AR/VR Weekly: Headsets and glasses go beyond games
We often focus on the video game angle when it comes to augmented and virtual reality. We’re GamesBeat, after all. But sometimes, we break out of that narrow focus to look at some of the other uses for VR — and one of the most intriguing is health care.
At Children’s Hospital in Los Angeles, one of original members of the Oculus VR team put together some developers for a project on using VR to train doctors to save infants who’ve suffered a seizure or are in anaphylactic shock. It’s a fantastic use of virtual reality, enabling medical workers to hone their techniques — and maybe learn new ones — with tech that could one day simulate thousands of real-world situations.
And remember Google Glass? This set of AR glasses is finding a home in the enterprise scene. It’s even helping workers in factories.
So while we talk more about Star Wars Holochess and Pokémon Go (including its problems, like with its recent Fest event) here at GamesBeat, we’re excited that AR and VR are finding plenty of uses outside of gaming and media. It’s nice to see Glass grow beyond the realm of Glassholes and fashionistas.
For AR/VR coverage, send news tips to Dean Takahashi and Jeff Grubb (for those that cross over into PC gaming). Please send guest post submissions to Rowan Kaiser. Please be sure to visit our AR/VR Channel.
—Jason Wilson, GamesBeat managing editor
P.S. Dean does a turn as Rocket Raccoon in Marvel’s Powers United. And he shoots The Hulk in the butt.
From GamesBeat
Facebook now automatically stabilizes shaky Live 360 videos
Facebook today announced a series of new features for Live 360 videos, including automatic stabilization for some videos uploaded to the social network. Auto stabilization will be deployed by Facebook algorithms anytime a video is found to be too shaky. Live 360 videos can now stream live in 4K resolution and will soon be able […]
How VR training prepares surgeons to save infants’ lives
Virtual reality promises to be great for gamers, but it also has potential to change the world in other ways. Shauna Heller recognized that potential, so she quit her job at Oculus VR and became a consultant — working to bring non-VR applications to life. One of the projects she took on was to create […]
Pokémon Go Fest is experiencing connectivity issues
Fans who were hoping to catch ’em all at the Pokémon Go Fest today are experiencing some technical issues. The real-world event is developer Niantic Inc.’s way of throwing a one-year birthday party for its hit mobile game Pokémon Go. Around 20,000 fans are expected to attend the festival today in Chicago, Ill.’s Grant Park (as first reported […]
Echo Arena: Hands-on gameplay of zero-gravity multiplayer in VR
Ready At Dawn Studios spent 20 months working on its science fiction single-player virtual reality game Lone Echo and its accompanying multiplayer companion mode Echo Arena. Both are debuting today exclusively on the Oculus Rift + Touch VR platform, and they’re going to take the quality of VR entertainment up a notch. I played Echo Arena again in […]
Presence Capital has made 33 VR and AR investments in less than 2 years
EXCLUSIVE: Presence Capital — one of the earliest venture capital firms to focus on virtual reality and augmented reality startups — is today announcing that it has made 33 investments. That’s a lot of investments for a fund that was announced in December 2015. Presence Capital has invested in Baobab Studios, Bigscreen, Harmonix, Nomadic, Meta, Resolution Games, […]
Marvel Powers United VR: Hands-on with the superhero VR app on the Oculus Rift
Disney showed a glimpse of Marvel’s first virtual reality game over the weekend, showing three of a dozen superheroes who will be available in the game. And now we’ve been able to get our hands on the game, Marvel Powers United VR, on the Oculus Rift. This is the kind of brand and experience that […]
Beyond GamesBeat
A ‘Smart Headset’ War Between Microsoft and Google Could Revolutionize the Workplace
Both Microsoft and Google envision a not-so-distant future in which donning smart headgear to repair an elevator or assemble a tractor motor is the norm. Over the past several days, both tech giants have revealed they’re each taking concrete and compelling steps to make that happen. (via Time)
Google Glass is back with hardware focused on the enterprise
Google Glass arguably always only made sense as an enterprise-focused product, but now it’s officially back and customized for those applications, with Glass Enterprise Edition (EE). The wearable head-mounted display has long had a place in the enterprise, even as its death as an experimental consumer product was being widely reported, but now we know a bit more about the EE hardware reconfiguration and Google’s approach to deploying the revised product. (via TechCrunch)
HoloLens 2.0 Will Use A New Processing Unit To Implement Speech And Image Recognition
The first version of Microsoft’s HoloLens Mixed Reality headset has plenty of room for improvement, but the company is working on a new version that will sport a new processing unit to enable the device to use deep learning. (via UploadVR)
Here’s How VR is Reshaping the Criminal Justice System
In the past half-decade, we’ve explored many interesting, entertaining, and educational use cases for VR. Now, sheriffs in Monmouth County, NJ are being trained using a new training facility incorporates a virtual reality simulator, the VirTra V-300, with physical training. The V-300 allows for officers to experience criminal, and potentially dangerous, situations. (via VR Scout)
The PC Gaming channel is presented by Intel®'s Game Dev program.
