Virtual reality (VR) touchdowns, sitting ringside at WWE and even training yourself to be the best lacrosse goalie possible, we have it all in this week’s round up of the world of VR sport. We always make sure to collate the best and most interesting sporting stories every week, so if you want to keep up to date with all of the latest, make sure to check back with VRFocus often. Just check below for the fascinating VR stories we have this week.
NFL Championship Game VR Broadcaster Rebranded as Maverick VR
NFL fans who access VR content might find that their favourite place to watch VR NFL clips has been rebranded. They’re still completely focused on bringing sporting content to VR fans, of course, they’re just doing it under a new name. Maverick VR, as the company is now named, has deals with sponsors such as Microsoft, Shell Oil and Red Bull, so they’re in it for the long haul.
“When we first started, we were focused on understanding and fine-tuning the amazing VR experiences that high-end VR equipment can provide for parties and events,” said Maverick VR co-founder Devin Regan. “As we’ve grown, we have refined our ability to customize and create branding opportunities within those VR experiences for our clients, and accordingly we’ve seen demand increase for our services from cities across the country. We are proud to have rebranded as Maverick VR as we expanded to providing customized VR activations for private events throughout the United States, and we look forward to wowing the crowd in Minneapolis for the 2018 NFL championship!”
Maverick VR are planning a few immersive NFL experiences that will be an unforgettable VR experience for customers and football fans.
WWE Highlights Coming to VR, Thanks to NextVR
If you’re a World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) fan then if you can’t see it in person, seeing it in VR is definitely the next best thing. Well you’ll be happy to hear that WWE content is coming to a head-mounted display (HMD) near you very soon, thanks to NextVR.
“It’s something you can’t see or experience on television, WWE and VR is a match made in heaven.” said NextVR’s Vice President of content Danny Keens. He also described the test footage as “by far the most compelling VR content I’ve seen.”
Currently the plan is to roll out the WWE content on NextVR’s own platform, but WWE aren’t ruling out the possibility of it coming to WWE Network as additional content.
VR Lacrosse Training Coming from Father and Son Duo
A high school lacrosse coach and his software developer son have teamed together to create a comprehensive lacrosse goalie VR training videogame. Players are placed in the goal and have to return various shots of various velocities and trajectories.
Doug Nelson, the father, wanted to make an application any athlete could use; “Our decision was to make the systems we design affordable for every athlete. Obviously, the barrier to entry right now is the cost of the hardware… Those prices will continue to drop. In the meantime, we believe the answer is for the sport organizations (elite team, middle school, high school, college, etc.) to buy the hardware to be shared among their athletes.”
VRWorld reports that the Nelsons will soon be moving into other sports to improve their training software, and are pursuing a patent on their technology.
If the Nelsons or anyone else have anything further to share when it comes to the world of VR and sport, you’ll be sure we’ll report, so keep reading VRFocus.