Augmented & Virtual Reality Confabulation
What Augmented Reality and Virtual Reality developers are talking about
Get your gaming audio fix with an entry-level gaming headset like this Turtle Beach Ear Force XL1 Amplified Stereo Gaming Headset, currently marked down 34 percent to only $20 on Amazon.
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In partnership with Amazon, Ubisoft is bringing a 30-minute live-action promotional video for Ghost Recon Wildlands, titled War Within the Cartel, to Twitch and Amazon Prime Video on February 16.
The post Watch trailer for the live-action promo prequel to ‘Ghost Recon: Wildlands’ appeared first on Digital Trends.
Amazon has revealed its best-selling products for the holiday season, and Samsung and Oculus’ Gear VR has come out on top for our budding new industry.
Earlier this week the online retailing giant revealed the top three products sold in the different categories featured on its site. Gear VR makes it in as the third entry in the Wearable Technology category. The company did not reveal exact sales figures for the product, though no other VR headsets or games feature in the list.
That’s not the only evidence that suggests Gear VR had a pretty big Christmas. On top of the Amazon report, Cubicle Ninjas CEO Josh Farkas revealed to UploadVR that the company’s app, Guided Meditation, had seen a huge increase in downloads over the Christmas period, reaching over 1,000 downloads on December 25th alone and passing the milestone again on December 26th.
As Farkas pointed out, Guided Meditation currently isn’t on the front page of the Oculus Store, which means some experiences may have had even more publicity. That said, the app being free will have certainly helped. The developer also added that the Gear version’s Total Active Users is nearly 1:1 right now, suggesting that the vast majority of people that downloaded Guided Meditation since it released earlier in the year used it over Christmas.
Of course, these could be downloads of existing Gear VR units, but at the very least it shows a big uptick in interest for the headset. Speaking first-hand, I’ve had two people I would have never considered to be interested in a VR headset pick one up this holiday season, much to my surprise.
The news is made even more surprising given the fact that the most recent phone to support the Gear VR, Samsung’s Galaxy Note 7, ended up being outright abandoned after serious technical troubles with the device.
We’ve reached out to Oculus and Samsung to ask after sales of Gear VR over the holidays, though neither has provided a total lifetime sales figure for the device at any point. Oculus did previously announce that over a million people had used that headset in April 2016, though that doesn’t necessarily mean over a million units have been sold. With the recent data from Amazon, it could have passed that milestone by now.
Tagged with: Amazon, gear vr, Guided Meditation, sales
Amazon’s plans for VR content still remain under wraps, but the company recently made a significant hire that gives us a small glimpse into what it’s working on.
Film fanatics will know that Genna Terranova left her post as director of the Tribeca Film Festival last month. This week, The Hollywood Reporter noted that she had been hired by Amazon Studios to work on VR content. A member of the Amazon Video PR team has validated the report to UploadVR, though the company declined to provide any further information.
While Terranova’s role at the company is secretive, back in August we reported that Amazon was looking for a ‘Virtual Reality Experience Development Executive’ that would create content for Amazon Video. It’s quite possible that the company is looking to create either 360-degree content or full VR experiences to either sell on its digital video store or host on its streaming service, Amazon Prime. Terranova’s appointment could help bring diverse content to the platform considering her previous role as head of an independent film festival.
The online retailer and streaming company is also building its own VR video platform which could well be where we see these experiences launch.
If that is what Amazon is working towards, it will make it one of the first major streaming services to do so. Netflix, arguably their biggest rival, already has a VR app on Gear VR and Google Daydream, although it simply offers 2D content on a virtual screen in a cinematic environment with no unique immersive content currently on offer. HBO, meanwhile, has a similar app and has also recorded 360 degree content to tie into popular series like Game of Thrones.
We’d love to see some tie-in experiences to Amazon exclusive series like Man In The High Castle, though original programming is a more interesting proposition at this point. 360 video is yet to truly prove its worth as a medium beyond short, entertaining snippets and the backing of a company as big as this could help it become something more.
Tagged with: Amazon, amazon video, Genna Terranova
Amazon's gameplay streaming service Twitch is introducing a new set of automated moderation tools that use "machine learning and natural language processing" to reduce user abuse and harassment.
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While it’s almost time to sit down with family and friends for the Christmas holidays, eating and drinking too much and generally being merry, this will be the first festive season where virtual reality (VR) party games may just feature for the first time. Black Friday encouraged this with HTC and Oculus both offering deals to tempt consumers into VR. Naturally as one of the biggest online retailers in the world Amazon also had several offerings, and for US customers interested in an Oculus Rift there’s still one available.
Amazon.com is currently offering an Oculus Rift head-mounted display (HMD) with a $100 USD Amazon Gift Card. While this may not be a direct incentive for further VR related purchases, for those that use the retailer often it’s certainly a good deal. The gift card promotion is being run separately from Amazon’s other Rift offer which includes CCP Games’ cross-platform multiplayer EVE: Valkyrie. The gift card offer doesn’t currently state an expiry date, but the latter deal with EVE: Valkyrie ends on 31st December, 2016.
Both Oculus and HTC Vive offered $100 deals last month, with Oculus giving store credit to purchase VR experiences while HTC Vive simply knocked that price off the headset for a limited time.
For all the latest VR headset deals, keep reading VRFocus.
Whether you're a nostalgic gamer or a proud parent, the NES Classic is the hottest item of the holiday season. Check out our guide to find out where to buy the console as soon as it becomes available.
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The Art for After 4D Experience with Animated Augmented Reality (AR) was in full form at the Chalk Festival in Venice, FL in November! The next step over 3D…
Over 2,000 people in three days lined up to experience and participate a live demonstration of 4D, that is using animated AR overlaid with hand painted illusionary murals as one cohesive use of fine art and emerging technologies. A brand new experience for all!
Viewed through our monitor, Art for After Hours was able to share and present this mingling of art and technology to people and demographics of all ages…
This is what they saw… Hand painted 3D illusionary art as part of the immersive whole where our attendees were ‘Hangin On’ to the side of a building (in a playful way) on the ground while ‘avoiding’ giant animated AR butterflies live overlaid upon the event. An immersive experience limited only but what Art for After Hours will do next!
Project definable by our clients needs, multiple locations, with full Art for After Hours team led by Anthony Cappetto.
As one can see, people were having a great time interpreting their unique immersive 4D experiences with the installation…
Please keep in mind that these images are from a monitor but the concept of blending illusionary art and emerging technologies is very clear.
This example of our painted 3D illusionary art is much sharper and gives you the effect of the traditional 3D reverse anamorphic illusion – the foundation of the use of augmented, virtual reality as the immersive 4D experience… Reach out to us to design, develop, and realize your unique 4D vision in events, tradeshows, conventions, commercials, launches and more…
Anthony Cappetto is an internationally recognized artist working in 3D street/mural art and a pioneer in the use of 4D emerging technologies in street art installations such as animated augmented reality, virtual reality in the art. Cappetto is founder of Art for After Hours, the first 3D street painting Company in 2001. Also pictured: Wendy Stum, Marketing Director of Art for After Hours.
If you are excited by the possibilities of 4D street art and emerging technologies including haptics, mixed reality, holography, and more – reach out to us for more information.
Corporate, Branding, Launches, Festivals, Government, NGO, Tradeshows, Conventions – USA/International
artforafterhours.com anthonycappetto.com ispg-inc.com @AfAH @AnthonyCappetto
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The Black Friday deals are now over but that doesn’t mean to say there’s not more discounts available. For today we have Cyber Monday, where online retailers provide even further discounts to tempt eager shoppers. Online retail giant Amazon is well known for its offers at this time of year and today its now providing discounts on several PlayStation VR titles.
Sony Interactive Entertainment’s (SIE) head-mounted display (HMD) has only been on sale for just over a month, and these Amazon deals look to be the first available for owners of the device.
Currently on offer (but only for US customers) are:
Batman: Arkham VR – $16.99 USD ($19.99) – 15% off
DriveClub VR – $33.99 ($39.99) – 15% off
Eagle Flight – $33.99 ($39.99) – 15% off
RIGS: Mechanized Combat League – $42.49 ($49.99) – 15% off
Until Dawn: Rush of Blood – $16.99 ($19.99) – 15% off
Loading Human – $29.99 ($39.99) – 25% off
Star Trek: Bridge Crew – $50.99 ($59.99) – 15% off (Pre-order)
Werewolves Within – £25.49 ($29.99) – 15% off (Pre-order)
It’s likely that most PlayStation VR owners will have picked up titles such as Batman: Arkham VR and RIGS: Mechanized Combat League, as this selection does include some of the most widely promoted videogames for the platform.
But with Christmas only a few weeks away expect even more virtual reality (VR) experiences to arrive for the headset, such as the recently announced Pinball FX2 VR by Zen Studios.
VRFocus will continue its coverage of PlayStation VR reporting back with all the latest announcements.
Well it’s that time again. Time for Oculus to launch a commercial product.
The company’s first foray into a worldwide release began on March 28 when it began shipping its Oculus Rift virtual reality headset via its own store and third party vendors such as Best Buy and Amazon. That launch was plagued by a mysterious component shortage that pushed orders back weeks, and sometimes even months. Early adopters were understandably frustrated and now the young organization once again stands on the precipice of a product release.
Oculus Touch — the company’s new, $200, hand-tracked controller platform — is slated to release on December 6. Memories of the March 28 debacle are still fresh in the industry’s mind, but so far all signs point to a healthy release for the new device.
A number of Touch customers have taken to Reddit and posted images of confirmation emails and status reports on their respective orders. Many of the postings are screengrabs of Amazon order trackers leading some in the community to wonder if the online retail giant will be shipping its product before the manufacturer itself. During the original Rift shipping delay many users became upset when third party sellers were receiving stock while pre-order customers remained without a headset.
Also worth noting, newly placed Touch orders may not ship until Christmas week from Oculus so if you’re looking to get a pair this year keep that in mind. Oculus says it is planning 50 titles for the launch day of the controllers, most likely representing a number of titles already released that are getting Touch upgrades, some titles that first appeared on Steam as well as some new titles funded by Oculus. We’ve already reviewed launch titles Medium, VR Sports Challenge and The Unspoken, three marquee titles coming to the new controllers.
Tagged with: Amazon, oculus touch, release, rift, shipping, touch, update