Tag Archives: VR

In-case you weren't aware already, running a virtual reality headset is not something many PCs can do. In-fact, based on the recommended specifications, it's something only a few per cent of PCs can do. That won't always be the case though, with incoming software tweaks making it so VR could …

Yesterday, pre-orders for the Oculus Rift officially went live, revealing a £499.99 price tag that caught many people off guard and left some questioning exactly why the Rift ended up being so expensive, particularly since the development kits came in at around the $300-$350 mark. However, Oculus founder, Palmer Luckey …

The Oculus Rift virtual reality headset is now available for pre-order, priced at $600 (£530 inc. shipping the UK). This is vastly more than the originally projected $300-$350 cost for the consumer head mounted display (HMD), but we were warned previously by Palmer Luckey and several others involved in its …

The commercial release of virtual reality hardware is closer than ever before and with the announcement of Oculus Rift CV1 pre-orders opening up on 6th January, the hype train is hitting maximum speed. To help fan the flames of its boiler, Oculus founder Palmer Luckey announced that much like the …

It has been a long journey but the wait is finally coming to an end as Oculus has announced that pre-orders for its finished Oculus Rift headset will go live in just two days time on the 6th of January. Oculus founder, Palmer Luckey will also be hosting a Reddit …

HTC's Viveport online store for virtual reality games, experiences and applications was learned about in mid-December through some investigative digging from fans, but it now looks to be available. Although there are no apps listed of yet, the system itself appears to be up and running, with libraries for purchased …

CES is going to have a lot of virtual reality hardware and software on show. HTC/Valve will probably showcase the final version of the Vive headset, Oculus is expected to announce the final price and specifications of the CV1 Rift and Samsung has now announced that it will be showing …

One of the more noticeable (read: exterior) changes from the Oculus Rift DK2 virtual reality headset, to the CV1 launch model, is the inclusion of built-in headphones. Provided earcups don't have much of a reputation for strong sound reproduction with other products, but Oculus assures us the Rift will do, …

Next year is set to be big for virtual reality, we'll have the HTC Vive in April, the PlauStation VR headset in the second half of the year and perhaps most excitingly, the final version of the Oculus Rift in the first quarter. Palmer Luckey and the Oculus crew have …

While we won't be getting an Oculus Rift pre-order option this side of Christmas, we're not far away from being able to put money down on a first-generation, commercial VR solution. That stack of cash may be a bit taller than we initially thought though. In a number of tweets over …

Internal component, system and peripheral manufacturers, ASUS and Gigabyte, are working on their own takes on virtual reality headsets according to a new report. Expected to debut in 2016, the headsets will come from ASUS internal developments we're told, while Gigabyte's will come out of a partnership it has with Chinese …

Oculus VR has known about virtual reality's chicken and egg problem since day one. Without games and experiences ready to play, nobody would buy a VR headset, but without VR headsets, nobody would develop them. It's assuaged that issue with developer kits over the past couple of years and to make sure …

Even though Oculus VR had a big lead in with fans of the head mounted display (HMD) technology, Valve and HTC have gone a long way to garnering their own following with the Vive and its Room Scale VR set up. However they've taken some flak as of late, as …

Tracking our hands in virtual reality has been something all of the big VR makers have been working on for the past year or so. Oculus has its Touch controllers which will release soon after the Rift CV1 and Valve/HTC have their motion tracking controllers, which will come with the …

As much as the idea of walking around websites, rather than interacting with them on a 2D display might seem like a relic  from a '90s future-tech story (anyone remember Net Force?) it's actually something that some are already experimenting with. It's hard though, so Mozilla has developed a technique …

It was way back in May 2015 that we were given a sneak peak at what the recommended specifications for the Oculus Rift CV1 headset would be and they weren't insubstantial: a GTX 970, i5-4590 and 8GB of RAM. You also needed two USB 3.0 ports, but that's now been …

Crytek's announcement that it was turning its Return to Dinosaur Island prototype demo into a full-game, virtual reality experience for the PS4 and perhaps other platforms later on was exciting news, but it's not the developer's only VR production that's in the works. It's also working on a game that …

Although Oculus is the darling of the virtual reality world, HTC's Vive headset has been making waves since it started shipping out to developers who wanted to build games and experiences for its commercial release. However the general public have had a chance to play around with the headset and …

Nokia isn't a company that's been particularly relevant for some time now, only really breaking headlines in recent years when it sold its smartphone division to Microsoft in 2013. However now it's looking to reinvent itself with the launch of a virtual reality camera known as the Ozo, which delivers …

Nvidia has been increasing its focus on virtual reality this year and now the GPU maker has launched two new software development kits known as GameWorks VR and DesignWorks to help developers build VR experiences. These SDKs include technology capable of bumping up performance as much as 50 percent in …

Polish doctors have become the first in the world to use virtual reality and a custom built application to help unblock a coronary artery. Instead of traditional catheter based percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) which uses 2D X-Ray images for guidance, surgeons were able to look at a 3D representation of the …

Earlier this year, Crytek impressed us all with its Dinosaur VR demo. Now, you can play it for yourself, as the studio has released Back to Dinosaur Island for free on Steam. The game has been built from the ground up to take advantage of the Oculus Rift, so you …

Virtual reality is growing and there is a big push for it on smartphones, thanks to products like the Samsung GearVR and the Google Cardboard. The YouTube app even supports virtual reality headset viewing from smartphones now, something that Figment is looking to help push with its iPhone case, which …

You would think that with the advent of virtual reality, gamers around the world will embrace the third dimension of gaming, stepping into fantasy worlds to battle enemies, level up and have adventures with one another; and they will. But as the social side of VR starts to ramp up, …

Samsung is betting bigger on virtual reality this year, as it plans to release another version of its GearVR headset, this time aimed at consumers. This year's latest model is already available to pre-order and will ship this month with a slight re-design and a much lower price. Oculus is once …

YouTube today announced that it would be bringing two new features to the service, both of them being virtual reality related. For a start, YouTube now fully supports virtual reality video playback, meaning content creators with the right equipment could upload some pretty interesting experiences. Additionally, the YouTube mobile app …

Oculus has been working on the software development kits (SDK) for its various virtual reality platforms for several years now, releasing updates every few months that add features, improve tracking, reduce latency and other miscellaneous betterments to the experience. While it has yet to release the launch version of its …

As much as it's ingrained into much of our modern societies, watching real-world sports isn't the easiest of activities. You have to travel to the ground, suffer through the crowds as thousands of other people attempt to cram into their seats and unless you paid an arm and a leg, …

If you've ever been on one of those ‘4d' experiences at Disney Land, Universal Studios or any other number of theme parks and hotels around the world, chances are it was made by Landmark Entertainment, a company well known for its immersive real-world experiences. But those theme park rides are …

The writing is on the wall at this point: virtual reality is happening. Enough people have tried early Oculus hardware, there's enough money behind it and there's enough developers for at least one generation of consumer hardware and from there the sky's the limit. The main graphics card players, Nvidia …