The XR Week Peek (2020.10.05): HP and Canon reveal new XR enterprise headsets, and much more!
It’s that time of the week when I report to you the best news of the week in the AR/VR fields, so fasten your seatbelts and get ready!
Top news of the week
HP announces the Reverb G2 Omnicept Edition
In the end, the rumor has been confirmed and HP has announced a new version of the Reverb G2 called Reverb G2 Omnicept Edition. This special version of the headset features additional sensors that can get more data about the user:
- A heart rate sensor on the forehead;
- Two additional cameras that track the lower part of the face of the user, so that to read his facial expressions;
- Eye-tracking cameras, that can also detect the dimension of the pupil.
All of this in addition to all the amazing features of the Reverb G2, that is high resolution (2K*2K per eye), great comfort, and exceptional off-the-ear speakers.
This headset looks like the best you can find on the market for enterprise usage: not only it has very high specifications, but it also features a series of sensors that can be groundbreaking for some business sectors. For instance, the heart rate and emotion cameras can be fundamental to evaluate the patient during a VR psychological treatment, to see how much stress he is feeling during exposure therapy. The same holds for a VR training happening in a dangerous scenario, where the sensors can be used to see how the user is able to stay calm and solve the situation using his cold mind. Eye-tracking is very important for marketing scenarios, to evaluate what you are looking at when you’re watching a commercial of a product, for example. Not to mention how all these sensors may make the face of the workers look more realistic in a remote collaboration experience.
The price and availability of this device are still undisclosed, but HP has clarified that if you use its software services (that handle and analyze the sensors’ data) for your profit, you have to give 2% of your profit to it. It seems fair to me.
If the price of the headset is below $1500, I think we are looking at a piece of hardware that may kill many competitors in the enterprise XR space, also considering the fact that HP is a reliable company for business collaboration.
If you use VR in your company, keep an eye on the Reverb G2 Omnicept Edition.
Other relevant news
Canon unveils Mreal S1 mixed reality headset
Some months ago, Road To VR unveiled that Canon was going to update its mixed reality offering with the Mreal MD-20, a high-quality passthrough AR headset that substituted the previous MD-10 model. The MD series looked bulky but offered very high specs for the current generation of AR. The horizontal FOV was more than 80° for instance, and the resolution was more than 2K*2K per eye. The problem of this headset was the very steep price: the MD-10 cost more than $80,000 (yes, you’ve read it well! And you complain about the $3500 for a HoloLens 2…), and for this reason it was destined only for the enterprise market and only in Japan.
This week, Canon has unveiled the Mreal S1, a complete upgrade over the previous models, that features a very slick design: the headset is very thin and features upgraded specifications. It can be worn on the head thanks to a halo band, or you can simply put it on your face by keeping it with your hands (like a Cardboard). The look is much cooler and reminds a bit of the Lynx R-1.
I would like to tell you more info like the price, availability, or specifications, but the website still features all the data of the old model, if not for the home page (that anyway, is all in Japanese). The only thing that we can see from the images is that it is a tethered headset, and that features cameras for the passthrough vision. I tried contacting Canon, and if I get more info, I will let you know!
(Thanks Davy Demeyer for the tip!)
More info (Official page of the Mreal S1)
More info (Old article by Road To VR)
Someone managed to use the Valve Index as an MR headset!
Talking about passthrough AR, the Valve Index is another headset featuring front RGB cameras that could enable passthrough AR. This feature had been promised to us many months ago, but as for today, Valve has never released an AR SDK for it. So, apart from just activating the passthrough, Index users can do nothing with it.
Some smart Redditors have found a way to somewhat using these cameras to use the Index as an AR headset. The secret is using some applications that project an overlay onto SteamVR: if you use them to write an overlay when SteamVR is showing you the passthrough, you manage to see these elements in AR over the passthrough. It is not like having an AR SDK, but it is anyway a way to use the Index to do some kind of AR.
The systems proposed by redditor u/OXIOXIOXI are Metachromium and Aardvark. Metachromium lets you see WebXR content as an overlay to SteamVR, and thanks to it, you can access any WebXR page with a transparent background while you are showing the passthrough to see its content in AR on the Index.
Aardvark is a system by Joe Ludwig (from Valve) that lets you create programmable overlay widgets for SteamVR, and they could be used for the same purpose.
Using this trick, you can actually develop applications in WebXR that the users can run in AR on the Index, and the Index can so be used as a passthrough AR device. It is a bit hacky, but if this gets popular, maybe there will be enough pressure on Valve to release an actual SDK for it. Remember that Oculus is going to release Infinite Office and an AR SDK, so Valve had better replying to this move.
(Thanks Rob Cole for the tip!)
More info (Reddit post explaining how to do AR with the Index)
More info (Video showing AR on the Index)
More info (MetaChromium on Steam)
Star Wars: Squadron is the game of the moment
As Promised, EA has released Star Wars: Squadron on October, 2nd. The spaceship dogfighting game set in the Star Wars universe has been awaited for long and in the end, it has fulfilled all its promises.
Star Wars Squadron lets you choose on which side you want to stay (the Empire or the Rebels) and then lets you pilot a spaceship and enter various fights in the space, where with your team you have to defeat the other one. There is a single player mode, that is long, intriguing and fun, that teaches you the basics of the game, and then there is the multiplayer part, that is where you can fight against all the other people of the world. You can customize your player, your ship, and earn various bonuses while you play. This game has no microtransactions, though, and this is a healthy decision for a game from EA (finally!).
The game has been praised by reviewers as great: the fights are fun, the cockpits of the spaceships help in not feeling too much sickness, the Star Wars setting is exciting if you’re a fan and there is an attention to details that favor the immersion (e.g. you can have some random chats with NPCs while you’re in the hangar). This is a game that has been conceived for VR since Day 1, and this is clearly noticeable from the outcome. It is not without some little problems, though: the game doesn’t support VR motion controllers, and this is very weird for a VR game in 2020; the skyboxes look blurry; the game has big problems to run on Index for some users.
Notwithstanding these little issues, the general consensus is that Squadron is very fun and it is the VR game of the moment. Great job, EA! This will help VR for sure!
More info (Star Wars: Squadron review on Road To VR)
More info (Star Wars: Squadron review on Upload VR)
More info (Star Wars: Squadron review on TESTED)
More info (Malfunctionings on the Valve Index)
More info (Malfunctionings on PC VR)
Google drops support for Daydream
With a communication that has surprised no one, Google has dropped support for the Daydream platform, which won’t be supported in the upcoming Android 11.
Google Daydream was Google’s answer to the Gear VR, and in the beginning, it could have been very successful, thanks to its compatibility with many phones, its very comfortable viewer, and a good bunch of launch content (some of them even exclusive). But after some initial growth, the platform never took off, and Gear VR, thanks to the push from Samsung (one of the best brands of Android phones) and its great catalog of content (funded by Facebook), won the battle. Phones stopped to be compatible with Daydream, and Google never released a new viewer after the second version of the Daydream View.
Google tried again to make its platform revive with the Mirage Solo, but even this headset has never been successful, and the HTC Vive Focus and the Oculus Quest took the standalone market in its place. That’s a pity, because the Mirage Solo had the best UI I have ever tried on a standalone device (sorry, Oculus)
At this point, the Daydream platform was a zombie, and I don’t even know who was still using it. So Google has now decided to definitely kill it, and I think it has been a smart decision. RIP Daydream, it has been nice dreaming with you.
News worth a mention
LBVR is not dead yet
The common consensus says that the pandemic has killed location-based virtual reality. Even John Carmack has confirmed this during the Facebook Connect.
The reality is a bit different, though: Springboard VR has released its latest data, and the number of its LBVR players in August has just been a bit less than the one that it had in January, when we were pre-COVID. There has been a crisis, but now things are getting better.
Of course, Springboard is just one of the many arcade providers, and of course, it is not an independent source, so the data may even be a bit biased, but I’ve also talked with other sources, and they all confirm that LBVR is not dead yet and all the centers are slowly reopening. I hope so… good luck to all arcade owners!
The Debate on wireless streaming to Quest is high
The community is still debating a lot about the wireless streaming to Oculus Quest. And “debating” is just a nice way to say that if they could, VR enthusiasts would just assault Facebook HQ with pitchforks.
Guy Godin already has provided an update to let Virtual Desktop run at 90Hz with the Quest 2, and various youtubers had tested it with Wi-fi 6 and verified that it works very well, with performances comparable to the ones of the Link.
But Virtual Desktop must still feature an unofficial patch on SideQuest for VR streaming, and Guy Godin (the dev behind it) has never received a Quest 2 from Oculus to experiment with. The community is pretty angry about all of this, and Oculus is being accused to block a very desired feature just because it wants to implement it itself and kill Virtual Desktop. Chris Pruett from Oculus has tried to kindly answer (I admire his courage) that they are not implementing it because performances are not good enough yet for all networks (a PR statement, of course) and he received a shower of insults (I feel bad for him, really).
You may be curious about my thoughts. Well, on one side, I agree with Oculus that performances of Virtual Desktop may vary: when I tried it on a good network and my Quest 1, I had annoying stutterings. It is not a perfect solution and doesn’t work with all conditions. But on the other side, I agree with the community that Oculus is boycotting Virtual Desktop because it wants to release its own official solution integrated in the OS and maybe with a wi-fi 6 dongle… and it is behaving in an unfair way. If people like to play with an imperfect solution, Oculus should let them use it, maybe with a disclaimer saying that performances may vary, and the program must be stopped in case of discomfort. Preventing it to go on the store is completely wrong and shows you how walled gardens are wrong on so many levels.
More info (Virtual Desktop running at 90Hz)
More info (Ian Hamilton on the matter)
More info (Chris Pruett trying to answer)
NVIDIA solves the issue with RTX30 cards
The RTX30 cards’ launch has been troublesome, between scalpers that bought all the devices and crashes experienced by early adopters. But now things are getting better:
- Thanks to a driver update, NVIDIA has managed to drastically reduce the crashes for its users;
- First VR benchmarks are out and the RTX30 graphics cards have been proven to be more effective than RTX20 also to play virtual reality games.
More info (Driver update)
More info (VR Benchmarks)
VR concerts are on the rise
Because of the COVID, concerts and similar events with many people are not allowed anymore in real life, and so artists are finding new ways to express themselves. Working with VRrOOm in organizing virtual events, I can confirm that this is a very hot sector and the interest in VR is spiking.
This week we had many examples of VR concerts happening:
- Steve Aoki has performed for Venues, and people had a blast with it;
- David Guetta is going to make a new exclusive concert in Sensorium Galaxy (a new platform);
- Charlie XCX is going the first performer of a series of 6 virtual concerts that Oculus is organizing with Tidal;
- Korean band BTS is going to make a standard digital concert, but it is planning to add some AR features to it.
As you can see, there are many activities happening, and I know about other things that have not been announced yet…
More info (Steve Aoki)
More info (Steve Aoki’s concert review)
More info (David Guetta)
More info (Charlie XCX)
More info (BTS)
Virtc is the Virtual Desktop of WebXR
If you’re a fan of remote desktops in VR but you don’t want to install any applications, then Virtc is what you’re looking for. It lets you stream your desktop from your PC to your headset all via WebXR (and WebRTC) running on your browser. Features are limited, though, and you can’t remotely play your VR games this way.
Huawei is going to launch a phone with a holographic display
Huawei has teased that it is going to launch a phone with a holographic display, that is a display that makes you see things in 3D without you wearing any headset (like the display of the Nintendo 3DS). It is a cool gimmick, but the problem is providing enough content to make it useful.
(Thanks to David @Spatialpixels for the tip!)
The Walking Dead: Onslaught is an epic fail
The Walking Dead: Onslaught was one of the most awaited games for the VR community, but the reviews have completely blasted it, giving it an average mark of 4/10. The game makes some weird choices, like the fact that you don’t have any stamina to take care of, so you can keep killing all zombies in the same way, with the same moves, without feeling any kind of challenge. What a disappointment!
More info (TWD: Onslaught review on Road To VR)
More info (TWD: Onslaught review on Upload VR)
More info (Funny gameplay video found on Reddit)
Some news on content
- Ilysia is a very interesting VR MMO game, that has completely crushed its Kickstarter goals. Preview reviews on it are all very positive, and it can become a great game;
- Minecraft for PSVR has been reviewed by Upload. It is nice, but its control schema is terrible;
- Waltz of Wizard is getting a huge update;
- Synth Riders is celebrating its 1st birthday with many intiatives and discounts!
- Frostpoint doesn’t look bad in its beta;
- Many redditors are talking about Phasmophobia and how it looks very scary;
- Microsoft Flight Simulator is going to start the beta for its VR mode, but if you want to register, there are many conditions to check 🙁
More info (Ilysia on Road To VR)
More info (Ilysia on Upload VR)
More info (Minecraft on PSVR review)
More info (Waltz of the Wizard update)
More info (SynthRiders)
More info (Frostpoint VR)
More info (Phasmophobia)
More info (Microsoft Flight Simulator)
News from partners (and friends)
My best compliments to Avatar Dimension for this announcement: “Microsoft has selected Avatar Dimension, a partnership of three well-established technology companies, as the exclusive licensee for its volumetric capture technology in the Washington, D.C. area. After a rigorous testing process, Microsoft Mixed Reality Capture Studios certified the new studio which is now ready to enter into full operation.”
If you are in the USA and you need to shoot volumetric capture of people (that is becoming always more important in various sectors), you should consider contacting them.
Learn more (Official Website)
Learn more (News of the selection)
Learn more (The importance of volumetric capture)
Magicians in VR is an event about the art of magic that will take place on October 7th at 4pm EST/1pm PST. If you are into magic and you want to become a magician (or you already are), and you want to see how VR fits with the world of magic, you should really consider joining it. The event will take place on Altspace VR and I’m sure it will feel… magical 🙂
Dash Dash World feels like a very fun racing game in VR! It is the work of the indie studio Motion X and from the trailer, it seems very interesting. Watch the video linked here below and judge by yourself! The game is going to launch on Oculus store, SteamVR, and PSVR on October, 10th.
Some XR fun
Selling the soul to the devil
The Quest 2 has ups and downs
This is how all the through-the-lenses pictures between Quest 1 and Quest 2 are… more or less…
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(Header image by Canon)
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