Hasta La Gadget!

Just because virtual reality displays let us interact with 3D interfaces doesn’t mean there isn’t room for the ol’ two-dimensional view inside of them. Oliver Kreylos, a developer who’s been working with 3D software for nearly 30 years, recently demonstrated a Virtual Network Computing (VNC) client that sends a 2D feed of a desktop computer to a 3D virtual reality environment.

Oliver’s VNC client allows him to open and interact with any number of 2D desktops on a virtual reality environment. Why would you want to do this? Well for one, you can reverse telecommute: imagine working in an island paradise environment while you’re actually in the office. Because you can (theoretically) open multiple desktops at once, the setup also supercharges multitasking and group meetings. You can watch a video walkthrough while playing a 3D game, look at a hundred fullscreen documents at once, have multiple large video chat screens like they do in science fiction flicks and more.

As you’ll see in Oliver’s demo video, developers can also make 2D applications that interact with the 3D environment. In his demo he measured a table that was in his virtual space and then used a Razer Hydra to send those measurements to Microsoft Excel on his 2D desktop.

We really don’t know how far the rabbit hole goes with this one. Note that the video below may cause dizziness because of the constant change in perspective. It almost made me throw up to be honest. I’m ill-equipped for the future.

Head to Oliver’s blog for more on his custom program. I wonder if you can emulate this feature on the same computer that’s running the VR environment. That would be more useful, although it would probably take a beefy computer to pull it off. Also, watching Oliver’s demo, I can almost – almost! – visualize a four-dimensional space, where you can fit infinite 3D environments. Now I’m really dizzy.

[via Fast Co. Design]

Sir David Attenborough is the grand master behind epic nature documentaries like Planet Earth and Blue Planet. His productions take us deep into entirely new worlds that few humans have ever visited. His next project will do that even more convincingly, powered by the amazing virtual reality powers of Oculus Rift.

Read more…

One of the weak points of virtual reality and 3D video technologies is that the many people won’t be excited about them unless they get to test it themselves. But a group of developers have figured out a way to use that weakness as the crux of their game. It’s called Keep Talking and Nobody Explodes, and it looks like a lot of fun.

In Keep Talking and Nobody Explodes, you play a group of bomb disposal experts trying to defuse a time bomb. The catch is that only one of you can see and handle the bomb. That player will wear the Oculus Rift headset. The current build of the game also requires the Razer Hydra motion controllers.

The rest of you will then help by reading from a multiple page guide that provides general clues for defusing the game’s many bombs. You’ll talk with the player wearing the Rift to find out the exact bomb you’re dealing with, then relay the clues from the guide on how to defuse that exact type of bomb. The demo video below has salty language. Because they’re dealing with a freakin’ time bomb.

How considerate of the bomber to add serial numbers to his wares. The developers behind the game said they will demo it at the 2014 PAX East. You can also check out the game’s files on GitHub.

[via TechCrunch]

There’s a lot more to the world of virtual reality than gaming has let on over the past year or so. Enamored with the gaming universe with projects like Oculus … Continue reading

When Facebook announced that they would be acquiring Oculus VR, not only were many people surprised, but many were apparently outraged as well. We’re not sure where all the anger is coming from, perhaps it could be that they’re worried Facebook might attempt to monetize the Oculus Rift through ads, perhaps they feel that Facebook might be trying to invade their gaming space, who knows?

All we know is that for the most part, most people just aren’t too happy about it. But could their unhappiness of the acquisition be warranted to the point where death threats are issued? According to Oculus VR’s founder, Palmer Luckey, he claims that he and his team have received death threats following the acquisition. (more…)

Oculus Rift Team Hit With Death Threats Following Facebook Acquisition original content from Ubergizmo.