Building a better OSVR
Razer and other organizers of the Open Source Virtual Reality (OSVR) platform just took a big step towards legitimizing the open standard by adding support for Android devices. By bringing the world's most popular mobile operating system into the fold, mobile VR development is likely to get a big boost.
It's a bit early to determine the full significance of adding support for Android, though in time, we suspect the addition of both hardware and software support will lead to Android-based smartphones being used as VR displays.
Outside of the Android news, OSVR also added positional tracking to the fray. Like Android support, it's included in the OSVR Hacker Development Kit (HDK) version 1.2, which has been approved for distribution and is now shipping to select developers. The next version of the OSVR headset will include 360 degrees of IR positional tracking at 100Hz. This will provide positional information no matter which direction a user is facing.
OSVR has the potential to be very big. There are now 144 contributing members, including nearly two dozen new partners that just recently joined the ranks. Even though many of those members are small in the grand scheme of things, OSVR qualifies as the largest organization of VR developers in the world.
If you want to become one of them, the HDK 1.2 is available for $299. That includes the IR positional tracking kit, though the hardware won't ship until next month. For those who already paid for HDK 1.1, an IR Upgrade kit is available for $130.
From maximumpc
from http://bit.ly/1JVyDyq
