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Wednesday 19 October 2016

VR Marketing

  Essential Marketing

  As of 2016, people that have succeeded with Virtual Reality marketing are company's that identify narratives and secondly put 100% of their resources into creating stories that interact with their audience. Virtual Reality solves the problem of grabbing their audiences attention and keeping them fully engaged. Some reasons are being immersive, that is when the user is provided with a headset and engaged with the content and has fewer distractions and more attention towards the message. Impacting the customer, the intensity of the Virtual Reality experience is powerful generating emotions in the individual. Memorable, the Virtual Reality experience is something truly remarkable and will be imprinted in peoples brains. Some of the major company's like Coca Cola and McDonald's have invested their commercial time with Virtual Reality technology because its a new fresh start for their customers to see where technology has brought us. It was a perfect opportunity for the company's as they are always striving to become better. This new technology will enable many more company's like McDonald's and Coca Cola to expand into the Virtual Reality scene to showcase how impressive the marketing strategies are and that there are no limits when it comes to using this technology. Creativity is key in marketing, it enables the company's to think outside the box and bring something something unique to the table. The possibilities are endless. 










References

http://www.cio.com/article/3119750/marketing/why-it-will-be-key-to-successful-vr-marketing.html

Gaming platform

   Gaming platform

  The “new” form of gaming, If you have been apart of the gaming community then 
you're definitely looking forward for the new wave of virtual reality. It has been 20 years of process and failure but the technology is finally coming along. Virtual Reality was supposed to immerse us in inspired digital worlds, enabling us to interact with technology in new ways and experience gaming at its most intense and absorbing. Instead, what it gave us was eyestrain, neck ache and motion sickness. After all of these false promises, in 2016 you will see the launch of three new Virtual Reality systems. Facebook’s Oculus Rift , Valve’s Steam Virtual Reality, HTC’s Vive, and Sony’s PlayStation Virtual Reality are able to take advantage of all the progress made in graphics technology. As well, they’ve learned from the error's made by previous attempts to deliver something that lives up to anticipation and that, crucially, won’t leave us feeling nauseous. It’s exhilarating and innovative titles like these that the Virtual Reality systems need to set it apart from more traditional gaming platform. With original and immersive content to showcase the unique promise of the technology, it seems that Virtual Reality really is ready to hit the mainstream and start pulling people into its unreal worlds.







References


http://venturebeat.com/2016/01/08/how-virtual-reality-gaming-will-change-the-world-in-2016/

https://www.wired.com/2014/05/oculus-rift-4/

Vitrual Reality's Effect on the Mind and Body



Over the past two years we have seen some amazing developments taking place in the field of virtual reality. New games, applications, and products are just a few of the topics ruling conversations about VR. Amongst all of the excitement surrounding the future of VR, the way that this new technology will affect its users often gets overlooked. Researchers around the world are working to assess how the use of VR will affect a user’s mind and body over time.

The known effects and health and safety risks that have been attributed to this relatively new technology will be discussed briefly in this post.

Physical Effects
Some common side effects often experienced by users include:

  • Nausea 
  • Eye strain (sometimes severe) 
  • Motion sickness 
  • Anxiety 
  • Headaches 
  • Blurred visions 
  • Disorientation


As of right now most major headset creators advise that children should not use their product. Even adults are urged to take lengthy breaks every half-hour or so to avoid these effects.

Physical Injury
Headsets that cover the eyes pose the obvious threat of visual impairment. Users can see what is in front of them in the virtual world but not in the world that they are physically in. Tripping over or walking into an object sounds funny until it actually happens. It may seem simple to avoid these injuries, however they are very common and VR headset makers must warn consumers about them in their Health and Safety guidelines.

A type of physical injury that users are warned about in the Oculus Rift headset’s Health and Safety Guidelines is repetitive stress Injury. The document states, “Using the device can make your muscles, joints or skin hurt. If any part of your body becomes tired or sore while using the headset or its components, or if you feel symptoms such as tingling, numbness, burning or stiffness, stop and rest for several hours before using it again.” (Oculus 2016).

Neurological and Psychological Effects
Data pertaining to how the use of VR headsets affects the brain over time is hard to come by due to the fact that this technology is still very new. Although developers have been working on virtual reality programs and simulations for decades, commercial headsets have just become available to the masses in the year 2016.



              The video above, from www.wsj.com, briefly discusses VR's health risks and its psychological effect on users


Although some short term effects have been listed above, we are still unsure of how virtual reality will affect one’s mind and body over a long period of time. Many researchers agree that it is far too early to tell if VR’s effects extend beyond the short term at all.

Nikola Davis a writer at theguardian.com published an article with a quote from a professor of optometry at the University of Cal, Berkeley named Marty Banks. When discussing the aspects of virtual reality and vision, Banks said, “Everything I have seen suggests it is all short-term and you readjust after you take that headset off. But I think it would be unwise for us to say there is no problem.” (Davis, Banks 2016)

As advancements in the field of VR continue to be made, we can expect new research about the technology’s effects to become readily available to users.



Resources:
Nicas, J. (2016, 3 January). What Does Virtual Reality Do to Your Body and Mind? Retrieved October 16, 2016 from
http://www.wsj.com/articles/what-does-virtual-reality-do-to-your-body-and-mind-1451858778

Magyari, D. (2016, 8 January). Virtual reality: Are health risks being ignored? Retrieved October 16, 2016 from

Davis, N. (2016, 19 March). Long-term effects of virtual reality use need more research, say scientists. Retrieved October 17, 2016 from

Oculus. (2016). Health and Safety. Retrieved October 17, 2016 from
https://static.oculus.com/documents/310-30023-01_Rift_HealthSafety_English.pdf#page=1&zoom=130,149,218

Monday 17 October 2016

Virtual Reality Web Browser and Social VR



When Facebook bought the company Oculus in March of 2014 it sent shockwaves throughout the tech industry. The $2 billion US deal changed virtual reality forever. Oculus, a leader in the field of VR, currently has one of the best-selling VR headset on the market with their Oculus Rift product. Now, about two years after the industry shaking deal, Facebook and Oculus have unveiled what they’ve been working on. Developers at both companies have been working on developing VR’s own World Wide Web.


Web VR

Facebook and Oculus are designing the framework for Web VR to be a standard for all VR devices. As of now, devices from different companies and developers run apps that are built specifically for their device. These apps are downloaded from app stores that are unique to each device. Web VR aims to bridge the gap between devices and offer content available to everyone, regardless of the headset you own.

Web VR’s current capabilities include instantly playable experiences on Web VR; for example 360 video. Web VR is designed to make VR experiences available to a wider audience.


Carmel Browser

A type of internet browser codenamed Carmel is also in the works. This browser’s full capabilities are not yet known and it is unclear why a separate web browser is needed to access Web VR.


What We Know 
  • Will allow users to browse the web on their headsets 
  • Set to work on any Oculus device 
  • VR will not be confined to standalone apps and games



According to Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg early previews will be made available to VR developers in the near future.



Social VR

The next step in Facebook’s plan for WebVR and their Carmel browser is to create social VR software.

At the Oculus Connect 3 event co-founder and CEO of Facebook Mark Zuckerberg said, "Virtual reality is the perfect platform to put people first, because of presence. You feel like you're really there, in another place, with people." (2016)


In the video above we can see Mark Zuckerberg showcasing some of Facebook and Oculus' early social VR capabilities.

Michael Booth, Head of Facebook’s Social VR team who was also featured in the demo above had this to say about social VR, “In the videogame industry, we focused all of our energy on ‘we’re gonna create an experience for you.’ This is turning that completely around. It’s all about putting people first—connecting with your friends. I think we’re getting pretty close to that." (2016)

At Oculus Connect 3, Oculus also announced its plans for social VR. New avatars and social hang out rooms will be available on the platform in the coming months.








Resources:

, G. (2016, 7 October). Facebook Carmel Is a Web Browser for VR. Retrieved October 13, 2016 from

 http://gadgets.ndtv.com/apps/news/facebook-carmel-is-a-web-browser-for-vr-1471582



Colaner, S. (2016, 6 October). Web VR: Oculus, Facebook Pushing VR For All With React VR, 'Carmel' Browser. Retrieved October 13, 2016 from

http://www.tomshardware.com/news/web-vr-oculus-facebook-carmel-react-vr,32822.html



Rubin, P. (2016, 7 October). Mark Zuckerberg’s VR Selfie Is a Bigger Deal Than You Realize. Retrieved October 13, 2016 from

https://www.wired.com/2016/10/oculus-facebook-social-vr/