We’ve already had this week’s edition of This Week In VR Sport yesterday but there’s still items coming in. This time however the news revolves around augmented reality (AR) and a new app for fans of NFL franchise the Baltimore Ravens.
The Ravens have teamed up with Faceware Interactive and Image Metrics technology to develop the app which, essentially, gives you a variety of snapchat style filters providing fans with ‘virtual facepaint’. which they can then share across social media. The deal with Faceware Interactive sees them become the first ever official AR provider for the Ravens – which the team say is a first in professional sport.
“We say it all the time… we want attending a game to be an amazing experience for our fans. We want to create lifelong memories. Our face paint executions are not only a cool way for our fans to show their team spirit, they create those great memories.” said Michelle Andres, Senior Vice President of Ravens Media.
“It brings us great pleasure to bring our technology into the sports world.” Added Peter Busch, Vice President of Business Development for Faceware Interactive. “Ravens fans will get to share their pride unlike any fan has ever done before, and to be a part of that is special.”
Additional items include, later in the 2017 season, access to the ‘Fan Mirror’, a full-size, moveable, face recognition mirror located on stadium concourse. Next year will see the application of AR be rolled out to the in-stadium cameras as well.
You can download the app on the iTunes store here. For more news about AR and VR use in sport be sure to follow VRFocus.
New York Giants' Sterling Shepard tried out Madden NFL 18, and suggested a few changes the storied video game franchise should make. He was not a fan of his player rating in the game, and found out a clever way to change it.
Welcome back to another week in the world of virtual reality (VR), augmented reality (AR) and other immersive technology news here on VRFocus. Gamescom is over and done with for another year and so things go back to (relative) normal – although if you’ve been with us and around VR/AR for a while you’ll likely know that there is rarely ever any week that is close to ‘normal’.
Before we get into what ever the week has in store for us however we need to have our first visit of the week to the world of 360 degree video and Monday’s Life In 360° and we’re following up on this weekend’s “This Week In VR Sport” where we had a story about NFL team the New York Jets with some more American Football but this time courtesy of the Dallas Cowboys.
SNVR has been recording snippets here and there for the team in action, mostly training and behind the scenes. They are pretty small videos in length so here’s a bunch of them. Enjoy!
VRFocus is back on Wednesday for our next edition of Li360. You can of course catch up with last weekend’s news and features in full on our homepage.
The NFL continues to maintain its strong relationship with VR technology, now employing the STRIVIR platform to train some officials. According to a report by SportTechie, the virtual reality training company has been working with the NFL’s Officiating Development Programs for the past nine months, presenting game scenarios in a VR headset from a referee’s perspective to supplement the limited opportunities for real-world practice.
According to the report, Strivr began working in earnest on a VR training program for the NFL offseason after the Super Bowl in February, providing officials with “life-like situations that put them into a game scenario so that they can react to plays much as they would on the field.”
The Strivr platform provides 360-degree capture of a game scenario, offering a convincing first-person perspective from an appropriate position on the field—an immersive upgrade over the standard video footage previously used by the Officiating Development Programs for training.
Perhaps the best way for an official to gain experience in a real-world NFL scenario is during the preseason (which recently began), a series of exhibition games which take place before the regular season kicks off in September, but such opportunities are very limited, and don’t offer the endless repeatability of VR training.
Improvements to replay technology in sports is a double-edged sword for referees; while the regularly-used ‘replay review’ system helps officials to make certain tough calls, the multiple-angle, slow-motion footage often works against the referee in many other situations, highlighting any mistakes during high-pressure moments. Having unlimited access to equivalent scenarios any time of year in VR could surely have a positive impact on officiating consistency.
“Refs are under a huge microscope and with replay, if they get something wrong, it’s seen,” Strivr CEO Derek Belch said in an interview with SportTechie. “This is how we take officiating to the next level and addressing some of the same issues players have.”
Strivr’s training platform was already well-established in the NFL from a player’s perspective, thanks to existing partnerships with seven NFL teams, providing off-field training in VR. The company claims that their technology speeds up reaction times, and helps to improve performance and decision-making. The company has enjoyed success in VR training in several sports, and scored a $5 million Series A investment last year that allowed them to expand their performance training into many corporate sectors.
Sometimes when it comes to writing our weekly feature on the various things occurring as the world of sport meets that of virtual reality (VR) – or indeed augmented reality (AR) for that matter – there is only one or perhaps two stories. However, this week we’re flush with four items to cover football, American football and more. So let’s get into those, shall we?
NextVR Bring ‘El Clásico’ To VR
We start with football, where for the majority of leagues it is the off-season, certainly those in Europe. It’s a time here managers and coaches make their plans for the season ahead but also a time where clubs engage in a variety of lucrative tours, playing in one-off exhibition games, fundraisers, as well as leagues and cups with other clubs from around the world.
NextVR have pounced on an opportunity with one of these tours which will see, today, the two biggest teams from Spain’s top flight, La Liga, battle it out. Those are of course the great footballing powerhouses Barcelona and Real Madrid. Eternal rivals, their matches long ago given the nickname ‘El Clásico’. For once it is the American audience who will get the opportunity to see the game take place at Miami’s Hard Rock Stadium. But you can too if you’ve got a Samsung Gear VR.
Head on over to the Oculus Store and subscribe to gain access to the ICC Channel in the NextVR app where you’ll be able to enjoy the broadcast either in Spanish or English.
Reading Welcome Their New Kit (Sort Of)
You may recall last week’s edition of This Week In VR Sport(if you see what I mean) where NBA side the Sacramento Kings unveiled what would be their their new Nike uniforms using an augmented reality (AR) app. Well, over in England Championship football club Reading have also been revealing their kit for the 2017-2018 season. But they’ve done so using 360 degree video.
Filmed in the dressing room, members of the squad got to see the kit they’ll be wearing next season for the first time whilst players Joey van den Berg and Liam Moore model play the somewhat reluctant models. Actually the whole thing is notable not for the announcement but just by how… off it feels. Like no one’s comfortable being filmed in this way.
Still, one for the footy fans and that orange away kit actually looks really nice.
AltSpaceVR’s Brazilian Swansong
Yesterday we brought you the sad news of the closure of VR social app AltSpaceVR. One of the early trail blazers in what could be possible in VR, the company revealed on Friday morning that owing to funding issues they could not “afford to keep the virtual lights on anymore”.
Quite the shame because at the end of last week AltSpaceVR had one of their most mainstream media appearances – and it had to do with sport.
As reported by SVG News, AltSpaceVR and LX Sports Group announced a new partnership with top sports broadcaster ESPN Brazil. Hosting the virtual programme ESPN & Cairo Santos in VR, Santos being a Brazilian player for the Kansas City Chiefs. In the programme ESPN used AltSpaceVR, for its intended purpose – a social platform where people can meet others from all over the world. Producing an interview with what was essentially a live audience from around the world.
Erica Booze, the CEO of LX Sports Group said on the initial announcement: “Shortening the distance between an athlete and their fans through technology has motivated us to broker this unique experience for sports fans. By uniting the visibility of ESPN with AltspaceVR technology, we expect an excellent experience in both Brazil and the United States.”
ESPN Brazil’s VP of Journalism and Production João Palomino added, “ESPN wants to bring sports fans into our studios, creating a unique kind of interaction and taking a step forward in offering multi-platform content. We are driven to innovate in ways that will allow us to serve our fans better.”
It will be interesting to see if ESPN will attempt similar broadcasts in the future with altenate services – perhaps Facebook’s Avatars system?
Stanford University’s Experiments Continue
Back to America now where the Stanford University’s sports department have been utilizing 360 degree video to bring students a new way of interacting with the various sports and athletics teams. Covering everything from American football to a very interesting video on fencing in which the viewer takes on someone one-on-one with additional effects, to wrestling. This is the latest use of VR by the university who have featured on VRFocus numerous times, including their work performing tests with the NFL, appearances at conventions to discuss the uses of VR, and investigating how VR can be used to combat phobias.
Faculty discuss their efforts at length in this piece by SportTechie where they do note that people may be losing out on the experience, simply by not using a compatible VR head mounted display (HMD) to view the footage.
“This is a good example of the biggest problem with any VR that we’re producing or anyone else is producing — most people don’t watch it as it is intended.” Said Heath Trabue, Stanford Athletics’ Director of video services ruefully. “A very small percentage of folks are watching VR content on a headset. It’s going to be mostly on a phone or on not so good 4G. There are a lot of bad experiences with it in that sense.”
Another Saturday means another visit to This Week In VR Sport and as you can imagine, what with all the news from E3 over the course of the last week there’s been far more in the way of videogame related news than there has in the entertainment, industrty or services sectors. That said there is one story we have yet to cover and it inolves a familiar company to VRFocus coverage and a sport we’ve also mentioned onmorethana fewoccasions.
VR & American Football – Partners Once again
Zeality have announced a new partnership with professional American football team the San Francisco 49ers. Zeality will be helping the team reach new fans with modern 360 video.
This isn’t the first time Zeality have used their Immersive Media Engine to help a sports team – only a few months ago, Zeality partnered with the San Jose Sharks, the ice hockey team, to bring 360 degree video to their fans.
The demand for 360 degree video has only increased with the launch of platforms such as YouTube VR and Facebook 360 Video. Couple that with the increasing install base of devices like Google Daydream, Google Cardboard and Gear VR and it’s inevitable that more and more companies will be investing in content people can watch on their head-mounted displays (HMDs).
The future for Zeality and VR content looks promising. Their platform allows hosting, streaming and uploading from with a single app with little compression. DataRPM’s CEO Sundeep Sanghavi was so impressed he recently invested in Zeality.
Sundeep said of Zeality; “The strength of the Zeality platform and customer base provides the ideal environment for their next phase of growth. We share a common view that there will continue to be broad technology convergence and use of cognitive computing and artificial intelligence, which will be critical in the VR market.”
Those interested in experiencing what the Immersive Media Engine has in store for the 49ers need only download or update to the latest version of the 49ers app, on both Google Play and the App Store.
For more than 20 years, the Madden Curse has struck a large percentage of cover athletes in the form of stat declines and injuries. We follow up on all of them.
While the NFL may be waiting on mobile device improvements before further incorporating VR into its broadcasts, the league is opening up its virtual doors for improvements in other areas. They’re utilizing the technology to potentially better diagnose concussions and, as we reported in early January, they’re in the early stages of developing VR training materials for their referees. With the NFL season wrapped up after the Superbowl, teams are evaluating young college players that are looking to earn coveted roster space on a team and one the biggest names in the NFL draft spent a chunk of his training on a virtual football field.
On FoxSports.com, writer Bruce Feldman chatted with multiple head coaches in the NCAA about the impact VR has had on their training regimens. Clemson coach Dabo Sweeney and Temple coach Matt Rhule both spoke highly of VR, with Rhule even attributing two seasons of 10+ wins to VR’s inclusion in their training program.
“I think the eyes are one of those untrained aspects of football,” he says. “Everybody talks about ‘speed’ and how fast a guy is but it’s also about recognizing plays and structure, and I think instincts can be learned and taught, so that intangible thing becomes tangible.”
Recognizing certain plays is something Clemson’s NCAA champion QB Deshaun Watson, who’s projected to be chosen in the first round of the upcoming NFL draft, can attribute to his VR training as he spent 40% of his time in the immersive format learning how to recognize and pick-up blitzes. Watson and Clemson took on the University of Alabama in the most recent title game and, when facing the blitz from the defending champs in the final quarter, Watson completed 6 of 7 passes with two touchdowns.
“I didn’t know what to expect early on from (the VR), but it’s been great for us,” Clemson coach Dabo Swinney says. “We’ve learned how to maximize the efficiency of it. Deshaun might go through yesterday’s blitz script. (Linebacker) Ben Boulware can go in and practice without having to practice. Sometimes a guy who is hurt can still get mental reps. There’s just so many uses for it. It’s been a great teaching tool.”
While the NFL may be welcoming a QB partially molded by VR, it’s not known if he’ll continue to utilize it with his next team. Clemson, however, is already grooming Watson’s successor by having him split time meeting with his QB coach and going through concepts in VR. Though the value of physical talent won’t be diminishing, it’s going to be interesting to see how a generation of players sharpened by VR do over time.
While the NFL may be waiting on mobile device improvements before further incorporating VR into its broadcasts, the league is opening up its virtual doors for improvements in other areas. They’re utilizing the technology to potentially better diagnose concussions and, as we reported in early January, they’re in the early stages of developing VR training materials for their referees. With the NFL season wrapped up after the Superbowl, teams are evaluating young college players that are looking to earn coveted roster space on a team and one the biggest names in the NFL draft spent a chunk of his training on a virtual football field.
On FoxSports.com, writer Bruce Feldman chatted with multiple head coaches in the NCAA about the impact VR has had on their training regimens. Clemson coach Dabo Sweeney and Temple coach Matt Rhule both spoke highly of VR, with Rhule even attributing two seasons of 10+ wins to VR’s inclusion in their training program.
“I think the eyes are one of those untrained aspects of football,” he says. “Everybody talks about ‘speed’ and how fast a guy is but it’s also about recognizing plays and structure, and I think instincts can be learned and taught, so that intangible thing becomes tangible.”
Recognizing certain plays is something Clemson’s NCAA champion QB Deshaun Watson, who’s projected to be chosen in the first round of the upcoming NFL draft, can attribute to his VR training as he spent 40% of his time in the immersive format learning how to recognize and pick-up blitzes. Watson and Clemson took on the University of Alabama in the most recent title game and, when facing the blitz from the defending champs in the final quarter, Watson completed 6 of 7 passes with two touchdowns.
“I didn’t know what to expect early on from (the VR), but it’s been great for us,” Clemson coach Dabo Swinney says. “We’ve learned how to maximize the efficiency of it. Deshaun might go through yesterday’s blitz script. (Linebacker) Ben Boulware can go in and practice without having to practice. Sometimes a guy who is hurt can still get mental reps. There’s just so many uses for it. It’s been a great teaching tool.”
While the NFL may be welcoming a QB partially molded by VR, it’s not known if he’ll continue to utilize it with his next team. Clemson, however, is already grooming Watson’s successor by having him split time meeting with his QB coach and going through concepts in VR. Though the value of physical talent won’t be diminishing, it’s going to be interesting to see how a generation of players sharpened by VR do over time.
February’s first weekly roundup of all things virtual reality (VR) in the world of sport sees a number of sportygame titles revealed and updates in the world of several other sports. Including some intriguing comments as one discipline enters a new era.
One of the biggest sporting events on the planet is not that far away, and whilst the battle between the New England Patriots and the Atlanta Falcons is still very much up in the air there is good news. Thanks to Fox Sports and LiveLike VR, highlights of the Superbowl itself are coming to VR.
Revealed by Digital Trends, you’ll be able to see twenty broadcast packages, including the key moments from each quarter of the fifty-first Superbowl and a number of items supporting the event as a whole. Captured in 4K resolution via six cameras dotted around the stadium and all uploaded and available to watch via the Fox Sports VR app. Not only that LiveLike are taking another step towards having full games shown in VR by providing these package almost in real-time.
How close is almost? No one is quite sure. “We’ve never really done real-time highlights, which is a pretty big deal.” Admitted LiveLike’s CBO Miheer Walavalkar.
Formula 1’s New Owners Look To The Future
Formula One is under new ownership – and seemingly nothing is off the table.
After completing purchase of the controlling stake in the Formula One Group, the company that runs the ‘business’ of F1 from previous owner and long-term stalwart of the sport Bernie Ecclestone, new owners Liberty Media have been doing the rounds speaking to press and trying to lay out their vision for what the future of the sport may be. New Chairman of F1 Chase Carey spoke to the BBC in an interview, and the subject of VR came up. Other motor sports, notably up-and-coming classification Formula E, have been experimenting with the tech.
When asked whether or not VR and other new technologies could attract new viewers to the sport Carey was buoyant about the prospects.
“There’s a list of opportunities that this sport is almost built for. And really at it’s core what you want to do is give the fan as experience that’s as close to driving one of these cars as possible. So whether that’s cameras, or virtual reality, or gaming, or the live experience at the track technology provides us- and the various digital platforms out there provide us- more and more the experience that they’re right there with the driver. And those opportunities really are just going to continue to expand; because there really is no sport that is so built for the technologies of today and tomorrow like Formula 1.”
That’s been This Week in VR Sport, come back next week for another of VRFocus’ sport roundups.
“We say it all the time… we want attending a game to be an amazing experience for our fans. We want to create lifelong memories. Our face paint executions are not only a cool way for our fans to show their team spirit, they create those great memories.” said Michelle Andres, Senior Vice President of Ravens Media.
