Items tagged with htc vive
Earlier this week, we first got wind of Half-Life: Alyx, the latest entry into the Half-Life saga. The original Half-Life -- which was a first-person shooter blockbuster, helping to revolutionize the genre -- blazed onto the scene back in 1998, and was followed up by Half-Life 2 in 2004. Half-Life: Alyx is what Valve calls a full-length, virtual reality addition to the Half-Life world. So, make no mistake, this won't be a glorified tech demo or some simple side excursion to divert your attention for a few minutes. Valve is hoping to sucks fans into the gameplay experience the same way the original and its sequel did. According to Valve, Half-Life: Alyx is set in-between the events of Half-Life...
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VR devices have greatly improved over the years and the next generation of headsets is better than ever. HTC will release its new Vive Cosmos headset on October 3rd. The Vive Cosmos features inside-out tracking, easy set-up, and new mods. HTC originally unveiled the Vive Cosmos at the 2019 Consumer Electronics Show (CES), but recently revealed more about the device’s specs. The HTC Vive Comos includes dual 3.4 inch diagonal screens, a resolution of 1440 x 1700 pixels per eye or a combined total of 2880 x 1700 pixels, and a 90Hz refresh rate. This is nearly double the amount of pixels of the original. The real RGB panels offer “40 percent improved lens clarity” over the HTC Vive...
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Last month HTC officially announced the new Vive Focus Plus VR headset and gave up most of the details at that time. HTC bills the Focus Plus as a professional-grade, portable VR solution for enterprise applications. The headset is designed to be easy to deploy in environments where multiple headsets will be in use and easy to manage. We're not being given an exact launch date and pricing on the headset. HTC will launch the Vive Focus Plus on April 15, and the headset will sell for $799. HTC hails the Focus Plus as an enterprise-focused standalone VR headset. That means it needs no external computer to function. Controllers for the Focus Plus offer 6-degrees of freedom to support VR navigation...
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Nearly a year ago, HTC first revealed its Vive Focus, which is a standalone virtual reality (VR) headset powered by Qualcomm's Snapdragon 835 SoC. At the time, the device was said to be limited to the Chinese market. Today, however, HTC has announced that the Vive Focus will be available in 37 markets across North America and Europe. The headset will be available to developers priced at $600, while enterprise versions will be priced at $750. That pricing puts the Vive Focus right smack dab in the middle of the original HTC Vive (priced at $499) and the Vive Pro (priced at $799). In addition to availability in the United States, HTC announced that Vive Enterprise Advantage professional...
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Valve has announced a rather significant update to the SteamVR Beta that will be a boon to owners of both current and future virtual reality headsets. The SteamVR runtime has been upgraded with a new auto-resolution scaling routine that is able to enhance your visual experience based on how powerful the GPU is in your current gaming rig. So how does this work? According to Valve's Alexa Vlachos, SteamVR will automatically determine the speed of your GPU and will choose a resolution based on what it is capable of rendering. Vlachos says that many gamers have incredibly powerful graphics cards that simply aren't being utilized to their fullest potential in VR applications. Now, however, SteamVR...
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Last month, Valve announced that it would soon be releasing a standalone virtual reality headset based on Qualcomm's HDM Accelerator Program. That means that the headset, the Vive Focus, is powered by a Snapdragon 835 processor, which is most prominently found in most of 2017's flagship Android smartphones. Today, we're learning a bit more about other specifications for the device, including the display that will be used within the headsets. Unlike some other VR headsets, the Vive Focus features a single 2800x1600 resolution AMOLED display with a 75Hz refresh rate. Field of view for the headset is listed at 110 degrees. For those keeping score, the HTC Vive includes two OLED display panels with...
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Amazon has announced a new service that is meant to enable developers to build VR, AR, and 3D applications for what it calls "popular hardware" platforms. The preview for the new service, called Amazon Sumerian, starts today. Sumerian allows developers to build realistic virtual environments and then populate them with 3D objects and animated characters. Amazon writes, "With Amazon Sumerian’s editor, developers can build realistic virtual environments, populate them with 3D objects and animated characters, and script how they interact with each other and the application’s users. VR and AR apps created in Amazon Sumerian will run in any browser that supports WebGL or WebVR graphics...
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As more and more people move to adopt virtual reality (VR) for gaming, the hardware market is beginning to heat up. In July, the Oculus Rift VR headset was slashed from $599 down to $399. HTC also chopped the price of the Vive VR headset by $200, bringing the cost of entry to a permanent $599. Sony is used to being one of the cheaper points of entry for the VR world with the PlayStation VR headset, and now the company has announced a price cut on the device. With the price cut in place, the PS VR headset and PlayStation Camera can now be had in a new bundle for $399 in the U.S. and $499 CAD. Sony says that the move essentially throws in the PlayStation Camera at no charge, and this will...
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A pricing war has been initiated in the virtual reality (VR) headset market. Facebook struck the first blow back in July, and now HTC is getting in on the discount bandwagon thanks to a $200 price cut on its Vive VR headset. In this case, the price falls from a lofty $799 down to a slightly more manageable $599. While any price cut will likely be appreciated by the buying public, it’s hard to argue that $600 is still a lot of money to pay for VR immersion. Add on the cost of a high-end gaming PC to take full advantage of the Vive, and you’ll looking at $1,500 or more investment. However, HTC believes that it still offers a compelling VR solution with the Vive. “When customers purchase Vive, they...
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If you’re a fan of Mozilla’s Firefox web browser, a big update is coming to the release channel tomorrow. Firefox 55 features support for WebVR, which is a platform for viewing virtual reality content from within a browser environment. Mozilla says that its current implementation of WebVR will be supported on both the Oculus Rift and HTC Vive VR headsets. The company describes WebVR, writing: WebVR transforms VR into a first-class experience on the web, giving it the infinite possibilities found in the openness and interoperability of the Web Platform. When coupled with WebGL to render 3D graphics, these APIs transform the browser into a platform that allows VR content to be published to the...
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The HTC Vive is turning one and HTC plans to celebrate the birthday in a big way. The company will offer a number of freebies and a few new releases on “Vive Day”, which takes place April 5th. One of these freebies includes a Viveport Subscription, a new VR app service. Viveport Subscription is the first subscription service tailored to a VR app store. The service will cost $6.99 USD a month and customers will be able to choose or rotate five apps. Viveport Subscription will initially launch with more than fifty titles, including TheBlu, Richie’s Plank Experience, Everest VR, Fantastic Contraption, and Mars Odyssey. Customers will also have the option to purchase apps that they enjoy. Viveport...
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It's becoming increasingly clear that HTC is putting a lot of its weight behind virtual reality (VR), and it's no doubt for good reason. The company is currently responsible for one of the best VR kits on the market (HTC Vive), and with the entire VR realm growing at an alarming rate, the company stands to benefit handsomely for its efforts. For that reason, it's not a surprise to learn that HTC is planning to release more VR headsets in the future; but its next product is going in a slightly different direction. It's not going to be a true Vive successor, and it's not going to be a "copycat" device, which means it's not going to be HTC's take on the Google Daydream View or Samsung Gear...
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Can HTC Vive and Microsoft HoloLens users ever truly share a virtual experience together? Are they doomed to stagger through their own lonely artificial reality worlds? Well, Google intern Drew Gottlieb has an answer. Gottlieb’s software allows Microsoft HoloLens users to peek into the virtual reality worlds of the HTC Vive. Gottlieb was inspired by a recent experience with a friend. He remarked, “A friend was recently painting a 3D submarine in Tilt Brush. 'Look at this periscope!' she said. I told her to look closer at it, and I leaned into my computer monitor to get a glimpse of what she made. We can do better than this. Why do I have to get up off the couch to see what my...
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Who is selling the most VR headsets? Epic Games’ CEO Tim Sweeney claims that the HTC Vive is outselling the Oculus Rift by a two-to-one margin. Sweeney offered this speculation in an interview with Glixel’s Chris Suellentrop regarding the future of VR. Oculus and HTC have not confirmed these numbers, and Sweeney did not provide a source for his information. Some have estimated that half a million VR headsets have been sold to date. Why would the HTC Vive, however, be outperforming the Oculus Rift? According to Sweeney, Oculus’ “walled garden approach” to software is deterring potential consumers. He stated, “When you install the Oculus drivers, by default you can only use the Oculus store....
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Virtual reality (VR) is starting to slowly take off on PC and console gaming platforms, but that also means that there is plenty of fragmentation going on as each platform looks to stake its claim on early adopters. This was especially the case during the early days of the HTC Vive and Oculus Rift, when attempts to “unify” the gaming experience on the VR headsets by the hacking community were initially thwarted. However, as least one game publisher, Ubisoft, is looking to allow all gamers using the three major VR platforms to engage in online multiplayer sessions together. That means that PlayStation VR, HTC Vive, and Oculus Rift users will no longer be relegated to playing in their own minuscule...
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For the past ten years, Google has made it possible to traverse and explore our planet using Google Earth. Since debuting a decade ago, Google Earth has racked up over 2 billion downloads, making it possible for people to visit places they may never have an opportunity to see in real life. Well, now Google is upping the ante with a new version of Google Earth designed specifically for virtual reality. It's called Google Earth VR and it's available to download for free through Steam. As it did with Tilt Brush, a VR painting app that lets users paint in 3D, Google VR is launching to first on the HTC Vive. Since Google points that out, we imagine there will be a version for the Oculus Rift, though...
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Tesla isn’t the only automaker that’s staking a claim in the EV market. The American car company is getting some fresh competition from an unlikely source: Jaguar Land Rover (JLV). The British luxury and sports car maker tonight unveiled the segment-busting I-Pace Concept electric vehicle (EV), which looks like Jaguar’s take on SUV “coupes” like the BMW X4 and X6. The I-Pace -- the company's very first EV -- definitely shares its design language with current Jaguar vehicles, including the XE, F-Type and F-Pace. It’s not an overly aggressive design by any means, but it still manages to avoid the eye-searing blandness (or hideousness) that is often associated with today’s dedicated EVs and hybrids....
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We told you earlier this week about the MSI VR One, which allows you to freely roam around in a virtual environment, completely unencumbered by wires. The VR One accomplishes this feat by strapping a fully functional gaming PC on your back, complete with GeForce GTX 10 Series graphics, Intel Core i7 processor and a $2,000 price tag. However, what if you could achieve the nearly the same wireless freedom for roughly one tenth the price of the VR One? That’s where TPCast comes into view. TPCast is a startup company that was birthed from the HTC Vive X accelerator program, and its accessory for the HTC Vive severs the wired connection with your PC and instead allows you to go completely wireless....
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For many of us, the allure of virtual reality headsets is the enhanced level of immersion for gaming and experiences that we might not otherwise encounter, like climbing Mount Everest. And for others, it's the possible applications in science and research that's exciting. But for Jamie Soar, a U.K. resident who's visually impaired, it's the simple act of seeing that makes VR awesome, and he got to experience the wonder of sight for the first time while wearing an HTC Vive headset. There's a wonderful write-up by UploadVR about Soar's experience, and it reminds us why we love technology so much. According to the article, Soar was born with Retinitis Pigmentosa, a hereditary eye disease that affects...
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NVIDIA has officially stepped into the realm of video game design and it's timing couldn't have been better. No, NVIDIA probably isn't going to crank out triple-A titles or become the next Bethesda with iconic franchises under its belt, but NVIDIA's VR Funhouse title for the HTC Vive comes at point when virtual reality needs some killer content to go along with early hardware solutions. It's also free! That's right folks, unlike real live carnivals, there's no admission here. VR Funhouse features seven different carnival games, all beautifully rendered with plenty of eye candy. While several early VR titles are rather rudimentary, NVIDIA wanted to prove there's an added level of immersion when...
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HTC has major plans for the VR industry. The company announced that it has created a wholly-owned subsidiary, HTC Vive Tech Corporation, and that it is leading the development of the VR Venture Capital Alliance. All of these plans were announced at the GSMA Mobile World Congress in Shanghai. HTC stated, “HTC can confirm that it has established a wholly-owned subsidiary, HTC Vive Tech Corporation, as a vehicle for developing strategic alliances to help build the global VR ecosystem.” Although this company remains under HTC’s control, potential HTC Vive deals will be made separate from the larger HTC company. Some have argued that HTC smartphone business is failing and that it is trying to separate...
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Oculus just made a change to its software which removes a controversial “feature” that it added last month. The company has disabled its DRM that checked to make sure that Rift hardware was actually connected to a PC before games purchased and downloaded from the Oculus Store could be played. This DRM in effect killed workarounds like Revive, which allowed owners of the HTC Vive to play software originally designed to run on an Oculus Rift. Oculus today confirmed the removal of the DRM check. "We continually revise our entitlement and anti-piracy systems, and in the June update we've removed the check for Rift hardware from the entitlement check," said Oculus in a statement emailed...
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