There's a baby boy on a stretcher in a children's hospital emergency room. His mother is standing nearby, begging the doctors to do something, as her baby lies there. He is drooling and shaking; his diaper is soaked; he is making a disturbing snoring noise. An EMT comes in and says, "Doctor, this is a 1-year-old male found by the mother at home, having a seizure. The seizure's been lasting about seven minutes. Blood glucose on scene was 90." The EMT leaves.

A nurse exclaims to the doctor, "You have to do something! He is seizing! He is seizing!"

"Are you just going to let him die?" the mother wails.

The doctor has just a few seconds to make a decision. Should she put an oxygen mask on the baby? Give the baby Ativan or another anti-seizure medication? Quickly, she has to makes her choice, or the baby is going to die.

Well, not actually. This is a virtual reality simulation designed by doctors at Children's Hospital Los Angeles in conjunction with Oculus's VR for Good program and the companies AiSolve and Bioflight, intended to help medical students and residents get training in the kinds of low-frequency, high-stakes situations that children's ER doctors encounter situations that are particularly expensive and logistically complicated to teach.

According to Dr. Joshua Sherman of CHLA and the USC Keck School of Medicine, VR helps solve several problems for medical training programs: expense, accessibility, and verisimilitude. (Sherman also helped develop the training.) Hands-on training for medical students and residents is time-consuming and expensive mannequins run upwards of $50,000, plus maintenance and tech support and also requires a room full of actual people to play the doctors and nurses. The other type of training currently used is screen-based training, but that doesn't closely mimic a real-life situation. VR manages to replicate the atmosphere of an emergency room situation while also being accessible a trainee can easily do it on his or her own time. Besides the simulated nature of the experience, the main drawbacks right now are lack of voice control and inability to have more than one person in the experience at the same time. There's also currently only two training modules, so the applications are limited.

Shermans first VR experience was the Oculus Dreamdeck which puts users at the top of a very tall building. Sherman, who is afraid of heights, felt his heart rate go up and his palms get sweaty. "I knew it was not real but I couldn't get myself to jump," he said. "When I felt that physiologic response and how similar it was to the real world, I immediately thought, why can't we use this to simulate the response on resuscitations? We can train people who we can't train in real life, up to an extent, so then when they face it in real life, it still will be very stressful but they will be able to select the correct items and protocols under pressure."

I'm not a doctor, nor am I training to be one, but when I tried the simulation (or as it's officially called, the "VR Pediatric Resuscitation Module 1: Status Epilepticus"), I found myself getting anxious about choosing the right protocol for this fake baby. Though I was guided through it by Clay Park VR founder and former Oculus developer relations specialist Shauna Heller, who produced the project, it was still nerve-racking to be inside this emergency room, responsible for saving the life of an infant.

Sherman said that's entirely the point. "We compared the physiology of stress in real-life emergency situations to that of people going through VR their heart rate, breathing rate, and salivary cortisol, which is a stress hormone. The preliminary data shows that the heart rates definitely correlate between the real world and VR world."

Much like a video game, the simulations have different levels that students can progress through; the more advanced levels have more distractions. Marie Lafortune, a chief resident at CHLA, said she'd never used VR before and isn't good at video games, but quickly took to the medical simulation, which she described as a complement to mannequin- and screen-based training. "It can be more challenging to think straight in highly stressful situations," she said. "Virtual reality puts you in that situation. And there's also a virtual reality parent there that's triggering some emotional responses. She's like, 'My baby, do something to help my baby.' Inside you, you're hearing this parent and you are in a way almost distracted by them and you need to refocus. So you get to experience that stress and practice putting into action some of the medicine that you know or that you're learning."

Several other medical-related VR experiences exist a neurosurgeon at UCLA uses it to interpret MRI scans, for example, and there's another group using it to help train people on doing colonoscopies, as well as people using it for psychological reasons like anxiety reduction and pain relief but this seems to be the first specifically dedicated to children's emergency medicine. Oculus financed the entire project through its VR for Good initiative.

Though a spokesperson declined to give specific budget numbers, she told BuzzFeed News via email that the cost of the project was less than the cost of a year of medical simulation training at CHLA. With additional funding, Sherman envisions a future where medical schools and hospitals can have a library of VR training modules for different scenarios. "A trainee a medical student, resident, or EMT could go to their computer in their staff lounge or at home and decide, 'Today I want to practice how to take care of someone having a heart attack.' The next day, they could practice a seizure," he said. "I want this to be available internationally, in places where they don't have funds for mannequins."

Also on his wish list for the future is voice control right now, the "doctor" can only respond to what's happening in the room by using hand controls and team play, which would help people practice communication and teamwork. But that's all up in the air until the team can get more funding. Sherman has applied for federal grants and has approached different organizations, like epilepsy foundations, about helping to fund the VR training, but so far nothing has come through. He also recently presented at the National Board of Medical Examiners, which he said is potentially interested in using VR as an assessment tool.

"People want more research and more proof that it works before they throw down that kind of money to develop it," he said. "We're working on that and getting it out there. Spreading it might spark interest with people who might want to fund more."

Doree Shafrir is a senior tech writer for BuzzFeed News and is based in Los Angeles.

Contact Doree Shafrir at doree@buzzfeed.com.

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Virtual Reality Is Medical Training's Next Frontier - BuzzFeed News

Disneys D23 Expo covers all aspects of its entertainment empire, and today the studio revealed that virtual reality is coming to the Marvel universe. Marvel Powers United VR is being made by Oculus and Sanzaru Games, and will let players step into the shoes of characters like The Hulk, Captain Marvel, or Rocket Raccoon. The announcement came during the Level Up gaming panel, which also included updates about Star Wars: Battlefront II and Insomniac Games upcoming Spider-Man game.

Perhaps not surprisingly, the game will be exclusive to the Oculus Rift headset and Touch controllers. One of the big selling points is that its actually going to be a co-op experience. Multiple players can team up, each taking on the role of a different Marvel character, to play together in joint missions. Disney is planning on announcing additional characters for the game starting next week at San Diego Comic-Con, with Powers United VR itself targeted for a 2018 release.

Aside from the allure of Marvel characters themselves, the multiplayer aspect of the game has the potential to help it really stand out. Much like Star Trek Bridge Crew, another VR game built around the idea of multiple players collaborating towards a common goal, it sounds like a perfect title for location-based VR installations. Whether in standalone VR arcades, or a potential set-up in a movie theater or other location, multiplayer VR games should help encourage adoption by incentivizing players to bring in friends that otherwise havent tried the platform, growing the base of people used to playing and paying for VR.

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Marvel is getting its own virtual reality game and it's called Powers United VR - The Verge

Virtual reality is being used to train law enforcement officers for scenarios they may encounter out in the field, ranging from traffic stops to active shooter situations.

A new facility incorporating a virtual reality simulator along with a physical training environment was introduced last month in Monmouth County, New Jersey. The facility is the first of its kind in the state and another step towards virtual reality becoming a more mainstream element in law enforcement training across the country.

The facility is called STARS: Situational Training And Response Simulator, and is a joint initiative involving various agencies in Monmouth County. The location is divided into two parts. The first is a physical plant which places officers in a tangible environment using non-lethal training rounds, smoke, fire alarms, strobes, and other special effects. For the second, virtual portion of the training, they are using the VirTra V-300 simulator from a company called VirTra Systems Inc.

This simulator has five screens which allows trainees a 300-degree view of the situation. Scenarios are designed to replicate real-life events that officers may encounter in the field, ranging from domestic violence incidents to active shooter situations. The trainees are equipped with a variety of tools including training firearms that recoil and weigh the same as an authentic firearm would.

The scenarios are pre-recorded using trained actors with approximately 10 to 15 different outcomes per scenario. An operator in the training room controls how the simulation unfolds based on the actions of the trainee.

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"The main objective is to have the officers go in and be submersed in different scenarios so they have that split-second decision-making capability," said Monmouth County Sheriff Shaun Golden. "And not only split-second decision-making capability on use of force, but de-escalation how to handle different scenarios, how to provide commands so that we have positive outcomes along the way."

Other law enforcement agencies around the country have also added virtual reality simulators to their arsenal of training techniques. Earlier this year, the Sonoma County Sheriff's Office in California added the VirTra V-300 simulator. Sonoma County Sheriff's Sgt. Spencer Crum said that while simulation technology has had a place in law enforcement for decades, it has evolved into what can genuinely be called "virtual reality."

"When I went to the academy in the late 80s and early 90s they had something called FATS, which is Fire Arms Training Simulator. This has kind of evolved from that," Crum explained. "Back in the day, it was this really kind of rough single TV screen. It was kind of a 'shoot, don't shoot' situation. But this is significantly better than those old days because it is so virtual reality and you can turn around and move and all of our weapons are functioning."

Crum also spoke about an electronic impulse device which can be used to deliver a mild shock to the trainee, although his agency hasn't adopted that technology.

"We have a device which introduces pain and stress," said Scott Dilullo, federal law enforcement business development manager at VirTra Systems Inc. He explained to CBS News why pain and stress might be useful, even desirable, in a training situation.

"We're to trying to elicit what we call in training a 'fear response,' because once we elicit that fear response the heart rate can get over a hundred and sixty beats per minute. This is where we understand that the officers have problems making decisions. It affects their motor skills and all of that so we need to get their heart rates up. We need to get them stressed."

VirTra Systems' VR and other training technology is currently used by more than 200 individual law enforcement agencies across 38 states. But it's not the only company delving into the virtual reality business for law enforcement.

Ethan Moeller, CEO of LEVRS Inc., is planning on rolling out virtual reality technology for law enforcement later this year. His firm has also been working with corrections agencies. Moeller currently offers a 360-degree virtual reality platform which requires the user to wear a headset. The environment they see projected inside is real and was previously filmed; while the user can look around in the virtual environment, he or she cannot move within it.

The LEVRS 'Argo' training platform uses computer-generated imagery (CGI) to create realistic scenarios that law enforcement officers may encounter in the line of duty.

Tyson Iravani, courtesy of Levrs Inc.

The company has used the technology to film the environment where soon-to-be-released inmates will be living, allowing them to first see it through a virtual headset to help make their transition into the outside world go as smooth as possible. LEVRS has an ongoing partnership with the Pennsylvania Department of Corrections for this service.

Moeller is also working on a computer graphics platform which uses a virtual reality headset paired with computer-generated imagery to create virtual scenarios and situations for law enforcement. That version uses the VIVE system to track hand and body movement so that users can move and walk within a realistic world.

Like VirTra, an operator must be present to determine the outcome of the scenario. However, Moeller hopes that speech recognition software may be able to remove the need for an operator in the future, instead allowing the scenario to unfold naturally based on the verbal commands and actions of an officer. Various outcomes would be preprogrammed by a trainer.

"The great thing about virtual reality is that it brings you closer to a real-life experience than anything else that I've ever at least experienced. And because of that, when you train you want to get that environment as real as possible and that's what VR does," Moeller said.

"But it does it without the risks of real life. So if you make a mistake in virtual reality you don't get hurt, no one else gets hurt, and you learn."

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Mass. town home to largest virtual reality arena in country

Updated: 6:54 PM EDT Jul 14, 2017

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WEBVTT OUR ERIKA TARANTAL FOUND OUTIN A SPECIAL PREVIEW TO GROUPADVENTURE.ERIKA: MY TREK IS READY TO TAKEYOU ON A JOURNEY.>> WELCOME.I'M YOUR GAME MASTER.ERIKA: FIRST, THE PARAMETERS ANDTHEN THE PROPER EQUIPMENT.TRULY HIGH TECH GERA.I TOTALLY FEEL LIKE A GHOSTBUSTER -- HIGH TECH GEAR.MAYBE YOU HAVE ONEVIRTUAL-REALITY GOGGLES BUT NOTLIKE THIS.WHAT YOU SEE AND HEAR I S ABOUTTO CHANGE.PLAYERS ARE IMMERSED IN WHATEVERWORLD HAS TAKEN OVER THISWAREHOUSE.THIS IS CRAZY.THIS IS A FREE ROAMVIRTUAL-REALITY ARENA.>> IF YOU ARE NOT TIED TO ACOMPUTER, YOUR BODY IS THECONTROLLER AND YOUR BRAIN ISGOING TO FEEL LIKE IT IS REAL.ERIKA: THIS GAME IS CALLED SABESURVIVAL.AN AUSTRALIAN-BASED COMPANYALLOWS PLAYERS TO INTERACT ANDWORK AS A TEAM.AHHH!NOT FUNNY.WHERE ARE MY BUDDIES?GOOD, YOU'RE HERE.IT WAS REALLY COOL HOW QUICKLY IBECAME A TEAM FOR THE PEOPLE IWAS PLAYING WITH.THE GAMES CAN BE MODIFIED INREAL-TIME BY ON-SITE ENGINEERS.PLAYERS REGISTER FOR 45 MINUTESSESSIONS.LIKE A MOVIE THEATER, GAMES WILLCHANGE.>> AGE-WISE, IT IS A 13 PLUSACTIVITY.THERE IS PHYSICAL.ERIKA: I'M DEAD.I'M GOING TO RELAX.SET TO OPEN TO THE PUBLIC INAUGUST, FIRST-TIME PLAYERS WEREALREADY HOOKED.>> TOTALLY EXCEEDED ANY SORT OFEXPECTATION.ERIKA: THANKS FOR HAVING MYBACK.THIS WAS REALLY INTENSE BUT FUN.

Mass. town home to largest virtual reality arena in country

Updated: 6:54 PM EDT Jul 14, 2017

MindTrek allows you to enter new imagined worlds and you don't need travel alone.

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Mass. town home to largest virtual reality arena in country - WCVB Boston

There are few experiences more satisfying in multiplayer gaming than hurling a perfectly-placed green shell at your friend in Mario Kart.You line up, take aim as you're both hurtling down a straight, and whamo, watch them flip majestically through the air as you zip by underneath. Now imagine all that, but in glorious first-person virtual reality. Count us in.

Bandai Namco has produced several licensed arcade versions of Nintendo's most popular racing series, but its latest creation is no cabinet with a steering wheel. No, Mario Kart Arcade GP VR is a life-sized kart simulator with a tilting, vibrating base, an HTC Vive virtual-reality headset for truly immersive action, and hand trackers so you can actually grab and throw items at your opponents.

We reported on the project when it was announced back in June, but today the game was officially unveiled at Bandai Namco's VR Zone Shinjuku, a huge, virtual-reality arcade complex in Tokyo, Japan. With early reviews starting to trickle in, a new trailer released this week seems to confirm what they've all been sayingit's a rollicking, insanely fun time.

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New Trailer for Virtual-Reality Mario Kart Game Looks Like a Crazy Good Time - The Drive

LINN, Kan. (WIBW) -- Chris Brickler stood in the middle of a rural Washington County, Kansas pasture, surveying the scene.

"This will be real cool here," he nodded, placing a stand topped by an orb of cameras amidst the grass.

But this wasn't an ordinary video shoot. Brickler used setups of anywhere from six to 24 cameras at once, aiming to capture high-definition footage of everything around him to recreate in a 360-degree view, virtually, for a unique audience.

"Virtually reality really isn't just for 23-year-old gamers anymore," Brickler said.

A few miles down the road, inside the Linn Community Nursing Home, residents like Marian Gross and Lila Tiemeyer are proof of what Brickler means.

Sitting in rotating office chairs in one of the facility's conference rooms, they enjoyed places they've never been, or maybe, once were.

"He was coming right for me!" Lila exclaimed to the staff, who see goggles before her eyes, whereas she was watching cats play. "You could just reach down and pet him."

"It looks like you're right there," Marian agreed.

Brickler, with a background in film, and his business partner, Shawn Wiora, who worked in senior care, chose Linn as one of five pilot sites for their company, MyndVR, to test how virtual reality could benefit senior citizens.

"We really think that there's an opportunity for seniors to enjoy this," Brickler said. "They have time on their hands, there's experiences around the world that they haven't ever been able to do and this provides them that experience."

It's not all just fun and games. The hope is that a dose of virtual reality time is better than any dose of medicine for patients with dementia or other cognitive conditions.

"To me, the medication just masks the problem. Our goal is to get to the root of the problem," said Janell Wohler, administrator for Linn Community Nursing Home.

Wohler and her facility have earned recognition for efforts to use behavioral methods, like music therapy, to help patients with dementia and other cognitive conditions. Kansas ranks worst in the nation for giving anti-psychotic medications to dementia patients, a condition for which those medications aren't to be used at all.

"Most of us believe that (the medication) it doesn't really do any good," she said. "It doesn't really get to the root of the problem of the so-called behavior that that person may be exhibiting."

Through music therapy, Wohler said Linn went from 18 percent of their dementia patients taking anti-psychotics to none. Now, MyndVR is studying if virtual reality doses can help even more.

"It's a very new science," Brickler said.

The theory is a new experience can be enriching, while content specific to the individual, like what they're creating at the Washington County ranch, can calm.

"It gives people a sense of familiarity about their past lives, maybe before they came into the nursing homes, and we think that has a lot of value," Brickler said.

The value is added in improving mental function, thereby fostering positive feelings and behaviors.

"I feel real good inside," Gross said following her session. "I'm more relaxed than when I was when I started."

"The virtual reality has been amazing," Wohler said. "I think that it reduces some anxiety. It makes residents happier. You'll see the effects yet later on in the evening that they are maybe more calm."

Wohler credited her staff for buying into the program, helping the residents quickly master how to operate the virtual reality programs and helping residents experience what living is all about.

"I get goosebumps. It's amazing," Wohler said. "Anything we can do, to me, to help our residents have a more fulfilled life is what we're here to do."

Those with MyndVR hope to use results from its pilot sites to convince Medicare and insurance to cover it as an accepted therapy, which will help them to expand to more facilities.

Linn is by far their smallest pilot site. The others are in the Dallas area, Orlando and Santa Barbara, California.

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Virtual reality could help seniors with dementia - WSAW

If, hypothetically, Georgia and Florida went to war, which state would win? That was one of the questions posed to actress Carrie Preston in the first episode of Conundrums, Slates new virtual reality Facebook Live talk show that launched Thursday.

Preston and host Dan Kois, Slates culture editor, were presented as legless avatars as the show is produced using Facebooks VR app Spaces, which was launched earlier this year as a way for Oculus Rift users to interact with each other as avatars. Facebook this week announced that it was adding a livestreaming feature to Spaces, and Slate says it is the first outlet to utilize this platform in this way.

Kois and Preston began their conversation outside of a Brooklyn-based brewery thats sponsoring the show before using the magic of virtual reality to transport themselves to Jekyll Island, Georgia one of Prestons favorite places in her home state. Hey, thats Driftwood Beach over there, she said as the pair arrived on a boardwalk.

The show was streamed from the perspective of a third avatar, a Slate producer, who controlled the locations and camera angles and also tried to help Preston when she had trouble operating some of the Spaces functionality.

Preston first answered the question of whether she preferred peach pie or peach cobbler (cobbler, she said). The conversation then turned to the important matter of who would win a Florida-Georgia War, but before she could answer the Facebook Live feed cut out. (Side note: I insist that any such war should be called The Worlds Largest Outdoor Cocktail Party.)

Slate was able to resume the broadcast a few minutes later in a new video I was skinnydipping, sorry Im back now, Preston joked as the show came back but the technical difficulties underscored the experimental nature of the show.

In fact, Slates first attempt at broadcasting the show cut out about a minute and a half in and they had to continue the broadcast in a new stream.

For Slate, this is a relatively low-risk way for the online publisher to dip its toes in the VR waters. Speaking to Digiday in May, Slate product head David Stern said the company was taking lessons from its successful podcasts and trying to implement them with VR. That meant focusing on conversations and publishing on a regular schedule. Podcasts taught us, you got to create that habit, Stern said.

The conundrum conceit is actually one that originated from its podcasts. On our Gabfest podcasts, weve been using conundrums to ask those really tough questions, Kois said on the show. Questions like: If one set of animals was going to all band together to eliminate humans forever, would it be dolphins or bees?

Slate is considering the show an experiment, but its going to try to continue to ask guests those wacky questions on a weekly basis while also finding ways to build an audience (and eventually monetize it).

And as Kois and Preston finished their interview by drinking virtual beers, Kois called the first episode an insane adventure that we have set forth on that has in many ways worked and in many ways been a hilarious disaster.

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Slate's first virtual-reality talk show was a hilarious disaster - Nieman Journalism Lab at Harvard

Look Ma, no hands: BMX street biker Chad Kerley soaring to a gold medal during the 2013 X Games.

Now you'll be able to see BMX street stud Chad Kerley flip, twist and spin all over your head in virtual reality.

ESPN willstreampart of its X Games in VR for the first time starting Thursday. The sports network is teaming up with Samsung to show the event in Minneapolis using 360-degree cameras to 48 countries across the globe.

Fans can catch the BMX Street, Skateboard Vert and Skateboard Street Amateurs competitions using the Gear VR headset.

The sport network's popular extreme sporting event is the latest to attempt reaching a new audience using VR. Last season, the NBA became the first pro sports league to broadcast weekly games in VR. Meanwhile, Intel is becoming a major VR player by not onlystreamingthis year's Final Four in virtual reality, but also weeklyMajor League Baseball games. Additionally, Intel says it will broadcast 16 events in VR during the 2018 Winter Olympic Games in Pyeongchang, South Korea.

As for ESPN, X Games executive Tim Reed said in a statement that the two-decade-old action sports competition has always been "a laboratory for innovation and progression," including placing helmet cams on bikers and skateboarders.

"We are always pushing to create new and better ways for fans to experience and interact," he said.

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ESPN to show X Games in virtual reality - CNET - CNET

PHOENIX - You might think virtual reality is just a pair oversized goggles that gives you access to an exciting, alternate world. But, what if virtual reality had other powers that could heal your body? That question is being answered at Banner Health's University Medicine Rehabilitation Institute right here in Arizona.

Cristina Vazquez was in school to become a nurse. But, on February 7, 2015, everything changed.

"I had a car accident. It was a t-bone," Cristina says.

She suffered a traumatic brain injury which put her in the hospital for months, barely able to open her eyes or even talk.

"I thought I wasn't going to walk ever," she says.

But, therapists at Banner's Rehabilitation Institute had different plans.

"I came here with a wheelchair and they said, oh no, homegirl, you cannot be with the wheelchair," Cristina jokes.

So, they got to work, using virtual reality to help heal Cristina's body. Specifically, the Dynovision machine is used on patients who need to retrain their visual motor coordination.

Cristina's occupational therapist, Holly Jones, explains, "it's looking at her reaction time."

At the same time, it serves as a form of speech therapy for Cristina, who tries to shout out the words she sees on the screen in front of her.

"When a patient has an injury to their brain," Holly explains, "other areas surrounding that damage can re-learn what that damaged area did."

But, that kind of therapy takes a lot of practice and a lot of repetitions, which can be extremely mundane and very frustrating for patients.

"That's where Virtual Reality comes in," Holly says. "It gives us the ability to give the patient something meaningful to do. They can visually see what's going on. They can see the movement in their affected arm. And, it gives them a score, so they know how they're doing and how they're progressing."

Cristina says, "Before, I would just look at people... ugh, I'm never going to do that."

But, with innovative, meaningful therapy, her coordination has improved, her balance is better and her legs are stronger.

"Thank God for the help, because, I don't know, without them, I'd probably still be wheelchair-chilling," Cristina laughs.

Officials at Banner Health say Cristina's story is just one of many incredible stories at the clinic showing how technology is impacting lives.

Their occupational therapists are using Virtual Reality to help a tattoo artist regain their fine motor skills necessary for his craft and assisting another patient with relearning tasks like folding laundry or swinging a golf club.

They also say there is no age-limit for the technology. They've used it for children and patients as old as 89 years old.

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Virtual reality heals rehab patients in Phoenix - ABC15 Arizona

Now, London-based design studio Seymourpowell is hoping to do the same in the automobile sector with a new 3D sketching tool. Wearing an HTC Vive headset, users are able to draw, manipulate and augment car models in virtual reality.

The software is designed to speed up the design process, with adjustments quicker to make than if modeled in Photoshop or in traditional 3D-imaging programs.

Seymourpowell's lead automotive designer, Richard Seale, hopes the tool will bridge the longstanding divide between designers (who are paid to shoot for the stars) and engineers (who are meant to keep them grounded).

"As an engineer, it's very frustrating to (produce) cars with designers, because designers and engineers are typically at loggerheads," he said at the firm's south London studio. "It's the same for designers, (who say) 'I want to do this -- why can't I?'"

The typical design process begins with a meeting -- or three -- followed by concept sketches. Once a design is approved, a clay model is created. After that, a costlier model is used to further refine the design.

This is the point where designers and engineers typically clash. A car shaped like an arrow would be great for keeping aerodynamic drag to a minimum, but it would be impractical and unlikely to meet safety requirements.

Here's where the new software steps in. Put on the VR headset and you are transported to a 3D workspace where the view adjusts to your head movements. The left control stick lets you sketch lines, which can be twisted, moved and manipulated with the right one. You can then jump around your digital surroundings at the press of a button.

With so few functions to worry about -- and because you can see the two controllers as if they were your own virtual hands -- the process is surprisingly intuitive.

"We think that the quicker and easier it is to do something, the more likely you are to do it," Seale explained.

Because cars are typically symmetrical, the software speeds up the design process by mirroring the lines you draw. You can create a full 3D concept vehicle in under an hour.

The software also has a social side that can transform how the design process works. Other team members -- whether designers or engineers -- are able to look at drawings on a monitor and, if they have another headset to hand, make adjustments in real time.

This means that engineering specifications, such as the legally required height of a car's headlights, can be brought into the design process earlier on. Later down the line, surfaces can be applied to show what a car would look like in a certain color or material.

Getting up close to a life-size digital model makes it easier to spot design problems. The headset's perspective can also be adjusted to show the car's inside, allowing designers to assess the driver's visibility.

This all means that designers can come up with designs that are better thought out, which in turn means that they are more likely to be approved (especially if any engineering prerequisites have been met) and may be easier to build. This will ultimately speed up the process and save companies money.

The technology has already been adopted by Ford and Jaguar Land Rover. According to Seale, two more car companies ("major" German and Chinese manufacturers) have expressed interest since the London Motor Show, and the company is already exploring how their technology could be applied to architecture and education.

Seymourpowell plans to spend the next 10 years adding new tools and commercializing the product.

"There are so many possibilities that you want to do everything," Seale said. "In that way, it's brilliant."

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This new virtual reality tool could transform how we design cars - CNN

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Original post:

Virtual reality gives old fairground rides new purpose - The Economist

It's been nearly a year-and-a-half since Nintendo first said it was "looking into" virtual reality, though we have yet to see any concrete signs of that "look" outside of a vague patent application. Thus, it came down to Nintendo partner Namco Bandai to give the world its first official taste of what a popular Nintendo franchise would look like on a modern virtual reality headset (no, the Virtual Boy does not count).

Apparently, it will look a lot like Mario Kart Arcade GP VR, a title being teased for Japanese arcades in a newly released 30-second trailernow making the rounds. The slickly produced, first-person trailer shows players puttering somewhat slowly down familiar looking track settings (Peach's Castle grounds, Bowser's airship, a Thwomp-filled fortress) while throwing turtle shells and banana peels and even bonking opposing players with a hammer.

Though the trailer is making a big splash today, the game's existence was first revealed a month ago as part of a preview event for Namco's upcoming VR arcade games (an event we seem to have missed amid the bustle of E3). A report from The Japan Times explains and shows a bit more about how the game works, with users sitting in a small kart that bumps and shakes as they drive with an HTC Vive strapped to their heads. Vive trackers strapped to the back of the wrists track players' hands (via rubber gloves) and allow them to grab virtual items out of the air and throw them at opponents with real-world motions. IGN Japan has even more footage of people playing the game(notethe commentary is all in Japanese).

The existence of a new VR Mario Kart doesn't necessarily mean we should expect more Nintendo franchises to show up in VR soon. While the new game is officially licensed by Nintendo, Namco Bandai is taking the lead in the game's development, much as it has with the arcade spin-off Mario Kart Arcade GP series since 2005. Nintendo reportedly had a limited role in designing those previous arcade Kart titles (besides loaning out and approving the treatment of the characters and settings), and it's not clear Nintendo has any direct role in this new virtual reality development at all.

Don't get your hopes up for this new Mario Kart to be widely available outside of Japan, either. For now, Mario Kart Arcade GP VR is being featured exclusively as a central piece of Namco's flagship VR Zone Shinjuku entertainment complex, which is opening this weekend in the popular Tokyo commercial district. The permanent Shinjuku location is a follow-up to last year's VR-focused Project i-Can, a limited-time pop-up arcade Namco Bandai set up for in Tokyo a few months as a "VR entertainment research facility." The new site will also feature experiences based on Dragon Ball Z, Evangelion, and Ghost in the Shell.

Namco Bandai Executive Officer for Amusement Yoshiyasu Horiuchi said in a statement that "the company plans to install their VR activities in over 20 locations worldwide in order to increase the opportunities for a larger audience to enjoy their VR entertainment," leaving the door open for Western locations in the future. At those limited numbers, though, you may have to travel a bit to find the game if and when Namco does decide to expand.

Those who can't make the trip can always try an emulated version of Mario Kart Wii in their Oculus Rift, of course. Or, how about some unofficial augmented reality Super Mario Bros. while you wait?

See original here:

Mario Kart becomes the first Nintendo property to come to VR - Ars Technica

The dynamic principle of fantasy is play, a characteristic also of the child, and as such it appears inconsistent with the principle of serious work. But without this playing with fantasy no creative work has ever yet come to birth. The debt we owe to the play of the imagination is incalculable. Carl Jung

In my research and experiments, I found that the ability to play in another world can offer a person a renewed sense of spirit. Most adults I have talked to about virtual reality commonly have the same reactionthey are not interested in finding out what it is all about. When I talk to teens about it, though, they cannot wait to try it. It makes me wonder why adults are reticent to attempt to play in another world. My findings are that gaming and virtual reality have an underlying stigma that is looked upon as useless or wasting time.

I see playing in virtual reality as an opportunity to play for a short amount of time without any actual backlash. It is meant to be fun, entertaining, and challenging. When used logically and occasionally, I see it as an excellent life tool.

Here are some reasons why virtual reality can be seen as spiritually enlightening:

In the virtual world, you are anonymous

Becoming anonymous on a conscious level can be considered as a useful step on the road to higher self-awareness. Playing in the virtual world creates new ways to access other states of thought that may have been previously veiled.

When you begin to play any game, you jump into another universe and forget about your daily routine in everyday, physical life

Is this a bad thing? Only if you believe it is. Within the virtual world of the game, you can become who you want, you can go to other locations, and can live another lifetemporarily. There are no consequences to your actionsjust the same as imagination. When the game is turned off, and you enter back into your current now, you may be able to see events more clearly with a new approach to problem-solving.

Anonymity can give you a renewed sense of power

The self is first seen in the mind, and then the feeling of novel perception can transfer into physical life. The experience allows you to see your authentic self outside of the virtual reality. In the virtual, there is room for invention and the art of living is discovered.

When playing in the virtual world, the activity is done in real time, and the experience envelops and responds to you. Playing in virtual reality is a sharp contrast to simply reading travel magazines, watching a film, or talking with a person in a physical situation.

The virtual world becomes, then, a new possibility to re-imagine the world, with all of its unconscious processes of control. Looking inwards with the virtual and moving past a controlling system, the experience becomes a form of awareness, and the role of playing in the virtual world becomes self-consciousness.

The bliss of the gameand enjoying yourself for the sake of experiencing a pleasing experience

The virtual world can be seen as enjoyable as, there, a piece of innocence is found. The rebirth that occurs removes the original sense of the ordinary. Now, the game experience is grounded in creative change.

In the virtual space, there are no resentments or doubts

All players are, essentially, on the same page in the virtual world. The interaction is a continual dialogue. The imagination is immediately activated, along with perceptions. This playing can be seen as a new form of training in understanding. The imaginary deals with the capacity to conceptualize images and see how these images reflect on to the self. While it may be uttered that more can be done by way of teaching art and culture, it is imperative to integrate the teachings of awareness coupled with perception and imagination to progress further into the twenty-first century. In my opinion, virtual play is one answer to this long heard call.

Playing in the virtual world lets the mind and body connect with new potential

The experiences within the game offer future modes of learning and becoming more than might currently be realized. While a video game is largely seen as a commoditized object, the transformative power provided is yet unrealized potential. The experiential nature of playing in the game gives you a new sense of fulfillment and optimal hope for what is possible.

When you begin to play, you dive into the newness of the game and experience. You become a being that is immersed with others. In the virtual space, there are no prescribed social spheres, presumed ways of being, or judgments that will affect your character.

By choosing identities and trying out different points of view, you may experience empathy. You can now see the world from a different point of view that may have otherwise never been known. I believe empathy is indeed a step closer to a higher state of self-consciousness.

In all, I find virtual reality to be a great tool to get in touch with ones self. Of course, I would never promote the use of virtual reality every day and all day, but I do think everyone should give it a try occasionallyto truly step into another world.

Do you want to be part of creating a kinder, more inclusive society? Join like-minded individuals in The Good Men Project Community.

Photo Credit: Flickr/Knight Center for Journalism in the Americas, University of Texas at Austin

Im a visual artist, writer, and researcher who teaches and mentors creative people to write clearly and complete their writing projects. I have my Ph.D. in Philosophy, Art Theory, and Aesthetics. My research is on virtual reality and understanding authenticity in the digital world. I have four children, and Im married to an amazing man. I love traveling, being near water, painting, music, and writing. I'm currently working on a book about creativity.

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The Beauty Of Virtual Reality - The Good Men Project (blog)

Wall Street Journal (subscription)

Enlisting Virtual Reality to Ease Real Pain Wall Street Journal (subscription) In a Los Angeles hospital a short drive from Hollywood, some patients are tapping into virtual reality. But at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, 3D technology is there not for entertainment but pain relief. Patients in chronic or acute pain have put on ... and more »

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Enlisting Virtual Reality to Ease Real Pain - Wall Street Journal (subscription)

There are lots of things you can do using virtual reality, you probably just arent aware of them.

So says Facebook. That belief is one of the main reasons the company announced Wednesday that its adding live video streaming to its social VR product, Spaces, which lets users operate avatars that hang out with other users avatars in a virtual world.

Beginning this week youll be able to stream those virtual interactions live, which means your friends will be able to watch a cartoon version of you hang out with a cartoon version of other Facebook users in real time.

To some, that wont sound appealing. To others, it may just sound odd. But Facebook hopes that these livestreams will help introduce virtual reality to people who still arent familiar with the technology or what you can do with it.

The core thing that were trying to do here is bridge that divide between people who have VR and the vast majority of people that dont have VR and may not know what VR is, explained Mike Booth, the product manager for Spaces at Facebook.

Part of the challenge is that virtual reality is still predominantly viewed as technology used by gamers. (One of Facebooks previous VR-livestreaming integrations allowed people to stream video of their Oculus video games to Facebook.) Facebook has tried to change that stereotype by creating VR videos with more mainstream appeal, like multiple VR videos featuring President Obama.

If Facebooks $2 billion bet on Oculus is going to pay off, it will depend on getting the technology into the hands of the masses, not just industry enthusiasts.

A lot of people either dont know what VR is, or they think that VR is not for them, Booth continued. They think its a high tech thing for gamers to blow up robots and kill zombies with.

Clearly there is more work to be done on that front, and while Wednesdays update is small, Facebook hopes that seeing your friends interact in a virtual world might spur you to try it out for yourself.

Facebook doesnt share how many people go live or how many people use Spaces, but its probably safe to assume that neither group is large, especially by Facebook standards. The group of users that does both is likely very small, so theres a good chance you wont see many (any?) live virtual reality meetups in your feed right away.

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Facebook is still trying to get people pumped about virtual reality - Recode

Rather than blindly buying off the plan, Australians can now take a virtual walk through their new homes while they're still on the drawing board.

Rather than blindly buying off the plan, Australians can now take a virtual walk through their new homes while they're still on the drawing board.

Virtual reality is bringing yet-to-be-built housing developments to life in several display suites around Melbourne, including the Pace Development Group's luxury apartment block in the suburb of Carnegie. Potential buyers can don an HTC Vive VR headset and walk through a virtual apartment, as well as explore the proposed communal outdoor area on the roof, complete with an infinity pool.

The VR mechanics cover three square metres in the Carnegie showroom, with users able to walk around to explore a virtual two-bedroom apartment rather than merely standing still and looking from side to side. The headset's video cable hangs from the ceiling to keep it out of the way, while a floating barrier appears in the virtual world to warn people when they're approaching a real-world wall.

Bystanders in the showroom can watch the view from the headset via a 165cm television hanging on the wall. This tends to draw in the crowds, says co-founder of digital production studio Kasa Digital, Dexter Eugenio. The company partnered with architectural visualisation group 4dstudio to develop the VR walk-throughs for the property developers.

For many people it's the first time they've experienced immersive VR, Eugenio says, but they soon get past the novelty value and forget about the technology as they explore the apartment.

"People adapt to this kind of VR surprisingly quickly because, unlike a flashy computer game, you're not rushing around and our virtual worlds are designed to look real right down to the sunlight coming in the windows," he said.

"The sense of depth is amazing as you move through the apartment, and it really gives people a much better sense of what their home will feel like than simply looking at mock-up photos and studying floor plans."

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Handheld controllers add to the sense of immersion by letting users interact with virtual objects, such as turning on lights and appliances. They can also use a virtual laser point to easily teleport around the apartment, to overcome the fact that the virtual space is much larger the showroom's dedicated VR area.

Other VR experiences developed by Kasa Digital and 4dstudio offer potential home-buyers a bird's eye view of new housing estates. They can rotate the area in their hands, drop down to ground level and then stroll through the streets before walking into a virtual home.

Today virtual reality's hardest challenge is getting past preconceived notions of clunky VR experiences and convincing property developers to agree to a meeting, Eugenio says. Pace Development Group's Natasha Tannourji concedes they were apprehensive at first.

"To be honest we weren't sure whether the technology was ready and we didn't want to bring it into our display suites if it wasn't going to do our apartments justice," she said.. "Once we saw it for ourselves we realised how far VR has come, that it's ready for the public and isn't just a gimmick. In the past developers selling off the plan have been selling the dream, but now we can actually sell the reality."

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Virtual reality: Selling virtual real(ity) estate - The Sydney Morning Herald

MIAMI BEACH, Fla.

Nicholas Montes put on goggles and a catcher's mitt and crouched.

The 13-year-old will never catch a 104 mph pitch from Aroldis Chapman. But at the All-Star FanFest, he felt what it's like to be Buster Posey snagging virtual strikes.

"It was like I was actually in the game. When I was catching, I felt the ball move and everything," the Miami teen said enthusiastically Sunday. "And then when I saw it go in my glove, I tried touching the ball, but I felt the remote control thing. So it was pretty cool."

Developed by GMR Marketing, the Esurance Behind The Plate With Buster Posey VR Experience allows fans to "catch" fastballs, curveballs and sliders from a generic pitcher at velocities ranging from 86-93 mph.

"I've always said that I thought it would be cool for the average fan to either step in the box or like this get behind the plate and get the same sense of what it's like to see a 90-plus, 95-mile an hour fastball coming your way," Posey explained last week.

Esurance Insurance Services Inc., a subsidiary of Allstate Corp., became a sponsor of Major League Baseball in 2015 and signed Posey as a brand ambassador. The company had a 180-degree photo experience at the 2015 FanFest in Cincinnati, then provided 360-degree videos of fans taking swings last year in San Diego.

In a dual setup at FanFest, which opened Friday, people get to signal for three pitches over about 90 seconds as Posey's recorded voice offers tips. They can choose the pitch type by pointing their glove toward an icon on the screen, triggering a sensor. When a pitch is successfully caught, the person hears and feels the mitt snap.

"It is as real as it can be," Danny Devarona, a 48-year-old who coaches youth baseball in Miami Lakes, said after taking his turn.

Commercial and social media content was shot over two days during spring training in Scottsdale, Arizona, where Posey's San Francisco Giants train. Posey's voice-over was recorded after the season started.

"Are you ready? All right, let's see what you've got," Posey's voice tells fans. "This guy throws a nasty curve. The trick is to keep your glove below the ball and your eye on it. ... Keep your chin down and be ready to slide to your right, because this one might hit the dirt."

"Nice job! Right in the pocket," he tells fans when they succeed.

"Yeah, that was a tricky one," he says when they fail.

Based on PITCH f/x data, breaks of 38-to-52 inches are simulated.

"Fans will receive a social-sharable video for them that they can then distribute to their friends," said Kristen Gambetta, Esurance's brand partnerships manager. "With VR, there's something really entertaining about seeing people's facial reactions and kind of seeing their movements and how they react to having a ball flying at their face."

Several thousand fans were expected to put on the electronic "tools of ignorance" over the five days. And unlike real catchers, they won't have to stuff sponges in the glove to absorb the impact.

"Let's just say I'm pretty impressed. I don't think I can ever catch, or hit for that matter, a Major League Baseball curveball," said Pablo Souki, a 38-year-old from Venezuela who lives in Miami. "That was pretty eye-opening."

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Take me out to the screen: Virtual reality baseball a hit - MyAJC

It's easy to grasp why stories about the price cuts carried out by Facebook Inc.'s (FB) Oculus unit for its Rift virtual reality headset and related Touch motion controllers suggest the cuts are proof that VR has failed to live up to its considerable hype. Industry unit sales are perhaps equal to about 1% of global smartphone sales, and that's after factoring cheap smartphone-paired headsets that are sometimes bundled with high-end phones.

This column originally appeared on Real Money, our premium site for active traders. Click here to get great columns like this.

But while near-term hopes for VR have come down a lot, Oculus' price cut isn't a sign that VR is failing as it is that the Facebook unit's original VR strategy -- trying to deliver a superior user experience by creating a costly headset that has to be paired with a high-end PC featuring a powerful Nvidia Corp. (NVDA) or AMD Inc. (AMD) GPU -- was a mistaken one for a market this young and immature. And that it's now trying to adapt.

About 15 months after launching the Rift to good but measured reviews, and about 7 months after launching the Touch to very good reviews, Oculus has slashed the price of a bundle featuring the two items by $200 to $399. The move comes after Oculus cut the Rift and Touch's standalone prices by $100 apiece in March, to $499 and $99.

Oculus says the new price cut is only good for six weeks. But a discount this large, and which lasts for such an extended amount of time, is typically followed by either a permanent cut or the discontinuation of the hardware in question in favor of a newer model. With Oculus having signaled that a second-generation Rift won't be arriving before 2019, the former seems more likely.

A permanent Rift/Touch price cut also makes sense in light of how the Rift occupies a niche within a niche right now, thanks in part to stiff competition. Research firm IDC estimates that just 99,000 Rift units were shipped in Q1, giving Facebook a 4.4% VR unit share.

IDC thinks Samsung was the market leader on a unit basis, estimating the company's $99 Gear VR headsets -- they're powered by Oculus software, and rely on high-end Samsung phones to supply a display and processing power -- recorded 490,000 shipments. Sony Inc. (SNE) was the presumptive revenue leader, with the company estimated to have shipped 429,000 units of $399 PlayStation VR headset, which works with PlayStation 4 consoles. And HTC was estimated to have shipped 191,000 units of its $799 Vive headset, which like the Rift needs to be paired with a PC.

Clearly, the VR headset market has been evolving differently than Oculus once hoped. Shipments are lighter than VR evangelists hoped, and a large chunk of them involve cheaper smartphone and console-paired headsets. A key culprit behind both of these trends: The user experience delivered by modern-day VR headsets, whether the Rift, the Gear VR of something in between, remains far from ideal.

In particular, the subpar display resolutions provided by today's headsets -- generally in the 1080p or 2K resolution range -- can't help but disappoint those used to seeing sharp, unpixelated images on their phones, tablets and PCs. The closer a display is to a user's eyes, the more pixels it needs to pack per square inch to provide a sharp image. That's why a 5 or 6-inch smartphone display needs a much higher pixel density than a typical 4K-resolution TV, and why VR headset displays need much higher densities still.

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Facebook's $200 Oculus Price Cut Sends a Powerful Message About Virtual Reality - TheStreet.com

Christopher Nolans upcoming film Dunkirk is set to be the biggest 70mm film release in 25 years, and in an exclusive new clip the filmmaker explains why shooting so much of it in IMAX became essential to his creative vision. The director has used IMAX for specific sequences in his films for years, but Dunkirk which tells the true-life story of the evacuation of Allied soldiers in France represents his most ambitious use of large-format film to date. About 70 percent of the film was shot on IMAX, with the remaining footage filmed on 65mm film.

IMAX cameras are notoriously large and heavy, making them difficult for use in tight quarters or handheld shots scenarios that presented particular challenges given the extensive cockpit photography and other sequences in Dunkirk. However, as Nolan explains in the clip, the visual clarity of the larger format made the trade-off worth it. The immersive quality of the image is second to none, Nolan says. We really try and create the sensation of virtual reality without the goggles.

Now, that statement on its own is an incredible stretch, ignoring the fact that mediums like VR offer far more in terms of interaction, audience agency, and field of view than even the largest film format can. Theyre simply not comparable. But in terms of the cinema-going experience itself, IMAX is arguably the most immersive format out there, just in terms of aspect ratio alone. In both IMAX 70mm film screenings and some IMAX Laser screenings, the film will be presented in an aspect ratio of 1.43:1 a towering, square image that can fill the entire field of view depending on where an audience member sits in the theater.

Those screenings will be somewhat hard to come by, however. The movie is also being presented in a number of different formats that dont take advantage of the taller aspect ratio that Nolans IMAX photography allows for. Thankfully, the Dunkirk website has a tool to help audiences determine where they can see the optimal version of the film. Dunkirk opens on July 21st.

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Watch Christopher Nolan explain why he thinks Dunkirk in IMAX is like 'virtual reality without the goggles' - The Verge

Adoption of virtual reality (VR) headsets hasnt grown by leaps and bounds. For one, the devices arent cheap. While there are affordable options out there, some can leave a substantial dent in a consumers wallet.

And many consumers dont want to shell out money for a device they feel doesnt have enough content. But video may change their perception.

A study of VR device users worldwide by Ericsson found that more than half (54%) of respondents felt that VR devices will be the new screens for video. And almost as many (53%) said video will be one of the most popular uses of VR.

Just over half of respondents think video in VR will become popular because it will combine with social networking.

But not everyone had a positive attitude toward video in VR. In fact, over a third of respondents (38%) felt that watching video via a VR headset was restrictive, because they would only watch it alone and not share the experience with anyone else.

And theres also the question of quality. A third of VR device users felt their video experience via a headset would be restricted because of poor resolution.

VR has been slower to catch on in the US, and will not reach mass adoption in the foreseeable future, according to eMarketer.

eMarketer expects just 22.4 million people in the US will engage with a form of VR at least monthly this year, with that figure increasing to 49.2 million by 2019.

But while VR headsets provide a more immersive experience, engagement will remain low due to their often high cost. This year, only 2.9% of the US population will use a VR headset at least monthly, eMarketer estimates, with that number growing to just 5.2% by 2019.

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Is Video a Game Changer for Virtual Reality? - eMarketer