[This story from The Daily Dot describes MassVR’s new presence-based gaming environment, designed to offer more settings and social interaction than competing models. See the original story for more pictures. –Matthew] The future of VR gaming is in arenas Nick Moutvic December 3, 2018 “Go ahead,” a voice probes me. “Take the leap.” I look down. I’m 20, maybe 30 feet up, defending my fortress from invaders. Looking across the courtyard, then down at the precipitous drop below me, I know that if I step off the edge, I won’t really fall. But the digital world I’m inhabiting looks real…

[This story from CleanTechnica describes the use of virtual reality and the presence it evokes to teach people about the threats of climate change to ocean life. The original version includes the 2:57 minute video (also available via YouTube). –Matthew] [Image: Credit: Credit: Stanford Virtual Human Interaction Lab] Virtual Reality Helps Students Understand The Reality Of Ocean Acidification December 4th, 2018 By Steve Hanley Virtual reality can be so much more than another device that lets young males carve each other up in interesting new ways in combat-themed video games. Researchers at Stanford and the University of Oregon have created…

[Stories about holiday displays realistic enough to “fool” people, i.e., create a presence illusion, are most common around Halloween, but this one is related to Christmas – actually a Christmas-themed film. See the original version of the story in USA Today, which includes three videos, and CNN’s coverage, which features the two images here. By the way, this has happened before: See a KDVR story from Boulder, Colorado from last year. –Matthew] Texas family freaks out passerby with dangling Clark Griswold Christmas display Kris Betts, KVUE-TV/TEGNA December 3, 2018 AUSTIN – All a Northwest Austin homeowner wanted was to win their…

[Aside from the extremely positive characterizations, this review of a new VR attraction is notable for its description of presence experiences (without using the term; see the paragraph that begins “Which brings up a major point…”) and predictions about the future of interactive, presence-evoking storytelling (see the second-to-last paragraph). The original version on the Forbes website includes the 1:17 minute trailer and for more on the attraction see The VOID website. For even more information see other (positive) reviews in The Verge and io9 and a roundtable discussion with the creators in Laughing Place. –Matthew] [Image: Promotional image for “Ralph Breaks…

[The new production Chained is an intriguing model for personalized, vivid, narrative-based presence experiences. This story about it is from CNET – see the original version for several other pictures and a 3:23 minute video. –Matthew] This VR-live actor mashup is like your best absinthe-fueled nightmare Chained, an immersive reimagining of Dickens’ A Christmas Carol, weds virtual reality with a motion-capture live actor. Could it be the gateway that makes VR a hit? By Joan E. Solsman November 29, 2018 As a chain-laden ghost, I lumber through slices of moonlight in a dark, fire-lit room. I morph into a demonic specter,…

[High-end restaurants are utilizing presence-evoking technologies to enhance the dining experience in interesting ways – here’s a first-person report from Food & Wine; see the original story for more pictures. –Matthew] I Ate at a Virtual Reality Restaurant and … It’s the Future? Tokyo’s Tree by Naked is one of the most unique dining experience in the world. Maria Yagoda November 28, 2018 Aside from using and abusing the failed portable gaming console Virtual Boy in 1995, I’ve never been excited by virtual reality and its many promises. My reality is vivid, and grotesque, enough—why would I seek out extra…

[Too few stories about presence acknowledge and discuss the importance and dynamics of audio in presence experiences, and too few use the specific term presence; this story from VentureBeat does both. See the original version for two more images, including one of the “Cone of Experience.” –Matthew] Spatial audio design is key to creating ‘presence’ in VR and AR Amir Bozorgzadeh November 18, 2018 George Lucas once received a hearty round of applause back in 2011 when he declared that “sound is half of the experience of a motion picture.” If that’s true, what happens to the equation in the…

[This is a short description of a telepresence robot that has an arm so that the user can not only move through but manipulate a remote environment. The story is from New Atlas, where it includes two more pictures and a 2:58 minute video (also available via YouTube). For much more information see the product’s Indiegogo page. –Matthew] Origibot2 telepresence robot is armed for interactivity Ben Coxworth November 26, 2018 Although telepresence robots do allow remotely-located users to move about an environment, and to see and hear what’s going on there, they don’t actually let those users perform physical tasks.…

[The story below from the University of Illinois Behind the Scenes blog describes another example of how presence experiences can help people “learn by doing.” The original version includes eight pictures and a 0:59 minute video; see coverage in The News-Gazette for more details. –Matthew] [Image: Third-year doctoral student Cameron Merrill ‘digs’ as anthropology Professor Laura Shackelford watches a monitor Friday Nov. 16, 2018, at Virtual Archaeology, a virtual-reality lab in Davenport Hall on the University of Illinois campus in Urbana. Photo by: Rick Danzl/The News-Gazette.] Excavating a cave without leaving campus By Diana Yates, Life Sciences Editor, U.…

[This timely story from Vox describes the current and likely future uses of presence-evoking technologies in retail; the original version includes a second image and two videos. –Matthew] In Walmart’s virtual reality simulation, Black Friday never ends Walmart’s technological embrace is a big bet on shopping’s human element. By Patrick Sisson November 15, 2018 Staring down a seemingly endless aisle of products, including an entire grocery store-within-a-store, it seems like the shopping never ends at Walmart’s Santa Clarita Supercenter, 30 miles north of downtown Los Angeles. Inside, through an entryway wedged between freezer cases full of seafood, past employee locker rooms,…

[It’s just a patent for now, but Google has an idea that could make virtual experiences more immersive and natural. The story below is from Ars Technica, where it includes four more images. See also a 2017 Gizmodo story about the Cerevo Taclim tactile feedback shoes. Best wishes for a peaceful and restorative Thanksgiving holiday; ISPR Presence News will return Friday… –Matthew] Forget VR treadmills—Google patents motorized, omnidirectional VR sneakers Google’s idea would cancel out walking locomotion with motorized roller skates. Ron Amadeo November 19, 2018 If virtual reality is ever going to become the immersive, holodeck-style platform that we…

[Another place presence-evoking technology can take us… This story is from Astronomy and includes a 2:23 minute interactive 360 degree video (also available via YouTube). –Matthew] [Image: An image from the newly created virtual reality simulation of a black hole. Credit: J.Davelaar 2018.] A new virtual reality experience takes you inside a black hole You can’t visit our galaxy’s supermassive black hole in person, but now you can feel like you’re there. By Chelsea Gohd November 19, 2018 Inside a Black Hole Have you ever wanted to travel to the center of the galaxy and witness the power of a supermassive…