Here are some of the hottest stories from the past week. You can keep up to date on a daily basis on our popular Facebook page.
1. Game Informer calls 2016 ‘The Year of VR’
January Cover Revealed – The Virtual Reality Issue
GameInformer devotes its January cover to virtual reality and declares 2016 “The year of VR”.
2016 is year 1 of consumer VR for the masses. The Facebook-owned Oculus Rift will be released. So will the HTC Vive powered by Valve VR. And then much anticipated Sony Playstation VR will come soon after. The Samsung Gear VR powered by Oculus has been huge hit so far, with sales exceeding expectations and selling out at both BestBuy.com and Amazon.com.
The world has never seen anything like it. It’s finally time for virtual reality.
2. Official Sony Video: The Best Playstation VR Games
PlayStation Experience 2015: PlayStation VR – The Best Games in VR
Many in the VR community have underestimated the Sony Playstation VR. But it may end up having the most mass appeal of all of the coming virtual reality options. Sony released a new compilation video with high production value that shows off some of the hottest new games coming out.
3. EVE: Valkyrie coming bundled with Oculus Rift Preorders
EVE: Valkyrie is Virtual Reality’s First True AAA Title
Eve: Valkyrie has been one of the most anticipated VR games for a long time now. It’s based on the Eve MMORPG franchise but it’s a first person space shooter. It is a perfect fit for virtual reality and is a highly polished experience.
There is no set date yet for when Oculus preorders will start, but it’s expected to be in early 2016. Expect the Oculus Rift to be sold out and backordered, similar to hot new Apple product releases. So preordering makes a lot of sense, and the pot is even sweeter now since it includes this AAA game.
4. Virtual Reality Helping Hospitalized Children
Watch this video and think about what VR could mean for hospitalized children
Many children experience long periods of isolation and depression in hospitals. This is an additional torment on top of their illnesses. But in another display of the multitudinous applications of virtual reality, we see VR benefiting these children. Watch this video and you can see the heartfelt joy and appreciation these children get from VR exposure. And just think, such technology will become as affordable and widespread as smart phones are today.
5. Web Browsing in VR may be the killer app for virtual reality
VR Web browsing might ultimately be one of Samsung and Oculus’ best tricks