Virtual reality has gone dark for Oculus Rift users across the globe today, as what seems to be an expired security certificate in the Oculus Runtime service has temporarily rendered their headsets inoperable. Where were you the day the Oculus Rifts died?
So you just bought a new PC VR system. Oculus Rift, HTC Vive, whichever. You’ve plugged it in, adjusted the cameras, cleared out some room, and you’re ready to play some games. Which are the best?
Oculus has announced the Oculus Go, a standalone VR device for $199 releasing early 2018. You can find out more about it on the Oculus developer site.
There are a lot of nightmarish things about KFC, including but not limited to mutant chickens and a sandwich where the bread is chicken filets. Now KFC is owning the darker, crispier parts of its brand with a new VR horror game that’s become a “bizarre initiation rite” for new employees, according to Eater.
The HTC Vive is now $599, receiving its first official price drop since the virtual reality headset launched last year at $799. That puts the Vive at $100 more than the Rift/Touch combo, though the latter is current on sale for a limited time for $399. (Updated with latest Rift pricing)
There are better Star Trek video games out there, but none that come close to delivering the immersive cooperative experience offered by Ubisoft’s virtual reality-powered Star Trek: Bridge Crew. It’s the closest you can get to being on the bridge of a Federation starship.
Rock Band was great, but Rock Band was also awkward and cumbersome. Now here comes Rock Band VR, a few years after most of us got rid of our last plastic instrument. It’s also cumbersome, and it’s also great. In fact, it’s the most fun I’ve had with Rock Band in years.
John Carmack, co-founder of id Software and one of the key designers involved in the Oculus Rift, is taking his former employer Zenimax to court for “more than $22.5 million”, reports Dallas News.
Oculus CTO and renowned Quake and Doom programmer John Carmack slammed a Dallas jury’s Wednesday decision against Oculus in a $500 million copyright and non-disclosure agreement lawsuit. On Facebook, Carmack specifically takes issue with an expert witness whose testimony, he says, is “just not true.”
The lengthy legal battle between Facebook and Zenimax just wrapped up. A Dallas, Texas jury has awarded half a billion dollars to Zenimax. The reason? Apparently, Palmer Luckey didn’t comply with a non-disclosure agreement.
Following last night’s news that Oculus founder Palmer Luckey is helping fund a troll army of Trump supporters, several VR developers have decided to pull Oculus support for their titles.
Virtual reality can’t fix the disconnect between clicking a card and slamming it down on a table, but playing on a battlefield between two fantasy dimensions certainly helps distract from it. Watch us play High Voltage’s Dragon Front on the Oculus Rift and see for yourself.
Dirt Rally is getting Oculus Rift support next Monday, July 11. From what I’ve played of the non-VR game, it will be a lot to deal with. I’m going to play it anyway.
Oculus has been under enormous pressure in recent weeks over an unexpected decision to prevent competing headsets from playing Oculus games, but the company appears to have reversed course.
Oculus didn’t just launch their Rift VR headset back in March—they also launched a software interface and an online store. The software functions similarly to Steam or GOG, working as a store, a social network, a game library and launching pad. It desperately needs an upgrade.
The debate over “exclusive” Oculus Rift games reached a new pitch yesterday. The catalyst: Serious Sam VR, and the question of whether Oculus is attempting to buy up exclusivity for in-development games.
SUPERHOT VR gets a new Oculus Touch trailer. Should be pretty cool—the non-VR game is great—though I’ll be curious whether or not you can move around within levels. They call it a “complete new title” and say it’ll debut with Oculus Touch later this year.
Coming in July from the Open Source Virtual Reality Consortium, the Hacker Development Kit 2 virtual reality headset matches the stats of the Oculus Rift and HTC Vive for only $399.
