The Ghost Howls

DECEMBER 28, 2020

It is the final newsletter of the year, so… see you in 2021, a new year that I hope will be filled with many interesting news about immersive realities! Microsoft Flight Simulator releases VR patch. Asobo and Microsoft have worked hard for this and on 22nd, the VR patch has been released. Top news of the week. Image by HP).

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ARVR

OCTOBER 8, 2021

The level of realism for hand interaction is extremely important in a haptic immersive experience. It blurs the line between virtual and reality to immerse the user even more. The Interaction Builder is an Interhaptics’ low code plugin for 3D engines allowing you to develop realistic hand interactions within 3 clicks.

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ARVR

DECEMBER 2, 2020

Interhaptics is a Haptics software company specializing in tools for haptic design and rendering, and hand tracking interactions for digital platforms as Mobile, XR, and consoles. It supports an extensive list of XR controllers, hand tracking systems, and haptic devices. Trending AR VR Articles: 1.

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VRScout

DECEMBER 26, 2018

Immersive technology continues its push towards mainstream appeal. While this past year may have seemed like a quiet one when compared to the more exciting releases featured in 2017 and 2016, these past 12 months have been crucial in the development of the immersive entertainment sector. LOCATION-BASED VR.

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The Ghost Howls

MARCH 1, 2024

A new cycle of XR The Apple Vision Pro launch has been a disruptive moment for our industry (Image by Apple) As I said in a popular post a few months ago , I think we have entered a new cycle for immersive realities. I feel there is more optimism in the field, and even investors have started to be interested in immersive realities again.

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ARPost

APRIL 22, 2022

The XRA is an industry organization founded by Google , HTC VIVE , Microsoft , Oculus , and Sony Interactive Entertainment. Much of the report was dedicated to identifying issues that potential policies for immerse worlds could touch on. About the “Thinking Ahead About XR” Report. Identifying Policy Issues. Economic Issues. “If

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ARPost

APRIL 11, 2023

Companies like Google, Microsoft, Lenovo, and Vuzix are developing smart glasses to enhance the AR experience. VR-Enabled Online Shopping Experiences VR creates an immersive visual environment, including 360-degree videos, photos, product demos, and complex experiences using devices such as the HTC Vive or Oculus Quest.

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Upload VR

JUNE 19, 2022

When it comes to hand tracking games on Quest, nothing really comes close to Unplugged. Developed by Anotherway and published by Vertigo Games in late 2021, Unplugged is an air guitar game, inspired by Guitar Hero and many others, that lets you shred in VR with a virtual guitar and your real hands. Controllers are great.’

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Hand tracking Microsoft Gaming Controllers 91

The Ghost Howls

JULY 27, 2020

The Oculus Quest 2 has been leaked. The famous leaker WalkingCat did it again, leaking this time a new model of the Oculus Quest , in the beginning with some renders, and then with true pictures of a pre-production device (that had been originally shared by redditor CallThePlumber). Top news of the week. Image by WalkingCat).

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The Ghost Howls

MARCH 2, 2020

To make you understand how these features are incredible, Qualcomm has stated that “the [XR2] reference design has 2x the CPU and GPU performance, 4x more video bandwidth, 6x higher resolution and 11x AI improvement compared to our current widely adopted XR platform [the Oculus Quest ]”. Image by Microsoft). News worth a mention.

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VRScout

OCTOBER 1, 2019

Quest hand tracking is perfect for slower experiences with light interaction. During Oculus Connect 6 in San Jose, CA, Mark Zuckerberg unveiled that the Oculus Quest would allow for hand and finger tracking without the need of any hand controllers, and of course, I couldn’t wait to try it.

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UploadVR Between Realities podcast

JANUARY 4, 2017

What We Know: Microsoft is at the show in a multitude of capacities. What To Expect : The tricky thing about Microsoft’s headset is that they won’t actually let anyone turn them on yet. An omission like that on a stage tailor-made for VR news does not bode well for big immersive updates from CES this year.

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The Ghost Howls

APRIL 5, 2021

The Oculus Quest 2 continues its march towards mainstream adoption. It wouldn’t be a normal week without some news about Facebook and/or the Oculus Quest. The first one is that the Quest 2 has now sold in some months more than all the other Oculus headsets (with the exclusion of Gear VR) combined in all these years.

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The Ghost Howls

MAY 1, 2023

many investors would have run away scared from immersive realities, causing the ruin of many companies in our field. When Microsoft performed the acquisition, Satya Nadella underlined how the acquisition of Activision could also lead to the acquisition of competencies related to metaverse from the gaming company.

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XR Today - Mixed Reality tag

JUNE 29, 2022

The Mixed Reality Toolkit (MRTK) by Microsoft is an open-source toolkit that has been around since the HoloLens was first released in 2016. Microsoft-driven MRTK-Unity is a suite of components and capabilities used to speed the creation of cross-platform MR applications in Unity. Oculus (Unity 2019.3

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The Ghost Howls

OCTOBER 26, 2020

While Oculus is getting all the glory for the Quest, its competitors are not sleeping. In its upcoming 5-year development plan, there should be measures to favor the growth and the spread of Immersive Realities. Notwithstanding all this hate, the Oculus Quest 2 is selling very well. Other relevant news.

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Upload VR

JUNE 9, 2023

Google chickened out , Microsoft got distracted , and it's totally understandable if you lost interest in VR when they did. Analog Concerns Oculus Rift prototype demo with Xbox controller, 2012. Our first hands-on report: UploadVR Ian Hamilton Only one other technology demo changed my views of the future like this.

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XR Today - Augmented Reality tag

APRIL 4, 2024

It’s been ten years since Meta – then Facebook – bought emerging VR start-up Oculus and, in turn, formed its Reality Labs division. Since the Oculus purchase in 2014, the firm has released numerous headsets, most notably the Quest range, which now includes mixed and virtual reality products.

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The Ghost Howls

JUNE 1, 2020

No smearing, reduced mura; The lenses have been upgraded, using the ones engineered by Valve for the Index; The audio is conveyed through off-the-ear speakers , like the ones of the Valve Index; Comfort has been improved; There is IPD adjustment; There are now 4 tracking cameras. Oculus Link 2 could be tetherless. 6GB Connectivity ?—?5G,

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The Ghost Howls

MAY 11, 2020

Image by Oculus). Facebook is working on a new version of the Oculus Quest. According to a report by Bloomberg, Oculus is working on a new Oculus Quest model, and it has already done prototypes that are lighter and more powerful than the current device. Top news of the week. Mechanical IPD is confirmed.

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The Ghost Howls

JULY 13, 2020

And all of this comes in a period when other partnerships between tech giants are happening: remember that some weeks ago, Microsoft closed its streaming service Mixer and allied with Facebook Gaming to fight the quasi-monopoly of (Amazon-owned) Twitch. Thanks Gianluigi Perrone for the tip!). Peggy Johnson is the new CEO of Magic Leap.

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The Ghost Howls

JANUARY 2, 2019

On the contrary, Microsoft has worked a lot on the platform, to make it more appealing to enterprise customers. It has released experiences like Microsoft Remote Assist, that let different teams in a company work together to solve maintenance problems. Of course, it will exploit the already awesome Microsoft platform.

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The Ghost Howls

OCTOBER 29, 2019

The hand tracking was fabulous as always thanks to Leap Motion and its Orion tracking. The ability to use my own hands to interact with holograms, with such a huge FOV was very immersive. Probably Shadow Creator took inspiration from Microsoft device when designing it. Good luck to Pareal for this project!

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The Ghost Howls

MARCH 28, 2022

Road To VR reported about Manus VR’s new Quantum Metagloves with very precise hand tracking for enterprise use (cost: $9000). But actually, HTC , once the biggest competitor Oculus had, added these functionalities to its devices one month before Meta , but the news was not reported by the main VR magazines. More info.

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ARPost

AUGUST 3, 2022

ARPost has covered plenty of events in AltspaceVR before, from Burning Man being held virtually in the platform, to the XR Safety Week using it to make talks on immersive technology more… immersive. Initially, the purchase by Microsoft didn’t mark many major changes. VR controllers enable hand tracking.

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The Ghost Howls

FEBRUARY 11, 2021

While many other AR glasses (like Nreal Light or HoloLens 2 ) have a Field Of View in the 50° ballpark, RealMax glasses have always had ones above 100° , for a more immersive augmented experience. And after you try it, you can’t go back, because it is SO MUCH immersive, augmented reality really becomes your reality.

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Upload VR

MAY 15, 2022

“And then, Ninja Theory got acquired by Microsoft and they didn’t really have as much of a focus on VR, but that was something I still wanted to do.” Work has already begun on hand tracking support, set to arrive in June , thanks to requests and feedback from players. “It just fits, it’s great.”

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The Ghost Howls

JANUARY 11, 2022

To showcase its functionality, HTC showed some videos of the tracker in use to improve the performances of hands tracking and also with the tracker installed on external props. The gloves can be so thin because they feature no tracking technology, and they rely on the hand tracking system of the headset (e.g.

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UploadVR Between Realities podcast

MARCH 19, 2017

I attended the Experiential Technology Conference (XTech) in San Francisco this week to hear talks about creating virtual experiences that truly immerse you in another world. We have 3D sound as well, but we need more than that to achieve real immersion, said Tal Blevins, head of media at UploadVR, in a panel at XTech.

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The Ghost Howls

MARCH 27, 2023

Furthermore, Microsoft 365 apps such as Teams, OneDrive, and SharePoint, will be connected with Omniverse Project Mellon has been unveiled. It is a lightweight Python package capable of harnessing the heavyweight power of speech AI (NVIDIA Riva) and large language models (LLMs) to simplify user interactions in immersive environments.

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The Ghost Howls

OCTOBER 19, 2021

Vive Flow is a 6DOF headset that works with your Android phone as a 3DOF controller (hands tracking is coming in the future). HTC advertises it as a headset for relaxation and productivity because it wants to position it as a different product than a gaming machine like Oculus Quest 2.

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XR Today - Augmented Reality tag

JULY 11, 2022

As the XR landscape continues to grow, accelerating towards an expected value of $300 billion by 2024, immersive technology is evolving at an amazing rate. Increasingly, vendors and innovators are searching for new and improved ways to immerse users in unique experiences, using powerful and disruptive technology.

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The Ghost Howls

NOVEMBER 2, 2020

Especially the DualSense is an amazing piece of tech, with very stable IMUs and haptic sensations that increase a lot the “immersion” in the games : they can provide you the sensation of resistance, of textures of materials, of movements. More info (New features of OpenXR) More info (OpenXR in Unity) More info (OpenXR in Microsoft products).

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The Ghost Howls

FEBRUARY 1, 2021

Oculus official side distribution platform is coming soon. Last year, Facebook announced that it was going to release in 2021 a new side content distribution platform for the Oculus Quest. Echo VR , the VR sports game available on Oculus headsets, is getting a ‘battle pass’ system called Echo Pass.

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The Ghost Howls

JUNE 23, 2020

First of all, because, letting us become pilots in the Star Wars universe being really immersed inside the action. Ready At Dawn was already collaborating with Oculus since various years, so this is not surprising. Hands tracking on Quest gets always more interest. You can now buy HoloLens 2 directly from Microsoft.

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Apple Magic Leap Gaming AR 291

The Ghost Howls

AUGUST 25, 2019

Everyone was overwhelmed by the greatness of the game’s universe, everyone loved the immersion, but also highlighted lots of glitches, performance issues (there was a huge optimization error fixed lately with a patch) and problems with the UX. More info (Vader Immortal 2 description) More info (Vader Immortal 2 hands-on session).

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Road to VR

JANUARY 3, 2020

Oculus Quest. Image courtesy Oculus. Oculus Quest is surely the most important headset to launch in 2019. The headset’s ease-of-use, solid game library, and reasonable price has pushed it to become Oculus’ best rated headset on Amazon thus far. Oculus Rift S. Image courtesy Oculus.

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