Feelreal VR Mask
The Feelreal VR Mask fits somewhat awkwardly over the lower half of your face and optionally mounts to the bottom of a VR headset such as the Oculus Rift. The device includes an "odor generator" that takes seven removable "smell cartridges," which vaporize a mixture of perfumes to create an appropriate scent for the game you're playing or the movie you're watching.
The basic set of smells includes; jungle, flowers, ocean, burning rubber, fire, gunpowder, and aphrodisiacs. But Feelreal will be allowing orders of a number of other predesigned smells as well as custom-made smells for an additional $300 and can describe the smell in detail.
Wearily foldable phone-based VR on Kickstarter
Wearality, or at least a phone-based VR viewer with superior optics and wide field of view that folds down and fits in your pocket, is probably more likely to catch on than boxes like the Gear VR. See their kickstarter here: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/wearality/wearality-sky-limitless-vr
See the story here: http://vrscout.com/projects/let-wearality-sky-open-your-eyes/
Ex-Lucasfilm Veterans Join with Jaunt VR to Form ‘Jaunt Studios’ to Create Cinematic VR Content
Jaunt VR have today announced they’re launching ‘Jaunt Studios’, a venture dedicated to producing immersive cinematic experiences for virtual reality. The new studio will comprise veteran movie makers from the likes of Lucasfilm, ILM and Digital Domain and it will be dedicated entirely to the production of VR related content.
Heading up the new studio is Cliff Plumer, former CEO of effects house Digital Domain, CTO of Lucasfilm and the legendary Industrial Light & Magic. Joining Plumer as Chief Business Officer is former COO and General Counsel of Lucasfilm, David Anderman. Finally, Miles Perkins joins as VP of Marketing Communications – another Lucasfilm and ILM veteran with over 20 years service at the firm.
The first project out of the Jaunt Studios gates will be a collaboration with Condé Nast Entertainment (CNÉ), publishers of GQ, Vogue, Wired and Vanity Fair. The project comprises 2 virtual reality series focusing on CNE’s wide portfolio of travel, lifestyle, fashion, sports, and technology content. It’s not yet clear exactly what form these productions will take, be it infotainment, commercially focused or documentary.
Jaunt have thus far adopted a platform agnostic approach to delivering their content, with experiences available on Samsung’s Gear VR, Google Cardboard, Oculus Rift and more recently, IOS devices. Issues remain in the area surrounding IPD and stitching artifacts however, meaning some content was perhaps not received as positively as it might.
See the full story here: http://www.roadtovr.com/lucasfilm-veterans-join-with-jaunt-vr-to-form-jaunt-studios-to-work-on-cinematic-vr-content/
Microsoft Ties Up With Unity Technologies, Opens Doors For Augmented Reality Gaming
Unity describes this tie-up as a "strategic collaboration" that aims to offer an "optimal authoring solution" for Microsoft's HoloLens technology. The touted authoring solutions include tools customised specifically to leverage the AR aspect of HoloLens.
For example, one of the tools showcased at the event allows developers to anchor virtual holographic objects onto those in the real world. A good illustration of this implementation would be the ability to play Real-Time Strategy games using the HoloLens, with a real world coffee table serving as the battlefield. This will allow developers to achieve a tighter and more meaningful integration of the HoloLens' AR aspect into video games.
Techcrunch points out that the low-cost, PC-centric nature and versatility of the Unity engine also makes it the backbone of choice for a majority of Oculus Rift game developers. This, when combined with the relatively open nature and ethos of the Unity engine, means that the deal between Microsoft and Unity Technologies doesn't seem to entail much in terms of exclusivity for Microsoft.
Turn Your House Into A ‘Paranormal Activity’ Movie With This Terrifying New Game
Gameplay involves walking around your house at night looking through your phone’s screen. The game creates a 3D template of your surroundings using all the technology available on smartphones — the camera, GPS, accelerometer and gyroscope. As you walk around, the game reacts to your environment in real-time.
See the full story, including the Indiegogo video, here: http://www.mtv.com/news/2147889/augmented-reality-horror-game/
Valve releases a kit for making virtual reality apps
Valve has released a software development kit that lets apps use SteamVR hardware, including Valve's controller and room-scale Lighthouse tracking. On top of that, the platform now works nicely with both the Unity game engine (through a plugin) and Unreal Engine 4. It'll be a long while before you can actually run programs built on this code -- the VR devices have yet to reach many developers, let alone the public -- but this at least gets the ball rolling.
See the full story here: http://www.engadget.com/2015/04/30/valve-releases-openvr-kit/
Maker Select Enables the Purchasing of Ad Space on YouTube
During its NewFront presentation in New York this week, Disney-owned Maker Studios announced Maker Select, which will allow advertisers to buy ad space on Maker’s 55,000 YouTube channels in addition to all other YouTube channels. Maker Select will incorporate Maker’s audience data with data from YouTube, Nielsen, social networks and additional sources. Advertisers can target ads based on content type, brand compatibility and audience makeup. The new offering comes from a partnership with Web video analytics firm OpenSlate.
“Maker will be able to offer these advertisers audience guarantees using Nielsen’s Online Campaign Ratings data,” notes the article. “That data could help some advertisers compare potential Maker Select campaigns with TV campaigns.”
“It gives the TV buyers more confidence to spend big dollars,” said OpenSlate CEO Mike Henry. “And for Maker, they aren’t just focused on their slice of the pie anymore.”
See the full story here: http://www.etcentric.org/maker-select-enables-the-purchasing-of-ad-space-on-youtube/#more-91455