Professional gaming has always been a serious pursuit that attracted dedicated players and a large audience, and with immersive technologies becoming more pervasive, the esports crowd is increasingly embracing VR.

“For the first time in generations, we’re witnessing the birth of a new major sport, and it’s happening with unprecedented speed,” says ESPN The Magazine, Senior Editor, Megan Greenwall.

This trend is in large part spurred by hardware manufacturers, who recognize that without “sticky” content that keeps punters coming back and hooks them for longer, they are unlikely to reach consumer adoption critical mass anytime soon.

VR esports are the latest rage, especially for location-based entertainment
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“VR esports are the latest rage, especially for location-based entertainment. The Omni motion platform adds the physical engagement of walking and running to the gaming experience and that physical element combined with multiplayer gameplay and competition results in high repeat play. We’re not a stand-in-place VR attraction that players try just once. Our core players come back every week,” says Jan Goetgeluk, founder and CEO of Virtuix.

Virtuix is a Texas-based start-up founded in 2013 best known for developing the Omni VR treadmill. They raised over $20M and have shipped more than 3,000 Omni systems to 500+ commercial entertainment venues around the world. Recently, HTC and HP announced a partnership with the company, putting down a $50,000 Prize pool for ESPORTS tournaments in 2019.

VR hardware manufacturers recognize that without 'sticky' content that keeps punters coming back and hooks them for longer, they are unlikely to reach consumer adoption critical mass anytime soon
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Esports is a cloud-based competitive gaming platform that offers weekly and monthly prize contests where players at participating venues in 45 countries compete for the top spot on global leaderboards and earn cash prizes. As part of that, Omniverse tournaments are four-day contests each month that feature two-player teams battling in one of several games, with the top 10 teams winning a combination of cash and prizes such as VIVE systems. Virtuix has held several esports events so far, including a tournament at CES in Las Vegas and, in conjunction with Huawei, a tournament in Shenzhen, China, that reached 11 million viewers.

During 2018 there were over 2.6 billion hours of esports content consumed globally across a multitude of online platforms
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“Virtuix has built a competitive gaming experience that requires both videogaming skills and physical fitness. Such active esports offer a unique way for entertainment venues to reach a new audience of gamers and build a community of frequent players,” says Joanna Popper, Global Head of Virtual Reality for Location Based Entertainment at HP

The first Omniverse global competition of 2019 will be held on January 24-27, features two-player teams battling for the highest score in the popular first-person shooter game Omni Arena. Interested players can find more information and sign up here.

And the move towards investing in esports as a way to advance broader VR adoption is far from restricted to commercial players. UK Research and Innovation (UKRI), the UK Government’s non-departmental public body for innovation and research, recently awarded £4m to the Weavr Consortium which will fund a project exploring a cross-reality, data driven personalised viewing experience for esports.

Esports is competitive video gaming at a professional level which has a current global audience of around 380 million people
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“Esports is competitive video gaming at a professional level which has a current global audience of around 380 million people. The esports audience is the ‘audience of the future’ here and now with 80% of the demographic being made up of 18-35 year olds,” explains Margot James MP, Minister for Digital and the Creative Industries. “During 2018 there were over 2.6 billion hours of esports content consumed globally across a multitude of online platforms including; Twitch, Youtube, Mixer, Facebook, Twitter etc. As well as a wide variety of consumption points such as live audience, VR and traditional single screen content.”

The consortium – which consists of ESL UK (the largest esports company in the world), York University, dock10 and Cybula – promises to transform the experiences of millions of fans not only in esports, but in traditional sports broadcast and live entertainment more broadly.

The consortium – which consists of ESL UK, York University, dock10 and Cybula – promises to transform the experiences of millions of fans not only in esports, but in traditional sports broadcast
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ESL will be focusing on the overall project management, utilisation of their esports events for proof of concept and the user experience feedback for those tests. University of York will be bringing their expertise in machine learning, UX design, Human Computer Interaction & research into the convergent space between games, interactive media & TV to help sculpt the overall framework. dock10

will leverage their production facilities to test the framework during ESL’s live esports events. Focal Point VR will contribute their live 8k 360° video capture hardware & software with immersive content studio REWIND helping to create the VR & XR apps & environments for the viewer experience. Cybula’s performance computing clusters will be utilised for big data analysis & delivery.

“At the forefront of an emerging and rapidly growing esports industry, we’re in a unique position to have insight in the live viewing habits and interactivity of young, tech savvy and early adopting audiences” said James Dean, MD ESL UK. “Weavr will create cross-reality viewing experiences allowing fans to immerse themselves in high fidelity statistics, visualisations and data-driven stories that give them deeper insights into live matches, enabling viewers to switch seamlessly between virtual and physical viewing, as well as utilise second screens to watch immersive esports content on the move.”

This Article was originally published on VRScout

Esports Continues Its Push Towards VR via @alicebonasio https://t.co/frhFsgDrJe pic.twitter.com/5b7T3hxy2c

— VRScout (@VRScout) January 23, 2019

For companies looking to get into Immersive technologies our VR Consultancy service offers comprehensive support in strategic deployment of Virtual, Augmented and Mixed Reality

Alice Bonasio is a VR Consultant and Tech Trends’ Editor in Chief. She also regularly writes for Fast Company, Ars Technica, Quartz, Wired and others. Connect with her on LinkedIn and follow @alicebonasio on Twitter.

The post Esports Pushing VR Adoption appeared first on Tech Trends.

Is this the miracle VR has been waiting for? Tech Trends checked out the world’s first feature length immersive film at its London premiere.

7 Miracles – the first feature-length cinematic VR film premiered at the 26^th Raindance Film Festival in London, which is Europe’s leading independent Film Festival and the largest in the UK. It was created using photogrammetry and volumetric video capture, producing images in 8K with additional scenes built in 3D.

7 Miracles – the first feature-length cinematic VR film premiered at the 26th Raindance Film Festival in London
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The whole film is just over 70 minutes long, divided into 10-minute chapters, each depicting one of Jesus Christ’s famous miracles from the Gospel of John. The chapters can all be watched sequentially, or episodically in whatever order the viewer wishes to go, and that flexibility helped to bridge the gap between the current dominant form of short-form VR content and the longer pieces that they wanted to explore. They opted to making 7 Miracles a seated experience because people’s seated height is much more similar than their standing one, so by placing the action above you as it would be on a movie screen, it felt just as comfortable and familiar as going to the cinema.

The whole film is just over 70 minutes long, divided into 10-minute chapters depicting Jesus Christ’s famous miracles
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Getting rid of wires but still being able to have a very rich and colourful experience is certainly the future
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I got the chance to view 3 chapters at a special preview on one of the new VIVE Focus headsets which Joel Breton – VP of Vive Studios and Executive Producer on the film – calls the Ferrari of all-in-one VR. It was a good opportunity to try it out, since they are not due to hit the UK/US markets yet (there are hints that we might be looking at a release around this holiday season, but no official date yet). It had simple yet effective controls that allowed for quick adjustment to tighten or loosen the fit around your head and to match the distance between your eyes – which varies quite a lot from person to person – and calibration of the inside-out sensors. The other feature that I found quite nifty is that at the push of a button you can access the external camera image, saving you constantly lifting up the headset from your eyes, which tends to interrupt the content playing.

Breton told me afterwards that it was interesting for him to see a completely silent theatre full of people immersed in the same experience (you don’t need headphones with the VIVE Focus headsets but as we were relatively close to each other, we wore ear buds so as not to interfere with one another’s experience).

“All-in-one VR is probably what I’m most excited about – getting rid of wires but still being able to have a very rich and colourful experience is certainly the future,” he added.

But in order for people to want to buy those headsets, everyone recognises that there must be compelling content available that they want to experience, which is where VIVE Studios comes in. This is Breton’s project and he’s driving its mission of expanding the content ecosystem and pushing the envelope of what can be achieved through immersive storytelling.

“The main thing that makes VR storytelling so exciting, is that instead of projecting the action in a screen in front of you it puts you right in the middle of the action – You become the hero,” said Breton.

At the discussion after the screening, the cast and crew were asked why they thought now was the right time to try longer-form content for VR. These are all creative and entertainment industry veterans, and it was clear that they are enthused about the potential of VR to create new types of narratives and stories. They’ve been working on 7 miracles for about 2 years, and hearing them talk about it, it’s clear that a lot of effort and work – as well as significant investment in terms of money and technical resources – has been poured into the project.

Jesus comes across as a dude you’d definitely invite over to your party
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Breton started his career at SEGA Genesis. He developed and published over 250 videogames over the years and although he says he’s stopped counting them years ago, they do include iconic titles like Sonic the Hedgehog, Donkey Kong, Quake and Doom.

Executive Producer Enzo Sisti worked on more than 100 movies including Wonder Woman, Avengers: Age of Ultron and (appropriately) Passion of the Christ. He says he was initially very skeptical, but much like the non-believers in the film, he was converted.

“This is very exciting and I think this is the future. After 50 years in the business in I’m excited about starting a new career,” he said.

In spite of the myriad challenges, Director Rodrigo Cerqueira believes the technology – such as six degrees of freedom – and production values have moved far enough along so that we’re able to push the envelope much further than it has been pushed so far.

As filmmakers we have the responsibility to push those boundaries, and others will follow in our footsteps and push it even further
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Cerqueira recalled how his company Panogramma had produced hundreds of short pieces between 2010 and 2015, but when they were asked to do a one-hour experience for the World Cup, it opened his eyes about the possibilities of longer-form content.

“As filmmakers we have the responsibility to push those boundaries, and others will follow in our footsteps and push it even further, and that’s how we advance the medium. That learning curve is so important and it’s also important that there is a learning curve. If you look at film they also started with short format and when they first started making them longer, most people thought that was crazy,” he says.

In many ways the production went along similar lines to a regular indie film. Sisti said they had between 80 and 100 people working on the shoot, which took around 15 days. Post production took over 10 months, which is certainly a lot, but again, many CG-heavy productions would demand similar resources. Where the VR production proved to be more labour (and time) intensive, however, was in the planning phase, where Cerqueira spent over 4 months planning the workflow.

I was Jesus for ten minutes, and it was a hell of an experience!
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It is often the case in the creative industries that technical limitations lead to choices that shape the direction of the medium
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It is often the case in the creative industries that technical limitations lead to choices that shape the  direction of the medium. One example of how this happened in VR productions is the fact that using a 9-lens 360 camera rig means that all directions are filmed simultaneously, so there is no “behind the camera” where the crew can stand during shooting. They either had to be disguised as extras or find somewhere to hide (we were shown some funny shots of sound engineers lurking behind bushes next to a camel).

Dejan Bucin, who plays Jesus in the film, says that from an actor’s perspective it often felt much closer to playing theatre than doing a film, and that meant he could get really immersed into the role himself:

“I was Jesus for ten minutes, and it was a hell of an experience!” he laughs. “You can exaggerate and project. You forget about the audience, because you really get into those interactions. In a regular film you always see this amazing setup, all the crew, equipment, etc. But in VR, that all disappears.”

And kudos to them for not only tackling the challenges of producing feature-length VR, but also choosing to do so with a Biblical story, which comes with such baggage, so to speak.

For one, there’s the fact that as a Brit you definitely can’t get Monty Python’s Life of Brian references out of your head when watching any film about Jesus. Everybody knows that the only retort that logically follows anybody declaring themselves to be the Messiah is that he is in fact a very naughty boy…

As a Brit you definitely can’t get Monty Python’s Life of Brian references out of your head when watching any film about Jesus
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But that was my cross to bear rather than a reflection on the quality of the production. In fact, I was rather surprised at how much I enjoyed it, specially the chapter where Jesus turned water into wine. Jesus generally comes across as a dude you’d definitely invite over to your party. And yes, there is water-walking, so well worth a watch.

Audiences should be able to check out 7 Miracles for themselves soon, as it is planned for general release on all VR headsets later this year.

This article was originally published on VRScout

Feature-Length VR Film ‘7 Miracles’ Debuts At Raindance Film Festival via @alicebonasio https://t.co/QA8BoYTxpo pic.twitter.com/dIwwr0z9Ai

— VRScout (@VRScout) October 11, 2018

Want to leverage Augmented, Virtual and Mixed Reality to take your brand to the next level? Tech Trends offers comprehensive Immersive Technologies Consultancy to help you get there.

Alice Bonasio is a VR and Digital Transformation Consultant and Tech Trends’ Editor in Chief. She also regularly writes for Fast Company, Ars Technica, Quartz, Wired and others. Connect with her on LinkedIn and follow @alicebonasio on Twitter.

The post Get Ready for a VRevelation appeared first on Tech Trends.

From your very own Einstein to an awesome Virtual Reality HMD, and some solar panels to keep them powered up on the go. Tech Trends has your back in the gear department. 

Professor Einstein

I bring out the magic and fun of astronomy, physics, biology, geology and much more. Want to know the weather in Capetown? What is a quark? The exploits of Isaac Newton? Just say “Hey Professor…?” and ask away.

RRP $249

Penclic K2 Wireless Keyboard

Swedish company Penclic have a mission to reduce your RSI and we have tested several of their products here on Tech Trends and can vouch for their effectiveness. Today we are testing their latest version of their wireless keyboard the K2 which retails for €69 or £62. This new version has a slightly nicer feel to the keys but is still not as nice to use as the fractionally more expensive, minimalist KB3 Bluetooth keyboard they make. Overall the K2 is a comfortable keyboard to use and the small size and low profile do keep my arms relaxed when typing and my only mild frustration is that the wi-fi only works within a radius of about a meter from the computer, probably not an issue for most users but something to bear in mind.

RRP: €69.99

BioLite SolarPanel 10+

Fans of hiking, kayaking, camping and outdoor pursuits in general still need their mobile devices and when they’re miles from the nearest power socket and need their GPS to get them home, they often let them down at the worst possible time.

Enter the BioLite SolarPanel 10+ a super thin and lightweight smart power device. The two High-efficiency monocrystaline solar panels will suck 10 watts of power from the sun and fill up the built in 3000 mAh rechargeable battery for charging all your essential devices, tablets and phones. BioLite’s Optimal Sun System includes a built in sundial for aligning the panels to the sun’s rays and a 360 degree kickstand to simplify positioning on uneven terrain. When you are done, simply fold the 10+ up and pop it in your rucksack or you can charge on the move by hanging it from you backpack and keep going. Oh and it’s splash proof, so go ahead and jump in those puddles!

RRP: $129.95

DigiBit

A Kickstarter funded, funky new wearable motion capture device, DigiBit gives you responsive in-game control for VR and non VR environments on iOS and Android (Marshmallow and above) devices. Control your in-game movements and actions with smart sensors that attach to the hands or feet for a gaming experience like never before!

These elegant little wearables are the creation of DigiBit Founder, Colt Correa and his family. This is one of those great stories of an engineer who, when disappointed by commercial products, knew he could do better, and with the help of a Kickstarter campaign plans to deliver an affordable product even the big games and console manufacturers would be proud of. DigiBit is an open platform and includes an open source Air Hockey game, a free Unity3D plugin and an open Bluetooth API. The patent-pending wearable motion and communication technology captures your body movement for responsive in-game control in VR and non-VR environments.

Read Tech Trends full review here

RRP: $79 (Super Early Bird Pledge)

TouchPoints

TouchPoints Basic are another crowdfunding success story. Founded in 2015 by Neuropsychologist Dr. Amy Serin and executive child advocate Vicki Mayo, these cunning little gadgets are a non-invasive, wearable devices that use patent-pending neuroscience to relieve stress in as little as 30 seconds.

Using quantitative electroencephalogram data, existing neuroscience research and archival data, Dr Amy Serin determined the device produced significant and quantifiable brain changes after just seconds of use. TouchPoints use Bi-Lateral Alternating Stimulation Tactile (BLAST) stimulation to give the user a gentle vibration that affects the brain and alters the body’s fight, flight or freeze response.

Read Tech Trends full review here.

RRP: $119

Avid Media Composer First

Media Composer First is a very limited version of the full programme, currently MC 8.5, but it aims to give you the basic cutting experience, plus some key functionalities of its big brother. We consume most of our video content via the web these days and Avid gets this, offering very basic options for exporting your finished video via Quicktime in the web friendly H.264 or their propriety DNxHD codec or even better, publish directly to YouTube or Vimeo. Yes you can edit 4k video in First but only downscaled to HD, output is also limited to HD but again this is still the most web friendly format and to make your 4k files work for you Avid retain the awesome FrameFlex from the pro version.

Read all the details and specs in the full review here.

RRP: $FREE

Tom Atkinson is a Digital Producer & Photographer at R3Digital and Reviews & Dept. Editor at Tech Trends. Connect on LinkedIn and follow him on Twitter @R3Digital

The post July 2017 Tech Trends Product Reviews appeared first on Tech Trends.

This new crowdfunded HMD (Head Mounted Display) and wearable motion controllers make for an elegant and affordable Virtual Reality solution

Crowdfunding your product is fast becoming the norm in cutting edge sectors such as VR, robotics and health tech. In fact, Tech Trends reviewed crowdfunded products in all three of those sectors just this month. Right now I am looking at a funky new wearable motion capture device from DigiBit that gives you responsive in-game control for both VR and non-VR environments and works on iOS and Android (Marshmallow and above) devices.

Control your in-game movements and actions with smart sensors that attach to the hands or feet for a gaming experience like never before!

These elegant little wearables are the creation of DigiBit Founder, Colt Correa and his family. This is one of those great stories of an engineer who, when disappointed by commercial products, knew he could do better, and with the help of a Kickstarter campaign plans to deliver an affordable product even the big games and console manufacturers would be proud of. DigiBit is an open platform and includes an open source Air Hockey game, a free Unity3D plugin and an open Bluetooth API.

DigiBit is an open platform that includes a free Unity3D plugin and open Bluetooth API
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The patent pending wearable motion and communication technology captures your body movement for responsive in-game control in VR and non-VR environments.

What’s unique about it?

• WEARABLE: Pocket sized system that is a great accessory to your existing smart devices like iPhones, Android phones and tablets
• HANDS and FEET: Only portable game system that enables games to use both feet and both hands as input. Existing systems require the player to hold the motion sensor, but with DigiBit the motion sensor holds on to you so you can use your arms and legs in a natural way while playing
• ACTIVE and SOCIAL: Focus on physically active and face-to-face social game play.
• FREE GAMES: Games from DigiBit are free and can be downloaded from the Google Play or Apple Stores
• CHILD SECURITY: Free parent app enables you to track how far away your child is. Alarm sounds on your phone if the child wanders away too far. Built in compass shows you the direction of the child. Great security feature for such things as days out at theme parks.
• BATTERY LIFE: Over 16 hours on a single charge
• LOW COST: Cost of the entire DigiBit system with the games is less than that of 2 games with most other systems
• DEVELOPER FRIENDLY: Open Source, Open Interfaces and a Unity3D API lets mobile game developers add body motion to existing or new games

DigiBit is the only portable game system enabling hand and foot inputs
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Unity3D API lets developers easily add body motion features to their games
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With a Master of Science in Electrical Engineering and more than 22 years of experience working in software and hardware development for the automotive industry, and with 5 U.S. patents to his name, Colt knows what he is doing. After an initial manufacturing run of 50 units this campaign will raise money to enhance the games they have as well as develop new ones, plus create an open API so programmers around the world can develop their own games for the DigiBit ecosystem.

DigiBit focuses on physically active and face-to-face social game play
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Kickstarter backers will benefit from such perks as free games and power-ups, FOREVER
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Early Kickstarter backers will get some great perks including free downloads of all DigiBit games now and in the future, ad-free games and free in-app purchases and power ups, all in perpetuity!

Our backers will decide what games comes next. With every system, you get a vote on what is going to be our next game. Have a new game idea? Let’s us know!

The DigiBits are well designed, small, light and in trendy white. They come with sturdy straps for attaching them to your wrists or feet and the headset is a revelation for those out there who are sick of removing their phone’s case to be able to fit it into different VR goggles.

A simple elastic and velcro strap secures your phone to the headset
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A simple elastic and velcro strap secures your phone to the headset offering a truly one size fits all wearable, it is also very comfortable and adjustable for those who wear glasses.

Get active with the ability to turn static mobile games into full-body experiences! DigiBits can be worn anywhere and played anywhere, unlike traditional consoles.

To test it out I charged up the DigiBits, strapped them to my wrists and launched FunnyWings, a flying game where you chase after an evil witch, collect stars and dodge deadly red balloons. The game asks permission to turn on your Bluetooth and effortlessly pairs with the DigiBits. You are instructed to tap your chest with your right hand which tells the game which side is your right and off you go.

The gameplay of my demo was fun and intuitive. I found myself laughing
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There is a little demo on how to move and fly then you clap your hands to start the game. Gameplay is really good and the movements to control your flight are very instinctive. I found myself laughing, flailing around and definitely burning more calories than playing on my PS4. Interestingly I experienced no loss of balance or nausea during game play, so maybe moving my body and head as I played countered the unpleasant feelings I have often experienced in VR when sitting down.

I experienced no nausea or dizziness while playing the game
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DigiBit is the only portable game system that enables games to use both feet and both hands as input. Existing systems require the player to hold the motion sensor, with DigiBit the motion sensor holds on to you so you can use your arms and legs in a natural way while playing.

For the second test game I moved the straps to my feet and loaded up Dash, an endless runner based in a high school corridor. Jumping is the name of the game here. Jump side to side to weave around obstacles and jump straight up to get over objects or up onto tables. Dodge the occasional pesky banana skin by raising your right or left leg to hop past it and always stay ahead of the big bully! This was great fun and I was quickly out of breath. It was much more physically taxing than FunnyWings and I can see it being a big hit with the kids.

I definitely burned more calories than when playing on the PS4
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I enjoyed the Digibit system and was much more immersed in the games
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I really enjoyed the Digibit system and was so much more involved in the games’ action than when using VR more passively. The product is well made, easy to use and looks as good as anything made by the big games companies, so I think it is a winner. Colt and his family hope to raise $2,500 to make the Digibit system better and more affordable, and to make more games like these for it, so if you are interested in getting your hands on a Digibit and helping them out take a look at the Kickstarter page here.

For help getting your own VR/AR/MR project off the ground, get in touch about our Virtual Reality Consultancy services

Tom Atkinson is a Digital Producer & Photographer at R3Digital and Reviews & Dept. Editor at Tech Trends. Connect on LinkedIn and follow him on Twitter @R3Digital

The post Product Review: DigiBit appeared first on Tech Trends.

HP announces their revolutionary new HP Z VR Backpack, the world’s first professional wearable VR PC. Crafted to bring the full potential of VR to-life, it is the world’s most secure and manageable wearable VR PC ever created.

HP see the potential for VR to revolutionise sectors such as industrial and military training, medical and healthcare practice, product design, architecture and to take consumer engagement to the next level. The HP Z VR Backpack is designed to help companies make the first step into using VR and give them an easy to use, end-to-end VR solution with the capabilities to easily build those immersive capabilities into their business.

HP see the potential for VR to revolutionise sectors such as industrial and military training
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Announced alongside this new technology is HP’s partnership with HTC, makers of the VIVE HMD. The new “Business Edition” VIVE will come with built-in headphones and 1 year of commercial support, and will be offered bundled with this new HP backpack.

“Virtual reality is changing the way people learn, communicate and create,” said Xavier Garcia, vice president and general manager, Z Workstations, HP Inc. “HP is uniting the right innovation and the right partners to position our customers with commercial VR solutions that matter. With our long history of insights-based innovation, and new solutions like the HP Z VR Backpack, we are empowering VR experiences our customers can use today to reinvent the future.”

This new externally untethered VR Backpack is light with an ergonomic design and hot swappable batteries to provide unrestricted freedom within any immersive experience. It packs serious high-end processing power with the latest Intel® Core i7 vPro processor and chipset, providing the power to process applications at incredible speeds.

This untethered VR Backpack is light with an ergonomic design
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It is also the first wearable VR PC in the market to use the NVIDIA® Quadro® P5200. The 16GB of video memory will provide a huge frame buffer to avoid stuttering and dropped frames that break the sense of immersion. The Quadro GPUs also ensure immersion is smooth and responsive with low latency and high frame rates which – when paired with the HTC VIVE –  should give a spectacular ride! Neither the CPU nor GPU are throttled so there is plenty of power on tap whenever you need it.

Some possible use cases include:

• Businesses can use VR to deliver safe and effective simulated training in dangerous environments,  medical training or for heavy/large equipment operations, avoiding costly mistakes
• In architectural building development, virtual walkthroughs at scale for client reviews can help quickly close the deal.
• In product development, executive agreement and sign off for new styling can be done in virtual showrooms.
• New location-based entertainment centres featuring exhilarating virtual reality experiences are now a step closer

To help market this new VR solution HP are opening thirteen immersion centres later this year in Palo Alto, Houston, Boise, Fort Collins, Stockholm, London, Paris, Barcelona, Boeblingen, Beijing, Sydney, Tokyo and Singapore. The centres have been designed so customers can have an immersive experience using HP VR technology and receive consulting on how to best deploy VR devices within their business to streamline workflows.

HP are opening thirteen immersion centres all over the world to showcase their latest VR tech
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In designing the backpack HP have addressed some major pain points their research identified:

• No trailing cables helps preserve immersion, improves freedom of movement and is safer for users and bystanders
• Hot swap batteries help retain immersion for long periods
• Lightweight at just over 10lbs
• Designed for comfort with the workstation kept off your back and air flow directed to the sides
• Durable enough for military training
• Designed as a single, unified VR solution that is a delivery rig and a true VR workstation for content creation and testing, enabling companies to design, test and develop content on the same equipment that will deliver the experience to their customers

Creators can quickly transition back and forth between design and testing
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Its docking solution lets digital creators quickly transition back and forth between high-powered desktop for content design and wearable VR PC to test out their creations. The docking station can drive two 4K Z or DreamColor displays (sold separately) and the HTC Vive Business Edition HMD (sold separately) is also part of the HP VR portfolio. The Backpack will be available in September starting at $3,299 USD. The datasheet is available here.

For companies looking to get into VR/AR/MR our Virtual Reality Consultancy services offer guidance on how these technologies can enhance and support your brand strategy.

Tom Atkinson is a Digital Producer & Photographer at R3Digital and Reviews & Dept. Editor at Tech Trends. Connect on LinkedIn and follow him on Twitter @R3Digital

The post Product Review: HP Z VR Backpack & VR Workstation appeared first on Tech Trends.