Subscription Fitness App Supernatural Coming to Oculus Quest Next Week

There are plenty of ways to keep yourself healthy at home and virtual reality (VR) gaming can be one of them. Titles such as Beat Saber, Synth Riders, OhShape, Thrill of the Fight and many more offer energetic gameplay and soon there will be another, Supernatural by VR content company Within. 

Supernatural - image2

Supernatural is going to offer a somewhat different setup to those other experiences, with an on-demand fitness package based around a subscription service. “It has been intentionally designed from the ground up as a living VR exercise platform,” said Within Founder & CEO Chris Milk on the Oculus Blog. “We built an entire ecosystem that gives people an extraordinary workout experience that gets them excited to come back every day”

He went on to say: “The platform has been developed in conjunction with fitness experts and behavioral scientists for the purpose of really making a difference in helping people keep on schedule, not get bored with the workout, and not eventually quit.”

With gameplay which looks inspired by VR videogames like Beat Saber, because Supernatural is geared towards fitness the app will feature coaching, leaderboards, Bluetooth heart rate integration and a mobile companion app so you can monitor your progress. Rather than difficulty settings Supernatural will offer dynamic difficulty that adjusts the experience on each map in real-time depending on how well you’re keeping pace.

Supernatural - image3

None of this is any good if you don’t have decent music to compliment the gameplay so Within will be offering the latest tunes for subscribers to enjoy. We wanted people to have that feeling of surprise and delight when a song comes on that they love,” notes Milk. “So we’ve been working and partnering with record labels to craft a deal to use their full catalogs.” Which labels these are have yet to be revealed.

All the gameplay will be set in photo-realistic landscapes so that you can enjoy all these workouts in some stunning environments.

Supernatural’s subscription service will offer new daily workouts charged at a discounted introductory rate of $20 USD/month. There will also be a free trial available. Within will launch Supernatural for Oculus Quest on 23rd April 2020. For further updates on the new fitness app, keep reading VRFocus.

Subscription-based VR Fitness App ‘Supernatural’ Coming to Quest Today

Within, the immersive studio known for some of VR’s highest quality experiences, unveiled a new fitness app for Oculus Quest earlier this month that aims to give you a fun, fast, and intuitive cardio workout in VR. Starting today you’ll be able to dive right in.

Update (April 23rd, 2020): Supernatural is set to go live today on the Oculus Store for Quest at 10 AM PT (local time here). The first 30 days is free, however afterwards ‘founding members’ will pay a monthly fee of $19. We haven’t had a chance to go hands-on with Supernatural yet, but we’ll report back soon.

There’s still no word on when a version for Rift, or other PC VR headsets is due to arrive. The original article announcing Supernatural follows below:

Original Article (April 13th, 2020): Called Supernatural, the subscription-based app is said to launch on Quest April 23rd. The subscription includes new workouts published daily at a discounted introductory rate of $19 per month, as well as a free trial to see if its right for you.

And what exactly do you get with this ‘virtual gym’ membership? According to an Oculus blog post, Supernatural melds together VR rhythm game mechanics, daily personalized full-body workouts, expert coaching from real-world trainers, and music from popular artists, all of which is set in variety of photorealistic landscapes.

The promo video certainly gives off Beat Saber vibes, albeit with a decidedly less of a ‘European discotheque’ aesthetic and more of a crunchy granola feel from some Star Trekian future.

“When my Within co-founder Aaron Koblin and I realized we had developed dad-bods without having any actual children, we knew we had to do something,” Within co-founder Chris Milk says. “Neither one of us was fond of or good at sticking with exercise. We disliked the rigmarole of going to the gym and didn’t think the home fitness solutions out there were particularly fun. We wanted the benefits of exercising regularly, but we didn’t enjoy the short-term activity necessary to get those long-term results.”

The team hasn’t revealed what musical artists will be featured, however Milk says its will feature “some of the biggest artists from the major record labels, and amazing artists from indie labels as well.”

Supernatural is said to arrive with a companion app, which lets you pair your heart rate monitor, schedule workouts, and follow friends.

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‘Supernatural’ Coming To Oculus Quest This Month For VR Workouts

Supernatural from startup Within looks to be a bit like Beat Saber meets OhShape and BoxVR, with subscription pricing and a solid focus on getting you fit in an Oculus Quest.

The title was just announced by Oculus and Within with a launch planned for April 23. The software will be priced at an “introductory rate” of $20 per month with a free trial, according to the announcement post. It includes a mobile app for your phone and can pair with an Apple Watch to track heart rate during your exercises.

In the trailer above you can see how it makes use of the wireless freedom of Oculus quest with the software telling you when to turn your body 90 degrees to hit targets coming from the sides.

“We had the choice of doing a discrete one-time fixed price download with a locked amount of workouts, that would allow you to add more workouts and songs through DLC packs,” Within Founder & CEO Chris Milk explained in the Oculus blog post. “That works well for games but didn’t feel like the best approach for a fitness system, particularly given one of the big things we are solving for is helping people find, stick with, and ultimately love their exercise program.”

According to the blog post, the maps calibrate “to your personal range of motion” so targets, lunges, and squats should adjust “based on how your body is comfortable moving.” The title also includes “expert coaching from real-world trainers” and is said to include music from popular artists.

We’ll have hands-on impressions and thoughts for you about Supernatural when it launches later this month.

 

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The VR Job Hub: So Real, Within & Plessey

The virtual and augmented reality (VR/AR) industries are wonderfully diverse when it comes to the job roles available, always looking to hire the best talent to work on exciting projects. Whether you’ve been an avid fan of the tech for a while or are already involved in some way, today’s VR Job Hub has plenty of new roles which can help you become more involved and shape VR/AR’s future.

Location Company Role Link
London, UK VRFocus Video Producer/Presenter Click Here to Apply
Bern, Switzerland So Real CTO Click Here to Apply
Los Angeles, CA Within Engineering Lead Click Here to Apply
Los Angeles, CA Within Executive & Personal Assistant to CEO Click Here to Apply
Los Angeles, CA Within Senior Software Engineer Click Here to Apply
Plymouth, UK Plessey CMP Process Engineer Click Here to Apply
Plymouth, UK Plessey Photolithography Process Engineer Click Here to Apply
Plymouth, UK Plessey Plasma Etch Process Engineer Click Here to Apply
Plymouth, UK Plessey Process Engineer – Wafer Thinning & Polishing Click Here to Apply
Plymouth, UK Plessey Principal Process Engineer – Photolithography Click Here to Apply
Plymouth, UK Plessey Principal Process Engineer – Plasma Etch Click Here to Apply

Don’t forget, if there wasn’t anything that took your fancy this week there’s always last week’s listings on The VR Job Hub to check as well.

If you are an employer looking for someone to fill an immersive technology related role – regardless of the industry – don’t forget you can send us the lowdown on the position and we’ll be sure to feature it in that following week’s feature. Details should be sent to Peter Graham (pgraham@vrfocus.com).

We’ll see you next week on VRFocus at the usual time of 3PM (UK) for another selection of jobs from around the world.

Award-Winning AR Reading App Wonderscope is Free Until June

In 2018 Within released an augmented reality (AR) app for Apple devices with interactive stories for children to read called Wonderscope. As parents are looking for things to keep their kids entertained whilst they can’t go to school, Within has made all the Wonderscope stories free until June. 

Wonderscope

Awarded “Best Learning App” at the 2020 Kids Screen Awards, in 2019 Wonderscope also won a Children’s BAFTA for its inaugural story, A Brief History of Stunts by Astounding People.

Built using Apple’s ARKit so it’s compatible with any iOS device running on iOS 11 or newer, Wonderscope is suitable for children ages 6 and up. Offering a virtual world of colourful characters who encourage kids to practise reading aloud, the apps’ “Look At” feature enables characters to make eye contact with children, and voice recognition allows kids at any reading level to enjoy the app.

“Our goal is to provide children with entertaining interactive stories that harness the power of imagination to cultivate learning,” said Within’s executive producer of original content, Samantha Storr of Wonderscope in a statement. “As we adjust to daily life inside our homes, we hope the free stories will make reading time a little more dynamic and joyful for kids around the world.”

Wonderscope

Wonderscope is free to download and comes pre-loaded with Clio’s Cosmic Quest. Normally the other stories are priced at $4.99 each but until 1st June they’re all free.

Wonderscope story list:

  • A Brief History of Stunts by Astounding People: Take part in three of history’s most impossible stunts and meet the real people that made them happen.
  • Wonder’s Land Ringmaster Wanted: Meet Wonder, the Ringmaster of Wonder’s Land, who gives you a tour of the nonsensical world he calls home.
  • Little Red the Inventor: Become Red’s imaginary friend and help her show the Big Bad Wolf how strong her voice can be.
  • Clio’s Cosmic Quest: Step into a space portal and explore amazing facts about our solar system.
  • Lauren and the Three Bears: Lauren has been tasked with filling in for Goldilocks. There’s only one problem: Goldilocks didn’t tell her anything about the plot!
  • Willowcrest Manor: In this story, kids play the house ghost, as Godfrey — the ghost butler
  • — teaches kids how to haunt and spook.
  • Sinclair Snake: Kids search for the notorious Sinclair Snake while exploring a natural history museum, solving puzzles and learning fun facts along the way.

For further updates on the latest educational AR apps, keep reading VRFocus.

The VR Job Hub: White Elk Studios, Drifter Entertainment & More

Believe it or not, California is a bit of a tech hub. In actual fact, the entire West Coast of the US is a technological smorgasbord, from the giants like Google and Microsoft to all those little startups fighting for venture capital cash. And because of this those with the know-how can find all sorts of vacancies, just look at the selection VRFocus has below.

Location Company Role Link
Los Angeles, CA White Elk Studios Senior Programmer Click Here to Apply
Los Angeles, CA White Elk Studios Technical Artist Click Here to Apply
Los Angeles, CA White Elk Studios Lead Designer Click Here to Apply
Los Angeles, CA White Elk Studios Mid to Senior Combat Designer Click Here to Apply
Los Angeles, CA White Elk Studios Senior Level Designer Click Here to Apply
Seattle, WA Drifter Entertainment Senior 3D Artist/Generalist Click Here to Apply
Seattle, WA Drifter Entertainment Senior Gameplay Engineer Click Here to Apply
Seattle, WA Drifter Entertainment Senior Game Designer Click Here to Apply
Los Angeles, CA Within 3D Artist Click Here to Apply
Los Angeles, CA Within Engineering Lead (AR) Click Here to Apply
Los Angeles, CA Within Senior Software Engineer Click Here to Apply
Los Angeles, CA Within Engineering Lead (Mobile) Click Here to Apply
Los Angeles, CA Within Senior Product Designer Click Here to Apply
Los Angeles, CA Within Creative Executive Click Here to Apply

 

Don’t forget, if there wasn’t anything that took your fancy this week there’s always last week’s listings on The VR Job Hub to check as well.

If you are an employer looking for someone to fill an immersive technology related role – regardless of the industry – don’t forget you can send us the lowdown on the position and we’ll be sure to feature it in that following week’s feature. Details should be sent to Peter Graham (pgraham@vrfocus.com).

We’ll see you next week on VRFocus at the usual time of 3PM (UK) for another selection of jobs from around the world.

SXSW VR Experience The Atomic Tree now Available on Within

The SXSW festival took place earlier this month in Austin, Texas, with plenty of immersive 360-degree films and experiences for guests to enjoy. Today WITHIN has announced that one of those films, The Atomic Tree is now available via its virtual reality (VR) app.

The Atomic Tree

The Atomic Tree is a ten-minute journey into the life of a very special tree – a 400-year-old Japanese White Pine bonsai that survived the atomic blast in Hiroshima. Adapted from David Haskell’s book The Songs of Trees, the short film was directed by Adam Loften and produced by Emmanuel Vaughan-Lee, the creators of award-winning VR experience Sanctuaries of Silence.

The synopsis explains that: “The Atomic Tree is a journey into the memories of one of the most revered trees in the world’s 400-year-old Japanese White Pine bonsai that witnessed and survived the atomic blast in Hiroshima. From Japan’s ancient cedar forests and Buddhist temples to the family home in Hiroshima where the pine was nurtured for five generations, this VR experience explores the unbroken chain of living stories held within the rings of this tree. The delicate shape of this bonsai contains sacred forests, human family, and deep time, inviting us to reflect on the living strands of kinship that are woven between human and non-human worlds.”

The Atomic Tree

To view The Atomic Tree you can either watch it on the WITHIN website or download the free app which supports all major headsets, including Oculus Rift, Oculus Go, Samsung Gear VR, HTC Vive, PlayStation VR, and Google Daydream.

Founded in 2014, WITHIN creates, acquires, and distributes premium augmented reality (AR) and VR experiences, recently releasing a Fright Fest Collection for Halloween and AR app Wonderscope for new storytelling possibilities.

VRFocus will continue its coverage of WITHIN and the company’s latest content releases, updating you with the most recent announcements.

Within Transforms Ordinary Spaces Into Extraordinary Stories With AR App Wonderscope

Immersive content creation and distribution company Within is well-known for its virtual reality (VR) experiences – like its recent Halloween fright fest – but not for anything augmented reality (AR) related. That’s now changed this week with the launch of AR app Wonderscope, mixing AR tech with storytelling.

Wonderscope Characters

Built using Apple’s ARKit, Wonderscope features stories that respond to a child’s movement and voice—including lines of dialogue that are highlighted as a child reads them aloud. The app also includes Within’s “Look At” feature which approximates the experience of eye-contact with characters, deepening the emotional connection and sense of participation in the story.

“Millions of kids use screens as much or more than adults, and they often do it alone,” said Within CEO, Chris Milk in a statement. “With AR, we see an opportunity to change that dynamic. Rather than disappearing into our devices and shutting out the world, Wonderscope promotes a new kind of screen-positive experience, one that opens you up to everything and everyone around you.”

Wonderscope image2

Wonderscope is free to download for iOS users. It comes with A Brief History of Stunts by Astounding People free of charge with second story Little Red the Inventor, available for $4.99 USD.

A Brief History of Stunts by Astounding People allows children to enjoy three historic impossible stunts and meet the real people that made them happen: Betty Bromage, an 88-year old grandmother that stood on the wings of an airborne bi-plane; Helen Gibson, Hollywood’s first stuntwoman; and Charles Blondin, the first person to tightrope walk across Niagara Falls.
Little Red the Inventor features character Red, a modern-day Little Red Riding Hood who has added “inventor” to her resume. Players need to help Red solve tricky situations to evade the Big Bad Wolf, using their voices to stand up for what’s right, and their smarts to become heroes in this new take on a classic fairy tale.
 Additional titles will begin rolling out in December. For further updates keep reading VRFocus.

Wonderscope Is The First AR App From Within

Wonderscope Is The First AR App From Within

Within is bringing its expertise in making experiential VR to the weird and wonderful world of augmented reality.

The company this week launched its first AR experience, Wonderscope, as its own iOS app. Geared towards kids, the experience utilizes Apple’s ARKit to turn the spaces around them into virtually interactive environments designed to encourage early learning. It features several stories that children will be able to read aloud, with text being highlighted as they speak. They can even reach into the world in front of the camera to play with characters.

Within hopes that encouraging early learning skills will make Wonderscope one of a new breed of AR apps that gets kids using their family’s tablets and phones in proactive ways. “Millions of kids use screens as much or more than adults, and they often do it alone,” Within CEO, Chris Milk said in a prepared statement. “With AR, we see an opportunity to change that dynamic. Rather than disappearing into our devices and shutting out the world, Wonderscope promotes a new kind of screen-positive experience, one that opens you up to everything and everyone around you.”

Wonderscope is initially launching with one story, A Brief History of Stunts by Astounding People, which takes viewers on a tour of historic stunts. It’s available for free inside the app, but you can also download another story, Little Red the Inventor, for $4.99. As the name suggests, the story is a modern twist on the tale of Little Red Riding Hood. More stories will be rolling out to the app in December.

No word on an Android release just yet.

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Scream and Hide in Virtual Reality Films and Videogames This Halloween

We all love a little bit of a scare, scream and adrenaline rush. Virtual reality (VR) is particularly good at making viral videos when we see our friends and family members tremble, scream or fall off chairs. Be prepared to go through those same emotions in these latest experiences in VR and augmented reality (AR).

Dark Corner Tag Along

Dark Corner Studios are releasing international exclusives for horror fans to enjoy. All four of the films are available now through the Dark Corner app which you can get on Oculus Rift, Oculus Go, Samsung Gear VR, and Google Daydream headsets.

  • Tag Along – A blood-spattered haunted house story from Taiwan, director Pu-Yuan Cheng and producer Shin-Chi Chen have created a short horror experience that expands the mythology of this hit Taiwanese franchise. Get ready to enter the haunted home of the demon Mosien, if you dare…
  • Oh Deer – The first foray into VR for Swedish director Peter Pontikis, Oh Deer is a stark, minimalist POV experience. It’s an exercise in suspense and divided attention, placing the viewer in the perspective of a wounded animal as hunters close in from all sides.
  • Horomaru – An indie haunted house story from South Korea by director Jae-gyun Hong. Three young ghost hunters with plans to upload their 360 footage for viral internet views go exploring in an abandoned mansion. What they don’t realize is that the house used to host grisly sacrificial rites; “Horomaru” refers to “the ritual of sacrificing a living human to a ghost or demon.”
  • The Office – A popular horror short from the prolific European VR studio Inside360, directed by Miguel Temme. The viewer takes the POV of an office worker about to head home for the day…when suddenly mysterious things start to happen all around you.

WITHIN also has some premieres for their Fright Fest Collection with eight experiences, including five app premieres. These premieres will include:

  • The Caretaker​ – created by Jacob Wasserman, Adam Donald, and Ant Gentile of Hidden Content. This follows the mysterious occurrences at a strange hotel when a couple arrives to wait for a mechanic after their car breaks down on a cold winter night.
  • An Obituary​ – created by Jean Yoon, Kuk-seok Yang, and Jin-hee Kim. The experience charts the unsettling course of a funeral when the man attending realizes he is the sole mourner alongside the deceased’s grieving mother. Why is there nobody else in the village?
  • 11:57​ – is a first-person POV nightmare in which you are strapped to a chair in a dark cave. The experience revolves around your every move, but may leave you cowering under your bed.

Also available will be Dinner Party,​ the pilot episode of a new anthology series called, The Incident.​ Focused on actual supernatural events the first installment is based on the story of Betty and Barney Hill, an interracial couple who reported the first nationally known story of a UFO abduction in 1961.From WITHIN’s archives the Fright Fest Collection will include Greg Nicotero’s The Walking Dead, AMC’s The Terror, ​and Sergeant James. 

It’s not all about VR this season, AR app Noovie ARcade app have also been busy preparing audiences in cinema theatres with pre-show creepiness. Twenty minutes before a screening, audiences can download the Noovie ARcade app on Google Play Store and Apple App Store.

Then, they will be shown a slew of spooky imagery, such as a silhouette of a child on a swing, clutching a teddy bear. Strange, zombie-like creatures who move with a jerky, unnatural motion appear as ominous writing appears on a billboard, pleasing ‘Save Me!’. Alternatively you can also play AR games on the cinema screen like Cinevaders, Emoji Escape and Kernal Cannon.

The horror experience will be available at selected theatres from 6th October until 31st October, with over 20,800 movie screens taking part,  including big chains such as AMC, Cinemark, Regal Entertainment Group along with 55 regional and local cinemas and exhibitors.

Viveport_Halloween

If cinema or movies just aren’t immersive enough for you, and you’re looking for a little bit more interaction with your content. You can always head over to Viveport where they’re doing a 90% off massive Halloween sale. There’s a lot on offer, there’s even a ‘Free Frights’ category, you can select from various categories, with my personal favourite category “AHHH!”

KOBOLD If you’re looking for something that sits between a film and videogame you can always try Kobold. This experience is coming to the Oculus Rift and HTC Vive. Designed as a trans-media experience. Before entering VR you watch a short film which serves as an introduction into the world and characters and tells the backstory of a missing boy and his family.

In the VR experience you play an urban explorer investigating the mysterious case of the missing boy. With your torch in hand you look to discover the secrets of an abandoned villa in the middle of a dark forest in Germany. Featuring real locations that have been scanned for authenticity, KOBOLD offers players a fully interactive universe where they can pick up clues, solve a mystery and come face to face with an ancient evil.

Continue reading VRFocus to get the latest scares.