Atari and Chuck E. Cheese’s founder Nolan Bushnell has launched Modal VR, an enterprise-oriented virtual reality platform that “can track multiple users in areas up to 900,000 square feet per instance.”
Modal VR technology is powered by the company’s proprietary VR Fabricator unit, which can track user positioning and interactivity among large groups of players with less than 10 milliseconds of latency.
Distancing itself from the Oculus Rift, HTC Vive, and other VR headsets that are tethered to user PCs via multiple sets of cables, Modal VR offers a wireless solution that allows VR participants to freely roam a large virtual reality staging area with little in the way of movement restrictions. While a single Modal VR Fabricator unit can track up to 10 players at once, multiple fabricators can be networked via LAN or WAN, adding dozens more players to the mix.
After setting up one or more VR Fabricator units and establishing a play area, Modal VR users must don a wireless visor to participate in large-scale virtual reality games with others. To get the most out of the experience, players can buy an optional full-body tracking suit that “enables real-time body articulation (including hands) with superfast and extremely accurate tracking,” according to Modal VR’s website.
Modal VR settings can be tweaked via the PC-compatible Modal VR Command Center app, which also grants quick access to a suite of downloadable VR games and applications.
The platform’s creators showcase its potential in the trailer above, which features the one-on-one virtual reality fighting game Mythic Combat. Similar to the arcade classic Discs of Tron, Mythic Combat allows players to shoot beams of energy from their hands using body movements and gestures, while opponents can dodge, deflect, and counterattack using similar motions.
Be warned, however: if you’re looking to buy a Modal VR setup of your very own, don’t expect a price point that matches current consumer-oriented VR headsets. Modal VR itself admits that the technology is designed exclusively for enterprise and industrial use, and notes that its hardware is prohibitively expensive for individual users.
“Modal VR for home use is likely cost-prohibitive and would require slightly more technical know-how than a typical consumer electronic device,” the company states at the top of its online FAQ. “We are focused on enterprise applications and typically only sell to other companies.”
The absolutely absurd idea of putting a touchscreen display on a mouse isn't exactly new. Turtle Beach already did it with its Command Series MC7, which features a 2.25-inch control screen. But apparently, even that wasn't ridiculous enough for Arctic Fox Technologies. Its new Super Mouse looks like someone took the chunky old Atari ST mouse, slapped a touchscreen and scroll wheel on it, and called it an upgrade.
The result is a rather unusual-looking mouse that is now on Kickstarter, starting at $199. And as ridiculous as it looks, some of its features are genuinely intriguing.
Apple is less than a day away from launching its highly anticipated OLED MacBook Pro with a touch-sensitive screen. But it appears that the upgrade is going to cost a pretty penny. According to a report by Bloomberg, Apple is reportedly eyeing a starting price of $2,899 for the 14-inch MacBook Pro, while the 16-inch version could start at $3,399 in the US.
"At $2,899, the 14-inch model would mark the highest starting price for a new MacBook Pro model, surpassing the $2,799 Apple charged for a 17-inch version introduced in 2006," says the report. The report claims that Apple is targeting a minimum price hike of $400 for its upcoming redesigned 14-inch and 16-inch MacBook Pro models.
I've spent a good amount of time digging into the spec sheet of the new M6 MacBook Pro (14-inch), and for all intents and purposes, this is a classic Apple "chip and connectivity" refresh. It's not a full redesign. The chassis, Liquid Retina XDR panel, speakers, ports, and battery, all of them carry over unchanged.
However, the M6 brings more cores, stronger on-device AI, higher memory bandwidth on the larger configs, and modern wireless. Here’s the practical rundown of what actually improved, and whether those gains are worth your money.