Inition has recently hosted a successful Oculus Rift / VR Meetup in London and plans to arrange future events. Industry insider Kevin Williams gives us the scoop.
Guest post by Kevin Williams
Kevin Williams is the founding chairman of the Digital Out-of-Home Entertainment Network Association (DNA); he is also founder of the digital out-of-home entertainment (DOE) consultancy KWP Limited, and is publisher of the well-respected industry news service, The Stinger Report.
The first London Oculus Rift / VR Meetup took place in the demo studio at the London offices of Inition at the end of July – Inition is a multidisciplinary production company harnessing emerging technologies to create unique interactive experiences for live events, exhibitions, outdoor, experiential, digital and retail installations. In their work they have started to utilize VR technology in a number of experiences and are keen to support the reemerging interest in this medium. Inition previously held a VR demonstration during the Digital Shoreditch event earlier in the year – see coverage here.
In opening the inaugural VR Meetup Andy Millns, co-founder of Inition, revealed a past interest with VR in his youth and his continued interest. He also revealed a number of the Augmented Reality and VR applications that were gathered by the company and demonstrated to the attendees of the Meetup.
The Meetup, the first to be held in the UK, saw over forty gathered in the basement studio. Along with the Inition demonstrations, the Meetup was host to a number of Oculus VR development kits.
There were a number of demonstrations running on the Oculus Rift including the VR Google Street View app and Inition had on their system the Rift Coaster demo.
From the show of hands, a number of the attendees to this first event were keen in personal independent development – along with a number of parties that were looking at commercial applications of the Rift.
The event saw four Oculus Rift developer kits brought by attendees and represented one of the largest gatherings of systems since the presentation earlier in the month at Develop conference in the South of England.
The surrounding proved an excellent location for discussion on possible projects and future interests. On display were a number of issues of VR News and other media coverage of the original heyday of VR gathered by Inition’s Andy Millns, which proved a trip down memory lane – especially for this writer, who had links to the original VR news service.
Inition proved excellent hosts and supplied refreshments, and we would like to thank all involved in arranging this first Meetup.
The discussions carried on late into the evening with the lights having to be turned off on the enthusiastic crowd and transplanted to an adjacent pub. The feeling from this first Meetup is that there is a strong interest on making this a regular event, as well as expanding the occasion to include presentations and speakers.
There was also a large interest from a number of individuals that could not make this first event, and it is expected that a more detailed agenda of plans and next schedules will be discussed soon. All that said, it was a very positive and successful first Meetup and we look forward to report on the next occasion. If you’re in the area, keep your eye on the London Oculus Rift / VR Developer Meetup page for future events!
