Charles Singletary – Page 26 – Augmented & Virtual Reality Confabulation

January 20, 2017

‘Lawnmower Man’ Is Being Re-imagined For Virtual Reality

25 years ago, the cult sci-fi classic 1992 film “The Lawnmower Man” transported audiences into a thrilling narrative built on virtual reality. In it, a young man with mental disability (Jobe Smith, played by Jeff Fahey) uses VR to evolve intellectually at an incredible pace. The film takes an incredibly dark turn, though, and essentially turns into a science fiction recreation of the classic horror film Carrie. JauntVR, one of the leaders for 360-degree video content, has announced at the Sundance Film Festival that they’re working on a line of VR films for 2017 with a re-imagined Lawnmower Man being one of them.

“The original movie was a film of unsurpassed imagination and creativity with its ground-breaking use of VR back in 1992,” says Jim Howell, one of the holders of the rights for the film, in a press release for the announcement. “Together with Jaunt we look forward to a contemporary team bringing to life a whole new world of VR; a world of immersive entertainment and communication. We are very excited to be working with Jaunt to create a VR realization of the film.”

It’s frankly a little surprising that there hasn’t been a direct remake or reboot in the 25 years since the film debuted. Marrying the film’s ideas with actual VR headsets will hopefully produce a top-quality remake.

JauntVR also announced a handful of other VR features at Sundance. They’re working with Robert Schwentke, the man responsible for The Time Traveler’s Wife and the Divergent series of films, on a 12-episode sci-fi/thriller called Luna. They are also teaming with the director of Harold and Kumar 3D, Todd Strauss-Schulson, for a stoner comedy called Bad Trip that will recreate drug-induced hallucinations for the viewers.

Stay tuned to UploadVR as we cover more of the announcements at this year’s Sundance Film Festival, and check out our previous report on the VR/AR experiences being shown during Sundance’s New Frontier exhibit.

Tagged with: 360, 360-degree video, Lawnmower Man, media, VR

January 19, 2017

Nike’s New AR Feature Lets You Display Different Styles On Physical Shoes

Augmented and virtual reality are slowly but surely being integrated into shopping experiences worldwide. At CES for example, GAP and Asus teamed up for an AR shopping app that may point toward the future of mobile shopping engagement.

And previously we covered Adidas and their promotion of a new soccer shoe using virtual reality throughout Europe. Now, a Nike store in Paris is letting customers get a look at different shoe colors using augmented reality.

While the GAP application allows customers to get a look at clothing on mannequins that hopefully reflect their own shape, this AR experience from Nike lets you take an actual white shoe and switch between different color styles on the fly. SmartPixels, a French company specifically specializing in augmented retail programs, is responsible for this new development and their work interfaces with Nike’s existing online NikeID customization service.

You have to use an in store tablet as opposed to being able to use your own smart device because the display actually projects a hologram onto an actual shoe. Unfortunately, only three styles of shoe are available for AR customization: AirMax, LunarEpic Low, and Cortez. Despite the limited shoe options, this along with our previously reported retail AR and VR initiatives will hopefully serve as gateways into the technology and inspire developers and major retailers to invest more time and money into their work so that options are expanded upon. NikeID has an expansive database already, so it shouldn’t be very long before the AR options grow if people show genuine interest in using it.

If you’re near Avenue des Champs-Élysées in Paris, France, pop over into the store and give this a shot. It’s a cool idea in its current form and hopefully, in the future, there will be some way for consumers to use an app at home to project the entire shoe onto their foot through a phone or glasses display and get an idea of what they’d like to purchase.

Tagged with: ar, augmented reality, france, Nike, Paris, shopping

January 18, 2017

‘Fusion Wars’ Review: A Tanky Tron-Inspired Treat

Being dropped into the cockpit of various vehicles is one of the most fun and immersive experiences of VR. Whether in competitive arenas or in outer space, throwing on your VR headset and settling into your powerful ship or mech is empowering and fun. Estudiofuture specializes in 3D animation, video production, and VR experiences across educational and entertainment disciplines and their new game, Fusion Wars, is aiming to bring a white-knuckled arena shooter to the Samsung Gear (with an eventual Rift release also planned).

In Fusion Wars you pilot a tank in a futuristic arena with a very Tron-like aesthetic to it. Those aware of the PS VR exclusive, Battlezone, will immediately recognize the aesthetic. There are bright colors and sharp edges with not too many layers to the visuals, so it maintains a degree of simplicity and sameness across the levels. The sound is dominated by laser beams and rapid weapon fire coupled with explosions over the top of a song that is likely influenced by the most recent Tron: Legacy film. It seems a missed opportunity not to at least have a slight design difference and different music on the various levels.

The game has full (required) controller support, so you pilot a propelled tank that you can move forward and backward with your controller’s triggers. You boost and fire with your hands while you aim at your targets by turning your head and you take out enemies with two firing modes you switch between while seeking out an objective. It takes some getting use to, especially when attempting to move, aim, and fire in reverse, but it became second nature overtime.

Within the levels, you take on waves of different types of enemies and even a few boss-like tanks and structures as you return fire and pick up health to stay in the fight. You seek out fusion cores in order to move on to the next level, but you’ll have to take out all the enemy spawn gates in order to do so. The flow of gameplay takes place across four difficulty settings: Cadet, Agent, Legend, and Insane.

Fusion Wars is a co-operative experience on multiple levels. Immediately, the base experience is an online co-operative one and you can fuse with a teammate to create a super tank that one player fires from within while the other drives. In addition to that, the game is cross-purchase and cross-play, so once it’s available on Oculus, players can play on both devices and team up with players on either platform. While listed as only in Early Access right now, the game is mostly feature complete. It’s already looking like one of the better multiplayer titles on the Gear VR and it still has potential to grow further.

There’s a solid effort to tailor the comfort levels to different players via a moderate and high comfort setting in the options. With the moderate option, your sight is dimmed and narrowed as the tank turns and the max setting narrows your field of vision to an even higher degree. I experienced slight discomfort when moving at high-speeds on the middle setting, but none at all on the higher setting though it was annoying to have a reduced field of view when turning. The option can be turned off if you’re better acclimated to virtual experiences with this type of movement.

Final Score: 7/10 – Good

Right now you have a capable and fun game that doesn’t sacrifice speed and excitement but includes design that makes it a comfortable experience for players at different points of acclimation to VR and on different platforms. I didn’t come across a great many players online, but the eventual Rift release along with the PvP patch should change that in a big way. At is there’s already a solid amount of content available and with the further updates and new players entering the fray from the Rift, the value will certainly be there.

Read our Game Review Guidelines for more information on how we arrived at this score. You can purchase Fusion Wars on the Oculus store for Gear VR at the price of $6.99.

Tagged with: Battlezone, estudiofuture, Fusion Wars, gaming, review, tank

January 18, 2017

Oculus Store Transitions to IARC to Provide Regionally Accurate Game Ratings

Back in August of 2016 one of our writers opened up about his fear of VR’s perception and how the existing ratings system would be influential in that. At the birth of VR’s gaming ecosystem, a couple games got an “M” rating from the ESRB right off the bat, citing “VR interactivity” as a significant factor in the evaluation. The platform’s immersive and hands-on nature was clearly going to muddy the water when it came to ratings across different cultures and it didn’t look like companies had clear guidelines in place just yet.

Now, one of the biggest players in the VR scene has made a transition to a system that will potentially provide more accurate and informational takes on what a VR game presents as it relates to specific regions and cultures.

Announced today on their blog, Oculus is transitioning to ratings provided by the International Age Rating Coalition (IARC) which is the same system used in the Google Play Store and Nintendo eShop. The IARC is fairly young, having been formed just in 2013 by the ESRB and other international rating organizations. The coalition was created as a way to easily apply ratings to digital content with region specific standards around the world. Whether you’re requesting a classification retroactively for content already in the Oculus Store or adding something new, a questionnaire will be presented to you and it works atop an algorithm tailored to provide accurate ratings for the regions it can be accessed in.

What does this mean? Initially it makes things easier for developers to get ratings up for territories foreign to them, but it makes things a bit easier for consumers as well because it “provides consumers a consistent set of familiar and trusted ratings that reflect their own cultural norms regarding content and age-appropriateness” as explained in the blog post.

Existing titles will need to complete the IARC rating process no later than March 1, 2017 to avoid removal from the Oculus Store.

Tagged with: esrb, Games, IARC, oculus, Ratings, rift

January 17, 2017

Microsoft Acquires 3D Data Optimization Specialists Simplygon

There are so many elements that make our different devices and programs work as advertised, and tech giants like Microsoft are on the lookout for the best and most efficient way to make them do what they do. Microsoft is one of the largest tech companies in the world so it’s no surprise when they acquire someone that could keep them moving forward, and that’s what they’ve just done. Revealed on the Microsoft blog, the tech giant acquired Simplygon with the hopes to accelerate initiatives around 3D data optimization.

Simplygon provides artists, developers, and others with a development pipeline that eliminates unnecessary coding and does automated optimization. They’re service has been used by Telltale Games for models and scenes, was influential in the Witcher 3‘s graphical detail, and was even used to optimize the VR game EVE: Valkyrie. On the blog, Microsoft expresses that this move will “strengthen our position in 3D creation, making it easier to capture, create and share in 3D” and it will also enhance experiences with the Windows 10 creative update that includes the Paint3D creative platform and their online community.

On the Simplygon website, there’s a statement on the move signed by their CEO Matt Connors, CTO Ulrik Lindahl, and Co-Founder Koshi Hamedi:

Throughout our journey, we’ve been laser focused on helping developers push the boundaries of 3D. From our early days delivering advanced level-of-detail solutions, to the adoption of Simplygon SDK by most leading AAA game development studios, and our more recent expansion into enterprise AR/VR, Simplygon has made automatic 3D data-optimization increasingly more accessible to developers. Our next challenge is 3D For Everyone, the ultimate accessibility! We’re thrilled to join forces with Microsoft to make this happen.

Such an acquisition will hopefully permeate across many divisions of Microsoft, including any AR initiatives through Hololens and the company’s VR projects.

January 16, 2017

Lumiere Award Winners Team Up To Create The Virtual Content Group

As VR technology grows, companies will be crossing over into uncharted waters. Many will blaze independently with their ideas, but collaboration is a certainty as well. China and the United States are major players in the virtual reality industry, but certainly aren’t the only ones coming to the table and investing a lot of time and money into immersive tech. We previously reported on a collective including HTC Vive, Sony, and many others that would work together to harness the potential of immersive technology.

The Virtual Content Group (VCG) is a new team composed of French, German, and Australian firms specializing in the experiences born of this technology, and they’re gearing up for expansion after taking home a couple Lumiere awards from the VR Society.

Australia’s 3D Content Hub, Germany’s INVR.SPACE, and France’s Cow Prod are the entities that make up the VCG and their branded work for Samsung and BMW (blended 360-degree video with augmented reality) earned them one Lumiere, with the 360 CGI work based on the Temptation of St. Anthony oil painting by Bosch earning them the other. The awards are given to work that highlights impactful technological achievements.

The VCG has more than 150 VR works they’ve produced and co-produced with creators from 13 different countries. The companies that make up the VCG have a collective client list spanning from Disney to Deutsche Telekom. The group is looking to raise investment.

Tagged with: 3D Content Hub, Cow Prod, INVR.SPACE, Lumiere Awards, VCG, Virtual Content Group, VR

January 16, 2017

NFL Director of Media Strategy Says Football in VR Is “Very Reliant On The Mobile Phone Industry”

Sporting events have been some of the highest profile paths into the hands of casual VR and 360-media adopters. As a result, significant partnerships with the NBA, NCAA, NFL, and others have sprouted up from interest in the platforms. While some have leaped in headfirst, the NFL is a bit more hesitant and only has documentary style and highlight packages available in the 360-degree format.

Digital Trends spoke with the NFL’s Director of Media Strategy and Business Development, William Deng, along with representatives for Voke and NextVR, about current pitfalls of live streaming, what we could see in the future, and the hesitation to fully integrate with VR.

While PC-based VR headsets provide the high-quality visual experiences that sporting events need, those options are far from being the most accessible and that’s something the NFL understands. Thus, mobile headsets are the main focus for live-streaming with Deng even going so far as to say NFL’s investment in VR is “heavily reliant on the mobile phone industry”. Unfortunately, the picture these headsets produce is a concern for Deng. “When I’m in the headset and I’m watching content or a highlight on the other side of the field, can I actually see what’s happening? Resolution today limits that ability,” he says. Jayaram of Voke also noted that, while they can capture 4K content, not many smart phones are equipped with 4K displays. When it comes to future improvements, NextVR co-founder Dave Cole points out that new panels and the Snapdragon 835 mobile chipset in Japan would be beneficial. “You won’t be able to build a bad Android VR phone, because all of the components supply will be specific to making a great VR device,” he says.

While the limitations of the mobile platform is an important obstacle, it’s not the only one. In 360-degree video, content creators have found ways to direct the users eyes in the right direction with smart structure and clever design. With live events, producers don’t have that luxury. “What’s the right balance between giving our viewers the flexibility to take advantage of this medium, and be able to access this game from different vantage points, but at the same time making sure the story-line around the game is still coming through,” Deng asks.

He also asks how one would make sure users are focusing in on where the action is happening on the field, which seems like a strange concern when the answer lies right inside football stadiums. While in attendance at a big game, even when sitting a good bit away from the action, fans that want a focused look on the action have massive screens they can look at in addition to the live action. If you want precision of live broadcasts in a live 360-degree stream, why not overlay footage from the static cameras with the free flowing 360 cameras? When it comes to a story-line, fans can enjoy the event and seek out more structured content immediately post-game just like with traditional viewing.

Replicating the ambiance and excitement of live sporting events is another element the NFL, NextVR, and Voke want to perfect and, as the technology grows, end-to-end solutions should become more possible. Despite the setbacks, the NFL seems to be invested.

“I think that we’re seeing the NFL recognizing that VR is going to be a significant part of their digital subscription media strategy,” Cole elaborates. “They’ve basically said that with the tests they’ve done and the work they’ve done with us.” Maybe a major mobile leap in capability happens in 2017 that inspires NFL to speed up their integration, but we’ll all have to wait and see for now.

Tagged with: football, livestream, national football league, nextVR, nfl, sports, VR