philip lelyveld The world of entertainment technology

Virtual Reality Museum Allows Users to Explore Five Shipwrecked Vessels

Some 200 years ago, a trio of vessels now known as the Monterrey Shipwrecks came to rest more than 4,000 feet below the surface of the Gulf of Mexico.

Given the Monterrey Shipwrecks’ remote resting place, it is impossible for divers to explore them using scuba gear. But thanks to surveys conducted with the help of remotely operated vehicles (ROVs), maritime aficionados and amateurs alike can now explore the three wrecks—as well as two more known as the 15377 and Blake Ridge shipwrecks—from the comfort of their own homes.

Newly launched by the Department of the Interior’s Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM), the so-called Virtual Archaeology Museum features 3-D models, video footage and mosaic maps of the five 19th- and 20th-century shipwrecks. Aside from the Blake Ridge Shipwreck, which is situated around 130 miles off the coast of North Carolina under more than 7,000 feet of water, all of the wrecks are located in the Gulf of Mexico.

See the full story here: https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/virtual-museum-allows-users-explore-five-shipwrecked-vessels-180972240/

Dave & Buster’s Debuts First Virtual Reality Free-Roaming Arena Experiences in Tampa, Florida

Best described as a combination of Laser Tag and Dodge Ball, VRcade PowerPlay is highly competitive, re-playable and fun for all skill levels. Players may also elect to play a second title, Barking Irons Gunslinger, where they will step into a Wild West town and face off against their friends in the ultimate VR showdown. Players can compete in three different game modes to see who has the fastest hands in the West, including a “High Noon” quick draw duel, a fast-paced search and destroy engagement, and an exciting skeet shoot.

These new VRcade Arena attractions expand on a longstanding and successful relationship between VRstudios and Dave & Buster’s, providing market-leading commercial VR products and attractions.

See the full story here: https://finance.yahoo.com/news/dave-buster-debuts-first-virtual-100000350.html

There’s a new Minecraft game coming, and it’s played entirely in augmented reality

Players will be able to construct builds on their living room tables either alone or in collaboration with others, then go and place them full-size in the outside world when they're ready. You can collect new mobs (both familiar and new) and resources around you to incorporate in your build, then fight them in the life-size version of the build. Fundamentally, it appears to be the basic Minecraft experience translated to augmented reality with geolocation features.

See the full story here: https://arstechnica.com/gaming/2019/05/minecraft-hits-the-streets-in-a-new-ar-game-called-minecraft-earth/

Bizarre virtual reality fighting game where an actual robot PUNCHES you in real life revealed

See the full story here: https://www.thesun.ie/tech/4111248/bizarre-virtual-reality-fighting-game-where-an-actual-robot-punches-you-in-real-life-revealed/

Virtual reality specialist bags airport innovation award

The aim is to produce virtual reality environments of public spaces to help with journey planning, and to ease the anxiety of travelling in a new place, especially for those with mental health issues or young families.

Using cameras and laser scanners, Ocean3D technicians can replicate an environment, like an airport or railway station in just a few days.

The interior digital twin is then filled with information and directions that tell customers exactly where they need to go to check in at the airport, collect tickets in a railway station, or find facilities.

See the full story here: https://www.newcivilengineer.com/latest/virtual-reality-specialist-bags-airport-innovation-award/10042624.article

Disney-Backed VR Startup Tyffon Raises $7.8 Million

Disney-backed immersive media startup Tyffon has raised a new $7.8 million Series A round of funding. The company wants to use the new cash infusion for an international expansion that includes the opening of a Santa Monica, Calif.-based virtual reality (VR) center.

Content-wise, Tyffon has thus far primarily focused on horror- and fantasy-themed free-roam VR. One of its three current attractions is “Corridor,” which is being described as a mixed reality horror experience. Another is “Tarot VR,” a kind of anthology of fantasy scenes in VR.

Fukazawa said that the company wanted to continue to work on horror-themed content. “At the same time, we will also develop kids/family-oriented original content, which also will be featured in our Tyffonium venues in the coming months,” he said.

The company currently has 35 employees, and offices in both Santa Monica and Tokyo.

See the full story here: https://variety.com/2019/digital/news/disney-backed-vr-startup-tyffon-raises-7-8-million-exclusive-1203218904/

Virtual reality tours at IBIE 2019

With the help of virtual reality glasses and 360-degree videos, attendees will be able to see right into renowned bakeries from around the world, including Tartine Bakery in San Francisco; Sandholt Bakery in Reykjavik, Iceland; and Joseph Brot in Vienna. In 2018, iba initially launched the virtual reality bakery tours at its trade fair in Munich.

AI avatars could be the next generation’s favorite entertainers

Regarding different situations, AIs are mostly equipped with situations which are common and more readily available, so they are very good at reading news about traffic, weather, etc. But the natural tragedy is a tricky one, although it can be done since these are rare events they are not yet trained properly to handle that.

Another major challenge from the psychological perspective is the lack of empathy. When a human talks to a human, more or less there is a sense of empathy or micro-emotions which drives the conversation. These micro-emotions although are studied from decades are still far from modeled correctly in some form where AI would be able to mimic it easily.

see the full story here: https://thenextweb.com/artificial-intelligence/2019/05/10/ai-avatars-could-be-the-next-generations-favorite-entertainers/

Microsoft Debuts Project to Adopt Blockchain for Digital IDs

Last year, Microsoft described the idea of a “self-sovereign digital identity,” and has now introduced a project that would shift login credentials to blockchain. With this model, users — not Microsoft — would be responsible for their own digital identities and the portable credentials would, in principle, allow access to numerous applications. Advocates of blockchain champion the concept as more private, preventing anyone from following the user’s activity on the Internet and limiting the opportunity for hacks.

Wired reports that Microsoft’s idea could “potentially scale to billions of users.” The company is currently “developing open source protocols and standards with the World Wide Web Consortium and the Decentralized Identity Foundation, whose members include Aetna, IBM, and Mastercard.” Notably missing from that team is Facebook, which is also “exploring blockchain technology.”

To overcome this obstacle, Microsoft is planning to use a solution it dubs ION, which is a “layer-two” solution “that stores and accesses your data away from the blockchain, using InterPlanetary File System (IPFS).” The company says ION can “potentially scale to allow tens of thousands of operations per second,” compared to 10 or less with Bitcoin.

“For a digital ID to work everywhere online, it needs buy-in from all the places that currently covet your login,” it says. “Ideally, it would work across different blockchains, so competing ID systems don’t arise.”

See the full story here: http://www.etcentric.org/microsoft-debuts-project-to-adopt-blockchain-for-digital-ids/

Blood & Truth’s Development Is On A Scale VR Hasn’t Yet Seen

My tour of Sony’s London Studio, on the other hand, lasted roughly about three hours. It spanned three floors of the team’s central-London offices. And that’s not mentioning the extensive demo room and interview access I was provided in Sony Interactive Entertainment’s European offices next door. Oh, and I could have had all the tea I’d ever dreamed of, had I so desired.

Suffice to say, Sony London is not your average VR development studio.

“There’s what we call intensity fatigue,” he says. “It’s just like, when you’re in the middle of a fire fight, it just gets so crazy and tense that you actually need to break up the game. Pacing within VR and certainly within Blood & Truth is something that we’ve found super critical. It’s not just one long gun fight. You’ve got to break it up it…the interactions, the drama, the exploring the environment. There’s a lot of subtlety to getting that right.”

That’s what I’ll be on the lookout for when the game launches at the end of this month.

Blood and Truth is out on PSVR on May 27th. We’ll have a full review closer to then.

See the full story here: http://www.virtualrealitypulse.com/edition/daily-microsoft-apple-2019-05-17?open-article-id=10492703&article-title=blood---truth-s-development-is-on-a-scale-vr-hasn-t-yet-seen&blog-domain=uploadvr.com&blog-title=uploadvr