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Could there be a boom in VR Arcades?

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Taiwanese electronics manufacturer, HTC, push the concept of VR arcades with new ‘Vive’ software

Viveport Arcade offers arcade operators curated software with a pay-per-use license

One of the biggest issues with high-end virtual reality experiences right now is that they often require people invest thousands of pounds in powerful computers in order to work. One solution to this is the VR arcade, where operators buy machines and then rent time on them to the public.

HTC recently announced a new software platform that aims to help with the creation of such arcades. ‘Viveport Arcade’ is designed to help arcade operators find games that are well-suited to the sort of public experience that they’re building, while also helping developers better monetise their creations. It’s built for the Taiwanese hardware maker’s Vive headset, one of the leading offerings in the realm of high-end virtual reality headgear.

It’s a move by the company to try and democratise access to virtual reality, while also getting a cut of the burgeoning VR arcade business. Rikard Steiber, senior vice president of Virtual Reality at HTC, said that these arcades are a big hit in China.

“We see this moving very strongly in China, where there are basically thousands of these arcade operators opening up,” he said in an interview. “It’s everything from the traditional internet cafes, to the arcades that are linked to cinemas, to basically independent operators and shopping malls opening them up as well.”

Viveport Arcade can help drive that business in a couple of ways: first, operators get curated, frequently refreshed software that’s licensed for use in an arcade. Developers then have an opportunity to sell their software to those businesses and make money on its ongoing use.

Arcade operators pre-buy time through Viveport Arcade that they can then use to let users run VR experiences. When the credits are expended, HTC splits the proceeds evenly with the Vive developer whose software is used.

In the future, HTC may also work with developers on creating titles that can only be used in arcades because they require special hardware or a particular physical setup.

To inspire the creation of VR arcades, HTC also recently launched a VR theme park called Viveland in Taipei. It’s meant to serve as an example of what VR arcades could be, to inspire other people to operate their own and spread virtual reality.

Viveport Arcade is launching first in China and Taiwan. HTC says that it will then roll out to “thousands of locations” worldwide by the end of next year.

 

If you found this article interesting, check out our ‘Latest Industry News’ page for more Technology insights. You can view it by clicking on this link!

 

– Blair Hanley Frank

Could Virtual Reality be the future of Recruitment?

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The recruitment process may take place in the Virtual World in the near future: Lloyds trials virtual tests for candidates

Lloyds Banking Group is launching a scheme that uses VR headsets to put job applicants to the test in virtual situations during the recruitment process.

Beyond gaming, there are a myriad ways companies are attempting to embrace virtual reality. The latest is in recruitment.

Lloyds Banking Group is launching a scheme that uses VR headsets to put job applicants to the test in virtual situations. No longer will the applicants have to describe how they would handle a certain situation, they will soon be asked to prove it but taking on a range of problem-solving tasks in virtual worlds.

The technology will be first used in Lloyds’ graduate recruitment drive this autumn as part of its 2017 Digital and IT Graduate Schemes.

By using the VR headsets, the assessor will be able to give candidates a range of situations and tasks and monitor their progress. They will be looking at how the candidates approach the tasks, how they solve them and if they encounter any problems.

Lloyds said this would give the company a chance to assess candidates in ways “that would otherwise be unfeasible in the conventional assessment process”.

A spokesperson added: “This demonstrates our commitment to future talent and in hiring the digital leaders of the future.”

During the VR interview, the candidate will have complete freedom of movement within a 360-degree virtual world and will be able to move virtual objects using tracked motion controls.

If you enjoyed this article, check out more Information Technology Industry insights by clicking here!

5 Fantastic Ways of Using JavaScript

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JavaScript is becoming increasingly used with the progression of modern technology!

If you were a writing code for the web over 10 years ago, it would have been hard to imagine that JavaScript (JS) would ever be used outside of the browser. The journey started when Node.js was first released in 2009, allowing JavaScript to be run on the server-side. Intentionally or not, Node.js opened up JavaScript to all new purposes, such as building robots, controlling drones, and even writing native mobile apps.

Learn about five surprising and creative ways that software developers are using JavaScript to think outside the box.

 

  1. JavaScript and robots 

Recently, more and more developers have been playing around with hardware, using parts such as Arduino boards to build custom robots. Turns out there are groups within the JavaScript community that are really interested in robotics, and they put in a lot of effort into building custom robots with the programming language. One such community is Nodebots. They hold meetups all over the world, where developers can get together, learn more, and hack on robots using JavaScript.

 

  1. Flying drones 

If building robots from scratch isn’t your thing but you’re still interested in controlling stuff in the real world using JavaScript, then why not explore the booming world of Drone Flying? If you’re interested in making your own drone take off using JavaScript, you should know that it doesn’t take much effort. Download the ar-drone NPM package, type a few lines of code, and your drone will be flying in no time!

 

  1. Virtual Reality 

Another technology gaining traction is virtual reality (VR) headsets such as the Oculus Rift, Samsung Gear and Google Cardboard. And while writing 3D maps for VR headsets sounds really hard, it doesn’t have to be. There is an open source framework called A-Frame that allows developers to write VR experiences using JavaScript and HTML.  Imagine creating 3D scenes using HTML markup that works across desktop, mobile devices and VR headsets.

 

  1. Native Mobile Apps 

There’s nothing new about writing mobile apps within webviews, but let’s face it, it’s not really native. That’s why projects such as NativeScript and React Native were created. Developers who are already familiar with JS can now write actual native mobile applications for iOS, Android and Windows Phones. This allows apps written in JavaScript to stay blazing fast and able to access all of the native APIs.

If you’ve been considering writing native mobile apps but have been weary of learning a new programming language, fear no more! JS is here to save the day once again.

 

  1. Operating systems 

NodeOS is an operating system written entirely in Javascript (JS). Yes, you read that correctly; somebody wrote an entire operating system using JS. Now, if that hasn’t blown your mind, wait until you find out that the only way to install packages into this operating system is through NPM. The project’s aim is to run on real hardware such as desktops and laptops, as well as cloud providers like Amazon Web Services. What started out as a fun proof-of-concept project has grown into something real.

 

While these five uses  might seem difficult at first, one of the amazing things about JS is that it is still a beginner-friendly language, with an active and helpful community. This is readily apparent on JavaScript.com, a free resource that helps both beginners learn JS and keeps advanced developers up to date with the latest news in the community.

Do you have knowledge in working with Javascript? Check out our latest Software Development Role by following this link. It might be right up your alley!

 

– Sergio Cruz 

New Gadget will allow you to touch the world of VR

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First you were able to see the world of VR, then you were able to walk in it, next you’ll be able to touch it!

As much as we enjoy virtual reality these days, there’s still the occasional urge to fiddle with virtual objects using just our hands. If all goes well, the upcoming Manus VR glove will be the first to unwrap our hands from controllers, but it’ll only provide tactile feedback, meaning you still won’t be able to feel the shape nor physical properties of virtual objects. This is where Dexmo comes in: This mechanical exoskeleton glove tracks 11 degrees of freedom of motion and offers variable force feedback for each finger. To put it simply, you’ll be able to realistically squeeze a rubber duck in the VR world. Better yet, this seemingly clunky glove claim to be lightweight and also runs wirelessly “for a relatively long time.”

Dexta Robotics, the Chinese startup behind Dexmo, has spent the last two years coming up with over 20 prototypes before getting to the current version. Unfortunately, it’ll be a while before we can get our hands on this device. CEO Aler Gu told Engadget that he’s only made a batch of Dexmo and is currently seeking keen software developers plus VR/MR (mixed reality) market leaders who can take full advantage of his gear, before he eventually takes it to market — be it for gaming, education, medical or training.

“Selling Dexmo is different than selling consumer electronics because you can’t use Dexmo right out of the box,” Gu added. “It will take some really amazing content for people to realize how gaming-changing this innovation actually is.”

Little else is known about the Dexmo at the moment — no date nor price just yet. However, with Valve now opening up the HTC Vive’s trackers to third-party peripherals, we can already imagine how much more the VR experience will improve courtesy of these futuristic gloves.

– Richard Lai

Oculus Rift to Launch in UK

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Facebook has finally unveiled the UK launch date and price for its Oculus Rift virtual reality headset

Oculus Rift, the Facebook-owned virtual reality headset for gamers, is finally coming to the UK next month.

After launching in the US in March , Oculus has announced the Rift will go on sale in Europe and Canada on 20 September.

The headset will sell at a recommended retail price of £549 – significantly more than the $599 (£461) it costs in the US.

It is available to pre-order today from a range of retailers, including Amazon.co.uk , John Lewis ,Curry’s PC World , GAME Digital Plc , and the London department store Harrods.

“We’ve seen interest in virtual reality rise dramatically in the last few months, with sales of the Samsung Gear VR, powered by Oculus, headset up 310% in the last six weeks alone,”said Will Jones, Head of Buying for Electricals at John Lewis.

“The Oculus Rift device is a significant progression in virtual reality technology, set to reinvent how we work and play, and we are proud to offer our customers the chance to experience it first.”

The Oculus Rift, which began life as a Kickstarter project in 2012, has been through several pre-production models before being released to the public.

The finished virtual reality headset has an OLED display with a 2,160 x 1,200 resolution and a 110-degree field of view, designed to fully immerse the wearer in whatever they are watching.

It is intended for use with a PC, but the headset requires a lot of processing and graphics power, meaning that not all computers are compatible.

If you want to use it for gaming you’ll need a PC with at least an Nvidia GTX 970 GPU, an Intel i5-4590 processor and 8GB of RAM.

If you want to try Oculus Rift for yourself before buying, there will be demo experiences rolling out across the UK in the coming weeks.

Every Oculus Rift purchased headset ships with a copy of the virtual reality game Lucky’s Tale , along with hundreds of free 3D 360 videos and VR movies.

Users can buy more VR games and films from the Oculus Store, with several new titles being unveiled the Gamescom video game conference in Cologne, Germany, this week – including Dead & Buried , The Unspoken and Ripcoil.

– Sophie Curtis

HTC to launch its own Virtual Reality app store

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HTC is launching Viveport, an alternative to the Steam catalog of Vive virtual reality experiences, worldwide this autumn.

Viveport was announced earlier this year, and it launched in China — where Steam is a much less established platform — in the spring. Now, a global developer beta will launch soon, followed by a full rollout. Developers can register today on the Vive site.

The store is supposed to be a more general-interest alternative than the more gaming-focused Steam, and it will be available across multiple platforms: desktop; a mobile app; and an in-VR catalog connected to Vive Home, a virtual environment created by HTC. “We believe virtual reality is going to change the world,” says HTC Vive senior vice president Rikard Stelber, and Viveport is supposed to make it easier to find certain categories of VR that have broad appeal, like educational experiences, shopping, and creative tools.

Steam already offers a large non-gaming catalog. Besides general-purpose desktop software and traditional films, it offers a diverse range of VR titles, like the Tilt Brush painting program and an Apollo 11 educational experience. At the same time, the platform is overwhelmingly associated with games, and with thousands of VR and non-VR titles, it’s increasingly crowded. “We’re recommending developers to publish on all platforms,” says Stelber, including Steam. “We don’t necessarily want to compete with it, we basically want to add additional categories.” Viveport will offer a new, dedicated space to showcase VR experiences.

It’s less clear why consumers would go to Viveport instead of the extremely popular Steam, which they’ll already have to launch to use the Vive. HTC said in January that Viveport was “more of an option for people who can’t use Steam,” although Stelber says it’s since seen a lot of interest that justifies a larger release. The best argument for Viveport may be that Steam is confusingly overstuffed with products and features already, and a dedicated VR store would make the Vive easier to navigate — which, for a powerful but often difficult platform, is a good thing.

– Adi Robertson

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