Tribeca 2019
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A virtual cave got me excited about the future of social VR
Inside the Future Reality Lab at New York University, there is a cart with 50 headsets on it. It sits by a 10-by-10-foot square that's sometimes used as a motion-capture stage for the lab's offshoot startup Parallux and its ambitious projects in VR and XR (cross reality). The team's latest effort is Cave, which premiered at the Tribeca Film Festival's Immersive Arcade, and uses what Parallux is calling "a new shared XR technology."
'Hardcore History' host Dan Carlin wants you to relive WW1 in VR
With his hit podcast, Hardcore History, Dan Carlin brought his love for the past to the masses. It was only a matter of time until he wanted to move beyond audio -- but instead of moving into the crowded world of documentaries, he turned to VR. War Remains, his first virtual reality project which debuted at the Tribeca Film Festival this week, puts you right in the trenches of World War I. And it's more than just another VR short: Co-producers MWM Immersive built a massive installation for the experience, allowing you to touch and feel the virtual environments in real life. (Thankfully, without recreating the smells of mud, death and gunfire.)
An AR film explores the worst tech companies could do with your face
I made a beeline for Stealing ur feelings when I entered the Tribeca Film Festival Immersive Arcade last week. Officially, I'll say that my reason for doing so was because it was the most relevant exhibit for Engadget's scope of coverage: This interactive AR short studies what companies like Snap, Facebook and Google are doing (or can do) with the data they have on your facial expressions. But let's be honest, I'm pretty sure I was drawn to it because of the big selfie camera perched over the display.
VR is a strangely fitting home for stop-motion animation
Strange, fantastical things are brewing in VR, and the Tribeca Film Festival's Immersive Arcade is a great place to find them. One of the most intriguing things I saw at the festival this year was a stop-motion experience that also uses CGI and 3D 360-degree video to craft a creepy gymnasium. Sure, stop-motion is relatively low-tech, but the combination of technologies produces something truly unique.
Fable's 'Wolves in the Walls' VR is about more than virtual reality
After rebranding itself as a "virtual beings" studio in January, Fable is ready to show us what they mean. At the Tribeca Film Festival this week, it debuted the second chapter of The Wolves in the Wall, a VR experience adapted from the Neil Gaiman story. But the real star of the show aren't the imaginative virtual set-pieces you encounter -- instead, it's Lucy, a young girl who's convinced there's something weird going on in her house. She can remember your interactions to personalize your play sessions, and she can react to what you're doing in a scene.
