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Experiencing ITTF eSports Tournament 2024

In November 24, 2024, I traveled to Helsingborg as a viewer of the ITTF eSports tournament 2024.

8 top players of Eleven Table Tennis fought valiantly and gave an amazing show to everyone. I was lucky to meet and chat with them all.

Congratulations to Anto, Aiphaton, and Swiss11Rally for winning the top 3 places!
If you are wondering what equipment they are using:
* Anto: Quest 2 + SolidSlime adapter
* Aiphaton: Quest 3 + Bonwasy adapter
* Swiss11Rally: Quest 3 + SolidSlime adapter

I also had the opportunity to meet the amazing people behind ETT, like carrotstien, Sulik, and Natasha.
Dan from TableTennisDaily was also an important part of the event, as he was one of the commentators on site. We had a lovely chat about the game and the adapters.

There was also an ITTF eSports summit held at the same time. Officers and media from various countries were discussing how to push eSports table tennis forward.

I and excited to participate in this event, and I believe there will be more and more development in the future of VR table tennis!

I’ve made a highlight from the matches in day one:

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CyberPen (Quest 3/3S Penhold Table Tennis Adapter) v2.0 Changelog

Thanks to community feedback, we’ve enhanced several features of the CyberPen Quest 3 Table Tennis Adapter.

(Shop links: UK | EU | other countries with local sellers )

Here are the key differences between v1 and v2:

  • The controller has been moved from near the wrist to between the thumb and index fingers, providing much better balance.
  • Instead of a metal screw, now a 3d printed “bottle cap” is used to fasten the controller, making it even more convenient to install the adapter.
  • The adapter now has a full size paddle surface. This makes the realistic balance easier to achieve, because the tip of the paddle is now further away from the hand.
    (Bonus: It can be used to play real life table tennis, and works fairly well!)
  • A hole is added for attaching the wrist strap, providing more safety.
  • The adapter now has Chinese Penhold handle by default. There is a JPen addon included that can be glued onto the handle and make it into JPen.
  • Improved the strength of various places.

As a real life penholder for 20 years, I am very happy to have finalized CyberPen v2. This has brought the pleasure of using Quest 3 with penhold style to another level, enough to make me put down shakehand style and fully transit into a penholder player. I hope the other penholders are going to feel the joy as well.

The latest version of the SolidSlime Table Tennis Adapter for Quest 3 can be purchased here.

Demo/Installation video:

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Pico 4 Ultra Table Tennis Adapter is Now Available

I’m glad to announce that the the SolidSlime Pico 4 Ultra Table Tennis Adapter is now available!

It utilizes the perfected “bottle cap” design element that’s also used in the Quest 3 adapter v3, to make installing and uninstalling the controller require trivial effort.

Advantages of This Adapter:

  • 🏓Very good tracking quality for both forehand and backhand, especially tuned for Pico 4 Ultra controller and verified by top players.
    • All LED on the controller are visible by the camera during conventional shakehand TT strokes.
  • ✅Shakehand (for penhold, please check other products)
  • 👍Realistically weighted. (205g~235g depending on AAA or AA battery. Can also be customized per request)
  • ⚖️Comfortable balance.
  • 💪Controller does not wobble during swing.
  • 🔢 Various handle shapes(Flared, Straight, Anatomic). (What are these and why should I care?)
  • 🧷The design allows stock wrist straps to be used for minimizing safety risk.
  • ⏩10 second assembly by hand. No screws! 
  • 🪵Wood grain patterns on the handle to ensure slip-free grip.
  • 👍🏻Optional rubber and cutout templates can be provided, to improve the touch feeling.

About Pico 4 Ultra VR headset:

Pico 4 Ultra VR headset is the latest product in the Pico family.
Similar to Quest 3, it uses Qualcomm snapdragon XR2 Gen2 chipset and pancake lenses.
It has 12GB of RAM versus 8GB for the Quest 3; two 2,160 x 2,160 pixels per eye LCD screens versus 2,064 x 2,208 pixels per eye for the Quest 3 (though the Meta’s Quest 3’s screens can hit a refresh rate up to 120Hz rather than 90Hz).
Pico 4 Ultra also has better passthrough cameras than Quest 3.
Full datasheet comparison can be seen here.

The Pico 4 Ultra controller is quite heavy. Including the adapter, the whole racket can be from 205g to 235g, depending on the batteries being used. For most users, I highly recommend getting the AAA->AA battery adapters.

In terms of playing table tennis, a big advantage of Pico 4 Ultra is its controller tracking quality. The Pico 4 Ultra controller has 12 LEDs on itself. Unlike Quest 3 which places all but one of the LEDs on a flat surface, which means the trackable angle is extremely limited, the LEDs on Pico4 Ultra controller are placed around it. This means even when the racket is flipped 180 degrees, the controller still can be tracked well enough to do fast drives and loops. This was impossible to do with Quest 3 controller and adapter.

From my personal experience with Eleven Table Tennis on both Pico4 Ultra and Quest 3, backhand loops on Pico 4 Ultra feels faster/more reactive than that of Quest 3. Forehand loops are quite similar.

All in all, it’s a solid VR headset for people who are looking for alternatives to Quest 3.

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ITTF World Esports Table Tennis Championships 2024: Open for Registering!

The ITTF World Esports Table Tennis Championships 2024 are here, and it’s your chance to become the first-ever Esports Table Tennis World Champion 🏆
Get ready to take your skills to the next level and make history with us this October and November 2024 with the launch of the inaugural ITTF World Esports Table Tennis Championships.

Building on the success of the Olympic Esports Week 2023, the ITTF is once again partnering with For Fun Labs, Inc. and their renowned VR game, Eleven Table Tennis.

This open, mixed-gender, and free-to-enter event will take place in two exciting phases: an inclusive qualification round designed to attract and engage players from around the world, followed by a thrilling final taking the center stage of Helsingborg Arena.

14 October – 17 November: Online Qualifying Stage

Players worldwide are invited to participate in the Online Qualifying Stage. The top two competitors will earn a place in the next stage of the competition. Register until 13 October here to start your journey towards becoming the first-ever ITTF World Esports Table Tennis Champion.

27-28 November: Finals in Helsingborg, Sweden
The Helsingborg Arena will host the Finals, where eight elite players will compete for the prestigious title. The finalists will include the top two qualifiers from the Online Qualifying Stage, the two top-ranked Eleven Table Tennis players, one representative from the host country, and three wildcard entrants.

Gamers of the world, it’s time to hone your skills! Prepare for the qualifiers and stay tuned for more exciting updates 🏓

(Above was copied from https://www.ittf.com/tournament/2982/#information. Please visit the original page for updated info)

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Play Ball Machine Drills to Your Favorite Music

We all know ball machine is a precious tool in getting better at table tennis.
However, training with ball machine can be boring.
The solution? Music! 🎶🏓

Inspired by CHN_Shayne115, I made a ball machine drill pack that can match any song as long as it has a constant BPM (beats per minute).

Video explanation:
(EN) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gmoYa5eBDHI
(JP by Meguri) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gn8JZ_9DhaU

Music Drills cloud code for Eleven Table Tennis:
4008.48

Spotify playlist that includes the 6 example songs:
https://solidslime.net/bpm

To find the BPM (beats per minute) of any song, check websites like:

Show BPMs of songs in a Spotify playlist:
http://sortyourmusic.playlistmachinery.com/

Show BPM of a Youtube song:
https://keybpmfinder.com/

Manually tap and find out the beats of a song:
https://www.beatsperminuteonline.com/

Additional notes:

I recommend to limit your drill BPM to be within 50~100.
100 is super fast, like what Fan Zhendong does in multi-ball training (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kfIx4TbJle8)
So if your song has a higher BPM than 100, divide the number by 2 until it’s within 50~100.

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Getting VR Adapters in South America just Got Easier

Desde o primeiro dia, nossa missão tem sido fornecer aos jogadores os melhores adaptadores de VR que eles merecem. Hoje, estamos empolgados em anunciar que estamos um passo mais perto desse objetivo, ao nos unirmos à WEDOOVR, uma empresa brasileira, para trazer adaptadores SolidSlime de alta qualidade para os jogadores na América do Sul.

A WEDOOVR tem ampla experiência em impressão 3D e design, e seu fundador, assim como todos os nossos parceiros, é um jogador de ETT de alto nível. Sabemos o quanto é crucial ter um ótimo adaptador de VR, e estamos comprometidos em entregar produtos excepcionais e um serviço excelente.

Não deixe de conferir a WEDOOVR!

Desde el primer día, nuestra misión ha sido proporcionar a los jugadores los mejores adaptadores de VR que merecen. Hoy, estamos emocionados de anunciar que estamos un paso más cerca de ese objetivo al asociarnos con WEDOOVR, una empresa brasileña, para llevar adaptadores SolidSlime de alta calidad a los jugadores en América del Sur.

WEDOOVR tiene una amplia experiencia en impresión 3D y diseño, y su fundador, al igual que todos nuestros socios, es un jugador de ETT de alto nivel. Sabemos lo crucial que es tener un excelente adaptador de VR, y estamos comprometidos a ofrecer productos excepcionales y un servicio sobresaliente.

¡No dejes de visitar WEDOOVR!

Since day one, our mission has been to provide players with the best VR adapters they deserve. Today, we’re excited to announce that we’re one step closer to that goal by partnering with WEDOOVR, a Brazilian company, to bring top-quality SolidSlime adapters to players in South America.

WEDOOVR has extensive experience in 3D printing and design, and its founder, like all our partners, is a high-level ETT player. We know how crucial a great VR adapter is, and we’re committed to delivering both exceptional products and outstanding service.

Be sure to check out WEDOOVR!

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Quest 3 Table Tennis Adapter v3.1 Changelog

Thanks to community feedback, we’ve enhanced several features of the SolidSlime Quest 3 Table Tennis Adapter.

(Shop links: UK | EU | other countries with local sellers )

Over the past weeks, we have been testing v3.1 both internally, and externally with several top level ETT players, with very positive feedback. With no more improvements in sight, we proudly present version 3.1 to the world.

Here are the key differences between v3.0 and v3.1:

Comparison

Adapter is now made ~2cm wider.
This will give more room for players with longer fingers.

Optimized the thread and the cap to make it much easier to put the cap on without putting too much stress on the adapter.

Added a hole near the bottom of the controller to let the LED there to shine through and get picked up by the headset cameras.
This has the effect of improving backhand tracking


Now there is a second place to attach the wrist strap: instead of threading the wrist strap into the bottom of the adapter handle.
You can now insert the wrist strap at the bottom of the controller (i.e. its original position).
The adapter will lock in the wrist strap connector, and then you can hook the wrist strap on one of the fingers.

Additionally, some places have been modified to increase structure strength.

The latest version of the SolidSlime Table Tennis Adapter for Quest 3 can be purchased here.

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Eleven VR × PingPong Movie(2002) by MEGURI

Ping Pong (monga) by Taiyō Matsumoto has always held a special place in my heart. Its distinct art style, its coherent and conclusive story, its colorful and growing characters keep drawing me back to reading it or watching the anime adaptation (2014) or movie adaptation (2002).

So when I’ve heard someone recreated the movie trailer in Eleven, of course I need to watch it.

The recreation is amazing! I’m so excited to Peco, Smile, China, Akuma, Dragon, even the coach in Eleven VR. This is a masterpiece.

Thank you MEGURI san.

Video link:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mXpw1KuqOjw

https://www.bilibili.com/video/BV1gi421Q7go

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Announcing SolidSlime Quest 3 Table Tennis Adapter v3.0

Hello everyone, I’m thrilled to introduce the latest innovation in table tennis adapters: SolidSlime v3.0 for Quest 3.

One of the most significant updates involves the attachment of the controller to the adapter: we’ve completely eliminated all metal components. Yes, you read that correctly. There are no screws or nuts involved anymore. Once the controller is inserted into the adapter, a simple “bottle cap” mechanism is used to secure the clamp. The entire installation process now takes just a swift 10 seconds, as illustrated in the following steps:

The handle surface now features a wood grain pattern that replicates the texture of a real racket. This not only enhances aesthetics but also reduces slipperiness by 50%. Early testers have reported a significant increase in confidence while swinging the racket.

The thickness of the “blade” part of the adapter has been increased from 10mm to 12mm. This adjustment brings it closer to the thickness of a real-life racket, enhancing the authentic feel. Moreover, it significantly improves structural integrity; as the saying goes, “it’s much harder to bend a box than a plank.”

Additionally, the position of the controller has been adjusted slightly to enhance tracking for large forehand loop swings.
During the design process, there was debate about whether to make this change, considering the already impressive performance of v2 (as seen in Dimitrij Ovtcharov’s footage).
However, after comprehensive testing conducted by a player with over 3100 Elo in ETT, it was concluded that this adjustment could further improve tracking, especially for forehand looping with wide strokes (deep low to high up). Consequently, the change was made.

I extend my heartfelt gratitude to the Eleven Table Tennis community for their invaluable feedback on previous generations of the adapter.
Special thanks go to wasyl00 on Discord. His brilliant ideas and suggestions have played a pivotal role in shaping the current state of the adapter.

The v3 adapter is currently available for order through our local partners at https://VRPingPong.net .