The VR industry is set to heat things up this year with a Greenlight Insights report suggesting total r
evenues for 2017 to hit $7.2 billion with most of that generated from hardware sales. Oculus is in the news for all the wrong reasons again facing another lawsuit, this time regarding its 3D Imagine technology. But we keep hearing about how good Fallout 4 VR is going to be with AMD’s corporate vice president Roy Taylor claiming it will be the Mario or Sonic of VR games and “change the way we think about VR”.
The Wave VR picks up $4 Million in New Round of Funding
The Wave VR, already in early access on Steam is a promising music distribution/social platform focusing on intimate and interactive music experiences. In the words of CEO and co-founder Adam Arrigo “We think the potential of this new medium isn’t in replicating reality, but amplifying it, so we want to give fans interactive 
experiences that can only be achieved in virtual reality.” They plan to simplify content creation and distribution for artists while also allowing music fans to socialize and attend live shows. Live shows will happen weekly at first and more frequently as time goes on. They plan to see a full release by the end of the year and consider early access a very important part of development saying “…if you create music, if you build visuals, or if you are an avid fan of music, we need you.” So jump on board while it’s still ‘free to play’ and help develop the future of music in VR.
AMD Acquires Nitero’s Wireless VR Tech
AMD has already done a lot for the VR industry, they promised to bring VR performance to budget PCs and delivered on that promise with the fantastically cheap RX 480 graphics card. While their new Ryz
en CPUs did not spark the massive price-war we all hoped for, their focus on multi-threading could really help drive software development towards more efficient programming. Their latest pitch however is aimed directly at VR hardware with the goal of “accelerating adoption and nudging the market in the right way.” Nitero is
one of the few companies currently producing 60GHz wireless transceivers. These chips are especially efficient at transmitting massive amounts of data with low latency at short ranges. Exactly what we need to ‘cut the cord’ on high-powered VR, an apt analogy considering how recently consumer VR was ‘born’.
Elite Dangerous Upgrade & Rick and Morty Come to VR
Elite Dangerous is a staple among the hardcore VR gaming crowd and it’s not hard to see why. Unlike nearly every other VR game, it boasts hundreds of hours of content and its simulation style is a perfect match for
the immersion of VR. The new commanders’ update not only allows you to 
control ships in tandem with three other crew members but also lets you create customized avatars for the first time. The update also brings a stack of new content and many performance and graphics fixes specifically for VR. Best of all it’s a completely free update, arguably the biggest universe in VR just got bigger.
Earlier this month (April the 1st to 
be exact) the season 3 premiere of Rick and Morty aired completely unannounced. True to form, the new Rick and Morty VR game ‘Virtual Rickality’ was suddenly given a release date so close you barely have time to check your bank balance in preparation. With full voice acting from the original cast, it promises all the high-concept sci-fi rigmarole of the TV series. And with Owlchemy Labs of Job Simulator fame at the helm, it’s sure to be a highly polished VR experience.
