Missed out on all the week’s biggest VR news? Where have you been, Mars? Oh, actually I guess that’s quite possible. Well, either way, we’ve got you covered with our roundup of the biggest stories in VR over the past five days.
Pimax Gets Lots More Money
The excitement around Pimax’s 8K VR headset is reaching critical mass. The crowdfunding campaign for the device this week surpassed $2 million in funding. In fact, as for writing, the headset has even raised more more than the $2.4 million the Oculus Rift got back in 2012. With just lofty expectations on the device, let’s hope it delivers and doesn’t leave a lot of eager backers disappointed.
Blade Runner’s New VR Experience Does The Series Proud
We’ve already had one Blade Runner VR experience that was prety good, but now a bigger, more interesting app has arrived in Memory Lab. This short VR story uses volumetric scanning to place real people inside of its virtual worlds with amazing results. It also helps that the dark and moody narrative is tonally in-place with the beloved sci-fi series, and that it’s absolutely free to download on Rift and Gear.
Job Simulator Gets New Content
Job Simulator remains on of VR’s most opular titles, but we’re still surprised to see developer Owlchemy Labs update it with new content a year and a half after its initial launch on HTC Vive. The game just got a new endless mode, which allows you to tackle its four jobs with randomized objectives that let you play for as long as you want. It’s enjoyed a permanent price cut, too, slipping to $19.99. Good job.
Payday 2 VR Gets A Beta Date
We’re as hungry for Payday 2 VR as you are but, sadly, we won’t get to play it this week as we had initially hoped. But don’t worry, the open beta for the game isn’t far off, kicking off on November 16th for everyone that already owns a PC copy of the multiplayer bank heist simulator. Expect more features to be added to the game in the coming weeks and months as developer Overkill builds up to a full launch.
Adobe Takes On Facebook With VR Video
Adobe might not be making the loudest song and dance about its work in VR thus far, but it’s ready to take on Facebook with its new announcements. At the company’s MAX creator’s conference it revealed SonicScape, which visualizes audio in a VR video so editors can easily align the sound for a more immersive effect. The bigger reveal from the event though was Sidewinder, which answers Facebook’s volumetric video efforts. The technique uses depth information gathered from the disparity between the lenses of the camera to produce a volumetric effect.
