philip lelyveld The world of entertainment technology

VRcade Prepares For Broader Location-Based VR Adoption

...the company starts rolling out its own2,400 square foot free-roam multiplayer VRcade system to locationsin the United States, Canada and Latin America in early 2018.

Terminal 17 will be the first adventure...

I had the opportunity to play Terminal 17, and learn more about how VRstudios is planning to expand VRcade locations and experiences, from CEO Kevin Vitale, and Vice President, Creative Development, Chanel Summers.

Summers describes Terminal 17 as a form of “co-opetition” since players are challenged to work together to overcome obstacles, while also competing against each other for the highest score.

While the VR industry searches for the ‘killer app’ to accelerate consumer adoption of VR, Vitale believes that the killer app is in fact turnkey LBE [location-based entertainment] VR. VRstudios’ standard model is to sell a full-package solution to venue operators, including commercial-grade hardware that brings their large-format free-roam VR concept to life. The revenue share model for VRcade Arena covers licensing content and the Attraction Management Platform, AMP. The idea is that expansion can happen rapidly as the upfront costs are covered by operator customers, and ongoing revenue is shared.

VRstudios plans to release news around new content every 4-6 months, but its SDK can help bring additional experiences to market faster.

See the full story here: https://uploadvr.com/vrcade-terminal-17/

New Technology Is a Clear Focal Point of 2017 LA Auto Show

One of the highlights was Intel’s announcement of a collaboration with Warner Bros. to create immersive experiences for driverless cars. “The rise of the [autonomous vehicle] industry will create one of the greatest expansions of consumer time available for entertainment we’ve seen in a long time,” wrote Intel CEO Brian Krzanich in an editorial posted in the Intel Newsroom.

Another intriguing announcement, with compelling implications for autonomous vehicles, was Care by Volvo, a new subscription-based alternative to buying or leasing a vehicle. The subscription starts at $600 a month for a two-year contract and includes “everything but gas.” The car, Volvo’s new XC40 compact SUV, insurance, maintenance, and a concierge service are all included.

See the full story here: http://www.etcentric.org/new-technology-is-a-clear-focal-point-of-2017-la-auto-show/

BBC Launches VR Hub As Home: A VR Spacewalk Releases

The BBC is bringing its VR efforts under one roof to produce all of its immersive content going forward.

The organization today announced VR Hub, which it describes as the new home for VR at the BBC. In the past, the group has released plenty of promising experiences, from 360-degree video add-ons to its incredible Planet Earth II series to interactive VR stories like Turning Forest. Now all future VR efforts will be produced through this new studio via commissions.

The group is headed up by Zillah Watson, who promised that the team will work on “pieces across the range of genres the BBC is famous for.”

See the full story here: https://uploadvr.com/bbc-launches-vr-hub-home-vr-spacewalk-releases/

People have spent over $1M buying virtual cats on the Ethereum blockchain

People are spending a crazy amount of real money on the game. So far about $1.3M has been transacted, with multiple kittens selling for ~50 ETH (around $23,000) and the “genesis” kitten being sold for a record ~246 ETH (around $113,000). This third party site tracks the largest purchases made to date on the game. And like any good viral sensation prices are rising and fluctuating fast. Right now it will cost you about .03 ETH, or $12 to buy the least expensive kitten in the game.

In all seriousness, it’s a little bit reminiscent of the beanie baby trend where people were paying insane amounts of money for stuffed animals. But if the popularity continues to increase these people may be able to make a return by reselling or breeding their rare kittens, or they’ll be stuck holding the virtual cryptographic keys to a virtual rare kitten when the market crashes in a few days, like eventually happened with beanie babies.

Right now about 15% of all Ethereum network traffic is dedicated to the game, making it the most popular smart contract on the network. For reference, number two with about 8% of network transactions is EtherDelta, the popular decentralized token exchange.

The game was seeded with 100 “Founder Kitties”. There’s also one new “Gen 0” cat released ever 15 minutes, which are listed for the average price of the last five sold, plus 50% – but the sale price declines over 24 hours until someone eventually buys it.

See the full story here: https://techcrunch.com/2017/12/03/people-have-spent-over-1m-buying-virtual-cats-on-the-ethereum-blockchain/?utm_medium=TCnewsletter

Jason Stutman Talks Apple and Investing in Augmented Reality

In today's Investing After Hours, Wealth Daily's senior technology analyst Jason Stutman joins us to talk about the leak and how investors could start profiting from Apple's augmented reality project.

Jason dissects both augmented reality and virtual reality (VR), emphasizing the differences between the two markets in order to show why investors should be paying attention to augmented reality.

See the full story here: https://www.wealthdaily.com/articles/jason-stutman-talks-how-to-invest-in-apples-augmented-reality-device/8992

Virtual reality at UNR gives paralyzed man a chance to leave his chair

A paralyzed man pursuing a master's degree in musical theatre at the University of Nevada, Reno is in the spotlight for starring in a virtual reality video that has made national news.

Evan Gadda, 47, was diagnosed with cerebral palsy as a baby. He's been confined to his wheelchair all his life.

That all changed when he got the chance to experience virtual reality at the university's studio, @Reality.

See the full story here: http://mynews4.com/news/local/virtual-reality-giving-a-paralyzed-man-a-chance-out-of-the-chair

Virtual Reality Allows Patients to Preview Their Own Surgery (video)

Collins has loaded the 3-D reconstruction of Felicia Luna’s aneurysm and a virtual craniotomy so students can follow in virtual reality as Steinberg explains his surgery strategy.

Steinberg uses his controls to turn the virtual skull. He virtually “erases” a bone, glides along a vessel, and reveals his target.

“That’s exactly where the aneurysm is, where that turn is,” he says.

He shows where he plans to place a clip, cutting off the blood that can thin the aneurysm’s walls, causing it to rupture. The virtual procedure, which Steinberg describes as a “kind of GPS navigation with 1-2 millimeter precision,” is invaluable to him.

“In a sense, it allows me to plan for surgery ahead of time and rehearse it,” he says.

See the full story here: https://www.voanews.com/a/virtual-reality-patients-preview-own-surgery/4144852.html

Virtual Reality: It’s About Changing the Game Not Playing It

CandyLab AR game – Wisconsin county settles suit over augmented-reality games

Milwaukee County plans to settle a lawsuit from an augmented-reality game developer that challenged an ordinance requiring companies to get local permits for apps like Pokemon Go to be played in parks.

Under the settlement agreement announced Thursday, the county won't enforce its rule and will pay $83,000 in attorneys' fees for California-based developer Candy Lab Inc.

How Blockchain Is Breathing New Life Into Virtual Real Estate

Virtual reality platform Decentraland, for example, uses blockchain to identify and designate ownership of land in its virtual world.

Because of the various possible applications of VR, virtual real estate can now function similarly to real-world properties that they can be sold, leased, and used for virtual activities. Blockchain could help formalize the market for these virtual properties.

The improvements in the VR hardware are allowing for richer experiences. “Environments in VR are completely malleable, down to the setting, physics, and social parameters. This allows blockchain developers to experiment in ways that would be impossible in the physical world,” writes Franco Zeoli from Zeppelin. New decentralized VR platforms also liberate users from the usual constraints imposed by virtual world developers. Blockchain ensures that the trade of virtual properties becomes fair and secure.

See the full story here: https://www.forbes.com/sites/omribarzilay/2017/11/30/how-blockchain-is-breathing-new-life-into-virtual-real-estate/#2dec7302511e