Augmented & Virtual Reality Confabulation
What Augmented Reality and Virtual Reality developers are talking about
MLB is considering whether to pursue legal action against Activision Blizzard as a result of the perceived similarity between its logo and the one being used for the company's new Overwatch league.
The post MLB mulls legal challenge over recently revealed Overwatch League logo appeared first on Digital Trends.
MLB.com.Another week has come and gone in what feels like the blink of an eye. Is it really time for us to once again go through everything related to the worlds of sport and virtual reality (VR) from the last seven or so days? Apparently so. So let’s get on with things…
Those of you with particularly good memories will recall that world renowned Filipino boxer Manny Pacquiao, widely regarded as one of the best boxers of all time and certainly one of the biggest names in the modern era of professional boxing is not totally unfamiliar with VR. Back in 2015 Pacquiao was one of a number of celebrities brought in to try out the then brand new Samsung Gear VR, with Pacquiao left apparently flabbergasted by his outer space trip.
Now it seems Pacquiao is set to become virtual himself thanks to a new deal agreed with South Korean developer Appnori Inc. Appnori was established by CEO Howard Lee, whose history includes a long stint as a GUI developer and mobile programmer for Samsung Mobile.
Appnori are perhaps best known for their ‘Kings’ series of VR videogames. Ping Pong Kings, Baseball Kings and now as revealed at a recent VIVE X Asia demo day the slightly awkwardly titled The Manny Pacquiao Boxing Kings VR.
It’s not actually clear if Pacquiao’s involvement in the game extends beyond licencing his name and possibly likeness as the game appears to be in a very early stage and no footage of it was shown. However Appnori did reveal plans that the game will include offline and online play with the goal of eventually inviting top ranking players to compete in a special (offline) tournament at which Pacquiao will adjudicate as a referee.
Prior to this agreement with Pacquiao, Appnori had also teamed up with Taiwanese baseball team Lamigo Monkeys. This also all follows Appnori’s tie-up with the International e-Sports Federation (IeSF), announced last month with little fanfare.
“The VR industry has already made several breakthroughs in terms of hardware. VR contents will grow explosively in the future, and it is time to adapt quickly to expand the scope of esports.” Said IeSF Secretary General Alex Lim. “In this regard, we are pleased to work with Appnori. VR and esports combined will create various synergies and will be the next combination for esports to expand. IeSF will make sure that esports is not only about creating business but also to look for creation of universal values for society, and to take care of the people involved in the industry as well.”
Sean Kwon, Appnori’s Head of International Business also confirmed in his Vive X presentation that they had five titles “in the pipeline” with graphics shown confirming that along with boxing, VR videogames based around football, badminton, archery and fencing are also being developed. It was not confirmed if this would be a continuation of the Kings series or not but it is likely that they are.
Battlegrounds VR appeared twice in London over the last week. Firstly at POP Brixton last weekend where it made its world debut and then in Hyde Park this last Tuesday. Battlegrounds VR is a a brand new virtual reality (VR) gaming experience which has been developed by Major League Baseball (MLB) and gives baseball fans the chance to swing for the fences in a ‘Home Run Derby’ for either the Los Angeles Dodgers or Boston Red Sox.
The experience put you on the plate in either team’s stadium and utilizes both quadrophonic sound courtesy of audio electronics brand Altec Lansing and the HTC Vive head-mounted display (HMD). Most noticeable however is that it takes place inside ten foot high steel cage – a sensible precaution when you’ve got someone who can’t see the real world around them swinging a bat around .
MLB.com ‘s Vice President of Games and VR Jamie Leece, commented: “Battlegrounds is an amazing opportunity to bring our European fans this unique combination of virtual interactive technology and the challenge, skills and fun atmosphere of Major League Baseball.”
Yesterday saw the latest round of Red Bull’s 2017 X-Fighters competition, held at Plaza de Toros de Las Ventas, a famous bull ring which has been a venue for the Red Bull X-Fighters contests now for 16 years. However, as VRFocus reported yesterday, in the hours leading up to the event the drinks company released a new 360 degree video featuring ‘novilleros’ (debuting stars) Fred Kyrillos and Christian Myer – in a Where’s Wally/Waldo style caper.
You can see the video below.
There’ll no doubt be even more sports news related to VR and it’s sister technologies in the next week. Be sure to check back throughout the weekend for everything else VR going on.
A seminar is usually one of two things. It is either very engaging or it is boring. There’s very little in the way of middle ground between the two, and if it turns out to be the latter boy is it goign to be difficult to listen to. Fortunately this doesn’t appear to be the case at the Cannes Lions Innovation Festival where yesterday an unusual five-way partnership of Imagination, Hammerhead VR, Major League Baseball (MLB), HTC Vive, and Dell hosted what they are calling “the world’s first free movement mixed reality (MR) presentation.”
Discussions in the interactive seminar focused on two business areas: brand experience and consumer behaviour and how technology such as virtual reality (VR) could potentially utilise such information. However this was before volunteers were invited to take part in a series of tests involving playing ‘catch’ with a ball. Being successful would then trigger changes in the world around them.
“The idea of catching a ball is simple.” Explained Steve Jelley, joint Managing Director of Hammerhead VR. “However, if you take this action into mixed reality, it can become a catalyst for creativity that can blend the physical and virtual worlds into a completely new experience. The possibilities of the Vive Tracker are powerful, and very exciting for us as immersive content creators”
The ball was not a regular sort you’d get at the store however. It was instead a 3D printed soft rubber ball that incased an HTC Vive Tracker. No easy design task as the ball had to be light enough to throw around, soft enough to be safe to actually throw, be something you could physicaly catch, and be able to not just house the Tracker but be open enough for it to be still picked up by the Vive’s lighthouses whilst it’s being tossed around. If the ball suddenly disappeared mid throw you’re going to end up with confusion – and potentially a ball to the face.
The end result took, according to Hammerhead VR, four weeks to develop and 89 hours to 3D print and allowed the team the chance to experiment with people’s expectations as well as alter the environment around them – and even the ball itself.
“The Vive Tracker is an incredibly exciting tool for developers and marketers alike. The technology enables virtually any object to be tracked in the virtual space, from sports equipment to car steering wheels to furniture – there are endless possibilities.” Added Herve Fontaine, HTC Vive’s VP of Business Development. “With the Vive Tracker, it creates an innovative platform for key parts of your brand story to be tracked and represented within VR.”
You can see a short trailer for the session below which shows some of the development that took place. How these developments continue in the future remains to be seen. But should their be any further news we will be sure to cover it on VRFocus.
The mood might very well be games bsed at the moment with this year’s Electronic Extertainment Expo, better known as E3, around the corner. But that doesn’t mean there is one sports story relating to virtual reality (VR) and augmented reality (AR) to satiate your interest. So let’s look at what has occurred this week.
You may recall the end of last month, when Intel revealed they would be putting dedicated VR zones around The Oval and Edgebaston cricket grounds where cricket fans will be able to don a HTC Vive VR headset and try out their batting skills against a virtual bowler, with a full screen of stats after each virtual stroke to show the users how they did. However that’s their own connection to sport VR in recent times.
Over in California at the Code Conference Intel’s Brian Krzanich, the company’s Chief Executive Officer was questioned on the topic as part of an on-stage interview session.
“We’re both working at the component level – we’ve built and open sourced headsets all built on Intel technology that’s powered by best PC’s, typically, today.” He said, of the company’s work in both AR and VR. “So we design CPUs and graphics to support that.”
Krzanich however pointed to Intel’s newly announced deal with Major League Baseball (MLB). “We think again we’re unique in our ability to the high-grade computing required to bring virtual reality.” Giving an example from the SuperBowl, which itself was broadcast in VR this year. Krzanich spoke of an apparent in-helmet camera view from Quarterback Tom Brady. “They showed the player view from inside his helmet of the downfield and what he saw…. They showed truly what the field looked like. That was us. Intel.”
“We had approximately 50 hi-definition cameras up right around the box level of that stadium. All going back to a massive server complex that then stitches everything together in what we call a voxel – a volumetric pixel. We build billions of that cube real-time.”
That digital representation of the area then allowed Intel to show a viewpoint from a voxel representative to Brady’s eye-level, meaning that people could see exactly the player’s viewpoint. Alternatively it could produce any viewpoint desired by an broadcast producer, or ultimately a full surrounding view for base don the viewer’s choice. Krzanich said Intel was bringing this technology to the MLB but also to football in Spain’s La Liga and England’s Premier League. With Intel providing a platform agnostic weekly highlight in VR.
Krzanich admitted he believed things would start off slow but the potential was there there, much like as was seen with the Internet, which he gave as an example for which things like sport helped drive adoption and development.
VRFocus will bring you more news on the developments of Intel, and others, in this field as the information becomes available. The interview session was captured by Recode and you can view it in full below. The discussions mentioned above start around the 19 minutes 30 seconds mark.
Live VR broadcasts from the world’s biggest sporting leagues are steadily becoming easier to find. A major new three year partnership between Intel and MLB, America’s leading baseball league, will bring weekly live baseball games streamed in VR for free to Gear VR via Intel’s ‘True VR’ tech.
Hot off the heels of a deal to stream several golf rounds of the PGA Tour in VR, Intel has now announced a whopping three year partnership with MLB surrounding live streaming baseball games and highlights in VR.
The start of the partnership will see Intel VR livestreaming one game every Tuesday during the 2017 MLB regular season for free. Each of those VR broadcasts will also be available for on-demand replays and post-game highlights delivered in VR. In the following seasons during the three year deal, we expect to see ramped up game coverage along with the introduction of paid packages.
The VR broadcasting is done via Intel’s ‘True VR’ platform which is currently only available on Samsung’s Gear VR headset. True VR employs panoramic stereoscopic cameras derived from Intel’s 2016 acquisition of VR broadcasting company Voke. The cameras offer a panoramic (but not completely 360) 3D view of the baseball stadium.
For the MLB games streamed during the 2017 season, Intel says there will be up to four camera angles available per game, which users can freely swap between, or choose to watch a produced version which can also include standard broadcast camera views embedded into the virtual view. The virtual view will also offer “up-to-the-moment player and team statistics throughout the game, including pitcher and batter data, and […] exclusive in-app commentary.”
“We are excited to bring the Intel True VR experience to fans around the country every week,” said Kenny Gersh, EVP, Business, MLBAM, in a joint press release. “Our partnership with Intel will keep MLB at the forefront of technological innovation for our fans, bringing them closer to the action.”
The schedule of June’s so-called ‘Intel True VR Game of the Week’ follows:
The post Intel & Major League Baseball Partnership Will Bring Free Weekly Games Streamed in VR appeared first on Road to VR.
With VRFocus the weekend guarantees two things, and the first of those is Saturday’s weekly roundup of stories combining the fields of virtual reality (VR) and sport. There’s a trio of very different stories this week, so let’s get on with things and take you through them. Starting with a story we’ve not yet covered this week in the realm of baseball.
On our weekend features we’ve often followed VR’s fortunes in American Football and Basketball, both for professionals and at the college level. One American institution we rarely get the chance to talk about is ‘The National Passtime’ itself: the sport of baseball.
National League West franchise the Arizona Diamondbacks have joined the Boston Red Socks and turned to VR in order to let them discover just what it feels like to pull on a Diamondbacks shirt with a behind-the-scenes look at what it means to be a player on the team. As part of a new ‘VR Bullpen’ at the Chase Field stadium fans will be able to try out an discover an array where they can strap on an HTC Vive and experience among other things stepping into an actual bullpen (where the area where relief pitchers warm up), stepping out onto the turn to field fly balls, running the bases and even the anticipation of waiting for their chance to play in the dugout. Screens will also be up showing around the area just what the fans inside VR are up to. Take up is already strong with an average of 350 fans trying the experience per game.
Speaking to Cronkite News, the Diamondbacks Vice President relating to fan experiences Graham Rossini had this to say: “Our goal with Cox Connects VR Bullpen is to really bring fans as close to the action as possible. So with the headset, we basically put them in the middle of major league workouts [to experience] what it’s like to be in the batter’s box facing great pitching, what it’s like to be fielding ground balls, fly balls, etc. Only a few people get a chance to say they were a Major League Baseball player so when you do get to stand in the batter’s box and get to understand how good Taijuan Walker [the Diamondbacks’ pitcher] is, how fast those pitches are coming in, the movement of a breaking ball, it’s a really cool perspective.”
Golfing fans keen on VR also have cause tocelebrate after it was confirmed by the PGA Tour that the 17th hole of The Players Championship will be broadcast live in 360-degree video thanks to a collaboration between the PGA and technology giant Intel.
The championship, which will be played from May 11th to May 14th 2017 will be viewable either via the PGA Tour VR Live app, to be made available on the Oculus Store for the Samsung Gear VR or as a stream viewable on the PGA Tour twitter account.account.
It marks the first move into VR for the PGA which will see three 360 degree cameras from Intel broadcast footage from the tee, walkwat up to the tee, and will be placed on the 17th tee, another on the walkway from the tee box to the green and a third to broadcast from one of the water hazards near the green.
“We are excited that THE PLAYERS Championship will host the PGA TOUR’s first live virtual reality production,” said Rick Anderson, PGA TOUR Chief Media Officer. “The PGA TOUR has experimented with virtual reality content for nearly two years. We tested Intel’s True VR technology on a live basis at the Genesis Open in February, and were very pleased with the quality. We decided that executing a live VR experience on one of the most dramatic holes in golf was something that our fans would love, and the fact that we are partnering with Twitter to deliver 360 video will offer tremendous scale.”
“The Intel True VR platform will provide golf fans with a new, immersive experience using our end-to-end solution. From our stereoscopic cameras at the iconic 17th hole to creating a PGA TOUR VR application for THE PLAYERS Championship, we work with our partners to create the best fan experience,” said David Aufhauser, managing director, Intel Sports Group. “Working with the PGA TOUR, as well as global distribution via Twitter and Periscope, gives us the ability to expand the Intel True VR experience to more fans.”
For those of you looking to get immersed in a VR videogame of your favourite sport there have been a couple of new items that you should be aware of. First up for basketball fans Baskhead Training, a game where you are challenged to be the best shooter in the business, is already out on the likes of Google Daydream, Oculus Rift and HTC Vive. However it was announced earlier this week that developers VRLines will look to complete the set by adding PlayStation VR and Google Cardboard support at a later date.
Additionally for golf and puzzle fans comes the newly renamed Moonscale Galaxy, which is also coming to PlayStation VR. A puzzler which takes crazy golf up to a galactic scale. You can watch a trailer for that here.
VRFocus will be back next Saturday with another round-up of the week’s VR sporting news. And for the latest AR and VR updates keep reading VRFocus.
Corey Seager may be the face of R.B.I. Baseball 17, but he's far from the only real-life player on the roster. With more than 1,000 players, the latest R.B.I. Baseball video game is looking to make a splash on Xbox, PS4 and smartphones.
The post Corey Seager, 1,000 other real-life players take field in ‘R.B.I. Baseball 17’ appeared first on Digital Trends.
MLB: The Show 17 introduces a new “Retro Mode” this year, making it easier for less experienced players to join in on the fun. More information on the mode will be unveiled in February.
The post ‘MLB: The Show 17’ Retro Mode takes baseball gamers back to the 8-bit basics appeared first on Digital Trends.
PGA Tour Makes Move To Be Broadcast In 360 Degrees