Category Archives: Virtual Reality

I have wanted to love virtual reality for a really long time.

More than two decades ago, when I was a preteen, I saved up my allowance to buy the original Virtual Boy, an early V.R. gaming console made by Nintendo. The Virtual Boy was an infamous commercial flop, with laughably primitive 3-D graphics and a janky plastic headset that gave me splitting headaches. But I was transfixed by the idea of a technology that could transport me to another world, even if it was only to play Mario Tennis.

Since then, Ive tested maybe a dozen V.R. headsets, ranging from cheap Google Cardboard models to ultra-high-end gaming rigs. And every time, Ive found myself excited by the promise of futuristic V.R., and disappointed by the inevitable letdown of experiencing the actual limited systems.

Last month, when it became clear that wed all be stuck inside our homes for weeks on end, I decided to give V.R. another try. After all, what better time to escape into virtual reality than a pandemic? I hoped it would give me a break from my daily doomsurfing routine. And if I was lucky, maybe I would encounter new ways to stay entertained and connected from the safety of my home.

The good news is that, in technical terms, todays V.R. systems are miles ahead of their predecessors. Many newer systems feature realistic graphics and motion capture, and there are some genuinely great games and entertainment apps out there. If youre a gamer, a movie buff or just a person suffering from cabin fever in quarantine, there are worse ways to spend a few hundred bucks than on an entry-level V.R. headset.

The bad news is that V.R. is still not what sci-fi movies taught us to hope for a fully immersive experience that transports us to another dimension and gives us all kinds of virtual superpowers. Even the leading systems still lack some basic features and, outside of gaming, there isnt much you can do on a V.R. headset that you cant do more easily on another device.

Im not giving up hope yet. But after several weeks of testing, I suspect that the future of lifelike digital interactions will not be found inside V.R. headsets and computerized goggles, but instead will be built on top of the less flashy technology were already using.

My first task was tracking down a virtual reality headset, which turned out to be surprisingly hard. Popular V.R. systems like the Oculus Quest and PlayStation VR have been sold out for months online, and when I looked, new models were selling on eBay for hundreds of dollars above their retail price. I was lucky enough to snag one of the last remaining Oculus Go units the brands cheaper, low-end model, which starts at $149 for a 32-gigabyte version on Amazon. (Oculus, which is owned by Facebook, later sent me a Quest, the companys higher-end model, which starts at $399 and includes two controllers, but it didnt arrive in time for me to test.)

Unsurprisingly, the virus outbreak has been good for V.R. makers. IDC, a company that compiles data about the industry, said it expected sales of stand-alone V.R. headsets to grow 30 percent in 2020. Industry insiders told me that sales and use of V.R. apps had grown since lockdowns began, and that the growth would be higher if popular headsets were not back-ordered. Facebook said this week that it had made nearly $300 million in non-advertising revenue during the first quarter, a year-over-year increase of roughly 80 percent that the company said had been driven largely by increased Oculus sales.

Weekend usage is up, but weekday usage is really way up, Andrew Bosworth, Facebooks head of virtual and augmented reality, said in an interview. People are filling in what would have been normal parts of their weekday working out, hanging out with friends with V.R.

To get the most out of my virtual reality experience, I brought in an expert guide: Mike Cussell, who makes popular videos on YouTube under the handle Virtual Reality Oasis.

His first piece of advice was to experiment with so-called social V.R. apps programs that allow multiple users to congregate in a virtual space. The simulated presence these apps offer, he said, is part of what distinguishes them from other digital communication tools.

You could sit with your best friend from the other side of the world in a V.R. cinema and watch a movie together, Mr. Cussell said. You cant do that on a Zoom call.

To show me what he meant, Mr. Cussell or rather his bald, round-faced cartoon avatar met my avatar in the lobby of Bigscreen, a V.R. app that allows groups of people to watch movies together. He invited me into a virtual theater outfitted with stadium-style seating. We watched a few movie trailers, and while the graphics were impressive, the overall experience felt more gimmicky than transformative. Watching Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles in 3-D for a few minutes is fun, but its harder to imagine enjoying a 90-minute movie with a bulky, battery-heated headset strapped to your head. (Plus, while Bigscreen does have a virtual concession stand and even a feature that allows you to fling animated popcorn at your avatars face its hardly as good as eating actual movie snacks.)

Oculus, which Facebook acquired in 2014, has a number of built-in chat features that connect with your existing social graph. But few of my real-life friends and family members own V.R. headsets, which limited my options. Mr. Cussell said I shouldnt let that stop me from having a virtual social life.

Part of the fun is making new friends, he said. It feels much more personal when someone actually approaches you, is in your physical space, and engages with you.

I spent some time trying to make friends on some of the social apps Mr. Cussell recommended, like AltSpaceVR, a kind of town square where groups of people can gather to hold concerts, play games and talk to one another. But those apps didnt do much for me, either. The AltSpace parties I went to mostly seemed to consist of strangers parading their avatars around in circles, making small talk about the coronavirus and joking about V.R. social etiquette. (One host advised us that the rules of his V.R. house party were simple: Dont be a jerk, and dont hit on underage girls.)

Despite Mr. Cussells advice, the best V.R. experiences I found were the solitary ones that didnt involve any social interaction at all. Like Nature Treks VR, a game that allows you to float around serene meadows and pristine beaches while a soothing soundscape plays. Or Real VR Fishing, an app that lets you scout for prize catches in a series of simulated lakes and rivers.

I also took advantage of the many available V.R. travel apps. One night, after I did a guided V.R. meditation and spent 20 minutes walking around a 3-D rendering of Zion National Park, I realized I felt more relaxed than I had in weeks.

Escapism is virtual realitys strong suit, and its why major gaming studios are developing more big-budget games for platforms like Oculus and PlayStation VR. But sci-fi and industry hype has always promised us that the technology would replace more than just our consoles. Mark Zuckerberg, the chief executive of Facebook, has called V.R. the next major computing and communication platform, and other V.R. leaders have predicted that we will eventually use it for everything from workplace collaboration to sex.

Part of the problem for virtual reality enthusiasts is that much of what a V.R. headset offers can be found in other places. Fortnite, for example, has become a venue for concerts and other large virtual gatherings. (A concert by the hip-hop artist Travis Scott last week drew more than 12 million viewers.) Animal Crossing, a whimsical Nintendo Switch game, has become a surprise quarantine hit. Millions of people are using Zoom and other video-chat apps to hold virtual game nights, cocktail parties and yoga classes on their laptops and phones, without the need for special hardware.

These experiences arent fully immersive, in the same way that virtual reality is. But they may not need to be. After all, the breakout moment for augmented reality V.R.s chiller, more pragmatic cousin, which involves projecting digital objects onto physical spaces wasnt fancy Magic Leap goggles or Hololens gadgets but a Snapchat filter that let you turn yourself into a dancing hot dog. We are creatures of habit, and it may be that people simply prefer virtual experiences that dont require them to strap an expensive computer to their forehead.

I told Mr. Cussell, my V.R. tour guide, that I was still unsure whether my preteen dream of a mass-market virtual reality experience, filled with lifelike experiences and plenty of my actual friends, would ever come to fruition. He conceded that stand-alone V.R. headsets might remain a niche product for nerds like us. But he said that if anything could push the technology into the mainstream for good, it would be a global pandemic that shut people out of the physical world, starved them of social interaction and made them long for a return to normalcy.

Now, more than ever, people could really do with an escape from reality, he said.

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This Should Be V.R.s Moment. Why Is It Still So Niche? - The New York Times

Its one of the most under-appreciated science fiction films of the past decade, but Luc Bessons Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets (also the most expensive independent film ever made) subtly depicts a compelling vision for the way tools like augmented and virtual reality devices may intersect with the future of online shopping.

The scene takes place in Big Market, a massive inter-dimensional marketplace consisting of more than a million shops. In reality, its located in a giant empty desert, but it can be accessed by visiting shoppers through their head-worn AR glasses. Take a look for yourself.

Aside from showcasing how augmented reality can transform our relationship to physical land in unpredictable ways, even barren desert landscapes, it showcases what an almost fully online shopping experience might be like if you could physically walk through it in three-dimensional space.

While were far from a Big Market existing in the real world, Ive just experienced what is perhaps its closest precursor entirely in virtual reality using my own Oculus Rift headset at home. Its called Virtual Market, and right now the fourth edition is currently underway in VRChat, one of the most-used social VR applications today.

Virtual Market 4, or V-Ket 4 for short, is a Japanese expo that spans 36 separate worlds contained within the VRChat ecosystem. Its primary purpose is to sell virtual apparel and avatars, like if shopping for a new skin in Fortnite took place inside a sprawling virtual mall. Given the scale of the event, its also drawn the attention from big brands to create an almost CES-like feel.

For those who dont know what VRChat is, think of it like a modern Second Life, full of user-built online virtual spaces. To date, VRChat is by far the most popular and used social VR application, which had millions of downloads and tens of thousands of concurrent users at its peak in 2018 and is now seeing even more growth during the pandemic.

In early 2018, a collection of popular twitch streamers began broadcasting as avatars from inside VRChat to their thousands of viewers. To get a sense, one notable example involved two beloved twitch celebrities who staged a sort of ongoing reality show culminating in a mock wedding in front of their fans. As a result, and aside from games like Beat Saber and Half-Life Alyx, VRChat became the closest thing to a killer app the VR industry has ever seen. VRChat is now carrying the baton handed off by Second Life toward realizing some of the vision of a true online Metaverse.

In concept, V-Ket 4 is one of the more remarkable activities Ive seen during my time writing about VR, but in practice were clearly far off from a truly rich social experience in VR.

The most astonishing aspect is the scope and scale of the event. According to the official press release, V-Ket 3 hosted more than 710,000 people, and this time more than a million visitors are expected to participate over the course of 10 days (making it the largest social VR gathering ever). 40 companies, many of them well-known multinationals including Audi, Netflix, Panasonic, and Sega, will be exhibitors as well. Presumably (and I was unable to contact a press representative at the time of writing), the majority of these visitors will be from Asia. I also do not know the number of people who will attend in 2D, since VRChat also works on desktop without a VR device.

As Kent Bye, a popular VR podcaster, points out as well, V-Ket displays some of the most complex and intricate virtual world architecture you will find anywhere in social VR.

V-Ket 4 kicked off at 7pm San Francisco time the evening of Tuesday April 28 (11am Wednesday in Tokyo), and will run for ten days. At the start of the event, I was ready to spawn into Parareal Tokyo, the flagship virtual world made to imitate the real streets of Japans capital. I noticed on the dashboard that more than 2,000 people were already in the spacebut since each instance of the world is capped at 30 users, there were more than 65 copied versions of Parareal Tokyo running at once.

My avatar was immediately placed in the lobby of a traditional-looking conference center with a massive SoftBank booth like you might see at CES. I followed a ramp out into a sprawling urban landscape with multimedia billboards and blimps displaying ads for Audi vehicles and other brands. I saw a booth for Netflix, and before my connection fell apart I was able to stumble into a fully-simulated 7-Eleven convenience store with a few avatars for sale on display. I couldnt hear any of the other users speaking, and there were only 30 of us scattered across such a large space; for being such a massive event, it felt eerily quiet and lonely.

Admittedly my connection was terrible, the space wouldnt easily render, and the lag became so unbearable that I eventually gave up and searched for Virtual Market 4 on twitch and spent the next few hours watching a 25-year-old streamer named SciFri (with a far more enviable internet connection) wander around V-Ket with his friends. This approach had its unique flavor of entertainment value and it was nice to cook my real-world dinner while outsourcing the exploration of V-Ket to SciFri and his friends.

Later I found some great English-language live coverage of the event here.

The concept of spending time in online virtual spaces has certainly become more mainstream in recent years. The most iconic anecdote in recent memory was Marshmellos 10-minute performance inside Fortnite last year, attended by over 10 million people. Last weekend, Fortnite went further by producing a Travis Scott concert series seen by just shy of 28 million. And given the ongoing pandemic where were spending even the most mundane parts of our day online, the idea that well someday socialize, shop, play, and even work inside some form of digital environment is becoming a far more recognizable development of our modern era.

Todays biggest limitation to social VR experiences is the limited technology to facilitate a truly connected experience. Its challenging to convey nuanced emotions and behavioral cues beyond body language, positioning, and voice, although each platform has its own unique way of addressing the challenge. Additionally, high numbers of users extend beyond the capacity of todays servers, meaning theres no way to create the truly large-scale gathering you might find at a real-world event. For example, this time Fortnite limited the Travis Scott concert to 50 players per server, in contrast to the 100 players at their previous Marshmello event.

This means that social VR doesnt yet feel like the rich experience of virtual life depicted in science fiction like Snow Crash and Ready Player One. That is coming, but its a ways off.

In the meantime, V-Ket 4 is one of the most stunning developments Ive seen, and they are certainly making good on their stated mission of developing and enriching the virtual space. For us westerners, its also a reminder that development of the technologies doesnt occur at a uniform speed across various geographies. When I visited China and Japan a few years ago, it was already clear that consumer adoption of virtual reality was far beyond what we currently see in the West.

In the coming decades, a functional Metaverse may arrive, and concepts like Big Market might really exist. In the meantime, a bizarre online expo called V-Ket 4 is the largest and most fascinating online social VR gathering in the world.

*V-Ket 4 runs until May 10th on the VRChat platform

Image Credit: Aaron Frank

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The World's Biggest Social Virtual Reality Gathering Is Happening Right Now - Singularity Hub

Virtual reality isnt just for gamers. Artists, exercise fiends and actors in a new theater form are experimenting now. And in experiences that have become more responsive, the player is no longer passive. Yes, the headsets still cost too much, but the promises of VR are closer than theyve ever been. And during coronavirus-forced social isolation, they bring alternate realities in anxious times. TODD MARTENS and DEBORAH VANKIN report on the innovations.

By TODD MARTENS

Get lost in a virtual, interacting coloring book in Color Space.

(Lighthaus)

ALL IT TOOK to make me a believer of virtual reality was for reality to break.

This was the thought I had after about 45 minutes inside my VR headset on a Monday afternoon. I had barely moved. A forest surrounded me. A bird sat perched on a tree branch. My hand held a video game controller. But what I saw was a futuristic airbrush, a laser-like paint sprayer that looked like a prop from a 1940s sci-fi film.

A touch of a button and I could color the world. The bird before me was purple. Then it was pink. Then blue. Then pink again. I shot the feathered creature with random color as if I were Flora, Fauna and Merryweather all in one, toying with the chroma of the universe as if I alone possessed the power of the fairy godmothers of Sleeping Beauty.

Soon the alarm on my smartphone sounded. This was my cue to remove the VR headset and flip on the radio to listen to another sobering address from Mayor Eric Garcetti. I sat and stared as L.A.'s mayor spoke, my eyes tracing a scratch on my coffee table. Illuminated by the late afternoon sun, the wear had long escaped my vision. Having spent the day in a heightened version of reality, I was suddenly more attuned to my very real, very dusty surroundings. The enchanted world of Color Space seemed very far away.

Home, in this head space, is not a place to play; its a place to hide out, at least until the pandemic comes to an end or a declining market leads to an eviction. Which comes first right now feels like something of a toss-up. My home is no longer comforting.

In this moment, I found virtual reality. And, to be sure, I had been skeptical. READ MORE

By DEBORAH VANKIN

A still from artist Keith Tolchs interactive, virtual reality artwork, Glass Bottom Brain, produced at Art Reality Studio.

(Keith Tolch)

WE ARE INSIDE Keith Tolchs brain. As in, walking around.

Its a futuristic landscape, a maze of empty rooms with soaring ceilings and glowing, neon-lit floors, everything bathed in an 80s-era palette of screaming-pink, orange and lime green. Random objects a deconstructed 1967 Mustang, glass cubes brimming with swirly paint markings, delicate pencil drawings of butterflies and roosters float by.

But, wait. Disrobed of the plastic, padded headset, we are actually in a gleaming Eagle Rock warehouse, a former auto body repair shop-turned-artists studio, and Tolch is perched behind a computer console, beaming.

His piece, Glass Bottom Brain, is an interactive, virtual reality artwork meaning viewers don a high-resolution headset and descend into an immersive, 3-D digital environment in which they can navigate through bits and pieces of Tolchs subconscious. He created the piece with expensive state-of-the-art computer equipment, but Tolch didnt invest a cent. The project was paid for, organized by and later exhibited by Art Reality Studio, a nonprofit organization thats outfitting contemporary artists with VR technology toward pushing creative boundaries. It sees itself as an incubation lab for cutting-edge creativity and asks the question: What if?

What happens when artists are given cutting-edge technology, no strings attached?, says ARS co-founder Frank Masi. We wanna see how far theyll take it. READ MORE

Dasha Kittredge, left, and Haylee Nichele are actors for Tender Claws, an experimental game studio that makes virtual and augmented reality games.

(Luis Sinco / Los Angeles Times)

By TODD MARTENS

LAST WEEK, ON the verge of being late for a work-related call, I stumbled upon a group of strangers. One of them snapped their fingers near my face. Another tossed me a sword.

But I didnt run. In the virtual reality world of The Under Presents, these actions are tantamount to instant friendship. I admired the sword but set it aside when I spotted an inner tube, knowing that there would be no fighting here. Besides, the pool equipment would be better for an impromptu dance party, which can happen regularly in The Under Presents. The work call would have to wait.

A woman who looked to be nearly 15 feet tall commandeered our attention. She said we should all say hello to her new friend named Rice Krispie Treat and then she asked if we could do a group hug. If there was any doubt that this was not your standard video game character and was instead a creation being puppeteered by a very-real actor, it was about to become apparent.

We cant hug out there right now, she said, alluding to our current health crisis, so we may as well do it in here.

Starved for company, let alone the community offered by a friendly embrace, I stretched out my arms and leaned forward, my left hand hitting the coffeemaker in my kitchen as I did so.

Today, however, in a world struggling to balance life, finances and the arts with measures to slow the spread of a vicious virus, The Under Presents feels more like a statement piece. It shows one potential way forward, a future where the worlds of home technology and theater coalesce to build not just fresh experiences but carve out new business models.

Tender Claws is seizing the moment.

Its stable of 18 live actors has been extended full time through the end of May, and part time at least through July. Ultimately, The Under Presents works because it re-imagines theater for the game space. While not a replacement for live, it is another avenue for performance, and its medium-specific work that was built specifically for the home, offering one answer to a question that is no doubt vexing many right now: What options are there for live performance when we cant gather in the same space? READ MORE

By TODD MARTENS

The VR exercise game Supernatural aims to give users a full-body workout in virtual reality.

(Within)

LIKE A NEW YEARS resolution that was never going to be kept, I woke up on March 13 with grand plans: Every morning while under stay-at-home orders I would work out for at least 30 minutes. Then I decided to start that on March 14. Soon it was the first week of April. Turns out Im pretty good at excuses, all under the guise of self-care.

I was going to need to find a way to move. And right now, if it werent for virtual reality, I probably wouldnt be getting any exercise.

Moving inside the headset has resulted in my most intense workouts in months, so much so that Im planning to cancel my gym membership on the other end of this. While Im far from the first to discover that virtual reality is pretty great space for working out, Im somewhat frustrated it took me this long to realize it. READ MORE

More reading:

How Vader Immortal became Lucasfilms Star Wars bet on the future of VR and memory design

With a free phone app, Nancy Baker Cahill cracks the glass ceiling in male-dominated land art

Westworld, Ho! Inside Evermore, where the future of theme parks is not about rides but play

Disney Halls Thought Experiments: New view of an L.A. landmark through immersive video walk

Confederate statue, plantation, prison: Artists reclaim sites with AR in Battlegrounds

How architects are using virtual reality to walk through buildings that dont yet exist

Inside Alejandro Irritus VR border drama at LACMA: What you will see and why you might cry

The Player: Star Wars: Secrets of the Empire brings the Force to VR

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Changing reality: VR shifts the game and finds its moment - Los Angeles Times

When do we draw the line between early adoption and, uh, regular adoption? With virtual reality, maybe its right now. Years of sluggish sales had me convinced that virtual reality might disappear with nary a whimper, but then the hardware got better, the games got better, and suddenly people are talking about VR again. And hey, being essentially trapped in your house for weeks on end doesnt hurt.

The hardware landscape has gotten a lot more confusing since the first-gen Oculus Rift and HTC Vive debuted in 2016. We have tethered and untethered headsets, different resolutions, different lensesand what the hell is MR anyway?

Were here to guide you in the right direction. Below youll find our recommendations, whether youre a first-timer or an early adopter looking to upgrade. And if youre looking to buy right now, youre probably going to have to settle for whatevers in stock. Headsets have been in short supply since the Half-Life: Alyx reveal in November. Still, lets pretend all these headsets are in stock for the moment, at least.

Well update this list periodically to accommodate new releases as well, though with the Valve Index and Oculus Quest less than a year old (at time of writing) it might be a while before we see better hardware worth buying.

It's pricey, but Valve's new virtual reality headset is the one to beat thanks to its crisp display and high field of view.

The Valve Index is the best all-around headset you can buy at the moment. Best optics, best audio, best comfort, best tracking, and (once you get used to them at least) best controllers. Best everythingexcept the price, which at $1,000 (for the headset, controllers, and base stations)Remove non-product link is bound to make even the most enthusiastic adopter wince.

Its 2880x1600 resolution and 130-degree field of view mean you can see the digital world clearer than ever, and more of it. The Index also supports up to a 144Hz refresh rate, though youll need a monster of a PC to hit that frame rate consistently.

But its the less immediately noticeable features that make the Index stand out to me. The tracking is rock-solid, just like withthe original HTC Vive. Valve still relies on base stations, which make the Index a pain to set up and dismantle, but ensure the system will almost never lose track of a controller or the headset. The audio is top-tier as well, replacing the old headphones method with two speakers that float over your ears, creating an ultra-realistic audio field that surrounds you instead of merely sounding like...well, headphones.

Last but not least, the Index Controllers (or Knuckles) are the most advanced on the market today. The controllers strap over the backs of your hands and sensors embedded in the grips help track each individual finger, allowing you to open and close your hands, squeeze cans until theyre crushed, or (most likely) flip enemies the ol middle finger.

Nobody else allows you to do that. Maybe thats worth the $1,000 cost of entry on its own.

At $799 for just the headset, the HTC Vive Pro is probably destined to remain a niche product. Early adopters who've been pining for a resolution bump though will find it hard to go back after trying one out.

Valve isnt the only high-end headset in town. Though Valve is no longer partnered with HTC, the Vive Pro is still a solid alternative to the Index. It has the same 2880x1600 display and uses the same rock-solid Lighthouse tracking. The only real difference is that the Vive Pro uses headphones instead of speakers, and ships with the old Vive wands instead of the more futuristic Index Controllers. It also costs more than the Index ($1,200 vs. $1,000 for the whole system, sans PC), so theres really no reason to opt for the Vive Pro insteadunless of course the Index remains in scarce supply.

The Oculus Quest feels like the first virtual reality headset with true mass-market appeal, providing a room-scale experience without the need for a gaming PCor wires of any kind.

If you dont want to plunk down $1,000 for the Valve Index (and I dont blame you) then my next recommendation is the Oculus Quest. Why? Because its a VR headset youll actually use.

Quest is the first untethered headset thats actually worth a damn, by which I mean it provides a desktop-caliber experience without the need for a desktop PC. If youre simply looking to play Beat Saber or Job Simulator or The Room VR or any of a dozen other VR games with minimal fuss, Quest is the way to go. No wires means you can set it up anywhere youd like, or even take it on the road.

And as an added benefit, the Oculus Link Cable allows you to turn Quest into a full-fledged PC headset to rival the Oculus Rift. Sure, an $80 cable is ridiculous. I think we can all agree on that. The Quest/Link combo feels like magic though, enabling you to play top-tier VR games like Half-Life: Alyx and Lone Echo (and my favorite Google Earth VR) when you have a PC handy, and then return to your carefree wireless life when youre done. Its the best of both worlds.

Sure, theres some image compression when you use Link, and Quests tracking isnt quite as good as Oculuss tethered alternative, the Oculus Rift S. But its good enough, and youre essentially getting two headsets for the price of one. Even before Link, I wouldve probably recommended Quest to most people over one of the tethered headsets. With Link? Theres no contest.

That said, if youre really, absolutely, totally certain youll never want to use your VR headset away from your PC? Oculuss Rift S is a perfectly serviceable fallback. Again, I find it hard to recommend the Rift S personally, but thats only in comparison to its more capable cousin.

Side note: Its also worth noting that buying a Quest or Rift S is technically the only way to play Oculus exclusives, including Lone Echo, Asgards Wrath, Wilsons Heartbasically, a significant portion of the best VR games. Index and Vive owners can try LibreVR/Revive, but the results are sometimes lackluster and its very much a community-built workaround. Oculus has been pretty hands-off with Revive for a few years now, but theres always the chance you wake up and it simply no longer works.

If we chart the progression of video games from Spacewar and Zork all the way through to 2016, then the HTC Vive is the next logical step towards realism.

This is less of an official buy-it-here recommendation and more just a practical suggestion. If youre looking to get into VR on-the-cheap, keep an eye out for secondhand HTC Vives and Oculus Rifts. The Vive, in particular.

While its now 4-year-old hardware, the Vive is still a perfectly suitable entrypoint for VR. If youre playing in a living room or bedroom, the original Lighthouse tracking will be just as solid as the upgraded version that ships with the Valve Index. The Vive wands are also perfectly suitable, and the only thing youll probably want to replace is the faceplate (because gross) and the strap, assuming your secondhand unit comes with the original elastic instead of the superior Deluxe Audio Strap add-on.

After years of dev kits and prototypes and behind-closed-door demos, the Oculus Rift is finally ready for consumers. Welcome to VR.

On the Rift side, youll want to make sure your secondhand unit comes with the Oculus Touch controllers and at least two (but preferably three) of the cameras used for tracking. Room-scale support for the original Rift isnt nearly as good as with the Vive, but if you can find one for cheap, go for it.

And nows your chance, really. A lot of people are dumping their old Vive and Rift hardware to upgrade to the Quest, Rift S, and Index. You might be able to get in on-the-cheap if youre lucky.

A few years ago Microsoft decided it was also going to get into VRor rather, into all of the Rs. Combine virtual reality (VR) with augmented reality (AR) and you get...Mixed Reality, or MR. Or thats how Microsoft pitched it, at least.

But really, all of the MR headsets are just VR headsets. I know, its confusing, but Microsofts AR tech is still confined to HoloLens, which targets enterprise use cases. The consumer-focused Windows Mixed Reality headsetsby companies like Acer, Dell, and HP dont really do anything more than the rest of the competition.

They are really cheap though, which might make you wonder: Is this a good place to get into VR? If its your only option, sure, go for it. Just know that youre signing up for a compromised experience. Windows MR was the first platform to mount cameras on the headset to track both the players position and the controllers.

Being first out of the gate has drawbacks though. All of the Windows MR headsets are restricted to two front-facing cameras for tracking. This works fine if youre holding your hand out where the cameras can see, but the tracking is easily broken by any number of everyday actions: Hand behind your head, hands down at your sides, and so on.

Can you deal with it? Sure, and if its your first VR experience you probably wont know any better. Its a lesser experience though, and given how much prices have come down for the Oculus Quest and Rift S, the Windows MR headsets no longer seem like as much of a bargain. Hell, the $649 HP Reverb (the top-tier Windows MR headset at the moment) costs more than either the Quest or Rift S, and provides a lesser experience.

We used the headsets. And used them. And used them. And used them.

No, seriously. Whenever we review products at PCWorld, we use them for some period of time. I might put a keyboard through its paces for a few weeks, for instance. But Ive been covering VR since the early days, when all you could buy was the original Oculus Developer Kit.

With such a limited hardware pool, you can trust that Ive gotten a lot of use out of our VR headsets. The original Vive lasted two years until the Vive Pro came along. That, in turn, stayed on my desk until the Index arrived last year. And the first-gen Oculus Rift had the best run of all, making the trip in and out of my closet fairly regularly from 2016 until the Quest and Rift S released last yearand on the day I finally retired my original Rift, I celebrated, because I no longer needed to use four different USB ports for a single VR headset.

Point being, Ive put these headsets through their paces and feel confident speaking to the pros and cons of each, be it comfort, optics, the controllers, or even just the price.

Want to delve into more detail? Check out the list of reviews below, where we go more in-depth on the products above, and a few more besides. Well keep updating this list on a regular basis (meaning whenever there are new headsets to cover) so be sure to check back in and see whats going on with VR.

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The best VR headsets for 2020: Every option reviewed and ranked - PCWorld

We may not get out much in real life anymore but that doesnt mean we cant laugh out loud at virtual reality laughably trying to re-create real-life experiences.

Its just not the same, in my virtual experience, and here are seven examples from the luxurious (driving a sports car, buying a boat) to the more mundane (visiting family, buying toilet paper) to the simply practical (saving the world from a rogue nuclear reactor meltdown).

DRIVING A SPORTS CAR

Real highlight: Zero to 60 in 2.9 seconds, followed by a pulse-pounding rush up to 155 mph a personal best! in a Lamborghini Aventador on a closed track at Palm Beach International Raceway.

Real quote: Weeeeeeeee!

Real drawbacks: Crash-helmet hair. Silly grin. Desire to spend twice to three times lifes savings for car. Possible divorce proceedings. Living out of car with no back seat.

Virtual highlight: Zero to about 25 photos of a Lamborghini Aventador for sale on lamborghinibroward.com.

Virtual quote: How can I help you with The Aventador? a virtual sales assistant pops up to ask.

Real quote: Lamborghini? (Quickly check lifes savings with Erica, my virtual bank assistant. Lamborghi-no.) Just looking.

Virtual drawbacks: No pulse-pounding rush up to 155 mph. No weeeeeeeeee! No grins, silly or otherwise.

Winner: The Real. (Except for the crash-helmet hair.)

BUYING TOILET PAPER

Real highlight: Buy toilet paper at store.

Real quote: I bought toilet paper.

Real drawback: Take buying toilet paper for granted.

Virtual highlight: Buy toilet paper on costco.com

Virtual quote: I bought toilet paper! I bought toilet paper! This is the second happiest day of my life!

Virtual quote (four days later): Your toilet paper has been delivered to your home.

Virtual response (after two hours and 10 minutes of anxious waiting on a chat line to Costco): But my toilet paper was not delivered to my home!

Virtual quote: Were sorry to hear that. We will launch an investigation with the delivery company and refund your $24.60.

Real quote: Nooooooooooo!

Virtual drawback: In cyberspace, no one can hear you scream.

Winner: The Real. (Not taking buying toilet paper for granted ever again.)

DRINKING WINE

Real highlight: Open bottle with friends. Pour, swirl, drink. Enjoy.

Real quote: Cheers!

Real drawbacks: Getting overly pretentious about the oakiness of the chardonnay. In rare cases, singing.

Virtual highlight: Watch other people, in this case Hall Rutherford co-owner Kathryn Hall and Director of Winemaking Megan Gunderson, pour, swirl and drink a 2016 Cabernet Sauvignon in the Hall Shelter-in-Place SiP Series, hallwines.com/sip-cabernet.

Virtual fun fact: Yes, that winery. The one where Pete Buttigieg got in trouble.

Virtual quote No. 1: This wine is just incredible.

Virtual quote No. 2: Its very dark, brooding.

Virtual drawback: Try clinking screen with Hall and Gunderson with a plastic cup of ginger ale the virtual shopper sent over instead of ginger.

Winner: The Real. After watching other people drink glass after glass of just incredible wine, which they cant pour through the screen to me, my real response also is dark and brooding.

BUYING A BOAT

Real highlight: Walking oceansidedocks atboat shows, looking over hundreds of watercraft up to superyacht size, on a bright sunny day, with cool sea breezes in our hair.

Real quote: I forgot sunscreen. And a hat. And, oh, money.

Real drawback: Forgetting to bring sunscreen. And a hat. (Quickly check lifes savings with Erica, my virtual bank assistant.) And that I still have no money.

Virtual highlight: Seeing dozens of boats no appointment necessary! in all their seafaring glory in Denison Yachtings Virtual Boat Show, denisonyachtsales.com/virtual-boat-show/.

Virtual quote: Boat shopping is admittedly a little less exciting from your laptop ...but we really believe a true Virtual Boat Show experience can still be delivered, says Bob Denison, president of Denison Yachting.

Virtual disadvantage: No sunny dock walks. No cool sea breezes. No awesome after parties.

Winner: The Real. Afterparties are tricky to re-create without splashing Champagne and foam from the dance floor on the laptop computer.

TRAVEL TO A DREAM DESTINATION

Real highlights: Visiting Zermatt and the Matterhorn in Switzerland.

Real quote: Yodelayheehoo, all you Instagram followers! Im visiting Zermatt and the Matterhorn in Switzerland! And youre not! See yodelater.

Real drawback: Assuming if you can wear lederhosen like everybody else here, you can wear it anywhere else, too. (Places where you cant successfully wear lederhosen, partial list: Office, grocery store, dentist, spa treatment, Department of Motor Vehicles ...)

Virtual highlights: Visiting Zermatt and the Matterhorn online at zermatt.ch/en/Webcams.

Virtual quote: Where are Zermatt and the Matterhorn? (Make mental note to check back when cloud cover lifts.)

Virtual drawback: No fondue while waiting for cloud cover to lift. Consider eating 10-year-old Twinkie from emergency supplies instead.

Winner: The Real. (Unless youre already in line at the DMV in lederhosen.)

VISITING FAMILY

Real highlights: Hugs, handshakes, happy kisses the full tactile experience you thought youd lost when you moved out years ago. Or when you got quarantined last month. Or possibly because of the restraining order.

Real quote: Mom, Dad Im home!

Real drawback: I brought my laundry. And my roommate. And he needs toilet paper.

Virtual highlight: Its so great seeing the whole family together again in a Sunday Zoom gathering at home! Even Aunt Martha, who forgot we can see everything. And Uncle Joe, who appears to be wearing...lederhosen? Wait, how did Carole Baskin get on here?

Virtual quote: Mom, Dad unmute your screen! How did Carole Baskin get into your kitchen!?

Virtual drawback: The mute buttons just a little too tempting when the conversation turns to the 2020 election. Wait, checking to see if this might actually be a highlight.

Winner: Tie. (The mute button has been ruled a highlight.)

DEFUSING A NUCLEAR REACTOR

Real highlight: Stopping a rogue nuclear reactor from radioactive meltdown.

Real quote: Ive saved (insert city, country, name of significant person) from radioactive meltdown! Examples: New York! Or The USA! Or The guy who sold Uncle Joe the lederhosen!

Real drawback: Im so happy Ive saved (insert city, country, lederhosen sales staff) from radioactive meltdown, I am practically glowing! No, wait I am literally glowing.

Virtual highlights: Stopping a rogue nuclear reactor radioactive meltdown using a virtual-reality robot controlled remotely from a bunker 2,500 miles away in Switzerland.

Virtual drawbacks: Still waiting for cloud cover to lift over Zermatt and the Matterhorn. Still no fondue. Decide to eat 10-year-old Twinkie from emergency supplies.

Virtual quote: Of all the examples of real vs. virtual experiences here, this was the only that was virtually better. Except the Twinkie.

Winner: The Virtual.

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Virtual reality bites: Seven virtual experiences rated against the real thing - The Daily News of Newburyport

We are inside Keith Tolchs brain. As in, walking around.

Its a futuristic landscape, a maze of empty rooms with soaring ceilings and glowing, neon-lit floors, everything bathed in an 80s-era palette of screaming-pink, orange and lime green. Random objects a deconstructed 1967 Mustang, glass cubes brimming with swirly paint markings, delicate pencil drawings of butterflies and roosters float by.

But, wait. Disrobed of the plastic, padded headset, we are actually in a gleaming Eagle Rock warehouse, a former auto body repair shop-turned-artists studio, and Tolch is perched behind a computer console, beaming.

A still from artist Keith Tolchs interactive, virtual reality artwork, Glass Bottom Brain, produced at Art Reality Studio.

(Courtesy, Keith Tolch)

His piece, Glass Bottom Brain, is an interactive, virtual reality artwork meaning viewers don a high-resolution headset and descend into an immersive, 3-D digital environment in which they can navigate through bits and pieces of Tolchs subconscious. He created the piece with expensive state-of-the-art computer equipment, but Tolch didnt invest a cent. The project was paid for, organized by and later exhibited by Art Reality Studio, a nonprofit organization thats outfitting contemporary artists with VR technology toward pushing creative boundaries. It sees itself as an incubation lab for cutting-edge creativity and asks the question: What if?

What happens when artists are given cutting-edge technology, no strings attached?, says ARS co-founder Frank Masi. We wanna see how far theyll take it.

The organization, which formed about 2 years ago, is a later-in-life project from Masi, a 77-year-old photographer and retired theme park attraction project director and Brent Imai, a 61-year-old former sports television executive and entrepreneur.

A still from Keith Tolchs VR artwork, Glass Bottom Brain: An architectural, biological environment that you can walk around in and look at all these artifacts from my past.

(Keith Tolch)

Technology is such an important part of society, says Imai. It can be really, really good, it can be really, really bad. We thought: Lets have artists weigh in on that discussion.

Virtual reality technology has been around for decades and frequently pops up in video games, at theme parks and in other experiential entertainment, often located at malls. Fine artists have been slower to adopt the technology, which is expensive and can be daunting to learn how to use for those who arent computer-savvy. But thats started to change.

Frank Masi, left, and Brent Imai, co-founders of Art Reality Studio.

(Gabriella Angotti-Jones)

Artists Paul McCarthy, Jordan Wolfson and Jon Rafman showed VR works in the 2017 Venice Biennale, 2017 Whitney Biennial and 2016 Berlin Biennale, respectively; Laurie Anderson and Taiwanese new media artist Hsin-Chien Huang showed new VR installations during the Cannes Film Festival in May.

Heat around VR has caught on in the museum world: former Moderna Museet director Daniel Birnbaum left his job at the Stockholm institution last year to head up the London-based art and tech studio Acute Art, which has created VR works with Jeff Koons and Marina Abramovic. Even in the public art realm, L.A. artist Nancy Baker Cahill displayed VR works on digital billboards along Sunset Boulevard in 2018.

Keith Tolch at Art Reality Studio in Eagle Rock. The artist says he created a virtual reality space inspired by his memories, inadvertently mapping out his brain.

(Gabriella Angotti-Jones)

And during the coronavirus outbreak, as culture hubs are shuttered and hungry art lovers shelter at home, virtual reality art-viewing at museums and art-buying at galleries has taken off.

Virtual reality, however, is still a mystery to much of the contemporary art establishment and theres still a slew of unanswered questions about how to exhibit, collect and monetize VR art. Is there a collecting market for it? How do you price the works? How would collectors display VR works in their homes? Are the works originals or part of a limited edition? Whats to prevent someone from reproducing or reselling a work made with software and code as opposed to paint and canvas? And, finally: What makes it art as opposed to computer programming?

LACMA curator Britt Salvesen, who organized the museums 3D: Double Vision exhibition last year, questions the longevity of VR artworks: How do you preserve, refresh and sustain such works when the hardware and software is inevitably always changing? And if you bought a VR work now, would you be able to watch it in 2025 would the systems still work?

A still from Joe Solas virtual reality artwork, Changing Room, which he produced in collaboration with Art Reality Studio.

(Joe Sola and Honor Fraser gallery)

Masi and Imai hope, if not to answer all of these questions, then to wade around in them for a while. The two met about four years ago at a Los Angeles County Museum of Art patron group event before hatching the idea for ARS. Their business model is not unlike that of the L.A.-based artists workshop and fine art lithography publisher Gemini G.E.L., which beginning in the 1960s and 70s facilitated experimentation among artists, exhibited and sold their work and helped fuel a nationwide printmaking revival in the process.

Instead of ink, paper and steel presses, however, ARS provides artists with VR rigs high-end computers outfitted with VR software, display monitors, headsets, wall sensors and remotes which run about $10,000 apiece. And ARS which hasnt sold anything yet and is funded by Masi and Imai (but for one equipment donation valuing $5,000) says it doesnt intend to take a cut of sales of the works, which are creator-owned.

Its really a philanthropic thing for us, Imai says. I gave a little bit of money to [local museums] but I realized: They dont really need my little money, Im not Eli Broad that can really make a difference. I wanted to do something that was more direct, with the artists.

ARS loans the VR rigs to its artists, who keep them at their homes or studios for as long as they need to finish the work; Tolch kept his more than a year while teaching himself to use the game engine software through online tutorials. ARS then displays the new VR work at its studio, or it facilitates an exhibition at a gallery or another art space.

Artist Keith Tolch says working in VR allowed him to get deeply personal, to explore my identity and my heritage that Im not really clear on.

(Keith Tolch)

Tolch showed his VR work, which combines still photography, 3-D modeling, screenshots, animation and images of his paintings, at ARS in February 2019; the piece was exhibited alongside his large-scale oils on canvas, figurative abstraction works he says are about painting, if somewhat impersonal. The VR work, with its amalgam of sourced imagery, allowed him to go deeper, to explore my identity and my heritage that Im not really clear on, he says.

Its an architectural, biological environment that you can walk around in and look at all these artifacts from my past: photos of my grandfather, pencil drawings my great-grandma did. There are voices. Its almost like a storehouse of things that I know and I remember.

Artist Joe Sola

Joe Sola spent over a year conceptualizing and sketching his VR piece, Changing Room, before figuring out the technology with artist-animator Filip Kostic. The work debuted at Honor Fraser gallery in Culver City in January alongside Solas enormous gold-hued pigment prints. At the opening, visitors waited in line up to 30 minutes to don a headset and descend into Solas animated VR world, which explores violence, sexuality and race in popular culture, with O.J. Simpson as the viewers co-pilot.

Artist Joe Sola at Honor Fraser Gallery in Los Angeles.

(Gary Coronado / Los Angeles Times)

During the reception, VR explorers took turns interacting with the piece in the corner of the gallery, which added a performance art element to the room. Passersby gawked as headset-clad VR participants, blind to their real-world surroundings, jerked their bodies around awkwardly, groping at imaginary objects in the air.

Its part painting, part filmmaking, part sculpture, part collage, part performance, part sound, part animation, Sola says of VR. Its the closest tool that Ive experienced that matches my imagination.

When viewers descend into Joe Solas virtual reality artwork, Changing Room, O.J. Simpson serves as their co-pilot.

(From Joe Sola and Honor Fraser gallery)

How to sell the works, however, is still being finessed, Masi says. Tolchs piece is an edition of five; Solas, of three. The artist and studio each keep a copy as well. An artists proof from each edition will be donated to a museum or cultural institution; the first collector to buy a work from an edition will get to name the recipient, Masi says.

The idea is for it to be someplace where its good for the artists work to be seen, he says. So museums is what were pushing.

Acute Arts Birnbaum says that the question of how to edition and distribute VR work is still very much up in the air. While small editions might be suitable for some works, his company which hasnt commercialized any VR art yet is focused instead on exhibition models and the democratizing potential of the medium.

Earlier this year it produced a VR video by Chinese artist Ai Weiwei. The piece, addressing migration and animal rights, launched on the Guardians YouTube channel Jan. 30 and got about 100,000 views its first day but the work isnt for sale.

We havent found the model yet to sell these works, Birnbaum says. It seems it should be art for everyone and it should be distributed in large editions, like Netflix. But its unclear where it will sit in the art market and in the institutional context.

But are the works art?

My litmus test, Baker Cahill says, is how much conceptual rigor has gone into it why are you even using this medium, why VR and not painting or sculpture or immersive theater?

ARS has two VR pieces in the works with L.A. artist Brian Bress and San Diego-based Victoria Fu. Both pieces aim to explore the medium, conceptually.

Brian Bress in his Glassell Park studio on March 2. The artist is wearing a mask, gloves and costume he printed on canvas and uses in his artwork.

(Francine Orr / Los Angeles Times)

Bress has spent the last decade making screen-based work involving costumes, sets and his own art-making performances all of which he turns into wall-mounted video installations. His VR piece will place viewers in a virtual art-making space, he says, where they can slice and dice a canvas to create portals to other spaces that have more imagery inside of them.

Fu, whose work appears in the collections of LACMA and the Whitney Museum of American Art, says her VR piece will transport viewers to a domestic interior and address consumer lifestyle desires while also playing with the 3-D space.

My video installations address how viewers situate themselves in narrative space, she says of previous work. This, VR, is a whole other step. Its definitely foreign to me, an experiment.

Artist Victoria Fu with an image in progress that will include VR elements.

(Allen J. Schaben / Los Angeles Times)

This early gestation stage of the experiment is especially exciting, Imai says, waiting to see what comes out.

Giving these tools to artists can give us a look into the future, he says. Maybe its a cautionary tale, maybe its a beautiful world.

Read more:

Incubation lab arms artists with VR gear and asks: What if? - Los Angeles Times

Like a New Years resolution that was never going to be kept, I woke up on March 13 with grand plans: Every morning while under stay-at-home orders I would work out for at least 30 minutes. Then I decided to start that on March 14. Soon it was the first week of April. Turns out Im pretty good at excuses, all under the guise of self-care.

So I did the next best thing: I turned to video games.

Such a statement isnt as odd as it may have been in 2007, when Nintendos Wii Fit was all the rage. Working out, after all, has become gameified, be it through our apps that keep track of our steps or higher-end, screen-based equipment such as a Peloton bike. And Nintendos recent Ring Fit Adventure, which is hard to find and going for sometimes double or triple its $79.99 prince on eBay, is an absolute joy. An adventure game that encourages us to mix cardio activities with a Pilates-like ring, Ring Fit Adventure is cheerily encouraging as we do battle with a mean dragon.

I had been away from the game for a couple of months, but Ring Fit Adventure is a surprisingly adept personal trainer. Many of the upper-body exercises are completed by pulling the ring in and out, allowing it to mimic the activities one would normally associates with a resistance band. But it also encourages us to take breaks, and if we miss a day or two it dials down the difficulty. I appreciate its illusion of awareness and that its less rigid than throwing on a video.

And yet there is one ever-so-slight negative with Ring Fit Adventure. Its not the fault of the game so much as my mind. It lives on the Nintendo Switch, which is also home to Animal Crossing: New Horizons. And while I can speak only for myself, of course, Animal Crossing has been a savior when it comes to easing any anxieties or worries during this time. Its pull is irresistible.

Home fitness, of course, faces many hurdles, as anyone with a bike or treadmill that most often gets used as a place to dry clothes can attest. Should I simply resign myself to gaining back the 30 pounds I lost last year and just worry about it after the pandemic ends? That was the path I was on, at least until my work-at-home desk (its a couch) sent my lower back into a red-alert panic mode.

I was going to need to find a way to move. And right now, if it werent for virtual reality, I probably wouldnt be getting any exercise.

Moving inside the headset has resulted in my most intense workouts in months, so much so that Im planning to cancel my gym membership on the other end of this. While Im far from the first to discover that virtual reality is pretty great space for working out, Im somewhat frustrated it took me this long to realize it. After all, some of the lightsaber moments in Vader Immortal: A Star Wars VR Series certainly could work up a sweat,

Beat Saber" is probably the most recognizable VR workout, having made it to late-night television and boasting partnerships with a number of major pop acts. Its good to get the body moving and the heart rate up. With neon cubes flying at me every Tuesday and Thursday morning, when my schedule goes according to plan, Im hopping around my kitchen and swinging wildly only what I see is a tunnel with a cyberpunk aesthetic. I could easily spend 40 minutes in this world.

The VR exercise game Supernatural aims to give users a full-body workout in virtual reality. The new game, available for the Oculus Quest, will use a $20 per month subscription model. Credit: Within

(Within)

That I could use a game like Beat Saber for a cardio workout was a bit of a surprise to me, only because the one drawback of VR is that I cant see myself. Yet that turned out to be the greatest advantage of VR workouts. I dont want to see myself. Even alone in front of my TV with Ring Fit Adventure I am self-consciously aware that I am moving like a weirdo in my family room. VR allows me to get out of my own head. In other words, when I cant see myself, Im not embarrassing myself.

To exercise, I use the Oculus Quest, which is sold out. But it is cordless and at a price of either $400 or $500 runs cheaper than some high-end fitness equipment. That being said, its primary use has been entertainment rather than fitness, although that may be changing, at least if the just-released Supernatural from local tech firm Within catches on.

Supernatural is designed specifically for working-out in VR, and its been destroying me in the best possible way. Unlike in a more game-like experience, even one that encourages swinging and movement, Supernatural gives you a virtual coach and places you in postcard-worthy visual landscapes. Think New Guinea islands, the Grand Canyon or Ethopias Erta Ale volcano.

I especially like the volcanoes, as the backdrop allows me to pretend Im training to be a Jedi. But this isnt National Geographic; the settings, while beautiful, work largely to get you removed from remembering youre in your own home.

The movements are similar to other rhythm games, such as the aforementioned Beat Saber, where the virtual foam-like swords are used to swing at circular objects coming our way. Supernatural also throws in plenty of triangles, which are designed to get you to pull off squats or lunges. Because of my back issues, Ive worked with physical therapists, so I know how to modify some of these movements to work within my abilities.

While Supernatural will require a $19-per-month subscription, it has succeeded in getting me as sweaty and sore as when I did morning boot camps. Im not someone to give certified fitness advice I sometimes eat Swedish Fish candies for dinner, after all but a benefit of Supernatural is the presence of coaches, filmed so they appear in front of you. The full 360 movement afforded in VR helps make sure Im moving in the way Im instructed.

What left me most surprised, however, is that after a few days in Supernatural my arms felt as if I had done 100 push-ups. I thought this was an odd sensation, considering I was only holding the Oculus controllers rather than weights. But Within worked with professional coaches to guide players to behave in way that uses their full range of motion rather than attempting to simply become good at the game.

The VR exercise game Supernatural aims to give users a full-body workout in virtual reality. The new game, available for the Oculus Quest, will use a $20-per-month subscription model. Credit: Within

(Within)

Though the app will supposedly adjust placement of its objects based on how well were moving, I havent attempted to fully game the system, so to speak. I just know that after a couple of weeks, Supernatural is still challenging me. Within, says co-founcer Aaron Koblin, found that most rhythm games, as players improve, actually result in worse workouts, as they are understanding how to move to win rather than how to burn calories.

That is not the same objective as creating something thats focused on large healthy movements follow through with your swings the kinds of things you get more from the success of the sport than success of the game, says Koblin.

After two weeks, as Supernatural has succeeded in getting me off the couch, my back pain has decreased. At the end of these stay-at-home orders, I hope to emerge a fully trained Jedi. Thats how this works, right?

The rest is here:

Coronavirus and fitness: How VR games got me to exercise - Los Angeles Times

Over the last two months, since the COVID-19 pandemic took over our lives, simple things like attending an interesting lecture have become off limits. Any sort of gatherings, from talks to concerts or sporting events, may be banned for well more than a year as we wait for a vaccine.

If there is anything for us to be thankful about at this time, its technology. Had this occurred more than 25 years ago wed literally all be stuck in the dark with only the telephone as a way to communicate.

Organizations of all kinds have come to realize that the show can still go on to a certain extent via platforms like Facebook, YouTube, Zoom and more. When this is all over, I believe this mode of communication will continue, for now events that might only attract a small crowd are reaching out to so many more.

Last Thursday I attended a 7 pm weekly virtual lecture presented by theMcGill Office for Science and Societyon COVID-19. In addition to Dr. Joe Schwarcz and team members Jonathan Jarry, Ada McVean and communications guru Emily Shore, their special guest was Dr. Paul Offit, Professor of Pediatrics and Director of the Vaccine Education Center at The Children's Hospital of Philadelphia. It was absolutely fascinating. Dr. Offit has published more than 160 papers in medical and scientific journals in the areas of rotavirus-specific immune responses and vaccine safety. He is also the co-inventor of the rotavirus vaccine recommended for universal use in infants by the CDC. He had a lot to say with respect to vaccine development for the coronavirus and offered great insight as to how we can begin moving on in a COVID world.

Normally a 7 pm lecture would require me to come home early for supper and rush out of the house with my food barely digested or grab something to eat on the way. In this case I finished dinner at 6:40 pm, cleared the table and comfortably sat in front of my computer screen 20 minutes later.

For those who missed the lecture you can see it now on the OSS Facebook Page and/or their YouTube Channel. Questions were answered in real-time.

Dr. Offit spoke confidently that we will have a vaccine within a year, noting that many steps will have to be skipped to get it out in a timely fashion. The virus is stable, he said. I do not think it will mutate away from the vaccine. In terms of timing I think it will depend upon how much uncertainty we are willing to live with before the vaccine rolls out to the public. Typically vaccine programs are 20 years. So there is a series of steps you go through; the last one, which is the most important, is the so-called phase three trial where you look at tens of thousands of people who either did in this case or did not get the vaccine to see if it is safe and effective. I would be really surprised if the trials that were done for this vaccine were that big. My sense, from the manufacturers I have talked to, is the trials are going to be anywhere from 1,000 to 6,000 total people the biggest would be 3,000 on each side. That is not a lot. You can rule out common side effects with that kind of trial. But on the other hand you are dealing with a scourge. In the United States 2,000 people a day are dying from this virus so I think you are willing to accept a greater level of uncertainty than if two people were dying. I am optimistic it will be effective. You can start to see people inoculated within a year.

Dr. Offit predicted that the virus might not as active this summer. Will there be a false sense of security? he asks. Will it come roaring back in September, October and in flu season?

Go to the YouTube channel to see it for yourself.

The McGill OSS will be back for another round of COVID and More Conversations on Thursday, May 7 at 7pm. These can be viewed on their Facebook Page and YouTube channel.

Living With IBD During The Pandemic

Next on my agenda will be a virtual lecture entitled Living With IBD During The Pandemic on Tuesday, May 5 (7 pm), presented by the McGill IBD Research Group. Gastroenterologist Dr. Gary Wild, who also has a background in Psychology, will be the guest speaker. The lecture can be accessed via Zoom at this link: https://mcgill.zoom.us/j/91096546702

Virtual Fitness

I am trying to go for regular walks during this pandemic. In addition, occasionally I get on the treadmill. Because I remain one of the lucky ones to have all of my jobs fully functioning, my hours of work have significantly increased over the last several weeks.

But how is this all impacting on the people who went to the exercise gym every day? Virtual fitness of course!

Rona Lis is the invaluable secretary to Dr. David Zukor, the chief of Orthopedics at The Jewish General Hospital. Her days are long. She loves her job, but after a long day dealing with patients she longs for her workout time at OrangeTheory Fitness on Somerled in NDG. Naturally she was heartbroken when gyms were forced to close. But Melanie Shernofsky and the team there merely moved the workouts to Zoom. Members like Rona can either do them live or via a recording when it is convenient. They have been lifesavers, Rona says. It is a blast to watch the people participating, as their dogs and cats go past the screen. Even though I am tired and worn out after work, this makes me so happy!

Miles Krol is doing the same thing at his MilesFit studio in NDG. I've created a free online workout community in Montreal that has exploded! he told me. We're helping hundreds of people and families stay fit and sane during these challenging times!

Among the participants are NDG-Cte des Neiges Borough Mayor Sue Montgomery and CJADs Dan Laxer, two of my favorite people. Mayor Sue and her chief of staff Annalisa Harris have been the victims of unfair treatment by Mayor Valerie Plante and her team. They have done a fine job handling the pandemic in the borough. Mayor Sue is there for her citizens and very visible in the community. Laxer is the co-host of the Sunday Trivia Show with Ken Connors, but spends most of his time writing commercials during the week. I wish we could hear his voice more. But I digress.

This has become something very powerful for the Montreal community, Miles says of the workouts.

Go to his Facebook page to see more. He also did this trailer.

Miles says more than 1,000 Montrealers, plus others from the United States, Israel and Europe, are joining in as well. We have young kids joining in, so we keep families together and we even adjust exercises for the elderly. Everyone can work out with us for free.

Read more:

The COVID-19 "Virtual "Reality : Review of a lecture on vaccines, previewing IBD Talk and some exercise - The Suburban Newspaper

A new virtual club is being launched in the coming weeks, Another Home.

The online club is the brainchild of London bass duo KOVEN, who have built the virtual space with the help of a number of digital designers. Another Homes events will each come with bespoke lighting, posters and even merch.

Throughout May, various bass focused promoters will be hosted in Another Home, live streaming into the digital space directly from their own homes. DJs lined up to play over the coming weeks including a number of to be announced guests, as well as Feint and KOVEN themselves.

There will be a small fee to attend Another Home, with payments being made through the requisite PC VR consoles for entry. The parties will also be available to live stream via Twitch.

Proceeds raised through Another Home will go to the artists involved and organisers.

More info about Another Homes launch will be available soon. Keep an eye on KOVENs social media for more info.

Its the latest inventive initiative from musicians in the midst of the coronavirus pandemic, which has all but decimated the live music and clubbing landscape for the time being. For instance, In the wake of its official cancellation this month , EDC Las Vegas has announced a virtual festival to take place the same weekend. A pandemic-proof rave suit has even been designed by Los Angeles creative studio Production Club amid the ongoing crisis.

Continue reading here:

A new virtual reality club is launching online, Another Home - DJ Mag

Virtual Reality (VR) and Augmented reality (AR) are having far-reaching impacts on technology-applications of businesses, offering an immersive experience to them

Digitally advanced businesses are gradually leveraging VR and AR technologies to drive efficiency, especially in their recruitment process. Companies are using AR and VR technologies for conducting job interviews for hiring new candidates, particularly for virtual positions or offsite projects. These tech-driven interview experiences are always more exciting and engaging for aspirants as compared to the standard and traditional skills assessments.

Taking AR Beyond Smart Glasses, Delivering Genuine Mixed Reality Will Change the Way We Work

Use Cases for AR and VR in Recruitment

The recruitment industry always faces cutthroat competition as businesses struggle to identify their best talents to gain a competitive edge. Every organization works really hard to get the best pool of talent from the job market to the board. This is where virtual and augmented realities dive in, offering enhanced support in the process of modern recruitment.

Employee Training

AR leverages the employee training process by providing digital information on top of what users see. VR offers users a completely multi-dimensional virtual environment to test performance in real environments, which enables learners to practice the required skills and check the outcomes of their actions in a simulated environment. These technologies are being explored by enterprises as new tools for training employees for testing candidates in virtual environments at the corporate level. Both AR and VR are being used for quite a few years in HR practices. Still, it has always been limited to training simulations for hand-on technological roles in areas of logistics, manufacturing, and transportation. However, the application of AR and VR is evolving continuously with its implementation for soft skills training purposes as well.

Workplace Transformation

AR delivers digital details and experiences to augment the world around users, adding additional layers to data, for deeper and better understanding of resources and clients, across various processes in a company. It provides profile information along with other affluent data on clients or prospects during the sales calls, to share real-time insights for workflow optimization. It also helps in providing real-time performance feedback delivered directly to the employees. As per the reports, a majority of Generation X and millennial professionals would prefer to work with tools that enable a higher technological comfort- such as with VR and AR applications in the workplace.

Enhancing Learning Experiences

Businesses are turning into immersive, experiential nature of leveraging AR and VR technologies into many companies to create better e-learning content showcasing real-life experiences based on the premise. In research by Human Resource online, 49% of Gen Z employees in Singapore believed that VR would revolutionize their work in the coming years, while 45% of Gen Z in the US and 56% of Gen Z in India confirmed the same. AR and VR have the potential to elevate team collaboration to the next level of advancement and success.

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The power of AR and VR is clearly visible in the present COVID-19 situation, where these technologies have potentially seized challenges associated with remote working. They have made video conferencing more real than ever. As VR and AR are still in their nascent phase, they are already gaining tremendous momentum and becoming part of daily business operations, modifying the entire way of communicating, collaborating, and conducting businesses.

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Virtual Reality and Augmented Reality Digitizing the HR Processes - EnterpriseTalk