Virtual skydiving and premiere of detective Oculus game

Creative production and technology company Inition are hosting their second London Oculus VR meetup next week

The company has a long track record (in technology terms anyway) of using virtual reality to create ‘unreal’ experiences for brands, and since getting their hands on a bunch of Rifts, the team has been exploring the possibilities consumer priced virtual reality will bring.

Last month they launched the first London based Oculus Rift / VR Meetup at their Shoreditch studios – a basement full of exciting tech that I first visited way back in the heady stereoscopic 3D TV days (where has the time gone!)

Then, many designers, CG artists, developers, VR enthusiasts and the simply curious got to try the VR Kickstarter sensation for the first time. You can read a full report of the event written by Kevin Williams, Founder of The Stinger Report here.

 

Next Wednesday, the Meetup returns with an interesting line-up.  For the very first time, the stunning skydiving simulator, originally designed to promote Nissan’s Juke car using a Sony HMD, will be presented on the Rift with its far wider and more immersive field of view.  A Kinect will track people’s arms as they swing them to guide their free fall.

Julian Williams, inventor of WizDish, will return with a new demo, built for the product's recent appearance on Gadget Man.  Meetup guests will be able to explore the same stunning terrain Richard Ayoade did on the omni-directional treadmill, in front of a large stereoscopic display.

Jake Slack, Games Developer at Animazoo and the brains behind Mocap Games, will be presenting a gaming attraction that  combines a game built using UDK and interia based sensors which detect the movement of the arms, allowing people to interact with the action.  It is a product they are pushing at the forthcoming attractions shows.

Jake is also a Unity developer, and recently created a detective game called Private Eye, as part of the Oculus Rift Jam.  In the game, you “See the world through the eyes of a private investigator – armed with a pair of binoculars, a notepad full of mysteries and time to kill. Your leg may be broken, but there's plenty going on outside to keep you entertained. Prove your worth as a neighborhood watchman and foil the mafias plans.”

It will be the first time the game has been shown to the public.

Kevin Williams, a life-long ambassador of virtual reality, having being one of the founding members of Division Group back in 1989, will be doing a presentation called “The Attraction of Immersion” which will cover:

The story of immersive entertainment in the public-space
The emergence of VR applications in entertainment
Modern applications of VR and immersive entertainment

Andy Millns, Creative Director of Inition and a person so passionate about VR he has a shoebox full of press clippings about the subject since 1994, explains the importance of hosting such Meetups:

“We are in the very early days of virtual reality but this time the technology is able to deliver the experiences promised over 20 years ago.  But it’s content that will drive this forward and when people can share ideas, use the kit, get feedback and discuss potential collaboration, it will only serve to nurture this exciting new production platform."

Places are limited so if you are interested in attending the free Meetup click here.

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