Microsoft Research has two types of touch for VR haptics
Virtual reality is one of the most immersive technologies available today. That is until the illusion shatters when you instinctively reach out to touch something and are met with a one-size-fits-all haptic response or no feedback at all. Microsoft Research (PDF) might have the solution to that. Rather than air-based haptics like we’ve seen before, “NormalTouch” and “TextureTouch” use handheld devices to simulate touching things while in VR — no bodysuit required.
The handheld devices use mechanical actuators and a 4×4 grid of pins to convey what it feels like to touch different objects, even taking surface hardness among different objects into account. In the video embedded below, you can even see someone flicking a ball and cube around using the admittedly hacky-looking gizmos. The team admits that despite the successes presented here it still isn’t sure how much haptic feedback is needed to be convincing:
“On several occasions we observed people trying out our devices when they were not well calibrated (e.g., NormalTouch would render a surface normal in a drastically different direction than it was supposed to). To our surprise, people often claimed that the device accurately rendered the surface when in fact it was obviously incorrect. While anecdotal, this points to the need to further evaluate whether or not it is important to precisely match the haptic rendering in order for it to be considered realistic and high fidelity.”
So, ultra-high fidelity might be overkill, much like pushing for photorealism in VR. The brain doesn’t need “perfect” accuracy to be effectively tricked into thinking what it’s seeing and sensing is real, the experience just needs to be “good enough.”
If you want to dig deeper, the source research paper is surprisingly easy to digest and has a ton of additional details.
Source: Microsoft Research (1) (PDF), (2) (YouTube)
The Engadget Podcast Ep 12: Surface Envy
Managing editor Dana Wollman and senior editor Devindra Hardawar join host Terrence O’Brien to talk about the value of the Esc key, the Nintendo Switch and the impeding Gilmore Girls resurrection. Then they’ll relive Microsoft’s big Surface event and dig in on future of Twitter… and whether or not it even has one.
The Flame Wars Leaderboard
Wins
Loses
Winning %
Mona Lalwani
3
1
.750
Christopher Trout
2
1
.666
Dana Wollman
10
6
.625
Devindra Hardawar
10
9
.526
Chris Velazco
3
3
.500
Cherlynn Low
6
7
.461
Nathan Ingraham
4
6
.400
Michael Gorman
1
2
.333
Relevant links:
- Apple unveils a thinner MacBook Pro with an OLED ‘Touch Bar’
- The Switch shows desperate Nintendo is the best Nintendo
- The first official Netflix ‘Gilmore Girls’ trailer is here
- Windows 10 ‘Creator’s Update’ arrives free of charge next spring
- The new Microsoft Paint lets you share terrible 3D doodles
- Microsoft passes on updating the Surface Pro
- Microsoft’s big-screen Surface Studio is an engineering marvel
- Twitter will fire around 350 employees in hunt for profits
- Twitter promises ‘meaningful’ safety updates next month
- Does anyone want to buy Twitter?
- Twitter’s troll problem likely killed Disney’s bid
You can check out every episode on The Engadget Podcast page in audio, video and text form for the hearing impaired.
Watch on YouTube
Watch on Facebook
Subscribe on Google Play Music
Subscribe on iTunes
Subscribe on Stitcher
Subscribe on Pocket Casts
Abzû’s deep sea adventure is coming to Xbox One
Abzû, the best game about exploring the depths of the ocean (sorry Ecco the Dolphin), will get a physical release on PlayStation 4 and Xbox One this January. It’s a beautiful and relaxing adventure, focused on a deep sea diver as he tries to learn more about the world and its complex ecology. The short, atmospheric title is already available through Steam and the PSN store; the big news, therefore, is its debut on Xbox hardware. The game was developed by Giant Squid, a new studio founded by Flower and Journey art director Matt Nava. Consequently, the art direction is stunning — if you like taking beautiful screenshots, this is the game for you.
The retail release will be priced at $19.999 and come with some exclusive goodies: a dynamic theme for PS4 and some colorful backgrounds for the Xbox One. In my opinion, it fails to hit the emotional highs of Journey — but if you like the work of ThatGameCompany, it’s still worth checking out. The music and environments alone are worth the price of admission.
Source: 505 Games
The Nintendo Switch reportedly has a multitouch screen
We have plenty of questions about the Nintendo Switch, but one of the most pressing is: Does it have a touchscreen? During the three-minute teaser, no-one ever swipes, taps or prods the main unit, leading to speculation about its capabilities. Well, according to Eurogamer, the hardware does indeed support grubby fingers. The Switch is reportedly rocking a 6.2-inch, 720p capacitive multitouch display — a first for the company, which has relied on basic resistive touchscreens until now. What’s unclear is that how will affect the Switch’s docked mode, which covers the display entirely. Lots of alternate control schemes? Possibly.
Nintendo isn’t offering clarification on a potential touchscreen just yet. A spokesperson provided the following statement to Engadget: “We have nothing to announce on this topic. We will make additional announcements about the Nintendo Switch hardware later, before the launch of the product.”
It makes sense, however, for Nintendo to keep some of these finer details to itself. The Switch is an ambitious piece of hardware — for its initial unveiling, it was wise of the company to focus on its portability and removable JoyCon controllers. Nintendo wanted to sell the overall concept, and how it might fit into your life, rather than explain every single component choice. For now, that’s okay. As for the touchscreen — we should get more details in January, when the house of Mario takes another stab at selling the world on its new, console-meets-portable dream.
Jessica Conditt contributed to this report.
Via: The Verge
Source: Eurogamer
‘SpyParty’ finally looks like a real video game
Yes, after nearly 10 years, SpyParty is still in development. It’s an underground kind of independent, competitive game where one player is a spy attempting to complete discreet tasks at a fancy party, and another player is positioned outside, observing the scene through the scope of a sniper rifle. The spy attempts to blend in with a room full of AI-powered partygoers while the sniper tries to figure out which one is actually human (and then shoot that character, of course).
And soon, it will all be much, much prettier. Creator Chris Hecker, artist John Cimino and newly hired environment artist Reika Yoshino today revealed five new characters, a professional-looking UI and an updated version of SpyParty’s largest map, Veranda. The update isn’t live yet, but it’s coming in hot and should be available in the game’s paid beta late tonight.
These are big changes. For years, SpyParty was packed with blocky placeholder art as Hecker fine-tuned the actual gameplay. In 2012, he started rolling out the updated visuals. Even in an unfinished, seemingly never-ending beta, the game has attracted plenty of players and it boasts a small, yet fervent, fanbase that includes everyone from casual players to competitive fighting game fans.
Today’s update affects the UI most of all. Aside from a massive visual upgrade, the new UI enables players to fully customize their matches, jump into a quick game and share unique “QuickPlay” settings.
“Things like game timer duration, number of guests, prohibited and required missions, etc,” he says. “I’m expecting a lot of wacky totally unbalanced game modes to be tried by the elite players, and probably some interesting new balanced ones will be found as well.”
The five new characters are Mr. Q (a Lex Luthor-looking fellow), Ms. R (a businesswoman with short brown hair), Mr. S (a dwarf modeled after Silvio Berlusconi), Ms. T (who wears an orange Sari) and Mr. U (a fancy blonde lad). Mr. Q and Ms. T are updates to the fan-favorite characters “Orange Dress” and Danger P. Johnson. These additions bring SpyParty’s character count to 21 and they were initially intended to be the final batch. However, there may be five more coming down the line.
“One thing is that we’re up to the letter U in the temporary code names, and doing five more would take us to Z,” Hecker says. “A compelling argument, you must admit.”
Finally, the game’s largest map, Veranda, is now a Southern Colonial Mansion. Previously, it was a simple 3D balcony floating in the midst of the ether.
“This is the start of a long road to a full professional game,” Hecker says (yes, after many, many years of development on SpyParty).
‘The Last Guardian’ soundtrack is getting a vinyl release
Pumped for The Last Guardian? Yeah, we are too. The long-awaited follow-up to Ico and Shadow of the Colossus stars a young boy and a giant feathered creature called Trico as they explore a world filled with broken, temple-like structures. The emotional puzzle-platformer has an equally distinctive soundtrack — the work of composer Takeshi Furukawa — and Sony has dropped a few extra pieces of news about audio in The Last Guardian.
Sony will release a special app for the game’s launch, inspiringly titled “The Last Guardian Composer’s Choice PS4 Music App.” It’ll feature 17 tracks from the game’s soundtrack, support stereo and surround sound, and allow gamers to export tracks as stereo MP3s to a USB drive. There’s no word on how much this app will cost, but Sony says the album will also go on sale through iTunes at a later date.
Additionally, if you buy The Last Guardian and happen to own a PlayStation headset that’s compatible with the Headset Companion App, Sony says there’s a “special mode” just for you. You’ll be able to activate a “custom audio mode” in-game for a “fine-tuned audio experience engineered for maximum immersion.” We have no idea what that means, but maybe it’ll be great.
Unsurprisingly — what game doesn’t have one at this point — there’s a vinyl collection in the works too. Produced by iam8bit, the collection boasts two LPs and an “epic tri-fold design” stretching more than 36 inches. It’ll cost $35 and ship in early 2017. For super-fans with a love of vinyl, it looks to be a price worth paying. Just check out that album art:
Aaron Souppouris contributed to this report.
Source: PlayStation Blog
The new Apple TV app is: TV
The rumored TV guide app for Apple TV is here, just unveiled at the company’s event. It brings TV and movies from the box’s various apps into one browsable location. As demonstrated on stage by designer Jen Folse, pressing play within the guide can immediately start a video stream in an app like HBO Now, without any intervening menus. The main “Watch Now” menu knows which apps you’ve signed into with its unified login feature, and will show options that you have access to. “TV” isn’t just for Apple TV either, as the app is also accessible from iPhone and iPad.
Another new wrinkle for Apple TV, is the ability for Siri to tune into live video streaming apps, and control third-party apps. The new features will arrive through a software update in December.
Developing…
Click here to catch all the latest news from Apple’s “Hello again” event.
‘Minecraft’ is coming to Apple TV
Today’s Apple event might all be about new Macs, but the folks at Cupertino are taking time to detail updates about its other products too. First up: Apple TV. On stage, Apple CEO Tim Cook confirmed that the box now offers access to over 8,000 apps, and will soon become home to one of the most popular games on both consoles and mobile: Minecraft. That’s right, Microsoft’s huge open-world sandbox game will be available on Apple TV “by the end of the year.”
Apple has provided no additional details about what is in store for Minecraft fans but it’s likely that you’ll want to invest in a third-party controller to get the most from the title. Sure, Apple’s new wireless remote sports a touchpad and more buttons than the minimalist silver remote that shipped with the company’s older streamers but we imagine it won’t be the best tool to help you (or the little ones) build that all-important End Portal. We’ve contacted Microsoft and Mojang for more details and will bring you more information as we get it.
Click here to catch all the latest news from Apple’s “Hello Again” event.
PlayStation 4 has a pair of controllers made for pro gamers
The Xbox One has the Elite gamepad to satisfy the platform’s pro gamers or people who just want a really nice gamepad. But Sony fans are stuck with a controller that’s barely changed since the Playstation 4 launched in 2013. Rather than crafting one itself, Sony has announced it’s working with the folks at Razer and Nacon to develop a pair of tournament-ready sticks.
Like the Elite pad, these sport features like extra triggers and customization, but each handles the new bits differently. The Raiju (“thunder beast”) offers trigger stops for quicker firing; extra bumper buttons; two extra, detachable triggers; custom button mapping with two onboard custom profiles, removable analog stick caps and wired connectivity via a detachable USB cable. Oh, there’s a control panel built into the controller too. Honestly, in terms of design it looks quite a bit like an Xbox One controller with the headset adapter attached.
Then there’s the Revolution from Nacon. Perhaps the biggest difference here aside from customizable weight; four button profiles and a quartet of shortcut buttons is the stick placement. The left analog stick and d-pad swap positions, so instead of the two sticks being next to each other they’re offset — like an Xbox controller. Another difference is that the sticks have 46 degrees of amplitude and are “enhanced with innovative firmware for advanced eSports accuracy and reach.” Like the Raiju, this one is wired as well.
Why? Because too many wireless signals in a given room — like at a tournament — can play havoc in the heat of the moment. Plus, running wireless adds a tiny bit of lag between your fingers and the console. With how much both of these resemble Xbox One controller, it’s kind of telling that the eSports community doesn’t particularly care for the DualShock 4’s design. The downside is that despite how good these look, they’re probably won’t fix the DualShock 4’s biggest weakness: battery life.
Price wasn’t given, but considering how much other custom controllers cost, don’t expect these to be cheap when they come out later this year in Europe.
Source: PlayStation Blog (Europe)
‘Hearthstone’ shakes up how tournaments will work
Blizzard’s Hearthstone has been a darling on the pro gaming circuit for awhile, and the card game’s next season should cement its eSports focus even further. A big part of that is how its developer is organizing competitions, rankings and how tournament points are doled out. The company is also changing the types of tournaments offered.
Hearthstone Global Games are weekly team-based competitions comprised as follows: “Each team in the HGG will consist of the top Hearthstone Competitive Point earner from their country and three of their fellow community-voted countrypersons.”
Meanwhile, the Hearthstone Inn-vitationals are more of a pick-up competition featuring streamers, tournament victors and “celebrities” who play.
In terms of payout, Hearthstone Championship Tour grand prize will be over $2 million next year while the World Championship has $1 million up for grabs, $250,000 for season championships. Playoffs for seasons will have “at least” $20,000 in prizes.
For the nitty gritty of how each style of tournament will change, head over to the source post.
Via: Mashable
Source: Hearthstone
AIVAnet 