Update: Facebook’s CTO May Have Just Hinted at a 2015 Release Date for the Oculus Rift
On stage at Facebook’s F8 conference, the company’s CTO, Mike Schroepfer, may have just let slip a hint at the Oculus Rift release date.
Oculus’ Michael Abrash ‘Why Virtual Reality Will Matter to You’ Livestream @ 10am PST
Today Oculus’ Chief Scientist, Michael Abrash, will take to the stage at Facebook’s F8 conference to expound upon virtual reality. As Abrash puts it, “Maybe not today, maybe not tomorrow, but someday and for the rest of your life—this talk will explain why you’re going to care about virtual reality and what it means for developers.”
Rev VR Podcast (Ep. 98): Catching up with Ikrima Elhassan from Kite & Lightning
It has been a while since the guys from Kite & Lightning have been on the show, but that doesn’t mean they haven’t been pumping out some amazing things since we last spoke. Ikrima takes some time out of his busy day to discuss their latest projects, and the current news in VR.
Samsung Gear VR Heads to More than 100 Best Buys for Demo and Sale
Samsung is getting a bit more bold with what’s so far been a fairly soft launch for the company’s first mobile headset, Gear VR. Come March 27th, Gear VR will be available in more than 100 Best Buy locations to try and buy.
NASCAR is NextVR’s Latest Pit Stop for Live VR Video
From the beginning, NextVR has been positioning its VR video technology toward live broadcasting, especially for sports. We’ve already seen NextVR demo their technology with the NBA, NHL, and more, while their latest test has taken them to Auto Club Speedway to capture and livestream a NASCAR race.
Facebook Experimenting with Live VR Video ‘Teleportation Station’, Adding 360 Video with Oculus Rift Playback
At Facebook’s F8 conference which kicked off today, CEO Mark Zuckerberg took to the stage to open the event. There he revealed that the company will bring support for 360 degree video to the Facebook News Feed, capable of playback on the Oculus Rift. Further, the company is experimenting with live 360 VR video, which they are showing off at the event today at the ‘Teleportation Station’.
Hands-on: Sony’s 120Hz Morpheus Demo, ‘Magic Controller’, and ‘Bedroom Robots’
With the reveal of Sony’s 2015 Morpheus prototype, the company surprised the VR space with the announcement that the headset would support a 120Hz refresh rate, significantly higher than the 90Hz of the competition. We went hands-on with the company’s first native 120Hz demo, Magic Controller, along with Bedroom Robots from the same studio.
Leap Motion Partners with OSVR to Provide Integrated Sensor Faceplate for HDK
Leap Motion are furthering their commitment to the Open Source Virtual Reality initiative. They’re working with OSVR to produce a Leap Motion enabled faceplate for the project’s flagship VR Headset, the HDK.
CCP Games’ Sigurður Gunnarsson Shares EVE: Valkyrie’s Origin Story
Sigurður G. Gunnarsson is a member of the VR’s new-wave ‘old guard’. As one of the original initiators of what was originally known as EVE-VR, the 20% project started by CCP VR enthusiasts, he’s watched EVE: Valkyrie and VR’s resurgence flourish. Ben Lang caught up with him at this year’s Fanfest in Reykjavik to find out more about how EVE: Valkyrie began.
‘Roto VR’: the Chair That Aims to Drastically Reduce Sim Sickness, Kickstarter Now Live
Roto VR has recently launched a Kickstarter campaign for its rotating chair design that promises to reduce simulator induced nausea, and give the user more control inside the virtual environment without getting tangled up in wires.
Video Essay: “Is technology changing storytelling?” by Rogier Postma, Watch it Here First
Storytelling is evolving in response to advances in interactive technology, but how is that manifesting itself? Road to VR present the premiere of this video essay by Rogier Postima, a veteran filmmaker of 15 years, which aims to explore the question: Is technology changing storytelling?
With over 15 years of experience in the A to Z of content creation, Rogier Postma has been part of a very diverse list of audiovisual projects in various countries. His approach has always been to get maximum results with an innovative, open-minded and progressive approach in all involved phases of A/V production. Besides his commercial work Rogier is also experimenting with the possibilities of new technologies to present narrative in different ways. (He currently lives in Amsterdam, The Netherlands)
Although technology is primarily designed to make our life more manageable, it hasn’t made the craft of storytelling any easier.
Interactive media, like internet and videogames, require more complex structures for narrative that hardly lead to better stories. But the paradox is that the need for better storytelling will only expand when the settings are becoming more comparable to reality.
I was introduced to the Oculus DK2 at PAX EAST last year when directing an episode for Dutch TV show Gamekings. Beforehand I was sceptical, but after the experience its potential was undeniable. I described it as the first experience that made me believe in the possibility of an alternate reality.
So consider this the research of a doubtful enthusiast, very much interested in the storytelling potentials of new platforms and the masterpieces of the future it will eventually lead to.
Our thanks to Rogier for allowing us to premiere his film. You can learn more about Rogier’s work at his commercial site here. You can follow him on Twitter.
Reload Studios’ Multiplayer FPS Revealed as ‘World War Toons’ (Screenshot Gallery)
Reload Studios, a startup comprising ex-members of Call of Duty developers Infinity Ward, have unveiled details of their new multiplayer first person shooter, built from the ground up in virtual reality. It’s called World War Toons.
CCP Games’ Adam Kraver on How VR Labs are ‘Getting Players into the Game’
Adam Kraver, Architect at CCP’s recently unveiled VR Labs, speaks to Ben Lang at Fanfest 2015 about how his team is experimenting with virtual reality to “bring people into the VR space”.
Notes on Crescent Bay – Fresnel Lenses, Fixed Black Smear, Light Ray Artifact, and More
It’s difficult to get a real sense of Crescent Bay, Oculus’ latest Rift prototype, because outsiders are only ever in the headset for a few minutes at a time. Having now logged a number of sessions, I’m starting to get a solid feel for the headset and have collected some of my thoughts on its subtleties.
Björk’s 360 VR Music Video “Stone Milker” Debuts Tomorrow, Powered by 3DCeption Audio
Björk is previewing her latest Single “Stone Milker” tomorrow with a music video filmed for virtual reality and leveraging the power of 3D spatial audio as provided by specialists in the field, Two Big Ears and 3DCeption.
Linear, non-interactive, immersive video is unquestionably proving enticing to creative types across the entertainment industry. We saw one of the first music ‘videos’ made for VR just last week, and there’s no doubt that such a potentially disruptive form of storytelling promises those tired of recycled MTV tropes a fresh way of presenting their music.
Björk’s music video for “Stone Milker” taken from her already acclaimed album VULNICURA, is directed by Andrew Huang for VRSE Works and features the artist performing the song, filmed in 360 degrees and accompanied by a 3D binaural soundtrack powered by Two Big Ears‘ 3DCeption audio technology.
See Also: New ‘Sightline: The Chair’ Gets ‘3DCeption’ Binaural Audio, Developer Discusses VR Audio
UK based new reality architects Third Space Agency (3SA) and digital production and VR specialists Rewind were responsible for piecing elements together inside the VR application. The video itself was shot by Andrew Thomas Huang and his VR production company Vrse.works who also took care of stitching the 360 video imagery together.
It’s claimed that the VR experience premiere utilises a proprietary ‘VR Player’ capable of delivering high resolution 3D audio mixed in real time to accompany the stereoscopic 360 degree visuals. The presentation will use a mobile phone based headset from London based company Proteus VR.
Varun Nair, Founder of Two Big Ears, the company behind the 3D Audio tech used in the project, and a recent MoMA retrospective of the artist, gave us some technical background:
Bjork and her mixing engineer (Chris Pike, who is senior audio R&D engineer at the BBC) remixed the song specifically for VR and our engine. They could position different instruments at any point in space at a very high resolution and surround the listener with her music and voice. On the mobile device, our engine takes all that information and recreates a binaural mix in real-time based on head tracking data. She’s stripped down the mix to reflect the visuals (it was shot on a beach in Iceland).
Björk’s latest facebook update seems to indicate that this cutting-edge approach wasn’t just in pursuit of a current ‘fad’ in VR Videos and marketing. In fact, she goes into some detail on the recording process:
i had recorded the strings with a clip on mike on each instrument . we have made a different mix where we have fanned this in an intimate circle around the listener .
so as you watch this in the virtual reality headset it will be as if you are on that beach and with the 30 players sitting in a circle tightly around you
The experience is to be premiered exclusively at select locations tomorrow. If you’re in New York City, you can swing by Rough Trade NYC between the 22nd and 28th and if you’re in London, the Shoreditch based Rough Trade East store.
Whilst we’ve not had the opportunity to get our hands and ears on this, what we’re heard of the project thus far is extremely encouraging. It’s clear considerable thought and effort has gone into constructing a compelling audio / visual experience.
If the ‘video’ ever makes it into the public domain, we’ll be sure to let you know. In the mean time, if you do get chance to view Stonemilker VR for yourself, let us know what you thoughts.
