Events like VRLA Spring Expo are helping to shape the universe of VR for the dreamers of the future.

“If you wish to make an apple pie from scratch, you must first invent the universe.” -Carl Sagan

In a world where both tech industry insiders and consumers seem to flip flop on VR as both the next big thing and just a fad, VRLA is a place that solidifies what VR is to me.  VR is growth, VR is creative freedom, VR is the future. One can simply look at the growth of VRLA and see that the team behind this event will not just leave this new industry to chance but rather push it forward to the promises of the Sci-Fi novels that shaped our visions.

Look at the growth of #vrla2017 @vrlosangeles That small #redbox was the first. #vr #growth. pic.twitter.com/Imz5b13uu4

— CatsAndVR (@CatsAndVR) April 15, 2017

I started CatsAndVR.com last year in order to throw myself full force into the VR ecosystem. During the VRLA Summer Expo last year I was actually able to use my VR experience to get a job in VR. For me the VRLA events are a bit different than VR events in the Bay Area as there is a more dream like quality in presentation and outlook. For me VRLA is a refresher to remind me why exactly I want to be involved in this industry.

For me one of the best thing about VRLA events are the people and I recenlty got to chat with one of my favorite in the industry, Jonathan Krusell. Last year Jonathan helped me skip the line to check out Mindshow and this year I returned the favor and made sure I checked out some great stuff on Daydream from L.A. Devs.

"Whats amazing about VRLA and VR in L.A. is that there are so many amazing developers here in town. There are so many folks coming from different mediums converging in VR bringing their strengths and experiences."- Jonathan Krusell, Google Daydream

Cofounder of VRLA Cosmo Scharf killed it with his opening VRLA remarks showcasing an almost Steve Jobs level of charm in telling the tale of why VR is important to him. 

Wow @cosmoscharf dropping knowledge #VRLA2017 Dystopia @vrlosangeles #world view shift. #TaxMarch #vr pic.twitter.com/QvSzosF5x1

— CatsAndVR (@CatsAndVR) April 15, 2017

The VRLA Saturday keynote by Justin Roiland of Squanchtendo and Rick And Morty fame was also riveting and added to the unique charm of the VRLA events not found elsewhere. 

VRLA showcases that the future of VR is bright and its events like these as well as groups such as VRLA and Upload provide the pickaxes and shovels for the true seekers of VR Gold.

The Future Of VR is bright!

Of course I can't do VRLA post without a dash of Mindshow. Check a little Mindshow sketch I did at VRLA

CatsAndVR.com/blog

VR creation application Mindshow gets date for open beta, a new website, and a new trailer at VRLA.

The Mindshow team announced today at VRLA that the Mindshow Open Beta will be available for the HTC Vive Q3 2017. The team celebrated with a brand spanking new website and official Mindshow trailer.  http://mindshow.com/

Mindshow lets you make animated movies in VR with your body and voice! Become 3D cartoon characters and act out all the parts. Create with your friends by passing scenes back and forth, then share your shows in VR and on social media. 

I tried Mindshow for the first time at VRLA Summer Expo and it was my favorite demo, I would eventually join the closed beta community and these are my thoughts. Mindshow is a product built from a passion for VR. Not just because VR is cool but because we were promised the future when we were kids and still seeking it. 

Mindshow is Walt Disney. Mindshow is Jim Henson. Mindshow is Steve Jobs. Mindshow is the spark in humanity that made them create characters out of the stars. Mindshow are the muppet babies playing make believe come to life. 

CatsAndVR.com

VR Superdad uses his powers to make his daughter smile and his cat annoyed.

VR Superdad Toby Newman used his VR super powers to put a smile on his daughters face. His latest experiment using a Ricoh Theta and an HTC Vive gives his child an idea of what the world looks like from the point of view of the family cat. A harness, a 360° camera, and a VR headset lets my daughter take a ride around our house on our cat. The cat has a harness that holds a 360° camera. The camera is fed the feed from the saddle-camera to a VR headset. Toby's  daughter uses her Lion King plushy to get an immersive cat experience.

This VR Superdad has also used his powers to shrink his daughter down and put her into her dollhouse. Check out the video below as well as 360 photos of the dollhouse.

Toby is using his powers for good and I hope he and his family have a great life in Virtual Reality and Reality Reality. He is also an inspiration for me to use my Ricoh Theta more. 

CatsAndVR.com

Bobby Throne Saves The World may be the next killer disruptive VR app, eSport, and social networking platform people in highly populated tech sectors of America are looking for.

"Games are about learning, you learn muscle memory, history, communication, stories, and so much more. If games are about learning then I’m here to teach. So what better place to share my ministry with than at the wonderful PAX East show where everyone is learning. I look forward to introducing myself to all these new minds and see them transform right before my eyes… forever."- Bobby Throne

I first took notice of Bobby Throne Ministries when my former roommate at the House Of Dtoid SF and my favorite MTV reality show personality Jonathan Holmes did a post about it on Destructioid. My first thoughts were wow this guy is still writing, my second was hey my name is Bobby too, I should write about this upcoming VR expereience.

Bobby Throne Ministries is a show (Twitch Stream?) that will be part of the vision of SnowRunner Productions new game Bobby Throne Saves The World. You keep contact with the audience and perform a sermon for a crowd. You can even unlock sermons!? The killer VR app we are looking for? The next eSport?

William Brierly of SnowRunner Productions describes the gameplay mechanics as very similar to Rock Band VR and other stuff he has never seen before.

The game is inspired by Will's fascination with Televangalists and also his time as a proffesional magician. 

Will and his brother have been working on this game ever since their big time indie hit Soda Drinker Pro recived critical and financial success. https://www.destructoid.com/review-soda-drinker-pro-358097.phtml

It does look like the SnowRunner Productions team has invested a lot of the money they received from the success of Soda Drinker Pro into Bobby Throne. They had a huge gaming booth at PAX East where they gave out coins. As you may have heard precious metal prices have gone up since the election of President Bannondorf. As you know silver bullets have great power against dark forces. 

Though they are indie darlings the SnowRunner Productions team has taken a page out of the books of major brands like Wal-Mart and Circuit City and used their new found gaming wealth to hire social media influences and strategic brand managers to brand their manage.

Boy ~ "Are you gay?" @BobbyThrone ~ "That doesn't even matter."

True story.https://t.co/qMz0GCZCq0

— Jonathan Holmes (@TronKnotts) March 15, 2017

The true goal of Bobby Throne Saves The World is to teach us to see the multiple realities around us and see how someone can influence us with words and shinny things.

VR.............?

CatsAndVR.com/blog

Morph 3D and VRChat at GDC!

At GDC17 I got a chance to check out Morph3D's Ready Room platform and see first hand how well their avatar creation system and platform works with one of my favorite social VR platforms, VRChat. 

VRChat will use Morph 3D’s Ready Room platform to allow its users to easily create unique and personalized avatars for their virtual identities. VRChat joins the fast-growing group of networks employing Morph 3D’s platform to enable users to maintain their identities in a persistent way across multiple VR environments.

“We are big fans of what VRChat is doing to revolutionize social VR, and are thrilled to help their users express themselves,” said James Thornton, CEO of Morph 3D. “At the heart of social VR is the ability for us to communicate and enjoy shared virtual experiences with people all over the world. The starting point of this experience is being able to create a virtual identity that best reflects who you are, just as you do in your day-to-day life.”

Previously, creating a personalized avatar wasn’t an option for those without advanced 3D skills. As social VR continues to evolve, Morph 3D expects that users will want to represent themselves with more personalized avatars and will need easily accessible tools and content to do so. Morph 3D’s Ready Room integration with VRChat lowers the barrier of entry for their users to create and manage their virtual identity.

“As one of the leading platforms in social VR, we are very selective in identifying partners that align with our vision,” said Graham Gaylor, Founder and CEO of VRChat. “Our avatar system is state of the art, featuring dynamic lip sync, eyes that track, hand gestures, full-body IK and speech that uses spatial audio. Morph 3D was a natural fit from the beginning because they take full advantage of these systems. We love that their tools and content offer our users an unmatched level of avatar personalization.”

CatsAndVR.com

CCP Games, makers of EVE: Valkyrie announce new projectile based VR sport Sparc coming to Vive, Rift, and PSVR.

 CCP Games today announced Sparc, a unique virtual sport only possible in virtual reality. In Sparc, players connect online to compete with each other in fast and fun full-body VR gameplay.

Currently in development for Oculus Rift, HTC Vive and PlayStation VR, Sparc will be the first wholly original IP to be shipped by CCP outside of the EVE universe when it releases in 2017.

Sparc's skill-based, full-body gameplay makes for a fast-paced and fun physical sport. Players use their motion controllers to throw projectiles at their opponents from a distance, and in turn defend themselves by dodging, blocking, or deflecting the incoming attacks. Players can join one-on-one matches with friends online or find opponents via matchmaking.

Sparc enables players to connect and compete in an online community. Players can watch matches in-person and queue for the next match in VR through Courtside, a freeform social area for spectating in VR or on screen. Sparc includes multiple two-player game modes as well as single-player challenges and training modes, plus a range of customization and personalization options for competitors.

"After our early experiments with standing VR gameplay, we were excited by the idea of building an original sport designed for the current generation of VR hardware. We've designed Sparc so that players can express and improve their skill through their physical actions." said Morgan Godat, Executive Producer at CCP Atlanta. "Ultimately, we want players to think of Sparc as a virtual court in their living room where they can meet and compete with other players from around the world."

"At CCP games, our goal is to harness our passion for virtual reality as a new medium and create the killer apps for the first generation of VR technology," said Hilmar Veigar Pétursson, CEO of CCP Games. "We set out to achieve that in mobile VR with Gunjack and in seated VR with EVE: Valkyrie, both released in the first year of VR becoming publicly available. With Sparc, we want to capitalize on the unique strengths of standing VR and deliver a game with all the depth and excitement to keep players returning long into the future."

Today's announcement is only the beginning for Sparc and CCP Games plans to reveal further information about Sparc's gameplay and feature-set ahead of release later this year.

For more details about the game, please visit www.playSparc.com . You can also find Sparc on Facebook via facebook.com/PlaySparc , or follow the game on Twitter via @PlaySparc .

CatsAndVR.com

Happy Caturday from CatsAndVR.com & LootCrate! An Ode to LootCrate.

This months LootCrate may be my cats favorite as they love their new Batman feeding bowl and they have been snuggling with the Power Rangers shirt that came with it. 

As a long time fan of LootCrates I have to tell you after a tough week at work, a tough week of figuring out the future, and a tough week of listening to how America is going through a insane time politically it is pretty rad to chill with the cats and do a theraputic unboxing video. 

The thing about LootCrate is that it was created with the community in mind and continues to be a very community driven product. To be a bit hokey, LootCrates remind me of a simpler time when the dreams and aspirations of life seemed possible.

And to tell you using unboxing videos in an almost zen way has actually helped me to continue to see those dreams and aspirations as still being possible. When I lost my job a few months back I made an unboxing video to keep my self up. Keeping that positive attitude actually helped me get a job in VR. catsandvr.com/blog/catsandvrsuperbowl

LootCrates actually helps me connect with my current co-workers as I am able to give them gifts.....well only when I don't really want the stuff. I will say I recently gave away my cherished RoboCop LootCrate shirt to one of my good friends...and I love that shirt.

So thanks LootCrate for supporting CatsAndVR.com and all CatsAndVR.com fans go  and check out LootCrate.com

Explore Underwater Depths in Musical VR Experience “Seabed Prelude”, Now Available on Oculus and HTC Vive

MythicOwl today announced that its musical VR adventure, Seabed Prelude , is now available for Oculus Rift and HTC Vive. Featuring a beautifully immersive underwater world, Seabed Prelude takes you on a journey through a post-apocalyptic seascape where you must clear ancient tracks by playing a powerful pipe organ, or alternatively, a system of tesla coils. While traversing the depths you will have control of an RC drone that you can maneuver from within the bathyscaphe to explore stations.

“After launching Note Fighter on mobile last year we are excited to bring our passion for music games to VR with Seabed prelude”, said Tomasz Mularczyk, CEO of MythicOwl. “It’s a unique take on the music game genre that will have players floating through an ethereal environment, surrounded by music”.

Seabed Prelude utilizes VR technology to provide the realistic feeling of being underwater, captaining a bathyscaphe through a post-apocalyptic deep sea landscape. Featuring tangential learning, Seabed Prelude progresses as you play notes on a pipe organ or a system of tesla coils correctly, allowing you to advance from station to station and uncover the dark plot hatched by the Constructors. In Campaign Mode you can progress to various stations by playing color-coded notes successfully as they float through an immersive aquatic environment.

Cats And VR

Top social VR app AltspaceVR now available on Google Daydream View.

AltspaceVR today announced a new version of its software — a mobile app that fully supports Google Daydream View and also provides access into AltspaceVR for compatible Android phones even without a virtual reality (VR) headset. AltspaceVR Mobile is available at no cost on Google Play or through the Google Daydream app.

“We are excited about serving Daydream customers, which could number in the tens of millions by the end of the year,” said Eric Romo, founder and CEO of AltspaceVR. “We are looking forward to providing them with the wide range of activities and events that are available in AltspaceVR, and connecting them with their friends on other platforms.”

The AltspaceVR mobile app is is the most convenient way to enjoy AltspaceVR. Users can easily check upcoming  events and see if their friends are in AltspaceVR prior to entering VR with Daydream View. With the mobile view feature, users can enter AltspaceVR even without Daydream or any VR headset, using just the screen on their phone and audio headphones or earbuds.

Limited quantity and quality of content is a barrier for customer adoption and satisfaction. AltspaceVR now offers a wide range of content, activities and events. Users can play tabletop games such as Dungeons and Dragons, Boss Monster, Holograms Against Humanity, and Love Letter, navigate a jungle maze, play disc golf, have a swordfight in a medieval tavern, or just hang out and watch music videos. They can join friends on a desert island, in a winter wonderland or a variety of other environments. They can enjoy a front row seat at performances, meet and interact with musicians, comedians, film directors, best-selling authors, tech experts, or TV personalities.

AltspaceVR supports Google Daydream View with all compatible smartphones. AltspaceVR also supports Facebook’s Oculus Rift, HTC Vive, and Samsung Gear VR in full VR mode, as well as PC and Mac in “two-dimensional” desktop mode.

Cats And VR

Samsung to release new mixed reality glasses and Gear VR aid for the visually impaired at Mobile World Congress.

Samsung’s is set to release a set of mixed reality glasses at Mobile World Congress 2017 that appear to use Microsoft’s Windows Holographic Shell for PC and  while on the phone it would have a multi-window shell for Android.

On the right of the device is a  CPU, Wi-Fi chip, and projector, while the left incorporates a battery and speaker. Content is capable of being streamed over Wi-Fi Direct or peer-to-peer Wi-Fi.

"Monitorless addresses the fact that there isn't enough AR and VR content currently available and also enables users to play high-capacity PC games on a mobile device,"- Samsung

This could be the holy grail for all the "second-screen experience" talk during the recent years.

An application to consider would be it's functionality for Twitch streamers, allowing for chat control, multiple games, and social aspects.  

Monitorless is a remote-control VR/AR solution that enables consumers to use devices such as smartphones and PCs without a monitor. The solution consists of a special pair of glasses that resemble regular sunglasses. They are used to view content from other devices such as smartphones and PCs and can be used for both Augmented Reality (AR) and Virtual Reality functionality thanks to the electro chromic glass featured on the glasses.

Samsung has also developed a  visual aid application for Gear VR to help near-blind and visually-impaired read books and watch TV more easily.

This is part of a big push by Samsung at next weeks Mobile World Congress in Barcelona.

Cats And VR

Mike Rothenberg drops the mic on the media!

Seems like everyday my tech news feeds are hit with a new Rothenberg Ventures has f'ed up posts. 

It's almost like tech journalism has always been looking for someone to make a tabloid martyr out of and Mike Rothenberg fits the bill with almost Kanye West like precision. 

Young, brash, Cinderella story. It almost comes across as a hip hop lyric about loving you on top but hating you when they can. From Rothenberg facing zoning issues to employee lawsuits there is always something to read about about Mike.  I felt I too should also do a post since I am a blog and all.  

Well actually Mike Rothenberg himself decided to finally address some of these media issues via a Facebook post yesterday. 

In the video Mike says he has not taken any money improperly as well as stating that Rothenberg Ventures never made any investments without investor permission.

Those are two of the major (among others) claims that the media has put out. Mike specifically calls out the media including one of the biggest outlets to push the story, TECH CRUNCH.  Mike goes onto say some of these stories have been liable and slander. Mike even goes on to say that Tech Crunch lives for Drama and even has a section dedicated to this. 

Look I am barely a member of the press so I am going to let the man speak for himself like he wants to in the video below. I am going to say this guy has balls of steel for recently changing Frontier Tech Ventures back to Rothenberg Ventures. Thug Life.

What the media has had to say in the past...INCLUDING yesterday.

https://techcrunch.com/2017/02/16/transcend-vr-sues-investor-mike-rothenberg-for-fraud-and-breach-of-contract/

https://techcrunch.com/2016/10/17/rothenberg-ventures-could-face-fines-over-setting-up-its-office-in-a-building-zoned-for-residential-use/

http://thehustle.co/rothenberg-ventures

https://techcrunch.com/2016/09/04/a-former-rothenberg-employee-is-now-suing-over-breach-of-contract-and-more-than-100k-in-amex-charges/

https://techcrunch.com/2016/08/18/at-rothenberg-ventures-the-rise-and-fall-of-a-virtual-gatsby/

and here is a list of WILD spending that Rothenberg allegedly did

• Hired a racecar driver and spent hundreds of thousands of dollars to maintain and transport her car to events
• Sponsored actor Chace Crawford’s birthday party and produced a video for Coldplay
• Spent $200k on a suite at the Super Bowl and $2k a month on private jets
• Launched an annual Founders Field Day at AT&T Park that was extremely over the top (and inspired the scene in “Silicon Valley”)

The Questions that CatsAndVR.com has about all this. 

• Was most of the extravagant expenditures listed actually sponsored....Founders Field Day was almost entirely covered by sponsors and did not come out of Rothenberg's pockets.
•  Why was Rothenberg Ventures corporate counsel terminated for cause in July, before all this news came out?
• How does CFO David Hasse let all of this go under his nose and says he is owed around 100,000 in company expenses he supposedly paid for?
• How is Mike Rothenberg still the CEO of the company?
• How come the feds have yet to find anything illegal that he did yet?
• Where are David Hasse, Geoffrey Rapoport, Brandon Farwell, and Justin Grooms now? And did they try to unravel the company from within in a skunkworks kind of operation.
• Why am I asking these questions?

The last one is because I am a contrarian and don't like to believe what I am told in the tabloids. Really in the end I am wondering how did this all fall apart and who killed Rothenberg Ventures.

Was Mike destined to fall or be the fall guy? I am way too low in all of this to really make a clear answer but I do look at the information and have lots of questions.

Really what will happen to River and the IP and investments that they made? This in the end may be an early warning for the VR community to not necessarily buy something for face value no matter how luxurious and hyped it is. 

Mike Rothenberg this one is dedicated to you!

Cats And VR

Light Field camera developer Lytro announces $60 million round of funding, production ready technology, and partnership with Within.

Light field camera maker Lytro recently announced its latest round of funding of $60MM, led by Blue Pool Capital, with participation from EDBI, Foxconn, Huayi Brothers and Barry Sternlicht, founder of Starwood. All existing investors including Andreessen Horowitz, NEA, GSV, North Bridge and Qualcomm Ventures also participated in the round. 

Moon,” the first 360 live action VR piece with 6DoF was  created by Lytro to demonstrate the possibilities of their tech and team through the first steps of  production.

Lytro CEO Jason Jason Rosenthal also announced that Lytro Immerge system is production ready while also saying the value the are bringing to the market. 

-Represents first live action capture system that allows for Six Degrees of Freedom
-Provides the highest quality and highest resolution — greater than 6K per eye —  on the market that enables high-end VR productions to future proof their content
-Allows for true presence: everything in the headset reacts as it should in the real world
-Seamlessly blends the physical and digital worlds, essential for the future of VR and Mixed Reality.

Lytro announced yesterday that its Immerge VR camera was used by Chris Milk’s Within to shoot a project currently in post-production.

Cats And VR.

Ex Marvel CEO and corporate turnaround genius Peter Cueno to join VR/AR company Uncorporeal Sytems

Uncorporeal Systems, today announced that corporate turnaround genius Peter Cuneo has joined the company as Chairman. Cuneo has a distinguished career in leadership roles at world-renowned corporations across industries, from CEO of Marvel Entertainment to president of a Black and Decker business group, with a reputation for unleashing unprecedented growth.  Uncorporeal Systems is known for their volumetric capture, holographic photography and static photogrammetry technology. 

"Peter is a gamechanger," said Kul Wadhwa, Uncorporeal CEO. "With an esteemed career leading major companies working in everything from entertainment to consumer goods, Peter brings us an unparalleled understanding of what customers need to embrace VR and AR. When you add his shrewd operational acumen and extensive relationships at the highest levels of industry, Peter is an ideal partner to scale Uncorporeal's technology."

Cuneo has more than thirty years of experience leading companies into rapid growth phases and facilitating successful market exits. Cuneo is currently Chairman of Valiant Entertainment, a leading character-based entertainment company and one of the most successful publishers in the history of comic books. He is Chairman of Iconix Brand Group, which licenses major consumer brands including Peanuts, Danskin and Mossimo. He previously held several senior leadership roles at Marvel Entertainment, including president and CEO. Ultimately, Disney purchased Marvel for $4.3B. Before that, Cuneo was President and CEO of Remington Products Company and held leadership roles at Black & Decker, Bristol-Myers Squibb and Clairol.

"When I saw the technology Uncorporeal's team developed, I realized the enormous market potential and had to get involved," said Cuneo. "The company is creating incredible experiences that help brands deepen relationships with audiences anywhere, from moviegoers and gamers to online shoppers and travelers. As we enter a new era of visual engagement, Uncorporeal provides an incredible value proposition that businesses can't afford to ignore."

Cats And VR

HTC Vive and Viveport are bringing some of my favorite VR experiences to Sundance.

HTC Vive and Viveport is heading to Park City, Utah during the 2017 Sundance Film Festival to exhibit at “VR on the Mountain,” a virtual reality hub for festival attendees taking place January 20-22. HTC Vive and Viveport are bringing a lineup of apps including two of my favorites of 2016, Mindshow and The Price Of Freedom.

I'm actually in a promotional video for The Price Of Freedom but that is because it is super rad.

I am also a huge fan of Mindshow and have been hanging in the Alpha for a bit.

Mindshow is a product built from a passion for VR. Not just because VR is cool but because we were promised the future when we were kids and still seeking it. 

Mindshow is Walt Disney. Mindshow is Jim Henson. Mindshow is Steve Jobs. Mindshow is the spark in humanity that made them create characters out of the stars. Mindshow are the muppet babies playing make believe come to life. 

Vive is also highlighting new content from Baobab Studios, a studio that brought its impressive animation pedigree to VR last year with “Invasion!,” an award-winning title launched last year.  Headed by veterans from Pixar and DreamWorks Animation, including “Madagascar” writer-director Eric Darnell.

The Viveport exhibit is part of HTC Vive’s sponsorship of “VR on the Mountain” during the 2017 Sundance Film Festival. “VR on the Mountain” will be held January 20-22 at Firewood, one of newest venues located on Main Street in Park City, Utah. Attendees will be able to experience all of the titles listed for the duration of the exhibit with the exception of “Asteroids,” which will debut on January 21.

HTC is already killing it in 2017 with a rad showing at CES including the Vive Tracker. Also who in the hell is dotdotdash?

HTC has kicked off 2017 by showcasing new Vive accessories and services at CES that will lay the foundation for VR in 2017 and beyond.  

First up: The Vive Tracker

The Vive Tracker will ship in the Q2 of this year. The company showed off a video featuring Portland, Oregon VR design studio dotdotdash, one of the first developers to use the Vive Tracker. The company developed a camera accessory called D3-U for its VR experience called Exoplanet. I would describe Exoplanet as Pokemon Snap on Acid.

Second Up: Vive Deluxe Audio Strap.

I love my HTC Vive but I have always thought that Oculus had them beat with the way they integrated audio into the headset. HTC has finally addresses it with the Vive Deluxe Audio Strap.

The Vive Deluxe Audio Strap is designed with adjustable integrated headphones and a new customizable sizing dial for quickly adjusting the fit of the headstrap ala the Playstation VR headset. The Deluxe Audio Strap will also be available in Q2. Pricing for both the Tracker and Deluxe Audio Strap will be announced soon.

HTC also announced a collaboration with Intel to jointly bring to market a commercial-grade wireless VR adaptor. TPCast is a wireless adaptor  incubated through the Vive X accelerator program. It includes a one and a half hour battery, and latency as low as 2ms. TPCast will be shipping in Q2 2017 and will retail for $249 USD.

Lastly: Viveport & Chill?

In early 2017, Viveport will be launching a subscription service to help you navigate and find the best VR apps in the world, as well as introduce a new channel through which VR developers can monetize their content. There are currently thousands of apps available on Vive globally. Viveport’s subscription service will help people navigate this growing marketplace and discover new apps, providing access to an ever-growing library of content for a low monthly fee. 

CatsAndVR.com

The CatsAndVR.com top 5 VR compaines in 2016 (for Us). Have a Great NYE! Have a Great 2017

First of all I would like to thank all the people who supported CatsAndVR.com this year. This started of as a pet project so I could learn and immerse my self in the world of Virtual Reality. 

As 2016 started I was in a job I hated but thanks to CatsAndVR.com I was able to get a job in VR that allows me to travel, be plugged in, and also follow my passion. I have learned a lot and due to that job I have I have not been able to put as much time into CatsAndVR.com over the last month. Since the end of 2016 falls on Caturday, I am closing 2016 out with a post. 

So Happy Caturday, Happy NYE, and Happy 2017 to all of you. Here we go.

The Top 5 VR Companies for me in 2016 (in no particular order I think they are all awesome)

Number One

Unity Technologies announced a host of new partnerships and exciting updates in 2016.The dev team I work with uses Unity as our bread and butter. There is a reason it is the game engine helping to push VR into a consumer product.  

With nearly 5 billion downloads of made with Unity mobile games in Q3 alone including  Super Mario Run, Unity continues to enable developers to create content and are now using that for VR and AR.

At the end of the year they released their EditorVR for constructing environments for VR in VR. For now, if you’re building VR games and experiences, EditorVR will likely help you with laying out a scene in VR and building your own custom VR tools

Unity has helped the VR ecosystem with innovation and has made some great hires this year to help chart them into 2017 including hiring innovators such as Tony Parisi and Danny Lange.

http://www.catsandvr.com/blog/unityai

Number Two

As VR grew in the past few years, so has UploadVR. UploadVR has helped create an awareness of VR in the San Francisco Bay Area and is now helping to evangelize globally.  This growing set of influencers in the VR community known for their events and ability to connect the VR world.. Upload VR is not just a blog but a group helping to shape VR not only as a consumer product but through connecting VR to the world of art, cinema, as well as using these connections for good. 

They are also helping to push Unity by hosting Learn Unity events. I hope to take one of these in 2017 so I can better my own skill set. On a personal level I owe something to Upload VR due to the fact that they gave me tickets to their E3 Upload Party. If I had not received those tickets I may have not went to LA to try to get in to E3 as press. I was successful in getting press for CatsAndVR and thus my 2016 VR year actually seemed like a reality. 

http://www.catsandvr.com/blog/uploadvrart

http://www.catsandvr.com/blog/uploadvre3

Number Three

Mindshow is a product built from a passion for VR. Not just because VR is cool but because we were promised the future when we were kids and still seeking it. 

Mindshow is Walt Disney. Mindshow is Jim Henson. Mindshow is Steve Jobs. Mindshow is the spark in humanity that made them create characters out of the stars. Mindshow are the muppet babies playing make believe come to life. 

It was hard to try to write something about Mindshow after I first tried it at VRLA because everyone who tried it in the media loved it to some degree and has been able to post before me. What do you write to be different. CatsAndVR.com can't compete with UploadVR, Techcrunch, VRScout , and the other cool kids in resources, turnaround time, etc.

Mindshow reminded me I did not start the site to do that at all but instead I started it to learn and to grow. In the end maybe this post did not fully explain what Mindshow really is or do the experience justice, but neither did the trailer. You have to experience it to really know that this is what we have been seeking in VR the whole time. You see in the end what Mindshow really is can just be described as inspiration captured and then shared for the sake of shared inspiration itself. Inspiration is what I walked away with from VRLA. Inspiration is what I walked away with from Mindshow.

http://www.catsandvr.com/blog/mindshow

Number Four

As you may know, TheWaveVR recently made headlines for raising $2.5 million to create a VR music ecosystem. http://www.catsandvr.com/blog/thewavevrfunding

TheWaveVR is a VR platform for people who love music, enabling them to view, host and socialize in live and recorded shows worldwide, anytime, anywhere.  TheWave creates a VR venue where artists can perform live music by simply importing their tracks, customizing the visuals of the venue, and sharing virtual shows. Fans can attend via most major VR head mounted displays, interact with performers, socialize with friends, dance, paint and more.

One of the major highlights of the VRLA Summer Expo was the VR Rave presented by Skullcandy, Subpac, WeLens, and TheWaveVR. Attendees like comedian Reggie Watts got to experience a next level audio visual experience that incorporated 3D visuals as well as the ability to experience it all in VR.

Number Five

Thank you everyone this year. I started this year just wanting to be part of the VR world and now I have an HTC Vive, Playstation VR, and Gear VR I can call my own. I used CatsAndVR.com to get me a paying job in VR. I have traveled all over America evangelizing VR for my day job and got to meet a bunch of pro Football players.

I watched two Warriors games from a private suite because of VR and got to travel to 3 new states due to VR. All in all I think CatsAndVR.com was a worthwhile investment. I look forward to growing, writing more, learning Unity, going to VR meetups, and being a member of the VR community. Have a safe NYE and great 2017. 

-

Bobby Venom

The Obama administration launches competition to harness the creativity and ingenuity of the VR and AR developer community on behalf of America’s students.

“I’m calling for investments in educational technology that will help create. . . educational software that’s as compelling as the best video game. I want you guys to be stuck on a video game that’s teaching you something other than just blowing something up.”
 President Obama,

The Obama administration has launched a new competition to harness the creativity and ingenuity of the VR and AR developer community on behalf of America’s students

Utilizing the  U.S. Department of Education the administration has  launched the EdSim Challenge for next-generation educational simulations that will prepare students for the globally competitive workforce of the 21st century. The department is looking for immersive-learning experiences to help bolster career and technical skills of American youth. The DOE is incentivizing the competition  with $680,000 in cash prizes and additional sponsor prizes from IBM, Microsoft, and Samsung.

The administration has long felt that game developers have a way to reach the youth that current educators may not. In 2014, the Administration held the first White House Education Game Jam and in 2015 the U.S. Department of Education held the first Games for Learning Summit with Games for Change.

Information provided by WhiteHouse.gov

https://www.edsimchallenge.com/

https://www.whitehouse.gov/blog/2016/11/15/new-prize-challenge-virtual-and-augmented-reality-learning-tools

Oculus Connect 3 Developer Session Videos are now up to view.

If you were not able to make Oculus Connect 3 this year here is a Youtube playlist with 32 videos from the event included:

I was able to attend quite a few and some highlights for me include the sessions below. Check them out to really get a great understanding of not only what Oculus and Facebook are doing with VR but how the industry is developing as a whole. 

The proliferation of 360 content coupled with the new WebVR standard promises to bring a wave of fresh content to VR. Using familiar tools such as WebGL, three.js, and React, developers can easily create interactive 3D and 360 experiences.

Virtual reality has changed how we create. From games and movies, to experiences and tools-we're just beginning to see what's possible. But what happens when you take traditional artistic methods and transfer them to VR? Learn how Oculus is creating new tools, specifically for Touch, to help more people express themselves.

VR has become a powerful empathy machine. What is it about this new medium that's so effective at connecting humanity? This panel discusses how we can continue to harness the power of VR for positive social change.

What went under the radar (Other than Palmer Luckey) from Oculus Connect 3.

Well last week was Oculus Connect 3 and it was a pretty inspirational time for VR. Attending connect as both press and in a biz dev role had me in a position where most of the super exciting news had been reported on. Well I am still going to post about it but I am also going to mention some stuff that I felt fell under the radar. OC3 was actually a very big event for Oculus and Facebook in that they showed that this is not a fad for them and they were bringing the big guns to show. The keynote featured perhaps one of the biggest tech guns of them all, Mark Zuckerberg.

They did not hold back from showing how social Facebook want VR to be with Avatars and social interactivity rooms. I wonder if companies like AltSpaceVR  are pretty much f'd right now. How do you compete with Facebook on Social VR? They are bringing VR emojis that will use body language to show emotion in your virtual avatar. Just WOW!

Palmer Luckey was absent from the Oculus Connect 3 Keynote, perhaps due to the controversy surrounding the Oculus founder as a result of the revelation that he had supported a pro-Trump online campaign. In fact it was rumored that Luckey was the one that was originally going to do the Oculus state of the union that Zuckerberg ended up delivering. Despite the controversy I was a bit sad to not see him in his trademark Hawaiian Shirt and flip flops, especially during the reveal of Oculus's high end wireless prototype, Santa Cruz.

But enough about that,  if you want more info just check out the recorded Keynote bellow.

I want to talk about some things I felt did not get enough media coverage. Lets start with TheWaveVR. Not only was TheWaveVR crew in attendance, Grimecraft played the OC3 afterparty...with Oculus Touch controllers. This is news because every time I have seen TheWaveVR demoed or showed off it has always been on an HTC Vive. This was the first time I had seen the platform used with Oculus Touch controllers in a public setting. 

Something else that went under the radar was the first mass scale public demo of Kingspray VR Graffiti Simulator. I have been hyped for this since May but after releasing a few trailers the team pretty much went dark with no word about development. At OC3 I got a chance to not only try out the game but talk with one of the members of the Infectious Ape development team, Nolan Cunningham. Nolan was super cool but and said I could interview him but did not want to be recorded. Mostly because he is just a cool dev making cool content not frigging Kanye West. 

Funny enough publicity may have been what led the Infectious Ape team to go dark for a little bit. Nolan said the team put out some videos in May, had some congratulatory drinks, and then woke up to way more attention than they wanted at the time. The Infectious Ape dropped off the radar and surprisingly showed up at OC3 with a demo for Oculus Touch. Once again another company who started of with a HTC Vive focused product showing up on Rift before an official Vive launch. 

I also have to give a huge shoutout to High Voltage Software, a company I have followed and supported for years. https://www.destructoid.com/eric-stoll-of-high-voltage-software-reveals-conduit-3ds-196245.phtml

High Voltage was featured heavily during the Oculus Keynote and both the critically acclaimed Damaged Core and their new card battle game Dragon Front were given high praise during the keynote. http://www.catsandvr.com/blog/damagedcore

I had a chance to speak with High Voltage Software's Chief Creative Officer Eric Nofsinger who stated that between him going from the Keynote to the press area there was a significant increase in new users. I am very happy for the HVS team and look forward to seeing what VR excellence they will bring in the years to come. 

Lastly I have to point out the CatsAndVR 9/9 Lives Game Of The Show.  ARKTIKA.1 is a highly immersive, action-packed, first-person shooter designed exclusively for Oculus Touch. 

Nearly a century in the future, the world has fallen into a new ice age in the aftermath of a silent apocalypse. Only the equatorial regions are still habitable, yet pockets of humanity survive in small numbers all over the planet, hanging onto existence in the resource-rich territories to the north and south-- resources that everyone wants to control.

Cats And VR

SYFY and AltspaceVR partner for the International Premiere of ​​Halcyon, a groundbreaking hybrid VR scripted episodic show.

Syfy, the home of provocative and inspiring science fiction entertainment, announced the September 22 launch date for Halcyon – the groundbreaking hybrid VR scripted series. Beginning with that date, the series will premiere across Syfy channels and companion websites outside the U.S.; it will also be viewable in VR on the Oculus Rift and Samsung Gear VR.

However AltspaceVR users have a chance to check it out early on September 15th. 

Fans from around the world can watch the first episode of Halcyon via AltspaceVR. And, as part of the international premiere experience, participants can meet special guests,including Benjamin Arfmann (Director, Halcyon) and Stefan Grambart (Creative Director,Secret Location) who will participate in a Q&A – all in VR. Whether early adopters of virtual reality or curious Syfy fans, enthusiasts who wish to attend can RSVP by visiting altvr.com/halcyon

These joint initiatives are further innovations for both Syfy and AltspaceVR as they push the boundaries of entertainment and live events in virtual reality. AltspaceVR’s FrontRow technology will provide each person with an up­close and personal experience with the special guests during the Q&A sessions in VR.

Created and produced by Secret Location, the multi­ Emmy® and Cannes Lion Award­winning content studio who specialize in emerging platforms, Halcyon is a short­form scripted series.

Directed by BAFTA ­nominated Benjamin Arfmann ( Random Stop), Halcyon’s 5 ­episode police procedural will alternate between 10 episodes on Syfy linear channels and their accompanying Syfy websites, as well as five VR episodes exclusively available on VR platforms. For viewers who are only watching linear episodes, short recaps of each of the five VR episodes will ensure that all fans are able to follow the complete storyline. Set in the year 2040, the series is centred on Blake Creighton (Michael Therriault) the CEO of the world’s leading Virtual Reality company: Halcyon. Having cornered the market on VR, Halcyon has discarded the VR headset and allowed users to access the virtual space using neurological implants that manipulate the senses to create a virtual world. When Creighton is found dead, presumed murdered, Detective Jules Dover (Lisa Marcos) and her partner, Asha (Harveen Sandhu), must consider if this could be the world’s first virtual crime.

http://www.catsandvr.com/blog/