Category Archives: Virtual Reality

A virtual reconstruction of a dwelling at Skara Brae, a pre-historic Scottish village. Soluis/Heritage

Seeing opportunities to educate and attract new visitors, museums are getting in on the VR game, too. The British Museum in London, for instance, partnered with

Another VR exhibit in Beijing's Forbidden City takes visitors through reconstructions of the porcelain factories during the Ming and Qing dynasties. To transport visitors into a more recent past, the Royal Canadian Regiment Museum in Ottawa partnered with VR company SimWave to make a rumbling rig that recreates being down in the trenches at the Vimy Ridge battle during World War I.

Some see the most promise in experiences that go beyond the visuals.

"For my money, the most useful stuff is not the VR, at least not yet, but the augmented reality," says Shawn Graham, a digital archaeologist at Carleton University in Ottawa.

Augmented reality (AR) and other forms of mixed reality use VR elements overlaid on the real world think Pokmon Go and Google Glass.

"If you have an AR headset and you're out in the field, you can see what's going on around you but then have an overlay," Eve says of elements sights, sounds, and smells. "It adds so much more to that experience."

Simulations that can fool your other senses like 3-D audio to trick your ears or gloves to mimic touch make for a more effective immersive experience, as sight is just one way we perceive reality.

Eve, however, notes that AR technology isn't quite ready to be a massive hit. He's waiting to see what companies like the Florida-based AR outfit Magic Leap come up with in the next few years.

But whatever form the VR and AR experience takes, the story is key.

"I think we make a mistake if we imagine that augmented realities or virtual realities are something brand new in the world," Graham says.

He recalled being a graduate student in the U.K. and taking a field trip to Avebury, a cousin of Stonehenge, with one of his professors. "He was standing there in the middle of this stone circle, and he was telling us this story of coming into this sacred space and he was pointing to the horizon, drawing our attention to different burial mounds, and he was enabling us to see the past in a way we couldn't see before coming in fresh as students."

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Virtual Reality Is Bringing These Lost Worlds Back to Life - NBCNews.com

In Brief

Realistic visuals and audio are essential to shaping an immersive virtual reality (VR) experience. But these researchers from the National University of Singapore believe VR shouldnt just cater to sight and sound. For the ultimate VR experience, other senses should come into play as well.

Last year, Nimesha Ranasinghe and his team demonstrated how electrodes can be used to add a sense of taste to VR. Their latest accessory, Ambiotherm, adds another element of realism to the experience: atmosphere.

The add-on contains two features. One is a a wind module attached to the bottom of the headset that uses two fans to simulate wind blowing in the wearers face. The other is a temperature module that attaches to the back of the wearers neck to simulate heat. Various experiments show that gradual application of each module can mimic how the whole body would actually feel if, for example, the wearer was walking through a desert under the scorching sun or skiing down a mountain slope.

Previous attempts to recreate environmental conditions required fans and heat lamps, so being able to scale this down to something compact is a significant achievement. Next up for the team? Amping up the VR experience via smell and vibrations, as well as learning how human emotion can be augmented and applied to multi-sensory VR.

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Now You Can Feel Wind and Temperature While in Virtual Reality - Futurism

VR1 is the first virtual reality arcade of its kind in the Treasure Valley and all of Idaho, offering a brand new VR gaming environment. (KBOI Photo)

News anchors Brent Hunsaker and Natalie Hurst couldn't resist the the offer - putt putt golf and skiing - without all the hassle of driving to two different resorts at distant locations.

Instead, the two news anchors went to downtown Eagle and visited VR1.

VR1 is the first virtual reality arcade of its kind in the Treasure Valley and all of Idaho, offering a brand new VR gaming environment.

The state of the art technology allows the user to experience first-hand the sights, sensations and sounds of a VR setting of their choice.

Every movement the player makes in real time is transformed into a virtual 3D world.

Founder Brendan Smythe says the immersive experience has endless adventures to explore in genres such as sports, art, battle and building - to name a few.

The games are interactive and allow users the option to playing with, or against, real people and friends.

Anchor Natalie Hurst tried the skiing segment, and lasted approximately four minutes before "crashing" into a tree.

Anchor Brent Hunsaker explored the world of putt-putt golf extensively, by taking at least 20 strokes (if not more?!) on the first hole of the VR game.

Smythe said folks are invited to play with friends and family, while seeing their movements play out on the five station monitors.

"We just opened up the doors and everybody is excited about it," Smythe said. "They question a little bit and say, 'now what is it?' And then when they find out what this is they just want to come try it."

VR1 is located at 1225 W. Winding Creek Drive in Eagle, Suite 110.

It's open every day of the week, except Mondays.

Hours: Tuesday-Thursday 3 to 10 pm; Friday-Saturday noon to 11 p.m.; Sunday noon to 7 p.m.

Pricing: Sunday-Thursday is $15 for 25 minutes or $25 for 55 minutes.

Friday and Saturday is $20 for 25 minutes and $30 for 55 minutes.

For more information, call (208) 941-5958 or send an email to: vr1arcade@gmail.com.

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VR1: Idaho's first virtual reality arcade opens in Eagle - KBOI-TV

If the reality of a relatively lacklustre air show and plane display had seen disappointment among the swelling crowds at Aero India here, it was the virtual world that came to their rescue.

While there is little doubt that air shows and display of planes were toned down compared with the last edition, the exhibition halls used cutting-edge technology to bring visitors one step closer to the cherished metal birds.

The use of virtual reality (VR), 360 degree immersible software, simulators, and mock-up displays was omnipresent in the exhibits, allowing visitors to get into the cockpits of the indigenous fighter Tejas, Lockheed Martins F-16, the civilian aircraft Saras, and the Swedish fighter Gripen.

The most popular simulator as seen with the lengthy queues was that of the virtual experiences set up for the light combat aircraft, Tejas, which had also dominated the displays and air shows.

Learning about design

Aeronautical Development Agency (ADA) allowed visitors to try on immersive virtual reality through head mounts where visitors can see in 360 degrees how the LCA is designed in the computer (a rough 3D sketch of the major mechanical components) and also how the finished product looks. This is a good way to show visitors how the planning occurs before even a prototype is made. Through motion tracking and haptic force feedback system (which simulates a mechanics hand), we can even test if replacing a nut or bolt will become difficult, said Shiek Nagur from the ADA.

Swedish defence company Saab, which manufactures the fighter jet Gripen, allows visitors to get into the cockpit through their VR headset.

Nearby, a cockpit mock-up of Tejas allows visitors to sit on the pilots seat and attempt to take off and fly in the virtual world. Similarly, Lockheed Martin provided a few visitors the opportunity to take F-16, a single-engine supersonic multi-role fighter aircraft, for a spin through their cockpit simulator; while HAL too has put up the simulator for the advanced Hawk, allowing those privy to experience what it is like being a Surya Kiran trainer.

For pilots, the simulator for Saras, which will be revived after nearly a decade by the National Aerospace Laboratories, provides an opportunity to fly out of HAL Airport, circle around the airport and return.

Shooting and gliding

Apart from the flights, VR headsets are being used by HAL to allow visitors to experience skydiving and paragliding. The skydiving simulators sees visitors strapped to a rotating device, with the headset projecting an experience similar to that of a free fall. Similarly, for paragliding, the visitor is strapped to a moving bed, VR headset projects the view of gliding through snow-capped valleys, and fans simulate winds.

Swedish company Saab has set up a virtual shooting zone the ground combat indoor trainer where various rifles and guns can be used in a simulated combat. Similarly, an immersive experience was set up by BEL, where a darkroom provides an opportunity to test their night-vision goggles.

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When reality disappoints, virtual reality takes over - The Hindu

Cutting-edge technology is helping bring ancient Rome back to life.

Visitors at historic sites thousands of years old can now use virtual reality headsets to see what they once looked like. Digital artists used Renaissance-era artists depictions to help re-envision the relics. CBS News correspondent Seth Doane went inside the ancient underground ruins in Rome, where tourists can see whats no longer there.

The cavernous space was once above ground, the grand home of Emperor Nero, and considered one of the most magnificent palaces ever built. Its name, Domus Aurea, means golden house. Its hard to believe it was once colorful and flooded with light. But now, modern technology is letting tourists peek into the past.

Inside the Domus Aurea, once the home of Emperor Nero in ancient Rome.

CBS News

Two thousand years ago, this labyrinth, now underneath the city of Rome, was the sprawling home of Emperor Nero, stretching the size of three football fields. Today, tourists can explore it, but the colors, light and opulence of this ancient Roman villa were unimaginable until this month, when visitors could start using virtual reality headsets.

You always try to imagine in your mind what it mustve been like, and this helps tremendously, said Tom Papa, a tourist from New York.

Virtual reality brings to life this important piece of history. Alessandro DAlessio, the chief archaeologist here, explained how this place was buried following Emperor Neros death.

A virtual reality image of what the palace may have once looked like.

In the ancient historiography, he was depicted as a monster, DAlessio said.

The emperors massive compound was covered over. It was forgotten about for nearly 1,500 years until Renaissance artists tunneled down into what they believed was an ancient Roman cave.

Chief archaeologist Alessandro DAlessio, left, with CBS News Seth Doane in the Domus Aurea.

CBS News

Painters during Renaissance times would come through that hole? Doane asked, pointing up to it.

Yes, DAlessio said.

And discovered the Domus Aurea, Doane said.

Yes, DAlessio said.

The marvelous frescos they saw influenced art for centuries, and their paintings of the site would become a roadmap for a much later generation of digital artists.

A digital recreation of frescoes at the Domus Aurea, based on Renaissance paintings of the site.

CBS News

Nothing is invented, nothing is invented; every part of the reconstruction has a scientific base, said Raffaele Carlani, an architect and graphic designer whose company, KatatexiLux, painstakingly created the virtual reality show.

And you recognize from this shape, this really strange shape here, Carlani said.

So you go back to these Renaissance paintings to recreate what this looked like, Doane said.

Yes, Carlani replied.

And then transition to here digitally, Doane said, pointing to the recreation on a computer.

Its Italy, so of course his studio has its own frescoed ceiling. Working from the town of Amelia, outside Rome, designers used the graphically-rich technology of video games to virtually transport tourists inside the ancient Domus Aurea, to see its grandeur, colorful marble, and sweeping views of Rome.You look down at the grass and the grass is moving in the wind! Doane said.

This is funny. I saw a lot of children that try to touch the grass, Carlani said, bending over the scene.The city of Rome has used technology to reimagine several tourist sites, including the forums of Caesar and Augustus, where history is illuminated through lasers and light shows projected on the ruins. Through virtual reality, you can understand how these spaces were in the past, said Francesco Prosperetti, the superintendent for archeology in Rome. He was the one who pushed to use virtual reality here.

Its something that nobody can imagine before, Prosperetti said.

Its interesting, this concept of using high modern technology to understand ancient history, Doane said.

To get closer to these things of ancient past that the only way is to use technology, Prosperetti said.

The architecture and paintings here influenced the likes of Michelangelo and Raphael. Excavation work continues, and theres still another 30 percent of this palace to be unearthed.

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Virtual reality helps visitors transport back in time to ancient Roman ... - CBS News

Dell runs four HTC Vives for its Lunar Golf: The Future of Golf traveling PGA experience.Dell

A CEO at one the biggest video game companies in the world is comfortable with virtual reality failing.

Gabe Newell, the CEO of video game developer Valve, said in an interview with gaming news site Polygon this week that while hes optimistic about the immersive technology, hes pretty comfortable with the idea that it will turn out to be a complete failure.

Newells comments are noteworthy considering Valve is the software partner of Taiwanese smartphone maker HTC and its Vive virtual reality headset . Although Valve, a private company, derives the bulk of its revenue from its Steam video game distribution service, the company is heavily investing in VR. The company counts around 1,300 VR apps on its Steam service, according to Polygon.

The general consensus from several analysts and VR research firms that track sales of headsets like the Vive and Facebooks ( fb ) Oculus Rift is that VR is still in its infant stage. Despite a wave of hype surrounding VR prior to the high-profile debuts of the Vive and Rift headsets in 2016, not nearly as many people have bought the high-priced headsets as some firms originally projected.

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Bulky and unfashionable headsets that require beefy computers to operate are just a few of the reasons why mainstream consumers havent gravitated to the technology, although some hardcore gamers and enthusiasts still find them compelling. The Polygon report states that Valve has only made $250,000 per each of the top 30 VR apps on its Steam service, which is well below the millions of dollars a traditional blockbuster game can produce for the company.

"If you don't try things that don't fail you probably aren't trying to do anything very interesting, Newell said. So we hope that we'll find stuff that gamers will say is awesome and is a huge leap forward."

Newell seemed to have called out Facebook during the interview on the social networks original projections on sales of VR headsets. Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg said in 2014 that the company would have to sell 50 million to 100 million VR headsets before he considers the tech to have a meaningful impact as a new way of computing.

"Some people have got attention by going out and saying there'll be millions of [VR unit sales] and we're like, wow, I don't think so, Newell said. I can't point to a single piece of content that would cause millions of people to justify changing their home computing.

For Newell, one of the biggest obstacles facing VR are current technical limitations that currently produce lower-quality visuals compared to bleeding-edge conventional video games. Although VR games are certainly more immersive than 2-D games in that people can battle aliens in 3D digital environments, the resolutions in VR games are significantly lower than in conventional gamesresulting in duller and less colorful visuals.

Even if the price of headsets fall from their current $700-$800 price for headsets like the Rift and Vive, the lack of available and engaging content shows that theres still not a really incredibly compelling reason for people to spend 20 hours a day in VR, Newell said.

Still, Newell is excited about VRonce the technology improves and developers create more compelling games and apps. He estimates that by 2018 or 2019, VR games could see incredibly high resolutions.

The state of virtual reality is akin to the rise of PCs in the early 1980s, when few people beyond technologists thought computers could be useful for multiple tasks like spreadsheets and other business applications, he said.

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And just because mainstream consumers dont yet see the appeal of VR, developers seem to be loving it, despite not making much money on sales of their apps, Newell said. These developers will be crucial for creating the games and apps that could one day be that breakout hit with consumers the VR industry needs.

There's nobody who works in VR saying, 'Oh, I'm bored with this,' said Newell. "Everybody comes back.

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This Powerful Gaming Executive Isn't Worried If Virtual Reality Fails - Fortune

Transcend VR Sues Virtual-Reality Investor Mike Rothenberg - WSJ Wall Street Journal (subscription) Transcend VR LLC is suing venture capitalist Mike Rothenberg on allegations of breach of contract as well as intentional misrepresentation, fraud and deceit. and more »

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Transcend VR Sues Virtual-Reality Investor Mike Rothenberg - WSJ - Wall Street Journal (subscription)

Image: Relax VR

The early promise of virtual reality (VR) was vast: We would be transported to new worlds and live in alternate realities. While scientists and programmers have been investigating the possibilities of VR since the 1960s, it's only in the last few years that the technology started to gain mainstream traction, with VR applications spanning from education to real estate.

Australian startup Relax VR is looking to bring VR into high-pressure corporate environments to relieve occupational stress -- a significant contributor to mental and physical illness, as well as lack of workplace productivity.

Founded by Eddie Cranswick and Sourabh Jain in January 2016, Relax VR is a mobile meditation application compatible with Google's Cardboard and Daydream, as well as Samsung's Gear VR headsets.

The application, which was launched in the iOS and Android app stores in Q2 2016, virtually transports users to tranquil locales of their choosing -- from beaches in Portugal to the Great Ocean Road in Australia -- and immerses them in 360-degree videos. A soothing voice is overlaid onto music to guide the user.

The goal of the application is to allow users to divert their attention inward and teach them to self-manage their stress.

Cranswick, who is based out of Fishburners' coworking space in Ultimo, Sydney, told ZDNet that immersion and presence play an important role when combining meditation techniques with virtual reality for stress management. As such, delivering the right user experience from the moment the user opens the application is paramount to Relax VR's efficacy, Cranswick said.

The startup recently appointed Madrid-based clinical psychologist and VR researcher Ivan Alsina Jurnet as its chief scientist to conduct research and measure the real-world impact of Relax VR.

Jain, who is a yoga and meditation teacher, said the evidence collected by Jurnet will be core to capturing the corporate market, which is a focus for the startup this year.

"There's some research that indicates VR is actually more effective at relaxation than traditional cognitive behavioural therapy. It's a great tool for relaxation and we have science to back that up now," Jain said.

Cranswick noted that selling to corporates is very different to selling to consumers. After the initial discussion, it can take months to progress through the approvals process, which can be challenging for startups taking the B2B approach, he admitted.

But the B2B approach is particularly lucrative for the Relax VR, the founders said. In 2016, the startup was focused predominantly on consumer adoption, but is now in talks with corporations about integrating Relax VR into their employee wellness programs. Pilot programs are currently being organised, though the founders could not disclose further details at the time of speaking to ZDNet.

"We're looking to deliver a structured relaxation program that employees in high-stress environments can sign up to. Corporate wellness is something that we think is a very valid use case for Relax VR," Cranswick said. "But we need to approach it the best way possible. In B2B, it's very important to provide something that's evidence-based, to make sure we've got data to back our [proposition]."

In addition to seeing consumer adoption across a range of global markets outside of Australia including the US, the UK, Germany, Japan, and South Korea, Jain said Relax VR has captured the attention of massage chair manufacturers that are looking to integrate VR headsets to their chairs, as well as companies servicing hospitals.

"We're keeping an eye on how VR is used in hospitals for patient care, especially in the US because hospitals there are generally more advanced when it comes to technology adoption. Once virtual reality headsets are rolled out in hospitals, there will be a massive opportunity for us," said Cranswick.

"It's a great use case, because we'd be able to transport people confined to their beds -- and in many cases, in a lot of pain and experiencing anxiety as well -- to somewhere peaceful. Hospitals don't usually provide a good experience so I think VR has a lot of power to keep people uplifted and keep their minds active."

Relax VR is not the only company to recognise the potential of virtual reality in health settings. In December 2016, Australian health insurer Medibank launched an immersive VR experience for Australian hospitals on Google Daydream, in collaboration with a group of neuropsychologists at Melbourne-based VR developers Liminal.

The "Joy" experience, which was designed entirely in 3D using Google's Tilt Brush, provides hospital patients with a virtual experience to attempt to relieve loneliness and isolation, particularly for long-stay patients with restricted mobility.

Victorian-startup Build VR also recently launched its Solis VR unit, a Gear VR handset that features video scenarios to trigger positive emotions for dementia patients, even for those in the later stages who are barely responsive.

Solis VR users start in a computer generated atrium in front of a wall with five paintings, with each one reflecting a VR experience. When the user looks at a painting, a 360-degree video begins, which could be of anything ranging from scuba diving, canoeing, or a trip to Bali. The experiences offer a distraction when dementia patients are experiencing boredom or displaying repetitive behaviour.

In the future, Relax VR will look to integrate biofeedback systems that measure the physiological aspects that are related to stress, such as body temperature and heart rate variability. By collecting biofeedback changes in real-time, users will have a greater understanding of not only their stress patterns, but also the impact Relax VR is having on their stress patterns over time.

"I'm quite excited about seeing where wearables can be integrated into the experiences. Being able to measure stress indicators and providing that data to users would give them a holistic picture of how the relaxation is affecting them over a period of time," Cranswick said.

While Relax VR is not the only meditation application in the VR world, Jain and Cranswick believe their competitive advantage is their domain expertise.

"I'm a meditation teacher. We now have a clinical psychologist. We have a strong understanding of the content behind relaxation, what helps people relax. Whereas what we see with our competitors is that they tend to have more expertise in virtual reality, and they're kind of jumping on the meditation bandwagon as part of exploring what they can do with VR," Jain said.

"[Their products are] generally not as effective in relaxing users, even though they might be more entertaining."

Relax VR has been applying to accelerator programs and was accepted into one in San Francisco. However, the terms that were put forth by the accelerator were a little too far from ideal, the founders said.

"The whole application process was a good learning experience and it was also good validation for us -- they thought we had potential. But at the stage that we applied, it was better off for us to not take that opportunity at that time," Jain said.

Trevor Townsend, managing director at Startupbootcamp Melbourne, believes the excitement towards technologies such as virtual reality will fizzle out this year.

"Technologies such as Internet of Things, virtual reality, and augmented reality will start to enter the trough of disillusionment in 2017," Townsend told ZDNet earlier this year. "They have been much hyped, and although our industry will be working long and hard to make the technology vision come true, the overshoot of expectations and the reality of what is actually possible and the difficulties of delivering the vision will dampen the enthusiasm for these topics."

Townsend also believes VR and AR will be solutions looking for problems.

"Like the ill-fated 3D TV; people will be slow to adopt such technology [and] that means they need to drastically alter the way they consume entertainment. Immersive experiences will arrive, but probably still not in the way we have envisioned," Townsend said.

Meanwhile, Cranswick believes the VR space is moving faster than it meets the eye.

"I attend a lot of VR events in Australia and I've seen this space move quite quickly over the last year in terms of the general public interest. Enterprise applications of VR are driving a lot of the early adoption, but I think consumer-wise, there have been some big pushes from the likes of Samsung and Google," Cranswick said.

"There's still an element of education that's required for the general market to understand virtual reality. It's a very experiential medium, so you need to try it, it needs to be in more retail stores. A lot of companies need to get the demonstrations happening in greater numbers. Getting people to try it is going to drive adoption. Usually, when someone has tried VR they understand it straight away."

Relax VR is currently a paid app on iOS, Android, and a freemium app on Samsung Gear VR. The monetisation model for corporate customers will be different, though nothing has been finalised yet.

The startup is also planning to raise capital later this year.

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Virtual reality startup Relax VR wants to relieve stress in corporate environments - ZDNet

SeaWorld San Diego will debut a new less theatrical, more natural killer whale show this summer that may change orca shows at the marine theme park for decades to come.

Besides the Orca Encounter show,additions coming to SeaWorld this summer includea themed land with six attractions and a light show.

Controversy has surroundedSeaWorlds Shamu show since a whale named Tilikumkilled trainer Dawn Brancheau during a 2010 show in Florida.Blackfish,a 2013 documentary, cited the treatment of Tilikum and other captive whales. (The 36-year-old killer whale died ofbacterial pneumonia in January at SeaWorld Orlando in Florida.)

After demands by animal rights groups and the California Coastal Commission,Seaworld halted its orca breeding program and ended theatrical killer whale shows at all U.S. locations.

Orca Encounter will takea live documentary approach that emphasizes natural behaviors related to hunting, social interaction and communication, said Marilyn Hannes, president of SeaWorld San Diego.

You wont see the whales mimicking human behaviors, kissing each other or shaking their head yes and no, Hannes said in a phone interview. If you dont see a front flip in the wild, then you wont see it in Orca Encounter.

The stage in San Diegos 5,500-seat Shamu stadium will be transformed with a Pacific Northwest theme featuring natural rock work, faux trees and man-made waterfalls surrounding a 138-foot-wide high-definition infinity screen.

Trainers will use hand signals and whistles to ask the whales to perform behaviors during the narrated 22-minute show.

They will still be breaching because whales breach in the wild, Hannes said. Whales hunt in the wild, and they do movements where they flap their tail to stun their prey or they splash them or they come out of the water to grab a seal from the beach.

People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, or PETA, describes the latest changes to the orca show as smoke and mirrors. The organizationcalls for SeaWorld to retire the killer whales to seaside sanctuaries.

SeaWorld's above-water decorations are marketing ploys designed to impress visitors, but they do nothing for orcas, Tracy Reiman,PETA executive vice president, said in an email. A less theatrical circus is still one in which animals will be forced to perform for a reward of dead fish.

The San Diego park has 11 killer whales; 52-year-old Corky is the oldest, and 2-year-old Amaya the youngest. After more than 50 years of orca shows, the stadium shows will continue to evolveover the next half century,Hannes said.

Were going to have whales for decades to come, Hannes said. Society has changed and we have changed with it.

Theatrical orca shows at SeaWorld parks in Orlando and San Antonio are expected to end in 2019.

But the whale shows arent the only things changing.

Submarine Quest, the marquee ride in the new Ocean Explorers land coming to theSan Diego park, will take visitors on an interactive exploratory mission through various ocean depths while traveling through the new themed land.

Seaworld officials have been quick to point out that Submarine Quest is not a shoot-em-up dark ride. Using digital touchscreens mounted in the ride vehicles, riders will play games and score points as they spot ocean creatures during the indoor and outdoor journey.

Other attractions in the new land will include the Tentacle Twirl wave swing, a kiddie drop tower, a spinning flat ride and a motorized swing set. Three aquariums will feature moray eels, Japanese spider crabs and giant Pacific octopus.

An up-charge virtual-reality experience in the new land will allow visitors to virtually swim with orcas and come nose to nose with killer whales. The five-minute Orca One-on-One short film uses real footage of SeaWorld killer whales without digital enhancements.

Youre up so close you can see their eyes, Brian Morrow, SeaWorld creative director, said in a phone interview.

If successful, the orca VR experience is expected to expand to SeaWorld parks in Orlando and San Antonio.

The new Electric Ocean nighttime spectacular will transform the San Diego park into a canvas painted with light as part of a kiss goodnight show.

Lasers and lights will create an underwater experience similar to the Northern Lights, with bioluminescent animals floating through the sky. While still in development, the plan is to use projection mapping technology on the Journey to Atlantis water coaster buildings to tell the story of the rise and fall of Atlantis.

Electric Ocean is a reinvention of what a nighttime experience in a theme park can be, Morrow said.

As part of the nighttime experience, the Cirque de la Mer acrobatic show on Mission Bay will transform nightly throughout the summer into Cirque Electrique.

In 2018, SeaWorld San Diego will add the Electric Eel triple-launch roller coaster to the new Ocean Explorers themed land.

Riders will pass through a queue with an aquarium filled with moray eels. The ride starts with a forward-backward-forward launch that whips through vertical twists and loops as well as a towering 154-foot-tall barrel roll that ranks as one of the worlds tallest inversions.

Identical versions of the Premier Rides SkyRocket II coaster can be found at Busch Gardens Williamsburg (Tempesto) and Six Flags Discovery Kingdom (Superman Ultimate Flight).

The top 60 feet of the coaster track will be painted sky blue to minimize the visual footprint of the ride. SeaWorld expects to seek approval to install the ride later this year from the California Coastal Commission.

Were still going to be focused on inspiring our guests to help save the planet that we all share with these animals, Morrow said. The world needs places like this, now and even more so in the future. And were poised to be that place for the world.

SeaWorld remains focused on inspiring visitors to make a difference in the world, Morrow said.

The core essence of the mission will never change: to inspire people to come into our park and leave a better person and make the planet a better place, Morrow said.

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Revised orca shows, new virtual-reality swim with whales and new ... - Los Angeles Times

Richard Gelfond, chief executive of big-screen company Imax Corp.,unveiled his new virtual reality center Tuesday with a bullish plan to turn the nascent VR industry into a mainstream art form just like movies and video games.

It wont be easy. The VR business, Gelfond said, remains stuck in its early stages for now and badlyneeds a jump-start.

Though Hollywood and Silicon Valley have been touting virtual reality as the next big thing for several years, there are huge hurdles to its adoption in the entertainment industry. A major one is that the headsets and computing equipment the games require can cost thousands of dollars. Another problem: There arentenough compelling games to make VR worth the price.

Whether its the lack of content orconsumer access to headsets, the industry has been in a holding pattern, slow to go mainstream, Gelfond told reportersat Imaxs VR Experience Centre in Los Angeles.Its a complex ecosystem thats in need of a jump-start, and were here to start to provide the spark.

Gelfond and Imax are hoping to help fix those problems by makingbig bets on VR. The companyplans to open six pilot centers this year, including the Los Angeles location, which opened to the public last month.

The idea is to give people a place to play around with virtual reality games without having to pay that massive upfront cost of a full-on at-home setup.Customers pay $7 to $10 for a virtual reality experience, including games based on movies such as Lionsgates John Wick and TriStars The Walk, which allows daring customers to step on the virtual tightrope between the Twin Towers just like Joseph Gordon-Levitt in the Robert Zemeckis film.

While VR may not be entirely ready for prime time at this moment, were excited about the opportunity, Gelfond said.Someone needs to shake things up.

Imax has made deals to build pilot centers in multiplexeswith AMC Theatres and Regal Entertainment Group to test whether such attractions will help bring young people back to movie theaters. Each center costs Imax $250,000 to $400,000 to create, not counting real estate spending, Gelfond said. Imax has additional centers planned for Britain and China and is eyeing projects in Japan, the Middle East and Western Europe.

Imax has also made moves to fix the industrys content shortage. The company recently started afund with companies including Acer and CAA to finance new games for virtual reality headsets, totaling $50 million. In addition, Imax is working with Google to develop a newcinema-quality virtual reality camera.Hollywood has shown a lot of interest in virtual reality, but not for full-length movies made for headsets. Virtual reality experiences are meant to last up to 15minutes at the Imax center.

The company on Tuesday announced deals with David Ellisons production company Skydance Media and game publishing giant Ubisoft to provide content to the new centers. Skydances upcoming games include ascience-fiction first-person shooter called Archangel and Life VR, an experience tied to the companys upcoming space station thriller Life.Similar to the movie industry, Imax will share ticketing revenue with the gaming studios.

While the games will be available for at-home headsets, Ellison said locations such as the Imax centers are necessary to get the industry off the ground, much like arcadeswere in the early days of the video gaming industry.

The place most people are going to experience VR for the first time is going to be in places like Imax, Ellison told The Times.We very much want to be a first-mover and we hope to establish a brand with what were doing here.

The flagshipImax VR Centre, located across the street from the Grove shopping center, opened with a soft launchJan. 6. Gelfond said it has so far attracted 5,000 customers, and sales have steadily grown. But, he admits, the companys involvement with VR is still in very experimental stages.

These pilots are really going to be the testing ground, Gelfond told The Times.I look at this as a very flexible platform that is intended to be Imaxs flag in the ground and will evolve as we go along.

ryan.faughnder@latimes.com

@rfaughnder

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Virtual reality industry 'in need of a jump-start,' Imax CEO says at new VR center - Los Angeles Times