Developers,
do you think you have what it takes to make the next big Game or App for the
Samsung Gear VR?
Then
how does a Oculus Mobile VR Jam 2015
hosted by Oculus Rift worth US$1,000,000 sound to you as noted in the article “As
competitors spring up, Oculus plans mobile VR contest”, published Feb. 25,
2015 - 11:00 AM PST Signe Brewster, Gigaom.
Oculus
Rift, the company that CEO Brendan Iribe sold to Facebook back in March 2014
for US$2 billion as noted in my blog article
entitled “Facebook
buys Oculus Rift for US$2 billion - Facebook Social Virtual Reality Future as
Smartwatches and smartglasses herald the death of the smartphone in 2015”,
is doing exactly that.
They’re
launching a Mobile VR Jam Competition with some US$1,000,000 in prizes and
gifts on Wednesday February 25th, 2015 for develops to design apps for
Samsung's Gear VR Virtual Reality headset as reported in the article “Oculus
holds $1 million competition Mobile VR Jam 2015”, published February 25,
2015, by Lindsey Caldwell, SlashGear.
Oculus Mobile VR Jam
2015 - Golden opportunity to enter VR and AR Heaven
The
Oculus Mobile VR Jam 2015 starts
Monday April 13th 2015 and ends Monday May 11th 2015.
It
is a part of Oculus push to generate interest among Developers in designing
Games and Apps for the Samsung Gear
VR Innovator Edition as noted in the
article “Oculus
offers $1 million prize pool for Gear VR developers”, published by February
25th 2015 at 5:35 pm by Jessica Conditt, EnGadget.
This
is the second time that Oculus is holding a VR Jam, with the last being back in
2013, when Darknet walked away with
US$50,000 in top prize honours. That particular Developer is still making VR
content as well as other gaming content, evidence enough that this isn't a fad,
but a golden opportunity to be at the doorstep of VR and AR (Augmented Reality)
Heaven.
A
year on and they've upped the prize to US$1,000,000 in a mixture of cash and
prizes that's split between two (2) broad categories:
1. Games
2. Apps
Within
each category, somewhat like a 100 meter Race, winners will be chosen to win
the Platinum, Gold, Silver and Bronze prizes. In each category, the Platinum
winners will receive the following prizes:
1.
US$200,000 for the best VR game
2.
US$100,000 for the best VR App
The
Gold, Silver and Bronze prizes are lower tier prizes with the Bronze prize winner
picking up US$10,000. But the publicity garnered
by entering the competition is something very few Developers can finance,
making entering the competition money than worthwhile.
Oculus Mobile VR Jam
2015 - How Samsung is Gearing up for Competition in the VR Space
Oculus
has licensed their VR technology to Samsung which they used to develope the
Samsung Gear VR as noted in the article “Samsung's
Gear VR is a portable Oculus Rift for the Galaxy Note 4”, published
September 3, 2014 09:30 am by Dan Seifert, The
Verge.
The
Samsung Gear VR uses your existing Samsung Galaxy Note 4 with a special App to
bring you a wire free, immersive Reality experience akin to the Oculus Rift.
The main problem though, typical of any new nascent multi-media product, is the
lack of content.
Hence
the Mobile VR Jam Competition to spark developer interest as Sony, Microsoft
and now Google are in the running with their VR Headgear as reported in the
article “The
VR race: who's closest to making VR a reality?”, published Wednesday
11.02.2015 by JT Ripton and Lily Prasuethsut, TechRadar.
Samsung Gear VR
Developer Edition competition - HTC and Valve debut HTC Vive Developer Edition
Now
with MWC (Mobile World Conference) under way in Barcelona, Spain, the first
salvo has been fired by HTC.
HTC
is partnering with Streaming Game maker Steam and their Gaming System Valve as
the content provider of Games to make the HTC Vive, their version of a Virtual
Reality Headset as noted in the article “Valve's
VR headset is called the Vive and it's made by HTC”, published March 1,
2015 By Dante D'Orazio and Vlad Savov, The
Verge.
The
HTC Vive Developer Edition uses two 1200 x 1080 displays with a 90 fps (frames
per second) refresh rate. With jitter reduced, the HTC Vive Developer Edition
is said to give you a 360-degree views.
Combined
with a built in gyrosensor, accelerometer, and laser position sensor to track
head movement, precise orientation of your physical location in space as where
your head and eyes are pointing serve as inputs that Game Developers can use to
make very immersive VR experiences.
But
what may give the Samsung Gear VR a run for their money is that the HTC Vive Developer
Edition comes packing a Steam VR base station, creating a virtual 15” by 15”
space within which you can actually move around in instead of using controller.
The Samsung Gear VR uses head movements combined with a controller, making the experience
immersive, but no different from sitting on a couch playing a video Game.
The
HTC Vive Developer Edition is somewhat reminiscent of the Microsoft Kinect,
which is powered by 3D Motion Tracking Technology developed by Israeli based
Primesense, a company that Apple eventually purchased back in July 2013 as
noted in my blog
article entitled “Apple
buys Israeli-based Primesense that makes the Microsoft Kinect - Apple's Siri
and Kinect Heralds of a coming world free of Remote Controls”.
So
with the competition piling on and the VR space ripe for developement and
possibly the next big thing in Gaming, entering the Oculus Mobile VR Jam 2015
seems like the perfect way for any Game Developer interested in VR and AR to
get their head in the Game!
Here's
the link:
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