The XR Week Peek (2020.06.23): StarWars: Squadron is a new AAA VR game, Apple announces ARKit4 and more!
I’m sorry to say that today’s roundup will be less deep than usual. The past week has completely squeezed me out because of the VR concert we have organized on VRChat for Jean-Michel Jarre, and this week I’ve another big project to finalize. I really need some rest.
I’ll talk about my experience with the concert in a few days, in the meanwhile, if you lost it, you can watch the recording made on Youtube by my friend GAMERTAG
Top news of the week
Star Wars: Squadron is the new AAA VR game we are all waiting for
Out of the blue, EA has announced a new amazing game called Star Wars: Squadron, developed by its studio Motive. It is a spaceship-fighting game set in the Star Wars universe, that you can play with a single-player campaign or in multiplayer deathmatches with your friends. It lets you pilot the iconic vehicles of Star Wars, both of the rebels and the empire, and so it is the dream of every nerd out there 🙂
Surprisingly EA has made the game VR compatible since day 1: the game has been conceived for VR since the very start, and in fact, the company has declared that the first prototype of the game was ready in 1 week, and VR was implemented in week 2. This game has born with VR in mind, and people with VR and Desktop PC can play together.
Reading the description, it is possible to see that the VR integration is a bit weird: there’s probably no integration for VR controllers (really??) and no possibility to interact with your cockpit in VR (what??)… but I think this is an incredible piece of news. First of all, because, letting us become pilots in the Star Wars universe being really immersed inside the action. And then because a AAA studio has decided to venture into VR without needing money from Facebook. AAA content is what we need, and VR is at a point that Electronic Arts has decided to spontaneously support it. This would have never happened 2 years ago, think about it.
Star Wars: Squadron is coming October, 2nd for around $40. We all can’t wait.
More info (Star Wars: Squadron trailer and release date)
More info (Star Wars: Squadron, all you need to know)
Other relevant news
Apple announces ARKit 4, amongst new rumors of XR headsets
This week Bloomberg has published a new report on a possible Apple’s XR headset, telling the story of how the AR/VR division in the company thought about releasing a very powerful VR headset that required a computational box, but Jony Ive blocked the project because he wanted a standalone glass. The story goes on telling that Apple VR headset had realistic visuals and sound, it was super-cool and probably we’ll see a release date of 2022/2023. A nice story you can read to entertain yourself… at this point, I start thinking that all these XR rumors about Apple are so confusing and so diverse that is probably Apple itself that is spreading them to confuse the ideas to its competitors.
What has truly happened yesterday night is that Apple has released ARKit 4, a new version of ARKit that adds some incredible features, like:
- Improved face tracking that now works on more devices and can track up to 3 heads;
- Improved body tracking, with now the possibility of making motion tracking out of it;
- Image tracking with more than 100 images;
- Improved 3D object detection in cluttered environments;
- Access to depth data from LiDAR sensor;
- Geolocation of AR elements. You can now insert an AR element at an exact position in the world, like for instance a landmark.
The last point is the key one, IMHO, for two reasons: first of all, it puts ARKit in indirect competition with Snap, that is the other big company offering similar features of the moment. And then because it is the first step towards the Apple AR Cloud: you can put objects in exact positions for you and other people to enjoy… this sounds very much AR Cloud to me.
More info (New rumors about Apple and XR)
More info (Apple ARKit4)
The Upload VR Showcase gave us many news on VR games
Upload has made its usual great job in organizing the VR Showcase: a big moment where it gathers many news about VR games to be released in a single day so that to give them big visibility. This week we had many interesting pieces of news on popular titles like The Walking Dead: Saint and Sinners, Vacation Simulator, Pistol Whip and had the announcement of new titles like Blaston by Resolution Games.
If you like VR games, well, you have to read it all!
More info (All the announcements from the VR Showcase)
Bose abandons its AR glasses projects
The saddest news of the week is that Bose has given up on its AR glasses project. It says the project has not evolved as it hoped for (I guess it means it hasn’t sold enough unit), so they are stopping selling the headset, they are removing the SDK and even closing all the apps in less than one month.
The news is sad because this project was innovative: they were not standard AR glasses, but AUDIO AR glasses, unique in their genre. The vision was that audio speakers plus geolocation and IMU sensors could give people interesting audio AR experiences, especially if mounted on fashionable glasses. It was fascinating, but probably too ahead of its times, and also too difficult to understand its value. So it hasn’t been a great success and now the project has been closed. What a pity.
Facebook buys Ready At Dawn
Facebook has announced that after Beat Games and Sanzaru Games, it has bought Ready At Dawn, the studio behind Echo Arena, Echo Combat, and Lone Echo. Ready At Dawn was already collaborating with Oculus since various years, so this is not surprising.
Facebook is in buying spree, and the acquisition of these top-notch VR studios is fundamental to guarantee that the company will have high-quality VR content for its headsets in the upcoming years. Content is the king, and Facebook knows it needs great content of its own to fight Microsoft, Sony, and the other big brands for the domination of the VR sector.
News worth a mention
Nreal wins first round against Magic Leap in the IP theft trial
Another bad news arrives for Magic Leap: the judge that was examining the case of IP theft from Nreal has found no evidence that a theft has actually happened, and so has closed the case. But Magic Leap has 30 days to appeal, and we are all sure that this is going to happen.
New work on realistic avatars emerge
Two new research projects on realistic digital humans and avatars have emerged. One is from Facebook, that has improved its realistic 3D full-body avatars, and the other one from the Imperial College of London that is now able to create a stunning face avatar from just a single photo. The future of embodiment is going to be amazing.
More info (Realistic avatars from Imperial College)
More info (Realistic avatars from Facebook)
Hulu shuts down its VR app
Hulu has decided to shut down its VR app. While this may not surprise you, you should remember that Hulu was actually one of the most used apps on Gear VR. If it is shutting down, it is like the end of an era, and it shows again how the 3DOF side of VR is losing always more interest.
Google experiments on Lightfields streaming
Google is working on the compression and streaming of light fields. It has actually already created an algorithm that lets you stream a light field from a server to a client using current streaming technologies. This is very cool and probably will lead to the Youtube VR of the future. The first prototype of this work is going to be showcased at SIGGRAPH.
Hands tracking on Quest gets always more interest
Two cool things with hands tracking on Quest that I found this week:
- The popular software Virtual Desktop has now got hands-tracking support, so you can use your PC from inside the Quest without the need for controllers. It is hardly usable, but it is a cool feature for sure.
- Holoception creator Denis Kuhnert has created an amazing concept of 3D teleportation interface in VR using only your hands and no controllers. A must-see.
More info (Virtual Desktop)
More info (3D Teleporting)
You can now buy HoloLens 2 directly from Microsoft
Until now, the only way to get a HoloLens 2 device was to contact directly Microsoft or one of its resellers to discuss the purchase. From now on, at least in the United States, it will be possible to buy the latest AR glass by Microsoft directly from Microsoft online Store, paying with your credit card. Anyone can so buy a new HoloLens device without the need of any approval.
Valve Index now has improved passthrough
Valve Index now features a better passthrough, with more 3D depth. This is something similar to what Oculus has already done on Quest, but it features more distortions.
Some info on content
- IronMan VR will feature 8–10 hours of gameplay
- Skyrim VR is 70% off
More info (IronMan VR)
More info (Skyrim VR)
News from partners (and friends)
Snobal is an interesting startup offering a solution to configure multiple XR headsets together, install content on them, and manage them. Imagine it as Oculus For Business, but cross-platform. I’ve never tried it, but I like the idea, and if you may need it, well, give it a look. I can also put you in touch with the company if you may need this kind of help.
Some XR fun
Oculus hardware vs software
How to debug your VR code
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(Header image by Motive)
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