How Battlefield 1's Air Combat Has Changed

Gamespot had an interesting article/video about Battlefield 1's Air Combat "How Battlefield 1's Air Combat Has Changed." From the video It looks like it will be pretty fun to play.  The sheer visual spectacle is impressive, especially considering where we came from with the original Red Baron. 

DOTA in VR

UploadVR is reporting that Valve's Defense of the Ancients (DOTA) will have a VR spectator mode as shown in the sneak peak video below.

New VR concepts like this keep on reminding me how different gaming is going to be over the next few years.

HoloLens Educational Possibilities

Also presenting during the Microsoft Build event was Mark Griswold from Case Western Reserve University.  He was showing off some of the educational potential for Microsoft's HoloLens.

This is really fantastic stuff.  I'd like to see it paired with a better input device.  Just having the user look at a location seems kind of clumsy and slow.  Of course some of it could just reflect the need for better hardware.  Some kind of haptic feedback glove is really needed to pull it all together.

Microsoft HoloLens

The more I see of the Microsoft HoloLens project, the more excited I get about seeing something like this make it out into the wild in the next few years.  THIS is what Google glass should have gone for.  Microsoft has "Appled" Google by making Augmented Reality actually useful and cool.

I'm not sure how good the images will look in real life, but Microsoft went to great pains to try to show users at their live demo today how visually stunning it really looks.   They had a video camera operator filming a user demonstrating it from their perspective which really made it come alive.

Apparently support for AR is going to be a big part of Windows 10, the next version of Windows.  Yeah, I know.  Apparently they decided to skip "Windows 9."  If So, they might actually have a chance at getting it on "1 billion devices" in three years.  Now note, I didn't say you would actually LOOK cool....hehehehheh.

Official Microsoft HoloLens Web site.

Descent Underground Kickstarter Funded

The Descent Underground Kickstarter was crowd funded today.  Descent holds a special place in my heart, since it was one of the first multi-player online betas that I participated in, way back in the days of GEnie.

Descent Studios was founded by Eric "Wingman" Peterson of Start Citizen fame.  The Kickstarter is over, but you can still go to their web page and support this project, or just read up on what's new.

Eve: Valkyrie Oculus Rift Movie

I didn't get a chance to mention it, but at CCP Games Fanfest 2015 they were showing off Eve: Valkryie.  A "pre-alpha" movie using the Oculus Rift got a lot of people talking.  Take a peek below.

I loved the sense of scale of the ships. Really cool stuff.  The next year is really shaping up to be a good one for Space Sims.

Star Citizen

Star Citizen is the epic Space Opera Kickstarter game from Chris Roberts, the same guy behind the classic Wing Commander and Privateer games.  At over 70 million dollars raised, it is safe to say this is a Triple A funded game.

Planned features for this custom Crytek engine game includes everything from a single player campaign mode to a robust multi-player space sim that features an FPS component.  Quite the undertaking.  It's also an interesting ride for early backers, who are able to see the game develop and gain early access to alpha and beta builds.

It's been a few months since I checked out the latest build.  I wanted to see if VR support was in place yet, and what it looked like.  I discovered that full support for the Oculus Rift is not officially yet in place, but I can state that the game is looking more and more polished as time goes on.  This should be loads of fun when it is completed.

HTC/Valve First Impressions - Touchy Feely Only

First hands on impressions of the new HTC/Valve Vive are starting to appear today.  Well the touchy feely kind of impressions.  The NDA should be lifted some time Wednesday. 

"But I can say this: I promised myself I wouldn’t start smiling or laughing when I tried it on. I promised I would be a professional journalist, sagely analysing what this meant for the world of virtual reality and it’s place in HTC’s future strategy.  I lasted approximately seven seconds before I started giggling like a tipsy schoolgirl." - Hands-on review: MWC 2015: HTC Vive.

Of course this matches my first reaction to the Oculus DK2.  VR is only going to keep on getting better.  You gotta love competition.

Unreal Engine Goes Free - Kindof

Epic announced today that the Unreal Engine will be now be FREE.  Well, the game tools will be free.  Content that you create and sell will still be subject to their 5% cut.  Of course you will need to read the fine print for other options and details.

Still, considering what this engine can do, and that it is already able to support the Oculus VR.......wow!

Valve and HTC team up for an Oculus Killer - the Vive

Valve and HTC will be showing off their new Oculus killer, the "Vive" at the Game Developers Conference that runs from March 2-6.

Rumors of their efforts to create an alternative to Facebook's Oculus Rift have been circulating for quite some time.  The Verge did a story today about the Vive that gives up some interesting details about what to expect.

The HTC Vive website shows the Vive Development Edition being available Spring, 2015.  Reportedly they hope to go head to head with Oculus for the Holiday 2015 season with their consumer version.

More Vive Stories

Gizmodo

Ars Technica

PC World

Tom's Hardware

GenX i Social Buzz - Hands On