Sky’s bloody historical drama, Britannia, is returning for a second season today. And, oh look, there’s a new VR experience to tie-in with it.
Britannia VR: Out Of Your Mind was developed by Sky VR and Hammerhead VR, the team that runs the Dimension volumetric capture studio in London. Sure enough, the experience displays impressive use of the format. Volumetric capture is a process in which an array of cameras capture an actor’s performance from all angles. The results are then stitched together to make a realistic 3D model of that performance.
Here it’s used to bring you closer to some of the characters from the world of Britannia. The series itself centers on the Roman conquest of Britain. The VR app lets you experience that conflict from two different sides. First, you can join the Druids and take part in a psychedelic rave. You can also visit the Roman empire to worship gods and more.
The volumetric capture brings real-life actors including MacKenzie Crook, Liana Cornell, Ben Bailey Smith and Steve Pemberton to virtual life. It’s one of the more impressive displays of this technique I’ve seen, with highly detailed character models and less of the fuzziness you can find in other volumetric experiences. In fact, the entire experience is richly detailed, with crisp environments captured with photogrammetry. There’s even some fun interactive elements. I personally know very little about the show, but I found this to be just as engaging as a historical VR experience.
Take note that there’s some hefty requirements to run the experience, though. It requires 13GB of space (which is almost as big as Stormland). The app’s currently available on SteamVR for free with support for most PC VR headsets and will be coming to the Oculus Store soon.
This Oculus Studios-published app was released at the launch of Quest back in May. Developed by Force Field VR, the interactive experience takes you to extreme places on the planet. Its first experience, for example, takes you on an expedition to Antarctica, where you can kayak in icy waters and climb mountains.
Soon, though, we’ll see an entirely new destination based in the Andes Mountains in Peru. You’ll be learning about the area’s history as you trek through the Incan citadel. There’s a very brief teaser below which shows players taking pictures of mummies, learning about the architecture, and having a closer encounter with what I think is a llama (apologies if not, I’m not entirely up-to-date on my Peruvian mountain life).
Force Field confirmed to us that the update will be free for existing National Geographic Explore users. The app itself costs $9.99. No word yet on a possible Oculus Rift release, nor if there will be any further levels added later down the line.
This continues a busy streak of Quest releases for Force Field. Since launching National Geographic, the Amsterdam-based developer has also delivered a port of its Anne Frank House VR experience and released the likable puzzle game, Time Stall. The team is certainly keeping its hands full on Quest.
Will you be heading back into National Geographic Explore to take a look around Macchu Picchu? Let us know in the comments below!
Today Bigscreen is announcing its latest new theater environment: The Retro Cinema! This stylish destination looks like it will be perfect for binging old favorites with friends. Bigscreen TV is also getting a slew of new Halloween-focused channels and will roll out a slate of “premium 3D movie screenings” later this year.
Movie theater environments are always popular with the VR community in Bigscreen (as evidenced by past updates like the Modern Cinema) so doing a throwback environment this time around was a no-brainer.
Additionally, Halloween is coming up fast next week so users will be able to check out some brand new Halloween-focused channels to get into the spooky mood. Until after Halloween Bigscreen TV is getting 10 new channels including Fear Factor, Disney Channel, The Addams Family, and more to spotlight terrifying Halloween-themed content.
Plus, all of the new theater environments are building towards an even bigger initiative very soon: premium 3D movie screenings. The ball started rolling on these two years ago when Bigscreen partnered with Paramount for Top Gun, and this December more screenings are planned for all VR headsets across several countries. There aren’t any other details yet, but it sounds exciting — especially if new movies could premiere this way in addition to revisiting classics.
We’ve got a round up of other content you can watch live in VR this week over here, but on the Bigscreen front more stuff is already in the works too. Every Thursday you can tune in for live Thursday Night NFL Football games and then in 2020 Bigscreen will get an internal Friends list that connects across platforms and it’ll be coming to PSVR as well.
The BBC VR Hub will soon cease to commission and produce new VR experiences.
In a blog post published earlier this week, Commissioning Editor for VR Zillah Watson confirmed that the “Hub will be wrapping up its commissioning and production work.” The VR Hub launched in November 2017 following a handful of earlier VR releases from the BBC. According to an announcement blog, its aim was to create a “small number” of VR experiences with “broad, mainstream appeal” in order to offset VR’s various barriers to entry.
Those experiences included Nothing to be Written, developed by Unit 59, which won our Best Mobile VR Experience award in 2018. It also produced the excellent Doctor Who animated VR short, The Runaway earlier this year. All of these experiences will still be available to download, but don’t expect to see any new content coming out from the Hubs banner.
A BBC spokesperson provided us with the following statement: “The VR Hub had funding for two years, so is now wrapping up its production and commissioning. It’s been an important part of our charter commitment to promote technological innovation and maintain a leading role in research and development which benefits the whole industry. We’re really proud to have produced some award-winning projects in that time, and we’ve learned valuable lessons about producing unforgettable virtual reality experiences. We’re produced a guide sharing what we’ve learnt with the wider industry, and we’ve built up experience across the BBC so different areas will be able to develop their own ideas.”
While The Hub acted as a centralized location for much of the BBC’s VR work it wasn’t solely responsible for all of its output. BBC Studios is responsible for the wider organization’s portfolio including TV programs and continues to work on immersive projects with commercial viability. It will also soon launch Doctor Who: The Edge of Time, a new VR game developed by Maze Theory and the recently-announced Micro Kingdoms: Senses on the Magic Leap AR headset.
Elsewhere, the BBC’s R&D department, which helped produce many of the organization’s earliest pieces like Easter Rising: Voice Of A Rebel, may yet work on more immersive projects under its experimental banner. Other divisions of the BBC such as News and Sport also worked on VR experiences like Trafficked and World Cup VR. They too could possibly produce their own VR experiences in the future.
It’s a situation somewhat similar to when Facebook closed Oculus Story Studio in mid-2017. The group produced short-form VR narratives for the Oculus Rift and Gear VR/Oculus Go. Facebook still invests in and distributes similar experiences under other publishing initiatives.
The VR Hub’s final project, meanwhile, will be a six-part series called Missing Pictures. In it, film directors will discuss projects they were never able to realize while viewers are immersed in conceptual visuals. The group will also be taking its content on tour to UK libraries over the next year.
Marvel, ILMxLAB and The Void are launching Avengers: Damage Control next week. A new trailer reveals a few surprise returning characters.
The story trailer for the experience just went live. It gives us our first look at gameplay. More importantly, though, it confirms that Spider-Man himself will be stopping by in the multi-user location-based adventure. We can’t tell if it’s Tom Holland voicing him, but we’re just happy to see him flip into our headsets after the recent drama between Marvel Studios and Sony Pictures.
Perhaps the bigger surprise is the return of an Avengers villain; Ultron. He hasn’t appeared in the Marvel Cinematic Universe since 2015’s Avengers: Age of Ultron. It’s never been confirmed if Damage Control is official MCU canon but it could well be, marking this return as one fans won’t want to miss.
Also showing up in Damage Control are Hulk, War Machine, Black Panther and Falcon. We also know that Dr. Strange, Ant-Man and The Wasp all put in an appearance too, voiced by their big-screen counterparts. Players themselves will put on a suit of armor that features a mix of Stark and Wakandan technology. It looks like a mashup of Iron Man and Black Panther suits. We’ll be interested to see how the experience feels given last year’s Marvel: Powers United VR was a bit disappointing.
Tickets to Avengers: Damage Control are on sale now, with the experience opening October 18. Prices start at around $40. It’s only showing in the US and Canada for now, but fingers crossed we see it elsewhere in the near future.
At least, he doesn’t appear as such when I find him battling jet lag atop an offensively pink pillow just a stroll along from central London’s Southbank Centre. His long hair is neatly tied back in a bun and he rests his crossed arms on his knees as if ready to dive into impromptu meditation at a moment’s notice. Between stifled yawns from an early morning flight from Barcelona, he seems generally amiss on his first day at the Raindance Film Festival.
At first sight, it’s not what I expected from the co-director of Battlescar (seen below in our VR Culture Show). It’s a searing, explosive VR feature that thrusts you into the disgruntled spirit of the late 1970’s New York punk scene. Blink and you’ll miss it, and you’ll get no apologies from its creators.
“Actually, the first episode [of Battlescar] the producers were like “this is too fast, people need more time to see the scenarios,”” he says. “And Nico and I were like “Actually all the VR is very boring because it’s very slow.””
Well, that’s a bit more like it.
In Allais’ defense, Battlescar, which he created alongside longtime friend Nico Casavecchia, does give a lot of other VR experiences the appearance of having training wheels. Despite its lengthy 30 minute run time, it’s relentlessly paced, barely letting a minute pass before radically switching up storytelling styles. The plot follows Lupe, a young Puerto Rican-American voiced by Rosario Dawson who happens upon the ferocious Debbie while flirting with a New York jail cell. Taken under her wing, Lupe bonds with Debbie over disillusionment and outrage as they plot to bring their plight to the stage with the repetitive thud of punk rock musiv. An assortment of misadventures befalls them along the way.
“We started seeing VR films out there and VR experiences and we’re like trying what we didn’t like of them and how we can do the film we want to see in VR,” Allais explains. “It was a very personal process because there’s nothing written really in VR language, so you can do everything at the same time.”
It’s that kitchen sink delivery that makes Battlescar sing louder than its screechy-voiced soundtrack. No two instances are the same, be it a fleeting ride on the back of a motorcycle in which you long for the wind to bite into your face, or the dizzying clashing of drums and ideas from all angles as Lupe’s frustrated words flow from mind to page. “I just wanted to come with ideas like what we think should be the experience of getting in a headset,” Allais explains. “So that’s Battlescar for us, a big playground of exploration and ideas. Narrative, framing, and I think pretty much everything that we came up with ended in the film.”
Despite Allais’ earlier dismissal, there are traces of VR’s past, like the hints of Dear Angelica in its readiness to tinker with scale. But it’s otherwise blisteringly fresh; a collection of revelatory discoveries just waiting to be made. One minute Debbie has an enormous gun held to her head with terrifying proximity, the next her and Lupe are leap-frogging their way home like a level in Super Mario Bros.. In fact, Allais tells me he and Casavecchia eventually stopped watching other VR experiences to maintain their own ideas. One guiding star was particularly crucial; no interactivity.
“When we started playing with VR, we wanted to create a piece that wasn’t interactive, but at the same time used the space in an interactive and playful way,” he says
Simply put, there isn’t time for interactivity in Battlescar. There are no moments to linger; to lean in and wonder if you can pick up the drum stick resting on the desk or strum the guitar sitting next to you. This isn’t a world, it’s a slideshow, kicked and bashed together to demand the viewer’s attention at all times. Without this urgency, Allais suspects it wouldn’t be half as engaging.
“Because you don’t have a director’s point of view that shows you how to go from one place to the other,” he says. “So what we wanted to do is just the opposite. If people want to see more they need to see it again.”
I won’t go on much longer, suffice to say I truly loved Battlescar. It was an experience that reenergized my love of narrative-driven VR and brought me back to the infantile excitement of seeing this technology with fresh eyes. I can’t wait to see what the pair does next.
“Now we’re more into coming back to some of those techniques and developing them more,” Allais teases. @[Battlescar] is like this mash-up of different techniques and ways of storytelling and they need to be developed. And that’s what we want to do hopefully in the following story.”
Sign me up.
Battlescar is planned for release on home headsets in the near future.
Have you ever wanted to go on a hot air balloon ride but been too scared to try? Well, a new mixed reality experience in Santa Fe might be right up your alley.
Located at Meow Wolf in Santa Fe, the mixed reality experiences uses a physical hot air balloon basket and chassis alongside a virtual reality experience to let you fly high just like you’re on a real hot air balloon journey. The physical basket and the controllable, physical gas lever mean that visitors can feel properly immersed in the experience. You can lean against the basket, look down at the ground and feel like you have physical control over the balloon.
According to the Santa Fe New Mexican, the hot air balloon flies over a “mountainous canyon setting with a large dinosaur skeleton, a small ghost town, birds flying, wind turbines and a few other balloons.”
The experience is on lease at Meow Wolf for six months from Janimation VR, who have had a hand in creating a variety of VR and non-VR games over the years.
This hot air balloon at Meow Wolf is not the first to incorporate real life and physical props into a VR experience. The Void is known for its use of physical props that are recreated in a virtual reality experience, as seen last year in Star Wars: Secrets of the Empire. The Void have also just announced Avengers: Damage Control, where we expect to see a similar integration of physical objects and environments that match the virtual world.
Oculus Connect was a bit much, wasn’t it? We don’t know about you, but we’re shattered and we need a break. Well don’t worry, hungry content consumer; we’re not giving ourselves one! Que slightly broken “Hurrah!”
We’ve been cooking up not one but three things we wanted to share with you today. Check out our snazzy trailer for all the info, or read on below.
The Holiday VR Showcase – November 27th (Time TBA)
Firstly; yes, we’re doing another VR Showcase in November! We were blown away by the response to the E3 VR Showcase (I honestly thought like five people were going to watch it), and we couldn’t let 2019 go without a glimpse of what’s to come in the year ahead. Let’s give people some reasons to go out and buy some headsets this Black Friday, right?
So get your turkeys in the oven early and be here for Wednesday November 27 (we’ll let you know the final time closer to the show) where we’ll bring you another rundown of new VR game announcements, first-looks and other exciting news. We’ve already got some great stuff lined up.
The VR Download Podcast – October
Moving on, it’s about time we did a podcast, isn’t it?
We know this is one area we’ve been dragging our feet a bit, so we wanted to go big. So it’s time to meet The VR Download, a podcast about VR… broadcast from VR. Yup, our very own David Heaney built a full virtual studio which team Upload will meet up in every week. We’ll be running down all of the latest news and discussing the big topics, as well as inviting on a special guest or two from time to time.
The first episode is coming later this month via our YouTube channel so keep an eye out for it.
The VR Culture Show – October 8th
Next up is a bit of an experiment. You might have guessed it but, here at Upload, we love gaming. But we also really, REALLY, love all of the great things people are doing with VR outside of games. Balancing our coverage between the two has been a real struggle for the past few years. So we’re changing things up with The VR Culture Show.
This is our new video series in which we highlight things that aren’t games. It might be location-based VR events, new movies or deep dives into VR in the workplace. The thing is, we’re not quite sure how this one’s going to evolve yet. It might be we do it every once in a while, it might be we do it every month, it might be we do it every week. But we won’t find out until we put it out there.
So next week we’ll be doing just that. We’ve been busy shooting a pilot episode based around London’s excellent Raindance Film Festival. We’ll be bringing you a look inside some of the experiences on show there and talking to a range of creators. We’re really looking forward to bringing you closer to the experiences we haven’t covered quite as much in the past.
Get your diaries out, then. That’s The VR Holiday Showcase on November 27 and the first episode of The VR Culture Show next week. Until then, we’re going to catch some much needed slee–zzzZZZzzz.
