The XR Week Peek (2022.04.10): Epic releases Unreal Engine 5, Meta cancels F8, and more!

vrcoin on April 10, 2022

I know you weren’t expecting my newsletter for today, but since I’m going to have a very busy next week, I’ve anticipated the release of my roundup! This afternoon I’m flying to Paris to then go to Laval to attend Laval Virtual, one of the oldest events about virtual reality, where I’ll be as an attendee, a virtual speaker (about the game HitMotion: Reloaded), a host of the AWE Nite Florence (featuring great speakers like Charlie Fink… ), and also as a.. I can’t tell you the last one because it will be a surprise! I have written a little blog post about my participation there. It’s going to be very interesting and very busy… I hope to meet you in Laval! Top news of the week (Image by Epic Games)Epic Games releases Unreal Engine 5 Epic Games has finally released the latest iteration of its popular game engine: Unreal Engine 5. UE5

Another Peak at VR-Enabled Cars, This Time From Holoride and Porsche

vrcoin on April 6, 2022

We’ve been keeping our eyes on holoride for a while now. The company promises VR-enabled in-vehicle entertainment and productivity applications – and they’ve delivered. However, those experiences have been demos and attractions at events, not something that an individual could actually use in their personal vehicle. holoride recently announced their first commercial installment with Porsche, featuring Cosmic Chase, holoride’s first original title, developed by Schell Games. While this is still a location-based experience currently only available at LA’s Porsche Experience Center, it does give us an exciting look at one of the experiences coming to consumer vehicles as early as this year. What Is the Experience? Schell Games is the studio behind well-known VR titles including Until You Fall, Among Us VR, and the I Expect You to Die series. If some of this is ringing a bell, Schell Games was one of the leaders in a $12M funding round

Data Security: Top Challenge in the Metaverse According to Tech Leaders

vrcoin on April 5, 2022

Ninety-seven percent of the respondents acknowledge the importance of data in the metaverse; Source: Bright Data Everyone’s talking about the metaverse. Tech giants are in a race to integrate into this new parallel world even as questions of data security surface. While the concept isn’t new, the business landscape has only recently been looking at the potential of the metaverse outside the gaming world. According to a survey from a web data platform Bright Data, and conducted by research firm Vanson Bourne, more than half of its respondents are aware of how the metaverse works. About 89% consider it important for business operations and 97% of the respondents acknowledge the importance of data in the metaverse. However, 60% cite data and security as the top challenges of this virtual world. Everyone is asking the same question: how will the metaverse impact cybersecurity? Cybersecurity and the Metaverse Cybersecurity has been a

Snoop Dogg’s New Music Video Was Shot In The Metaverse

vrcoin on April 4, 2022

“Walkin’ though The Sandbox with flip-flops on…”Very few celebrities have embraced the growing Web3 industry (NFTs, crypto, the metaverse) quite like Snoop Dogg. Since his music debut back in 1992, the prolific rapper, media personality, and entrepreneur has managed to remain in the public eye thanks in large part to his fearless embrace of new technologies and mediums. So it makes sense that the West Coast native would eventually gravitate towards the metaverse.Last September it was announced that Snoop was developing his own virtual world inside The Sandbox, one of several rapidly-growing social metaverse platforms. Referred to as the “Snoopverse,” users can explore a custom virtual world featuring all things Snoop Dogg, collect valuable NFT drops, and watch exclusive in-world concerts. Snoop’s virtual world is so popular that one superfan recently spent a jaw-dropping $500,000 to be the rapper’s virtual neighbor.Earlier this month, Snoop sent shockwaves through the music industry

The XR Week Peek (2022.04.04): Meta Quest Gaming Showcase is back, Mojo Vision is “feature complete”, and more!

vrcoin on April 4, 2022

It’s been a fun 1st of April for the whole XR community, with many jokes and pranks being released in the wild. Don’t forget to read the rich “Fun” section down below this roundup, because it is going to be a pretty rich one!  But at first, let’s get serious and read the relevant news of the week in AR and VR. Top news of the week Meta Quest Gaming Showcase is coming on April, 20th Meta is back with its Gaming Showcase, and this year, it is going to be aired on April, 20th at 10 am PT. Last year, it was still called Oculus Gaming Showcase, and it featured important updates on games like Pistol Whip, The Climb 2, I Expect You To Die 2, and Resident Evil 4 VR. This year, it promises to be cool the same, and probably even more, featuring new game announcements, gameplay first-looks, updates on

The 10 Coolest VR/AR Experiences From SXSW 2022

vrcoin on March 26, 2022

A SXSW to remember with who’s-who in XR creative technology showing face at the fest for the first time in two years.SXSW was back in full force last week. Masked or otherwise (Texas is pretty lax), a frenzy of wild-eyed art, music, film, and XR-hungry visitors flooded into Austin for a week of back-to-back programming. From discussions around virtual land ownership to cloth made from washable circuit boards to NFT galleries and off-site multi-player audio adventures, SXSW delighted and demanded full attention this year.In this best-of-round-up, we’ll try to capture the essence of the festival by highlighting groundbreaking XR experiences that were too novel, important, or strange to miss.RADIO GHOST (INTERACTIVE – AUDIO)Darragh: I was not sure what to expect from this experience. Mystified, I signed up for what turned out to be a whirlwind of being whisked off the premises of SXSW’s main block downtown to a mall several

Nike’s “Just Do It” Attitude Pays Off In The Metaverse

vrcoin on March 24, 2022

The company’s Nikeland metaverse proves a hit among Roblox players. Since the launch of Nikeland, a virtual world built by Nike inside the hit video game Roblox, the company has been visited by almost 7 million people from 224 countries. Here they could browse a digital store filled with Nike products and hang out with popular NBA players.During the NBA All-Star Week back in February, NBA superstar LeBron James stepped into Nikeland to talk directly with fans about basketball, give a few virtual high fives, and help motivate people to get active, either on a basketball court or in their favorite physically-active VR games. [embed]https://youtube.com/watch?v=U1yX7awE5P0&version=3&rel=1&showsearch=0&showinfo=1&iv_load_policy=1&fs=1&hl=en-US&autohide=2&wmode=transparent[/embed] “On the Nikeland court, LeBron coached and engaged with players, and participants were rewarded for physical gameplay with the ability to unlock virtual products,” said Nike’s Chief Executive and President Jack Donahoe during a Q3 earnings call.For Nike, the metaverse holds a lot of

The XR Week Peek (2022.03.22): Quest to feature new parental control tools, Google acquires Raxium, and more!

vrcoin on March 22, 2022

I’m back in Italy, but I have left a piece of my heart in Austin, where I had an unforgettable experience both on the personal and professional side at SXSW (you can read more about my experience here). I thank everyone that made my days so awesome, and I hope to meet you again soon!  This newsletter is happening one day after because on Sunday I was traveling, so I had to spend my Monday reading online articles for this roundup while I still was confused about the time of the day and the night. Luckily, we had not huge news about XR this week, so my work has been a little easier 🙂 Before I leave you to the big news of the week, don’t forget to register to NVIDIA GTC using my unique referral code: https://www.nvidia.com/gtc/?ncid=ref-crea-201724 ! If you are from the EMEA region, and you use my special link to

My experience at SXSW 2022: expect the unexpected

vrcoin on March 20, 2022

Ten days ago, I revealed to you that I was going to Austin, Texas to attend the SXSW, one of the most important events about creativity and technology in the USA. Today, while I’m packing my stuff up to go back to Italy, I want to tell you a few words about my experience there, and if I think it has been worth going. Going SXSW SXSW Logo (Image by SXSW)Even if it is not so famous in Europe, the SXSW (South by SouthWest) has always been one of the events to be in the United States. It gathers people from the tech industry, from movies, from music, all