiple refraction points which guide light to your eye. Fresnels are smaller and lighter, but introduce more artifacts into the mix that have to be accounted for ahead of time to get you the clearest picture.

Extremely large Fresnel lenses in Pimax “8K” | Photo by Road to VR

In the HP Reverb G2, those newly designed lenses (created by Valve) are supposed to drastically reduce God Rays, an artifact of Fresnel lenses that causes light to appear to stretch from the center of the lenses outward, creating an aura-like glow most prevalent in high contrast scenes.

Chromatic Aberration is another big offender too when it comes to visual clarity and accurate color reproduction. It’s an artifact caused by red, green, and blue light refracting through lenses differently, often causing a fraying of red and blue light most visible on a VR display’s periphery.

Uncorrected chromatic aberration (left), corrected image (right) | Image courtesy Microsoft

With the new software correction, Microsoft has applied its improved algorithms to better pre-distort the rendered image for a clearer, more color-accurate picture, guiding the light from those pixels more precisely where they need to be.

Another issue, which specifically affects LCD panels like the ones in the HP Reverb G2 and G1, is Light Leak—not the light leaking in through your headset’s nose hole, but rather the light leaking from display panels without perfect filters to match the chromatic range of red, green, and blue light. On LCD displays, a green pixel can leak a little red, which when viewed through a lens can appear as ghosting or even a magenta color fringe.

Simulated light leaked (left), corrected image (right) | Image courtesy Microsoft

To reduce Light Leak, Vlachos says Microsoft has developed correction algorithms reducing both color fringing and the overall color tinting, which he says works “in most situations where there is enough light in neighboring pixels to compensate for the artifacts.”

– – — – –

Thankfully there are some very capable brains at Microsoft, Valve, and HP helping to address these common ‘VR pain points’ and make them more of a thing of the past—or at least a thing that only the most pedantic of the VR nerds will need to talk about when it comes to new VR headsets.

If you’re looking to see what all the fuss is about with the PC VR ecosystem’s latest headset, check out our two-part preview on the HP Reverb G2 [part 1 – part 2] detailing all of the headset’s improvements.

We also have our patented deep dive review coming soon, so stay tuned.

November 12, 2020 at 11:58PM
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Latest Windows Update Includes Visual Improvements for HP Reverb G2 and Other WMR Headsets - Road to VR

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An Apple smart ring may be an accessory to Apple Glass, Apple VR headset - AppleInsider

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Apple is continuing to research a smart ring device that could be an accessory to or work in conjunction with a head-mounted display such as Apple Glass.

The company has filed numerous patents related to finger-worn devices since 2015. A new patent application published Thursday continues previous work on an "expandable ring device."

According to the patent, the system it describes incorporates a "wearable electronic device configured to be worn on a finger of the user," and a "head-mounted device comprising a display viewable by the user."

The first device could sport "having a hinge that rotates about an axis that is parallel with a longitudinal axis of the user's finger when the wearable electronic device is worn on the user's finger, a visual marker, and a first sensor that gathers input from the user."

Interestingly, the patent also notes that the head-mounted portion would pack a sensor and could detect the visual marker on the ring-worn detect to track its movements and perhaps provide some type of gesture-based control.

Both the head-mounted portion and the ring device could communicate via a wireless connection. The head-mounted device could display virtual content over a real-world environment, and may contain circuitry configured to modify that content.

Credit: Apple

The patent also reiterates its claim for how the two devices would function together.

"A system comprising: a ring device worn on a user's finger, the ring device comprising: a housing, first communications circuitry configured to send data to external devices; and a head-mounted device comprising: a display configured to generate images, second communications circuitry configured to receive the data from the ring device, wherein the first and second communications circuitry comprise communications circuitry that supports bidirectional communication between the ring device and the head-mounted device, and control circuitry configured to adjust the displayed images based on the received data."

Additionally, in the background portion of the patent, Apple notes that a ring device could be used to bolster systems such as virtual reality headsets or other electronics.

"Electronic devices such as computers can be controlled using computer mice and other input accessories. In virtual reality systems, force-feedback gloves can be used to control virtual objects. Cellular telephones may have touch screen displays and vibrators that are used to create haptic feedback in response to touch input," the patent reads. "Devices such as these may not be convenient for a user, may be cumbersome or uncomfortable, or may provide inadequate feedback."

As a continuation patent, much of the new patent's text remains unchanged from the previous one. It details how a ring device could expand to fill an entire finger.

This also isn't the first time that Apple has explored using a finger-worn device and a head-mounted device in a patent. A patent application from July 2020 contends that a smart ring could interface with an augmented reality peripheral.

Paul X. Wang and Dinesh C. Mathew are listed as the patent's inventors. Wang has appeared on a number of Apple patents before, including one covering an iMac made of a single sheet of glass. Mathew was listed on that same patent, and is also named as an inventor on a solar-powered Mac notebook device.

November 12, 2020 at 11:29PM
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Oculus Quest Can Now Cast Directly to PC Web Browsers - Road to VR

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Casting your VR sessions to a Chromecast-enabled TV or a smartphone is one of the best ways to get others involved in the fun while taking turns with your shiny new Oculus Quest 2. Now you can cast to some popular web browsers too, making it even easier to get everyone watching.

Web browser casting essentially works the same as casting to a TV or mobile device on the Quest platform: your in-headset view and audio will be projected on any screen you have hooked up to the local Wi-Fi network.

Simply go to oculus.com/cast and sign in to your Facebook/Oculus account on either Google Chrome or Microsoft Edge. Follow the on-screen guide: put on your headset, hold the ‘Oculus’ button on your controller to bring up the Universal Menu, go to ‘Sharing’, select ‘Cast’, and then choose your computer among the list of casting option.

We’ve tried a few other popular PC browsers, including Mozilla Firefox, Brave, and Opera, however it seems only Chrome and Edge work at this time.

Also, not all games allow for casting in general, but you’ll find that most do. The only real drawback is user mic audio isn’t transmitted, so casting to someone not your immediate surroundings probably isn’t a great idea. Anyway, you need to be connected to the same Wi-Fi network for it to work, so that shouldn’t be an issue anyway.

If you want to cast to a Chromecast-enabled TV or iOS/Android device, check out Oculus’ step-by-step support guide for Quest, Quest 2, and Oculus Go. You can also watch this handy video guide below to get you up and running:

November 12, 2020 at 10:06PM
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Oculus Quest Can Now Cast Directly to PC Web Browsers - Road to VR

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Sam & Max VR Quest Confirmed, Gets New Gameplay Trailer - UploadVR

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Developer HappyGiant has released brand new footage of the upcoming Sam & Max VR game, This Time It’s Virtual.

The gameplay footage gives us a better look at some of the sections of the game we saw in the reveal trailer earlier this year. The footage seems a little early, as the titular duo are actually muted in some of the sequences, but we do get an idea for some of the types of interactions involved.

It looks like Sam & Max VR will be a predictably whacky adventure; the footage opens up with the pair taking on a downtown alien invasion against a multi-headed monster you take down with an RPG. From there things movie to the duo’s offices where there seem to be lots of Job Simulator-esque minigames and easter eggs to find. There’s still a lot to learn about the game and the wider story, but for now it looks promising.

Sam & Max VR Quest Version Confirmed

Perhaps the most exciting thing about this video, though, is the news that it will be coming to Quest, as HappyGiant confirmed the footage is shot on the original version of the standalone headset. Other platforms haven’t been announced as of yet but, if it’s running on Quest, we’re hopeful it could come to PC VR and PSVR too.

We’ll have to wait to find out, though. For now we know that This Time It’s Virtual is releasing sometime in 2021. Are you excited to check the game out? Let us know in the comments below!

November 12, 2020 at 09:00PM
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Here's some gameplay footage of Sam & Max in VR - PC Gamer

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A couple of days ago we found out there was a remastered version of Telltale's episodic series Sam & Max Save the World on the way, but let's not forget there's also a brand new Sam & Max in development, even though it is in VR. Sam & Max: This Time it's Virtual! is due next year, so developers HappyGiant have shared some pre-release gameplay footage taken with an Oculus Quest 1. 

It looks like we'll be playing a new recruit to the Freelance Police, kind of like the mute trainee protagonist of Ghostbusters: The Video Game. The opening shows the player being let out of a car's trunk by Sam & Max, then expected to defeat a five-headed monster with a trashcan lid and a bazooka. 

The duo's familiar office appears and is apparently quite an interactive space, with roaches to shoot, knives to throw, a clown to boop, wasps in the filing cabinet for some reason, and coffee to fetch. The rest of the trailer is dedicated to carnival minigames, including one where you bundle up Max and throw him, and a classic Dunk the Beast just like in Sam & Max: Hit the Road. It's very on-theme for a Sam & Max game, even if it does have something of the vibe of a Rabbids-themed minigame collection for the Nintendo Wii from 2006.

Sam & Max: This Time it's Virtual is due out in 2021, while Sam & Max Save the World should be here in December.

November 12, 2020 at 11:08AM
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Here's some gameplay footage of Sam & Max in VR - PC Gamer

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Microsoft Improves Visual Fidelity For Reverb G2, WMR Headsets - UploadVR

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Microsoft detailed a new software update available for some Windows MR headsets, including the Reverb G2, that will increase the visual fidelity by improving corrections made for artifacts such as chromatic aberration and light leakage.

The blog post was written by Alex Vlachos, a former member of Valve’s VR team who joined Microsoft as a ‘Partner Architect in Mixed Reality’ earlier this year. Vlachos says that many of these new corrections and improvements came about during the development of the HP Reverb G2.

The team “spent considerable time improving our approach to reducing chromatic aberration”, resulting in a new algorithm that makes better corrections to the image, and results in a cleaner view when viewed through headset lenses.

“A white pixel on the panels will refract through the lenses and separate into red, green, and blue pixels visible to the viewer. Chromatic aberration correction aims to adjust for this by pre-distorting the rendered image so that the image viewed by the user after lens refraction appears as a single white pixel as intended,” the blog post explains.

Vlachos says this helps eliminate a lot of chromatic aberration, as per the image below.

Left: an example of chromatic aberration. Right: Corrected chromatic aberration on Reverb G2.

Microsoft also made improvements to correct for light leakage. The new corrections implemented will reduce color fringing and color tinting that comes from light leakage, as pictured below.

Left: No light leakage correction (simulated). Right: Light leakage correction.

While these improvements came about during development for the Reverb G2, they will also be applied to the Samsung Odyssey+ and the original HP Reverb. For the former, Microsoft has improved chromatic aberration at the periphery of the lenses. For the latter, the team was able to “improve chromatic aberration artifacts, reduce radial distortion, apply light leak correction, and improve rendering performance by about 8% in most applications.” All of these improvements will also be applied to the Reverb G2.

The update is available now in the latest Windows Mixed Reality VR runtime, which can be downloaded using Windows Update.

If you haven’t already, be sure to check out our Reverb G2 unboxing video and keep an eye out for our full review of the headset coming later this week.

November 12, 2020 at 09:17AM
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Microsoft Improves Visual Fidelity For Reverb G2, WMR Headsets - UploadVR

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Facebook issues new accessibility guidelines for VR developers - Engadget

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More so than almost any other medium, virtual reality games are a transformative experience. You can see someone play a VR title on YouTube, but until you’ve had the chance to step into that world for yourself, you won’t get the full experience. Unfortunately, between things like the price of hardware and motion sickness, there are many barriers to people enjoying VR. But Facebook is taking a step in the right direction with the introduction of what it calls Virtual Reality Checks (VRCs). They’re technical recommendations that touch on various aspects of designing a VR title, including interactions and movement.

The recommendations are just that: recommendations. Developers don’t need to implement every single one in their games and experiences, but Facebook “strongly” suggests they support as many as is feasible. The company published documentation that provides examples of what it considers leading accessible design to help studios get started. It also shared a video that details best practices. Last but not least, it worked with accessibility advocates in the XR community to create a resource specifically for mixed reality developers. “Our goal is to encourage developers to think seriously about to make their software more accessible,” the company said. 

November 12, 2020 at 01:41AM
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Facebook issues new accessibility guidelines for VR developers - Engadget

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Preview: New ‘Racket: Nx’ Co-op Mode Launches Next Week with Cross-play - Road to VR

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VR classic Racket: Nx is getting a new Co-op mode in an update next week on all supported platforms. Road to VR went hands-on with the new mode ahead of its release.

Racket: Nx, a virtual reality fusion of racquetball and Breakout, will see the release of a new Co-op mode on November 19th; the mode will be available on all supported platforms (SteamVR, Oculus PC, and Quest). The game supports cross-play multiplayer between all platforms, as well as cross-buy between Oculus PC and Quest, and the ability to play the game simultaneously on two Oculus headsets from one account.

Similar to the existing multiplayer Versus mode, in Co-op both players will find themselves standing in the center of a spherical arena and take turns hitting the ball. But instead of a tug-of-war for points, both players work together to keep their constantly depleting energy meter from running out by scoring points as they defeat waves of targets. The goal is to score as many points and make it through as many waves as possible before running out of energy.

In Co-op players share the usual powerups, and, unlike Versus mode, the ‘gutters’ are active like in Single Player. Once they’re charged either player can hit the ball into the gutter to tee up their teammate for a powerful shot with splash damage.

Rather than merely contributing to the same score, there’s some opportunities for teamwork too. While playing the beta version of the Co-op mode, I found myself ducking out of the way to give my teammate clearer line of sight on the ball as it rebounded to for their swing. While in the Versus mode it could be strategic to suddenly change the direction of the ball by hitting it behind you (to confuse your opponent), in Co-op you’ll want to avoid suddenly changing the ball’s direction without communicating it to your teammate so they can be ready for the rebound.

Image courtesy One Hamsa

And there’s at one brand new mechanic that’s unique to Co-op: ‘Ice Shields’. When you see a target covered with an Ice Shield, you have to hit it once to break the ice before it can be damaged at all. If the next shot doesn’t do damage to the target, the Ice Shield refreezes and must be broken again. So in essence both players need to hit their shot back to back.

Once you eventually lose from running out of energy (damn you, Ice Shields!) you’ll be presented with your score and a place on the leaderboard.

All-in-all it’s not a major change from the structure of the Versus multiplayer mode, but it’s a welcome addition to Racket: Nx for those times when you want to play with a friend rather than against them; with a dearth of co-op experiences currently in VR (especially with cross-play) we’ll take all we can get!

– – — – –

Developer One Hamsa has mentioned other upcoming improvements to Racket: Nx’s multiplayer features like avatar customization and in-game tournaments, but it seems these may come in a later update. Earlier this year the studio also teased that the game was being adapted to “another VR platform,” which we expect is PlayStation VR, though One Hamsa has yet to confirm.

November 11, 2020 at 06:47AM
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Concurrent sharing of an avatar body by two individuals in virtual reality - Tech Xplore

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Movements of two participants were averaged into a shared avatar. The participants observed the shard avatar in a head-mounted display as their own body. When they reached for a target using the avatar's hand, the avatar's movement was observed as straighter and less jerky when compared to their own individual movements. Credit: Toyohashi University of Technology.

The COVID-19 crisis has led to a significant increase in the use of cyberspace, enabling people to work together at distant places and interact with remote environments and individuals by embodying virtual avatars or real avatars such as robots. However, the limits of avatar embodiment are not clear. Furthermore, it is not clear how these embodiments affect the behaviors of humans.

Therefore, a research team comprising Takayoshi Hagiwara (graduate student) and Professor Michiteru Kitazaki from Toyohashi University of Technology; Dr. Ganesh Gowrishankar (senior researcher) from UM-CNRS LIRMM; Professor Maki Sugimoto from Keio University; and Professor Masahiko Inami from The University of Tokyo aimed to develop a novel collaboration method with a shared avatar, which can be controlled concurrently by two individuals in VR, and to investigate human motor behaviors as the avatar is controlled in VR.

Full body movements of two participants were monitored via a motion-capture system, and movements of the shared avatar were determined as the average of the movements of the two participants. Twenty participants (10 dyads) were asked to perform reaching movements with their right hand towards target cubes that were presented at various locations. Participants exhibited superior reaction times with the shared avatar than individual reaction times, and the avatar's hand movements were straighter and less jerky than those of the participants. The participants exhibited a sense of agency and body ownership towards the shared avatar although they only formed a part of the shared avatar.

Short description of the study. Credit: Toyohashi University of Technology.

Takayoshi Hagiwara says, "We chose to investigate the arm reaching action because it is a well-established empirical task for investigating motor behavior. Movement straightness and hand jerk are well-known characteristics of human reach behavior, and the shared avatar's movement is straighter and less jerky than those of participants. These results suggest that humans prioritize the movement of the shared body over their own individual movements."

Professor Michiteru Kitazaki says, "Virtual reality can change the appearance of a body via different avatars. The results of our study indicate that humans can also change a one-to-one mind-body correspondence by sharing an avatar with two individuals. The participant implicitly infers their partner's intention to cooperate and subsequently chooses a straighter trajectory for optimizing the predictability of their partner's avatar trajectory choice."

Representative scene of the experiment. Credit: Toyohashi University of Technology.

Interactions using avatars in virtual reality or robots are considered as an important future mode of communication between people. It is expected that the shared body will be a new collaboration method. Hence, the researchers will investigate as to how the shared avatar's movement can be optimized by averaging with different weights of movements of two individuals based on their ability or reliability difference. Furthermore, the researchers will investigate as to how our minds and social relationships change after using a shared body.

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Physiotherapy could be done at home using virtual reality

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More information: Hagiwara, T., Ganesh, G., Sugimoto, M., Inami, M., and Kitazaki, M. (2020). Individuals prioritize the reach straightness and hand jerk of a shared avatar over their own. iScience, DOI: 10.1016/j.isci.2020.101732

Provided by Toyohashi University of Technology

Citation: Concurrent sharing of an avatar body by two individuals in virtual reality (2020, November 10) retrieved 11 November 2020 from https://ift.tt/2JN0b2c

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November 10, 2020 at 11:04PM
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Concurrent sharing of an avatar body by two individuals in virtual reality - Tech Xplore

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bHaptics Announces Pre-orders for TactSuit X Series Haptic Vests, Starting at $300 - Road to VR

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bHaptics, the South Korea-based startup making haptic accessories for VR, today opened pre-orders for two new versions of its TactSuit haptic vests.

Starting today, you can put your money down on two new models, the TactSuit X40 ($500) and TactSuit X16 ($300).

TactSuit X40 includes 40 Eccentric Rotating Mass (ERM) vibration motors dispersed across the front and back of the vest, boasting 18+ hours of playtime from its 9,800 mAh lithium-ion battery.

Its $300 little cousin, the TactSuit X16, reduces the number of ERM motors down to 16, and includes a smaller battery at 4,900 mAh rated for an overall playtime of 22+ hours, the company says. Both versions feature Bluetooth 4.0 and also an external audio port for non-supported games.

The TactSuit X16 is also shorter in length compared to X40, something bHaptics says was designed to not “bunch up when you sit down for PC games, etc.”

Presumably, bHaptics is eyeing the at-home user with X16 and straddling the out-of-home market with X40, as the X40 appears to replace much of the functionality of its enterprise-focused Tactot DK3 vest.

In all, bHaptics says their vests natively support 20+ SteamVR titles, including games such as Onward, Thrill of the Fight, and Sairento VR. By adding a bespoke mod file, you can also play games such as Half-Life: Alyx, Skyrim VR and Fallout 4 VR.

Native support for Quest games is also currently pretty limited, including Onward, Hyperdash, Thrill of the Fight, Death Horizon: Reloaded, Crisis VRigade, Apex Construct, Sairento VR, Operation Serpens, Let’s Go Chopping, MissionX: Lite, and Realms of Eternity.

To bridge the gap somewhat, the vests’ audio-based haptics mode also lets you plug in and play non-supported SteamVR and Quest platform games, as it takes basic audio objects like gunshots and translates them into a haptic rumble.

Pre-orders are said to start shipping December 10th, taking between an estimated 3-5 business days to arrive depending on your location.

Image courtesy bHaptics

We got a chance to try bHaptics early developer kit back at Gamescom 2017, and the basic hardware platform actually offers a pretty unique experience. The vest’s haptic motors can ‘dumbly’ buzz for a generalized rumble effect, but can also activate in specific locations on the front and back of the vest to simulate things like gunshots, punches, and sword slices.

Ok, so a buzzy punch isn’t really a perfect stand-in for any of those sorts of things, but it’s definitely a cool experience if you ever get a chance to try it. Still, at the time I didn’t find it a good enough value proposition as a consumer due to the overall lack of supported games—a chicken and the egg problem if there ever was one. And while attracting developers to include native support still remains an uphill battle for the company a few years later, it’s possible that may change now with the entrance of X16 at a more consumer-friendly price point.

November 10, 2020 at 12:16AM
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bHaptics Announces Pre-orders for TactSuit X Series Haptic Vests, Starting at $300 - Road to VR

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Cosmophobia Oculus Quest Version Confirmed - UploadVR

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White Door Games, the developer behind iconic VR horror game Dreadhalls, announced that a Cosmophobia Oculus Quest version is on the way.

The game was announced earlier this year for PC VR and at the time, the developer said that a Quest and/or PSVR release was not off the cards. While we still don’t have any word on a PSVR release, White Door Games announced last week that Cosmophobia will be coming to Oculus Quest.

Cosmophobia Oculus Quest Confirmed

Don’t get confused though — this isn’t the similarly-titled Phasmophobia, which is another horror game with VR support (that could also be coming to Quest). Cosmophobia is an entirely different game, described as a “survival horror roguelike about escaping a dying spaceship filled with nightmare.”

You’ll have to explore the ship to gather resources to help get home to Earth while being stalked by some kind of creature you can hear ominously growling in all the trailers.

The latest trailer, embedded above, gives us a bit of a better look at some continuous Cosmophobia gameplay, captured directly on the Quest. This includes a peek at the inventory system, which looks to be fairly similar to the one used in Dreadhalls.

You can clearly see the bones of Dreadhalls in this footage, just updated with a new setting and much better graphics. It’ll be interesting to see what other changes have been made and how closely Cosmophobia plays to Dreadhalls on its release.

Cosmophobia launches Q1 2021 for Oculus Quest, Oculus Rift and PC VR. It is available to wishlist on Steam now.

November 08, 2020 at 09:00PM
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Here are 1.4 billion reasons in Asia to invest in virtual reality - South China Morning Post

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[unable to retrieve full-text content]Here are 1.4 billion reasons in Asia to invest in virtual reality  South China Morning Post


November 09, 2020 at 06:30AM
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Automakers use virtual reality to cut the development time for vehicles like the Hummer EV - CNBC

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General Motors unveiled the 2022 GMC Hummer EV sport utility truck, or SUT, online and during national television broadcasts on Oct. 20, 2020.

GM

General Motors developed the 2022 GMC Hummer EV in rapid time with help of virtual reality, an increasing trend for the automotive industry before and during the coronavirus pandemic.

GM CEO Mary Barra called the Hummer EV's process a "new benchmark in GM's ability to quickly bring EV products to market" on Twitter. What historically took GM and other automakers five to seven years to develop and launch a new vehicle is expected to be cut to under three years for the Hummer EV.

That's important because it allows the automaker to bring more new or redesigned vehicles to market in a timelier fashion. New products typically mean increased sales as well as better profits. 

The rapid development is a combination of prioritizing the vehicle; a new modular electric vehicle architecture; and a host of new processes and tools, including virtual reality, that allow employees to work more quickly as well as remotely. Such virtual processes for GM and other automakers are expected to continue going forward.

"Our leadership has challenged us to bring the Hummer EV to market fast, using our analytical tools, our computer-aided engineering and less physical vehicle testing, which is where we are at right now," said Al Oppenheiser, chief engineer of the Hummer EV. "That is going to become the norm for every program at GM."

GM developed a prototype for the Hummer EV sport utility truck, or SUT, in about 18 months. While testing and validation continue, GM is expected to begin producing the Hummer EV next fall – roughly two and a half years after GM started working on the vehicle April 1, 2019.

VR tech

GM's employees on the Hummer and other vehicles have been able to work together from their homes using a suite of resources that, in some cases, enabled them to make changes and decisions more quickly than usual.

This has included virtually engineering and designing vehicles as well as review processes with executives. For the Hummer EV, the primary method for the "theme creation" and selection of the vehicle's interior was virtual reality, mainly prior to the pandemic.

No scale models or clay busts – traditional methods of design for automakers – were used during initial selection of the Hummer EV's interior, according to GM. Such traditional physical elements were eventually used in combination with the virtual technologies.

2022 GMC Hummer EV sport utility truck

GM

Michael McBride, global director of GM's design business operations, which includes immersive technologies, said the company moved quickly to increase investment and availability in such technologies early in the pandemic.

"As we go forward, you'll just continue to hear us talk more and more about using it on various products," he told CNBC. "I think it had already stuck before as a way we're going to do work, but I think this has accelerated the adoption of it and maybe the acceptance of it moving forward."

GM even duplicated traditional work stations for employees at their homes. It's a process he expects the company to continue using on future vehicles with or without a global pandemic.

GM declined to say how much it invested in the technology. But the company is in the midst of a multibillion effort that started in 2012 to in-source and transform the company's information technology, or IT, operations. It provided the backbone for GM's operations to effectively work remotely.

"We were able to hit our milestones through the use of the tech even when we weren't able to physically be present in the office or the studio," said Bryan Styles, who leads GM's immersive technology unit. "It's a pretty big testament to the team's ability to use the individual tools."

Engineers and designers also have been using the systems for vehicle walkarounds with executives regarding updates and approvals. Some users are avatars in the virtual world, while others monitor on computers.

"It really does take it to the next level when you can't physically be present," Styles said. "It's been an amazing opportunity to really be able to leverage the tech and see not only what's possible today but ultimately where we could be going with it."

'I've never seen better work'

GM wasn't the only one to mobilize its design and research and development teams during the pandemic. Most, if not all, automakers found new ways of working remotely. For the Detroit automakers, it was about maintaining as much work flow.

For the Detroit automakers, it was about effectively maintaining as much work flow as possible. The companies are now evaluating what processes will continue to be used to increase collaboration and speed up product development.

At Ford Motor, an internal digital design team made digital environments and set up the computer aided design-generated models in the environment to allow virtual reviews to happen by design leadership.

Ford's design leadership team utilized a virtual design studio instead of usual physical clay model reviews with a digital tour of a CAD-generated model of vehicles going through development.

Ford

The same virtual reality technology was used in reviews for past Ford design programs but increased during the pandemic. Most notably on the Bronco program for executive reviews and to simulate Bronco's open-air roof experience.

"Virtual reality technology has allowed our global design team to assess, review and discuss design programs in the same virtual design studio," Moray Callum, Ford vice president of design, said in an emailed statement. "Long term post-pandemic, I think we will see VR in more designer households as things move to more digital and less physical. We're already seeing this digital perspective from design students."

Rob Wichman, Fiat Chrysler's head of product development for North America, said the company used remote access programs to meet with different teams as well as suppliers during the global health crisis.

Ford has implemented the immersive capabilities of virtual reality to allow our designers to work remotely and keep vehicle programs moving through the approval process.

Ford

"We have virtual design reviews," he told CNBC. "It's live and it's in essence seamless."

The company also installed workstations as well as software testing towers for infotainment and other devices in employees' homes. They also were able to collect and analyze on-road testing of vehicles remotely to assist vehicle engineers.

Ralph Gilles, Fiat Chrysler's global head of design, said having the capability to work remotely assisted in flexibility for employees to work and even increased creativity.

"Honestly, I've never seen better work," he said. "The isolation has actually created some unexpected and positive results in terms of quality of work and work-life balance. There's a lot of behaviors we're going to continue well into the future thanks to this kind of reset in a way."

November 08, 2020 at 10:30PM
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VR Cover Accessories For Oculus Quest 2 Available Now - UploadVR

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VR Cover announced that its line of accessories for the Oculus Quest 2 are now available to order, however some of it is already out of stock.

The accessories went up for pre-order in September, but are now available to order immediately from VR Cover, provided you can find stock. The lens cover ($9), silicone cover ($14) and the VR cover ($19) are all listed on the site, however the former 2 appear to already be sold out. You can join a mailing list to let you know when they come back in stock. At the time of writing, the standard VR cover is still in stock and available.

VR Cover have been around for many years and offers loads of accessories for almost every VR headset on the market. While each user’s face will be different, they often provide a comfier or more tailored faceplate for your headset, which many find better when using the Quest for active experiences where you might break a sweat.

We went hands-on with the new VR Cover accessories for Quest 2 ahead of time. Here’s an excerpt of what Jamie had to say:

It shouldn’t come as any surprise that the already well-liked VR Cover brand remains consistent on Quest 2. The padded leather linings maker for a nicer fit than the solution you get with Quest 2, and keeps your headset clean when playing apps like Beat Saber and Until You Fall … If you’ve already got a new strap and want to push your Quest 2 comfort experience that bit further, the VR Cover Facial Lining set should suit you just fine.

We did have some issues, however, like the lining leaving a dark mark around the face. You can read the full review here.

VR Cover accessories are available for Oculus Quest 2 now.

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November 07, 2020 at 09:00PM
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HP Reverb G2 Unboxing - Watch PC VR's Latest Unpacked - UploadVR

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It’s here! The latest contender for the PC VR throne has made its way to us and we can finally bring you our HP Reverb G2 unboxing.

VR enthusiasts have been looking forward to HP’s latest stab at the VR headset since its announcement earlier in the year. Like the original Reverb, it offers incredibly high-resolution VR at 2160×2160 per eye with LCD displays. But Reverb G2 also adds two more tracking cameras, bringing the total to four for (hopefully) more stable VR. It also introduces redesigned controllers and features input from Valve, utilizing the same audio and comfort design as seen on the Index. Finally, it runs off of the same Microsoft Mixed Reality platform as its predecessor.

HP Reverb G2 Unboxing

We unpack the kit in the video above. Reverb G2 should be arriving to first pre-order customers in mid-November, so it won’t be too much longer until others get their hands on it. If you were to order one today, though, you’d likely be waiting until December at the earliest.

Unboxing Reverb G2 is one thing, but how does the kit actually stack up? We can’t answer that just yet, but rest assured we’ll be diving into the device extensively in the coming days to bring you a full review. Look for our impressions sometime in the next week, and we’ll also be comparing the kit next to its new rival, the Oculus Quest 2.

What do you make of our HP Reverb G2 unboxing? Let us know in the comments below and make sure to follow us on YouTube for plenty more VR coverage.

November 07, 2020 at 11:06PM
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Lynx MR Headset Delayed to Late 2020 but Aims for Lower Price, Ultraleap Hand-tracking - Road to VR

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Lynx R-1, the upcoming standalone MR headset, has been delayed to late 2020, but a new update from the company says they’re targeting a lower price and now including Ultraleap hand-tracking.

In a recent live-stream, Lynx founder Stan Larroque shared progress on the company’s upcoming MR headset which is being designed with AR-passthrough and VR capabilities in mind. The headset was first revealed earlier this year and said to include Snapdragon XR2, eye-tracking, and novel optics. The company expected the Lynx R-1 headset to begin shipping by the Summer, priced at $1,500, and had begun accepting partial deposit pre-orders.

As of this week, the company now says, a small batch of prototypes are being sent out to partners, but the first batch of production units won’t be shipped until late 2020. The Coronavirus pandemic was mentioned as one reason for the delay, which ultimately led the company to a redesign of the headset which was revealed back in July. Larroque said the company is expecting to lower the price of the Lynx R-1 but hasn’t confirmed the new price yet.

Larroque also shared that the headset will include Ultraleap ‘Gemini’ hand-tracking; the latest renders and prototypes of the Lynx R-1 now show a new spot on the front which he says is an infrared illuminator for the hand-tracking system. Ultraleap’s hand-tracking is recognized as perhaps the best commercially-available hand-tracking solution. It was also said that the company is evaluating controllers from Finch as a potential controller solution.

During the livestream the company showed a brief look at the unique displays used in Lynx R-1 and confirmed they are being made by JDI (Japan Display Inc.). Each eye of the headset will use one of the displays with a resolution of 1,600 × 1,600 @ 90Hz.

Image courtesy Lynx

Atop the displays rests the Lynx R-1 lenses which are unique compared to other headsets available on the market today.

Image courtesy Lynx

Larroque says the novel design allows the eye to come closer to the lens (to make the headset more compact overall) and for a hidden eye-tracking camera to be placed directly in the center of the lens for accurate eye-tracking. He showed a sample of the image distortion pattern which is used to counteract the distortion introduced by the lens.

Image courtesy Lynx

Because of the unique shape of the lens, Larroque says the headset’s resolution will be concentrated at the center of the lens and along the horizontal & vertical axes. We’re quite interested to see if the seams between each part of the lens will be well hidden or not.

Larroque further confirmed a handful of other Lynx R-1 details, including the size of the battery at 8600mAh, which the company expects will last for “four hours of intense use.” The headset will also include hidden magnets around both pass-through cameras so that optical add-ons can be easily attached; the company plans to release the 3D files needed to design add-ons that would correctly fit with the magnets and the shape of the headset’s faceplate.

Image courtesy Lynx

The company says it’s also working on a special variant of the Lynx headset which has HDR pass-through cameras for firefighters and other niche use-cases which involve environments with extreme brightness and contrast.

On the software side, Larroque affirmed that the headset is built on Android 10, and the company is presently working on building an open-source launcher with sample apps for the headset. Lynx is aiming to support OpenXR and Unity as a development environment (ostensibly Unreal Engine 4 would work equally well once OpenXR implementations are tested and complete). According to the company, developers will be able to access the raw point-cloud of the headset’s 6DOF tracking API, along with plane detection and depth mapping.

While the Lynx R-1 is a standalone headset powered by Snapdragon XR2, Larroque confirmed it will support apps running on PC hardware via remote rendering which can be sent to the headset via USB-C or WiFi 6. He also said the headset’s pass-through latency is expected to fall between 12 and 15 milliseconds.

Lynx is planning another update next month in which it plans to show some ‘through the lens’ footage.

November 07, 2020 at 08:29AM
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Social Platform ‘vTime XR’ Launches on Oculus Quest - Road to VR

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Cross-platform social app vTime XR is now available on Quest and Quest 2.

vTime XR is a free app available on a host of devices, including Oculus Rift, Windows VR headsets, Google Cardboard, Oculus Go/Gear VR, Daydream View, and AR-capable mobile devices. Starting yesterday, vTime XR is now on the Oculus Store for the Quest platform.

Unlike the free-wheeling social VR titans VRChat and Rec Room, vTime XR provides curated chatrooms and an intimate, always-seated experience for up to four users. Although decidedly more demure, vTime XR also lets you share 360 photos and watch select streaming content in the theater space launched this summer.

Earlier in the pandemic, the platform apparently struck a chord with users looking for a less complicated social outlet than others currently available in VR, with the Liverpool, UK-based developers vTime reporting a 79% increase in daily new users since lockdown measures came into place in most areas around mid-March.

With the entrance of Quest 2 and the launch of vTime XR on the platform, it’s possible the social app will see even more users looking for quiet respite for what appears to be renewed lockdown measures.

November 06, 2020 at 07:55PM
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Social Platform ‘vTime XR’ Launches on Oculus Quest - Road to VR

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