WAVRP: nintendo

2016년 8월 12일 금요일

All about Oculus

<Credit: Oculus Rift>

Oculus received about $2.8 billion from 9,522 people by uploading their project in the Kickstarter in 2012. Then two years after in 2014, they were acquired by Facebook in $2 billion.

The history of Oculus is not that long. Oculus has begun from a boy who loved game and had passion for it. Palmer Luckey, the founder of Oculus, begun to collect VR devices from the age of 15. At that time he was a representative of ModRetro which was a community assembling vintage game console and a student attending local junior college. He might be the one who has collected the most various VR HMDs.

However, he was not able to find a perfect HMD that he was looking for, so he began to make his own VR HMD. If he was alone, however, Oculus might not have been born.
One of the most important person for Palmer Luckey was John Carmack, the genius programmer, who played an important role for Oculus. John Carmack is the co-founder of id Software and made Doom, Wolfenstein 3D and Quake.

John Carmack became interested in VR when he begin to make FPS game named Rage. He tried all kinds of HMD but none of them satisfied him because of its slow reaction speed or high price. This brought John Carmack to Palmer Luckey.

< Credit : Oculus VR Korea>

John Carmack applied his Doom3 into Palmer’s VR HMD and revealed it in E3 id Software Booth for the first time in 2012. After that, Palmer Luckey established Oculus VR.

This Oculus VR was acquired by Facebook and it gained more recognition. The effort of wo people who loved game and tried to make a better VR HMD made us possible to enjoy VR in better quality and price.
Oculus DK 1

The first software development came out after they were funded by Kickstarter named Oculus DK1. This device was not perfect. It was better than the first product which they opened in E3 but tracking service was not available and there were still a screen door effect. However, this first kit was enough to show off the possibility of Oculus and it was much better than any existed HMD at that time.

Oculus DK 2

The second SDK was released one week before Oculus was acquired by Facebook. They supplemented many defects from DK1 and it included an external camera for tracking system. DK2 is the newest SDK. Oculus VR didn’t released DK3 but it opened Oculus Rift Crescent Bay. Oculus Rift Crescent Bay is known as the prototype that is most similar to that for consumer.

Then on January 2016, Oculus VR begin a presale of Oculus Rift. Oculus Rift is the first consumer version HMD. It took almost 4 years after Oculus was founded. However, South Korea was not included in the list of markets where the Oculus Rift will initially ship. When somebody asked Palmer Luckey about this his simple answer was an issue “ government regulation”.

Many people were surprised because South Korea was the first branch in foreign country except America. That Oculus Korea released Gear VR with Samsung on November 2015 and as their third model was released in half price than the previous devices it is considered as a product that popularized VR HMD. Also it was sold out in presale period so it proved that consumers were thirsty for VR devices.

<Credit: Oculus>

There was a rumor that Oculus Korea is going to withdraw from Korea. However, it was not true. According to Newspim the person from Facebook Korea said about reducing the personnel that “It is not true that we Oculus is withdraing from Korea market because of the contract end and we will focus more in market extension.” So anybody who was concerned about withdrawal of Oculus doesn’t need to.

Nevertheless, one thing still remains. Which government regulation made Oculus to except Korea from the list? Specialist in this field assumed that the reason can be “radio wave certification problem.”

However, you don’t need to worry because according to the National Radio Research Agency, Oculus have already received three type of wave certification of specific low power radio wireless machine. This included not only headset but also location movement tracking sensor and remote control. Therefore we can expect to see Oculus Rift in Korea soon.

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2016년 8월 1일 월요일

Pokemon Go’ suggesting new paradigm of game

<'Pokemon Go / (Image Credit: pokemon Go official homepage)>

Do you remember the pokemon bread? The bread became famous

because of the pokemon sticker in it.

That pokemon came back as a game named ‘pokemon Go’.

It was January 2016 when I first heard about the game.

At that time somebody told me that there was a game

which I can catch the pokemon monster with my smartphone

in the real place such as Gwanghwamun Gate.

After 6 months later everybody is playing and talking about ‘Pokemon Go’

Later I found out that Google had released ‘Pokemon Challenge’ video

about 2 years ago before April Fools’ Day.

We didn’t know whether this game to entertain the whole world at that time

but it really is!

What really is Pokemon go?

Pokemon Go is an augmented reality based mobile game made by Niantic, Inc.

It was first issued in the United States in 6th of July and afterwards

it expanded its service to 35 countries until 16th of July.

Google’s April Fools’ Day event just for fun now

became the most famous game these days.

The man who managed this event was John Hanke

who is the representative of Niantic Inc.

However, Pokemon Go is not the first augmented reality based game

made by Niantic.

After they were divided from Google they become famous

because of the game ‘Ingress’.

Afterward Niantic suggested Pokemon Go game to the Pokemon Company

and Nintendo in the end of 2015 and received $20 million.

After 7 month you can see what happened.

How to play?

Pokemon Go is based on augmented reality and Location-based Services. The users can catch the virtual Pokemon that appears in the smartphone based on the real world. When you catch the pokemon you can train them and let the pokemon battle with other kinds. Most of the user’s goal is to become the strongest trainer.

Download the app and make your own avatar.

Run the app and walk outside then your avatar in smartphone will walk in the map of the game.

When Pokemon appears your smartphone will vibrate and then you can catch it by throwing the monster ball.

You receive candy and stardust as reward when you catch pokemon. That rewards can be used to power up your pokemon’s strength.

<Credit: Nintendo Homepage>

If you have an item called ‘Pokemon Go Plus’ then the game might be easier.

There are two types, Clip type and Watch type.

This item has an LED light on top and when the pokemon appears it flickers and vibrates.

Then what you have to do is to press the round button of the item.

Then it will make the pokemon yours. This item was sold out even before it was released.

Pokemon Go became the top in the app store after 24 hours of its release.

This is very surprising. Pokemon Go became the fastest game

that wins the top in Google play.

This made Nintendo’s stock prices jump almost 93% in a week.

Now the game is released to almost 35 countries.

There are already many episode as this game needs to be played in outside.

Criminal who was playing pokemon Go was caught by police and

a girl who went to the river side to catch pokemon found a dead body.

When Syamideu appeared in New York Central Park there was a traffic jam

because some people tried to catch it by getting out of their car.

This shows the Pokemon Go’s popularity.

But there are many people who are against this game

because there are also sad news caused by Pokemon Go.

Pokemon Go is not officially released in Korea

but people downloaded this game through iOS external transactions account

or Android setup file.

Furthermore all the bus tickets for Sokcho were sold out

because Sokcho was the only place where Pokemons appeared.

According to Wise app there are already millions of app users.

Wise app said “This can be seen as social phenomenon if millions of people

downloaded this game in 8 days even though there is some security danger

and inconvenience.

The reason that Pokemon can’t be played in South Korea is because of the Google map. Google asked for detailed map information to expand its service

but Korea’s government denied it because of national security exposure issues.

However, John Hanke, CEO of Niantic, said in an interview

that he expects to ultimately launch Pokemon Go in Korea

and there are other ways to get around the Google Maps dispute.

Now according to Korea Bizwire Pokemon Go will be launched in early next month.

Through Pokemon Go, the game paradigm might have changed.

Usually when we bring the word ‘game’ to mind,

it gives an image of playing alone in a room, sexual characters.

Maybe this image has been built because of some bad news from the media.

However, Pokemon Go is different.

You must go out to play this game.

So it is less closed. It is also good for family gathering.

There was some good news that mother and son

came out together to play Pokemon Go.

At least parents cannot tell their children

“Stop playing game in your room and play outside”

Therefore I wish Pokemon Go to be released officially

in Korea this month and let the new game paradigm to be generalized.