Augmented & Virtual Reality Confabulation
What Augmented Reality and Virtual Reality developers are talking about
Twitch streamer A.J. illegally streamed a UFC pay-per-view fight by pretending he was broadcasting UFC 3 beta gameplay, complete with a game controller and his "reactions" to the fight.
The post Streamer pretends to play ‘UFC 3,’ actually broadcasts pay-per-view fight appeared first on Digital Trends.
With knockouts always in the picture, UFC 3 makes each decision in the octagon more crucial. Yet our hopes are darkened by the inclusion of ‘Ultimate Team’ collectibles that enhance fighters, and don’t fit with the game’s theme.
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Athletes are always looking for ways to improve their performance, even by a fraction, and fans are always looking for a way to get closer to their preferred sport and learn more about what’s going on. Technology like virtual reality (VR) allows for both. So here at VRFocus we have a weekly look at how VR technology is affecting the world of sports.
Offering fans of UFC to opportunity to get a front-row seat of the American mixed martial arts promotion UFC as well as extreme sports contest X-Games is Samsung, who will be live-streaming certain UFC events to users of the Gear VR.
Customers can sign up for a VR Live Pass that allows them access to certain sporting events from UFC and X Games, the first of which is the UFC 212 event in Brazil, which will feature a match between Also and Holloway. The next event will be from X-Games Minneapolis on 13th-16th July. Other events will be added to the calendar over the next few months.
“We’ve always felt that the potential of combining UFC events with virtual reality would give our fans the ultimate enhanced experience,” UFC Chief Operating Officer Lawrence Epstein said in a statement.
“We are excited to offer Samsung Gear VR users the opportunity to experience their favourite live music and sporting events through our industry-leading VR ecosystem,” said Younghee Lee, CMO and Executive Vice President of Global Marketing at Samsung.
Cricket has not traditionally been associated with technological innovation, preferring to stick to tradition where possible. That might be about to change, however, with the introduction of some new technologies from Intel.
Cricket fans attending the International Cricket Champions (ICC) Trophy will have a chance to don a HTC Vive headset in some specially-designated areas of the ground at The Oval and Edgebaston, and try out their own batting skills against a virtual bowler. The experience shows a screen full of stats to display your performance after each stroke, with figures such as angle and speed displayed for users to gauge their performance, and perhaps compete against their friends.
Attendees aren’t the only one getting sophisticated sensor date, however. Specular are also deploying the BatSense sensor, a Cricket accessory that allows for data such as speed, back-lift and follow-through to be captured. In addition, a small drone will be deployed to do pitch fly-overs to scan pitch conditions, reporting back with data such as grass cover, health and topology. This information will be made available to commentators and pundits to add value to their evaluation of the match.
The ICC Trophy is running from 1st-18th June.
Samsung Gear VR owners can soon look forward to seeing live-streaming sporting and music events from UFC, X-Games and Live Nation as part of a new partnership that will see select events broadcast live in 360-degrees through the VR Live Pass app.
The VR Live Pass will be available to Samsung Gear VR users from early June, when it will become available to users in 45 countries due to Samsung’s increased global presence.
“We are excited to offer Samsung Gear VR users the opportunity to experience their favorite live music and sporting events through our industry-leading VR ecosystem,” said Younghee Lee, CMO and Executive Vice President, Samsung Electronics. “Partnering with these companies to expand our VR services helps us to open up a new gateway of opportunities for fans and demonstrate our commitment to delivering experiences that make the seemingly impossible, possible.”
“We’ve always felt that the potential of combining UFC events with virtual reality would give our fans the ultimate enhanced experience,” UFC Chief Operating Officer Ike Lawrence Epstein said. “We’re excited to partner with Samsung on this game-changing initiative to further revolutionize how fight fans consume our content and live events around the world.”
“The X Games is the premier action sports event that continually provides a platform for athletic progression,” said Tim Reed, Vice President, ESPN X Games. “From never been done tricks to awe-inspiring competition, Samsung’s Gear VR technology is perfect to showcase dynamic action sports to viewers across the world.”
Broadcasts will begin in June once the app is available. The first three scheduled events are:
Gear VR users will be able to watch the content available through VR Live Pass at no extra cost.
VRFocus will continue to report on new content available to VR users.