Awesome Virtual Reality

Wist uses your iPhone or Oculus Quest headset to capture live 3D models of memories and lets you play them back as an augmented reality experience in the same location. Because of technical limitations, the models and textures have a weird torn-edge look straight out of science fiction. Sign up to join the waitlist.

The VR2 version of Sony’s PlayStation VR system features some big upgrades. Notably, it offers 4K resolution (via two 2000×2040 OLED displays), HDR, a 110º field-of-view, eye tracking, 3D surround sound, finger touch detection, headset vibration feedback, and more. Available in early 2023.

New Zealand tech startup Eight360 has created a motion simulator that looks like something out of Jurassic World or Oblivion. The sphere can rotate untethered in any direction, meaning its occupant can tumble, roll, and spin. Its movements are synced with a VR headset, so motion sickness isn’t as likely as stationary VR.

(PG-13: Language) If you happen to have a fancy VR rig for your PC, you can tune out the rest of the world with Valve’s latest stress-inducing Half-Life game. But if you’re videogamedunkey, you don’t just play the game, you live the game. And yes, you can wear a headcrab as a hat now.

While it’s not the Half-Life 3 game we were hoping for, we’re still happy that Valve has revealed a new game in the classic franchise. Half-Life: Alyx is designed to be far more immersive than the prior games as it plays out entirely in virtual reality. Requires a SteamVR compatible headset, and drops March 2020.

This upcoming virtual reality game Frankly Unfair, Unkind, Unnecessary, and Underhanded from magicians and smart guys Penn & Teller will mess with player’s minds by subjecting them a variety of minigames which include facing their worst fears and a variety of cruel tricks.

Valve’s Index headset packs dual 1440×1600 RGB LCD screens with a 120Hz refresh rate, the latter being a first for virtual reality headsets. Its controllers have buttons, thumbsticks, force sensors and finger tracking. It works with two to four base stations for a large play area.

Enjoy immersive virtual reality content on your smartphone on the cheap. Simply slide any phone with a 4.7″ to 6.0″ diagonal screen into the case, and enjoy one the many VR experiences in the iOS App Store or Google Play. Save 78% in The Awesomer Shop.

The newest set of Nintendo’s cardboard toy kits brings affordable virtual reality to the Switch. The VR kit gives you goggles and five accessories. Use these to play dozens of mini-games and even to make your own interactive experiences.

Insta360’s versatile shooter can be used as a standard camera or a 360º camera when folded. But unfold it and it turns into a 180º 3D camera. It can capture videos at up to 5.7K, features electronic image stabilization, and a built-in hyperlapse mode.

SteelSeries’ Stratus Duo is a multi-platform wireless controller. It can connect to Android devices as well as standalone virtual reality headsets via Bluetooth. It also connects to Windows PCs via 2.4 Ghz wireless and a USB dongle. It lasts up to 20h per charge.

Students from the University of Washington created a technique that can create 3D animation out of a single photo. Called Photo Wake-Up, it also lets the user change the pose of the person. Viewing the effect in virtual or augmented reality is also possible.

Wisecrack looks at the power of virtual reality. VR is a step up from other forms of fiction, further crossing the gap between knowledge and experience. Aside from being a platform for games and films, it may be an effective therapeutic and social tool as well.

Oculus’ Quest is a wireless, all-in-one gaming-focused virtual reality system. It requires no PC, has built-in roomscale tracking with Rift’s familiar Guardian system, and a hi-resolution (1600 x 1440 per eye) optical system. It will launch in 2019 for $399 alongside over 50 titles.

Cat Explorer is an educational and unintentionally horrifying and funny virtual reality demo app for the Leap Motion controller. It lets you intuitively explore the muscles, skeleton and organs of a cat with simple gestures.

This VR rhythm game lets you use your controllers as virtual lightsabers. As you flail around, you use them to chop blocks in beat to the music. The game looks like even more fun with your controllers put together in “Darth Maul” mode. Currently on Steam Early Access.

Intel combined its 8th generation CPU with mortal enemy AMD’s RX Vega M graphics chip to create the world’s smallest virtual reality-ready PC, on par with mid-level desktop machines. Coming Spring 2018, the $800+ Hades Canyon NUC measures only 8″x 5″.

The PlayStation 4-exclusive enhanced collection of WipEout games now supports the PSVR virtual reality headset. Not only does it make the game more immersive and runs smoothly, it’s also the most natural way to play, letting you look around and ahead of corners.

Using tech developed by Siemens, this incredible looking aluminum roadster was designed in a virtual reality system, engineered with AI, and will be fabricated using 3D printing. Hackrod hopes to allow buyers to help design their own vehicles using VR tech.

The GoPro Fusion has two lenses that create 360º videos at 5.2K/30fps or 3K/60fps. It has several modes, including a sweet Matrix-like freeze pan effect. Don’t want spherical videos? Crop it at different angles to look like you used multiple cameras. Drops 11/2017 for $700.

KFC has a long history of creating strange and unusual commercials, but this mock virtual reality employee training game takes the prize. It’s as if BioShock and Job Simulator had a virtual baby. Seriously, the new Colonel just keeps getting creepier.

Steven Spielberg’s take on Ernest Cline’s hit novel, about a young man who grows up in the year 2044 where the only opportunity to escape the overpopulated real world is to enter The OASIS, a virtual reality, which happens to be loaded pop culture references of the past.

A free application for the HTC Vive and the Oculus Rift that lets you build 3D models using a newbie-friendly interface made of six basic commands and a drag-and-drop mechanic. You can share your creations as 3D files or as animated gifs.