Just over a year ago on VR vs. I wrote a rather impassioned column about my desire to see the rather wonderful looking We Happy Few make it to the world of immersive gaming. For those that are not familiar with We Happy Few, it is set in a version of sixties Britain – a version that has gone very wrong indeed. In fact, things are so terrible that in order to keep the ol’ upper lip sufficiently stiff to it all the entire populous is under the sway of a powerful drug known as ‘Joy’ which as the name suggests makes everything seem not just merely ‘okay’ but all flowers, sunshine and rainbows 24-hours a day. And for those that are off their Joy and living in reality? Well these ‘Downers’ had best remove themselves – lest they be removed permanently.
At that time, I postulated about how the joy induced hallucinations would be particularly interesting to see utilised through the powers of mixed reality (MR). Well, that’s not exactly what’s happened today but it does look like you’ll get to be very personable with propaganda speaker (and well documented ‘Simon Says’ expert) Uncle Jack thanks to a new and free side-story produced for the PlayStation VR by developer Compulsion Games.
In We Happy Few: Uncle Jack Live VR you take on the role of Uncle Jack’s producer. Helping him to put together an episode of the endlessly broadcasting propaganda show for which he has become a household name in the likes of Wellington Wells – and which became an instant favourite part of the advertising for the main videogame. Unfortunately, things rapidly deteriorate when the studio building itself develops outbreak of Downers and it’s up to you to put smiles back on people’s faces. There’s also an archive section where you can put your virtual feet up and enjoy various bonus materials connected with the main title, including music, video and forty episodes of Uncle Jack doing his thing.
Speaking on the PlayStation Blog, Compulsion Games Marketing Director Cord Smith explained the team’s aims in creating Uncle Jack Live VR: “The original goal for Uncle Jack Live VR was to provide players with a chance to meet and work with Wellington Wells’ most prominent celebrity figure. Initially, the experience simply involved ways to manipulate a broadcast camera within a standard Uncle Jack episode, but the project evolved from watching Uncle Jack in-studio to actually building a full broadcast with him, featuring dynamic content and multiple outcomes.”
“We owe the enhancement of the concept to the multi-medium expertise and masterful execution of our partners at Signal Space Lab. By their design, each phase of the broadcast tasks the player with selecting the perfect news article for Uncle Jack to read aloud on-air, ensuring Wellies everywhere stay entertained and remember to “take their Joy.” If you happen to get it wrong, UJ will expertly roll with the punches, spinning the bad news in hilariously positive ways—but you can count on his opinion of you changing as a result. Anger him enough and he’ll outright cancel the broadcast. Make good decisions, and you’ll be his favorite guest producer ever!”
We Happy Few: Uncle Jack Live VR is due out today on the PlayStation Store as a free download. With We Happy Few itself due to launch on PlayStation 4 and PS4 Pro and come out of Early Access on PC as of August 10th. We Happy Few: Uncle Jack Live VR looks set to be an exclusive to PSVR, and so will sadly not be brought to PC VR, but VRFocus will bring you more news on any developments regarding it as soon as we hear anything.
Hardcore Mode
David Rosen recently released PalinDRONE 360, a new VR music video for the song Palindrone, which was taken from his fourth studio album 
But if you want to actually get involved and learn how to utilise, say VR, in a creative way where do you actually begin? Well, for those who are interested in theatrical pursuits there is now an option for them to consider. 
“Immersive technology offers artists a new medium with which to engage audiences. Virtual, augmented and mixed reality applications span much further than games or film, offering audiences a new level of immersion, presence and agency.” Explains TOMtech Creative Producer, James Turnbull. “These new tools have a lot to offer to artists, but the reciprocal is also true. Live arts, such as theatre, are perhaps the best placed to help move the medium forward, bringing expertise in storytelling (and story ’doing’), innovation in narrative structures and audience emotional manipulation. However, the tools required for this work are rather different to stagecraft – this new training programme starts to address that.”
Those who wish to take part in the course, which includes all training, materials, tickets to VR related events at TOM and further support from TheatreXR’s network should contact contact James Turnbull via 
So, it’s not surprising that beyond our thrice weekly Life In 360° series we hear so much news relating to 360 degree technology and projects. One company we’ve been helping you keep tabs on for a good couple of years now is Chinese firm Insta360, which makes 360 degree cameras. Insta360 launched its first one back in 2016 – the Insta360 Nano – which was a clip-on camera for the iPhone 6 series of devices. Since that time the company has launched more iterations of the 360 degree camera and picked up numerous awards.
Insta360 is naturally being coy about what the announcement entails, however it is worth noting that its announcement comes just shy of a week from a year to the day that they launched their last 360 degree camera, the 4K 
Today we enter the world of anime, and the first of two series linked by the voice of its principle character. For those who may have heard of the term previously, but aren’t entirely sure what that means, anime is a shortened version of the Japanese word animēshon and it refers to “a style of Japanese film and television animation, typically aimed at adults as well as children” – to quote the definition that comes up on Google.
Already (and deliberately, I might add) traumatised by his upbringing, Shinji is basically blackmailed into piloting the EVA after they wheel fellow pilot Rei Ayanami out on a gurney, still bleeding from a previous accident. Did I mention that Shinji can feel the injuries inflicted on the EVA and his first sortie ends with being stabbed through the skull and the mysterious EVA going berserk?
One British city that is no doubt preparing in earnest is Bristol. Like a number of other cities it has more than one football team to its name. With Bristol Rovers currently based in Football League One and Bristol City F.C. in the Championship both fresh off their first matches of this campaign, but it is the latter that we are dealing with today.
Speaking to the 
“We are ecstatic that the team has been able to achieve this landmark run and we hope that it draws attention to the amazing advances that are being made in the automotive industry.” Explained Deputy CEO of Roborace, Rod Chong at the time. “Robocar is an ambassador for the future technologies we will see on our roads and we hope that inspirational stunts like this will change public perceptions of autonomous vehicles.”