Daily Archives: August 23, 2022

Its been a long time since the first VR headset was announced by Sega in 1991, and despite being canceled and never released, it gave us a glimpse of what virtual reality could be, gamer or not. While there were some bumps along the road, VR has finally reached the point where it can be enjoyed by anyone who wants to try it out! As technology advances, were going to see more powerful hardware, richer environments, and a whole new way of experiencing video games.

Do you want a game where you can be an astronaut? Covered. Do you want an epic battle against zombies? Covered twice. Do you want to explore abandoned buildings? How about fighting dragons? Or maybe just hanging out with friends on a virtual couch? No matter what kind of experience you want from your VR headset, VR gaming has something for everyone and if it doesnt, some developers out there are probably working on it right now!

Meanwhile, why dont we explore some of the titles already available? From racing simulators to first-person shooters, here are some of the best VR games you can play solo or with friends.

Excerpt from:

50 Must-Try Video Games You Can Play In Virtual Reality - Bored Panda

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A randomized trial testing the effectiveness of virtual reality as a tool for pro-environmental dietary change | Scientific Reports - Nature.com

Earlier this month, posters started going up around Sydney advertising an event called In the Ops Room, with Palmer Luckey. Rather than an album launch or standup gig, this turned out to be a free talk given last week by the chief executive of a high-tech US defence company called Anduril.

The company has set up an Australian arm, and Luckey is in town to entice brilliant technologists in military engineering to sign on.

Anduril makes a software system called Lattice, an autonomous sensemaking and command & control platform with a strong surveillance focus which is used on the USMexico border. The company also produces flying drones and has a deal to produce three robotic submarines for Australia, with capabilities for surveillance, reconnaissance, and warfare.

The PR splash is unusual from the normally secretive world of military technology. But Luckeys talk opened a window onto the future as seen by a company transforming US & allied military capabilities with advanced technology.

Unlike most defence tech moguls, Luckey got his start in the world of immersive tech and gaming.

While at college, the Anduril founder had a brief stint at a military-affiliated mixed reality research lab at the University of Southern California, then set up his own virtual reality headset company called Oculus VR. In 2014, at the age of 21, Luckey sold Oculus to Facebook for US$2 billion.

In 2017 Luckey was fired by Facebook for reasons that were never made public. According to some reports, the issue was Luckeys support for the presidential campaign of Donald Trump.

Luckeys next move, with backing from right-wing venture capitalist Peter Thiels Founders Fund, was to set up Anduril.

Since Luckeys departure, Facebook (now known as Meta) has broadened its efforts beyond the virtual and augmented reality market. A forthcoming mixed reality headset plays a key role in its plans for a metaverse being pitched to business and industry as well as consumers.

We can see similar pivots from consumers to enterprise across the immersive tech industry. Magic Leap, makers of a much hyped mixed-reality headset, later imploded and re-emerged focusing on healthcare.

Read more: 'Potential for harm': Microsoft to make US$22 billion worth of augmented reality headsets for US Army

Microsofts mixed-reality headset, the HoloLens, was initially seen at international film festivals. However, the HoloLens 2, released in 2019, was marketed solely to businesses.

Then, in 2021, Microsoft won a ten-year, US$22 billion contract to provide the US Army with 120,000 head-mounted displays. Known as Integrated Visual Augmentation Systems, these headsets include a range of technologies such as thermal sensors, a heads-up display and machine learning for training situations.

Speaking to the Sydney audience on Thursday, Luckey framed his own shift to defence not as one of economic necessity, but of personal fulfilment. He described saying your job is worthless to new recruits in social media companies making games or augmented reality filters.

That kind of work is fun but ultimately meaningless, he says, whereas working for Anduril would be professionally fulfilling, spiritually fulfilling, fiscally fulfilling.

Not all technology workers would agree that defence contracts are spiritually fulfilling. In 2018, Google employees revolted against Project Maven, an AI effort for the Pentagon. Staff at Microsoft and Unity have also expressed consternation over military involvement.

The first audience question on Thursday asked Luckey about the risks of autonomous AI weapons run by software that can make its own decisions.

Luckey said he was worried about the potential of autonomy to do really spooky things, but much more concerned about very evil people using very basic AI. He suggested there was no moral high ground in refusing to work on autonomous weapons, as the alternative was less principled people working on them.

Luckey did say Anduril will always have a human in the loop: [The software] is not making any life or death decisions without a person whos directly responsible for that happening.

This may be current policy, but it seems at odds with Luckeys vision of the future of war. Earlier in the evening, he painted a picture:

Youre going to see much larger numbers of systems [in conflicts] you cant have, lets say, billions of robots that are all acting together, if they all have to be individually piloted directly by a person, its just not going to work, so autonomy is going to be critical for that.

Read more: UN fails to agree on 'killer robot' ban as nations pour billions into autonomous weapons research

Not everyone is as sanguine about the autonomous weapons arms race as Luckey. Thousands of scientists have pledged not to develop lethal autonomous weapons.

Australian AI expert Toby Walsh, among others, has made the case that the best time to ban such weapons is before theyre available.

My own research has explored the potential of immersive media technologies to help us imagine pathways to a future we want to live in.

Luckey seems to argue he wants the same: a use for these incredible technologies beyond augmented reality cat filters and worthless games. Unfortunately his vision of that future is in the zero-sum framing of an arms race, with surveillance and AI weapons at the core (and perhaps even billions of robots acting together).

During Luckeys talk, he mentioned that Anduril Australia is working on other projects beyond the robotic subs, but he couldnt share what these were.

Read more: Australia's pursuit of 'killer robots' could put the trans-Tasman alliance with New Zealand on shaky ground

Read more:

Virtual reality, autonomous weapons and the future of war: military tech startup Anduril comes to Australia - The Conversation Indonesia

Last week, I met documentarian Joe Hunting in a wooded clearing near a burbling stream. Chirping birds flew overhead in the azure sky as a Shiba Inu pawed at the ground a few yards away. Hunting got to work readying three cameras to film us during the interview. His spiky bangs blew in the breeze.

My hair didnt blow, however, because I didnt have any, and my skin was the texture of a microphone. I had giant, cat-like ears, and bug eyes with no irises. Joes right eye kept popping out of its socket, and his tripods and cameras were completely invisible.

This wasnt some demented dreamit was my first-ever interview conducted in virtual reality (VR), where Hunting is very much at home. His documentary, We Met in Virtual Reality, was released on HBO Max last month to critical acclaim. The film follows a set of real people as they live their lives within VR taking sign language classes, embarking on road trips, staging raucous weddings, and delivering heartfelt eulogies, all within the app. The filming took 14 months, with Hunting often spending 15 hours a week inside the app VRChat. For our interview, I put on an Oculus Quest headset and immersed myself in his world.

Many metaverse skeptics wonder why anyone would forsake the real world in favor of a false one. Many are similarly concerned by buzzword-filled metaverse visions from major companies, who want to monetize the next era of digital life. Questions about data collection, privacy, and the selling of digital objects linger.

Neither Hunting nor his film have the answer to all of those worries. But the film does offer a compelling look at the playfulness and joy people are already finding in virtual worlds. And Hunting himself is a living testament to how virtual reality can change lives. While shooting the film, Hunting, now 23, found his footing as a filmmaker, forged close friendships, and even fell in love with his now-significant other. For him, virtual reality is not a dystopian rabbit hole or a marketing gimmick but a fundamental, seamless aspect of his 21st century life. In VR, I felt the most present Ive ever felt, he says. Ive found a family through this process.

We Met in Virtual Reality is Huntings full-length debut. Already an avid gamer, Hunting entered VRChat while in film school four years ago and was immediately intrigued by the energy emanating out of its participants. My documentary film brain lit up, seeing all of these people, learning their stories, and seeing their creativity, he says.

While at home in a small town 40 miles outside of London, Hunting met a hot dog, a space bear, and an anime bodybuilder with a dragon tail. He met VR comedians, salsa instructors, and fashion designers. Most of the people Hunting met in VRChat used full body tracking equipment, or small VR sensors that attach to your ankles, elbows, and hips, allowing your corresponding avatar to gesticulate, dance, and exercise. To film their activity, Hunting paid $9 to upgrade VRChats standard camera function to something more high-endthe equivalent of a filmmakers fancy rig.

Hunting immediately felt comfortable among VRChat users and was soon spending over 15 hours a week inside the app. Meeting someone in VR is much more playful than meeting in the real world, Hunting says. Youre immediately on a wave of freedom, fluidity, and playfulness. Youre speaking to someone personality-to-personality before anything else. Youre not worried about how you look or how your body might be positioned in that moment. Youre just in it.

One of the people that Hunting met in VRChat was a sign-language teacher named Jenny, who appears as a glowing anime-style avatar with bubblegum-pink hair. Jenny is perhaps the central protagonist of We Met in Virtual Reality. She delivers poignant monologues about how her VRChat community helped pull her out of mental health crises and taught her new skills. Making friends here is sometimes what saves peoples lives or is what gets them up out of bed in the morning, she says in the film.

After Hunting finished the documentary, he says that he and Jenny very quickly realized that we didnt want to stop spending time with each other. The pair are now in a relationship. When I call Hunting for this interview, hes staying with Jenny in Los Angeles; she pops into the room at one point to remove a file from her computer. Falling in love in VR, it can be very special to see someone for their expression of themselves, Hunting says. Before meeting the person, you know the person that they want to be. And it felt like a strength and an excitement to help them get there.

Even when Hunting and Jenny are in the same room, they still don their VR headsets to take dance classes, meet up with old friends, and explore different new worlds. VR is still a core part of our lives, Hunting says.

The VRChat app costs $10 a month, but theres no buying and selling inside of the game. This has benefits and drawbacks: while it keeps the space free of ads and focused on hobbyists who truly want to be there, it also limits dance instructors from getting paid for their classes, for example.

This stands in sharp contrast to other present and future conceptions of metaverse worlds. The online game Roblox has an in-game currency which can be used to buy things for your avatar. Crypto virtual worlds like Decentraland are anchored by NFTs designed to be bought and soldmillions of dollars changed hands over virtual real estate there and in other worlds this year. These transactions add up. Nick Clegg, Metas president of global affairs, forecasted in May that the metaverse could eventually become a $200 billion industry employing 770,000 people. Meta, accordingly, is spending billions of dollars with the hopes of being at the forefront of that revolution.

Hunting is ambivalent about the increasing financialization of virtual spaces, and he appreciates the simplicity of VRChat. The aspect of owning property or an avatar or a certain item the value doesnt mean anything to me, he says. I care about my communities, my friends, my family, the creative freedom and the fluidity that we have in this space.

Hunting acknowledges the potential drawbacks of worlds like VRChat, including worries that it will be hard to return to the real world. Frances Haugen, a Facebook whistleblower, voiced concern about potential mental health and body image issues in a TIME interview last year: When you go into the metaverse, your avatar is a little more handsome or pretty than yourself. You have better clothes than we have in reality And you take your headset off and you go to brush your teeth at the end of the night. And maybe you just dont like yourself in the mirror as much.

Read More: Why Frances Haugen Is Super Scared About Facebooks Metaverse

Hunting says he hasnt heard that concern expressed by any of his virtual friends. Taking off the headset is just leaving that fantasy truth behind, and coming back to your authentic truthbut carrying that into yourself and being one with your avatar, he says.

Hunting acknowledges that hyper-sexualized avatars of female bodies can reinforce stereotypes. But, he says, my intention is to celebrate the positive aspects and to reflect upon the negatives and how we can improve on them.

I didnt love my VR experience as much as Hunting loved his. Ive only explored my Oculus headset a handful of times before this, and found that its weight pinches my temples and the bridge of my nose in a way that keeps me from feeling fully immersed.

After sorting out some logistics over Zoom, Hunting decided to bring me into the park, which I immediately found both surreal and soothing in its tranquil lushness. I love this worldits great therapy, I find: coming in, stroking dogs, playing fetch, Hunting said. As Hunting set up his invisible cameras, I toggled through options for avatars before settling on a microphone cat, which I felt fit with my journalistic purpose.

Hunting looked like a cartoonish Wii character but was clearly a real guy. He lacked a tongue but nodded along to my questioning and moved his hands expressively. The sensory overload was sometimes so disorienting that I couldnt follow what he was saying. I also had to surreptitiously take off my headset from time to time to look at a Google Doc, where Id prepared my notes. (Anybody know if VRChat has a notepad function?)

At the end of the interview, we walked around the park and towards the virtual Shiba Inu, who looked up, panting. Hunting found a stick and chucked it. The dog bounded over to pick it up, then delivered it back to Hunting, sticking its tongue out and closing its eyes in bliss when Hunting patted it on the head. The dog was undeniably cute and fun to interact with, but for me, it felt like wed landed in a hollow middle ground: better than not having a virtual dog, but nowhere near the real thing.

At the same time, I saw how naturally Hunting moved through VRChat; how it allowed him to tap into newfound aspects of his persona, creativity, and craft. For Hunting and the people who use it, VR has enabled them to find community and identity, even if they dont feel at home in the real world.

Hunting believes that virtual realitys appeal will continue to increase as headsets get lighter and graphics improve. And he will continue making films that serve as gateways into this new world and era. If we want to take a meeting or catch up with family or friends, we can be in an embodied space where we are physically presentand we can have a much richer sense of presence in connecting, he says. I think VR will be as accessible as a smartphone.

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How a Filmmaker Made a Movie and Fell in Love in VR - TIME

VR (Virtual Reality) technology is already starting to impact our lives in major ways. The military, health care industry, and government all use virtual reality to simulate things, mainly for training purposes. Since all of these departments and institutions have a significant impact on our lives, its fair then to say that, by extension, virtual reality does too.

In the coming years, analysts predict that virtual reality will start to have a more meaningful impact on our lives on a more personal basis, however. This post will tell you why.

If you have been following whats been going on in the VR world, then you will already be familiar with the Metaverse, a platform thats run by Facebook. Many believe that the Metaverse platform is the future of social media. The Metaverse is an interactive virtual world, accessed using virtual reality technology. According to information from this website, another platform thats similar to Facebooks Metaverse is Decentraland. Both of these platforms are very popular with users of virtual reality technology because it gives them places to network with other people and makes new friends. Its clear to see that interactive virtual spaces are the future of social media. If you are a social media user, then at some point in your life, its likely that you will have to use a platform like Metaverse or Decentraland in order to communicate with your friends on the internet.

Educational institutions are beginning to use virtual reality technology to streamline teaching and the classroom experience. If youre reading this, then you have probably left school or college. However, just because you are no longer a student, that doesnt mean that this wont impact your life. If you have children or plan on having children, then you will eventually have to use this kind of technology to help your child to understand their classes better. You may even have to invest in this kind of equipment so that your child can learn from home in the event of another pandemic, which scientists say is very likely.

During the COVID-19 pandemics first lockdown, various stores and boutiques, especially high-end ones, began offering virtual shopping experiences. You didnt need a virtual reality headset to access these online environments, although they did help. Having one made it easier for people to determine whether or not they liked what they were looking at. In the future, its expected that virtual shopping is going to become a lot more common. After all, virtual shopping is a lot easier and simpler than driving to stores to buy things, especially clothes. Virtual shopping allows people to handle and examine clothing items they want to buy without physically being there.

The online gambling industry is starting to utilize virtual reality technology now, too. You can visit digital casinos, using your virtual reality headset. While this kind of thing has existed for a very long time, with a lot of people visiting Bitcoin casinos in the virtual reality space, its starting to filter down and become a lot more common among ordinary people. Before, virtual reality gambling was something that only tech experts and investors made use of. Now its something that anybody can use, especially since virtual reality headsets are a lot cheaper.

Since the internet was first made public, people have been using online dating sites. Because people from all over the world have access to the internet, it is possible for people to meet each other, despite living in different countries and even continents. International long-distance dating is a lot more common today because communication has been made easier. Virtual reality dating is becoming more common, because it allows people who live in different countries to still have real dates, without being in each others presence physically. This allows people to determine whether or not they like each other, before making commitments.

Finally, if you have tried to buy a house in the last year and a half, you may be familiar with virtual viewings. Many realtors insist upon virtual viewings first, so that they can be sure that the people that are viewing properties are confident that they like what they are viewing first. This is so that they do not waste the realtors time. The real estate industry has benefitted tremendously from the use of virtual reality. Virtual reality technology has made the lives of realtors much easier.

Virtual reality technology has had a great impact on our lives already. In the future, its clear that it will be even more impactful. Virtual reality will, in the next half-century, become an important part of everybodys lives. Virtual reality headsets are also becoming a lot more affordable, making them more accessible to people on budgets.

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Top Reasons Why VR Technology Will Have a Great Impact on Our Lives - Tekedia

For decades, gaming has been an influential part of our culture, creativity, and connection. Some of todays most forward-looking leaders grew up in packed mall arcades, dreamed of being stuck in a film like Tron, and faced off around the family computer or console of choice, from the Atari 2600 to Xbox, and everything in-between.

Fast-forward, and gaming now includes online, mobile, social, cloud, augmented reality, virtual reality, and the metaversea market that is on track to surpass $200 billion in 2023.

For over 20 years people have collaborated in games like The Sims and Second Life and most recently Fortnite, Roblox, Minecraft, Pokmon Go, and more. These are more than just games; they are shared virtual play spaces designed to meet up, build worlds, battle on, buy virtual goods, dance off, and jam out.

But what does this trend mean for the future of work? Surprisingly, quite a bit.

Companies can now embrace work in a variety of ways to build belonging and foster a culture of connection, community, creativity, and productivity. In fact, those who want the most innovative, diverse, and exceptional talent must know how to collaborate and leverage technology for a multitude of arrangements and employee realities at any given time.

Balancing needs and interests has taken on new meaning in a world where 73% of teams will have remote workers by 2028. Its all about accessibility, flexibility, and continuous feedback loops to improve experiences and enable productivity, while also combating challenges like those cited in the latest State of Remote Work report: poor communication/collaboration (17%), loneliness (19%), and difficulty staying motivated (12%).

Companies will begin offering up places and spaces for collaboration in cities where multiple team members reside, providing a base outside of the home to support team members in the best ways for them. It will be important for companies to accommodate a mixed and merged workforce, creating safe spaces where businesses can both set expectations and manage employee well-being.

According to a recent Deloitte study, the vast majority of Generation Z (87%), millennials (83%), andGeneration X (79%) play video games weekly on personal and household devices. While some might think that Fortnite is childs play, more than 60% of the Fortnite community is between the ages of 18 and 24the very demographic entering the workforce. In another recent survey, more than 50% of Gen Z participants plan to own their own business within the next 10 years.

This generation grew up buying virtual goods or power-ups for their mobile gamesand is native to online engagement and collaboration, community-building, and problem-solving. Its no surprise that gaming and play are informing new business models and shaping the future of work in all kinds of settings. The future of hybrid work is changing, and adding virtual reality into the mix of remote and in-office collaboration can create a new, dynamic workspace that gives businesses the best of both worlds.

Brands are exploring the creation of their virtual identities to help personify their values and beliefs into a virtual being that can show up live, in real time,on any channel. The behaviors of the rising workforce will continue to drive these innovations and brand evolutions.

Already we see companies expanding their organizational structures to include new roles such as director of metaverse engineering, head of Web3, avatar creator, virtual architect, builder, and real estate agent.

The metaverse is not quite here, but it is near. The metaverse and evolution of Web3 are reminiscent of the early days of the internet: The potential is enormous, and there is no set playbook.

We are creating the future of work every day. A multitude of collaboration platforms have been rolled out so far, each with its own flavor and features. Some are VR only, some are AR only, events only; some are inspired by retro gaming and others may even replicate a traditional office suite.

Immersive platforms are pushing the traditional work setting into mixed-merged worlds with team onboarding, virtual showrooms, virtual test labs, gamified gatherings, company celebrations, and moreall accessible from almost any device via laptop, mobile, or VR headset.

With the rise in remote work, companies are looking for new ways to collaborate and create a better-connected culture. The sense of community the metaverse brings is no longer limited to just gaming. As workplaces evolve, workers will increasingly collaborate, create, and communicate in the metaverse.

As workspaces catapult into the future, the metaverse will help maintain the innately human sense of connection and community that so many of us crave, while enabling the kind of flexibility and balance that weve also come to know.

Val Vacante is senior director of product innovation at Merkle.

The opinions expressed in Fortune.com commentary pieces are solely the views of their authors and do not reflect the opinions and beliefs ofFortune.

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The metaverse is replacing the office. Meet the gamified workforce of the future - Fortune