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Evan Marcus

Tech Geek, Entrepreneur, Gamer and #VR Nerd

EntertainmentHardwareNews

HTC Vive Pro Official Release Date Pre-Orders & Price Announced!

written by Evan Marcus

Well it’s official folks, the HTC Vive Pro has been announced with an official release date, pre-orders have opened up and the price of $799.00 has been confirmed. The bad news…It’s just the headset only, no controllers or extras that we know of at this time.

What’s included right now? The HTC Vive Pro will include the headset, cleaning cloth, link box, power adapter, DisplayPort cable, USB 3.0 cable, mounting pad, user guide, safety guide and warranty card.

In the future we’ll most likely see bundles for the HMD with controllers and other accessories, but right now it seems to be just the basics. Even so, for us this is still incredibly exciting, going from tethered and hardlined VR to “soon to be” wireless is a massive step forward for the VR space as a whole and comes at a perfect time right after the theatrical release for Ready Player One on March 29th.

*Nobody will get truly wireless VR with the HTC Vive Pro until the wireless adapter is released, but the updated resolution and hardware from the Vive Pro will be a good start.

Speaking of Ready Player One, HTC Vive and Warner Bros announced a strategic partnership in which HTC Vive will be the exclusive VR partner for all content. Vive will produce multiple pieces of VR content tied to the world of Ready Player One and will be available on the Viveport platform. Read the full press release here

If you want to Pre-Order the HTC Vive Pro, you can do so here: https://www.vive.com/us/product/vive-pro/

VIVE PRO SPECS

  • Unprecedented presence with Hi-Res and 3D spatial audio
  • Stay immersed comfortably with higher display resolution, easy-to-use headset & cable design, and improved ergonomics
  • Chaperone technology
  • Free to move around wirelessly with VIVE Wireless Adapter*
  • *VIVE Wireless Adapter sold separately.

Headset Specs

Screen: Dual AMOLED 3.5″ diagonal
Resolution: 1440 x 1600 pixels per eye (2880 x 1600 pixels combined)
Refresh rate: 90 Hz
Field of view: 110 degrees
Audio: Hi-Res certificate headset
Hi-Res certificate headphone (removable)
High impedance headphone support
Input: Integrated microphones
Connections: USB-C 3.0, DP 1.2, Bluetooth
Sensors: SteamVR Tracking, G-sensor, gyroscope, proximity, IPD sensor
Ergonomics: Eye relief with lens distance adjustment
Adjustable IPD
Adjustable headphone
Adjustable headstrap

Recommended Computer Specs

Processor: Intel® Core™ i5-4590 or AMD FX™ 8350, equivalent or better.
Graphics: NVDIA® GeForce® GTX1060 or AMD Radeon ™ RX480, equivalent or better. View the complete list >
Memory: 4 GB RAM or more
Video out: DisplayPort 1.2 or newer
USB ports: 1x USB 3.0 or newer port
Operating system: Windows® 8.1 or later, Windows® 10

March 21, 2018 0 comment
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EntertainmentGames

The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim VR Coming to Steam…

written by Evan Marcus

For all you gaming nerds with custom PCs and VR ready headsets, Skyrim VR is officially coming to Steam…Finally!

Pre-Purchase is available on the Steam page currently for $60 with the official release set for April 3rd, 2018. As much as I wanted to grab SkyrimVR for PSVR originally, I’m a PC gamer at heart and spent oh so many hours in Skyrim, so it only felt fair to wait for a proper PC release.

Another bit of good news is that Skyrim VR will also be supported by Oculus Rift, Vive and Windows Mixed Reality HMD’s!

Official link to the Skyrim VR page: http://store.steampowered.com/app/611670/The_Elder_Scrolls_V_Skyrim_VR/

March 15, 2018 0 comment
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ExclusiveHardware

HTC VIVE Pro Announced at CES 2018

written by Evan Marcus

HTC has announced its latest beauty, the HTC Vive Pro today at CES 2018. The main features being it’s magically wireless and includes a pair of higher resolution screens at 2880×1600 (a 78% increase), compared to the original Vive with a resolution of 1080×1200.

There’s also plans to release SteamVR’s 2.0 Sensor Tracking which will allow players to have up to a 10 by 10 meter radius. To add to the mix is a 2nd front facing camera which doesn’t seem to have a use case yet, but could provide developers with the ability to utilize the 2nd camera for advanced features like depth tracking and more.

The other noticeable feature which gives me great excitement is the attached hi-res headphones with a redesigned head strap and integrated 3D-Spatial Audio. Similar to the Oculus HMD, the Vive now comes with solid headphones attached rather then spending extra for the deluxe audio strap like the original Vive.

In addition to the HTC Vive Pro, comes the Vive Wireless Adaptor which will give a truly wireless VR experience available for the Vive Pro and the Vive. Features for the Vive Wireless Adaptor include Intel’s WiGig technology and operates in the interference-free 60Ghz band, which from what Vive’s blog says reduces latency and provides better performance.

In addition to the HTC Vive Pro announcement comes HTC’s updated Viveport VR experience which seems like a major overhaul considering earlier versions of Viveport had issues and many users preferred Steam instead. This is HTC’s chance to redeem themselves for the Viveport platform, and from the video below, it’s looking very cool.

Also announced at CES was Vive Video with VIMEO that brings some well needed features to the Vive, and considering VR Video overall still needs resolution improvements, this is a step in the right direction with the Vive Pro’s increased resolution and 4K streaming video from Vimeo. Overall this is major news for HTC and the Vive Pro HMD and it will no doubt keep Oculus on their heels as plans for Wireless VR come to fruition in 2018.

 

 

January 9, 2018 0 comment
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EntertainmentGamesVideos

Merry Snowballs Comes to Oculus and Vive!

written by Evan Marcus

Just in time for the holidays, Merry Snowballs brings out your inner kid again in this Christmas themed VR Snowball fight simulator. I jump in for a video preview of Merry Snowballs and was not disappointed. Currently Merry Snowballs is free on the Oculus store and less then $5 on Steam, also free on Vive with a Viveport subscription.

December 13, 2017 0 comment
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EntertainmentVideos

Disney Animation Legend Glen Keane draws Ariel in Tilt Brush

written by Evan Marcus

Disney animation legend Glen Keane was invited to the Late Late Show with James Corden for a live drawing session in Tilt Brush. Having animated Beauty and the Beast, Aladdin, Pocahontas, The Little Mermaid, Tarzan and other blockbuster Disney features, its exciting to see Glen utilize VR in this way, which has the potential to serve as a new medium for film and animated series.

Watching Ariel being drawn in real-time coming from the hands of Glen just puts into perspective the potential for VR in this space, even though it’s still early on. But it seems like he’s used Tilt Brush once or twice after watching him glide through the process like a pro, granted he is a pro. 🙂

Beyond Tilt Brush, there’s other options for artists to display their abilities in Virtual Reality like Medium, Quill, and PaintLabVR to name a few.

December 7, 2017 0 comment
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EducationScience

NASA Releases Mars Curiosity Rover Footage for AR/MR/VR

written by Evan Marcus

For those interested in “out of this world” experiences, NASA has released footage of their 360 degree camera from the Mars Curiosity rover.  The best way to experience this in AR/MR/VR right now is through the website accessmars.withgoogle.com which shows the surface of Mars that has been recorded so far with the Curiosity.

Giving access to this footage for public consumption is 1 step for man, and 2 steps for anyone with an AR/MR/VR headset. A wonderful experience that is the closest we can get to another world right now.

So, get on those goggles and visit https://accessmars.withgoogle.com/

 

November 8, 2017 0 comment
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ArtEntertainmentFitness

MAP Design Lab’s MOVE Studio brings Creative Art and Dance to Mixed Reality

written by Evan Marcus

Today I had the pleasure of venturing into the heart of Venice California and into the studios of MAP Design Labs. At the helm is Melissa Painter, Creative Director and Innovation Strategist for the company who was kind enough to give me a hands on demo of MOVE Studio. This was my first foray into Mixed Reality and I was pleasantly surprised by the lightweight Acer headset and how much more immersive it was then expected.

The journey into MOVE Studio started with a colorful world of motion capped dancers around me, both my controllers were waves of paint and as I moved my arms and legs, dancers would ride the paint trails tailored to my movement. As I bent my knees, objects and dancers would appear larger and smaller which was really fascinating. To add to the visual experience, the audio was dynamically programmed so as I moved, it changed and adapted around me. Essentially everyone has a unique experience because of this, the audio and visuals will be different each time depending on where you move and what you do.

MOVE Studio really captures something unique that I haven’t seen yet in this space, it’s not a game and it’s not a sit-down experience. It’s a visually stimulating experience that merges art, dance, and choreography together. The project itself encourages you to move around and dance, and the more you do, the more it resonates around you.

There are multiple modes that take you to different environments and there’s also a sandbox mode which gives you the ability to make your own experience by placing dancers of all sizes around the environment. MOVE Studio is an experimental and magical experience, and for anyone with a mixed reality headset, this one is fun for all ages.

MOVE Studio is free on the Microsoft store if you have a mixed reality headset:

https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/store/p/movestudio/9pgf4gd4jb1h?rtc=1

Visit MOVE Studio’s official site:

http://movestudio.io/

October 31, 2017 0 comment
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EntertainmentGames

Space Pirate Trainer – Fun and Addictive Arcade VR Shooter

written by Evan Marcus

Space Pirate Trainer is a simple arcade style VR shooter for the HTC Vive/Oculus Rift released on October 12th, 2017. With the majority of games these days, trailers always make you think the game is 1000x better then it usually is, so personally I wasn’t expecting too much from this, and boy was I wrong.

The game itself is really everything I wanted, simple to learn with one main menu to choose options from and within seconds you’re in the game and playing. Also when you start the game, your controllers are instantly guns which is another bonus, easy to shoot at the menu system and quickly jump into gameplay.

Another thing that’s nice for beginners to VR is the stationary movement. Some games require you to move around in the game with a controller which takes a bit of getting used to and still makes some people dizzy at times, with Space Pirate Trainer, you don’t have to worry about movement besides dodging, for the most part you’re in one position and just trying not to get killed as you battle evil space bots from the top of the Space Pirate Trainer platform. As simple as the game is, it’s easy to learn but hard to master, which makes it fun and addictive and honestly hard to put down, not to mention global online leaderboards for the super competitive nerd rangers out there.

For the game modes you have a variety of options to choose from.

First you have Arcade which gives you 3 lives total, with waves getting harder each round.

There’s also Explorer Mode which gives you health regen but only 50% points.

Hardcore Mode is also fun but doesn’t include bullet time, making it harder to dodge projectiles.

Last is Oldschool which is my personal favorite, the waves start out easy and get more difficult as you progress.

As for weapons, you have a bunch of options and can change weapons on the fly with your touch controller. Weapons range from the Quarkcannon, Pulse Laser, Shotworks, Railgun, Raygun, Ion Grenade and Brawler.

For $14.99 on Steam, Space Pirate Trainer is a solid addition to any VR collection and well worth the price tag.

October 23, 2017 0 comment
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HardwareNews

Rift drops to $399 with new Wireless ‘Oculus Go’ Headset Forthcoming

written by Evan Marcus

Today was a big day on the VR front as Mark Zuckerberg spoke at the Oculus Connect 4 Conference earlier in San Jose, which was also live-streamed on Facebook. For news, the Oculus Rift price will be permanently dropping down to $399, which effectively improves on the Oculus Summer Sale for anyone who missed it.

One of the reasons for the continued price drop was the mention of a new wireless standalone headset called “Oculus Go”, which will be coming in at around $199 in early 2018.  Granted the Oculus Go won’t compare to the Oculus Rift just yet, but should be compared more to Gear VR and a step in the right direction for wireless VR in general.

Having lower end wireless VR will increase mainstream adoption at a much quicker rate which is why we’re seeing price drops across the board from the higher end HMD’s like the HTC Vive and Oculus Rift. If all goes well, higher end wireless VR should become a reality towards the end of 2018 but for now cheaper hardware is needed and is a good thing for the VR landscape to grow. This is a big step for Facebook and if sales take off for the Oculus Go, it could be a game changer for the company.

 

 

October 11, 2017 0 comment
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