oculus

Check out the newest killer app for the Oculus Rift head-mounted display: a guillotine simulator.

Created over the course of two days at Denmark's Exile Game Jam, the Disunion app takes an Oculus Rift wearer to the setting of an 18th century execution, complete with masked executioner and curious crowd. While the player awaits his beheading, he can look around at the stage and blade above him.… Read more

Subscribe to Crave:

iTunes (HD) | iTunes (SD) | iTunes (HQ)

RSS (HD) | RSS (SD) | RSS (HQ)

NASA's Kepler space telescope has discovered new habitable planets, but don't pack up your house just yet. Plus, we take a first look at Fujitsu's FingerLink touch-based projection scanner, and Project Unity lets you play up to 18 classic video consoles in one box. … Read more

Some technologies are ageless. We've been dreaming of virtual-reality worlds for a long time. With gadgets like the Oculus Rift headset, many people are getting their first shot at engaging with a virtual-reality environment. Paul Rivot's grandmother is one of those people.

Rivot posted a video of his grandma trying out the Oculus Rift for the first time using the Tuscany demo. She looks out over the wide landscape and jokes about bringing her swimsuit for a dip in the ocean. "It's so real," she says. "Is it my eyes, or are the leaves blowing in the wind?"… Read more

Valve's Team Fortress 2 will be the first game to work with the Oculus Rift virtual-reality headset.

The game will receive an update over the next few weeks to enable support, dubbed VR Mode, for the Oculus Rift. Users will be able to play in public servers using the headset. The Oculus Rift is only available for the Windows platform, with Mac and Linux support in the pipeline.

The first developer kits for the Oculus Rift -- the product of a very successful Kickstarter campaign -- is expected to ship to backers soon. The $300 headset was initially scheduled to ship by December. … Read more

LAS VEGAS--Not only was this the coolest thing I saw at CES, but it's possibly the coolest thing I've seen ever. As someone who has always been interested in the idea of VR headsets, and always heartbreakingly let down by the reality of VR headsets, I admit I took a rare (for me) CES meeting on a lark. I had heard something about their successful Kickstarter, but honestly, I figured it would just be more of the same.

I was wrong. Not sure I've ever been more wrong. Even in this hand-built prototype stage, the Rift is amazing.… Read more

You'd think this were the turn of the 1990s. The "Total Recall" remake just opened today in theaters, and a virtual-reality headset ended up being up the hottest thing in the gaming world this week.

The Oculus Rift works like a conventional head-mounted display, but packs a few features that make it ideal for gaming. For example, the Rift offers impressive head-tracking capabilities; stereoscopic 3D rendering; a wide field of view (110 degrees -- most headsets only offer around 40 degrees); and several inputs (DVI/HDMI and USB). When wearing the Oculus, each eye gets close and personal with a 640x800 LCD screen for a total resolution of 1,280x800 (720p). … Read more

Though some moviegoers' powerful identification with "Avatar" may have inspired them to ponder the planet and rethink their carbon footprint, they likely missed the irony: millions of nonbiodegradable, plastic 3D glasses were reportedly distributed for the movie.

Luckily, cinemas may be on their way to adopting a more sustainable technology. Cereplast, an L.A.-based maker of bioplastics, has partnered with Oculus3D to create what appear to be the first biodegradable 3D glasses. Unlike current 3D glasses that are made using petroleum-based plastic, these will be manufactured with plastic derived from plant materials.

Cereplast and Oculus3D say they'… Read more