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'The Last Goodbye' is the VR Holocaust memorial we need today
You've read about the Holocaust in books and seen it portrayed in films. But it's another experience entirely to walk through the site of a concentration camp in virtual reality, led by a survivor who lost his entire family there. The Last Goodbye, which debuts at the Tribeca Film Festival this week, follows Pinchas Gutter as he makes his final pilgrimage to Majdanek, a former Nazi Germany extermination camp in occupied Poland. It's a trip he's made many times, but this one has a specific purpose: to capture his account of the Holocaust so we never forget that it actually happened.
HBO and Discovery make major investment in virtual reality
Virtual reality isn't just seeing a revival when it comes to gaming, immersive content is taking root in journalism, movies and television as well. In fact, two networks made an investment in a virtual and augmented reality company to help drive future production projects. OTOY, a company that makes cloud-based graphics software covering the capture, rendering and streaming of VR and AR content announced today that both HBO and Discovery are backing it "to create universal publishing platform for TV, movies and original holographic content." While holograms are mentioned throughout the press release, VR and AR factor heavily into the networks' plans.
Jon Stewart's return to TV will be on HBO's streaming TV services
Even after leaving the Daily Show behind, apparently Jon Stewart just couldn't stay away. HBO just announced it has signed a four year production deal with the TV host that will kick off with "short form digital content." He's apparently working with the graphics company OTOY on new technology that will allow him to create and post digital content "multiple times throughout the day" (we're going to guess that means Snapchats, Periscopes and vines, but who knows) on HBO Now. We contacted the network and confirmed that it will be on HBO Go as well for cable customers. According to Stewart "Appearing on television 22 minutes a night clearly broke me. I'm pretty sure I can produce a few minutes of content every now and again." [Image credit: Phil McCarten/Associated Press]
We're one step closer to navigable 3D pictures of real places
If you've experienced a VR representation of a real place, chances are that you've just been looking around a static, 360-degree panorama of a room. OTOY believes that the days of the fixed-camera 3D picture are now done thanks to light-field technology, the same image refocusing tech you'll find in a Lytro. In short, a pair of DSLRs on a prototype rig spin around to capture pictures of a space with light field lenses. When that data is pulled into a computer, it creates a virtual version of that picture with unprecedented fidelity. The best thing, however, is that the company believes that users can then move about the image as they see fit.
Gaikai, Otoy not worried about OnLive's cloud gaming patent
OnLive's recently acquired patent, which covers "Apparatus and method for wireless video gaming," may seem like a death knell for other players in the cloud gaming space. However, Gaikai's David Perry recently told VentureBeat he's not too concerned with the future of his game-streaming company, saying, "We do not expect the general concept of remote gaming to be patentable, as many of us played remote games in the 70s, 80s and 90s." Should the patent stick, he added that Gaikai's focus on embeddable demos of PC games is far removed from OnLive's set top box business model, which should prevent any potential infringements. Fellow game-streamer Otoy's CEO Jules Urbach also chimed in on the patent, saying, "We respect the valid intellectual property rights of others but we'd be surprised to see a valid patent issue today that would preempt the entire field of server-side rendered gaming." Wait, you can do that? Well, man, we've been wasting so much time. We patent ... um, sandwiches! And gardening! And pet supplies! And candy! We're going to be so super rich.
OTOY to launch in 'Q2 2010' through AMD partnership
Y'know, OnLive and Gaikai aren't the only game-streaming services on the block. OTOY has been laying low for a minute, but the "other" game streaming service has finally made its big announcement: it's going to release in Q2 2010. In fact, OTOY isn't just a service for streaming games; there are now claims of streaming movies, PC applications and "other graphically-intensive applications" to any mobile device with a web browser. OTOY will employ AMD Fusion Render Cloud technology, a CPU/GPU server platform that will stream games straight into your see pee youz through the company's software suite. And if you have no idea what that means, check out a demo of the service right here, courtesy of TechCrunch -- basically, it's like playing games on your computer. What a novel idea! [Via Big Download]
OnLive 'works on cell phones too,' says Perlman
We've been pretty skeptical of OnLive's many futuristic promises. From streaming every game ever to anything with a decent internet connection, to being able to end world hunger (okay, we made up that second one), it's kind of an enormous leap to be taking from our current standards. In an effort to keep us on our toes, the company just this week announced that not only can the service stream games to households, but also to cell phones. "Today, at a Wedbush financial conference in New York I showed OnLive running simultaneously on two iPhones, a TV, and a computer," said CEO Steve Perlman. "It's important to understand that a cell phone is a very different beast than TV, PC or Mac ... currently, games on OnLive are tuned for TVs and computers, so initially, it's the Community and Social elements of OnLive that we're most excited about on mobile devices." OTOY has already proven that mobile gaming of this level can exist, but we're still not convinced anyone wants to play the full console/PC version of games on their phone. Impressive? Sure. Functional? That has yet to be seen.
OTOY uses AMD GPUs, black magic to put Crysis on iPhone
No need to dust off your spectacles -- Crysis on the iPhone has been achieved. Just last week we took a peek at the graphical enhancements on the iPhone 3GS, but this demonstration didn't rely on the factory goods from Apple. Instead, a recent OTOY demonstration put to use some of AMD's newest GPU technology in order to play back one of the leading-edge 3D titles on a smartphone. In short, OTOY renders the game on remote servers and then sends information to a recipient; needless to say, an HDTV displayed all sorts of artifacts, but on a screen that's just a few inches large, those flaws become invisible. So, is this really the killer app to supplant Apple's own App Store for gaming on the iPhone? We get the feeling OTOY needs at least few clean-cut commercials with little-known underground music before they can bank on that.[Via SlashGear]
OTOY: The game streaming service you've never heard of
While OnLive and Gaikai continue to hog the game-streaming spotlight, few are talking about the third option that people will have for server-based gaming: OTOY. And that's likely because the company (of the same name) behind the technology hasn't been exactly forthcoming with details -- even the official website has nothing more than the "Soon" image you see above. Ars Technica recently got a chance to check out the service in action, pushing graphical monster Crysis to an iPhone with reportedly good results. The service is still in its infancy, as demonstrated by a TechCrunch hands-on video we've dropped after the break, but shows a lot of potential. Considering OnLive's currently holding its public beta in North America and Gaikai's kicking off a private beta in Europe late this month, we hope OTOY decides to start getting vocal soon. We're all ears!
