[This story from CNET is a nice description of where VR is and might be heading – if it succeeds it’ll be because of the ‘magic’ of presence. See also a related piece in Venture Beat in which a father describes what happens when he introduces his 5 year old daughter to VR. –Matthew] Home for the holidays with my family, and virtual reality Commentary: To my family, no matter what their age, VR is magic…but it takes someone to put it on their heads in the first place. December 2, 2015 by Scott Stein “Oh my god, it’s so…

[This research report from Aalto University about emotional reactions to 3D faces is interesting not only because of the role of presence but the implications for media producers; as coverage in Quartz notes, “it could help them hone the 3D effect to really make the viewer feel the emotions of the characters in the game [or other 3D experience].” –Matthew] [Image: Six stereoscopic image pairs used in the experiment. The images can be seen in 3D by ‘looking through’ the image.] 3D amplifies emotions evoked by facial expressions The research findings have implications for emotion research, entertainment industry and 3D…

[Virtual environments need not be photo-realistic to evoke presence and have impacts on users; this story about an interesting VR installation is from Fast Company, where it includes a large photo gallery. —Matthew] Reaching Enlightenment Through Virtual Reality Tune in and drop out. Diana Budds December 1, 2015 The Eight Phases of Enlightenment, a virtual-reality installation by the artist Aramique, starts off as if you’re in the eye of a storm of fireflies. In a video, the glowing spots set against a black background swirl faster and start to congeal into a glowing orb before exploding in a flash of…

[You can have some Christmas presence (sorry!) at TGI Fridays in the UK this year; will this become a trend? The story is from The Daily Mirror, where it features many more images and a 1:14 minute video. The unscientific poll at the end of the story currently has 75% indicating support for the idea. The VR promotion follows last year’s “Mistletoe drones” – see CNET for details. –Matthew] Fancy dinner in Lapland? Customers at TGI Fridays offered ‘virtual reality’ trips to festive wonderland You won’t even have to get on a plane to experience the true magic of Christmas…