Valve's VR headset revealed with Oculus-like features Valve’s prototype virtual reality headset was originally revealed to select developers earlier this year behind closed doors, but the company is now starting to demonstrate an updated version in public. At a VR meetup in Boston yesterday, attendees were given an even closer look at Valve’s new headset. It appears that the latest prototype has changed significantly, with a separate camera used to track spots on the head-mounted display. It’s a similar system to Oculus’ latest Crystal Cove concept, and marks a change from Valve’s previous approach of using QR codes and a camera attached to the head-mounted display to improve tracking. Reddit and Twitter users have posted a variety of photos showing the new headset, which doesn’t look as bulky as some of Valve’s earlier concepts. Valve has a Dota 2 demo "where you see the entire game arena sitting on a table in front of you and can bend down to inspect any piece of the action," according to one Reddit user.
Oculus wants to build a billion-person MMO with Facebook When Facebook purchased Oculus VR for $2 billion, both companies stayed fairly tight-lipped about their goals. The money would help Oculus build virtual reality headsets cheaper and better, while Facebook would have a chance to lead the next big computing platform. However, Oculus CEO Brendan Iribe just told an audience at TechCrunch Disrupt about one lofty possibility for the pair: building a massively multiplayer experience for one billion simultaneous users. While Iribe admits that a billion-person MMO is "going to take a bigger network than exists in the world today," he says Facebook's network makes a great place to start, and suggested it could be a Metaverse that joins disparate virtual worlds. "Do we want to be Game Boy or iPhone?" Getting to one billion users may also have been the reason Oculus decided to join up with Facebook instead of a traditional gaming company. "This is like the final frontier."
PrioVR // Suit Up. Game On. Sony: Project Morpheus Sony Computer Entertainment - 03/18/2014 TOKYO, March 18, 2014 /PRNewswire/ -- Sony Computer Entertainment Inc. (SCE) today announced the development of "Project Morpheus" (Morpheus) − a virtual reality (VR) system that takes the PlayStation®4 (PS4™) system to the next level of immersion and demonstrates the future of gaming. SCE will continue development of Morpheus looking towards a future commercial launch. "At SCE we view innovation as an opportunity to build on our mission to push the boundaries of play," said Shuhei Yoshida, President of SCE Worldwide Studios. "Project Morpheus is the latest example of innovation from SCE, and we're looking forward to its continued development and the games that will be created as development kits get into the hands of content creators." Morpheus enables developers to create experiences that deliver a sense of presence - where players feel as though they are physically inside the virtual world of a game. SOURCE Sony Computer Entertainment Inc.
Samsung is making a VR headset for its phones and tablets Samsung is known for its ubiquitous Galaxy smartphones and tablets, popular smart televisions and, most recently, smartwatches. The Korean consumer electronics giant is about to enter another major new category: virtual reality headsets. We're told by sources close to Samsung that a virtual reality headset is not only in the works at the company's mobile division, but it's set to be announced this year. First things first, what are we talking about here specifically? We're told it has an OLED screen, as good or better than in the second Rift dev kit; it's not clear how the headset connects to your phone/tablet, but we're guessing it's a wired connection rather than wireless. Beyond beating the competition to market, Samsung's said to be targeting a lower price tier with its headset. This is a device meant for use with games. That question, and many more surrounding Samsung's VR headset, remain a mystery. Comments