The Immersive Wire - 11 August 2021 (News edition)

The Immersive Wire - 11 August 2021 (News edition)

August 11, 2021

NEWS DIGEST EDITIONCurated VR/AR analysis every Wednesday and Sunday 

// 11 August 2021

of this year. If you want a creepy Dickensian fantasy setting with a vivid writing style, I can't recommend enough. But be warned; it starts with a ball of infant limbs roiling in muck. So yeah, pretty dark.

 

W London worked with Georgia Tucker to make a hotel VR experience,

  • The aim was to create a getaway at the heart of the city, remodelling a hotel room to give a radiant and sunny view (the picture showcases it the best). I visited the site to give it a go, principally for the VR. 

  • Firstly, what is the role of VR for hotel experiences? In this case, it was a complementary experience that is part of a cohesive whole. When I asked the artist on the VR's purpose, she said: 'The virtual reality resort responds to my own insatiable desire for escapism during the pandemic, questioning how we travel in a disembodied experience and what influencers us to do so.'

  • More widely, it seems to be more of a driver to bring people into the hotel, as a new and exciting way to entice people. And from the short experience I had, it is simplistic and straightforward enough to be an excellent first time for VR. 

  • Yet my fear is that I am not sure what else VR can do in hospitality. For an enticement, it works well as the novelty sticks, and it works well as a piece of Advena's whole. Beyond that, it can be a way for people to interact with new experiences if they are in a more cramp area - perhaps if they are in a capsule hotel, for example. But considering how thin the margins are in the industry, I can see greater gains from other areas. 

 Facebook Reality Labs is experimenting with a way to display

 

  • (Slightly older news, but the topic warranted discussion as I find the socialisation of VR fascinating). 

  • The technology is in its prototype stage. Currently it looks like it comes straight out of a sci-fi horror setting where people are trapped behind a headset. 

  • The purpose is to build 'social co-presence' but based on the early images, it falls so deep into the Uncanny Valley that it is more unnerving than social. 

  • But again, it is early days. Michael Abrash sees it has 'genuine promise,' and I agree once it improves and sorts its bits and pieces. Currently it is in the prototype stage, but if it works well enough to show eyes, then it might work well enough for socialising. But personally, this is why AR glasses would be more fitting; seeing people's actual eyes would be more socialising than a digital mimic in front of their actual eyes. 

Trippy, and it was weird to open a curtain to look over Leicester Square. Photo credit: W London / Georgia Tucker. 

No sponsor this week, so I wanted to dedicate the space to a good cause. In this case, it is Founders Pledge; a global community finding and funding solutions to the world’s most pressing problems. It's a good initiative, so

If you wish to sponsor the next edition, reply to this email and let's chat. 

  • Health Scholars launched Pediatric Emergency Care, a VR training application designed for EMS providers and developed in partnership with the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP).

  • HTC announced that Tracing Point is coming exclusively to Viveport. 

    • Basically,  travel through a virtual time machine and experience the times and places where brilliant abstract expressionist artists, Jackson Pollock and Lee Krasner, created their masterpieces.

  • Luxsonic announced that SieVRt has been approved by Health Canada as a Class 2 Medical Device for use in diagnostic radiology.

  • New Technology Walkers have launched the VR fitness game HitMotion: Reloaded on Oculus App Lab.

  • Niantic acquired Scaniverse.

    • Continuing its efforts to build a 3D map of the world a la Facebook, Niantic hired a company specialised in scanning it. 

  • Psychic VR Lab announced the return of the annual NEWVIEW AWARDS.

    • This one is worth a look at if you're a creative. A global panel of judges select the best AR, VR and MR artistic creations, with a cash award of $20k.

  • REZZIL released REZZIL PLAYER 22, out now for the Quest series. 

  • Sony held a private conference that unveiled details about the upcoming PSVR 2. 

    • Full specs in the link, but what grabbed me were the promise of hybrid AAA games. On the one hand, excellent - parity with other games means the VR headset will likely be used. But my fear is that, if it is developed for both TVs and VR, the quality of both will deteriorate as teams are split asunder. I hope not, but it is a fear I have. 

  • Vertigo Games acquired Force Field.

Jobs boardNEW - VR SOFTWARE DEVELOPER (Unity3D, C#), London. Valkyrie Industries, an early stage haptics start-up, is looking for a talented and experienced Unity3D developer with a passion for VR to join the R&D team. You'll be involved throughout the development cycle and must be able to evaluate new technologies, develop new experiences from scratch and optimise existing projects. Click here for more. BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT MANAGER, UK. Blend Media is seeking a talented, committed and determined sales executive to generate new leads and repeat business for Augmented Reality, Virtual Reality and 3D products, expanding on the company’s already impressive blue-chip client base. Click here for more. FULL STACK DEVELOPER, remote position. Looking for a competent Software Engineer with 4+ years of industry experience to join our dedicated Web development team. This talented individual must have a vision and drive and must not be afraid to back big ideas. Click here for more. SENIOR SOFTWARE ENGINEER (Node.js), remote position. Looking for a competent Senior Software Engineer with 5+ years of industry experience to join our dedicated Web development team.  This talented individual must have a vision and drive and must not be afraid to back big ideas. Click here for more. SENIOR DEVELOPER (VUE.JS), remote Position. Looking for an experienced JavaScript developer who is highly skilled with Vue.js. You will be joining our Web development team to develop and enhance customer facing Web Applications, where you will be responsible for following best practices to produce modular and maintainable code. Click here for more. QA LEAD, remote positions available. Looking for a competent QA Lead with 2+ years of industry experience to join our dedicated QA Team in Waterford.  This talented individual must have a vision and drive and must not be afraid to back big ideas. Click here for more. SENIOR UNITY GAME DEVELOPER, remote position. Looking for a competent Senior Unity Developer to join our team with 5+ years industry experience.  The talented individual must have vision and drive and must not be afraid to back big ideas. Click here for more.  SENIOR PRODUCT OWNER, remote position. Looking for a competent Product Owner. This talented individual must have a vision and drive and must not be afraid to back big ideas. Click here for more. UI DESIGNER, remote position. Looking for a competent UI Designer. This talented individual must have a vision and drive and must not be afraid to back big ideas. Click here for more. UX DESIGNER, remote position. Are you looking for a unique challenge working in virtual & augmented reality with a bleeding-edge technology company? Then read on. Click here for more.-ASSISTANT PROFESSOR IN DIGITAL MEDIA, UK. We are looking to appoint a dynamic and adaptable course director for our BA (Hons) in Digital Media to lead and deliver teaching, learning and assessment on the BA Digital Media and steer  its next phase of growth.  As well as a track record of academic leadership you will have extensive practical experience in digital media such as immersive storytelling (AR/VR/XR), modelling and animation, creative media design / production, or web / mobile app design and development. Click here for more.SENIOR IMMERSIVE LEARNING DESIGNER, UK. Make Real is looking to expand our digital learning team with a Senior Immersive Learning Designer. Your role will be to consult with clients in order to create exciting and imaginative design solutions. Your designs will affect behaviour change in order to deliver on specific learning outcomes, while being achievable within a set budget and timeline. Click here for more. SENIOR UNITY DEVELOPER, UK. As a growing and exciting business, we are looking for full-time talented multi-disciplinary Unity developers to join our expert team in central Brighton. Our ideal candidates will have a broad range of technical experience with a proven track record of delivering interactive Virtual & Augmented Reality projects across a range of HMD & mobile hardware. Working as part of our existing team of designers and artists, the roles will primarily involve the delivery of VR/AR projects for our global clients. Click here for more. EU ACCOUNT EXECUTIVE. Avatour is the remote collaboration platform for site meetings. Our cloud service enables full-motion 360° real-time communication, experienced via a web browser or optional VR headset. We are looking for an Account Executive to expand the Avatour business in the European Union. You’ll be initially our only salesperson in the EU, and directly responsible for the expansion and preservation of our customer base in the region. The ideal candidate will have a track record of success selling an Enterprise SaaS product, and experience in customer success as well. Click here for more.BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT MANAGERS, UK. VRTUOSO, a rapidly growing and multi-award winning company, is looking for three full-time B2B Sales Managers who are excited about technology advancements, and able to sell to CxO/Director level within enterprise accounts. Click here for more. HEAD OF MARKETING, UK. VRTUOSO, a rapidly growing and multi-award winning company, is looking for a Head of Marketing capable of taking VRtuoso to the next level. We’re looking to make the leap to working with enterprise level companies at scale and we hope you’re the one to help us accomplish this. Click here for more. CHANNEL SALES MANAGER, UK. VRTUOSO, a rapidly growing and multi-award winning company, is looking for a Channel Sales Manager to lead the channel and reseller programmes. The role is primarily responsible for onboarding new partners, serving as the primary liaison for new partners, growing the sales of existing partners, and assisting with sales/marketing initiatives for our reseller channel as a whole. Click here for more. DIRECTOR OF ENGINEERING, UK. VRTUOSO, a rapidly growing and multi-award winning company, is looking for a Director of Engineering to lead our engineering department and help us build, deliver, and maintain the leading VRtuoso Virtual Reality products for the enterprise market. Click here for more. Display your vacancy in front of thousands of talented VR/AR professionals in just a few clicks. Click here for more info.

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