Earlier this week Slightly Mad Studios released an HTC Vive update for its excellent simulation racing game Project Cars, and first impressions are impressive.
Thanks to green screens and editing tricks, videos have been uploaded in the past showing what sim racing in VR could look like. Those were just mock-ups, and not the real thing. Even then, those demonstrations were pretty awesome. But seeing Project Cars actually run in VR and look so close to those proof-of-concept videos makes future prospects look very promising.
The Project Cars HTC Vive experience has some other cool perks. There’s VR mouse support and Gaze control support. Gaze support is exactly what it sounds like: By looking at certain menu items for a brief amount of time, the game will select it. This means that players will have a far more seamless experience, and will not have to worry about finding a controller or mouse when using a steering wheel setup.
There’s still some room for improvement, though. For example, the player can move their head outside of the confines of the car, effectively phasing through the windows. Regardless, playing a sim racer in VR has its inherent advantages. Being able to look at an approaching corner while in a go-kart makes the experience all the more authentic.
Because a VR experience is much different than a traditional gaming experience, gamers will have to take certain steps to ensure things run smoothly. Slightly Mad Studios strongly recommends deleting configuration files found in the Documents folder. This will prevent any conflicts and will allow the HTC Vive update to fully integrate without any hiccups.
As of now, Valve and HTC seem to be giving Facebook and Oculus a run for their money.
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.