Can VR films attract a broad audience to get monetized?
Read our exclusive report to keep you on top of what’s happening in the virtual reality entertainment industry
Virtual reality (VR) has been touted as one of the top future technologies, but one expert at the Be3D: Think Forward event, held in Toronto, disagrees. Barry Sandrew, founder of Augmented Vision Works and a board member of Alashic VR, predicts that going forward, augmented reality (AR) and mixed reality (MR) will become the experience of choice for most consumers. “AR will become ubiquitous in all of our lives — it’ll be used in cars with heads up displays, and in the gaming and entertainment industry for sure,” he tells the crowd. “VR will take a backseat to all of this. I predict that when CES 2018 rolls around, we’ll see a lot more money and effort going into developing more productive AR and MR experiences.” Read more on IT World Canada
Turning James Joyce’s Ulysses into a virtual reality game
Boston College students are developing a virtual reality game based on James Joyce’s Ulysses as part of a class. The goal of Joycestick is to expose new audiences to the works of one of Ireland’s most celebrated authors, as well as to give a glimpse of how virtual reality can be used to enhance literature, said Joseph Nugent, the Boston College English professor who is co-ordinating the project. “This is a new way to experience the power of a novel. We’re really at the edge of VR. There’s no guidance for this. What we have produced has been purely out of our imagination.” Read more on CBC
DMG Entertainment gets into Virtual Reality business
Global media company DMG Entertainment is launching DMG VR, a new unit focused on immersive storytelling. As part of that effort, DMG is unveiling Arcturus, a company focused on interactive narrative experiences and technology, that it incubated under the DMG VR umbrella. “The creative canvas of VR gives us new ways to experience stories and express creativity,” said DMG founder Dan Mintz in a statement. “We’re partnering with a team of trailblazing leaders in this rapidly-growing industry to push new boundaries and bring mind-blowing VR experiences to the world.” Read more on Variety
India’s PVR to launch 10 virtual reality lounges in the country
PVR Cinemas, India’s largest multiplex chain, is launching 10 Virtual Reality lounges across some of its properties in India. The VR lounge will allow film buffs to experience a new dimension of entertainment while they wait for their film to begin. The VR Lounge will provide games as well as a library of fascinating and adventurous immersive and interactive content curated from various different genres such as drama, fiction, sci-fi, horror, action, etc… Read more on Economic Times
Berkeley University opens a new lab for virtual and augmented reality
The University of California Berkeley announced a new lab to accelerate its efforts on augmented reality and virtual reality research. Located in Berkeley’s Cory Hall, the lab is as a corporate gift from the entertainment virtual reality company Immerex. Berkeley’s new lab will be mainly used to develop projects using Immerex VR equipment such as VR head-mounted displays and cameras… Read more on Haptical
Mission: Impossible Virtual Reality game now in development
VRWERX, developer and publisher of the highly anticipated VR game “Paranormal Activity: The Lost Soul” based on another Paramount movie franchise, today announced a new VR game inspired by Mission: Impossible for all major head-mounted displays including HTC Vive, Sony’s PlayStation VR and Oculus Rift. Similar to Paranormal Activity: The Lost Soul, this new VR game will offer an original storyline inspired by the classic spy movie franchise… Read more on Yahoo Finance
Buzz Aldrin hosts virtual reality experience on how to get to Mars
Buzz Aldrin, the second man to set foot on the moon, is looking to keep humanity going and get to Mars. The 87-year old astronaut is hosting a virtual reality experience to discuss his plan on how to get astronauts to Mars. The experience, named Cycling Pathways to Mars, debuted at the tech conference South by Southwest earlier this week. In the experience, Aldrin is placed on a lunar landscape, then goes on to show how humanity could get to Mars. The Apollo 11 astronaut thinks there could be two ships going back and forth between Earth and Mars on six months schedules in order to do so… Read more on Fox News
Bandai Namco to open Japan’s largest virtual reality center
The Bandai Namco Holdings group will open a large virtual reality entertainment center this summer in Tokyo’s bustling Shinjuku district, offering a wide range of content featuring popular animation and cartoon characters. The 3,600 sq. meter facility will be housed in a temporary building to be constructed by the Tokyu group in the Kabukicho entertainment district. It is expected to operate for up to two years until the Tokyo railway operator kicks off an urban renewal project there. Inside the mini theme park, to be operated by Bandai Namco Entertainment, visitors wearing special goggles will be able to view VR content on their headsets’ screens, or enjoy interactive visual images projected onto walls and floors… Read more on Asia Nikkei
Intel is live streaming Final Four games in virtual reality
Watching a Final Four basketball game in a stadium can cost you a little fortune. The ticket prices go up to a few thousand dollars. That is why most of the fans tune into TVs. But Intel thinks there is a cheaper (and better) way to experience the championship games, from the comfort of a living room. In cooperation with Turner Sports, CBS Sports and the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA), Intel is broadcasting the Final Four and the NCAA basketball championship games live in virtual reality. The VR experience will be available via the new NCAA March Madness Live VR app, that is available to download from the Oculus store… Read more on Haptical
Virtual Reality Art: The new frontier
Technology is redefining art with a seismic shift not seen since Renaissance times. At least, this is the belief of Royce Ng, a 31-year-old Hong Kong-based virtual artist. To the world’s super-collectors, new media art suffers from “a 20th century problem”, reckons Ng. “The whole worth of an artwork is understood to be based on its originality and its singularity. But when you create digital works, they are infinitely reproducible and the last one is exactly the same quality as the first,” he adds… Read more on Billionaire
Confronting the “Shocking” VR artwork at The Whitney Biennial
Jordan Wolfson’s virtual-reality installation at the new Whitney Biennial, “Real Violence,” is the rare art work that comes with a trigger warning as well as an age restriction. No one under seventeen is allowed; minors will have to get their dose of carnage by sneaking into “Logan” instead. Early reviews called the work disturbing, horrifying, repellent, nausea- and P.T.S.D.-inducing, but also a gratuitous trick, tin-eared and cheap. Word of it moved like a rumor through the rooms of the Whitney. “We’re going to look at Jordan’s thing,” a guy in his thirties said to his friend, who stuck out his tongue and slid his finger across his throat… Read more on New Yorker
Viacom & Hot Sugar are innovating music with virtual reality
Viacom’s newest virtual reality project transports viewers to a castle-like world where every object you encounter has a distinct melody to discover and unlock. It blends music, video and gaming into an immersive, interactive experience. Multidisciplinary artist Hot Sugar aka Nick Koenig is the visionary behind this work, made in collaboration with Viacom NEXT, the company’s research and development arm focused on emerging technologies in entertainment. Together, they have created the world’s first album exclusively in VR, which premiered at the SXSW Virtual Cinema from March 14 to 16… Read more on Viacom Blog
Exploring new worlds inside a 2,000-square-foot arena
You’re in the middle of a city with seven of your closest friends, running, hiding, shooting and doing everything you can to avoid being eaten by the quickly approaching zombie horde. But this isn’t a video game — at least not quite — and the virtual reality battle you’re frantically fighting is no couch-potato activity. The cutting-edge experience will be available later this year at a pair of virtual reality arenas that are preparing to open in the Boston area. Participants donning virtual reality headsets will be free to roam around a 2,000-square-foot space while exploring new worlds, solving puzzles and, yes, hunting down bloodthirsty zombies… Read more on Boston Herald
Technicolor launches virtual and augmented reality-focused sound lab
Technicolor’s new immersive audio unit, dubbed The Sound Lab at Technicolor, is up and running at its Burbank headquarters. It will also use space at the company’s Technicolor at Paramount sound facility and work closely with its Technicolor Experience Center. The Sound Lab was conceived to explore creative approaches and new technical workflows for developing immersive content, including virtual, augmented and mixed reality; video games; and experiences for theme parks and other special venues. The facility is led by veteran supervising sound editor and designer Scott Gershin, Technicolor’s director of sound editorial… Read more on Hollywood Reporter.
Boulder International Film Festival launches first VR Pavilion
Aside from screening 58 films, its short-film program, the local chef-inspired CineCHEF and plenty of live local music, BIFF is diving into the virtual world to reveal “the future of storytelling,” said the festival’s co-founder and director Kathy Beeck. “As far as format goes, this is very new,” said Nicholas Whitaker, training and development manager for Google’s News Lab and the VR Pavilion panel host. “What I’m most excited about with virtual reality and 360 video is really less about the technology itself, and more about the storytelling capabilities of it.” Read more on Daily Camera
Vimeo now supports 360 video
Following Facebook and YouTube, the video sharing platform Vimeo has started to fully support 360 video imagery. Vimeo users can now upload 360 videos up to 8K, and watch 360 video content via desktop mobile or Vimeo’s app for GearVR and Daydream headsets. Pro or Business members will have the option to sell their content directly to viewers. Along with the new support, Vimeo has also launched a dedicated page for 360 video shooting lessons and a curated 360 channel with selected content from various users. The company says support for Oculus Rift and HTC Vive is coming soon… Read more on Haptical
Skydance, Sony Pictures debut their first virtual reality titles
Sony Pictures VR released its first virtual reality project, Passengers VR, on Tuesday, timed with the digital and Blu-Ray release of the motion picture. Based on the sci-fi drama starring Jennifer Lawrence and Chris Pratt and priced at $9.99, the 20-minute experience begins as the viewer “awakens” on the Starship Avalon and realizes that there are critical malfunctions onboard. The viewer must solve a series of puzzles while navigating the many rooms of the spaceship. Passengers VR was programmed and designed by Technicolor-owned visual effects company MPC with spatial sound design by Q Department. The ship’s look is based on the Oscar-nominated production design seen in the film… Read more on Hollywood Reporter
Cineplex details plans for massive entertainment complex
Movie theatre operator Cineplex is building the Rec Room, a 40,000-square-foot entertainment space at Roundhouse Park at 255 Bremner. Housed in a former Leon’s furniture store, the complex will be the second of its kind in Canada and part of a nation-wide chain. The first opened last September in South Edmonton, and Cineplex intends to open three more over the next two years and 10 to 15 in all. Although Cineplex is best known for movies, the Rec Room is not a cinema. The multi-use venue will have an arcade run by the company’s family entertainment division, Player One Amusement Group, as well areas for e-sports, virtual reality and video game tournaments, and live music… Read more on Now Toronto
Six Flags Great America announces new virtual reality attraction
The theme park announced its plans for Drop of Doom — a virtual reality experience on the park’s already-operating Giant Drop. The attraction, using Samsung Gear VR powered by Oculus, immerses the riders in a world with giant, mutant spiders where a city is under attack. “Each season we push to be on the cutting edge of innovation and our latest virtual reality experience brings together two fears innate in most people — heights and spiders,” said Hank Salemi, park president, said in a news release… Read more on Daily Herald
Fire service puts the public inside a burning house via virtual reality
Cowering inside a blazing building, watching a column of fire stream towards your face as the floor burns to 150 degrees — now you can experience the frightening horror of a house burning around you. In what is believed to be a world first, the fire service has created Escape My House, a fully immersive virtual reality experience putting people inside a burning house. Filmed using 360-degree cameras and a derelict Palmerston North house, the video shows how washing left by a heater can cause a house to be engulfed in flames within a few minutes… Read more on Stuff
