Wednesday, July 5, 2017 at 6:25 a.m.

Denver Comic Con is over for 2017,but the opportunity to geek out with other nerds over virtual reality, gaming and cosplay is just beginning. Player 2, a Denver startup, has been putting on events at bars around the city since January, giving people places where they can gather over beers to play board and video games.

"We want to bring interpersonal experience back to this stuff," says Player 2 owner Shadoe Konicek, recalling the community gaming fostered when he was young. These days, he notes, much of the gaming culture has "lost connections."

To help reinvigorate the social aspect of gaming, Konicek started Player 2, which brings a library of board games, a VR station with a full HTC Vive setup, and plenty of video games to participating bars. There, in the classic arcade spirit, you can buy tokens to use toward games or VR.

By September, Konicek hopes that Player 2 will be able to open its own private space, which will be run as a sort of clubhouse; customers will bring their own refreshments to enjoy while they game and experience a full VR station. He's confident the concept will fill a niche, and thinks it could expand to other locations, too; to help get the first one off the ground, Player 2 will run a small crowdsourcing campaign in August, offering early memberships.

In the meantime,Player 2 will be holding a "Nerd's Night Out" on Monday, July 10, at Platt Park Brewing Company, where it has held previous events. Anyone who shows up in cosplay gets their first beer for free, and players can compete in various challenges to win more beer or gift cards: Defeat the fabled samurai in the VR game Death Dojo, for example, and you couldget a$25 gift certificate to Platt Park.

"We do this so people can feel comfortable," concludes Konicek. "The point is it's okay to be adult and still like these things."

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Player 2 Celebrates Video Games, Virtual Reality...and Beer - Westword

Illustration by Ccile Dormeau

Its hard.

Youve probably been fantasizing about virtual reality porn ever since you discovered regular porn. Well, welcome to the VR revolution: PornHub reports that VR porn videos receive over 500,000 views daily. Finally, porn that puts you in the middle of the action.

Like the first iteration of the personal computer or the Internet before it was the meme factory it is now, VR porn is still very much in its beginning stages. Viewers at home only have a handful of websites to choose from, with little variety between scenes. For actors and producers, VR porn can be awkward, expensive, and inhibiting to shoot.

While wed like to think there are miniature women begging us to fuck them taking residence within our VR goggles, theres a lot more to shooting virtual reality erotica than meets the eye. To get the scoop on what a day on a VR set looks like, we spoke to some of the actors and producers who put naked people in front of us.

It feels like I'm in The Jetsons. Really, says adult performer and porntrepeneur Joanna Angel. But Angels version of Orbit City has its own challenges. I think the most stressful part, from a producers standpoint, is that you can't play the scene back on the camera at any point. You shoot and cross your fingers that after it's all stitched together; no ones arm or leg is cut off. It's very unsettling for a Jewish producerknowing full well there's a 50/50 chance that you might be throwing your money away.

Shooting VR, it turns out, is actually really frustrating. The cameras offer new possibilities for viewers, but they limit the positions actors and actresses can engage in.

The possible positions all depend on where the rig is stationed, continues Angel, not to mention how big or tall the performers are. Generally, there's a lot of cowgirl and reverse cowgirl more than anything else. In a regular porn scene, you always want to get as many positions, movement, and excitement as possible. In a VR scene your movements and positions are limited. It feels very much like you're performing inside of a little box.

What really separates a VR porn shoot from your run-of-the-mill shoot is the number of people who need to be involved to make it work. Daniel Dilallo, a director for 3X Entertainment, a porn production company in Los Angeles that works exclusively with Vivid, recently shot The Kim Kardashian Superstar VR Experience (a killer video that uses a Kim Kardashian lookalike to pick up where the real sex tape left off). Dilallo let me in on some of the hardships of shooting VR.

The women cant actually be too close to the camera, says Dilallo. They have to have their scenes blocked out and the actress needs to know where she can and cannot go. Men have it worse. Generally, guys are stuck in one position with a camera going over their shoulder. Its difficult for the guys to even see whats going on, which makes timing especially hard. He has to sit back, he cant use his hands. Its hard for the guys to last. The camera bares resemblance to some of the clunky robots of the 1950s sci-fi era and usually hovers over the dudes shoulder as he struggles to recall every unsexy scenario hes ever encountered in a strained attempt to not finish. Its a world away from your typical porno shoot.

But the really hard stuff happens in the editing room. The post-production time and process is crazy-long, tedious and expensive, says 3X's VR director, Adam Block, who also had a hand in creating The Kim Kardashian Superstar VR Experience. Theres also a huge learning curve as this tech continues to evolveeven for the talentas most have never shot in VR, which requires a certain amount of instruction and parameters.

Dilallo thinks the near future of off-the-screen porn will be based in augmented reality, where images are superimposed onto your surroundings (i.e. Pokmon Go). This is where those horned-up pipe dream fantasies of yesteryear will finally come to fruition. Soon youll be able to bring porn stars into your living room. Itll be as easy as slipping on a pair of goggles, choosing who youd like to have over and seeing a famous adult actress flop around on your Ikea couch. What a time to be alive and alone!

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The Only Thing Less Fun Than Watching Virtual Reality Porn Is Making Virtual Reality Porn - GQ Magazine

Elia Petridis, who directed legendary old-time actor Ernest Borgnine in his final role in The Man Who Shook the Hand of Vicente Fernandez, has decided to focus on what could be Hollywoods future by starting virtual reality company Fever Content.

As part ofthe companys launch, Petridis has brought on Craig Bernard, who previously served as chief creative cfficer for SAMO VR, as Fever Contents executive producer. At SAMO, Bernard oversaw several VR projects, including the music video for the EDEN song, Drugs. That film was showcased by VR company Jaunt at this years Sundance and SXSW festivals.

Petridis VR experience includesnarrative live-action thriller, Eye for an Eye: A Sance in Virtual Reality, a collaboration with Gnomes & Goblins virtual reality studio Wevr.

Also Read: Fox Sports Rolls Out Social Virtual Reality for Gold Cup Soccer Tournament

I am very excited to be working with Craig, Petridis said in a statement. Our team understands the potential VR grants to entertainment. We fuse creation and technology to unlock the heart of each experience.

Our approach streamlines the creative process, which is crucial to our many partners and clients needs and expectations, Bernard said in the statement.We have cultivated a large network of technical and creative partners, which allows us to support even the most ambitious goals.

Fever Content makes experiences that deserve to be fully immersive, Petridis added. And we know exactly how our experiences are meant to make you feel. Our content will reach inside of you and grab at your heart strings. We are thrilled to bring audiences the latest and greatest wonders of VR.

CES Asia, the three-year-old overseas version of the annual Las Vegas tech extravaganza, took over five halls at the Shanghai New International Expo Center to showcase the latest and greatest in consumer technology -- which included plenty of robots, smart appliances and self-driving cars.A full 450 exhibiting companies and more than 30,000 attendees testdrove some products at the bleeding edge of innovation.

Cowarobot autonomous suitcase This is not your typical overnight bag. The rolling suitcase from Chinas Cowarobot can identify and follow its owner through airport concourse traffic, avoiding obstacles along the way. Italso automatically locks depending on distance from the owner, alertswhen its more than a safe distance away.

PicoNeo DKS ThePicoNeo DKS is a wireless virtual reality rig that plays like a full-fledged PC setup, with a 2.5K 5.5 inch HD screen that smooths out the often-blurry and clunky gameplay of most mobile VR devices. The setup uses Qualcomms Snapdragon 820 processor to deliver substantial computing power.

HiScene HiAR Like the Neo DKS, one of CES Asias buzziest augmented reality headsets also features the Qualcomm Snapdragon 820 processor. The HiAR goggles, which feel heftier than many other AR sets, use artificial intelligence as part of an always-on voice control capability -- as augmented reality continues to move toward a Minority Report future.

Shadow Creator Halomini In case you hadnt noticed, virtual and augmented reality was kind of a big deal at CES Asia as it was at the flagship Vegas show earlier this year. Shadow Creators Halomini headset, which feels like a lighter version of Microsofts HoloLens, allows users to set appointments, chat with friends and watch videos, while keeping their eyes on whatever it was they're watching.

Ovo Technology Danovo CES Asia is full of robots, but the Danovo stood out for its fun personality as much as that applies to an inanimate object. The egg-shaped machine from Chinas Ovo Technology can navigate around items, dance, engage with people, and even project video by sliding over the top of its shell. Ovo also makes trash collecting and security robots, but they're a lot more serious than the Danovo.

Gowild Holoera Virtual reality can be lonely, which is why Gowild decided to add a friend. Amber, a 3D hologram who lives inside its pyramid-shaped Holoera device, can respond to commands, read moods and cheer users up with a well-timed song.

Qihan Sanbot Another entry in CES Asias parade of robots was Qihans Sanbot, which is based on IBMs "Jeopardy!"-winning Watson operating system. Sanbot can recognize and communicate with customers in 30 languages and process credit card payments. It also does a delightful dance, complete with glowing, gyrating limbs.

Baidu Little Fish The smart speaker from Chinese tech giant Baidu is the countrys answer to the Amazon Echo, only with a high-resolution 8-inch screen and camera that turns to face the user. It can handle the basics like controlling smart-home devices and playing music, and its face-recognition software allows authorized users to order food and medicine.

PowerVision Power Ray The fishing robot includes ocean mapping, an integrated fish luring light and even an optional remote bait drop feature that allows users to place the hook wherever they want. Its camera shoots in 4K UHD and is capable of 1080p real-time streaming. It even connects with the Zeiss VR One Plus VR headset to turn real-life fishing into a virtual reality game.

JD JDrone The unmanned aircraft is part of a plan from Chinas second-biggest online retailer, JD.com, to use drones to deliver products that weigh as much as one metric ton. The company is also developing fully-automated warehouses.

Itonology CarMew C1 This lighter socket-mounted device gives cars high-speed wi-fi, allowing people in them (preferably not driving) to get work done and stream music. It connects near field FM, auxiliary dual channels and car audio, and enables sharing of 4G networks.

The Chinese version of the annual tech extravaganza featured plenty of robots and serious advances in mobile virtual reality

CES Asia, the three-year-old overseas version of the annual Las Vegas tech extravaganza, took over five halls at the Shanghai New International Expo Center to showcase the latest and greatest in consumer technology -- which included plenty of robots, smart appliances and self-driving cars.A full 450 exhibiting companies and more than 30,000 attendees testdrove some products at the bleeding edge of innovation.

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Elia Petridis Launches Virtual Reality Company: Fever Content (Exclusive) - TheWrap

New data is backing up Erlich Bachmans recent claim on Silicon Valley that virtual reality is the frothiest space in the valley right now. Nobody understands it but everyone wants in. Any idiot could walk into a fing room, utter the letters v and r, and [venture capitalists] would hurl bricks of cash at them.

Add augmented reality to that statement and itd be spot on. More than $800 million was invested in AR and VR in the second quarter of 2017, according to Digi-Capital, an AR-VR consulting firm.

This was a major jump from Q1, when only $300 million was poured into the budding industries. Altogether, there has been north of $2 billion invested in AR and VR in the past year.

Also Read: Fox Sports Rolls Out Social Virtual Reality for Gold Cup Soccer Tournament

Most AR and VR investments come during theearly stages of a startup, but there were several major deals between April and June that made it a strong quarter. UK-based VR gaming company Improbable netted more than $500 million at a $1 billion valuation from SoftBank back in May.

But its more than video games that are drawing investment dollars. In an email to TheWrap, Digi-Capital founder and managing director Tim Merel outlined the five sectors with the most AR-VR investment: tech, video, games, peripherals and smartglasses.

The report also pointed to an expected uptick in investment, with Apples latest iOS enabling developers to create AR apps with its ARKit. For many in the industry, the move by Apple is going to help bring AR to the mainstream.

Also Read: Check out the Virtual Strip Club 2 Chainz Created to Promote His New Album (Video)

Its a huge thing, saidChris Milk, CEO of Within VR, in an interview with TheWrap. Granted, its the beginning of AR through a phone or a tablet. But its introducing people to a completely new concept, and a new form of medium that does not have a storytelling structure.

With Facebook and Google and not to mention, Snap looking to join Apple in pushing the medium forward, Digi-Capital predicts more than $60 billion in revenue and one billion users of mobile AR in five years.

And while Q2 was a major leap from Q1 this year, it still lagged behind its peak months from 2016, when $1.2 billion was raised within the first quarter of the year.

Steven Spielberg's tech-heavy "Minority Report," starring Tom Cruise, is now 15 years old. Considered one of the most prescient sci-fi movies to grace the big screen, it predicted multiple future innovations, including facial recognition, personalize advertising and predictive crime fighting. In honor of the movie's anniversary, click through here to revisit 18 more movies that accuratelypeered into the future of technology:

We're so used to touch screens at this point -- we use them every day on our smart phones, and even at McDonald's-- that it's easy to forget that Tom Cruise used the technology in "Minority Report."

Long before Siri, there was HAL. The ominous yet soft-spoken computer system was the antagonist in 1968's "2001: A Space Odyssey." Stanley Kubrick's sinister talking computer ended up turning on itscrew in a Siri user's worst nightmare.

Tech giant Elon Musk is at the helm of SpaceX, which will send two tourists to space in 2018. But "2001: A Space Odyssey" imaginedcommercial space travel decades ago.

Elon Musk, Google and Uber have been duking it out to bring self-driving cars to the masses, but Arnold Schwarzenegger might have jumpstarted the competition when he took a robot-controlled ride in 1990's "Total Recall."

"The Terminator" predicted military drones in 1984 -- long before they were introduced to police forces and militaries.

Virtual reality is taking over the tech scene.You can play games in VR, watch movies and experience Coachellaall from the comfort of your living room. But Hollywood predicted we'd have VR more than 20 years ago in 1992's "Lawnmower Man."

The 1982 cult classic "Blade Runner," starring Harrison Ford, predicted digital billboards, which you can see now all over the country, from Times Square in New York to the Vegas strip.

Remember when the TSA rolled out invasive body scanners and a lot of people freaked out? "Airplane II: The Sequel" imagined airport scanners that revealed a person's naked body to agents.

Woody Allen's "Sleeper" had robots assisting surgeons by offering advice during surgery. Today, doctors use robotics to add precision to procedures.

The beloved 1960s cartoon "The Jetsons" -- which was made into a movie in 1990 -- predicted the use of robots to clean homes. They had a robotic vacuum and a robotic maid.Can you say Roomba?

In vitro fertilization and at-home genetic testing are common place these days. "Gattaca," with Uma Thurman and Ethan Hawke, predicted this tech in 1997.

FaceTime, and Skype before it, are commonplace today. But it was cool new technology in 1989's "Back to the Future Part II."

There are a ton of different options out there for smart watches. This was predicted in 1990's "Dick Tracy."

It's so easy to order Domino's online -- you can even watch how far along in the process your pizza is. In 1995's "The Net" with Sandra Bullock, they showed ordering pizza online for the first time.

Tinder, Bumble and OKCupid are only a few of the many, many online dating options out there. But Meg Ryan and Tom Hanks were on the forefront of the online dating trend in "You've Got Mail."

VR porn is growing in popularity. Or as it's called in 1993's "Demolition Man" -- "digitized transference of sexual energies."

From robotic vacuums to smart watches, Hollywood got these tech trends right

Steven Spielberg's tech-heavy "Minority Report," starring Tom Cruise, is now 15 years old. Considered one of the most prescient sci-fi movies to grace the big screen, it predicted multiple future innovations, including facial recognition, personalize advertising and predictive crime fighting. In honor of the movie's anniversary, click through here to revisit 18 more movies that accuratelypeered into the future of technology:

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Investors Bet More Than $800 Million on Augmented, Virtual Reality in Q2 - TheWrap

The Guardian is pleased to announce the launch of Limbo, the publishers latest virtual reality (VR) experience.

Available on Daydream View and as a 360 YouTube video, Limbo enables viewers to experience what life is like for many asylum seekers in the UK who are waiting to hear whether they will be permitted to stay in the country and build a new life. The project is the Guardians fourth virtual reality experience and is constructed from interviews with asylum seekers from 12 countries as well as immigration lawyers and barristers working in the UK.

Placing viewers in the shoes of a newly arrived asylum seeker, Limbo uses the voices of real asylum seekers to guide the viewer through the experience - from arriving in an unfamiliar city, fear for loved ones left behind, worry about not being allowed to work, to the Home Office interview which will decide their fate.

Limbo allows viewers to better understand the potential psychological impact of asylum seekers experiences so far, which can be compounded by the subsequent isolation and asylum process. They are caught between two lives, that of the place they left - the piece features flashbacks to a war torn city reduced to rubble, and their family trying to escape - and the new life they hope to build for themselves. For many, claiming asylum in the UK is also the first step towards bringing their dependents to safety.

The project has been created by the publications in-house VR team alongside ScanLAB Projects, a creative practice that specialises in digital replicas of environments for broadcast, exhibition and animation. Innovative 3D scanning technology has been used to capture urban streets, interiors and live action to create Limbos 360 world. The resulting monochrome sketch-like aesthetic has the quality of a dream or nightmare where worlds are transparent and fragmented.

Francesca Panetta, executive editor, virtual reality, Guardian News & Media, said:

The Guardian has covered the issue of asylum extensively for many years. We know that it can be a very disorientating, isolating and confusing process and have aimed to capture a sense of this through the fragmented quality of Limbos design. Through harnessing the visual capabilities of VR we have been able to bring this to the fore for viewers and hope this enables them to better understand the asylum experience.

Will Trossell, co-founder of ScanLAB Projects, said:

Like dreaming with your eyes open, 360 video and VR can be incredibly transformative experiences. In Limbo we have created a digital world which is both familiar and strange, where the line between dreams and reality are blurred and where walls are diaphanous yet impenetrable. Our ambition for this project is to use this digital world to put the viewer at the centre of the story, enabling them to better understand the obstacles that asylum seekers can encounter.

Limbo is available on Daydream View and 360 video. It will also be available soon on Samsung VR.

Step inside the story - view Limbo and read more about Guardian VR.

-Ends-

For more information please contact:

media.enquiries@theguardian.com or 020 3353 3696

Note to Editors

The Guardian and virtual reality

Further information can be found on the Guardians Virtual Reality hub. The Guardian has won multiple awards for its virtual reality projects including a European Digital Media Award for best use of online video, International Digital Innovation of the Year at the newsawards 2017 and Digital Innovation at the British Journalism Awards 2016 for 6x9: a virtual experience of solitary confinement.

About Guardian News & Media

Guardian News & Media (GNM) publishes theguardian.com, one of the worlds leading English-language newspaper websites. Traffic from outside of the UK now represents around two-thirds of the Guardians total digital audience. In the UK, GNM publishes the Guardian newspaper six days a week, first published in 1821, and the worlds oldest Sunday newspaper, The Observer.

The Guardian is renowned for its agenda-setting journalism including, most recently, the Panama Papers investigation as well as the Pulitzer Prize and Emmy-winning NSA revelations.

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Guardian launches new virtual reality experience Limbo focused on experiences of asylum seekers - The Guardian

Diving into the deceptively real world of virtual reality (VR), for example exchanging ideas with Group colleagues at a logistics hall in the Czech Republic from Wolfsburg the latest VR technology makes that possible for the first time. Experts from the Volkswagen Group have developed virtual reality applications for production & logistics that enable several participants to meet in a VR room. Following a test phase, the Volkswagen Group is now the first car manufacturer to roll out VR technology with the HTC VIVE-VR system. The Volkswagen Digital Reality Hub developed for this purpose together with the Innoactive startup bundles all existing VR applications, users and tools in the Group on a single platform. This platform is making its public debut at the Digility conference and exhibition in Cologne.

Virtual reality creates the ideal conditions for cross-brand and cross-site collaboration, Jasmin Mller from Audi Brand Logistics explains. Together with colleagues from the Group, she develops VR solutions for production & logistics as part of the cross-brand Digital Realities Team. They have already designed virtual reality logistics trainings, created virtual environments for workshops, or exchanged best practice examples in VR.

Dennis Abmeier from Group IT is also a member of the Digital Realities Team. As he explains, exchanging knowledge is just as important as bundling knowledge. Thats why we came up with the Volkswagen Digital Reality Hub central platform in collaboration with Innoactive. All employees have access to all existing VR elements as well as existing knowledge via the platform. That way, we enable individual units to implement new use cases quickly and jointly move in VR applications so they can plan new workflows interactively.

Mathias Synowski, a VR user from Group Logistics, describes the added value of virtual reality solutions: Going forward, we can be virtual participants in workshops taking place at other sites or we can access virtual support from experts at another brand if we are working on an optimization. That will make our daily teamwork much easier and save a great deal of time. Rolling out VR technologies is therefore an important step towards the digital, networked and efficient production of the future.

The testing and rollout of virtual reality applications is an example of cross-brand cooperation in the Group: under the umbrella of Group Logistics and the Digital Factory, the Digital Realities Team is currently developing further virtual reality applications for production & logistics at the Audi, SEAT, KODA and Volkswagen brands. The applications will be accessible throughout the Group via the Volkswagen Digital Reality Hub common platform. As far as the technology is concerned, the VR end user device is the HTC VIVE Business Edition, a special VR headset developed specifically for businesses. The Volkswagen Group is therefore the first car manufacturer to roll out virtual reality (VR) technology throughout the Group with the HTC VIVE headset.

The Volkswagen Group, Innoactive and HTC VIVE are presenting the new VR applications for production & logistics as well as the Volkswagen Digital Reality Hub to the public for the first time at the Digility conference and exhibition in Cologne on July 5 and 6, 2017. There will be a live demonstration of the latest VR applications at the trade fair for AR and VR technologies.

Read more from the original source:

Volkswagen Group is backing virtual reality solutions for interactive collaboration in production & logistics - Automotive World (press release)

Segment the human experience of light apart from the objective behavior of light unseen from our universe, and try to imagine seeing light in both its particle and wave form at the same time. In case you are struggling, here is a snapshot of the behavioral duality exhibited by light, captured as both a waveform and a stream of particles.

Over the past 200 years, cameras have evolved just as rapidly from analog to digital as they did from large to miniaturized. Now the worlds virtual reality and augmented reality enthusiasts are attempting to create more immersive experiences by altering and improving the way a physical environment is captured digitally. Capturing a physical environment digitally requires a 3D scanning system. The specific considerations needed for creating a digital version of an as-built model for virtual reality depend on the current technological limits of photorealistic reality capture.

A San Franciscobased company called Lytro has designed and constructed a light-field camera and developed an array system it calls Immerge to capture, compute and create an immersive virtual reality experience of a musical performance at St. Ignatius Church.

A light-field camera is designed to capture light from different angles to make images with depth and color, calculated from intersections of different angular directions of rays. Using an array of cameras set up in a predesigned capture matrix, each can be programmed to see different perspectivesexposure, shutter timing, focal length and position all carefully measured and quantized sequentially.

The creation of a multi-camera, array-based system requires the expenditure of considerable time and capital. But Lytro has developed an individual camera called Illum apart from Immerge. This array-based system of light-field technologies allows Lytro to capture a light field, calculate ray angles and then manifest a virtual representation for interactive immersion.

This incredible array of 475 cameras called Immerge captured and processed a huge amount of visual data using Googles cloud platform and custom rendering techniques designed by Lytro. (Image courtesy of Lytro.)

To learn more about this technology and the virtual reality capture at St. Ignatius Church, visit the Lytro blog.

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How Does Lytro Capture Light Fields for Virtual Reality? - ENGINEERING.com

A year ago, while Bryony Cole was researching technological developments in entertainment, she stumbled across virtual reality sex, which essentially lets people interact through a screen as if they were in the same bedroom. The fact that people could have rich, varied sex lives without ever leaving their couches both fascinated and frightened her. How would that affect their real-life relationships? Was it considered cheating?

Those questions made her curious enough to start the Future of Sex podcast. In each episode, Cole investigates a new issue at the intersection of sexuality and technology, from the etiquette of dick pics to the ethics of sex robots. But to hear her tell it, the most significant changes she's seen in sex tech aren't about the mechanics of how we have sex, but how our attitudes are shfitingparticularly where gender is concerned.

Cole talked to Glamour about how technology is altering our relationships and ultimately our society, for better and for worse (but mostly, she believes, for the better).

Glamour: What are the most exciting sex tech inventions you've seen lately?

Bryony Cole: OMG Yes, a sex ed platform for women, which includes touchable videos that allow you to learn and practice 12 different techniques that lead women to orgasm. The touch screens are enabled with feedback technology that essentially tell you if you're doing it correctly or not. This sort of interactivity is far more engaging than any book or screen has been previously.

That interactivity extends to virtual reality. Theres a couple of interesting VR sex ed examples going on at the moment. One is from Emory University in partnership with Georgia Tech. The execution is still pretty basic at the moment, but what theyve attempted to do is walk women through a nightclub and practice saying "no," practice consent in that environment, where you meet someone and it may feel awkward but you're not sure how to say "no." If you keep going through this environment, hopefully, when it gets to the stage of real life, you have the skills and knowledge to be able to say "I don't feel comfortable in this situation."

The other interesting application in VR for sex education is a program called Virtual Sexology II, designed by BaDoinkVR. There's a program for men and one for women, designed by sex therapists to enable you to become better lovers: for men to work through premature ejaculation by getting in contact with your body, and for women, getting in touch with your body and exploring different types of touch. You're touching yourself, but you're in this virtual, immersed environment having this safe place where you can still learn.

Glamour: That sounds like an opportunity we don't really get now, since a lot of people wouldn't feel comfortable masturbating in front of a sex therapist.

BC: Not in the therapy world, but in the coaching world, theres people who do that. Kenneth Play, for example, travels the world and watches couples have sex and teaches them how to be better. [VR sex ed] is probably going be a lot cheaper than having someone stand in your room and a lot more comfortable than having someone watch you have sex. In real life, if theres someone in your room, you can't deny that. With this, you can just take off the headset.

Glamour: What technologies would you like to see more of?

BC: The problem thats going to make the most impact on our lives is helping people communicate. For a lot of tech, thats not the case. Were spending more time communicating via streams versus in person. I [would like to see] technology that can solve the problem of how we can communicate better to our children, our lovers, our friends, and other people. How do we increase our emotional and social intelligence? Theres definitely arguments against that, if we look at the proliferation of dating apps and the way we can swipe through 200 people on the toilet, and the idea that thats made us view people as more disposable. If we look at young people and how they learn to communicate via Instagram and Snapchat, that's a different kind of interaction. True emotional intelligence and being able to read people and body language? That's a super power. Any technology that can enhance education around communication is going to improve our lives.

PHOTO: Bryony Cole

Glamour: Are there any other technologies you're concerned about?

BC: Im more concerned about the way people will take it rather than the technology that's being invented. Dolls and robots are currently being used as companion dolls in the field of therapy, as sexual surrogates for healing people who have been through severe sexual trauma or have some disability so that they cant have sex with another person. Theres totally the potential for these dolls to be used in other ways. Theres concern around the dolls you can makechild sex dolls entered the market in the U.K. That idea of how our brains are changing, and were becoming attached to objects and seeing them as something that can potentially replace us, is definitely concerning. They have a lot of protests about this. Theres nobody regulating the sex tech industry in terms of whats being developed. The reason I started the podcast is to ask the ethical questions around "What are we designing?" and "How are we going to navigate love, sex, and dating in the future?"

Glamour: What are the biggest changes you've seen in sex tech since you started your podcast a year ago?

BC: The biggest marker for me was in the sex tech world. We saw sex tech companies like Unbound raising money, which has previously been a big problem because of reputational risk and morality causes. In 2017, JWTs global intelligence report hailed 2017 as the year of "vagina-nomics." Vaginas and economics are coming together like never before. Body image and female sexual pleasure, which have previously remained on the fringes of discourse, are rapidly being embraced in mainstream media. And in turn, we are in a year where there are more womens sex tech products on the market than ever before: period underwear, pee-proof underwear, tampon subscription services, vulvar skin cream.

The fact we can put an ad on a subway that simply says ["Underwear for women with periods,"](http://www.glamour.com/story/glamour-staffers-try-out-thinx-period-underwear-the-verdict-theyre-awesome) unapologetic about a womans bodily functionssignifies society's attitudes are changing. The sex toy industry in particular has had to make a major shift from being a male-dominated industry that primarily used cheap, dodgy materials to one where many of the best brands are either founded by women or have women on their design teams, and they are using the latest advancements in technology.

Some of my favorite examples include Dame Products, co-founded by Janet Lieberman, an MIT graduateoften the first female engineer in the company she worked forwho created a vibrator company out of frustration with the lack of quality, high-end design. The Eva became the highest-funded adult product in the history of crowdfunding. It raised seven times its goal and is now sold globally. Stephanie Alys, co-founder of MysteryVibe, designed a six-motor vibrator that bends to any shape you like. User-focused design and deep research with their target market is a hallmark of this sex tech aimed at women.

Sex tech is not only changing the experience of sex for women. It's shifting views and opening up public conversation. Its changing the language and giving us words to talk about these things that were previously in the dark.

This article is part of Summer of Sex, our 12-week long exploration of how women are having sex in 2017.

More Summer of Sex:

How Tumblr Porn Got Its Woman-Friendly Footing Everything You've Ever Wanted to Know About Sex in Space Meet 6 Sex-Positive Instagrammers Changing the Internet

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How Virtual Reality Sex Tech Just Might Change Women's Lives - Glamour

The Red Bank Humanists, a nonprofit organization that is dedicated to secular humanism, will hold a forum on the potential impact of virtual reality (VR) and other technologies on the world.

Entitled Virtual Reality and the Looming Transformation of Democracy, the forum will feature Dr. John V. Pavlik, a professor of journalism and media studies at Rutgers University. Pavlik is the author of Masterful Stories: Lessons from the Golden Age of Radio and his next book, Future Content: Experiential Media and the Transformation of Journalism, will be published in 2018.

The event will be held on July 9 from 10:30 a.m. to 12 p.m. at the Red Bank Charter School, 58 Oakland St. Admission is free and all members of the public are invited to attend.

According to a press release from the Red Bank Humanists, Pavliks talk will discuss how emerging technologies, including (VR), are fundamentally reshaping public engagement and the democratic process.

Im honored by the invitation to speak on this topic and to this organization, Pavlik said. As media evolve into experiential forms such as virtual reality, the implications for democracy are profound. My remarks will explore the nature and consequences, for better or worse, of the fundamental impact of VR.

Topics to be discussed by Pavlik, according to the press release, include how VR is an immersive media platform operating on social networks; how VR is generating virtual experiences that are increasingly indistinguishable from reality; how fake news will transform into fake realities in the near future and the consequences for public engagement and the democratic process will be far reaching; and how the need for independent journalism will be essential to the health and integrity of the democratic process.

Political and religious leaders have been pioneers in the development of virtual reality for thousands of years before the invention of the computer, said Eric Seldner, president of the Red Bank Humanists. These leaders have been inventive and very successful at getting people to believe in alternate realities with very low-tech means.

If technology can improve the effectiveness of these leaders spellbinding and charismatic or controlling and repressive then humanity faces a bigger threat than ever, Seldner said. We must develop a countervailing technology and attitude of individuality, freedom and conscience to guard against the attraction or coercion of the purveyors of alternate reality.

The Red Bank Humanists will be collecting items at the forum for Family Promise of Monmouth County, which offers free, temporary housing and services for homeless families, according to the press release. Suggested items include laundry detergent, cleaning supplies, new pillows, new towels, new wash clothes and gift cards for retail stores.

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Virtual reality presentation in Red Bank - centraljersey.com

After being under the spotlight at Electronic Entertainment Expo(E3) 2016, VR was largely downplayed at E3 2017. Many of the major VR players settled for low-key presentations, unlike last year's overwhelming scale. The slower than anticipated VR headset sales have not helped their cause either. However, at E3, Sony (NYSE:SNE) made a big push on VR. On the other hand, one of Sony's main rivals, Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT), at its Xbox One X launch, snubbed VR. The likes of Facebook-owned Oculus avoided the show while HTC, the maker of Vive headsets, settled for a low-key event.

The lack of a strong show by major VR players at E3 2017 could be a hint that the VR hype has not lived up to the early buzz it received and could be heading towards a dead end. But that's not the case if you go by recent reports from some research firms. In spite of a tepid response to VR till now, some research firms are extremely optimistic about the long-term prospects of VR. IDC predicts that VR headsets will grow at a very strong pace, with a CAGR of 48.7% through 2021. AR and VR headsets collectively are expected to increase from "under 10 million units in 2016 to just shy of 100 million units in 2021, with a 5-year CAGR of 57.7%." Another firm, CCS Insight expects "sales of dedicated VR headsets to grow to 22 million units by 2021 - an 800 percent increase over 2017. Market to be worth $7.7 billion by 2021." PWC's study finds that Chinas demand for VR headsets will reach 85.9 million by 2021, overtaking the United States' demand for 68 million units. All these reports raise the expectations from this industry, which is still in an early stage and yet to become mainstream.

Sony's VR push at E3 2017

At the E3 presentation, Sony announced diverse new VR game titles targeting all sorts of users. The horror thriller Inpatient, shooter game Bravo Team and lighter side game Starchild were among the few titles which were revealed. Popular game title Skyrim also is coming to the PSVR. This sort of focus on VR content suggests the company is more serious about VR than other platforms like Vita portable or Move motion controllers.

The focus could be justified in the sense that with only two full quarters of sales, it has managed to sell over a million VR headsets till date. In the first quarter of 2017, Sony sold more than three times the number of tethered VR headsets sold by its more powerful counterparts like Facebook's (NASDAQ:FB) Oculus and HTC's Vive. Sony, having shipped 429,000 PlayStation VR headsets in the first quarter, is second on IDC's list after Samsung, which shipped over 489,000 VR units. Samsung has sold the most number of VR headsets but those are screenless viewers. Sony is the market leader in tethered VR headset market. Further, Sony has stated it has been struggling to keep up with the demand. If this is the case then Q3 and Q4 numbers could be much stronger. IDC expects Sony to remain the market leader for some time at least in the VR gaming market.

IHS' head of games research, director Piers Harding-Rolls, has spoken highly of Sony's VR strategy and thinks that PS VR could also be a runaway success like the PS4. Commenting on the company's VR strategy, he states "Microsofts reticence to embark on a console based VR strategy until at least 2018 means that Sony has an opportunity to build a comprehensive VR lead during the rest of 2017. While the VR market is still embryonic, Sonys VR strategy offers it a key differentiator beyond the multi-platform timed exclusive games which represent the traditional battleground between Microsoft and Sony. Sony is bringing its first-party studios to bear here, with a number of titles coming to the platform in 2017." IHS projects the PS4 installed base would hit 69 million units worldwide by the end of 2017. This is a huge target user base for the company's VR strategy. Even a 5% conversion of its projected PS4 user base will mean sales of more than 3 million VR headsets. This would, on an average, bring in $1.2 billion revenue for the company.

The advantage Sony has here is that its VR opportunity doesn't end with just VR headset sales. It controls its complete VR ecosystem including headset, game console, and content. So, as VR becomes mainstream it has multiple avenues for generating revenue from the VR opportunity. With Microsoft not coming up with any specific console based VR offering till late 2018, Sony has the edge to create a strong VR ecosystem base and then work on it to take it forward. The company is in pole position to build a massive lead over its main rival Microsoft in the VR space as it has done in gaming console space with PS4. If analyst projections were to hold true and Sony maintains its market dominance in VR headsets, it could be one of the best ways to play the VR opportunity. The larger PS4 user base and expanding support of AAA games for VR make Sony a strong contender to succeed in the growing VR market.

Disclosure: I/we have no positions in any stocks mentioned, and no plans to initiate any positions within the next 72 hours.

I wrote this article myself, and it expresses my own opinions. I am not receiving compensation for it (other than from Seeking Alpha). I have no business relationship with any company whose stock is mentioned in this article.

Additional disclosure: This article was written by Sreekanth Anasa, an equity analyst at Amigobulls. Neither Amigobulls, nor any members of its staff hold positions in any of the stocks discussed in this post. The author may not be a certified/registered investment advisor, and the opinions expressed should not be treated as investment advice. Buying and selling of securities carries the risk of monetary losses. Readers/Viewers are advised to carry out their own due diligence and consult their investment advisors before making any investment decisions. Neither Amigobulls, nor the author have any business relationship with any of the companies covered in this post.

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Sony Could Be The Best Virtual Reality Growth Play - Seeking Alpha

Organizations are increasingly clustering their skills and capabilities into security operations centers (SOCs). An SOC is a focused facility where security specialists monitor, assess and defend against computer security issues. Introducing virtual reality (VR) and augmented reality (AR) technology into this environment can enhance the teams performance.

An organization wishing to invest in an SOC typically has two options to accomplish this goal:

But with a global skills gap translating to an estimated 1.8 million unfilled cybersecurity positions by 2022, it is critical to find better ways to detect and identify threats and vulnerabilities. Reducing complexity, too, will allow an organizations security staff to be as effective as possible. SOCs help organizations, chief information security officers (CISOs) and their staffs to successfully analyze, defend and complete their cybersecurity missions. In their current model, however, these security facilities are costly, and difficult to set up and maintain.

SOCs need for a central geographic site presents a number of technical, logistical and operational challenges. The traditional SOC model also calls for substantial investments in hardware, physical footprint, visual isolation and technical configuration, among other things. For example, SOCs need numerous digital displays and sophisticated servers to facilitate the visualization of security monitoring and the gathering of data via security information and event management (SIEM) software.

VR and AR technologies can help solve some of the problems todays SOCs face, enabling organizations to rapidly mobilize and scale their centers without excessive monetary and resource investment.

Using VR as a platform for security staff allows them to take their SOC anywhere, untethering them from the fixed physical infrastructure and geographic location of a traditional center. Taking action from the virtual world by sending serverside requests from the VR user interface to limit services, run scans and develop systemwide alerts creates an end-to-end story for users where monitoring and control exist in the same virtual space.

In a VR environment, the frontline SOC level-one security analyst role can be performed with the appropriately scoped visual cues, without requiring a seasoned security professionals depth of knowledge. This allows organizations to adequately staff their SOCs in the face of significant employment competition and high global demand for cybersecurity roles. The addition of services, such as Watson for Cyber Security, further enhances this capability.

Undoubtedly, VR represents a paradigm shift in how monitoring solutions are designed, created and employed. VR has extraordinary benefits to an organizations SOC: It can help reduce costs associated with maintaining the SOC, enable the monitoring of more varied sources and facilitate the analysis of more endpoints. Additionally, the virtual environment can raise internal awareness among the day-to-day requirements of SOC operators, helping them to identify areas of investment for the ongoing maintenance of the defenders ecosystem.

With its visual impact, the VR experience offers a unique medium through which business-level stakeholders can be kept abreast of their organizations security ecosystem and posture, improving both their understanding and their ability to ask questions.

With the addition of augmented intelligence and interaction in the form of technologies like threat intelligence, the SOC operator can issue voice commands to interrogate specific network data without needing to exit their virtual environment. This immersive VR space enables security professionals to maximize their time spent observing network activity and mitigating potential threats, in turn providing greater context and consumable intelligence for the C-suite.

Visualization is central to understanding security ecosystem data and organizational key performance indicators, as well as to building internal awareness of an organizations security status in a top-down, consumable way.

An organization cannot react to a cyberthreat that is not manifested in the data nor one that is hidden in even more data or else is delayed. The Ponemon Institutes malware report suggested that the greatest barrier to remediating advanced threat attacks is a lack of visibility of threat activity across the enterprise.

Security analysts are drowning in data, and it is difficult for them to interpret this information when receiving so many security alerts many of them red on a daily basis. More dashboards and more displays are not the answer. But a VR solution can help effectively identify potential threats and vulnerabilities as they emerge for oversight by the blue (defensive) team.

Our cybersecurity team at IBM Ireland has recently developed a prototype VR solution integrating with the IBM QRadar SIEM product. We built this prototype with the Unity Technologies framework, a cross-platform game engine that can be used to create highly interactive three-dimensional spaces. In our implementation, the Unity framework was combined with the IBM QRadar SIEM application program interfaces (APIs) to transform the JavaScript Object Notation data feed from the application into the form of a 3-D galaxy inside a VR-capable device (Oculus Rift, for example).

This VR-integrated IBM QRadar app immerses the security professional (blue operator) in a virtual 3-D space featuring planets, stars, nebulae, comets and manmade structures. Each spatial visual element represents the various nodes of the operators IT ecosystem from the SIEM solution, including individual IPs, databases, public customer-facing endpoints, or any other facet of the network or service they may wish to monitor. Threats and warnings appear as solar flares, supernova and other visual cues, clearly alerting the observer to any potentially troublesome cybersecurity activity inside their infrastructure scope.

Through our experience in gamification for security education and cyber skill development, we observed the enormous value in using visual metaphors to explain complex issues. Based on this experience, we adopted a visual metaphor approach in our VR prototype.

The VR experience has the potential to further evolve into the AR space, where digital contexts and layers can be presented on top of the real-world SOC itself.

With AR, any operator at any level can superimpose views on the fly to augment the data presented, improving forecasting, analysis and decision-making. AR is also a prevalent emerging technology with significant advantages over the VR prototype we built. In the case of the SOC, AR could enable a personalized and customizable second virtual screen (or view) for each operator.

While the main drawback of a VR-powered SOC is that it pulls the security professional out of the familiar physical world and into a virtual environment, an AR solution allows the SOC operator to be in two worlds at once.

A well-thought-out, configured and deployed VR SIEM integration toolkit will become an asset for organizations creating or maintaining future SOCs. Although the prototype described above is a virtual solution, enterprise security products will, in time, integrate effectively with a complementary AR utility to facilitate greater engagement, interaction and success inside SOCs.

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The Emergence of Virtual Reality and Augmented Reality in the Security Operations Center - Security Intelligence (blog)

Rve execs take product development into virtual reality Minneapolis / St. Paul Business Journal ... from left, Kristin Pardue, Thong Nguyen and Brad von Bank. Provided by Roomera. A startup launched by the consulting firm's leaders is betting that the stores, bank branches and hotel rooms of the future will first be seen through a virtual reality ... and more »

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Rve execs take product development into virtual reality - Minneapolis / St. Paul Business Journal

Its all about choosing your own adventure at Escape Reality. With over 30 Virtual Reality games and experiences to consider, why not let us be your first-time VR tour guides?

From the top-rated team at Escape Reality comes the VR Experiences: 4 first-time VR adventures that will fully immerse you in 360-degree Virtual Reality environments!

theBlu ENCOUNTER (Intensity: Low | Movement: Low)

What underwater world have you always dreamed of exploring? Choose from Sea Turtles, the Whale, or the Deep Ocean! theBlu will take you there...with total freedom to move around, minus the oxygen tank.

Richies Plank Challenge (Intensity: High | Movement: Medium)

Afraid of heights? Take the Plank Challenge...youll ride an elevator to the famous plank, positioned 50 floors above the ground, then make your way across. Go on, we dare you! Especially designed with first-time VR users in mind.

Affected: The Manor (Intensity: High | Movement: Low)

Armed with only a flashlight, how far will you get in this ultra-realistic haunted house? See if you survive the 3 terrifying adventures that await the brave in Affected: The Manor! A popular and competitive favorite among groups or couples.

VirZOOM VR Bike - BRAND NEW!

Meet VirZOOM: the stationary bicycle that allows you to get fit, track calories, and set record speeds...in unbelievable Virtual Reality surroundings like mountain trails, race cars, and on horseback. Get a taste of 7 vivid VR settings and try a demo today!

*WANT TO GIVE VR A SHOT FOR THE FIRST TIME EVER?

Our VR staff is trained to explain the ins and outs of our awesome equipment in a way that new users will understand. All ages have tried and loved it: so what are you waiting for? Check it out!

*VR IS EVEN BETTER WITH A FRIEND!

Make your VR Experience even more memorable - bring a friend, a family member, or your better half and enjoy VR together (ask us about our Multiplayer experiences!) Escape Reality is located at 27 Rehoboth Avenue and we are open 7 days a week (from 11AM to 11PM)

ESCAPE REALITY is brought to the Delaware Beaches by Beyond Entertainment Enterprises, founded by Brian Turner (mastermind and producer of haunted attraction Screams at the Beach) in partnership with husband-wife power duo Pete and Michelle Townsend (owners of youth baseball destination Sports at the Beach) with the vision of bringing unlimited virtual possibilities to your everyday reality. Learn more at: http://www.EscapeRealityDE.com

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NEW Virtual Reality Experiences: Staff Picks for First-Time VR Players - CapeGazette.com

Last weeks Tokyo Content 2017 was an eye-popping demonstration of just how wide-ranging the definition of content has become in Japan. With its seven exhibitions and 1,650 exhibitors, the trade show featured the anime, manga and games that have become emblematic of Japanese content to the world at large.

But the cavernous exhibition halls were also abuzz with visitors examining and experiencing the latest advances in entertainment technology, particularly in augmented-reality and virtual-reality software and hardware.At the booth of Hado, which designs entertainment content for Fuji TV, TV Tokyo and other clients, visitors played Hado Shoot, a game in which players wearing VR headsets shot virtual light balls at each other and racked up points by scoring body hits.

Meanwhile, Marza Animation Planet, a CGI animation house affiliated with Sega, offered a VR exhibit inspired by the Resident Evil sci-fi/fantasy action series. Visitors tried to thread their way through a 3D battle in an underground corridor without getting blasted.

Courtesy of music producer Grandfunk Inc. and animation studio Koo-ki was Around the Sound, an immersive 360-degree VR environment that melded music and colored triangles, cubes and other shapes to entrancing effect.

In a keynote address, Naomi Tomita, head of robotics company Hapi-Robo St and chief information officer for the Huis Ten Bosch theme park, said that the ultimate goal for VR development was the merging of the virtual and the real as the technology advances. Calling himself an analog person, the 69-year-old executive noted that digital technology still had a way to go before it could duplicate what he described as the subtlety of analog.

Not surprisingly, he cited Huis Ten Bosch as an example of that merging. Among the theme parks current high-tech attractions are a robot-staffed hotel and a VR Center that offers such experiences as a virtual bungee jump and a marriage proposal from a handsome virtual guy inside a love simulation booth.

Tomita spoke about Shooting Star, a light show that will unfold nightly at the park fromJuly 22 to Aug. 5. The show features 300 illuminated drones, as well as 3D animation and music.

Its a first for Japan, Tomita said. This is our way of celebrating Huis Ten Boschs 25thanniversary.

But on both opening and closing nights, the show will be supplemented by a huge fireworks display: in other words, a merging of analog and digital entertainment.

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Beyond Anime and Manga, Tokyo Content 2017 Showcases VR and ... - Variety

It held its grand opening in conjunction with the beginning of Comic Con.

Joshua Aldredge , KUSA 9:48 PM. MDT July 01, 2017

Head Games VR has the honor of being the first virtual reality arcade in the Denver area. It held its grand opening Saturday night with a party in conjunction with Denver Comic Con.

The arcade has opened on Colfax Avenue near Kipling in Lakewood. Right now the arcade features three VR setups, but the owners have plans to expand on that in the future.

As for the idea? it came during a road trip.

"I was driving out to Las Vegas with my brother, Adam, and he and I were playing with the idea of escape rooms and then he mentioned they had VR in Sweden, where he's from," says Victoria Merchant, one of the owners of Head Games VR. "So we kinda turned to each other and said, 'let's do that. Let's do VR.'"

She says while they were driving theyneeded to come up with a name - and they made all sorts of lists for funny names.

"Head Games seemed perfect," Merchant says. "You're playing a video game on your head."

Nathan Hostetler, also of Head Games, says VR is fun for all ages.

"This is somewhere anyone of any age or background could come and try out VR and any kind of experience they want to - have a different experience every time," he says. "And they can see the potential that this entertainment has goinginto the future."

Merchant hopes to work with Colorado game developers to offer their new VR games to the public. She also wants to expand the business to include more headsets - and eventually more locations.

An hour of VR gaming will cost you $29 but up to five people can join you. You can reserve time online at this link.

2017 KUSA-TV

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No quarters needed: Virtual reality arcade opens in Denver area - 9NEWS.com

Anaheim has entered the virtual world.

The tourism and marketing arm of the city, Visit Anaheim, has introduced a virtual reality video giving people a first-person view of some of the citys landmarks and popular venues.

Were always looking for new ways to showcase our destination, said Jay Burress, chief executive and president of Visit Anaheim, which also promotesvisitors to Orange County. We thinkvirtual realityis a great way to do that.

The high-tech offering is just the latest the tourism bureau is doing to bring in more visitors and conventions to highlight the city. The tourism bureau, along with its partners from the Orange County Visitors Association, recentlyannouncedthe opening of a third office in Guangzhou, China. In 2013, offices opened in Shanghai and Beijing.

Last year, more than 100,000 visitors came to Orange County from China, Burress said.

And, more than 23 million people visited Anaheim last year, the group said. Since 2011, visitor numbers have increased 35 percent.

The city relies heavily on visitors staying in local hotels and shopping in the area to help pay for day-to-day operations such as providing police officers and firefighters, parks and road maintenance through its general fund. In the next 12 months, the citys general fund is expected to increase by 4 percent to $312 million.

The two-minute virtual reality video made by Costa Mesa-basedmarketing agency Idea Hall is available on YouTube. Filming began late last year and wrapped up after the NAMM convention. Visit Anaheim declined to disclose the cost.

When Visit Anaheim officials attend sales conventions, they bring two Samsung Oculus systems. Visitors don the virtual reality goggles which visually take them around the Anaheim Regional Transportation Center, the Anaheim Convention Center, the Packing House, Unsung Brewery and the Ranch restaurant. Visit Anaheim also gives away cardboard VR goggles.

This is just the first iteration of our use of virtual reality, Burress said. Disneyland is not the only thing in Anaheim. We want to highlight other parts of the city and this gives us a sophisticated and fun vehicle to do that.

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Tourism bureau promotes Anaheim with a virtual reality tour - OCRegister

Imagine jumping off buildings without being hurt, creating 3D artwork electronically and catching criminals without leaving the safety of your home. This is what three OU graduates have done with their two virtual reality companies.

They own Upward VR and Springboard VR, the largest arcade platform outside of Asia, according to the owners, and the companies are growing rapidly.

Will Stackable, a 2010 graduate, started buying virtual reality headsets shortly after finishing college, looking for a business opportunity.

I got into VR kind of early on and felt strongly that it was going to be a really revolutionary technology,a new medium for stories and entertainment, Stackable said.

Brad Scroggin, a 2009 graduate,worked foran international nonprofit before joining Stackable.

After leaving the non-profit world, (Scroggin)moved to California and was in the process of raising money for a new startup when I called him,Stackable said. He was in town for some investor meetings, and I told him he had to come over to my house to try out this VR thing.He said he wasnt really a gamer, and I said, I know, but seriously, this is going to blow your mind.

Stackableand Scroggincame up with the idea for a virtual reality arcade inside Penn Square Mall in Oklahoma City.

They were told the space where Apple once resided was open, and the duo was hooked.

We told them we would take it,and she asked us for our business name and information -- which we didnt have -- and had to come up with a name that night, Stackable said.We finally ended up with Upward VR and went from there.

Stackable and Scroggin had everything they needed to start the companyexceptsoftware to run the arcade.

They turnedto Jordan Williams, a 2013 graduate with a degree in management information systems.

He was working on the business plans for a new startupwhen Brad and I called him and asked him if he would be interested in starting an arcade, Stackable said.He jumped on board, and the next weekwas working his normal 40-hour day job while also working 30-40 hours in the evenings working on the arcade with us.

The arcade opened in December and has been successful due to the ability for multiple people to participate at one time.

It was a game changer. We were able to run eight stations with half the employees, and the customers loved the interface, Stackable said.

Theyve seen first-time participants scream in terror as zombies chase them, paint in 3D and get dizzy while standing on the virtual buildings. Guests can choose from various games and activities in an easy to use format.

Imagine putting on the headset and all around you is this 360-degree, Netflix-like menu with floating tiles with game thumbnails on them, Stackable said. You can hover over each game and it previews a few seconds of the game. Then you can launch any game and when you get bored, come back to the menu and choose again. It also allows customers to hit a button in-game that calls the front desk for help.

Stackable said he understands their software seems simple, but its the most important part of the experience, and other arcades are signing up to use it.

We talked to other arcades that wanted to use it, and we quickly realized that every other VR arcade in the world was going to want this, so we launched a new company called Springboard VR, Stackable said. Thats when everything really took off for us.

Springboard VR owns approximately 30 percent of the virtual reality arcade software market. More than 100 arcades in more than 20 countries are signed up to use their software, and 300 arcades outside of China already use it.

Virtual reality is a booming industry hiding in the shadows waiting to make its grand appearance. The VR market is worth approximately $13.9 billion and is expected to increase to $143.3 billion by 2020.

"Getting to be at the forefront of an emerging industry that will impact every facet of our lives in the near future is an opportunity that I may never have again," Williams said. "There are needs in the VR market all over the place right now, and the fact that that we built a highly needed service for this niche is amazing."

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OU graduates seizing opportunities as virtual reality industry grows - The Oklahoma Daily

Two women and a man wrangle over fruits in Nairobi Berries, each one emptying the others core, while a poetic voice speaks over layered images of the Kenyan city. In The Other Dakar, a young girl receives a message and finds the hidden face of the Senegalese capital. In the Spirit Robot documentary, the Chale Wote Street Art Festival in Accra comes to life. And in Let This Be a Warning, a group of Africans is concerned about the arrival of an unbidden guest in their colony, raising a weighty question at the end of the film: If black worlds exist(ed), would you be welcome in them?

These short films, which were recently showcased at the German cultural center in Nairobi, share one trait: they are all virtual reality productions. They are stunning visual debuts from four African directors representing three countries, namely Ngendo Mukii (Kenya), Selly Raby Kane (Senegal), Jonathan Dotse (Ghana), and Jim Chuchu (Kenya), respectively.

Across the world, virtual reality (VR) has gained new currency in the entertainment, gaming, and even journalism industries, generating billions of dollars in revenue. The technology is also slowly making inroads into the mainstream film community, with directors embracing VR to make immersive experiences that draw more audiences.

The Virtual Arcade at this years Tribeca Film Festival is an exemplar of that, showcasing virtual films that tackled climate change, the struggle of a mother in Gaza following her childrens death, and the search for the kanju spiritcreativity born of struggleacross Africa. At the Cannes Film Festival, organizers for the first time this year included a virtual reality project by the Oscar-winning Mexican director Alejandro Irritu in the official selection.

In many African markets, music and movie sales are undermined by rampant piracy and artists work is often used without permission or payment. This means virtual reality presents filmmakers with the opportunity to market movies directly to those who already own equipment or who cant see the films unless they attend launches or special exhibits. These VR movies also push the boundaries of filmmaking in the continent, increasing its chances of breaking into the international market.

And in this quest to reinvent cinematic practices, African filmmakers are now saying that VR could give them an opportunity to both complement and push the traditional fold of African storytelling and dispel pervasive stereotypes about the continent. The nascent adoption of the technology in filmmaking globally, directors say, also creates a level playing field that gives them an equal chance of succeeding.

For the first time, technology has caught up with African storytelling, Jepchumba, a Kenyan digital artist, said during the screening of the films in Nairobi. The onus is on us now.

South Africa currently leads the efforts to use VR in the African continent, with the technology being applied in both filmmaking and advertising. The Cape Town-based non-profit Electric South also provides funding and training to creative teams producing virtual reality films across the continent, besides curating interactive exhibitions.

Yet despite the excitement surrounding the VR industry, challengessome traditional, some newpersist. For instance, directors have spoken about grappling with how to get access to equipment, and then navigating, setting up, and using the new technology. Fixed frame movies also allow directors control over the set, but the all-seeing angles of VR gear mean actors have to be left alone on the set. Chuchu, who directed Let This Be a Warning says it felt like being a theater director, rehearsing the scenes until the actors felt comfortable, and then leaving them to their own devices.

Virtual reality productions would also struggle to find a foothold in the continent owing to some of the same difficulties facing African cinema. These barriers include low funding, poor distribution networks, lack of screening technologies, piracy, and viewers disposed towards Hollywood blockbuster movies. Chuchu says that these hurdles might impede the growth of VR as a transformative tool in African storytelling.

But George Gachara, a managing partner at the creative fund Heva, says its only a matter of time before the technology gains traction among consumers. In Africa, VR is already flourishing in the gaming industry, is being used to sell property, and is being explored as a tool for education. Once these value chains are created, Gachara says the challenge will be about how much we can excel in adapting VR technology in the creative industry and beyond.

The question then will be: Are we innovating, dreaming, thinking, and pushing boundaries?

Sign up for the Quartz Africa Weekly Brief the most important and interesting news from across the continent, in your inbox.

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Virtual reality is giving African filmmakers a new way to explore complex narratives - Quartz

Veterans bet big on virtual reality arcade in downtown Durham Triangle Business Journal The Triangle is weeks away from its first virtual reality arcade a bet that's years (and thousands of dollars) in the making for a pair of Durham veterans who became entrepreneurs. The arcade, to be called Augmentality Labs, all started when Alicia ...

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Veterans bet big on virtual reality arcade in downtown Durham - Triangle Business Journal

At the Mall of Americas arena-sized Smaaash amusement arcade, people wait in line to slip on headsets that resemble blacked-out ski goggles and spend a couple of minutes feeling transported. They experience the sensations of flying a jet in combat, rescuing a kitten about to fall from a skyscraper or looping in circles on a roller coaster.

Not far away, the malls Best Buy carries a range of consumer-level virtual reality equipment. Salespeople explain how VR works, how it feels and how you might make it a part of your home entertainment collection.

For years VR has been hyped as the next revolution in computing technology. Facebook, Google, Samsung and other technology giants are investing heavily in its future. But theres one big obstacle still in the way: It makes large portions of the population especially women and children sick.

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What's the future of virtual reality? Minnesota researchers may hold the answer - Minneapolis Star Tribune