The annual VRX Conference & Expo is slated for December 6-7 in San Francisco. The ETC’s Phil Lelyveld will be moderating a panel on the second day, focused on immersive storytelling with panelists including Ted Schilowitz of Paramount, Paul Raphael of Felix & Paul Studios, Bruna Berford of Penrose Studios and Ryan Pulliam of Specular Theory. VRX organizers are gathering a stellar lineup of top companies, execs and investors across entertainment and tech to cut through the hype and get to the heart of what’s really happening in XR. For those interested in attending, enter code ETC15 at registration for a 15 percent discount. Continue reading VRX 2018: Bridging Entertainment, Enterprise and Technology

The annual VRX Conference & Expo is slated for December 6-7 in San Francisco. The ETC’s Phil Lelyveld will be moderating a panel on the second day, focused on immersive storytelling with panelists including Ted Schilowitz of Paramount, Paul Raphael of Felix & Paul Studios, Bruna Berford of Penrose Studios and Ryan Pulliam of Specular Theory. VRX organizers are gathering a stellar lineup of top companies, execs and investors across entertainment and tech to cut through the hype and get to the heart of what’s really happening in XR. For those interested in attending, enter code ETC15 at registration for a 15 percent discount. Continue reading VRX 2018: Bridging Entertainment, Enterprise and Technology

HTC opened its Viveport VR subscription service to developers, to allow them to register games and VR experiences in advance of the service’s launch, expected in the next few weeks. Since the service was first announced at CES 2017, HTC has accumulated a list of more than 14,000 consumers who wish to be notified of the launch. HTC has not announced final pricing for the service but it reportedly will be similar to fees charged by Netflix and Spotify. The monthly fee will offer a limited number of games and experiences. Continue reading HTC Viveport VR Service Now Open to Developers, Publishers

During ETC’s Virtual Reality Summit at NAB 2016, ETC VR/AR program lead Phil Lelyveld explained the continuum from augmented reality to virtual reality, adding that most of what we’ll be seeing is a mixed or blended reality. VR is predicted to be worth a tremendous amount of money: Goldman Sachs estimates $18.09 billion in entertainment by 2025, and DigiData puts that number at $30 billion. Among the top things that consumers would like to do with VR now, according to Ericsson ConsumerLab, is examine items when online shopping. Continue reading ETC’s Virtual Reality Summit Details the Current State of VR

At the recent Sundance Film Festival, virtual reality was a big hit for the second year running. But the changes in just a year were also evident: rather than the conversation focusing on the technology enabling the VR experiences, the focus was on storytelling. Virtual reality, in other words, has become a medium, as demonstrated in projects such as “Grease” director Randal Kleiser’s sci-fi VR drama “Defrost,” which tells the story of a woman just awaking from a coma. The series is a full season with another in development. Continue reading Sundance 2016: VR’s Coming-of-Age as a Storytelling Medium

Vrse, a virtual reality content company headquartered in Los Angeles, recently brought on former Rdio chief executive Drew Larner as its chief operating officer. The company has also drawn investment from Andreessen Horowitz, Live Nation, Vice Media and Annapurna Pictures. It’s all about creating content that goes beyond gaming, notes chief executive Chris Milk. To that end, the company plans to produce its own content, through Vrse Works, and distribute its own and others’ through the Vrse app for VR headsets. Continue reading Vrse Envisions a Cinematic Future for Virtual Reality Content