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Can AI make better art than humans? We asked IBM’s Seth Dobrin

Corporates and innovation, Deep tech, Next Featured, Startups and technology / Rejus Almole / March 3, 2023

Story by

Ioanna Lykiardopoulou

Ioanna is a writer at SHIFT. She likes the transition from old to modern, and she’s all about shifting perspectives. Ioanna is a writer at SHIFT. She likes the transition from old to modern, and she’s all about shifting perspectives.

Artificial intelligence has been infiltrating every industry and the world of arts and culture is no exception. In other words, AI art is poised to explode.

AI text-to-image generators such as DALL-E or Midjourney have been creating remarkable visual artworks. ChatGPT has taken the world by the storm with its ability to answer questions, write essays, and summarize texts, among other things. AI-generated art is even being displayed at world-renowned museums.

These examples show just how powerful generative AI can be and bid this pressing question: is AI about to replace human artists?

Seth Dobrin, IBM’s first-ever Global Chief AI Officer, has an answer. We caught up with him at TNW Conference 2022 and talked about the potential of computer-created art.

If you’d like to get his predictions in full, check out the video embedded at the top of this article. Alternatively, you can watch it right here.

AI-generated visual art already exists in various forms. There are examples of artists — such as Refik Anadol — who are the actual creators, but use artificial intelligence to augment their artworks. There are also tools like DALL-E which “are getting there,” although it’s difficult to say whether their works are truly indistinguishable from humans’.

Dobrin has a similar view on news articles, noting that financial news is already being automatically generated to an extent. And while he doesn’t believe that AI-generated text is as engaging as a writer’s would be, he explained that GPT-3 and Large Language Models (LLMs) can generate stories that journalists can use as a starting point.

But when it comes to movies and novels, AI has a longer way to go. That’s because “AI needs to truly learn emotion, really be able to simulate it, and invoke empathy — better than it can today,” Dobrin said. He expects five more years for novel creation, and between five to 10 years for movie production.

But what’s Dobrin’s prediction on classical music? And does he believe that AI will merely augment humans in the creative process — or eventually replace them?

Watch the full interview to find out.

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Bad news, junior developers: You will be judged by your documentation

Future of Work, Insider / Rejus Almole / March 3, 2023

Developers become developers because they like to code. Many have taken up coding as teens after school, or during after-hours after their cubicle job. They realize how much power they can get from their IDE and their command line, and they get addicted to it.

Even when developers land that dream job where they can code all day, many keep their side projects going in the evenings and during after-hours. I personally know developers who keep coding on the train after they leave their office — because what else is one going to do on a train?

Coding is a way of life. It’s as simple as that.

There’s just one little problem: Coding is not the only part of software development.

You’ll also have to work with a team, sit in meetings, write emails, and write documentation for your code.

And in the long run, what will make or break your career won’t be the emails you wrote or the meetings or the contributions you made during meetings. It won’t even be the code you wrote, believe it or not.

The deciding factor between a career that has a lasting impact on your company and one that doesn’t is just one thing: your documentation.

In two years, nobody will understand your source code

Languages and frameworks come and go.

Just a few years ago, Python2 was the status quo of back-end programming and data science. Then Python3 came, and everything that was in Python2 was out of date and didn’t work with any new code.

There always will be some language, some framework, some technology that will do the task at hand better and faster.

Or maybe it’s just trendier.

Either way, many junior developers — and those tend to be the majority of new hires — won’t bother with the old languages any more.

They’ll rewrite your code.

Or forget about it completely.

Your code doesn’t exist in a vacuum

Even if your code is in a fairly popular language, nobody will understand it by reading just that code.

Maybe you’re writing part of the front-end of an application. But without at least some knowledge about what the backend does, nobody will understand the code in-depth.

And, as many devs can testify, in-depth understanding is crucial for maintaining code.

You can’t just add a front-end feature without thinking about back-end support for it. Or add a feature that looks nice in your app but which, at its core, nobody cares about.

Team members come and go — even you

Documentation is the best friend of on-boarding.

Think about it: How many new hires has your team had in the past couple of years?

And how many existing team members have had the time and patience to explain every piece of code to these new hires?

Developers need to ship. Most devs just don’t have the time to invest a couple of months to get a new team member up to speed. Your manager doesn’t care about your mentoring abilities. They want to see results in the form of code.

Documentation is the solution. All that you can explain you can also write down. Once written, it can help one new hire. Or two. Or a hundred.

Documentation scales. And saves time.

Besides, one day you won’t be around to mentor new hires. Maybe you’ll move on to a higher position. Or you’ll change companies. Or you’ll be on sick leave when something happens.

Either way, when you’re not there anymore, your documentation will work for you.

Your documentation is your legacy.

Managers won’t look at your source code anyway

Developers who code for a living won’t understand your code in-depth from reading it. Your manager won’t understand anything at all.

Most managers know this. That’s why they don’t read source code.

It’s not laziness. It’s effectiveness.

Managers need to decide which resources to use on which project, which team member to shift where, and so on. Business decisions.

At the core of it, though, they’re managing the people that make code. They’re managing code at a very high level.

You can’t manage code if you don’t understand anything at all. So managers read the code documentation.

Besides, if you consistently produce great documentation for your code, your manager might notice.

And give you a promotion.

How to make documenting enjoyable

Yeah, all the above reasons are good reasons to write better documentation. But developers don’t want to write like they’re Stephen King. They want to code like they’re Bill Gates.

Documentation is that pain in the rear end that comes when you should feel satisfied because you’ve just written amazing code.

You can make it less painful, though.

Use Continuous Documentation and write up your docs while you’re coding. Use smart tools to write and maintain your documentation.

Only a small proportion of devs are doing this. But that proportion is getting bigger fast.

More and more devs are realizing that they need to upgrade their documentation. It’s a necessary evil.

Continuous Documentation, or the habit of contributing to your documentation whenever you make a change — however small — makes the pill easier to swallow.

Famous last words

The route to making a lasting impact in the world of software is curvy and bent, and you’ll need a share of luck as well.

If it were just about writing amazing code, it would be a straight road.

Documentation makes the road to achieving success harder because it’s a task that many devs don’t enjoy.

Cut it into little pieces, and document every change as soon as you make it.

Your career will thank you.

Bad news, junior developers: You will be judged by your documentation Read More »

Frame Releases Second Set of Platform-Defining Updates

collaboration, featured, metaverse, News, virtual reality, VR platform, webXR / Rejus Almole / March 3, 2023

It’s been over a year since ARPost introduced readers to Frame, the hardware-agnostic web-based virtual meeting platform. The team, a part of Virbela (which has its own app-based virtual world platform), just announced a major update. It was time to step back in with Vice President Gabe Baker.

Gabe Baker in Frame 3.0

A Peek at the Update

Frame’s update was all about adding power to the platform while making it easier to use. The result was added or improved tools with a more streamlined user interface so that more advanced users can access the tools without cluttering the view for everyone else.

New tools include advanced analytics and new APIs for adding members and admins and editing assets. There’s also a new question queue system for support centers, classrooms, and other large-scale discussion cases, and a partner program that rewards users for attracting subscribers to the platform.

Analytics - Frame 3.0

“Fundamentally, we believe that the web browser IS the metaverse and that we’re entering a new era of spatial computing that will result in many traditional websites, apps, and services existing on the spatial web alongside the 2D internet that we’re used to today,” Baker wrote in a blog post announcing the update.

Even if you’re not building and hosting your own frames, there are benefits coming for average users as well. These include new environments, graphics updates like real-time light and shadow, and a still experimental option to use full-body avatars.

Frame Releases Second Set of Platform-Defining Updates

Also announced were coming roadmap updates including increased asset storage and support for multiple web browsers. Some of these will be limited to the paid subscriber tiers, but will all be rolled out “while maintaining a robust free plan.”

Seeing Is Believing

Reading about the updates is one thing, but I jumped into the platform, first solo and then in a live session with Baker to check them out for myself. As a connoisseur of VR avatars, I was pleasantly surprised before even entering a Frame.

I Have Legs and a Jacket. Life Is Good.

The avatars weren’t one of my favorite aspects of the platform last time around, but they’ve come a long way. Even if you don’t opt for the full-body avatars, the “classic” avatars are a lot more expressive and have some layered clothing options that were missing before. You can also use your Ready Player Me avatar, but not in full-body mode.

“[Full-body avatars] are hard to achieve on the web just for performance reasons,” said Baker. “We still have a ways to go on the full-body customizations.”

Full-body avatars - Frame 3.0

I was curious about whether Frame had had some conversations with parent company Virbela, who have had full-body avatars since the beginning. However, it’s not that simple, as Virbela is a native app as opposed to a browser-based platform.

“It’s a bit of a different world because they’re a Unity-based application,” said Baker. “In terms of the back-and-forth, there’s not really much because we use Babylon.js.”

All the Pretty Lights

Frame is also a year behind Virbela in announcing graphics performance updates. Graphics and display are big topics at the company because they are key areas where developers can compromise to achieve performance. That’s a big deal for a platform designed to run on everything from headsets to computers to mobile phones.

“It’s always going to be more important to us that people can get into Frame than that they can have an amazing graphical experience,” said Baker. “People do use Frame to explore digital twins and then they do need that level of graphical fidelity.”

And, that level of graphical fidelity is available to those users. The platform has long had a feature that tones down display quality automatically to the highest level that can be achieved by the user’s hardware while maintaining a stable experience. There is also a system in the works for builders to upload separate versions of their worlds for devices with different abilities.

Performance requirements aside, one of the worlds that we visited was at least as visually impressive as the average VR application – and more impressive than a number of them.

“There are still some visual experiences that you really need to be in a native application for, but the gap is narrowing,” said Baker, who was also the guest on our latest episode of XR Talks. (If you missed it live on Twitter Spaces yesterday, you can listen to it on YouTube here or Spotify here.)

Tools for Builders

Another area where the company tries to achieve compromise is with developer tools. The plan has always been to keep the platform agile and approachable, but it’s quickly growing into a fully-featured world-building tool for developers who need it.

“When we first started Frame, our whole thing was like ‘no nonsense, no download, no code,’ and we still very much believe in that vision,” said Baker. “But now we’re kind of branching out because we do see people that want to do those kinds of things… and if you don’t want to, you don’t have to.”

Worldbuilders have more ability than ever to create and bring in their own assets, as well as enable visitors to do the same. They can also see who created or edited which assets and when through new analytics tools.

Welcome to Frame 3.0

There are a growing number of browser-based immersive spaces. And most of them can be accessed from portals placed within a Frame. That is one of the many reasons that this is one of our favorite platforms in the immersive web. And it just keeps getting better.

Frame Releases Second Set of Platform-Defining Updates Read More »

Meta Plans Pricier Quest 3 With Features to ‘fire up enthusiasts’

Meta, Meta Quest 3, News, oculus quest 3, quest 3, quest 3 features, quest 3 leak, quest 3 roadmap / Rejus Almole / March 2, 2023

Meta’s Quest 3 headset, which the company has confirmed will land this year, is said to be positioned as a slightly pricier headset with features designed to appeal to VR enthusiasts.

For Quest 3, due out sometime later this year, Meta may be focusing more on its existing VR customers rather than trying to reel in brand new users.

According to a report by The Verge, Meta’s VP of VR, Mark Rabki, told thousands of employees that for the company’s next consumer headset, Quest 3, “we have to get enthusiasts fired up about it […] we have to prove to people that all this power, all these new features are worth it.” The Verge cites an internal Meta presentation held today as the source of this information.

Those features, which are largely expected to be a subset of what’s on Quest Pro, would make the headset cost “a bit more,” Rabkin said, than Quest 2 which currently sells for $400.

Leaks have consistently pointed to Quest 3 having pancake lenses, a more compact form-factor, and better augmented reality capabilities. The device is reportedly codenamed ‘Stinson’.

The improved AR capabilities, Rabkin hopes, will make Quest 3 feel easier to use.

“The main north star for the team was from the moment you put on this headset, the mixed reality has to make it feel better, easier, more natural,” he told employees, according to The Verge. “You can walk effortlessly through your house knowing you can see perfectly well. You can put anchors and things on your desktop. You can take your coffee. You can stay in there much longer.”

That would be swell, but Meta hasn’t exactly demonstrated that natural feeling with Quest Pro yet, meaning there is still significant work to do on the user-experience side if Quest 3 will meet those goals.

Something else that would surely ‘fire up enthusiasts’ for Quest 3 would be a dedicated video pipeline for PC VR tethering, rather than using the compressed Oculus Link or Air Link method that’s currently available on Quest 2. However, the company has shown little appetite for appealing to PC VR users as of late.

As for leaning into existing VR customers rather than pulling in new ones, this may be an effort to address Quest’s retention issues; while the headset has certainly sold well, Meta has been disappointed with the rate at which customers continue to use their headset after buying.

With regards to Quest 3 being more expensive than Quest 2, it seems that Meta has learned its lesson; having not established a substantial ads business in VR, heavily subsidizing headsets to get them out the door probably isn’t a good idea. Meta had to very publicly reverse that strategy when it raised the price of Quest 2 last year, by as much as 33% (though this was also related to inflation and broader economic turbulence).

The report from The Verge includes more info about the company’s XR roadmap, which you can read in full here.

Meta Plans Pricier Quest 3 With Features to ‘fire up enthusiasts’ Read More »

Meta Has Sold Nearly 20 Million Quest Headsets, But Retention Struggles Remain

Data, Meta, News, quest 2 sales, quest 2 sales figures, quest 2 unit sales, VR Industry / Rejus Almole / March 2, 2023

Meta has sold nearly 20 million Quest headsets, but the company continues to struggle with keeping customer using VR.

According to a report by The Verge, citing an internal Meta presentation held today, the company has sold nearly 20 million Quest headsets. This likely includes Quest 1, Quest 2, and Quest Pro, though by all accounts Quest 2 appears to be the vast majority. And while the figure wasn’t publicly announced, this would be the first official confirmation of Quest unit sales from the company.

This info was shared by Mark Rabkin, Meta’s VP of VR, during an internal presentation to “thousands” of employees, according to The Verge.

And while the 20 million unit Quest sales figure is impressive—and well beyond any other single VR headset maker—Rabkin went on to stress that the company has to do a better job at keeping customers using the headsets well after their purchase.

“We need to be better at growth and retention and resurrection,” he said. “We need to be better at social and actually make those things more reliable, more intuitive so people can count on it.”

Curiously, Meta’s latest wave of headset customers are less enthusiastic than those that bought in early.

“Right now, we’re on our third year of Quest 2,” Rabkin said, according to The Verge. “And sadly, the newer cohorts that are coming in—the people who bought it this last Christmas—they’re just not as into it [or engaged as] the ones who bought it early.”

The report from The Verge includes more info about the company’s XR roadmap, which you can read in full here.

Meta Has Sold Nearly 20 Million Quest Headsets, But Retention Struggles Remain Read More »

Pimax Secures $30M Series C1 Funding to Expand & Support Rollout of Crystal & Portal VR Headsets

Investment, News, Pimax, pimax crystal, pimax investment, pimax portal, pimax series c, pimax vr, VR Investment / Rejus Almole / March 2, 2023

Pimax, the China-based creator known for its wide field of view (FOV) VR headsets, announced it’s secured a $30 million series C1 financing round, something the company says will aid in the rollout of its new portfolio of VR devices.

The series C1 was led by Beijing-based investment firm Tuanmu Capital. This follows the company’s $20 million series B in 2020, bringing the company’s lifetime outside investment to over $69 million.

In a press statement, the company says the funds will be used to accelerate growth of its coming line of VR headsets, Pimax Crystal and Pimax Portal, enhance its position as both a consumer and enterprise-focused company, and increase investment in R&D.

Founded in 2015, Pimax is best known for its first Pimax “8K” headset Kickstarted in 2017, a consumer PC VR headset that included dual 4K panels providing an estimated 200-degree FOV, by far one of the largest in the industry at the time. Even today, many consumer headsets, such as Meta Quest 2 and HTC Vive XR Elite, feature FOVs around 110 degrees.

The company has since gone on to offer multiple iterations of its wide FOV headset, but also is set to launch both its VR standalone Pimax Crystal and hybrid Portal device, the latter of which can convert between a Nintendo Switch-style gaming handheld and a VR headset.

Both Pimax Crystal and Pimax Portal are expected to release at some point in “early 2023”, with Crystal available for pre-order on the company’s website and Portal still in the fulfillment stage from its successful 2022 Kickstarter, which garnered just over $350,000 from backers.

“Of course, we’re delighted with this new round of funding, as it allows us to boost our production capacity to meet the rapidly growing demand for our new VR products, as well as to improve both our hardware and software further,” said Pimax Founder Robin Weng. “We’ve been innovating VR technology and we will keep on doing that in the future, always pushing the limits of what is possible through technology.”

The Shanghai-based company now boasts over 300 employees in offices spread across offices in San Jose, Stockholm, Hong Kong, Shanghai, Hangzhou, Qingdao, and Chengdu.

Pimax Secures $30M Series C1 Funding to Expand & Support Rollout of Crystal & Portal VR Headsets Read More »

Mental Health and VR: The Role of Emerging Technologies in Transforming Mental Health Care

featured, Healthcare/Medicine, Mental Health, virtual reality / Rejus Almole / March 2, 2023

With one out of eight people in the world living with a mental disorder, mental health has become a critical concern of global importance. However, many people are still not receiving the care they need and deserve. Fortunately, emerging technologies are becoming more affordable and accessible, offering new possibilities to transform mental health care. One such solution is mental health services in VR.

To explore the key role emerging technologies play in revolutionizing the field of mental health, we delve into the current challenges the industry faces and how new technologies can potentially address them. Terrance Williams, the founder of Meta Wellness, shares his insights on how digital and immersive technologies can augment the delivery of mental health care services.

Major Gaps in Mental Health Systems

Mental health systems worldwide are marked by significant gaps in information and research, governance, resources, and services. For instance, around half of the world’s population live in countries where the ratio of psychiatrists to people is 1 for every 200,000. In the United States alone, almost one out of four adults with mental illness reported that they were not able to receive the treatment they needed.

Virtual reality offers an accessible and affordable way to provide high-quality and timely mental health care.

The Role of VR in Mental Health Care

VR and similar technologies have the potential to provide more immersive and engaging interventions that can significantly enhance the quality and accessibility of mental health care. Terrance Williams believes that VR is the next stage toward the future of mental health. He explains that instead of telehealth services relying on zoom or a computer to host their sessions, they can now do their sessions in VR in the metaverse.

According to Williams, the effectiveness of VR has been seen in a number of ways including the treatment of acrophobia, panic disorders, schizophrenia, agoraphobia, social phobia, claustrophobia, and eating disorders.

VR simulations have also shown great promise as an effective element in therapy sessions for PTSD as they allow a person to face their trauma in a relaxed and controlled setting. Indeed, the possibilities are endless. Even in the realm of rehabilitation, VR has been seen as useful in cognitive rehabilitation in adults and children with autism spectrum disorder.

Challenges in VR Mental Health

The development and use of VR in mental health care must be carefully monitored and regulated to ensure that it benefits patients and does not create new risks or challenges. Asked about the challenges that mental health professionals face when incorporating VR into their practices, Williams says that one of the biggest things he often gets asked about is HIPAA compliance. Although he explains that this does not pose a threat as long as certain measures are in place and certain steps are taken to maintain compliance.

Another issue often raised when it comes to mental health in VR is the accessibility of equipment. Headset devices are needed to conduct sessions in VR. Since the technology is still fairly new, VR headsets are not as common as phones, tablets, or laptops. While they can now be easily bought at electronic stores, they are not yet standard items in the common household. This limits access to mental health VR services, especially in low-income families.

Incorporating VR Into Mental Health Care

For mental health professionals looking to incorporate VR into their practices, it is important to start with learning the basics of virtual reality technology and how it can be used for mental health purposes. Collaborating with companies that specialize in building VR platforms for mental health professionals, like Meta Wellness, can also help navigate the technology.

Through Meta Wellness, Williams has been helping mental health professionals, therapists, life coaches, nonprofits, and many others in the virtual reality space. The company specializes in building VR platforms for mental health professionals for telehealth purposes. Clients anywhere in the world can buy or rent virtual reality spaces to host telehealth or private group sessions. As one of the pioneers in the space, they are committed to educating, growing, and exploring the possibilities of what virtual reality can bring.

Stronger Mental Health Care With Mental Health VR

Williams believes that in the future, 90% of all mental health telehealth sessions will eventually take place in the metaverse through virtual reality. He believes that mental health VR is the next phase in this sector. As the technology grows, so will the capabilities and accessibility.

Indeed, virtual reality and other immersive technologies can play a key role in addressing the indisputable and urgent need for wide-ranging transformation toward mental health for all. They can bridge the vast gap and reduce inequities in mental health systems.

Mental Health and VR: The Role of Emerging Technologies in Transforming Mental Health Care Read More »

Hit Battle Royale ‘POPULATION: ONE’ is Going Free-to-Play on Quest in March

battle royale, big box, bigbox, bigbox vr, News, pop1, population 1, population: one, vr battle royale, VR Game, vr shooter / Rejus Almole / March 1, 2023

POPULATION: ONE, the hit battle royale shooter from BigBox VR, is going free-to-play next month on the Quest platform.

Initially released in late 2020, Population: One has essentially become VR’s de facto battle royale, bringing large-scale cross-platform battles to Quest and SteamVR headsets.

Now Meta-owned studio BigBox VR says it’s going free-to-play on Quest 2 and Quest Pro starting on March 9th, which will also include a host of new goodies to previous owners of the game, coming in addition to an update which will include new content.

Notably, it’s not going free-to-play on PC VR platforms; both the Oculus Rift and Steam version of the game will be priced at $20 starting March 9th, which is a $10 discount from the original price.

Those PC versions will include 1,200 ($20) worth of the in-game currency Bureau Gold (BG), something the studio says is being done to prevent potential cheaters from easily making a new account on Steam/Rift platforms.

All owners of the game before the March 9th at 10AM PT free-to-play update will get a bundle, called the ‘Original Banana Bundle Rewards’, which the studio estimates at an $80 value. This includes:

Legendary “PJ Potassium” Character Skin
Legendary “Prestige” Character Skins (4)
Rare “Prestige” Full Gun Set (14)
Exclusive Title: “Original Banana”
Exclusive Calling Card: “Celebration”
Exclusive Spray: “I Was Here”
1,000 Bureau Gold
Full Access to the Level Progression Track

There’s also a host of new content coming to the game to kick off the free-to-play update on March 9th, including a new single player mode with dynamic bots and in-game rewards, new player lobbies, a larger sandbox limit of 12 and 24 players, and an all-new shop featuring over 100 new character and weapon skin. You can check out the full changelog in the Meta blogpost.

As for the upcoming roadmap, BigBox VR says both a Sandbox Battle Royale Mode and Sandbox Battle Royale Playlist are slated to arrive on March 30th. The studio says we should also expect new weapons, updates on the Evolving Map, Sandbox features & modes, and matchmaking improvements in the near future.

Hit Battle Royale ‘POPULATION: ONE’ is Going Free-to-Play on Quest in March Read More »

Free-to-Play 1v1 Dueling Game ‘Divine Duel’ Launches on Quest Next Month, Trailer Here

divine duel, divine duel game, dueling game, fighting game, immersion games, News, VR Game / Rejus Almole / March 1, 2023

Divine Duel is an upcoming free-to-play fighting game that pits you against celestial foes in 1v1 combat, and it’s coming first to Quest next month.

In Divine Duel you choose from four Celestials, each of which has their own unique powers. The studio says initially there will be over 40 weapons, spells, and creatures to summon—which yes, also includes dragons.

From the looks of it, players select a loadout of spells and weapons before each match, and select them in a sort of tactical turn-based combat during the fight, not unlike the now free-to-play dueling game Blaston.

The full-bodied, room-scale fighting game is similarly a real-time affair, so you’ll need to physically dodge and attack. Developer Immersion Games says it’s offering up multiple game modes at launch too, including classical duels and what the studio calls “card-games-inspired” battle.

Here’s a quick rundown of each Celestial and their two specials:

Arvald, the Solid: Frozen Comet, Frost Wyrm
Vaya, the Bioalchemist: Biostasis, Forest Spirits
Necra, the Underqueen: Ethernal Guardians, Ushabti
Ishi, The War Forger: Megaballista, Telekinesis

The team hasn’t revealed what extras it will be offering in order to monetize the game, although if it’s like any of the leading free-to-play dueling game, Blaston, we’re hoping to see a cosmetics-only approach.

The free-to-play game is set to launch on Quest and Quest 2 via App Lab on March 1st, and PC VR headsets via Steam in the coming weeks, developer Immersion Games revealed.

Free-to-Play 1v1 Dueling Game ‘Divine Duel’ Launches on Quest Next Month, Trailer Here Read More »

Unique Platform Puzzle ‘HUMANITY’ Coming to PSVR 2 & PC VR in May, Free Demo Now Live

enhance, humanity, humanity vr, News, psvr, psvr 2, SteamVR, tha ltd, VR Game / Rejus Almole / March 1, 2023

When we first caught glimpse of HUMANITY, it was clear it was going to be a unique experience, although the crowd simulation puzzler was long delayed past the original 2020 launch window. Now Tokyo-based design studio Tha LTD announced HUMANITY is officially coming in May.

It was pretty vague what the hell HUMANITY was all about when it was first announced in 2019, however now the studio reveals its upcoming game is a “unique blend of puzzle-solving and action-platforming,” giving you control over an ethereal Shiba Inu dog who commands a massive crowd.

Like Lemmings, you control the crowd as they jump, turn, push, float, shoot, and climb their way to the end goal. Move past obstacles, enemies, puzzles, and gain unlockable skills in the main game, and upload and try out user-built levels with the in-game Stage Creator.

To create its stark and unique environments, developer Tha LTD is working with creative studio Enhance—founded by Tetsuya Mizuguchi, known as the mind behind Rez and Tetris Effect: Connected—and director and visual designer Yugo Nakamura.

Tha game is considered a VR-optional experience, offering up a fairly straightforward implementation that lets you turn the game’s puzzle-filled levels around and control your Shiba Inu buddy and direct the human horde. While nothing ground-breaking, it’s nice to see VR support from the get-go.

The game is slated to release on PSVR, PSVR 2, and SteamVR headsets sometime in May. What’s more, you can now play a free demo on those platforms from now until March 6th. The demo contains 10 levels, while the full game has “90 plus”, the studio says.

In the meantime, check out the demo gameplay video overview below to learn more:

Unique Platform Puzzle ‘HUMANITY’ Coming to PSVR 2 & PC VR in May, Free Demo Now Live Read More »

‘Synapse’ is a Telekenetic Shooter Using PSVR 2 Eye-tracking, Coming in 2023

fracked, ndreams, News, psvr 2, psvr 2 games, synapse, synapse vr, VR Game / Rejus Almole / February 28, 2023

nDreams, the studio behind Fracked (2021) and Phantom: Covert Ops (2020), announced Synapse, an upcoming action shooter exclusive to PSVR 2 that looks to evolve Fracked’s run-and-cover gameplay whilst making good use of the headset’s eye-tracking capabilities.

There’s still a lot to learn about Synapse, although nDreams says in its PS blogpost announcement that Fracked made a “perfect foundation to build upon with Synapse,” as the upcoming shooter looks to evolves the former’s core gameplay.

As a PSVR 2 exclusive, Synapse however is also slated to use Sense controllers in concert with the headset’s eye-tracking capabilities, something the studio head James Shepard says provides “enhanced aiming which equips players with pinpoint precision when targeting their telekinesis and combines with motion controls to make wielding telekinetic powers a full-body experience.”

In the teaser trailer we get a good look at a few mechanics too; you’ll be able to launch, levitate, and smash enemies through destructible environments.

The fast-paced run and gun style gameplay along with telekinetically moveable cover also shows just how related nDream’s upcoming shooter is to Fracked.

There’s no launch date yet, however nDreams says it’s coming exclusively to PSVR 2 later this year. In the meantime, you can wishlist the game here.

‘Synapse’ is a Telekenetic Shooter Using PSVR 2 Eye-tracking, Coming in 2023 Read More »

Xiaomi Unveils Wireless AR Glasses Prototype, Powered by Same Chipset as Meta Quest Pro

AR development, AR glasses, AR Headset, AR News, mobile world congress 2023, mwc 2023, News, qualcomm ar glasses, Xiaomi, xiaomi ar glasses / Rejus Almole / February 28, 2023

Chinese tech giant Xiaomi today showed off a prototype AR headset at Mobile World Congress (MWC) that wirelessly connects to the user’s smartphone, making for what the company calls its “first wireless AR glasses to utilize distributed computing.”

Called Xiaomi Wireless AR Glass Discovery Edition, the device is built upon the same Qualcomm Snapdragon XR2 Gen 1 chipset as Meta’s recently released Quest Pro VR standalone.

While specs are still thin on the ground, the company did offer some info on headline features. For now, Xiaomi is couching it as a “concept technology achievement,” so it may be a while until we see a full spec sheet.

Packing two microOLED displays, the company is boasting “retina-level” resolution, saying its AR glasses pack in 58 pixels per degree (PPD). For reference, Meta Quest Pro has a PPD of 22, while enterprise headset Varjo XR-3 cites a PPD of 70.

The company hasn’t announced the headset’s field of view (FOV), however it says its free-form light-guiding prisms “minimizes light loss and produces clear and bright images with a to-eye brightness of up to 1200nit.”

Electrochromic lenses are also said to adapt the final image to different lighting conditions, even including a full ‘blackout mode’ that ostensibly allows it to work as a VR headset as well.

As for input, Xiaomi Wireless AR Glass includes onboard hand-tracking in addition to smartphone-based touch controls. Xiaomi says its optical hand-tracking is designed to let users to do things like select and open apps, swipe through pages, and exit apps.

As a prototype, there’s no pricing or availability on the table, however Xiaomi says the lightweight glasses (at 126g) will be available in a titanium-colored design with support for three sizes of nosepieces. An attachable glasses clip will also be available for near-sighted users.

In an exclusive hands-on, XDA Developers surmised it felt near production-ready, however one of the issues noted during a seemingly bump-free demo was battery life; the headset had to be charged in the middle of the 30-minute demo. Xiaomi apparently is incorporating a self-developed silicon-oxygen anode battery that is supposedly smaller than a typical lithium-ion battery. While there’s an onboard Snapdragon XR 2 Gen 1 chipset, XDA Developers also notes it doesn’t offer any storage, making a compatible smartphone requisite to playing AR content.

This isn’t the company’s first stab at XR tech; last summer Xiaomi showed off a pair of consumer smartglasses, called Mijia Glasses Camera, that featured a single heads-up display. Xiaomi’s Wireless AR Glass is however much closer in function to the concept it teased in late 2021, albeit with chunkier free-form light-guiding prisms than the more advanced-looking waveguides teased two years ago.

Xiaomi is actively working closely with chipmaker Qualcomm to ensure compatibility with Snapdragon Spaces-ready smartphones, which include Xiaomi 13 and OnePlus 11 5G. Possible other future contributions from Lenovo and Motorola, which have also announced their intentions to support Snapdragon Spaces.

Qualcomm announced Snapdragon Spaces in late 2021, a software tool kit which focuses on performance and low power devices which allows developers to create head-worn AR experiences from the ground-up, or add head-worn AR to existing smartphone apps.

Xiaomi Unveils Wireless AR Glasses Prototype, Powered by Same Chipset as Meta Quest Pro Read More »

Author name: Rejus Almole