Month: July 2014

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Can immersive virtual reality kill?

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Can a Baby’s Death Tell Us Anything About Video Game Addiction? Most Americans don’t take video game addiction terribly seriously, but South Korea has been dealing with rising rates of gaming addiction for years now. And the new documentary Love Child, which aired on HBO Monday night, explores the cultural climate that produces the problem. Love Child investigates the story of a 3-month-old baby, Sarang, who died of malnourishment in 2010 while her parents were out playing video games at a PC bang, or Internet cafe. The couple was poor, and they earned money by playing video games— they would … Continue reading Can immersive virtual reality kill?

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Is it the right time for virtual money?

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Wildcat Currency by Edward Castronova is about real-world currencies versus virtual money Edward Castronova lives in a fantasy world, populated by Shadow Knights, Beastlords, Berserkers and, one might be forgiven for supposing, socially challenged teenage boys. And yet Castronova is a professor of telecommunications at Indiana University Bloomington – and from out of the depths of this virtual world and its millions of global devotees he has mined a manifesto for a real-world revolution that threatens to expose as illusory one of the fundamental cornerstones of the “real” world in which we live. A self-professed online gaming enthusiast, Castronova has … Continue reading Is it the right time for virtual money?

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A new theater for Oculus Rift

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  Riftmax theater is a multi-user virtual meeting space Riftmax Theater 4D, a virtual environment with a theater and meeting space, has been released for the Oculus Rift and is now available for free as a download from Oculus Share or from the project website. It was also the location of last week’s Road to VR Roundtable Discussion and is where the talk show Virtually Incorrect with Gunter — now in its 12th episode — is filmed. The multi-user environments currently offers a choice of six pre-built environments as well as a separate editor that can be used to design … Continue reading A new theater for Oculus Rift

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Avatars for fashion design

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Say goodbye to Naomi, Kate and Claudia. Enter ‘Ava’. Forget top models. With haute couture turning to virtual reality, holographic versions of the world’s most in-demand models are now striding down the catwalks alongside their human counterparts. But does this mean temperamental models are on their way out? New research has been revealed which shows it could be the end of the fashion world as we know it. A study published in the International Journal of Fashion Design, Technology and Education investigates the production of a realistic virtual human for animation and reveals that avatars are the way forward in … Continue reading Avatars for fashion design

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Augmented reality for vehicle exploration

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    Vectorform shows visionary sales application for Google Glass Hardly any technology in recent times has been as controversial to society as Google Glass. Many have opinions, yet few have actually had the opportunity to experience the device first-hand. When it comes to “true” Augmented Reality, what is Glass really capable of? Vectorform – one of the leading agencies for technology and design has for some time now been hard at work developing applications for mobile devices such as data glasses. In association with Mediaplus and Serviceplan, Vectorform has become the first company in Germany to develop an AR … Continue reading Augmented reality for vehicle exploration

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How do you feel to be a civilian in a zone war?

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War games – developers find new ways to explore military conflict You burst into the apartment and the occupants, an older couple, turn towards you, terrified. “Are you going to kill us?” the man quickly asks. You pause at the door, surveying the room for useful items. “Are you going to kill us?” This was once a lovely home. Antique book cases line the walls; there are comfy armchairs, a huge stone fireplace. But the city is disintegrating and this place is dark and wretched now. You need medicine and the couple say they haven’t got any so you beat … Continue reading How do you feel to be a civilian in a zone war?

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Virtual reality will become the computing platform for Facebook

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Facebook: We will be investing ‘aggressively’ in virtual reality Facebook will be “investing aggressively” in virtual reality, company executives said on an earnings call yesterday. The company closed on a $2 billion acquisition of virtual reality headset maker Oculus VR earlier this week. “We’re not getting into more specifics on the exact headcounts,” said Facebook CFO Dave Wehner. “But we believe those are significant opportunities in the long run and so we’re going to be investing aggressively accordingly.”CEO Mark Zuckerberg outlined the company’s vision for the device, which includes continued investment and a long-term perspective. In particular, virtual reality is … Continue reading Virtual reality will become the computing platform for Facebook

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Gender issues in the gaming industry

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  No skin thick enough: The daily harassment of women in the game industry Women are the niggers of gender,” the email said. “If you killed yourself, I wouldn’t even fuck the corpse.” I blinked at my phone, fighting simultaneous urges to hurl my phone across the room in anger and cry. Later that day, someone texted me my address — telling me they’d “See me when I least expected it.” I haven’t been out to my car at night by myself since January 2nd. My name is Brianna Wu. I lead a development studio that makes games. Sometimes, I … Continue reading Gender issues in the gaming industry

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Immersion therapy for bullied kids

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Beyond gaming: virtual reality hits the classroom Oculus, creator of the Rift, made headlines a few months ago when Facebook acquired the virtual reality tech startup for $2 billion, just two years after their initial kickstarter campaign. While the technology is mostly known for its gaming applications, our Future Tech team – which looks at emerging trends and technologies with potential to have a positive impact on learning – has been experimenting with the virtual reality headset over the last year and just finished up an educational prototype for kids ages 7 to 12. Known as Fishfinder, the prototype helps … Continue reading Immersion therapy for bullied kids

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Why should we use virtual conferences?

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5 tips for mentoring in a virtual world When face-to-face meetings for mentoring and coaching sessions aren’t an option, most people would turn to telephone calls, Skype, or Google Hangouts. But a mentoring session in a virtual world offers some additional functionality and some benefits not found in other platforms. For example, in addition to removing the barriers of physical distance, virtual environments can eliminate some less tangible kinds of barriers as well. “Using avatars fully in a mentoring situation can mean easing the social and psychological obstacles for the mentor and mentee,” said Jane Wilde, owner of Vermont-based Absolute … Continue reading Why should we use virtual conferences?