Boneworks: A highly free physical interaction experience

Posted on January 19, 2023 by Jingming

If there is a game that allows you to move freely, all the items in it have real physical effects, NPCs also have a ragdoll system, and then enables you to have a pair of flexible hands, what kind of experience would that be?

What is it?

Boneworks is a 2019 First-person Shooter VR game developed and published by Stress Level Zero. The game’s design is entirely physics-based, with the player controlling an entire virtual body that responds not only to the player’s real-world input, but also to obstacles in the game world. In Boneworks, players take on the role of Arthur Ford, a rogue cybersecurity director who escapes to an unfinished simulated universe, battling surreal buildings and occult settings with a variety of experimental physics-based weapons.

The game uses a physics engine that is very close to the real experience. In the game, almost all items are interactive, such as water cups, trash cans, hammers, balls, gun. You can use all the items you can pick up in the game world Advance bravely, fight the enemy, and explore the unknown next corner.

Why is it engaging?

The main gameplay is to experience realistic physics interactions in semi-open levels and to combine these physics effects to unlock the puzzles in the levels. In this game, there are no traditional game guidelines or clear tasks, everything can be done according to the player’s choice to pass the route, the player can find their own way to play.

Boneworks has 3 modes, story, arena and sandbox mode. Story mode is more like a newbie tutorial, but only in the story mode can players get props to unlock and enter the other modes. Directly skipping the story mode in not possible. Wearing VR game equipment to begin with, players will be in an open museum available to visit, at each exhibition to experience the weapons props, as well as through the props to interact with the environment.

When the player is familiar with the mechanism will produce a refreshing, realistic experience. Players can freely move to pick up weapons and props, and when the bullets run out, players are also free to play, directly on the whack are not a problem. This freedom is very high, but also very strong simulation of realistic physical action gameplay greatly home immersion experience in VR gaming equipment.

What features are well done?

Great physics

Boneworks is the first VR game to use the idea of providing players with a variety of objects, each with their own unique weight and weight model, and then using them as components to solve single-player puzzles and battles.

Before Boneworks, while most VR games emphasized interaction, that interaction was “shallow”. Players could only interact with specific, scripted objects, and mold penetration was very prevalent. It wasn’t until late 2018 that a new batch of VR shooter games added the collision of the gun itself and the scene to the code. But Boneworks has gone a step further—or a giant leap—in physics. Almost all objects in the game can be interacted with, and players can also interact with other objects through the object in their hands. A more vivid expression is that it hits people with a frying pan. And in this interaction, the gravity of the object itself and various accelerations are also written into the game code as one of the parameters, that is to say, there will be objects that you can’t lift with one hand but can be lifted with both hands. There will be glass that won’t break when tapped lightly but can be smashed when tapped hard.

Hidden Sandbox mode and Arena mode

One of the coolest unlocks is the sandbox mode, which is neatly hidden behind a fake wall on the second floor of the campaign. It makes good use of whatever you collect during the campaign and puts it into giant blue recycling bins, allowing you to build any crazy death traps you can imagine. It feels a little simple at first, but once you’ve filled your arsenal with toys, you can spend hours tinkering with it.

The infinitely playable arena mode is just as fun, offering tons of clever new customizable challenges to beat in every way. Its three modes–Judgment, Challenge, and Survival–are enjoyable in their own way, providing reasons to return to Boneworks time and time again. They also introduce some interesting mechanics that weren’t explored in the main campaign, like the balloon gun, which lets you lift enemies, objects, and even yourself into the air. Some modes are particularly tough, including a trial that forces you to fight wave after wave of minotaurs without any health regeneration. If you beat it, there’s even an arcade-style scoring system you can use to prove to your friends and family that you’re John Wick.

Great gameplay

The game provides a very good physics engine, which gives players a strong sense of substitution. But this sense of immersion refers not only to the plot but also to the physical world of the game. The game does not introduce too many background settings. In the game, players must follow the limited prompts and the feeling of the game to keep advancing and exploring. However, these are not important. The unique style of the game, the operating experience of VR, and the physical interaction close to the real world is what players feel the most in the game. From the DAU data of VR content on the Steam platform above, it can be seen that the types of games generally accepted and loved by VR gamers are action, combat, shooting, and adventure. These elements are all reflected in Boneworks. Climbing, jumping, attacking enemies with bare hands or using guns, and groping forward in unknown environments, these elements make Bonework” easy to be accepted by players.

User-friendly

In the game, there will be 2 hours of user guide levels. In the teaching stage, players can learn and experience the grabbing and discarding of objects, the running, jumping, climbing and other operations of characters, as well as the use and selection of various weapons, etc. Each part provides a demonstration of the operation, and all items or scenes are included for practice, so even players who are new to VR games can quickly become familiar with basic operations.

Between the teaching scenes, there are text or direction guidance signs telling the player how to operate, and the player will feel very relaxed at this stage with the guidance. Excellent physics engine and creative scenes will bring players one surprise after another.

What features can be improved and how?

Motion sickness

In Boneworks, players can not only accelerate the run and jump, but even get down or pad toe. However, too much freedom of movement has also become the threshold for many people. Brain and visual mismatch led to the sense of dizziness so that many players in the beginning do not adapt to this way of playing.

Immersive experience

The physics-oriented gameplay of “Boneworks” is a double-edged sword. When everything is working properly, games can be quite magical experiences and provide a rich sense of immersion that few other games achieve. This can lead to nightmarish moments of frustration when things start to go wrong.

In Boneworks, the acceleration and gravity of the object are taken into account, that is to say, the damage I can cause by swinging the brick vigorously and gently swinging the brick is not consistent. However, in the game, it often happens that I swing the brick vigorously but there is still no damage to the object. The reason for this situation is very complicated: it may be the result of the cognitive mechanism of the human brain, the acceleration calculation formula of the game, etc. Since there is an object in the VR screen you see, so when you swing the brick, your subconscious mind will also think that there is an object here, so the force you use to swing the brick will actually start to weaken when your brain thinks that it has “touched” the object. What’s more, in fact, you don’t have a brick in your hand. Even if the handle itself has a little weight, it still can’t compare with most objects in the game. That is to say, many times even if I really want to “vigorously” swing the virtual object in my hand, the almost negligible sense of weight from the handle will still prevent my brain from really “strengthening miracles”.

Generally speaking, although the physical effects and interaction of the game are very good, in fact, no player can successfully “deceive themselves”. Players will be surprised by the performance of the game in terms of physical effects. But in the same time, the torment of being separated from the game world may not be resolved until the era of intubation. Boneworks has revealed the existence of this problem to most players who have not thought about intubation in advance.

Conclusion

Overall, Boneworks is a very worthwhile VR game. With a physics engine close to the real world, a futuristic graphic style, and classic gameplay of adventure and combat, whether you have VR game experience or not, you can get a variety of surprises in this game.

Reference

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boneworks

https://www.oculus.com/experiences/rift/2385436581584047/

https://www.ign.com/articles/2019/12/15/boneworks-review

https://arstechnica.com/gaming/2019/12/boneworks-review-an-absolute-vr-mess-yet-somehow-momentous/

MondlyVR: Start learning new languages in Virtual Reality

Posted on January 19, 2023 by Cocokk

Introduction

MondlyVR is a Virtual Reality application in education for language learning. It is available on Steam and the Oculus Store and compatible with Oculus Rift and Oculus Quest headsets. Undoubtedly, the best way to learn a language is to integrate it into a specific locale. However, the teaching conditions may not guarantee that every class has foreign teachers, and not every student has the chance to communicate with native speakers most of the time. MondlyVR provides an immersive and innovative language learning experience with advanced chatbot and speech recognition technology.

Engaging Design

Gamified learning process

Learning a new language can be tedious and frustrating at times. MondlyVR considers this, and instead of taking the traditional approach of learning a new language through books and courses, it tries to make learning a new language fun through a gamified learning experience to increase engagement. It is well-designed and uses graphics and animation to create a game-like dynamic. After completing lessons and exercises, users earn points to track their winning streak and compare their performance with friends and other users on the MondlyVR leaderboard. It creates a fun, game-like environment and helps maintain momentum and engagement. In most core lessons, visual representations of the words taught help to enhance learning and retention.

Simulated but realistic conversation situations

This virtual immersion tool will place users in a simulated environment. Users are immersed in various situations requiring them to converse with locals, including simulating grocery shopping, booking a flight, checking-in in front of the hotel reception desk, or ordering food at a restaurant. In other words, the app’s goal is to simulate real-life situations of native speakers through VR and let users stay at home but have an immersive experience. In that case, users are more engaged because of the simulated but realistic surroundings.

Well-done Features

Multi-player mode

There is a multi-player mode for users to connect with people worldwide, bringing people together. Users will be automatically assigned to a VR room with up to 11 other participants. Users can socialize and practice the language they want to learn “face-to-face” as if they were in the same room, vastly improving user participation and interactivity. With speech recognition, intelligent suggestions, and real-time translation, MondlyVR will ensure that users don’t get stuck on words they don’t remember and keep their conversations flowing smoothly.

Effective curriculum design

MondlyVR supports various languages and different levels of courses. It offers the option to switch between transliteration and script, which is very useful for learning a new language. Generally, it schedules short (around 10-15 minutes each) but frequent lessons. MondlyVR is designed to be dipped in and out of, and all the progress will be saved for users to come back to. The platform provides users with daily lessons that include sentences and new vocabulary so that users can learn coherently. It gives users their learning feedback immediately. At the end of each class, users can jot down everything they’ve learned. There are also weekly quizzes for users to test their learning outcomes and track their learning progress.

Diversifyed products under Mondly

Besides MondlyVR, Mondly offers other products to provide users with multiple options. The products include Mondly Languages, MondlyAR, Mondly Kids, etc. Mondly Languages is a primary language learning app that integrates chatbot and speech recognition technologies to help users learn any of the 33 languages it offers. MondlyAR takes a scan of the room and will have an avatar “teacher” who brings virtual objects, like animals, musical instruments, planets, etc.—into the study room as teaching tools. It is similar to a classroom lecture, but users can interact with the animations, tapping them on devices or even getting up to walk around and obtain a 360-degree view. Mondly Kids is similar to the main app but designed for toddlers and kids. Mondly Languages and MondlyAR could not provide a learning journey as immersive as MondlyVR. Still, users can apply them on mobile phones or pads when they are not equipped with a VR headset at their sides or do not have a decent space for a VR experience. For example, users can easily use their fragmented time to study during their commuter routine by using their mobile phones. These various products and tools are user-friendly and humanized for users to choose based on their time, location, equipment, and preference.

Mondly Languages

MondlyAR

Areas of Improvement

Not applicable for advanced learners

Mondly is a fascinating and helpful application for users to start learning a language. It provides an interactive interface, lively animation, immersive world to give beginners an impressive experience of learning a new language. While it’s easy to dive into the technicalities of the Mondly application, one limitation is it needs to be more diverse in its language lessons. Advanced users (B2 to C2 level) may need suitable grammar topics, appropriate lessons, and vocabulary. Therefore, users who want to find advanced daily lessons must look for other resources to supplement these missing vital factors. The direction for Mondly to improve could be to add more intermediate or advanced courses and content, trying to expand the range of target users.

Same format across all languages

Unlike a platform designed for one specific language, whose functionality is built around particular features of that language, the Mondly system is a template across all languages. It is not a fundamental shortcoming because this standard design is the best way to deliver an effective learning outcome. However, users might get tired of the single format after a while if they learn more than one language simultaneously. In that case, Mondly may consider upgrading the design for different languages to ensure users can have a novel experience even though they are using this application to learn multiple languages simultaneously.

Conclusion

MondlyVR is user-friendly and exciting. I like it and want to recommend it to people who intend to learn a new language for whatever purpose. It’s straightforward to get started. Users will learn words and phrases quickly with the help of well-designed sessions. Besides, it provides an immersive world to bring users into simulated but realistic situations to practice languages. Users can also easily find native speakers to communicate with voice translation. The above solves the environmental limitations of language learning in a significant context and encourages users to concentrate on learning. I am confident that users as language beginners would be able to choose a best-fit product under Mondly company. But if you are an advanced learner, let’s look forward to Mondly’s further progress in the future.

References

Mondly: Practice languages in VR on Oculus quest. Meta Quest VR Headsets, Accessories & Equipment. (n.d.). Retrieved January 19, 2023, from https://www.oculus.com/experiences/quest/4214902388537196/

Category, M. in N. (2022, December 13). Mondly VR Multiplayer: The future of language learning in virtual reality. Mondly Blog. Retrieved January 19, 2023, from https://www.mondly.com/blog/take-a-glimpse-into-the-future-with-mondly-vr-multiplayer/

Mondly VR: Language learning immersion. Mondly. (n.d.). Retrieved January 19, 2023, from https://www.mondly.com/vr

*, N., F, K., & TheThailandLife. (2021, July 8). My personal mondly review – learning thai on premium (2021). The Thailand Life | Award-Winning Thai Blog. Retrieved January 19, 2023, from https://www.thethailandlife.com/mondly-review

Advincula, C. J. (2022, November 21). Mondly review: 7 bona fide features with digital advantages – Ling App. ling. Retrieved January 19, 2023, from https://ling-app.com/tips/mondly-review/

Wikimedia Foundation. (2022, December 2). Mondly. Wikipedia. Retrieved January 19, 2023, from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mondly

Super Hot VR

Posted on January 19, 2023 by Huayu Wang

SUPERHOT VR Release Trailer

Introduction:

Superhot VR is an independent first-person shooter (FPS) video game developed and published by Superhot Team. The game originated as an entry in the 2013 7 Day FPS Challenge, which Superhot Team expanded into a browser-based demonstration that September. In August 2019, A rebuilt version of the game to better support virtual reality, Superhot VR, was released for the Oculus Rift, HTC Vive, and PlayStation VR headset devices.

SUPERHOT VR Launch Teaser

Why this game is engaging:

SUPERHOT is a first-person view shooting game that breaks the line between careful strategy and daring fighting. The concept of the game is very engaging. In the game, time only continues when the player moves, and this clever concept of time manipulation gives the player the superhuman reflexes of a slow-motion hero. At the same time, at the end of each level, players can also enjoy and save the movement with the regular timeline.

The level design of SUPERHOT-VR is also engaging. Each level is only the size of the player’s movable range in the real world, allowing the player to move freely in the VR world without causing the player to feel VR motion sickness. Furthermore, each level was divided into several trim levels. Carefully observe each trim level to find the previous level’s route, making the game feel linear even though there are many levels.

At the same time, the art style of SUPERHOT-VR is also very engaging. All items and enemies are displayed in the form of polyhedrons. Every time the player kills an enemy, the enemy will be broken into smaller pieces. This art style can not only give players the pleasure of smashing glass but also reduce the requirements for the host and allow more players to play this game.

What Can Be Improved:

One of the shortcomings is that the game production team needed to add more save points. The production team hopes to let players experience each primary level’s linear flow and story. But players will have a strong sense of frustration when they die because once they die, they will need to start all over again. I often get killed by the last enemy and replay the same level again when I play.

Another point that can be optimized is that there are only few weapons in the game, only individual melee weapons (katana, fist, etc), throwing weapons (wine bottles, wine glasses, etc.), and some firearms (pistols, shotguns, etc). It’s also missing random events to change each level at different times. The game only support story and endless mode. These make the process of each game similar, and players will inevitably feel bored in repeated games.

Conclusion:

Superhot VR’s ingenious concept of time manipulation allows players unparalleled reflexes. Smashing wave after wave of glassy enemies while deftly dodging threats with body movement is an exciting and worthwhile challenge in both stories and endless modes.

Citation:

Stapleton, D. (2017, August 4). Superhot VR Review. IGN. Retrieved January 19, 2023, from https://www.ign.com/articles/2017/08/04/superhot-vr-review

Superhot VR on steam. SUPERHOT VR on Steam. (n.d.). Retrieved January 19, 2023, from https://store.steampowered.com/app/617830/SUPERHOT_VR/

YouTube. (2016, December 5). Superhot VR release trailer. YouTube. Retrieved January 19, 2023, from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pzG7Wc6mbwE

YouTube. (2019, May 21). Superhot VR Quest launch teaser. YouTube. Retrieved January 19, 2023, from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q9qNP5EPFEE

Beat Saber Game Based on Huawei VR Glass 6DoF

Posted on January 19, 2023 by Jin Yixuan

When I was first exposed to VR games, my friend told me that Beat Saber was absolutely the first choice for experiencing VR games. So my first VR experience was the Beat Saber game based on the Huawei VR Glass 6DoF device. This immersive VR game experience brought me a very memorable and unique experience. After that I also conducted a more in-depth investigation and understanding of VR games and equipment, the following will talk about my feelings and thoughts about the VR game itself and the VR wearable device.

Beat Saber – A Go-to for Introducing Anyone to Virtual Reality Games

Introduction

Beat Saber is a virtual reality music game developed by Beat Games, a Czech independent game developer, in 2018. The game takes place in a surreal neon environment where players use a pair of contrasting colored sabers to cut through squares representing musical beats. It become the highest-rated game on Steam less than a week after its early access release and was awarded Best VR/AR Game in The Game Awards 2019.

Why I like the VR

Unlike the usual games I’ve played, Beat Saber illustrates the appeal of VR technology to the fullest. Using a pair of red and blue lightsabers that appear in my hands, I can cut through oncoming red and blue squares with precision, along with a dynamic rhythm. The process of constantly honing my skills and turning a haphazard action into a precise strike not only gave me a sense of accomplishment, but also gave my body a workout. In this game to have a game of pleasure in the sense of pleasure naturally speaks for itself. When I stepped on the dynamic beat, holding a red and blue lightsaber to precisely turn the square in front of me into two, this is the closest experience I’ve ever felt to Jedi Knight.

Why it is Engaging

First of all, Beat Saber has a very attractive soundtrack. The game’s soundtrack is carefully selected by the production team, and all of the music has a strong sense of motion and rhythm, including snare drum, bass, hip-hop, rock and other styles of music. Players can’t help but shake their bodies when they hear the music and want to carry on to the next song after playing one. Another engaging feature of this game is the tactile feedback. When hitting the block with the lightsaber simulated by the handle, the handle will then send out a subtle sense of vibration, and each player’s action can get the corresponding feedback. This sense of achievement with feedback can bring a great mood of pleasure.

What features are well done

The theme painting style and color tone of the game

Beat Saber is dominated by two main colors, red and blue, and the main scene is in the form of a dark field with deep lines spreading out in front of the player, bringing a sense of space. The entire game has very science fiction elements of cyberpunk painting style, as well as the gorgeous flow of light effects, the entire game screen looks very dynamic. This form of a dark field will allow players to feel a sense of mystery, and the most important thing is not to take up too much rendering space.

A sense of immersion experience

The immersive experience is the most essential and magical part of VR games, and Beat Saber brings players a direct immersive experience through exquisite scene modeling and rhythm pattern changes, along with scene changes such as dodging walls and bombs. The player’s every movement can get the corresponding feedback, and the fixed-point game to avoid players produce motion sickness. For example, if an oncoming obstacle – the wall, you have to avoid direct impact by crouching or dodging, otherwise it will be game over.

How some features can be improved

A single fixed script lacks the uniqueness of the main character

Beat Saber is oriented more toward a leisure and fitness mini-game, so it lacks the completeness and complexity of the screenplay. And as the main character of the game, we can not decide the development of the screenplay based on behavior. Perhaps the future of VR games is to achieve the game of each complete script completed by the player’s personal participation, the game designer just designed a virtual environment and defines some events. How the specific plot development, each player may not be quite the same. Just like in Westworld, it will be up to the players to complete their own stories in the future, and the designers will just create an environment for the players to happen.

Gameplay is relatively simple

In Beat Saber, each time you cut the block there will be laser splashes, bringing very realistic feedback. But in fact, this game is fundamentally a game of cutting blocks, and its gameplay is very single. Players only need to wave their arms and cut the cubes, and did not highlight the uniqueness of VR to the game. It is believed that as VR technology continues to mature, as well as facial recognition, gesture recognition, full-body motion recognition and other technology support, VR games will have a more natural interaction process. The game experience will also move in the direction of more immersive, which are not available before the traditional game. This is also the direction that VR game developers need to work on, and is what players are looking forward to.

Conclusion

Beat Saber as an entry-level VR game, with exquisite game scenes, and high-definition picture quality, combined with innovative red and blue lightsaber chopping cube gameplay. But behind the success of this game is a certain degree of neglect of the uniqueness of VR games. VR games should more focus on unprecedented immersion and natural interaction with reality, which are different from traditional 2D and 3D platform games.

Huawei VR Glass 6DoF

Introduction

Huawei VR glasses 6DoF is Huawei’s product based on the previous 3DoF glasses released in 2021. In addition to the 3 rotation angles, 6DoF VR glasses can also be displaced back and forth, left and right, up and down, so you can really integrate into the virtual world and interact with all kinds of things, as Huawei said at the launch, “more than just watching movies”.

Why I like the VR

This is the first VR glasses I’ve come across, and it’s also the preferred device for HarmonyOS mobile users to experience VR, and it gives me a very unique immersive experience. I can freely explore the universe, immerse myself in the beauty of the world, integrate my body into the virtual world to interact with it, and experience games that I have not experienced before.

Why it is Engaging

Most of the VR devices we have seen are helmet-shaped, while Huawei VR Glass has taken a different approach by separating the battery and computing chip from the headset, thus being able to make the product so thin and light that it looks like a very stylish pair of premium sunglasses.

What features are well done

Lightweight and convenient to bring

The biggest advantage of Huawei VR glasses is that they are lightweight. The phone can be held in your hand or put in your pocket, so there is no cord tied to it. Because the glasses are very light, even if you wear them for a long time, your nose will not hurt (but if you wear them incorrectly for a long time, you will feel pressure on your head, simply adjust them a little).

Good viewing experience

The resolution of Huawei VR glasses is relatively high, although the crystal lattice is perceptible in the process of use, and there is a sense of limited perspective, the 3D film and Huawei VR glasses are very high adaptability. Wearing VR glasses, users can experience the 3D big screen in their own beds. In addition, because of the ability to mobile projection (VR as a cell phone screen), other non-VR video software content, can also be projected into the giant screen mode, and the viewing effect is very good.

How some features can be improved

Resolution of the VR Glass

Huawei VR Glass is more oriented to the market positioning of movie watching and is not as good as the VR all-in-one machine in the VR game experience. Huawei VR Glass with folding characteristics is more suitable for travel or business trips for a long time in a car. In terms of home utility, its game or viewing technology and resolution are lower since the resolution of VR devices should reach 4K or higher to ensure high-definition degrees.

Dizziness during long-time use

The dizziness that can occur during long-time wear and intense gaming is a problem common to most VR glasses currently available. The essence of this problem is that humans are very sensitive to the mismatch between the vestibular and oscular systems. The vestibule corresponds to the IMU in VR devices (sensing acceleration, directional changes, and ensuring our body balance without falling), while the oscular system corresponds to the camera on the device. However, at this moment, VR devices are unable to simulate the human brain to perceive motion such as acceleration and deceleration. Currently, I can think of a solution to sit on my computer chair to play, because the chair is 360 degrees or 720 degrees to turn up very conveniently and smoothly, so that can significantly alleviate the problem of dizziness. But this method does not apply to games like Beat Saber, which must be operated by standing up.

Conclusion

Huawei VR glasses 6DoF, as Huawei’s continued exploration in the VR market, is a significant upgrade from the previous generation of VR glasses. There is a great improvement in the freedom of VR glasses and the experience of the game, but its resolution and the dizziness generated when wearing them still need to be improved and solved.

References:

Cureton, D. (2021) Huawei launches VR Glass 6DOF headset, XR Today. Available at: https://www.xrtoday.com/virtual-reality/huawei-launches-vr-glass-6dof-headset/ (Accessed: January 20, 2023).

Hunt, C. and Sutrich, N. (2020) Beat saber: Everything you need to know about the VR rhythm game, Windows Central. Windows Central. Available at: https://www.windowscentral.com/beat-saber-everything-we-know-about-vr-rhythm-game (Accessed: January 19, 2023).

Jagneaux, D. (2020) Beat saber PSVR review – the most addictive VR game to date, UploadVR. Available at: https://uploadvr.com/beat-saber-psvr-review-the-most-addictive-vr-game-to-date/ (Accessed: January 19, 2023).

Mishra, Y. (2022) Huawei launched Smart Vision VR Glass that could connect to smartphone, Huawei Central. Available at: https://www.huaweicentral.com/huawei-launched-smart-vision-vr-glass-that-could-connect-to-smartphone/ (Accessed: January 20, 2023).

Staff, G.R. (2019) Here’s every winner from this year’s Golden Joystick Awards, including the Ultimate Game of the Year, gamesradar. GamesRadar+. Available at: https://www.gamesradar.com/Golden-Joystick-awards-2019-winners/ (Accessed: January 19, 2023).

XR for Retail and XR for Rehabilitation

Posted on January 19, 2023 by e0008091

XR For Retail: Perfect Corp AR Diagnostics & Try-ons

Introduction

Perfect Corp is a company that specializes in AR for diagnostics and product try-ons for various consumer products on hands, the face and on the head. They have AR demos for a lot of applications, such as makeup try-ons, accessory try-ons for watches, earrings, rings, eyewear and even dermatological skin issue diagnostics. Their demo store is available here (and this link will bring you to a specific demo on earrings try-ons but there’s a lot more in their demo store).

Why do I like them?

Having worked in the consumer goods industry for the past few years, I like Perfect Corp’s focus on trying to bring about a very accessible alternative to users who may not find it convenient to physically go down to stores to try on the products they are interested in. This is also an interesting solution to business owners finding it difficult to stretch their resources across many locations to serve their entire consumer base across multiple geographies. By tailoring these technologies to create AR experiences for multiple brands, Perfect Corp’s AR try-ons also provide great value to both businesses and their consumers in how the technologies will be used to create coherent and strong brand experiences. Perfect Corp’s AR try-ons and diagnostics serve a big need which conventional product pack shots and even newer 3D product previews are unable to provide.

Top features which make it engaging

Real-time realistic movements and interactions

In the earring demo, you can really see how the earrings swing around when you move your head and it helps to really improve the realness of the experience. These are experiences which you simply cannot recreate with images or even having only the 3D model of the product. They require certain physics models in how the product will interact with human motion and these all help to elevate the consumer experience in the comfort of the consumers’ own location of choice.

In-depth and well-represented information reflecting the real world inputs

In the skin analysis demo , you can easily find out about your technical skin age, and have a report on the skin issues you’re facing. The application pinpoints exactly the visual features which it’s using to generate the scores, and they present all these visual features in a way which users can easily digest. They also prove that the information they retrieve from the images are highly correlated with actual dermatological assessments (Cook et al., 2022) which further prove that AR can not only be used for generating pleasant consumer experiences in try-out but also very effective communication for actual medical information about ourselves.

Smooth, intuitive controls

Perfect Corp has done a lot of groundwork in creating a seamless switch between what is real and what is virtual. If you look into their shade finder AR application, they automatically find the correct shade of makeup based on your facial skin shade and apply it to the face. The controls to slide between reality and the virtual face with makeup on are very intuitive to users and allows them to really see and compare what they can expect before and after applying makeup. This is a very powerful use of AR for try-ons which cannot easily be matched in the real world without spending a lot of time applying and removing the makeup.

What features can be improved and how?

Lighting

I find the textures and lighting of the try-on products a bit off from what is considered as realistic to consumers. It looks similar but you can easily tell that the objects are fake, not because of the geometry or the physics but mainly because of the lighting on the materials. I think with better lighting mechanisms this product can really be elevated to a whole new level. Especially if you try the nail AR, you’ll find that the coloured mask over the nails hardly changes even when you change the ambient lighting and direction of the light source. If we can incorporate lighting effects properly, the try-ons will definitely become even more engaging and believable.

Perception of objects

Although many of the try-ons are quick accurate and responsive, there are still times whereby the detections will flicker and disappear, such as in their nail AR. By not only implementing instance segmentation on each frame, but by also adding on object tracking algorithms (Apicharttrisorn et al., 2019) across the past x number of frames, it could be that we could have a better hold on keeping stable AR experiences which will allow for more realistic interactions.

Conclusion

I believe that AR for retail is going to be a huge field for further exploration, and Perfect Corp’s implementation is a frontrunner in this space. With improvements in real-time perception and lighting, I believe AR for retail will become a huge force for businesses and consumers that enables impressive and immersive brand experiences, through meaningful product interactions and discovery all in the comfort of the consumers’ location of choice.

References

Wang, Y., Ko, E., & Wang, H. (2021). Augmented reality (AR) app use in the beauty product industry and consumer purchase intention. Asia Pacific Journal of Marketing and Logistics.

Cook, M. K., Kaszycki, M. A., Richardson, I., Taylor, S. L., & Feldman, S. R. (2022). Initial validation of a new device for facial skin analysis. Journal of Dermatological Treatment, 33(8), 3150-3153.

Apicharttrisorn, K., Ran, X., Chen, J., Krishnamurthy, S. V., & Roy-Chowdhury, A. K. (2019, November). Frugal following: Power thrifty object detection and tracking for mobile augmented reality. In Proceedings of the 17th conference on embedded networked sensor systems (pp. 96-109).

XR for Rehabilitation: Neuro Rehab VR

Introduction

Neuro Rehab VR is a company using tailored VR experiences to facilitate patient-specific rehabilitation exercises. They provide rehabilitation across multiple functional areas, such as over the upper body, lower body, cervical function, for pain management, and cognitive functions.

They have certification from the American Physical Therapy Association for using VR as a therapeutic intervention, and is also an FDA-registered therapy system covered by insurance in the US. Videos on the use of this system can be found at their official website.

Why do I like them?

I think Neuro Rehab VR presents a new paradigm to rehabilitation. It’s no longer about repetitive movements and performing various exercises to build up our bodily functions. Rehabilitation is a very important and tailored process in which we have experts guiding us on how we can attain or regain certain key functions with our bodies. In the past, I’ve gone for pain management sessions for the lower back and the therapist would often prescribe me with certain exercises for me to perform regularly. However, these sessions were quite dry and it didn’t feel like something I would enjoy. Eventually, I stopped going for them. By creating experiences which achieve rehabilitation through games and activities, I like how Neuro Rehab VR turns things around to allow people to focus on spending more time on having fun and enjoying new experiences instead of focusing on what we would normally consider as therapy time.

Top features which make it engaging

Reduced monotony with targeted experiences using various equipment and scenarios

I think it is great that Neuro Rehab VR is able to create new scenes and activities which are tailored to different rehabilitation aims, which can help to motivate and energize users into putting in more effort into the rehabilitation, as well as maintain interest in regularly working the particular bodily function they are training for. They often also use additional things on top of the headset in order to create the right environment for rehabilitation, such as upper body harnesses, or elastic bands held by the therapist. Since they can easily adjust the difficulty or change the settings of the game, they are also able to tweak the experience for different users to maximize the results for them. From the videos, we are also able to see that the users are a lot more motivated and enthusiastic about putting in a lot more effort into achieving the game objectives. Patient video testimonials (such as this one) also stressed on how they were able to get a good workout as compared to the past sessions which may have been more mundane.

Safe environment

In some of their VR settings, they help users with common tasks like getting items from grocery shelves and these are safe environments for the users to practise and regain confidence in daily activities. Instead of going into a real physical environment where there may be fall risks and confidence issues, the VR setup together with safety harnesses provides a new environment where users can refamiliarize themselves with everyday tasks.

What features can be improved and how?

Realism of objects

Many of the games showed in the demos were largely based on 3D models which were very cartoonish and polygons with the same color shading across the entire object. If we are able to render more realistic scenarios that may help to increase the engagement of the users even more.

More varied sceneries

One of the key benefits of being in a virtual world is that you can create beautiful sceneries which are out of this world. Some users undergoing rehabilitation may have physical constraints which prevent them from visiting places with beautiful sceneries or being tourists in foreign lands. If we can create sceneries which are beautiful to these users, it could increase the level of immersion and possibly enhance the effectiveness of the experience on the goals. They could benefit from having better rendering for natural foliage or for indoor materials in order to achieve this.

Conclusion

VR-based rehabilitation is a very good use of VR for motivating users to achieve functional and important objectives. By improving further on the graphics and toolkits for creating great environments, this should be a very ripe space for widespread adoption and providing a great experience to users requiring rehabilitation.

References

Cameirão, M. S., Oller, E. D., & Verschure, P. F. (2010). Neurorehabilitation using the virtual reality based Rehabilitation Gaming System: methodology, design, psychometrics, usability and validation. Journal of neuroengineering and rehabilitation, 7(1), 1-14.

Burdea, G. C. (2003). Virtual rehabilitation–benefits and challenges. Methods of information in medicine, 42(05), 519-523.

Schultheis, M. T., & Rizzo, A. A. (2001). The application of virtual reality technology in rehabilitation. Rehabilitation psychology, 46(3), 296.

Echo Arena – The Best Free Game on Oculus

Posted on January 19, 2023 by chuyouchia

Fending off enemies while throwing the disc

The best free game is a heavy title for any title (pun intended) on the Oculus, given the thousands of game titles in the Oculus Quest Store. For Harry Potter Fans, Echo Arena stands out as a Quidditch style game, where the players fly through the game arena and toss discs at their goals to gain points, while fighting off their opponents with melee combat. The thrill of E-Sports, experienced from the comfort of our room, is truly a unique VR experience which can open your eyes to the rule breaking physics that can only be achieved in VR (or in space).

The Weightless Experience

One of the best things that Echo Arena has to offer you is the experience of weightlessness. This is by no means an easy feat, especially because the user is not truly weightless while playing the game. While playing it, you are still physically standing on the floor, rather than suspended midair. As you can imagine, the game has to do quite a bit to convince your brain that you are flying, not walking. However, it also has to ensure that you do not feel motion sickness, so that you can fully enjoy and engage in its thrilling and combative gameplay.

Gameplay: Player scores by throwing a disc into the goalpost

Ru Weerasuriya, president and creative director of the game’s developer, Ready At Dawn Studios, in an interview that the team studied what makes you sick and realized that it’s all about sending the right signals to the brain. If you grab at something and you can actually clench something in the game, that doesn’t make you sick because it is a one-to-one interaction where your hands in VR do exactly what your brain wants them to do. [1] Thus, the mechanic of grabbing and pushing off objects in the arena was added to Echo Arena to support player movement, a crucial aspect to allow players to fully engage with weightlessness.

Through these design tricks and seamless motion tracking, Echo Arena unlocks weightlessness for the player like no other game can.

Presence and immersion

Outside of weightlessness, the game also achieves total immersion and a delightful sense of presence through the use of spatial audio and reduced motion blur. Immersion is fundamentally about tricking one’s body that they are in a different space, based on the visual, audio and all other senses.

Spatial audio was also incorporated to make the arena feel real and allow users to communicate or locate their teammates freely via team chat. The subtle angles of the audio direction allows users to truly feel as though they are physically co-located with their teammates and even swivel their head to accurately find the location of their teammates.

In other VR titles like Rec-Room, when the player moves, one’s vision narrows, to allow users to feel less motion sickness as the brain and eyes are only exposed to what is directly in front of them. This approach, however, exposes and break the sense of immersion that the player has. Instead of doing that, Echo Arena limits the movement speed to 5 meters per second for the players, so there is no need for narrowing the vision and motion blur. Hence, the user can actually feel like it is a more natural environment, contributing to the sense of immersion and real life.

Suggestions for improvements

The only problem I see with Echo Arena is its unintuitive throwing mechanic. I am unsure if the mechanic was intentionally made to be different than throwing a frisbee in real life, but I often found myself wondering about the physics of the discs, whenever I attempt to toss it with the principles that I learnt for frisbee in real life. I would suggest the developers to incorporate more throwing training and guidance into the game, especially for users who are unable to hit their goals accurately and easily during the first few tries in the tutorial stage.

Conclusion

Echo Arena is an incredibly fun and interesting game, coupled with multiplayer combat and easy to understand game mechanics. I highly recommend any beginners getting started with VR to try this game out, and experience for themselves the unique possibilities only afforded to VR players. Since it came out in 2019, it has been a major hit on the Oculus platform and I can only imagine more players loving this title as VR adoption continues to ripple across the world.

Citations:

1 – https://venturebeat.com/business/echo-arena-hands-on-gameplay-of-zero-gravity-multiplayer-in-vr/

Half-Life: Alyx

Posted on January 19, 2023 by TT

What is VR?

Virtual Reality (VR) in gaming and entertainment: Virtual reality is a technology that allows users to immerse themselves in a computer-generated environment. VR is often used in gaming to provide a more realistic and immersive experience. In the following passage, I will share a successful VR game called Half-Life: Alyx to explain how it gives players an immersive experience.

What is Half-Life: Alyx?

Half-Life: Alyx is a first-person shooter video game developed and published by Valve Corporation. It is a prequel to the Half-Life series and takes place between the events of Half-Life and Half-Life 2. The game features a new protagonist, Alyx Vance, and utilizes virtual reality technology to immerse players in the game world. It was released in March 2020.

What features make it engaging?

Easy to get started

Whether you’re new to VR or not, Half-Life: Alyx is incredibly accessible, with four difficulty settings and three movement options, all of which can be swapped at any time. Even if you’re in full motion, clever use of the “jump” teleportation mechanism allows you to easily reposition settings without having to go back to the main menu.
It feels great to control Alyx in this game, thanks to the gravity glove, which helps to manipulate tools and items in the environment. If you see a large piece of resin (currency used for weapon upgrades), you can reach out and flick your wrist back. It will fly towards you, and then when it reaches you, you grab it. This never stops feeling satisfying, and combining it with other operations such as storing ammunition on my shoulder and managing more complex weapon reloading, feels immediately intuitive and easy to grasp. Finally, I used my hands independently like a pro, unless any enemy jumped on me, and my panicked movements made me pull the trigger on the empty gun and scramble back to find breathing space.

Playing in an immersive world

The desolate world of Half-Life has never been more vibrant. Whether you’re marveling at the disgustingly realistic guts on corpses in the sewers or counting the teeth on the ceiling barnacles waiting to suck passers-by, the gorgeous environment is immersive. I remember one time when I watched for almost a minute, a head crab crawled over a pile of luggage towards me, pulled down the bag, and fell on its back, unscripted to show off the game’s impressive physics. The intricate faces follow me through the conversation and the beautiful scenery takes my breath away.

Combat isn’t a highlight, but it still creates exciting moments. You’ll find only three weapons, all of which can be equipped with game-changing upgrades like grenade launchers or laser sights. I learned to throw clever grenades, move carefully through the environment, and loot corpses in battle, which is enhanced by lifting the corpse with my hands to gain ammo and health hidden in my back pocket. It’s both satisfying and pathological. Shooting, reloading, and switching weapons all feel great in VR, thanks to responsive controls and cleverly designed guns that subtly highlight the desired action. For example, you forgot to pull back the red dark light on the pistol slide rails to help remove a lot of frustration about not knowing why your gun won’t fire. Ducking behind the cover feels natural, and listening for enemy reloads before popping out is satisfying.
Combat is an important part of the journey, but so is puzzle-solving. When you go to unlock various joint technologies, some hacking puzzles pop up. None of them are very complicated, but the combination of a terrifying atmosphere and an immersive experience makes the whole decryption process equally exciting.

Detailed scenes

Detail is one of the things Valve does best. And the environments look amazing. You can see the hairs on the legs of the bloodthirsty, turducken-sized head crabs as they leap at your face trying to eat your brain – although counting hairs is hardly the first of your concerns at a moment like that because animal instincts kick in and cause a jolt of panic. Healing stations squash a gross antlion grub in a vial and then inject its juices into your fingers through delicate robotic needles. Just about every poster or newspaper clipping you see up on a wall is fully written. Smashing open a supply crate yields a shower of packing peanuts as well as items.

Your hands are real objects in the world that collide with everything.

In Half-life: Alyx you can even see the dirt under Alyx’s fingernails. It’s a simple thing, but it’s not often that you see that level of fine detail in a VR game. Usually, virtual hands are either low-detail ghostly apparitions or gloved. It’s also remarkable that you can interact with all of the objects in this virtual world. I’ve never seen such a level of physical interactivity in a VR game before. Physics plays a huge role because the vast majority of stuff that isn’t nailed down can be picked up and tossed around. Even better, your hands are real objects in the world that can collide with everything realistically. Moves like sweeping your hand across a table to dramatically wipe everything off of it, pushing on a door – not its handle, but anywhere on it – to open it, and having to carefully move your hand between two bars in a fence instead of simply reaching through it like a ghost all make a huge, huge difference in establishing a feeling of presence in this world.

Possible Improvements

In Half-Life: Alyx, although there are three ways to move: “Teleport”, “Flash” and “Keep Sliding”. The first-person movement still can’t be as immersive as the visuals. Unfortunately, high-end devices such as wearable positioners, vests, gloves, and gimbal treadmills have low adoption. It is hoped that in the future, more inexpensive and applicable hardware devices will emerge to support immersive experiences of virtual reality technology.

Although there is a problem with how to move in first-person VR, we can still consider choosing third-person or reducing or even not moving in first-person, such as The Lab, Beat Saber, and SuperHot VR.

Conclusion

Half-Life: Alyx received acclaim for its graphics, voice acting, narrative, and atmosphere, and has been cited as VR’s first killer app. It was nominated for numerous awards and won “Best VR/AR” at the 2020 Game Awards. It is a successful epoch-making VR game that I greatly enjoy playing Half-Life:Alyx and had a wonderful experience in the virtual world!

Reference

https://store.steampowered.com/app/546560/HalfLife_Alyx/

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Half-Life:_Alyx

https://uploadvr.com/half-life-alyx-locomotion/

https://www.roadtovr.com/half-life-alyx-trailer-views-mainstream-gaming-spotlight/

VR puzzle game: I Expect You To Die

Posted on January 18, 2023 by yeyutong

What is it about?

I Expect You To Die is a VR escape room-style puzzle game developed by Schell Games. The player plays the role of a secret agent and engages in missions such as escaping death situations and stopping evil plans of world domination. In each mission, the player is thrown into a puzzle box, and is required to use whatever that is available around them as well as their problem-solving skills to clear the mission.

What makes it engaging?

I Expect You To Die simulates a real-life escape room environment, with the player’s point-of-view changes according to the player’s postures, such as bending down and turning around. The usual text comments are also replaced by a humorous voice, which contributes to the immersive environment.

Another detail worth noting is that the player’s hand gets hidden when grabbing any item, which prevents the problem of hand model intersecting with the item during grabbing. While some research has shown that a non-disappearing hand during grabbing improves the immersive experience by increasing the ownership of the player [1], it is hard to notice that the hand disappears during the actual game play, therefore does not hinder with the immersive experience in practice.

Apart from the immersive VR environment, this game also provides players with great freedom in interacting with the items and the environment. Unlike traditional escape room games, this game also encourages creativity by allowing more than one way to complete each mission – just like how problems can be solved in the real world.

What features are well done?

Firstly, time limits are implemented when certain conditions are triggered, for example when a dynamite is being lit. This allows game over to happen frequently – something too costly for a real-life escape room to implement. It is also part of the experience for the player to watch things going wrong in different ways, as there is great freedom in the different actions that players choose to take under pressure situations.

Secondly, this game uses hand-controller buttons to achieve telekinesis, and the player solves all the puzzles in stationary, without having to teleport or move away from the initial position. While it may seem restrictive, it allows the player to focus on the puzzle solving, and also reduces risks of VR sickness from locomotion [2].

Last but not least, this application implemented well-designed onboarding tutorials for the player to try out and practice each gameplay action before embarking on each mission stage. This is an important plus point especially for VR games, where there may be players who are unfamiliar with using the VR hand controllers.

Fig. 1: Screenshot of onboarding tutorial

What can be improved?

In traditional puzzle games played on PC or mobile devices, usable items are usually kept in the inventory and items have indications of whether they can be assembled. In this game, there is no visual hints showing how to use the items or whether they are correctly used, which simulates the difficulty of escaping in a real-life setting. However, I do think that for minor puzzles, such as piecing torn documents together, there can be visual checkpoints to indicate completion.

Next, there can be more continuity in the storyline of the game. The current game connects the mission stages only via an agent room for mission release. There can be better character and story development across the stages.

In addition, puzzles involving NPCs can be introduced to provide more possible ways of interaction. In appropriate storylines, this can further heighten the tense or horrific atmosphere the player experiences.

Finally, as a puzzle game, a question to consider is retaining players after all stages are cleared. A potential enhancement is to introduce multiplayer features, for example allowing other player to sabotage during each mission stage.

Fig. 2: Screenshot of I Expect You To Die

Conclusion

In general, I Expect You To Die is an engaging escape room-style puzzle game that is worth trying out, and has the potential of expanding to a significant VR game series.

[1] A. Adkins, L. Lin, A. Normoyle, R. Canales, Y. Ye, and S. Jörg, “Evaluating grasping visualizations and control modes in a VR game,” ACM Transactions on Applied Perception, vol. 18, no. 4, pp. 1–14, 2021.

[2] D. Saredakis, A. Szpak, B. Birckhead, H. A. Keage, A. Rizzo, and T. Loetscher, “Factors associated with virtual reality sickness in head-mounted displays: A systematic review and meta-analysis,” Frontiers in Human Neuroscience, vol. 14, 2020.

VR in Medical Training

Posted on January 18, 2023 by thaddyz

Utilising VR for medical training is one area that caught my attention. Currently medical school is one of the costliest trainings costing more than SGD833,000 in the NUS Yong Loo Lin School of Medicine. Compared to an engineering degree which cost SDG206,000.

What is Osso VR?

Osso VR is a start-up founded in 2016 that primarily develops a VR training platform for surgical process training in the medical field. The company’s goal is to provide surgical training to medical staff and students reducing the constraints and limitations such as cost, location, and time.

Osso VR utilises both the virtual reality element to construct a surgical room with the goal of providing an accurate surgical environment complete with tools and patients for medical personal to go test their surgical processes and skills without risking a real person’s life and without the need for cost of equipment and time to set up a surgical room. The company’s solution also integrated a metaverse aspect allowing other medical personnel to join the room and observe or assist the head surgeon allowing practice for the full surgical team and allowing onlookers to observe the process.

Why is it engaging?

Osso VR is engaging as not only does it simulate a medical environment to immerse the user into the setting, but it can be complete with medical tools found in a fully prepared surgical room which the user can interact with and a virtual patient the user can conduct surgery on with the provided medical tools. The solution also enables other members to join in the virtual environment where the users can interact with one another to involve the users in a group level surgical process.

The metaverse feature which allows different users to join the session allows for a new form of remote engagement by medical experts to guide students or trainees which further enhances the training experience through interpersonal engagement.

What features are well done?

The surgical tools introduce in the software are accurate to that of the surgical ward with great animations and illustrations of their operating process giving detail of the process that allows someone as unfamiliar to the surgical process such as myself to understand the process.

What features can be improved and how?

One main disadvantage of the solution is utilizing oculus hand controllers to tract hand movement and using the device to pick up and operate the various surgical tools which is inaccurate as the operating process of the tool is different in terms of ergonomics and interaction as compared to pressing buttons on the oculus controller.

A potential solution could be to integrate hand-tracking tools to track the hand gestures and hand movement to be recreated in the virtual environment which would familiarize the user on interacting with the surgical tools.

My Conclusion

Overall, the software is extremely creative providing outstanding interaction and engagement which allows the user to experience a close to real-world experience at a lower cost, less time required to set up, and accessibility as the user can access the training room from anywhere in the world with a good network. Additionally, this solution allows users to have certain engaging features such as assessments to allow evaluations without the need for a human evaluator and the process is easily repeatable even by one user himself. This tool will prove important to advancing the training in the medical industry and make the training more widely available and accessible.

IKEA Immerse: XR for Online Shopping in a post-pandemic world

Posted on January 17, 2023 by Peter

The COVID-19 pandemic has greatly changed people’s lives around the world. Despite the real-world inconvenience caused by the coronavirus pandemic, applications utilizing XR technology are booming to create convenience and enhance user experience.

In the post-pandemic world, people are reluctant to walk into crowded stores and rather purchase anything they want online. According to Statista, more than 20% of the sales are bound to take place on the internet by 2022. Brands like IKEA were among the first to realize and jump in on the opportunity. They refined their e-commerce side of things to prove an all-around better experience for their customers.

IKEA has created an entire app from the ground up dedicated to XR. The app, called IKEA Immerse, helps users and customers to create, experience, and share their own configurations in a virtual living and kitchen room set.

Why do I like it?

I like this application because IKEA Immerse invites consumers to experience, design, and create in mixed reality. Instead of choosing from what has been provided, we become part of the designers ourselves. We can feel free to design what we want before purchasing.

Why is it engaging?

Enhancing in-store experience

Thanks to XR technology, IKEA Immerse has made it simpler for customers to view and try different furniture before purchasing. Compared with traditional offline shopping, people can more efficiently try different combinations of colors and styles, and customize their preferred lighting and shading.

Social interaction and sharing

With transferable VR equipment, customers could share their instant feelings with friends more conveniently and at a lower cost. In a virtual environment, people could also interact with furniture items through vision, and obtain instant feedback.

Extending the relationship beyond purchase

XR is still playing its role even after purchasing. After-sale service and support can be far more helpful with XR user manuals, instructions, and feature guidance. Instead of having a user interface directly into these physical products, users could engage with their smart refrigerators or ovens via an XR app on their own digital device.

What features are well done and what can be improved?

I think the following features are well-constructed:

Photorealistic representation of the physical world. All the real items are projected into the virtual world in a 3D and highly realistic manner. Textures are rendered so well that you can feel no visual difference between viewing and experiencing virtual reality and the offline store.
More adaptable and diversified features than the physical world. You can adjust the lighting and shading freely by virtue of real-time rendering, beyond physical limits. Eg, night mode can be chosen during the daytime and you can add more shading without having to draw the curtain.

Meanwhile, I think there is still room for improvement regarding the following features.

Adding a sense of touch. When purchasing furniture, both visual and tactile communications are essential for customers. IKEA Immersive has done quite well on vision, but if customers cannot feel if the bed is soft enough, it would definitely affect their purchase decisions merely based on virtual viewing.
Making it more trustworthy. For online shopping and remote experiencing, it is easier for sellers to exaggerate their product effects and attract customers in a dishonest way. If IKEA Immersive could prove the authenticity of products and experience shown in XR devices, I believe it will gain them more advantages compared with similar products.