Facebook FB is working on a stand-alone app that would support 360-degree—or “spherical”—video, allowing users to alter their viewing perspective with the mere tilt of their phones.
The app is still in early development, and would be available for both Apple AAPL and Android operating systems if it proves to be a go, sources close to the project told The Wall Street Journal.
Typically compiled from multiple cameras, the video format allows users to change their viewing perspective by tilting their phones, the Journal reported.
The wild, behemoth 16-camera virtual reality rig that GoPro announced at Google’s I/O conference is officially called “Odyssey,” and is now available for purchase. But it is not for everyone. It costs $15,000, and only “professional content creators and producers” will be allowed to buy it — after they submit an application.
That price tag might make your eyes spin, but it does cover a good amount of equipment. Buying an Odyssey means you get 16 of GoPro’s top-of-the-line Hero 4 Black, a microphone, the rig and all the necessary cables, a Pelican case to carry it all in, as well as a warranty and support. For a production company that’s looking to get into the virtual reality game but doesn’t necessarily want to go the DIY route, this could be the best option.
Castrol Edge & Video Games technologies: Racing a Real Car in Virtual Reality.
Castrol EDGE has premiered its latest Titanium Trial driving challenge, featuring Formula Drift professional Matt Powers driving his Roush Stage 3 Mustang whilst wearing a state-of-the-art Oculus Rift Development Kit 2 headset: blind to the real world around him, but fully-immersed in a rapidly changing 3D virtual world.
In a world first, Castrol EDGE fused video games technology and a real world driving experience, using a modified car and virtual reality technology, so a computergenerated world responded to the driver’s and car’s movements in real time.
The video game-like experience featured a mind-blowing landscape of falling boulders, crumbling track, tunnels, sheer cliff drops and even a cameo virtual appearance from another racing icon — with the landscape’s shifts reacting to Matt Powers’ every driving move.
The challenge was part of Castrol EDGE’s Titanium Trials, a series of high-powered challenges that bring man and machine together to push the boundaries of performance enabled by the strength of Castrol EDGE boosted with fluid Titanium technology – Castrol’s most technologically advanced and strongest oil.
After taking on the VIRTUAL DRIFT Trial, Matt Powers said: “Virtual Drift was exhilarating and challenging like nothing I’ve ever done before. It’s been awesome not only being involved and testing this next generation of gaming technology but the possibilities this opens up for motor sport in general are mind blowing. I had to rely on my instincts and the car to perform, with the strength of Castrol EDGE in the engine to give me the reassurance that the car would reach its maximum performance.”
Chinese-based VR treadmill project Kat Walk raised nearly $150,000 on Kickstarter, and the company has announced that non-Kickstarter preorders are coming soon.
Why haven’t we found alien neighbors? One theory says advanced species don’t colonize outer space, but make virtual worlds and colonize inner space instead.
If you’ve ever watched someone experience virtual reality for the first time, you know it can involve screaming, flapping arms, and occasional falls.
On one level people know their bodies are safe on the stable chair, but as their minds are catapulted through outer space on a spaceship to Mars or beamed into a refugee camp in Syria —they can’t help but lose their grip on reality and go along for the ride.
In fact, our brains don’t even require photorealism for suspension of disbelief in VR. A choppy CGI rendition will cause our heart rates to increase and our palms to get sweaty when we’re riding a virtual roller coaster or standing on the edge of a virtual building looking at the ground 30 stories below.
