Virtual reality comes to Google Chrome browser

Your weekly guide to Virtuality — Newsletter #52

Google announced that its Chrome browser now supports virtual reality films, games, and other experiences. People can view virtual reality content in the Chrome app on Daydream-ready Android devices. Megan Lindsay, Chrome’s product manager said it’s now “as easy to step inside Air Force One as it is to access your favorite webpage.” Adding WebVR to Chrome will be an important step in giving VR creators a larger platform to showcase their designs… (Read more on Google Blog)

This is Haptical weekly newsletter #52. We bring you an in-depth look and help discover the latest VR / AR trends at a glance. Follow us on Medium to stay ahead of the curve.

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LATEST NEWS

• Mark Zuckerberg, CEO of Facebook, posted photos on his Facebook account yesterday showing off his latest visit to Oculus’s research facilities. The photos include pictures of the new VR gloves as well as images of the company’s state-of-the-art equipment at its Washington research lab. (Daily Mail)
• Virtual reality version of the popular music game Rockband, will be released on March 23 for Oculus Rift. Harmonix, the company behind the game, says pre-orders for the Rock Band VR bundle are now available on Amazon for $70. (Haptical)
• Valve is in the process of developing three VR games. And these won’t just be small free VR experiments, either. “Right now we’re building three VR games,” Valve founder Gabe Newell confirmed to Eurogamer during a media roundtable at the studio’s Bellevue, Washington office. (Euro Gamer)
• Qualcomm, Ericsson, Telstra and Netgear together demonstrated the world’s first commercial Gigabit LTE network that can provide up to 1 Gbps download speeds. This is a key step towards 5G connections which will benefit mobile virtual reality experiences and connected cloud computing. (Haptical)
• Facebook is closing around 200 of its 500 Oculus virtual reality demo stations at Best Buy locations across the U.S. (Business Insider)

NEW EXPERIENCES

• Virtual reality is becoming more than just the stuff of dreams or video games for some Dayton-area businesses. Using virtual reality, a company like human factors engineering firm Beville Engineering in Centerville can design an oil refinery control room in new ways. Or the Schaefer Group in Beavercreek can design an industrial furnace. (Dayton Daily)
• One of the keys to virtual reality’s success in the consumer market will be affording the public key opportunities to sample the technology in a comfortable and relatively inexpensive way. vrbar, a pioneering VR arcade that opened last October in the Park Slope section of Brooklyn, is designed exactly to do that. (Technical.ly)
• Want the best seats in the house for an Eric Church concert? Fans can now have them … without ever leaving their living rooms. Vantage.tv is now offering a virtual reality experience featuring Church’s headlining performance from Day 1 of the 2016 Stagecoach Country Music Festival in California. (Vantage.tv)
• Hockey fans are about to get an up-close look at Saturday night hockey. Sportsnet announced the launch of 360 Virtual Reality, in partnership with Molson Canadian. Beginning on Feb. 18, fans can immerse themselves in NHL action via 360 VR, giving them a unique front-row experience in select Canadian arenas over the course of six marquee Saturday night matchups. (Sportsnet.ca)
• Virtual reality games are enjoying a boom at the moment. Many developers, both AAA and indie, are exploring the possibilities of this exciting medium. But by and large, their immersive 3D worlds are being built with the same 2D tools that were used to create video games for flat monitors, TVs, and touchscreens. Will devs one day create 3D worlds within a 3D workspace? Some game companies are currently trying to make that a reality. (Gamasutra)
• Travel brands and meeting planners are using virtual reality to drive conversion. (Skift)

WHAT PEOPLE SAY ABOUT VIRTUALITY

• While everyone obsesses over whether Sony, Oculus or HTC sold more virtual reality (VR) headsets last year, Google and Facebook have been waging a silent platform war. This war of platforms ultimately comes down to the inherent belief that smartphone VR is going to be the primary driver of VR volumes. (Forbes)
• Secretive augmented reality company Magic Leap has blown the minds of investors and tech visionaries — but not, supposedly, Beyoncé. According to former employees, Beyoncé “received a personalized Magic Leap demo — and was bored by it.” (Business Insider)
• According to Valve chief Gabe Newell, the future of VR is all power: lighter, more capable headsets that are hooked up to PCs much more powerful than what most people own right now. “VR is going to drive much higher computational and GPU loads than we see out of existing desktop games,” Newell said recently. (Gamasutra)
• Unity Head of AR/VR Strategy Tony Parisi talks with Carolyne Hyde on “Bloomberg Technology.” They discuss virtual reality, how it’s moving beyond gaming and growing over the next couple of years. (Bloomberg)

RESEARCH

• According to a new by ReportLinker, 3 out of 10 (31%) American respondents say they are now very familiar with virtual reality headsets. The research company claims, this statistic has nearly doubled from a previus survey in September 2016 showing 16% of Americans familiar with the technology. (Haptical)
• Silicon Valley-based venture firm The Venture Reality Fund released its first-ever European virtual reality landscape, featuring dozens of companies developing infrastructure, tools/platforms and/or apps for the booming ecosystem. The landscape was created in partnership with LucidWeb, the French VR and WebVR consulting and development agency, to depict the growth in the ecosystem, increased investment and growing international impact. (Business Wire)
• A new scientific research claims, virtual reality out of body experiences can reduce the fear of death. (Plos)

INVESTMENT

• Japanese mobile gaming company Colopl’s investment branch Colonel Next, announced a new US$50 million fund to invest in virtual reality (VR) companies all over the world. (Haptical)
• SubVRsive, a “full-service” virtual reality company, has raised $4 million in a Series A round. The investment round was solely led by WPP, British multinational advertising and public relations company. (Haptical)
• Seattle based augmented and virtual reality social development company, Against Gravity has raised $5 million in venture capital funding. (Haptical)

DON’T MISS!

• Adobe’s path to entering the virtual reality story. A three-part monthly series about the role software will play in Virtual Reality storytelling, seen through the lens of Adobe Research and creators. (Forbes)
• 20+ nonfiction virtual and augmented reality books to expand your mind (Haptical)

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