360º virtual reality esports entertainment platform SLIVER.tv, raises a $9.8 million series A round of equity funding,

SLIVER.tv, the leading esports 360º virtual reality entertainment platform, announced the close of a $9.8 million series A round of equity funding, led by Danhua Capital, along with Heuristic Capital Partners and ZP Capital. With total funding of $17.5 million to date, the Series A round was also participated by SLIVER.tv’s existing seed investors, including DCM, Sierra Ventures, The VR Fund, Samsung Next Fund and Sony Innovation Fund.

Mitch Liu, co-founder and CEO of SLIVER.tv, said: “I’m thrilled to welcome Danhua Capital, Heuristic Capital Partners and ZP Capital to the SLIVER.tv family.  Our platform today enables our global fans to connect and truly experience esports in a whole new perspective.  We’re on the cutting edge developing the next-generation live streaming technology, and this new funding will accelerate our R&D investments in machine vision, artificial intelligence and virtual reality.”

Dovey Wan, managing director of Danhua Capital, said: “We are very excited to partner with SLIVER.tv.  Mitch and his team are fundamentally transforming the live spectator experience for global esports fans with their patented video streaming technology.  Together with a new interactive engagement model, 360 esports content, and a novel incentive model for streamers, tournament organizers, and esports fans, we firmly believe they are ready to disrupt the industry with their next-gen multimedia entertainment platform.”

SLIVER.tv Esports Platform

Since launching last year, SLIVER.tv has broadcast numerous global esports tournaments in 360º VR in partnership with premier brands including ESL One, DreamHack and Intel Extreme Masters.  At key events in the US and Europe, SLIVER.tv has live streamed top esports games to millions of fans ofCounter-Strike: Global Offensive (CS:GO) and League of Legends (LoL).

SLIVER.tv beta launched its Watch & Win esports platform in July 2017, and since then the company has attracted hundreds of thousands of esports fans spending over 500 million virtual coins by actively participating and engaging with live esports matches.  These users have viewed over 50 million minutes of esports streams, nearly 100 years worth of content in the past few weeks.

Patent Overview

SLIVER.tv’s patented virtual camera array technology captures 2D games played on a PC such as CS:GO and League of Legends, and renders in real-time a fully immersive 360° in-world stream.  It is analogous to placing the viewer or spectator inside the game and giving them courtside seats with VR.  The company’s pending patents cover the automatic highlight and generation of key in-game moments utilizing machine vision and a new video encoding algorithm for non-concentric spherical projection for multi-resolution view.

For more information on SLIVER.tv, visit www.SLIVER.tv .

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About SLIVER VR Technologies, Inc.

Based in Cupertino, California, SLIVER.tv is the leading esports 360° virtual reality entertainment platform, founded by successful entrepreneurs led by CEO Mitch Liu. The company launched its industry-defining platform in Fall 2016 with cutting-edge, patented technology designed to provide esports spectators with a uniquely immersive and cinematic experience in 360° and Virtual Reality.  Backed by top-tier Silicon Valley venture capital firms including Danhua Capital, DCM Ventures, Sierra Ventures, The VR Fund, Samsung, Sony and more.  SLIVER.tv is on a mission to transform the interactive esports entertainment industry. For more information, please visit www.SLIVER.tv .

Prison Boss VR will help you realize your childhood dreams of doing hard time.

Prison Boss VR is a crafting and trading game using room-scale to turn your VR space into a jail cell! Craft cigarettes, alcohol and cookies for other inmates! Customize your cell as your reputation grows! Earn cash until you can’t store it anymore and become the Prison Boss!

When night falls, you’re free to craft anything you have the materials for. However, be sure to stay alert, as guards are patrolling and will put an end to your doings as soon as they spot your belongings. When the guards come, hide your things in your furniture to get through the night without losing the items you worked so hard for.

Take jobs to unlock new possibilities and grow your reputation. Trade stuff to earn money, so you can buy more materials for crafting. Find the balance between crafting for jobs and trading for money. Try to progress while earning enough cash to acquire new tools and improve your jail cell.

To learn every crafting recipe, you’ll need to become the Prison Boss of all 4 jails and escape from them! If you want to test your skills, go into Arcade mode where every material is unlocked right from the start and fight the clock to craft the most items you can!
 

• 11 Different Items Available For Crafting
• 4 Prisons With Over 80 Jobs to Complete
• Unlockable Arcade Mode 
• Play VR room-scale the way it was meant to be played
• Great jazzy soundtrack!

http://store.steampowered.com/app/673600/Prison_Boss_VR/

Check out this 360 VR experience for Stephen King’s It.

Before the frightening remake of the Stephen King classic IT opens September 8th  check out IT: FLOAT - A Cinematic VR Experience.  a 3D 360 video that introduces you to meet Pennywise and enter the sewers of Derry. What begins as something of a tribute to a classic scene in the original film quickly descends into anarchy as you enter a nightmarish world.

Meet Pennywise and enter the sewers of Derry in this nightmarish VR preview for the upcoming film.

There will be more VR content on the way later this year for Gear VR and Daydream.

CatsAndVR.com/blog

AltspaceVR lives on to continue growing the VR community!

Altspacers are celebrating tonight! pic.twitter.com/bA602ZfMG1

— AltspaceVR (@AltspaceVR) August 16, 2017

In an email statement sent to the AltspaceVR community last night it was revealed that Altspace is back.

Full Statement below. 

We're back! 

AltspaceVR lives on thanks to you

It has been a roller coaster of a ride for our team and our community since we announced that AltspaceVR was coming to an end. I am elated to follow up that dismal proclamation with some very good news: AltspaceVR is going to live on. You all made this happen by sharing memories, videos, tweets, and emails. You told the world how much AltspaceVR meant to you and how you had made good memories and lasting friendships. Your messages of encouragement brought us smiles during a pretty gloomy time.

Thanks to that outpouring of support, we’re now deep in discussions with others who are passionate about AltspaceVR who want to guarantee that our virtual oasis stays open. We feel confident saying to our community that you don’t need to find another place to meet your friends in virtual reality. AltspaceVR is not closing down. Thank you for fostering a wonderful place for people to meet, hang out, play games, attend meetups, get married, and above all, laugh. If you’re one of our SDK developers and you’ve made something in AltspaceVR, please know that your work still has a vibrant home. We’re excited to continue seeing the amazing and unexpected things you all create. We are so thankful that you, our hosts, and our community have made what AltspaceVR is today -- a place worth saving. 

I wanted to tell you this news as soon as possible, and will share more as soon as I can. We also want to apologize for any grief this caused you or your friends and we hope you’ll stick with us. We’ll be working to pump some life into AltspaceVR over the next few weeks and in the meantime, fill it with your shining avatar faces, catch up with friends, and meet new people from all around this wonderful world of ours."

https://altvr.com/altspacevr-is-back/

CatsAndVR.com

Tonight TheWaveVR and Ash Koosha challenge the boundaries of music and take on tyranny with the power of VR.

London-based electronic musician Ash Koosha will perform in the US for the first time via virtual reality in TheWaveVR. Originally from Iran, Koosha is currently hindered by Trump’s travel ban, which targets people from majority-Muslim countries and bars them from entering the United States.  In Ash's 2016 Ted Talk from Oslo he challenged where is the boundary of what is just a sound, and what is actually music. Is there even such a boundary? Tonight TheWaveVR accepts that challange
 

Our real-time 3D visual controls. @AshKoosha will be controlling the entire environment, in addition to the music.

AKTUAL 8.16 7PM PT pic.twitter.com/l6uLe0Fre4

— THΞWAVΞVR (@TheWaveVR) August 15, 2017

Ash Koosha, who had been imprisoned and blacklisted by his home country for making rock music and films, lives in asylum in London, where he produces what RollingStone calls, “uncompromising, dizzying and dense” electronic music. RollingStone named him “An Artist You Need To Know,” last February, upon the release of last year's I AKA I on Ninja Tune.

Unfortunately, Ash had to cancel his supporting tour due to “extreme vetting” of his visa. Earlier this year, he had to cancel yet another tour due to Trump’s travel ban, and has yet to set foot in the US, where he seeks to promote his music.

In January, he issued a statement on the travel ban, writing, “All of my ambitions, contributions and efforts were reduced to bureaucratic paperwork that left me feeling betrayed and burdened because of my ‘place of birth’."

Ash's wave will bring his audio visual show, AKTUAL, to the US, where users will be transported inside his mind to watch him perform his music and conduct dynamic visual forms using TheWaveVR's revamped performance tools.
 

http://thewavevr.com/

The Team Behind Goat Simulator to publish VR Puppet Charades Hybrid game Puppet Fever

Puppet Fever is  Coffee Stain’s (Goat Simulator) first VR project and marks Coffee Stain’s first contribution to making VR the future of gaming. It is developed by Swedish indie studio Coastalbyte.

Coastalbyte was early to pick up VR development and found a match made in heaven during Dreamhack Winter 2016. Coffee Stain Publishing hosted a VR game jam in order to scout new teams and projects. The jam resulted in a rough prototype of what was going to become Puppet Fever.

Puppet Fever is about acting, shouting and peeking inside of your friends' heads. In Puppet Fever players are taking turns to be the puppet master of a virtual puppet theatre. The puppet master serves as game show host, judge and actor as the other players guess the hidden word, much like a game of charades.

Puppet fever offers a novel way of playing with your friends in VR using only one headset.

www.catsandvr.com/blog/

Will we be seeing World Of Tanks VR Arcades soon?

Wargaming has experimented with VR with 360 video promos and the Domination Mode on World of Tanks PC but with a new announcement the company may be pushing for more.  

Wargaming has announced a deal with VRTech, a Moscow-based company, which focuses on VR technology. The collaboration is set to combine VRTech’s solutions and Wargaming’s expertise in game design and visual effects. The companies aim at delivering new common initiatives that will introduce engaging VR experiences to the European market.

“The potential of taking location-based VR to a new level is an opportunity we had to capitalize on,” said Aleksandr Zezulin, R&D Operations Director at Wargaming. “With this partnership, we are planning to change the public perception of VR from a one-time experience to a source of fun, re-playable entertainment. This type of new business for Wargaming is a scalable, successful set-up that will help us produce high-quality entertainment.”

Wargaming has already pushed 360 content for promotional purpose.

“We’re excited to announce our strategic partnership with Wargaming,” said Yuri Krylov, CEO of VRTech. “This unique collaboration has all the chances of changing the VR market, and we welcome location and IP owners in EU to join our partnership on this exciting journey.”

VRTech is known for location-based VR solutions, including CinemaVR and PolygonVR. Launched in December 2016, the VR booths already operate in over 20 locations in cinemas and malls in Russia’s largest cities.

Happy Caturday! If you are at CatCon LA go check out Cat Sorter VR, the first VR game that allows you to play with cat buttholes.

Cat Sorter VR is coming to the HTC VIVE on AUGUST 29th, 2017 but attendees of CatCon the premiere cat and cat enthusiast convention can get a sneak preview. 

“Cat Sorter VR is unlike any cat game with simple pick-up-and-play control mechanics,” said Spencer Stuard, Pawmigo game designer and formerly of Nightschool Studio (creators of the award-winning OXENFREE video game). “We are delighted to give cat lovers attending CatCon the opportunity to be the very first to experience the fresh gameplay and light-hearted humor of Cat Sorter VR.”

Cat Sorter VR can be played alone or in a group, and challenges players to find, fix and have fun sniffing out flawed cats and returning them to normeowl. The design also allows for a party gameplay that is sure to bring out the cattitude in players as they compete with friends and family for the best score and bragging rights to become the ultimate cat sorter.

The game is purrfect for cat puns and it is full of them ranging from Catscan to Repawr station. This cat sorting simulator has been a hit with the press recently due to the fact that you can attach cat butts in it. What can I say poopers gotta poop.

Cat Sorter will be $9.99 at launch on Steam for the HTC Vive.  The cat designs on the website look really cute so I am hoping this game is good and not a just cat buttholes. Seriously its sort of even being pushed as a feature.

www.catsandvr.com/blog/

VR sports/shooter hybrid GUNBALL launches for Oculus Rift today.

REDspace announced the release of Gunball, their VR sports/shooter hybrid experience, for Oculus Rift through Steam at a cost of $14.99.

The wacky and action-packed game was initially released for HTC Vive in June. Since then, players all over the world have been enjoying the fun and immersive VR gaming experience. 

“We’ve been thrilled with the response to Gunball, from both new VR users and pros,” says Jeremy McCurdy, Gunball Game Designer and Games Technical Lead at REDspace. “Our goal was always to create a fun experience that would appeal and entertain everyone, while also allowing them to see just how awesome VR is.”

Similar to tennis, players serve up balls but instead of striking them with rackets they shoot the colorful balls with guns, rocketing them high into the air. Using this unique yet intuitive mechanic, competitors are placed in the center of a vibrant 3D arena where they participate in timed rounds. The goal is to shoot balls into goal rings for points as quickly and accurately, accumulating the highest score possible before time expires. Do you aim for the closer, easier ones or aim for the higher scoring targets – it’s all about how you want to play!

The game features two themed environments – “Stadium,” an audience packed sports arena, and the explosive “Rainbow Volcano” – each with five different goal ring layouts featuring varying obstacles per environment. Compete against friends and other Gunballers around the globe!

Gunball is an easy game to pick up and play, making it the perfect first-time experience for players new to VR. However, even seasoned VR pros will find Gunball is deep and intense, allowing players to immerse themselves in the experience and pull off insane trick shots on the way to racking up the highest scores in the world and earning top spots on global leaderboards.

Award winning VR FPS VINDICTA has a great update to go along with a great price drop.

Vindicta is a great VR FPS that is able to stand out from a very crowded marketplace with its innovative control scheme, smooth gun combat, and art style that seems like a mix of Portal and Half-Life. Vindicta was the winner of the recent Pocket Gamer VR Indie Pitch in San Francisco that included some amazing games including the upcoming game from CatsAndVR. 

VINDICTA recently got a great new update and a price drop to $14.99 making the game more accessible as the team enters full release mode 

This update, entitled The Hive, answers a lot of the comments people had and includes a lot of new content to make the shooter experience even more fun! 

Here are just a few of the features in the new update. 

• Overall fixes and adjustments
• Optimized enemy AI - enemies now seek you out and follow you
• Melee weapon - for out of ammo situations
• The Hive - new level with an hour worth of gameplay, awesome puzzles and tricky arena fights!
• Each existing level now has 15-30min more gameplay time
• 3 new enemy types
• New collectible shield

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

Indie Sci-fi Ocean Exploration Title Neptune Flux is out today for PSVR.

Neptune Flux is a story-driven sci-fi ocean VR adventure game with supernatural elements. 

The world above the water is a dust bowl and an escape into space is out of reach. Humanity's last hope of survival is the untouched ecosystem of the deep sea, and A.Q.U.A. is the worldwide market leader in underwater colonization. In Neptune Flux, you take on the role of Sarah, an A.Q.U.A. employee tasked with finding the source of strange energy surges that are disrupting A.Q.U.A. operations. As you carry out A.Q.U.A. missions and explore the sea floor, you’ll discover the dark secrets that lurk below.

Neptune Flux takes place in a small part of the deep ocean. You pilot a mini-submarine. and explore a limited number of locations near your undersea base. As you explore each location, strange things occur, and you get to try to solve a mystery. You can pick up salvage along the way, to earn money which allows you to buy two submarine upgrades (better headlights and low-energy consumption sonar) and various consumables (flares, "energy nodes" to extend the reach of your sub, and speed boosts).

Neptune Flux can be played with or without a VR headset but the PSVR adds a nice level of immersion.  The game is actually pretty relaxing and not a bad value for $8. 

www.catsandvr.com/blog/

Cute upcoming PSVR title Moss to incorporate Sign Language as a communication option.

Moss is a single player action-adventure puzzle game for all ages. Built for virtual reality from the ground up, Moss reimagines classic action-adventure gameplay in a first-of-its-kind fully immersive environment. When I first watched the E3 trailer for Moss I was filled with awes. Now after a recent tweet from the Animation Director of the project I am filled with lots of joy.

Since she can only squeak, I figured I'd play around with ways she can communicate with the player. Also a great perk for our deaf players. pic.twitter.com/BAiPc8CUMO

— Richard Lico (@Foofinu) August 3, 2017

The cute heroic mouse creature in Moss is called Quill. Though Quill does not speak to the player Quill does communicate through squeaks and actions to help the player. Recently the team decided to see if adding sign language as an option to communicate would be well received. The above tweet was met with great response and it looks like it will be incorporated as a feature in this already excellent looking PSVR game.

Moss will be Polyarc's first title but the team is made of ex-Destiny and Halo developers so the force is strong with them. 

We’ve wanted to make this game from the very beginning—to take the core of what makes a great game and then bring it to life with the magic of VR. We’re so excited to finally share it with the world.”

— Tam Armstrong, Co-Founder and CEO of Polyarc

I know all the CatsAndVR fans out there are excited for this super cute Legend of Zelda-esq Brian Jacques influenced Playstation VR game to help showcase Sony's platform this holiday season.  

Add a bit of Ray Harryhausen and a dash of Ultraman and you have this 2 awesome for words F2P VR City Builder/Monster Battler from High Voltage Software!

One of my all time favorite video game companies High Voltage Software, (Dragon Front, Damaged Core, CONDUIT 2: THE SECOND ONE) released They Live to Destroy, a City Builder/Monster Battler, on an unsuspecting world today to Gear VR in association with Oculus Studios. Yes I woke up in shock and awe to this rad new game that truly speaks to my Misfit fan sensibilities. 

The free mobile VR game is full of towering monsters that besiege mankind and remind me of the Neo Geo classic King Of Monsters.  The art style and monster creation are so rad reminding me a bit of Ray Harryhausen mixed with Ultraman style Kaiju fantastico.  Construct your secret island lair, and then conquer all who have ever opposed you with nefarious alien technology and an army of unspeakable horrors.

• Create, upgrade, and personalize your own unique fiendish metropolis!
• Collect and control 40 unstoppable monstrosities!
• Raid and defend against opposition from around the globe for profit and glory!
• Photograph your monsters in action to document your cruel path to total world domination!

You control them, and… THEY LIVE TO DESTROY!

This may be the game....that actually had me stop writing the post to start playing it as soon as it installed. That just happened and I just returned to finish the post.

High Voltage Software has shipped 96 titles on nearly every console in existence since founding in 1993 near Chicago Illinois. Some titles include: The Conduit 1 & 2, Saints Row: Gat out of Hell, Saints Row 4: Re-elected, Damaged Core, Dragon Front, Injustice: Gods Among Us, Zone of the Enders 1 &2, Lego Racers, Leisure Suit Larry: Magna Cum Laude, and many more!

AWARD-WINNING MECH COMBAT VIRTUAL REALITY GAME ARCHANGEL AVAILABLE NOW ACROSS ALL PREMIUM VR PLATFORMS FOR NEW PRICE OF $29.99

Following a two-week exclusive debut on PlayStation®VR, Skydance Interactive has now made its award-winning first person shooter Archangel available for purchase across all premium VR platforms, including HTC Vive and Oculus Rift. Starting today Archangel is available for the new price of $29.99, including on PlayStation®VR.

“Now that Archangel is available on all major VR platforms, we invite gamers everywhere to fulfill their fantasies of piloting a giant mech and lead the charge for freedom on behalf of their friends and fellow countrymen,” said Peter Akemann, President of Skydance Interactive. “The response from our first two weeks on PSVR has been very encouraging and we are thrilled that today, Vive and Rift owners too can join the resistance and become the Archangel!”

Archangel is now available for purchase for Windows PC on the Oculus storefront and on Steam as a digital download. The game is also available to download on PlayStation Network.

  Download for Oculus: https://www.oculus.com/experiences/rift/1236704876366734/

  Download via Steam: http://store.steampowered.com/app/553880/Archangel/

· Download for PSVR: https://store.playstation.com/#!/en-us/games/archangel/cid=UP2533-CUSA08450_00-ARCHANGELVR00001

Within the week Archangel will also debut in new international territories on PlayStation®VR, including Belgium, Denmark, Finland, the Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Russia, Sweden, and Turkey.

Set in a post-apocalyptic America during the year 2089, players will assume the role of Gabby or Gabriel Walker, codename “Guardian,” who is selected by the United States Free Forces to lead the resistance against the tyrannical corporation HUMNX, a private conglomerate that governs what is left of our ravaged nation. Using the Oculus Touch or HTC Vive controllers, players enter the cockpit of a six-story high war machine and use strategy and skill to fire upon enemies with a wide array of high-powered weapons, protect allies from onslaught, and lead their squadmates into a high-stakes VR battle.

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

2017 Disney Accelerator company The VOID to work with Lucasfilm’s Immersive Entertainment division to create Star Wars: Secrets of the Empire hyper-reality experience.

Lucasfilm, ILMxLAB and The VOID today announced the new Star Wars: Secrets of the Empire hyper-reality experience. This ground-breaking experience will open to the public at two new VOID Experience Centers at Downtown Disney at Disneyland Resort and Disney Springs at Walt Disney World Resort beginning this holiday season, giving Star Wars fans the opportunity to step beyond reality and into a galaxy far, far away.

“At The VOID, we combine the magic of illusions, advanced technology and virtual reality to create fully immersive social experiences that take guests to new worlds,” said Curtis Hickman, co-founder and chief creative officer at The VOID. “A truly transformative experience is so much more than what you see with your eyes; it's what you hear, feel, touch, and even smell. Through the power of The VOID, guests who step into Star Wars: Secrets of the Empire won’t just see this world, they’ll know that they are part of this amazing story.”

ILMxLAB, Lucasfilm’s Immersive Entertainment division, created this first of its kind experience, in collaboration with The VOID. Star Wars: Secrets of the Empire will plunge guests directly into the iconic Star Wars galaxy. Guests will move freely throughout the untethered, social, and multi-sensory experience as they interact and engage with friends, family and Star Wars characters.

“At ILMxLAB, we want people to step inside the worlds of our stories,” explained Vicki Dobbs Beck, executive in charge of the division. “Through our collaboration with The VOID, we can make this happen as guests become active participants in an unfolding Star Wars adventure. By combining Lucasfilm's storytelling expertise with cutting-edge imagery, and immersive sound from the team at Skywalker Sound, while invoking all the senses, we hope to truly transport all those who experience Star Wars: Secrets of the Empire to a galaxy far, far away.”

Star Wars: Secrets of the Empire marks an important milestone in the continued expansion of The VOID, which also joined the 2017 Disney Accelerator earlier this year.

About The VOID

The VOID is a destination that inspires the exploration of fully immersive worlds with friends and family, creating memorable experiences together. By combining physical sets with real-time interactive effects, The VOID allows you to step beyond reality, engaging all your senses, transporting you to new and unimaginable worlds. In July 2016, The VOID opened its first public experience at Madame Tussauds New York. In 2017, The VOID expanded with locations at The Rec Room in Toronto and the company’s headquarters in the greater Salt Lake City area with additional locations planned for the second half of the year. For more information and to purchase tickets, visit www.thevoid.com and join @VOIDVR on Instagram, Facebook and Twitter.

About ILMxLAB

Founded in 2015, ILMxLAB, Lucasfilm’s Immersive Entertainment division, combines compelling storytelling, technological innovation and world-class production to create truly impactful, immersive entertainment experiences. ILMxLAB develops experiences for virtual reality, augmented/mixed reality, real-time cinema, theme park entertainment and narrative-based experiences for future platforms. For more information visit ilmxlab.com or follow @ILMxLAB on Twitter.

Ahead of the new DuckTales animated series Disney has launched a 360 episode on Youtube.

Adventure calls when Scrooge, Huey, Dewey, Louie and Webby recover the Lost Key of Tralla La! 
Before the new DuckTales Series premieres Saturday, August 12 Disney has released a new DuckTales 360 episode, since it is on Youtube you can use the app to watch on PSVR, GearVR, and other HMD's.

Based on the Emmy Award-winning series treasured by a generation of viewers, Disney XD's animated comedy-adventure series "DuckTales" chronicles the high-flying adventures of Duckburg's most famous trillionaire Scrooge McDuck, his mischief-making triplet grandnephews, Huey, Dewey and Louie, temperamental nephew Donald Duck and the trusted McDuck Manor team: big-hearted, fearless chauffer/pilot Launchpad McQuack, no-nonsense housekeeper Mrs. Beakley and Mrs. Beakley's granddaughter, Webby Vanderquack, resident adventurer and the triplet's newfound fierce friend

Alejandro G. Iñárritu’s (Birdman, The Revenant) CARNE y ARENA comes to LACMA in LA and it’s a masterpiece.

8/1/17 - LOS ANGELES - Alejandro G. Iñárritu’s (Birdman, The Revenant) CARNE y ARENA comes to LACMA in LA and it’s a masterpiece. The slots are limited and currently sold out until September. But there is a standby line so you might get a chance to see it if you’re visiting the museum! It’s easily the best VR experience out there - not only for its breadth and scope, but because it treats virtual reality as its own medium. It mixes agency, voyeurism and the author’s vision so elegantly.  Everything carefully considered - and the limitations of the medium become advantages, and its so refreshing to see VR done this well.

Warning! There are spoilers ahead!

Translating to flesh and sand, the experience puts you in the shoes of a of an immigrant making the crossing illegally from Mexico into the United States. As border patrol corners the party, you stand in the middle of a tense standoff as the party is rounded up.

The experience takes you step by step into the experience. At the start, you’re in LACMA so the experience of stepping into an exhibition is familiar and the director’s statement on the wall sets the tone. The second room however, is cold, you surrender your shoes to a metallic locker and socks and the floor is freezing. Shoes scattered about (actual shoes found on the border), you cannot progress into the next room until an alarm sounds. You cede some control to the experience and are primed for what’s to come.

Once the alarm sounds you step through a door into a hot and dark room, floor covered in sand. You’re fitted with a backpack and headset tethered to the ceiling. The room is massive so you have a lot of freedom to explore the desert landscape. If you get too close to a wall you’re given a gentle tug by one of the volunteers.

Once the experience starts, the action plays out - as night falls, the party is come upon by immigration enforcement and the standoff begins. But while you’re fitted with a backpack, your role is neither voyeur as one would be in a film or player as you would be in a game - you’re a mix of both.

For example you can’t physically touch anyone in the scene, the minute you step into them (or if they walk into you as happened to me), you see their heart beat. And while you yourself do not possess a physical body (you are not male, female, old or young) you do cast a shadow.

As a helicopter flies above you, the sound is so loud that you feel it thanks to the powerful speakers in the room. You also feel the wind as it blows hard towards you. As the story progresses it detours into surreal elements, embracing the medium by breaking down reality - One harrowing scene shows the party is seated at a dinner table in the middle of the desert, while a gruesome miniature of a man slowly walking into an ocean towards a capsizing boat of refugees. It’s chilling, playing on scale to evoke an emotional tone (think the hospital bed in Dear Angelica.)

Once the experience is over, you’re given your shoes back. As you wait to be summoned into the next space I noticed dust on my knees and feet (from crouching). I already felt so emotionally charged by the piece, but being covered in dust felt visceral.

The last step of the experience you are treated to essays from each member of the crossing party in a narrow hallway. You’re separated from the main room by actual parts of the border wall. Through holes in the fence, you can see other users experiencing the piece. It’s a masterful use of the barrier, allowing the echoes of the other experience to wash over you as you read these essays.

Iñárritu’s piece, exhibition or installation is so wonderful. If you can see it, please do so - it rethinks what art in physical space is. It demonstrates VR’s power as the ultimate empathy machine without being condescending or intrusive. Congratulations to the team at LACMA and Iñárritu for putting this together.  

HP’S VR STRATEGY PAVES THE WAY FOR COMMERCIAL APPLICATIONS FOR VR.

HP’S VR STRATEGY PAVES THE WAY FOR COMMERCIAL APPLICATIONS FOR VR.

8/1/2017 - LOS ANGELES - “76% of virtual reality applications are geared towards video games” explains Xavier Garcia, VP for HP Z Workstations. And on Monday, HP announced a set of products as part of a broader strategy to diversify the VR landscape with offerings geared towards businesses. The two most noteworthy: A wireless VR workstation - The HP Z VR Backpack, and 13 Immersion centers slated to open globally.

THE BACK PACK - Solving Untethering

The backpack addresses a major hurdle for higher end VR developers - an untethered experience allowing full freedom of movement without sacrificing computing power. Partnering with giants like Intel, NVIDIA and VIVE (the major hardware giants in the space) HP hopes to solve the tethering problem by strapping the user with the workstation. Other solutions which include streaming the signal from the workstation to the headset (TP Cast for example) or offering an all inclusive headset (such as the GEAR VR or HTC Vive’s unreleased 3 DOF heasets)

Speaking with HP reps, it was clear that at the very highest end of the market, the mild inconvenience of carrying the workstation would be the only downside to giving enterprise clients a best in class VR experience. Streaming solutions as of yet, have resolution hiccups and are limited in multi-user experiences. All inclusive headsets such as Samsung Gear VR, are too underpowered when compared to high end workstations.

When demoed - the backpack itself felt super light weight (approximately 10 lbs), pretty quiet and didn’t overheat. I didn’t get a chance to demo it for longer than 15 minutes so the jury’s still out on how it performs over long periods but from what I could see and feel, It was a far superior experience to being tethered to a traditional workstation. It’s also built to be rugged - withstanding the demands of military and law enforcement training requirements. Lastly the pack can be charged with a docking station, and since I didn’t get a chance to test it for long periods of time I’m uncertain of how much power you’ll get with the pack.

The backpack will start at $3299 and will be available in September.

THE IMMERSION CENTERS

The second announcement addresses another hurdle - a crisis of imagination. The immersion centers hope to allow commercial clients to see VR applications applied to their businesses. Whether that be virtual showrooms, design and product prototyping or training applications.

This could go both ways - if the demos and applications are well thought out and targeted, it could help push commercial VR adoption. But, if the demos fall short it may turn off businesses from considering VR technology. I’m optimistic for the former, and applaud HP for making the investment. VR’s commercial adoption hinges on companies and business leaders finding value and use cases in the technology. Showcasing commercial applications, if done right, could help decision makers find these use cases.

While VR hasn’t yet become an integral part of industry or business in the same way the internet, smartphones or PC’s have, the big hardware manufactures think its adoption as another tool is around the corner. Hopefully, with manufacturers shifting their priorities towards businesses, we’ll be moving a little closer to that breakout moment.

www.catsandvr.com/blog/

New Micro Machines styled PSVR game Tiny Trax gets update to encourage new players to join in on the fun.

FuturLab has issued a patch for Tiny Trax, the innovative slot car drift racing experience described as ‘Micro Machines meets Scalextrix. Based on user and journalist feedback the team is adjusting the AI to ensure it’s more accessible for newcomers to enjoy. Though the multiplayer aspect of the game is great due to many having the same learning curve, the single player mode came equipped with a pretty hardcore AI in early levels of the PSVR race. 

FuturLab is rolling out the patch today to make difficulty level on the first cup lowered to ensure that new players can achieve a medal more fairly.

The game, from Award-winning Brighton-based studio FuturLab (Velocity 2X), immerses players in stunning virtual worlds surrounded by a variety of epic toy racing tracks, allowing them to control tiny cars from a child’s perspective, and watch them boost around their body, jump overhead and drift around bends.

The game has a robust online multiplayer mode for up to four players, with 12 tracks across three environments. The game already has a growing community and its good to see FuturLab listening closely to continue its growth. Just look at some of these fans of the game.

Tiny Trax is downloadable via the PlayStation Store in the US and Europe 

https://www.futurlab.co.uk/games/tiny-trax

Popular Social VR Platform Altspace VR says goodby to the VR ecosystem on August 3rd as it hosts its final event.

Over the last couple of years, Altspace VR has become one of the leading social VR environments but today the Redwood City, California, company has announced they will be closing up their virtual doors on August 3rd. This is some very surprising news to many. 

Around 35,000 people use Altspace VR every month and big events typically see around a thousand attendees.  The platform has attracted marquee partners for their events including Drew Carey, Duncan Trussell, Justin Roiland, Al Roker, Chuck Todd, and Reggie Watts.

According to the email sent out to the press that though the company had a supportive group of investors that last gave them money in 2015 their next round of funding fell through. A combination of this deal falling through and the general slowness of VR market growth made most investors reluctant to fund us the company any further.  Though Altspace VR had been out fundraising they have run out of time and money. With Facebook taking a bigger leap into social VR and upstarts like TheWaveVR finding traction in niche social groups investors may have no longer seen Altspace VR as a viable social VR competitor. 

I do know the company has tried and I for one have been in many Altspace events and seen how much the community loves the platform.

Many in the community are legitimately shocked and a few very hurt by the loss of their beloved community. Here are just a few from Twitter. 

.@AltspaceVR does not have the funding to continue. I am having a cry over it. This is why we can't have nice thingshttps://t.co/M2qGXFy1Rb

— lola (@lolamacisaac) July 28, 2017

You will be missed 😢 https://t.co/UPrHRhY5HS

— ✨Mindshow ✨ (@mindshow) July 28, 2017

Here is the message sent to the community via email.

Tough to see them go. Here is a post from better times for them. 

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