Schlagwort: VR

  • Introducing the VIVE Focus Plus for Premium Standalone VR Experiences

    Introducing the VIVE Focus Plus for Premium Standalone VR Experiences

    Reading Time: 3 minutes

    Today, we’re excited to reveal the newest premium virtual reality standalone hardware for enterprise customers, VIVE Focus Plus. We’ve upgraded the existing six degrees of freedom (6DoF) Focus headset to incorporate dual 6DoF controllers, giving users the ability to seamlessly interact with their virtual environment with the same freedom as PC VR devices. This enhancement also makes porting existing PC VR content easier for developers while making it physically more portable and natural to use.

    “At Vive, the announcement of Vive Focus Plus furthers our commitment to rapidly iterate and refine the VR market for both businesses and consumers,” said Daniel O’Brien, General Manager Americas, HTC Vive. “This rollout of Vive Focus Plus leads the way for deeper immersion, more realistic training and simulation, and easier porting of experiences from PC to the stand-alone category.”

    Blurring the lines between reality and virtual reality, Vive Focus Plus brings users greater comfort and full enterprise support. Resting easier on consumers’ heads, Vive Focus Plus offers comfort and lays the groundwork for extended sessions in VR needed by commercial customers. The headset also ships with several professional features including Kiosk Mode, Gaze Support, and device management tools to remotely enroll, monitor, and manage multiple headsets all at once. The headset will be available for purchase starting in Q2 2019 on www.vive.com in 25 markets worldwide, supporting 19 languages. In most markets, the product will include an enterprise license for use at no additional cost.

    Powered by the VIVE WAVE Platform with content from VIVEPORT, subscribers will also have access to a growing library of titles on the newly announced Viveport Infinity offering. Viveport Infinity is the first unlimited subscription service for VR. For just one low monthly price, members can explore a wide range of games, apps, experiences, and more. In addition to Vive Focus Plus, Viveport Infinity is compatible with high-end PC-based VR systems as well as the full spectrum of WAVE supported headsets. Members will be able to use a single account across their portfolio of VR devices when the service launches on April 2nd.

    NEW INNOVATIVE CONTROLLERS

    Vive Focus Plus offers two ultrasonic 6DoF controllers featuring an analog trigger that gives users the ability to control objects or interactions with pressure-sensitive input, making experiences truly immersive. Additionally, with the aid of the WAVE platform and SDK tools, porting from PC-based VR to Vive Focus Plus will be relatively easy for developers.

    Companies across the globe such as SimforHealth and Immersive Factory are already implementing Vive Focus Plus for medical training and safety simulation purposes. This all-in-one solution is powered by Qualcomm® Snapdragon™ 835 Mobile VR Platform enabling the business markets to collaborate and engage in new and effective ways.

    “In our dedication to occupational health and safety, we easily ported our entire Hazard Spotting range from the Vive Pro to Vive Focus Plus to facilitate our large corporation deployments,” said Olivier Pierre, COO and Founder, Immersive Factory. “Vive Focus Plus will perfectly immerse our clients in realistic environments enabling full movement, which supports memorization of process and procedures, and improves behavior by creating consequences to their actions. Having a professional standalone headset is very important for us to widely integrate and deploy virtual reality for workforce training at large groups, with plants all other the world, who previously saw the equipment as a barrier.”

    “With HTC’s Vive Focus Plus providing a high-end processor and 3K AMOLED display, we are able to create realistic and immersive 3D environments for our medical and nursing simulators, providing better training outcomes for HCPs without wires or connected computers, “said Olivier Gardinetti, CTO, SimforHealth. “Moreover, the 6DOF controllers have improved the way to perform specific medical interactions that were not possible with the regular 3DOF controllers. Now, Simforhealth’s simulators have a better, more comfortable user experience.”

    VIVE AT MOBILE WORLD CONGRESS

    Vive will be showcasing the newest standalone headset, Vive Focus Plus and the new Vive Pro Eye, at Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, Spain, next week. The company will be spotlighting innovative partner experiences like construction safety and hazard training, medical simulation for nurses and their own multi-user collaboration tool, Vive Sync, in addition to groundbreaking demos on the future of VR and 5G.

    Website: LINK

  • Dive into dreams with the emotional VR narrative Lucid – out now on Viveport

    Dive into dreams with the emotional VR narrative Lucid – out now on Viveport

    Reading Time: 6 minutes

    In the critically acclaimed cinematic narrative experience Lucid – out today exclusively on Viveport and Viveport Subscription – you’ll explore the deepest corners of the mind of an ailing loved one in search for answers and closure. We spoke with the development team at Breaking Fourth to find out what inspired this beautiful, dreamlike journey of loss.

    By Nathan Allen Ortega, Viveport

    [youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iU-af0Xwlk8?feature=oembed&wmode=opaque&w=730&h=411]

    Tell us a bit about yourself and the team at Breaking Fourth

    Breaking Fourth is a leading virtual reality studio which has gained recognition from the world’s top film festivals and industry events. Our mission is to redefine storytelling. Our talented team of writers and directors are creating unparalleled experiences which take storytelling to a whole new level. Based in Kings Cross, London, we have been creating original productions since 2015.

    What were the biggest sources of inspiration for you and the team when creating such an emotionally powerful VR experience like Lucid?

    At Breaking Fourth, we are passionate about great storytelling. Virtual reality gives us the power to personally connect with every single audience member individually, and we want to respect that power by telling stories worthy of their undivided attention. Our first production, Ctrl, followed the story of a teenage gamer using video games to escape his own abusive reality at home. Whilst showing Ctrl, we realized that virtual reality has a incredibly powerful empathetic nature, putting viewers into experiences that they would never otherwise get to see. With Lucid, we wanted to explore this further and create a world in which viewers can experience something new. Theatre, particularly immersive theatre, remains a huge source of inspiration for us as there are significant similarities in the way that you tell stories in the two mediums. Stylistically, we take lots of inspiration from classic sci-fi and fantasy film, TV and animation.

    Lucid puts audiences in the shoes of a young woman who must venture into the mind of her ailing mother answers to her condition, and possibly closure. Talk a bit about how the concept came to be and how it evolved over the course of development.

    Virtual Reality allows us to imagine and create impossible worlds – for example here, the audience travels inside the mind of a children’s book author and illustrator. The concept really began here, with an interest in neuroscience and exploring the mind. Pete Short, the director of Lucid, had been wanting to tell a story about dementia due to his own personal experiences, and we thought that this was the perfect opportunity to create a story which is fantastical and beautiful, and also touches on such a powerfully, emotional topic.

    How did your experience developing cinematic, narrative oriented VR experiences on portable devices like Samsung Gear VR influence the creative direction of Lucid? What kind of challenges did you run into that were unique to developing for PC VR?

    We set out to create an experience which would work for both mobile and seated, passive experience and then also could be viewed at room-scale. With our proprietary rendering technique, we knew that we could guarantee top-quality audio and visuals for the mobile VR headsets, however, we knew we had to create something that would run live for PC VR as well. The storyline of entering the mind of an illustrator allowed us to be really creative with the art style and art director Matt Saunders designed beautiful-looking worlds which were simple enough to run flawlessly on PC.

    Were there any sequences, concepts or environments that you wanted to incorporate into Lucid but had to leave it on the cutting room floor?

    We had several more stunning storybook worlds in mind for this production, but we decided to keep them back in case we ever made a sequel. We have a story in mind which sees the characters revisit the world of Lucid and we would love to include the other environment ideas into that.

    Talk a bit about your thoughts on the state of VR in regards to it as a platform for telling stories, and where do you see it going in the future?

    We think that virtual reality is the future of storytelling. However, there is still a long way to go before VR headsets are adopted as mainstream, and we believe that location-based entertainment will be hugely important in making this happen. There is still a bit of work to be done to break people’s preconception that virtual reality is just for video games, and with more theatrical, narrative based hyper-reality experiences like The Void, we hope that the public perception of VR will start to shift.

    Lucid was an official selection at the 75th Venice International Film Festival, nominated for Best VR Award (Immersive Story) and Best VR Story (For Linear Content). Tell us a bit about your experience showing narrative VR to players in that space, and what kind of feedback did you get as opposed to other venues.

    We were highly honored to have been chosen for Venice and to attend. We had an overwhelmingly positive response to Lucid there. The Venice audience is largely industry professionals, but is much more narrative-focused than at other VR events, so they seemed very receptive to Lucid. We noticed, especially, that female viewers connected strongly to the two main characters and found the story very moving. We received a lot of positive feedback that Lucid was unlike most of the other VR productions people had seen, in that it focused on story, script and character first and foremost.

    “…the London-based production company Breaking Fourth demonstrates its mastery of filmic storytelling in immersive worlds. The treehouse, the gloomy forest, the ice desert, the rambling flight capsule – I experienced all of this up close in VR. The colorful world in Eleanor’s head is rich in variety and imaginative details, and perfectly tuned for VR’s visual experience. Here, Lucid combines the best from VR and film.

    The captivating adventure revolving around a mother-daughter duo asks the big questions of life – and demonstrates, almost in passing, the definition of virtuous storytelling in VR.” – VR Geshichten

    Are there any hidden Easter eggs to be found within Lucid?

    Just one! When you’re in the hospital room, you can lean in and see inside the comatose mother’s head.

    How many team members worked on Lucid and how long did it take to develop?

    Lucid was built by a team of 22 people working for 9 months. This includes the actors, writer and creative team alongside the animators and developers.

    What do you want players to take away from their time with Lucid?

    We want Lucid to be a celebration of life, enjoying the love and bond that is developed between family members, even in the face of sadness and loss. We hope that audience members will be moved and in awe of the beautifully animated worlds we have created, and also that they appreciate virtual reality as an art form in itself – a way to tell stories in which film, TV and theatre cannot.

    What’s next for Breaking Fourth?

    We are really looking to the next generation of headsets now and are excited by the possibilities that untethered and room-scale VR brings to storytelling. We have proven that we can tell stories and have gained significant recognition from film festivals worldwide, so now we want to make sure we remain at the forefront of cinematic virtual reality by harnessing the new technology as it’s released. Among other projects, we are currently working on adapting a Hugo award-winning sci-fi short story to room-scale VR.

    Exciting to hear! Thanks for chatting with us.

    Lucid is now available as a Viveport and Viveport Subscription exclusive. Not a member? Start your free trial today!

    Website: LINK

  • Viveport gets wild in the hilarious arcade shooter Dick Wilde 2

    Viveport gets wild in the hilarious arcade shooter Dick Wilde 2

    Reading Time: 5 minutes

    Virtual reality can provide users with experiences impossible to have otherwise. Taking a walk on the moon, shrinking down to learn up close about the human body, crafting amazing animated works of art at the flick of the wrist, you name it! But it can also provide hilarious and addictive gameplay experiences that just wouldn’t be the same without that extra sense of immersion. We sat down to chat with Bolverk Games, makers of Kittypocalypse and the recently released Dick Wilde 2 to hear how they bring hardcore arcade gameplay and humor together for in an awesome cocktail of hilarity.

    By Nathan Allen Ortega, Viveport

    [youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JmXtUXVsDm0?feature=oembed&wmode=opaque&w=730&h=411]

    Tell us a bit about yourself and the Dick Wilde team

    I’m Bo Bennekov, CEO and co-founder of Bolverk Games. We’ve focused on VR games since before the first goggles hit the market. Our team is now 10 people strong, with our third title Dick Wilde 2 launching today!

    What inspired you to create the wacky and colorful wave shooter Dick Wilde?

    Dick Wilde was a VR title from the get-go. We’ve always been more than a little obsessed with Youtube videos of Americans fishing for Asian carp in the Southwest. They were using everything from bow and arrows to dynamite!  We couldn’t find a reliable dynamite salesman in Copenhagen and our bow skills were not quite up to snuff, so we decided to do it in VR instead.

    Talk a bit about your previous experience developing for VR – like the hilarious hit experience Kittypocalypse – and how it influenced the direction of the Dick Wilde series

    Kittypocalypse was a labor of love for me, since tower defense is one of my pet peeves. Strategy games lend themselves to VR really well, because you can have an unprecedented overview of the battlefield, and at the same time see every little detail. We learned a lot from developing Kittypocalypse, and used those lessons learned to make the first Dick Wilde VERY fun.

    What new features and additions can fans of the first Dick Wilde look forward to with Dick Wilde 2?

    Dick Wilde 2 is on rails, meaning that you are sailing down a river with a changing scenery AND you get to do it with a friend or stranger with the cross platform co-op. The whole progression system is built from the ground up, and features unlockable keys, stars, weapons and hats. (hats are used as multiplayer bragging rights. You have to ace a level to get the level hat)

    The setting and tone of Dick Wilde is a humorous take on rural swamp life, featuring the wacky denizens of an undisclosed countryside, evoking images of the American South for some. Was this an intentional influence on the game’s universe or is the motif something more universal?

    It was very intentional, and inspired by the carp fishing mentioned above. We really like working with this narrative, and the lines almost write themselves.

    What motivated your team to return for another crack at the Dick Wilde series?

    We have quite a following on Dick Wilde 1, and many requests from the community about things they would like to see in a sequel. We had a good chat with our publisher, PlayStack, and decided to give the community everything they were longing for in Dick Wilde 2.

    Dick Wilde 2 features cross-play functionality over many VR headsets including Oculus Rift. Can you speak to how difficult this was to implement, and how important it was for you that players be able to play together regardless of hardware?

    It certainly came with it’s set of challenges, but we feel that VR really needs multiplayer sessions to work at any given time. We felt that we had a significantly better chance of finding the audience of everyone could contribute to filling the games.

    Were there any weapons/levels/game modes etc that you wanted to work into the series but had to leave on the cutting room floor?

    Yes. A lot of them. My biggest regret is that the drone strike launching pistol had to be cut due to only being fun on paper.

    Dick Wilde is a hilarious take on the genre. How important is humor to the projects you develop and how challenging do you feel it is to incorporate humor in satisfying ways in VR?

    We like to laugh, and we like games that don’t take themselves too seriously. We like to mix in crazy ideas alongside a strong focus on the core gameplay. Games should be fun in multiple ways, and pose a challenge to the player at the same time.

    How has player feedback helped shape your projects? Have you been surprised by any particular responses from players?

    Currently our projects exist in this middleground between the casual and hardcore games audiences. We were surprised to come to this realization and how people react to it. Many people like Dick Wilde 1 because it is hard, and many people found it frustrating for the same reason. Player feedback has shaped Dick Wilde 2 immensely. We have features in the game literally designed by the community from places like Reddit.

    Is 1800 Critters a real number? Dare I call it and summon a trigger happy bumpkin?

    Hilariously enough, it once belonged to an exterminator in the United States, but is now disconnected. We are trying to buy it.

    How many people helped make Dick Wilde 2 and how long was the development process?

    Development time was about a year in total, and our full team of 10 were on board throughout.

    What are your thoughts on the future of VR and AR and where do you hope to see the technology develop going forward?

    Oculus Quest and the Vive focus are the way forward. Cutting the wires out and bringing down the cost of entry will signal the next era of VR. We need generation two of the standalone headsets to run at GTX970 speed, and the it is TO THE MOON!

    What’s next for Bolverk Games?

    We have a ton of plans, but we’re not ready to announce them just yet. Stay tuned!

    That’s exciting to hear! Thanks for taking time to speak with us

    Dick Wilde 2 is now available on Viveport and via Viveport Subscription

    Website: LINK

  • Make it a heartwarming Valentine’s with these lovely multiplayer game deals on Viveport

    Make it a heartwarming Valentine’s with these lovely multiplayer game deals on Viveport

    Reading Time: 3 minutes

    Valentine’s Day is here, a time of chocolates, elaborate cards, those weird chalky candy hearts with the little words on them, candlelit dinners, and spending time with that special someone in your life (or treat yourself because you’re worth it!)

    Valentine’s also means crowded restaurants, scrounging for last minute gift and cards at picked over stores, and movie theaters sold out of seats for that new romcom. Your friends at Viveport have a solution to avoid the stress of this otherwise lovely holiday, and that’s to curl up with some takeout and spend some time with these lovely multiplayer VR experiences on sale during our Valentine’s event!

    From now until February 19th, Viveport Subscription members can grab these awesome co-op and competitive VR titles below and save up to 90% off! Not a member yet? Well you’re in luck, because not only can you start your free trial today to take advantage of these deals, but for a limited time get Final Soccer VR for FREE to keep with your redemption! It’s a great time to dip your toe into the best deal in VR!

    Take a look at some of the exciting multiplayer titles you can grab today and take advantage of awesome subscriber discounts:

    [youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=silUn26nv-A?feature=oembed&wmode=opaque&w=730&h=411]

    Live your dream of being a parkour running cyber-ninja in the hit shoot and slash-em-up Sairento. Jump, blast and cut your way through futuristic environments and “bullet-time” your way through hordes of enemies with friends in PVE mode, or pit yourself against friends in challenging PVP combat.

    [youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v9bbo9gr3f4?feature=oembed&wmode=opaque&w=730&h=411]

    The zombie apocalypse arrives in VR with the immersive hit shooter experience Arizona Sunshine! Tackle waves of the undead with intuitive, life-like weapons and realistic free movement in huge southwestern American environments on your fight for survival. Team up with a co-op partner to take on the zombie horde together and try not to become monster food.

    [youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fpAio9x7KDI?feature=oembed&wmode=opaque&w=730&h=411]

    Challenge your friends to a hilarious party game like no other with the string pulling Puppet Fever! In this hot seat local multiplayer experience, you’ll take turns as the acting star in a virtual puppet

    [youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q4enJQBExa4?feature=oembed&wmode=opaque&w=730&h=411]

    Take on ruthless AI in a fast paced series of challenges in the action packed game bundle Arcade Saga! Take on futuristic sports – Fracture, Smash and Bowshot – and compete for the top score in challenging 360⁰ events in either single player or PVP competitions.

    [youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bfxQikzUZmU?feature=oembed&wmode=opaque&w=730&h=411]

    Dive into the virtual world based on the hit film and take on a variety of challenges on your quest to defeat IOI. Expand your experience with new levels, games and challenges with the Ready Player One: OASIS – Elite Gunter Pack DLC!

    [youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yWJWTlzjg2k]

    Customize your robot fighter, arm your drones with awesome weapons, and dominate your opponents in mechanical cage matches in Drone Fighters – a whopping 90% off right now!

    [youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tOMxb736iJE?feature=oembed&wmode=opaque&w=730&h=411]

    Enjoy classic games like whack-a-mole, bowling, super shoot basketball and more with this nostalgic boardwalk inspired experience Pierhead Arcade.

    [youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SQEd6W1gx5A?feature=oembed&wmode=opaque&w=730&h=411]

    Float like a butterfly and sweat like a pig with the high intensity workout experience BOXVR! Challenge your friends to get the best score in a variety of blood pumping fitness challenges.

    Check out the rest of the amazing experiences on sale here for Viveport Subscribers. Don’t delay, start your free trial and feel the love of VR now!

    Website: LINK

  • 5 Reasons to begin your DJ journey with TribeXR DJ School – now on Viveport and Viveport Subscription

    5 Reasons to begin your DJ journey with TribeXR DJ School – now on Viveport and Viveport Subscription

    Reading Time: 4 minutes

    Ever wonder what it takes to DJ live, like Tiesto performing at Tomorrowland? Now you can, with TribeXR DJ School’s new rollout on Viveport and Viveport Subscription.

    Written by Tribe XR 

    [youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZWLa6MzRtH8?feature=oembed&wmode=opaque&w=730&h=411]

    TribeXR DJ School is a all-in-one DJ experience featuring a pro virtual DJ deck based off real life pro equipment, learning resources, live performance integrations, and a community of artists supporting each other on their DJ journeys. Now available on Viveport and Viveport Subscription, we aimed to change the way DJ’s learn their craft.

    Here’s 5 Reasons to Try it Yourself

    1. Save money on expensive DJ gear

    The types of pro DJ decks commonly found at big music festivals and clubs can cost upwards of $6000. By replicating what these decks offer in VR, you’re given access to DJ equipment at a fraction of the price.

    Whether you add TribeXR DJ School to your Viveport Subscription or purchase it to keep for $19.99, you’ll save thousands of dollars while using the same equipment that pro DJs use. It’s also nice to be able to carry your DJ gear in a small backpack instead of finding space for the physical hardware.

    TribeXR DJ School isn’t working to replace DJ hardware. We’re working to democratize how to learn DJing, so that the next generation of creatives can rise and thrive.

    1. Built-in resources to hit the ground running

    Just as no one has ever picked up a guitar and immediately had the skill level of Jimmy Hendrix, no one is expected to stand at a DJ deck and mix like Tiesto.

    From the first moment you enter the TribeXR DJ School experience, you’ll be tasked with completing some basic functions to get your feet wet with DJing. It doesn’t matter if you’ve been a DJ for years of if this is your first time behind a deck. This on-boarding will let you get grounded with the Vive controls and the basic functionality of the deck.

    From there, take things at your own pace. Upload your own tracks and experiment with what you can do. If you want help, our learning section provides video tutorials by professional DJs ready to teach you common techniques. Still stuck? Jump into the Tribe XR Discord community and ask for help directly.

    1. We help you perform live

    Immediately have the ability to perform your first live DJ gig. When you’re feeling ready, connect to your Twitch Channel from within TribeXR DJ School. From there you can:

    • Have an in-VR Twitch chat screen.
    • Let viewers send emotes to you in VR.
    • Let viewers put up visual GIFs as a background to your performance.
    • Take song requests from your audience.

    It’s our goal to give our DJs the joy and experience of performing for a live audience. We’ll do whatever we can to getting you up and running while also promoting your performances to a community of music enthusiasts.

    [youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GFFSIkuBe0c?feature=oembed&wmode=opaque&w=730&h=411]

    Take a look at some of the performances from the last few months with this compilation video.

    1. Join a community of music enthusiasts

    One of the core inspirations for DJs is the ability to share their musical creativity with others. Knowing this, our community is at the core of what we provide. Here’s what you can expect from the Tribe XR community:

    1. Live performances from others, in VR and using physical equipment.
    2. Users sharing some of their favorite music.
    3. Seasoned DJs happy to mentor others.
    4. The Tribe XR Team directly available for support.
    5. Feature announcements and community programs.

    You’re not on your own when it comes to TribeXR DJ School. The app comes with access to a growing network ready to see you progress.

    Join our Discord and see for yourself.

    1. The future is bright

    On the horizon, we’re working hard to get 1-on-1 live connections available that will let you do things like take live 1-on-1 lessons, back-to-back DJ with friends and build stronger connections from within our experience.

    We’re grinding to push the possibilities of what can be accomplished with VR technology…and we’re just getting started!

    We believe that music is one of the great joys of life. We also believe that one of life’s great tragedies is that many prodigies may never realize their potential, because they didn’t have access to the right resources at the right time.

    As mixed reality evolves the internet into an immersive medium, we’re ready to see a new generation of creatives unleashed upon the world. Our mission is to provide the tools and platforms to enable this to be possible.

    TribeXR DJ School is now available on Viveport and via Viveport Subscription. Start mixing today!

    Website: LINK

  • Viveport bursts through 600 subscription titles with launch of Angry Birds VR: Isle of Pigs

    Viveport bursts through 600 subscription titles with launch of Angry Birds VR: Isle of Pigs

    Reading Time: 3 minutes

    Today, VIVEPORT Subscription hits a major milestone as we surpassed over 600 titles in the Subscription library. That’s tens of thousands of hours of captivating content to play and new worlds to explore! Starting with 50 titles at launch less than two years ago, our Subscription library has grown to include many of the best titles in VR.

    To celebrate the 600 milestone, we have some exciting news for Viveport subscribers! Angry Birds VR: Isle of Pigs launches today in Viveport Subscription and on Viveport, bringing bird and pig madness to VR for the first time. The new VR game is also available to purchase for $14.99. HTC VIVE and Oculus Rift owners can now experience Angry Birds for the first time in a fully immersive VR environment, bringing them into the franchise like never before.

    Initially launching with more than 50 levels of gameplay, fans of the incredibly popular franchise travel around a remote island where the infamous green pigs often vacation. Players bombard the island’s exotic beaches, steep cliffs, snowy slopes and party city to take on the green pigs, destroy their structures and retrieve the stolen eggs. The levels can be approached from different angles for the best accuracy, while players leverage classic gameplay elements to progress or strive for three stars on all rounds.

    When we looked back on 2018, we found that Angry Birds VR: Isle of Pigs is part of a growing trend on Viveport as 64% of all titles in the Subscription service launch in Subscription on day one of their Viveport launch. Out of the 600+ titles now available on Viveport Subscription, over 300 of them launched in 2018 while March was the busiest month with an impressive 41 new releases. We’re looking forward to playing all the new titles coming to Viveport in 2019 as our growing Subscription service becomes unlimited with Viveport Infinity launching this April.

    Angry Birds: Isle of Pigs joins the ranks of other popular titles in Subscription, including: A-Tech Cybernetic VR, The Wizards, Ready Player One: Elite Gunter Edition, Tilt Brush, Knockout League and Sairento VR Lite.

    Download Angry Birds: Isle of Pigs today for HTC VIVE and Oculus Rift on Viveport or start your free trial today to play it in Subscription. For more information on Angry Birds VR: Isle of Pigs, make sure to read our interview with Resolution Games.

    There’s much more in store for Viveport Subscription in 2019. As always, we thank the developers who help deliver one of the best values in VR and our loyal subscribers who continue to play all the apps and games available on Viveport.

    Website: LINK

  • Feathers will fly as the mobile hit Angry Birds arrives on Viveport

    Feathers will fly as the mobile hit Angry Birds arrives on Viveport

    Reading Time: 8 minutes

    The global phenomenon Angry Birds from Rovio has been letting players fling disgruntled fowl at mischievous porcine foes for nearly a decade on mobile devices and game consoles. Now the developers at Resolution Games bring the addictive sling-shooting experience to VR with Angry Birds: Isle of Pigs, out now on Viveport and via Viveport Subscription. We spoke with the team behind this awesome addition to the Viveport Subscription library (for a total of 600 titles available to subscribers) to find out what went into bringing this modern classic to virtual reality.

    Interview by Nathan Allen Ortega, Viveport

    [youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MuX7DSa-rZE?feature=oembed&wmode=opaque&w=730&h=411]

    For those unfamiliar, tell us a bit about yourself and the team at Resolution Games

    The Angry Birds team is a small group within Resolution Games and we’re the youngest team in the company by age, so our colleagues always see an aura of optimism and energy around us. Our studio was one of the first to focus solely on creating experiences for VR platforms and it’s been really exciting to be in this space as it evolves and essentially paves the way for immersive gaming. That’s why our focus has been on creating both AR and VR games that everyone can enjoy, with gameplay, unique characters, social components and storylines that resonate with gamers and non-gamers alike.

    Talk a bit about how the idea of bringing Angry Birds to VR came to be

    We collaborated with Rovio on an AR game previously, but had to actually prototype that game in VR first. As soon as we had a playable build ready we knew that the IP and gameplay was perfect for VR. The characters are super engaging, the gameplay gets you moving around and who doesn’t like destroying things? Since then, we’ve been focused on making this come to life in VR.

    Tell us a bit about what it was like collaborating with Rovio to bring their beloved bird throwing pork smash-em-up Angry Birds to virtual reality

    Rovio is very passionate about the Angry Birds franchise, and collaborating with them has been truly inspiring. We have a great relationship and have really appreciated their support during the development process.

    Of course some of the game design was already set when we decided on making a slingshot game. We’d have Red and other well-known characters, as well as the well-known, physics-based gameplay. The challenge for us was how to transfer that into 3D, and not only that, a 3D game where the player can explore the levels in VR and shoot from different angles. After we made the first prototype, we saw that the classic Angry Birds gameplay transferred well to 3D and VR, while providing fans of the original game a whole new way to interact with it. Allowing the player to move locations throughout the game adds another dimension to gameplay. It’s been very exciting to help redefine how fans can engage with such a classic and beloved IP.

    What was the process like crafting original characters set in the immensely popular Angry Birds universe?

    The Angry Birds characters are legends in their own right, so this was an amazing opportunity for us to build on that and bring them to life in 3D. With VR, we can make them much more realistic for players and allow longtime fans to really engage with them one-on-one. For example, the birds interact and follow you throughout the game. They’ll wave, salute and encourage you as you play. We made sure to give every bird their own personal characteristics. For example, we added Bomb, the bird that explodes. It should be a welcome addition to the game for anyone who has played the original Angry Birds games. Everyone loves explosions, right? The same goes for the pigs, which are quite some characters. They’ll show a range of emotions; they laugh at you, taunt you, but also cower with fear when you’re shooting.

    How has your experience developing games for mobile and social platforms as well as AR influenced the creative direction of Angry Birds: Isle of Pigs?

    The company as a whole has vast experience from developing across several different game platforms and genre types. Our background comes from mobile, AAA and console games and with Resolution Games we’ve so far created games for all major VR platforms, mobile AR, head-mounted AR and more.

    Experience with mobile devices has helped us build knowledge about how to create an accessible experience that players can get into quickly and have fun, as well as the technical knowledge to make a game look and sound amazing. The Magic Leap AR game that we made served as the basis for the game design, but we took an entirely new approach with the VR version t and made it a game that would be unique to the specific platform. With AR we were able to really build out that 3D gameplay and take the physics of the game to a new level. And, with VR’s inherent sense of presence and immersion we could make that experience even more engaging.

    Were there any particular challenges in bringing the unique brand of slingshot focused arcade gameplay from the Angry Birds series to VR?

    Making a 3D version of a 2D game is not always a good idea, but from the very earliest prototype, we could tell that it would work.

    VR can be a challenge. Having your hands appear in a game makes it very intuitive to what you can do, but the game also has to meet those expectations. In Angry Birds VR: Isle of Pigs, you hold the slingshot in one hand while you use the other hand to pull the rubber band backwards. This feels natural, but we had to tweak the visual and audio feedback quite a bit before we got it right. We also wanted to push users to move around the levels and look around for points of weakness so we integrated design elements to help guide that process.

    You previously developed Angry Birds: First Person Slingshot for AR. Could you speak a bit about your thoughts regarding the unique opportunities and challenges in developing for AR vs VR?

    We saw how well the gameplay worked in VR when we worked on the Magic Leap version. As we didn’t yet have a Magic Leap headset, the first version we made used a VR headset to simulate AR. So it was natural to make a VR version once we were done with the AR version.

    For the Magic Leap AR version, we discussed different ways we could use the Angry Birds characters, structures and the world in a way it could naturally fit in someone’s environment – like their room, a living room or kitchen even. We thought about it as something that would be tangible and right in front of you, but also a part of their environment. We then expanded on that thinking to include the limitless possibilities of augmented reality gameplay and visuals to give players an experience they could never have on a 2D screen or in the real world.

    VR, however, provides players a more immersive experience. Players are totally immersed in the Angry Birds world. To build a stunning environment that enhances the presence in VR is super important and was also a challenge for us. Another difference between AR and VR is the mobility. Our player research indicates players love to walk around in AR because they can see the real environment and know where they are. In VR, players get more concerned when they start moving around. In Angry Birds VR: Isle of Pigs, we provide different teleportation points around the level to enable players’ movement through the large distance while players can also move in the small area around one teleportation point.

    Were there any particular features, ideas, levels etc that you wanted to work into the game that just didn’t find the right place and had to be left on the cutting room floor?

    We hope to bring more characters to the game since all the characters in the Angry Birds universe are unique and have their own personalities. We would also like to add more kinds of blocks and features in the level, like the gravity blocks, portals, umbrellas, etc. We’re also experimenting with other elements to make the gameplay much deeper and engaging and hope to continue building the game out further.

     Who’s your favorite bird? (there are no wrong answers haha)

    We started a poll in the team and Bomb became the favorite bird in the game. He has a cool voice and his ability to explode before, during or after impact is the most rewarding. He’s also fun and tends to cause the most destruction in the game.

    Have there been any particular bits of feedback from players so far that surprised you?

    Our players gave us a lot of nice feedback in our previous play tests, and we have iterated the gameplay based on that to make the game better. The most interesting feedback was given to us at the beginning of the project. At that time, players would shoot a bird to different teleportation points to teleport. We expected players to master the teleportation easily because of the same mechanics as the gameplay. However, most players thought it was not that intuitive because it’s not their direct reaction when it comes to teleporting and they were afraid of losing a bird. After we changed the mechanics to point and click, most of the players learned the action very quickly even without the tutorial. We love to listen to our players and look forward to garnering more insights once the game is released.

    How many people were on your team during the development, and how long did it take?

    This has been a true team effort and has involved a lot of people with different skills from the entire company. At least half of the studio has been involved in one way or another. We have a short development period for the VR version. In total, it took us about four months. But, we plan to put more months of work into adding new levels and gameplay ongoing.

    Could you share any hints as to what kind of exciting content is on the horizon for Angry Birds VR: Isle of Pigs?

    We’re experimenting with all kinds of ways to make this game more expansive and better. Stay tuned for more levels.

     What’s next for Resolution Games?

    A ton… but isn’t that what’s so exciting about this space? There’s more to come on the near horizon as far as creating more games for VR, AR and standalone. But more than that, we’re very interested in social VR and how we can create further game engagement through having players interact with each other. We’re also working towards other game genres. It’s all about experimenting with the platforms and technology to create the best games for players.

    Great to hear! We’ll definitely keep an eye out for what’s next from you and the team. Thank you for speaking to us!

    Angry Birds VR: Isle of Pigs is now available on Viveport and as part of Viveport Subscription.

    Website: LINK

  • A Look at VR in Medical and Nursing Student Training

    A Look at VR in Medical and Nursing Student Training

    Reading Time: 3 minutes

    AUTHOR: Steven Anbro

    Virtual reality has enormous potential for both current and future research applications in science and medicine. The social sciences in particular stand to benefit from using virtual reality technology to conduct more accurate research, better measure specific phenomena, and collect valid, reportable data—all common challenges in various disciplines in the field. We in the Behavior Analysis Program at the University of Nevada, Reno (UNR) put the technology to the test in a recent study. Read on for a look at our challenges, our simulation, and our findings.

    Effectively Tackling Medical Errors and Miscommunication

    In recent years, medical errors—primarily errors attributed to miscommunication among medical teams—have received increased attention. The call for specific research into them is ever-present. One proposed solution to communication errors among medical teams is to begin training medical and nursing students together, rather than separately.

    Through our graduate program’s ongoing partnership with the UNR School of Medicine and the Orvis School of Nursing, we are fortunate to have the opportunity to help orchestrate interprofessional trainings for these future medical providers. As psychologists, we are always asking ourselves, “Is this training/intervention/procedure/etc. effective?” By taking advantage of virtual reality technology in pre- and post-training assessments, we can begin to answer that question.

    The Simulation

    Using an Insta360 Pro camera, we filmed a short 360° video simulation where a simulated pregnant mother (a fully-functional “SimMom” birthing mannequin) is having an unexpected complication: a pre-eclamptic seizure. Her doctor and nurse then work together to address the complication, while also directly addressing the viewer.

    Figure 1. The simulation used in the current study.

    The students viewing this simulation played the role of a “recorder” – someone tasked with confirming and repeating back critical information (medications used; dosage). This simulation was filmed with a number of opportunities for recorders to respond, out loud, to what they saw and heard.

    Figure 2. A research assistant orients a medical student to what they are seeing in the VIVE headset.

    We had over 100 medical and nursing students view this simulation through VIVE prior to any training as a “pre-test”. We measured how often they responded to the simulation and whether their responses were correct, contained any errors or missing pieces of information, or if they simply did not respond at all. A subset of these students (20%) used VIVE headsets with built-in Tobii eye tracking sensors to track what they were looking at in the simulation, how quickly, how often, and for how long.

    Figure 3. Medical and nursing students gather for their interprofessional communication training.

    We then brought all 100+ students together for an interprofessional team communication training (TeamSTEPPS®), followed by another round in VIVE (their “post-test”) approximately one week later

    What Did We Find, and Where is This Going?
    After their training, students across the board increased the number of times they responded out loud to the simulation, with relatively few errors or missing pieces of information. Our initial analysis of those students using the eye tracking headsets shows some slight variation between pre-test and post-test.

    At this point we can’t conclude whether this variation is beneficial or detrimental—more research needs to be done in this area. For instance, we can assess how experts perform in these simulations and compare their performance to student performance. Do the experts look at everything relatively equally, or are there certain elements within a particular setting that are more important to focus on? Taking advantage of the simulation and measurement capabilities of virtual reality technology will allow many questions in this line of work to be answered and will undoubtedly reveal many future opportunities for research.

    Interesting in learning more about research at The University of Nevada, Reno School of Medicine? Please visit: https://med.unr.edu/odi/research

    Website: LINK

  • Citrus blasting mayhem arrives to Viveport Arcades

    Citrus blasting mayhem arrives to Viveport Arcades

    Reading Time: 4 minutes

    Shooty Fruity released late in 2017 for the home HTC Vive headsets worldwide to critical and commercial acclaim.  Developed by nDreams, it features addictive multi-tasking shooter gameplay – a mash up of the likes of Space Pirate Trainer and Job Simulator but with an anarchic and juicy twist! Recently, nDreams brought their creation to VR arcades in an all new exclusive version. Here, the team take us through the creation purpose of this edition of the game.

    [youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X3m8rLc4aFI?feature=oembed&wmode=opaque&w=730&h=411]

    Here at nDreams, we have spent the past 12 months carefully watching the VR Arcade sector grow from strength to strength and fast become one of the key areas of the VR market. However, from our extensive conversations with leaders in the field, we knew that if we were to bring Shooty Fruity to the arcades we would need to take a fresh look at how to make it as suitable as possible for what is very different to home VR – from different audiences and player behavior, to logistical set up, staffing considerations and business model.

    The original did the hard work…

    The first thing that became apparent is how the core elements of the game fit perfectly with things integral to the success of an arcade VR title.

    Firstly, Shooty Fruity has simple controls and intuitive actions, it’s addictive and fun with a real ‘just one more go’ feel… The simple shooting and scanning, along with a depth of mastery needed for shooting accuracy, multitasking, duel wielding and so on gives it a simple to learn yet hard to master feel, which is perfect for arcades.

    Additionally, an engaging and accessible premise is really important if you want to target a much wider audience beyond the home consumer. The humorous supermarkets-meet-guns and gratuitous-yet-juicy violence balance nicely between what appeals to adults and kids.

    Finally, the polished graphics, carefully balanced gunplay and a full games worth of guns, fruits and jobs gave us the breadth and production values that you see on many of the leading VR arcade titles.

    Despite all the strengths of the game there were clear areas where Shooty Fruity could be refined for arcade environments.

    How does that work for the arcade player?

    From our conversations with partners, there were three elements that kept coming up that were essential to finding success in VR arcades:

    1. Simple and immediate ‘onboarding’ for new and returning players. The staff room of the home version of the game is great for long play sessions, but not if you’re paying by the minute – you want to get in and be playing as quickly as possible.
    2. Scalable play sessions – even a 10 minute game should be fun, rewarding and self-contained. While individual rounds in the original game can range from a couple of minutes up to 10-15 minutes, it was designed to be played in longer sessions.
    3. Keeping players coming back again and again – the gameplay naturally had the depth to do this, but what else could encourage it?

    So, what did we do?

    We were confident there were design changes we could make that effectively addressed the above challenges, while retaining the strengths of the original title.  What resulted was an experience tailor-made for arcades with the following key additions:

    1. Simple instructions – onboarding takes less than 30 seconds and puts focus on the most important things – how to grab, how to shoot, what the objective is. No need for an attendee to set up, demonstrate or explain to the player!
    2. Branching arcade structure – across a roughly 10 minute play-through everyone plays three shifts with which ones you move onto being dictated by how you do. Getting your head around your first time in VR?  You’ll move onto more forgiving shifts.  A VR shooter pro on your 5th play-through? You’ll have the opportunity to play more complex and unforgiving levels.
    3. You want to play again and again – the branching structure isn’t the only reason to have that one more go, level challenges boost your high score and those high scores can be viewed in weekly, monthly and all time leaderboards, giving a reason to keep returning to try and top the boards.

    Test, test and test some more

    From feedback and data from our initial launch, we’re delighted with how this version has been received by partners and players. However, we see this as the first step along a long road for Shooty Fruity Arcade. The same feedback and data points to areas which can be expanded and refined over time to make an even more compelling experience for players to enjoy well into the future.

    Shooty Fruity is available now in both arcade and home versions on Viveport and via Viveport Subscription.  For more details about the game and nDreams’ future titles be sure to check out their Twitter.

    Website: LINK

  • Getting a new perspective on story with Tiny Bull Studio’s Blind

    Getting a new perspective on story with Tiny Bull Studio’s Blind

    Reading Time: 6 minutes

    Blind is a narrative-driven psychological thriller out now on Viveport and via Viveport Subscription that tasks players with navigating mysterious surroundings using unique echolocation. Goaded by a sinister and twisted force, you’ll explore a frightening mansion using sound alone, solving puzzles to uncover the mystery of your predicament. We spoke to the developers at Tiny Bull Studios to hear how they crafted this innovative experience.

    Interview by Nathan Allen Ortega, Viveport

    [youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2zHypU267Z8?feature=oembed&wmode=opaque&w=730&h=411]

    Tell us a bit about yourself and the team at Tiny Bull Studios

    Hello, I’m Matteo Lana and I’m the CEO here at Tiny Bull Studios. We are an indie developer based in Turin created by myself and my partner in crime Rocco Luigi Tartaglia. We both studied Virtual Reality and Multimedia at Turin University and decided to go indie as soon as we got our master’s degrees. We started small, but now we have over 20 people working on our games. We strongly believe that games are a very powerful way to tell stories, to push people beyond what they know. We want them to experience something unique, capable of making them laugh and have fun, while leaving them with something to remember.

    Talk a bit about your previous experience developing content for VR and how it informed the direction of Blind

    When we started working on Blind, VR wasn’t really as popular as it is today. We’d never developed any other VR content before and we had to start from scratch while keeping up to date with how the hardware was changing. Now it’s easier to find resources about the VR world, but we had to take the difficult path making Blind. It was hard, sometimes even painful, but we also felt a great sense of satisfaction in the end and it’s because of Blind that we grew so much as a team.

    What were some of the biggest inspirations on the design of Blind?

    There are a lot of ideas that influenced the design of Blind. First of all, we wanted to deliver a powerful narrative, in which the player could get lost, slowly putting all pieces together. Games like Gone Home and The Vanishing Of Ethan Carter, TV shows like Twin Peaks and Braking Bad, and also movies like Psycho and classic Italian thrillers by Dario Argento had a big influence on us and on the way we decided to tell our story, to create Blind‘s atmosphere and mood. At the same time art nouveau and liberty architecture were fundamental in defining the visuals of the game. The puzzle design was inspired by games such as The Talos Principle, Portal and Myst, but we always kept trying to translate classic concepts into puzzles involving more sound and less visual clues.

    Blind is a really unique experience where players navigate a dangerous mansion while visually impaired, using echolocation to guide them. What kind of research did you and the team do in order to craft such an authentic, respectful and satisfying experience?

    We focused a lot in studying how echolocation works and it wasn’t easy to translate this kind of mechanic into a VR game. Our sound programmer and sound designer did a great job in creating a dynamic system capable of handling the complexity that emerges when someone is wearing a headset. It is important to remember that Blind is still a video game and not a simulator: which means that all the research we did was integrated with the narrative, the art and the design we developed for the game. All those parts contributed in creating the mood we wanted to deliver to the player in final experience.

    Were there any concepts, sequences or ideas that you wanted to work into the experience but just couldn’t find a way to make it fit?

    Absolutely! The development of Blind has been very fluid, as it started as something very different than the game we actually released…

    Over the years we kept adding, removing and changing features and concepts, until we got to where we are now, which probably still isn’t the end of Blind‘s journey, as we intend to keep improving it bit by bit until we finally feel it’s done!

    What have been some of the biggest challenges in developing Blind?

    The main challenge was that, when we started developing Blind, VR technology was way different compared to what we have now. Imagine plugging in your headset, opening your engine and finding out it can’t be recognized by the software. Having to set up everything manually and somehow making it work. It was not easy at all back then to work on VR software.

    The other challenge was defining how to use something as immersive as VR in order to make the player blind. In other words, how to bend the technology onto itself, exploring new possibilities.

    Last but not the least, the biggest challenge of all: funding. Making games as an indie developer is pretty hard. We were lucky to have the support of our publisher, Fellow Traveller. Without them this game would not even exist.

    Your previous title – Omen Exito: Plague – was a compelling choose your own adventure experience. Talk a bit about how crafting compelling stories for VR differs from more traditional forms of interactive narratives.

    Writers always say: “Show, don’t tell”. In how that relates to Blind, this could be translated in something like: “Immerse, don’t show”. From a philosophical standpoint, those are really similar concepts in different hardware contexts. What’s behind narrating a great story probably does not change that much between Omen Exitio and Blind. The difference dwells in the peculiar methodology you have to develop in order to grab the players’ attention, to evoke something that makes them part of your game, of the world you created for them. It is a thin line and you have to adapt constantly and keep on exploring new possibilities.

    What has the feedback been like from players who have experienced Blind? Were there any particular reactions that surprised you?

    Feedback has been mostly good for us so far. Players have enjoyed the game and found the experience compelling and unique in a way. The thing with feedback is that it is always useful and it makes you grow and it helps make your games better as time passes. We changed many things in Blind since it was shipped, we learned from our players, we watched them play the game on YouTube and we got a lot of love from the VR community.

    The best thing though is taking the game to conventions and events, watching people’s reaction when they take the headset off and their friends make fun of them because of how bad they were in moving around Blind‘s mansion.

    How many people were on the team throughout the development process? How long did it take to make?

    Developing Blind took 3 years of work. It was a long time, but we had a lot to learn and a lot of mistakes to make. More or less 50 people worked on the project during those 3 years. Some came and some left throughout development, few were there from start to finish, but all of them were pretty amazing.

    What do you ultimately want players to take away from their time with Blind?

    There are many things that we would like the player to take away from Blind, but the most important is an idea we have: the idea that there are endless possibilities in video games, endless worlds to be explored, endless stories to be experienced. Blind is one of those worlds, one of those stories made by some guys in Italy who believed this game was important and somehow different, who grew up with it without letting it go. Games we make as indie developers become a part of who we are. Not everyone has to like Blind, but we hope we were able to communicate the effort that we put into making this game and why we care so much about it.

    What’s next for Tiny Bull Studios?

    We are currently working on a new game and some more digital game books with some new amazing features. Hopefully it will take less than 3 years, but we are pretty confident that all the things we learned will help us in this regard. Blind was just the beginning!

    Thanks for chatting with us! We’re excited to see what you have cooking next.

    Blind is now available on Viveport and via Viveport Subscription. Not a member? Start your free trial today!

    Website: LINK

  • Breaking With Tradition: How adidas Improved Their Workflow With VR

    Breaking With Tradition: How adidas Improved Their Workflow With VR

    Reading Time: 3 minutes

    It begins in a place like this, but not like this. Above, a virtual simulation of the auditorium, generated by The Wild in VIVE VR.

    It starts off in an auditorium, much like the above. Teams trickle into forward-facing seats, homed in on a soon-to-be-occupied podium and stage with a projection looming overhead. On the periphery: a barrage of posters showcasing new product concepts and campaigns—all stories set to be told at specific times in the selling season. Attendees are expected to be familiar with each and every one of them, even beforehand.

    Then, the selling season begins in earnest…with a thirty-minute deluge of information. With a speaker and slide accompaniment, the meeting resembles more of a traditional lecture than a collaborative meeting. The goal for the product merchandisers, trade marketers, and salespeople in attendance? Absorb and digest everything you can so it can be relayed to teams, queueing up a series of hand-offs.

    There are questions: Okay, what are we trying to sell? What messages are we attempting to convey about the product? How does this all fit into the year-long, non-stop stream of content and products adidas puts into the marketplace? But really, this isn’t the place for questions—there are notes to be taken.

    Apparent and Unapparent Problems

    Needless to say, the process outlined above—a common and traditional one employed by many, many teams—was inefficient. Bringing key stakeholders together almost always sounds like a good idea in theory, but the reality for adidas couldn’t have been more different.

    Despite a concerted effort to work more collaboratively, their advanced analytics team found that their process was leading to siloed decisions and complications regarding cost overrun, inefficient workflow, and process. Crucial information from these sessions was lost and consequentially, it resulted in a full-stop issue: inadequate products being delivered to wholesale partners.
    A Possible Solution

    With their old process, adidas found that the inspiration and reason behind why a product was created wasn’t always making its way into retail experiences. The old process was looking beyond repair; it was time to try something else entirely.

    Their vision: a single space for collaboration; a place where someone, say, in marketing communications could grab assets from a virtual library for a specific product for the year; simultaneously, someone else in merchandising could do the same for products curated by the design/product development teams for the story attempting to be built. Then, together, they could see the culmination of their efforts in a lifelike setting and catch flaws before it’s too late.

    Less second- and third-hand information. Fewer hand-offs. Fewer chances for errors. Everything all in one place, available in real time. Not a bad vision.
     

    The Test Run

    The simulated retail space/playground for adidas’s design, merchandising, and communication teams.
    Working with The Wild’s innovative virtual collaboration software on VIVE VR systems, adidas created an immersive workshop—a testing ground of sorts for stakeholders with complete information just a few room-scaled steps away.

    Essential to this experience was a simulated retail space. This allowed for design, merchandising, and communication teams to see how their story would translate to the real world and function across a range of scenarios—a crucial phase that often came much later in the original process.

    With the ability to conduct work in one collaborative space and the ability to assess, change, and then reassess in 3D—with no cost incurred beyond time spent—storytelling and product offerings came together far more quickly; the problem of information being lost in spatial translation now significantly reduced.

    Lessons Learned

    Adidas wasn’t afraid to look at a broken process and say we can do better. You can’t be if you know what’s at stake: if you miss the mark on product storytelling, you’ll miss the mark on customer experience and satisfaction. It will be a waste of resources for you and a disappointing experience for your customers.

    With VIVE VR and The Wild’s assistance, adidas now has a chance to fortify their informational loop, get projects right with minimized back-and-forth, and most importantly, uncover potential flaws well before it reaches the customer.  
     

    Read the original article over at The Wild: https://thewild.com/blog/virtualization-decisions-vr-ar-revolutionize-work

    Website: LINK

  • Two HTC VIVE Partner Experiences Premiere at Sundance 2019

    Two HTC VIVE Partner Experiences Premiere at Sundance 2019

    Reading Time: 2 minutes

    VIVE is headed to Park City, Utah as the annual Sundance Film Festival kicks off, celebrating innovative storytellers and audiences. This year, two new experiences from Vive partners will be making their world premiere at the festival: Altas V’s Gloomy Eyes and Marshmallow Laser Feast’s Sweet Dreams.

    As VR and immersive tech have continued to become fixtures in film festival lineups in the past few years, Vive is thrilled to be supporting two pieces of content that are pushing the boundaries of storytelling and technology. Both experiences will be part of Sundance’s New Frontier at the Ray, where some of the best VR experiences, social VR platforms, mixed reality and location-based experiences being produced today are exhibited.

    Gloomy Eyes – 

    “In this exquisite VR experience, it is 1983 on a cold night in Woodland City, and being a zombie is still illegal. Like all of his kind, Gloomy is hiding in the forest, away from bounty hunters. The night is quiet, but Gloomy still tries to stay out of sight. He doesn’t feel comfortable around others of his kind. While bitterness plagues the city, he strives to find a balance in his mysterious dual nature.”

    Atlas V’s Gloomy Eyes is a three-part animated VR series directed by Jorge Tereso and Fernando Maldonado and narrated by Colin Farrell. The first episode will debut at Sundance, introducing viewers to the forbidden love story between a human girl and a zombie boy in a town where being a zombie is outlawed. 

    Sweet Dreams –  

    “Sweet Dreams is a contemporary allegory presented as a spatial drama wrapped in a sugar coating. You are invited to Luscious Delicious Land, a land of plenty which you navigate with all your senses. Lonny, a long-time inhabitant, is your guide. You see the world through her. Lonny’s tasted all the delights of this world, but in pursuit of ever greater thrills, she’s made some faux pas…  Take your seat at the table, listen to Lonny, and sample the delicacies of Luscious Delicious Land. Forget about the mistakes. You don’t have long in this world, so enjoy.”

    Marshmallow Laser Feast invites viewers to embark on an otherworldly dining experience that caters to all the senses. This location-based experience is a spatial drama, combining social VR, food, and AI in ways that create synesthetic experiences for audiences.

    If you’re at Sundance, you can find both experiences at the New Frontier at the Ray, shown from January 25th – February 2nd on the VIVE PRO.

    Website: LINK

  • HTC VIVE and New Reality Launch “Tree” on VIVEPORT to Fight Deforestation and Climate Change

    HTC VIVE and New Reality Launch “Tree” on VIVEPORT to Fight Deforestation and Climate Change

    Reading Time: 3 minutes

    Global Leaders Experience the “VR for Impact” Title at the World Economic Forum Annual Meeting in Davos, Switzerland

    HTC VIVE’s “VR for Impact” initiative and New Reality Company today announced that the critically acclaimed virtual reality experience, Tree, is set to launch on Viveport on January 24th. The immersive VR project is currently being showcased at World Economic Forum (WEF) Annual Meeting in Davos this week to the leaders of global society on the HTC VIVE PRO with the VIVE Wireless Adapter. In addition, Viveport has pledged to donate funds for the first 1,000 purchases of Tree to the Rainforest Alliance to support its vital work to conserve the world’s most critically threatened tropical rainforests.  

    In Tree, users experience the Amazon from the point of view of a kapok tree. Viewers grow from a seedling to a mature tree soaring above the canopy line, their arms and body morphing into branches and trunk. The experience brings to light the harrowing realities of tropical deforestation, which is driven primarily by agricultural expansion and of generates more carbon emissions than the sum total of all the cars and trucks in the world. Tree was one of the first grant recipients of “VR for Impact” and has earned critical acclaim at prestigious events such as Sundance Film Festival. Starting January 24th, the first 1,000 VIVE and Oculus Rift owners who download Tree on VIVEPORT for $4.99 will be supporting proven strategies to conserve forests—the most effective climate technology known to humankind. Tree is also available to download via Viveport Subscription, members can now choose the title as one of their five monthly picks.

    “The magic with virtual reality is that it has the power create empathy and awareness around humankind’s most pressing problems in new immersive ways,” said Rikard Steiber, President of Viveport. “New Reality’s Tree is a moving and illuminating experience that serves as an example of how we can use the immersive nature of virtual reality to shine a light on critical issues.”

    Tree

    “Virtual reality’s greatest capability is to tell powerful stories,” said Milica Zec, co-founder of New Reality. “Tree has been able to connect with viewers in an intimate way that has made climate change personal to them. We can’t wait for people at home to finally be able to experience this project for the first time,” said Winslow Porter, co-founder of New Reality.

    Originally launched by HTC VIVE at WEF in 2017, “VR for Impact” is an initiative to drive VR and AR content and technologies that will create positive impact and change in support of the United Nation’s Sustainable Development Goals. In 2018, HTC and WEF announced that WEF, in collaboration with a core group of VR/AR leaders and the UN, will drive the “VR for Impact” initiative going forward. As a core member of the group, HTC VIVE continues to design and create experiences as part of the collaborative, ongoing commitment to foster and champion the use of Virtual and Augmented Reality to educate and empower humanity.

    For more information on VR for Impact visit: https://vrforimpact.com/.

    Website: LINK

  • Embark on a seafaring odyssey of the mind in A Fisherman’s Tale

    Embark on a seafaring odyssey of the mind in A Fisherman’s Tale

    Reading Time: 2 minutes

    In the critically acclaimed A Fisherman’s Tale – out now on Viveport – you’ll turn your world upside down in order to discover the truth at the top of a mysterious lighthouse. 

    Post by Kimara Rouwit, Vertigo Games

    Hey all!

    At Innerspace VR and Vertigo Games we are proud to announce that A Fisherman’s Tale, the mind-bending VR adventure is available from today for HTC Vive headsets for $14.99 USD. A Fisherman’s Tale traps players inside a replica of an elusive virtual world. You will need to work with infinite, ever smaller and bigger replications of yourself to find your way out of a world where physics are utterly broken.

    Seeing is believing, so we’ve created a live-action launch trailer for you guys to check out!

    [youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gmxBpQTVVhk?feature=oembed&wmode=opaque&w=730&h=411]

    In a nutshell, A Fisherman’s Tale will have you:

    • Break more than a couple laws of physics in mind-bending VR puzzles!
    • Team up with yourself in revolutionary multi-dimensional single player co-op!
    • Meet some of the quirkiest sidekicks to have ever set foot in a VR game
    • Use your hands to pick up, throw, combine, and use all kinds of things in glorious fully immersive virtual reality!
    • Toy around with your tiny little model lighthouse, inside a lighthouse, inside a… is that another lighthouse?
    • Uncover the truth at the core of an unusually tall tale, exclusively in VR

    On top of that, A Fisherman’s Tale is a journey of both introspection and extrospection, asking players to reach both inside and outside of themselves for answers. What does it mean to reach the top of the lighthouse, and turn on the light?

    Without VR, there wouldn’t have been A Fisherman’s Tale. Our goal was to bring the adventure game genre to VR in a way that is meaningful to the genre. We hope you’ll think we succeeded!

    We’re extremely excited for you to discover the game, and can’t wait to hear your feedback online!

    A Fisherman’s Tale is now available on Viveport. Interested to hear more about this heady experience? Check out our Viveport Q&A with the developers here.

    Website: LINK

  • New year, new you – amazing deals on Viveport wellness experiences

    New year, new you – amazing deals on Viveport wellness experiences

    Reading Time: 2 minutes

    The start of another year is a time of new beginnings: tossing out all that junk food in the pantry,  making better financial decisions, focusing on self-care, and of course staying more physically active.

    To help you get back into the swing of things, we’re offering Viveport Subscription member discounts on a bevy of health and wellness Viveport experiences that will help get you centered and on the road to a fitter, happier, healthier 2019!

    [youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yX_zZZYwr4I?feature=oembed&wmode=opaque&w=730&h=411]

    Virtual Sports

    Experience ping-pong and tennis with realism only possible on the Vive. Play with friends, jump into a quick game online, or tackle career mode versus a spectrum of opponents in far ranging venues. Challenge your skills with realistic physics, or play in Fun Mode to get a boost in accuracy while you learn.

    [youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oG5UxMYwoCg?feature=oembed&wmode=opaque&w=730&h=411]

    Dance Collider

    Feel the rhythm and compete against challenging computer and human opponents in cyberpunk dance-offs. Bust a move and annihilate the competition in futuristic arenas to a bevy of pulse-pounding songs.

    [youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LTqMkTNN0fY?feature=oembed&wmode=opaque&w=730&h=411]

    ReMind VR

    Repose and unwind with proven meditation techniques from three foremost experts in the field of relaxation therapy. Tranquilize your stressful day with simple, short exercises of requiescence:

    [youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s5Yq2QPylcA?feature=oembed&wmode=opaque&w=730&h=411]

    Racket: NX

    Racquetball meets Breakout inside a giant pinball machine! Racket: Nx is a new kind of game that challenges the limits of what you can do with a racket and ball in VR.


    Check out these and more and save up to 80% off with your Viveport Subscription during our wellness event! Not a Viveport Subscription member? Start your free trial here and take advantage of awesome subscriber perks today!

    Website: LINK

  • Take your Viveport experience to Infinity (and beyond)

    Take your Viveport experience to Infinity (and beyond)

    Reading Time: 2 minutes

    Exciting news in the world of Viveport! Announced today at CES, the biggest upgrade to the Viveport Subscription service to date arrives April 5th! Currently with Viveport Subscription, you have 5 choices each month. With the arrival of Viveport Infinity, you can discover and explore hundreds of virtual destinations anytime with unrestricted access!

    “Today, we’re announcing our next step in Viveport’s evolution with Viveport Infinity” said Viveport President Rikard Steiber. “When we first launched our Subscription service, we gave consumers the ability to try 5 titles a month. Now with Viveport Infinity, we’re offering our members the best value in VR content with 100x more choice, all at one low price.”

    Starting Vive Day (April 5th 2019), members can download and play any of the 500+ titles in the Viveport Infinity library with no restrictions. This unlimited subscription model will give members the opportunity to save thousands of dollars on top-quality content while allowing them to discover new experiences. With Viveport Infinity, members will be able to try hits from indie developers or shorter experiences they were reluctant to pay for while keeping their favorites like Seeking Dawn and Torn downloaded and ready to play. Members will be able access Viveport Infinity across all current and future Vive devices as well as the Oculus Rift and other devices in the Wave Eco-system.

    Hear more about Viveport Infinity from directly from our team in the announcement video below:

    [youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VwR1QWBTPl4?feature=oembed&wmode=opaque&w=730&h=411]

    Viveport Infinity: Endless downloads, unlimited adventure.

    Not a Viveport Subscription member? Sign up for your free trial today!

    Website: LINK

  • HTC VIVE Teams Up With Mozilla and AWS to Bring Dedicated Virtual Reality Web Browser to Market

    HTC VIVE Teams Up With Mozilla and AWS to Bring Dedicated Virtual Reality Web Browser to Market

    Reading Time: 3 minutes

    HTC VIVE™, the leader in room-scale Virtual Reality (VR), today announced a first of its kind collaboration with Mozilla’s Firefox, AWS’s Amazon Sumerian, and Fidelity Investments that will enable consumers to bring VR into their everyday life by providing an immersive web browsing experience in VR. Firefox Reality will become Vive’s native VR browser, providing a safe and private experience for users.

    To easily bring web content into VR, HTC Vive is also working with Amazon Web Services (AWS), whose Amazon Sumerian provides developers and companies toolsets to easily create and launch VR experiences. At CES, the first company to demonstrate on the new platform will be Fidelity Investments, which will enable consumers to review their portfolio in VR through a custom environment built for the new browser.

    “We’ve set out this year to bring everyday computing tasks into VR for the first time,” said Michael Almeraris, Vice President of Partnerships and Content, HTC VIVE. “Through the collaboration with Mozilla and Amazon Web Services, we’re closing the gap in XR computing, empowering Vive users to get more content in their headset, while enabling developers and businesses to quickly create content for these consumers.”

    Mozilla Firefox

    Today, VR web browsing is cumbersome and difficult to navigate. HTC Vive turned to Mozilla’s Firefox to reimagine what a VR Web experience could be. This partnership enables a truly optimized browsing experience in VR for quick and easy searches, access to their favorite websites in VR for shopping, researching, surfing, watching videos and more. Firefox will be the default internet browser for Vive, Vive Pro and the upcoming VIVE Cosmos.

    “We’re excited to work with Amazon and HTC to ensure that the web is the best way to experience 3D content from the internet on the best VR devices in the market,” said Sean White, Chief R&D Officer, Mozilla. “We are bringing Firefox Reality to this platform to ensure that users have a safe, fast, and private experience on the next generation of hardware.” 

    Amazon Sumerian

    As part of this relationship, HTC Vive is teaming up with Amazon Sumerian to bring true web VR to the market. Through this collaboration, HTC Vive developers will be able to create highly immersive, VR-optimized websites, without requiring specialized programming experience. Using Sumerian, developers can quickly concept, test and publish VR-optimized websites that are immediately available to internal testers, authenticated users, or for public use. In addition to VR sites, AWS and HTC plan to seamlessly integrate Sumerian with Viveport for publishing any VR experience to the platform, making them available to end users faster than previously possible.

    “Many industries are adopting XR technologies for a wide range of uses, including training simulations, virtual concierge services, enhanced online shopping experiences, virtual tours, and more,” said Kyle Roche, General Manager, Amazon Sumerian, AWS. “Until now, creating realistic XR experiences required developers to have specialized programming skills and learn unique specifications and deployment procedures, adding complexity to the process. Together with HTC and Mozilla, we’re making it easier for developers to more quickly build and distribute VR applications using nothing more than a browser and a URL.”

     

    Fidelity Investments

    To showcase the full potential of these collaborations, HTC Vive will host Fidelity Investments at their CES VR Showcase at the Wynn Hotel. The Fidelity Investments VR website prototype allows financial customers to immerse themselves in their investments via new data visualization tools and will allow for collaboration between users, such as a family member or a trusted advisor.

    “At Fidelity, we’re committed to helping people live better financial lives, so we were excited to explore the capabilities of these new technologies,” said Adam Schouela, vice president of Product Management at Fidelity’s Center for Applied Technology.  “The ability for an investor to collaborate with a family member or trusted advisor in a virtual environment opens up new possibilities for how consumers may interact with their finances in the future.”

    For press images and assets for all Vive CES News, please use this LINK.

    Website: LINK

  • HTC VIVE Evolves Premium VR Portfolio With New Hardware, Unlimited Software Subscription and Content Partnerships

    HTC VIVE Evolves Premium VR Portfolio With New Hardware, Unlimited Software Subscription and Content Partnerships

    Reading Time: 5 minutes

    HTC VIVE™, the leader in room-scale Virtual Reality (VR), today announced new hardware, software, and content offerings that redefine how VR is experienced. With VIVE Pro Eye, a new headset with built-in eye tracking, the high-end VR experience from VIVE Pro just got even better. In addition, VIVEPORT, HTC’s global app store for VR content, announced unlimited subscription access with Viveport Infinity so all the best content is available at any time. HTC also unveiled a developer kit for a future headset, VIVE COSMOS, created with a new level of accessibility and ease of use. Revealed alongside Cosmos, the ‘Vive Reality System’ reimagines what VR should look like in the age of spatial computing, with fresh ways to display content and transport users between immersive environments. These latest advancements in premium VR not only offer best-in-class technology and content but strive to redefine how VR is accessed and experienced for both consumers and enterprise.

    Vive Pro Eye

    Vive Pro, built to meet the needs of the professional VR user, just got even better with integrated eye tracking on the new Vive Pro Eye—giving users new levels of accessibility, including gaze-oriented menu navigation and removing the need for controllers. With the inclusion of eye tracking, the new Vive Pro Eye will allow businesses and developers to gather more data about their training environments, help optimize computer and VR performance, and offer product design and research groups unprecedented levels of feedback.

    Major League Baseball (MLB) debuted eye tracking on Vive Pro Eye at CES 2019. Eye tracking is integrated into the “MLB Home Run Derby VR” video game experience, allowing users full menu control without a traditional controller. Fans can experience the new Vive Pro Eye starting in 2019.

    “We’ve invested in VR technology to bring fans a fun immersive experience and connection to our game and deliver a new level of engagement through VR game competitions, at-home play and in-ballpark attractions,” said Jamie Leece, Senior Vice President, Games & VR, Major League Baseball. “By integrating eye tracking technology into Home Run Derby VR, we are able to transport this transformative baseball experience to any location without additional controllers needed. Our fans can simply operate menus by using their eyes.” 

    Vive Pro Eye is targeted at the enterprise market where eye tracking has a number of immediate benefits—from performance, to accessibility, to improvements in training applications. It will also benefit developers by minimizing computing resources needed to render high-end VR environments.

    The new Vive Pro Eye will launch in the second quarter of 2019.

    Viveport Infinity  

    Also announced today is the biggest upgrade to the Viveport subscription service to date. The first unlimited subscription service for VR, Viveport Infinity allows members to discover and explore hundreds of virtual destinations anytime with unrestricted access.

    “Today, we’re announcing our next step in Viveport’s evolution with Viveport Infinity,” said Rikard Steiber, President, Viveport. “When we first launched our Subscription service, we gave consumers the ability to try 5 titles a month. Now with Viveport Infinity, we’re offering our members the best value in VR content with 100x more choice, all at one low price.”

    Starting Vive Day, April 5, 2019, members can download and play any of the 500+ titles in the Viveport Infinity library with no restrictions. This unlimited subscription model will give members the opportunity to save thousands of dollars on top-quality content while allowing them to discover new experiences. With Viveport Infinity, members will be able to try hits from indie developers or shorter experiences they were reluctant to pay for while keeping their favorites like Seeking Dawn and Torn downloaded and ready to play. Members will be able access  Viveport Infinity across all current and future Vive devices as well as the Oculus Rift and other devices in the Wave Eco-system.

     

    VIVE Cosmos

    Unveiled for the first time today, Vive Cosmos is the newest VR headset from Vive, offering absolute comfort, and ease of set-up and use—ensuring consumers can access their virtual world whenever their life may call for it. With no external base stations required, Vive Cosmos maximizes flexibility of usage space, whether at home or on the go, and has the capability to be powered by more than a traditional gaming PC.

    “We found that over 85% of VR intenders believe that ease of use and set up is the most important factor to consider while purchasing a headset,” said Daniel O’Brien, GM, Americas, HTC Vive. “We believe Cosmos will make VR more easily accessible to those who may not have invested in VR before and also be a superior experience for VR enthusiasts.”

    With the introduction of Cosmos, HTC aims to redefine how VR is accessed by offering a headset that is quick to setup and use and can be taken on the go to new play environments. Cosmos will be the first Vive headset to feature the “Vive Reality System,” an entirely new design experience for VR.  

    HTC will first offer developer kits of Vive Cosmos in early 2019, and more details on availability and price will be announced later in the year.

     

    Vive Reality System

    HTC’s Creative Labs team also revealed Vive Reality System, a completely reimagined way for people to experience the virtual world—encompassing the total user experience from the moment a headset is put on to how content is interacted with.

    “Our philosophy has always been focused on developing great products and experiences that create a natural and effortless bridge from the real world to the virtual world and with Vive Reality System we set out to reimagine Vive’s core software experience to meet these needs,” said Drew Bamford, VP, Creative Labs, HTC Vive. “The tools and environments that make up Vive Reality System aim to make spatial computing accessible to everyone, wherever their journey into immersive worlds takes them. We want VR to feel less like launching apps and instead like stepping between worlds.”

    The Vive Reality System includes both operational and experiential elements impacting the entire Vive product portfolio and experienced first on the Vive Cosmos. As part of the project, Vive announced a deal with Mozilla to launch the first Vive-dedicated VR browser.

    The Vive Reality System will power experiences across the entire Vive product portfolio and will be available first on the Vive Cosmos released later this year. 

    For press images and assets for all Vive CES News, please visit the Vive online press kit.

    Website: LINK

  • Writing the (Hyper)book on arcade action with Regenesis Arcade

    Writing the (Hyper)book on arcade action with Regenesis Arcade

    Reading Time: 7 minutes

    The VDA award winning action shooter Regenesis Arcade – currently on sale 50% off during the Viveport holiday sale – is an electric experience. Blending immersive, fast paced gun combat with skill customization options, Regenesis gives players plenty of ways to change up their tactics as they wage war against an army of malevolent machines bent on our destruction. We talked to the developers at Hyperbook Studio to find out how the digital sausage was made for this essential Viveport experience.

    Interview by Nathan Ortega, Viveport

    [youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YwNrhD8yVhM?feature=oembed&wmode=opaque&w=730&h=411]

    For those unfamiliar, tell us a bit about yourself and Hyperbook Studio

    Hi, it’s Adrian Szymański – Project Manager and Maciek Karbownik – Game Designer from Hyperbook Studio. Our development story had begun in 2016, when Hyperbook Studio has been created to bring innovative software to gamers and industry professionals around the world using VR technology. Our team members are passionate Unreal Engine developers with high ambitions to create stunning and interesting VR experiences.

    Where did the idea behind Regenesis Arcade come from?

    At the beginning, Regenesis was supposed to be a simple game that we used to promote VR technology at many Hyperbook events. Watching how people react, new ideas started flooding our heads like what we should to add or improve to deliver much more fun. We even had an extensive script with a long adventure story which would probably take some years and funds to make our dreams come true. Of course we chose the best elements and created the pure explosive VR shooter experience which you can play now.

    What would you say were your biggest inspirations when developing the game (world/art style/gameplay etc)?

    Each of us tried to add our personal favorites to the mix, but we certainly were all ultimately inspired by the most critically acclaimed first person games of the era – namely the Portal series, Half-Life 2 (hence the gravity gun in our game) and Doom 2016. When it came to art, we focused on working effectively and not over scoping with something that might break the convention of futuristic wave-based combat. The concept of evil AI-controlled drone came as an easy way to create a versatile archetype of an antagonist, which can have many visual and functional variations.

    Was Regenesis Arcade always intended to be a fast-paced and exciting arcade style experience, or did that direction evolve over the course of development?

    We went through the typical road of limiting the scope throughout the way, in our case from a story-driven puzzle shooter to the frantic trigger-happy madness we have right now. It wasn’t redundant to start with this different, narrative approach, since the background we created this way allowed us to capture a big picture of what can be possible in the future and put small details hidden beyond the obvious layer of a typical shooter experience. Why are levels arranged this way? What is the beam of red light on a Wasteland map? Why do we come back to the first location in the last episode? Where are all the other people? We know answers to those questions, and you may find out in the future.

    Were there any weapons/enemies/etc that you wanted to incorporate into Regenesis Arcade but for whatever reason just couldn’t find a place for?

    Our weapon we really wanted to work into Regenesis was a flame thrower. However, adding fire elements to the game creates a challenge in consistency – you should be able to set grass and trees on fire, which we’d prefer to avoid, since it will be a tough one to balance and optimize. The massive weapons pack came with one of the most recent updates, so we already had our maps and general environmental design in place. Also, we’d have to take some time to make sure it looks good and also doesn’t kill your PC. Another argument against it was the fact that we already have three general weapon categories and one for the gravity gun, each with a special set of perks. So if we add flamethrower, which doesn’t really fit into the current weapon types, we’d have to create a new one, with a bunch of new perks, which means lots of work for the whole team. It’s certainly possible, but wasn’t the best thing to do when you have lots of other critical development tasks at hand.

    What were some of the biggest challenges you encountered when developing Regenesis Arcade?

    Definitively the typical VR oriented development challenges. Not necessarily the technical obstacles and performance issues, but designing to optimize being on VR can be tough. Most of the similar games on the market are really safe – you don’t move around, don’t progress your character, there’s a very limited amount of enemies on the screen. But we went crazy with Regenesis: you can teleport or run around, there’s a shop where you can buy ammo, switch weapons and unlock perk upgrades, there’s 10-20 enemies on the screen all the time, behind you, above and under your feet. This game gets really tough because we made it looking for a level of challenge we would want to see in the genre. It’s absolutely merciless and I consider it one of the most hardcore VR titles on the market, which we are very proud of.

    Were there any surprises revealed through observing player behavior and getting fan feedback upon release? Any elements that people particularly responded to that you didn’t predict?

    We underestimated some of the elements in terms of their importance to players. For example, there are many VR games where you don’t move at all or just teleport. The movement wasn’t a focus in the early stage, so we thought this should be enough and players will focus on the shooting, treating this just as a way to dodge bullets, which we considered a must-have in this type of game. But most of people said it felt like a ‘cheat-y’ way to play a shooter – just to teleport around, they wanted the free movement. Our thought was there’s no way they could get too far with ‘cheat-y’ teleporting, ironically, because the game is even harder later on and you want to use every way you can to make it more managable for yourself, and jumping around is surely one of those ways. So then we added the free movement and tweaked it a bit, just for those few hardcore players who wanted to have the freedom that was already present in most popular VR games on the market at the moment: Fallout 4 VR and Doom VFR. Suddenly it opened a completely different way to play a game – right now we have two completely different experiences because of that. You might say that playing in one of those modes is ‘cheat-y’, but the thing is – which one? Each has it’s pros and cons and it’s up to you to pick your preference. Also, some people might have motion sickness issues, so for the teleportation will be the best option to play. We wanted our game to be hard, but also inclusive and accessible. So this movement mode selection was the most unexpected but also most exciting change we’ve made so far.

    [youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CLykBsnhdlw?feature=oembed&wmode=opaque&w=730&h=411]

    How many people were on the team during the development, and how long did it take to make?

    Our core team was 6 persons but in peak time there was involved around 15 people. Development time took about 12 months of hard work.

    What do you ultimately want players to take away from their time with Regenesis Arcade?

    We want them to escape from reality for some time and play one of the most engaging shooter experiences there is. Most of our team are avid FPS gamers, so we tweaked and balanced the game thinking about having a really good time killing drones and figuring out new strategies to do it more effectively. Just don’t get too serious about it, it’s all about having fun.

    What’s next on the horizon for Hyperbook Studio?

    We’re working on our next project called Hyper Arena VR is under development since 2017 and it’s in working alpha phase now. In HAVR we aim at creating the world’s first fully immersive active multiplayer PvP game with full body reproduction inside Virtual Reality playground. H.A.VR incorporates variety of different types of discs and power-ups available at player’s disposal. It could be also great workout for the body. You can watch promo trailers from HAVR on our website and YouTube channel.

    Awesome to hear! We’ll definitely be keeping an eye on it as you and the team continue development. Thank you for chatting with us!

    Regenesis Arcade is on sale now on Viveport 50% off during the Viveport holiday event, as well as available via Viveport Subscription

    Website: LINK

  • Closing the loop with the mind-bending experience A Fisherman’s Tale

    Closing the loop with the mind-bending experience A Fisherman’s Tale

    Reading Time: 5 minutes

    In the topsy-turvy VR adventure A Fisherman’s Tale – coming to Viveport January 22nd – you’ll go on a mind-bending adventure that will challenge your perceptions on your journey to discover the truth behind the surreal M.C. Escher-like scenario you find yourself in. We sat down to speak with the development team to hear what went into this clever and challenging experience.

    Interview by Nathan Ortega, Viveport Staff

    [youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=11Ha3StVNDU?feature=oembed&wmode=opaque&w=730&h=411]

    Tell us a bit about yourself and the team at Innerspace VR

    Innerspace VR is an independent studio based in Paris, with one foot in the US. We have been working in VR for a long time now, some in the team since even before VR’s revival! Our DNA is both narrative and artistic, however we’ve always followed closely where gaming in VR was headed. After a few narrative experiences and awards which cemented the reputation of the studio among early VR adopters, we decided to step into VR gaming – while remaining true to our DNA.

    Talk a bit about your previous experience developing content for VR and how it informed the direction of A Fisherman’s Tale

    One of our mottos is that if VR cannot bring something significantly transformative to whatever it is that we are building, be it a gaming or narrative experience, then we need to rethink our approach. In the case of A Fisherman’s Tale, we believe the gameplay and the Russian dolls principle which are central to the game would simply not be as exciting outside of VR. We’re convinced that anyone who dons a headset and picks up the controllers will immediately recognize the world we are putting them in is not only unique, but particularly satisfying in VR.

    The gameplay is far from being the only key ingredient in A Fisherman’s Tale. Staying true to our DNA, we decided our game would be heavily narrative focused and we’re absolutely certain it makes A Fisherman’s Tale a very unique creation both in the VR space, and even in the gaming space in general.

    What were some of the biggest inspirations on the design of A Fisherman’s Tale?

    There are so many! We should mention mind-bending puzzle games such as the great Portal and sandbox games like Owlchemy Labs’ Job Simulator. In terms of narration, “The Little Prince” and “Alice in Wonderland” were great inspirations. The visual style, purposefully a bit “cartoonish”, is quite unique in our minds, as we use it to give players the feeling of being in colorful and warm painting. In terms of music, we were lucky enough to work with the extremely talented Norman Bambi, and the quirkiness you can hear in his work is still present in the game.

    Were there any concepts, sequences or ideas that you wanted to work into A Fisherman’s Tale but just couldn’t find a way to make it fit?

    Absolutely! All the sidekicks probably have some very interesting stories to tell, and maybe a whole world of their own. We would have loved to explore those. Maybe someday!

    What have been some of the biggest challenges in developing A Fisherman’s Tale?

    In terms of gameplay, getting players to immediately grasp the gist of the recursion was a challenge. We really want people who play the game for the first time to be amazed by the sheer scale and dimensionality of the world we’re putting them into. So we put a lot of care into taking the players by the hand from the very first minutes of the game until the big reveal.

    Also, since the game is so narrative-focused, while having a sort of sandbox aspect to it, we worked hard on balancing the moments when the player needs to pay attention to the storyline and the moments when they should focus on the puzzles. It’s very tricky, because everyone looks for something different in these games: some want to focus on the storyline, while others are in it for the puzzles and challenges. We do not want to force the players too much, so it’s all about nudging them into paying attention to what we think they should be paying attention to.

    Lastly, the game is optimized like crazy! All these recursions and visual effects require a lot of computing power, however we wanted the game to be widely available even on modest configurations.

    A Fisherman’s Tale has been demoed at events like Indiecade and Film Gate, having earned accolades at both. Was there any particular feedback that surprised you?

    Newcomers and VR veterans alike seem to recognize how different the game is, and how “fresh” it feels in the overall VR landscape. What is very exciting to us is that people who are not necessarily big fans of VR seem to enjoy the game a lot still. As big VR believers ourselves, we hope that with A Fisherman’s Tale we’re helping make the medium become a little more mainstream — so this is the kind of feedback we’re very proud of.

    How many people were on the team throughout the development process? How long did it take to make?

    The very first “recursion” prototype dates back to early 2016, so with the game launching on January 22nd, it has taken us 3 years from the first concept until the final game – but really we’re closer to 10 months of full production time. Over the whole production, about 30 people have been involved at various stages, some working on the POC, some on the last minute optimizations – all great and passionate people.

    What do you ultimately want players to take away from their time with A Fisherman’s Tale?

    We hope they enjoy the storyline, appreciate the universe we’ve built and the care we put into it. Besides the fun, we wanted to bring something meaningful and poetic to this experience. What does it mean to be inside a replica, in a VR illusive world? That’s why A Fisherman’s Tale is a story about breaking from illusions to find truth. But most importantly we hope players will come to recognize VR as a really powerful way to make experiences like nowhere else.

    What’s next for Innerspace?

    We have a few other exciting projects in development – but there isn’t much we can share about those at this point!

    With A Fisherman’s Tale just now releasing, it’s totally understandable. Thanks for speaking to us, we can’t wait to see what you have coming next!

    A Fisherman’s Tale arrives on Viveport January 22nd, 2019.

    Website: LINK

  • Huge yuletide savings during the Viveport Holiday Sale

    Huge yuletide savings during the Viveport Holiday Sale

    Reading Time: < 1 minute

    Huge savings on Viveport apps and games, as well as deep discounts on Viveport Subscription bundles!

    The holidays are upon us, which means it’s the perfect time to stock up on a plethora of immersive VR experiences on Viveport. To celebrate the season, starting today we’re rolling out a huge sale on a variety of apps and games, with discounts up to 95% on over 200 VIVE and Oculus Rift compatible titles!

    On top of that, get an extra 10% off your purchase upon checkout, with Viveport Subscription members saving up to an additional 40% off! (Details can be found here.)

    As if that’s not exciting enough, we’ll have new deals and discounts rolling out on the 19th, featuring some amazing discounts on Viveport Subscription bundles and even bonus game codes! Check back December 19th at 8PM Pacific for more details.

    Whether you’re a veteran Vive user or an Oculus Rifter new to Vive and Viveport, now is the perfect time to explore all the awesome experiences on tap via Vive and Vivport Subscription this holiday season!

    Website: LINK

  • Race Around the World with Nellie Bly: The Virtual Reality Experience

    Race Around the World with Nellie Bly: The Virtual Reality Experience

    Reading Time: 2 minutes

    Nellie Bly, the pen name of Elizabeth Cochran, had an impressive resume, to say the least. Known for her pioneering journalism, Bly became famous for her support of women’s rights, undercover exposés and her world travels. Defying the status quo and challenging conventions, Bly became one of the most famous woman journalists of her time and founded the practice of investigative journalism with her hands-on approach to stories. Now, you can learn about her journey with Nellie Bly: The Virtual Reality Experience on Viveport.

    Developed in partnership with Vive Studios, the Newseum, and Immersion, Nellie Bly: The Virtual Reality Experience is an interactive journey following the inspiring historical figure as she takes her record-breaking trip around the world. Bly’s career as a journalist skyrocketed when she reported on her travels and attempted to break the fictitious record set in Jules Verne’s adventure novel, Around the World in Eighty Days. In this new immersive experience, you’ll join Nellie Bly as she sets off on November 14, 1889, and travels the world in record speed by any vehicle (or donkey) necessary.

    Nellie Bly: The Virtual Reality Experience is the third installment from Vive Studios’ partnership with the Newseum. Located in Washington, D.C., the Newseum’s mission is to increase public understanding of the importance of a free press and First Amendment rights. Along with the Nellie Bly experience, Newseum has also showcased VR experiences that educate audiences about the Unabomber investigation and the historical Berlin Wall in partnership with Vive Studios.

    Download Nellie Bly: The Virtual Reality Experience on Viveport today during the Winter Sale for a discounted price of $4.49.

    Website: LINK