Weekly 3D And VR News: The Week Of June 14-22

Another week has passed and we're coming back with more insights into what's around the VR and 3D industry.

Positional Tracking For Mobile VR

Positional tracking is one of the big things Vive has over mobile VR. However, ZED camera from tiny San Francisco startup Stereolabs will upset this balance. This camera can be put on a Samsung Gear VR headset to provide tracking as you move - something that mobile VR could previously only dream of. The company is already in talks with various headset and phone manufacturers. There's also the possibility of using it with Oculus and Vive, expanding your area of movement since ZED doesn't need outside sensors. This freedom of movement is important to the developers, who think that ZED can have groundbreaking AR applications. However, ZEDs RGB sensors are somewhat too processing intensive for mobile phones now, and the present version needs to be connected to a PC or something similar to Nvidia Jetson. How the developers will work around this is an open question.

JeruZalem 2 To Feature A VR Component

Everybody wants to get a piece of that sweet, sweet VR pie. It's unsurprising the Jeruzalem 2, the sequel to JeruZalem, a horror movie filmed on Google Glass, will be coming out with a VR component. As Epic Pictures cofounder stated, “The sequel will include an extensive virtual reality component to bring the viewers’ experience to the next step and immerse themselves in the action and the city of Jerusalem.” Well then, VR found footage horror movies? We do truly live in the future!

Consumers Want More From VR Than Just Gaming

According to the latest research by GreenlightVR, the consumers of VR want to use it for other things than video games. Travel, tourism, or adventure took the first spot (73.5 percent of the more than 1200 consumers surveyed), movies and recorded videos were next (67.3 percent), followed by live events (67.0 percent), home design (65.9 percent) and education (63.9 percent). Gaming was sixth with 61 percent. Most consumers desire own a Samsung Gear VR or a PlayStation VR (probably coinciding with their already owned VR enabling devices like Samsung phones and PlayStation 4s), but are generally less willing to spend much money on VR than in October.

Star Trek Bridge Crew VR

Even Time can't ignore the Star Trek Bridge Crew VR experience. Coming from UbiSoft and showcased in E3, it's a game that pits four players as officers of Starfleet's USS Aegis. They takes the positions of Tactical, Engineering, Helm and Captain. Each has their own interface and their own responsibilities. Each works with Oculus Rift (at least, that's how the game was trialed) and it's as-of-yet-unreleased controllers. You'll be engaging warp drives and lowering shields like you're in the TV series. And while you don't get to cavort with green-skinned space babes, you won't get in the way of exploding consoles either.

Wild Atlantic Way VR

Wild Atlantic Way is a tourism trail that stretched 2500 kilometers down the west coast of Ireland. And now it's going VR! Fáilte Ireland, the official corporate tourism board of Ireland, is making a lot of the destinations of the trail available on VR and in 360 videos. The idea is to use this as sales tools to promote tourism. The footage has been captured using a combination of drones, custom mounted backpacks and Go-Pro equipment.