HTC, a pioneer in innovative, smart mobile and virtual reality (VR) technologies, today held its VIVE Developer Conference 2017 (VDC2017), where it announced VIVE WAVE, a VR open platform and toolset that will open up the path to easy mobile VR content development and high-performance device optimization for third-party partners. 12 hardware partners, namely 360QIKU, Baofengmojing, Coocaa, EmdoorVR, Idealens, iQIYI, Juhaokan, Nubia, Pico, Pimax, Quanta and Thundercomm, announced their support for the integration of Vive Wave as well as the VIVEPORT VR content platform into their future products. Vive Wave is a clear step forward in bringing together the highly fragmented mobile VR market that has growth up in China the last several years. It saves tremendous efforts by allowing developers to create content for a common platform and storefront across disparate hardware vendors. Over 35 Chinese and global content developers have already built VR content optimized for Vive Wave, with 14 showing live demos at the event. Vive also unveiled the VIVE FOCUS, its highly anticipated premium standalone VR headset for the China market that is also based on the Vive Wave VR open platform.

LG demonstrated their prototype VR headset at the Game Developer Conference earlier this year. It was widely known as the LG VR HMD, since it lacked a proper name at the time. Mobiel Kopen, a very popular Dutch publication, later discovered a LG filed patent revealing the device's name to be the UltraGear. LG's UltraGear headset, just like the HTC Vive, employs Valve's SteamVR tracking technology. Both headsets even share a similar controller design. However, LG has implemented two 3.64" OLED displays into the UltraGear, which features a 1440 x 1280 resolution and an impressive 90 Hz refresh rate to beat out both the HTC Vive and Oculus Rift headsets. But LG's innovative flip-up design is the real differentiating factor here. The concept is to give users the option to lift the front of the headset when they want to exit the VR world.

Croteam and Devolver Digital have launched Serious Sam 3 VR: BFE to complete an unbelievable run of premiere VR releases this year including Serious Sam VR and The Talos Principle VR. The VR remaster of Croteam's best-selling shooter is available on Steam with a 10 percent discount for all users plus an additional 10 percent off for users that own the standard Serious Sam 3 [store.steampowered.com/app/567670/].

Serious Sam 3 VR: BFE is a virtual reality action shooter, a glorious throwback to the golden age of first-person with true VR locomotion support, online cooperative mode, and versus deathmatch. Serving as a prequel to the original indie and Game of the Year sensation, Serious Sam: The First Encounter, Serious Sam VR 3: BFE takes place during the Earth's final struggle against Mental's invading legions of beasts and mercenaries.

TPCAST, the first to market a wireless Virtual Reality (VR) solution for Head-Mounted Display (HMD) announces the launch of its Consumer Edition Wireless VR Adapter supporting the HTC VIVE. The TPCAST adapter will be available for pre-order through the primary web and retail stores throughout the US and Canada.

The TPCAST wireless adapter is a breakthrough in the field of VR, solving one of the most significant physical obstacles - the cumbersome wiring between the PC and the headset. The wireless adapter is a small device attached to the top of the Vive HMD replacing the cables connecting the PC video and USB to the headset. The adapter provides users an immersive VR experience including full-range motion capabilities without any impact on video quality and resolution. The adapter works perfectly with graphics intensive applications and with user extreme movement, without adding delay or affecting the experience quality. The Adapter includes a battery that powers the HMD, allowing up to 5 hours of operation.

The keyboard is one of the most basic and most used input devices that exist. It's also very useful in the virtual reality realm, since many applications require user input. For this same reason, Logitech has been working alongside HTC to develop a virtual keyboard for VR users. Their efforts have given fruits, and Logitech has officially announced their Bridge SDK. Users are required to purchase a Bridge developers kit which costs $150. The kit comes with a Logitech G gaming keyboard, a small accessory to attach the Vive Tracker to the keyboard, and the necessary software. As you may notice, the Vive Tracker is purchased separately, so that will set you back another $99.

Once everything is hooked up, the Bridge software will position a virtual keyboard over the physical one. Users can then see their hands and type on the keyboard without having to take off their VR headset. The only catch is that you must use the Logitech keyboard as models from other manufacturers aren't supported. However, Logitech does allow users to customize the virtual keyboard to some extent. They can change the keyboard's appearance, the font's size and colors, or highlight and hide the different keys.

CCP Games today announced that Sparc, the energetic competitive virtual reality game currently available on PlayStationVR, is coming to Oculus Rift and HTC Vive headsets on PC on November 16th. Sparc's unique full-body experience is only possible in virtual reality, where players' VR equipment becomes their sports gear.

Players on PlayStation 4 and PCs will be able to compete against each other seamlessly. In Sparc, players connect online to compete in fast-paced and physical one-on-one gameplay, using motion controllers to throw projectiles across the court at their opponent while dodging, blocking or deflecting incoming shots.

HTC has launched a VR gaming bundle which aims to bring incredible value for gamers that want to dip their feet in the VR world without the hassle of buying individual components. The bundle, which includes a Vive VR room scale solution (with the headset and a pair of controllers), a Founder's Edition NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1070, and a copy of Fallout 4 VR, is being sold for $799. It's a "while supplies last" type of bundle - and unfortunately for the rest of the world, will only be available in the U.S. market.

This is an extremely interesting bundle for the price HTC is asking - the company is quoting a $999 retail value for the bundle ($599 for the Vive room scale solution, and around $400 for the GTX 1070), which amounts to $200 savings. Add to the fact that this is as plug and play a solution as it gets, and the fact that the GTX 1070 is a very competent card in VR workloads, and this really does translate as an interesting, inspired take on expanding the market for VR. A shame it's only available for U.S. residents, though. The rest of the world feels left out.

TPCast has been hard at work on creating a usable way to untether users' VR experiences, which is arguably one of the most important steps for full immersion. I expect nothing to be more immersion-breaking than pivoting to respond to fire from your rear, and consequently getting jumbled up in wires and falling towards your thousand-dollar PC and VR equipment. As such, untethering is essential to really give users the degrees of freedom we need to fully experience virtual reality worlds. To satisfy demand for their upcoming Vive wireless upgrade kit, the company is opening up shop in Silicon Valley no less. The new office will handle marketing, sales, and customer service for North American customers.

TPCast has been selling these "untethering" kits on China for almost a year now, and have since started accepting orders for the European market in September. The company expects to launch their product in Europe come November, but final launch for the North American market is still a cloudy, unannounced subject. If you have an Oculus Rift, the company is also designing a wireless adapter for that particular headset, though there's currently no news on when that one will be available.

Starbreeze AB (NQSE: STAR A, STAR B) and Acer Inc. (TWSE: 2353, LSE: ACID) announce today that a new capitalization plan has been agreed for the StarVR Corporation - the joint venture for marketing and sales of the StarVR Virtual Reality (VR) headset. Under the new agreement, Acer will inject USD 5 million into the joint venture and increase its interest to 66.7%. Starbreeze will be relieved from its remaining capital commitment of USD 7.5 million and its interest will be 33.3%.

The joint venture, originally announced 25 June 2016, was created with a capitalization plan of up to USD 25 million to be shared equally between Starbreeze and Acer through capital injections on a set schedule. As of today, a total of USD 10 million has been injected into the company in equal amounts by the two parties. Under the new arrangement, Acer will provide a capital injection of USD 5 million into the joint venture. No further capital injections have been agreed, but the parties are proceeding in their support of the joint venture. As majority owner Acer will be able to facilitate future financing for StarVR Corporation should further capital needs arise.

TPCAST, the leader in wireless virtual reality (VR) technology, announced today that it is working on a wireless adapter for the Oculus Rift headset. TPCAST is the first to introduce a commercial Wireless Adapter for Virtual Reality, which preserves the video quality and application performance. The TPCAST solution has been shipping in production and demonstrating high video quality and low latency.

The current high-end VR HMDs are driven by a cable transmitting the video, voice, data, and power utilizing HDMI, USB, and power connectors. The heavy-duty cord limits the VR experience by tying the user to a server and restricting the freedom of movement. With the TPCAST wireless solution, Rift users will gain an enhanced experience, as they roam around freely and play games, while preserving the same high quality as a standard wired connection.

Pimax is a little-known company based of Shangai and Silicon valley, but it's looking to disrupt the VR HMD Market with its Pimax 8K headset. Let's get this straight right off the bat - we aren't in the presence of a real 8K panel on the Pimax. Instead, each eye is offered a low-persistence, 4K panel angled at 45º - which is more than enough, by anecdotal, subjective evidence, to rid this headset from the dreaded "screen door" effect. Due to the panels' resolution and their angling, Pimax is promising a 200º FOV, which apparently makes it so that your peripheral vision now fully works as if your were headset-less - and is around double the FOV of other headsets such as the Oculus Rift and HTC Vive.

There will be three different models in the next generation of Pimax HMDs (the company has already delivered a product in the form of the Pimax 4K HMD, and sold 30,000 units of that headset, if you're wondering). The Pimax 5K, Pimax 8K, and the Pimax 8K X have all the same features and functionality save for their display and input resolutions. The Pimax 5K has a pair of 2560x1440 panels, and comes cheapest $399 - it's comparable to the Oculus Rift at that price-point. The Pimax 8K has the full-resolution 3840x2160 per-eye displays running at the full 90 Hz refresh rate, but it relies on pixel-doubling to make driving the system easier. Finally, the Pimax 8K X is fundamentally the same headset as the 8K, and its $699 Kickstater price offers (or offered) improved signal processing hardware to allow it to take a full-resolution dual-4K input signal.

Developed by Archiact in Vancouver BC, Evasion is an intense VR Bullet Hell game, designed to immerse players in high intensity co-op multiplayer combat. Gamers will experience the next generation in VR locomotion, designed from the ground up for an authentic FPS action game. Featuring multiple hero classes suitable for all play styles, gamers can join up to three friends or go it alone in an extinction-level battle for survival.

Explosive VR Combat
Evasion will deliver cinematic destructible environments and intense bullet hell action. Players will team up and fight their way through laser-fueled maelstroms and overwhelming odds. Their 'Swarm A.I' enemy behaviour system adds a new level of tension, making tactical movement and teamwork critical to your squad's survival. Experience the charge of heroism as you and your team run and gun to complete vital objectives, rescue one another and overcome explosive ambushes.

Thermaltake has expanded the Toughpower iRGB PLUS family with Toughpower iRGB PLUS Platinum Series Power Supply Unit- TT Premium Edition, which includes three models with capacities ranging from 850W to 1200W. In addition to the great build quality, the Platinum-certified series packs the patented ultra-silent, 16.8 million-color Riing 14 RGB fan and 12 controllable single LEDs with seven lighting modes (Full lighted, Flow, RGB Spectrum, Ripple, Blink, Pulse and Wave), plus the support for three of Thermaltake's intelligent platforms - New DPS G PC APP 3.0, DPS G Smart Power Management (SPM) Cloud 1.0, and DPS G Mobile APP 1.0 - to help users monitor smart power supply units, save energy and stay green.

The fully modular members offer excellent ripple suppression and steady voltage output, thanks to the new circuit design with PFC & LLC digital controllers; the application of Smart Zero Fan and 100% high quality Japanese brand capacitors has given the new series amazing reliability, stability and very silent operation. The 850/1050W unit even features a compact depth of 160 mm to allow users for high compatibility with more room for cable routing, cooling and more. Backed up by a hefty 10-year warranty, the Toughpower iRGB PLUS Platinum Series Power Supply Unit permits a captivating way to make users systems match their intended color scheme and gives best-in-class, mute operation for all kinds of chassis.

In addition to slashing the price of Oculus Rift HMD Set down to USD $399, Oculus VR announced a new standalone VR headset for the masses, the Oculus Go, which at USD $199, is significantly cheaper than the Oculus Rift, while not being that much costlier than the $129 Samsung Gear VR. Oculus Go lacks the fully-tracked motion sensors or inside-out tracking of the Oculus Rift, which helps keep its price down. It retains the essentials, including a 2560 x 1440 pixels display resolution, new lenses, and 3D spatial audio built into the headset. Oculus VR plans to put Go in the hands of developers by November 2017, with mass-production expected to begin shortly after, and retail availability some time in 2018.

Oculus VR announced that its pioneering Oculus Rift VR HMD has finally emerged from its early-adopter pricing, and will be sold at USD $399 a piece, going forward. The company had been facing increased competition in HMDs from the likes of the HTC Vive, and tech majors Microsoft announcing their VR/AR standards. Each $399 Rift bundle comes with Touch controllers, sensors, and six free apps that give you hours of entertainment including Epic's arcade shooter, Robo Recall, and our creative tools, Medium and Quill. Oculus VR, throughout its press-release, emphasized that the $399 price isn't a limited-period offer, and that the pricing is "permanent."

MSI has recently added a new member to their Vortex family of gaming solutions with the minuscule Vortex G25. Unlike its predecessor, the Vortex G65, the G25 has abandoned the cylinder shape in favor of a sleek console design. The specifications are nothing short of impressive for a system crammed into a 2.5-liter enclosure weighing in at just 2.5 kilograms. Based on Intel's latest Z370 platform, the Vortex G25 is powered by a 8th Generation Core i7-8700 processor with six cores, 12 threads, and a boost clock up to 4.3 GHz. MSI's Cooler Boost Titan solution, consisting of eight heatpipes and dual Whirlwind Blade fans, provides adequate cooling for the Coffee Lake processor and Pascal graphics card.

According to the manufacturer, the Vortex G25 was designed with focus on expandability. It's equipped with four DDR4 SO-DIMM slots to house DDR4 2400 MHz modules and support up to 64 GB of memory. In terms of storage, two PCIe 3.0 M.2 slots are available for creating high-speed RAID arrays with NVMe drives. Another 2.5" slot is present to provide additional storage if need be. Performing upgrades to the Vortex G25 is a walk in the park thanks to a rapid disassembly design that employs slotted screws.

Lenovo's take on the Windows Mixed Reality platform, which we covered a few days ago as featuring Steam VR support and a still-in-its-infancy Halo VR experience, has just been named. The Explorer MR will set you back $349 for just the headset, or $449 for the headset plus a pair of 6-DoF (Degrees of Freedom) controllers.

Lenovo didn't say how much the Explorer HMD weighs, but the usual "comfortable and lightweight," and "finely tuned for perfect balance" have been mentioned. A flip-flop visor allows you to quickly remove the dual 1440x1440 displays from your face, should you need an emergency look at the real world around you. The Lenovo Explorer features inside-out spatial tracking, just like the other Windows MR devices, with two front-mounted cameras handling environment tracking. Trackable space on the Explorer should be around 3.5 x 3.5 meters, likely constrained by the fact that the HMD is tethered via USB and HDMI (tethering that is par-of-the-course for this VR generation.) Specs still haven't been finalized, but pricing is, so we shouldn't look to any substantial differences between the announced and final specifications.

HTC Vive today announced a $200 price reduction for Vive, making the best VR system more accessible to the mass market, across the globe. Starting today, Vive will be available for $599. All Vive purchases come with a free trial to Viveport Subscription, where consumers can choose up to 5 titles per month to experience, and copies of many of the most popular pieces of VR content today, including Google's Tilt Brush, Everest VR, and Richie's Plank Experience.

"Our goal at Vive has always been to offer the best and most advanced VR system and drive mass market adoption for VR across the globe," said Cher Wang, Chairwoman, HTC. "We're continuing to deliver on that commitment with this new price for Vive, making VR more accessible to a broader audience and driving the entire VR industry forward. Vive's game-changing technology, best-in-class content and unmatched global partners are fulfilling the promise of VR like never before. With highly anticipated titles, and the upcoming launch of Vive Tracker, there has never been a better time to embrace Vive, and enjoy the most immersive VR experience available."

GIGABYTE today introduced the Aorus AC300W, an ATX mid-tower chassis designed for gaming PC builds, which lets you take advantage of the VR-Link feature of some of the recent Aorus-branded graphics cards. The case features a front-panel HDMI 2.0 port, which internally plugs into the VR-Link HDMI port of your Aorus graphics card. The front-panel also features a type-C USB 3.1 port, and two other USB 3.1 type-A ports; besides HDA front-panel audio jacks. The AC300W is made mostly of steel and ABS plastic, with a brushed aluminium-finish front panel, and an acrylic side-panel window. It is studded with RGB LEDs along two front-panel design accents, an Aorus logo, and a second Aorus logo on the bottom compartment cover, visible through the window. These LEDs plug in directly to the RGB LED headers of your motherboard, and can be controlled using GIGABYTE RGB Fusion software.

Under the hood, the AC300W has a horizontal dual-compartment layout which is all the rage, these days. The top compartment holds a standard ATX motherboard with add-on cards as long as 400 mm, and CPU coolers as tall as 170 mm. The bottom compartment holds a PSU up to 180 mm in length, and two 3.5-inch/2.5-inch drive bays. Three additional 2.5-inch drives can be mounted behind the motherboard tray. While the case has 7 expansion slot bays, two additional slots are designed such that you can mount your graphics card vertically, using a PCIe riser (not included). You can mount either three 120 mm or two 140 mm fans along the front panel, two 140 mm fans along the top panel, and a 140 mm fan along the rear panel. The front fan mounts include a detachable dust filter. The company didn't mention pricing.

There are two kinds of desktop CPU platforms. The mainstream tier runs from two cores up to eight, and it's great for gaming and general use. Its high-end sibling takes everything up a level with more cores, more memory channels, and more bandwidth for graphics and storage. A considerable upgrade in every regard, this high-end desktop platform appeals to power users, content creators, and prosumers who want to blur the line between desktop and workstation. AMD's Threadripper CPU is the latest addition to the desktop's heavyweight division, and it walks into the ring with an entourage of SocketTR4 motherboards in tow. This guide explains the ASUS and ROG family to help you pick the best X399 motherboard for your high-end desktop or gaming PC.

All of our X399 boards share core DNA that includes one-touch overclocking, refined cooling control, and improved RGB lighting. Yet they each have their own distinct flavor as well. The ROG Zenith Extreme brings Threadripper into the world of premium dream PCs with provisions for custom liquid cooling and 10G networking. With the Strix X399-E Gaming, hardcore gamers can build stylish rigs with power to spare for high-quality streaming. And then there's the Prime X399-A and its well-rounded foundation channeling the professional side of the platform's prodigious power. Which X399 motherboard should you buy for your build? Let's find out.

The first custom AIB partner graphics card that we have a chance to look at is none other than ASUS' ROG Strix. AS usual, everything about this particular offering from ASUS screams customization - from the purpose-built PCB and power delivery, to the oversized, triple-slot cooling design with three fans, and premium backplate design for better heat dissipation; all of these should greatly improve temps over Vega's reference design with better acoustics, at the same time. As with almost all AIB partner offerings, there will be two offerings based on this model, differing only in regards to out-of-box clock speeds.

ASUS' latest DirectCU III cooling system makes an appearance, combining Super Alloy Power II components and their Auto Extreme manufacturing technology. Max contact GPU technology makes its way here, as does FanConnect II, which provides hybrid-controlled fan headers and a comprehensive set of tuning options with GPU Tweak II to optimize system cooling and performance even further. As with most ASUS ROG products nowadays, the ROG Strix Vega 64 graphics card will feature support for ASUS AURA RGB LED. Display outputs include 2x HDMI (for VR systems), 2x DisplayPort and 1x DVI. No pricing was announced at time of writing, though you should count on this offering being near the top pricing bracket between AIB cards.

One of the hottest pieces of tech in the last few years, Oculus' Rift and Touch VR add-on, have entered a sale of sorts, which bring the pricing on these pieces of kit down to more humane, tenable values. If you are living over in the Great Britain side of the pond, you can grab your Rift+ Oculus Touch VR kit for a reasonable (for the tech) £399, for a limited time only. Scan.uk has you covered. On the other side of the pond (that means you, US), you can grab the same kit for an even more reasonable $399 (Newegg pricing at time of writing.)

These deals are being touted as limited to supply, and of a short duration. So if you think the hardware is at a point you're comfortable with, and that the platform and software ecosystem have matured enough for you to take the plunge, now might be the best time in a while to do so.

GIGABYTE, which had two variants of its flagship GeForce GTX 1080 Ti graphics card, the air-cooled Aorus GTX 1080 Ti Xtreme Edition, and the WaterForce WB Xtreme Edition, that comes with a factory-fitted full-coverage water-block; introduced a third variant, the WaterForce Xtreme Edition. Unlike the WaterForce WB Xtreme Edition, which you plumb to your own water-cooling loop, this card comes with a self-contained AIO liquid-cooling loop. The cooling solution consists of an pump-block base which makes contact with the GPU and a base-plate that draws heat from the VRM and memory; and a 120 mm radiator with an included 120 mm fan. The cooler-shroud features some groovy acrylic windows, and RGB LED lighting controlled by GIGABYTE RGB Fusion software.

The card is based on the same exact PCB as its two other siblings, with the same clock speeds of 1607 MHz core, 1721 MHz GPU Boost, and 11.2 GHz (GDDR5X-effective) memory out of the box, against NVIDIA-reference clocks of 1480 MHz core, 1582 MHz GPU Boost, and 11.00 GHz memory. The software-enabled "OC mode" runs the card at 1632 MHz core, 1746 MHz GPU Boost, and 11.44 GHz memory. The card draws power from a pair of 8-pin PCIe power connectors. Display outputs include three DisplayPort 1.4, three HDMI ports (two on the rear panel, one internal HDMI port for VR headsets); and a dual-link DVI connector. The company didn't reveal pricing.

Even though current VR controllers already do a competent job of tracking our movements in the 3D world, there is always room to improve (and VR has much, much room to improve.) AS such, valve is looking to improve the way we can interact with the VR worlds we are offered. And one of those ways is by improving gesture and hand recognition in these worlds. If ever something seemed to be designed to allow you to taunt your opponent, Valve's "Knuckles" controller is it.

Through the use of a new "CapSense" tech, which basically adds capacitive fields to the grip of the wand controller, games will be able to know whether you're fully gripping the controller or not. These sensors, which for now need to be calibrated on a per-user basis, can "detect the state of the user's hands", meaning, they're able to track the degree to which your fingers are curled or sticking out. Valve has used a technologically impressive solution for those cases where you might drop your controller for eagerness of showing your fingers to your enemies: an adjustable strap on both controllers that tightens around your hands. Valve has started to ship the Knuckles controllers out to developers, but there's no word yet on when consumer versions of the device might be available.After the break: bonus taunts.

IN a bid to increase attractiveness in the VR ecosystem (particularly its own VR ecosystem), HTC is seemingly working on expanding its VR headset lineup beyond just the Vive headset, with other options spaced out at different price points. Lower price points are all but guaranteed, since HTC sees - and expects to continue seeing - the Vive as the top of the line VR headset in the market. Marc Metis, Global Head of Vive X at HTC Vive, told TechRadar that the company will "(...) also always try to address other market segments as well [beyond the high end] (...) Expect new offerings from us over time. We're an entrepreneurial company. Don't view us as static. We'll only enter a segment when we can offer the most immersive and considered experience. "

Mr. Metis also said that there are always innovations being applied to the current Vive inside their labs, as they try to keep up with technological advancement for what their Vive successor might be, saying that HTC will " (...) continue to evolve the current Vive with innovations." Certainly an improved Vive VR headset is great news, as technology progresses and matures, allowing for higher specs in the same power envelope. However, better than improving image resolution further, perhaps the focus should be on usability and the untethering of the VR experience, which seems to be one of the more immersion breaking faults in current-gen VR. The addition of different products at different price-points is also a result of technological development and manufacturing improvements. Perhaps before seeing new, lower performing products hitting the market, we'll see a new Vive 2 headset, displacing the current Vive to a lower price-point. That certainly would make more sense (in theory) than developing a whole new VR headset.