Hasta La Gadget!

We’ve known for some time now that Valve was working on virtual reality support for its perpetually updated free-to-play shooter, Team Fortress 2. The company’s even giving a duo of talks at the upcoming Game Developer’s Conference on the difficulties of game development for virtual reality. What we didn’t know, however, is that said support is also headed to consumers as “VR Mode,” and it’ll get pushed to PC Team Fortress 2 players “sometime within the next couple of weeks.” But how will you play it? Simple: Team Fortress 2 is the Oculus Rift‘s first official game.

Valve programmer Joe Ludwig revealed as much during a recent visit Engadget paid to the Bellevue, Wash.-based game company. “This is a mode that everybody who has a Rift dev kit and access to Team Fortress 2 will be able to play, just on public and in the same servers that everybody else is playing in,” Ludwig said. Of course, “everybody” doesn’t include Mac or Linux TF2 players just yet. “We don’t have a Mac or Linux SDK from Oculus quite yet, but once we get those, we’ll get it ported over to those other platforms,” he explained. Oculus tells us those SDKs are coming. “The Oculus SDK will only support Windows at launch, but we plan to add support for OS X and Linux as quickly as possible. It’s just a matter of time,” Oculus VP of product Nate Mitchell says.

We’ll have more from our visit to Valve in the coming hours, so keep an eye out!

[Image credit: Michael Clinard]

Filed under: Gaming, Peripherals, Software, HD

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For the sheer variety of virtual reality headsets available, there’s been few resources available for those who want to craft their own devices. USC wants to save us the effort of searching around. Its MxR Lab has just launched a showcase of creations and modifications that DIY enthusiasts can build, including open source code for both the devices and integrating full-body motion control through Kinect for Windows or OpenNI. The most ambitious is Socket HMD, a complete 1,280 x 800 headset that involves a 3D-printed shell and custom-assembled electronics. If your own ambitions don’t stretch that far, you can still build the VR2GO viewer, which uses iPhones and iPod touch players as the eyepieces, as well as mods for the Oculus Rift developer kit that add stereo cameras or increase the field of view. Yes, you’ll need a 3D printer and a knack for programming to get most of these projects going, but you won’t have to wait for someone to make them for you — a big help when many ready-made VR displays are either in development or priced out of reach for the average person.

Filed under: Displays, Wearables

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Via: Road to VR

Source: USC

NTT is developing technology that faithfully reproduces pictures and sound from distant locations, creating a natural sense of distance and position, as if both people are in the same room.
“Regarding the picture, this system includes technology that uses 3D video. It continually generates pictures from such a viewpoint that, the other person seems to be right in front of you. Regarding the sound, the system uses technology that reproduces the sound wave-front, so you can hear the other …

Ready to have your brain blasted to bits? U-Tsu-Shi-O-Mi is a “virtual assistant” that is actually a green-clad humanoid robot. Users look at her using virtual reality goggles and instead of seeing a mildly creepy, ninja-like blog they see an actual face and body. You can reach out, touch the body, and even shake hands with your robotic pal.

Made by a Japanese company called Different Dimension Inc., the robot uses a program called MMDAgent to interact with users. An initial prototype looked like a ‘tween in footie pajamas and a full-face hood. The newest version consists of half of a body and a much smaller profile. The pre-order price will be about $5,000.

Unfortunately the system still requires a VR headset and some solid computing power. However, because the entire package is so compact, you could imagine approaching a little green figure while wearing smaller VR glasses and interacting without much fuss. Interacting with a tiny green figure is obviously quite creepy – especially if passers-by don’t know what’s up – but what did Clarke say about technology and magic?

via Gizmag

Nikon introduced this morning in Japan and USA the the COOLPIX AW110. Waterproof, shockproof and freezeproof, the rugged AW110 is built to handle the elements, whether hiking up a mountain, hitting the slopes or riding the surf. Nikon’s newest tough camera also offers built-in Wi-Fi connectivity for sharing, Full HD 1080p video capabilities and a slew of advanced features that adventurers covet, including GPS and underwater shooting modes.
The COOLPIX AW110 is the ultimate point-and-shoot …