WATCH: Dragon Ball Z VR headset lets you shoot a ‘kamehameha’

Modern virtual reality technology will now be bringing this childhood fantasy to life, in a manner of speaking.

Toy company Mega House will soon be releasing a “Capsule Corporation” branded VR headset that works with a Dragon Ball Z VR experience app. The headset works by inserting a smartphone into its front panel. It also comes with a pair of hand sensors, as well as a VR mat.

Apart from firing off a virtual “kamehameha” with Goku himself, the app also comes with a “Scouter” function for AR use.

For those who grew up watching the Dragon Ball Z anime series, admit it, you spent a good time of your childhood pretending to do a “kamehameha” with your friends.

Kotaku reports that the BotsNew Characters VR Dragonball Z bundle will be released in Japan by June for 12,000 yen (roughly P5,500).

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IMAX-VR will open its first virtual reality center in Europe by end of year

This is one of several virtual reality installations that IMAX is launching worldwide. It hopes to open six before the end of the year, with plans to open locations in China, Japan, the Middle East, and Western Europe. A location in Los Angeles has also been announced and has already secured VR headsets from Starbreeze.

IMAX has made a deal with Europe's biggest movie theater chain to open a "VR center" in Manchester by the end of the year. The VR center will be located inside one of Odeon & UCI Cinemas Group's theaters and will let people play games, watch films, and move through interactive virtual-reality experiences.

The VR centers will be somewhat experimental at first, as IMAX tries to figure out exactly what — if anything — clicks with consumers. IMAX says it will "use these pilot locations to test several factors, including the overall customer experience, pricing models, and the types of content featured." It plans to roll the centers out globally, to some movie theaters and major tourist destinations, if they're successful.

IMAX says its first round of VR experiences will last between 5 and 15 minutes each and will include films from major movie studios. More interesting may be the centers' setup: IMAX says it's created a "modular design" that allows various VR "pods" to be altered to allow for single person and group experiences.

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Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg shows how it's gonna make virtual reality social using the Oculus Rift

Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg showed off live VR chat using the Oculus Rift on Thursday, with his own Justin Timberlake look-a-like avatar.

On stage at the Oculus Connect 3 conference, Zuckerberg demonstrated the Oculus Touch controller's emotion options, which make avatars show facial expressions, letting you look surprised, happy or confused in VR.

"Eventually, the goal is to achieve most of what you saw today through gestural tracking and voice analysis," a spokeswoman for Facebook said.

The demo showed several features, including changing backgrounds to live locations like inside Facebook's offices or at Zuckerberg's home, where he was able to check on his dog, Beast.

While at his home in VR, his wife Priscilla Chan called in through Facebook Messenger, leading to a selfie -- with a virtual selfie stick -- of Zuckerberg, his wife in a chat box and their dog.

The event, Oculus’s third ever developer conference, comes as it faces fierce competition in the VR market.

Earlier this week Google showed the first version of Daydream VR, its headset which is powered by mobile phone.

And next week Sony is set to launch its PlayStation VR headset. It will work with the PlayStation 4 console, making it a considerably cheaper than the Oculus - though not as powerful.

At the higher-end of the VR market, HTC Vive has been well-received by gamers and has the backing of PC gaming giant Valve.

It leaves Facebook in need of a holy grail headset that offers high-end visuals and interaction at a price more akin to the lower end models currently on the market.

That’s being worked on now, Mr Zuckerberg said.

“We believe that there is a sweet spot - a standalone virtual reality product that is high quality, that is affordable, and you can bring with you out into the world.

"It’s still early, so I don’t want to get your hopes up too much."

The key innovation will be in using Computer Vision Software (CVS), Mr Zuckerberg said. This would enable the headset to see what’s around it and detect its own movements - allowing the wearer to walk around freely.

Currently, the Oculus Rift - and other high-end headsets - use a series of sensors to track the person’s movements around a set area. 

As he has done in the past, Mr Zuckerberg referred to virtual reality as the next major computing platform.

On stage, he demonstrated a VR environment for interacting with friends.

Mr Zuckerberg was placed in a virtual environment with two colleagues. Each could see an avatar of each other - a cartoon-like figure designed to resemble the real person. 

Using the Oculus Rift’s handheld touch controllers, each avatar could be controlled to show a range of emotions such as laughter and shock. Voice sentiment analysis was also used to convey emotions on the avatars.

In the same demo, the surrounding environment was changed to a 360-degree video of Mr Zuckerberg’s front room - along with his dog, Beast. Here, Mr Zuckerberg was able to take a real-world video call from his wife, Priscilla Chan.

It was a baffling array of technologies laid on top of each other, and an intriguing glimpse into what a social network like Facebook might become in the virtual world. 

Oculus is pushing for a more social environment on VR, with its Oculus Avatar feature, allowing users to create a digital version of themselves and interact with their friends from anywhere in the world.

"This is the first time that tech has made this level of social presence possible," said Lauren Vegter, Oculus' social product team leader.

She introduced Parties and Rooms, two new features that let people come together in a VR lounge, where they can watch videos, listen to music and hang out.

Rooms will be Oculus' core spot for the device's social apps.

Social integration was the focus in the future of the Oculus platform, leading the demonstration on Thursday, taking charge over VR game titles.

Facebook founder will have a task on his hands to convince users that hanging out with friends virtually can be a comfortable experience.

“It’s more of a statement of intent then something consumers will be able to get their heads around today,” said Mr Wood from CCS Insight.

"Virtual social presence is really Mark Zuckerberg’s big commercial bet as a future chapter for Facebook.

"We’ll look back on today and see that it’s a pivotal moment in how Facebook envisions VR in its mass consumer offering.”

In the run up to Christmas, Oculus is putting out some long-awaited pieces of hardware.

Its handheld Touch controllers, first announced more than a year ago, will be released on 6 December, and will cost $199.

Additional motion sensors, which will allow “room scale” VR so players can move around more freely, will soon be able to be bought separately for $79 (£63).

There will be 35 new gaming titles available when Touch launches, Oculus said, a number which may rise.

Of the new offerings, it was Epic Games' Robot Recall, a comedic take on a robot revolution, that stood out.

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Your phone could soon act as a glaucoma testing device

We've seen smartphones work as electrocardiograms, so why not use them to test for glaucoma at home? That's the idea behind Cambridge Consultants' Viewi headset. 

Innovative technology from product design and development firm Cambridge Consultants could help combat glaucoma – a major global cause of blindness, second only to cataracts. It offers a low-cost, user-friendly way of diagnosing and monitoring the disease – so that early intervention and treatment can help slow its progress.

Glaucoma affects more than 60 million people worldwide. It leads to optic nerve damage as a result of abnormally high fluid pressure inside the eye. The most common form is open-angle glaucoma, which affects around 95% of patients. It causes a gradual loss of peripheral vision – but can be virtually unnoticeable to the patient until they have lost half of their visual field. The damage is irreversible so, without treatment, an individual can become totally blind.

Rather than hitting the hospital or optometrist's to monitor your vision, you could simply slide your phone into a head-mounted Gear VR-like holster. From there, a mobile app reproduces the flashing light patterns used to test for open-angle glaucoma. A Bluetooth remote acts as the input device for patients to press when they see a flashing light and, really, that's about it, according to the press release.

It should only take about five minutes per eye, and the results are supposedly straightforward and easy enough to understand. They're even shareable with your eye doctor. The idea here is to make it easier to monitor the progress of the disease and augment, rather than replace, traditional testing methods. The folks at Cambridge Consultants also hope that it'll have a positive impact in developing countries where traditional medical procedures and facilities aren't readily available. At around £20 ($26.53), it could be the most cost effective method, too.


Source: Cambridge Consultants

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Dexmo exoskeleton glove lets you physically touch and feel in VR

This mechanical exoskeleton glove tracks 11 degrees of freedom of motion and offers variable force feedback for each finger. To put it simply, you'll be able to realistically squeeze a rubber duck in the VR world. Better yet, this seemingly clunky glove claim to be lightweight and also runs wirelessly "for a relatively long time."

Dexta Robotics, the Chinese startup behind Dexmo, has spent the last two years coming up with over 20 prototypes before getting to the current version. Unfortunately for us mere mortals, it'll be a while before we can get our hands on this device. 

CEO Aler Gu told Engadget that he's only made a batch of Dexmo and is currently seeking keen software developers plus VR/MR (mixed reality) market leaders who can take full advantage of his gear, before he eventually takes it to market -- be it for gaming, education, medical or training.


Little else is known about the Dexmo at the moment -- no date nor price just yet. However, with Valve now opening up the HTC Vive's trackers to third-party peripherals, we can already imagine how much more awesome VR will be courtesy of these futuristic gloves.

Source: Dexta Robotics

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PLDT Enterprise supports The Philippine Virtual Reality Conference: Mobile VR Jam

PLDT Enterprise, through its emerging technologies business unit, Disruptive Business Group (DBG), aims to drive awareness for Virtual Reality (VR) technologies in the country with its support of the recently concluded Philippine Mobile VR Jam and Virtual Reality Conference.

The 1st Philippine Mobile VR Jam and Virtual Reality Conference provided participants with a first look at the most promising projects in the country through a series of workshops and seminars. It was organized by VR Philippines, a group of virtual reality developers and enthusiasts dedicated to promoting the advancement of virtual reality technology.  Among the attendees were software developers across the country.

From left to right: Cristopher David (VR Philippines), Joey Limjap (PLDT Innolab), Mark Joseph Basibas (Mobile VR Jam participant), Paolo Espiritu (Mobile VR Jam participant), John Hay Supetran (Mobile VR Jam participant), Michael Gaerlan (Samsung), and Lemelen Palad (DBG).

Niko Peralta, Head of PLDT DBG’s Digital Mobility R&D said, “PLDT Enterprise is proud to support the burgeoning VR industry. As part of the PLDT Group’s digital pivot, we are constantly on the look-out for new-frontier solutions that will further the advancement of today’s digital enterprise. Start-ups can always rely on our support by which they can build on these newer tech.”

PLDT and SMART’s support of the Philippine Mobile VR Jam and Virtual Reality Conference events underscore its commitment to be at the forefront of the dawning VR technology revolution in the country. “We view virtual reality as technology that today’s enterprises can potentially utilize to deliver more engaging and immersive customer experiences,” said Lemelen Palad, DBG Product Development Manager for M2M and IOT.  “A more personalized approach in the ever-growing mobile-first consumer market dictates that businesses today have to be more creative in the way they reach out to their customers,” Palad added.

The event series culminated with the “Virtual Reality Conference” which featured exhibits by various software companies, displaying an end-to-end VR ecosystem from design and production, including proposed commercial applications. Business models include gamification, real-estate, first-person training modules, among others.

Joey Limjap, VP & Head of PLDT ICT Research & Development, added, “We know that VR is still at its nascent stage, and are delighted to be a part of the Philippine Virtual Reality Conference and help create greater awareness of this fascinating and exciting technology. Of course, our PLDT Innolab will always be open to the new technologies like VR and serve as an incubator to further develop it’s potential.”

 # # #

About ePLDT

ePLDT is the country’s premiere digital innovator. Since its inception at the turn of the millennium, ePLDT has led the industry in the development of enabling technologies for enterprises across the country and the region. As the digital enterprise enabler of the PLDT Group, ePLDT delivers best-in-class digital business solutions including the country’s first Big Data Analytics service and infrastructure. This, and the company’s numerous other innovative endeavors, are testament to the company’s brand promise of “Enabling Success.”

ePLDT is parent to four distinct business units including: AGS (ABM Global Solutions),¬ a business management solutions enabler focused on Enterprise Resource Planning and Spend Management; CuroTeknika, an IT & business process management outsourcing company; ePDS, a client communications managed service provider engaged in document management and digital printing; and IPC (IP Converge Data Services, Inc.), a leading data center operator and pioneer cloud services provider.

A proud member of the PLDT Group headed by Chairman Manuel V. Pangilinan, ePLDT is led by Group President & CEO Ernesto R. Alberto and Group COO Nerissa S. Ramos.

Press Contact:              Niño Valmonte

ePLDT, Inc.

jrvalmonte@epldt.com

+63 919 992 6904

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This Striker VR gun uses To Simulate Real Gunfire

The Infinity v1 features single, burst, and auto firing modes, as well as modes for futuristic weapons like a railgun that you'll come across in first-person shooters. Striker VR used an affixed tracker for the demo, but the company told Road to VR that it will support a number of tracking systems alongside PhaseSpace and Sixense STEM tracking, which are already supported. The big three consumer VR platforms — PlayStation’s Move, Oculus’ Constellation, and Valve’s Lighthouse — are next in line to receive support, according to Striker VR. ( Perfect eto sa nilalaro kong Angrybot-VR)

Two years ago, Striker VR demoed an early version of its haptic recoil system designed to make fake guns feel like they're being fired while in virtual reality, a project that was initially designed for military training. Now the company is back with the Infinity v1, a working prototype of a haptic VR gun that can simulate a number of different weapons being fired.

Striker VR gave Road to VR a demo of its new Infinity v1 prototype:


Although the gun is only a prototype, Striker VR says it's planning on releasing an SDK to select partners before the end of the year, and hinted that a consumer version may not be far behind.

SOURCE: Striker VR, Road to VR

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The World's First VR Camera Satellite Launches Next Year

The world's first VR camera satellite launches next year will "immerse someone in space as if they were floating outside".

SpaceVR has signed a launch agreement to send its virtual reality satellite to the International Space Station using a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket in 2017. The small startup has contracted NanoRacks — a company that runs the commercial laboratory aboard the International Space Station — to prepare Overview 1, SpaceVR’s twin-camera cube satellite, for release into low Earth orbit using NanoRacks’ CubeSat Deployer. Overview 1 will head to the ISS inside one of SpaceX’s Dragon cargo capsules during the CRS-12 resupply mission, which is expected to launch early next summer.

SpaceVR originally took off as a Kickstarter in 2015. Back then the plan was to send a 12-camera rig to the ISS that would be capable of shooting 3D, 360-degree footage. But the crowdfunding campaign fell so far short of the $500,000 goal that SpaceVR canceled the effort after about a month. It retooled its goals and tried again, this time fulfilling a more modest $100,000 goal. Then, this past April, the company announced that it had received an investment of $1.25 million. SpaceVR said it was putting that money toward integrating two cameras into a small cube satellite that will independently orbit the Earth, making it what SpaceVR calls the "world's first virtual reality camera satellite."

"We have a radio, we have an attitude control system, we have reaction wheels and gyroscopes that maintain stability, and we have flight controller software that tells the satellite what to do and when," SpaceVR CEO Ryan Holmes told The Verge in April. SpaceVR will have full control over Overview 1 once it is ejected from the CubeSat Deployer on the ISS. The company will take the footage from the cameras and stitch it all into a 360-degree sphere, with live-streaming being the ultimate goal for the company.

SpaceVR wants to sell subscriptions to that footage, which will "immerse someone in space as if they were floating outside," according to Holmes. With the launch agreement in place, the company appears to finally be ready to deliver on that promise.


 Source: SpaceVR

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Minecraft will support VR Gear Oculus Rift

In a blog post celebrating the first anniversary of Minecraft Windows 10 Edition Beta, Microsoft announced that support for the Oculus Rift will be coming “in the next few weeks” as a free update to existing users. People who want to get in on the action have until tomorrow to download the Beta if they want to enjoy the free upgrade.

Microsoft has been pushing Minecraft gameplay in virtual reality pretty hard lately. A few months back, the company launched Minecraft Pocket Edition support for the Gear VR. While the experience itself was just okay, Oculus has really been pushing it as one of the few AAA full experiences available in the Oculus Home store at the moment. Rift support has been just around the corner for quite a while, and it seems that Microsoft is finally ready to unveil what it’s been working on.

The Minecraft VR site is interestingly showing off the Oculus Touch motion controller and advertising “a new perspective” for the game, but there’s no detail on how exactly the game will be implementing Touch controls.


The VR version for the Rift will feature all of the major methods of gameplay available on desktop, including multiplayer, Creative and Survival modes. Again, no word on an exact release date.

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Pokémon Go demo with a Microsoft HoloLens : AR,VR and mixed reality

It was only a matter of time before someone took the game's augmented reality features and evolved them, as it were, with VR and mixed reality. And CapitolaVR has done just that, creating a Pokémon Go-esque demo with a Microsoft HoloLens.

The HoloLens Pokémon game is just a concept at this point,YouTube video showing us what future versions of the game could look like when users stop staring at their phones and start wearing high-tech goggles as they chase down Pikachu and Charmander.

Augmented reality (AR) meets mixed reality (MR) and Virtual reality (VR)

Behold, the gesture-based, Poké ball-throwing future:


Polygon points out, development of Pokémon Go HoloLens edition won't go much further than this demo, since recreating the interface has apparently proved challenging. Also, a spokesman from CapitolaVR told UploadVR that the company doesn't currently have any plants to work with Niantic Labs on a HoloLens version at this point.

source: Polygon, UploadVR

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Oculus removes hardware DRM that preventing VR games from working with HTC's Vive

In a big move for openness in the VR landscape, Oculus has stepped back from its position of blocking its games from working on the HTC Vive. The company quietly issued an update for its desktop software today which strips away the headset exclusivity check that has caused VR fans so much consternation, Ars Technica reports.

The update, Runtime 1.5, doesn’t include the feature retraction in the release notes. The news came from the creator of Revive, a tool that allowed Oculus software to be played on Valve and HTC’s Vive headset — and which was seen as the target for the hardware lockdown in the first place.

That limitation pushed the developers of the Revive tool, which lets Vive owners play Oculus games, to completely crack Oculus's DRM last month. But in response to today's news, the Revive devs have dumped their DRM cracking technology.

"I've only just tested this and I'm still in disbelief, but it looks like Oculus removed the headset check from the DRM in Oculus Runtime 1.5," a Revive developer wrote on GitHub. "As such I've reverted the DRM patch and removed all binaries from previous releases that contained the patch."

While console gamers are used to games being exclusive to certain hardware, that's new territory for PC gamers. It's hard to blame PC fans for getting annoyed, though -- even Oculus founder Palmer Luckey has said he doesn't want to lock games to the Rift. Given that the VR landscape is so young, it makes more sense to encourage cross-compatibility. Oculus came under fire at E3 for striking deals to land exclusive games, but today's update shows it's actually listening to its critics.

The removal is essentially a mea culpa from Oculus, which over the last few weeks has faced hard questions from press and users about its strategy in locking down content to its own platform. Restricting games to its own hardware was seen by many as a move that benefited no one but Oculus, and harmed the VR community at large. 

Oculus confirmed to Ars that it removed the headset in today's update, and it also added "we won't use hardware checks as part of DRM on PC in the future." Still, the company doesn't plan to give up entirely on copy protection. 

"We believe protecting developer content is critical to the long-term success of the VR industry, and we'll continue taking steps in the future to ensure that VR developers can keep investing in ground-breaking new VR content,"

HTC Vive and Oculus Rift owners generally have a lot in common, including access to many of the same apps and games.


Source: Reddit, Oculus , Ars Technica

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A Driverless Rolls-Royce VISION NEXT 100 103EX CAR

In a decidedly lavish announcement, luxury carmaker Rolls-Royce says its new Vision Next 100 car has been designed for "the most discerning and powerful patrons in the world."

"Our vision, in its purest form," the company wrote, "is to create the automotive equivalent of haute couture. This is the future of luxury mobility."

"Rolls-Royce 103EX is our first ever vision vehicle, and embodies just one of the endless possibilities that awaits. A personalised icon for the future, providing a sanctuary of calm in an ever-faster world. The pinnacle of effortless autonomous travel, gliding silently through the cities of tomorrow. This is our VISION NEXT 100."

At more than 19 feet long (or, about 8 inches longer than a Chevrolet Suburban) luxury mobility definitely doesn't include street parking or speed bumps, but that's beside the point: "The very size of the Rolls-Royce Vision Next 100 announces the importance of its precious cargo," Rolls-Royce explained.

And it does so in appropriately over-the-top fashion. When the car arrives at its destination, driven by an unseen AI/chauffeur named Eleanor, the glass canopy pops up and the side door swings open as a red light illuminates, rolling out a virtual red carpet at the the passenger's feet.

Rolls-Royce’s chief executive, Torsten Müller-Ötvös, poses next to the Vision Next 100. Photograph: Getty

"Thus, as in Botticelli's 'Birth of Venus'," the company wrote without a hint of irony, "our guest is framed and ready to step gracefully into the limelight and greet their audience."

The interiors are similarly elaborate: without that famous Rolls 12-cylinder engine, the massive body is cavernous enough to hold massive Grand Tourer suitcases. Because car owners will no longer have a need for a personal driver, the front seat is replaced with a "beautifully textured, ivory-coloured luxurious throne upon which our passengers are conveyed." In other words: you'll be sitting on a silk loveseat.

While the tech specs are scarce in Rolls' announcement (it is, after all just a concept for now), the Guardian reports the Vision Next 100 will hit the streets in the appropriately futuristic date of "sometime in the 2040s." Until then, you can experience the interiors for yourself in a sparkly, 360-degree YouTube video. The height of luxury.

Enter 103EX: an effortless virtual reality 360° experience



Source: Rolls-Royce, The Guardian,

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HULU VR APP NOW SUPPORTS OCULUS RIFT HEADSETS AND SAMSUNG GEAR VR

Hulu launched its own Gear VR app in March, for example, but now the streaming service has gone the extra mile by adding support for the high-end Rift headsets.

Hulu says in a statement that the app will be better thanks to the superior hardware afforded by the Rift and PC, enabling a "polished, sharper and highly responsive viewing experience." The app includes over 30 pieces of original virtual reality content available with or without a subscription, and Hulu also plans to stream VR concert performances through a deal with Live Nation. In May, Hulu announced a partnership with Live Nation to bring virtual reality concert experiences directly to viewers.

In addition to deep immersion in content, Hulu subscribers can stream Hulu’s entire library of 2D content in immersive 3D environments, including a special 12 Monkeys-themed space in which you can burn through the first season. Hulu introduced a new, immersive virtual environment to watch the entire first season, only on Hulu.

Viewers who navigate to the 12 Monkeys show page will be automatically transported to the iconic Temporal Facility, which houses the time machine, in this time travel thriller. Hulu partnered with the show’s executive producer, Terry Matalas, and production designer, John Mott, to create the space which includes real time rendered environments and animations that make you feel like you’re living in the show itself.


SOURCE: HULU

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Sony PlayStation brand everything from artisanal donuts, bottled water, and wet wipes for any public VR experience

The E3 show floor is open approximately 21 hours across three days. A conservative estimate, then, would be that every single PlayStation VR headset here has been worn by over 60 people at various levels of hygiene and average perspiration rates. It takes maybe five minutes to get the headset off someone's face and onto another's. Every PlayStation VR demo area I've seen has a box of wet wipes to clean each headset between use.

And since I've seen Sony brand everything from artisanal donuts to bottled water with the familiar PS insignia, why shouldn't these wet wipes be PlayStation-branded?

A wall of donuts because why not? 🍩 🍩 🍩 #art #e32016 #sony #playstation #e3 #donuts #losangeles

A photo posted by Drew Gibson (@drewziph) on Jun 13, 2016 at 10:20pm PDT

Playstation water at #E3. Tastes so much different than regular water. I am reborn. pic.twitter.com/n6xNgbbYwE

— Lauri (@TheRelaxingEnd) June 14, 2016

source: Relaxing End Twitter, Drew Gibson Instagram,,TheVergeE3

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PlayStation VR Headset launches Oct. 13th

Get the next generation virtual reality gaming experience with PlayStation VR – an upcoming virtual reality headset for PS4 console. PlayStation VR was releasing in October, 13th -- at least in North America. The headset will cost $400, but that doesn't include the PlayStation Camera, which retails at $60, or Move controllers (you can just use your DualShock, which is also motion-tracked via its lightbar if you have a Camera). Sony has promised 50 games will support the system by the end of the year.

PlayStation VR also Lunch Bundle for $500
PlayStation®Camera and and the PlayStation®Move motion controller are tracked by the PlayStation®Camera, providing an incredibly precise capture of your natural movement in virtual space. PlayStation®VR software sold separately.

 source: www.playstation.com

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Resident Evil 7 will be fully playable in PlayStation with or without VR headset

A dimly rit room can create a sense of claustrophobia. Otherworldly sounds can put you on edge. Now, put that carefully constructed horror world into VR, and you've got Resident Evil 7 -- the scariest looking game to come out of E3 so far.

Resident Evil can be creepy enough on its own, but Sony says the entire game will be playable in PSVR from start to finish. If that sounds terrifying, it is: the slow, foreboding narrative of the game's new trailer is a huge departure from the action packed teaser Sony showed E3 2015 -- one that truly makes the "horror" aspect of the survival horror genre stand out.

Experiencing that in virtual reality could be downright traumatising. Luckily, that's not your only option: the game will be playable without a VR headset, too -- though the game will still maintain a first-person perspective. Sony says the Resident Evil 7 demo will be available to Playstation Plus subscribers as soon as its E3 press conference ends. Brave enough to play it in VR? You'll have to wait awhile. PlayStation VR might launch in October, but Resident Evil 7 isn't out until January 24th.

If you ever played P.T., the playable teaser for the now defunct Silent Hills , you know exactly how terrifying atmospheric gameplay can be.

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Lenovo planning new AR, VR devices with Google's Project Tango after its new Phab2 Pro

Lenovo will build more virtual and augmented reality devices after its new Phab2 Pro smartphone, and virtual reality headsets may be high on that list.

Lenovo is already the world's top PC maker, and it is looking at new markets. The company has diversified into growth markets like enterprise computing, gaming, and now, virtual reality. Lenovo has already said it is building a range of AR and VR devices, many of which may carry vision computing chips from Movidius.

The Phab2 Pro, which was introduced on Thursday at the company's Tech World conference, closes the gap between 3D virtual and real worlds.

But the Phab2 Pro, which is based on Google's Project Tango visual computing platform, is just the start.

The company is planning more devices with Project Tango, Jeff Meredith, vice president and general manager of Android and Chrome Computing at Lenovo, said in an interview.

"It's important not to think of [Phab2 Pro] as a one-off product, but the first step in a longer-term plan," Meredith said. "We want to move it into different form factors in the future."

Virtual reality headsets are also a possibility, Meredith said. He didn't say whether the products would be related to Project Tango or other platforms like Google's DayDream or Windows Holographic.

Lenovo's initially backing Project Tango, but in the past has said it is open to building an AR headset similar to Microsoft's Hololens if there's demand for the product.

The company's goal is into make devices where use cases are pervasive, and can enrich the lives of users, Meredith said.

The $499 Phab2 Pro smartphone has a 6.4-inch screen and attempts to bring perspective and context to things that people see and experience every day.

Lenovo Phab 2 Pro - World's First Smartphone with Tango 




With the smartphone, users can measure distances, navigate indoors, or learn about objects within view. The  information is presented on the smartphone's screen. Users can also play AR games by superimposing virtual images on real-world backgrounds. Also, users could preview new room designs by overlaying images of furniture on a room in view.

There are many use cases for Project Tango devices in the enterprise, Meredith said. For example, field workers could do maintenance tasks by taking advantage of templates and guide posts. Companies can also simulate visual experiences in the medical and automotive fields.

Lenovo is also interested in opportunities to make VR devices based on Google's DayDream platform, which was announced at the I/O conference in May. The platform will be released later this year.

There are hardware and software differences between Tango, which is more for AR, and DayDream, which is for VR. For one, DayDream devices need top-line processors and are designed for use with headsets, while Tango devices don't have such requirements.

Companies like HTC, Samsung, LG, and Huawei are building smartphones on the DayDream platform, and Lenovo is not yet on that list.

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Facebook starting to roll out 360 photos worldwide across Facebook

In a post by Mark Zuckerberg today Facebook starting to roll out 360 photos worldwide across Facebook.

These are similar to 360 videos -- you can tilt your phone and feel like you're actually there. You can also check them out in virtual reality for a fully immersive experience. ( Your Phone must have Gyro sensor )

The big difference with 360 photos is you can take them with your phone. Just take a panorama or use a 360 camera app, then post it to Facebook and we'll take care of the rest.

This is a 360 photo of Manhattan taken from the top of One World Trade Center by Michael Franz and Jonathan D. Woods for TIME. It's a great shot of a great city.

Virtual reality has already proven its appeal among consumers and is now revealing its potential for enterprise. Virtual reality also has huge potential in the business world for architecture, visualization and design, among other applications.

Last year Facebook is shipped the first consumer virtual reality product - Samsung Gear VR, a mobile VR headset powered by Oculus.

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Set a Meeting in VR HTC Vive Business Edition for $1,200

HTC has just made a surprising reveal of a new version of a business version of its Vive VR headset. It's called the Vive Business Edition (BE), and you basically get the same headset and accessories (two Vive controllers, two base stations and four face cushions) as consumers. However, business buyers also get a dedicated customer support line and the option to buy more than one headset (right now, consumers sales are limited to a single device). For all that, you'll pay $1,200 in the US, or £849 in the UK and €1,080 in Europe -- a significant premium to the $799 consumer price.

HTC recently launched the Vive X fund to help companies build VR apps for the device. Virtual reality also has huge potential in the business world for architecture, visualization and design, among other applications. As an example, it cited partner Dassault, which has developed software to help companies design and collaborate in a VR environment.

After strong initial sales, you can now get a regular Vive pretty soon after you order it -- a sign that consumer demand may have waned. While $799 is a big ask for you or me, $1,200 isn't a big deal for many companies, so HTC obviously wants to tap that market. "Virtual reality has already proven its appeal among consumers and is now revealing its potential for enterprise, says VP Daniel O'Brien. "We are answering the overwhelming demand from global industries for a complete VR experience."

headset and accessories Two Vive controllers, two base stations and four face cushions
 
As such, HTC is offering a commercial license and limited 12-month guarantee as part of the Vive BE package (the consumer guarantee is limited to non-commercial applications). The Vive BE is launching this month in the US, Canada, UK, Germany and France, and will arrive elsewhere "in the coming weeks."

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