HTC VIVE, the global leader in premium XR solutions, today launches its new cutting-edge headset VIVE Focus Vision. The new Extended Reality (XR) headset is the latest in HTC VIVE's highly popular VIVE Focus Series, with a wealth of improvements and new features to give gamers and enterprise users alike the best possible immersive experience for PCVR and standalone gaming, as well as Location-Based Experiences (LBE), industrial training, collaboration, and mixed reality applications.

"VIVE Focus Vision gives you the best of both worlds, with outstanding standalone capabilities, and DisplayPort mode support for visually lossless PCVR experiences," said Shen Ye, Global Head of Product at HTC VIVE. "Now, PC gamers can bring the same high-end headsets used in VR arcades into their homes. We're taking everything to the next level with built-in eye-tracking, stereo color passthrough cameras for depth-correct Mixed Reality, and even an infra-red sensor for enhanced hand tracking in low-light conditions."

AMD has released the latest version of Adrenalin Edition graphics drivers, version 24.4.1 WHQL. It includes support for the upcoming Manor Lords game, as well as add performance improvements for HELLDIVERS 2 game, and adds AMD HYPR-Tune support to Nightingale and SKULL AND BONES games. New drivers also expand Vulkan API extensions support with VK_KHR_shader_maximal_reconvergence and VK_KHR_dynamic_rendering_local_read, as well as include support and optimizations for Topaz Gigapixel AI application, versions 7.1.0 and 7.1.1, with new "Recovery" and "Low Resolution" AI upscaling features.

New AMD Software Adrenalin Edition 24.4.1 WHQL drivers come with several fixes, including performance improvements for HELLDIVERS 2, fix for intermittent application crash in Lords of the Fallen on Radeon RX 6000 series graphics cards, various artifact issues in SnowRunner and Horizon Forbidden West Complete Edition on Radeon RX 6800 and Radeon RX 6000 series graphics cards, fix for intermittent application crash or driver timeout in Overwatch 2 when Radeon Boost is enabled on Radeon RX 6000 and above series graphics cards, intermittent crash while changing Anti-Aliasing settings in Enshrouded on Radeon 7000 series graphics cards, and various application freeze or crash issues with the SteamVR while using Quest Link on Meta Quest 2 or when screen sharing with Microsoft Teams.

DOWNLOAD: AMD Software Adrenalin 24.4.1 WHQL

Sony's second generation virtual reality headset—PlayStation VR2—is a very neat bit of kit, but many VR gaming enthusiasts believe that its potential is being wasted to some degree. Presently, VR2 is locked into the Sony PlayStation 5 console ecosystem, yet efforts to break this exclusive cycle started many months ago—modders have been working on PC platform support. The "iVRy VR" project is a notable endeavor—its leader outlined a bumpy development road on Reddit late last year: "PS VR2 can now be used for SteamVR on Windows. I wrote the driver some months ago, but the project has been delayed due to hardware or GPU driver hacks necessary to get the headset driven correctly by the GPU." Things are back on track according to iVRy's latest social media posts: "Star Wars: Jedi Fallen Order running on Sony PS VR2, using UEVR and iVRy Driver for SteamVR (Windows). Use your device as a SteamVR VR Headset for your PC." The latest rumblings from Sony indicate that iVRy's crowdfunded efforts could be usurped in 2024.

First-party support on PC platforms has been teased by Sony Interactive Entertainment (SIE)—a freshly published PlayStation Blog article reveals that a conversion team is tinkering away in the background: "PlayStation VR2 launched one year ago, backed by a 40+ game launch window lineup which included all-new experiences like Horizon Call of the Mountain and Pavlov, as well as PS VR2-compatible titles such as Gran Turismo 7 and Resident Evil Village... We're pleased to share that we are currently testing the ability for PS VR2 players to access additional games on PC to offer even more game variety in addition to the PS VR2 titles available through PS5. We hope to make this support available in 2024, so stay tuned for more updates." Company representatives have insisted, in the past, that their second generation VR headset is exclusive to PlayStation 5—The Verge has "reached out to Sony to clarify exactly what "access additional games on PC" means and whether the support will be limited to certain games. We'll update you accordingly."

Refract Technologies today unveils the newest addition to its roster - AXIS Lite. To celebrate its reveal, Refract is opening up global pre-sale orders on 8 February ahead of its late Spring launch, allowing VR enthusiasts and gamers to secure the latest piece of immersive technology.

AXIS Lite tracks real-time lower body movement in addition to the upper body tracking typical of VR headsets and controllers, allowing for full-body immersion in VR. The technology was created especially for consumers looking to take their VR gaming experiences to the next level with ease. Designed to free the player from the constraints of complicated setups, external base stations, and endless wires, the AXIS Lite provides an untethered experience with a reduced number of motion trackers that balance quality with accessibility. With a streamlined four-node setup, AXIS Lite is convenient, easy to use, and simple to calibrate, significantly reducing setup time to allow for more playtime in VR experiences.

Welcome to Stygia! Stroll along the tranquil corridors of this once luxurious resort planet, serenaded by the sweet sounds of explosions and gunfire. Sit back and take in the vivid colors of the sunset - the secret ingredient is gamma radiation! Why not make some new friends? Our friendly cannibal gangs would kill to meet you. invites you to a blood-soaked and adrenaline-fueled story with guns, gore, and gruesome enemies. Playing as Grayson Hunt, former elite mercenary and current space pirate, you are marooned on a hell planet and the only way out is through - through a hail of bullets, that is. You and your squad must survive not only the horrors of the planet's inhabitants but also exact vengeance on the man who put you there - your ex-commander, General Victor Sarrano.

The secret to any good vacation is packing smart, and your trip to Stygia would be incomplete without a kick-ass arsenal you can wield with your own two hands. Yes, two—give it to your enemies with both hands with Bulletstorm VR's exclusive and full support for dual-wielding weapons. Like everyone else, you too must have wondered, in moments of quiet reflection, what does it feel like to lasso a bloodthirsty mutant with an energy leash and sling them into a razor sharp cactus? Well, wonder no more! The energy leash in Bulletstorm VR is a dynamic weapon that lets you pull, push, trap, and even explode enemies up close and far away.

HTC VIVE is taking interactivity, utility, and expressiveness in XR experiences to the next level with the new VIVE Ultimate Tracker. Whether it's gaming, sports training, motion capture, or industrial use, VIVE Ultimate Tracker can do it all.

VIVE Ultimate Tracker is compact, versatile, and with new technology which essentially makes it "self-tracking". This makes it perfect for HTC VIVE's standalone headsets VIVE XR Elite and VIVE Focus 3, with support coming for OpenXR, SteamVR based PC VR setups in the near future. VIVE Ultimate Tracker is available starting today at vive.com with a range of limited-time bundle deals.

Today we are excited to ship SteamVR 2.0 to all users! In this release we're bringing all of what's new and exciting on the Steam platform into VR. This is our first big step in a larger ongoing effort to better unify the Steam ecosystem for all users, providing a more consistent experience across devices. This update also allows us to add new Steam features in the future much faster and more frequently.

Some things you'll discover today:

• Most of the current features of Steam and Steam Deck are now part of SteamVR
• Updated keyboard with support for dual-cursor typing, new languages, emojis, and themes
• Integration of Steam Chat and Voice Chat
• Improved Store that puts new and popular VR releases front and center
• Easy access to Steam notifications

Greetings, mercenaries! To kick off the summer season, we announced at Summer Game Fest that Crossfire: Sierra Squad will be arriving in August. Welp, August is just around the corner, so it's time to let you know officially that the game will launch at PlayStation Store and Steam on August 29th! Add it to your wishlist today for a reminder come launch.

New immersive experience
Crossfire: Sierra Squad is a brand-new game built from the ground up for VR. We've been working hard to make the game an immersive and intuitive experience that gets you into the action immediately. We've fine-tuned the in-game mechanics to come up with a game experience that we believe you'll want to play over and over, both solo and with friends, in a world you'll want to spend a lot of time in. Our goal is to bring all fans of military FPS games together, regardless of experience level, into an exciting and shared VR adventure - solo or co-op with up to 4 players on a team.

Bigscreen today unveiled Bigscreen Beyond, the world's smallest VR headset. Weighing just 127 grams and measuring less than 1-inch at its thinnest point, Beyond has an unprecedented form factor that is 6X lighter than competing VR devices. Beyond features ultra-high resolution OLED displays, custom pancake optics, and
tethers to a PC for ultimate VR immersion. Each device is custom-built to the shape of a customer's face, providing unparalleled comfort for long duration VR
experiences.

"As passionate VR enthusiasts, we built the VR headset we wanted for ourselves," said Darshan Shankar, Bigscreen's Founder & CEO. "Today's leading VR headsets have doubled in weight compared to headsets from 2016. We built Beyond because we felt VR was too heavy, bulky, and uncomfortable. We invented new technologies to increase comfort, and developed ultra-high-end components like OLED microdisplays and pancake optics to increase immersion. To deliver the best software experience for watching movies in Bigscreen, we also had to build the best hardware with Bigscreen Beyond."

DPVR, a leading provider of virtual reality (VR) devices, has today announced the launch of its newest PC VR gaming headset with the introduction of the 'DPVR E4,' which is aimed at dominating the consumer market for tethered PC VR headsets. In a different category altogether from standalone VR headsets such as the Meta Quest 2 and Pico 4 devices, the DPVR E4 provides PC VR gamers with a tethered alternative that offers a wider field of view (FoV), in a more compact and lighter form factor, as well as offering a more affordable solution compared to high-price tag devices such as the VIVE Pro 2.

DPVR has been making VR headsets for seven years. Prior to E4's launch, the company's efforts were primarily directed towards the B2B market, with a specialized focus on the education and medical industries. Over the last decade, DPVR has completed three successful funding rounds, which the company has used for its research and development efforts into furthering its VR hardware and software offerings. This latest announcement from DPVR marks the company's first step into the consumer VR headset market.

Fast Travel Games today announced a publishing deal with VirtualAge Games for Guardians Frontline, a strategic VR shooter set in a sci-fi setting. Featuring powerful weapons, structural crafting, and an in-game map editor, Guardians Frontline allows players to take on the role of both soldier and commander. Originally released as Guardians on Oculus App Lab, Guardians Frontline will launch for Meta Quest 2 and SteamVR in early 2023.

In Guardians Frontline, players must defend the federation from an enemy onslaught as they attempt to extract a mysterious energy source. Battlefields can be strategically secured with a blend of brain and brawn, including tactfully spawned buildings, mechs, spaceships, heavy weapons, and more. The game can be enjoyed solo in single-player mode, four-player co-op, or with up to eight friends in PvP.

Shiftall Inc., a fully owned subsidiary of Panasonic Corporation, will reveal MaganeX, its stylish, lightweight, high-dynamic-range (HDR), virtual-reality (VR) glasses at CES 2022 this week incorporating Lightning 2.6K x 2.6K (2560 x 2560 resolution) micro OLED (organic light emitting diode) displays on chip (DoC ) and all-plastic Pancake optics from Kopin Corporation.

Shiftall, a fully owned subsidiary of Panasonic Corporation, presents MaganeX which is an ultra-lightweight, 5.2K HDR VR headset supporting 6 degree-of-freedom (DoF) head position detection and various SteamVR applications. The MaganeX has a very small form factor thanks to Kopin's 1.3" displays and the slim Pancake optics. The small, lightweight form factor makes the glasses comfortable to wear for extended periods of time, unlike today's bulky VR headsets. The very advanced VR glasses also provide for interpupillary distance (IPD) and diopter adjustments so that they can be used without corrective lenses. The foldable frame with built-in speakers makes it easy to carry.

AMD today released Radeon Software Adrenalin 21.12.1. These drivers add optimization for "Halo Infinite," with up to 17% increase in frame-rates measured on the RX 6900 XT, at 4K Ultra settings over the previous driver version; up to 19% increase measured with the RX 6800 XT, and up to 16% measured with the RX 6700 XT. Optimization is also added for "Icarus" and Blender 3.0 on RX 6000 series graphics cards. Among the fixes include a SteamVR Home noticed on the Radeon VII; driver time-outs noticed with the RX 5500 XT in "Marvel's Guardians of the Galaxy;" Radeon Software becoming unresponsive with PUBG on multi-display mode with extended display; and artifacting noticed in "Forza Horizon 5" with the car models on cards such as the RX 500 series.

DOWNLOAD: AMD Radeon Software Adrenalin 21.12.1

Tundra Labs is a new company working on custom SteamVR positional tracking solutions. The company has recently unveiled its latest product the Tundra Tracker a smaller, cheap Vive Tracker alternative for SteamVR tracking. The open SteamVR tracking system allows any company to create products that are tracked by SteamVR Base Stations and simplifies VR accessory compatibility. The Vive Tracker and Tundra Tracker are both small SteamVR tracking devices worn by the user to more accurately capture movement.

The Tundra Tracker will be "60% smaller, consume about 50% less power, weight 50% less, and have twice the battery life," compared to the Vive Tracker according to Tundra Labs founder Luke Beno. While the product is a clear competitor to the Vive Trackers they will work in tandem meaning Vive Tracker owners can expand their tracking with Tundra Trackers and vice-versa.

South Korean startup bHaptics have recently announced their TactSuit X series haptic vests. The TactSuit X40 and TactSuit x16 are designed to increase VR immersion in supported games. The TactSuit X40 features 40 Eccentric Rotating Mass (ERM) vibration motors across the front and back paired with a 9,800 mAh battery which should enable 18+ hours of playtime. The TactSuit X16 reduces the number of motors to 16 and features a 4,900 mAh battery which should provide 22+ hours of use.

The two suits both feature Bluetooth Low Energy 4.0 and include support for SteamVR and Oculus Quest games however the number of supported titles is very limited. Natively supported games include Onward, Thrill of the Fight, and Sairento VR but can be configured to work with Half-Life: Alyx, Skyrim VR, and Fallout 4 VR using bespoke mod files. The suits can also be used in an audio-based mode for unsupported games and other media which converts audio objects to general haptic rumbles. The TactSuit X40 and TactSuit X16 are now available for pre-order at 500 USD and 300 USD respectively with deliveries expected in December.

HTC VIVE, the leader in premium virtual reality (VR), today announced an exclusive partnership with PNY Technologies to distribute the new VIVE Pro Secure headset in North America. The new VIVE Pro Secure is designed to meet the specific privacy and security requirements of secure environments that require Authority to Operate (ATO)—such as government agencies and organizations—in addition to education, medical, and financial institutions. This professional-grade VR system provides all the benefits and features of the award-winning VIVE Pro, including top-tier graphics, premium audio, and SteamVR room-scale tracking, with hardware modifications that restrict all radios, cameras, and wireless communication functions for secure performance.

Use-cases for VR in government organizations have multiplied over the years and continue to grow as agencies adapt many of the best practices deployed in the private sector for use in training, data visualization, and manufacturing, among other applications. However, one of the major barriers to any technology adoption for organizations that require ATO is access to hardware that meets specific security and privacy requirements. The new Vive Pro Secure is a first-of-its-kind system offering hardware modifications to ensure optimal performance in the most demanding secure environments.

Today, HP Inc. unveiled its latest virtual reality (VR) headset, the HP Reverb G2, in collaboration with industry leaders Valve and Microsoft. The HP Reverb G2 is the world's highest resolution VR headset among major vendorsi, delivering cutting-edge optics, inside-out tracking, spatial 3D audio, natural gestures, long-wearing comfort, and plug and play support for Windows Mixed Reality and SteamVR.

"The power of collaboration is on full display with the HP Reverb G2, and alongside Valve and Microsoft, we engineered a no-compromises VR headset that's immersive, comfortable, and compatible across Windows Mixed Reality and SteamVR," said Spike Huang, vice president and global lead of VR, HP Inc. "The time is now for VR and the HP Reverb G2 brings high-quality VR to the masses with more immersion for gamers, interactive experiences for creators, increased engagement for collaboration, and higher retention rates for education and training."

Valve has announced that SteamVR will drop support for the macOS platform so that development teams can focus on Windows and Linux support. SteamVR users running macOS who wish to continue using SteamVR will need to opt-in for legacy macOS builds from the "Beta" tab under SteamVR properties. This measure will probably stop functioning relatively quickly as new hardware and software changes appear. This move doesn't come as much of a surprise as the macOS platform isn't known for its VR activity, in the long-term macOS users will have to migrate to an alternate operating system or dual boot if they wish to continue accessing SteamVR.

Valve's Half Life: Alyx has been finally released, after the company first teased, and then unwrapped the game back in November 2019. Half Life: Alyx has been completely developed for the VR gaming crown, with a focus on execution that meant for it to finally be VR's killer app - much like Halo was for the original Xbox. Valve describes the game as a full-length release in the Half Life universe, slotting in the 20-year time gap between the events of the original Half Life and Half Life 2.

Of course, to play this game, you need a PC-based VR headset to play the game through Steam. The game has received rave reviews already, featuring a 93 Metacritic score based on 24 critic reviews, and an 8.2 user score. Give it some time before actually looking for guidance in that user review score, though. Valve founder Gabe Newell had this to say: "Half-Life: Alyx represents the culmination of Valve's technological advancement over the past few years. We have built SteamVR, our game engine, our tools, and VR hardware specifically to enable us to ship the best content we know how to create. Today, as we ship Alyx remotely from our homes, we are hoping that everyone stays safe and has a great time playing the game. Please let us know what you think."

AMD today released the latest version of Radeon Software Adrenalin 2020 Edition. Version 20.2.1 beta adds optimization for "Zombie Army 4: Dead War." A handful issues have also been fixed. To begin with, unusually high memory usage with ReLive has been fixed. HDR content becoming excessively dark or bright with DirectX 12 games on RX 5000-series graphics cards, has been fixed. Camera element experiencing stutter with ReLive has been fixed. A missing scroll bar in the "compatibility" tab of Radeon Software application has been fixed. Also addressed is Radeon Software failing to detect VR games when SteamVR is running. Radeon Anti-Lag toggle audible alerts falsely sounding has been fixed. Grab the software from the link below.

DOWNLOAD: AMD Radeon Software Adrenalin 20.2.1 beta

Well, that headline must've been met with both a warm fuzzy feeling of nostalgia, and a sudden, stab-like wound on the back of many readers. The usage of Valve and Half-Life together in the same sentence has been the victim of multiple memes and disappointments over the years, with the studio being seemingly unable to keep up with the mantle of great games it has released before in the Half-Life universe. Half-Life 3 is already so much of a failed expectation that the game could (likely) never live up to the expectations set on it at this point in time. It seems valve is shrugging the game away with a Half-Life set VR game, though, in the form of Half-Life: Alyx.

Valve itself have posted a teaser image on Twitter, announcing it as a flagship VR game available for SteamVR. To be unveiled on November 21st, nothing much is known about the game by now; but it's expected it will be a VR-exclusive experience. The game started out as a single-player exploration experience for VR, and it seems to have found its way developed into a full-fledged game. Apparently, this Half-Life: Alyx game is the first in Valve's plans of releasing more VR games in the future, which may or may not be set in the Half-Life universe. This could actually be an interesting experience for VR, if you can get beyond the usual betrayal of not seeing an announcement for Half-Life 3. Who knows - this could even be the killer app for VR, or an Half-Life renaissance in the minds of gamers and Valve themselves. At the very least, we know it will induce nostalgia.