(VRPinea, March 27, 2023) -- Last week, the annual Game Developers Conference (GDC) was held in San Francisco, USA. During the five-day conference, GDC 2023 not only held the GDCA (Game Developers Choice Awards) award ceremony, set up the Future Realistic Summit (Future Realistic Summit Forum), but also set up a large-scale EXPO exhibition area on March 22-24, bringing together game developers, game hardware manufacturers, game service providers, etc. from all over the world. In the EXPO exhibition area, in addition to the booth in the traditional game field, VR/AR is becoming more and more numerous and eye-catching.
Hardware equipment booth / foreign
Meta
Meta's booth provided visitors with three VR game representative works: "Iron Man VR", "Among Us VR" (space werewolf killing game) and "Demeo" (VR dungeon game).
It is worth mentioning that at GDC 2023, Meta announced that its third-party distribution unit is named Oculus Publishing. This department is mainly responsible for working with third-party game developers and publishers. Meta said Oculus Publishing will continue to help partners bring VR games to market, conceptualize and provide capital, manufacturing, technical, engineering and marketing support.
Sony
Sony's booth was mainly a demonstration of PSVR2, with two specific contents, one showing the sample technology of eye-tracking capabilities, and the other is the new game "Cosmonious High" (VR puzzle game) from Google-owned VR game studio Owlchemy Labs, which will be officially released on PSVR2 and Steam on March 31.
Tilt Five
Tilt Five, an American AR board game platform, showed a set of holographic display system products composed of AR glasses, controllers and pads. After the audience puts on the AR glasses, they can see the virtual three-dimensional object on the pad. This system allows multiple glasses to be connected to the same PC and play the same AR experience or game online, which is its major feature. According to the official website, the Tilt Five's AR glasses FOV is 110°, and the weight of the whole machine is less than 100 grams. The glasses are very different from the optical design scheme of mainstream AR glasses products such as Nreal Air.
bHaptics
Korean VR hardware manufacturer bHaptics showed its latest product at GDC, haptic feedback gloves, which have 6 vibration contacts, and the vibration frequency, force and direction can be carefully adjusted from 1 to 100 levels. At present, bHaptics' haptic feedback products already have native support for VR games such as "Pavlov VR", "Onward", "Zenith: The Last City", "Contractors", "Ghostphobia", and can also support more VR games in the form of mods.
Hardware equipment booth / domestic
PICO
The exhibition area of PICO this time exceeds that of Meta, and the content displayed is richer, not only the games of PICO 4 for the audience to experience, but also the PICO video viewing area. At the same time, PICO also set up a display of previous generations of products in the exhibition area, as well as the detailed structure of PICO 4 and the materials used, so that game developers around the world can have a clearer understanding of PICO's brand and product capabilities, so as to attract more developers to settle in. According to the feedback of the audience, it is generally believed that the PICO 4 is an excellent product, and has surpassed the Meta Quest 2 in some aspects such as wearing comfort and optical design.
In terms of overseas layout, PICO has opened up consumer markets in Europe, Japan, South Korea, Southeast Asia and other places, but has not officially entered North America. PICO's participation in the GDC conference may mean that it will officially enter the North American consumer market.
Nreal
Nreal showcased AR glasses Nreal Air at a live booth. Nreal Air can currently connect to Steam Deck, Nintendo Switch, Xbox, PS5, PC and other devices. Nreal's self-developed Nebula Nebula operating system was also demonstrated.
In addition, Nreal officially released a new app called Nebula for Windows, which maps the PC user interface onto AR glasses. It is reported that the user interface is displayed on a curved monitor with an aspect ratio of 21:9, which theoretically provides enough space for office tasks and games. However, Nreal has not yet announced a specific launch date for Nebula for Windows.
Xiaopai Technology
This is the first time that Xiaopai Technology has set up a booth at GDC to attract global developers and establish contacts. Among the devices on display were the Pimax Portal game handheld, which Xiaopai released in June last year, and the Pimax Crystal, an 8K dual-mode VR all-in-one.
Gaming app booth
Unity
Unity offered Atari's just-announced new VR title, Pixel Ripped 1978 (arcade-style VR game), in the booth. Developed using the Unity engine, the game is based on the classic home console game Atari 2600 like its predecessor, offering players a fun and memorable VR experience. The demo is available on PSVR2 and will be available on the Quest and Steam stores when it is officially released. In addition, Unity showcased digital humans it co-built with ZIVA.
Epic Games
Epic Games showcased its Meta Human digital human production tool, and also unveiled a new high-fidelity performance capture feature, the Meta Human Animator, to better support the digital human production pipeline.
Another app showcased by Epic Games, Reality Scan, made by 3D photogrammetry solution Capturing Reality, can capture and generate physical 3D models through the iPhone's AR capabilities, upload to Sketchfab, and eventually import into Unreal Engine.
RebuffReality
RebuffReality is showcasing the upcoming full-body motion capture game Dance Dash. This game requires a Vive Tracker or controller controller to be attached to the ankle of the player's feet using straps to play.
The gameplay is similar to Rhythm Lightsaber, but with the addition of dynamic tracking of the feet, players must also use their feet flexibly to obtain a higher game score while paying attention to their hands. In contrast, "Rhythm Lightsaber" is more skill-based, while "Dance Dash" has become a game that combines fitness and music because of the addition of foot tracking.
Resolution Games
Resolution Games' booth showcased its MR shooter Spatial Ops, based on Meta Quest 2 and Quest Pro's video perspective capabilities, and the VR board game Demeo.
In addition to the above games, the EXPO booth also has a variety of new game applications brought by studios from the United Kingdom, Brazil, South Korea and other countries.
Since it was first held in 1988, GDC 2023 has been the 35th conference, as a global game developer event, top game developers from all over the world often choose to release big moves on GDC, you can see GDC conference as the vane of the game industry.
In recent years, with the update and upgrading of VR/AR technology and equipment, VR/AR-related game works and hardware products are gradually becoming one of the focuses of the GDC Conference. Therefore, we can fully believe that VR/AR games have deep market potential and bright development prospects.
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