Skip to main content

Hover Junker devs show how to turn your pet into an alien, with the power of VR

One of the reasons Valve and HTC added the Chaperone and camera system to the Vive virtual reality headset was to stop people tripping over their pets while they are flailing around in VR. Stress Level Zero, the developer of Hover Junkers however, went a step further, and put a dog in the game by attaching a controller to its back.

Hover Junkers is a first person shooter that makes good use of the Vive’s hand tracked controllers to offer real-world accurate gun battles in a bleak, desert world. But when the servers aren’t populated with robots and scrap hunters battling it out for various junk around the wasteland, it can be quite a lonely place – so the developers added their dog to the game.

Recommended Videos

Admittedly, when you put the headset on, the little guy doesn’t look much like a dog any more. In-fact he’s transformed into a grotesque, worm/grub-thing, but is animated and more importantly, fully tracked within the game.

Although this is more of an experiment than a realistic way to track your pet, it does open up some interesting potential for in-game pets, especially when you consider that the actual Lighthouse tracking sensors are smaller than a quarter. It’s not beyond the realm of possibility to imagine a dog collar with a few on it, to give you a heads up should your pet wander into the room.

Since we’re talking VR tracked pets, we do need to give props to arguably the first person to (at least publicly) perform this feat. Charles Alexander, the developer of Into the Arcade, managed to get his dog tracking in-game too – and even placed a virtual laser on the dog’s back!

Into Arcade™ for HTC Vive -- Mixed-Reality Gameplay Teaser (dog-tracking thrown in for fun)

While this might be a way to keep your pet safe while your flail in VR, we can imagine even greater possibilities. A VR game that turns your real pet into a virtual gameplay companion could be a hoot — and unlikely anything we’ve seen in gaming before.

Jon Martindale
Jon Martindale is a freelance evergreen writer and occasional section coordinator, covering how to guides, best-of lists, and…
The robot takeover comes another step closer — at Amazon
An Amazon robot working inside one of the company's warehouses.

Amazon is close to having more robots operating inside its warehouses than humans after the e-commerce giant announced this week that it now has more than a million robots working at its facilities around the world.

Over the years, Amazon has spent billions of dollars on the development and deployment of warehouse-based robots, which handle an array of tasks once performed by human workers.

Read more
This Lenovo ThinkPad laptop is over $1,400 off — hurry while stocks last!
The Lenovo ThinkPad T14 Gen 5 Intel laptop on a white background.

Now's an excellent time to take advantage of laptop deals from Lenovo, which has slashed the prices of a wide range of devices for its Black Friday in July sale. Lenovo's ThinkPad laptops are up to 45% off, and here's one of the most interesting offers available with such a discount — the Lenovo ThinkPad T14 Gen 5 at $1,440 off its estimated value of $3,199, so you'll only have to pay $1,759. That's an excellent price for this fantastic productivity tool, but you're going to have to push forward with your purchase as soon as possible because stocks may run out at any moment.

BUY NOW

Read more
Early Prime Day deal: Samsung’s 27-inch Odyssey G3 at its annual low price
Samsung Odyssey G3 gaming monitor on desk with keyboard and headset.

If you're ready to upgrade your monitor, this Samsung deal over at Amazon just might be your best bet. The 27-inch version of Samsung's Odyssey G3 is $130 right now, a full $100 off its regular $230 price and its lowest price of the year. It's a part of early Prime Day deals and a good sampling of what we can expect for the shopping holiday, which officially lands on July 8th. Tap the button below to see it for yourself or keep reading to see why we like this deal and why this should be your next monitor.

Buy Now

Read more