PC gaming news and reviews

The latest PC gaming news and reviews of gaming PC hardware, software and accessories.

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Oculus' giant Core 2.0 update is available to everyone
After spending ages in development, Oculus' Rift Core 2.0 interface is rolling out to everyone. The new front end turns into more of a social space, including more 3D objects (such as custom models and unlockable rewards) and eight-person get-togethers for watching shows or simply hanging out. You'll also see a new virtual desktop (above) that helps you quickly access your PC's conventional apps.
‘Borderlands 2’ comes to PlayStation VR on December 14th
October 13th is the second anniversary of the PlayStation VR, and Sony has some special announcements to celebrate. Perhaps the biggest news is that Borderlands 2, the beloved shooter-looter game, will be making its debut on the PSVR just in time for the holiday season. You can pre-order today, and the game will be available starting December 14th.
Can Jesus save virtual reality?
Vive Studios just debuted its first "feature-length" virtual reality movie at the Raindance Film Festival in London. It's neither sci-fi nor twee endearing animation, however: it's a Christian film based on Jesus' seven miracles, captured in 360-degree video, and it was nominated for the Grand Jury Prize for Best Immersive Story. The majority of the tale is told in wrap-around 8K video, with each of the miracles taking roughly 10 minutes. The episodic structure makes sense: Virtual reality is still tiring, both because you're wearing the mask and because you have a screen so close to your eyes. It's not the only issue with virtual reality, especially when it's used on lengthy media.
'Twin Peaks VR' will take you inside the mind-bending Red Room
Not everyone who watched the original Twin Peaks series can remember much more than a woman with a log and something about owls, but the title inarguably made a dent in the popular culture. Now, after a handful of movies, novels released and a follow-up TV series in 2017, the iconic horror drama is returning as a VR game. Twin Peaks VR will take you to the Red Room, a surreal place from the original series where people talk backwards and a doppelganger can hunt you down. The title is produced by Collider Games and Showtime — which aired Twin Peaks: The Return in 2017 — together with original series creator David Lynch.
Square Enix's soundless thriller 'The Quiet Man' arrives November 1st
Square Enix raised a few eyebrows at E3 when it revealed The Quiet Man, a story-driven game featuring a deaf protagonist. The latest trailer highlights the blend of live action and animation that make up the action thriller, as well as the combat and some story details. Square Enix has confirmed that The Quiet Man will arrive November 1st on PS4 and PC.
Mario Kart VR lands in the US
Mario Kart VR has already graced Japan and London...now it's making a pitstop in the US. Yes, you can (finally) immerse yourself in the cartoonish karting action -- while sitting in a physical vehicle with pedals and a steering wheel -- at Washington DC's Union Station right now. But you better be quick: Bandai Namco's "VR Zone Portal" is only in town till March 2019, reports Road to VR.
Facebook and RED unveil their Manifold 3D VR camera
Facebook and RED are finally ready to show their 3D VR camera after months of teasing. They've revealed Manifold, a ball-shaped array that uses 16 of RED's Helium 8K sensors (with 180-degree Schneider lenses) to capture a complete, 60FPS VR video in one scene, including depth information. The The result is high-quality 360-degree video that reacts when you move your head. You might not walk directly through a video, but you wouldn't be stuck in one camera position when watching with an Oculus Quest or a similar six-degrees-of-freedom headset.
Oculus predicts a VR future that includes ultra-thin headsets
Oculus' virtual reality ambitions extend well past standalone headsets. In a talk at Oculus Connect 5, the company's Michael Abrash updated his predictions for the future of VR headset technology. Most notably, he sees an end to the bulky headsets that define the experience today. Pancake lenses (already in use with interchangeable lens cameras) could slim down headsets or lead to ultra-wide fields of view, but the real star may be waveguide displays, where light bounces down extremely thin glass plates. You could see VR headsets that are scarcely thicker than glasses, with images that are as wide as you need. Abrash showed a concept drawing (this isn't a hint at a future product, he stressed) for a headset that would make your Rift or Go look positively ancient, although he wouldn't predict just when you might see such a device.
'Star Wars' VR experience 'Vader Immortal' will debut on Oculus Quest
Oculus Quest owners will have an exclusive Star Wars VR series to look forward to this spring: Vader Immortal. We only got a brief glimpse of it during the Oculus Connect 5 keynote today, but it looks like it'll place you on Mustafar, the volcanic planet that houses Vader's lair. The three episode series will be written by David S. Goyer, the prolific genre writer who's also working on the Secrets of the Empire, another Star Wars VR experience developed by the ILMxLAB and The Void. Vader Immortal will also tie into that series, and it's going to take place between Revenge of the Sith and Rogue One in the Star Wars universe.
YouTube VR and casting features are coming to Oculus Go
Your Oculus Go is about to become much more useful for immersive viewing sessions. Oculus has revealed that YouTube VR is coming to its entry-level headset, giving you a chance to watch 800,000 360-degree videos in your own virtual environment. It's not clear when you'll see it, but this is big news if you didn't want to get a Daydream headset just to watch YouTube clips.
Oculus' major Core 2.0 update officially arrives in October
Amid a string of announcements at Oculus Connect 5, including the standalone Oculus Quest headset, Facebook revealed some updates to the Rift Core 2.0 platform, which is moving out of beta and will be available for everyone in early October. If you don't want to wait, you can access it through the Public Test Channel starting Wednesday.
Oculus has a mixed reality vision that goes far beyond Microsoft
Microsoft has been pushing the idea of mixed reality -- combining virtual and augmented reality -- for years now. But today at Oculus Connect 5, Facebook showed off a concept that pushes the notion of mixed reality even further. We caught a brief glimpse of Andrew Bosworth, the company's head of AR and VR, wearing an upcoming Oculus Quest headset. Instead of seeing an artificial VR environment, he saw a crude real-time rendering of the room around him, drawn in a cartoon-like style. As he panned his head around, the layout and furniture in the room appeared, as if it were being painted in place.
Oculus' most powerful, wireless VR headset ships spring 2019 for $399
Project Santa Cruz has left the pre-production phase. Oculus VR's powerful standalone headset is officially called Oculus Quest and it's due to hit the market in the spring of 2019 for $399 -- let's just call it an even $400. That's the starting price, for a 64GB model. Oculus Quest has a display resolution of 1600x1440 per eye. The new headset will ship with more than 50 titles, plus developers are working to bring notable Rift VR games such as Moss, The Climb and Robo Recall to it as well.
Insta360's next VR camera is made to be thrown around
With the Insta360 One marking its first anniversary earlier this month, it's no surprise that the company is preparing a follow-up model to this standalone 4K 360 camera. But first, we have a teaser (as usual). From afar, the first video appears to be yet another sample that shows off "FlowState" video stabilization combined with slow motion and FreeCapture editing, so nothing new in that sense. What actually caught my attention were two brief moments when the camera operator's shadow gave the game away -- that person was throwing the camera, as opposed to waving it around on a selfie stick. Later on, you can also just about see another person holding an upside-down umbrella for catching the camera.
Watch the Oculus Connect 5 keynote at 1PM ET
What's arguably the biggest VR event of the year, Oculus Connect 5, is about to kick off -- and to no one's surprise, Oculus is encouraging you to tune in. It's streaming the OC5 keynote, and you can watch the regular stream live below or on Facebook starting at 1PM Eastern. On top of that, you can watch in VR this year -- if you have an Oculus Go or Gear VR, you can spectate with fellow headset wearers using Oculus Venues.
After Math: To infinity... and Taiwan!
Apparently, this was the week to shoot for the Moon, in some ways more literally than others. SpaceX announced on Monday that it'd found its first Guinea Pi- I mean "paying customer" for a slingshot sightseeing trip around the far edge of la luna and back. 3D-printed guns' strongest advocate made a break for the hills (of Taiwan) after being accused of sexually assaulting a 16-year-old, Telltale Studios told virtually all of its employees to start looking for alternative employment opportunities, and Amazon is hawking a bargain-basement microwave because they'll put a digital assistant in anything these days.
NextVR brings virtual reality broadcasts to the Oculus Rift
NextVR provides access to immersive sports and entertainment broadcasts for a number of virtual reality headsets, but it had a huge Oculus-shaped gap in its compatibility list. Now, the platform has finally rolled out support for the Oculus Rift and even for its standalone sibling, the Oculus Go. NextVR chief David Cole said the VR community has been asking for the feature for a long time, and the company is merely answering the call.
Google tests see-through mode, better motion tracking for Daydream
Google has introduced some new experimental features for developers working with the Lenovo Mirage Solo, the standalone Daydream headset released earlier this year. First up is see-through mode, a setting that lets the user see the real space around them through the VR headset. Google says this mode plus the Mirage Solo's tracking technology will allow developers to build AR prototypes. It demonstrated an application of this feature through an experimental app that lets Mirage Solo wearers position virtual furniture in a real-world surrounding.
Walmart turns to VR and Oculus Go for associates' training
Walmart is harnessing the power of virtual reality to train over a million associates across the country. The big-box retailer will deploy 17,000 Oculus Go headsets to almost all of its 5,000 stores in an effort to provide its employees the caliber of training its managers get at the Walmart Academy facilities. Walmart took VR training for a spin at those facilities using PC-tethered Oculus Rifts, but the standalone Go headsets make it so much easier to expand the program.
Tap's wearable keyboard makes typing in VR applications a breeze
To date, the VR experience has largely centered around games and entertainment -- doing any actual work, such as typing up a document or sending an email, has been a slow and cumbersome process due to clunky point-and-click virtual keyboards. Now, a company behind a wearable keyboard, mouse and controller has demonstrated that its kit can be used with Microsoft's virtual desktop environment, making it easier, quicker and more intuitive to get stuff down within a VR realm.

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