virtual reality

Marriott International’s Creative Director Marc Battaglia says the company has already been aggressively testing the virtual reality waters. He says that within two years, it’s going to be a “key part” of the company’s marketing strategy capable of producing an emotional connection with consumers like nothing else.

AP reporter Derrick J. Lang spent an entire week with the consumer edition of the Vive, an $800 room-scale virtual reality system released this month by smartphone maker HTC and game pioneer Valve. It uses a pair of wand-shaped controllers to mimic hands in virtual worlds displayed within goggles. Here’s his account.

The NCAA has decided to broadcast the most important part of this year’s college basketball tournament, the Final Four, in virtual reality, for the first time. Presented as a partnership between the NCAA, CBS and Oculus, the live stream event will be produced by VR production house Voke.

Deep breath, publishers: you won’t need to be cranking out VR stories for the new Oculus Rift headset overnight. Joseph Lichterman writes that based on the spate of early reviews, it’s an impressive and positive step in the VR revolution, but widespread adoption will likely be hampered by its price tag ($599) and the high-powered PC it needs to run (no Macs yet). In short, it’s also just thrilling enough to get critics revved up for the 2.0 version.

NEW YORK (AP) — Hollywood studios, news outlets and consumer brands are all dabbling with virtual reality. Many everyday folks will soon join them using 360-degree cameras coming soon from […]

The new report from the Knight Foundation and the USA Today Network surveyed 10 news organizations that have been experimenting in the form, and finds that while proliferation is expected this year, there are also a number of concerns. Those range from production burdens, headset availability and ad metrics to whether people will actually embrace the experience.

Advertising could likely, as in TV and on the Web, form the financial backbone of VR’s universe, and the technology’s dazzling visuals, boundless worlds and captive goggles-wearing clientele have turned what once seemed like a passing fad into an advertisers’ dream. But that rush into VR ads and 360-degree videos — their less-involved technological cousins — means advertisers will likely define the platform before it hits mainstream audiences, much in the same way pop-up ads shaped the early Web.

In case you worried that Netflix wasn’t developing on all fronts at one, calm yourself. The company is tracking developments in virtual reality with great interest, an executive said at the Mobile World Congress in Barcelaona this week. “We’ve very interested in where it could go in storytelling,” said Chirs Jaffe, VP of product innovation.

The founder of Oculus told a group of developers working on virtual reality content Wednesday that the immersive medium’s success should be measured by time — not necessarily money — spent on it.

Facebook has been spinning up its Oculus VR business for some time, but Google has just belatedly started putting together its own division for virtual reality computing. SVP Diane Greene will now oversee Google’s Web apps, with Clay Bavor, VP for product management, focusing exclusively on VR products. A Google VR product may yet be years away, however, while Facebook has 400 people working on Oculus.

Taking a step further into the virtual reality industry, 21st Century Fox has acquired a minority stake in virtual reality smart glass manufacturer the Osterhout Design Group. As a result of the deal, 21st Century will become the chief outside investor of ODG and will provide entertainment content through a “strategic partnership.” Financial details were not disclosed.

Could be, now that some major consumer headsets are in the market. Laura Sydell looks at the prospects for the platform to go mainstream, a move which may mightily depend on the quality of the hardware an the effects of early experiments such as those happening at The New York Times.

Disruption will meet velocity in 2016, when trends like OTT and distributed publishing that have already shown their face will now accelerate with dramatic force. NetNewsCheck Editor Michael Depp looks at six media dynamics that will change the game in 2016.

If you’re a gamer, the appeal of immersing yourself in a virtual world might be obvious. The rest of us, though, still need convincing. The new systems represent “science fiction coming to reality,” said Gary Shapiro, head of the group that runs the annual CES gadget show in Las Vegas, which will showcase VR and related technologies in early January. What’s changed? Screen and graphics technologies have finally gotten good enough to provide a realistic and responsive VR experience.

That number includes the value of both hardware and software and would be a 10-fold increase from the $6.7 billion that market researcher TrendForce expects the industry to generate next year. But even that understates the market, TrendForce insists.

Samsung makes history of a sort Friday by launching the first major consumer-oriented virtual-reality headset. (It comes with an asterisk; prototypes and other not-quite-mass-market versions have been available for a while.) And its Gear VR headset is pretty impressive as first-generation devices go.

Virtual reality — once the stuff of science fiction — is still in its infancy. But there’s already a gold rush around the technology, which plunges viewers into a simulated 3D environment and lets them explore their surroundings as if they were really there. Technology and entertainment giants are betting billions that virtual reality is much more than a passing fad, one that will revolutionize the way we experience movies, news, sporting events, video games and more.

As platforms and entertainment content created expressly for virtual reality continue to proliferate, advertisers are left to wonder where — and if — their messages will find a home.

Shan Wang runs down the list of news outlets that are developing or rolling out VR projects, among them The Wall Street Journal, The New York Times and Gannett. A good look at the state of VR adoption and the months of production its projects can be on the back end

Last week’s Golden State Warriors-New Orleans Pelicans NBA Opening Night matchup marked the first time a U.S. major sports league live-streamed a game in virtual reality. In addition to the game itself at Oakland’s Oracle Arena, the NBA, Turner Sports and NextVR teamed up to live-stream the Warriors’ NBA Championship ring ceremony in VR prior to tipoff.

YouTube has grown into an online video empire. In his first interview as the site’s engineering chief, Matthew Mengerink discusses virtual reality, making money and stepping into the role during trying times for YouTube’s engineers.

Gurman Bhatia offers up a useful overview of just how deeply virtual reality has permeated news organizations, from Frontline‘s latest effort on the Ebola outbreak to ABC’s work on Syria and Gannett’s numerous projects, including “Harvest of Change” at the Des Moines Register.

ABC News President James Golston today announced the launch of a virtual reality project, making ABC the first major broadcast news network to venture into virtual reality storytelling.

irtual reality headsets and content will be “the next mega tech theme” and a market worth more than $60 billion in a decade, according to Piper Jaffray Cos. “The diverse applications of VR in combination with accelerating technological improvements will lead to mainstream adoption over the next 10 years,” according to Piper Jaffray analysts including Gene Munster and Erinn Murphy. “Our optimism around the theme is based on consumers’ insatiable appetite for new tech experiences.”

If you’re a gamer, the appeal of immersing yourself in a virtual world might be obvious. The rest of us, though, still need convincing. The new systems represent “science fiction coming to reality,” said Gary Shapiro, head of the group that runs the annual CES gadget show in Las Vegas, which will showcase VR and related technologies in early January. What’s changed? Screen and graphics technologies have finally gotten good enough to provide a realistic and responsive VR experience.