Newcastle virtual reality business recreates life inside Martello Towers for heritage project
Newcastle-based virtual reality specialists Digital VR have helped bring the history of Suffolk coast to life, after being called upon to assist with a project celebrating the area’s heritage.
The company, which is based in The Toffee Factory, used gaming technology to create a virtual model of the historic Martello Towers, enabling anyone anywhere in the world to see what the inside of the structures were like both when first built and during World War II.
In all, more than 100 Martellos were built in England to keep the French from invading during the Napoleonic wars, with others being placed across the Empire from Australia to Jamaica.
Based on the design of the Mortella Tower in Corsica, which had withstood an attack by a Royal Navy battleship and a frigate for two days in 1794, some went on to be used by early customs patrols as lookouts in both world wars.
See the full story here: http://www.chroniclelive.co.uk/business/business-news/newcastle-virtual-reality-business-recreates-9926375
British Museum uses virtual reality to explore Bronze Age objects
The Samsung Digital Learning Managers from the Schools and Young Audiences Team have been working with Dr Neil Wilkin, Curator of the European Bronze Age collection at the British Museum. They employed the skills of Soluis Heritage who specialise in presenting heritage architecture through CGI visuals and animation (you might have seen them at the M+H Show earlier this year).
Together they have created a virtual Bronze Age-style round house, complete with burning fire, authentic atmospheric sounds and incorporated 3D scanned representations of British Museum objects from that period including a Sussex Loop, and a ceremonial Beaune dirk.
Visitors to a virtual reality weekend held in the great Court of The British Museum on 8 and 9 August were able to explore the round house and objects using Samsung Gear VR headsets, as well as on Samsung tablets and via an immersive dome.
“People in the Middle Bronze Age tended to deposit their metalwork and other precious objects away from their settlements, so this experience gives us the rare opportunity to put them back in their original settings.”
See the full story here: http://advisor.museumsandheritage.com/industry/british-museum-uses-virtual-reality-to-explore-bronze-age-objects/
Virtual reality’s killer game: Sploot (play a seagull, poop on everyone)
Welcome to the world of Sploot. A truly innovative Oculus Rift-compatible game that offers a birds eye view of the world around you. And then allows you to take a crap on it. In fact, the entire point of the game is to poop on as many things as you can.
There’s not much to
the story, other than “You are a seagull. A beautiful, fragile seagull” and yes, you poop uncontrollably. After you get through that very basic opening sequence, you’re free to begin your reign of terror.
Sploot is the successor to his micro game, Poop.
See the full story here: http://www.geek.com/games/virtual-realitys-killer-game-sploot-play-a-seagull-poop-on-everyone-1631758/
Wells Fargo Puts Virtual-Reality Twist on Experiential Marketing
The initiative, which has consumers playing a virtual maze game and includes social media components, represents part of a trend of bank brands creating funkier – and techier – in-person experiences to get in front of consumers one on one, to strike up conversations in a new way, to secure new customers down the road and to have a stronger shot to get positive mentions on the internet.
Umpqua Bank, well known for its quirky marketing, paid for a traveling digital art show last year to spice up conversations with bankers, for instance. And BancVue has hit the road on behalf of community banks recently with what it calls the Kasasa Rewards Rush tour that its customers can rent and consumers can find where it's heading online.
For Wells, there are several eye-catching components to the so-called Together Experience tour. At each event – indoors or outdoors – the bank sets up a tent and sometimes an awning that includes a photo booth, Oculus Rift headsets and a WizDish ROVR locomotion platform that consumers stand on to play the virtual maze game where they need to collect as many gold coins as they can before time runs out. Some Wells Fargo branding is woven into the game, and of course, Wells Fargo brand ambassadors are nearby to help navigate participants through the maze game just as the bank hopes to help navigate consumers with their financial journeys, said Copeland.
"The primary purpose is branding and getting Wells Fargo out there in a new and different and fun way," said Copeland.
See the full story here: http://www.americanbanker.com/news/bank-technology/wells-fargo-puts-virtual-reality-twist-on-experiential-marketing-1076224-1.html
Oregon Entrepreneurs explain why virtual reality is part of a new technology revolution
Some people aren’t yet convinced that virtual reality is the next big thing. Others say it’s going to be a revolution.
Three Oregon-based entrepreneurs speaking on Thursday certainly fall into the latter camp.
360 Labs co-founder Thomas Hayden, ZeroTransformfounder Justin Moravetz, and WILD founder Gabe Paez spoke on a virtual reality panel at TechFestNW in Portland and each expressed optimism for the virtual reality industry.
he’s working with someone in Silicon Valley who is bringing virtual reality to the elderly.
“They are socially isolated and they don’t have access to talk to others,” he said. “But through VR, they are able to communicate and discuss all these things and relax and network again. There are so many amazing applications over the coming years — it will just be mind-boggling.”
See the full story here: http://www.geekwire.com/2015/entrepreneurs-explain-why-virtual-reality-is-part-of-a-new-technology-revolution/
Second Life creator Linden Lab starts testing its virtual-reality world: Project Sansar
Second Life creator Linden Lab is announcing today that it has begun inviting creative people to test its new virtual reality world, code-named Project Sansar.
Project Sansar should debut to the general public in 2016, and its aim is to democratize virtual reality as a creative medium. The platform aims to empower people to easily create, share, and monetize their own multi-user, interactive virtual experiences, without requiring engineering resources.
Linden Lab said the platform will enable professional-level quality and performance with “exceptional visual fidelity, 3D audio, and physics simulation.”
Project Sansar will be optimized for VR headsets like the Oculus Rift, but also accessible via PCs and (at consumer launch) mobile devices.
Project Sansar will reportedly have exploration, socializing, and other experiences made possible through expressive avatars, using text, and voice chat. And it will make it easy and fun for users to create their own social VR experiences, eliminating the need to find a professional developer to build such an experience today.
“We want to lower the barrier of entry for VR experience creation,” said Linden Lab CEO Ebbe Altberg in a statement. “Project Sansar will do for virtual experiences what WordPress has done for the web: empower a broad range of people to create with professional quality and reach global audiences.
“By greatly expanding who can create virtual experiences, Project Sansar will also extend the value of VR to a wide variety of use-cases – from gaming and entertainment to education, architecture, art, community-building, business meetings, healthcare, conferences, training, and more.”
It’s going to be at least 5 years before virtual reality goes mainstream
See virtual reality below, sliding up the "Slope of Enlightenment" between "Autonomous Field Vehicles" and "Gesture Control?" Don't let the analyst firm's term for where VR is at on the Hype Cycle throw you off — it's just Gartner's way of measuring where emerging technologies are in the zeitgeist.
In plain English, that means VR is close to the point where it's widely understood by the general public. But that doesn't necessarily make it a mainstream technology.
Read more: http://www.techinsider.io/virtual-reality-on-gartner-hype-cycle-2015-8#ixzz3jP2hrJwG
See the full story here: http://www.techinsider.io/virtual-reality-on-gartner-hype-cycle-2015-8
‘You vs. Sharapova’ Virtual Reality Experience To Hit 2015 US Open
Adweek previewed the experience against the virtual Sharapova on Aug.17, calling it engrossing and enthralling, especially when trying to make contact against her 100-mph serve. Yeah, even on a virtual reality platform ... good luck with that.
The experience runs four minutes, using the HTC Vive, a device that streams virtual reality and is set to hit the market soon.
See the full story here: http://www.techtimes.com/articles/77962/20150819/vs-sharapova-virtual-reality-experience-hit-2015-u-s-open.htm