Despite the technological leaps forward in virtual reality, VR headsets have not yet caught on with the mass market. That may have something to do with the better ones being prohibitively priced and requiring a connection to a computer, while the less expensive ones require you to use your phone for the screen. Facebook is hoping to finally hoping to bring VR to a bigger audience with Oculus Go, a headset with a moderately affordable price point and no need to purchase a powerful PC or kill the battery on your phone. [More]
virtual reality
AMC Dipping Its Toes Into Virtual Waters With Plans For New VR Centers
By 9.26.17
While virtual reality gadgets can be entertaining, the fun is usually limited to one person at a time — not counting those who enjoy watching and laughing while you creep around the living room, groping the air). In an attempt to open up virtual reality to more people with new VR multiplexes offering an “immersive” experience. [More]
Bizarre KFC VR Escape Room/Training Exercise Haunted By Ghost Of Anti-Robot Col. Sanders
By 8.24.17
What do you get when you combine virtual reality, escape rooms, corporate training videos, and a very cranky fast food mascot? In the case of KFC’s bizarre new VR training video, probably the weirdest eight minutes of your day. [More]
Facebook Shutting Down Oculus Film Studio
By 5.5.17
Instead of making its own virtual reality content, Facebook is closing the doors of its Oculus film studio and will instead spend more on content produced by outside sources. [More]
Oculus Closing 200 Best Buy Demo Stations Over Slower Traffic
By 2.9.17
Facebook’s Oculus had been hoping to win wary customers over to the idea of virtual reality by setting up hundreds of pop-up demo stations inside Best Buy stores around the country. Turns out, folks may not be all that interested, so Oculus is shutting down about 40% of these in-store test drive locations. [More]
Oculus Developing A Lower-End, Standalone Virtual Reality Device
By 10.7.16
If you’re one of those people who was perhaps interested in buying the Oculus Rift, only you don’t own a computer powerful enough to handle it, the Facebook-owned company says it’s got a new virtual reality product in the works that won’t require a Windows PC or even a mobile phone to use it. [More]
Guy On Stationary Bike Is Cycling Through The UK In Virtual Reality With Google Street View
By 8.9.16
A man in the United Kingdom who wanted to see all the sights his country has to offer didn’t let the real world hold him back when he decided to tour the land by way of virtual reality on his stationary bike. [More]
Tech Would Allow Users To Touch, Interact With Objects In Video
By 8.3.16
Just when you thought virtual reality couldn’t be any more like reality, engineers go and find a way to let you actually touch and interact with the objects coming at you from your VR headset. [More]
Oculus Executive: We’ll Answer Questions About Rift’s Privacy Policy “In Due Time”
By 4.18.16
Virtual reality company Oculus doesn’t seem to be too concerned about questions some people have had about the privacy policy for its new Rift headset, with a company executive downplaying those concerns and saying that they’ll be answered “in due time.” [More]
Sen. Al Franken Has A Few Questions About Oculus Rift’s Privacy Policy
By 4.8.16
While we’ve been talking about virtual reality for decades, the current slate of VR headsets marks the first time we’ve seen anything close to widespread adoption of the technology. And when one of the leading companies in the field also happens to be owned by a company that makes billions of dollars tracking your online behavior, you can’t fault people for being concerned about privacy.
[More]
NCAA Final Four, Championship Game To Be Broadcast In Virtual Reality
By 3.30.16
Not everyone can shell out hundreds (or even thousands) of dollars to attend the final three games of this year’s college basketball tournament. But if you have the right gear — specifically a Samsung Gear headset — you can feel like you’re in the arena all from the comfort of your own home. [More]
PlayStation VR To Sell For $399, Go On Sale In October
By 3.15.16
After months of guesswork about when Sony would finally release its much-awaited PlayStation VR headset — and for how much — the company finally announced those important details today at the Game Developers Conference in San Francisco. So, will PS VR be the iPhone of virtual reality — or the 21st century equivalent of the Nintendo Virtual Boy? [More]
Six Flags Adding Virtual Reality To Roller Coasters
By 3.4.16
Don’t get sufficiently nauseated from the ups, downs, turns, and loops of riding a roller coaster? Then plan a trip to Six Flags Magic Mountain, which is tacking on a virtual reality aspect to one of its coasters.
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GameStop Planning To Sell Sony VR Headset In The Fall
By 2.16.16
We’ve been hearing about the Sony VR since it was dubbed “Project Morpheus,” but as much as the tech giant loves to show it off, Sony has yet to give a firm release window for the virtual reality headset. However, GameStop CEO Paul Raines tipped his cards on that schedule during an interview this morning. [More]
Make Sure Your Computer Is Powerful Enough For The Oculus Rift Before You Spend $599 On One
By 1.6.16
Oculus Rift Pre-Orders Start Jan. 6; Still No Price Listed
By 1.4.16
Two years after virtual reality startup Oculus blew away CES 2014 with the demo of its Oculus Rift VR headset — ultimately leading to Facebook buying the company for $2 billion in March 2014 — the consumer version of the Rift virtual reality headset is finally becoming an actual reality. [More]
JCPenney Offers Virtual Reality Flight With Santa, Reindeer, And Product Placements
By 12.14.15
When we were kids, we had to go to a holiday-centric theme park to have an immersive experience with Santa, his reindeer, and his elves. If an experiment at JCPenney is successful, children of the future will only need to visit a local department store and plop an Oculus headset on their heads to experience the magic of flying in Santa’s sleigh while JCPenney suppliers advertise to them. [More]
Facebook Bringing 360-Degree Video To iOS Newsfeeds
By 11.12.15
While we once wondered why Facebook would spend $2 billion to buy virtual reality company Oculus, we’re starting to get answers. Two months after Facebook said it was working to bring virtual reality to consumers’ phones via newsfeed ads, the social media company unveiled an iOS version. [More]
