2023.03.23
Epic officially released the Unreal Editor for Fortnite, marking the beginning of the UGC era for Fortnite. They also released the Verse programming language, but it doesn’t have a C-Like style, which developers find less appealing.
2022.07.22
Epic officially released the Linux version of UE, with the version number 5.0.3: Unreal Engine for Linux
2022.03.30
Sony is also planning to launch a subscription service similar to Microsoft’s XGP, with three tiers: PS Plus Essential, PS Plus Extra, and PS Plus Premium. The current PS Plus corresponds to the lowest tier, PS Plus Essential, and existing rights remain unchanged. The latter two tiers will provide game libraries and online services, but Sony’s first-party blockbusters will probably not be added to the library immediately. The competition from XGP is a good thing, and the spring of game subscriptions has arrived!
Related link: All-new PlayStation Plus launches in June with 700+ games and more value than ever
2021.11.08
Roblox has open-sourced their scripting language developed on Lua 5.1, which features a type system: luau, repository link: Roblox/luau.
2021.10.28
Facebook held Oculus Connect, did not release new hardware, described the vision for the metaverse, and rebranded to Meta. FB’s name change might not be entirely innocent, as it also aims to downplay the impacts caused by FB’s privacy issues.
2021.05.13
Recently, Pico released the Neo3, and HTC released the Vive Focus 3. Pico is aggressively developing the consumer market, while HTC is currently abandoning the consumer market pricing strategy.
For the hardware upgrades of Vive Focus 3, I believe price is a more important consideration, as a sufficiently low price is the core competitiveness for capturing the user market.
Pico’s disadvantage is its weak content platform; without Oculus entering the domestic market, it will capture part of the consumer market locally, but from the perspective of technology and platform development, it is still not a match for Oculus. Vive’s position is insufficient; in the standalone VR market, they have completely fallen behind and are relying on the old profits of PC VR, fully retreating from the consumer side. Betting on the business side is really not a good strategy—especially in light of the explosive growth of Quest 2 devices in the past year.
In the long term, I am optimistic about the Oculus platform, and worth noting are the following two platforms:
- PS VR
- Apple MR
However, the first-generation PSVR primarily served as an accessory for the PS game console and did not make it a strategic platform; it still expands the PS ecosystem. If the second-generation PSVR continues in this direction, it will not pose a challenge to Oculus either. The product from Apple MR is eagerly anticipated; there have been rumors for a long time, but no product has come out yet. It is expected that Apple will release an MR product similar to Hololens. If Apple engages in this, ensuring hardware experience and content platform reliability, it would be a worthwhile opportunity to observe.
2021.04.14
Epic announced that it has secured $1 billion in funding to support its long-term development for the Metaverse, including $200 million from Sony. Epic’s current market value is $28.7 billion.
The Metaverse seems to share the same ideal vision as Tencent’s Pony Ma proposed for a fully immersive Internet, but Epic appears to have more initiative and greater ambitions. Epic’s accumulation in industry applications and its recent launch of MetaHuman are both references to the steps toward making the Metaverse a reality.
2021.01.27
Today Google open-sourced the engineering behind the VR creation application Tilt Brush: The Future of Tilt Brush
Tilt Brush is one of the most representative VR applications from the last VR boom and currently appears to have no dedicated project team maintaining it, which is somewhat lamentable. After the VR wave exploded in 2015, it suddenly fell silent again. I have witnessed a process of capital chasing and then abandoning a trend, but the technology and paths of VR are not without value. I believe it is a technology that is overestimated in the short term but underestimated in the long term.
The last wave of VR also solidified my intention to create products that can continue to generate value and allow more users to experience them. Doing such things means not just taking off with the wind but genuinely solving real demands; that is the path to healthy development.
2021.01.05
Xiami Music is about to close: Xiami Announcement: Thank you for your company all the way
Recently, rumors have been circulating that it is really going to close. Alibaba’s big cultural and entertainment strategy has truly collapsed, and the companies Alibaba invested in are not doing so well. Alibaba is essentially a giant traffic-sucking machine, where all its content platforms are designed to direct traffic back to it, draining these platforms rather than nurturing them.
2021.01.04
Highly praised answers by Zhihu’s little steward criticize Pinduoduo’s public relations statement, and this wave of public relations crisis for Didi seems likely to shift blame to temporary workers.
Indeed, Didi’s approach is even more audacious, shifting the blame to temporary workers from partner companies: Pinduoduo Apologizes: Poor Control of Zhihu Account, Outsourced Employees Misrepresented Personal Opinions, becoming a model of being stripped and still acting like a clown.
Capital expansion shows no respect for life; the death of one person is merely a numerical change. The local supervisory department’s lack of action makes the labor law virtually nonexistent. It also reminds us to pay attention to our physical conditions and not become sacrifices for KPIs.