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This Week In VR Sport: NASCAR, Basketball and eSports

Every weekend VRFocus brings you a number of sports and eSports related virtual reality (VR) and augmented reality (AR) stories as part of This Week In VR Sport. This week, NASCAR have launched an AR experience to let fans enjoy some of the best moments from the NASCAR Playoffs, the Virtual Athletics League are planning more eSport tournaments and ePlay Digital release an update for Big Shot Basketball.

NASCAR

NASCAR Release New AR Experience For The 2018 NASCAR Playoffs

NASCAR fans are now able to immersive themselves in the 2018 Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series Playoffs thanks to a new AR experience that has been made available via the official NASCAR mobile app. As reported by Yahoo, the new NASCAR Playoffs AR Experience Refreshed by Coca-Cola allows users the change to walk through virtual portals to see the playoffs’ most memorable moments in full 360-degrees of immersion.

For the ten weeks that the NASCAR Playoffs are happening, fans with an AR compatible iOS or Android device will be able to download the NASCAR Mobile app and experience this new feature for themselves.

“NASCAR is always looking for unique ways to engage fans and bring them closer to the sport, especially during the most exciting time in our season,” said Tim Clark, NASCAR Digital Media vice president. “Together with Coca-Cola, we‘re inviting fans to step right into the NASCAR Playoffs and experience the action, pageantry and emotion like never before.”

Fans will place a 3D Coca-Cola can within their surrounding to create the superimposed portal into the NASCAR Playoffs experience. Once they walk through the portal, they will be able to experience the thrilling moments including team celebrations in Victory Lane and other memorable moments from throughout the years.

The NASCAS mobile app is available to download now on the Apple app store and the Google Play store.

Virtual Athletics League Season 1 Banner

Virtual Athletics League Planning More Global VR eSports Tournaments

Following a successful Beat Saber tournament earlier this year, the Virtual Athletics League (VAL), LIV and SpringboardVR have now announced a new global arcade league is being formed to provide further competitions. The news was revealed earlier this week and sees HP and HTC eSports along with seven VR development studios, including Survios, Vertigo Games and CloudGate Studio to see the new league come to life.

Thanks to the success of the Beat Saber tournament, which was originally placed for 50 locations but eventually took place in over 168 around the globe, the companies are planning to reproduce this achievement with several more events during 2018 and 2019.

The first of which took place last month with a global Space Pirate Trainer tournament which run between 27th-30th September. Global tournaments are planned to be held for Arizona Sunshine and Island 359 for Halloween followed by an event for the archery title QuiVR in November.

“The league is also placing a high priority on arcade vs. arcade gameplay, with a core group of elite VR arcades participating in more team-based titles that are VR esports ready. These official launch titles include the giant mech multiplayer shooter Archangel: Hellfire, a jet-propelled shooter Skyfront, and a tactical sci-fi shooter After-H.” Said Ryan Burningham of Virtual Athletics League in a blog post.

VRFocus will be sure to bring you all the latest on the tournaments in the future.

Big Shot AR

ePlay Digital Release New Update For Big Shot Basketball

Finally this week, ePlay Digital Inc have announced the release of new features for their Big Shot Basketball AR app. This includes new filters for users to use when taking AR selfies, which follows the draft of NBA players to Big Shot users’ rosters. Based on popular SnapChat filters, these new filters will also allow users to add information to their selfie such as the weather, location and NBA team information to personalize the experience. The new filters will be free to use for all players of the app.

The new update also brings compatibility with the recently released Apple iOS 12 and the latest version of ARKit 2.0. This sees advanced scene and pattern detection and improved rendering and lighting effects come to Big Shot Basketball. Users will also be able to purchase “swaps” now as well, which allow a user to exchange an NBA athlete discovered in AR with different athletes from different teams. There are two types of swaps – free and paid. One free swap is given to the player ever four hours with users able to purchase four swaps through the in-app purchase screen of the title at any time.

“We continue to update Big Shot Basketball based on feedback we receive through our Beta release,” says Trevor Doerksen, CEO of ePlay Digital. “Expect more and more features as you unlock new levels and as users see their feedback come to life.”

VRFocus will be sure to bring you all the latest on Big Shot Basketball and other AR apps from ePlay Digital in the future.

That is all for This Week In VR Sport. For more on immersive sport news keep reading VRFocus and remember to check back next week for another This Week In VR Sport.
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This Week In VR Sports: Coca-Cola Planes, eSports Dreams, And AR Games

As the Electronic Entertainment Expo (E3) 2018 comes to a close, it is time for another entry of This Week In VR Sport. VRFocus brings you a number of sports related virtual reality (VR) and augmented reality (AR) stories every weekend and this week, there are some goodies. Byond have created a virtual tour of the FIFA World Cup Trophy Tour by Coca-Cola, Sprint Vector and Oculus step up their eSports scene and ePlay Digital launch their Big Shot AR app into beta.

ByondXR Powers FIFA World Cup Trophy Tour by Coca-Cola Experience

FIFA World Cup Trophy Tour by Coca-Cola

ByondXR have recently launched a 360-degree tour of the official Coca-Cola/FIFA World Cup Trophy Tour. This immersive VR/AR experience is designed to give viewers an interactive fly through and an up-close-and-personal view of the Coca-Cola plane, which has embedded relevant media and social content found within.

The team are ByondXR have built the immersive experience, which is designed to be used high-end VR headsets such as the HTC Vive, to help promote the World Cup and offer viewers something they might not be use to. Though the FIFA World Cup Trophy Tour by Coca-Cola was taken to more than 50 countries ahead of the tournament in Russia, plenty of people would have missed out on it. This is why the experience is a perfect fit for VR/AR, allowing viewers that feeling of being that in person without even needing to leave their house.

“The core of this digital and social campaign has been to develop content and capabilities to help enable the storytelling across the entire FIFA World Cup campaign in new engaging ways,” said Eran Galil, CTO at ByondXR. “This experience allows us to do that all the way through to the final whistle.”

ByondXR uses the latest in advanced technology to empower brands, agencies and retailers to allow them to engage with their customers in exciting ways, using interactive AR/VR/360-degree experiences. Offering an immersive suite, companies can quickly deploy virtual stores and XR experiences across mobile, web and AR/VR headsets.

Sprint Vector Kick Off ESL Qualifiers

Sprint Vector coverart

Fast paced VR racing title Sprint Vector have announced the start of their ESL qualifiers for those looking to become a VR eSports star. Ever Friday throughout this month, ESL will be hosting an open online qualifier for Sprint Vector players around the world through Oculus Home and Steam.

There are reasons to care about this though, as the Oculus-sponsored VR League will feature over $2,000 (USD) in prize money from the online qualifiers and a share of $25,000 (USD) in the finals. Elsewhere, Community Cup champs will be given their own Oculus Rift and Oculus Touch setup and a chance to complete in the finals for $25,000 (USD) prize pool, which is available thorough Steam.

If you are looking to enter the VR League and Community Cups then you can do so via the official website.

VRFocus’ Senior Staff Writer Peter Graham reviewed Sprint Vector saying: “There’s very little to dislike in Sprint Vector. Sure there will be times when that competitive edge over takes you, getting annoyed when you fudge a jump but that’s to be expected. The single-player has enough to get you started with a few hours of gameplay, yet it’s the multiplayer that’ll have you coming back for more. Here’s hoping that Sprint Vector draws in enough of a crowd to sustain it, rather than becoming another multiplayer focused experience that gets forgotten about. Which would be a shame, because from where VRFocus is standing Sprint Vector is another hit for the studio.”

ePlay Digital Release Big Shot AR Into Beta

Big Shot AR

ePlay Digital announced back in early May their new AR sports app that would allow players a similar experience to that of Pokémon Go. The company have now announced that the beta for Big Shot Basketball would take place during the Las Vegas, 2018 NBA Summer League. This meant that those who attended the event, along with a few other select locations across North American, were able to try the mobile videogame out ahead of the 2018/2019 NBA season.

“This is going to be a big summer for ePlay and for augmented reality,” says Trevor Doerksen, CEO of ePlay Digital. “We are advancing the state-of-art for sports and mobile technology and look forward to seeing hundreds of thousands of fans of all ages enjoying the magic that our augmented reality platform creates.”

The company have been working with 7-time NBA champion, Robert Horry and a group of talented young basketball players in the run up to the launch of Big Shot AR by having them wear the titles logo throughout the summer. Though the beta launch has already happened earlier this week, there is still much work to be done to bring the title up to a full launch later this year.

Big Shot is of course a series of sports and entertainment titles that will feature AR, fantasy sports, eSports streaming, selfies, 3D, and other advanced mobile videogame features. ePlay Digital have compared the app to being the “Pokémon Go for sports”. The first of these titles is the aforementioned Big Shot Basketball app with future titles planned to be based on NFL, NHL, soccer, and MLB.

That is all for This Week In VR Sport. For more on immersive sport news keep reading VRFocus and remember to check back next week for another This Week In VR Sport.
Posted on

This Week In VR Sports: Coca-Cola Planes, eSports Dreams, And AR Games

As the Electronic Entertainment Expo (E3) 2018 comes to a close, it is time for another entry of This Week In VR Sport. VRFocus brings you a number of sports related virtual reality (VR) and augmented reality (AR) stories every weekend and this week, there are some goodies. Byond have created a virtual tour of the FIFA World Cup Trophy Tour by Coca-Cola, Sprint Vector and Oculus step up their eSports scene and ePlay Digital launch their Big Shot AR app into beta.

ByondXR Powers FIFA World Cup Trophy Tour by Coca-Cola Experience

FIFA World Cup Trophy Tour by Coca-Cola

ByondXR have recently launched a 360-degree tour of the official Coca-Cola/FIFA World Cup Trophy Tour. This immersive VR/AR experience is designed to give viewers an interactive fly through and an up-close-and-personal view of the Coca-Cola plane, which has embedded relevant media and social content found within.

The team are ByondXR have built the immersive experience, which is designed to be used high-end VR headsets such as the HTC Vive, to help promote the World Cup and offer viewers something they might not be use to. Though the FIFA World Cup Trophy Tour by Coca-Cola was taken to more than 50 countries ahead of the tournament in Russia, plenty of people would have missed out on it. This is why the experience is a perfect fit for VR/AR, allowing viewers that feeling of being that in person without even needing to leave their house.

“The core of this digital and social campaign has been to develop content and capabilities to help enable the storytelling across the entire FIFA World Cup campaign in new engaging ways,” said Eran Galil, CTO at ByondXR. “This experience allows us to do that all the way through to the final whistle.”

ByondXR uses the latest in advanced technology to empower brands, agencies and retailers to allow them to engage with their customers in exciting ways, using interactive AR/VR/360-degree experiences. Offering an immersive suite, companies can quickly deploy virtual stores and XR experiences across mobile, web and AR/VR headsets.

Sprint Vector Kick Off ESL Qualifiers

Sprint Vector coverart

Fast paced VR racing title Sprint Vector have announced the start of their ESL qualifiers for those looking to become a VR eSports star. Ever Friday throughout this month, ESL will be hosting an open online qualifier for Sprint Vector players around the world through Oculus Home and Steam.

There are reasons to care about this though, as the Oculus-sponsored VR League will feature over $2,000 (USD) in prize money from the online qualifiers and a share of $25,000 (USD) in the finals. Elsewhere, Community Cup champs will be given their own Oculus Rift and Oculus Touch setup and a chance to complete in the finals for $25,000 (USD) prize pool, which is available thorough Steam.

If you are looking to enter the VR League and Community Cups then you can do so via the official website.

VRFocus’ Senior Staff Writer Peter Graham reviewed Sprint Vector saying: “There’s very little to dislike in Sprint Vector. Sure there will be times when that competitive edge over takes you, getting annoyed when you fudge a jump but that’s to be expected. The single-player has enough to get you started with a few hours of gameplay, yet it’s the multiplayer that’ll have you coming back for more. Here’s hoping that Sprint Vector draws in enough of a crowd to sustain it, rather than becoming another multiplayer focused experience that gets forgotten about. Which would be a shame, because from where VRFocus is standing Sprint Vector is another hit for the studio.”

ePlay Digital Release Big Shot AR Into Beta

Big Shot AR

ePlay Digital announced back in early May their new AR sports app that would allow players a similar experience to that of Pokémon Go. The company have now announced that the beta for Big Shot Basketball would take place during the Las Vegas, 2018 NBA Summer League. This meant that those who attended the event, along with a few other select locations across North American, were able to try the mobile videogame out ahead of the 2018/2019 NBA season.

“This is going to be a big summer for ePlay and for augmented reality,” says Trevor Doerksen, CEO of ePlay Digital. “We are advancing the state-of-art for sports and mobile technology and look forward to seeing hundreds of thousands of fans of all ages enjoying the magic that our augmented reality platform creates.”

The company have been working with 7-time NBA champion, Robert Horry and a group of talented young basketball players in the run up to the launch of Big Shot AR by having them wear the titles logo throughout the summer. Though the beta launch has already happened earlier this week, there is still much work to be done to bring the title up to a full launch later this year.

Big Shot is of course a series of sports and entertainment titles that will feature AR, fantasy sports, eSports streaming, selfies, 3D, and other advanced mobile videogame features. ePlay Digital have compared the app to being the “Pokémon Go for sports”. The first of these titles is the aforementioned Big Shot Basketball app with future titles planned to be based on NFL, NHL, soccer, and MLB.

That is all for This Week In VR Sport. For more on immersive sport news keep reading VRFocus and remember to check back next week for another This Week In VR Sport.