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Dolby and Avid make it easier for indie artists to use immersive Atmos tech
Music tracks encoded with Dolby’s immersive Atmos Music tech recently start appearing on Tidal and other streaming services, but most are from artists backed by major labels. Now, Dolby and Pro Tools developer Avid are making it easier for independent artists to encode and distribute Atmos Music.
The band X Ambassadors created a music video for the visually impaired
For people who are blind or visually impaired, listening to a music video is often just like listening to the track. The band X Ambassadors wants to change that. They've teamed up with Microsoft to create an "audio-only music video" that's meant to allow blind, low-vision and sighted fans to enjoy the single "Boom" in a new way.
'Away Mission' is a free-roaming 'Star Trek' VR experience
When Starfleet calls, Trekkies will answer, and Starfleet's latest call to action involves the world's first free-roam Star Trek experience. Later this year Sandbox VR will launch the first Holodeck VR experience, where fans can enter the world of Star Trek to complete a mission involving problem-solving, combat and -- of course -- phasers.
Redesigned Jaunt VR app hits Windows Mixed Reality next month
Jaunt has been working on immersive VR for quite some time now. It got an infusion of Disney cash a couple of years back and has been steadily adding technology like Dolby audio to it's library of VR content. You can even check out 150 cinematic titles from the company on Oculus, Vive, Daydream, Gear VR and PlayStation VR, along with iOS and Android. Jaunt has just announced a new partnership with Microsoft, which will put an updated Jaunt app on Windows Mixed Reality by mid-October.
The Perfect Ten: Obnoxious studio buzz words
So say that you write for Massively. Or say that you work for another news site while wistfully refreshing Massively's front page hoping to see a "we're hiring!" notice pop up. Or say that you're a two-headed frog that has a respectable blog that one head writes for while the other one eats flies. The important thing for this example is to imagine that you write news. Because you write news, a good chunk of your day is spent prowling for stories. Some of them you find while browsing. Some of them are sent to your email. Once in a great while your cell phone registers a call from California and a way-too-peppy voice tries to sell you on the notion of writing a 2000-word feature on a game that only the mole people have heard of. In all of this, you are exposed to a great amount of PR-speak. You see the same phrases pop up, again and again. You understand how words can be hollow shells wrapped around a complete lack of meaning. You start to go mad until your other head tells you to snap out of it and eat some more flies. So today you're going to join me here on this side of the news desk as we look at 10 of the most obnoxious buzz words or phrases that studio PR and devs like to toss our way. You could get really cynical reading this list, but I suggest that you make a bingo sheet instead to turn this into a fun game that never, ever ends!
MMO Blender: Using older MMOs to build a perfectly paced world
One of the issues I have with so many modern AAA titles is that when I play them, I immediately feel forced through a series of noisy and chaotic moments. I know that these tutorials are supposed to make me feel as though I am stepping into a sort of world-on-fire, but to me it just feels like a mess. RIFT is a great game, truly, but every time I want to start a new character or try the game out again, I dread going through the annoying tutorial. It's so demanding. It grabs my hand and pulls me through a linear series of non-discoveries. Now, this might just be my fading gamer memory, but I distinctly remember how it felt to be dropped off in the middle of nowhere in an MMO. While there are a few modern titles like Wurm Online that basically do the same thing, the mystery and immersion of those first few levels in most major MMOs has been replaced by sheer noise. I don't like it. Good pacing is a wonderful thing. If it's tweaked just right, players feel immediately invested in a world even while feeling completely lost. I'd like to make this week's dream MMO using those older-game designs. It's time to slow down.
Sony brings the Holodeck to life, throws in giant sea monsters for free (video)
The Holodeck is real and there's no Lt. Barclay to make things awkward. Using a combination of a Steadicam, multiple EyeToy cameras, PlayStation Move controllers, projection mapping, motion tracking, spandex-clad actors and giant rubber sea monster tentacles, Sony Europe, Studio Output and Marshmallow Laser Feast shot three web videos to highlight the immersiveness of movies rented or purchased from the PlayStation Store. Impressively, the shots rely exclusively on visual tricks, with zero editing or postproduction work. Is this the future? See for yourself after the break and relive the joy of the Holodeck without having to interrupt Worf from one of his weird workout routines.
Gaming gets immersive thanks to union of pico projector and eye tracking camera (video)
Although in the earliest stages of development, this virtual reality gaming rig already looks pretty intriguing. Engineered by clever kids at the University of Texas at Austin, it hot-wires an eye tracking camera to a motorised pico projector with the result that the player literally can't take their eyes off the screen. Wherever they look, that is where their view of the gaming world is projected. The rig makes most sense in a first-person shooter, although the students have also tried it in a flight simulator where the player uses their head to roll and pitch the aircraft. Yes, it looks rather similar to the Microvision PicoP laser projection gun we wielded at CES, but there's a key difference: the player does not need to hold anything or have anything attached to their body. This unencumbered Kinect-esque approach could potentially allow a greater sense of freedom -- except that, for it to work, the player is forced to sit directly in front of the eye tracker. Find a way to fix this, dear Longhorns, and you could be onto something. Video after the break.
Free for All: The Immersion Project, a standard
In preparation for this week's article, I thought I would play through a few games to compare which ones might fit into the Immersion Ruleset. Instead of listing off several games and how a "normal" player might apply the rules to them, I decided to share a few examples of some of the best games that force immersion onto a player -- whether he likes it or not. Of course, this doesn't work for all people and all times. It might be a good idea to discuss how forced systems affect the game as compared to optional systems. As much as it pains me to say so (I am the biggest believer in allowing players to choose), forced immersion really does make a difference. When there is a standard, all players must abide by it -- no shortcut will do away with it. So, here are a few games that force a player to immerse himself into a game through a combination of systems, environment, and setting. Of course this might or might not be a good thing, depending on the player.
The roles we play, part 2
The biggest mistake game designers make is substituting in reams of text where immersive gameplay should be. Game designers aren't just responsible for creating balanced and interesting game mechanics that work.
The roles we play
To some people, the term "role-playing" conjures up images of guys with tinfoil swords and shields shouting "Lighting bolt!". Role-playing in MMOs gets a similarly polarised reception, suggesting scenes of people playing pretend and speaking to each other in Shakespearean tone. To those of us that grew up with pen-and-paper role-playing games and single-player RPGs, it might mean the opportunity to play fantastic characters like wizards and rogues. At its core, however, role-playing is something far more subtle and fundamental than we sometimes give it credit for and it underpins the entire MMO genre. In playing an MMO, we are inherently playing roles that the game's developers have created for us. But do most MMO developers really know how to create engaging gameplay for us or are they failing to immerse us in their own chosen roles? In this probative opinion piece, I delve into the roles we play in MMOs and the things developers often do wrong when designing an immersive game experience.
MITRE develops hemispheric camera for visual telepresence
You have no idea how many times we've caught ourselves piloting prototype unmanned weapons platforms through hostile urban environments and thought, "this route is too complex, and this vision system too cumbersome to use -- there has got to be a better way." Well, it looks like the folks at MITRE have heard our call and replied with something called the Immersive Vision System. Currently in development, the heart of the thing is a hemispherical camera -- actually a number of stationary cameras that creates a video image that covers all 360 degrees horizontally and a none-too-shabby 270 degrees vertically. Placed on a robot, unmanned vehicle or armored troop carrier, the pilot wears a head mounted display with a tracking sensor that allows him to move his head naturally, adjusting the point of view accordingly -- no need for periscopes, joysticks, or any other non-intuitive control interfaces. Of course, we've merely scratched the surface of this whole "visual telepresence" jazz here -- for some action footage, be sure you check out the video after the break.
Interactive Science Museums in Second Life
I have a bit of an admission to make: I dislike museums. It's a weakness in a teacher, since they are often incredibly good resources for learning materials. But, in my opinion, they are, all too often, stale, dull places presenting information passively and failing to engage their users. The exception to this, and places in which I have spent happy hours from Life in Newcastle-Upon-Tyne to Otago Museum, Dunedin, are the interactive science museums: the grand-daddy of them all being the Exploratorium in San Francisco. This isn't completely rambling: interactive museums are immersive, engaging learning experiences, and do the weird and wild from time to time. Surely Second Life would be a wonderful place for them to establish a presence, since so many educators are doing immersive education and the weird and wild in Second Life?If you decide to search, don't go to the Exploratorium sim, as I did, go to it's neighbour Sploland instead: the Exploratorium sim looks like a workshop, whilst Sploland is a fully fledged exhibit. (Exploratium is open and is interesting too mind you, but it's not a fully-fledged exhibition/interactive experience and there's a fair bit of plywood around.) If you like this sort of thing, or are just curious, it's a great way to spend an hour or two. If, like me, you have bad memories of more traditional museums, there are moves afoot to shake things up there. The rather wonderful Museum 2.0 blog is one I love reading, and might be of interest to you as an educators or someone that wishes museums were better as well as the museum professionals.
The Google Street View vehicle revealed
By now, we're pretty sure you've heard about Google's new Street View feature, right? If you're like us, you've been wondering about the vehicles they're using to create those voyeuristic, 360-degree, street-level images in Manhattan's concrete canyons and beyond. Well, here's a hint: that's Immersive Media's vehicle reflected in the Street View picture captured above. Now, if they could just find ET we'd be all set. Oh right, they have. Oh Google, is there anything you can't do?[Thanks, Aaron B.]Read -- Google's deal with ImmersiveRead -- Link to Street View picture
Your own private planetarium
Who knew that having a dome could be so cool? Paul Bourke outfitted one to create an immersive environment that he could steer through with a Wii remote. Using a data projector and specialized software on his MacBook Pro, he was able to display navigable movies on the hollow half-sphere.Considering its accelerometers and bluetooth functionality, the remote seems perfect as a low-cost interface device for this kind of setup, but Paul found that though the controller is usable, it isn't as accurate as he'd like. We hope that doesn't stop someone from creating a fully-developed astronomy simulation out of this! Check past the post break for video of the experiment in action.[Via Metafilter]
