[Research question: Are puppies cuter when you experience them in VR? This story from Popular Mechanics (where it features a different image) mentions a few interesting possible sporting event applications of VR as the technology evolves. For information on the different ways to see the Puppy Bowl players in VR see the Discovery website and for full details on the event, see the press release. –Matthew]
[Image: Source: PCProactive]
The Most Exciting (Dog-Related) Sporting Event Will Show Practices in VR
Why would you watch the Super Bowl when you can strap on some Goggles and go hog wild at the Puppy Bowl?
By John Wenz
Jan 11, 2016
Yeah, yeah, the Super Bowl is coming up and 114 million people are going to watch it even though the Jacksonville Jaguars aren’t playing. But the real beginning-of-the-year sporting event, outside of the Winter Classic, is the Puppy Bowl. And now, thanks to the magic of virtual reality, you can put yourself on the field with a bunch of puppies vying for the championship before the main event.
The Puppy Bowl, you say? It’s that vaunted tradition on the Animal Planet network of having a bunch of adorable rescue dogs play on a very small football field. There are kitten cheerleaders at a half-time show. In its 12th year, it’s shown alongside the Super Bowl. It’s as dopey and adorable as it sounds, if not exactly the best defense game you’ll see on Super Bowl night.
Animal Planet has decided that this year will be different. This will be the year you can step into the Puppy Bowl in virtual reality. Animal Planet added some virtual reality content on its site, allowing a 360 degree dog’s eye view of the far-short-of-one-hundred-yards field. (UPDATE: Animal Planet says the VR content is in advance of the game, rather than on game night.)
The VR content has been optimized for Google Cardboard and Samsung VR, and will appear on the Animal Planet site in addition to YouTube, Samsung Milk VR app, and Discover VR app.
It’s goofy, fun, and a little gimmicky, but there’s probably something to this as a future of certain prestige sporting events as virtual reality becomes more prevalent (and hopefully cheaper.) It’s not hard to imagine a Super Bowl ad incorporating a VR element, directing viewers to go to a certain URL and plug in an Oculus, or to see a game simulcast in TV and VR. But right now, it’s pretty confined to “that thing you watch if you’re really not into football since there’s nothing else on.”
The actual Puppy Bowl starts at 3 p.m. on February 7, 2016, before the real Super Bowl, where the Jacksonville Jaguars will not be playing the San Francisco 49ers.