‘The Most Dangerous Women in Hollywood’ is a Virtual Reality Production that will Transport Viewers to the Next Level
Virtual Reality Group MightyVR, Momentum Entertainment and Sports Network, Interpix, Inc. and Replay Collective are pleased to announce the production of “The Most Dangerous Women in Hollywood,” an unprecedented 360 degree virtual reality movie and game series.
Viewers journey on a fully immersive experience by wearing a headset that allows the virtual reality experience of trying out jets, sports cars and choosing one of “The Most Dangerous Women in Hollywood” to join up with and get away from the bad guys. Headset options range from high end models such as the Oculus to a $20 Google Cardboard set.
“We believe the entertainment industry is on the verge on a complete shift in media consumption because of virtual reality and, soon, augmented reality,” said Replay Collective producer Siddharth Ganji. “As storytellers, we are always looking at how technology will shape storytelling, and there is no doubt that VR is the next big evolution in this arena.”
The exciting new project is dedicated to all of the daring stunt actresses who provide audiences with an array of thrills including flying military planes, racing sports cars and more.
“The Most Dangerous Women in Hollywood” will be released on MightyVR’s distribution platform as an app that may be purchased. It will be also be available online, for smartphones and its book releases will be sold by Amazon.com and Borders.com.
See the full story here: http://www.groundreport.com/dangerous-women-hollywood-virtual-reality-production-will-transport-viewers-next-level/
Long-term effects of virtual reality use need more research, say scientists
Sarah Sharples, professor of human factors at the University of Nottingham and president of the Chartered Institute of Ergonomics and Human Factors, said much more research was needed. She said: “We haven’t really yet got to the stage where people have been using virtual reality for prolonged periods of time - over, for example, periods of weeks or months - to identify with any clear certainty any long-term effects of virtual reality.”
Yet Sharples is cautious about linking known “effects” with “problems” - the evidence, she says is simply not available. “The key point is : there are effects, but are they detrimental?”
But as Rizzo is keen to point out, the benefits of virtual reality systems are myriad, revealing that they have been used in a host of therapeutic situations, from helping those living with post traumatic stress disorder to those suffering from depression. “I’m one of the biggest proponents that we can do things in VR that make a positive difference for people in the real world,” he said. “But if you accept that then you have got to accept that maybe this technology could have detrimental effects that are yet to be seen. I don’t think we should be hysterical about it, I think we should have watchful caution.”
“Absolutely there are potentially negative effects of using VR. The most important thing that we should do is just to be cautious and sensible” she says. “But we shouldn’t let that stop us from taking advantage of the massive potential this technology offers as well.”
See the full story here: http://www.theguardian.com/technology/2016/mar/19/long-term-effects-of-virtual-reality-use-need-more-research-say-scientists
SXSW panel explores virtual reality porn: ‘more eye contact and dirty talk’
As an experience, it was more bizarre than erotic, but VR porn is gaining a highly engaged following of fans. Now 2D porn is not enough – they want to feel as they are in an imaginary world having sex with fantasy women. Eventually, some suggest, “teledildonic” technology will enable them to feel sex as well as see it, though a strict patent, according to delegate Ela Darling, has prevented technological developments in this area.
At the moment, virtual reality porn is largely aimed at heterosexual men. Dinorah Hernandez, the content manager for BaDoinkVR, a subscription site which includes virtual reality scenes, says that she soon discovered that users of the site did not want the male actor to make any sounds, or to touch the female actor, the better to preserve the illusion that she is having sex with them. “People are requesting less sexual positions and more eye contact and dirty talk and being close to the camera,” she said.
However, her fellow industry insiders agreed that as VR grows in popularity, porn will be made aimed at female and gay audiences. “The market is males,” said Hernandez. “We have released scenes from female perspective, and got a bashing because it’s a ‘gay scene’. But one user said his wife enjoyed it.”
Fabien Grey of AliceX, another site which uses virtual reality for users to interact with women live on camera, said VR porn users are more engaged: they are four times more likely to return to the site, and spending six times more money than on a regular “cam show”. “It has to do with an emotional bond that a user is prepared to build up,” he concluded.
“When you’re in VR you feel like you’re in the same room with this person, and if the artifice is apparent then you feel like you’re with a hot girl and she wants nothing to do with you.”
See the full story here: http://www.theguardian.com/culture/2016/mar/18/virtual-reality-porn-sex-sxsw-panel
The Emerging Virtual-Reality Product Parade
See the full story, which explains the graphic, here: http://recode.net/2016/03/18/the-emerging-virtual-reality-product-parade/
How Intel Is Exploring Virtual Reality
After initially funding eye-tracking startup Tobii in 2012, Intel has developed its own RealSense eye-tracking technology that also recognizes gestures and facial emotions.
In addition to funding Tobii, Intel also acquired Replay in March for an undisclosed sum. Pallister says that acquisition is aimed at scaling a new category for sports entertainment that Intel calls immersive sports.
According to Piper Jaffray senior research analyst Gene Munster, only 10% of current PCs in the world are capable of running an Oculus Rift or HTC Vive. He believes an additional 10% of PCs can be upgraded through an Nvidia or AMD graphics card for an additional $300. Most consumers will have to invest in PC hardware in addition to the headset purchase.
Intel INTC 2.19% has launched a “VR Ready” initiative for consumers to highlight which PCs can run virtual reality platforms such as Facebook’s Oculus Rift and the HTC Vive.
“2016 is when more VR-capable hardware and software will hit the market and potentially see the tipping point in its adoption,” Pallister says.
See the full story here: http://fortune.com/2016/03/17/gdc-intel-virtual-reality/
GDC 2016: Your Brain on VR, The Psychology of Doing VR Right
By Don Levy
March 16, 2016
Cognitive scientist, programmer, game developer, and senior technical designer for Riot Games and Radial Games Dr. Kimberly Voll took a packed house at the Game Developers Conference into the brain on VR, hailing the tremendous opportunities and flashing potential hazards this new medium presents. As someone who “engineers awesome experiences through understanding humans better, frequently in VR,” Voll’s latest project is “Fantastic Contraption,” a VR update to the popular 2008 building game, that will be shipping with the HTC Vive in April.
Voll points to what she calls the “fidelity contract” as a key design concept. “These are the rules, typically unspoken, that are set by the affordances and fidelity of the world as presented around you,” she wrote in a Tumblr post recently and amplified in her talk.
“Even games that mess with player expectations do subscribe to certain rules that are uncovered through experimentation. The brain anticipates consistency, which means as designers we need to understand our spaces well enough to not mess up what the brain gives us for free. When the fidelity contract is broken, the brain notices right away, and any immersive state is (sometimes irreparably) damaged.”
In VR, Voll explained, “the brain will work very hard to straighten things out, which is great news… because this means most importantly the brain is working for us, and we can take advantage of this if we don’t get in its way.”
“Our brains… present us their interpretation of reality,” she said. Perhaps the brain will rearrange a memory “or convinces you completely that you saw something you never did. We can actually trick the brain into seeing a lot of interesting things without those things actually being there, which turns out is also helpful in games, VR, and entertainment,” Voll said.
“Presence is the biggest buzzword since ‘The Cloud,’” Voll mused, quickly adding “You do not get presence for free in VR.”
“It might seem that way because the first time you put on that display, your visual system is screaming at you, ‘Holy shit, I’m in VR.’ But once you get over that, and those of you who have worked in VR for a while will know what I’m talking about, other things will start to bubble up.”
It bubbles up out of what she calls “a perceptual soup.” The recipe changes based on engagement. “We don’t need perfect perception to do cool stuff,” she said.
Instead, she suggests that simplicity and the aforementioned fidelity contract produce a better state of flow, where concentration is focused and the brain is given a reason to believe. Haptics, motion triggers, can be helpful to the brain in writing narrative. It is an extra level that rounds out the experience.
Voll sounded a cautionary note: “Our players are putting their trust in us when they place themselves in the rig. Part of creating believable spaces is that we want people to believe in these spaces, and we want people to feel safe so that they can give into these spaces. If someone’s uncomfortable, they won’t let themselves go. And if we’re contributing to that discomfort, well it becomes our fault.”
“While it might not be real, it’s sure as heck real enough,” Voll said. “And the potential for doing real psychological trauma is there. Physical trauma as well, people walking into walls, or scaring people to the point they have a heart attack. We don’t know yet how this is going to go, but we have to be careful. We have to be mindful of this. Our players place their trust in us when they place themselves in the rig. If you take nothing away from this talk, take that away.”
See the original post here; http://www.etcentric.org/gdc-2016-your-brain-on-vr-the-psychology-of-doing-vr-right/
HTC Vive Will Launch With 50 Virtual Reality Games
With the April 5 consumer launch just around the corner, the Game Developers Conference this week is all about the games for HTC Vive and developer Valve. The companies will be showcasing over 30 virtual reality games on the show floor, including the ILMxLab Star Wars: Trials on Tatooine demo and a playable John Wick: The Impossible Task.
According to Chet Faliszek, writer and virtual reality evangelist at Valve, 50 developers already have HTC Vive store pages on SteamVR that could begin selling content today.
In addition to offering gamers a trio of free virtual reality games—Job Simulator, Fantastic Contraption, and Google Tilt Brush—Valve is also giving away more content to early adopters. Among the free content is The Lab, a collection of eight mini-games set within Portal’s universe that includes activities such as fixing a robot, defending a castle, walking on Mars, and adopting a mechanical dog.
See the full story here: http://fortune.com/2016/03/16/htc-vive-will-launch-with-50-virtual-reality-games/
Bergen-Belsen recreated with augmented reality
During World War Two, around 70,000 people died at the Bergen-Belsen concentration camp.
All traces of the camp were destroyed after the war, so today the area looks like an ordinary German forest.
A new tablet application, however, uses geo-localisation – as well as virtual and augmented reality – to recreate the camp at various points in history.
Stephanie Billib, a historian at the Bergen-Belsen Memorial, explains: “The memorial today is an empty space. There are no barracks or any other remnants of the camp. But when you see this reconstruction and when you walk around with this (a tablet connected to the app), it is a useful aid to get a feeling for the place.”
The Bergen-Belsen Memorial app was developed by scientists at the Synthetic Perceptive, Emotive and Cognitive Systems (SPECS) group at the Pompeu Fabra University in Barcelona.
SPECS is a core partner in the European research project, Collective Experience of Empathic Data Systems, which is aimed at developing integrated technologies to support human experience and understanding of large datasets.
See the full story with video here: http://www.euronews.com/2016/03/18/virtual-reality-app-recreates-horror-of-germany-concentration-camp/