SoraNews24 —Japan News—

Tokyo Skytree’s operators recently announced a VR viewing experience exclusively available for rainy days, letting guests enjoy Skytree’s amazing views in perpetual VR sunshine.

Japan
(technology • Tokyo • Tokyo Skytree • tourism • VR)

Police break up huge crowd clogging Tokyo sidewalk outside adult virtual reality exhibition

Casey Baseel
Jun 14, 2016

Simulated sex demonstration in Akihabara definitely needed a bigger venue.

Games & Tech, Japan
(Akihabara • crazy • virtual reality • VR • weird)

New attraction lets you relive the thrill of Japan’s deadly log-riding festival

Oona McGee
Jun 11, 2016

It’s known as one of the nation’s top three most bizarre festivals and has resulted in deaths when it’s held every six years, but now you can experience the ride first-hand at any time of year!

Culture, Entertainment, Japan
(cool • cute • festivals • Nagano • Onbashira • rides • Suwa Onbashira Festival • VR)

You can now hang out with Totoro and explore Studio Ghibli worlds in virtual reality

Preston Phro
May 4, 2016

If you’ve got a Vive or Rift at home, you’ll want to stop what you’re doing right now and start downloading!

Entertainment, Japan
(Ghibli • Studio Ghibli • virtual reality • VR)

Trying Virtual Reality for the first time at Bandai Namco’s VR Experience in Odaiba, Tokyo

Cara Clegg
Apr 29, 2016

Two of RocketNews24’s VR virgins get to grips with virtual reality—but does the new technology live up to the hype?

Entertainment, Japan
(Bandai Namco • gaming • HTC Vive • technology • video games • virtual reality • VR)

Bandai Namco announces plans to open virtual reality experience center

Anime News Network
Mar 29, 2016

Bandai Namco announced on Monday that the company will open a virtual reality “experience center” in Tokyo next month.

Games & Tech, Japan
(Bandai • event • gaming • hands-on • Japan news • Tokyo • video games • virtual reality • VR)

Sony officially announces pricing for PlayStation VR add-on for PlayStation 4

Casey Baseel
Mar 16, 2016

Here’s how much real-world money it’ll cost you to play in Sony’s virtual video game domain.

Games & Tech, Global, Japan
(Playstation 4 • PlayStation VR • Sony • technology • video games • virtual reality • VR)

Soon, you’ll be able to play Pac-Man in virtual reality for just a couple of bucks

Mike
Feb 20, 2016

A Japanese startup is working with Bandai Namco to rework the classic arcade game into an immersive virtual reality experience—using a touch-control VR headset that will cost under US$20.

Games & Tech, Global, Japan
(Bandai Namco • Makuake • Namco • pac-man • startups • video games • virtual reality • VR)

VR visit to Japanese swimsuit model’s apartment provides joy for dateless men on Valentine’s Day

Casey Baseel
Feb 15, 2016

Ai Shinozaki, one of Japan’s hardest-working models, extends some VR hospitality.

Japan
(Ai Shinozaki • beautiful women • Idols • Seiji • technology • virtual reality • VR)

J-pop star Kyari Pamyu Pamyu has a virtual reality theme park ride, and it’s open now!

Preston Phro
Jan 15, 2016

The J-Pop star joins the ranks of such musicians as Michael Jackson with new limited-edition USJ theme park ride. Now there’s a sentence I never thought I’d write.

Japan
(Kyari Pamyu Pamyu • theme parks • USJ • virtual reality • VR)

International collegiate VR Contest features simulated pants wetting, creepy ear whispering

Preston Phro
Oct 23, 2015

Virtual reality is a huge topic in the news right now, and with the many VR headsets to be released soon, we imagine the topic will only get hotter. Of course, gamers aren’t the only ones excited about the technology, and plenty of university students have taken a shine to the options virtual reality provides.

The International collegiate Virtual Reality Contest started in 1993, and since then it’s been one of Japan’s best places to find virtual reality project made by students from Japan and abroad. What you might not expect though is just how odd some of these projects can be, with everything from simulated pants wetting to simulated creepy ear whispering.

Japan
(raison d'peepee • technology • university life • virtual reality • VR • wtf)

You can take this 33,000-pound robot for a virtual test drive, watch it dance to J-pop 【Video】

Casey Baseel
Jul 19, 2015

Now that we’re living in the age of giant fighting robots, it’s time to update the list of things a fully capable member of society needs to be able to do. And while many anime make piloting a huge mecha as simple as falling into the cockpit and learning as you go, it’d be irresponsible to assume things are so easy in the real world.

That’s why we sent one of our reporters to check out a 15,000-kilogram (33,000-pound) giant robot that’s on display in Tokyo right now. Not only is it awesome to look at, its creators will even let you take it for a virtual test drive.

Japan
(awesome • cool • events • robots • Super Guzzilla • technology • VR)

Head your way to freedom in curiously titled virtual reality game “Headmaster” 【Video】

Philip Kendall
Jun 19, 2015

Oculus, Sony, Valve, and even Samsung have been heralding virtual reality as the future of gaming and entertainment for what feels like an age now. The few glimpses we’ve seen of the fledgling technology have both impressed and intrigued us, but titles that resemble the kind of games we can expect to play when these companies finally launch their respective headsets are still few and far between.

The unusually named Headmaster, however, is a good example of what we can probably expect to play as the technology finds its feet.

Global
(Headmaster • playstation • Sony • tech • video games • VR • wtf)

Tekken Project’s ‘Summer Lesson’ VR demo now has an English-speaking girl

Anime News Network
Jun 16, 2015

Bandai Namco Entertainment posted an English-language video to preview Tekken Project’s technology demonstration “Summer Lesson,” which Sony will showcase at its E3 booth this week. The video includes a cameo at the end.

Japan
(Anime News Network • English • schoolgirl • Summer Lesson • Tekken • video • VR)

Virtual reality gear Tesla Suit hopes to make gaming a lot more touchy-feely

Master Blaster
May 13, 2015

Video game technology continues to find ways to make things more interactive with the recent releases of VR headsets such as the Oculus Rift and Sony’s Project Morpheus. Still, even with those immersive improvements players aren’t getting a full sense of their virtual environments.

For example, playing a first-person shooter without the actual fear of feeling a bullet slam into your chest can never quite compare to a realistic experience. And even the richest game-world textures can’t match the real thing if you can’t touch them with your own two hands.

UK development team Tesla Studios (no connection to the cars) is aiming to fill those gaps between reality and virtual reality with the Tesla Suit; a full-body haptic feedback device allowing you to touch game environments and characters and let them touch you all over your body.

Europe
(technology • Tesla Studios • Tesla Suit • video games • VR)

Of course Japan wants you to use the Oculus Rift to look up girls’ skirts

Mike
Oct 2, 2014

Today in the most unsurprising non-news possibly ever: Yes, Japan is working on yet another creepy, borderline pedophilic virtual reality “game” where you interact in new, sleazy ways with a possibly underage girl.

This time, the new program in question is an Oculus Rift (the newer DK2, of course) game where the goal is to blow into a microphone and upturn virtual reality hottie Hatsune Miku’s skirt with your comically powerful virtual breath.

Japan
(culture • Oculus Rift • video games • VR • wtf)

You can now get physical with your virtual girlfriend thanks to Oculus Rift and a dubious pillow

Cara Clegg
Aug 4, 2014

Are you starting to feel that your virtual girlfriend just isn’t real enough? Craving the feel of her soft skin against your own? With the technological leaps being made in the field of virtual reality gaming headsets, otaku are being offered the chance to get closer to their digital darlings than ever before. But can they handle it?!