Category: cbs

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Watch Super Bowl LV For Free In VR This Weekend With Bigscreen

This weekend you can watch the Super Bowl in VR, for free, in Bigscreen on Quest, Rift, Index, Vive, WMR, or any other SteamVR headset.

Almost two years ago Bigscreen began offering TV channel features and has expanded to include actual paid movie premieres and ad-supported free movies, in addition to the multitude of ways VR users can just hang out and share their screens in VR. Now, thanks to CBS Sports broadcasting the Super Bowl for free online, Bigscreen is adding the big game to the list.

This Sunday, February 7th, anyone with a compatible VR headset (basically a Quest or PC VR headset) can jump into Bigscreen and hang out with people from all over the world and watch the Super Bowl live for free.

If you’re on PC VR you can host your own private room, but if you’re on Quest you’ll have to join an existing room from your headset. The CBS Sports livestream will be featured prominently on the home page so it’ll be like walking into a series of sports bars to hang out and enjoy the game with likeminded NFL fans.

The Super Bowl LV event in Bigscreen kicks off on Sunday, February 7th, at 3:30 PM PT when the Kansas City Chiefs take on the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. For the first time in the history of the NFL, one of the teams in the Super Bowl is the host city for the event. Since the locations are planned years in advance, it’s always been impossibly rare, making this a historic game regardless of the outcome.

Do you plan on watching the Super Bowl in VR? Let us know down in the comments below!

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Virtual Star Trek: The Next Generation Recreation Pulled After Cease & Desist

For fans of Star Trek the release of Star Trek: Bridge Crew was a dream come true, finally giving fans the chance to step into the role of a Starfleet officer aboard one of the most famous spaceships in all science fiction. For one group of fans however, the release of Star Trek: Bridge Crew heralded the end of a passion project.

Stage-9 was a fan project which had been ongoing for two years, which aimed to recreate the Enterprise-D as depicted in Star Trek: The Next Generation TV show.

The detailed virtual reality (VR) recreation was built using Unreal Engine 4, and could be explored using HTC Vive or Oculus Rift, or fans could simply use a monitor for a 2D view of the ship. The recreation allowed users to travel in turbolifts to the various decks, enter rooms, interact with objects and even fire a phaser.

However, after receiving a cease and desist letter from CBS, the head of the project, identified online as ‘Scragnog’, was forced to pull the project after failing to reach a compromise with the CBS lawyers.

Though Star Trek in all its various forms are of course owned by CBS, Stage-9 made it clear from the outset that it was not an officially licensed project, was not affiliated in any way with CBS or Paramount and the VR creation was, in effect, simply elaborate fan art, since they creators were not making any money from the project.

Scragnog said in a statement that the team became concerned when the Star Trek: Next Generation DLC was released for Star Trek: Bridge Crew earlier this year. “Internally this was an exciting development, but at the same time it concerned us,” Scragnog said, going to to explain that the Stage-9 crew had been hoping to pitch the project to CBS. “Throughout all of this we knew it could end at any point.”

Star Trek: Bridge Crew - TNG DLC

Scragnog released a video explaining the situation and making an emotional goodbye to the Stage-9 project, that video statement can be viewed below.

For future coverage on VR projects, keep checking back with VRFocus.

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Life In 360°: Behind The Scenes On The Late Show

When it comes to American television talk shows one of the programmes up for discussion as the ‘flagship’ surely has to be CBS’ The Late Show. Originally hosted by David Letterman for a period of 22 years beginning in 1993, custodianship of the talk and variety show is now in the hands of comedian Stephen Colbert. Formerly of The Colbert Report and one of the ‘graduates’ of Comedy Central’s The Daily Show.

The show is broadcast nightly from Manhattan’s Ed Sullivan Theater and the production team have released to Youtube a 360 degree look behind the curtain of what the theatre looks like with Colbert leading the way. Introducing a number of personnel working to make the show tick over behind the scenes and providing a mix of information both factual and somewhat tongue-in-cheek. The video moving from him leaving his dressing room up to and including going out on stage for the first time. It’s also interesting to see a performer of Colbert’s fame getting himself ready to go out on stage as the video stops being jokes near the end as it comes to a point where Colbert has to get himself mentally ready to go out and perform.

You can watch the video below. VRFocus will be back on Friday with another example of 360 degree use.

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Experience The Toughest Mudder Endurance Event Via 360 Video

Experience The Toughest Mudder Endurance Event Via 360 Video

Obstacle courses, marathons, and similar events have become increasingly popular and intricate over the years. The Tough Mudder is one of the more intense of the bunch, with the main event running around 10-12 miles and riddled with a diverse collection of obstacles. Back in late October, we covered USA Today’s new 360-degree news series, VRtually There, and one of their recent episodes followed Tough Mudder participants.

Tough Mudder is an endurance run that is so intense that completing it is a massive challenge, let alone finishing in the top group. While running 10-12 miles would be enough of a test, the varying obstacles make this event stand out. The VRtually There episode gives us a good view of some impediments to participant’s journey to the finish line for the Toughest Mudder, a 24 hour test of your willpower. In the segment called “Dirty Work”, USA Today’s video shows runners crawling through mud under barbed wire, climbing wood boards, walking through chest-high muddy water, swimming, and much more. A couple of former participants narrate the experience and discuss how life events had themselves and others questioning if they could bounce back from terrible injuries and illnesses.

VRTually There’s episode including Toughest Mudder also covers a bit of history on the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade floats along with the teams needed to maneuver them, and takes viewers on a brief tour of the Out of Africa wildlife park to meet some baby bears.

In Toughest Mudder, the finish line is ultimately set by the individuals and teams. The course is 5 miles long and the goal is for you to complete as many laps as possible. A single man and woman will be honored for the best performance along with the best team. Anyone that completes 20, 50, 75, or 100 miles total is honored as well. This December, CBS will be showing the full event in a 3-part series that starts on December 15th with “Road to the Toughest Mudder”.

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