FEATURE: I hadn’t even considered the possibility that Gabe Newell would be joining us. When Valve invited me to its office last week for a series of roundtable interviews, the company made it clear that I wasn’t going to learn about Half-Life 3. “No new announcements,” Valve communications boss Doug Lombardi explained to me in...
Tag: #VR #AR
Microsoft says Stryker is using HoloLens to help hospitals design better operating rooms
Microsoft is talking for the first time today about a new customer of its HoloLens augmented reality headset: publicly traded medical device company Stryker. Stryker sells forceps, drills, nasal dressings, and hip replacement systems, but it also sells equipment for operating rooms. The HoloLens is a tool that Stryker can use to help hospital employees...
Samsung showcases 4 new VR and AR projects from its in-house C-Lab incubator
Samsung has revealed four new virtual reality (VR) and augmented reality (AR) projects that have been brewing in its in-house Creative Lab (C-Lab). For the uninitiated, Samsung launched C-Lab back in 2012 as a canvas for workers to develop ideas away from their core duties. It was only at CES last year that Samsung showcased...
Loook uses HoloLens augmented reality to visualize 3D landscapes
Loook announced in April 2016 that it was making “mixed reality” apps that blend 3D animations and the real world using Microsoft’s HoloLens glasses. And today, the Seattle-based holographic computing studio is showing off a project that it worked on with BGC Engineering. The project focused on creating a geotechnical engineering visualization app for reclaiming old mines and...
Milwaukee County requires Pokémon Go and AR/VR games to get land use permits
GUEST: When you own land, you often own the rights to minerals, oil, or metals beneath it. Do you also own the right to virtual or mixed reality creations on it? And do you have the legal ability to legislate their use or positioning over virtual representations of your property? That’s what Milwaukee County appears...
Double Fine dives into VR with Psychonauts in the Rhombus of Ruin
Double Fine Productions wants to level up the quality of virtual reality games with its latest release: Psychonauts in the Rhombus of Ruin for the PlayStation VR. The $20 title debuts today on Sony’s VR platform for the PlayStation 4, and it will show that VR is starting to grow up. Double Fine applied its...
Pokémon Go gets a surge in spending after introducing Gen 2 creatures
Pokémon Go got a wave of new content last week, and this has helped the mobile game generate even more revenue. Niantic‘s Google Maps-powered monster-catching mobile app is once again the No. 1 grossing iPhone game in the United States. On Google Play, it is still No. 3 behind Game of War and Mobile Strike. This...
Paradox sells over 500,000 copies of WWII grand strategy game Hearts of Iron IV
Paradox has created another hit by giving its audience the in-depth strategy war game it craves. Hearts of Iron IV has surpassed half a million copies sold since its debut in June, according to publisher Paradox Interactive. This World War II grand strategy game has players taking control of any nation with the goal of...
What Ubisoft learned from its first virtual reality games
Ubisoft has learned a thing or two about virtual reality. The giant French video game publisher loves to experiment with new game platforms. Whenever a new one arrives, so do new Ubisoft games. With VR, Ubisoft has tried a number of things, and in October it launched its first VR game, Eagle Flight, a simulation...
Inside an IMAX virtual reality arcade
We don’t know yet if VR arcades in the United States are going to find success, but it is looking like IMAX VR is going to give it a great try. We went inside the big-screen company’s flagship VR center in Los Angeles this week, and got a good look at their plans for arcade...