Virtual reality gaming is coming back with a vengeance.
Virtual reality gaming has been left behind ever since the fiasco that is the Virtual Boy. But now, with the Oculus Rift and many other VR headsets on the horizon, many game companies are getting ready to push this hyper-immersive experience one again. As such, Razer, alongside many other industry leaders, has just announced the Open-Source Virtual Reality (OSVR) ecosystem, a new standard in VR gaming to push the VR gaming experience forward.
The OSVR ecosystem provides both hardware and software support at every level of virtual reality gaming. OSVR will be able to support most popular game engines, including Unity 3D and Unreal 4 Engine, and will also work with device plugins from hardware market leaders like Bosch and Razer and the latest from Sixense and LeapMotion. Moreover, OSVR is designed to support all VR devices, including the Oculus DK 2 and Vrvana’s Totem headset. The open platform nature of OSVR will allow third party developers to design and build their own apps and hardward across multiple operating systems, including Windows, Android and Linux.
In order to support this venture, Razer will be providing the OSVR Hacker Dev Kit, a virtual reality device and open-source software that enables programming for any variety of VR technology. To keep it in line with the OSVR vision, the OSVR Hacker Dev Kit hardware design is both affordable and open source to encourage developers to take advantage of the program. To make software development even easier, the OSVR HDK includes high-quality, low-distortion optics that practically eliminate the need for color and distortion correction, thus minimizing the amount of additional development work required for OSVR compared to other VR devices. Anyone can download 3D files and create their own set of VR-Glasses.
“Gaming is moving towards the virtual reality platform and this poses huge benefits and challenges to gamers at every level. OSVR brings game developers, gamers and hardware manufacturers together to solve those challenges and make virtual reality gaming a reality for the masses.” says Tan Min-Liang, Razer co-founder and CEO.
“OSVR’s open-platform approach accelerates innovation and provides consumers the freedom of choosing the best combination of hardware and software components. We are excited to partner with Razer and other industry leaders to build OSVR together,” says Yuval Boger, CEO of Sensics.
