I’m Courtside With LeBron! (In Virtual Reality)
Live sports are considered an ideal environment for a virtual reality experience, because they’re popular, visually arresting, and, with exceptions like a December Jets game, a desirable place to be. If VR can put you courtside at the U.S. Open or on the baseline at Warriors-Cavaliers, there are no shortage of people who will want to be there. Geography isn't a barrier. That is a big reason the NBA is going so gangbusters about VR—basketball has a widening world-wide audience, with a huge number of fans who are not likely to see a game in the flesh. VR is a chance to approximate that experience, putting you a few feet from Steph Curry when you’re really 6,000 miles away.
A couple of weeks ago, the league lent me a Samsung phone and a set of goggles to check it out. (For now, you need Samsung equipment plus an NBA “league pass” subscription to watch VR; but it will open up to other devices later in the season.)
If you’re wondering if the NBA on VR delivers a “Holy Mackerel” moment, I’m here to tell you: Yes, there is a bit of a Holy Mackerel moment, right at the beginning. Instead of looking at the game, you are enveloped in it. The action is much closer, fluid, mesmerizing. It’s utterly unlike a conventional TV broadcast (for this reason, the NBA uses a different announcer team for VR, since the product is so different).
...it’s currently 180, to use as much possible bandwidth to deliver the game—but it makes you aware of the stadium environment to your right and left. The score appears at the bottom when you look downward. All of this quickly becomes second nature.
Here are the hitches, in my opinion: It still looks a tad unreal, like it’s 85% real life, 15% a videogame. The players seem weirdly smaller than they actually are. The video definition can improve (and will). You also can’t watch it for a long time. At least I can’t. The VR environment is intoxicating, but best in small doses, as a supplementary experience to the standard broadcast.
n Henry’s enthusiasm, it’s easy to see the future. Virtual reality is a work in progress, and on its heels is augmented reality, a potentially superlative experience in which computer-generated imagery will put you in the environment (imagine hologram J.R. Smith in your TV room, and you get the idea.) Sports will be heavily invested in all of this. There will probably need to be breakthroughs to simplify it and take away necessities like goggles—let’s face it, the goggles are neat, but antisocial. A huge part of the sports-viewing experience is doing it with friends. (But what if you could virtually watch the game with friends….?)
See the full story here: http://www.wsj.com/articles/im-courtside-with-lebron-in-virtual-reality-1481228262