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“I Expect You to Die” Earns Over $1M Since December
Launched in December 2016, I Expect You to Die has earned more than $1 million dollars. Developed by Schell Games, the game is available for Oculus Rift, HTC Vive, and PlayStation VR. I Expect You to Die puts the player into view of a 007 secret agent with four missions full of puzzles, death traps, and villains. Schell has plans to release new content later this year.
I Expect You to Die was a top priority Schell Games. They wanted to create “a game that looked and felt great in VR, and that meant tremendous attention to every little detail of how things looked, interacted, and played,” said Schell in an email. “I think the combination of fun escape-the-room mechanics, immersive gameplay, and highly stylized atmospheric environments are something that people really get into, even when they are brand new to VR”.
This is not the first game to have breakout success. According to SuperData VR generated almost $2B in 2016. Games like Owlchemy Labs’ Job Simulator (0$3M), Google’s Tilt Brush ($3.6M) are only a couple examples.
View full article: https://venturebeat.com/2017/08/30/i-expect-you-to-die-solves-vr-puzzle-over-1-million-in-revenue-since-december/
Sex Robots and VR Fleshlights
The sex toys on display at the Asia Adult Expo represent the cutting-edge in the future of sexual possibilities: the smartest vibrators on the market, VR fleshlights, and yes, $6,000 sex robots. The convention is a three day long showcase of sex and lots of silicone.
Held in the Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Center, the gathering advertises “new technology, new opportunities” and “future adult entertainment”, which seems to encompass every conceivable advancement on the sex toy market.
“The exhibition will offer VR developers and online entertainment professionals an opportunity to gather and promote high-tech devices and present the new generation of adult products, “the expo’s press materials state. “It is a perfect platform to market their innovative products and services to the VR and interactive techniques professionals and enthusiasts from Asia and beyond.”
Read full article: http://www.menshealth.com/sex-women/sex-toy-convention-sex-robots
Microsoft Hoping to Put “Reality” in VR Sales
The Redmond, Wash.-based tech giant announced Monday its holiday season foray into what it calls mixed reality will be marked by $399 headset/controller bundles from partners such as HP, Lenovo, Dell and Acer, along with a selection of games and other VR experiences.
That pricing is roughly in line with the competition. Facebook is now selling its Oculus Rift goggle and controller bundle for $400, slashed from $700, reflecting tepid consumer appetite for one of tech’s most-hyped hardware forays.
Clunky, tethered headsets and the lack of a “killer app” have dissuaded all but hard-core gaming enthusiasts from buying virtual reality headsets, leading to slashed industry forecasts and lowered prices.
Microsoft is gamely trying to change that story. Its VR content includes the travel-focused HoloTour, offering virtual tours of destinations such as Peru’s Machu Picchu, as well as ga0es such as Minecraft, Luna, Space Pirate Trainer and Fantastic Contraption. The new gear, which connects to the computer, will also be compatible with content featured on SteamVR.
Read full article: https://www.usatoday.com/story/tech/2017/08/28/microsoft-sets-399-price-minecraft-playing-virtual-reality-set/603508001/
Neuroscientist Harness the Power of VR to Unlock the Mysteries of Memory
UCLA lab to be the first to study how the brain encodes memory during movement UCLA researchers are the first to blend VR with a surgical implant to demonstrate what happens in your brain when we create memories.
We’re all familiar with the image of someone donning virtual reality goggles to enter a new environment while seated at their computer.
At UCLA, Nanthia Suthana is one of the first neuroscientists in the world to harness the power of VR to unravel how someone’s brain encodes and retrieves memories while the person explores a new virtual setting on foot.
Her work recently captured the attention of the popular digital network, Mashable, which profiled her in its “How She Works” video series.
“Without our memories, each of us would be lost in time and cut off from other people,” said Suthana, an assistant professor of neurosurgery and psychiatry at the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA. “At UCLA, we are the first to blend virtual reality with a surgically implanted prosthesis to reveal what happens inside the brain when we create memories.”
The ultimate goal? To develop therapeutic tools that could restore lost memories to people suffering from Alzheimer’s disease, traumatic brain injury and other disorders.
Read full article: http://newsroom.ucla.edu/stories/neuroscientist-harnesses-the-power-of-virtual-reality-to-unlock-the-mysteries-of-memory
