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# Voices of VR Podcast

Designing for Virtual Reality

## Sitemaps

- [XML Sitemap](https://voicesofvr.com/sitemap.xml): Contains all public & indexable URLs for this website.

## Posts

- [#1709: Ian Hamilton on Getting Fired from UploadVR & Concerns on AI Authorship in News](https://voicesofvr.com/1709-ian-hamilton-on-getting-fired-from-uploadvr-concerns-on-ai-authorship-in-news/) - On Wednesday, January 28, 2026, Ian Hamilton announced on Bluesky that "I've been fired from UploadVR." He was the editor in chief at UploadVR, and he wrote a Substack post titled "Ian is Typing" on January 30th detailing how is co-workers were pushing to do a test of a "clearly disclosed AI author for UploadVR,"
- [#1708: How Process Philosophy Centers Experience. A Prismatic Tour of "Whitehead's Universe" by Andrew M. Davis](https://voicesofvr.com/1708-how-process-philosophy-centers-experience-a-prismatic-tour-of-whiteheads-universe-by-andrew-m-davis/) - I interviewed Andrew M. Davis about his forthcoming book titled Whitehead's Universe: A Prismatic Introduction on Thursday, December 4, 2025. It's absolutely the best introduction to Alfred North Whitehead's work in Process Philosophy, and I can't recommend it enough. The worst part is that it isn't set to release until sometime next year, but you
- [#1698: Immersive Exhibition Lessons Learned from Undershed's First Year with Amy Rose](https://voicesofvr.com/1698-immersive-exhibition-lessons-learned-from-undersheds-first-year-with-amy-rose/) - I interviewed Amy Rose about first year of the Undershed at the Watershed on Saturday, November 15, 2025 at IDFA DocLab in Amsterdam, Netherlands. This is a listener-supported podcast through the Voices of VR Patreon. Music: Fatality
- [#1678: Wevr on VR LBE as a "New Cinema," a 10-Year Retrospective](https://voicesofvr.com/1678-wevr-on-vr-lbe-as-a-new-cinema-a-10-year-retrospective/) - I had a chance to catch up with Wevr's CEO and co-founder Neville Spiteri, which has been making location-based VR experiences for the last decade in what he calls a "New Cinema." See more context in the rough transcript below. This is a listener-supported podcast through the Voices of VR Patreon. Music: Fatality
- [#1679: The Matrix at Cosm Expands Film Beyond the Frame with Cinematic Shared Reality](https://voicesofvr.com/1679-the-matrix-at-cosm-expands-film-beyond-the-frame-with-cinematic-shared-reality/) - The Matrix at Cosm in LA opened on June 6th, 2025, which leverages Cosm's 87-foot, 12K+ LED immersive dome to show this classic film within a 16x9 frame while the additional space beyond the frame was filled with over 50 different scenes thereby expanding the worldbuilding beyond the frame. I finally had a chance to
- [#1680: Charlie Melcher's "The Future of Storytelling" Book Surveys Over 50 Living Stories](https://voicesofvr.com/1680-charlie-melchers-the-future-of-storytelling-book-surveys-over-50-living-stories/) - Charles Melcher's new book "The Future of Storytelling: How Immersive Experiences Are Transforming Our World" was released on November 4, 2025, and I had a chance to take an early look and interview Melcher. The book is broken up into six main chapters where Melcher argues that the future of storytelling is agentic, immersive, embodied,
- [#1681: VRChat Worldbuilder DrMorro on His Epic & Dreamlike Masterpieces](https://voicesofvr.com/1681-vrchat-worldbuilder-drmorro-on-his-epic-dreamlike-masterpieces/) - The VRChat worlds by DrMorro are truly incredible. They're vast landscapes made of surreal mash-ups of various architecture styles and symbols that feels like you're walking through a waking dream. His Organism Trilogy (Organism, Epilogue 1, and Epilogue 2) is a true masterpiece of VR worldbuilding. And his latest Ritual is one of the biggest
- [#1682: Preview of IDFA DocLab's 2025 Selection of "Perception Art" & Immersive Stories](https://voicesofvr.com/1682-preview-of-idfa-doclabs-2025-selection-of-perception-art-immersive-stories/) - IDFA DocLab is the immersive selection of non-fiction digital and immersive stories that is a part of the International Documentary Film Festival Amsterdam (IDFA), and they're having their 19th selection this year. DocLab founder Caspar Sonnen has been doing an amazing job of tracking the frontiers of new forms of digital, interactive, and immersive storytelling
- [#1683: "Feedback VR: An Antifuturist Musical" Wins Immersive Non-Fiction Award at IDFA DocLab 2025](https://voicesofvr.com/1683-feedback-vr-antifuturist-musical-wins-immersive-non-fiction-award-at-idfa-doclab-2025/) - I interviewed Claudix Vanesix, Cocompi & Aaron Medina about Feedback VR, un musical antifuturista on Sunday, November 16, 2025 at IDFA DocLab in Amsterdam, Netherlands. Here are the 26 episodes and more than 24 hours of coverage from my IDFA DocLab 2025 coverage: #1682: Preview of IDFA DocLab's Selection of "Perception Art" & Immersive Stories
- [#1684: Playable Essay "individualism in the dead-internet age" Recaps Enshittification Against Indie Devs](https://voicesofvr.com/1684-playable-essay-individualism-in-the-dead-internet-age-recaps-enshittification-against-indie-devs/) - I interviewed Nathalie Lawhead about individualism in the dead-internet age: an anti-big tech asset flip shovelware r̶a̶n̶t̶ manifesto on Monday, November 17, 2025 at IDFA DocLab in Amsterdam, Netherlands. This is a listener-supported podcast through the Voices of VR Patreon. Music: Fatality
- [#1685: Immersive Liner Notes of Hip-Hop Album "AÜTO/MÖTOR" Uses three.js & HTML 1.0 Aesthetics](https://voicesofvr.com/1685-immersive-liner-notes-of-hip-hop-album-auto-motor-uses-three-js-html-1-0-aesthetics/) - I interviewed Albert Johnson about A Ü T O / M Ö T O R on Sunday, November 16, 2025 at IDFA DocLab in Amsterdam, Netherlands. This is a listener-supported podcast through the Voices of VR Patreon. Music: Fatality
- [#1686: 15 Years of Hand-Written Letters about the Internet in "Life Needs Internet 2010–2025" Installation](https://voicesofvr.com/1686-15-years-of-hand-written-letters-about-the-internet-in-life-needs-internet-2010-2025-installation/) - I interviewed Jeroen van Loon about Life Needs Internet 2010–2025 on Wednesday, November 19, 2025 at IDFA DocLab in Amsterdam, Netherlands. This is a listener-supported podcast through the Voices of VR Patreon. Music: Fatality
- [#1687: Text-Based Adventure Theatrical Performance "MILKMAN ZERO: The First Delivery"](https://voicesofvr.com/1687-text-based-adventure-theatrical-performance-milkman-zero-the-first-delivery/) - I interviewed Matt Romein about MILKMAN ZERO: The First Delivery on Monday, November 17, 2025 at IDFA DocLab in Amsterdam, Netherlands. This is a listener-supported podcast through the Voices of VR Patreon. Music: Fatality
- [#1688: Hacking Gamer Hardware and Stereotypes in "Gamer Keyboard Wall Piece #2"](https://voicesofvr.com/1688-hacking-gamer-hardware-and-stereotypes-in-gamer-keyboard-wall-piece-2/) - I interviewed Sjef van Beers about Gamer Keyboard Wall Piece #2 on Saturday, November 15, 2025 at IDFA DocLab in Amsterdam, Netherlands. This is a listener-supported podcast through the Voices of VR Patreon. Music: Fatality
- [#1689: Making Post-Human Babies in "IVF-X" to Catalyze Philosophical Reflections on Reproduction](https://voicesofvr.com/1689-making-post-human-babies-in-ivf-x-to-catalyze-philosophical-reflections-on-reproduction/) - I interviewed Victorine Van Alphen about IVF-X on Saturday, April 8, 2023 at New Images in Paris, France. This is a listener-supported podcast through the Voices of VR Patreon. Music: Fatality
- [#1690: Asking Philosophical Questions on AI in "The Oracle: Ritual for the Future" with Poetic Immersive Performance](https://voicesofvr.com/1690-asking-philosophical-questions-on-ai-in-the-oracle-ritual-for-the-future-with-poetic-immersive-performance/) - I interviewed Victorine van Alphen about The Oracle: Ritual for the Future on Wednesday, November 19, 2025 at IDFA DocLab in Amsterdam, Netherlands. This is a listener-supported podcast through the Voices of VR Patreon. Music: Fatality
- [#1691: A Call for Human Friction Over AI Slop in "Deep Soup" Participatory Film Based on "Designing Friction" Manifesto](https://voicesofvr.com/1691-a-call-for-human-friction-over-ai-slop-in-deep-soup-participatory-film-based-on-designing-friction-manifesto/) - I interviewed Luna Maurer & Roel Wouters about Deep Soup on Tuesday, November 18, 2025 at IDFA DocLab in Amsterdam, Netherlands. You can also check out their Designing Friction Manifesto. This is a listener-supported podcast through the Voices of VR Patreon. Music: Fatality
- [#1692: Playful Remixing of Scanned Animal Body Parts in "We Are Dead Animals"](https://voicesofvr.com/1692-playful-remixing-of-scanned-animal-body-parts-in-we-are-dead-animals/) - I interviewed Maarten Isaak de Heer about We Are Dead Animals on Saturday, November 15, 2025 at IDFA DocLab in Amsterdam, Netherlands. This is a listener-supported podcast through the Voices of VR Patreon. Music: Fatality
- [#1693: A Survey of the Indie Immersive Dome Community Trends with "The Rift" Directors & 4Pi Productions](https://voicesofvr.com/1693-a-survey-of-the-indie-immersive-dome-community-trends-with-the-rift-directors-4pi-productions/) - I interviewed Janire Najera & Matthew Wright about The Rift on Monday, November 17, 2025 at IDFA DocLab in Amsterdam, Netherlands. This is a listener-supported podcast through the Voices of VR Patreon. Music: Fatality
- [#1694: Reimagining Amsterdam's Red Light District in "Unimaginable Red" Open World Game](https://voicesofvr.com/1694-reimagining-amsterdams-red-light-district-in-unimaginable-red-open-world-game/) - I interviewed Vitor Freire & Monique Grimord about Unimaginable Red on Wednesday, November 19, 2025 at IDFA DocLab in Amsterdam, Netherlands. This is a listener-supported podcast through the Voices of VR Patreon. Music: Fatality
- [#1695: "Another Place" Takes a Liminal Architectural Stroll into Memories of Another Time and Place](https://voicesofvr.com/1695-another-place-takes-a-liminal-architectural-stroll-into-memories-of-another-time-and-place/) - I interviewed Domenico Singha Pedroli about Another Place on Saturday, November 15, 2025 at IDFA DocLab in Amsterdam, Netherlands. This is a listener-supported podcast through the Voices of VR Patreon. Music: Fatality
- [#1696: Speculative Architecture Meets the Immersive Dome in Sergey Prokofyev's "Eternal Habitat"](https://voicesofvr.com/1696-speculative-architecture-meets-the-immersive-dome-in-sergey-prokofyevs-eternal-habitat/) - I interviewed Sergey Prokofyev about Eternal Habitat on Monday, November 17, 2025 at IDFA DocLab in Amsterdam, Netherlands. This is a listener-supported podcast through the Voices of VR Patreon. Music: Fatality
- [#1700: Update on Co-Creating XR Distribution Field Initiative & Toolkits from MIT Open DocLab](https://voicesofvr.com/1700-update-on-co-creating-xr-distribution-field-initiative-toolkits-from-mit-open-doclab/) - I interviewed Sarah Wolozin, Scarlett Kim, Julia Scott-Stevenson about MIT Open DocLab's Co-Creating XR Distribution Field Initiative on Wednesday, November 19, 2025 at IDFA DocLab in Amsterdam, Netherlands. This is a listener-supported podcast through the Voices of VR Patreon. Music: Fatality
- [#1701: Public Art Installation "Nothing to See Here" Uses Perception Art to Challenge Our Notions of Reality](https://voicesofvr.com/1701-public-art-installation-nothing-to-see-here-uses-perception-art-to-challenge-our-notions-of-reality/) - I interviewed Celine Daemen about Nothing to See Here on Monday, November 17, 2025 at IDFA DocLab in Amsterdam, Netherlands. This is a listener-supported podcast through the Voices of VR Patreon. Music: Fatality
- [#1702: "Coded Black" Creates Experiential Black History by Combining Horror Genres with Open World Exploration](https://voicesofvr.com/1702-coded-black-creates-experiential-black-history-by-combining-horror-genres-with-open-world-exploration/) - I interviewed Maisha Wester about Coded Black on Monday, November 17, 2025 at IDFA DocLab in Amsterdam, Netherlands. This is a listener-supported podcast through the Voices of VR Patreon. Music: Fatality
- [#1703: "Reality Looks Back" Uses Quantum Possibility Metaphors & Gaussian Splats to Challenge Notions of Reality](https://voicesofvr.com/1703-reality-looks-back-uses-quantum-possibility-metaphors-gaussian-splats-to-challenge-notions-of-reality/) - I interviewed Anne Jeppesen & Omid Zarei about Reality Looks Back on Tuesday, November 18, 2025 at IDFA DocLab in Amsterdam, Netherlands. This is a listener-supported podcast through the Voices of VR Patreon. Music: Fatality
- [#1704: "Lesbian Simulator" is an Interactive VR Narrative Masterclass Balancing Levity, Pride, & Naming of Homophobic Threats](https://voicesofvr.com/1704-lesbian-simulator-is-an-interactive-vr-narrative-masterclass-balancing-levity-pride-naming-of-homophobic-threats/) - I interviewed Iris van der Meule about Lesbian Simulator on Tuesday, November 18, 2025 at IDFA DocLab in Amsterdam, Netherlands. This is a listener-supported podcast through the Voices of VR Patreon. Music: Fatality
- [#1705: The Art of Designing Emergent Social Dynamics with Ontroerend Goed's "Handle with Care"](https://voicesofvr.com/1705-the-art-of-designing-emergent-social-dynamics-with-ontroerend-goeds-handle-with-care/) - I interviewed Alexander Devriendt about Handle with Care on Wednesday, December 3, 2025. This is a listener-supported podcast through the Voices of VR Patreon. Music: Fatality
- [#1706: Using Immersive Journalism to Document Genocide in Gaza with "Under the Same Sky"](https://voicesofvr.com/1706-using-immersive-journalism-to-document-genocide-in-gaza-with-under-the-same-sky/) - I interviewed Khalil Ashawi, Sami Sultan, & Hail Khalaf about Under the Same Sky on Saturday, November 15, 2025 at IDFA DocLab in Amsterdam, Netherlands. This is a listener-supported podcast through the Voices of VR Patreon. Music: Fatality
- [#1707: War Journalist Turns to Immersive Art to Shatter Our Numbness Through Feeling. "In 36,000 Ways" is a Revelatory Embodied Poem by Karim Ben Khelifa](https://voicesofvr.com/1707-war-journalist-turns-to-immersive-art-to-shatter-our-numbness-through-feeling-in-36000-ways-is-a-revelatory-embodied-poem-by-karim-ben-khelifa/) - I interviewed Karim Ben Khelifa about In 36,000 Ways on Sunday, November 16, 2025 at IDFA DocLab in Amsterdam, Netherlands. Here are the 26 episodes and more than 24 hours of coverage from my IDFA DocLab 2025 coverage: #1682: Preview of IDFA DocLab's Selection of "Perception Art" & Immersive Stories #1683: "Feedback VR Antifuturist Musical"
- [#1699: Announcing "The Institute of Immersive Preservation" with Avinash Changa & His XR Virtual Machine Wizardry](https://voicesofvr.com/1699-announcing-the-institute-of-immersive-preservation-with-avinash-changa-his-xr-virtual-machine-wizardry/) - I interviewed Avinash Changa about The Institute of Immersive Perservation on Tuesday, November 18, 2025 at IDFA DocLab in Amsterdam, Netherlands. This is a listener-supported podcast through the Voices of VR Patreon. Music: Fatality
- [#1697: Can Immersive Art Revitalize Civic Engagement? Netherlands CIIIC Funds "Shared Reality" Initiative](https://voicesofvr.com/1697-can-immersive-art-revitalize-civic-engagement-netherlands-ciiic-funds-shared-reality-initiative/) - I interviewed Martijn de Waal about revitalizing civic engagement through immersive art on Sunday, November 16, 2025 at IDFA DocLab in Amsterdam, Netherlands. This is a listener-supported podcast through the Voices of VR Patreon. Music: Fatality
- [#1608: AWE Hall of Famer Brenda Laurel on "Computers as Theater" Book, Ethics, and VR for Ecological Thinking](https://voicesofvr.com/1608-awe-hall-of-famer-brenda-laurel-on-computers-as-theater-book-ethics-and-vr-for-ecological-thinking/) - Here's my interview with Brenda Laurel, Board of Virtual World Society, VR Artist, Theorist, Writer, Speaker, Designer, author of five books including Computers as Theatre, that was conducted on Wednesday, May 29, 2019 at Augmented World Expo in Santa Clara, CA. See more context in the rough transcript below. This is a listener-supported podcast through
- [#1614: Story Behind "Escape Artist" 2024 Polys WebXR Awards Winner](https://voicesofvr.com/1614-story-behind-escape-artist-2024-polys-webxr-awards-winner/) - Here's my interview about the WebXR experience called Escape Artist with James C. Kane (who at the time was Technical Director at Paradowski), Andy Wise (Vice President of Creative Technology at Paradowski), & Ayushman Johri (3D Artist at Paradowski) that was conducted via Zoom on Tuesday, March 12, 2024. See more context in the rough
- [#1618: Producing Live Sports for Cosm's Immersive Dome with Ryan Cole](https://voicesofvr.com/1618-producing-live-sports-for-cosms-immersive-dome-with-ryan-cole/) - Here's my interview with Ryan Cole, Vice President of Video Technology at Cosm, that was conducted on Wednesday, June 11, 2025 at Augmented World Expo in Long Beach, CA. See more context in the rough transcript below. This is a listener-supported podcast through the Voices of VR Patreon. Music: Fatality
- [#1631: iNK Stories 2017: GDC Narrative Innovations Showcase Highlights](https://voicesofvr.com/1631-ink-stories-2017-gdc-narrative-innovations-showcase-highlights/) - I spoke with Navid Khonsari about the GDC Narrative Innovations Showcase Highlights at GDC 2017. See more context in the rough transcript below. This is a listener-supported podcast through the Voices of VR Patreon. Music: Fatality
- [#1632: iNK Stories 2018: Embodied Interactions in Vérité VR "Hero" on Bombing Aftermath](https://voicesofvr.com/1632-ink-stories-2018-embodied-interactions-in-verite-vr-hero-on-bombing-aftermath/) - I spoke with Navid Khonsari, Vassiliki Khonsari, & Brooks Brown about Hero at Sundance 2018. See more context in the rough transcript below. This is a listener-supported podcast through the Voices of VR Patreon. Music: Fatality
- [#1633: iNK Stories 2018: "Fire Escape" Multi-Threaded Murder Mystery in VR](https://voicesofvr.com/1633-ink-stories-2018-fire-escape-multi-threaded-murder-mystery-in-vr/) - I spoke with Navid Khonsari about Fire Escape at the Vancouver International Film Festival 2018. See more context in the rough transcript below. This is a listener-supported podcast through the Voices of VR Patreon. Music: Fatality
- [#1637: VRChat Doc "The Architect Across Realities" Features MR Design Innovations in Japan](https://voicesofvr.com/1637-vrchat-doc-the-architect-across-realities-features-mr-design-innovations-in-japan/) - I spoke with Jiyue Human about VRChat Doc The Architect Across Realities as a part of my Raindance Immersive 2025 coverage. See more context in the rough transcript below. This is a listener-supported podcast through the Voices of VR Patreon. Music: Fatality
- [#1643: Studio Penrose's "Our Precious Autumn" Short Film Shot in VRChat Wins Raindance Award](https://voicesofvr.com/1643-studio-penroses-our-precious-autumn-short-film-shot-in-vrchat-wins-raindance-award/) - I spoke with Khang Lu, Quinn Heptig, & Eliza Zhang about their short film shot in VRChat called Our Precious Autumn as a part of my Raindance Immersive 2025 coverage. See more context in the rough transcript below. This is a listener-supported podcast through the Voices of VR Patreon. Music: Fatality
- [#1645: "Hommage" Adventure Inspired by Moebius' Art Collaboratively Built in Resonite](https://voicesofvr.com/1645-hommage-adventure-inspired-by-moebius-art-collaboratively-built-in-resonite/) - I spoke with Nanotopia & Rixx about Hommage as a part of my Raindance Immersive 2025 coverage. See more context in the rough transcript below. This is a listener-supported podcast through the Voices of VR Patreon. Music: Fatality
- [#1646: "The Continuous Present" Combines Poetry, Music, & Giant Immersive Sculptures to Win Raindance Immersive Best Art Experience](https://voicesofvr.com/1646-the-continuous-present-combines-poetry-music-giant-immersive-sculptures-to-win-raindance-immersive-best-art-experience/) - I spoke with ReVerse Butcher & Kylie Supski about The Continuous Present as a part of my Raindance Immersive 2025 coverage. See more context in the rough transcript below. This is a listener-supported podcast through the Voices of VR Patreon. Music: Fatality
- [#1647: Virtual Art Exhibition Innovations in Jessien's "What is Virtual Art?" VRChat World](https://voicesofvr.com/1647-virtual-art-exhibition-innovations-in-jessiens-what-is-virtual-art-vrchat-world/) - I spoke with Jessien about his Virtual Museum of Virtual Art as well as his latest What is Virtual Art? VRChat World exhibition as a part of my Raindance Immersive 2025 coverage. We also talk about his previous Raindance award-winning world Thickness Of Calligraphy. See more context in the rough transcript below. This is a
- [#1648: Vast Hand-Painted "Natura's Queendom" Wins Raindance Immersive Best Art World](https://voicesofvr.com/1648-vast-hand-painted-naturas-queendom-wins-raindance-immersive-best-art-world/) - I spoke with Anders Fray (aka Ders) & Starheart about Natura's Queendom as a part of my Raindance Immersive 2025 coverage. See more context in the rough transcript below. This is a listener-supported podcast through the Voices of VR Patreon. Music: Fatality
- [#1650: Sneak Peak of Venice Immersive 2025 Selection with Curators Liz Rosenthal and Michel Reilhac](https://voicesofvr.com/1650-sneak-peak-of-venice-immersive-2025-selection-with-curators-liz-rosenthal-and-michel-reilhac/) - I spoke with Venice Immersive curators Liz Rosenthal & Michel Reilhac about sneak peak of their 2025 selection, which is their largest selection yet. See more context in the rough transcript below. Here's an Venice Immersive Program Cheat Sheet by Voices of VR podcast (PDF), which has an overview of the four categories of immersive
- [#1656: Kiira Benz Part 1: "Runnin'" Large-Scale Volumetric Music Video (2019)](https://voicesofvr.com/1656-kiira-benz-part-1-runnin-large-scale-volumetric-music-video-2019/) - I'm featuring a trilogy of interviews with Kiira Benz (formerly known as Kiira Benzing) with this first part covering her Runnin' music video piece that showed at Sundance 2019 and won the top prize at SXSW 2019. I'll follow up with an interview about her immersive theatre piece that won a prize at Venice Immersive
- [#1657: Kiira Benz Part 2: "Finding Pandora X" Bringing Immersive Theatre to VRChat (2020)](https://voicesofvr.com/1657-kiira-benz-part-2-finding-pandora-x-bringing-immersive-theatre-to-vrchat-2020/) - I did an interview with Kiira Benz and Joanna Popper during my remote coverage of Venice Immersive 2020, where her Finding Pandora X project won the Best VR Immersive User Experience award. This is a second in a trilogy of interviews with Benz, and you can check out our conversation about Runnin' and our latest
- [#1658: Kiira Benz Part 3: Immersive Storytelling Career Retrospective (2025)](https://voicesofvr.com/1658-kiira-benz-part-3-immersive-storytelling-career-retrospective-2025/) - Here is my third and final interview of a trilogy of interviews with Kiira Benz. This was conducted at Meta Connect 2025, and serves as a sort of career retrospective of Benz's journey into immersive storytelling. You can check out our previous conversations with our interview about Runnin' from Sundance New Frontier 2019, our interview
- [#1674: 3rd Place Spectacles Lensathon Team: Fireside Tales Collaborative Storytelling with GenAI](https://voicesofvr.com/1674-3rd-place-spectacles-lensathon-team-fireside-tales-collaborative-storytelling-with-genai/) - At Snap's Developer Conference of Lensfest, I did an interview with 3rd place team in the Snap Spectacles Lensathon named Fireside Tales including Stijn Spanhove, Pavlo Tkachenko, and Yegor Ryabtsov. See more context in the rough transcript below. This is a listener-supported podcast through the Voices of VR Patreon. Music: Fatality
- [#1611: Socratic Debate on Future of AI & XR from AWE 2025 Panel](https://voicesofvr.com/1611-socratic-debate-on-future-of-ai-xr-from-awe-2025-panel/) - Here's the panel discussion of Socratic Dialogue on the Future of AI and Immersive Technology with Alvin Wang Graylin, Kent Bye, Louis Rosenberg, Leslie Shannon that was recorded on the main stage of Augmented World Expo on Thursday, June 12, 2025 at Augmented World Expo in Long Beach, CA. See more context in the rough
- [#1677: Snap's AR Developer Relations Plan for 2026 Specs Consumer Launch with Joe Darko](https://voicesofvr.com/1677-snaps-ar-developer-relations-plan-for-2026-specs-consumer-launch-with-joe-darko/) - I did an interview with Joe Darko, Global Head of Developer Relations at Snap, at Snap's Developer Conference of Lensfest. See more context in the rough transcript below. You can also check out all 11 episodes in this Snap Lensfest series here: #1667: Kickoff of Snap Lensfest 2025 Coverage & SnapOS 2.0 Announcements #1668: Snap
- [#1667: Kickoff of Snap Lensfest 2025 Coverage & SnapOS 2.0 Announcements](https://voicesofvr.com/1667-kickoff-of-snap-lensfest-2025-coverage-snapos-2-0-announcements/) - This interview with Spectacles Community Manager Jesse McCulloch kicks off my coverage of Snap's Developer Conference called Lensfest. Snap is gearing up for a consumer release of their Snap Specs AR glasses some time next year, and they've been busy frequently updating their underlying operating system and platform tools like Lens Studio. There were no
- [#1676: 1st Place Spectacles Lensathon Team: Decisionator Object-Detection, AI Decision-Maker](https://voicesofvr.com/1676-1st-place-spectacles-lensathon-team-decisionator-object-detection-ai-decision-maker/) - At Snap's Developer Conference of Lensfest, I did an interview with 1st place team in the Snap Spectacles Lensathon named Decisionator including Candice Branchereau, Marcin Polakowski, Volodymyr Kurbatov, and Inna Horobchuk. I also summarize the other 10 Spectacles Lensathon projects after serving as a preliminary judge for the competition. See more context in the rough
- [#1675: 2nd Place Spectacles Lensathon Team: CartDB Barcode-Scanning Nutrition App](https://voicesofvr.com/1675-2nd-place-spectacles-lensathon-team-cartdb-barcode-scanning-nutrition-app/) - At Snap's Developer Conference of Lensfest, I did an interview with 2nd place team in the Snap Spectacles Lensathon named CartdB including Guillaume Dagens, Nigel Hartman, and Uttam Grandhi (the other team member Nicholas Ross had some prior commitments). See more context in the rough transcript below. This is a listener-supported podcast through the Voices
- [#1470: Meta's "Hyperscape" Serves Cloud-Rendered, Photorealistic, Gaussian Splat Captures](https://voicesofvr.com/1470-metas-hyperscape-serves-cloud-rendered-photorealistic-gaussian-splat-captures/) - I interviewed Marcello Typrin Product Director at Reality Labs, at Meta Connect 2024 about the Hyperscape Demo. See more context in the rough transcript below. This is a listener-supported podcast through the Voices of VR Patreon. Music: Fatality
- [#1456: Turning Your Phone into a Spectacles AR controller with DB Creations' "Tiny Motor Arcade"](https://voicesofvr.com/1456-turning-your-phone-into-a-spectacles-ar-controller-with-db-creations-tiny-motor-arcade/) - I interviewed Dustin Kochensparger and Blake Gross at the Snap Partner Summit about the Snap Spectacles. See more context in the rough transcript below. This is a listener-supported podcast through the Voices of VR Patreon. Music: Fatality
- [#1602: Part 3: Jason Marsh on Telling Data Stories with Flow Immersive (2025)](https://voicesofvr.com/1602-part-3-jason-marsh-on-telling-data-stories-with-flow-immersive-2025/) - Here's my interview with Jason Marsh, Founder and CEO of Flow Immersive, that was conducted on Thursday, June 12, 2025 at Augmented World Expo in Long Beach, CA. This is part 3 of 3 of my conversations with Marsh, you can see part 1 from 2018 here and part 2 from 2019 here. See more
- [#1555: Award-Winning Tabletop Animation "Oto's Planet" Uses Unique Interactive Mechanic to Chose Perspective](https://voicesofvr.com/1555-award-winning-tabletop-animation-otos-planet-uses-unique-interactive-mechanic-to-chose-perspective/) - OTO'S PLANET was being exhibited on the Quest at SXSW, but I had a chance to check out the Apple Pro Version ahead of the SXSW festival and I felt like I much preferred it. OTO'S PLANET picked up the second place prize at Venice Immersive, but I missed being able to interview the director
- [#1509: Virtual Architecture Vibes Part 2: "Limbophobia" VR & Dome at IDFA DocLab](https://voicesofvr.com/1509-virtual-architecture-vibes-part-2-limbophobia-vr-dome-at-idfa-doclab/) - I interviewed director Wen Yee Hsieh and producer Sebox Hong about Limbophobia that showed at IDFA DocLab 2024. See the transcript down below for more context on our conversation. This is a listener-supported podcast through the Voices of VR Patreon. Music: Fatality
- [#1603: Spatial Analytics with Cognitive3D's Tony Bevilacqua (2023)](https://voicesofvr.com/1603-spatial-analytics-with-cognitive3ds-tony-bevilacqua-2023/) - Here's my interview with Tony Bevilacqua, Founder and CEO of Cognitive3D, that was conducted on Friday, June 2, 2023 at Augmented World Expo in Santa Clara, CA. See more context in the rough transcript below. This is a listener-supported podcast through the Voices of VR Patreon. Music: Fatality
- [#1463: Arguing for Utility-Driven AR Minimalism with Lucas Rizzotto Reflecting upon the XR Market](https://voicesofvr.com/1463-arguing-for-utility-driven-ar-minimalism-with-lucas-rizzotto-reflecting-upon-the-xr-market/) - I interviewed Lucas Rizzotto at the Snap Lens Fest about the Snap Spectacles as well as his ideas on AR Minimalism. See more context in the rough transcript below. This is a listener-supported podcast through the Voices of VR Patreon. Music: Fatality
- [#1455: Wabisabi Game Studio Leverages AR Connected Lenses on Snap Spectacles for Outdoor Capture the Flag Game](https://voicesofvr.com/1455-wabisabi-game-studio-leverages-ar-connected-lenses-on-snap-spectacles-for-outdoor-capture-the-flag-game/) - I interviewed Anwar Noriega and Julio Martinez at the Snap Partner Summit about the Snap Spectacles. See more context in the rough transcript below. This is a listener-supported podcast through the Voices of VR Patreon. Music: Fatality
- [#1550: "EchoVision" Answers the Question 'What is it like to see like a bat?' with Mixed Reality, AI, & Haptics](https://voicesofvr.com/1550-echovision-answers-the-question-what-is-it-like-to-see-like-a-bat-with-mixed-reality-ai-haptics/) - ECHOVISION is the latest experience from multi-disciplinary artist Jiabao Li that has three major parts. The first part is a mobile-phone based mixed reality experience that does a metaphoric translation of echolocation by using LiDAR to detect your immediate physical surroundings, and then reveals it with a rippling shader that is voice activated. The second
- [#1660: Enabling JavaScript-Based Native App XR Pipelines with NativeScript, React Native, and Node API with Matt Hargett](https://voicesofvr.com/1660-enabling-javascript-based-native-app-xr-pipelines-with-nativescript-react-native-and-node-api-with-matt-hargett/) - I did an interview with Rebecker Specialties' founder Matt Hargett at Meta Connect 2025 about alternative open source and open standards, JavaScript-based pipelines for developing XR applications that he's been working on including React Native for VisionOS, as well as working with NativeScript for VisionOS, and also working to bringing Node API support for React
- [#1663: ShapesXR Updates & Neural Band Design Implications of Transforming Your Hand into a Mouse](https://voicesofvr.com/1663-shapesxr-updates-neural-band-design-implications-of-transforming-your-hand-into-a-mouse/) - I did an interview with Michael Markman at Meta Connect 2025 talking about all of the latest updates to the VR design and prototyping tool of ShapesXR, and then we start to dive into some of his hot takes after getting a chance to try out the Meta Ray-Ban Display glasses and associated Neural Band.
- [#1665: Resolution Games' "Battlemarked" Blends Mixed Reality Social Features with Demeo and D&D Gameplay](https://voicesofvr.com/1665-resolution-games-battlemarked-blends-mixed-reality-social-features-with-demeo-and-dd-gameplay/) - I did an interview with Gustav Stenmark at Meta Connect 2025 talking about their latest game Demeo x Dungeons & Dragons: Battlemarked, which enables some pretty interested co-located mixed reality social features, but also enables individual players to have their own mixed reality or VR POV. You can cee more context in the rough transcript
- [#1596: Engage XR's Virtual Concert as Experiential Advertising for their Immersive Learning Platform (2023)](https://voicesofvr.com/1596-engage-xrs-virtual-concert-as-experiential-advertising-for-their-immersive-learning-platform-2023/) - Here's my interview with ENGAGE's David Whelan, CEO of Engage PLC, that was conducted on Thursday, June 1, 2023 at Augmented World Expo in Santa Clara, CA. Be sure to check out my previous episode #1215: Fatboy Slim’s Groundbreaking & Trippy VR Concert on EngageXR that was released a few days before this follow-up conversation
- [#1673: Snap Lensfest Announcement Reflections from AR Gaming Studio DB Creations](https://voicesofvr.com/1673-snap-lensfest-announcement-reflections-from-ar-gaming-studio-db-creations/) - I did an interview with DB Creations co-founders Dustin Kochensparger and Blake Gross at Snap's Developer Conference of Lensfest. See more context in the rough transcript below. This is a listener-supported podcast through the Voices of VR Patreon. Music: Fatality
- [#1672: Niantic Spatial's Project Jade Demo Shows Latest Location-Aware, AI Tour Guide Innovations](https://voicesofvr.com/1672-niantic-spatials-project-jade-demo-shows-latest-location-aware-ai-tour-guide-innovations/) - I did an interview with Alicia Berry, Executive Producer at Niantic Spatial, and Asim Ahmed, Head of Product Marketing at Niantic Spatial, at Snap's Developer Conference of Lensfest about their latest Project Jade Spectacles demo. See more context in the rough transcript below. This is a listener-supported podcast through the Voices of VR Patreon. Music:
- [#1671: Reflecting on Snap's AR Platform & Developer Tools Past and Future with Terek Judi](https://voicesofvr.com/1671-reflecting-on-snaps-ar-platform-developer-tools-past-and-future-with-terek-judi/) - At Snap's Developer Conference of Lensfest, I did an interview with Terek Judi who is working on Spectacles Product at Snap focusing on SnapOS, Platform, and Developer Tools. See more context in the rough transcript below, and if you'd like to check out the two interviews with Matt Hargett that I reference in the intro,
- [#1670: Snapchat's Embodied Gaming Innovations with AR Developer Relations Head](https://voicesofvr.com/1670-snapchats-embodied-gaming-innovations-with-ar-developer-relations-head/) - I did an interview with Raag Harshavat, AR Developer Relations at Snapchat, at Snap's Developer Conference of Lensfest. See more context in the rough transcript below. This is a listener-supported podcast through the Voices of VR Patreon. Music: Fatality
- [#1669: Snap's Resh Sidhu on the Future of AR Commerce & Developer-Centered Innovation](https://voicesofvr.com/1669-snaps-resh-sidhu-on-the-future-of-ar-commerce-developer-centered-innovation/) - I did an interview with Resh Sidhu, Senior Director of Innovation of Specs and Developer Marketing at Snap, at Snap's Developer Conference of Lensfest. See more context in the rough transcript below. This is a listener-supported podcast through the Voices of VR Patreon. Music: Fatality
- [#1668: Snap Co-Founders Community Q&A about Specs 2026 Launch Plan](https://voicesofvr.com/1668-snap-co-founders-community-qa-about-specs-2026-launch-plan/) - The snap co-founders of CEO Evan Spiegel and CTO Bobby Murphy typically have a community-driven Q&A after their Lensfest Keynote where they field over a dozen questions from Lensfest attendees. I'm including this in my coverage again this year as it's a really great set of questions about their consumer release of Specs AR glasses
- [#1652: Kick-off of Meta Connect Coverage with Meta Ray-Ban Display Glasses Insights from Norm Chan](https://voicesofvr.com/1652-kick-off-of-meta-connect-coverage-with-meta-ray-ban-display-glasses-insights-from-norm-chan/) - I did an interview with Norm Chan at Meta Connect about the Meta Ray-Ban Display Glasses and Meta Neural Band. Be sure to watch Chan's full 58-minute Tested.com report including an interview with Meta CTO Andrew "Boz" Bosworth as his hands-on impressions of the biggest announcement at Meta Connect 2025. You can also see more
- [#1666: VRChat CEO Graham Gaylor on Exploring Various UGC Monetization Strategies](https://voicesofvr.com/1666-vrchat-ceo-graham-gaylor-on-exploring-various-ugc-monetization-strategies/) - I did an interview with VRChat co-founder and CEO Graham Gaylor at Meta Connect 2025 where we talk about the various different monetization strategies that VRChat has been exploring with their user-generated content platform. VRChat announced layoffs for 30% of their employees back on June 12, 2024, and so this is the first time I've
- [#1664: Resolution Games CEO on Apple Vision Pro Launch + Gaze & Pinch HCI Mechanic in "Game Room" (2024)](https://voicesofvr.com/1664-resolution-games-ceo-on-apple-vision-pro-launch-gaze-pinch-hci-mechanic-in-game-room-2024/) - I did an interview with Resolution Games CEO Tommy Palm soon after the Apple Vision Pro launch last year where we talk the in the Game Room game commissioned by Apple as well as the exploration of the relatively new gaze and pinch mechanic that's enabled with the eye-tracking of the Apple Vision Pro. After
- [#1662: Meta Connect Highlights & Meta Horizon News with JDun and JoyReign](https://voicesofvr.com/1662-meta-connect-highlights-meta-horizon-news-with-jdun-and-joyreign/) - I did an interview with JoyReign and JDun talking about all of the latest announcements from Meta Connect 2025 focusing a lot on the biggest news from Meta Horizon including their new Studio and Engine. We also talk a bit about the other VR demos that were being shown at Meta Connect, and what they're
- [#1661: State of VR Gaming with Jasmine Uniza's Impact Realities and Flat2VR Studios](https://voicesofvr.com/1661-state-of-vr-gaming-with-jasmine-unizas-impact-realities-and-flat2vr-studios/) - I did an interview with Jasmine Uniza at Meta Connect 2025 where we talk about her journey from being a robotics engineer for the Mars Rover to doing a career pivot into the VR games industry with the founding of Impact Reality marketing firm for games as well as Flat2VR Studios that is porting popular
- [#1659: VR Gaming Career Retrospective of Chicken Waffle's Finn Staber](https://voicesofvr.com/1659-vr-gaming-career-retrospective-of-chicken-waffles-finn-staber/) - I did an interview with Finn Staber at Meta Connect 2025 reflecting about on his journey into VR from co-founding The Wave VR to then forming Chicken Waffle to developing the games of Baby Hands, Cowbots and Aliens, Shadow of Valhalla, Blazer League, and MarsXR. We also reflect on the current state of VR gaming
- [#1655: Meta Horizon Studio News and Virtual Fashion with Paige Dansinger](https://voicesofvr.com/1655-meta-horizon-studio-news-and-virtual-fashion-with-paige-dansinger/) - I did an interview with prolific Horizon world builder Paige Dansinger at Meta Connect about the latest Meta Horizon news including the new Meta Horizon Studio as well as Meta Horizon Engine. She also was wearing some custom, hand-made pants that were inspired by virtual pants that she designed for her MetaversePaige avatar. See more
- [#1654: CNET's Scott Stein's Reflections on Meta Ray-Ban Display Glasses & Neural Band Implications](https://voicesofvr.com/1654-cnets-scott-steins-reflections-on-meta-ray-ban-display-glasses-neural-band-implications/) - I did an interview with Scott Stein at Meta Connect 2025 reflecting on the biggest news of the Meta Ray-Ban Display glasses and the associated Neural Band. Stein has been covering the XR industry since 2012, and always has some deep thoughts on the broader implications of the latest news. You can check out his
- [#1653: XR Analyst Anshel Sag on Meta's AI Glasses Strategy](https://voicesofvr.com/1653-xr-analyst-anshel-sag-on-metas-ai-glasses-strategy/) - I did an interview with Moor Insights and Strategy principle XR Analyst Anshel Sag at Meta Connect to hear some of this latest thoughts on the biggest announcements, but also a broader reflection of how Meta is focusing on how these new AI glasses wearables like the Meta Ray-Ban Display Glasses as well as upgraded
- [#1484: Cas & Chary on Meta Connect Announcements & Using Ray-Ban Meta Smartglasses to Stay Connected](https://voicesofvr.com/1484-cas-chary-on-meta-connect-announcements-using-ray-ban-meta-smartglasses-to-stay-connected/) - I interviewed Casandra Vuong and Chary Keijzer of the Cas and Chary YouTube channel, at Meta Connect 2024 about all of the latest announcements, their journey into their XR coverage, and how they use the Ray-Ban Meta Smartglasses to stay connected to each other. See more context in the rough transcript below. Here's their video
- [#1651: PHI's EXP Rosemont Location Expands Their LBE Distribution Network to US & Collaboration with Excurio](https://voicesofvr.com/1651-phis-exp-rosemont-location-expands-their-lbe-distribution-network-to-us-collaboration-with-excurio/) - PHI Studio sponsored today's episode to highlight that they are expanding their location-based entertainment distribution network to the United States with their EXP Rosemont location in the greater Chicago, IL area that is opening to the public on September 26, 2025. They will be launching with a couple of Excurio pieces including The Horizon of
- [#1566: Raindance Immersive  Curators on the 2025 Selection of Immersive Art on Social VR Platforms](https://voicesofvr.com/1566-raindance-immersive-curators-on-the-2025-selection-of-immersive-art-on-social-vr-platforms/) - I spoke with Raindance Immersive curators Mária Rakušanová, Joe Hunting, Fangs about the 2025 selection of projects across 8 different categories. Tune in to get all of the latest tips from this year's selection that is mostly happening on social VR platforms including VRChat, Resonite, and Orion Drift. UPDATE August 17, 2025. I've now posted
- [#1649: Fangs & Arbi Close Out Raindance with a Breathtaking Music and VJ Show at the Moon Pool](https://voicesofvr.com/1649-fangs-arbi-close-out-raindance-with-a-breathtaking-music-and-vj-show-at-the-moon-pool/) - I spoke with TrainingFangs & TehArbitter about Raindance Immersive Closing Night music and VR performance (now available as a replayable event in the Moon Pool VRChat World) as a part of my Raindance Immersive 2025 coverage. (Photo by Kaerun). See more context in the rough transcript below. Here's a recap of my Raindance Immersive 2025
- [#1644: Juliana Loh on Creating Immersive Art in VR and AR](https://voicesofvr.com/1644-juliana-loh-on-creating-immersive-art-in-vr-and-ar/) - I spoke with Juliana Loh about creating immersive art in VR and AR as a part of my Raindance Immersive 2025 coverage. See more context in the rough transcript below. This is a listener-supported podcast through the Voices of VR Patreon. Music: Fatality
- [#1642: "Cathedral of Witches" Performance Explores Trans & Queer Spirituality in VRChat](https://voicesofvr.com/1642-cathedral-of-witches-performance-explores-trans-queer-spirituality-in-vrchat/) - I spoke with hexe.exe, T_Braun, Shadowwulf82, RingSystem, Casperillion, Venixia, LadybugVR, & Starheart about Cathedral of Witches as a part of my Raindance Immersive 2025 coverage. See more context in the rough transcript below. This is a listener-supported podcast through the Voices of VR Patreon. Music: Fatality
- [#1641: "Silhouette of Memories" Cinematic VR Concert Experience Features Live Choreography](https://voicesofvr.com/1641-silhouette-of-memories-cinematic-vr-concert-experience-features-live-choreography/) - I spoke with HoneyWeeWee, Sandi_, Humi, Quinnster, & Kiashi_GL about Silhouette of Memories as a part of my Raindance Immersive 2025 coverage. See more context in the rough transcript below. This is a listener-supported podcast through the Voices of VR Patreon. Music: Fatality
- [#1640: "Tonevok" features Real-Time Audioreactive MIDI Visualizations in VRChat](https://voicesofvr.com/1640-tonevok-features-real-time-audioreactive-midi-visualizations-in-vrchat/) - I spoke with VoxelKei and R_Tone with RIKU_VR as the Japanese translator about Tonevok: Sonic Sky Journey as a part of my Raindance Immersive 2025 coverage. See more context in the rough transcript below. This is a listener-supported podcast through the Voices of VR Patreon. Music: Fatality
- [#1639: Playing Live Jazz in VRChat with EMN Records enabled by Yamaha SYNCROOM in Japan](https://voicesofvr.com/1639-playing-live-jazz-in-vrchat-with-emn-records-enabled-by-yamaha-syncroom-in-japan/) - I spoke with Alpaka, Emnyeca, Sheena_baobab, & tktk about playing live jazz in VRChat in Blue Rondo: Stratus as a part of my Raindance Immersive 2025 coverage. You can join the EMN Records VRChat Group if you'd like to check out one of their shows. See more context in the rough transcript below. This is
- [#1638: Virtual Photographer Kaerun's Japanese Friendships Featured in Documentary at Raindance](https://voicesofvr.com/1638-virtual-photographer-kaeruns-japanese-friendships-featured-in-documentary-at-raindance/) - I spoke with Kaerun about being featured in Madame Kana's documentary about him called a Dutchman in Virtual Japan | A VRChat documentary as a part of my Raindance Immersive 2025 coverage. Kana also previosly made a short doc about Kaerun's VR photography called Kaerun, event photographer on #vrchat. See more context in the rough
- [#1636: Planned Improvements of VRChat's Trust & Safety from New Lead Jun Young Ro](https://voicesofvr.com/1636-planned-improvements-of-vrchats-trust-safety-from-new-lead-jun-young-ro/) - I spoke with Jun Young Ro about planned improvements of VRChat's Trust & Safety processes. See more context in the rough transcript below. This is a listener-supported podcast through the Voices of VR Patreon. Music: Fatality
- [#1635: VRChat's Avatar Marketplace is Targeting Demographic of New Users](https://voicesofvr.com/1635-vrchats-avatar-marketplace-is-targeting-demographic-of-new-users/) - I spoke with Kaki Navarre & Aev about the launch of VRChat's Avatar Marketplace. See more context in the rough transcript below. This is a listener-supported podcast through the Voices of VR Patreon. Music: Fatality
- [#1634: User Claims Potential Gaps in VRChat's Moderation of NSFW Avatars](https://voicesofvr.com/1634-user-claims-potential-gaps-in-vrchats-moderation-of-nsfw-avatars/) - I spoke with Harry X about potential gaps in VRChat's moderation of NSFW avatars that he details in a series of articles here: The Dark Reality of VRChat: How Public Sexual Avatars Are Slipping Through the Cracks (2025, April 29) VRChat's Dangerous Oversight: A Breeding Ground for Public NSFW Avatars (2025, May 4) VRChat's Complete
- [#1615: Viverse's WebXR Publishing Strategy with James C. Kane & "In Tirol" Game](https://voicesofvr.com/1615-viverses-webxr-publishing-strategy-with-james-c-kane-in-tirol-game/) - Here's my interview about Viverse's Open Metaverse Strategy built on WebXR frameworks as well as the new WebXR game by James C. Kane called In Tirol. Kane is a Director in Emerging Technologies with a Focus on Immersive Tech, AR/VR, & WebXR, and this interview was conducted on Wednesday, June 11, 2025 at Augmented World
- [#1628: Part 2: Caitlin Krause on "Digital Wellbeing" Theory and Practice with XR & AI (2025)](https://voicesofvr.com/1628-part-2-caitlin-krause-on-digital-wellbeing-theory-and-practice-with-xr-ai-2025/) - Here's my interview with Caitlin Krause, Founder of Mindwise, that was conducted on Wednesday, June 11, 2025 at Augmented World Expo in Long Beach, CA. This is part 2 of 2 of my conversations with Krause, you can see part 1 from 2019 here. See more context in the rough transcript below. This is a
- [#1623: Qualcomm's 2025 AWE Announcements and Android XR Partnerships with Ziad Asghar](https://voicesofvr.com/1623-qualcomms-2025-awe-announcements-and-android-xr-partnerships-with-ziad-asghar/) - Here's my interview with Ziad Asghar, Qualcomm's Senior Vice President & General Manager of XR & Spatial Computing, that was conducted on Wednesday, June 11, 2025 at Augmented World Expo in Long Beach, CA. See more context in the rough transcript below. This is a listener-supported podcast through the Voices of VR Patreon. Music: Fatality
- [#1630: Keiichi Matsuda on Metaphors for AI Agents in XR User Experience: From Omniscient Gods to Animistic Familiars](https://voicesofvr.com/1630-keiichi-matsuda-on-metaphors-for-ai-agents-in-xr-user-experience-from-omniscient-gods-to-animistic-familiars/) - Here's my interview with Keiichi Matsuda, Designer and Director of Liquid City, that was conducted on Thursday, June 12, 2025 at Augmented World Expo in Long Beach, CA. In the introduction, I read through Matsuda's essay titled "Gods" (also uploaded here) where he explores the idea that AI should be more like pets and polytheistic
- [#1629: Niantic Spatial is Building an AI-Powered Map with Snap for AR Glasses & AI Agents](https://voicesofvr.com/1629-niantic-spatial-is-building-an-ai-powered-map-with-snap-for-ar-glasses-ai-agents/) - Here's my interview with Alicia Berry (Executive Producer at Niantic Spatial) & Asim Ahmed (Head of Product Marketing at Niantic Spatial) that was conducted on Thursday, June 12, 2025 at Augmented World Expo in Long Beach, CA. Check out their announcement blog posts including "Niantic Spatial and Snap's Multi-Year Strategic Partnership to Build AI-Powered Map"
- [#1610: Scouting XR & AI Infrastructure Trends with Nokia's Leslie Shannon](https://voicesofvr.com/1610-scouting-xr-ai-infrastructure-trends-with-nokias-leslie-shannon/) - Here's my interview with Leslie Shannon, Nokia's Head of Trend and Innovation Scouting, that was conducted on Tuesday, June 10, 2025 at Augmented World Expo in Long Beach, CA. See more context in the rough transcript below. This is a listener-supported podcast through the Voices of VR Patreon. Music: Fatality
- [#1609: Framework for Personalized, Responsive XR Stories with Narrative Futurist Joshua Rubin](https://voicesofvr.com/1609-framework-for-personalized-responsive-xr-stories-with-narrative-futurist-joshua-rubin/) - Here's my interview with Joshua Rubin, Interactive Emmy-Winning Narrative Director, Immersive Storyteller, and Narrative Futurist, that was conducted on Tuesday, June 10, 2025 at Augmented World Expo in Long Beach, CA. We talked about his talk at SXSW 2025 titled Building the Personalized, Responsive XR of the Future: Lessons we can learn from immersive theater
- [#1585: Debating AI Project and a Curating Taiwanese LBE VR Exhibition at Museum of Moving Image](https://voicesofvr.com/1585-debating-ai-project-and-a-curating-taiwanese-lbe-vr-exhibition-at-museum-of-moving-image/) - I spoke with Michaela Ternasky Holland about her project The Gr(ai)t Debate at Onassis ONX Summer Showcase 2025 as well as the Portals of Solitude: Virtual Realities from Taiwan show she curated at the Museum of Moving Image. See more context in the rough transcript below. This is a listener-supported podcast through the Voices of
- [#1568: A Process-Relational Philosophy View on AI, Intelligence, & Consciousness with Matt Segall](https://voicesofvr.com/a-process-relational-philosophy-view-on-ai-intelligence-consciousness-with-matt-segall/) - I've spoken to Whitehead scholar Matt Segall a couple of times before, and I was really keen to catch up with him to hear his process-relational and process philosophical takes on AI, intelligence and consciousness. I was responding to a piece he recently wrote titled " A Process-Relational Philosophy of Artificial Intelligence" (full citation below),
- [#1590: AWE Past & Present Series: Ori Inbar on the Founding of Augmented World Expo to Cultivate the XR Community](https://voicesofvr.com/1590-awe-past-present-series-ori-inbar-on-the-founding-of-augmented-world-expo-to-cultivate-the-xr-community/) - Here's my interview with Ori Inbar, co-founder at Super Ventures and Augmented World Expo, that was conducted on Friday, June 2, 2023 at Augmented World Expo in Santa Clara, CA. See more context in the rough transcript below. This AWE Past and Present series represents 41 interviews and 24.5 hours of coverage from AWE 2025
- [#1627: Part 1: Caitlin Krause on Bringing Mindfulness Practices into VR (2019)](https://voicesofvr.com/1627-part-1-caitlin-krause-on-bringing-mindfulness-practices-into-vr-2019/) - Here's my interview with Caitlin Krause, Founder of Mindwise, Writer, Speaker, Programmer, Educator, & Curator of Experiences, that was conducted on Wednesday, September 25, 2019 at Oculus Connect in San Jose, CA. This is part 1 of 2 of my conversations with Krause, you can see part 2 from 2025 here. See more context in
- [#1625: Tom Emrich's "The Next Dimension" Book on AR for Marketing & Business Growth](https://voicesofvr.com/1625-tom-emrichs-the-next-dimension-book-on-ar-for-marketing-business-growth/) - Here's my interview with Tom Emrich, founder and editor-in-chief of Remix Reality, XR Product leader, Community Builder, Journalist, & Investor, that was conducted on Wednesday, June 11, 2025 at Augmented World Expo in Long Beach, CA. This is part 2 of 2 of my conversations with Emrich, you can see part 1 from 2018 here.
- [#1624: Tom Emrich's State of AR in 2018](https://voicesofvr.com/1624-tom-emrichs-state-of-ar-in-2018/) - Here's my interview with Tom Emrich from June 17, 2018 when he was still a partner of Super Ventures, co-producer of Augmented World Expo. This is part 1 of 2 of my conversations with Emrich, you can see part 2 from 2025 here. See more context in the rough transcript below. This is a listener-supported
- [#1622: Qualcomm's 2023 AWE Announcements for Snapdragon Spaces Ecosystem](https://voicesofvr.com/1622-qualcomms-2023-awe-announcements-for-snapdragon-spaces-ecosystem/) - Here's my interview with Brian Vogelsang from June 1, 2023 at Augmented World Expo when he was still Qualcomm's Senior Director of Product Management for Snapdragon Spaces and Developer Ecosystem. We cover a lot of Qualcomm's announcements from AWE 2023, including the dual-render fusion features for tethering the touch-screen interfaces to AR experiences that could
- [#1621: Karl Guttag's Technical Deep-Dive and Analysis of Consumer XR Displays and LCoS (2023)](https://voicesofvr.com/1621-karl-guttags-technical-deep-dive-and-analysis-of-consumer-xr-displays-and-lcos-2023/) - Here's my interview with Karl Guttag of the KGOnTech Blog as well as independent analyst for consumer XR display devices and systems that was conducted on Thursday, June 1, 2023 at Augmented World Expo in Santa Clara, CA. See more context in the rough transcript below. This is a listener-supported podcast through the Voices of
- [#1620: Snap's Head of Hardware Scott Myers on Spectacles Announcements & Ecosystem Update](https://voicesofvr.com/1620-snaps-head-of-hardware-scott-myers-on-spectacles-announcements-ecosystem-update/) - Here's my interview with Scott Myers, Vice President of Hardware Engineering at Snap and Snapchat Spectacles, that was conducted on Tuesday, June 10, 2025 at Augmented World Expo in Long Beach, CA. See more context in the rough transcript below. This is a listener-supported podcast through the Voices of VR Patreon. Music: Fatality
- [#1619: Deploying Snap Spectacles in Verse Immersive AR LBE with Enklu's Ray Kallmeyer](https://voicesofvr.com/1619-deploying-snap-spectacles-in-verse-immersive-ar-lbe-with-enklus-ray-kallmeyer/) - Here's my interview with Ray Kallmeyer, Founder and CEO of Enklu and their 22 Verse Immersive AR LBE locations, that was conducted on Tuesday, June 10, 2025 at Augmented World Expo in Long Beach, CA. See more context in the rough transcript below.
- [#1617: Dream Park: Using MR in Public Spaces to Create Downloadable Theme Parks with Brent Bushnell & Aidan Wolf](https://voicesofvr.com/1617-dream-park-using-mr-in-public-spaces-to-create-downloadable-theme-parks-with-brent-bushnell-aidan-wolf/) - Here's my interview with the co-founders of Dream Park, Brent Bushnell & Aidan Wolf, that was conducted on Wednesday, June 11, 2025 at Augmented World Expo in Long Beach, CA. See more context in the rough transcript below. This is a listener-supported podcast through the Voices of VR Patreon. Music: Fatality
- [#1616: Founding Story of Two Bit Circus Micro-Amusement Park with Brent Bushnell & Eric Gradman (2018)](https://voicesofvr.com/1616-founding-story-of-two-bit-circus-micro-amusement-park-with-brent-bushnell-eric-gradman-2018/) - Here's my interview with the co-founders of at Two Bit Circus, Brent Bushnell & Eric Gradman, that was conducted on Thursday, October 11, 2018 at site visit to Two Bit Circus in Los Angeles, CA just over a month from their grand opening September 5th, 2018. See more context in the rough transcript below. This
- [#1607: Deirdre V. Lyons on Immersive Theater & XR Women Innovation Award Winner from 2023](https://voicesofvr.com/1607-2023-xr-women-innovation-award-winner-deirdre-v-lyons-on-immersive-theater/) - Here's my interview with Deirdre V. Lyons, Founder of Ferryman Collective and winner of the 2023 Women in XR Innovation Award, that was conducted on Thursday, June 1, 2023 at Augmented World Expo in Santa Clara, CA. See my conversation with the XR Women Real World Impact Award recipient Paige Dansinger in episode #1308 and
- [#1606: Weekly Meetups in VR with XR Women Founder Karen Alexander](https://voicesofvr.com/1606-weekly-meetups-in-vr-with-xr-women-founder-karen-alexander/) - Here's my interview with Karen Alexander, one of the co-founders of XR Women, Consultant, & Executive Director of Academy of Immersive Arts & Sciences, that was conducted on Wednesday, June 11, 2025 at Augmented World Expo in Long Beach, CA. See more context in the rough transcript below. This is a listener-supported podcast through the
- [#1605: Rapid Prototyping in VR with ShapesXR + 2021 Launch with CEO Inga Petryaevskaya](https://voicesofvr.com/1605-rapid-prototyping-in-vr-with-shapesxr-2021-launch-with-ceo-inga-petryaevskaya/) - Here's my interview with Inga Petryaevskaya, Founder, CEO, ShapesXR, that was conducted on Wednesday, November 10, 2021 at Augmented World Expo in Santa Clara, CA. See more context in the rough transcript below. This is a listener-supported podcast through the Voices of VR Patreon. Music: Fatality
- [#1604: Investing in Female Founders with WXR Fund's Amy LaMeyer + Immersive Music Highlights (2019)](https://voicesofvr.com/1604-investing-in-female-founders-with-wxr-funds-amy-lameyer-immersive-music-highlights-2019/) - Here's my interview with Amy LaMeyer, Managing Partner of The WXR Fund and Angel Investor in VR, AR, AI space, that was conducted on Thursday, May 30, 2019 at Augmented World Expo in Santa Clara, CA. See more context in the rough transcript below. This is a listener-supported podcast through the Voices of VR Patreon.
- [#1592: Highlights of AWE 2025 from Head of Programming Sonya Haskins](https://voicesofvr.com/1592-highlights-of-awe-2025-from-head-of-programming-sonya-haskins/) - Here's my interview with Sonia Haskins, Head of Programming at Augmented World Expo, that was conducted on Wednesday, June 11, 2025 at Augmented World Expo in Long Beach, CA. This is part 2 of 2 of my conversations with Haskins, you can see part 1 from 2023 here. See more context in the rough transcript
- [#1591: Sonya Haskins' Journey to Head of Programming at Augmented World Expo](https://voicesofvr.com/1591-sonya-haskins-journey-to-head-of-programming-at-augmented-world-expo/) - Here's my interview with Sonya Haskins, Head of Programming at Augmented World Expo, that was conducted on Friday, June 2, 2023 at Augmented World Expo in Santa Clara, CA. This is part 1 of 2 of my conversations with Haskins, you can see part 2 from 2025 here. See more context in the rough transcript
- [#1601: Part 2: Jason Marsh on Telling Data Stories with Flow Immersive (2019)](https://voicesofvr.com/1601-part-2-jason-marsh-on-telling-data-stories-with-flow-immersive-2019/) - Here's my interview with Jason Marsh, CEO and Founder of Flow Immersive, that was conducted on Wednesday, October 16, 2019 at Virtual Reality Strategy Conference in San Francisco, CA. This is part 2 of 3 of my conversations with Marsh, you can see part 1 from 2018 here and part 3 from 2025 here. See
- [#1600: Part 1: Jason Marsh on Telling Data Stories with Flow Immersive (2018)](https://voicesofvr.com/1600-part-1-jason-marsh-on-telling-data-stories-with-flow-immersive-2018/) - Here's my interview with Jason Marsh, CEO and Founder of Flow Immersive, that was conducted on Tuesday, October 16, 2018 at Virtual Reality Strategy Conference in San Francisco, CA. This is part 1 of 3 of my conversations with Marsh, you can see part 2 from 2019 here and part 3 from 2025 here. See
- [#1599: Part 2: Immersive Data Visualization with BadVR's Suzanne Borders (2021)](https://voicesofvr.com/1599-part-2-immersive-data-visualization-with-badvrs-suzanne-borders-2021/) - Here's my interview with Suzanne Borders, CEO and Co-Founder of BadVR, that was conducted on Thursday, November 11, 2021 at Augmented World Expo in Santa Clara, CA. This is part 2 of my conversation with Borders, see part 1 here. See more context in the rough transcript below. This is a listener-supported podcast through the
- [#1598: Part 1: Immersive Data Visualization with BadVR's Suzanne Borders (2018)](https://voicesofvr.com/1598-part-1-immersive-data-visualization-with-badvrs-suzanne-borders-2018/) - Here's my interview with Suzanne Borders, CEO and Co-Founder of BadVR, that was conducted on Wednesday, October 10, 2018 at Magic Leap's LEAPCON in Los Angeles, CA. This is part 1 of my conversation with Borders, see part 2 here. See more context in the rough transcript below. This is a listener-supported podcast through the
- [#1597: Educator Vasilisa Glauser on Using VR for Twice Exceptional Students](https://voicesofvr.com/1597-educator-vasilisa-glauser-on-using-vr-for-twice-exceptional-students/) - Here's my interview with Vasilisa Glauser, educator specializing in twice exceptionality, that was conducted on Wednesday, June 11, 2025 at Augmented World Expo in Long Beach, CA. See more context in the rough transcript below. This is a listener-supported podcast through the Voices of VR Patreon. Music: Fatality
- [#1593: From Military to Enterprise VR Training with Mass Virtual on Spatial Learning](https://voicesofvr.com/1593-from-military-to-enterprise-vr-training-with-mass-virtual-on-spatial-learning/) - Here's my interview with Michael Peeler, Business Development Manager at Mass Virtual, that was conducted on Thursday, June 12, 2025 at Augmented World Expo in Long Beach, CA. See more context in the rough transcript below. This is a listener-supported podcast through the Voices of VR Patreon. Music: Fatality
- [#1595: Part 2: Rylan Pozniak Daniels' Journey into XR Development (2025)](https://voicesofvr.com/1595-part-2-rylan-pozniak-daniels-journey-into-xr-development-2025/) - Here's my interview with Rylan Pozniak-Daniels, XR Developer and Futurist, that was conducted on Tuesday, June 10, 2025 at Augmented World Expo in Long Beach, CA. See more context in the rough transcript below. This is a listener-supported podcast through the Voices of VR Patreon. Music: Fatality
- [#1594: Part 1: Rylan Pozniak Daniels' Journey into XR Development (2019)](https://voicesofvr.com/1594-part-1-rylan-pozniak-daniels-journey-into-xr-development-2019/) - Here's my interview with Rylan Pozniak Daniels, Futurist and AR/VR Developer, that was conducted on Wednesday, May 29, 2019 at Augmented World Expo in Santa Clara, CA. See more context in the rough transcript below. This is a listener-supported podcast through the Voices of VR Patreon. Music: Fatality
- [#1563: Deconstructing AI Hype with "The AI Con" Authors Emily M. Bender and Alex Hanna](https://voicesofvr.com/1563-deconstructing-ai-hype-with-the-ai-con-authors-emily-m-bender-and-alex-hanna/) - We are in the middle of a hype cycle peak around AI as there are a lot of hyperbolic claims being made about the capabilities and performance of large-language models (LLMs). Computational Linguist Emily M. Bender and Sociologist Alex Hanna have been writing academic papers about the limitations of LLMs, as well as some of
- [#1626: New Spatial Entities OpenXR Extension to Scan, Detect, & Track Planes with Khronos Group President Neil Trevett](https://voicesofvr.com/1626-new-spatial-entities-openxr-extension-to-scan-detect-track-planes-with-khronos-group-president-neil-trevett/) - Here's my interview with Neil Trevett, President of the Khronos Group talking about the new OpenXR Extension of Spatial Entities that has been in development for two years including PICO, Collabora, Godot Engine, Google, Meta, Unity, and Varjo, Microsoft, and ByteDance. You can see statements from many of these companies at the end of the
- [#1613: VR Content Creator Matteo311 on the State of VR Gaming](https://voicesofvr.com/1613-vr-content-creator-matteo311-on-the-state-of-vr-gaming/) - Here's my interview with Matteo311, VR Content Creator, that was conducted on Tuesday, June 10, 2025 at Augmented World Expo in Long Beach, CA. See more context in the rough transcript below. This is a listener-supported podcast through the Voices of VR Patreon. Music: Fatality
- [#1612: AWE Hall of Famer Gregory Panos's Journey into VR: Identity, Body Capture, and Virtual Immortalization](https://voicesofvr.com/1612-awe-hall-of-famer-gregory-panoss-journey-into-vr-identity-body-capture-and-virtual-immortalization/) - Here's my biographical oral history interview with Gregory Panos, 2025 Inductee into the Augmented World Expo Hall of Fame, talking about his journey from the early days of computer graphics to becoming a virtual reality evangelist and consultant, community builder via SIGGRAPH, as well as his long-time fascination with identity, volumetric capture of people, memorialization,
- [#1567: Tribeca Immersive Curators on the 2025 Selection of Impact Projects Curated by Onassis ONX, Agog, & Tribeca](https://voicesofvr.com/1567-tribeca-immersive-curators-on-the-2025-selection-of-impact-projects-curated-by-onassis-onx-agog-tribeca/) - I spoke with the curators of Tribeca Immersive 2025 Jazia Hammoudi and Casey Baltes to unpack the 11 impact project that are being feature in this year's selection. We also talk about Tribeca's new collaboration with Onassis ONX and Agog, how the selection process has changed over the years Tribeca Immersive 2025 Selection #1567: Tribeca
- [#1569: Family of Storytellers Creates an AR Memorial of Black Poet Nikki Giovanni with Epic Organic Garden Installation](https://voicesofvr.com/1569-family-of-storytellers-creates-an-ar-memorial-of-black-poet-nikki-giovanni-with-epic-organic-garden-installation/) - I spoke with Michèle Stephenson, Joe Brewster, & idris brewster about There Goes Nikki at Tribeca Immersive 2025. See more context in the rough transcript below. (Photo by Mikhail Mishin courtesy of Onassis ONX) Tribeca Immersive 2025 Selection #1567: Tribeca Immersive Curators on the 2025 Selection of Impact Projects Curated by Onassis ONX, Agog, &
- [#1576: How Singer Studios Uses VR to Kickstart New Film, TV, Podcast, & Graphic Novel IP with "Trailblazer with Daisy Ridley" + Cannes Immersive 2025 Coverage](https://voicesofvr.com/1576-how-singer-studios-uses-vr-to-kickstart-new-film-tv-podcast-graphic-novel-ip-with-trailblazer-with-daisy-ridley-cannes-immersive-2025-coverage/) - I spoke with Eloise Singer & Lesley Paterson about Trailblazer with Daisy Ridley as a part of my remote coverage of Cannes Immersive 2025. See more context in the rough transcript below. Cannes Immersive Competition Lacuna -- #1577: Architecting a Multi-Threaded Narrative of Recovered Traumatic Memories in “Lacuna” – Voices of VR Podcast In the
- [#1584: White Paper on XR for Impact Campaign Activation for "On the Morning You Wake to the End of the World"](https://voicesofvr.com/1584-white-paper-on-xr-for-impact-campaign-activation-for-on-the-morning-you-wake-to-the-end-of-the-world/) - I spoke to Michaela Ternasky-Holland at the New Images Festival 2023 about the white paper titled "Deepening Engagement and Learning Impact through Virtual Reality Activations: Case Study Project: On the Morning You Wake (to the End of the World." See more context in the rough transcript below. This is a listener-supported podcast through the Voices
- [#1588: Excurio is Bringing their High-Throughput, XR LBE Theaters to North America](https://voicesofvr.com/1588-excurio-is-bringing-their-high-throughput-xr-lbe-theaters-to-north-america/) - I talk with Excurio co-founder and CEO Fabien Barati & Jules Rimbaud, business development manager for the US territory, about expanding Excurio to 22 locations worldwide, and now with a focus of expanding into North America. See more context in the rough transcript below. This is a listener-supported podcast through the Voices of VR Patreon.
- [#1587: "Space-Time Adventure Tours" AR Guided Tour to NYC Central Park Monuments](https://voicesofvr.com/1587-space-time-adventure-tours-ar-guided-tour-to-nyc-central-park-monuments/) - I spoke with Todd Little & Erik Horn about Space-Time Adventure Tour in Central Park during Tribeca Immersive 2025. See more context in the rough transcript below. This is a listener-supported podcast through the Voices of VR Patreon. Music: Fatality
- [#1589: Using VR to Paint Dreams for Active Imagination, Collaborative Dreamwork, and Symbolic Contemplation](https://voicesofvr.com/1589-using-vr-to-paint-dreams-for-active-imagination-collaborative-dreamwork-and-symbolic-contemplation/) - I speak with visual artist Elizabeth Honer who uses Open Brush to pain her dreams as well as with Martha Crawford who leads dream workshops. See more context in the rough transcript below. This is a listener-supported podcast through the Voices of VR Patreon. Music: Fatality
- [#1586: Academic Research on Immersive Storytelling with Philippe Bedard, co-editor of "States of Immersion Across Media: Bodies, Techniques, Practices" book](https://voicesofvr.com/1586-academic-research-on-immersive-storytelling-with-philippe-bedard-co-editor-of-states-of-immersion-across-media-bodies-techniques-practices-book/) - I spoke with Philippe Bedard about States of Immersion Across Media: Bodies, Techniques, Practices at Tribeca Immersive 2023. See more context in the rough transcript below. This is a listener-supported podcast through the Voices of VR Patreon. Music: Fatality
- [#1582: Shawn Taylor on Fandom for Social Change, Polychronic Time, Worldbuilding & Future Dreaming](https://voicesofvr.com/1582-shawn-taylor-on-fandom-for-social-change-polychronic-time-worldbuilding-future-dreaming/) - I talk with pop culture scholar Shawn Taylor about fandom at the Immersive Design Summit 2019, and be sure to check out his post "We the Fans: How Our Powers Can Change the World" for more on his thoughts on fandom. We also talk about Edward T. Hall's concept of Monochronic vs Polychronic time. See
- [#1583: From XR Storytelling to Museum to Ice Cream to AI: Michaela Ternasky-Holland's Entry into Immersive](https://voicesofvr.com/1583-from-xr-storytelling-to-museum-to-ice-cream-to-ai-michaela-ternasky-hollands-entry-into-immersive/) - I spoke with Michaela Ternasky-Holland at the Immersive Design Summit 2019 about her entry into the immersive space, some of her early immersive storytelling projects, and working with at the Museum of Ice Cream as a creative assistant to the founder. See more context in the rough transcript below. This is a listener-supported podcast through
- [#1580: "Neuro-Cinema: From Synapse to Montage" Explores Bioethics Moral Dilemmas & BCI-Controlled Editing & Robotics](https://voicesofvr.com/1580-neuro-cinema-from-synapse-to-montage-explores-bioethics-moral-dilemmas-bci-controlled-editing-robotics/) - I spoke with Graham Sack about Neuro-Cinema: From Synapse to Montage at Onassis ONX Summer Showcase 2025. See more context in the rough transcript below. This is a listener-supported podcast through the Voices of VR Patreon. Music: Fatality
- [#1581: The Story Behind "The ORIXA Project" Series of XR Experiences](https://voicesofvr.com/1581-the-story-behind-the-orixa-project-series-of-xr-experiences/) - I spoke with Reese Antoinette & MaryAnn Talavera about The ORIXA Project at Onassis ONX Summer Showcase 2023. See more context in the rough transcript below. This is a listener-supported podcast through the Voices of VR Patreon. Music: Fatality
- [#1579: The Backstory on ONX Studios and the Onassis Foundation's Support for XR Art & Innovation](https://voicesofvr.com/1579-the-backstory-on-onx-studios-and-the-onassis-foundations-support-for-xr-art-innovation/) - I spoke with the (now former) head of creative partnerships at ONX Vallejo Gantner at the Onassis ONX Summer Showcase 2023. We talked about the origin story of ONYX Studios as well the the Onassis Foundation's support for XR art and innovation. See more context in the rough transcript below. This is a listener-supported podcast
- [#1578: Poetic Exploration of the Transmission of Class Power Dynamics in "The Dollhouse"](https://voicesofvr.com/1578-poetic-exploration-of-the-transmission-of-class-power-dynamics-in-the-dollhouse/) - I spoke with producer Rayne Zukerman & lead programmer Luke Ruminski about The Dollhouse as a part of my remote coverage of Cannes Immersive 2025. See more context in the rough transcript below. This is a listener-supported podcast through the Voices of VR Patreon. Music: Fatality
- [#1577: Architecting a Multi-Threaded Narrative of Recovered Traumatic Memories in "Lacuna"](https://voicesofvr.com/1577-architecting-a-multi-threaded-narrative-of-recovered-traumatic-memories-in-lacuna/) - I spoke with Maartje Wegdam & Nienke Huitenga Broeren about Lacuna as a part of my remote coverage of Cannes Immersive 2025. See more context in the rough transcript below. This is a listener-supported podcast through the Voices of VR Patreon. Music: Fatality
- [#1575: Part 2: Co-Creation with XR for Building Community with "A Father's Lullaby" (2025)](https://voicesofvr.com/1575-part-2-co-creation-with-xr-for-building-community-with-a-fathers-lullaby-2025/) - I spoke with Rashin Fahandej about A Father's Lullaby at Tribeca Immersive 2025. See more context in the rough transcript below. (Photo by Mikhail Mishin courtesy of Onassis ONX) This is a listener-supported podcast through the Voices of VR Patreon. Music: Fatality
- [#1574: Part 1: Co-Creation with XR for Building Community with "A Father's Lullaby" (2023)](https://voicesofvr.com/1574-part-1-co-creation-with-xr-for-building-community-with-a-fathers-lullaby-2023/) - I spoke with Rashin Fahandej about A Father's Lullaby at Tribeca Immersive 2023 when it was still a work-in-progress. See more context in the rough transcript below. (Photo by Mikhail Mishin courtesy of Onassis ONX) This is a listener-supported podcast through the Voices of VR Patreon. Music: Fatality
- [#1572: "The Innocence of Unknowing" Uses Socratic Dialogue with AI & Video Essay to Deconstruct Root Cases of Gun Violence](https://voicesofvr.com/1572-the-innocence-of-unknowing-uses-socratic-dialogue-with-ai-video-essay-to-deconstruct-root-cases-of-gun-violence/) - I spoke with Ryat Yezbick & Milo Talwani about The Innocence of Unknowing at Tribeca Immersive 2025. See more context in the rough transcript below. (Photo by Mikhail Mishin courtesy of Onassis ONX) This is a listener-supported podcast through the Voices of VR Patreon. Music: Fatality
- [#1573: Muslim Futurist "New Maqam City" Invites Users to Play with Mystic Sufi Beats to Imagine States of Flourishing](https://voicesofvr.com/1573-muslim-futurist-new-maqam-city-invites-users-to-play-with-mystic-sufi-beats-to-imagine-states-of-flourishing/) - I spoke with Yusuf Siddiquee, Abbas Rattani, & Shimul Chowdhury about New Maqam City at Tribeca Immersive 2025. See more context in the rough transcript below. (Photo by Mikhail Mishin courtesy of Onassis ONX) This is a listener-supported podcast through the Voices of VR Patreon. Music: Fatality
- [#1571: "Uncharted VR" Explores the Spatialization of African Languages and Knowledge through Immersive Architecture and Adowa Dance](https://voicesofvr.com/1571-uncharted-vr-explores-the-spatialization-of-african-languages-and-knowledge-through-immersive-architecture-and-adowa-dance/) - I spoke with Kidus Hailesilassie about Uncharted VR at Tribeca Immersive 2025. See more context in the rough transcript below. This is a listener-supported podcast through the Voices of VR Patreon. Music: Fatality
- [#1570: "The Founders Pillars and The Power Loom" Uses AR to Contextualize Wall Street History Through African Textiles and Myths](https://voicesofvr.com/1570-the-founders-pillars-and-the-power-loom-uses-ar-to-contextualize-wall-street-history-through-african-textiles-and-myths/) - I spoke with Meghna Singh about The Founders Pillars and The Power Loom at Tribeca Immersive 2025. See more context in the rough transcript below. This is a listener-supported podcast through the Voices of VR Patreon. Music: Fatality
- [#965: Primer on Whitehead's Process Philosophy as a Paradigm Shift & Foundation for Experiential Design](https://voicesofvr.com/primer-on-whiteheads-process-philosophy-as-a-paradigm-shift-foundation-for-experiential-design/) - Virtual reality has the potential catalyze a paradigm shift around our concepts about the nature of reality, and one of the most influential philosophers on my thinking has been Alfred North Whitehead. His Process Philosophy emphases unfolding processes and relationships as the core metaphysical grounding rather than static, concrete objects. The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy entry contrasts some of the fundamental differences to Western philosophy:
- [#1183: From Kant to an Organic View of Reality: Scaffolding a Process-Relational Paradigm Shift with Whitehead Scholar Matt Segall](https://voicesofvr.com/1183-from-kant-to-an-organic-view-of-reality-scaffolding-a-process-relational-paradigm-shift-with-whitehead-scholar-matt-segall/) - Virtual Reality represents a paradigm shift for how I’ve come to understand the nature of reality, and there’s a corresponding paradigm shift in philosophy in the move from substance metaphysics to process-relational metaphysics that I’ve previously explored with Alfred North Whitehead scholar Matt Segall, in a discussion about 13 process-relational philosophers with Grant Maxwell, and in a talk that I gave on Process Philosophy & VR to The Virginia Philosophy Reality Lab. I invited Segall back on for a Part 2 of discussion to help build some metaphoric scaffolding to help understand this paradigm shift to Process Philosophy, and to talk about his latest book Crossing the Threshold: Etheric Imagination in the Post-Kantian Process Philosophy of Schelling and Whitehead (releasing on April 22, but available for pre-order). Segall frames Kant as a guardian of the threshold, explains how both the German Idealists and Whitehead found inspiration for a more organic philosophy coming out of Kant’s work, and picks up some loose threads about how to understand the role of imagination as a crucial organ to interfacing with the underlying creative processes that form underlying fabric reality according to Whitehead’s cosmology.
- [#1147: Thirteen Philosophers on the Problem of Opposites: Grant Maxwell's Integration & Difference Book & Archetypal Approaches to Character](https://voicesofvr.com/1147-thirteen-philosophers-on-the-problem-of-opposites-grant-maxwells-integration-difference-book-archetypal-approaches-to-character/) - Grant Maxwell’s book Integration and Difference: Constructing a Mythical Dialectic looks at the problem of the opposites through the lens of 13 philosophers who mostly fit within a constructivist stream of pragmatist, speculative, or process thought. This Voices of VR podcast episode is a 2.5-hour, philosophical deep dive providing an overview of each of these thinkers and how their ideas fit into the broader context of experiential design, perception, embodied experience, consciousness, and the metaphysical assumptions about the nature of reality itself. The 13 philosophers included within Maxwell’s book and this discussion include: Jacques Derrida (1930-2004) Baruch Spinoza (1632-1677) Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz (1646-1716) G.W.F. Hegel (1770-1831) F.W.J. Schelling (1775-1834) Friedrich Nietzsche (1844-1900) William James (1842-1910) Henri Bergson (1859-1941) Alfred North Whitehead (1861-1947) C.G. Jung (1875-1961) Gilles Deleuze (1925-1995) James Hillman (1926-2011) Isabelle Stengers (1949-)
- [#1565: "D-Day: The Camera Soldier" by Targo Stories Pushes Immersive Documentary Innovations on Apple Vision Pro](https://voicesofvr.com/1565-d-day-the-camera-solider-by-targo-stories-pushes-immersive-documentary-innovations-on-apple-vision-pro/) - I spoke with producer Victor Agulhon of Targo Stories about their collaboration with TIME Studios to produce D-Day: The Camera Soldier, which he calls the most technologically advance immersive documentary produced up to this point. They took footage from D-Day and spatialized it in a number of different ways, and really pushed the frontiers of
- [#1564: Adding Participatory & Community Elements to the Cinematic Tradition with PAM CUT's Tomorrow Theater](https://voicesofvr.com/1564-adding-participatory-community-elements-to-the-cinematic-tradition-with-pam-cuts-tomorrow-theater/) - The Portland Art Museum Center for an Untold Tomorrow (PAM CUT) has acquired the Tomorrow Theater in South East Portland, and is curating 25 unique events a month and over 250 unique events a year. Most of the experiences are grounded within the cinematic tradition, but there are usually ways that they are adding more
- [#524: VR Unicorns' #Archery takes the bow and arrow mechanic to its logical extreme](https://voicesofvr.com/524-vr-unicorns-archery-takes-the-bow-and-arrow-mechanic-to-its-logical-extreme/) - Shooting a bow and arrow in VR is a satisfying game mechanic. It uses both hands in a 6-DoF interaction that can only happen in VR. VR Unicorns' #Archery takes this bow and arrow shooting mechanic to the logical extreme in a quirky fashion that's similar to #SelfieTennis, and it's now available on early access. I had a chance to talk with developers Jakob Johansson and Max Nilsson at GDC where they talked about their game jamming and rapid prototyping process that's motivated driven by novelty and getting bored easily.
- [#355: The Human Experience of Virtual Reality: A Model of the VR Landscape](https://voicesofvr.com/355-the-human-experience-of-virtual-reality-a-model-of-the-vr-landscape/) - I gave a talk at Silicon Valley Virtual Reality Conference where I attempted to summarize highlights from over 400 Voices of VR podcast interviews. This was a daunting task which forced me to synthesize the emergent patterns that I've been seeing, and create an underlying structure that could help tell the story of all of the ways that VR might impact humanity. What resulted from this process was a framework and model for understanding the VR landscape that I'm calling 'The Human Experience of Virtual Reality.'
- [#286: Rose Troche on the Vulnerability of a 1st-Person Perspective](https://voicesofvr.com/286-rose-troche-vulnerability-of-1st-person-perspective/) - Rose Troche knows that the first-person perspective is flawed, and she wanted to show people just how vulnerable it can by telling a single story between four different points of view. She teamed up with Specular Theory's Morris May again for Perspective Chapter 2: The Misdemeanor, which is a powerful example of storytelling that's only possible in VR. It gives you a direct experience of how our perceptions and biases can shape our eye witness testimony of a police shooting.
- [#147: VR Input Announcment: Oculus Touch & Bundled Xbox Controller with Oculus Rift CV1](https://voicesofvr.com/147-vr-input-announcment-oculus-touch-bundled-xbox-controller-with-oculus-rift-cv1/) - Virtual reality developers and enthusiasts have been waiting for Oculus to give some clarity on their default input solution, and today at their pre-E3 press conference they made some key announcements. The first is that CV1 will be shipping with a wireless Xbox controller, which means that VR developers for the Rift can rely upon having at least what has already been the industry standard input controller. The second key announcement is that Palmer Luckey showed off the Oculus Touch input controller prototype, which won't be shipping until later in Q2 of 2016.
- [#136: Martin Breidt on the Uncanny Valley & Facial Tracking within a VR Head-Mounted Display by Oculus Research](https://voicesofvr.com/136-martin-breidt-on-the-uncanny-valley-facial-tracking-within-a-vr-head-mounted-display-by-oculus-research/) - Dr. Martin Breidt is a research technician at the Max Plank Institute for Biological Cybernetics. His bio page says that he's part of the Cognitive Engineering group where they 'develop and use systems from Computer Vision, Computer Graphics, Machine Learning with methods from psychophysics in order to investigate fundamental cognitive processes.' Martin only had time for a very quick 5-minute chat, but this was enough time for him to give me some pointers to his research about the uncanny valley effect as well as to some work is being done in order to capture facial animations while wearing a VR HMD. This led me to learn a lot more about the research that Oculus is doing in order to capture human expressions while wearing a VR HMD.
- [#133: Gareth Henshall on using high-fidelity haptics to simulate a kidney biopsy procedure](https://voicesofvr.com/133-gareth-henshall-on-using-high-fidelity-haptics-to-simulate-a-kidney-biopsy-procedure/) - Gareth Henshall is from Bangor University in the United Kingdom, and was presenting a poster at IEEE VR titled 'Towards a High Fidelity Simulation of the Kidney Biopsy Procedure.' Their goal was to create a low-cost training simulation that could allow doctors to train on having the experience of giving someone a kidney biopsy. They tried to do it without haptic feedback, and found that it was not effective at all.
- [#132: Mobile VRJam Milestone 1: App & Experience Highlights with Josh Farkas](https://voicesofvr.com/mobile-vrjam-milestone-1-app-experience-highlights-with-josh-farkas/) - Josh Farkas is the CEO of Cubicle Ninjas, and he was tweeting his highlights from reviewing all the Milestone 1 submissions for the Oculus Mobile VR Jam, and so I invited him to come onto the Voices of VR podcast to discuss some of the highlights of what he found interesting and compelling.I also reviewed all of the experiences in the App and Experience track, and noticed that it's a bit hard to get a quick overview of the submissions without clicking through over 500 times. So I decided to create an Unofficial Spreadsheet of VR Jam Milestone 1 submissions that included the title, the tagline, URL, Game or App Track, Team Size, and names of all of the team members. I also included a separated sheet all of the names of the participants and all of their related projects for quick reference.
- [#123: Tobias Baumann on IMU-based motion capture & VR input with Perception Neuron](https://voicesofvr.com/123-tobias-baumann-on-imu-based-motion-capture-with-perception-neuron/) - Tobias Baumann is the director of game development for Perception Neuron, which is an IMU-based motion capture system. It might eventually be used as a VR input device, but Tobias acknowledges that the current price for the full system is a bit steep to be used for anything than a motion capture system at first.
- [#121: Cloudhead Games' Joel Green on collaborating with Valve on creating a Vive demo](https://voicesofvr.com/121-cloudhead-games-joel-green-on-collaborating-with-valve-on-creating-a-vive-demo/) - Joel Green is a producer and audio director at Cloudhead Games working on the The Gallery: Six Elements adventure game. He talks about the process of being invited to a secret meeting at Valve to experience the HTC Vive for the first time, and then going home with a development kit to create room-scale VR experiences.Cloudhead Games has been working on consumer VR for a long, long time, and they've tried out a number of different hardware solutions. They see that the HTC Valve have really solved the input and tracking problems for the first time in a viable way. Up to this point, it's been a lot of incremental progress and half-steps, but Joel says that Valve has really nailed this solution and it will take VR to another level of immersion and presence.
- [#84: Bilago on Riftmax Theater & 4D, interactive social experiences](https://voicesofvr.com/84-bilago-on-riftmax-theater-4d-interactive-social-experiences/) - Bilago is one of the developers of Riftmax Theater, which is a 4D, interactive social experience. What started as a way to watch YouTube videos in a theater environment has turned into what was voted to be the Best Social VR experience by the Proto Awards.Riftmax hosts events like Gunter's Virtually Incorrect talk show and has a regular karaoke night. The longest length of time that I've spent in virtual reality was 2 1/2 hours while being a guest on Virtually Incorrect. The fact that there were other real human beings there in that virtual space made it one of the most powerful VR experiences that I've had to date, and a testament to why Facebook acquired Oculus VR to do even more social experiences. I don't think it's an understatement when Mark Zuckerberg says that 'Oculus has the chance to create the most social platform ever, and change the way we work, play and communicate.' Riftmax Theater is one of the applications that is on the leading edge of proving this out. My body has a memory of having a conversation with these avatars as if we were sitting on a theater stage because there was enough body language with the head tracking and Razer Hydra enabled hand movements.
- [#76: Building a Custom PC for VR - Tips from Cymatic Bruce and John Starr Dewar](https://voicesofvr.com/76-building-a-custom-pc-for-vr-tips-from-cymatic-bruce-and-john-starr-dewar/) - One of the biggest questions when you're getting into virtual reality is 'What type of PC should I get?' VR is driving the upper limits of the required technical specifications of the GPU and CPU, and an off-the-shelf solution may not have enough horsepower to drive a good VR experience at 1080p at 75Hz for DK2 and 1440p+ at 90Hz for CV1.This podcast explores the biggest questions and tradeoffs for building your VR rig, and has lots of amazing insights shared by AltSpaceVR's community manager and VR evangelist Cymatic Bruce, and Kite & Lightning's developer John Starr Dewar.
- [#1: eVRydayVR on Virtual Reality evangelism, communities & education](https://voicesofvr.com/episode-1-evrydayvr-on-virtual-reality-evangelism-communities-education/) - I'm joined by D of the eVRydayVR YouTube Channel to discuss Virtual Reality evangelism, VR design tips, VR communities, and the future of VR and Education.
- [#801: Dynamic Architecture & Digital Campfires for Social VR Gatherings](https://voicesofvr.com/801-dynamic-architecture-digital-campfires-for-social-vr-gatherings/) - Yasmin Yesilipek is an architecture student at the Architectural Association who has been primarily focusing on virtual reality. She's been creating spaces for online gatherings, and trying to recreate a campfire digitally through experimenting with different dynamic architectural objects. She's iterating on different spaces and rooms and seeing where people within these social VR spaces congregate in order to get insights into what type of dynamic architectural objects are able to successfully mimic the energy of the live fire. I had a chance to catch up with her after her presentation at the Architectural Association Symposium on the Architecture for the Immersive Internet that was organized by Space Popular.
- [#749: Using VR Horror as Fear Resistance Training + Sound Healing & Psychedelic Culture](https://voicesofvr.com/749-using-vr-horror-as-fear-resistance-training-sound-healing-psychedelic-culture/) - Torkom Ji tells the story of how he used Resident Evil 7 VR as a form of fear resistance training, and transformational shadow work to overcome his fears. He’s also a co-founder of Visual Reality, which is bringing psychedelic culture and visionary art into virtual reality. He’s a sound healer & music producer who has been performing his Quantum Harmonics for the last couple of years in the Visual Reality section of VRLA, and he tells me about the process of cultivating ambient soundscapes that explore aspects of time, and how cycles of nature can be experienced through the polarities of expansion/compression, rise/fall, and a tonal field of basic harmonics in the overtone series. I found this to be a fascinating exploration of remediating fear through virtual simulations of the horror genre, how psychedelic culture is blurring the boundaries of reality, and the trends of spatial audio and ambient soundscapes that are able to create contextual layers of augmentation.
- [#733: Community Media PublicVR Labs + How Hyperlocal Organizing is an Emerging Trend for Brands](https://voicesofvr.com/733-community-media-publicvr-labs-how-hyperlocal-organizing-is-an-emerging-trend-for-brands/) - Kathy Bisbee started the first publicly funded VR lab called PublicVR Lab, and she's leading an initiative for the 1500 community media centers in the United States to start offering kits and programs to help create community media immersive technology projects. Bisbee said that she was surprised to hear that brand managers at major companies are starting to explore using tried and true community organizing techniques in order to do hyperlocal community engagement programs ranging from education, skill sharing, or immersive experiences. This was the first interview that I conducted at the Sundance Film Festival 2019, and this concept of community engagement and outreach came up a number of other times throughout the week as an emerging trend that pairs well with specific VR or AR experiences. Immersive storytelling experiences have the potential to create a shared context for group experiences, which can then facilitate moderated conversations with community groups about topics that are importance to their local community.
- [#530: Upload LA Opening Represents a Focus Shift From VR Tech to VR Content](https://voicesofvr.com/530-upload-la-opening-represents-a-focus-shift-from-vr-tech-to-vr-content/) - UploadVR opened up their new 20,000 square foot Upload LA co-working space on April 13, 2017. I had a chance to catch up with co-founders Taylor Freeman and Will Mason as VRLA to get the inside scoop. Mason told me that opening up this huge co-working space in Los Angeles represents an energetic shift from the VR technology born out of Silicon Valley to focusing on content & storytelling in VR.
- [#527: Turning Your Torso Into an Ear: Sensory Substitution & Addition with Neosensory](https://voicesofvr.com/turning-your-torso-into-an-ear-sensory-substitution-addition-with-neosensory/) - Back in 2015, Neuroscientist David Eagleman gave a TED talk about the potential to expand and create new senses. He showed off a haptic vest prototype that could translate audio input into an array of 32 vibrating motors that could be fed directly into your body. The signals would reach the brain and create a neural input that is indistinguishable from what the cochlea would produce, meaning that it's possible to turn the torso into an ear. The principle of sensory substitution shows that the brain doesn't care where the data comes from as long as it's structured in the right format and correlated to feedback within the environment. I had a chance to catch up with Eagleman at the Experiential Technology Conference to talk about Neosensory's VEST (Versatile Extra-Sensory Transducer), the hard problem of consciousness and how reality is constructed in the mind, expanding and creating new senses, invasive neural interfaces to the brain from Kernel, the philosophical implications of simulation theory, and his metaphors for how he understands the relationship between the mind and the body.
- [#526: YouTube VR Wants to Find the Next Billion Dollar Genre That Hasn't Been Created Yet](https://voicesofvr.com/526-youtube-vr-wants-to-find-the-next-billion-dollar-genre-that-hasnt-been-created-yet/) - At Sundance this year, I had a chance to catch up with a couple of representatives from Google to talk about what's happening on the YouTube VR platform with 360 videos. I talked with Jamie Byrne, YouTube's Director of Global Creator & Enterprise Partnerships as well as Julia Hamilton Trost, Google VR's Business Development & Content Partnerships. We talked about their YouTube VR application, what they're doing to do to empower content creators, how they 360 video as a gateway into higher end VR, and some of the potential future to add more volumetric and interactive elements to the YouTube platform in the future.
- [#525: Flying in VR: How Mindride's Airflow Takes Immersion to the Next Level](https://voicesofvr.com/525-flying-in-vr-how-mindrides-airflow-takes-immersion-to-the-next-level/) - One of the most immersive flying experiences that I've had a chance to have so far was Mindride Airflow. I had a chance to try it out last fall at VRLA, and the weightless harness combined with a variety of different wind speeds gave me a deep sense of immersion and presence beyond what I would've expected. I had a chance to catch up with Yehuda Duenyas and Ben Kato to talk about their experiential design process that prioritizes the depth of immersion and quality experience over anything else. We also talk about how Airflow normalized a real-life skydiving adventure for Duenyas, and the different haptic techniques they've used to cultivate a deep sense of embodied presence.
- [#1042: [DocLab] MIT Open DocLab's William Uricchio on Theory, Practice, & History of Immersive Documentary](https://voicesofvr.com/1042-doclab-mit-open-doclabs-william-uricchio-on-theory-practice-history-of-immersive-documentary/) - William Uricchio is a Professor of Comparitive Media Studies at MIT, who started Open Documentary Lab in 2012 as a research initiative to look at implications of emerging technologies & the implications for the work of documentary. The MIT Co-Creation Studio was started in either 2018 or 2019 to research methods of immersive media creation. We talk about the theory, practice, & history of immersive storytelling and the medium of documentary, as well as the R&D Progam collaboration between IDFA DocLab and MIT's Open DocLab that was launched in 2018.
- [#1044: Preview of Sundance New Frontier 2022 with Chief Curator Shari Frilot](https://voicesofvr.com/1044-preview-of-sundance-new-frontier-2022-with-chief-curator-shari-frilot/) - The Sundance New Frontier 2022 selection of 15 immersive stories is available starting today until January 30th, and I had a chance to speak with chief curator Shari Frilot an overview of this year's selection. Access to New Frontier Spaceship and Gallery is $50 with the Explorer Pass, which also provides access to the shorts and episodic content at the festival.
- [#1043: Philosopher David Chalmers' Book "Reality+" May Change How You See Reality: VR is a Genuine Reality & We Can't Prove We're Not in a Simulation](https://voicesofvr.com/1043-philosopher-david-chalmers-book-reality-may-change-how-you-see-reality-vr-is-a-genuine-reality-we-cant-prove-were-not-in-a-simulation/) - Philosopher David Chalmers has an amazing book called 'Reality+: Virtual Worlds and the Problems of Philosophy' that is being released on January 25th, and I was able to get early access and interview him about the many provocative ideas that he covers in his book. It's part introductory course to philosophy, a public philosophy translation of age-old debates around virtual worlds and Descartes' evil demons, but also lot of novel philosophical arguments that will challenge your concept of the nature of reality itself. Tune in for an overview of some of the biggest ideas around how virtual reality should be considered a genuine reality and how we can't prove that we're not in a simulation.
- [#1113: Matthew Ball's "The Metaverse" Book is the Most Comprehensive Description of the Metaverse Stack](https://voicesofvr.com/1113-matthew-balls-the-metaverse-book-is-the-most-comprehensive-description-of-the-metaverse-stack/) - Matthew Ball's 'The Metaverse: And How It Will Revolutionize Everything' book (launching today) is the most comprehensive articulation of the Metaverse technology stack, as well as it's foundational principles catalyzing a paradigm shift from 2D into 3D into spatial and immersive computing. What started as an essay on Fortnite (Feb 5, 2019), then evolved into an essay on the Metaverse (Jan 13, 2020), then evolved into a series of essays with his Metaverse Primer (Jun 28-29, 2021), and now has tripled in size with the publication of Ball's The Metaverse book (Jul 19, 2022) that dives into specifying each layer of the Metaverse tech stack, where it's at now, and where he expects it might go in the future.
- [#1218: Apple Vision Pro Hands-on Debriefing with UploadVR Editor Ian Hamilton](https://voicesofvr.com/1218-apple-vision-pro-hands-on-debriefing-with-uploadvr-editor-ian-hamilton/) - I speak with UploadVR Editor Ian Hamilton about his hands-on impression of the Apple Vision Pro that he had on Tuesday, June 6, 2023. Check out his full article: "Apple Vision Pro Hands-On: Way Ahead of Meta In Critical Ways." Also see my Twitter thread live coverage of #WWDC23. This is a listener-supported podcast through
- [#1176: XR Privacy Landscape & Data Flows with Future of Privacy Forum's Jameson Spivack](https://voicesofvr.com/1176-xr-privacy-landscape-data-flows-with-future-of-privacy-forums-jameson-spivack/) - I interview Jameson Spivack, who is a senior policy analyst at the Future of Privacy Forum leading their work on Immersive [XR] Technologies of VR/AR/MR, neurotech, BCIs, biometrics, ad practices, and regulatory frameworks. We talk about how there are gaps in existing privacy frameworks here in the United States, and the work that he’s doing to help educate consumers, and technology companies of the current policy debates. The Future of Privacy Forum isn’t advocating for any specific legislation, but sits as an intermediary between technology companies like Meta who are funders, and the rest of civil society and academics keeping tabs on privacy discussions. They end up doing lots of consumer education efforts like this infographic that maps out XR technology data flows, and blog posts that elaborate on XR functions and various privacy and data protection risks and mitigation strategies.
- [#1146: Brad Lynch's Journey as a VR Hardware Analyst: Valve Deckard, Speculative Patent Research, & Hardware Leaks](https://voicesofvr.com/1146-brad-lynchs-journey-as-a-vr-hardware-analyst-valve-deckard-speculative-patent-research-hardware-leaks/) - Brad Lynch has described his SadlyItsBradly YouTube channel as a speculation and prediction channel focusing on the next generation VR hardware, and it has been providing some of the most insightful and detailed VR hardware analysis in the XR industry. Lynch has been fusing together patent research, sources from the supply chain and wider XR
- [#1145: Wrap-up of Meta Connect with 4 Immersive Journalists: Meta Quest Pro Impressions & Meta Reality Labs Research Demos](https://voicesofvr.com/1145-wrap-up-of-meta-connect-with-4-immersive-journalists-meta-quest-pro-impressions-meta-reality-labs-research-demos/) - Meta Connect happened this past week on October 11th where Meta announced the Meta Quest Pro, and also released quite a lot of interesting information about their future strategies. I participated in a panel discussion with 3 other immersive journalists covering this space on the No Proscenium podcast episode #363 hosted by Noah Nelson (@noahjnelson) along with CNET’s Scott Stein (@jetscott), and LA Times games & themed entertainment journalist Todd Martens (@toddmartens). This Voices of VR episode is a cross-over rebroadcast of the NoPro podcast #363, but with some additional context and closing thoughts that I’ve added at the beginning and end.
- [#913: All of Microsoft's AR & AR Announcements from Microsoft Build with Director Greg Sullivan](https://voicesofvr.com/913-all-of-microsofts-ar-ar-announcements-from-microsoft-build-with-director-greg-sullivan/) - There were not a lot of AR or VR announcements that happened during the main keynotes of Microsoft Build 2020, but there were a number of announcements that I was covering as comprehensively as I could in real-time in this Twitter thread. But Azure Spatial Anchors went into to general availability, Azure Remote Rendering is entering in a public preview, and Azure Digital Twins IoT expanding their offerings. There was some major software updates to HoloLens 2, and the number of regions where it's available expanded from 10 to 25, and today they're announcing that the HoloLens 2 was going to be generally available online and at Microsoft stores starting later this summer.
- [#759: Oculus Quest, Privacy, & Facebook's Walled Garden: A Discussion with Oculus' Director of Content Ecosystem](https://voicesofvr.com/759-oculus-quest-privacy-facebooks-walled-garden-a-discussion-with-oculus-director-of-content-ecosystem/) - The Oculus Quest is a gamechanger for the VR industry as the inside-out tracking is an engineering marvel, & the untethered experience lowers the friction for being to easy jump into VR. My biggest hesitations with the Quest have more to do with my open questions around Facebook's approach towards privacy and Facebook's AR/VR strategy of turning the Quest platform into more of a closed, walled garden ecosystem with tighter curation policies.
- [#636: VRChat is the Closest VR Experience to the OASIS in Ready Player One](https://voicesofvr.com/636-vrchat-is-the-closest-vr-experience-to-the-oasis-in-ready-player-one/) - Ready Player One was released on March 29th, and the current VR experience that comes the closest to realizing the vision of the OASIS depicted in the movie is the social VR experience of VRChat. By 2045, I predict that we'll have a decentralized open metaverse that's built on WebXR, and that it'll be the open web that realizes the educational potential of OASIS that's depicted within the novel version of Ready Player One. But I think we'll continue to have open and closed systems just as we do today, and it's likely that there will a closed, walled garden metaverse of interconnected worlds that is more akin to the vision of the OASIS that's built by Gregarious Simulation Systems. But if you want to experience the OASIS today, then VRChat is the experience to check out. I had a chance to talk with VRChat's CEO/co-founder Graham Gaylor and Chief Creative Ron Millar at GDC where we talked about the recent growth of VRChat, what type of trends they're seeing, what they're doing to support streamers, and where they're going in the future.
- [#602: Funding Landscape for Cinematic VR with Kaleidoscope VR](https://voicesofvr.com/602-funding-landscape-for-cinematic-vr-with-kaleidoscope-vr/) - After talking to a lot of independent VR storytellers, Kaleidoscope VR's René Pinnell identified that funding was one of the biggest blockers for continued experimentation. Cinematic VR pieces do not have many established distribution channels yet, and so a lot of the funding has come from larger HMD manufacturers like Oculus and select brands like Intel. After traveling around to 30 cities around the world with Kaleidoscope VR's festival, Pinnell decided to try to hold the First Look VR market in September in order to match the most promising independent VR creators with funders, producers, and distributors. I caught up with Pinnell at the end of the inaugural First Look market to talk about the funding landscape for independent creators, his journey from festival producer to executive producer to market organizer, and what he sees are the keys to innovation for immersive storytelling.
- [#575: Using VR to Connect with the Beauty of Nature with Marshmallow Laser Feast](https://voicesofvr.com/575-using-vr-to-connect-with-the-beauty-of-nature-with-marshmallow-laser-feast/) - Marshmallow Laser Feast is a collective of artists who are interested in using VR technologies to capture the aesthetic beauty of nature, and provide immersive experiences that inspire people to cultivate an even deeper with the reality that surrounds them. Their Treehugger provides an immersive experience of the lifecycle of water in trees as rain makes it's way up from the roots of a Sequoia tree and is released as oxygen in a highly-stylized & beautiful point-cloud aesthetic. Their experience included smells and passive haptic feedback to make their simulated volumetric time-lapse even more immersive, and it actually won the Storyscapes award at the Tribeca Film Festival. I caught up with co-founder Barnaby Steel to talk about how VR could be used to inspire us to cultivate an even deeper relationship with the world around us.
- [#541: Bearing Witness to Sexual Assault Stories & Healing from Trauma with "Testimony"](https://voicesofvr.com/541-bearing-witness-to-sexual-assault-stories-healing-from-trauma-with-testimony/) - Testimony is one of the most profound and powerful applications of virtual reality that I've seen so far. It's an experimental documentary that captures the stories of sexual assault from five women broken up into five segments. You're completely immersed within a virtual sphere with these five stories that are represented as sequences of circles on different lines. As you look at a specific circle, it comes into the full frame and plays a 2D video segments from that victim either sharing their story of sexual assault, the aftermath, their process of healing, or their ideas for how to reform the criminal justice system. The depth of immersion and intimacy that the virtual reality medium enables allows you have much more capacity to provide your full attention and to bear witness to these stories of deep emotional intensity. It's a radical application of VR that represents a revolutionary approach to healing from trauma.Testimony premiered at Tribeca in April, and I had a chance to catch up with Zohar Kfir to talk about the challenges and shame that sexual assault survivors experience. We also talk about how the virtual reality medium is unique suited to provide a platform and medium for sexual assault survivors to share their stories of survival. It's been a profoundly hearing experience for these women to authentically share the emotional intensity of their sexual assault experience, as well of the challenges in dealing with the criminal justice system, and process of healing from trauma.
- [#540: Investing in Exponential Technologies in VR, AI & Drones with a16z's Kyle Russell](https://voicesofvr.com/540-investing-in-exponential-technologies-in-vr-ai-drones-with-a16zs-kyle-russell/) - Kyle Russell is on the deal & research team for Andreessen Horowitz (aka A16z) where he's focusing on investing in technologies ranging from virtual & augmented reality, artificial intelligence, drones, and other exponential technologies like quantum computing. A16z has invested in a number of prominent VR companies including Oculus, Magic Leap, Within, BigScreen as well as Lytro, & Improbable.I had a chance to catch up with Russell about how these exponential technologies are combining together in order to solve real problems. Russell used to write for Techcrunch, and so in order to keep up with the latest tech trends he's become a power user of Twitter lists, subreddits like /r/MachineLearning, and an AI-research aggregator called the Arxiv Sanity Preserver. He also is tracking many different possible futures when it comes to emerging business models based upon the decentralized blockchain, self-sovereign identity initiatives such as the Decentralized Identity Foundation, as well as thoughts on the growing wealth disparity and blending of cooperative and competitive economic approaches.
- [#539: Google Expeditions is Leading Innovation in the Future of Immersive Education](https://voicesofvr.com/539-google-expeditions-is-leading-innovation-in-the-future-of-immersive-education/) - Google's mission to organize all of the world's information, and so it's a natural fit for Google to be one of the leading innovators for using VR for immersive education. Google Expeditions was born out of a hackathon soon after the Google Carboard launched at Google I/O 2014, and it's since been shared with over 2 million students who have gone on virtual field trips. At Google I/O, they were showing Tango demos that showed me just how compelling augmented reality is going to be in the future of collaborative & embodied educational experiences.I had a chance to catch up with Daydream's Education Program Manager Jennifer Holland at Google I/O where we talked about the history of Expeditions, and how successful it's been in creating new levels of immersion and engagement with students. She talks about how the Expedition experiences are designed to be agnostic to any specific age or subject matter, but also independent of specific teaching strategy or philosophy. Google has been rapidly iterating on creating useful tools that are immediately useful teachers to introduce immersive experiences into their lesson plan, and there's a lot that is left up to the teacher to be able to guide and direct the interactions and group learning exercises. Holland talks about some of the tools that have been built into expeditions, as well as the feedback that is driving the future of immersive education towards shared augmented reality experiences with Tango-enabled devices.
- [#260: Predicting the Future of VR & AR with Gartner's Brian Blau](https://voicesofvr.com/260-predicting-the-future-of-vr-ar-with-gartners-brian-blau/) - Brian Blau is the research director in the personal technologies group at Gartner specializing in mobile apps and video game software in the consumer domain. He's also been analyzing the market for virtual and augmented reality for the past five years, but has been involved in VR since the 1980s. Gartner is a technology advisory service and so they're in the business of predicting the future. A lot of their predictions and reports are not released to public, but Brian was able to hint at some previously made predictions as well as compare their analysis with some of the other analysts who have been estimating the overall market size for virtual and augmented reality.
- [#1089: IEEE Global Initiative on the Ethics of Extended Reality: Trolling, Harassment, and Online Safety](https://voicesofvr.com/1089-ieee-global-initiative-on-the-ethics-of-extended-reality-trolling-harassment-and-online-safety/) - The IEEE Global Initiative on the Ethics of Extended Reality has published the first eight white papers investigating different ethical aspects of virtual and augmented reality. This has been a collaboration with dozens of XR industry professionals who have been participating in helping to better define the open ethical challenges and moral dilemmas within the XR landscape across many different contextual domains. I have been helping to lead this effort as an executive committee member since it started in July 2020 as well as helping to kick start the white paper initiative. Now that the first batch of white papers have been published, I will be featuring interviews with the primary authors and contributors on the Voices of VR podcast in an 8-part series spanning more than 11 hours.
- [#911: VTubers & Bridging Japan with France with Akihiko Shirai](https://voicesofvr.com/911-vtubers-bridging-japan-with-france-with-akihiko-shirai/) - Akihiko Shirai has been doing research and development in VR live entertainment since 1995, and he's been a key liaison between the XR communities in Japan and France going back to 2004. Since June 2018 he's been researching vTuber (Virtual YouTuber, virtual persona, virtual artist) workflows and pipelines as the VR Studio Lab Director at GREE.
- [#909: Laval Virtual's AR/VR Business Intelligence with Marie Leblanc](https://voicesofvr.com/909-laval-virtuals-arvr-business-intelligence-with-marie-leblanc/) - Laval Virtual has a AR/VR Business Intelligence division that tracks the use cases and evolution of XR applications, and produces a number of VR/AR newsfeed email lists and reports (like this free magazine on Health Applications of XR). I had a chance to talk with Head of Laval Virtual's Intelligence Services, Marie Leblanc, who has a background in industrial design. We talk about the types of research and reports they produce, and why she decided to move back home to Laval from Paris to work with Laval Virtual.
- [#747: Bringing Restorative Justice Practices in VR with Tyler Musgrave](https://voicesofvr.com/747-bringing-restorative-justice-practices-in-vr-with-tyler-musgrave/) - Restorative Justice practices are an alternative form of justice that's a victim-centered that creates a space for offenders to own the harm done, and for victims to tell the story of their experiences of that harm directly to the offender. It's a set of indigenous restorative practices that try to restore a sense of balance into the entire community, and it can be used as an complete alternative to existing retributive justice systems or as a supplement. Tyler Musgrave has worked with the organization of Restorative Justice for Oakland Youth, and then participated in Mozilla's XR Studio to learn more about how she can bring some of these restorative practices within the context of VR in her Restorative VR project.
- [#606: Workflow for Interactive Narratives with Spatial Stories Toolset](https://voicesofvr.com/606-workflow-for-interactive-narratives-with-spatial-stories-toolset/) - Emilie Joly says that the rules of interaction are the stories within interactive narratives, and Apelab is creating the Spatial Stories plug-in and toolset in order to make it easier to define those rules. Unity uses an object-oriented approach for creating interactive environments, but it's optimized for creating interactive video games. The Spatial Story toolset aims to create point-and-click interfaces geared towards immersive storytellers who want to create interactive experiences whether it's in VR, AR, or mixed reality. Joly sees immersive storytellers as a combination of world building and writing, and they want to optimize the workflow for screenwriters and storytelling creatives such that they can more rapidly iterate ideas and experiences within both Unity and Unreal engines. They're also building integrations with AI APIs in order to better implement conversational interfaces. I had a chance to talk with Joly at Kaleidoscope VR's FIRST LOOK market, and to walk through some of the features of the Spatial Story toolset, integrations with existing screenwriting tools like Final Draft, and metaphors that she uses to understand the unique affordances of interactive stories.
- [#600: Jaron Lanier's Journey into VR: "Dawn of the New Everything"](https://voicesofvr.com/600-jaron-laniers-journey-into-vr-dawn-of-the-new-everything/) - Jaron Lanier is a pioneer of the first commercially-available virtual reality systems with his VPL Research Inc startup that was founded in 1984. He has written a memoir called Dawn of the New Everything about his life leading up to and during his transition from a country hippie hacker to a over-stressed Silicon Valley CEO. He was inspired by painters like Hieronymus Bosch, musical instruments like the Theramin, mathematics, electronics, Ivan Sutherland's pioneering work with the first virtual world head mounted displays. He also wanted to transcend his social insecurities and anxieties to connect creating shared social VR spaces. VPL Research pioneered the commercial 'Eyephone' virtual reality head mounted display with tracking, haptic gloves, motion capture suits, 3D audio, and a cutting-edge virtual programming language. He was inspired by jazz to create technology that could enable mutual improvisation of communication and expression in what would feel like a shared dream in a waking state.I had a chance to catch up with Lanier in Seattle, Washington on his book tour for Dawn of the New Everything, where we talked about highlights of his journey into VR, musical instruments as haptic devices, the tongue as an input device, and the body's ability to embody a variety of different animal avatars. He also shared some of his thoughts on why he thinks artificial intelligence is a fake construct as long as the focus is on AI as a super intelligent parasitic entity rather than merely a tool for humans. He also shared some cautionary reflections on the dangers of the advertising-driven business models of Facebook, Google, and Twitter that are creating 'massive behavior modification empires.' Lanier is a super humble guy, and his memoir is an interesting mix of impressionistic memories and reflections mixed in with technical deep dives and fifty-two definitions of virtual reality that explores the range of applications, metaphors, and unique affordances of this new medium. The Dawn of the New Everything is a fascinating story that captures a key turning point in the history of VR, and is packed with some deep insights and visions for what's possible from someone who is still madly in love and inspired by this new medium.
- [#1184: "Battle for Your Brain" Author Nita Farahany on Establishing Cognitive Liberty as a Human Right for Limits on Neurotechnologies & XR](https://voicesofvr.com/1184-battle-for-the-brain-author-nita-farahany-on-establishing-cognitive-liberty-as-a-human-right-for-limits-on-neurotechnologies-xr/) - Nita Farahany argues that we need to establish a new human right of Cognitive Liberty in order to address the threats of Neurotech like VR, AR, BCIs, & non-invasive neural interfaces in her new book Battle for the Brain: Defending the Right to Think Freely in the Age of Neurotechnology (releasing on March 14th). Cognitive Liberty is a umbrella term that includes a complex of other human rights including mental privacy, freedom of thought, and self-determination, but clearly defining this novel concept of cognitive liberty will hopefully provide a pathway for creating the philosophical, legal, and ethical foundations to create viable regulations around these new forms of sensitive brain data, physiological data, and biometric data as well as the inferences that can be made from it. Farahany’s book is a tour de force of scholarship that is not only catching everyone up on the last decade’s worth of neurotechnology research and enterprise industry developments, and it was actually Meta’s acquisition of CTRL-Labs & their wrist-based EMG interface into VR and AR (see my previous coverage in episodes #814 & #987) that was a catalyst for her to write this book as we’re on the threshold of these neurotechnologies starting to be deployed at a much broader consumer scale. She does a comprehensive audit of both the promises and perils of these neurotech applications across multiple contexts in order to develop of the novel concept of a new human right of Cognitive Liberty and it’s associated rights in order to address the threats from these technologies.
- [#1180: Anti-Trust & Privacy Watchdog Jason Kint Reflects on Ad Ecosystems & XR](https://voicesofvr.com/1180-anti-trust-privacy-watchdog-jason-kint-reflects-on-ad-ecosystems-xr/) - President Joe Biden wrote an Wall Street Journal op-ed on January 11, 2023 calling for “serious federal protections for Americans’ privacy.” Digital Content Next CEO Jason Kint tweeted out that “I’ll sit down with anyone to explain why privacy integrated with antitrust is the critical issue of our time” and I took him up on his offer. Kint serves as a sort of industry watchdog for surveillance capitalism companies like Google and Facebook/Meta digging through anti-trust court transcripts, depositions, and other buried legal obscurities as he keeps close tabs on the relationship between the dominant players of advertising and their associated data practices. I wanted to get some of Kint’s takes on the latest privacy frontiers of US law at the federal and state level, some of the recent $400M GDPR enforcement actions against Meta by Ireland’s Data Protection Commission, and why he’s keeping so close tabs on the anti-trust and the potential anti-competitive practices of Google and Facebook/Meta’s ad businesses. Digital Content Next is a trade organization that represents the future News and Entertainment companies who are advancing the future of trusted content. He has been tracking how the advertising ecosystem has been steadily growing over many years, but mostly to the benefits Google and Facebook/Meta, which he identified was connected to their surveillance capitalism data collection methods that has been providing deep challenges to the fundamental nature of consumer privacy.
- [#1179: Discussion of XRSI's Privacy Framework 1.0 from 2020](https://voicesofvr.com/1179-discussion-of-xrsis-privacy-framework-1-0-from-2020/) - On September 8, 2020, the XR Safety Initiative launched their XR Privacy Framework 1.0 which is a set of self-directed, privacy guidelines aimed to empower “individuals and organizations with a common language and a practical tool that is flexible enough to address diverse privacy needs and is understood by technical and non-technical audiences.” It is “inspired by the NIST privacy framework’s approach” with the five functions of “Identify, Govern, Control, Communicate, and Protect” while the XRSI Privacy Framework modifies it to be “Assess, Inform, Manage, Prevent.” XRSI is in the process of developing a 2.0 version of their Privacy and Safety Framework that’s aiming to be released by the end of 2023.
- [#1164: Live XR Sketch Comedy "Bag of Worms" Blends Realities for Surrealist Humor Reflecting on Virtual Violence](https://voicesofvr.com/1164-live-xr-sketch-comedy-bag-of-worms-blends-realities-for-surrealist-humor-reflecting-on-virtual-violence/) - Bag of Worms is a live XR sketch comedy performance developed by Matt Romein in collaboration with Peter Mills Weiss and Julia Mounsey that showed as a part of the ONX + DocLab MoCap Stage at IDFA DocLab 2022. It’s difficult to fully describe the surreal quality of Bag of Worms, but their synopsis does a pretty good job of summarizing the key points, “Wearing motion capture suits, Bag of Worms uses technology to create a new kind of hybrid performance, with the performers constructing and manipulating a digital playground viewable to the audience in real-time. The lines between the physical and the digital become blurred, challenging the audience’s perception of where the actual performance is taking place.” Because the audience can see the physical bodies of both performers, Bag of Worms plays with “creative violence” in the context of the virtual avatar representations of their motion captured embodiments that are being projected onto the back of the stage. I had a chance to catch up with Romein at the IDFA DocLab to get more of the backstory of how this project came about, how they’re translating some of the language of theatre into rules for this project, and the quality of attention within a theatrical proscenium stage with adding video screens and hybrid performance.
- [#1162: Talk on Motion Capture in Immersive Stories + Panel at IDFA DocLab: "Capturing Reality in Motion"](https://voicesofvr.com/1162-talk-on-motion-capture-in-immersive-stories-panel-at-idfa-doclab-capturing-reality-in-motion/) - I was invited to give a keynote at the Capturing Reality in Motion session as a part of the ONX + DocLab MoCap Stage. I gave a 20-minute talk reflecting on how some of the different projects on the film festival circuit have been using motion capture technology either in the display, production, and live
- [#1160: Interview with MIT Co-Creation Studio's Book Authors of "Collective Wisdom: Co-Creating Media with Equity and Justice"](https://voicesofvr.com/1160-interview-with-mit-co-creation-studios-book-authors-of-collective-wisdom-co-creating-media-with-equity-and-justice/) - The book Collective Wisdom: Co-creating Media for Equity and Justice by the MIT Co-Creation Studio founder Kat Cizek & MIT Open DocLab founder William Uricchio was the named as the recommended book of 2022 by IDFA. They held a launch party during DocLab as well as a couple of different sessions, and I had a chance to catch up with Cizek and Uricchio in Amsterdam on the day of the launch party to get an overview of what they’re covering in their book. This definition of Co-Creation that they provide in the book gives a great overview of some of the themes they’re covering: Co-creation offers alternatives to a single-author vision, and involves a constellation of media production methods, frameworks, and feedback systems. In co-creation, projects emerge from a process, and evolve from within communities and with people, rather than for or about them. Cocreation also spans across and beyond disciplines and organizations, and can also involve non-human or beyond human systems. The concept of co-creation reframes the ethics of who creates, how, and why. Our research shows that cocreation interprets the world, and seeks to change Cizek, K., & Uricchio, W. (2022). Collective wisdom: Co-creating Media for Equity and Justice. page 19. The MIT Press. Many emerging technologies like virtual and augmented reality naturally lead towards co-creative strategies because it’s such a novel medium that requires a lot of interdisciplinary collaboration. At the beginning of their chapter on co-creation within communities, they point out how the non-fiction and documentary genres are typically early adopters of technology, and how this spirit of innovation often requires a degree of co-creative and collaborative strategies.
- [#1158: Searching for Post-Colonial Identity in an Experimental Oral Knowledge & Multi-Media Project "Ghana Airways"](https://voicesofvr.com/1158-searching-for-post-colonial-identity-in-an-experimental-oral-knowledge-multi-media-project-ghana-airways/) - Ghana Airways by Hakeem Adam was shown at IDFA DocLab 2022 as an experimental, non-linear audio installation with accompanying visuals, but it is also available online on Bandcamp as a linear, one-hour, 3-part audio series. The piece is Adam’s search for his post-colonial Ghanaian identity, and he’s interested in exploring unique modes of sound design to capture what he refers to as “oral knowledge.” There was a lot that I did not quite understand when I first listened to this piece, and I got a lot more context and information from the interview that I did with Adam in Amsterdam. So I’d recommend either listening to the episodic series either before and/or after this interview since the narrative is deliberately sparse and self-described as “incoherent” (see below). Adam says, “I refrain from describing Ghana Airways as a single entity (audio piece, website, installation, research work) [links added].” I also found it helpful to read the associated show notes and research, which wasn’t shown in the context of the IDFA DocLab installation, but perhaps could have been in some fashion as it did provide a lot of additional context for the piece. I wanted to highlight a couple of quotes from Adam’s writing about Ghana Airways to provide a bit more context:
- [#1122: Mixed Reality Platformer "Eggscape" by 3DAR Wins 3rd Place Prize at Venice Immersive 2022](https://voicesofvr.com/1122-mixed-reality-platformer-eggscape-by-3dar-wins-3rd-place-prize-at-venice-immersive-2022/) - Eggscape is a mixed reality gaming prototype from the Argentinean 3Dar VR, film, & animation studio behind Gloomy Eyes and Paper Birds that leverages the black & white, mixed reality passthrough mode of the Meta Quest 2. It's a has a really compelling 2.5 platformer game mechanic where you're navigating a table-top scale egg character through a number of bridges and obstacles placed in a physical environment. It has a very similar vibe to Lucky's Tale, but rather than just a 2.5 POV, you're able to have the full 6DoF experience by moving your body through space in order to aid your 3D perspective judgments. It was a charming, innovative, & engaging enough experience to earn the 3rd place Special Jury Prize at Venice Immersive. I had a chance to sit down with co-founder German Heller to get the backstory of 3dar's evolution from animation to film to VR, and a sneak peak at some of the new frontiers of co-located gameplay that's enabled with these new mixed reality features on VR devices like the Meta Quest 2, Meta Quest Pro (coming soon), Lynx R1 (coming soon), and Pico 4 (also coming soon).
- [#1120: Kevin Mack's Procedural Worldbuilding VRChat in for Venice Immersive Competition](https://voicesofvr.com/1120-kevin-macks-procedural-worldbuilding-vrchat-in-for-venice-immersive-competition/) - Kevin Mack is a virtual reality artist who creates abstract and surreal art, and his first VRChat world called NAMUANKI has been selected as one of the 30 projects in competition at Venice Immersive. You take a tour through some of his organic rocks, static blort entities that offer your a psychedelic vision, and then jump through a portal at the bottom of the ocean to go into an ice world and lava world where you're met with a variety of different mythic Sumerian deities along the way. Mack's project ANANDALA was selected for last year's Venice VR Expanded (interview here), and he attended many of the virtual events and world hops in VRChat, which inspired him to take a stab at translating his procedural and generative art style in VRChat. NAMUANKI will be publicly available in VRChat for the length of Venice Immersive from September 1st to 10th, and TBD whether it'll be available afterwards. I spoke to Kevin about his iterative design process and how he uses Houdini for his procedural art, the how he embraces paradox in a pluralistic fashion, his ongoing creative dialogue with what he perceives to be alien-like AI entities from the future, the backstory behind the different Sumerian deities that are featured, and then an extended discussion for how he's been collaborating with different generative AI art programs, and the debates around consciousness and AI from a materialist, idealist, and panpsychic perspective.
- [#1119: Venice Immersive Preview with Co-Curators + Expanded VRChat World Gallery Exhibition](https://voicesofvr.com/1119-venice-immersive-preview-with-co-curators-expanded-vrchat-world-gallery-exhibition/) - I get an overview of the Venice Immersive festival that's taking place from September 1st to 10th with co-curators Liz Rosenthal and Michel Reilhac. There are 75 total experiences with 30 experiences in competition, 10 project in Best Of Immersive section, 30 VRChat worlds in the Worlds Gallery, 3 projects in the Biennale College Cinema VR section, 2 special music events in VRChat, and a special film screening of Joe Hunting's We Met in Virtual Reality. Nearly all of the Venice Festival selections are primarily physical this year with the exception to some of the VRChat events and worlds. We talk about some of the latest trends in immersive storytelling, and then give a sneak peak to 24 out of the 30 pieces in the competition. We didn't have the time to have a comprehensive overview, but you can see the full selection here. We also talk about their efforts this year for hosting 8 different 75-minute worldshops in VRChat featuring a total of 30 worlds in VRChat. [See the full show notes for links to the 30+ VRChat worlds] They've hired 2 virtual docents per worldhop as a tour guide and a logistics wrangler, as well as a physical docent to help onboard people into these curated VRChat world hops. I'll be on site in Venice covering the festival, interviewing creators, and talking on a panel about reviewing immersive works on Saturday at 2:30p CEST.
- [#1121: Venice Immersive 2022 Competition Recap: 30+ Reviews of Immersive Stories](https://voicesofvr.com/1121-venice-immersive-2022-competition-recap-30-reviews-of-immersive-stories/) - Venice Immersive 2022 featured 30 immersive stories in competition with some of the fiercest competition yet. I’m joined by Pola Weiß to break down, analyze, & critique each one of the 30 experiences in competition starting with the three winners: Special Jury Prize [3rd place] Eggscape, Grand Jury Prize [2nd place] From the Main Square, and Best Immersive Experience [1st place] The Man Who Couldn’t Leave. We then make our way through the 27 other experiences organized by which quality of presence it emphasized the most, whether it’s active presence focusing on interactivity & agency, emotional presence focusing on passive storytelling, embodied & environmental presence focusing on cultivating embodied experiences, or focusing on environmental storytelling, or spatial design, and then finally mental & social presence experiences focusing on puzzles, escape rooms, social dynamics, and text-based projects that play with expectations or imagination. We spend on average around 5 minutes talking about each of the 30 immersive stories in competition (sometimes more and sometimes less), and you can find the timecodes down below to jump around.
- [#1117: Deconstructing "Voxels (formerly Cryptovoxels)": Virtual Land Speculation & the Experiential Gap of Crypto-Based Metaverse Neighborhoods](https://voicesofvr.com/1117-deconstructing-voxels-formerly-cryptovoxels-virtual-land-speculation-the-experiential-gap-of-crypto-based-metaverse-neighborhoods/) - Virtual land speculation within cryptocurrency-based Metaverse platforms has gone from boom to bust over the past couple of years. I sat down to do a deep dive with the Voxels platform (formerly Cryptovoxels) founder Ben Nolan to interrogate the premise of idea of buying and selling virtual plots of land. Nolan is not all in for all aspects of cryptocurrencies, including the carbon footprint of proof-of-work chains like Ethereum that Voxels uses, and surprisingly the buying and selling virtual plots of land as a speculative investment. Nolan says that 'Voxels isn't a way to make money. Voxels is a way to build the Metaverse and to capture the value that they create. It's not an investment vehicle.' He's increased the supply of virtual plots of land over the last years to keep it affordable, but to also capitalize on the NFT boom and crypto Metaverse hype to the tune of $22 million of 2021 revenue in New Zealand dollars.
- [#1114: Capturing the Lore & Spirit of a Place with the "Living Cities" Digital Twin XR Start-Up](https://voicesofvr.com/1114-capturing-the-lore-spirit-of-a-place-with-the-living-cities-digital-twin-xr-start-up/) - Living Cities is a digital twin XR startup announced on May 26th, 2022 with an article titled 'Reality is Scarce...and The Metaverse is infinitely abundant.' that shares a list of '9 principles for connecting the real & virtual.' The founders of Living Cities include XR luminaries Matt Miesnieks (who sold his previous startup 6D.AI to Niantic), John Gaeta (who did visual effects on The Matrix, worked on the HoloLens, co-founded Lucasfilm's ILMxLAB, & was a senior Vice President at Magic Leap), as well as Dennis Crowley who co-founded the geospatial social networks Dodgeball and Foursquare.
- [#1115: Using Multi-Sensory, AR Storytelling at the Mary Rose Cultural Heritage Museum with "Time Detectives AR"](https://voicesofvr.com/1115-using-multi-sensory-ar-storytelling-at-the-mary-rose-cultural-heritage-museum-with-time-detectives-ar/) - Time Detectives AR by Picture This Productions is a site-specific AR trail experience meant to be seen at the Mary Rose Museum in Portsmouth, UK, but you can also experience it remotely as a table-top experience at home. Time Detectives AR asks users to investigate the sinking of the Mary Rose in July 1545 using a mobile phone as 'a magical spyglass to reveal secrets from the past and complete your mission for King Henry VIII.'
- [#1118: Getting 4000 Users on a Single Virtual World Instance with RP1's Network Architecture](https://voicesofvr.com/1118-getting-4000-users-on-a-single-virtual-world-instance-with-rp1s-network-architecture/) - I got a demo of RP1's single shard with 4000 users in mid-July, and then chatted with 3 team members in August to unpack their journey towards creating a scalable network architecture for the Metaverse. Their demo was built on WebXR, but it could be used on other game engines as well. There are real limitations on the client-side and VR hardware with how many of those 4000 users can been rendered within a close proximity, but having a single instance with hundreds or thousands of people could start to open up new use cases for cultivating virtual spaces that recreate some of the social dynamics of tech conferences, large-scale concerts, or perhaps persistant Burning Man playa communities that focus on serendipitious collisions and real-time hangouts. I unpack RP1's design process and potential implications of large-scale shards for the Metaverse with CEO Sean Mann, Chief Architect Dean Abramson, and Chief Client Architect Yin-Chien Yeap (aka Yinch).
- [#5: Palmer Luckey on ModRetro's influence on Oculus VR, the Oculus subreddit, Facebook acquisition reactions & the future of VR](https://voicesofvr.com/5-palmer-luckey-on-modretros-influence-on-oculus-vr-the-oculus-subreddit-facebook-acquisition-reactions-the-future-of-vr/) - This is the first of 44 interviews that I conducted at the Silicon Valley Virtual Reality Conference & Expo. I was able to capture over 11.5 hours worth of material from 3/4 of the speakers, 2/3 of the exhibitors and 11% of all attendees, and I'll be doing a daily podcast over the next month and a half (and maybe beyond). A full list of interviewees is listed down below.Palmer Luckey is the founder of Oculus VR, and I had an opportunity to conduct a brief interview with him. I noticed that Palmer's bio mentions that he founded the ModRetro Forums, and it turns out that there's some interesting connections between ModRetro and the founding of Oculus VR.
- [#1210: Adding a Social Graph to the Open Metaverse with Immers Space's ActivityPub Integration](https://voicesofvr.com/1210-adding-a-social-graph-to-the-open-metaverse-with-immers-spaces-activitypub-integration/) - Immers Space implements the ActivityPub open standard in order to add a federated social graph to the open Metaverse. I had a chance to try a prototype back in December 2022 where I went from a modified Mozilla Hubs WebXR space (that had the Immers Space open source tools integrated into it) into a FrameVR.io WebXR space by clicking on a persistent interface tracking my connected friends. Just as many virtual worlds allow you join in your friends, this method starts to add a distributed social graph to the open web and therefore the open Metaverse using the ActivityPub standard... I had a chance to unpack it all with William Murphy, who is part of the Immers Space worker cooperative and social.coop Mastodon instance run on the principles of Platform Cooperativism as well as Gabe Baker, who is the Project Manager for the FrameVR.io team working on a browser-based 3D and communication platform. Many of the most compelling social VR experiences and communities are still locked behind walled gardens, but this is one of the more robust efforts to start to build some of the required foundations to have a distributed social graph across the open Metaverse.
- [#653: Indian Philosophy Insights into VR Presence: The Five Koshas](https://voicesofvr.com/653-indian-philosophy-insights-into-vr-presence-the-five-koshas/) - I speak with Mike Sapiro about the Indian Philosophy concept of the five koshas and insights that might provide into VR presence.
- [1536: Spatial Audio Trends from d&b audiotechnik's Artist Relations Manager Wayne Powell](https://voicesofvr.com/1536-spatial-audio-trends-from-db-audiotechniks-artist-relations-manager-wayne-powell/) - Wayne Powell is the Global Artist Relations Manager for d&b audiotechnik, and he's been getting more and more interested in how independent artists and musicians are using spatial audio. He was in Austin, Texas with an array of 13 speakers enabling a spatial audio mix for Roman Rappak's annual Ristband mixed reality live performance. I
- [#675: Internet Archive's Brewster Kahle on the Future of the Decentralized Web](https://voicesofvr.com/675-internet-archives-brewster-kahle-on-the-future-of-the-decentralized-web/) - Brewster Kahle told me that the average of a web page on the Internet is 100 days before it either changes or disappears completely. Kahle realized that you can’t run a culture when you have no institutional memory, and so he started the Internet Archive in order to preserve our online cultural heritage that turns out to be extremely ephemeral.But then the Snowden revelations came, which showed Kahle how the open web has been transformed into an engine of mass surveillance for governments. Then Cambridge Analytica happen, which showed how advertising platforms could be transformed into bespoke instruments of information warfare by hostile foreign nations. These issues of mass surveillance, privacy, & censorship illustrated to Kahle the dangers of the consolidation of power within centralized governments and corporations.
- [#1562: Highlights of Creature's IGN XR Gaming Showcase + State of VR Vibe Check with Doug North Cook](https://voicesofvr.com/1562-highlights-of-creatures-ign-xr-gaming-showcase-state-of-vr-vibe-check-with-doug-north-cook/) - The Creature label features a lot of really innovative VR and MR games with rich and innovative gameplay mechanics, and they just featured three new games, a new DLC pack, and lots of updates about the games in a half-hour Creature Feature gaming showcase hosted on IGN. I had a chance to catch up with
- [#656: Racial Justice: Using AR to Reclaim History with Site-Specific Context](https://voicesofvr.com/656-racial-justice-using-ar-to-reclaim-history-with-site-specific-context/) - Our stores of the past shape our future. There is a growing movement to use augmented reality technologies to reclaim suppressed histories by creating site-specific AR art installations that challenge institutionally-backed narratives. Glenn Cantave's Movers and Shakers has created an AR experience that recontextualizes Christopher Columbus' human rights abuses through creating iconic imagery that associates the traditional American colonial symbols with slavery, violence, and genocide. Cantave is leading a grassroots effort to remove the Christopher Columbus Statue in the middle of Manhattan, and has plans to expand their site-specific AR piece into a city-wide, holographic museum that regains control over the overarching narrative of Black history. Movers and Shakers will also soon be releasing an augmented reality statue memorializing Colin Kaepernick that can be triggered by the map on a subway car. Micah Miller of Art 404 Contributed the Colin Kaepernick Statue to the cause, & Cantave had the idea for using the subway map as the image target.
- [#860 DocLab: Critiquing Power Dynamics of Architectural Digital Recreations with Astrid Feringa](https://voicesofvr.com/860-doclab-critiquing-power-dynamics-of-architectural-digital-recreations-with-astrid-feringa/) - Astrid Feringa had a video essay installation at the IDFA DocLab where she was critiquing how the British Institute of Digital Archaeology was using photogrammetry to reconstruct a piece of destroyed architecture. What are the ethics around recreating destroyed pieces of cultural heritage? Who has the license or right to recreate architecture and create new narratives around it? What are the power dynamics of this process? Who benefits? Whose stories may be overwritten when this happens? This is a sample of some of the insightful and important questions that Feringa was asking in her video installation What they destroy, we will build again.
- [#977: "The Changing Same:" Volumetric Storytelling Innovations, Connecting the Past to the Present with the Cycles of Racial Terror](https://voicesofvr.com/977-the-changing-same-volumetric-storytelling-innovations-connecting-the-past-to-the-present-with-the-cycles-of-racial-terror/) - The Changing Same is one of the most ambitious pieces of volumetric filmmaking yet since it combines all sorts of volumetric capture techniques with Scatter's new Depthkit Studio multi-depth sensor set up, photogrammetry, and a fusion of rigged avatars and volumetric capture. It also has scenes with multiple captures, and new innovative spatial storytelling techniques like fusing multiple realities together, magical realism, a rich set of symbolic and visual metaphors, and using the spatial affordances of context to draw out similar archetypal patterns of oppression, systemic racism, and white supremacy that repeat throughout the course of history.
- [#1038: [DocLab] Iranian VR Artist Ali Eslami's Experiments in Identity & Embodiment](https://voicesofvr.com/1038-doclab-iranian-vr-artist-ali-eslamis-experiments-in-identity-embodiment/) - Ali Eslami is an Iranian artist who has been working with VR since 2014 & living in Amsterdam since 2018, and we talked about these projects that have been featured at DocLab since 2016:
- [#1152: Provoking Deeper Questions about the Ecological Sustainability of XR Tech with "Okawari VR"](https://voicesofvr.com/1152-provoking-deeper-questions-about-the-ecological-sustainability-of-xr-tech-with-okawari-vr/) - This episode kicks off my 18-episode coverage from International Documentary Filmfestival Amsterdam (IDFA) DocLab, which features the latest innovations of immersive storytelling from the documentary community. Okawari VR is an immersive experience exploring overconsumption, and asks some deeper questions about the ecological sustainability of XR technology. The co-directors of Landia Egal (Tiny Planets) and Amaury La Burthe (Novelab) are challenging the inevitability of technology evolution and diffusion by asking what the cost to our environment would be if XR headsets become as ubiquitous as smart phones. With the rapid nature of how quickly the VR technology is developing, then each generation of technology is producing electronic waste that doesn’t always get properly recycled.
- [#1155: Polymorf's Multi-Sensory "Symbiosis" Explores Speculative Futures Inspired by Philosopher Donna Haraway](https://voicesofvr.com/1155-polymorfs-multi-sensory-symbiosis-explores-speculative-futures-inspired-by-philosopher-donna-haraway/) - Polymorf's Symbiosis is a multi-sensory VR experience that uses soft-body haptics, a bespoke, microdose smell dispersal system, and different tastes. The piece debuted at IDFA DocLab 2021 (see my previous interview here), and it has a sold out run in Portland, Oregon from November 12 to February 12 at the Portland Art Museum's Center for an Untold Tomorrow (PAM CUT). There are 6 different characters that you can embody in this "speculative fabulation" inspired by the last chapter of Donna Haraway's Staying with the Trouble book where she suggests that humans start to combine the DNA of endangered species into humans in order to cultivate a deeper kinship with the world around us. Polymorf takes this idea to the logical extreme as you embodied these human animal/hybrids in the distant future. I had a chance to experience 3 of the 6 different characters at the PAM CUT press preview, and then catch up with the co-creators Marcel van Brakel and Mark Meeuwenoord during my trip to IDFA DocLab 2022 in Amsterdam to unpack their journey, process, and some of my experiential design feedback and critiques.
- [#1252: "Kinfolk" App is Cultivating an AR Archive of Black History with Digital Monuments & Speculative Futures](https://voicesofvr.com/1252-kinfolk-app-is-cultivating-an-ar-archive-of-black-history-with-digital-monuments-speculative-futures/) - Kinfolk: Black Lands is described by co-founder Idris Brewster as "an Augmented Reality Archive of Black, Brown, LGBTQ, and underrepresented history in general using the power of immersive storytelling and immersive media to uplift stories from our past and connect those with the present and the future." It's an application that features over 20 prominent
- [#1263: MeetWol AI Agent with Niantic, Overbeast AR App, & Speculative Architecture Essays with Keiichi Matsuda](https://voicesofvr.com/1263-meetwol-ai-agent-with-niantic-liquid-citys-overbeast-ar-app-speculative-architecture-essays/) - Keiichi Matsuda is one of the deepest thinkers in the field of XR. He is trained as an architect, and he's currently the director of Liquid City, a small design studio based in London that is engaged developing cutting-edge AR applications and creating speculative design film and written essays that give us a sneak peak
- [#1388: Ultimate Potential of VR: Promises & Perils Featured Session from SXSW 2023](https://voicesofvr.com/1388-ultimate-potential-of-vr/) - May of 2024 marks the ten-year anniversary of the Voices of VR podcast, and I wanted to air a featured session that I presented at SXSW 2023 called "The Ultimate Potential of VR: Promises and Perils." This is a 45-minute talk that distills down the biggest insights from my 3-hour episode #1000 of the Voices
- [#1507: From Selfies to Virtual Offspring, "Ancestors" Turns Strangers into Family and Intergenerational Speculative Futures](https://voicesofvr.com/1507-from-selfies-to-virtual-offspring-ancestors-turns-strangers-into-family-and-intergenerational-speculative-futures/) - I interviewed director Steye Hallema about Ancestors that showed at IDFA DocLab 2024. See the transcript down below for more context on our conversation. This is a listener-supported podcast through the Voices of VR Patreon. Music: Fatality
- [#1540: Hacking AI for Black Representation & the Future Dreaming of Archival Collections with Tamara Shogaolu](https://voicesofvr.com/1540-hacking-ai-for-black-representation-the-future-dreaming-of-archival-collections-with-tamara-shogaolu/) - Curating archives was a theme that I also explored in a conversation with Tamara Shogaolu about her piece ORYZA: HEALING GROUND that premiered at DocLab 2024. She was at SXSW showing the interactive AR story game ANOUSCHKA exploring the memories of her grandmother through various cultural artifacts (see Shogaolu interview with her about ANOUSCHKA from
- [#1503: "The Liminal" Spatial Audio Installation Blends Audio Doc with Speculative Arab Futurism](https://voicesofvr.com/1503-the-liminal-spatial-audio-installation-blends-audio-doc-with-speculative-arab-futurism/) - I interviewed director Alaa Al Minawi about The Liminal that showed at IDFA DocLab 2024. See the transcript down below for more context on our conversation. This is a listener-supported podcast through the Voices of VR Patreon. Music: Fatality
- [#1369: Interactive UN Doc "Dreaming of Lebanon" Blends Interactive Oral History, 360 Video, and Speculative Worldbuilding](https://voicesofvr.com/1369-interactive-un-doc-dreaming-of-lebanon-blends-interactive-oral-history-360-video-and-speculative-worldbuilding/) - I interviewed Dreaming of Lebanon co-directors Martin Waehlish & Cynthia Sawma remotely after SXSW XR Experience 2024. See more context in the rough transcript below. This is a listener-supported podcast through the Voices of VR Patreon. Music: Fatality
- [#980: Designing Community Worldbuilding Conversations with "Beyond the Breakdown"](https://voicesofvr.com/980-designing-community-worldbuilding-conversations-with-beyond-the-breakdown/) - Worldbuilding and speculative design was a big theme at Sundance New Frontier 2021, and I had a chance to participate in an experience that facilitated a collaborative & deliberative process of worldbuilding that was called Beyond the Breakdown. Created by Tony Patrick, Lauren Lee McCarthy, and Grace Lee, it builds off some of the foundational work and processes developed by Alex McDowell and the USC Worldbuilding Institute. The core idea of worldbuilding is to design the underlying context and structures of society projected out within the context of a future time and place, and then to apply an evolutionary cultural, technological, economic, political model in order to imagine some potential futures from a variety of different perspectives and points of view. In the end, there will hopefully be some common themes and consensus that emerges.
- [#1257: Talk on Preliminary Thoughts on AI: History, Ethics, and Conceptual Frames](https://voicesofvr.com/1257-talk-on-preliminary-thoughts-on-ai-history-ethics-and-conceptual-frames/) - I was invited to give an opening keynote talk about AI at a half-day seminar titled "Tech Talks: AI Tools, Tips, & Traps" on April 20, 2023 that was put on by San Jose State University's King Library Experiential Virtual Reality Lab (KLEVR). I titled it "Some Preliminary Thoughts on Artificial Intelligence" (video version and
- [#1553: The Story of Kunstkraftwerk Leipzig, and the Multi-Channel Video Translation of "Origins - Life's Epic Journey"](https://voicesofvr.com/1553-the-story-of-kunstkraftwerk-leipzig-and-the-multi-channel-video-translation-of-origins-lifes-epic-journey/) - There was an projection-based immersive experience called ORIGINS - LIFE'S EPIC JOURNEY that was originally formatted for a digital art museum in Germany called Kunstkraftwerk Leipzig, but it was translated into a three-channel video installation that was showing in a small conference room at SXSW. I only saw the video version at SXSW, and so
- [#1559: Expanding Social Dramaturgy of Theater with Video Games in 7-Hour "asses.masses" Binge-Watching Marathon](https://voicesofvr.com/1559-expanding-social-dramaturgy-of-theater-with-video-games-in-7-hour-asses-masses-binge-watching-marathon/) - asses.masses is a unique, 7-hour, live performance that uses video game logic to expand the narrative possibilities and social dramaturgy of experimental theater. With a single video game controller at the front of a movie theater with lights up so everyone can see each other, the audience must negotiate amongst themselves who will step up
- [#593: AUTO: A Future Realistic 360-video on the Human Impact of Technology](https://voicesofvr.com/auto-a-future-realistic-360-video-on-the-human-impact-of-technology/) - Auto is a 360-video and morality tale available on Jaunt that takes a near-future look at the human impact of automation and emerging technology. It's not a grotesque satire in the vein of Black Mirror, but it's done in a more of a future realistic style that could be happening within the next 1-3 years -- if not already. Auto a story that stuck with me given it's authentic portrayal by non-trained actors who were Ethopian immigrants, and how automation could impacti their lives. Auto premiered at Tribeca Film Festival in April, and I had a chance to talk to director Steven Schardt about the emerging grammar of directing attention in VR storytelling, the struggles of funding and distribution for independent VR storytellers (this was recorded before Jaunt picked it up for distribution), and insights on the evolution of new communications mediums from the Tom Gunning's Cinema of Attractions and Marshall McLuhan's media theories.
- [#390: AI & VR: Using IBM's Watson for Game Design, Interactive Narratives, & Conversational Interfaces](https://voicesofvr.com/390-ai-vr-using-ibms-watson-for-game-design-interactive-narratives-conversational-interfaces/) - Machine Learning is going to revolutionize so many different aspects of our lives, and it's starting to enter into game development with IBM's Watson. Developers can integrate cloud-based AI services into their game to dynamically change the game design progression curve based upon a user's behavior and performance. If the player is zipping through a series of easy puzzles with no problems, then Watson could detect that and more quickly progress the player to advanced levels in order to keep the game challenging and interesting for them. I was able to get a sampling of how a number of different innovative game designers have started to integrate machine learning resources last week
- [#959: Networked Tribalism: Filter Bubbles + AI Algorithms + Political Polarization](https://voicesofvr.com/959-networked-tribalism-filter-bubbles-ai-algorithms-political-polarization/) - John Robb has a concept of Networked Tribalism, which is a result of the combination of filter bubbles, AI algorithms, and political polarization. Robb is a military analyst who looks at the impact of technology on culture, and he started his Global Guerrillas blog back in 2003 where he was tracking what he calls the 'Open Source Insurgency' in Iraq where there over 70 different factions who were all collaborating against the U.S. occupation. Open Source Insurgency morphed into Open Source Protest with Occupy Wall Street and the protest movements around the world, and then eventually into Open Source Politics with the 2016 Trump campaign, and then eventually into what he calls 'Networked Tribalism.' Robb now runs his Global Guerrillas Report through his Patreon.
- [#743: Storytelling in AR Panel at Sundance New Frontier 2019](https://voicesofvr.com/743-storytelling-in-ar-panel-at-sundance-new-frontier-2019/) - I moderated this 90-minute Sundance New Frontier panel discussion about immersive storytelling in AR and the role of virtual characters and conversational interfaces. It included Alice Wroe, who is the creative director of Magic Leaps digital human named MicaPeter Flaherty, who is the director of The Dial, Artie's co-founder and CEO, Ryan Horrigan, and Ted Schilowitz, who is the Paramount Pictures Futurist in Residence.
- [#906: "SoundSelf" & The Technodelic Manifesto: Using VR to Transform Consciousness](https://voicesofvr.com/906-sound-self-the-technodelic-manifesto-using-vr-to-transform-consciousness/) - SoundSelf is a technologically-mediated, psychedlic experience (aka 'technodelic') that is being released by Andromeda Media on Wednesday, April 22nd. Developer Robin Arnott has been working on it on 8 years now, and he just released a The Technodelic Manifesto that describes his vision for how immersive technologies paired with game design principles can help facilitate the 'transformation of the player into deeper and more self-realized modes of consciousness.'
- [#369: The White House on the AI Revolution: Policy, Privacy, & GPUs](https://voicesofvr.com/the-white-house-on-the-ai-revolution-policy-privacy-gpus/) - Artificial Intelligence has the potential to disrupt so many different dimensions of our society that the White House Office of Science & Technology Policy recently announced a series of four public workshops to look at some of the possible impacts of AI. The first of these workshops happened at the University of Washington on Tuesday, May 24th, and I was there to cover how some of these discussions may impact the virtual reality community.The first AI public workshop was focused on law and policy, and I had a chance to talk to three different people about their perspectives on AI. I interviewed the White House Deputy U.S. Chief Technology Officer Edward Felten about how these workshops came about, and the government's plan for addressing the issue.
- [#418: NVIDIA at SIGGRAPH: New Quadro GPUs, AI, & the Future of Interactive Ray Tracing](https://voicesofvr.com/nvidia-at-siggraph-new-quadro-gpus-ai-the-future-of-interactive-ray-tracing/) - SIGGRAPH is a conference where GPU manufacturers announce new versions of professional graphics cards designed for the visual effects industry and high-end virtual reality content producers in architectural visualization and engineering. NVIDIA announced two new Pascal-architecture cards including the Quadro P6000 with a 24GB frame buffer and a staggering 3820 CUDA cores, as well as the Quadro P5000 card with 2560 cores and 16GB frame buffer.I had a chance to catch up with the Bob Pette, who is the general manager of the ProVis business unit at NVIDIA where he talked to me about their new Quadro GPUs, VR-related software announcements, and updates to their physically-based Iray renderer. NVIDIA is moving towards being able to do live interactive ray tracing, but they're not there yet since it's still a very computationally-intense process. They were showing some demos of being able to change stationary camera position with a photorealistic-rendered room with the option to chose between four different lighting conditions.
- [#385: Going down the Rabbit Hole: Simulation Theory, AI, & the Battle for Reality](https://voicesofvr.com/385-going-down-the-rabbit-hole-simulation-theory-ai-the-battle-for-reality/) - For the past three years, Cris Miranda has been taking VR pioneers down the rabbit hole of thinking about the deepest philosophical implications of virtual reality on his Enter VR podcast. He has been seeking out the boundaries of our understanding of reality through these conversations, and much like Elon Musk concluded a few weeks ago, Cris has concluded that it's most likely that we're already living within a simulation. I had a chance to sit down with Cris at the Silicon Virtual Reality Conference to explore some of these deeper thoughts about the nature of reality through simulation theory, our predictions for the future of VR, how artificial intelligence will be dismantling the structures of society, the role of VR in cultivating empathy and shared realities, and the overall information war over what the story of reality is and whether we're going to take control over our own destiny or let someone else define it for us.
- [#1548: "1906 Atlanta Race Massacre" Uses Phone-Based AR to Volumetrically Tell a Forgotten History](https://voicesofvr.com/1548-1906-atlanta-race-massacre-uses-phone-based-ar-to-volumetrically-tell-a-forgotten-history/) - 1906 ATLANTA RACE MASSACRE is a phone-based AR experience directed by Nonny de la Peña that digs into the forgotten history of the violent attacks on the black community by white mobs incited by race-baiting politicians and newspapers. The arc of the story is told through the lens of black journalist Max Barber, who was
- [#1354: Mission Responsible Panel Discussion with Polys Awards Ombudsperson of the Year Winners](https://voicesofvr.com/1354-mission-responsible-panel-discussion-with-polys-awards-ombudsperson-of-the-year-winners/) - The Polys Awards brought together all four winners of the Ombudsperson of the Year Award for a panel discussion in Engage XR on Human Rights Day, December 10, 2023, to talk about the tech policy and ethical implications of XR technologies. The panel included myself (2020 winner) along with Avi Bar-Zeev (2021 winner), Brittan Heller
- [#1462: XR Industry Reality Checks with Cix Liv and Turning Your Phone into an AI-Driven Exercise Routine](https://voicesofvr.com/1462-xr-industry-reality-checks-with-cix-liv-and-turning-your-phone-into-an-ai-driven-exercise-routine/) - I interviewed Cix Liv at the Snap Lens Fest about the Snap Spectacles, his reality check reflections on the XR industry, and his latest fitness startup Vibe Fitness Gam. See more context in the rough transcript below. This is a listener-supported podcast through the Voices of VR Patreon. Music: Fatality
- [#1472: VR Training Trends Using AI with Virti's Courtney Harding](https://voicesofvr.com/1472-vr-training-trends-using-ai-with-virtis-courtney-harding/) - I interviewed Courtney Harding, Founder and CEO of Friends with Holograms education & training in VR as well as Head of Immersive Content at Virti, at Meta Connect 2024. See more context in the rough transcript below. This is a listener-supported podcast through the Voices of VR Patreon. Music: Fatality
- [#1475: A-Frame's Diego Marcos on WebXR Momentum and Integrations with Open Source AI](https://voicesofvr.com/1475-a-frames-diego-marcos-on-webxr-momentum-and-integrations-with-open-source-ai/) - I interviewed Diego Marcos, Founder of A-Frame and worked on Firefox and one of the original creators of what would eventually become the the WebXR specification, at Meta Connect 2024. See more context in the rough transcript below. This is a listener-supported podcast through the Voices of VR Patreon. Music: Fatality
- [#1523: XR & AI Ethics & State of the Industry Discussion with Polys Ombudsperson Winners](https://voicesofvr.com/1523-xr-ai-ethics-state-of-the-industry-discussion-with-polys-ombudsperson-winners/) - The latest Polys Ombudsperson of the Year is Ingrid Kopp, and previous winners Brittan Heller, Michaela Montagna, and myself gathered again on December 8 2024 to reflect on the current state of the XR industry as well as the specific ethical concerns about the intersection between XR and AI. We also speak about some of
- [#1525: Niantic's "Into the Scaniverse" Maps Over 50k Gaussian Splats from Around the World on Quest and WebXR](https://voicesofvr.com/1525-niantics-into-the-scaniverse-maps-over-50k-gaussian-splats-from-around-the-world-on-quest-and-webxr/) - Niantic launched their Into the Scaniverse application on Quest 3 on February 26th, 2025 that features over 50,000 Gaussian Spats from 120 different countries. They originally launched the WebXR version on December 10th, 2024 at IntoTheScaniverse.com, which was built using Niantic Studio (be sure to check out their comprehensive history of Gaussian Splats by Kirsten
- [#1541: Virtual Being Engages in Socratic Monologue Comparing AI to Sugar in "Sweet!" Installation](https://voicesofvr.com/1541-virtual-being-engages-in-socratic-monologue-comparing-ai-to-sugar-in-sweet-installation/) - Another AI-based project at SXSW this year was SWEET! by Dutch designer and artist René van Engelenburg of DROPSTUFF MEDIA. This is a projection-mapped physical installation designed to facilitate a very brief conversation with an OpenAI LLM-driven virtual being about the parallels between how sugar is added to all of our food and how AI
- [#1542: Exploring the Paradox of Narratively Critiquing AI While Also Using AI to Make "The Last Practice"](https://voicesofvr.com/1542-exploring-the-paradox-of-narratively-critiquing-ai-while-also-using-ai-to-make-the-last-practice/) - The final AI-related piece this year was THE LAST PRACTICE, which I unfortunately have not had a chance to see yet because there were a number of technical glitches that prevented me from seeing it on site. I did however have a chance to remotely catch up with director Phil McCarty to talk more about
- [#1561: PHI and Agog Collaborate on Immersive Residency on XR for Impact, Artist Retrospective, and Application Details](https://voicesofvr.com/1561-phi-and-agog-collaborate-on-immersive-residency-on-xr-for-impact-artist-retrospective-and-application-details/) - NOTE: This sponsored episode was produced by Kent Bye in partnership with PHI and participation from Agog: Immersive Media Institute and immersive artist Peter Burr. PHI and Agog: Immersive Media Institute are collaborating on the PHI Immersive: XR for Impact residency program that will be running for four weeks from March 2 to 27, 2026 in Montreal, Canada. It was first announced on March 6th, and it's open to "artists, groups, or collectives residing in North America (including Canada, the United States, Mexico, Greenland, Saint-Pierre and Miquelon, and Bermuda)." The submission deadline is June 24th, 2025 (11:59 EDT), and there are a couple of information sessions coming up next week on Tuesday, May 13th (French) and Thursday, May 15th (English), and you can find the Zoom links on the application page (or video recordings if it's after May 15th). I think this is a very unique opportunity that will be of interest to the Voices of VR podcast audience since the selected artist(s) will be invited to spend a month collaborating with PHI Studio over four weeks towards developing an initial prototype. Here's how they describe it: Focusing specifically on the development phase of a project over the course of four weeks, the selected artist(s), group, or collective will collaborate with PHI Studio experts to conceptualize, plan, and prototype an immersive artwork. The program provides the selected project with personalized support, workspace, the possibility to connect with a community partner and targeted resources to refine the concept, create prototypes, and prepare for potential production. I had a chance to catch up with Myriam Archard, Chief New Media Partnership and PR at PHI, Amy Seidenwurm, Chief of Programs and Strategy at Agog, as well as Peter Burr, who was the immersive artist selected for the 2025 edition of the PHI Immersive residency. We talk about the collaboration between PHI and Agog, which is bringing a specific impact focus on "transforming narratives through activism, contemporary challenges, and social good." We elaborate a bit more about what it means to use XR technologies and immersive storytelling to empower changemakers. We also talk about best practices and things to avoid in a pitch (be sure to read closely what the submission guidelines are), and a lot of general advice for aspiring immersive artists navigating how to inspire change and provide opportunities to make a positive difference on the many different challenges facing us today. We also cover a lot of other logistics of the PHI Immersive: XR for Impact residency, including Burr's personal reflections on what the experience was like. Agog also is interested in supporting other immersive residencies, and perhaps starting some of their own residency programs, and so this collaboration with PHI may be an indication for the types of future work that they are looking to support. Again, the deadline is June 24th, 2025 (11:59p EDT), and be sure to check out the information session on May 13th at 11am EDT for French speakers, and May 15th at 11am EDT for English speakers. You can tune in to the podcast or check out the transcript down below for more details.
- [#1495: Getting Roasted by Unfiltered "AI & Me" Photo Booth Installation](https://voicesofvr.com/1495-getting-roasted-by-unfiltered-ai-me-photo-booth-installation/) - I interviewed co-directors Daniela Nedovescu and Octavian Mot about AI and Me that showed at IDFA DocLab 2024. See the transcript down below for more context on our conversation. This is a listener-supported podcast through the Voices of VR Patreon. Music: Fatality
- [#1560: Walkabout Mini Golf's Incredible Fusion of Worldbuilding, Gameplay, Social Dynamics, & DLC Experimentation](https://voicesofvr.com/1560-walkabout-mini-golfs-incredible-fusion-of-worldbuilding-gameplay-social-dynamics-dlc-experimentation/) - Walkabout Mini Golf is really an incredible accomplishment of VR design with its fusion of worldbuilding, compelling physics-based gameplay, the unique social dynamics and community it's able to cultivate, and over 4 1/2 years of consistent DLC courses every 8 weeks or so. They have launched 33 total courses, and just recently announced that they're
- [#1558: Series Director of "Adventure" Series on Apple Immersive Video and Grammar of 180 Video](https://voicesofvr.com/1558-series-director-of-adventure-series-on-apple-immersive-video-and-grammar-of-180-video/) - Charlotte Mikkelborg is the series director of the Adventure series on Apple TV, which is shot on Apple Immersive Video and co-produced by Atlantic Studios (formerly Atlantic Productions) and Apple. I think it has the strongest storytelling released by Apple so far, and it also has some of the most innovative and cutting edge shots
- [#1557: Apple Immersive Video Behind-the-Scenes & Overcoming Fears with "Adventure" Series Athlete](https://voicesofvr.com/1557-apple-immersive-video-behind-the-scenes-amp-overcoming-fears-adventure-series-athlete/) - Ant Williams is a freediving athlete featured in the third episode of The Adventure Series titled "Ice Dive" that's co-produced by Apple and Atlantic Studios (formerly Atlantic Productions). In the episode, Williams attempts to swim a world record distance 182 meters under ice, and I wanted to get some additional behind-the-scenes context on his experience
- [#1552: Fly to You Explores Stories of Separated Families in Division of Korea Using Point Clouds & 360 Video](https://voicesofvr.com/1552-fly-to-you-explores-stories-of-separated-families-in-division-of-korea-using-point-clouds-360-video/) - FLY TO YOU tells the story of Kang Songjeol who was separated from her childhood friends in the aftermath of the 1950 split between North and South Korea. Oral history interviews were captured in 360 video, and her childhood memories were recreated with point scans derived from Leici BLK360 LiDAR scans combined with Azure Kinect
- [#1527: "Lovesick" is Character-Driven, Escape Room Indie Gem of a Story](https://voicesofvr.com/1527-lovesick-is-character-driven-escape-room-indie-gem-of-a-story/) - Lovesick is a narrative game featuring a character-driven story of a bank on the brink of collapse that faces a series of supernatural events that they must escape from. It features a lot of escape room and puzzle mechanics that are mixed with embodied gameplay, but at the heart it's about the relationship between these
- [#1528: "Theater" App on Apple Vision Pro Features Indie-Produced Dome, Planetarium, and Stereoscopic Content](https://voicesofvr.com/1528-theater-app-on-apple-vision-pro-features-indie-produced-dome-planetarium-and-stereoscopic-content/) - The Theater application for the Apple Vision Pro by Sandwich Vision launched in June 2024 with the spatial livestreaming of John Gruber's live interview of Apple Executives at WWDC. They have been collaborating with independent producers of spatial video to distribute rentals and purchases of immersive content spanning across stereoscopic 180-videos to educational planetarium content
- [#1529: SXSW 2025 XR Experience Selection Sneak Peak with Programmer Blake Kammerdiener](https://voicesofvr.com/1529-sxsw-2025-xr-experience-selection-sneak-peak-with-programmer-blake-kammerdiener/) - The SXSW XR Experience Selection runs from March 9-11 and contains 15 pieces in competition and 16 pieces in the spotlight, and I had a chance to chat with SXSW's XR programmer Blake Kammerdiener about each of these pieces. He provides some highlights from the XR Track Sessions at SXSW, and also mentions that there
- [#1530: Six-Month Immersive Storytelling Exhibition Curated by Ana Brzezińska Opening in Namur, Belgium](https://voicesofvr.com/1530-six-month-immersive-storytelling-exhibition-curated-by-ana-brzezinska-opening-in-namur-belgium/) - There is a six-month exhibition titled "Other Worlds Are Possible" featuring a retrospective of a dozen different immersive storytelling pieces that will shown at the Le Pavillion in Nemur, Belgium from March 22 to September 21, 2025. The exhibition was curated by independent immersive curator Ana Brzezińska, and will also feature other AR pieces, screen-based
- [#1531: In the Current of Being Uses Immersive Haptics to Tell the Story of Electroshock Conversation Therapy](https://voicesofvr.com/1531-in-the-current-of-being-uses-immersive-haptics-to-tell-the-story-of-electroshock-conversation-therapy/) - IN THE CURRENT OF BEING is a powerfully-told story about electroshock conversion therapy using haptics, mixed reality, and a free-flowing dream logic structure paired with a documentary interview of a survivor. It was a deeply moving experience, and won the new Agog Social Impact Award at SXSW (more on that below). The director is BODY
- [#1532: Tenderclaws' "Face Jumping" Explores the Frontiers of Eye-Tracked Locomotion in Poetically Surreal Short](https://voicesofvr.com/1532-tenderclaws-face-jumping-explores-the-frontiers-of-eye-tracked-locomotion-in-poetically-surreal-short/) - Tenderclaws debuted their first piece in competition at SXSW with a short called FACE JUMPING, which was a surreal, seemingly open world experience with a number of interactive experiments leveraging eye tracking in novel ways. Tenderclaws has consistently pushed the edges of locomotion in everyone of their interactive narratives, and FACE JUMPING is no exception.
- [#1533: Web Developer Built "A Number from the Ghost" WebXR Adventures to Highlight His Music](https://voicesofvr.com/1533-web-developer-built-a-number-from-the-ghost-webxr-adventures-to-highlight-his-music/) - Web developer Pete Adams created seven different really cool WebXR worlds for his songs featured in the A NUMBER FROM THE GHOST experience. His music was really great to listen to as I explored his abstract open worlds that were being modulated by different three.js effects. It's tough going to make it as an independent
- [#1534: Animated Immersive Dome Experience "Resolution: A Cinephonic Rhapsody for the Soul" Created as an Album Listening Party](https://voicesofvr.com/1534-animated-immersive-dome-experience-resolution-a-cinephonic-rhapsody-for-the-soul-created-as-an-album-listening-party/) - The Polyphonic Spree band founder Tim Delaughter was looking for innovative ways to get people to listen to the entirety of his latest album called Salvage Enterprise. He was driving around a lot of speakers in his van and setting up pop-up listening parties around his home town when he thought there should be a
- [#1535: Roman Rappak's 4th Annual "Ristband" SXSW Live Music Mixed Reality Performance Adds Spatial Audio](https://voicesofvr.com/1535-roman-rappaks-4th-annual-ristband-sxsw-live-music-mixed-reality-performance-adds-spatial-audio/) - On the last day of immersive exhibitions, I saw Roman Rappak's latest RISTBAND mixed reality live performance experiment, which now has a 4-year streak going at SXSW. This year he added an array of 13 d&b audiotechnik speakers that used wave field synthesis to create a spatial audio mix that was added to his mixed
- [1537: NOWISWHENWEARE (the stars) Uses Low-Bit Visuals & Hundreds of Spatial Audio Speakers to Tell a Moving Story](https://voicesofvr.com/1537-nowiswhenweare-the-stars-uses-low-bit-visuals-hundreds-of-spatial-audio-speakers-to-tell-a-moving-story/) - Andrew Schneider’s "NOWISWHENWEARE (the stars)" absolutely blew me away, and it was a story-driven, immersive art exhibit at the University of Texas Performing Arts Center that opened at the end of SXSW. It uses a cube of 4000 LED lights in a dark theater space to create a visual spectacle, but also to hide an
- [#1538: Mixed Reality Calibration Innovations Hidden within "The Secret Life of Monsters: The Gateway Experience"](https://voicesofvr.com/1538-mixed-reality-calibration-innovations-hidden-within-the-secret-life-of-monsters-the-gateway-experience/) - THE SECRET LIFE OF MONSTERS: THE GATEWAY EXPERIENCE is a mixed reality puzzle game created by Wallrus Creative Technologies as an immersive demo in order to feature the unique tracking technology they've created in order to better facilitate LBE mixed reality experiences on the Quest. They built a tracking system hidden within their custom tiling
- [#1539: Wandering in Open World Doc Archives in Mixed Reality with SXSW XR Jury Prize Winner "Reflections of Little Red Dot"](https://voicesofvr.com/1539-wandering-in-open-world-doc-archives-in-mixed-reality-with-sxsw-xr-jury-prize-winner-reflections-of-little-red-dot/) - The SXSW XR Competition jury prize winner REFLECTIONS OF LITTLE RED DOT had some really innovative mixed reality integrations, and was also a part of a new trend of cultivating an archive of material as an artistic practice. This piece by director Chloé Lee featured about 3 hours of documentary interview footage shot in Singapore
- [#1543: "Proof As If Proof Were Needed" Enables Audiences to Collaboratively Edit Video Feeds via Embodied Movements](https://voicesofvr.com/1543-proof-as-if-proof-were-needed-enables-audiences-to-collaboratively-edit-video-feeds-via-embodied-movements/) - There were a number of projects exploring social dynamics within immersive pieces, including the special jury prize winner for the XR competition PROOF AS IF PROOF WERE NEEDED. This was a projection-based video project that featured video feeds from four different rooms in a home where a couple is searching for different objects. There are
- [#1544: Traces: The Grief Processor Immersive Documentary Invites Groups to Learn About Grief](https://voicesofvr.com/1544-traces-the-grief-processor-immersive-documentary-invites-groups-to-learn-about-grief/) - TRACES: THE GRIEF PROCESSOR is a multi-user interactive VR experience where four people are invited to poetically explore and learn more about their grief. Created by documentary filmmaker Vali Fugulin, it features didactic conversations about grief with ritualist Stéphane Crête who leans upon Francis Weller's Five Gates of Grief. Fugulin resists describing her piece as
- [#1545: "Shelter" Observational 360 Documentary Shows Intimate Side of War via Ukrainian Citizen Bomb Shelters](https://voicesofvr.com/1545-shelter-observational-360-documentary-shows-intimate-side-of-war-via-ukrainian-citizen-bomb-shelters/) - SHELTER is a 360 video documentary telling the story of civilians in Ukraine seeking protection in bomb shelters. The film poetically transports you the many different ways Ukrainians are sheltering from small cramped basements to parking garages to hospitals. It also contrasts these underground spaces to the aftermath of war from bombed out buildings to
- [#1546: How Indigenous Storytelling is Changing Non-Proliferation Narratives in "Ways of Knowing: A Navajo Nuclear History"](https://voicesofvr.com/1546-how-indigenous-storytelling-is-changing-non-proliferation-narratives-in-ways-of-knowing-a-navajo-nuclear-history/) - WAYS OF KNOWING: A NAVAJO NUCLEAR HISTORY tells the story of the impact of uranium mining on the Navajo community. This film is a unique collaboration between a Navajo storyteller Sunny Dooley and nuclear nonproliferation expert Lovely Umayam where the story of US nuclear history is told through an indigenous lens. This means telling the
- [#1547: Simulating One-on-One Conversations about Abortion Experiences to Change Minds with "The Choice - Chapters 2 & 3"](https://voicesofvr.com/1547-simulating-one-on-one-conversations-about-abortion-experiences-to-change-minds-with-the-choice-chapters-2-3/) - THE CHOICE returns to SXSW with the latest Chapters 2 and 3, and continues to capture intimate testimonials of women and couples who make the choice to abort their pregnancies. Chapters 1 and 2 take place in Texas where abortion is now nearly totally banned in all but a few situations. The legal specificity of
- [#1549: Honey Fungus Cultivates Intimacy with Nature through Embodied Actions Inspired by Fungi and Queer Ecology](https://voicesofvr.com/1549-honey-fungus-cultivates-intimacy-with-nature-through-embodied-actions-inspired-by-fungi-and-queer-ecology/) - There were a number of pieces at SXSW that were centered around embodied interactions including HONEY FUNGUS, which is a series of interactive embodied experiments telling a broader story of cultivating intimacy with ecology. This piece leans more into embodied dream logic rather than clearly articulating a narrative journey, and I had a fascinating conversation
- [#1554: "Cosmos in Focus" Contextualizes James Webb Telescope Images in Educational Immersive Planetarium Experience](https://voicesofvr.com/1554-cosmos-in-focus-contextualizes-james-webb-telescope-images-in-educational-immersive-planetarium-experience/) - Another Apple Vision Pro piece at SXSW 2025 was COSMOS IN FOCUS by Atlantic Studios (recently rebranded from Atlantic Productions). This was a short and sweet educational experience that allowed you to explore the imagery of the James Webb telescope, but it's both spatially contextualized in the night sky planetarium style. It is also fused
- [#1556: "Currents" Boldly Defines a New Era of DIY 180-Degree Immersive Filmmaking with a Kit Under $5k](https://voicesofvr.com/1556-currents-boldly-defines-a-new-era-of-diy-180-degree-immersive-filmmaking-with-a-kit-under-5k/) - CURRENTS is a stunning debut from Jake Oleson as it pushes the grammar of 180 filmmaking to new heights. Oleson comes from the world of advertising and music videos, and he went through a rigorous pre-production process where he had actually already edited the entire piece before shooting any production footage by using still stereoscopic
- [#1551: Breaking Down the Game Design of New Conducting-Inspired, Hand-Tracked, Rhythm Game "Symphoni"](https://voicesofvr.com/1551-breaking-down-the-game-design-of-new-conducting-inspired-hand-tracked-rhythm-game-symphoni/) - SYMPHONI is a brand new hand-tracked rhythm game that was inspired by the mechanics of conducting a symphony. It was directed by Ingram Mao and developed by a number of undergrads and graduates of the USC Games program. This game also goes from mixed reality into fully immersive VR as you progress through each of
- [#1526: Allegations that Meta's OVRPlugin is Undermining the Spirit of OpenXR by Blocking Non-Meta Headsets on PCVR.](https://voicesofvr.com/1526-allegations-that-metas-ovrplugin-is-undermining-the-spirit-of-openxr-by-blocking-non-meta-headsets-on-pcvr/) - In a series of posts from February 8th to 11th, open source developer Matthieu Bucchianeri started making allegations that Meta's OVRPlugin is blocking non-Meta OpenXR runtimes, thereby undermining the open and interoperable spirit of OpenXR. He claims that "the OVRPlugin takes intentional precautions to exclude non-Meta platforms. This means that XR content developed with OVRPlugin
- [#604: A Journey to Full-Time VR Artist](https://voicesofvr.com/604-a-journey-to-full-time-vr-artist/) - Over the past couple of years, Dani Bittman has logged over 1800 hours in programs like Tiltbrush & Google Blocks on her way to becoming a full-time VR artist. Bittman started studying film, but realized that she had a lot to catch up with of over 100 years of cinematic history. She decided to pivot to virtual reality since the biggest thing holding her back from becoming a professional VR artist was putting in the hours to learn the tools, rapidly iterate on projects, and explore the potential of spatial storytelling. She has found a niche in creating vast landscapes in Tiltbrush that take dozens of hours to create. Over the past couple of years, Bittman has collaborated with Marvel on a Doctor Strange, helped beta test Google Blocks, created art for TheWave performances, performed at a VMWare conference, and was the lead artist on Billy Corgan's Aeronaut music video in collaboration with Viacom NEXT.I had a chance to talk with Bittman at Oculus Connect 4 about her journey in becoming a full-time VR artist, how she uses VR to express and reflect on her emotional states, how she's using VR to document she dreams, and how her experiences of the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting in her hometown of Newtown, CT have affected what she creates and wants to experience in VR.
- [#1524: HTC Viverse Leverages Open Web Tech in Aim to Become 'YouTube of 3D Content'](https://voicesofvr.com/1524-htc-viverse-leverages-open-web-tech-in-aim-to-become-youtube-of-3d-content/) - HTC has launched Viverse platform that is aiming to become the YouTube of 3D Content. It's a platform that hosts 3D content and worlds built on PlayCanvas as well as many other open source technologies like WebXR, WebGPU, and VRM. It is sort of like a mix between VRChat with social worlds, 3D web crypto-based
- [#1522: A Survey of Spatial Audio Formats with 1618 Digital's Oliver Kadel](https://voicesofvr.com/1522-a-survey-of-spatial-audio-formats-with-1618-digitals-oliver-kadel/) - Oliver Kadel's 1618 Digital specializes in spatial audio sound design and engineering across linear immersive storytelling and interactive immersive experiences. Kadel also co-hosts The Immersive Audio Podcast with Monica Bolles, and I was recently featured in episode #109. I sat down with Kadel to get a survey of some of the spatial audio formats and
- [#1520: Design Breakdown of One-on-One Immersive Theatre piece TM with Ontroerend Goed's Alexander Devriendt](https://voicesofvr.com/1520-design-breakdown-of-one-on-one-immersive-theatre-piece-tm-with-ontroerend-goeds-alexander-devriendt/) - I dig into my archives to unpack the one-on-one, immersive theatre piece that I saw online back in 2021 called TM that used a Socratic dialectic to interrogate you as you're going through a process of joining an imaginary cult. I spoke with Ontroerend Goed's artistic director Alexander Devriendt to get a lot more context
- [#1521: New glTF External Reference Format Combines Multiple Assets into a Scene](https://voicesofvr.com/1521-new-gltf-external-reference-format-combines-multiple-assets-into-a-scene/) - The Khronos Group is working on a new open standard tentatively called the glTF External Reference Format (or glTFx for short), which will allow users to add multiple glTF assets to a single scene. This used to be called the "glTF Experience Format (glXF)," and the final name is still being finalized. This will enable
- [#1519: "The Reality of Hope" Sundance Short Doc Features Journey from VRChat Friend to Organ Donor](https://voicesofvr.com/1519-the-reality-of-hope-sundance-short-doc-features-journey-from-vrchat-friend-to-organ-donor/) - VR filmmakers Joe Hunting and Max Willson are premiering their short documentary film The Reality of Hope at the Sundance film festival this week (online tickets are still available here from Jan 30 to Feb 2 and it'll also be available later this year on Documentary+). Hunting's previous film We Met in Virtual Reality also premiered
- [#1518: The Socratic Immersive Experience with Agnes Callard and her book "Open Socrates"](https://voicesofvr.com/1518-the-socratic-immersive-experience-with-agnes-callard-and-her-book-open-socrates/) - If it were up to Agnes Callard, she would be having a lot more philosophical encounters in her life. But conversational norms lean towards agreeability, surface-level interactions, and, in some contexts, a polarizing battlefield of ideologies that is near impossible to penetrate. Her preference is for the Socratic Method of inquiry that requires participants to
- [#1055: VR Comedy "Flat Earth VR" with Lucas Rizzotto, Lucas Builds the Future YouTube channel, & AR House in LA](https://voicesofvr.com/1055-vr-comedy-flat-earth-vr-with-lucas-rizzotto-lucas-builds-the-future-youtube-channel-ar-house-in-la/) - Flat Earth VR started as a thought experiment by Lucas Rizzotto who was skewering the idea that VR is an empathy machine by creating an immersive experience that allowed you identify with delusional perspectives. After invoking some emotional reactions in people who knew it was a joke, Rizzotto took some time off of the project as the moral implications of creating propaganda for flat earthers weighed heavily on him. Eventually, he picked up the project again while framing it more explicitly as a satire and comedy that he submitted to Sundance New Frontier as a joke, but was accepted.
- [#971: Mark Pesce's Book "Augmented Reality" Contextualizes AR with History of HCI & Future of Localized Metadata](https://voicesofvr.com/971-mark-pesces-book-augmented-reality-contextualizes-ar-with-history-of-hci-future-of-localized-metadata/) - Mark Pesce's new book Augmented Reality: Unboxing Tech's Next Big Thing was released on Friday, January 8th, 2021. It's a lucidly-written look at the past, present, and future of augmented reality. He contextualizes AR within the history of computing and evolution Human-Computer Interaction, while also looking at the underlying principles of adding metadata to space, spatial computing, and what it means for a physical space to go viral.
- [#1514: Creating GenAI Flower Ecosystem with "Future Botanica" AR App](https://voicesofvr.com/1514-creating-genai-flower-ecosystem-with-future-botanica-ar-app/) - I interviewed co-directors Marcel van Brakel and Hazal Ertürkan about Future Botanica that showed at IDFA DocLab 2024. See the transcript down below for more context on our conversation. This is a listener-supported podcast through the Voices of VR Patreon. Music: Fatality
- [#1502: Candid Audio Clips Juxtaposed with Poetic GenAI Video in "Sincerely Victor Pike"](https://voicesofvr.com/1502-candid-audio-clips-juxtaposed-with-poetic-genai-video-in-sincerely-victor-pike/) - I interviewed director Gregor Petrikovič about Sincerely Victor Pike that showed at IDFA DocLab 2024. You can watch this short film here. See the transcript down below for more context on our conversation. This is a listener-supported podcast through the Voices of VR Patreon. Music: Fatality
- [#1513: From News Scan to GenAI Irish Sean-nós Songs in "You Can Sing Me on My Way" Audio Installation](https://voicesofvr.com/1513-from-news-scan-to-genai-irish-sean-nos-songs-in-you-can-sing-me-on-my-way-audio-installation/) - I interviewed director Seán Hannan about You Can Sing Me on My Way that showed at IDFA DocLab 2024. See the transcript down below for more context on our conversation. This is a listener-supported podcast through the Voices of VR Patreon. Music: Fatality
- [#1512: DocLab Immersive Non-Fiction Winner "Me, A Depiction" Performance Installation Confronts Objectifying Gaze](https://voicesofvr.com/1512-doclab-immersive-non-fiction-winner-me-a-depiction-performance-installation-confronts-objectifying-gaze/) - I interviewed director Lisa Schamlé about Me, A Depiction that showed at IDFA DocLab 2024. See the transcript down below for more context on our conversation. This is a listener-supported podcast through the Voices of VR Patreon. Music: Fatality
- [#1517: LBE Lessons Learned from 20-Venue Tour of "In Pursuit of Repetitive Beats" with Producer Dan Tucker](https://voicesofvr.com/1517-lbe-lessons-learned-from-20-venue-tour-of-in-pursuit-of-repetitive-beats-with-producer-dan-tucker/) - I interviewed producer Dan Tucker at IDFA DocLab 2024 about the lessons learned from touring In Pursuit of Repetitive Beats across 20 different venues over the past couple of years. See the transcript down below for more context on our conversation." See more context in the rough transcript below. This is the last episode from
- [#1516: Myriam Achard on Phi Studio's Expansion into LBE Distribution & the Fusion of Immersive Art at Phi Contemporary](https://voicesofvr.com/1516-myriam-achard-on-phi-studios-expansion-into-lbe-distribution-the-fusion-of-immersive-art-at-phi-contemporary/) - I interviewed Myriam Achard about the new distribution arm of Phi Studio (as of now there is still no official name yet) as well as the exciting new Phi Contemporary set to open in 2028 that will be fusing together the contemporary art world with the immersive art, storytelling, and technology worlds that the Phi
- [#1515: VR Researcher Julia Scott-Stevenson on Embodiment in Story & Why Docs are Perfect to Explore AI](https://voicesofvr.com/1515-vr-researcher-julia-scott-stevenson-on-embodiment-in-story-why-docs-are-perfect-to-explore-ai/) - I interviewed VR researcher Julia Scott Stevenson at IDFA DocLab 2024 about her research into embodiment and AI within the context of immersive stories as well as her work around climate change. See the transcript down below for more context on our conversation. This is a listener-supported podcast through the Voices of VR Patreon. Music:
- [#1511: Cultivating Virtual LGBTQIA+ Safe Spaces in VRChat with "Dollhouse for Queer Imaginaries"](https://voicesofvr.com/1511-cultivating-virtual-lgbtqia-safe-spaces-in-vrchat-with-dollhouse-for-queer-imaginaries/) - I interviewed director Queer.Space about Dollhouse for Queer Imaginaries that showed at IDFA DocLab 2024. See the transcript down below for more context on our conversation. This is a listener-supported podcast through the Voices of VR Patreon. Music: Fatality
- [#1510: Poetic VR Exploration of Iranian Protest Blinding in "Speechless Witness of a Wandering Tree"](https://voicesofvr.com/1510-poetic-vr-exploration-of-iranian-protest-blinding-in-speechless-witness-of-a-wandering-tree/) - I interviewed director Aphra Taghizadeh about Speechless Witness of a Wandering Tree that showed at IDFA DocLab 2024. See the transcript down below for more context on our conversation. This is a listener-supported podcast through the Voices of VR Patreon. Music: Fatality
- [#1508: Virtual Architecture Vibes Part 1: "Limbotopia" VR & Dome at Film Gate Interactive](https://voicesofvr.com/1508-virtual-architecture-vibes-part-1-limbotopia-vr-dome-at-film-gate-interactive/) - I interviewed director Wen Yee Hsieh about Limbotopia that showed at Film Gate Interactive in Miami Florida back in 2023. See the transcript down below for more context on our conversation. This is a listener-supported podcast through the Voices of VR Patreon. Music: Fatality
- [#1506: Going on a Virtual Date in "ROAMance" that Generates Novel Encounters with Defamiliarization](https://voicesofvr.com/1506-going-on-a-virtual-date-in-roamance-that-generates-novel-encounters-with-defamiliarization/) - I interviewed director Stanislaw Liguzinski about ROAMance that showed at IDFA DocLab 2024. See the transcript down below for more context on our conversation. This is a listener-supported podcast through the Voices of VR Patreon. Music: Fatality
- [1505: Immersive Journalist Features Volumetric Sexual Harassment Testimonies in "Walking Alone, Text You When I'm Home"](https://voicesofvr.com/1505-immersive-journalist-features-volumetric-sexual-harassment-testimonies-in-walking-alone-text-you-when-im-home/) - I interviewed director Vincent Abert about Walking Alone Text You When I'm Home that showed at IDFA DocLab 2024. See the transcript down below for more context on our conversation. This is a listener-supported podcast through the Voices of VR Patreon. Music: Fatality
- [#1504: Open World, GenAI Podcast "Drift" Reflects on Climate Change from 500 Years in the Future](https://voicesofvr.com/1504-open-world-genai-podcast-drift-reflects-on-climate-change-from-500-years-in-the-future/) - I interviewed co-directors Nienke Huitenga and Lieven Heeremans about Drift that showed at IDFA DocLab 2024. See the transcript down below for more context on our conversation. This is a listener-supported podcast through the Voices of VR Patreon. Music: Fatality
- [#1492: IDFA DocLab Curators Preview 2024 Slate of AI & XR Immersive Documentaries](https://voicesofvr.com/1492-idfa-doclab-curators-preview-2024-slate-of-ai-xr-immersive-documentaries/) - I speak with the curators of the 28 immersive documentary projects being featured at the 18th edition of IDFA DocLab including Caspar Sonnen, Nina van Doren, and Toby Coffey. The theme of this year's program is "This is Not a Simulation," and there were many immersive projects that featured AI this year. We talked about
- [#1496: Using GenAI to Recreate Erased Family Photos with "Burn From Absence" 4-Channel Video](https://voicesofvr.com/1496-using-genai-to-recreate-erased-family-photos-with-burn-from-absence-4-channel-video/) - I interviewed director Emeline Courcier about Burn From Absence that showed at IDFA DocLab 2024. See the transcript down below for more context on our conversation. This is a listener-supported podcast through the Voices of VR Patreon. Music: Fatality
- [#1497: Experimental VR Doc "Rapture II: Portal" Blends Hypnotic Audio with Spatial Scan of War-Abandoned Home](https://voicesofvr.com/1497-experimental-vr-doc-rapture-ii-portal-blends-hypnotic-audio-with-spatial-scan-of-war-abandoned-home/) - I interviewed director Alisa Berger about Rapture II: Portal that showed at IDFA DocLab 2024. See the transcript down below for more context on our conversation. This is a listener-supported podcast through the Voices of VR Patreon. Music: Fatality
- [#1498: Immersive Installation Frames Provocative "Töngö Sondi" Animation on Langauge, Censorship, & Identity](https://voicesofvr.com/1498-immersive-installation-frames-provocative-tongo-sondi-animation-on-langauge-censorship-identity/) - I interviewed director Ruben Cabenda about Töngö Sondi that showed at IDFA DocLab 2024. See the transcript down below for more context on our conversation. This is a listener-supported podcast through the Voices of VR Patreon. Music: Fatality
- [#1499: From Interactive Biohacking Lecture to Speakeasy with "Drinking Brecht: An Automated Laboratory Performance"](https://voicesofvr.com/1499-from-interactive-biohacking-lecture-to-speakeasy-with-drinking-brecht-an-automated-laboratory-performance/) - I interviewed director Sister Sylvester about Drinking Brecht that showed at IDFA DocLab 2024. See the transcript down below for more context on our conversation. This is a listener-supported podcast through the Voices of VR Patreon. Music: Fatality
- [#1500: Sharing Indigenous Knowledge with 360 Video + AR Animations and Embodied Rituals in "Ancestral Secrets VR"](https://voicesofvr.com/1500-sharing-indigenous-knowledge-with-360-video-ar-animations-and-embodied-rituals-in-ancestral-secrets-vr/) - I interviewed co-directors Francisca Silva and Maria Jose Diaz about Ancestral Secrets VR that showed at IDFA DocLab 2024. See the transcript down below for more context on our conversation. This is a listener-supported podcast through the Voices of VR Patreon. Music: Fatality
- [#1501: Roaming as Resistance: "Entropic Fields of Displacement" wins DocLab Digital Storytelling Award](https://voicesofvr.com/1501-roaming-as-resistance-entropic-fields-of-displacement-wins-doclab-digital-storytelling-award/) - I interviewed director Pegah Tabassinejad about Entropic FIelds of Displacement that showed at IDFA DocLab 2024. See the transcript down below for more context on our conversation. This is a listener-supported podcast through the Voices of VR Patreon. Music: Fatality
- [#1341: Performative Lecture "(this conversation is) Off the Record" uses AI & Theater to Critique Algorithmic Profiling](https://voicesofvr.com/1341-performative-lecture-this-conversation-is-off-the-record-uses-ai-theater-to-critique-algorithmic-profiling/) - I interviewed (this conversation is) Off the Record creator Nirit Peled at IDFA DocLab 2023. See more context in the rough transcript below. This is a listener-supported podcast through the Voices of VR Patreon. Music: Fatality
- [#1293: The Personalized AI-Driven "Tulpamancer" VR Sandpaintings with AI Text to Audio & VR Workflow](https://voicesofvr.com/1293-the-personalized-ai-driven-tulpamancer-vr-sandpaintings-with-ai-text-to-audio-vr-workflow/) - I interviewed Tulpamancer co-directors Marc Da Costa and Matthew Niederhauser as well as AI Engineer Aaron Santiago at Venice Immersive 2023. See more context in the rough transcript below. This is a listener-supported podcast through the Voices of VR Patreon. Music: Fatality
- [#1486: Going All-in with Gaussian Splats: Gracia's Viewer, AI Training, & Photoreal Capture with VR Fund's Tipatat Chennavasin](https://voicesofvr.com/1486-going-all-in-with-gaussian-splats-gracias-viewer-ai-training-photoreal-capture-with-vr-funds-tipatat-chennavasin/) - I interviewed Tipatat Chennavasin, General Partner and co-founder of Venture Reality Fund, at Meta Connect 2024 about why he has gone all-in with Gaussian Splatting by investing in the Gracia.ai and their viewer that's on the Quest store. We also talk about some of the news from Meta Connect, Quest 3S excitement, the merits of
- [#1242: Poetic Generative AI Film "In Search of Time" Uses Style Transfer To Explore Childhood Memories](https://voicesofvr.com/1242-poetic-generative-ai-film-in-search-of-time-uses-style-transfer-to-explore-childhood-memories/) - In Search of Time is a 2D film that premiered at Tribeca Immersive, and it uses a lot of generative AI style transfer techniques on top of footage of Pierre Zandrowicz's children. Atlas V co-founder Zandrowicz's co-directed this piece with Matthew Tierney, who comes from the figurative painting world, film, sound design, art, and works
- [#1445: "In The Realm Of Ripley" Ambitiously Combines Interactive Film, VR Mystery, and Group Conversations Moderated by AI](https://voicesofvr.com/1445-in-the-realm-of-ripley-ambitiously-combines-interactive-film-vr-mystery-and-group-conversations-moderated-by-ai/) - I interviewed In The Realm Of Ripley director Soo Eung Chuck Chae at Venice Immersive 2024. See more context in the rough transcript below. Here's their artist statement: This is a listener-supported podcast through the Voices of VR Patreon. Music: Fatality
- [#1493: "About a Hero" Doc Written by AI Trained on Werner Herzog Corpus Blends Realities and Opens IDFA](https://voicesofvr.com/1493-about-a-hero-doc-written-by-ai-trained-on-werner-herzog-corpus-blends-realities-and-opens-idfa/) - About a Hero is a documentary that reenacts an imaginal, true crime documentary script written by an AI language model that was trained on a corpus of Werner Herzog content. It's a film that blends and blurs the lines between what's physically-captured, documentary material versus completely constructed and fabricated content generated by AI. It's the
- [#1494: Innovative VR Opera "From Dust" Combines GenAI Prompts, Digital Serenading, & Personality Branching](https://voicesofvr.com/1494-innovative-vr-opera-from-dust-combines-genai-prompts-digital-serenading-personality-branching/) - From Dust is a 24-minute VR Opera by composer Michel van der Aa that is premiering this week at the Rotterdam Immersive Tech Week, and I had a chance to get a sneak peak at the end of my trip covering IDFA DocLab in Amsterdam. The emotional core of From Dust is the top-notch composition
- [#1441: "Duchampiana" Explores the Embodiment of Movement with Stair Climbing Integrations and Feminist Philosophy](https://voicesofvr.com/1441-duchampiana-explores-the-embodiment-of-movement-with-stair-climbing-integrations-and-feminist-philosophy/) - I interviewed Duchampiana director Lilian Hess at Venice Immersive 2024. See more context in the rough transcript below. Here is their artist statement: This is a listener-supported podcast through the Voices of VR Patreon. Music: Fatality
- [#1382: Interactive Generative AI Storytelling Installation "The Golden Key" Wins Top Prize at SXSW Leveraging Archetypal Folklore Motifs + Links to SXSW 2024 Coverage](https://voicesofvr.com/1382-interactive-generative-ai-storytelling-installation-the-golden-key-wins-top-prize-at-sxsw-leveraging-archetypal-folklore-motifs/) - I interviewed The Golden Key co-directors Matthew Niederhauser & Marc Da Costa remotely during SXSW XR Experience 2024. See more context in the rough transcript below. Here is all of my coverage of projects in and around SXSW XR Experience 2024: #1360: Sneak Peak of SXSW XR Experience Projects, Events, & Lounges with Programmer Blake
- [#1345: AI-Driven Poetry Performance & Decolonization Workshop at Sundance New Frontier with "Being (the Digital Griot)"](https://voicesofvr.com/1345-ai-driven-poetry-performance-decolonization-workshop-at-sundance-new-frontier-with-being-the-digital-griot/) - I interviewed Being (the Digital Griot) creator Rashaad Newsome remotely during the Sundance 2024 Festival. See more context in the rough transcript below. This is a listener-supported podcast through the Voices of VR Patreon. Music: Fatality
- [#1333: AI Remix of 1982 Documentary "Koyaanisqatsi" with "The Vivid Unknown" Interactive Video Installation](https://voicesofvr.com/1333-ai-remix-of-1982-documentary-koyaanisqatsi-with-the-vivid-unknown-interactive-video-installation/) - I interviewed The Vivid Unknown creator John Fitzgerald at IDFA DocLab 2023. See more context in the rough transcript below. This is a listener-supported podcast through the Voices of VR Patreon. Music: Fatality
- [#1327 "Voice in My Head" Remixes Your Inner Monologue with AI](https://voicesofvr.com/1327-voice-in-my-head-remixes-your-inner-monologue-with-ai/) - Voice in My Head is a provocative immersive exploration by Kyle McDonald and Lauren Lee McCarthy that takes large language models the logical extreme of remixing and modulating your inner monologue. Audience participants are invited to customize ChatGPT character that clones your voice to speak to you via an ear bud as you walk around
- [#1260: Using ChatGPT for XR Education and Persistent Virtual Assistant via AR Headsets](https://voicesofvr.com/1260-using-chatgpt-for-xr-education-and-persistent-virtual-assistant-via-ar-headsets/) - Javier Fadul is Director of Innovation at HTX Labs, and I ran into him on the expo floor of the Augmented World Expo 2023. We talked about how he's been using ChatGPT via AR Glasses as a impromptu research assistant, curriculum planner, and children's book co-author. We also talk about how he sees how AI
- [1261: Using ChatGPT for Rapid Prototyping of Tilt Five AR Applications with CEO Jeri Ellsworth](https://voicesofvr.com/1261-using-chatgpt-for-rapid-prototyping-of-tilt-five-ar-applications-with-ceo-jeri-ellsworth/) - I had a chance to catch up with Jeri Ellsworth, co-founder and CEO of Tilt Five again at Augmented World Expo 2023. Be sure to catch my previous conversation in episode #1021 where she gives her full epic backstory in inventing Tilt Five at Valve, getting fire, and eventually being able to re-acquire the IP
- [#1262: Using in AI in AR Filters & ChatGPT for Business Planning with Educator Don Allen Stevenson III](https://voicesofvr.com/1262-using-in-ai-in-ar-filters-chatgpt-for-business-planning-with-educator-don-allen-stevenson-iii/) - Don Allen Stevenson III aspires by become the Bob Ross of the Metaverse by creating AR filters and creative technology XR projects, and XR developer that he promotes on this social media channels (@donalleniii on Instagram, X (Twitter), and TikTok) with an educational angle. I had a chance to catch up with him at AWE
- [#1264: Inworld.ai for Dynamic NPC Characters with Knowledge, Memory, & Robust Narrative Controls](https://voicesofvr.com/1264-inworld-ai-for-dynamic-npc-characters-with-knowledge-memory-robust-narrative-controls/) - Matt Kim is the technical creative director at inworld.ai creating demos to show off their NPC platform, which was featured in my previous episode #1263 in the MeetWol demo by Liquid City and Niantic. I was really impressed with how my interactions with inworld.ai seemed to go beyond the limitations of ChatGPT and existing tech
- [#1265: Integrating Generative AI into Live Theatre Performance in WebXR with OnBoardXR](https://voicesofvr.com/1265-integrating-generative-ai-into-live-theatre-performance-in-webxr-with-onboardxr/) - Brendan Bradley is an actor and storyteller who got into real-time animation systems and social VR during the pandemic, and then starting putting on live theatre shows in Virtual Reality both onsite, hybrid, and in-venue, and fully virtual. He co-founded OnBoardXR, which has been embracing accessible technology like WebXR and social VR via Mozilla Hubs,
- [#1266: Converting Dance into Multi-Channel Generative AI Performance at 30FPS with "Kinetic Diffusion"](https://voicesofvr.com/1266-converting-dance-into-multi-channel-generative-ai-performance-at-30fps-with-kinetic-diffusion/) - Brandon Powers is a creative director and choreographer who is creating experiences across physical and virtual space at the intersection of performance and technology. He was showing a dance performance at ONX Studios during Tribeca Immersive that was titled Kinetic Diffusion. It was created in collaboration with Aaron Santiago, and featured three screens that were
- [#1267: Frontiers of XR & AI Integrations with ONX Studio Technical Directors & Sensorium Co-Founders](https://voicesofvr.com/1267-frontiers-of-xr-ai-integrations-with-onx-studio-technical-directors-sensorium-co-founders/) - Matthew Niederhauser and John Fitzgerald are both co-founders Sensorium as well technical directors at ONX Studio. They both have been working on a number of different immersive XR projects that are including the latest generative AI and large language model technologies. It's a rapidly developing field, and they talk about their strategy of keeping up
- [#1268: Survey of Open Metaverse Technologies & AI Workflows by Adrian Biedrzycki](https://voicesofvr.com/1268-survey-of-open-metaverse-technologies-ai-workflows-by-adrian-biedrzycki/) - Adrian Biedrzycki (aka Avaer) won the Poly Awards' WebXR developer of the year in 2021, and has been working on creating an open metaverse technology stack for many years now. He's the co-founder of Webaverse, Moemate virtual assistant, and M3 Metaverse Makers Hacker collective. I had a chance to catch up with Biedzyrcki to do
- [#1269: Three XR & AI Projects: "Sex, Desire, and Data Show," "Chomsky vs Chomsky," and "Future Rites"](https://voicesofvr.com/1269-three-xr-ai-projects-sex-desire-and-data-show-chomsky-vs-chomsky-and-future-rites/) - Sandra Rodriguez is a director and creative director of immersive experiences that use AI to create spaces where you interact with sentient-like entities. I had a chance to catch up with her during Tribeca Immersive 2023 to unpack three of her recent projects that are at the intersection of XR and AI: Chomsky vs Chomsky
- [#1255: Using GPT Chatbots to Bootstrap Social VR Spaces with "Quantum Bar" Demo](https://voicesofvr.com/1255-using-gpt-chatbots-to-bootstrap-social-vr-spaces-with-quantum-bar-demo/) - Christina Kinne (aka XaosPrincess) wanted to seed social VR worlds with AI chatbots in order to help catalyze larger social VR gatherings, and so she created the The Quantum Bar in Neos VR, which features a robot bartender that does speech to text via Google services in order to interface with GPT 3.0 in order
- [#1256: Using GPT for Conversational Interface for Escape Room VR Game "The Unclaimed Masterpiece"](https://voicesofvr.com/1256-using-gpt-for-conversational-interface-for-escape-room-vr-game-the-unclaimed-masterpiece/) - The Unclaimed Masterpiece won the best student VR project at Laval Virtual as it has a novel integration of a conversational interface with a virtual assistant / character who is assisting you as you try to find the correct virtual painting to steal from a mult-floor gallery. The project was created by Alizée Calet, William
- [#1258: Using XR & AI to Reclaim and Preserve Indigenous Languages with Michael Running Wolf](https://voicesofvr.com/1258-using-xr-ai-to-reclaim-and-preserve-indigenous-languages-with-michael-running-wolf/) - Michael Running Wolf is a Northern Cheyenne/Lakota/Blackfeet indigenous man who grew up in Montana. He's worked for Amazon, but eventually left in order to pursue his lifelong goal of building XR experiences that integrate with AI for language education and to reclaim and preserve indigenous languages. The biggest blocker is that most natural language processing
- [#1259: AWE Panel on the Intersection of AI and the Metaverse](https://voicesofvr.com/1259-awe-panel-on-the-intersection-of-ai-and-the-metaverse/) - I had a chance to participate in a panel discussion exploring "The Intersection of AI and the Metaverse: What's Next?" on the main stage of Augmented World Expo on the opening day on May 31, 2023. The discussion was moderated by Amy LaMeyer (Managing Partner of WXR Fund), and also featured Tony Parisi (Chief Product
- [#1254: Using AI to Upskill Creative Sovereignty with XR Artist Violeta Ayala](https://voicesofvr.com/1254-using-ai-to-upskill-creative-sovereignty-with-xr-artist-violeta-ayala/) - Violeta Ayala is a filmmaker, film futurist, and creative technologist who using semantics to create immersive art with ChatGPT and generative AI programs. I had a chance to catch up with her at NewImages France where she talked about how AI has completely revolutionized her creative process as someone who identifies as being on the
- [#1253: XR & AI Series Kickoff with Evo Heyning on a Promptcraft Guide to Generative Media](https://voicesofvr.com/1253-xr-ai-series-kickoff-with-evo-heyning-on-a-promptcraft-guide-to-generative-media/) - The intersection of XR and Artificial Intelligence is a hot topic, and this is the start of a 17-part Voices of VR podcast series where I've interviewed different immersive artists and XR developers over the past four months about how they're integrating AI into their workflow in creating virtual and augmented reality projects. I'm starting
- [#1193: Phone-based Interactive Story "Consensus Gentium" Takes Top SXSW Prize for Chilling Speculative Worldbuilding Exploring AI Bias, Surveillance, & Biometric Agency](https://voicesofvr.com/1193-phone-based-interactive-story-consensus-gentium-takes-top-sxsw-prize-for-chilling-speculative-worldbuilding-exploring-ai-bias-surveillance-biometric-agency/) - Consensus Gentium is took him the Grand Jury prize for SXSW Immersive 2023, and it’s the most immersive phone-based experience that I’ve ever had. The Latin title translated means that “If everyone believes it, it must be true,” and it’s a near-term speculative sci-fi piece that explores what China’s social scoring system might look like in the context of the United States where mobility is restricted by algorithms but can be expanding if citizens agree to be surveilled by a phone app. The experience shifts automatically shifts between mobile app videos onboarding you into a surveillance state juxtaposed with Facetime calls where your face appears in the lower right corner, and text messages are seamlessly popping throughout the experience as you jump in between different tasks and cut scenes that build up the world and immerse you deeper into what director Karen Palmer describes as a “reality simulator” that feels entirely plausible near future. The piece is also tagged with the logline of “the film that watches you back” as it integrates facial tracking technologies and an eye gaze mechanic that allows you make a few conscious and unconscious choices throughout the piece. Some of the themes of the piece are around algorithmic bias in facial detection algorithms and how that impacts marginalized communities (and why the EU’s AI Act bans facial detection in certain contexts like police enforcement). It also explores agency, self-determination, and biometric threats to freedom of thought as you are scored on a spectrum between how compliant you are to the state versus any deviant or resistant behaviors. Overall, using the multi-channel communication affordances of the phone is able to create an entirely plausible portal into this near-future world that Palmer is creating for us which I found deeply, deeply immersive. It’s no wonder that this piece took home the top prize as the SXSW jurors seemed to agree with that sentiment, while this piece also presciently covers many relevant topics around AI, bias, and threats to our cognitive liberty — notably I spoke to Palmer on the same day that Nita Farahany’s book officially released titled The Battle for Your Brain, which I had a chance to unpack with Farahany ahead of SXSW.
- [#955: Voice Worldbuilding with "Starship Commander" Cinematic Arcade Adventure + Indie VR Documentary](https://voicesofvr.com/955-voice-worldbuilding-with-starship-commander-cinematic-arcade-adventure-indie-vr-documentary/) - Human Interact's Alexander Mejia has a hard time describing what exactly Starship Commander: Arcade is. For movie lovers, he says it's a choose-your-adventure narrative where your the main character of your own movie. For gamers, he calls it a cinematic narrative with some story choices driven by language and voice. In the end, the vast adventure game was scoped down to a 12 to 15-minute sci-fi, arcade experience that uses your voice to interact with a repository of nearly two hours of pre-recorded video clips of Sergeant Sarah Pearson (played by Human Interact VP of Business development Sophie Wright) answering your questions. It's a very unique combination that explores how you can do worldbuilding for an experience by just using your voice, and it sets the foundations for what it could be like to become a character within a cinematic, immersive experience.
- [#880 VR for Good: Using Conversational Interfaces in VR to Train Child Welfare Caseworkers](https://voicesofvr.com/880-vr-for-good-using-conversational-interfaces-in-vr-to-train-child-welfare-caseworkers/) - One of the most intense interactive storytelling experiences I've ever had was the Accenture AVEnueS training application for child welfare caseworkers.
- [#879 VR for Good: StoryFile is an Oral History Platform with a Conversational Interface](https://voicesofvr.com/879-vr-for-good-storyfile-is-an-oral-history-platform-with-a-conversational-interface/) - StoryFile is an interactive storytelling platform that allows you to interact with someone as they tell their story. A comprehensive oral history could be as many as 1000 questions and 20 hours of content, and StoryFile's combination of a conversational interface with natural language processing to categorize the content provides new interactive ways of accessing these oral histores
- [#409: Wizard of Oz Narratives: Puppeting Virtual Characters with Improv Acting](https://voicesofvr.com/409-wizard-of-oz-narratives-puppeting-virtual-characters-with-improv-acting/) - Wizard of Oz' VR experiences use improv actors to drive either a single or multiple virtual characters. This technique is commonly used within VR training applications where it's cheaper to have a single actor puppeting multiple virtual characters rather than hiring multiple actors in order to create a sense of social presence. The 'interactors' driving the content of the experience are able to use a set of keyboard commands in order to drive pre-rendered gestures and animations, or they can also do more sophisticated motion capture and virtual embodiment.
- [#417: Social Presence & Training Social Dynamics with Virtual Humans](https://voicesofvr.com/417-social-presence-training-social-dynamics-with-virtual-humans/) - Team training scenarios are often difficult to schedule due to the logistics involved coordinating many different people's schedules. One solution has been to use virtual humans as stand-ins for actual humans in team training scenarios where the conversation is mediated by Wizard of Oz interactors who are puppeting the virtual humans. The goal is to recreate a sense of social presence so that the person being trained forgets that they are interacting with virtual humans instead of actual humans.
- [#728: AI-Guided Dance to Express Collective Sentiment with Frankenstein AI](https://voicesofvr.com/728-ai-guided-dance-to-express-collective-sentiment-with-frankenstein-ai/) - Frankenstein AI from the Columbia Digital Storytelling Lab debuted at Sundance 2018. It was a cross-displinary collaboration that used machine learning, immersive theater, dance, and prompts for social interactions. I talk with choreographer Brandon Powers and freelance dancer Jacinda Ratcliffe about how they created a feedback loop between audience sentiment, machine learning, and feeding dance instructions to Jacinda to be translated into dance moves. They created their own abstracted language for movement, and found a way to have the AI give real-time feedback, guidance, and direction for dance sequences that capture the emotional sentiment of audience answers to questions about what it means to be human.
- [#503: Conversational Gameplay & Interactive Narrative in Human Interact's 'Starship Commander'](https://voicesofvr.com/503-conversational-gameplay-interactive-narrative-in-human-interacts-starship-commander/) - Human Interact announced this past week that they are collaborating with Microsoft's Cognitive Services in order to power the conversational interface behind their Choose-Your-Own-Adventure, interactive narrative title named Starship Commander. They're using Microsoft's Custom Recognition Intelligent Service (CRIS) to as the speech recognition engine, and then Microsoft's Language Understanding Intelligent Service (LUIS) in order to translate spoken phrases into a number of discrete intention actions that are fed back into Unreal Engine for the interactive narrative.I caught up with Human Interact founder and creative director Alexander Mejia six months ago to talk about the early stages of creating an interactive narrative using a cloud-based and machine learning powered natural language processing engine. We talk about the mechanics of using conversational interfaces as a gameplay element, accounting for gender, racial, and regional dialects, the funneling structure of accumulating a series of smaller decisions into larger fork in the story, the dynamics between multiple morally ambiguous characters, and the role of a character artist who sets bounds of AI and their personality, core belief system, a complex set of motivations.
- [#731: Natural & Intuitive Character Interactions in VR with "Wolves in the Walls"](https://voicesofvr.com/731-natural-intutive-character-interactions-in-vr-with-wolves-in-the-walls/) - Wolves in the Walls is a narrative VR piece based upon a Neil Gaiman novel that explores object interactions and cultivating a connection to a virtual character. It's a project that originally started as a project within Oculus Story Studio, but was then transferred to Fable Studio, which is now known as Fable. Inspired by the Oculus Toybox demo, the team originally wanted to explore the secret life of objects, but then their focus shifted to cultivating intimacy and connection to virtual characters after seeing the immersive theater experiences of Sleep No More and Then She Fell in New York City.
- [#798: VR Artist Kevin Mack: Architecting Awe with VR-Native, Cooperative AI Agents](https://voicesofvr.com/798-vr-artist-kevin-mack-architecting-awe-with-vr-native-cooperative-ai-agents/) - Kevin Mack is a VR artist who has created a series of surrealistic immersive experiences including Zen Parade, Blortasia, and ​Anandala. Mack starts with mathematically-inspired geometric forms that are generated by collapsing a 5-dimensional icosodohedron down into 3D space in order to create a series of uniquely interconnected tunnels that allow the user to endlessly navigate. He then adds some psychedelical fluid shaders that are resonating at specific frequences to induce different levels of brain entrainment (more details on that in my previous interview with Mack).
- [#846 DocLab: Deep Fake of a Synthesized Nixon Speech that Never Happened](https://voicesofvr.com/846-doclab-deep-fake-of-a-synthesized-nixon-speech-that-never-happened/) - In the Event of a Moon Disaster uses AI deep fake and speech synthesis technology to produce a Nixon speech that never happened. Bill Safire wrote a contingency speech on July 18, 1969 for President Richard Nixon to read in the event that something went wrong with the Apollo 11 mission and astronauts Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin were to be stranded on the moon until they would ultimately die.
- [#293: AI & the Future of Interactive Drama](https://voicesofvr.com/293-ai-the-future-of-interactive-drama/) - Andrew Stern doesn't enjoy most AAA video games because he wants to be able to say anything at any moment within a social simulation and participate in an interesting story. About once week, he'd like to engage with a high agency, interactive drama with artificially intelligent NPCs. Rather than long and extended play sessions, he'd prefer a short 20-30 minute experience that he can play over and over again trying different strategies with characters who feel real and plausible.
- [#1490: "Any War Any Enemy" is a Beautiful Anti-War, Immersive Poem About Nuclear Annihilation](https://voicesofvr.com/1490-any-war-any-enemy-is-a-beautiful-anti-war-immersive-poem-about-nuclear-annihilation/) - Lena Herzog's Any War Any Enemy is a hauntingly beautiful spatial poem that takes us on a liminal journey about nuclear annihilation. Rather than disassociating and letting power structures sleepwalk us all into catastrophe, she explores a new form of transcendental anti-war protest by leaning into an underlying existential angst that doesn't turn away from
- [#1491: Film Gate Interactive Media Festival 10-Year Retrospective](https://voicesofvr.com/1491-film-gate-interactive-media-festival-10-year-retrospective/) - Film Gate Interactive celebrated their 10-year anniversary in 2023, and I had a chance to get a retrospective recap from founder and curator Diliana Alexander as well as with board members Savannah Niles and James Powderly. Their 11th edition of Film Gate Interactive is happening December 4-8th, 2024 and so be sure to check out
- [#1452: Immersive Documentary about Chinese Censorship "All I Know About Teacher Li" Tops Venice Immersive Audience Favorites Survey](https://voicesofvr.com/1452-immersive-documentary-about-chinese-censorship-all-i-know-about-teacher-li-tops-venice-immersive-audience-favorites-survey/) - I interviewed All I Know About Teacher Li director Zhuzmo at Venice Immersive 2024. Due to the sensitivities of the topic of Chinese censorship, then the director Zhuzmo has requested that he remain anonymous. I did an interview face to face with them in Venice, got a transcript, and then fed the text back into
- [#1323 Fourth Iteration of Lance Weiler's Community Grieving Ritual with "Where There's Smoke"](https://voicesofvr.com/1323-fourth-iteration-of-lance-weilers-community-grieving-ritual-with-where-theres-smoke/) - Lance Weiler’s Where There’s Smoke is an immersive experience that he used to process his grief from losing his father, who was a volunteer firefighter and amateur photographer who would take pictures of fires and take Lance with him on these excursions. Weiler always wondered if his father had more involvement in any of these
- [#1389: Elemental Theory of Presence + Primer on Experiential Design & Immersive Storytelling](https://voicesofvr.com/1389-elemental-theory-of-presence/) - One of the most common ways to describe the experience of VR is through the lens of presence, and in this episode I'm going to do a deep dive into the existing academic literature of presence in order to more fully contextualize my approach to it. This is my Storycon 2022 keynote where I elaborate
- [#1416: Preview of Venice Immersive 2024 Innovations in Immersive Storytelling & Art Installations with Curators](https://voicesofvr.com/1416-preview-of-venice-immersive-2024-innovations-in-immersive-storytelling-art-installations-with-curators/) - The 8th edition of the Venice Immersive 2024 will be kicking off on August 28th, which will be featuring over 28 hours of immersive storytelling and immersive art content across over 70 different projects. This year there area a lot more immersive installations representing over a third out of the total number of on-site projects
- [#1417: Kicking Off Venice Immersive Converge with Translating "Riven" Classic Point-and-Click Adventure to Open World VR Puzzler](https://voicesofvr.com/1417-kicking-off-venice-immersive-converge-with-translating-riven-classic-point-and-click-adventure-to-open-world-vr-puzzler/) - I interviewed Riven's creative director Eric Anderson and development director Hannah Gamiel ahead of Venice Immersive 2024 since it was being featured within the Best of Selection. See more context in the rough transcript below. This is a listener-supported podcast through the Voices of VR Patreon. Music: Fatality
- [#1418: Award-Winning Animators Experiment with Sandbox Social VR "Garden Alchemy" Research Project#](https://voicesofvr.com/1418-award-winning-animators-experiment-with-sandbox-social-vr-garden-alchemy-research-project/) - I interviewed Garden Alchemy co-directors Michelle Kranot and Uri Kranot at Venice Immersive 2024. See more context in the rough transcript below. Here's the artist's statement. This is a listener-supported podcast through the Voices of VR Patreon. Music: Fatality
- [#1419: Creating a Four-Sided Pepper's Ghost Pyramid Illusion with "Telos I" Dance Piece](https://voicesofvr.com/1419-creating-a-four-sided-peppers-ghost-pyramid-illusion-with-telos-i-dance-piece/) - I interviewed Telos I co-directors Emil Dam Seidel and Dorotea Saykaly at Venice Immersive 2024. See more context in the rough transcript below. Here's their artist's statement: This is a listener-supported podcast through the Voices of VR Patreon. Music: Fatality
- [#1420: Experimental Documentary "Mammary Mountain" Captures Oral Histories of Breast Cancer Journeys](https://voicesofvr.com/1420-experimental-documentary-mammary-mountain-captures-oral-histories-of-breast-cancer-journeys/) - I interviewed Mammary Mountain co-directors Tara Baoth Mooney, Camille C. Baker, and Maf'j Alvarez at Venice Immersive 2024. See more context in the rough transcript below. Here's their artist's statement: This is a listener-supported podcast through the Voices of VR Patreon. Music: Fatality
- [#1421: Interactive Mixed Reality Doc on ADHD "Impulse: Playing With Reality" Takes Home Immersive Achievement Prize at Venice Immersive 2024](https://voicesofvr.com/1421-interactive-mixed-reality-doc-on-adhd-impulse-playing-with-reality-takes-home-immersive-achievement-prize-at-venice-immersive-2024/) - I interviewed Impulse: Playing With Reality co-directors May Abdalla and Barry Gene Murphy at Venice Immersive 2024. See more context in the rough transcript below. Here's the official launch trailer: This is a listener-supported podcast through the Voices of VR Patreon. Music: Fatality
- [#1422: "A Simple Silence" Wraps Up Craig Quintero's Trilogy Exploring Spatial Transformations & Immersive Encounters](https://voicesofvr.com/1422-a-simple-silence-wraps-up-craig-quinteros-trilogy-exploring-spatial-transformations-immersive-encounters/) - I interviewed A Simple Silence director Craig Quintero at Venice Immersive 2024. See more context in the rough transcript below. Here's his artist's statement: This is a listener-supported podcast through the Voices of VR Patreon. Music: Fatality
- [#1423: Translating Anime IP into a VR Film with "Mobile Suit Gundam: Silver Phantom"](https://voicesofvr.com/1423-translating-anime-ip-into-a-vr-film-with-mobile-suit-gundam-silver-phantom/) - I interviewed Mobile Suit Gundam: Silver Phantom creators from Bandai Namco Filmworks including Naohiro Ogata, Kiichiro Inoue, Ken Iyadomi as well as Atlas V producers Arnaud Colinart and Julien Bercy, and technical art director Gaël Chaize at Venice Immersive 2024. See more context in the rough transcript below. Here's their artist's statement: This is a
- [#1424: Quill Animation Series "Nightmara" Pushes at the Edges of Immersive Storytelling Innovations and Novelty](https://voicesofvr.com/1424-quill-animation-series-nightmara-pushes-at-the-edges-of-immersive-storytelling-innovations-and-novelty/) - I interviewed Nightmara: Episode 3 director Gianpaolo Gonzalez at Venice Immersive 2024. See more context in the rough transcript below. Here's his artist's statement: This is a listener-supported podcast through the Voices of VR Patreon. Music: Fatality
- [#1425: Immersive Art Installation "Ceci Est Mon Cœur" Uses the Poetry of Light to Explore Childhood Trauma](https://voicesofvr.com/1425-immersive-art-installation-ceci-est-mon-coeur-uses-the-poetry-of-light-to-explore-childhood-trauma/) - I interviewed Ceci Est Mon Cœur (This is My Heart) co-directors Stephane Hueber-Blies and Nicolas Blies at Venice Immersive 2024. See more context in the rough transcript below. Here's their artist's statement: This is a listener-supported podcast through the Voices of VR Patreon. Music: Fatality
- [#1426: "Champ De Bataille" Uses Cinematic VR to Explore the Horrors and Emotion of World War I](https://voicesofvr.com/1426-champ-de-bataille-uses-cinematic-vr-to-explore-the-horrors-and-emotion-of-world-war-i/) - I interviewed Champ De Bataille director Francois Vautier at Venice Immersive 2024. See more context in the rough transcript below. Here's his artist's statement: This is a listener-supported podcast through the Voices of VR Patreon. Music: Fatality
- [#1427: Poetic Environmental Storytelling of "Fragile Home" Elegantly Tells the Story of War in Ukraine with Mixed Reality](https://voicesofvr.com/1427-poetic-environmental-storytelling-of-fragile-home-elegantly-tells-the-story-of-war-in-ukraine-with-mixed-reality/) - I interviewed Fragile Home director Ondrej Moravec at Venice Immersive 2024. See more context in the rough transcript below. There were also allegations of copyright infringement that were made within the context of a private WhatsApp group during the festival, and Moravec distributed an official statement privately to selected people privately on September 2nd, and
- [#1428: Exploring the Horrors of Forgotten Refugee's Plight in "Somewhere Unknown In Indochina"](https://voicesofvr.com/1428-exploring-the-horrors-of-forgotten-refugees-plight-in-somewhere-unknown-in-indochina/) - I interviewed Somewhere Unknown In Indochina co-directors Asio Chihsiung Liu and Feng Ting Tsou at Venice Immersive 2024. See more context in the rough transcript below. (Note that I'll likely need to manually clean up this rough transcript as WhisperX seemed to be having some difficulties detecting speaker changes on this one.) Here's their artist's
- [#1429: Below Deck Innovations Fuse Theatrical Staging, Mixed Reality, & 360 Video](https://voicesofvr.com/1429-below-deck-innovations-fuse-theatrical-staging-mixed-reality-360-video/) - I interviewed Below Deck co-directors Martina Mahlknecht and Martin Prinoth at Venice Immersive 2024. See more context in the rough transcript below. Here's their artist's statement: This is a listener-supported podcast through the Voices of VR Patreon. Music: Fatality
- [#1430: Immersive Expeditions Prove to be Profitable LBE Business for Emissive's Fabien Barati](https://voicesofvr.com/1430-immersive-expeditions-prove-to-be-profitable-lbe-business-for-emissives-fabien-barati/) - I interviewed Emissive / Excurio co-founder and CEO Fabien Barati at Laval Virtual 2023 after having tried the free-roaming Immersive Expedition edition of Éternelle Notre-Dame, which was really quite incredible. I originally saw the sit-down version of Éternelle Notre-Dame at Venice Immersive 2022, but the free-roaming, immersive expedition version was such a distinctly different experience
- [#1431: Taking a Walk through Art History with "Un Soir Avec Les Impressionnistes, Paris 1874"](https://voicesofvr.com/1431-taking-a-walk-through-art-history-with-un-soir-avec-les-impressionnistes-paris-1874/) - I interviewed Un Soir Avec Les Impressionnistes, Paris 1874 director Pierre Gable at Venice Immersive 2024. See more context in the rough transcript below. Here's their artist's statement: This is a listener-supported podcast through the Voices of VR Patreon. Music: Fatality
- [#1432: Combining Biodata with Open World Mushroom Adventure with "Symbiosis/\Dysbiosis: Sentience"](https://voicesofvr.com/1432-combining-biodata-with-open-world-mushroom-adventure-with-symbiosis-dysbiosis-sentience/) - I interviewed Symbiosis/\Dysbiosis: Sentience co-directors Tosca Terán and Brendan Lehman at Venice Immersive 2024. See more context in the rough transcript below. Here's their artist's statement: This is a listener-supported podcast through the Voices of VR Patreon. Music: Fatality
- [#1433: Challenging the Authority of Museums with College Biennale Winner "The Gossips' Chronicles"](https://voicesofvr.com/1433-challenging-the-authority-of-museums-with-college-biennale-winner-the-gossips-chronicles/) - I interviewed The Gossips' Chronicles director Corinne Mazzoli and producer Marta Bianchi at Venice Immersive 2024. See more context in the rough transcript below. Here's their artist statement: This is a listener-supported podcast through the Voices of VR Patreon. Music: Fatality
- [#1434: Choreographing the Collective VR Viewing Experience into a Public Art Performance with "Free UR Head"](https://voicesofvr.com/1434-choreographing-the-collective-vr-viewing-experience-into-a-public-art-performance-with-free-ur-head/) - I interviewed Free UR Head director Tung yen Chou at Venice Immersive 2024. See more context in the rough transcript below. Here's their artist's statement: This is a listener-supported podcast through the Voices of VR Patreon. Music: Fatality
- [#1435: Blending Poetic Animation with Spatial Audio Orchestration with "Earths To Come"](https://voicesofvr.com/1435-blending-poetic-animation-with-spatial-audio-orchestration-with-earths-to-come/) - I interviewed Earths To Come director Rose Bond at Venice Immersive 2024. See more context in the rough transcript below. Here's her artist's statement: This is a listener-supported podcast through the Voices of VR Patreon. Music: Fatality
- [#1436: Transforming 2D Art into an Immersive VRChat Journey Complete with Themed Avatars with "Strangeways"](https://voicesofvr.com/1436-transforming-2d-art-into-an-immersive-vrchat-journey-complete-with-themed-avatars-with-strangeways/) - I interviewed Strangeways co-director Adam Lieber, developers Dale P Deacon and Alex Bossman, as well as avatar creator Egbert Harm Westra at Venice Immersive 2024. See more context in the rough transcript below. Here's their artist's statement: This is a listener-supported podcast through the Voices of VR Patreon. Music: Fatality
- [#1437: "What If…?" Director Dave Bushore on Translating Marvel IP into an Emmy-Award Winning Interactive Cinematic Journey](https://voicesofvr.com/1437-what-if-director-dave-bushore-on-translating-marvel-ip-into-an-emmy-award-winning-interactive-cinematic-journey/) - I interviewed What If…? - An Immersive Story director Dave Bushore at Venice Immersive 2024. See more context in the rough transcript below. What If...? also picked up an Emmy for Outstanding Innovation In Emerging Media Programming as awarded by a juried portion of the Emerging Media Programming Peer Group of the Academy of Television
- [#1438: Honoring the Memory of Abandoned Ghost Towns with "Address Unknown: Fukushima Now"](https://voicesofvr.com/1438-honoring-the-memory-of-abandoned-ghost-towns-with-address-unknown-fukushima-now/) - I interviewed Address Unknown: Fukushima Now director Arif Khan at Venice Immersive 2024. See more context in the rough transcript below. Here's his artist's statement: This is a listener-supported podcast through the Voices of VR Patreon. Music: Fatality
- [#1439: Gamifying 360 Video in Compelling Horror Genre Piece "Project_y: Working Title"](https://voicesofvr.com/1439-gamifying-360-video-in-compelling-horror-genre-piece-project_y-working-title/) - I interviewed Project_y: Working Title co-directors Yuzo Sugano, Taro Hirai, and Shingo Yoshimura at Venice Immersive 2024. See more context in the rough transcript below. Here's their artist's statement: This is a listener-supported podcast through the Voices of VR Patreon. Music: Fatality
- [#1440: Rencontres Experimental Social VR Experience with Minimal Guidance](https://voicesofvr.com/1440-rencontres-experimental-social-vr-experience-with-minimal-guidance/) - I interviewed Rencontres director Mathieu Pradat at Venice Immersive 2024. See more context in the rough transcript below. Here's their artist's statement: This is a listener-supported podcast through the Voices of VR Patreon. Music: Fatality
- [#1442: Combining VRChat Worldbuilding with Immersive Theatre Storytelling in "Uncanny Alley: A New Day"](https://voicesofvr.com/1442-combining-vrchat-worldbuilding-with-immersive-theatre-storytelling-in-uncanny-alley-a-new-day/) - I interviewed Uncanny Alley: A New Day co-directors Rick Treweek and Stephen Butchko along with Ferryman Collective's Deirdre V. Lyons and Christopher Lane Davis at Venice Immersive 2024. See more context in the rough transcript below. This is a listener-supported podcast through the Voices of VR Patreon. Music: Fatality
- [#1443: Venice Immersive Worlds Gallery Producer Mike Salmon on the 2024 Selection of VRChat Worlds](https://voicesofvr.com/1443-venice-immersive-worlds-gallery-producer-mike-salmon-on-the-2024-selection-of-vrchat-worlds/) - I interviewed Venice Immersive Worlds Gallery Producer Mike Salmon at Venice Immersive 2024 about this year's selection of 20 VRChat worlds as well as his process of scouting promising leads and trends of world building, music, art, and immersive storytelling.. See more context in the rough transcript below. This is a listener-supported podcast through the
- [#1444: Fins' Latest VRChat Adventure "Project: Lost Worlds" is a Cinematic Interstellar Safari with Dinosaurs](https://voicesofvr.com/1444-fins-latest-vrchat-adventure-project-lost-worlds-is-a-cinematic-interstellar-safari-with-dinosaurs/) - I interviewed Project: Lost Worlds director Fins at Venice Immersive 2024. See more context in the rough transcript below. This is a listener-supported podcast through the Voices of VR Patreon. Music: Fatality
- [#1446: Studio Syro's "The Art Of Change" is the Best Immersive Music Video Experience I've Seen So Far Pushing at the Edges of Spatial Grammar](https://voicesofvr.com/1446-studio-syros-the-art-of-change-is-the-best-immersive-music-video-experience-ive-seen-so-far-pushing-at-the-edges-of-spatial-grammar/) - I interviewed The Art Of Change co-directors Simone Fougnier and Vincent Rooijers with producer Peter Ariet at Venice Immersive 2024. I had a chance to get an early look at this piece, and I watched it three times before stepping foot on the island. I absolutely loved this piece, and it was at the top
- [#1447: Creating New Choregraphy Contexts for Dance Under Water with "Une Eau La Nuit (Bodies Of Water)"](https://voicesofvr.com/1447-creating-new-choregraphy-contexts-for-dance-under-water-with-une-eau-la-nuit-bodies-of-water/) - I interviewed Une Eau La Nuit (Bodies Of Water) co-directors Chélanie Beaudin-Quintin and Caroline Laurin-Beaucage with producer Laurence Wells at Venice Immersive 2024. See more context in the rough transcript below. Here is their artist statement: This is a listener-supported podcast through the Voices of VR Patreon. Music: Fatality
- [#1448: Pitching at Venice Production Bridge and The "Body of Mine" LGBTQ+ Impact Campaign with Cameron Kostopoulos](https://voicesofvr.com/1448-pitching-at-venice-production-bridge-and-the-body-of-mine-lgbtq-impact-campaign-with-cameron-kostopoulos/) - I interviewed Body of Mine director Cameron Kostopoulos at Venice Immersive 2024 about his impact campaign since winning a special jury prize at SXSW 2023 (see my first interview with him here.). He showed Body of Mine as a part of the competition at Venice Immersive 2023, and he was back on the Immersive Island
- [#1449: Cultivating Moments of Palliative Care Presence with "Mamie Lou"](https://voicesofvr.com/1449-cultivating-moments-of-palliative-care-presence-with-mamie-lou/) - I interviewed Mamie Lou director Isabelle Andreani at Venice Immersive 2024. See more context in the rough transcript below. Here's her artist's statement: This is a listener-supported podcast through the Voices of VR Patreon. Music: Fatality
- [#1450: Translating Surreal Paintings into an Immersive Story about Relationships with "Play Life"](https://voicesofvr.com/1450-translating-surreal-paintings-into-an-immersive-story-about-relationships-with-play-life/) - I interviewed Play Life (Žaisti Gyvenimą) co-directors Zilvinas Naujokas, Vilius Petrauskas, and Mantas Pronckus at Venice Immersive 2024. See more context in the rough transcript below. Here's their artist's statement: This is a listener-supported podcast through the Voices of VR Patreon. Music: Fatality
- [#1451: Revealing Hidden Asian Colonial Histories with "The Guardians Of Jade Mountain"](https://voicesofvr.com/1451-revealing-hidden-asian-colonial-histories-with-the-guardians-of-jade-mountain/) - I interviewed The Guardians Of Jade Mountain director Hayoun Kwon and producer Richard Turco at Venice Immersive 2024. See more context in the rough transcript below. This is a listener-supported podcast through the Voices of VR Patreon. Music: Fatality
- [#1474: Teaching Immersive Storytelling at ASU's Narrative and Emerging Media Program with Nonny de la Peña & Mary Matheson](https://voicesofvr.com/1474-teaching-immersive-storytelling-at-asus-narrative-and-emerging-media-program-with-nonny-de-la-pena-mary-matheson/) - I interviewed Nonny de la Peña, Emblematic Group founder & Founding Director of Arizona State University's Narrative and Emerging Media Program as well as Mary Matheson, Professor of Practice at ASU's Narrative and Emerging Media Program, at Meta Connect 2024. See more context in the rough transcript below. This is a listener-supported podcast through the
- [#1169: IDFA DocLab Founder Caspar Sonnen Reflects on 2022 Program, Industry Trends, and Distribution Challenges](https://voicesofvr.com/1169-idfa-doclab-founder-caspar-sonnen-reflects-on-2022-program-industry-trends-and-distribution-challenges/) - In my final interview from IDFA DocLab 2022, I had a chance to catch up with DocLab founder Caspar Sonnen to reflect on the 2022 program and the ecological points made by the piece Okawari, to comment on the "Nervous System" in this phase of the global pandemic, to share his insights for why immersive
- [#1488: Nima Zeighami on Delivering WebXR Content with Infinite Reality's Ethereal Engine Acquisition](https://voicesofvr.com/1488-nima-zeighami-on-delivering-webxr-content-with-infinite-realitys-ethereal-engine-acquisition/) - I interviewed Nima Zeighami, VP of Product at Infinite Reality, at Meta Connect 2024. See more context in the rough transcript below. This is a listener-supported podcast through the Voices of VR Patreon. Music: Fatality
- [#1471: Tyriel Wood & Zimtok5 on Oculus Quest 3S Tradeoffs with Quest 3](https://voicesofvr.com/1471-tyriel-wood-zimtok5-on-oculus-quest-3s-tradeoffs-with-quest-3/) - I interviewed Tyriel Wood of the Tyriel Wood YouTube channel covering XR tech and Zimtok5, VR Streamer for last ten years, at Meta Connect 2024. See more context in the rough transcript below. Here's Wood's video on the Meta Quest 3S: Here's Zimtok5's video on the Meta Quest 3S: This is a listener-supported podcast through
- [#1483: "Dimensional Double Shift" Combines Multi-Player Co-Op, "Job Simulator" Gameplay, & Hand Tracking](https://voicesofvr.com/1483-dimensional-double-shift-combines-multi-player-co-op-job-simulator-gameplay-hand-tracking/) - I interviewed Andrew Eiche, CEOwl at Owlchemy Labs, at Meta Connect 2024 about their latest title Dimensional Double Shift. See more context in the rough transcript below. Here's their launch trailer. This is a listener-supported podcast through the Voices of VR Patreon. Music: Fatality
- [#1469: Analyst Anshel Sag on Meta Connect Announcements & Orion Glasses Impressions](https://voicesofvr.com/1469-analyst-anshel-sag-on-meta-connect-announcements-orion-glasses-impressions/) - I interviewed Anshel Sag, Principle Analyst at Moor Insights and Strategy, at Meta Connect 2024. See more context in the rough transcript below. This is a listener-supported podcast through the Voices of VR Patreon. Music: Fatality
- [#1468: Kickoff of Meta Connect 2024 Coverage with Orion AR Glasses Hands-on Impressions with Tested's Norm Chan & CNET's Scott Stein](https://voicesofvr.com/1468-kickoff-of-meta-connect-2024-coverage-with-orion-ar-glasses-hands-on-impressions-with-testeds-norm-chan-cnets-scott-stein/) - This is the kickoff of my Meta Connect 2024 coverage with more than 12 hours of coverage across 20+ interviews on site. In my first episode, I interviewed Scott Stein, Editor at CNET, AR, VR, Wearables, Gaming, & Future of Tech as well as Norm Chan, Executive Editor of the YouTube Channel Tested, at Meta
- [#1489: "Gorilla Tag" Design Philosophy & Embodied Gameplay Deep Dive with Kerestell Smith](https://voicesofvr.com/1489-gorilla-tag-design-philosophy-embodied-gameplay-deep-dive-with-kerestell-smith/) - I interviewed Kerestell Smith, Chief Creative Officer at Another Axiom and original solo creator of Gorilla Tag, at Meta Connect 2024. Another Axiom announced in June that Gorilla Tag has surpassed $100 million in lifetime revenue. We talk about the journey into creating Gorilla Tag, the underlying design philosophy of emphasizing embodied gameplay and proprioceptive
- [#1487: XR Evangelists JoyReign & JDun on Horizon World Trends & Meta Connect Announcements](https://voicesofvr.com/1487-xr-evangelists-joyreign-jdun-on-horizon-world-trends-meta-connect-announcements/) - I interviewed XR Evangelists JoyReign Creator of Joy In The Morning Show and CEO of Onyx Leaf Media as well as JDun of the Getting Things Dun YouTube channel, Get'Em To The Metaverse Podcast, & Chief Metaverse Officer of Onyx Leaf Media, at Meta Connect 2024. See more context in the rough transcript below. Here's
- [#1485: Fitness Flow States with "Starwave" Design Innovation Leads & Finding Love within VR](https://voicesofvr.com/1485-fitness-flow-states-with-starwave-design-innovation-leads-finding-love-within-vr/) - I interviewed Job Stauffer and Robin Orr, the two design innovation leads on Starwave, at Meta Connect 2024. They also met and fell in love in VR, and each share their respective journeys into the space through building community around VR fitness experiences. See more context in the rough transcript below. Here's the launch trailer
- [#1482: Mixed Reality Gameplay Innovations & Design Insights from "Starship Home" Co-Directors Mark Schramm & Ashley Pinnick](https://voicesofvr.com/1482-mixed-reality-gameplay-innovations-design-insights-from-starship-home-co-directors-mark-schramm-ashley-pinnick/) - I interviewed Co-Directors of Starship Home Mark Schramm, Director of Engineering at Creature, and Ashley Pinnick, Art Director at Creature, at Meta Connect 2024. See more context in the rough transcript below. Here's the Launch Trailer for Starship Home: This is a listener-supported podcast through the Voices of VR Patreon. Music: Fatality
- [#1481: Agile Lens 2024: Context on Boz's Apology to VR Devs, Orion AR Glasses Impressions, & Unreal Engine Mediation with Apple/Meta](https://voicesofvr.com/1481-agile-lens-2024-context-on-bozs-apology-to-vr-devs-orion-ar-glasses-impressions-unreal-engine-mediation-with-apple-meta/) - I interviewed Alex Coulombe, Studio Lead & CEO of Agile Lens Immersive Design, at Meta Connect 2024 about Meta's Orion AR Glasses first impressions, being a mediator with Apple and Epic Games as well as with Meta and Epic Games, and a bit more context as to why Meta CTO Andrew "Boz" Bosworth gave an
- [#1480: Agile Lens 2023: Hands on with Four Seasons VR Demo & A Christmas Carol VR 2023](https://voicesofvr.com/1480-agile-lens-2023-hands-on-with-four-seasons-vr-demo-a-christmas-carol-vr-2023/) - I'm diving into my backlog to publish three unpublished interviews with Agile Lens with this last conversation from December 2023. I interviewed Alex Coulombe, Lead & CEO of Agile Lens Immersive Design, Kevin Laibson, Experience Director for Agile Lens, and Jackie Roman, Cinematographer at Agile Lens, at FilmGate Interactive 2023 about the Four Seasons Lake
- [#1479: Agile Lens 2023: Selling High-End Real Estate with VR, Unreal's Meta Humans. Pixel Streaming, & AI Experiments](https://voicesofvr.com/1479-agile-lens-2023-selling-high-end-real-estate-with-vr-unreals-meta-humans-pixel-streaming-ai-experiments/) - I'm diving into my backlog to publish three unpublished interviews with Alex Coulombe, Creative Director of Agile Lens Immersive Design, with the second interview that happened at Tribeca Immersive 2023. See more context in the rough transcript below. Here's a talk that was given later in 2023 about the Four Seasons Lake Austin VR experience
- [#1478: Agile Lens 2018: The Intersection of Architecture, Theatre, & Storytelling with Alex Coulombe](https://voicesofvr.com/1478-agile-lens-2018-the-intersection-of-architecture-theatre-storytelling-with-alex-coulombe/) - I'm diving into my backlog to publish three unpublished interviews with Alex Coulombe, Creative Director of Agile Lens Immersive Design, starting with at Magic Leap LeapCon 2018. See more context in the rough transcript below. This is a listener-supported podcast through the Voices of VR Patreon. Music: Fatality
- [#1477: Flat2VR Studios' Journey of Bringing 2D Games to VR with Eric Masher](https://voicesofvr.com/1477-flat2vr-studios-journey-of-bringing-2d-games-to-vr-with-eric-masher/) - I interviewed Eric Masher, Chief Operating Officer for Impact Reality and Flat2VR Studios, at Meta Connect 2024. See more context in the rough transcript below. Here's the trailer for the first four releases for Flat2VR Studios: This is a listener-supported podcast through the Voices of VR Patreon. Music: Fatality
- [#1476: UploadVR Editor Ian Hamilton's Deep Reflections: AR vs VR, Ethical Dilemmas, & Future of Meta's Algorithmic Realities](https://voicesofvr.com/1476-uploadvr-editor-ian-hamiltons-deep-reflections-ar-vs-vr-ethical-dilemmas-future-of-metas-algorithmic-realities/) - I interviewed Ian Hamilton, Editor at UploadVR.com, at Meta Connect 2024. Here's the article about the twin sisters who play Walkabout Mini Golf VR together that Hamilton references. See more context in the rough transcript below. This is a listener-supported podcast through the Voices of VR Patreon. Music: Fatality
- [#1473: Learn XR's Dilmer Valecillos on Teaching XR Development & Meta Connect Announcement Impressions](https://voicesofvr.com/1473-learn-xrs-dilmer-valecillos-on-teaching-xr-development-meta-connect-announcement-impressions/) - I interviewed Dilmer Valecillos of the DilmerV YouTube Channel and Founder & Engineer LearnXR.io , at Meta Connect 2024. See more context in the rough transcript below. This is a listener-supported podcast through the Voices of VR Patreon. Music: Fatality
- [#1453: Kickoff of Snap Spectacles Coverage with First Impressions with XR Analyst Anshel Sag](https://voicesofvr.com/1453-kickoff-of-snap-spectacles-coverage-with-first-impressions-with-xr-analyst-anshel-sag/) - I interviewed Anshel Sag at the Snap Partner Summit about the Snap Spectacles. See more context in the rough transcript below. Here are the links to each of my 15 episodes on the Snap Spectacles announcement and a deep dive into the Snap AR Ecosystem: #1453: Kickoff of Snap Spectacles Coverage with First Impressions with
- [#1467: AR Medical Training App Wins Spectacles Hackathon + My Concluding Thoughts on Snap Spectacles](https://voicesofvr.com/1467-ar-medical-training-app-wins-spectacles-hackathon-my-concluding-thoughts-on-snap-spectacles/) - I interviewed Sam Jones, Kathryn Hicks, Lauren Cason, Emma Sofija, and Paige Piskin at the Snap Lens Fest about the Snap Spectacles as well as their award-winning Hackathon project called Emergensee. I also share some of my concluding thoughts on the Snap Spectacles based upon my 8 hours of coverage in the past 15 episodes.
- [#1466: Freelance XR Dev Veronica Flint Shares Thoughts on Spectacles and Ray-Ban Meta Smart Glasses](https://voicesofvr.com/1466-freelance-xr-dev-veronica-flint-shares-thoughts-on-spectacles-and-ray-ban-meta-smart-glasses/) - I interviewed Veronica Flint at the Snap Lens Fest about the Snap Spectacles. See more context in the rough transcript below. This is a listener-supported podcast through the Voices of VR Patreon. Music: Fatality
- [#1465: Team of Women AR Artists Explore Dreams in Spectacles Hackathon](https://voicesofvr.com/1465-team-of-women-ar-artists-explore-dreams-in-spectacles-hackathon/) - I interviewed Alexis Zerafa, Lafiya Watson Ramirez, Meredith Binnette, Heather Dunaway Smith, and Nella at the Snap Lens Fest about the Snap Spectacles and their hackathon project about dreams. See more context in the rough transcript below. This is a listener-supported podcast through the Voices of VR Patreon. Music: Fatality
- [#1464: Snap's Head of Spectacles Software Engineering Shares Technical Break Down of Design Tradeoffs](https://voicesofvr.com/1464-snaps-head-of-spectacles-software-engineering-shares-technical-break-down-of-design-tradeoffs/) - I interviewed Snap's Head of Spectacles Software Daniel Wagner at the Snap Lens Fest about the Snap Spectacles. See more context in the rough transcript below. Here's the presentation Wagner made at Lens Fest that I based my interview off of. This is a listener-supported podcast through the Voices of VR Patreon. Music: Fatality
- [#1461: AR Lens Genres, Spectacles Impressions, & SelfReflect VTubing App Using Snap's Camera Kit with Brielle Garcia](https://voicesofvr.com/1461-ar-lens-genres-spectacles-impressions-selfreflect-vtubing-app-using-snaps-camera-kit-with-brielle-garcia/) - I interviewed Brielle Garcia at the Snap Lens Fest about the Snap Spectacles and her SelfReflect VTubbing app that uses Snap's Camera Kit. See more context in the rough transcript below. This is a listener-supported podcast through the Voices of VR Patreon. Music: Fatality
- [#1460: Snap AR Platform Lead Sophia Dominguez on Spectacles and AR Ecosystem](https://voicesofvr.com/1460-snap-ar-platform-lead-sophia-dominguez-on-spectacles-and-ar-ecosystem/) - I interviewed Snap's AR Plaform Lead Sophia Dominguez at the Snap Lens Fest about the Snap Spectacles. See more context in the rough transcript below. This is a listener-supported podcast through the Voices of VR Patreon. Music: Fatality
- [#1459: Snap Co-Founders Share Vision for AR & Spectacles at Lens Fest Q&A Panel](https://voicesofvr.com/1459-snap-co-founders-share-vision-for-ar-spectacles-at-lens-fest-qa-panel/) - Snap AR Platform Lead Sophia Dominguez interviewed Snap co-founders Evan Spiegel and Bobby Murphy at the Snap Lens Fest about AR and the Snap Spectacles, and there was an audience Q&A at the end as well. See more context in the rough transcript below. This is a listener-supported podcast through the Voices of VR Patreon.
- [#1458: Building a Geo-Located, Dungeon-Raiding, AR Game for Spectacles with Aidan Wolf](https://voicesofvr.com/1458-building-a-geo-located-dungeon-raiding-ar-game-for-spectacles-with-aidan-wolf/) - I interviewed Aidan Wolf at the Snap Partner Summit about the Snap Spectacles. See more context in the rough transcript below. This is a listener-supported podcast through the Voices of VR Patreon. Music: Fatality
- [#1457: Snap's Lens Studio, Spectacles, & "Polygon Studio" Open Source Low-Poly Drawing App](https://voicesofvr.com/1457-snaps-lens-studio-spectacles-polygon-studio-open-source-low-poly-drawing-app/) - I interviewed Max van Leeuwen and Liisi Mononen at the Snap Partner Summit about the Snap Spectacles. See more context in the rough transcript below. This is a listener-supported podcast through the Voices of VR Patreon. Music: Fatality
- [#1454: Niantic Launches Virtual Pet AR Game "Peridot Beyond" on Snap's Spectacles](https://voicesofvr.com/1454-niantic-launches-virtual-pet-ar-game-peridot-beyond-on-snaps-spectacles/) - I interviewed Niantic's Erin Schaefer and Asim Ahmed at the Snap Partner Summit about the Snap Spectacles as well as their game Peridot Beyond. See more context in the rough transcript below. This is a listener-supported podcast through the Voices of VR Patreon. Music: Fatality
- [#1391: ILM Immersive's "What If…?" Marvel Experience Forges a New Genre of Immersive Storytelling blending 3D Movie Cinematics with First-Person Embodiment](https://voicesofvr.com/1391-ilm-immersives-what-if-marvel-experience-forges-a-new-genre-of-immersive-storytelling-blending-3d-movie-cinematics-with-first-person-embodiment/) - ILM Immersive & Marvel Studios is releasing What If...?: An Immersive Story exclusively on Apple Vision Pro tomorrow, and I had a chance to take an early look and speak with producer and executive producer Shereif Fattouh as well as technical art director Indira Guerrieri about the process of creating this experience. It's mostly an
- [#1392: The Story Behind Tribeca Immersive's Pivot Towards Immersive Art with Curator Ana Brzezińska](https://voicesofvr.com/1392-the-story-behind-tribeca-immersives-pivot-towards-immersive-art-with-curator-ana-brzezinska/) - Curator Ana Brzezińska announced the Tribeca Immersive 2024 line-up on May 23, 2024 mentioning that "this year we are not presenting any VR/AR experiences," but rather that they're pivoting this year to featuring eight immersive art pieces by six different artists being shown at Mērcer Labs: Museum of Art and Technology, which first opened to
- [#1393: Overview of Raindance Immersive 2024 Selection Featuring Social VR Indie Artists & Virtual Culture](https://voicesofvr.com/1393-overview-of-raindance-immersive-2024-selection-featuring-social-vr-indie-artists-virtual-culture/) - Raindance Immersive 2024 opened last weekend in VRChat, and will run for the next four weekends featuring the latest innovations of virtual culture with 77% of experiences happening on social VR platforms and 69% that feature VRChat. I spoke at length with co-curators Mária Rakušanová and Joe Hunting about each of the 36 experiences that
- [#1409: 3D Artist VR Pipelines & Creating "Suku" Immersive Art World as a Living Painting with Durk van der Meer](https://voicesofvr.com/1409-3d-artist-vr-pipelines-creating-suku-immersive-art-world-as-a-living-painting-with-durk-van-der-meer/) - The VRChat world Suku took home the Best Art World prize at Raindance Immersive 2024, and it's by Durk van der Meer who is a freelance digital artist, character artist, and VR world builder based in Curaçao. Suku blends together elements of Caribbean culture and geography with Dutch colonial architecture combined with a sort of
- [#1412: "Shadow Canyon" Combines Immersive Dance, VRChat World Building, & Theatre to Win Spirit of Raindance Award](https://voicesofvr.com/1412-shadow-canyon-combines-immersive-dance-vrchat-world-building-theatre-to-win-spirit-of-raindance-award/) - Shadow Canyon: A Puppeteer's Tale is a unique blend of VRChat Worldbuilding by nprowler, immersive dance performances by students of the VR Dance Academy founded by Dust Bunny, and then improv actors and immersive theatre staging led by Mycana. Overall, it was such a unique blend of different disciplines that the curators of Raindance Immersive
- [#1414: SoftlySteph's Groundbreaking "The Friction of a Modulated Soul" Wins Best Dance Experience at Raindance Immersive](https://voicesofvr.com/1414-softlystephs-groundbreaking-the-friction-of-a-modulated-soul-wins-best-dance-experience-at-raindance-immersive/) - SoftlySteph's The Friction of a Modulated Soul took home the Best Dance Experience at Raindance Immersive in a groundbreaking performance that tells the "story about the different cages that bind us from our authentic truth." It's a piece that completely blew me away with it's technological innovations, her fluid and emotionally-driven dance, a moving story
- [#1415: Evolution of Holographic VJ Trends in VRChat Clubbing Scene Culminates with Awe-Inspiring Show Using SNR Labs Shader](https://voicesofvr.com/1415-evolution-of-holographic-vj-trends-in-vrchat-clubbing-scene-culminates-with-awe-inspiring-show-using-snr-labs-shader/) - The Night Under Lights Presents: The Seasons at the Moon Pool (replayable VRChat link and video) shown during Raindance Immersive was one of the most immersive music experiences I've ever had in VR so far. It was so awe-inspiring and incredible to see 3 DJ / VJ sets using the SNR Labs particle-screen version of
- [#1413: New Holographic Shader for VJs by SNR Labs Enables Awe-Inspiring Volumetric Lighting, Capture, & Dance Performances at Raindance Immersive](https://voicesofvr.com/1413-new-holographic-shader-for-vjs-enables-awe-inspiring-volumetric-lighting-capture-dance-performances-at-raindance-immersive/) - There was a new holographic shader developed by members of SNR Labs group on VRChat that completely blew me away in how it was used in a couple of performances at Raindance Immersive. It's like a new form of volumetric capture that also has lighting effects, and can be used in translating 2D images into
- [#1105: Tribeca XR: Embodiment Experiments in a Surrealist, Speculative, Feminist Eco-Fiction on Plastics Permeating the Body in "Plastisapians"](https://voicesofvr.com/1105-tribeca-xr-embodiment-experiments-in-a-surrealist-speculative-future-feminist-eco-fiction-on-plastics-permeating-the-body-in-plastisapians/) - First-time VR artists Miri Chekhanovich & Édith Jorisch in collaboration with Dpt. and '>The NFB created some unique embodiment experiments within Plastisapians as they explored speculative futures about plastic permeating and changing our bodies. Inspired by feminist author Heather Davis' essay on 'Toxic Progeny: The Plastisphere and Other Queer Futures', Chekhanovich & Jorisch take the concept of plastics entering and changing hormones in our bodies to the speculative extreme by having you embody animals and altered humans who evolve into having more of a fluid experience of their body. They use irony and playful humor to avoid an overly-moralizing tone in part inspired by feminist scholarDonna Haraway's idea of Staying with the Trouble to explore experimental futures while accepting the reality of the current situation. We talk about each of their journeys into VR from the realms of visual art and filmmaking, and explore how the use of embodiment is opening up new avenues for feminist eco-fictions and speculative futures aimed to have us reflect on the present moment.
- [#1402: Using VR to Pursue a Career in Filmmaking & Overcome Social Anxiety with Ariel Emerald](https://voicesofvr.com/1402-using-vr-to-pursue-a-career-in-filmmaking-overcome-social-anxiety-with-ariel-emerald/) - Ariel Emerald is a VR filmmaker who has had a short film titled Ulterior Motives and music video screen titled Like Crazy at Raindance Immersive for the past two years. Before getting into social VR, she suffered from social anxiety and isolation, and didn't have the resources to pursue a career in film. But getting
- [#1411: How VRChat World Building Shaped FlowersRite's Best Music Experience at Raindance Immersive](https://voicesofvr.com/1411-how-vrchat-world-building-shaped-flowersrites-best-music-experience-at-raindance-immersive/) - FlowersRite (花之祭P) is a music producer, 3D artist, cosplayer, and VRChat world builder who won the Best Music Experience at Raindance Immersive 2024 with her experience called Children of the Seed. Within a couple of days of discovering VR in 2019, she had bought a PC, HTC Vive, and Vive Trackers to do full-body tracking,
- [#1410: Fostering Resonite's Collaborative Maker Culture with Creator Jam Founder Medra](https://voicesofvr.com/1410-fostering-resonites-collaborative-maker-culture-with-creator-jam-founder-medra/) - Medra is the CEO and founder of the Creator Jam, which is a non-profit that's been consistently organizing weekly and monthly collaborative-building events within the social VR platform of Resonite (and originally within Neos VR) since June 2, 2019. Resonite's technological architecture allows for the rendering and editing of content in real-time in a collaborative
- [#1408: Documenting Arts & Cultural Trends in Social VR with The Metaculture Online Magazine by K. Guillory + The VRChat Origin Story](https://voicesofvr.com/1408-documenting-arts-cultural-trends-in-social-vr-with-the-metaculture-online-magazine-by-k-guillory-the-vrchat-origin-story/) - K. Guillory (aka Aemeth) has been writing The Metaculture online magazine since August 13, 2021 with over 70 articles covering the latest trends in arts and culture on social VR platforms such as VRChat. She focuses primarily on the live music and performance scenes, but also has been tracking the historical evolution of the underground
- [#1407: Supporting XR Innovation in Play with Creature Game Studio and Label with Doug North Cook](https://voicesofvr.com/1407-supporting-xr-innovation-in-play-with-creature-game-studio-and-label-with-doug-north-cook/) - Doug North Cook is the CEO and Creative Director for Creature, which is both an immersive game studio and label announced a year ago that's representing 10 different XR studios and 16 projects slated as far out as 2027. Creature had four different projects with announcements as a part of the UploadVR Summers Showcase 2024
- [#1406: The Magic of the "Thrasher" Ribbon Dance Game Mechanic in Hand Tracking vs VR Controllers](https://voicesofvr.com/1406-the-magic-of-the-thrasher-ribbon-dance-game-mechanic-in-hand-tracking-vs-vr-controllers/) - Thrasher is a really compelling VR game with a very satisfying and magical core game mechanic inspired by ribbon dancing. It's the latest VR game from Brian Gibson, who designed the art and music for the VR rhythm game Thumper, as he teamed up with former Harmonix co-worker Mike Mandel via Puddle Studio. Thrasher was
- [#1405: Mixed Reality Game Design from Cubism to Laser Dance with Thomas van Bouwel](https://voicesofvr.com/1405-mixed-reality-game-design-from-cubism-to-laser-dance-with-thomas-van-bouwel/) - Laser Dance is a mixed reality game by solo XR game developer Thomas van Bouwel, who previously released minimalist puzzle game called Cubism. I had a chance to try out Laser Dance through Raindance Immersive, and it's one of those types of games that I think will really help define some of the key affordances
- [#1404: Prolific VRChat Documentarian Madame Kana Wins Discovery Award at Raindance Immersive 2024](https://voicesofvr.com/1404-prolific-vrchat-documentarian-madame-kana-wins-discovery-award-at-raindance-immersive-2024/) - Madame Kana is a French, transgender woman and VReporter who has been publishing a new documentary about VRChat every 2-3 weeks for the past year on her YouTube channel, and she won the Discovery Award this year at Raindance Immersive 2024 for her short film called New Eden Evergarden; Behind the Magic. She published a
- [#1403: A Tour through the Indie Artist Scene and Collectives on VRChat with BabyBonito](https://voicesofvr.com/1403-a-tour-through-the-indie-artist-scene-and-collectives-on-vrchat-with-babybonito/) - BabyBonito is an artist, avatar creator and worldbuilder within VRChat who participant different VRChat communities including a creative collective in VR called GlitchesVR, which has a substack that covers the latest in virtual culture. As a classically trained artist Bonito first got into VR through the process of creating her own avatars, which have a
- [#1401: TFMJonny's Journey from Singing in VR to VTuber Navigating the Content Creation Ecosystem](https://voicesofvr.com/1401-tfmjonnys-journey-from-singing-in-vr-to-vtuber-navigating-the-content-creation-ecosystem/) - TFMJonny is a full-time VTuber content creator with more than a million subscribers on YouTube and TikTok, but also does Twtich livestreams, releases music on Spotify, and has a background in acting, voices acting, and improv (more links are here on his Linktree). It's a journey that started with live singing within The Great Pug
- [#1319: Preview of 40 Raindance Immersive 2023 Indie VR Art, Music, Game, Narrative, & Live Experiences](https://voicesofvr.com/1319-preview-of-40-raindance-immersive-2023-indie-vr-art-music-game-narrative-live-experiences/) - Raindance Immersive is back with 40 independent VR experiences across eight categories of Immersive World, Immersive Experience, Immersive Art Experience, Immersive Music Experience, Immersive Narrative, Immersive Game, and two new categories of Short Film of VR and Music Video of VR, which are 2D films that are shot within virtual reality. 75% of this year's
- [#1400: Becoming Starheart: A VTuber's Creative Journey in Finding Her Authentic Voice & Identity in VRChat](https://voicesofvr.com/1400-becoming-starheart-a-vtubers-creative-journey-in-finding-her-authentic-voice-identity-in-vrchat/) - Starheart is a Musician, Composer, Filmmaker, and VTuber who has been doing live performances in VR over the past couple of years. She started making music videos on Halloween of 2022, and realized that she needed a persistent avatar. VR had already been creating a safe space for her to anonymously experiment with and discover
- [#1399: Cosm Opens Front-Facing Dome Venue with Capacity of 1500 in Los Angeles](https://voicesofvr.com/1399-cosm-opens-front-facing-dome-venue-with-capacity-of-1500-in-los-angeles/) - Cosm is a front-facing, 180-degree, 87-foot diameter, 8K+ LED dome screen that can seat up to 1500 people. Their first location is opening in Los Angeles this weekend showing UFC 303, which is produced by their Cosm Immersive division (formerly LiveLikeVR) focusing on live sporting events, music, entertainment. They also have a Cosm Studios division
- [#1397: The Troll Project Aims to Create Community-Based Interventions for Trolling & Record Ethnographic Interviews](https://voicesofvr.com/1397-the-troll-project-aims-to-create-community-based-interventions-for-trolling-record-ethnographic-interviews/) - The Troll Project was created by Ruth Diaz, who has a doctorate in clinical psychology and focuses on XR community design, in order to explore the root causes of trolling, but also tackling the issue head on within social VR spaces with some community-driven solutions that she has experimented with. She's recorded a number of
- [#1398: Ru's Journey from Hospice Nurse to DJ, Artist, & Kaleidosky Event Producer in VRChat](https://voicesofvr.com/1398-rus-journey-from-hospice-nurse-to-dj-artist-kaleidosky-event-producer-in-vrchat/) - Ru is a transgender woman who works as a hospice nurse in Ohio, and since 2018 has been involved as an immersive artists, virtual DJ, and event producer holding weekly events in her psychedelic space called Kaleidosky, which is nominated for Best Music Experience for Raindance Immersive 2024. I had a chance to get a
- [#8th Wall Releases Web-Based Game Engine "Niantic Studio" to Render WebXR Experiences](https://voicesofvr.com/8th-wall-releases-web-based-game-engine-niantic-studio-to-render-webxr-experiences/) - Today Niantic's 8th Wall is announcing Niantic Studio, which is "a new visual interface for Niantic 8th Wall developers that offers an entirely new way to build immersive 3D and XR experiences." It's essentially a web-based game engine using three.js that can render WebXR experiences and starts to integrate a few of Niantic's Lightship APIs,
- [#1395: Apple Vision Pro as Screen Replacement Power User Brad Lynch on Overlays & Multi-App XR](https://voicesofvr.com/1395-apple-vision-pro-as-screen-replacement-power-user-brad-lynch-on-overlays-multi-app-xr/) - YouTuber Brad Lynch (aka SadlyItsBradley) has completely replaced all of his computer screens with an Apple Vision Pro, even going as far as getting a headless Mac Book Pro that does not even have a screen. He's been using the Apple Vision Pro for around 8 hours a day since launch, and I wanted to
- [#1394: Discussion about VRChat Layoffs & Paths to Profitability with Four Community Members](https://voicesofvr.com/1394-discussion-about-vrchat-layoffs-paths-to-profitability-with-four-community-members/) - On June 12, 2024, VRChat announced they were laying off 30% of their staff, and they posted a letter to all employees sent from CEO Graham Gaylor that said, "We’re reducing the size of our team by around 30% and saying goodbye to many talented team members in the process. This is the hardest change
- [#1205: A Primer on Media Geography, Human-Environment Process-Relational Philosophy, and Virtual Natures with Claire Fitch](https://voicesofvr.com/1205-a-primer-on-media-geography-human-environment-process-relational-philosophy-and-virtual-natures-with-claire-fitch/) - After I gave my Ultimate Potential of VR: Promises and Perils talk at SXSW, I met a third-year Ph.D. student in the field of Media Geography named Claire Fitch who wanted to follow up with me about the representation of virtual natures within immersive experiences. I was able to book out a 2-hour slot on my final day of interviews in order to do a deep dive getting a primer into media geography to understand the dynamics between humans and the environment (in a hyphenated term called Human-Environment emphasizing the underlying relational dynamic between the two), and how the branch of human geography and non-representational geography leans heavily on Process-Relational thinkers like Alfred North Whitehead that I’ve previously covered in depth (see episodes #965, #1147, and #1183, and at SXSW in episode #1200). We also explore the relationship between technology and capitalism, and this technocapitalism combination for we mediate our experiences of the environment and nature through these virtual experiences. Fitch’s media geography Ph.D. dissertation is tentatively titled, “The Emergence of Virtual Natures: Human-Environment Relations, Technocapitalism, and Virtual Reality,” and so explore all of these themes and more in this introductory deep dive media geography and process-relational thinking.
- [#939: Valve News Network on Valve, Their Relationship with Oculus, & Half-Life: Alyx Investigations](https://voicesofvr.com/939-valve-news-network-on-valve-their-relationship-with-oculus-half-life-alyx-investigations/) - Valve is a critical player in the modern resurgence of VR. They are known for their friendly competitions and cooperation they had with Oculus in the early days of virtual reality spanning from July 2012 to March 20113. Blake Harris' History of the Future does a great job of laying down a initial timeline (albeit without complete citations as well as an unknown amount of dramatization), but in my interview with Harris he also shared with me beyond very limited conversations with Valve's Joe Ludwig and Alan Yates, he didn't have any conversations with any current Valve employees. The only Valve representatives he was able to talk with were former Valve folks who left to work at Oculus. Harris had access to some e-mail correspondence between Oculus and Valve, but in the absence of Valve's participation, the overall perspective captured in Harris' book is heavily influenced by Facebook's side of the story.
- [#1390: First Edition of Cannes Film Festival Immersive Competition with Elie Lavasseur](https://voicesofvr.com/1390-first-edition-of-cannes-film-festival-immersive-competition-with-elie-lavasseur/) - The 77th edition of the Cannes Film Festival is featuring an inaugural Immersive Competition with eight pieces in competition along with six pieces outside of competition. I had a chance to speak with Elie Lavasseur, the Head of Immersive Competition Festival de Cannes, to get a bit more context for how this came about, their
- [#981: Worldbuilding with the Guild of Future Architects' Futurist Writer's Room: "Traveling the Interstitium with Octavia Butler"](https://voicesofvr.com/981-worldbuilding-with-the-guild-of-future-architects-futurist-writers-room-traveling-the-interstitium-with-octavia-butler/) - One of my favorite pieces at Sundance New Frontier 2021 this year was a series of four open web experiences created as a part of the piece Traveling the Interstitium with Octavia Butler. Born out of The Guild of Future Architects' Futurist Writer Room, lead artists Sophia Nahli Allison, idris brewster, Stephanie Dinkins, Ari Melenciano, and Terence Nance participated in a series of worldbuilding workshops featured on the themes and imagination of Octavia Butler's body of science fiction work. Their original output were going to be live performances, but with COVID-19, they decided to use open web technologies to distribute their speculative design art pieces. You can see these four immersive web pieces on the website Interstitium.space/.
- [#702: The VR Exercise Revolution: Empirical Data from the VR Institute for Health & Exercise](https://voicesofvr.com/702-the-vr-exercise-revolution-empirical-data-from-the-vr-insitute-for-health-exercise/) - Aaron Stanton says that VR is the most effective piece of exercise equipment he's ever purchased. He's spent over 100 hours playing an exercise mod of Audioshield, which is more than he's used his exercise bike, treadmill, or elliptical machine combined. But should playing a VR experience be considered exercise? He created the Virtual Reality Institute of Health & Exercise in order to gather the empirical data to provide evidence that some VR experiences have a Metabolic Equivalent Score that burns as much calories as walking, jogging on an elliptical, playing tennis, rowing, biking, swimming, or sprinting.
- [#1387: Landscape of XR Ethics: A Retrospective Presentation by Kent Bye](https://voicesofvr.com/1387-landscape-of-xr-ethics-a-retrospective-presentation-by-kent-bye/) - This is a 19-minute talk that I gave at Laval Virtual 2023 that is summarizing the work that I've done on XR Ethics over the past ten years. There's around 60 slides in this talk, and so you may prefer watching the video version over on YouTube for the full multi-modal experience, or this audio-only
- [#1386: Chatting about Apple Vision Pro with fxpodcast's Mike Seymour](https://voicesofvr.com/1386-chatting-about-apple-vision-pro-with-fxpodcasts-mike-seymour/) - The contributing editor and co-founder of fxguide Mike Seymour invited me onto his fxpodcast to share some of my thoughts on the Apple Vision Pro, the ecosystem differences between the Quest and Vision Pro, the potential for different killer apps, and where we see it going in the future. This is a rebroadcast of fxpodast
- [#1362: "The Tent" Tabletop AR Mixes Photogrammetry, Volumetric Capture, & Theatre in Modern-Day Fairytale about Unhoused Crisis](https://voicesofvr.com/1362-the-tent-tabletop-ar-mixes-photogrammetry-volumetric-capture-theatre-in-modern-day-fairytale-about-unhoused-crisis/) - I interviewed The Tent creator Rory Mitchell remotely ahead of the SXSW XR Experience 2024. See more context in the rough transcript below. This is a listener-supported podcast through the Voices of VR Patreon. Music: Fatality
- [#1000: Voices of VR Retrospective on the Ultimate Potential of Virtual Reality](https://voicesofvr.com/1000-voices-of-vr-retrospective-on-the-ultimate-potential-of-virtual-reality/) - Episode #1000 of the Voices of VR podcast is a special, three-hour retrospective featuring over 100 of the best answers I've received about the ultimate potential of VR over the past 7 years. I hope that it serves as a primer on the scope and breadth of different XR applications across many different contexts and domains of human experience as described by a diverse range of subject matter experts who are on the frontiers of innovation within spatial computing. The episode starts with describing the power of presence and immersion, and then elaborates on the underlying neuroscience foundations of perception and embodied cognition that explain why Extended Reality (XR) technologies like Virtual Reality (VR), Augmented Reality (AR), and Mixed Reality (MR) present unique affordances that go above and beyond what previous communication mediums can deliver. I believe XR represents a new computing paradigm that will be moving from flat 2D interfaces through windowed portals to volumetric experiences and worlds that are more embodied, immersive, participatory, social, and spatial.
- [#1383: 2018 Flashback to OpenXR First Look at GDC](https://voicesofvr.com/1383-2018-flashback-to-openxr-first-look-at-gdc/) - OpenXR 1.1 is being released today, and so I'm digging into my archive of unpublished interviews to go back GDC 2018 when OpenXR working group chairman Nick Whiting presented some of the first information about the OpenXR specification, which wouldn't have it's initial release over a year later on July 29, 2019 (see episode #1384
- [#1384: 2019 Flashback to OpenXR 1.0 Release at SIGGRAPH](https://voicesofvr.com/1384-2019-flashback-to-openxr-1-0-release-at-siggraph/) - I'm digging into my unpublished interview archives backlog to publish this conversation with Khronos Group President Neil Trevett marking the 1.0 release of OpenXR that happened during SIGGRAPH in July 2019. We talk about the intention of OpenXR as a specification, and I figured that it's worth looking back at the evolution of the specification
- [#1385: OpenXR 1.1 Release Promotes Extensions into Core & Marks Yearly Release Cycle for Prominent XR Industry Open Standard](https://voicesofvr.com/1385-openxr-1-1-release-promotes-extensions-into-core-marks-yearly-release-cycle-for-prominent-xr-industry-open-standard/) - The OpenXR 1.1 minor release comes out today, which moves some of the more commonly used extensions into core and it also marks a new Khronos Group commitment to a yearly release cycle. It's been nearly five years since the initial release of OpenXR 1.0 on July 29, 2019, and Khronos Group President Neil Trevett
- [#1363: DIY 360 Video for Perspective-Taking and Investigating Murder of Trans Woman in "Her Name Was Gisberta"](https://voicesofvr.com/1363-diy-360-video-for-perspective-taking-and-investigating-murder-of-trans-woman-in-her-name-was-gisberta/) - I interviewed Her Name Was Gisberta director Sérgio Galvão Roxo remotely ahead of the SXSW XR Experience 2024. See more context in the rough transcript below. This is a listener-supported podcast through the Voices of VR Patreon. Music: Fatality
- [#1364: Step into the Movies with "The Vortex Cinema" Blending Cinematic Storytelling, Gaming, & Escape Room Mechanics](https://voicesofvr.com/1364-step-into-the-movies-with-the-vortex-cinema-blending-cinematic-storytelling-gaming-escape-room-mechanics/) - I interviewed The Vortex Cinema director Max Sacker as well as actors Christian Stotz & Brian Chase remotely ahead of the SXSW XR Experience 2024. See more context in the rough transcript below. This is a listener-supported podcast through the Voices of VR Patreon. Music: Fatality
- [#1365: "We Speak Their Names in Hushed Tones" Explores Impact of Migration on Families Left Behind in Poetic Immersive Still Life & Audio Documentary](https://voicesofvr.com/1365-we-speak-their-names-in-hushed-tones-explores-impact-of-migration-on-families-left-behind-in-poetic-immersive-still-life-audio-documentary/) - I interviewed We Speak Their Names in Hushed Tones director Omoregie Osakpolor remotely ahead of the SXSW XR Experience 2024. See more context in the rough transcript below. This is a listener-supported podcast through the Voices of VR Patreon. Music: Fatality
- [#1366: Electric South's Ingrid Kopp on Increasing Access to Immersive Production Resources to African XR Creators + Tribeca 2019 Program](https://voicesofvr.com/1366-electric-souths-ingrid-kopp-on-increasing-access-to-immersive-production-resources-to-african-xr-creators-tribeca-2019-program/) - I interviewed Electric South director Ingrid Kopp during Tribeca Immersive 2019. See more context in the rough transcript below. This is a listener-supported podcast through the Voices of VR Patreon. Music: Fatality
- [#1367: "Escape to Shanghai" Immersive Doc Tells the Story of Jewish Refugees who Fled to China to Escape the Holocaust](https://voicesofvr.com/1367-escape-to-shanghai-immersive-doc-tells-the-story-of-jewish-refugees-who-fled-to-china-to-escape-the-holocaust/) - I interviewed Escape to Shanghai director Charlotte Mikkelborg remotely during SXSW XR Experience 2024. See more context in the rough transcript below. This is a listener-supported podcast through the Voices of VR Patreon. Music: Fatality
- [#1368: "Walk to Westerbork" Immersive Doc Shares Remarkable Story about a Dutch Jewish Holocaust Survivor Who Defied the Odds](https://voicesofvr.com/1368-walk-to-westerbork-immersive-doc-shares-remarkable-story-about-a-dutch-jewish-holocaust-survivor-who-defied-the-odds/) - I interviewed Walk to Westerbork director Mary Matheson remotely ahead of the SXSW XR Experience 2024. See more context in the rough transcript below. This is a listener-supported podcast through the Voices of VR Patreon. Music: Fatality
- [#1370: "Madame Pirate: Code of Conduct" Blends Spatial Representations to Tell the Story of Most Powerful Pirate in History](https://voicesofvr.com/1370-madame-pirate-code-of-conduct-blends-spatial-representations-to-tell-the-story-of-most-powerful-pirate-in-history/) - I interviewed Madame Pirate: Code of Conduct co-directors Morgan Ommer & Dan-Chi Huang remotely ahead of the SXSW XR Experience 2024. See more context in the rough transcript below. This is a listener-supported podcast through the Voices of VR Patreon. Music: Fatality
- [#1371: "Pirate Queen: The Forgotten Legend" Fuses Escape Room Mechanics with Environmental Storytelling & Embodied Gameplay](https://voicesofvr.com/1371-pirate-queen-the-forgotten-legend-fuses-escape-room-mechanics-with-environmental-storytelling-embodied-gameplay/) - I interviewed Pirate Queen: The Forgotten Legend director Eloise Singer & writer Maja Bodenstein a few days after the launch of their game on March 7th. See more context in the rough transcript below. This is a listener-supported podcast through the Voices of VR Patreon. Music: Fatality
- [#1372: "Last We Left Off" 360 Video Plays Switches Between D&D Imaginal Realms with Physical Reality, & Exhibiting with Apple Vision Pro](https://voicesofvr.com/1372-last-we-left-off-360-video-plays-switches-between-dd-imaginal-realms-with-physical-reality-exhibiting-with-apple-vision-pro/) - I interviewed Last We Left Off director Connor Illsley remotely during SXSW XR Experience 2024. See more context in the rough transcript below. This is a listener-supported podcast through the Voices of VR Patreon. Music: Fatality
- [#1373: Interactive Biopic Doc on Opera Singer "Joseph Rouleau: Final Encore" that Mixes Modalities](https://voicesofvr.com/1373-interactive-biopic-doc-on-opera-singer-joseph-rouleau-final-encore-that-mixes-modalities/) - I interviewed Joseph Rouleau: Final Encore co-directors Émilie Rosas & Colas Wohlfahrt remotely ahead of the SXSW XR Experience 2024. See more context in the rough transcript below. This is a listener-supported podcast through the Voices of VR Patreon. Music: Fatality
- [#1374: Telling Stories of Indigenous Leaders with OurWorlds.io's "Chief" on Apple Vision Pro](https://voicesofvr.com/1374-telling-stories-of-indigenous-leaders-with-ourworlds-ios-chief-on-apple-vision-pro/) - I interviewed Chief co-director Catherine Eng remotely after the SXSW XR Experience 2024. See more context in the rough transcript below. This is a listener-supported podcast through the Voices of VR Patreon. Music: Fatality
- [#1375: Unique 2D Hand-Drawn Animation Technique with "Tadpole" Leads to a Provocative Immersive Story](https://voicesofvr.com/1375-unique-2d-hand-drawn-animation-technique-with-tadpole-leads-to-a-provocative-immersive-story/) - I interviewed Tadpole director Diane Catsburrow Linnet remotely after the SXSW XR Experience 2024. See more context in the rough transcript below. This is a listener-supported podcast through the Voices of VR Patreon. Music: Fatality
- [#1376: Indie Musician Roman Rappak's Annual Mixed Reality Performance Experiments & Expansion into "Detachment" Immersive Story](https://voicesofvr.com/1376-indie-musician-roman-rappaks-annual-mixed-reality-performance-experiments-expansion-into-detachment-immersive-story/) - I interviewed Detachment director Roman Rappak remotely after the SXSW XR Experience 2024. See more context in the rough transcript below. This is a listener-supported podcast through the Voices of VR Patreon. Music: Fatality
- [#1377: Immersive Producer Katayoun Dibamehr's Journey to Becoming an Award-Winning Producer at Floréal](https://voicesofvr.com/1377-immersive-producer-katayoun-dibamehrs-journey-to-becoming-an-award-winning-producer-at-floreal/) - I interviewed Floréal director Katayoun Dibamehr during Tribeca 2023 about her journey into becoming an award-winning immersive producer. See more context in the rough transcript below. This is a listener-supported podcast through the Voices of VR Patreon. Music: Fatality
- [#1378: Anagram's Mental Health Series Continues with Preview of "Impulse" Mixed Reality Story about ADHD](https://voicesofvr.com/1378-anagrams-mental-health-series-continues-with-preview-of-impulse-mixed-reality-story-abou-adhd/) - I interviewed Impulse (Preview) co-directors May Abdalla & Barry Gene Murphy remotely after the SXSW XR Experience 2024. See more context in the rough transcript below. This is a listener-supported podcast through the Voices of VR Patreon. Music: Fatality
- [#1379: "Maya: The Birth of a Superhero" Evolves Storytelling Grammar with Magical Realism, Dream Logic, & Interactive Embodiment](https://voicesofvr.com/1379-maya-the-birth-of-a-superhero-evolves-storytelling-grammar-with-magical-realism-dream-logic-interactive-embodiment/) - I interviewed Maya: The Birth of a Superhero co-directors Poulomi Basu & CJ Clarke remotely after the SXSW XR Experience 2024. See more context in the rough transcript below. This is a listener-supported podcast through the Voices of VR Patreon. Music: Fatality
- [#1380: "Reimagined Volume III: Young Thang" Adapts a Nigerian Folktale while Refining the Grammar of Spatial Storytelling](https://voicesofvr.com/1380-reimagined-volume-iii-young-thang-adapts-a-nigerian-folktale-while-refining-the-grammar-of-spatial-storytelling/) - I interviewed Reimagined Volume III: Young Thang director Melissa Joyner and co-directors Julie Cavaliere & Michaela Ternasky-Holland remotely after the SXSW XR Experience 2024. See more context in the rough transcript below. This is a listener-supported podcast through the Voices of VR Patreon. Music: Fatality
- [#1381: "Soul Paint" Wins SXSW Special Jury Prize for Innovative Body Mapping Technique to Spatially Draw Your Emotions](https://voicesofvr.com/1381-soul-paint-wins-sxsw-special-jury-prize-for-innovative-body-mapping-technique-to-spatially-draw-your-emotions/) - I interviewed Soul Paint co-directors Sarah Ticho & Niki Smit remotely ahead of the SXSW XR Experience 2024. See more context in the rough transcript below. This is a listener-supported podcast through the Voices of VR Patreon. Music: Fatality
- [1360: Sneak Peak of SXSW XR Experience Projects, Events, & Lounges with Programmer Blake Kammerdiener](https://voicesofvr.com/1360-sneak-peak-of-sxsw-xr-experience-projects-events-lounges-with-programmer-blake-kammerdiener/) - I had a chance to speak with Blake Kammerdiener, the lead programmer of the SXSW XR Experience selection to get a sneak peak of the 36 projects that are being featured this year (14 projects in the XR Experience Competition, 18 projects in the XR Experience Spotlight, and 4 XR Experience Special Events). The XR
- [#1322 Beginning of Lance Weiler's Grieving Journey with "Where There's Smoke"](https://voicesofvr.com/1322-beginning-of-lance-weilers-grieving-journey-with-where-theres-smoke/) - In 2019, Lance Weiler premiered Where There’s Smoke at Tribeca Immersive, which has since had four major iterations focusing on different innovations in immersive storytelling. It’s a very personal story where Weiler interviews his father about his life and passion of taking amateur photos of fires while his father was dying from stage four colon
- [#1324 Beginning of Tung-Yen Chou's Gay Sauna Trilogy with "In the Mist"](https://voicesofvr.com/1324-beginning-of-tung-yen-chous-gay-sauna-trilogy-with-in-the-mist/) - Tung-Yen CHOU’s In the Mist is a 360 video that premiered at Venice during the pandemic in 2021. The synopsis of the piece is “In a dim-lighted room filled with mist, blurred figures of men are sipping the desire and loneliness from each other. You seem to have entered a forbidden zone and fallen into
- [#1325 End of Tung-Yen Chou's Gay Sauna Trilogy with "Traversing the Mist"](https://voicesofvr.com/1325-end-of-tung-yen-chous-gay-sauna-trilogy-with-traversing-the-mist/) - Traversing the Mist premiered at IDFA DocLab 2023, and is the conclusion of the Mist trilogy by Taiwanese VR director Tung-Yen CHOU. In the Mist was a 360 video, Gazing, in the Mist was a mixed reality installation, and Traversing the Mist is an interactive, multiplayer 6-DoF VR installation. Here is a synopsis “Step into
- [#1326 "Surrogate" Experimental Web Doc and Performance by Lauren Lee McCarthy](https://voicesofvr.com/1326-surrogate-experimental-web-doc-and-performance-by-lauren-lee-mccarthy/) - Lauren Lee McCarthy showed Surrogate during the pandemic at Sundance 2022 as an experimental web documentary and immersive performance. Here’s the synopsis: “To become a surrogate. I offer my body to carry someone else’s baby while they use an app to monitor and control me for nine months… As Roe v. Wade is overturned and
- [#1328: Kickoff of IDFA DocLab 2023 Coverage: "Natalie's Trifecta" is a Virtual Tour of Natalie Paneng's Digital Art, Identity, & Imagination](https://voicesofvr.com/1328-natalies-trifecta-is-a-virtual-tour-of-natalie-panengs-digital-art-identity-imagination/) - I interviewed Natalie's Trifecta creator Natalie Paneng at IDFA DocLab 2023. See more context in the rough transcript below. Here are my 19 interviews that I conducted at IDFA DocLab 2023: #1328: Kickoff of IDFA DocLab 2023 Coverage: Natalie's Trifecta is a Virtual Tour of Natalie Paneng's Digital Art, Identity, & Imagination #1325: End of
- [#1329: Mixed Reality "PHANTOM" Installation Explores Dark Sides of Mental Illness with Gallows Humor](https://voicesofvr.com/1329-mixed-reality-phantom-installation-explores-dark-sides-of-mental-illness-with-gallows-humor/) - I interviewed PHANTOM creator Aluta Null at IDFA DocLab 2023. See more context in the rough transcript below. This is a listener-supported podcast through the Voices of VR Patreon. Music: Fatality
- [#1330: "Squeeker: The Mouse" Coach Interspecies Fitness App Collaboration](https://voicesofvr.com/1330-squeeker-the-mouse-coach-interspecies-fitness-app-collaboration/) - I interviewed Squeeker: The Mouse Coach creator Jiabao Li at IDFA DocLab 2023. See more context in the rough transcript below. This is a listener-supported podcast through the Voices of VR Patreon. Music: Fatality
- [#1331: Recreating Spatial Presence in Caves with Point Clouds & Spatial Audio in "Buried in the Rock" Documentary](https://voicesofvr.com/1331-recreating-spatial-presence-in-caves-with-point-clouds-spatial-audio-in-buried-in-the-rock-documentary/) - I interviewed Buried in the Rock creators Shehani Fernando & Anetta Jones at IDFA DocLab 2023. See more context in the rough transcript below. This is a listener-supported podcast through the Voices of VR Patreon. Music: Fatality
- [#1332: "Texada" Tells the Story of Limestone Across Geologic Time With Animation and 360 Video](https://voicesofvr.com/1332-texada-tells-the-story-of-limestone-across-geologic-time-with-animation-and-360-video/) - I interviewed Texada creators Josephine Anderson & Claire Sanford at IDFA DocLab 2023. See more context in the rough transcript below. This is a listener-supported podcast through the Voices of VR Patreon. Music: Fatality
- [#1334: "Anouschka" Wins IDFA DocLab Digital Storytelling Award with AR Narrative Game about Cultural Heritage](https://voicesofvr.com/1334-anouschka-wins-idfa-doclab-digital-storytelling-award-with-ar-narrative-game-about-cultural-heritage/) - I interviewed Anouschka creator Tamara Shogaolu at IDFA DocLab 2023. See more context in the rough transcript below. This is a listener-supported podcast through the Voices of VR Patreon. Music: Fatality
- [#1335: Retrospective on Lodz Film School's Visual Narratives Lab and "Whispers" with Jacek Nagłowski](https://voicesofvr.com/1335-retrospective-on-lodz-film-schools-visual-narratives-lab-and-whispers-with-jacek-naglowski/) - I interviewed Lodz Film School's Visual Narratives Lab director Jacek Nagłowski at IDFA DocLab 2023. See more context in the rough transcript below. This is a listener-supported podcast through the Voices of VR Patreon. Music: Fatality
- [#1336: "Close" Uses Hand Gestures to Switch Between Audio Commentary Channels on Juitamai Dance Performance](https://voicesofvr.com/1336-close-uses-hand-gestures-to-switch-between-audio-commentary-channels-on-juitamai-dance-performance/) - I interviewed Close creator Hana Umeda at IDFA DocLab 2023. See more context in the rough transcript below. This is a listener-supported podcast through the Voices of VR Patreon. Music: Fatality
- [#1337: Using Night Vision Googles to Watch Viscerally Immersive Dance Performance "One Two" in Total Darkness](https://voicesofvr.com/1337-using-night-vision-googles-to-watch-viscerally-immersive-dance-performance-one-two-in-total-darkness/) - I interviewed One Two creator Christian Bakalov at IDFA DocLab 2023. See more context in the rough transcript below. This is a listener-supported podcast through the Voices of VR Patreon. Music: Fatality
- [#1338: Multi-Sensory Immersive Art Installation "Redemption" Deconstructs Brazil's History of Eugenics](https://voicesofvr.com/1338-multi-sensory-immersive-art-installation-redemption-deconstructs-brazils-history-of-eugenics/) - I interviewed Redemption creator Mariana Luiza at IDFA DocLab 2023. See more context in the rough transcript below. This is a listener-supported podcast through the Voices of VR Patreon. Music: Fatality
- [#1339: "The School, a World" uses Web Documentary to Profile Changes in the Small Polish Town of Chlebiotki](https://voicesofvr.com/1339-the-school-a-world-uses-web-documentary-to-profile-changes-in-the-small-polish-town-of-chlebiotki/) - I interviewed The School, a World creators Iga Łapińska & Krzysztof Pijarski at IDFA DocLab 2023. See more context in the rough transcript below. Here's a link to the web documentary of The School, a World so that you can explore it yourself, run time is a bit over two and a half hours if
- [#1340: Recreating the Social Dynamics of a Road Trip in "Yugo: The Non-Game"](https://voicesofvr.com/1340-recreating-the-social-dynamics-of-a-road-trip-in-yugo-the-non-game/) - I interviewed Yugo : The Non-Game creator Petrit Hoxha at IDFA DocLab 2023. See more context in the rough transcript below. This is a listener-supported podcast through the Voices of VR Patreon. Music: Fatality
- [#1342: Transforming a Book into an Interactive Experience with the Time-Based Edition of "Borderline Visible"](https://voicesofvr.com/1342-transforming-a-book-into-an-interactive-experience-with-the-time-based-edition-of-borderline-visible/) - I interviewed Borderline Visible creator Ant Hampton at IDFA DocLab 2023. See more context in the rough transcript below. This is a listener-supported podcast through the Voices of VR Patreon. Music: Fatality
- [#1343: Using 360 Video to Connect Women Prisoners in Chile with their Families in "Going Back Home: Mother VR"](https://voicesofvr.com/1343-using-360-video-to-connect-women-prisoners-in-chile-with-their-families-in-going-back-home-mother-vr/) - I interviewed Going Back Home Mother: VR creators Catalina Alarcon & Daniela Camino at IDFA DocLab 2023. See more context in the rough transcript below. This is a listener-supported podcast through the Voices of VR Patreon. Music: Fatality
- [#1344: "Turbulence: Jamais Vu" Wins IDFA DocLab Immersive Non-Fiction Award with Embodied Mixed Reality Doc on Depersonalization & Derealization](https://voicesofvr.com/1344-turbulence-jamais-vu-wins-idfa-doclab-immersive-non-fiction-award-with-embodied-mixed-reality-doc-on-depersonalization-derealization/) - I interviewed Turbulence: Jamais Vu creators Ben Joseph Andrews & Emma Roberts at IDFA DocLab 2023. See more context in the rough transcript below. Here are my 19 episodes from IDFA DocLab 2023: #1328: Kickoff of IDFA DocLab 2023: Natalie's Trifecta is a Virtual Tour of Natalie Paneng's Digital Art, Identity, & Imagination #1325: End
- [#1351: "Stranger Things VR" Breakdown of Story, Gameplay, & Design Process with Tenderclaws Co-Founders](https://voicesofvr.com/1351-stranger-things-vr-breakdown-of-story-gameplay-design-process-with-tenderclaws-co-founders/) - Stranger Things VR is part action adventure, psychological thriller, and deep dive character study of Vecna, who the main villain of the Stranger Things tv show introduced in Season 4. I have only seen Season 1, and so there there parts where I had to watch a recap to get a bit more context but
- [#1352: Felix & Paul Studios Secures Funding for Next LBE VR + Apple Vision Pro's Focus on Entertainment](https://voicesofvr.com/1352-felix-paul-studios-secures-funding-for-next-lbe-vr-apple-vision-pros-focus-on-entertainment/) - On February 13, 2024, Felix & Paul studios announced that they had secured multi-million dollar financing for their next Location-Based Entertainment (LBE) VR experience that was their "most ambitious project yet" and based upon a brand-new IP that's set to launch in 2025. They had such a big success with their previous LBE of The
- [#1355: Reflecting on the Technicolor Experience Center & Mars Home Planet with Marcie Jastrow](https://voicesofvr.com/1355-reflecting-on-the-technicolor-experience-center-mars-home-planet-with-marcie-jastrow/) - Flashback to SXSW 2019 with Marcie Jastrow talking about the Technicolor Experience Center, and the Mars Home Planet location-based experience. Jastrow is featured in the 3rd chapter of Yale anthropologist Lisa Messeri's In the Land of the Unreal: Virtual and Other Realities in Los Angeles field study conducted in 2018. This is a listener-supported podcast
- [#1358: Reflecting on Location-Based Entertainment VR in 2018 with Joanna Popper](https://voicesofvr.com/1358-reflecting-on-location-based-entertainment-vr-in-2018-with-joanna-popper/) - Flashback to 2018 with Joanna Popper talking about the state of Location-Based VR. Popper is featured in the 7th chapter of Yale anthropologist Lisa Messeri's In the Land of the Unreal: Virtual and Other Realities in Los Angeles field study conducted in 2018. This is a listener-supported podcast through the Voices of VR Patreon. Music:
- [#1361: Agog Immersive Media Institute Launches to Help Social Good Orgs Leverage XR](https://voicesofvr.com/1361-agog-immersive-media-institute-launches-to-help-social-good-orgs-leverage-xr/) - The Agog Immersive Media Institute officially launched today by Grist-founder Chip Giller and philanthropist / investor Wendy Schmit. They describe Agog as "a groundbreaking initiative at the intersection of technology, communications, and social impact. Agog, a philanthropic organization, will help creators and nonprofit leaders harness the power of extended reality (XR) technologies to spur positive
- [#1359: Landmark Anthropological Field Study of VR with "In the Land of the Unreal" author Lisa Messeri](https://voicesofvr.com/1359-landmark-anthropological-field-study-of-vr-with-land-of-the-unreal-author-lisa-messeri/) - Yale Anthropologist Lisa Messeri spent a year doing field work in Los Angeles in 2018 studying the political ecology of the VR community, and will be releasing her landmark book called In the Land of the Unreal: Virtual and Other Realities in Los Angeles on Friday, March 8th. It's the best book about the culture
- [#1356: Origin Story for Embodied Labs with Carrie Shaw from VRLA 2018](https://voicesofvr.com/1356-origin-story-for-embodied-labs-with-carrie-shaw-from-vrla-2018/) - Flashback to VRLA 2018 with Carrie Shaw talking about the founding story of Embodied Labs, which provides VR training to care givers. Shaw is featured in the 5th chapter of Yale anthropologist Lisa Messeri's In the Land of the Unreal: Virtual and Other Realities in Los Angeles field study conducted in 2018. This is a
- [#1357: Jacki Morie's Scent Collar and History of VR from VRLA 2017](https://voicesofvr.com/1357-jacki-mories-scent-collar-and-history-of-vr-from-vrla-2017/) - Flashback to VRLA 2017 with Jacki Morie talking about her patented Scent Collar and VR history. Morie is featured in the 6th chapter of Yale anthropologist Lisa Messeri's In the Land of the Unreal: Virtual and Other Realities in Los Angeles field study conducted in 2018. This is a listener-supported podcast through the Voices of
- [#699: Using Real-Time Biofeedback & VR to Train Positive Thinking with Healium XR](https://voicesofvr.com/699-using-real-time-biofeedback-vr-to-train-positive-thinking-with-healium-xr/) - I talk with StoryUp XR CEO Sarah Hill about an experience that they collaborated on called Healium XR in order to use biofeedback with VR to train positive thinking. They're using a commercial, off-the-shelf EEG Muse headband to detect the asymmetrical gamma activity that's correlated to optimism, and they're using this signal as a 'story steering wheel' within a virtual reality experience where your positive thoughts controls a drone that's flying up a waterfall. I talk to Hill about her experience, and the potential for biofeedback VR experiences to help provide people a brain break, and to relax and nurture some skills to be able to better cope with the enormous amounts of stress that are in our society today. The Healium Wellness app is available for the Oculus Go.
- [#1353: "Our Next Reality" Book Debates Future of XR + AI, and Speculations of Superintelligence Promises & Perils](https://voicesofvr.com/1353-our-next-reality-book-debates-future-of-xr-ai-and-speculations-of-superintelligence-promises-perils/) - The book Our Next Reality: How the AI-powered Metaverse Will Reshape the World is structured as a debate between Alvin Wang Graylin and Louis Rosenberg, who each have over 30 years of experience in XR and AI. Graylin embodies the eternal optimist and leans towards techno-utopian views while Rosenberg voices the more skeptical perspectives while
- [#1350: Healium Developer Challenges Meta's Open Ecosystem Claims Being Stuck in App Lab for 3 Years While Launching on Day One for Apple Vision Pro](https://voicesofvr.com/1350-healium-developer-challenges-metas-open-ecosystem-claims-being-stuck-in-app-lab-for-3-years-while-launching-on-day-one-for-apple-vision-pro/) - Last Wednesday, Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg posted a review of the Apple Vision Pro on his Instagram page where at the end he made the claim that Meta intends on being a much more open platform and ecosystem than Apple. While Meta has pushed forward standards like OpenXR and has an industry-leading implementation of WebXR,
- [1349: Building Juno for YouTube visionOS App with iOS developer Christian Selig](https://voicesofvr.com/1349-building-juno-for-youtube-visionos-app-with-ios-developer-christian-selig/) - One of the more popular apps for the Apple Vision Pro is Juno for YouTube, which iOS developer Christian Selig created in a week using the emulator to have ready in time for the February 2nd launch. Mark Gurman reported on January 18th that Spotify and YouTube were joining Neflix in not having native visionOS
- [#1347: One of the Grandfathers of VR Tom Furness on the Origins of Virtual Reality](https://voicesofvr.com/1347-one-of-the-grandfathers-of-vr-tom-furness-on-the-origins-of-virtual-reality/) - Tom Furness has been working on virtual reality technologies since 1966, but most of his early work with the United States Air Force has remained fairly secret (see my previous interviews in episodes #245 and #347). Ivan Sutherland and Mort Heileg are often cited as early VR pioneers, but Furness was also working secretly at
- [#1348: The Journey from VRvana to Apple Vision Pro with co-founder Bert Nepveu](https://voicesofvr.com/1348-the-journey-from-vrvana-to-apple-vision-pro-with-co-founder-bert-nepveu/) - Bert Nepveu is a co-founder of VRvana, which made a enterprise mixed reality headset that was acquired by Apple in 2017 and provided a number of key innovations that have now shipped with the Apple Vision Pro. I had a chance to sit down with Nepveu to capture a comprehensive founder's journey from the beginning
- [#1346: Apple Vision Pro First Impressions with Road to VR's Ben Lang & the Comparisons to Meta Quest](https://voicesofvr.com/1346-apple-vision-pro-first-impressions-with-road-to-vrs-ben-lang-the-comparisons-to-meta-quest/) - The Apple Vision Pro launched on February 2nd, 2024, and I feel like it represents an inflection point in the XR industry where the screen resolution is high enough for it to be used as a viable screen replacement, the eye-tracking combined with pinch gestures is a paradigm shift in human-computer interaction reaching new levels
- [#467: Oculus Story Studio's 'Quill': An Immersive Storytelling Tool](https://voicesofvr.com/467-oculus-story-studios-quill-an-immersive-storytelling-tool/) - Oculus Story Studio has been exploring VR storytelling through a series of short narrative experiences starting with Lost and Henry, but they wanted to push the envelope of immersive storytelling with their next short titled Dear Angelica. They created a new content creation tool called Quill that enables artists to create immersive illustrations and animated stories entirely while being enveiled in VR. It was announced that it was going to be released sometime at the end of January when Dear Angelica premieres at Sundance.I had a chance to catch up with Saschka Unseld at Oculus Connect 3, who is the creative director of Oculus Story Studio as well as the writer and director of Dear Angelica, to talk about Quill and the intention behind their next VR experience.
- [#432: Embedding a Story within a Place with 'Obduction'](https://voicesofvr.com/432-embedding-a-story-within-a-place-with-obduction/) - When Rand Miller was a kid, he played Dungeons & Dragons with his brother Robyn where they would go on adventures together exploring and creating imaginal worlds. They wanted to embed that same sense of wonder and awe of exploration and discovery into a videogame, and so they were inspired to create Myst together. They tend to think of Myst, Riven, and their latest adventure game Obduction more as places than games since you can't die, and you're learning more about the story of the world as you solve puzzles.
- [#433: 'Rick and Morty Simulator': Making Narratives More Plausible through Interruption](https://voicesofvr.com/433-rick-and-morty-simulator-making-narratives-more-plausible-through-interruption/) - When Owlchemy Labs' Alex Schwartz saw that Rick and Morty creator Justin Roiland was a fan of their Job Simulator VR experience, then he reached out and met up with Justin in Los Angeles. They came up with the idea of creating an interactive Rick and Morty Simulator VR experience that would combine the mechanics of Job Simulator within the setting of Rick's garage.
- [#438: "Luna": A Deep Game, Narrative Puzzler about Recovering From Grief & Trauma](https://voicesofvr.com/438-luna-a-deep-game-narrative-puzzler-about-recovering-from-grief-trauma/) - One of the best VR experiences I did at PAX West this year was Funomena's Luna, which is a unique blend of tactile puzzles, creative world building, musical improvisation within the context of an emotionally-charged narrative. Luna is designed by Journey's Robin Hunicke and Martin Middleton, and is a part of the emerging 'deep games' movement that Fast Company describes as games 'where players 'win' by becoming more enlightened, empathetic people.' It uses the unique affordances of VR with the Oculus Touch controllers to create an experience of imaginative play that is difficult to pin down into an existing genre, but provides an experience that is bound to introduce VR to a new audience.
- [#439: Ted Schilowitz on Bringing VR & Interactive Storytelling to Hollywood](https://voicesofvr.com/439-ted-schilowitz-on-bringing-vr-interactive-storytelling-to-hollywood/) - When Ted Schilowitz was looking for what to do after traveling the world as the first RED Camera employee, he happened upon an opportunity to serve as a futurist for 20th Century Fox for looking at how to use emerging technologies for storytelling. Over the past three years, he's had a lot of early access to hardware from all of the major virtual and augmented reality companies ranging from Oculus, Valve, Sony, Google, Magic Leap, ODG, and Microsoft.
- [#440: Spherica's Stabilization Technology Used in HBO's 'Westworld' VR Experience](https://voicesofvr.com/440-sphericas-stabilization-technology-used-in-hbos-westworld-vr-experience/) - HBO premiered a VR experience for their new Westworld series at TechCrunch Disrupt, and they used Spherica's camera stabilization technology in order to pull off an extended live-action tracking shot in VR. Common advice given to new VR filmmakers is to not even try to attempt to move the camera since any shaking or sudden unexpected movements can be a motion sickness trigger. But Spherica has been able to create stabilization platform using a GoPro mount and remote-controlled rover that is able to comfortably move a VR camera through a tracking shot.I had a chance to catch up with Spherica's CEO Nikolay Malukhin and managing partner Alina Mikhaleva at TechCrunch Disrupt where we talked about their rover, drone, and cable camera stabilization solutions, collaborating with HBO on the Westworld VR experience, scaling up their rig to Black Magic and eventually RED Epic cameras, and some of their upcoming content and hardware projects including a first-person perspective helmet mount.
- [#441: What Dungeons & Dragons Can Teach Storytelling in VR](https://voicesofvr.com/441-what-dungeons-dragons-can-teach-storytelling-in-vr/) - Dungeons & Dragons is a form of collaborative storytelling that isn't constrained by time or budget. Because it's all happening within the theater of the mind, then if you can imagine it, then it can be constructed instantaneously within everyone's imagination. The end result is that each participant is able to express the full extent of their free will to the dungeon master, who either directly controls their fate or delegates it to a roll of the dice. It's the ultimate expression of imagination, improvisation, and storytelling that provides a high benchmark and design inspiration for what virtual reality and artificial intelligence can only hope to someday fully replicate within the metaverse.Chris Perkins is a Dungeons & Dragons story designer as well as the Dungeon Master for the Acquisitions Incorporated podcast. I had a chance to talk with Chris the day after the 3-hour, season finale show for Acq Inc. that took place in front of a live audience of 2500 people in the PAX West Main Theater.
- [#442: Framestore VR on Digital Lightfield Workflows & VR Ad Campaigns](https://voicesofvr.com/442-framestore-vr-on-digital-lightfield-workflows-vr-ad-campaigns/) - When I was at SIGGRAPH this year, one of the hottest topics was figuring out the workflows for how to deal with the complexity of capturing, processing, and distributing volumetric digital light fields. Otoy's Jules Urbach had a lot of insights, and a number of different high profile VR agencies like Framestore VR appear to be secretly working on their own processes for how to best capture and display live action volumetric capture.I had a chance to talk with a couple of people from Framestore VR about this, Johannes Saam, a senior software developer, and Michael Ralla, a compositing supervisor. They weren't ready to provide a lot of specific details just yet beyond the fact that it's a hot topic, and that they're possible working on their own workflow solutions with some insights gathered form deep image compositing.
- [#408: Situational Knowledges in VR Narrative: The Role of Place & Perspective](https://voicesofvr.com/408-situational-knowledges-in-vr-narrative-the-role-of-place-perspective/) - Catherine Rehwinkel is working on creating a conceptual framework that enables storytellers to storyboard linear stories in VR. She's a filmmaker who recently finished a master's degree computational & systems thinking at NYU. She's been inspired by Donna Haraway's 'Situated Knowledges' feminist theories that take into account how location and place impact our perspective on events, and she's intrigued by VR stories that grow and evolve when you watch them from different locations.
- [#411: Living Stories: What VR Can Learn from Immersive Theater](https://voicesofvr.com/411-living-stories-what-vr-can-learn-from-immersive-theater/) - When the recession hit in 2008, book publisher Charlie Melcher looked to reinvent how Melcher Media told stories using the latest smart phone technologies. They developed an iOS app for Al Gore's Our Choice, and started having a lot of conversations with other media producers from many different disciplines to see how they were using code as a canvas for storytelling. So in 2012, Charlie founded The Future of Storytelling Summit to gather together the most cutting-edge innovators of telling immersive and interactive stories. For the past four years, they've been featuring more and more virtual reality technologies at their yearly summit, which is happening again this year on October 5th and 6th.Charlie cites Orality of Literacy by Walter Ong as a book that explores the impact of what was lost from oral traditions within cultures when the printed word started to become the authoritative source rather than from stories that were collaboratively shared. He sees that virtual and augmented reality is bringing us back to a previous time with 'Living Stories' that are personalized, responsive, immersive, and multi-sensory. Rather than continuing to produce uni-directional linear media, these new immersive platforms are enabling us to play a more significant role within stories where we can exert our agency, express our creativity, and more fully collaborate in making stories.
- [#415: "Pearl" is an Emotionally Powerful Story about Selfless Service](https://voicesofvr.com/415-pearl-is-an-emotionally-powerful-story-about-selfless-service/) - People were waiting in lines for over an hour to see Pearl both at SIGGRAPH and VRLA, which is one of the best narrative VR experiences that I've seen so far. The central character in the story is a car named 'Pearl' who gives selfless service to her father and daughter musician owners. The experience traces Pearl's selfless service spanning a wide range of emotional memories doing mundane chores, road trip adventures, and key turning points in their lives. It takes inspiration from Shel Silverstein's The Giving Tree, and it proved to be a powerful, moving, and emotional experience for many people watching it was SIGGRAPH and VRLA.Pearl was directed by Patrick Osborne, who won an Academy Award for Disney's animated short film Feast. It was produced as a part of Google's Spotlight Stories using their custom VR animation software codenamed Moxie that's being developed within Google's Advanced Technologies and Projects (aka ATAP).
- [#420: Telling Stories with Improv Acting in 'Mindshow'](https://voicesofvr.com/420-telling-stories-with-improv-acting-in-mindshow/) - Visionary VR premiered their Mindshow interactive storytelling platform at VRLA, and was quite a unique experience to be able to record an improv acting session within the body of a virtual character and then step outside of myself to then watch my performance. I've recorded myself with a 2D camera plenty of times before, but there's something qualitatively different in being able to watch my body movements while immersed within a spatial environment. The core mechanic of reacting to a story prompt was simple and intuitive, and the number of variations in how a scene plays out is only limited by human creativity. The initial Mindshow demo at VRLA had a simple linear capture where you could layer additional characters within a scene while you have previous takes play back to you. You could develop an entire story by rapidly iterating different performances of yourself much like a looping musician might construct a song.
- [#392: Combining Game & Story with 'The London Heist' + Reflections on Exclusive VR Content](https://voicesofvr.com/392-combining-game-story-with-the-london-heist-reflections-on-exclusive-vr-content/) - Sony's The London Heist is one of the best fusions of narrative VR storytelling with interactive game components. It's structured as a flashback sequence starting with you being confronted within an interrogation room, and there are branching narratives that flavor the timing of the plot points and can be triggered by whether or not you're paying attention to the main character. The flashback action sequences serve to transport you into having an embodied presence, and it's the closest experience I've felt that was suddenly living within an action film, car chase.I had a chance to talk to George Andreas, the Creative Director of Sony's PlayStation VR Worlds, at GDC 2016 where we talked about the narrative experiments, lessons learned, as well as the four other bespoke experiences ranging from an underwater experience, a space adventure, street luge racing game, and the futuristic competitive sporting game of Danger Ball. All of these experiences will be exclusively shipping with the PlayStation VR, and so I take the opportunity to make some comments and reflections about the ongoing debate about the exclusive vs. cross-platform & closed vs. open content ecosystems.
- [#406: Building Storyworlds with Lawnmower Man's Brett Leonard](https://voicesofvr.com/406-building-storyworlds-with-lawnmower-mans-brett-leonard/) - Brett Leonard's journey into VR all started when he moved to Santa Cruz and started partying and smoking pot with some of the elite visionaries from the Silicon Valley technology scene. He was an aspiring writer and film director who got inspired by Jaron Lanier's evangelism of virtual reality technologies. Brett got to try out a lot of cutting edge VR and then went on to help popularize the term 'virtual reality' on a global scale with his 1992 film The Lawnmower Man, which is a dark cautionary tale that also contains many prophetic predictions. It's still one of the earliest and most accurate portrayal of the potential of VR as an immersive video game medium, and Palmer Luckey has cited it as an inspiration for being able to step into a video game. It also shows how VR could open up new neural pathways into the mind and serve as one of the most transformational mediums today.I had a chance to sit down with Virtuosity Entertainment's Brett at Casual Connect last week to talk about some of the history of how he got into VR, and how he's been thinking about how VR will transform storytelling into the process of building storyworlds. He's taking inspiration from shamanic and tribal rituals as well as immersive theater productions like Sleep No More to come the conclusion that the primary experience of a story world will be kind of like a 'clothes line under which the entire experience is hung.' While a tradition narrative is more like being presented a singular clothes line that's fed to you, in VR it'll be more like discovering many different clothes lines where you get to decide which line to focus on and then 'try on the clothes on that line in order to discover where that clothes line leads.'
- [#407: Cracking the Narrative Code of VR with the Interactive Documentary Genre](https://voicesofvr.com/407-cracking-the-narrative-code-of-vr-with-the-interactive-documentary-genre/) - Back in 2014, the CLOUDS interactive documentary premiered at Sundance New Frontier where it debuted a VR interface to navigate over 40 oral history interviews with creative coding pioneers. Movies have typically been pretty linear, but how could a documentary become more interactive? Just as Hypertext links enabled web content to interactively link to other related resources with many inbound and outbound links, then the CLOUDS creators James George and Jonathan Minard used a similar concept to hand craft multiple inbound and outbound connections for every segmented interview clip. This created an interconnected web of media that can be navigated within VR, which ends up being more like a tagged media database than a linear film.I had a chance to talk to one of the creators of CLOUDS, James George, who is the co-founder & CEO of Simile Systems & founding member of the production company called Scatter. James is a very innovative thinker about the future of interactive media, and has many deep thoughts on the topic. He talks about the 4-year evolution of CLOUDS, documenting the creative coder movement, how they implemented their interactive documentary, and the future of cracking the narrative code of the VR medium through the defining of different each of the genres.
- [#374: Storytelling in VR & Mixed Reality with SPACES](https://voicesofvr.com/374-storytelling-in-vr-mixed-reality-with-spaces/) - Brad Herman & Shiraz Akmal recently left DreamWorks Animation to raise $3 million to start SPACES Inc., which is a virtual reality and mixed reality company focusing on storytelling for different brands including Microsoft, NBCUniversal, and The Hettema Group. Brad founded the DreamLab at DreamWorks in order to focus on developing content for mobile and cutting edge immersive technologies like VR, and so he's been intimately involved with exploring storytelling in VR for the past couple of years. I had a chance to catch up with him at SVVR 2016, where he shared his thoughts about storytelling in VR and mixed reality, how to deal with non-compliant users, how he thinks that VR differs from film & broadway, and one of their first mixed reality projects of Big Blue Bubble's My Singing Monsters.
- [#380: What Broadway Theater Can Teach 360 Video](https://voicesofvr.com/what-broadway-theater-can-teach-vr-video-production/) - KonceptVR has produced a couple of 360 videos for Broadway Theater productions that includes a promo with the cast of Hamilton as well as a music video with the cast of School of Rock. I had a chance to catch up with KonceptVR's Max Bolotov at SVVR 2016 where he shared a lot of his lessons learned from working on broadway, some history of 360 video rigs with Freedom 360, and one of the very first 360 music videos produced by yellowBird in 2010 that inspired him to get into spherical video.
- [#384: Playhouse VR: Bringing Psychedelic Consciousness to 360 Video](https://voicesofvr.com/384-playhouse-vr-bringing-psychedelic-consciousness-to-360-video/) - Christine Heller is the co-founder and CEO of VR Playhouse, and she gave a talk with her co-founder Ian Forester at SVVR 2016 titled 'How Fantasy Becomes Form' about the process of starting up a 360-degree video production studio. I had a chance to catch up with Christine at SVVR to talk about some of her main points, as well as talk about how VR Playhouse wants to bring a psychedelic consciousness to VR in order to potentially activate dormant portions of our brain and ultimately enable us to bring more liberation into our every day lives. We discuss some of these larger visions of VR, what Burning Man has to teach VR, her favorite narrative VR experiences, and the future of interactive storytelling within VR.
- [#349: Kevin Cornish on The Future of Interactive Storytelling](https://voicesofvr.com/349-kevin-cornish-on-the-future-of-interactive-storytelling/) - Kevin Cornish is a LA-based VR filmmaker who teamed up with AMD to do some interactive narrative experiments using gazed-based content in Believe VR. Depending on which character you look at different moments will triggered up to 32 different variations within this one-minute experience. He's using Unreal Engine mixed with live-action footage to achieve this, and he hints that there will be additional post-production tools released that will make this type of experience easier. I had a chance to interview Kevin at GDC where he shared with me his ideas about writing interactive narratives, first-person storytelling for mute characters using the reluctant protagonist as a guide, stories where characters empathize with you, and the role of emotion and eye contact in immersive experiences.
- [#358: 'Sisters' & the Social Experience of VR Horror](https://voicesofvr.com/358-sisters-the-social-experience-of-vr-horror/) - Otherworld Interactive recently announced that their horror experience Sisters just surpassed one million downloads for Google Cardboard. To celebrate, they released a compilation of reaction videos of people screaming and slamming VR headsets into the ground. While doing horror in VR by yourself may be utterly terrifying, experiencing horror in VR while other people are watching you can be a lot of fun. Your terror and screaming is immediately following by a lot of uncontrollable laughter, which can be really contagious. Overall, it's such an peak emotional experience that people want to capture and share online. These videos of visceral reactions are in part what has fueled Sisters to become one of the first VR applications to reach one million downloads.
- [#339: Storytelling in VR: Ambiguity and Implication in 1st Person Narratives](https://voicesofvr.com/339-storytelling-in-vr-ambiguity-and-implication-in-1st-person-narratives/) - Rob Morgan is the writer of The Assembly, and he spoke last year at GDC about narrative design in VR and the importance of accurate body language in NPCs to maintain a sense of presence. He returned to GDC this year to talk about some of his lessons that VR can learn from writing stories in AR. He has a lot of interesting insights about how to use ambiguity and implication to drive narratives within a first-person story to allow a user to have a more immersive and personalized experience.
- [#342: Empathizing with a War-Torn Family in 'Giant'](https://voicesofvr.com/342-empathizing-with-a-war-torn-family-in-giant/) - Milica Zec grew up in war-torn Serbia, but this was a part of her life that she preferred to just forget about and leave behind. After telling screenwriter Lizzie Donahue her story, she was encouraged to tell her story in a short film. Milica initially resisted and was eventually compelled enough to consider it, but she wasn't convinced that film was the right medium. She realized that the immersion that's possible with virtual reality would be so much more effective in telling her story, and so she created Giant, which puts you in a basement with a family as there are bombs dropping outside. I had a chance to talk to Milica at Sundance about her personal story of growing up with war, the power of empathy in VR, how Giant went from an idea to having over 40 people collaborate on it, and finally how they blended live action 2D footage within Unreal Engine to immerse you within the scene.
- [#309: Alex McDowell on World Building in Storytelling](https://voicesofvr.com/309-alex-mcdowell-on-world-building-in-storytelling/) - One of the most inspiring keynotes at Unity's AR/VR Vision Summit was by Alex McDowell on world building and storytelling. Alex was production designer for Minority Report, Fight Club, & Lawnmower Man, and so he's been creating imaginal worlds for many years. Alex argues that the process of building worlds can inform and inspire stories, and that storytelling is coming from tribal oral traditions to singular viewpoints and now back to multiple perspectives with immersive experiences. The more multi-disciplinary VR and VR gets over time, then the more rich and profound the experiences are going to become. I had a chance to catch up with Alex after his keynote to unpack some of his innovative world building narrative work that he's been doing at 5D GlobalStudio and with students at USC's film school.
- [#312: Adi Robertson on Sundance Highlights & VR History](https://voicesofvr.com/312-adi-robertson-on-sundance-highlights-vr-history/) - Adi Robertson is a senior reporter for The Verge, and she was at Sundance covering the latest developments of VR storytelling. I caught up with her to unpack some of her New Frontier highlights including narrative innovations, how empathy pieces incite anger in her, surprise orgies & insect vision, VR auteurs Felix & Paul, as well as her her top 5 Sundance experiences.
- [#313: Pushing Cultural Taboos Around Intimacy & Polyamory with 'Viens!'](https://voicesofvr.com/313-pushing-cultural-taboos-around-intimacy-polyamory-with-viens/) - Michel Reilhac is a French filmmaker who wanted to explore intimacy and polyamory within an immersive 360 video called Viens! (Come!). His Sundance New Frontier piece featured 3 women and four men exploring sensual touch and sexual intimacy with each other. Michel wanted to explore representations of the naked body and the tantric philosophy of using sexual energies for spiritual transformation.
- [#317: The Future of Immersive Education with Apollo 11 VR & Lecture VR](https://voicesofvr.com/317-the-future-of-immersive-education-with-apollo-11-vr-lecture-vr/) - One of the most compelling applications of VR will be the educational experiences that will be possible, and David Whelan's Immersive VR Education has been making some big innovations in this space. They've created the VR documentary about the Apollo 11 moon landing, which has won awards at the Future of Storytelling, Unity's Vision Summit, and the Festival of International Virtual & Augmented Reality Stories. They also just released the alpha version of Lecture VR, which aims to be the Powerpoint of VR complete with 4D effects, networked learning environments, and opportunities to directly apply science to problems within a virtual space. I had a chance to catch up with David at Unity's Vision Summit where we talked about Apollo 11, Lecture VR, and the future of immersive education.
- [#288: Samsung is Fostering Storytelling in VR at Sundance](https://voicesofvr.com/288-samsung-is-fostering-storytelling-in-vr-at-sundance/) - Samsung had a huge presence at Sundance this year as the mobile sponsor of the festival. They were evangelizing Gear VR to independent filmmakers with their Gear VR theater as well as collaborating with Sundance's New Frontier program to provide Gear VR headsets for the mobile VR selection of cinematic VR experiences. I had a chance to catch up with Jim Wilson, who is the director of immersive products & VR for Samsung. He's in charge of making sure the Milk VR has plenty of new 360-degree video experiences through various collaborations with professional and independent producers. Jim and I talked about the consumer launch of Gear VR, their plans for supporting cinematic VR experiences through their Indie Challenge Program, as well as the challenges of marketing VR through 2D mediums.
- [#289: Excitement & Enthusiasm for VR at Sundance's New Frontier Program](https://voicesofvr.com/289-excitement-enthusiasm-for-vr-at-sundances-new-frontier-program/) - The Sundance New Frontier program had 37 different virtual reality experiences showing on two different floors on Main Street in Park City during the Sundance Film Festival. Bechir Sylvain is an independent filmmaker who got his first taste of VR at Sundance last year at the New Frontier program where there were only about a dozen different experiences. For Bechir, going through all of VR experiences at Sundance was like a kid getting to experience Disney World for the first time, and I had a chance to capture his reactions and enthusiasm as he got his second big exposure to VR.
- [#290: Storytelling in VR & the Tradeoffs of Empathy and Interactivity](https://voicesofvr.com/290-storytelling-in-vr-the-tradeoffs-of-empathy-and-interactivity/) - Eric Darnell got into animation in the 1980s and eventually landed at Dreamworks Animation where he co-directed Antz, and then co-directed and co-write four Madagascar movies. He's a storyteller at heart, and now he's diving deep into writing and creating short VR animated experiences in a start-up venture that he co-founded with Maureen Fan called Baobab Studios. I had a chance to catch up with Eric at Sundance to talk about his process of crafting a story, and why he's so excited about the narrative potential of the medium of virtual reality.
- [#291: The Language of Cinematic VR with Google's Jessica Brillhart](https://voicesofvr.com/291-the-language-of-cinematic-vr-with-googles-jessica-brillhart/) - Jessica Brillhart is the principle VR filmmaker at Google working with the Cardboard team to field test the latest 360-degree Jump camera technology. She was working at Google's Creative Lab as a filmmaker when she was invited to start doing test shoots in VR. She quickly saw the power of the VR medium, and has continued to do experiments to learn the language of VR storytelling. She's been sharing her insights through a series of essays on Medium, and I had a chance to catch up with her at Sundance to talk more about the language of cinematic VR & her thoughts on storytelling in VR.
- [#292: The Four Different Types of Stories in VR](https://voicesofvr.com/292-the-four-different-types-of-stories-in-vr/) - For the past year, Devon Dolan has been trying to make sense of the interactive storytelling landscape that's possible within virtual reality. He comes from a world of story where he's currently an associate at Cinetic Media, which is a well-known and very respected strategic advisory company within the world of independent film. Cinetic has brokered distribution deals for Sundance hits ranging from Little Miss Sunshine to Napoleon Dynamite. Devon recently collaborated with Michael Parets on an essay that proposes a framework to categorize VR stories into four distinct categories. Their original Medium piece was recently expanded upon in Techcrunch, and I had a chance to catch up with Devon at Sundance where we further elucidated and simplified their 4-quadrant framework for VR storytelling.
- [#294: John Gaeta on ILMxLAB & Immersive Storytelling](https://voicesofvr.com/294-john-gaeta-on-ilmxlab-immersive-storytelling/) - John Gaeta first got into virtual reality when he was approached by the Wachowski siblings to be the visual effects supervisor on The Matrix. Now he's Executive Creative Director of Industrial Light & Magic's Experience LAB (ILMxLAB) where he's designing and enabling platforms that will lead to the Matrix -- 'minus the machine dominance' of course. ILMxLAB has a decade of story to explore within the Star Wars Universe using the latest virtual and augmented reality technologies. I had a chance to catch up with John at Sundance where he talked about collaborating with a dream team of storytellers, technologists, and theme park designers to create immersive entertainment experiences. We talk about the evolution of passive and interactive storytelling, crafting tribal social VR experiences, and the importance of including humanity and emotion within a medium that can otherwise feel isolating.
- [#296: Pushing the Language of Cinematic VR Forward with 'Sonar'](https://voicesofvr.com/296-pushing-the-language-of-cinematic-vr-forward-with-sonar/) - There was a moment when Philipp Maas and Dominik Stockhausen realized that their sci-fi horror film would be a lot more intense and work better if was a virtual reality experience. So they took the opportunity to explore the language of virtual reality from the perspective of filmmakers who were trying to tell a story. In the end, Sonar makes a number of different innovations to the language of cinematic VR that I think are worth unpacking. I caught up with the two creators at Sundance New Frontier where Sonar featured within the mobile VR section.
- [#298: Nonny de la Pena on Empathy in VR](https://voicesofvr.com/298-nonny-de-la-pena-on-empathy-in-vr/) - Chris Milk's TED talk last year popularized the idea that virtual reality has the potential to be the ultimate 'empathy machine.' Emblematic Group's Nonny de la Peña has been one of the original pioneers of exploring empathy in VR through a series of immersive journalism pieces ranging from torture in Guantanamo Bay, homelessness in LA, the Syrian refugee crisis, and most recently domestic violence with Kiya and what it's like to walk through an abortion clinic protest with Across the Line. I had a chance to catch up with Nonny at Sundance to get more insight into how she cultivates empathy within VR, but also why she's so motivated to always stand up for the underdog within her work.
- [#299: Using Magic to Create Astonishment with The VOID](https://voicesofvr.com/299-using-magic-to-create-astonishment-with-the-void/) - The VOID started when Curtis Hickman brought on James Jensen to do some pre-visualization of the Evermore theme park that he was developing with Ken Bretschneider. When Curtis asked James if he had any other cool ideas, he shared his long-time vision of creating a virtual world that was overlaid on top of a physical world to create a mixed reality experience. They created an initial proof of concept that convinced them they were on to something really compelling, but they still had to solve a number of big problems in order to create their 'Vision Of Infinite Dimensions' that The VOID set out to accomplish. So the VOID turned to 'magic' to solve them.
- [#302: Walking Through an Abortion Clinic Protest in VR](https://voicesofvr.com/302-walking-through-an-abortion-clinic-protest-in-vr/) - One of the most popular VR experiences at Sundance New Frontier this year was Across the Line, which is a piece that simulated what it feels like to walk through an abortion clinic protest line. It was produced by Nonny de la Peña's Emblematic Group and 371 Productions. It contained a mixture of live-action, 360 video documentary along with a room-scale, CGI recreation of walking past protestors who are calling you everything from a 'whore' to 'wicked jezebel feminist.' It's a visceral, emotional, and intense experience, and Molly Eagan was there to talk to people before and after they experienced it. She's the Vice President of Planned Parenthood Experience, and I had a chance to catch up with her to talk about some of the reactions and how this project came about.
- [#305: Father-Son Team Win Best VR Experience with 'Thunderbird'](https://voicesofvr.com/305-father-son-team-win-best-vr-experience-with-thunderbird/) - For the past year, Tony Davidson and his 17-year old son Kai have been tucked away in the hills of Oregon collaborating on a VR experience that was inspired from one of Kai's dreams. Thunderbird is a puzzle adventure game that surprised everyone at Unity's Vision Summit awards in walking away with the best VR experience award. Even Tony thought that either crowd favorite Fantastic Contraption or Job Simulator would be rewarded, and so there was a collective gasp of surprise when they won the award. I had a chance to catch up with Kai and Tony to get their reactions to winning, what's it like to be a father/son team, and how their Thunderbird puzzle adventure takes inspiration from dreams, myths, and Eastern religions.
- [#269: Premium Storytelling Experiences with The Virtual Reality Company](https://voicesofvr.com/269-premium-storytelling-experiences-with-the-virtual-reality-company/) - The Virtual Reality Company is a 360-degree video production studio in Hollywood that has Steven Spielberg as an advisor. I had a chance to catch up with Joshua Watson, Emily Cooper, & Chris Edwards at Oculus Connect 2 to get a sneak peak of some of their premiere storytelling experiences that they're working on. They haven't announced any specific projects yet, but they're working on a pilot for a VR show as well as an immersive documentary. Some of the VRC founders come from a pre-visualization studio called Third Floor, Inc, and they created a immersive traveling attraction for The Marvel Experience which the VRC says these types of theme park attractions have a lot of similarities to creating a VR experience. The VRC seems to be really well positioned to provide a bridge between video game and film franchises and it's worth keeping an eye on them as they've got a lot of connections within the industry.
- [#270: Using Virtual Reality to Archive Art Installations with Matt Henderson](https://voicesofvr.com/270-using-virtual-reality-to-archive-art-installations-with-matt-henderson/) - Matt Henderson is a visual artist from Portland, OR who has been creating art installations of abstracted Christmas nativity scenes for the past six years. Matt has been inspired to use virtual reality in order to document and preserve his 'NTVTY' installations, and he talks about some of the unique hardware he's used. He's also started the weekly Portland Immersive Media Group gatherings, and subsequently received a grant to buy additional VR hardware. Matt shares his journey into virtual reality starting with being an avid listener to the Voices of VR podcast, and eventually into creating a collective of artists interested in pushing the limits of VR experiences that are possible.
- [#284: Beyond Room-Scale: Exploring Infinite Worlds with THE VOID](https://voicesofvr.com/284-beyond-room-scale-exploring-infinite-worlds-with-the-void/) - On my way out to cover the VR at Sundance, I had a chance to try out one of the most advanced Digital Out of Home Entertainment systems today in an industrial park in the middle of Utah. The VOID goes beyond room-scale with their minimum 60'x60' stage in order to trick you into walking into circles without even noticing. Curved physical walls feel like they're straight even when you're touching them while walking around a quarter circle. Every time I reached out for a wall or corner, I found one and it reinforced this primal part of myself that this virtual world was being mirrored in reality. The VOID is starting to realize the vision of exploring infinite virtual worlds at 1:1 scale, and they're doing it with a lot of custom hardware, some visionary dreams, a lot of hard work, and a little bit of magic.
- [#285: Travel Inside Reggie Watts' Imagination with 'Waves'](https://voicesofvr.com/285-travel-inside-reggie-watts-imagination-with-waves/) - Reggie Watts was at Sundance showing off his first 360-degree video VR experience called Waves, which is a surreal trip into his imagination. It's one of the most quirky and entertaining 360 videos I've sen, and could be described as a dream within a dream that's jam packed with special effects, music, philosophy, and humor. It turns out that Reggie is a huge VR geek who first tried out Dactyl Nightmare in the mid-90s, and has been fascinated VR ever since. I was able to catch up with Reggie at the Sundance New Frontier lounge to learn about his journey into VR and where he'd like to go next. You can watch Waves on Milk VR's Sundance channel until Feb. 12, and then it'll likely be available through WEVR.
- [#287: Explore the Psychological Impacts of Solitary Confinement in '6x9'](https://voicesofvr.com/287-explore-the-psychological-impacts-of-solitary-confinement-in-6x9/) - One of the best narrative VR experiences that I had at Sundance New Frontier was 6x9, an immersive experience of solitary confinement. You might ask, 'Why would you ever want to do that?' Well, it was less about having a direct experience of solitary confinement, and more of a polished immersive journalism piece that explores the psychological damage of solitary confinement using a number of interesting VR storytelling techniques. I had a chance to unpack a lot of these techniques with Francesca Panetta, who has a strong background in audio production and audio narrative journalism.
- [#258: Inspiring Wonder & Dreaming with Baobab Studios' Animated VR Shorts](https://voicesofvr.com/258-inspiring-wonder-dreaming-with-baobab-studios-animated-vr-shorts/) - Maureen Fan is the former vice president of gaming at Zynga, but she's always had a passion for animation. Maureen's mind was blown open the first time she experienced VR because she saw that the future of animation was going to be within Virtual Reality. She left Zynga about six months ago, and within a couple of weeks met her Baobab Studios co-founder Eric Darnell who directed Antz as well as wrote and directed four Madagascar films. They quickly assembled a team of other animated film veterans and put together a 2-minute trailer that helped them to secure $6 million dollars led by Comcast Ventures with participation from HTC and Samsung Ventures as well as others.
- [#232: 3D Audio Mixing for Cinematic VR with the 3DCeption Spatial Workstation](https://voicesofvr.com/232-3d-audio-mixing-for-cinematic-vr-with-the-3dception-spatial-workstation/) - There are a number of different 3D audio plug-ins available for game engines like Unity, but there have not been any solutions for mixing 3D audio for cinematic VR productions. Two Big Ears just released the 3DCeption Spatial Workstation, which is a digital audio workstation that integrates with professional audio production tools. The Spatial Workstation includes an Intelligent 360 Video Player to be able to preview audio edits in a VR environment, as well as the ability to mix ambisonics audio channels with additional audio inputs. Varun Nair is the VP of Products and co-founder of Two Big Ears, and I had a chance to talk about the 3DCeption Spatial Workstation, ambisonics, performance metrics, and how he sees virtual reality is facilitating the combination of audio post-production techniques from traditional game design and film production. You can register your interest in the Spatial Workstation here.Listen
- [#242: Building Empathy with a 360-degree Video about a Sexual Assault from Two Perspectives](https://voicesofvr.com/242-building-empathy-with-a-360-degree-video-about-a-sexual-assault-from-two-perspectives/) - Specular Theory CMO Ryan Pulliam and founder Morris May talk about some of the 360-degree video experiences that they've produced over the last year including an edgy Sundance film called Perspective: The Party, which tells the story of a sexual assault from the point of view of the victim and perpetrator.
- [#222: Jaunt CTO Explains the Jaunt One Camera Specs, Lightfields & Ambisonics](https://voicesofvr.com/222-jaunt-cto-explains-the-jaunt-one-camera-specs-lightfields-ambisonics/) - Arthur van Hoff is the CTO of Jaunt, and I had a chance to catch up with him at Oculus Connect 2 to go over some of the most important specifications for their Jaunt ONE 360-degree camera,formerly known as 'Neo.' Arthur talks about how they're using cloud-computing to interpolate between 24 different cameras using digital lightfield technology in order to eventually render out 8K worth of pixels for each eye at 60 frames per second. In this interview he explains exactly how they're using lightfield technology, and how they eventually want to explore lightfield rendering.
- [#225: Immersing Yourself in Your Favorite Show in VR with Hulu](https://voicesofvr.com/immersing-yourself-in-your-favorite-show-in-vr-with-hulu/) - Alex Tenyotkin is a senior design lead at Hulu, and he talks about how virtual reality went from being a passion project to being announced as part of the keynote at Oculus Connect 2. Alex talks about some of the design challenges for designing a VR cinema application, and some of the research findings from Oculus around it. He also discusses some of the unique experiences that Hulu is providing by creating custom-branded VR environments that put you within your favorite show with one of the most popular experiences of being able to watch Seinfeld from the living room of Seinfeld recreated within VR. Alex said that the expected release date for the Hulu VR app is targeted for November.Listen:
- [#226: New VR Creation & Cinematic VR Tools Being Prototyped in Unity](https://voicesofvr.com/226-new-vr-creation-cinematic-vr-tools-coming-to-unity-in-2016/) - Timoni West is a principle designer for Unity Labs, and she's working on creating professional tools for creating VR scenes in Unity while being in VR. These tools are still in the prototype phase of development, but it's something that Unity is actively working on implementing. There will be an API for developers to extend the VR creation process within Unity, as well as a new Director Sequencer tool that could be used for Cinematic VR that's on Unity's public roadmap for the Unity 5.4 release. Timoni and I talk about these new VR features as well as design inspiration from the VR creation tools of Tiltbrush and Oculus Medium.Listen
- [#188: Studio Transcendent on developing narrative experiences with Unreal Engine 4 + Curating the VR Digest](https://voicesofvr.com/studio-transcendent-developing-narrative-experiences-with-unreal-engine-4-vr-digest/) - John Dewar of Studio Transcendent talks about their prototype VR experience called Rapid Fire: A Brief History of Flight. It's a first-person educational experience where you're standing on a virtual airfield where you see everything from the Wright Brother's airplane to a F-22 raptor fly by in a historical air show. It's a really compelling virtual field trip where you're able to really get a sense of the relative scale of these different aircraft, but also experience things that would be way too dangerous to experience in real life -- such as having an aircraft break the sound barrier just 100 yards away from you and few hundred feet off the ground. It's a great example of realistic sound design to see the disconnect between the visual feedback being disconnected to what it actually looks and sounds like to break the sound barrier.
- [#205: Designing cross-platform controls & VR locomotion for the first-person adventure game Pollen](https://voicesofvr.com/205-designing-cross-platform-controls-vr-locomotion-for-first-person-adventure-game-pollen/) - Pollen is a first-person exploration game set in space by Helsinki-based Mindfield Games. I had a chance to catch up with Project Lead Olli Sinerma at PAX Prime to talk about the story behind the game as well as some of the lessons learned from working on Pollen for the past two years.The graphics in Pollen look amazing, and there is a very detailed blog post on Unity's site talking about how they've been able to achieve high-end visuals within Unity 5. Road to VR also did a pretty comprehensive hands-up write up on the experience that you can find here.
- [#206: We Are Chicago: An interactive documentary VR game about gang violence](https://voicesofvr.com/206-we-are-chicago-an-interactive-documentary-vr-game-about-gang-violence/) - Michael Block of Culture Shock Games talks about his interactive documentary VR game experience called We Are Chicago about gang violence in Chicago's south side. It has a single ending to the story, but there are many different branching actions that are dependent upon your actions and choices throughout the experience.Michael wanted to tell the story of the dangers and challenges of living amidst gangs and gang violence. They started collecting a wide range of interviews with members of dangerous neighborhoods in Chicago, and hired a writer from the area to bring in some personal experiences and tie the story together. They wanted to create an experience where you can witness and empathize with the hardships of dealing with friends and family members who are involved in gangs.
- [#207: Underwater VR locomotion in the Time Machine VR adventure game](https://voicesofvr.com/207-underwater-vr-locomotion-in-the-time-machine-vr-adventure-game/) - Patrick Harris is the lead game designer at Minority Media where they're developing a sci-fi adventure game called Time Machine VR. The premise of Time Machine VR is that humanity is facing a deadly plague from ancient times, and that best way to eradicate this disease it is to travel back in time to find the cure within the DNA of underwater dinosaurs.Time Machine VR takes place within a submarine probe, and part of the reason for this is that Minority Media discovered that this a great way to move around within a VR space that isn't as nauseating as moving around on the ground. Part of it could be our expectations of what it feels like to move underwater from the perspective of our vestibular system. Or it could be that there are less objects on the ground that are moving by you quickly, and so floating around in the water tends to not have as much motion that you're detecting while moving.
- [#185: Aaron Lemke on the Austin Vive Jam & developing meditative, musical, & medical apps for Google Cardboard, Gear VR & Oculus Rift](https://voicesofvr.com/185-aaron-lemke-on-the-austin-vive-jam-developing-meditative-musical-medical-apps-for-google-cardboard-gear-vr-oculus-rift/) - Aaron Lemke of Unello Design talks about his VR development strategy where he's prototyping and quickly iterating and refining a VR experience first for Google Cardboard, then updating it for Gear VR, and then increasing the graphical fidelity to create a release for the Oculus Rift.The tagline for Unello Design is 'Transcendence through Virtual Reality', and so a lot of Aaron's experiences are very relaxing and meditative. He's probably most well known for Eden River, where you simply float down a river within VR and lean side to side in order to stear. He adds his own musical compositions, and then uses VR as a sort of music video and immersive experience to give people a feeling that goes beyond what a 2D medium can accomplish.
- [#187: Jason Ochoa on developing interactive VR narratives with Innerspace VR](https://voicesofvr.com/187-jason-ochoa-on-developing-interactive-vr-narratives-with-innerspace-vr/) - Innerspace VR is made up of a group of people who met in art school, and have been experimenting with VR since 2011. Jason Ochoa was at SVVRCon, and shared a little bit about what types of cinematic VR experiences they're creating.Innerspace VR was showing a trailer for the first episode of The Fifth Sleep, which is an interactive story within a story where man who is in a coma shows you his fantastical imaginal world. Jason says that it's like a cross between Inception and Fantastic Voyage.
- [#186: Nicole Relyea on Jaunt Studio & popular 360-degree videos](https://voicesofvr.com/186-nicole-relyea-on-jaunt-studio-popular-360-degree-videos/) - I had the chance to catch up with Nicole Relyea, the community manager & VR evangelist at Jaunt VR at the Silicon Valley Virtual Reality Conference. Jaunt has produced a number of 360-degree video experiences that they were showing on the Google Cardboard, Gear VR and Oculus Rift at SVVRCon, and Nicole talks about some of those experiences and which ones have been the most popular.One interesting thing that Nicole mentioned is that the release of Google Cardboard actually changed their product timeline planning. They were not expecting a consumer release of VR until the end of 2015 or early 2016, but the proliferation of Google Cardboard as a minimum viable VR headset meant that there is actually a demand for video content that's available to be served now.
- [#156: Alien Abductions in VR with The Hum Universe: Bringing the sci-fi visions of Ariel Arias to life](https://voicesofvr.com/156-alien-abductions-in-vr-with-the-hum-universe-bringing-the-sci-fi-visions-of-ariel-arias-to-life/) - Ariel Arias has been creating futuristic sci-fi worlds since he was 10 years old. For the past 20 years, he's been writing novels, RPG books, comics, and now he's making video games and virtual reality experiences.The Hum Universe is a first-person horror alien invasion game that has a beautifully crafted world. The first installment of The Hum explores one of Ariel's childhood phobias of Alien abductions. His Totwise Studios team is using the Unreal Engine 4, and the preliminary gameplay footage looks stunning:
- [#158: Exploring the spectrum of VR experiences with Otherworld Interactive: horror, music, social, educational, and room-scale](https://voicesofvr.com/158-exploring-the-spectrum-of-vr-experiences-with-otherworld-interactive-horror-music-social-educational-and-room-scale/) - Robyn Gray and Michael Murdock talk about the spectrum of experiences that they've created at Otherworld Interactive, which includes horror, music, social, educational, and room-scale.
- [#141: André Lauzon on Lessons from Cirque du Soleil's Kurios on directing attention in 360 videos](https://voicesofvr.com/141-andre-lauzon-on-lessons-from-cirque-du-soleils-kurios-on-directing-attention-in-360-videos/) - André Lauzon is a producer at Cirque du Soleil Média and head of their Digital Studio. At SVVRCon, he was giving a preview of an elaborately choreographed 10-minute, 360-degree video called 'INSIDE THE BOX OF KURIOS™ - Cabinet of Curiosities.' Kurios has now been released on the Oculus VR store and is free to download. The majority of the experience includes a lengthy single-take shot that puts you on stage of a Cirque du Soleil performance that was specifically created for the virtual reality medium.
- [#30: Kite and Lightning team talks about Senza Peso, Unreal Engine 4 vs. Unity, 3DUI, motion capture technique tradeoffs, VR lessons learned & future of cinematic VR storytelling](https://voicesofvr.com/30-kite-and-lightning-team-talks-about-senza-peso-unreal-engine-4-vs-unity-3dui-motion-capture-technique-tradeoffs-vr-lessons-learned-future-of-cinematic-vr-storytelling/) - I'm joined by the Kite and Lightning team including co-founders Cory Strassburger & Ikrima Elhassan as well as developer/VFX artist John Dewar.They talk about the creative process behind converting the mini-opera song of Senza Peso into a 2D motion graphics film and then into an immersive virtual reality experience, which created some impressive buzz within the VR community.
- [#45: OlivierJT on his musical maze VR experience of Synthesis Universe, participating in the VR community, & improving English-speaking skills with VR chat](https://voicesofvr.com/45-olivierjt-on-his-synthesis-universe-vr-experience-improving-english-speaking-skills-through-vr-chat/) - OlivierJT talks about his musical maze VR experience called Synthesis Universe. He's been working on the game for over three years now, and the VR portion for over two years. He's collaborating with a musician, and talks about the sound design considerations of integrating the music to give clues about navigating the maze.OlivierJT is from France, and talks about his experience with the VR community there, and his involvement with various VR community events including Cymatic Bruce's livestream chats & then gatherings afterwards in Minecrift or VR Chat. He also mentions a couple of the Riftmax Theater events including Karaoke night and Gunter's Virtually Incorrect show.
- [#46: Aaron Lemke of Unello Design on Eden River HD and creating a counterpoint to horror experiences, finding an outlet for his music in VR, & distraction therapy medical applications](https://voicesofvr.com/46-aaron-lemke-of-unello-design-on-eden-river-hd-and-creating-a-counterpoint-to-horror-experiences-finding-an-outlet-for-his-music-in-vr-distraction-therapy-medical-applications/) - Aaron Lemke of Unello Design talks about the relaxing VR experiences that he created in order to create a counterpoint to the flood of horror games that were released on Oculus Share. He talks about his first VR experiences that he created including Eden River, Waking Man, Fire Breather and Lunadroid 237.He talks about updating Eden River to a full-fledged game, and asking for feedback on Reddit and the Oculus development forums. He'll be adding a endless mode, options to have more interaction and less interaction, and a more intuitive interaction of leaning to steer that will be possible with positional tracking with the DK2.
- [#48: Max Geiger on bringing emotional investment to VR, the cinematic VR storytelling spectrum, lessons for directing attention, & Amara's Law insights on short-term hype train vs. long-term VR revolution](https://voicesofvr.com/48-max-geiger-on-bringing-emotional-investment-to-vr-the-cinematic-vr-storytelling-spectrum-lessons-for-directing-attention-amaras-law-insights-on-short-term-hype-train-vs-long-term-vr-revol/) - Max Geiger works at Wemo Lab, which is a content studio in LA that exploring gaming and simulation in VR, but also exploring panoramic VR capture and the software to make that happen. Wemo Lab is located in LA, and they have a number of award-winning special effects artists on staff for creating who are helping create various VR experiences.They're focused on bringing emotional investment into VR, and Max talks about the spectrum of cinematic VR storytelling ranging from computer-generated to captured material, as well as differing levels of interactivity within each of those. He says that we're still inventing the language of VR, and that the most surprising applications and interactions for VR haven't been discovered yet.
- [#19: Blair Renaud on Technolust, VR level design, intention behind dystopian cyberpunk & making photoscanned NPCs comfortable](https://voicesofvr.com/19-blair-renaud-on-technolust-vr-level-design-intention-behind-dystopian-cyberpunk-making-photoscanned-npcs-comfortable/) - Blair Renaud is the lead developer for Technolust, which is a cyberpunk VR adventure game. He talks about what it took to make his Kickstarter successful, what motivated him to get into VR development, and how his game development background influenced his VR experience development. He also discusses the process of making predictions for how technological advances will unfold, and the intention behind incorporating other dystopian, cyberpunk elements like the impacts of government and corporate corruption -- as well as the benefits of technology like the proliferation of 3D printing, VR/AR, and the terraforming Mars.
- [#28: Tony Davidson on his puzzle-based, VR adventure game Ethereon, framerate optimization, RiftUp upgrade, & avoiding photorealism for deeper immersion](https://voicesofvr.com/28-tony-davidson-on-his-puzzle-based-vr-adventure-game-ethereon-framerate-optimization-riftup-upgrade-avoiding-photorealism-for-deeper-immersion/) - Tony Davidson is the developer of the puzzle-based, adventure game called Ethereon. He talks about the process of creating a world that you can explore and interact with where there are puzzles that are well-integrated into the environment and make sense. He liked to take things apart and put them back together as a kid, and wanted to create a slower-paced VR experience that appeals to this type of exploration.He talks his approach for optimizing his VR experience by only using 270k polygons, and a handful of texture maps. He set his target platform to Android, and was very mindful of getting frame rates ranging from 120 to 300 frames per second.
- [#110: Elyse Bromser-Kloeden on Vrideo's 360-degree video streaming, environment art & educational VR](https://voicesofvr.com/110-elyse-bromser-kloeden-on-vrideos-360-degree-video-streaming-environment-art-educational-vr/) - Elyse Bromser-Kloeden is a 3D environment artist and VR developer who is working on a 360-degree video streaming site called Vrideo. Vrideo is focused on making VR streaming work, and they're doing some special optimizations provide a better quality VR streaming experience.Elyse also has her own personal educational VR experiences including Meso VR and Painted Cave. She's worked in the games industry as an environment artist and art director on games like Assassin's Creed Brotherhood and Til Morning's Night. She's also been freelancing in working on different projects where she's able to create real-time VR environments.
- [#111: Ikrima Elhassen on the INSURGENT movie VR experience + Developing the Alembic Cache Playback & Stereo 360 Movie Export Plugins for UE4](https://voicesofvr.com/111-ikrima-elhassen-on-the-insurgent-movie-vr-experience-developing-the-alembic-cache-playback-stereo-360-movie-export-plugins-for-ue4/) - Ikrima Elhassen of Kite & Lightning talks about the process of developing the INSURGENT: Shatter Reality virtual reality to promote the Lion's Gate film called The Divergent Series: INSURGENT. He talks how the project came about as well as many of the lessons learned along the way.
- [#115: Neville Spiteri on developing for the room-scale Vive + WEVR as a studio & publisher working on a VR distribution platform](https://voicesofvr.com/115-neville-spiteri-on-developing-for-the-room-scale-vive-wevr-as-a-studio-publisher-working-on-a-vr-distribution-platform/) - Neville Spiteri is the founder and CEO of WEVR (formerly Wemo Labs). It was originally started to create immersive experiences before the Oculus Rift Kickstarter. They had created an immersive underwater experience called The Blue, and then they ported it to virtual reality in 2013. They also started developing a mobile version in 2014 after getting a sneak peak of a Gear VR prototype. On March 1st, they rebranded to WEVR to show the world that they're now 100% focused on virtual reality, and they announced their partnership with Valve in creating the TheBluVR: Encounter VR experience For the HTC Vive.Neville says that experiencing The Room Demo in 2014 was one of the most profound experiences of his life, and that it was really moving to experience the sense of true presence in VR for the first time. After meeting with Valve to experience the Vive for the first time, they then spent six weeks building 'ThebluVR: Encounter,' which is a room-scale VR experience that was shown as a part of Valve's GDC demo reel. They wanted to create an introductory experience for room-scale VR where you could have a soft-landing and not be bothered by figuring out the controllers, but rather focus on exploring a space by moving around.
- [#116: Julie Heyde & Mariam Zakarian on bringing Norse mythology to life with RagnarökVR & explorational horror](https://voicesofvr.com/116-julie-heyde-mariam-zakarian-on-bringing-norse-mythology-to-life-with-ragnarokvr-explorational-horror/) - Julie Heyde & Mariam Zakarian talk about the process of bringing the stories of Norse mythology to life with their RagnarökVR experience. Julie talks about going from hacking in Unity3d by herself to doing a series of game jams to eventually recruiting a total of a dozen people from the indie gaming scene.
- [#117: Alex Chu on Designing Milk VR for the Samsung Gear VR](https://voicesofvr.com/117-alex-chu-on-designing-milk-vr-for-the-samsung-gear-vr/) - Alex Chu is an Interaction Designer at Samsung Research America, and he talks about the process and insights that came from designing Milk VR 360-degree video player for the Samsung Gear VR that's powered by Oculus.
- [#120: Patrick O'Luanaigh on nDreams and presenting moral dilemmas in The Assembly adventure game](https://voicesofvr.com/120-patrick-oluanaigh-on-ndreams-and-presenting-moral-dilemmas-in-the-assembly-adventure-game/) - Patrick O'Luanaigh founded nDreams based out of Farnborough, UK in 2006 originally creating content for the PlayStation Home. After seeing some of the early consumer virtual reality head mounted displays, he quickly pivoted to focusing exclusively on creating immersive virtual reality content.One of the first games that nDreams announced is called The Assembly, which is a sci-fi adventure game that presents the user with a number of different moral dilemmas. They're not ready to talk too much about it yet, but Patrick did give some of the background story, intention and motivation behind exploring the medium of virtual reality through the process of making this adventure game. They're planning on having it as a release title for both the Project Morpheus on the PS4 as well as for the Oculus Rift.
- [#125: Rob Morgan on Narrative Design in VR & escaping the uncanny valley via interactive social behaviors in NPCs](https://voicesofvr.com/125-rob-morgan-on-narrative-design-in-vr-escaping-the-uncanny-valley-by-implementing-interactive-social-behaviors-in-npcs/) - Rob Morgan is a game writer, narrative designer and voice director. He got into the realm of writing for VR experiences from his experience at Sony London Studio, and then freelanced with nDreams on their Gear VR game Gunner as well as their conspiracy-theory/moral dilemma adventure game called The Assembly.
- [#89: Nick "RedOfPaw" Pittom on translating Studio Ghibli Films scenes into VR & Crystal Rift dungeon crawler](https://voicesofvr.com/89-nick-redofpaw-pittom-on-translating-studio-ghibli-films-scenes-into-vr-crystal-rift-dungeon-crawler/) - Nick 'RedOfPaw' Pittom talks about the process of translating scenes from Studio Ghibli Films into VR experiences like The Boiler Room scene from Spirited Away and The Bus Stop Scene from My Neighbor TotoroHe makes the observation that translating a scene into a VR doesn't mean that it's the best way to experience the story or the characters from a film experience, and that really the best VR experiences will be custom made to take into account the pacing and environmental strengths of VR.
- [#96: Paul Reynolds on Magic Leap's vision of how cinematic reality will make technology more human friendly](https://voicesofvr.com/96-paul-reynolds-on-magic-leaps-vision-of-how-cinematic-reality-will-make-technology-more-human-friendly/) - Magic Leap has been relatively quiet about the details of their digital light field technology after raising $542 million from Google, but they're starting to be more public about what they're doing. The most detailed information comes from a hands-on from the MIT Technology Review, and there was also a recent AMA with CEO Rony Abovitz.I noticed that Paul Reynolds, a Senior Technical Director at Magic Leap, was following me on Twitter. I reached out to see if he'd be available for an interview for the Voices of VR podcast, and I was surprised to hear that he was interested.
- [#69: Ryan Pulliam on creating immersive marketing narratives with virtual reality and the future of experiential advertising campaigns](https://voicesofvr.com/69-ryan-pulliam-on-creating-immersive-marketing-narratives-with-virtual-reality-and-the-future-of-experiential-advertising-campaigns/) - Ryan Pulliam is the Chief Marketing Officer of Specular Theory, which is a digital agency focused on creating augmented and virtual reality experiences that was co-founded with Morris May. She talks about how virtual reality is starting to be used in marketing and advertising campaigns, and the potential for telling engaging stories and immersing the audience into a unique and otherwise impossible experience.Virtual Reality will enable brands to create experiences that allow the audience to play a role in the story ranging from being professional race car driver, professional athlete or rock star on a music stage. Interactive stories up to this point have been seen through a screen where the audience feels more like a spectator, but VR can immerse someone within an experience.
- [#86: Danfung Dennis on developing the language of cinematic VR with the 360-degree, Zero Point experience](https://voicesofvr.com/86-danfung-dennis-on-developing-the-language-of-cinematic-vr-with-the-360-degree-zero-point-experience/) - Danfung Dennis talks about the process of making the first commercially available, 360-degree, fully immersive VR cinematic experience called Zero Point, which was released today on Steam. I see Zero Point as a historic VR experience that will likely catalyze a lot of other ideas and experiences within the realm of cinematic VR, and so it's definitely worth checking out. Danfung is the CEO of Condition One and actually started looking at 360-degree video starting back in 2010 when creating some immersive experiences for the iPad and iPhone. He sees Zero Point as a camera test and experiment that shows the evolution of 360-video capture technology starting from monoscopic 180-degree video and maturing to the point of 360-degree stereoscopic video using RED cameras shooting at 5k and 60 frames per second.
- [#87: Jens Christensen on Jaunt VR's toolchain for creating cinematic VR & immersive 360-degree, 3D video](https://voicesofvr.com/87-jens-christensen-on-jaunt-vrs-toolchain-for-creating-cinematic-vr-immersive-360-degree-3d-video/) - Jens Christensen is the CEO and co-founder of Jaunt VR, which is a VR startup that has raised over $35 million to develop the toolchain for live-action, 360-degree spherical, 3D video. Jaunt's technology combines 'computational photography, statistical algorithms, massively parallel processing, cutting-edge hardware and virtual reality.Jens talks about Jaunt VR's mission to capture the world around you, and to be able to put that within a VR experience. It requires capturing a ton of video data, and they've developed a parallel processing data farm process to be able to stitch together a fully spherical video. They're also developing a method for capturing ambisonic 3D audio.
- [#54: Bryan Carter on Virtual Harlem & Immersing learners into the 1920s Renaissance/Jazz Age](https://voicesofvr.com/54-bryan-carter-on-virtual-harlem-immersing-learners-into-the-1920s-renaissancejazz-age/) - Bryan Carter has been using virtual worlds for education since 1997, and he talks about the lessons learned from his Virtual Harlem project to immerse students into the literature and music from the 1920s. He talks about some of the resistance that he received from his peers in Africana studies, and how his students are already immersed in technology and that using virtual worlds is a way to create more engaging and potent learning experiences.Harlem in the 1920s was improvisational and edgy, and Bryan is attempting to recreate this feeling with his virtual recreation. It was one of the first extended recreated environments for African Americans and so it attracted role playing, entertainment, live performances, lectures, poetry slams, and DJ performances, and businesses, educators and a range of different classes being taught within Virtual Harlem.
- [#68: Michael Licht on the importance of believable VR environments for presence, immersive journalism, & full-body tracking in VR](https://voicesofvr.com/68-michael-licht-on-immersive-journalism-the-importance-of-believable-vr-environments-for-presence-full-body-tracking-in-vr/) - Michael Licht is a professor of level design at USC's Viterbi School of Engineering and has involved in video games for over 15 years and has an architecture background. He paired up with Nonny de la Pena in creating immersive journalism pieces because he wanted to use his skills beyond just making war simulations like Call of Duty.He talks about the importance of creating real and believable environments because our psyche will think that it's fake unless it's based upon real physics and has sound architecture. He also talks about the importance of being able to freely roam around in an untethered VR experience, and how can create a profound sense of presence
- [#17: Cosmo Scharf on VR storytelling, insights from filmmaking, & VR meetups](https://voicesofvr.com/cosmo-scharf-on-vr-storytelling-insights-from-filmmaking-vr-meetups/) - Cosmo Scharf is a film student and co-founder of VRLA. He talks about some of the challenges of VR storytelling and the differences between a free-will VR environment vs. a traditional 2D film. Film has a series of tools to direct attention such as depth of field, camera direction, cues to look to left or right, contrasting colors or movement in the frame. Some of these translate over to VR, but you can't use all of them since there's no camera movement, focus or framing in VR.He talks about the process of starting a meet up in Los Angeles called VRLA, and that a lot of people in the film industry are seeing VR as the future of storytelling and entertainment.
- [#6: Nonny de la Peña on Immersive Journalism, Empathy in VR storytelling, Human Rights, Virtual Identity, Diversity in VR & collaborating with Palmer Luckey at USC](https://voicesofvr.com/6-nonny-de-la-pena-on-immersive-journalism-empathy-vr-storytelling-human-rights-virtual-identity-diversity-in-vr-collaborating-with-palmer-luckey-at-usc/) - This interview with Nonny de la Peña was by far my favorite discussion from the Silicon Valley Virtual Reality Conference & Expo. It's moving to hear about the type of emotional reactions that she's receiving from her human rights-centered, immersive journalism pieces that are experienced within virtual reality. She has some amazing insights into VR storytelling, virtual identity, and the importance of bringing in more diversity into VR.
- [#1238: "The Fury" Combines Two-Channel Video Installation with 360 Video to Explore Memories of Sexual Assault](https://voicesofvr.com/1238-the-fury-combines-two-channel-video-installation-with-360-video-to-explore-memories-of-sexual-assault/) - The Fury is a two-channel video installation in combination with a 360 video that "explores sexual exploitation of female political prisoners, referencing the Islamic Republic of Iran’s brutal treatment of political prisoners." Director Shirin Neshat is an established visual artist, photographer, video artist, and filmmaker who collaborated with Khora CTO and co-founder Peter Fisher who
- [#1239: "Fortune" Uses AR Filters to Tell Spatial Stories about Money and Facilitate Social Media Conversations](https://voicesofvr.com/1239-fortune-uses-ar-filters-to-tell-spatial-stories-about-money-and-facilitate-social-media-conversations/) - Fortune is a series of 8 Snapchat and Instagram AR filters that explore the topic of money and our relationship to money. Each project is around 90-seconds in length and uses a variety of immersive storytelling techniques from tabletop-scale animation to interactive facial filters to experiences AR-enabled interactions. At the end of each episode is
- [#1240: "Meneath: The Mirrors of Ethics" Uses Pepper's Ghost Technique to Represent Indigenous Ancestors](https://voicesofvr.com/1240-meneath-the-mirrors-of-ethics-uses-peppers-ghost-technique-to-represent-indigenous-ancestors/) - Meneath: The Mirrors of Ethics uses the Pepper's Ghost Technique from theme parks and theatre to represent hidden indigenous ancestors within her animation film. This technique uses two perpendicular monitors with a piece of glass at a 45-degree angle between them that reflects the image from the monitor facing up, giving it a ghostly apparition
- [#1241: "MONSTRORAMA" Narrative Game Uses Mixed Reality to Explore Inner and Outer Monsters](https://voicesofvr.com/1241-monstrorama-narrative-game-uses-mixed-reality-to-explore-inner-and-outer-monsters/) - MONSTRORAMA is a mixed reality narrative game from Atlas V that transforms your living room into a monster museum. There is a lot of environmental storytelling that's used to modulate your home, and you end up using your hands to draw mixed reality portals in order to battle both inner and outer monsters. I had
- [#1243: Origin Story of "Pixel Ripped 1978" with ARVORE and Atari Team + Novel Game-Within-a-Game Mechanics](https://voicesofvr.com/1243-origin-story-of-pixel-ripped-1978-with-arvore-and-atari-team-novel-game-within-a-game-mechanics/) - Pixel Ripped 1978 is the third in a trilogy of game-within-a-game series from indie development shop ARVORE based in São Paulo, Brazil. It taps into some deep nostalgia by recreating the environmental and contextual aspects of computing through the ages. Pixel Ripped has continued their fusion of mixing 2D platformer games with embodied gameplay mechanics
- [#1244: "Maya: The Birth" Animation Uses Mythic Symbols & Magical Realism to Explore Menstrual Taboos](https://voicesofvr.com/1244-maya-the-birth-animation-uses-mythic-symbols-magical-realism-to-explore-menstrual-taboos/) - Maya: The Birth (Chapter 1) is an animated Quill piece that explores menstrual taboos by juxtaposing lots of mythic and archetypal symbols with more mundane scenes of shame and exile within the context of family, schools, and the broader culture. The piece was created by Poulomi Basu and CJ Clarke, who are both artists working
- [#1245: "The Pirate Queen" Narrative Game Wins Tribeca Storyscapes Prize with Exquisite Environmental Storytelling](https://voicesofvr.com/1245-the-pirate-queen-narrative-game-wins-tribeca-storyscapes-prize-with-exquisite-environmental-storytelling/) - The Pirate Queen: A Forgotten Legend is a narrative VR game with lots of exquisite environmental storytelling with embodied puzzles and escape room mechanics. You play as a 19th-century Chinese woman named Cheng Shih as she becomes one of the most powerful pirates in history. Singer Studios premiered the first 30 minutes of the experience,
- [#1246: Smartphone Orchestra's "Emojiii" Cultivates Playful & Novel Group Social Dynamics](https://voicesofvr.com/1246-smartphone-orchestras-emojiii-cultivates-playful-novel-group-social-dynamics/) - Emojiii is an immersive social experience for 20 – 200 people by the Smartphone Orchestra where people use their phone web browsers to be guided through a number of interactive games and quizzes exploring how we make meaning and communicate with emojis. Steye Hallema is the founder of the Smartphone Orchestra, which aims to "unlock
- [#1247: The Branching Narrative Architecture of "The Expanse: A Telltale Series" Featured at Tribeca Games](https://voicesofvr.com/1247-the-branching-narrative-architecture-of-the-expanse-a-telltale-series-featured-at-tribeca-games/) - The Expanse: A Telltale Series is a 5-part, 2D narrative game series that's a prequel to the Amazon TV and book series. I had a chance to play through the first 90-minute episode at Tribeca Games, and then unpack it with game director Stephan Frost of Deck Nine Games. It's published by Telltale, which is
- [#1249: Experiential Design Breakdown of "Reimagined Vol II: Mahal," A Stylized & Mythic Story of Personal Grief](https://voicesofvr.com/1249-experiential-design-breakdown-of-reimagined-vol-ii-mahal-a-stylized-mythic-story-of-personal-grief/) - Reimagined Vol II: Mahal is the second edition of the Reimagined VR series that premiered at Tribeca Immersive 2023 (see my interview about Volume I from Venice 2022). It's a Quill animation piece that has lots of stylized cinematography, deliberate environmental and character design, a personal story that's very well-told through the lens of mythology.
- [#1250: Translating 1:1 Experimental Theatre Encounters into 360 Video to Transcend Expectations with Craig Quintero](https://voicesofvr.com/1250-translating-11-experimental-theatre-encounters-into-360-video-to-transcend-expectations-with-craig-quintero/) - Over The Rainbow is the second episode of a 360 video trilogy by Craig Quintero (see my interview about All That Remains from Venice 2022). Quintero is the artistic director of Riverbed Theatre, a Taipei-based performance group that has been doing 1-on-1 experimental theatre shows. Quintero has been translating these 1-on-1 shows into 360 videos
- [#1251: From Book to Play to AR Installation, "Colored" Explores the Forgotten Segregation History of Claudette Colvin](https://voicesofvr.com/1251-from-book-to-play-to-ar-installation-colored-explores-the-forgotten-segregation-history-of-claudette-colvin/) - Colored is a HoloLens 2-based, augmented reality immersive story installation for 3-10 people that talks about the forgotten history of Claudette Colvin. "This experience plunges the audience into the Deep South during segregation. In the course of that journey, we meet the young Claudette Colvin, 15 years old who, on March 2, 1955, refused to
- [#1270: Preview of Venice Immersive 2023 Selection with Co-Curators Liz Rosenthal & Michel Reilhac](https://voicesofvr.com/1270-preview-of-venice-immersive-2023-selection-with-co-curators-liz-rosenthal-michel-reilhac/) - The Venice Immersive 2023 edition is set to take place from August 30 to September 9th featuring 43 immersive storytelling projects from 25 countries and 24 works in the Worlds Gallery section. There are 28 projects in competition this year, and Venice Immersive has established itself as having one of the deepest and most diverse
- [#1271: Indie Immersive Narratives at FIVARS & the Fragility of XR Creation, Distribution, & Open Source Ecosystems](https://voicesofvr.com/1271-indie-immersive-narratives-at-fivars-the-fragility-of-xr-creation-distribution-open-source-ecosystems/) - The latest Festival of International Virtual and Augmented Reality Stories (FIVARS) starts today in a hybrid exhibition of 65 immersive stories until September 19 in Toronto and until October 3 with an online exhibition of spherical video and cinematic VR. I had a chance to sit down with FIVARS founder Keram Malicki-Sánchez to get a
- [#1272: Kickoff of Venice Immersive 2023 Coverage with Winner "Songs by a Passerby" and Atmospheric Storytelling](https://voicesofvr.com/1272-kickoff-of-venice-immersive-2023-coverage-with-winner-songs-by-a-passerby-and-atmospheric-storytelling/) - This is the kickoff of my Venice Immersive 2023 coverage that totals 35 episodes and over 30 hours worth of deep dive interviews with leading experiential designers who are breaking down their latest insights and innovations with the grammar of immersive storytelling. It is one of my most in-depth series yet, and there's a lot
- [#1273: Switching First and Third Person POV with "Finally Me" Coming Out Story](https://voicesofvr.com/1273-switching-first-and-third-person-pov-with-finally-me-coming-out-story/) - I interviewed Finalmente Eu (Finally Me) director Marcio Sal at Venice Immersive 2023. See more context in the rough transcript below. This is a listener-supported podcast through the Voices of VR Patreon. Music: Fatality
- [#1274: "Queer Utopia: Act I Cruising" Explores Queer Identity, Exile, AIDS, & Sex in the 80s](https://voicesofvr.com/1274-queer-utopia-act-i-cruising-explores-queer-identity-exile-aids-sex-in-the-80s/) - I interviewed Queer Utopia: Act I Cruising director Lui Avallos at Venice Immersive 2023. See more context in the rough transcript below. This is a listener-supported podcast through the Voices of VR Patreon. Music: Fatality
- [#1275: Translating 2D Paintings in Immersive Biography with "Frequency"](https://voicesofvr.com/1275-translating-2d-paintings-in-immersive-biography-with-frequency/) - I interviewed Syuhasuu (Frequency) director Ellie Omiya at Venice Immersive 2023. See more context in the rough transcript below. This is a listener-supported podcast through the Voices of VR Patreon. Music: Fatality
- [#1276: Beautiful "Emperor" Explores Aphasia Communication Gaps with Compelling Interactions](https://voicesofvr.com/1276-beautiful-emperor-explores-aphasia-communication-gaps-with-compelling-interactions/) - I interviewed Empereur (Emperor) co-directors Marion Burger and Ilan Cohen after Venice Immersive 2023. See more context in the rough transcript below. This is a listener-supported podcast through the Voices of VR Patreon. Music: Fatality
- [#1277: A Vocal Landscape is an Intimate Study of Authentic Conversation and Surrealism](https://voicesofvr.com/1277-a-vocal-landscape-is-an-intimate-study-of-authentic-conversation-and-surrealism/) - I interviewed A Vocal Landscape co-directors Omid Zarei and Anne Jeppesen at Venice Immersive 2023. See more context in the rough transcript below. This is a listener-supported podcast through the Voices of VR Patreon. Music: Fatality
- [#1278: Visualizing the Invisible and Pushing Forward the Grammar of Visual Storytelling with "Flow"](https://voicesofvr.com/1278-visualizing-the-invisible-and-pushing-forward-the-grammar-of-visual-storytelling-with-flow/) - I interviewed Flow director Adriaan Lokman at Venice Immersive 2023. See more context in the rough transcript below. This is a listener-supported podcast through the Voices of VR Patreon. Music: Fatality
- [#1279: "Home" Explores Human Nature Relationship with Visceral Projection Mapped Installation](https://voicesofvr.com/1279-home-explores-human-nature-relationship-with-visceral-projection-mapped-installation/) - I interviewed Home director Temsuyanger Longkumer at Venice Immersive 2023. See more context in the rough transcript below. This is a listener-supported podcast through the Voices of VR Patreon. Music: Fatality
- [#1280: Interactive Projection Mapped Installation "Populate" Poetically Explores the Human Nature Dialectic](https://voicesofvr.com/1280-interactive-projection-mapped-installation-populate-poetically-explores-the-human-nature-dialectic/) - I interviewed Peupler (Populate) co-directors Maya Mouawad and Cyril Laurier at Venice Immersive 2023. See more context in the rough transcript below. This is a listener-supported podcast through the Voices of VR Patreon. Music: Fatality
- [#1281: The Many Movie Magic Techniques Behind "David Attenborough's Conquest of the Skies"](https://voicesofvr.com/1281-the-many-movie-magic-techniques-behind-david-attenboroughs-conquest-of-the-skies/) - I interviewed David Attenborough’s Conquest of the Skies director Lewis Ball at Venice Immersive 2023. See more context in the rough transcript below. This is a listener-supported podcast through the Voices of VR Patreon. Music: Fatality
- [#1282: Ethnographic Study of South Korean Studio Apartments with "Oneroom-Babel"](https://voicesofvr.com/1282-ethnographic-study-of-south-korean-studio-apartments-with-oneroom-babel/) - I interviewed Oneroom-Babel director Sanghee Lee and screenwriter Seoyeong Jo at Venice Immersive 2023. See more context in the rough transcript below. This is a listener-supported podcast through the Voices of VR Patreon. Music: Fatality
- [#1283: The Exquisite Lighting in Fins' "Complex 7" VRChat World](https://voicesofvr.com/1283-the-exquisite-lighting-in-fins-complex-7-vrchat-world/) - I interviewed Complex 7 director Fins at Venice Immersive 2023. See more context in the rough transcript below. This is a listener-supported podcast through the Voices of VR Patreon. Music: Fatality
- [#1284: Gina Kim's Environmental Storytelling Innovations with "Comfortless"](https://voicesofvr.com/1284-gina-kims-environmental-storytelling-innovations-with-comfortless/) - I interviewed Comfortless director Gina Kim at Venice Immersive 2023. See more context in the rough transcript below. This is a listener-supported podcast through the Voices of VR Patreon. Music: Fatality
- [#1285: PK's Break Series in VRChat Explores the Intersection of Shaders and Indie Music](https://voicesofvr.com/1285-pks-break-series-in-vrchat-explores-the-intersection-of-shaders-and-indie-music/) - I interviewed Break #11 director PK after Venice Immersive 2023. See more context in the rough transcript below. This is a listener-supported podcast through the Voices of VR Patreon. Music: Fatality
- [#1286: Capturing the Horrors of the Ukrainian War in "First Day" with High-Res Environmental Captures](https://voicesofvr.com/1286-capturing-the-horrors-of-the-ukrainian-war-in-first-day-with-high-res-environmental-captures/) - I interviewed First Day director Valeriy Korshunov and producer Svitlana Korshunova at Venice Immersive 2023. See more context in the rough transcript below. This is a listener-supported podcast through the Voices of VR Patreon. Music: Fatality
- [#1287: "Letters from Drancy" is an Incredibly Emotional and Powerful Story About the Holocaust](https://voicesofvr.com/1287-letters-from-drancy-is-an-incredibly-emotional-and-powerful-story-about-the-holocaust/) - I interviewed Letters from Drancy director Darren Emerson at Venice Immersive 2023. See more context in the rough transcript below. This is a listener-supported podcast through the Voices of VR Patreon. Music: Fatality
- [#1288: "Tales of the March" Uses Durational Takes in 360 Video to Explore Death Marches](https://voicesofvr.com/1288-tales-of-the-march-uses-durational-takes-in-360-video-to-explore-death-marches/) - I interviewed Tales of the March director Stefano Casertano at Venice Immersive 2023. See more context in the rough transcript below. This is a listener-supported podcast through the Voices of VR Patreon. Music: Fatality
- [#1289: "Sen" Is a Beautifully Transcendent Virtual Japanese Tea Ceremony Exploring Reincarnation](https://voicesofvr.com/1289-sen-is-a-beautifully-transcendent-virtual-japanese-tea-ceremony-exploring-reincarnation/) - I interviewed Sen director Keisuke Itoh at Venice Immersive 2023. See more context in the rough transcript below. This is a listener-supported podcast through the Voices of VR Patreon. Music: Fatality
- [#1290: "Floating with Spirits" Explores the Day of the Dead, Indigenous Transmissions, & Elemental Animism](https://voicesofvr.com/1290-floating-with-spirits-explores-the-day-of-the-dead-indigenous-transmissions-elemental-animism/) - I interviewed Floating with Spirits director Juanita Onzaga at Venice Immersive 2023. See more context in the rough transcript below. This is a listener-supported podcast through the Voices of VR Patreon. Music: Fatality
- [#1291: Excellent Redirected Wandering to Discover Indigenous Transmissions in "Origen"](https://voicesofvr.com/1291-excellent-redirected-wandering-to-discover-indigenous-transmissions-in-origen/) - I interviewed Origen director Emilia Sánchez Chiquetti at Venice Immersive 2023. See more context in the rough transcript below. This is a listener-supported podcast through the Voices of VR Patreon. Music: Fatality
- [#1292: Pioneering the VR Essay with "Shadowtime" Critiquing Sci-Fi Dystopic Aspirations of VR](https://voicesofvr.com/1292-pioneering-the-vr-essay-with-shadowtime-critiquing-sci-fi-dystopic-aspirations-of-vr/) - I interviewed Shadowtime co-directors Sister Sylvester (Kathryn Hamilton) and Deniz Tortum at Venice Immersive 2023. See more context in the rough transcript below. This is a listener-supported podcast through the Voices of VR Patreon. Music: Fatality
- [#1294: Buddy Comedy "Gargoyle Doyle" Pushes at the Edges of Mixed Reality Storytelling](https://voicesofvr.com/1294-buddy-comedy-gargoyle-doyle-pushes-at-the-edges-of-mixed-reality-storytelling/) - I interviewed Gargoyle Doyle director Ethan Shaftel at Venice Immersive 2023. See more context in the rough transcript below. This is a listener-supported podcast through the Voices of VR Patreon. Music: Fatality
- [#1295: The AR Pop-Up Book Innovations of "Jim Henson's The Storyteller" & Amazing Shot of Earth in "The Orbit"](https://voicesofvr.com/1295-the-ar-pop-up-book-innovations-of-jim-hensons-the-storyteller-amazing-shot-of-earth-in-the-orbit/) - I interviewed Jim Henson’s The Storyteller: The Seven Ravens + The Orbit director Paul Raphaël at Venice Immersive 2023. See more context in the rough transcript below. This is a listener-supported podcast through the Voices of VR Patreon. Music: Fatality
- [#1296: "Wallace & Gromit in the Grand Getaway" Translating Big IP Narrative & Animation Rules into VR](https://voicesofvr.com/1296-wallace-gromit-in-the-grand-getaway-translating-big-ip-narrative-animation-rules-into-vr/) - I interviewed Wallace & Gromit in "The Grand Getaway" co-directors Finbar Hawkins and Bram Ttwheam, and No Ghost Creative Director Lawrence Bennett at Venice Immersive 2023. See more context in the rough transcript below. This is a listener-supported podcast through the Voices of VR Patreon. Music: Fatality
- [#1297: Studio Syro's Groundbreaking Quill Series "Tales from Soda Island"](https://voicesofvr.com/1297-studio-syros-groundbreaking-quill-series-tales-from-soda-island/) - I interviewed The First Ingredient: Tales from Soda Island – Ch. 7 director and writer Simone 'Funi' Fougnier , producer Peter Ariet, animator & director Dan-Franke at Venice Immersive 2023. See more context in the rough transcript below. Tales from Soda Island - Chapter 1: The Multiverse Bakery Tales from Soda Island - Chapter 2:
- [#1298: The Story Behind "Pepitos: the Beak Saga" Quill Piece](https://voicesofvr.com/1298-the-story-behind-pepitos-the-beak-saga-quill-piece/) - I interviewed Pepitos: the Beak Saga director Ruxandra Popescu at Venice Immersive 2023. See more context in the rough transcript below. This is a listener-supported podcast through the Voices of VR Patreon. Music: Fatality
- [#1299: Character-Driven Quill Animation Piece "Perennials" Explores Nostalgia and Family Dynamics](https://voicesofvr.com/1299-character-driven-quill-animation-piece-perennials-explores-nostalgia-and-family-dynamics/) - I interviewed Perennials director Zoe Roellin at Venice Immersive 2023. See more context in the rough transcript below. This is a listener-supported podcast through the Voices of VR Patreon. Music: Fatality
- [#1300: Prolific Meta XR Producer Ryan Genji Thomas on VR Storytelling Innovations with Animation](https://voicesofvr.com/1300-prolific-meta-xr-producer-ryan-genji-thomas-on-vr-storytelling-innovations-with-animation/) - I interviewed Meta XR producer Ryan Genji Thomas at Venice Immersive 2023. Check out all of the Quill pieces, narrative apps, and Horizon worlds that Ryan has produced down below and check out more context in the rough transcript below as well. This is a listener-supported podcast through the Voices of VR Patreon. Music: Fatality
- [#1301: "Gaudi, L’Atelier Du Divin" Explores Gaudi's Work Place and Architectural Achievements](https://voicesofvr.com/1301-gaudi-latelier-du-divin-explores-gaudis-work-place-and-architectural-achievements/) - I interviewed Gaudi, L’Atelier Du Divin producers Agnes Garaudel and Vincent Guttmann at Venice Immersive 2023. See more context in the rough transcript below. This is a listener-supported podcast through the Voices of VR Patreon. Music: Fatality
- [#1302: "Aufwind" Uses Motion Platform and Beautiful Environmental Design to Explore Aviation Sexism](https://voicesofvr.com/1302-aufwind-uses-motion-platform-and-beautiful-environmental-design-to-explore-aviation-sexism/) - I interviewed Aufwind (Upwind) director Florian Siebert at Venice Immersive 2023. See more context in the rough transcript below. This is a listener-supported podcast through the Voices of VR Patreon. Music: Fatality
- [#1303: A Deep Dive into Breaking Down the Experiential Design of "The Imaginary Friend"](https://voicesofvr.com/1303-a-deep-dive-into-breaking-down-the-experiential-design-of-the-imaginary-friend/) - I interviewed The Imaginary Friend director Steye Hallema at Venice Immersive 2023 after passing along a recommendation to watch my Storycon keynote on Presence, Experiential Design, & Immersive Storytelling. We do a deep dive into applying some of these ideas around the different qualities of presence to his project. See more context in the rough
- [#1304: Capturing an Archive of Destroyed Palestinian Homes with "Remember This Place"](https://voicesofvr.com/1304-capturing-an-archive-of-destroyed-palestinian-homes-with-remember-this-place/) - I interviewed Remember This Place: 31°20’46’’N 34°46’46’’E director Patricia Echeverria after Venice Immersive 2023. See more context in the rough transcript below. This is a listener-supported podcast through the Voices of VR Patreon. Music: Fatality
- [#1305: Critics Roundtable for Venice Immersive 2023 Breaking Down all 43 Projects](https://voicesofvr.com/1305-critics-roundtable-for-venice-immersive-2023-breaking-down-all-43-projects/) - This is a critics roundtable for Venice Immersive 2023 featuring Pola Weiß, a funding executive for XR and new technologies Medienboard Berlin-Brandenburg, as well as Alina Mikhaleva who produces virtual events at EngageXR heads up a Creative XR Studio called Less Media Group, Agnese Pietrobon who is a writer at XR Must, storylistener and independent
- [#1312: VR Filmmaking Tips from Hugh Hou & Keeley Turner](https://voicesofvr.com/1312-vr-filmmaking-tips-from-hugh-hou-keeley-turner/) - I interviewed VR filmmakers Hugh Hou & Keeley Turner at Meta Connect 2023. See more context in the rough transcript below. This is a listener-supported podcast through the Voices of VR Patreon. Music: Fatality
- [#1321: Breaking Down the Epic Immersive Adventure of "Asgard's Wrath 2" with an Oculus Studios Producer](https://voicesofvr.com/1321-breaking-down-the-epic-immersive-adventure-of-asgards-wrath-2-with-an-oculus-studios-producer/) - Asgard's Wrath 2 is one of the most epic games I've had a chance to play, and I think it's fair to say that it's like Meta's Half-Life: Alyx in terms of a premium AAA game that could be a system seller for the Quest 3. I'm about 40 hours into the game, and I'm
- [#1320: Plans for VisionDevCamp, an Apple Vision Pro Hackathon after Q1 2024 Launch](https://voicesofvr.com/1320-plans-for-visiondevcamp-an-apple-vision-pro-hackathon-after-q1-2024-launch/) - The co-founders of the first iPhoneDevCamp in 2007, Raven Zachary and Dom Sagolla, are planning on hosting the inaugural VisionDevCamp in the Bay Area a week or two after the Apple Vision Pro launch, which is currently expected sometime in the first quarter of 2024. I had a chance to get more context for the
- [#1318: Why Fitness App Developer Andre Elijah is Suing Meta for Alleged Anti-Competitive Behaviors](https://voicesofvr.com/1318-why-fitness-app-developer-andre-elijah-is-suing-meta-for-alleged-anti-competitive-behaviors/) - On October 10, 2023 Andre Elijah Immersive filed a $353 million dollar lawsuit against Meta Platforms Technologies and Alo LLC (PDF & Exhibits via UploadVR) claiming both a breach of contract for how Meta terminated a fitness application that it was funding, but also for a broader pattern of anti-competitive behaviors and Sherman Act violations.
- [#1306: Kickoff of Meta Connect Series with CNET's Scott Stein Analyzing Meta's XR & AI Announcements](https://voicesofvr.com/1306-kickoff-of-meta-connect-series-with-cnets-scott-stein-analyzing-metas-xr-ai-announcements/) - I interviewed CNET writer Scott Stein at Meta Connect about his first impressions of the Quest 3, Rayban Meta Smartglasses, AI, and Meta's strategy as they move into Mixed Reality. See more context in the rough transcript below. Here are links to all all 12 interviews from my series covering Meta Connect 2023 in looking
- [#1317: Qualcomm's XR2 Gen 2 and AR 1 Gen 1 Announcement by Hugo Swart](https://voicesofvr.com/1317-qualcomms-xr2-gen-2-and-ar-1-gen-1-announcement-by-hugo-swart/) - I got consent from Qualcomm to publish Hugo Swart's press briefing that he gave to journalists a week ahead of Meta Connect 2023 where he announced the new XR2 Gen 2 and AR1 Gen 1 chips for the first time. Here is the announcement video teaser that was the first video shown during the briefing.
- [#1316: I-Illusions Premieres Mixed Reality Game "Bam" at Meta Connect & "Space Pirate Trainer" History](https://voicesofvr.com/1316-i-illusions-premieres-mixed-reality-game-bam-at-meta-connect-space-pirate-trainer-history/) - I interviewed Dirk Van Welden, Studio Lead and Creative Director at I-Illusions, at Meta Connect 2023. See more context in the rough transcript below. This is a listener-supported podcast through the Voices of VR Patreon. Music: Fatality
- [#1315: Latest Research on Innerworld VR Mental Health Peer Support Platform & Cognitive Behavioral Immersion](https://voicesofvr.com/1315-latest-research-on-innerworld-vr-mental-health-peer-support-platform-cognitive-behavioral-immersion/) - I interviewed Noah Robinson, Founder and CEO of Innerworld VR, at Meta Connect 2023. See more context in the rough transcript below. This is a listener-supported podcast through the Voices of VR Patreon. Music: Fatality
- [#1314: Cloudhead Games CEO Denny Unger on the Need to Support Indie Devs to Push Limits of VR & Mixed Reality](https://voicesofvr.com/1314-cloudhead-games-ceo-denny-unger-on-the-need-to-support-indie-devs-to-push-limits-of-vr-mixed-reality/) - I interviewed Cloudhead Games CEO & Creative Director Denny Unger at Meta Connect 2023. See more context in the rough transcript below. This is a listener-supported podcast through the Voices of VR Patreon. Music: Fatality
- [#1313: Veteran Games Journalist Dean Takahashi on Mixed Reality, AI, Sci-Fi, Unity vs Unreal, and Meta Connect](https://voicesofvr.com/1313-veteran-games-journalist-dean-takahashi-on-mixed-reality-ai-sci-fi-unity-vs-unreal-and-meta-connect/) - I interviewed Dean Takahashi, Lead Writer at Games Beat and Venture Beat, at Meta Connect 2023. See more context in the rough transcript below. This is a listener-supported podcast through the Voices of VR Patreon. Music: Fatality
- [#1311: Bringing React Native to Enterprise XR App Development with Matt Hargett](https://voicesofvr.com/1311-bringing-react-native-to-enterprise-xr-app-development-with-matt-hargett/) - I interviewed founder of Rebecker Specialties Matt Hargett at Meta Connect 2023. See more context in the rough transcript below. This is a listener-supported podcast through the Voices of VR Patreon. Music: Fatality
- [#1310: Ethereal Engine as an Open Source, WebXR Pipeline for Apple Vision Pro and Beyond](https://voicesofvr.com/1310-ethereal-engine-as-an-open-source-webxr-pipeline-for-apple-vision-pro-and-beyond/) - I interviewed Ethereal Engine co-founder and CEO Liam Broza at Meta Connect 2023. See more context in the rough transcript below. This is a listener-supported podcast through the Voices of VR Patreon. Music: Fatality
- [#1309: Why JoyReignVR and JDun Chose Meta's Horizon Worlds as their Preferred Social VR Platform](https://voicesofvr.com/1309-why-joyreignvr-and-jdun-chose-metas-horizon-worlds-as-their-preferred-social-vr-platform/) - I interviewed Meta Horizon World Builders JoyReignVR & JDun at Meta Connect 2023. See more context in the rough transcript below. This is a listener-supported podcast through the Voices of VR Patreon. Music: Fatality
- [#1308: Meta Horizon World Builder Paige Dansinger on Creating Art History Museum Tours](https://voicesofvr.com/1308-meta-horizon-world-builder-paige-dansinger-on-creating-art-history-museum-tours/) - I interviewed Meta Horizon World Builder Paige Dansinger at Meta Connect 2023. See more context in the rough transcript below. This is a listener-supported podcast through the Voices of VR Patreon. Music: Fatality
- [#1307: Quest 3 First Impressions with YouTubers Naysy and VR with Jasmine](https://voicesofvr.com/1307-quest-3-first-impressions-with-youtubers-naysy-and-vr-with-jasmine/) - I interviewed VR YouTubers Jasmine Uniza (VR with Jasmine) & Naysy on their first impressions of the Quest 3 at Meta Connect 2023. See more context in the rough transcript below. This is a listener-supported podcast through the Voices of VR Patreon. Music: Fatality
- [#1220: Tribeca Immersive 2023 Preview with Curator Ana Brzezińska](https://voicesofvr.com/1220-tribeca-immersive-2023-preview-with-curator-ana-brzezinska/) - I had a chance to speak with Tribeca Immersive curator Ana Brzezińska to break down each one of this year's selection of 13 immersive stories. I'll be in NYC from June 7-16th covering the festival, and so stay tuned for more coverage coming soon. UPDATE August 18, 2023Here are all 16 interviews that I recorded
- [#1248: Tribeca Games Curator Casey Baltes Recaps the 2023 Selection of 2D Indie Games](https://voicesofvr.com/1248-tribeca-games-curator-casey-baltes-recaps-the-2023-selection-of-2d-indie-games/) - This year, the seven games that were a part of the Tribeca Games selections were co-located with the 13 Tribeca Immersive experiences at Spring Studios. I had a chance to unpack each of the games with Casey Baltes who curated the selection and serves as the Vice President of Tribeca Games & Immersive at Tribeca
- [#721: Introspective Hero's Journey of Self-Reflection & Emotional Education with "Where Thoughts Go"](https://voicesofvr.com/721-introspective-heros-journey-of-self-reflection-emotional-education-with-where-thoughts-go/) - Where Thoughts Go: Prologue is one of my favorite VR storytelling experiences of the year, as I think that creator Lucas Rizzotto has discovered a number of different design innovations that push forward the storytelling potential of the VR medium. I'd highly recommend everyone check it out before diving into this interview unpacking his design philosophy of emotional education, and cultivating this sense of introspective, self-reflection.
- [#1237: The VOID's Curtis Hickman on his book "Hyper-Reality: The Art of Designing Impossible Experiences"](https://voicesofvr.com/1237-the-voids-curtis-hickman-on-his-book-hyper-reality-the-art-of-designing-impossible-experiences/) - The VOID was a location-based entertainment company that shut down during the pandemic and maybe coming back at some point. The VOID Co-founder & Chief Creative Officer Curtis Hickman convinced his partners to allow him to reflect upon and share the many experiential design lessons in a book titled Hyper-Reality: The Art of Designing Impossible
- [#427: Adam Arrigo on TheWave's VR Rave & Interactive Concert Platform](https://voicesofvr.com/427-adam-arrigo-on-thewaves-vr-rave-interactive-concert-platform/) - TheWave VR coordinated two days worth of DJs playing musical sets in the world's first VR Rave at VRLA. It was TheWave's first event since announcing that they raised a round of $2.5 million to build out an interactive, VR music concert platform. I previously had a conversation with TheWave co-founder Aaron Lemke at the Silicon Valley Virtual Reality conference where they were showing off their musical content creation tools, but they've since shifted their focus on building out the social experience for watching live performances of electronic DJs. I had a chance to catch up with TheWave CEO Adam Arrigo at VRLA after the first day of their VR rave at VRLA to get more information about the future direction of their music platform, inspiration from livestreaming of DJ sets, and some of the unique affordances of performing music in VR.
- [#428: SMI Eye Tracking VR Applications & Foveated Rendering](https://voicesofvr.com/428-smi-eye-tracking-vr-applications-foveated-rendering/) - Sensomotoric Instruments (SMI) is a German-based eye tracking company who has released an eye tracking kit for the Oculus DK2 & Gear VR, and most recently for the HTC Vive. At SIGGRAPH this year, Nvidia was showing a foveated rendering demo where it only renders high resolution to the sections of the scene that you are actually looking at. It's really an imperceptible difference that would allow mobile technologies to render higher resolution scenes, or potentially help make it more feasible to wirelessly transfer data to a desktop VR HMD.At SIGGRAPH, I had a chance to talk with Walter Nistico, Head of R&D and Lead Architect Computer Vision, as well as Tom Sengelaub, Manager Solution Delivery, about SMI tracking, and some of the applications in foveated rendering, medical applications for autism research and concussion detection, marketing and analytics, and even deception detection with Converus' EyeDetect.
- [#429: Revolutionizing VR Sports Training with STRIVR Labs](https://voicesofvr.com/429-revolutionizing-vr-sports-training-with-strivr-labs/) - When Derek Belch was a kicker on Stanford's football team in 2004, he took a class with the Virtual Human Interaction Lab's Jeremy Bailenson where he was exposed to virtual reality technologies for the first time. Belch asked Bailenson if it was possible to use VR to train football players, but the technology wasn't ready yet back in 2004. Fast-forward 10 years with Oculus Rift VR development kits readily available, Belch started a master's thesis project with Bailenson to study how to use VR to train quarterbacks. Their pilot program had promising results, but not enough conclusive evidence to be able to say for sure. But the response from football players and coaches was so overwhelmingly positive that they decided to start a company called STRIVR Labs to put their research into practice. They quickly signed up Stanford, Vanderbilt, Clemson, Auburn, Arkansas and Dartmouth as their first official partners to continue their research, and they also started working with NFL teams including the Cowboys, Cardinals, Giants, Vikings, and Jets.
- [#430: Opting Out of a Phobia with VR](https://voicesofvr.com/430-opting-out-of-a-phobia-with-vr/) - Theresa Duringer has a fear of flying, and rather than treating her aviophobia with VR exposure therapy she's been experimenting with using VR to just completely opt out of the real-life signals of the flying experience altogether. She's found some anecdotal success of avoiding some of her fear of flying triggers just by using the transportive elements of VR. I don't expect that this approach would work for very many other phobias since being in VR requires you to be stationary and completely isolated from your immediate surroundings for an extended period of time, which works well for flying.I had a chance to catch up with Theresa at SXSW where she was giving a presentation titled 'Game Design for VR Pioneers.' She's the CEO of Temple Gates Games where she has helped design the VR titles of Bazaar and Ascension VR. She talks about some of her VR design best practices as well as her personal experience of the power of VR in helping her to better cope with her physiological and stress responses to flying.
- [#431: A Professional Gamer's View on VR eSports](https://voicesofvr.com/431-a-professional-gamers-view-on-vr-esports/) - Stephanie Harvey (aka 'missharvey') is a professional eSports gamer playing Counter-Strike: Global Offensive with the Counter Logic Gaming Red team. I had a chance to catch up with her at PAX West to talk about the future of eSports in VR, the ecosystem of announcers and observers that makes games more entertaining for spectators, her training schedule and core competencies for maintaining a competitive edge, and all of the various ingredients that have to emerge in order to have a viable VR eSports ecosystem.
- [#434: Tracking Your Hands using Flex Sensor Technology with Manus VR](https://voicesofvr.com/434-tracking-your-hands-using-flex-sensor-technology-with-manus-vr/) - I had a chance to try out the Manus VR hand-tracked controller on the expo floor of GDC this year, and saw that there a couple of really strong use cases for having your hands and fingers tracked in VR. You can be a lot more expressive within Social VR, and in mixed reality experiences where passive haptic feedback is available, then having your hands tracked can actually increase the level of embodied presence. I had a chance to catch up with the lead designer of Manus VR, Stijn Stumpel, at GDC where we compared Manus VR to Leap Motion, talked about how the flex sensors work, the use cases where having tracked hands makes sense, their extremely polished demo called Pillow's Willow, and where they're going in the future.
- [#435: Simulating Crowds of Virtual Humans in Immersive Environments](https://voicesofvr.com/435-simulating-crowds-of-virtual-humans-in-immersive-environments/) - The IEEE VR held a new pre-conference workshop this year on Virtual Humans and Crowds for Immersive Environments. Movies like Lord of the Rings and video games like Assassin's Creed use this research in order to create convincing group behaviors with NPCs, and architects want to be able to test their building designs to ensure that they are comfortable for different types of flows of people and evacuation scenarios.There are a number of non-VR researchers who are studying how groups of move through through different situations and contexts, and virtual reality is providing new opportunities to test out some of their theories within immersive environments. At the IEEE VR, I had a chance to Rutger's professor Mubbasir Kapadia who studies crowd simulation and his latest book is called 'Simulating Heterogeneous Crowds with Interactive Behaviors.' We talk about his research and theories into how to describe and simulate crowd behaviors, some of the entertainment and architectural applications, how VR can be used to test and verify some of these theories, and some of the big open questions that are driving his research.
- [#436: Providing Wide-Area Tracking for VR Arcades with OptiTrack](https://voicesofvr.com/436-providing-wide-area-tracking-for-vr-arcades-with-optitrack/) - OptiTrack premiered a new demo at GDC that shows the extent of their tracking technology precision. They put passive tracking markers on a basketball and football that allowed people to go toss a ball back and forth to each other in VR. I had a chance to catch up with OptiTrack's Chief Strategy Officer Brian Nilles at SIGGRAPH who talked about how OptiTrack is being used as the primary tracking solution within the different VR Arcade solutions including The VOID, VRCade, and Holovis. He also talked about OptiTrack being used for motion and facial capture for AAA studios, and for indoor GPS systems for robots and drones. There are a number of yet-to-be announced VR Arcade solutions out there that are pushing the limits of OptiTrack's technology, and Brian gives us an idea of what's possible by saying that he's seen solutions that use as many as 75 HMDs within a space up to 165ft x 120ft.
- [#437: Adding Haptic Feedback through Inaudible Bass with SubPac](https://voicesofvr.com/437-adding-haptic-feedback-through-inaudible-bass-with-subpac/) - It was on a San Jose sidewalk in 2015 that I first tried the SubPac, and it blew me away. I felt like I was immediately transported into a dance club standing in front of giant subwoofers with the soundwaves of bass rippling through my body, but yet no one around me could hear a thing. The magic of the SubPac is that it translates the inaudible frequencies lower than 40 Hz into a vibrating haptic feedback that provides a much more immersive experience. I've seen a lot of different experiences at conferences over the past year using the SubPac to increase immersion, and I was able to catch up with business developer Zach Jaffe at VRLA to hear about some of their content partnerships and new S2 Backback. We talk about some of the VR experiences and songs that have good low frequency bass design that specifically take the SubPac into consideration. We also talk about the future of immersive sound design, and his prediction that music labels will want to remix albums to work well within spatialized audio environments.
- [#443: Five Universal Tasks of 3D User Interfaces with Doug Bowman](https://voicesofvr.com/five-universal-tasks-of-3d-user-interfaces-with-doug-bowman/) - In 1968, Douglas Engelbart gave 'The Mother of All Demos' where he gave the first public demonstration of a mouse as a computer control device. For the last 48 years, the mouse and keyboard have remained the primary input devices for Human Computer Interaction. Virtual and augmented reality represent a new immersive computing paradigm where the equivalent 3D user interfaces are being continually refined as there is a burst of innovation with new input devices.Doug Bowman has been one of the leading researchers in 3DUI as the Director of the Center for Human-Computer Interaction at Virginia Tech, and the co-author of the 2004 book titled '3D User Interfaces: Theory and Practice.' The second edition is due to come out in early 2017, and is available in early release.
- [#444: Developing a New Eye Interaction Model with Eyefluence](https://voicesofvr.com/444-developing-a-new-eye-interaction-model-with-eyefluence/) - I had a chance to do a demo of Eyefluence, which has created a new model for eye interactions within virtual and augmented reality apps. Rather than using the normal eye interaction paradigm of dwelling focus or explicitly winking to select, Eyefluence has developed a more comfortable way to trigger discrete actions with a selection system that's triggered through natural eye movements. At times it felt magical to feel like the technology was almost reading my mind, while other times it was clear that this is still an early iteration of an emerging visual language that's is still being developed and defined.I had a chance to talk with Jim Marggraff, the CEO and founder of Eyefluence, at TechCrunch Disrupt last week where we talked about the strengths and weaknesses of their eye interaction model, as well as some of the applications that were prototyped within the demo.
- [#445: Shauna Heller on VR in Education, Medicine, & Enterprise](https://voicesofvr.com/446-shauna-heller-on-vr-in-education-medicine-enterprise/) - I talk with Shauna Heller from Clay Park VR about here thoughts about non-entertainment and non-gaming VR content in education, medicine, and enterprise applications.
- [#446: Ken Perlin on VR as a Social Interaction Technology](https://voicesofvr.com/446-ken-perlin-on-vr-as-a-social-interaction-technology/) - Ken Perlin is a professor of computer science at NYU, and is researching how to use VR to enhance social interactions. I had a chance to talk with him about that as well as how he's combined his passions for math and art with his procedural textures.
- [#579: Using AR to Recontextualize Our Relationship to Reality with Cabbibo's 'ARQUA!'](https://voicesofvr.com/579-using-ar-to-recontextualize-our-relationship-to-reality-with-cabibbos-arqua/) - ARQUA! was one of the ARKit launch applications that was designed by VR veteran Isaac 'Cabbibo' Cohen, and it has the same indie charm and shader art aesthetic as his previous VR experiences of Blarp! and L U N E. ARQUA's gameplay involves you creating a rainbow aquarium by playing kelp plants, schools of fish, and 3D rods that you place around your space by turning your body into the controller. Cabbibo is really interested in providing users of his AR experience with an experience of agency, creation, and beauty in a way that recontextualizes their relationship to their surrounding environment. I had a chance to catch up with Cabbibo after a presentation about Art in AR/VR in Portland, OR, where we talked about ARKit, exploring what makes a compelling AR experience, lessons that VR has to teach AR, and how data is the 'R' in MR/AR/VR/XR in that it's the transformation of real objects into data that allows us to have mediated experiences within a symbolic reality.
- [#620: AR & AI Storytelling Innovations from Tender Claws' "TendAR"](https://voicesofvr.com/620-ar-ai-storytelling-innovations-from-tenderclaws-tendar/) - Tender Claws, the creators of the award-winning interactive VR narrative Virtual Virtual Reality, premiered a new, site-specific, interactive AR narrative experience at the Sundance New Frontier called TendAR. It was a social augmented reality experience that paired two people holding a cell phone and sharing two channels of an audio stream featuring an fish guiding the participants through a number of interactions with each other and exploring the surrounding environment. The participants were to instructed to express different emotions in order to 'feed' and 'train' the AI fish. Google's ARCore technology was used for the augmented reality overlays, Google's Cloud Vision AI API for object detection, as well as early access to some of Google's cutting-edge Human Sensing Technology that could detect emotional expressions of the participants. Overall, TendAR was a really fun and dynamic experience that showed how the power of AR storytelling lies in doing interesting collaborative exercises with another person, but also becoming aware of your immediate surroundings, context, and environment where objects can be discovered, detected, and integrated as a part of a interaction that's happen with a virtual character.
- [#646: Immersive Education with Google Expeditions, AR, & Virtual Tours](https://voicesofvr.com/646-immersive-education-with-google-expeditions-ar-virtual-tours/) - Google's mission statement is to 'organize the world's information and make it universally accessible and useful,' and so it's a natural fit that they'd be a leader in creating educational experiences for AR & VR. Google Expeditions continues to grow it's library with 800 new expeditions where they have brought it to 3 million students with their Google Expeditions Pioneer program. They will be expanding to adding AR support for Expeditions soon, and there is also a set of virtual laboratory experiences created by Labster's that schools can use to supplement or replace their existing labs with virtual biology or chemistry labs. Google also announced Tour Creator, at Google I/O which will allow anyone to create annotated virtual tours with 360 photos that they take or screengrab from Google Streetview. These tours can be uploaded to Google Poly where WebXR will be enabled so that these virtual tour experiences can be shared through a URL.I had a chance to catch up with a couple of people on Google's VR/AR Team at Google I/O including Jennifer Holland, who is a program manager for Google Expeditions & Tour Creator as well as Brit Mennuti, a Product Manager for Blocks, Poly, & Tour Creator. I talked with Holland last year at Google I/O, and so she filled me in on everything that's new with Google's immersive education initiatives including Google Expeditions, Virtual Tours, and Best Buy's Google Expeditions Kits.
- [#648: New ARCore Features, Google I/O Highlights, & Open Questions about Ethics & Privacy](https://voicesofvr.com/648-new-arcore-features-google-io-highlights-open-questions-about-ethics-privacy/) - Google announced some new features for ARCore at Google I/O last week including Sceneform to help Java developers integrated 3D content into apps, augmented images to trigger immersive AR experiences off of trained images, and cloud anchors to enable multi-player AR experiences in the same environment. I had a chance to catch up with Nathan Martz, Lead Product Manager of ARCore, at Google I/O to talk about each of these new features, where AR is at and where it is going, and the fundamentals of ARCore including position tracking, environmental understanding, and lighting estimation. I share some of my highlights from a number of the experiential marketing demos at Google I/O, my impressions on the Lenovo Mirage Solo, and some of the open questions around privacy and ethics at Google.
- [#734: AR + Projection Map Storytelling with "The Dial:" Blending Layers of Digital Reality](https://voicesofvr.com/734-ar-projection-map-storytelling-with-the-dial-blending-layers-of-digital-reality/) - Your brain can fuse together so many different layers of reality so seamlessly that it's quite flexible and capable of blending the digital and the real in a way that will soon be completely indistinguishable. The Dial at Sundance New Frontier blends together a physical installation with projection mapping on to a house on a table, and then audience members watch a narrative through a phone-based AR window. He's also blending direction audio of dialogue through bone conductance headphones, and blending together a dynamic soundtrack with quadraphonic sound. It's also a social experience in that there is one navigator and two passengers who are watching the experience, and the navigator controls the flow of the authored narrative by walking forward or backwards. There's a lot of technological innovation that's happening within The Dial, and director Peter Flaherty has thought deeply about the implications of storytelling with AR and produced one of the most technically-sophisticated experiences showing in all of Sundance New Frontier this year. I had a chance to have an extended conversation where we were able to unpack many of the challenges that Flaherty Pictures & Nightlight Labs had to overcome, lessons learned from immersive theater, the open questions about spatial storytelling and augmented reality, and how to seamlessly blend together many different layers of digital reality.
- [#847 DocLab: Augmented Audio Tour with Duncan Speakman's "Only Expansion"](https://voicesofvr.com/847-doclab-augmented-audio-tour-with-duncan-speakmans-only-expansion/) - Duncan Speakman's Only Expansion was an augmented audio tour showing at the IDFA DocLab that was doing real-time modulation of the surrounding soundscape mixed with produced sounds in order to create a unique experience. The headphones had microphones attached in order to do the real-time modulation, and it also used a custom-built audio processing device to do the real-time processing that is impossible on existing phones and AR head-mounted displays. There was also a companion book for the people going through this experience that provided prompts for what they should pay attention to. The overall experience covered themes of climate change, and used a number of different real-time audio modulation techniques in order to amplify the building and releasing of narrative tension.
- [#783: AR Art on Contested Sites, Feminist Philosophy, & Embodied Art with Nancy Baker Cahill](https://voicesofvr.com/ar-art-on-contested-sites-feminist-philosophy-embodied-art-with-nancy-baker-cahill/) - Nancy Baker Cahill is a multidisciplinary artist from Los Angeles, and she's created a public art application called The 4th Wall AR app that allows people to place augmented reality art onto contested sites. Cahill used her 4th Wall AR app to place an art piece she calls 'Unprotected' on top of the supreme court in order to highlight how women are unprotected as equals under the US Constitution since the Equal Rights Amendment currently remains unratified. She also talks about how there is a rush among states to outlaw abortion in their state in order to catalyze the repeal of Roe vs Wade at the Supreme court.
- [#874 VR for Good: Using AR to Explore Contested Sites in New Orleans with Nancy Baker Cahill's 4th Wall App](https://voicesofvr.com/874-vr-for-good-using-ar-to-explore-contested-sites-in-new-orleans-with-nancy-baker-cahills-4th-wall-app/) - Nancy Baker Cahill is an artist who is creating the 4th Wall App AR platform that distributes inclusive, augmented reality art at site-specific, locations that are contested in some way. She launched Battlegrounds: New Orleans in December 2019, and it includes a number of AR art pieces from local artists who are commenting on the history and stories that have been overlooked or contested in some way.
- [#995: Breonna's Garden AR Experience as a Healing Balm to Share Memories of Those You Love with Lady PheOnix](https://voicesofvr.com/995-breonnas-garden-ar-experience-as-a-healing-balm-to-share-memories-of-those-you-love-with-lady-pheonix/) - Breonna's Garden is an augmented reality experience that premiered at the 2021 Tribeca Film Festival that was created by Lady PheOnix in collaboration with Ju'Niyah Palmer to honor the life of her sister, Breonna Taylor. I found it to be a profoundly moving experience, and lived into the intention to connect to the tender parts of myself in listening to the recorded memories by Taylor's family and friends. The iOS app for Breonna's Garden is available to try out here.
- [#1028: Jadu Pivoting from Celebrity Holograms to World-Scale, AR NFT Platform with Jetpack & Hoverboard Wearables](https://voicesofvr.com/1028-jadu-pivoting-from-celebrity-holograms-to-world-scale-ar-nft-platform-with-jetpack-hoverboard-wearables/) - Asad J. Malik is an AR artist who spent a lot time making work for the HoloLens on the film festival circuit, and then started a AR Hologram company named Jadu creating volumetric captures of celebrities and musicians using the high-end Microsoft Mixed Reality Capture Studio at Metastage. He was losing some of his enthusiasm after doing 30-40 hologram projects and navigating egos the bureaucratic dynamics of working with musicians, and then he started experimenting with cryptocurrencies and NFTs. He was also searching for alternative business models beyond advertising or high-end, holograms as a service, and had aspirations for creating a world-scale, AR game and product that allowed him to experiment more with tapping into the affordances of AR beyond passively watching volumetric performances from famous people.
- [#1034: [DocLab] Tamara Shogaolu's "Un(re)solved" AR Installation & Web Interactive on Unsolved Civil Rights Crimes](https://voicesofvr.com/1034-doclab-tamara-shogaolus-unresolved-ar-installation-web-interactive-on-unsolved-civil-rights-crimes/) - Tamara Shogaolu is an interdisciplinary artist & director who works in film and as a creative technologist that mixes analog with digital including VR, AR, and mixed media forms. We discussed these following immersive projects that she has had at DocLab, and her journey into immersive storytelling and AR installations.
- [#1101: Tribeca XR: AR Rock Operetta & Shakespeare-Villain Origin Story in "Iago: The Green Eyed Monster AR"](https://voicesofvr.com/1101-tribeca-xr-ar-rock-operetta-shakespeare-villain-origin-story-in-iago-the-green-eyed-monster-ar/) - Iago: The Green Eyed Monster is an Animated AR, Rock Operetta, exploring the villain origin story of the character of Iago from Shakespeare Othello. There are links to the iOS and Android AR app linked on their website, and I'd recommend checking out and then listening to this in-depth story and process breakdown that I did with co-creators Josh Nelson Youssef and Mary Chieffo.
- [#1110: Tribeca XR: Bringing Slow Media & the Tenderness of Now to AR Storytelling with "ReachYou"](https://voicesofvr.com/1110-tribeca-xr-bringing-slow-media-the-tenderness-of-now-to-ar-storytelling-with-reachyou/) - ReachYou is an AR story that receives transmissions from the future in order to connect to the tenderness of the now. It's a slow media project aimed to create a portal into a story world that allows the audience to access emotion states of deep reflection and contemplation on topics like grief, what's worth preserving on the human record, and the full spectrum of what it means to be human.
- [#1234: Geospatial Browsing AR Feature in Google Maps with Screen Reader Support](https://voicesofvr.com/1234-geospatial-browsing-ar-feature-in-google-maps-with-screen-reader-support/) - Ohan Oda works at Google on an AR feature in Google Maps called Live View that he was showing off during the demo session at the XR Access Symposium. It adds some screenreader support for geospatial browsing where users can search for nearby landmarks and businesses, and Oda wanted to get some feedback and raise
- [#883 'Rec Room:' Social VR World Building Platform on PC, Console, Mobile, & VR](https://voicesofvr.com/883-rec-room-social-vr-world-building-platform-on-pc-console-mobile-vr/) - Rec Room is one of the most successful social VR platforms, and they're also on the most platforms including PC VR, Quest, PSVR, PC 2D, PS4 2D, and most recently iOS phones and tablets. There aren't a lot of other casual social mobile app experiences that offer voice chat, and they saw a lot of grow in 2019 with a lot more than a million downloads (which was reported at the end of 2018).
- [#451: Lessons for Marketing VR Experiences from Mobile App Store Optimization](https://voicesofvr.com/451-lessons-for-marketing-vr-experiences-from-mobile-app-store-optimization/) - Once a developer creates a VR experience, then the real difficult phase begins in trying to market their experience. VR is a new communication medium, and so traditional photos or videos don't always do the experience justice. At Casual Connect, I had a chance to talk to the Vice President of inbound marketing for yellowHEAD, which is a firm that specializes in App Store Optimization. They haven't started trying to market VR apps yet, but I wanted to see if there could be any lessons learned from the existing practices for doing app store optimization, localization, conversion optimization, and user acquisition.
- [#447: VRLA Highlights + 2017 as the Year of Mobile VR](https://voicesofvr.com/447-vrla-highlights-2017-as-the-year-of-mobile-vr/) - Anshel Sag is an analyst for Moore Insights and Strategies where he has focused on mobile computing platforms. I had a chance to catch up with him at VRLA where talked about his content highlights there as well as why he thinks that 2017 is going to be the year of mobile VR.
- [#542: Bringing Otherworldliness, Fun, & Whimsey into Your Home with AR game "Woorld"](https://voicesofvr.com/bringing-otherworldliness-fun-whimsey-into-your-home-with-ar-game-woorld/) - Funomena's Woorld won the best AR experience at the recent Google Play awards. You scan your room with a Google Tango-enabled phone, and then you're encouraged to decorate your space with extremely cute art and characters designed by Katamari's Keita Takahashi. Part of the gameplay in Woord is to figure out how to combine different object together in order to unlock new objects and portions of the story in your space. Funomena had to innovate on a lot of augmented reality user interaction paradigms and spatial gameplay in designing this game. I had a chance to catch up with Funomena co-founder and CEO Robin Hunicke at Google I/O to talk about her game design process, as well as her deeper intention of bringing sacredness, mindfulness, calmness, worship, spirituality, love, empathy, and kindness into your environment through augmented reality technology. She takes a lot of inspiration from Jodorowsky's Technopriests as well as the sci-fi novel Lady of Mazes by Karl Schroeder. Hunicke also sees that there's a split that's emerging between the commercial VR and the indie VR scene with the character of content that's being funded, and she talks the importance of supporting indie game creators.
- [#544: Google Tango's Engineering Director on AR Capabilities Enabled by Depth Sensors](https://voicesofvr.com/544-google-tangos-engineering-director-on-ar-capabilities-enabled-by-depth-sensors/) - Augmented Reality has played a huge role at the developer conferences for Microsoft, Apple, Facebook, and Google, which is a great sign that the industry is moving towards spatially-aware computing. Microsoft is the only company to start with head-mounted AR with the HoloLens while the other three companies are starting with phone-based AR. They are using machine learning with the phone camera to do six degree-of-freedom tracking, but Google's Project Tango is the only phone solution that's starting with a depth-sensor camera. This allows the Tango to do more sophisticated depth-sensor compositing and area learning where virtual objects can be placed within a spatial memory context that is persistent across sessions. They also have a sophisticated virtual positional system (VPS) that will help customers locate products within a store, which is going through early testing with Lowes.I had a chance to talk with Tango Engineering Director Johnny Lee at Google I/O about the unique capabilities of the Tango phones including tracking, depth-sensing, and area learning. We cover the underlying technology in the phone, world locking & latency comparisons to HoloLens, virtual positioning system, privacy, future features of occlusions, object segmentation, & mapping drift tolerance, and the future of spatially-aware computing. I also compare and contrast the recent AR announcements from Apple, Google, Microsoft, and Facebook in my wrap-up.
- [#587: Samsung's VR Strategy with Tom Harding, Director of Immersive Products](https://voicesofvr.com/587-samsungs-vr-strategy-with-tom-harding-director-of-immersive-products/) - Without explicitly announcing a new specific product, Samsung quietly implied that they may be developing a new standalone mobile VR HMD during a session during their developer conference last week. While there were no big VR announcements during the main keynote at SDC, in a session titled 'What's on The Horizon: A Look at the Future of VR at Samsung' Tae Yong Kim Samsung Electronic's VP, Head of Graphics R&D, showed a graphic with a question mark in between a Gear VR mobile VR headset and a Samsung Odyssey Windows Mixed Reality HMD. Kim said that the Gear VR is 'fully mobile, quickly attaches via a cell phone, and affordable' while the Odyssey offers a 'premium experience coming from the positional tracking of the headset and the controllers, and the computing power of the PC.' He said, 'The question is 'How do we combine the benefits of those two technologies together for our next VR system?'' Kim then showed a slide saying the next steps for Samsung's mobile VR include inside-out tracking and 6 degree-of-freedom controllers, and he said, 'We are partnering with global partners like Intel to bring inside-out technology to our next mobile product portfolio.' Neither Intel nor Samsung had any further comment about this quiet announcement of a 'next VR system' and 'next mobile product' in Samsung's portfolio, which seems more significant than merely adding positional tracking and 6-DoF controllers to existing Gear VR devices.
- [#709: Qualcomm: The Future of XR is Mobile & XR as the Next Computing Platform](https://voicesofvr.com/708-qualcomm-the-future-of-xr-is-mobile-xr-as-the-next-computing-platform/) - Qualcomm believes that the future of XR is mobile. TechCrunch published rumors published that the Oculus Rift 2 headset was being cancelled, which catalyzed a larger discussion about the degree to which Facebook/Oculus is committed to VR on the personal computer. Facebook denied that the second iteration of the Rift was being cancelled saying, 'we do have future plans, and can confirm that we are planning for a future version of Rift.' They're also not commenting on the timing of their internal product roadmap, and so it seems likely that if there was an internal delay of the timing of the second Rift, then they're not commenting on those private plans. But it seems reasonable that Facebook is putting all of their focus and energy on the launch and promotion of the Oculus Quest, which hopes to be an iPhone turning point moment that shows that standalone VR is good enough and affordable for mass consumption that will then catalyze a critical mass of adoption for VR technologies to take the VR ecosystem to the next level.
- [#448: Mobile AR & VR Tracking with uSens](https://voicesofvr.com/448-mobile-ar-vr-tracking-with-usens/) - uSens is working on gestural input and inside-out tracking for both AR and VR. I had a chance to catch up with uSens' vice president of product development, Yiwen Rong, at GDC in March to talk about some of their current tracking research and larger goals driving their work. In June of 2016, uSens secured a $20 Million round of Series A Funding led by Fosun Kinzon Capital to continue their advancements of mobil AR and VR tracking, and recently released more information about their Fingo sensors in August.
- [#449: A History of the Google Cardboard Ecosystem with DODOcase](https://voicesofvr.com/449-a-history-of-the-google-cardboard-ecosystem-with-dodocase/) - The story of how DODOcase started the Google Cardboard VR ecosystem within 24 hours, and became responsible for producing 20% of all of the Cardboard headsets is really quite an incredible story. I had a chance to catch up with CEO and founder Craig Dalton at GDC where he gives quite a history of Cardboard and some of the first major advertising campaigns to use it.
- [#450: Giving Virtual Honor Flights to WWII Veterans with StoryUP VR](https://voicesofvr.com/450-giving-virtual-honor-flights-to-wwii-veterans-with-storyup-vr/) - At VRLA, I had a chance to catch up with Sarah Hill, who is the CEO and Chief Storyteller for StoryUp VR. She's been doing some VR for Good projects including giving virtual Honor Flights for WWII veterans as a part of Honor Everywhere as well as showing the plight of people in third world countries who are in the need of a wheelchair as a part of Gift of Mobility.
- [#452: Warehouse-Scale Tracking with Worldviz + Vection in VR](https://voicesofvr.com/452-warehouse-scale-tracking-with-worldviz-vection-in-vr/) - Andy Beall is the CEO of Worldviz, and has been doing VR since 1992. I had a chance to catch up with him at SIGGRAPH where he told me about the type of work that Worldviz has been doing in the VR space since 1992, including creating warehouse-scale tracking spaces that go up to 30 by 30 meters. Andy has also studying the psychological effects of VR, and the first time he tried the Oculus Rift he experienced the sensation of vection, which he had only theoretically studied before. So he shares with me what vection is, and the differences between vertical and horizontal vection and why it's important in VR. Andy also has some pretty amazing stories of running around a warehouse wearing an Oculus Rift and jumping over virtual hurdles.
- [#453: DIY Volumetric Capture with Depthkit](https://voicesofvr.com/453-diy-volumetric-capture-with-depthkit/) - Alexander Porter & James George want to democratize volumetric capture with Depthkit. Depthkit combines depth sensor devices like the Kinect or RealSense cameras with high-end digital SLR cameras. They're able to create a 3D mesh from the captured depth sensor data, and then fuse it together with the DSLR camera footage, which becomes the texture. This is an extremely affordable approach for independent filmmakers and VR experience creators to combine commercial off-the-shelf devices for volumetric capture in immersive narratives. I had a chance to catch up with Alex in July where he talked about how Depthkit came about through a desire to merge photographic thinking and documentary work with computer science, as well as some of the early experiments with the CLOUDS documentary and Blackout VR
- [#454: Cohh Carnage: A Twitch Streamer's Perspective on VR](https://voicesofvr.com/454-cohh-carnage-a-twitch-streamers-perspective-on-vr/) - Cohh Carnage is a professional Twitch streamer, and I had a chance to catch up with him at PAX West after he had a chance to scout out the expo floor for games that he's interested in streaming. As streamer, he has to cultivate a sense of presence when he plays in order to have as authentic of a reaction as he possibly can. He talks about his process and philosophy behind his streaming, and the importance of audience engagement and participation. With that in mind, he talks about some of the challenges and opportunities that streaming VR games presents to streamers. We also talk a bit about game genres, and some of the emerging VR game genres.
- [#455: VR First-Person Shooters & eSports with 'World War Toons'](https://voicesofvr.com/455-vr-first-person-shooters-esports-with-world-war-toons/) - At PAX West, Reload Studios made a strong push for cultivating World War Toons as a VR eSports title. They were livestreaming a couple of shoutcasters announcing a four-on-four player capture the flag game of World War Toons, which is a free-to-play, VR first-person shooter. This was all preparation for Twitchcon this past weekend where they were on the expo floor with the same configuration, except with PlayStation VR headsets instead of Oculus Rifts.I had a chance to catch up with Reload Studios CEO James Chung at PAX West where we talk about motion sickness with VR first-person shooters with different VR comfort options, their integrations with the Virtuix Omni, their free-to-play business model, and VR eSports as well as the future of streaming in VR.
- [#456: Google's Clay Bavor on Daydream View, YouTube, & AI in VR](https://voicesofvr.com/456-googles-clay-bavor-on-daydream-view-youtube-ai-in-vr/) - On October 4th, Google revealed Daydream View, which is their reference design for their mobile VR headset. Google CEO Sandar Pichai also announced the first Daydream-ready phone designed called Pixel, which also has native hardware support for their artificial intelligent Google Assistant technology. Pichai emphasized that Google and the wider tech industry are moving from mobile-first to AI-first, and so they showed off more demos of their AI conversational interface with Google Home.I had a chance to go hands-on with the Google Home, Google Pixel, and Google's Daydream View devices, and then had an opportunity to sit down with Google Vice President Clay Bavor, who is heading up Google's VR initiatives. We talked about Daydream View & the 3DOF controller, the special optimizations they made to be able to seamlessly stream 360 videos on YouTube, their Streetview implementation and future of Earth VR, and how AI and conversational interfaces will start to be integrated into Daydream. We also talked about how Google Jump was their first initiative after Cardboard to improve upon the stereo 360 video quality, the future of digital lightfields, and Google's push for open ecosystems and their support for WebVR.
- [#457: Day 1 Recap of Oculus Connect 3](https://voicesofvr.com/457-day-1-recap-of-oculus-connect-3/) - Reverend Kyle and I recorded a recap of the first day of Oculus Connect 3 as a part of the Oculus Livestream sponsored by Intel. We went around Oculus Connect 3 trying out a number of multiplayer VR experiences with the Oculus Touch and the gamepad including Dead & Buried, Gang Beasts, Ripcoil, Kingspray, and Blazerush. I also had a chance to try out the latest version of Oculus Medium, which has come a long way over the past year in creating a fully functional and professional application within VR.
- [#458: Bringing VR into the Courtroom with Kineticorp VR](https://voicesofvr.com/458-bringing-vr-into-the-courtroom-with-kineticorp-vr/) - VR is a new communications medium, and as such it'll likely be applied to anywhere other existing communications mediums are already used -- such as in courtrooms for presenting evidence. Kineticorp VR has already been presenting 3D forensic evidence in courtrooms, and I had a chance to talk with Tomas Owens about some of the unique challenges that VR faces in getting into the courtroom. They've created some prototype demos, and done some early prototypes that have yeilded some promising and surprising results. So I talk to Tomas about their work on that path to using immersive technologies within a legal context.
- [#459: Oculus Connect Highlights + Questions about Min Spec & Room-Scale](https://voicesofvr.com/459-oculus-connect-3-highlights-questions-about-new-min-spec-room-scale-claims-2/) - In this episode of the Voices of VR podcast, I recap some of my highlights from Oculus Connect 3, but also dive into some of my biggest concerns and questions coming out of this year’s big developer conference. My two biggest concerns were the lowering of the minimum specification for an Oculus-ready machine, as well as some new announcements from Oculus about their support for room-scale VR.
- [#460: Robo Recall Design Insights from Epic Games Developers](https://voicesofvr.com/460-robo-recall-design-insights-from-epic-games-developers/) - Epic Games has had a long history of releasing new demo content at big gaming and developer conferences to showcase the latest Oculus hardware, and this year was no different. Oculus Studios provided funding to further develop the Bullet Train demo from last year into a fully-fledged FPS game called Robo Recall. This demo had one of the most polished and mature game mechanics expanding upon the Bullet Train bullet capture-and-throw mechanic into new weapons and upclose hand-to-hand combat with stylized arcade AI robots gone rouge.I had a chance to talk with Epic Games VR lead Nick Whiting and artist Jerome Platteaux about their design process, deeper intentions, and overall art style and direction of the game. They debuted a new locomotion technique that was designed to help subtly guide players to facing the true north of the front-facing cameras, and Nick admitted that there are some design constraints to creating a game with the Oculus' recommended front-facing camera arrangement. Jerome also said that there are new gameplay options that open up with a potential third tracking camera, but they didn't give any more specifics as to whether Robo Recall intends on supporting the optional room-scale type of gameplay.
- [#461: 3D Modeling for the Masses with Oculus Medium](https://voicesofvr.com/461-3d-modeling-for-the-masses-with-oculus-medium/) - Oculus Medium may be the first professional 3D modeling creation tool for the Oculus Touch controllers. It was created with the goal to democratize the process of creating 3D art and prototyping 3D-printed objects. The Medium developers didn't set out to build a high-end industrial art tool, but early beta testers have been starting to integrate Medium within their professional 3D graphics pipelines.
- [#462: Denny Unger on Valve's New Controller Prototype & Future of Non-Linear Storytelling](https://voicesofvr.com/462-denny-unger-on-valves-new-controller-prototype-future-of-non-linear-storytelling/) - Valve premiered a prototype of a new type of VR input controller at Steam Dev Days in order to get some preliminary feedback from developers. They've created a capacitive-touch controller that is attached to your hand so that you can open and close your hands to mimic the feeling of grabbing a tangible object. They used a modified scene from The Gallery, Episode 1 demo to show off this new controller, and I had a chance to Cloudhead Games President & Creative Director Denny Unger about it at the VR on the Lot conference. We talked about the Valve's new input controller prototype, the growing ecosystem of lighthouse-tracked peripherals, his thoughts on the future of non-linear narrative, and an update about The Gallery, which recently won best narrative VR experience at the Proto Awards and has surpassed $1 million in sales.
- [#463: HTC's VP of Content on VR Industry Verticals & Game Genres](https://voicesofvr.com/463-htcs-vp-of-content-on-vr-industry-verticals-game-genres/) - Joel Breton is the Vice President VR Content at HTC, and I had a chance to catch up with him at the Casual Connect conference in July to talk about the different industry verticals that they've identified. These include commerce, games, healthcare, education, live video/events/sports, design/engineering/tools, media, military/simulation, theme parks, and social. Some of the biggest areas of adoption with the Vive have been in engineering and design companies where they've been able to essentially replace million-dollar CAVE systems with the Vive. And we also talk about how each of the existing video game genres have been able to be translated into VR to varying degrees of success, and whether or not he sees any new genres unique to VR emerge yet. It's an interesting discussion about the overall VR ecosystem, and how HTC has started to break it up into these different VR business verticals.
- [#464: The Graphics Pipeline: Optimizing VR Experiences & Texture Compression from Binomial](https://voicesofvr.com/464-the-graphics-pipeline-optimizing-vr-experiences-texture-compression-from-binomial/) - Stephanie Hurlburt is a low-level graphics engineer who has previously worked on the Unity Game Engine, Oculus Medium, and Intel's Project Alloy, and now she's creating on a texture compression product called Basis at her company Binomial. I had a chance to catch up with her at PAX West, and we take a bit of a deep dive into the graphics pipeline and some of her VR optimization tools and processes. We also talk about how to determine whether an experience is CPU-bound or GPU-bound, an open source game engine being built by Intel, the future of real-time ray tracing in games like Tomorrow Children & Dreams, and why she sees texture compression as a bottleneck in the graphics pipeline worth persuing for the future of wireless streaming in VR.
- [#466: VR Analytics for Playtesting & Optimization with Cognitive VR](https://voicesofvr.com/466-vr-analytics-for-playtesting-optimization-with-cognitive-vr/) - Cognitive VR is an VR analytics platform that has an impressive system for visualizing a player's movements and gaze within a 3D representation of a VR experience. Their SceneExplorer tool translates the 3D geometry from a Unity or Unreal experience into a WebGL mesh that can be shared within a web browser. It allows VR developers to quickly and intuitively visualize how they're moving around and what they're looking at, but also helps to identify performance bottlenecks based upon a wide range of different hardware configurations.
- [#477: Top 50 VR Storytelling Interviews + Oculus Story Studio Roundtable Discussion](https://voicesofvr.com/477-top-50-vr-storytelling-interviews-oculus-story-studio-roundtable-discussion/) - I had a chance to talk about storytelling in VR with three of the co-founders of Oculus Story Studio during Oculus Connect 3. Saschka Unseld, Maxwell Planck, and Edward Saatchi were showing off a preview of their third VR experience Dear Angelica as well as their immersive storytelling tool of Quill, which enabled them to create a VR narrative experience entirely within VR.
- [#468: Using for Virtual Humans with Personality for Medical Training](https://voicesofvr.com/468-using-for-virtual-humans-with-personality-for-medical-training/) - On today's episode, I talk with Dr. Benjamin Lok from the University of Florida about how they're using Virtual Humans as patients to train medical students. He talks about the key components for creating a plausible training scenario which include both accurate medical symptom information, but also more importantly a robust personality and specific worldview. Humans hardly ever just transmit factual data, and so whether the patient says too much or not enough, the students have to be able to navigate a wide range of personalities in order to get the required information to help diagnose and treat the patient.
- [#469: Embodied Cognition & Using Social Structures for Collaborative Learning](https://voicesofvr.com/469-embodied-cognition-using-social-structures-for-collaborative-learning/) - The concept of embodied cognition is a hot topic within immersive education circles, and was a featured topic at during the Embodied Learning educational workshop that happened at the IEEE VR academic conference. Embodied Learning could help revolutionize education by incorporating our bodies within the learning process.We generally believe that humans think with our brains, but embodied cognition theories suggest that we also use our bodies and surrounding environments in order to think and learn. This has huge implications for VR since it both provides a mechanism to be able to more fully engage within the learning process as well as have more control of our contextual environments that are optimized to teach different concepts.
- [#470: The Art of Dying VR Art Show](https://voicesofvr.com/470-the-art-of-dying-vr-art-show/) - On October 28-31, there was a virtual & augmented reality art show in San Francisco called 'The Art of Dying.' It featured 15 VR experiences and another dozen artists exploring death and grieving using immersive technologies. The show was produced by Kelly Vicars & Lindsay Saunders with the intention of promoting VR and AR as new art mediums that deserve to be seen within the context of an art gallery setting. They created immersive physical installations for each VR experience to help create an environment where participants could have difficult conversations about death and dying inspired a series of shared virtual and augmented reality experiences.So today's podcast episode is a unique combination of covering The Art of Dying show with an interview with Kelly and Lindsay, but it's also an opportunity to speak to my experience as an artist with a piece in the show. Kelly and Lindsay share their process of producing The Art of Dying as well as some of their observations in the types of conversations and reactions that were catalyzed by the VR experiences.
- [#473: Can VR Bridge the Culture Gap & Counter Cultural Indoctrination?](https://voicesofvr.com/473-can-vr-bridge-the-culture-gap-counter-cultural-indoctrination/) - Depending on who you were rooting for in the US election, last night was either a shocking and sobering wake-up call to a reality that you don't feel a part of or it was a jubilant celebration of a victory that was doubted and underestimated by the mainstream political and media establishments. Either way, what's clear is that there's a cultural divide in America that's split nearly evenly between the percentage of people who voted in the election. Trying to understand the other side of the cultural gap can feel like entering into an entirely different parallel universe, and I feel like virtual reality has an important role to play in bringing more empathy and understanding to each side.I had a chance to catch up with VR Playhouse co-founder Ian Forester at Oculus Connect 3, where he shared with me some of his vision for how VR could change the way that the learn and understand the world. He sees that there are three primary ways that we learn about the world including our direct sensory experiences, our direct observations of other people, and then a lot of indirect cultural indoctrination that comes from the mainstream media, education, and the culmination of all of our social interactions.
- [#474: Android Jones on Using VR for Spiritual Transformation & Unlocking Creative Flow](https://voicesofvr.com/474-android-jones-on-using-vr-for-spiritual-transformation-unlocking-creative-flow/) - There was an immersive dome experience at VRLA called Samskara that was based upon the Hindu Vedas produced by 360art. It featured different Hindu mythological characters reimagined by visionary artist Android Jones. I had a chance to talk to Android about the intriguing backstory of this project that involves a mysterious Swami who is experimenting with the latest immersive technologies as a tool for spiritual transformation.
- [#3: Oliver "Doc_Ok" Kreylos on VR for Data Visualization & Scientific Research + Kinect-enabled, collaborative VR telepresence](https://voicesofvr.com/episode-3-oliver-doc_ok-kreylos-on-vr-for-data-visualization-scientific-research-and-vr-kinect-enabled-collaborative-telepresence/) - Oliver 'Doc_Ok' Kreylos is a research scientist / computer scientist who develops virtual reality applications for scientific research, specifically immersive 3D visualizations for the department of geology at the W.M. Keck Center for Active Visualization in the Earth Sciences (KeckCAVES).
- [#4: Jason Jerald on VR latency, simulator sickness & presence + Conference highlights from 3DUI, IEEE VR, Neurogaming & SIGGRAPH](https://voicesofvr.com/jason-jerald-on-vr-latency-simulator-sickness-presence-conference-highlights-from-3dui-ieee-vr-neurogaming-siggraph/) - Jason Jerald of NextGen Interactions has been involved with creating computer graphics and next-generation 3D computer interfaces for 20 years. His virtual reality consulting client list ranges from Oculus VR, Valve and Sixense Entertainment to NASA Ames Research Center, Battelle Pacific Northwest National Laboratories, Naval Research Laboratories, HRL Laboratories, DARPA and NIH.
- [#14: Amir Rubin, CEO of Sixense, on presence & intuition in VR with 3D-multitouch STEM controllers & "the mouse of VR". VR inspirations & motivation. Collaboration needed to prevent repeat of VR failures of 90s.](https://voicesofvr.com/amir-rubin-ceo-of-sixense-on-presence-intuition-in-vr-with-3d-multitouch-stem-controllers-the-mouse-of-vr-vr-inspirations-motivation-collaboration-needed-to-prevent-repeat-of-vr-failures/) - Amir Rubin, CEO of Sixense, the distributors of the Razer Hydra controller and manufacturers of the wireless STEM controllers, which have been described as enabling a 3D mutli-touch interface and will could become the first 'mouse of VR.'Amir talks about how the intention of Sixense is to create presence in VR by bringing your body into VR in an intuitive fashion. He talks about the differences between a physical-based solution like the STEM controllers versus using gesture controls with a camera-based system.
- [#21: Jan Goetgeluk on Virtuix Omni Treadmill & creating presence with locomotion in VR + Keys to successful Kickstarter campaign](https://voicesofvr.com/21-jan-goetgeluk-on-virtuix-omni-treadmill-creating-presence-with-locomotion-in-vr-keys-to-successful-kickstarter-campaign/) - Jan Goetgeluk talks about creating Virtuix Omni Treadmill, and how he didn't want to have just a sit-down experience within virtual reality. He talks about participating in the Meant to be Seen forums before the Oculus Rift came about, and how he wanted did a lot of trial and error to solve the problem of locomotion in VR.He talks about some of the keys to his successful Kickstarter campaign, and what types of games work the best with the Virtuix Omni. He talks about motion sickness, and his favorite VR experience within the game that Virtuix developed called TRAVR. Finally, he talks about future plans after raising a round of $3 million, and his thoughts on the future of VR
- [#25: Philip Rosedale on High Fidelity, virtual body language, telepresence, 3D audio, distributed computing, Voxels, cryptocurrencies & the future of the Metaverse](https://voicesofvr.com/25-philip-rosedale-on-high-fidelity-virtual-body-language-telepresence-3d-audio-distributed-computing-voxels-cryptocurrencies-the-future-of-the-metaverse/) - Philip Rosedale is the creator of Second Life, and more recently High Fidelity. He talks about a lot of the things that he's doing differently in creating a virtual world for the second time around including a focus on 3D audio, low latency, speed and texture of experience as well as using a standard scripting language with JavaScript rather than rolling their own.He talks about virtual body language and how the target of 100ms of latency is the threshold for a compelling telepresence experience that is indistinguishable from face-to-face interactions.
- [#49: Scott Phillips on his VR Walker shoe-based locomotion idea, Dactyl Nightmare inspiration, & connecting your unconscious mind to VR for presence, creative expression & esoteric self-exploration of the human condition.](https://voicesofvr.com/49-scott-phillips-on-his-vr-walker-shoe-based-locomotion-idea-dactyl-nightmare-inspiration-connecting-your-unconscious-mind-to-vr-for-presence-creative-expression-esoteric-self-exploration-of/) - Scott Phillips was making 3D scans of people at the Silicon Valley Virtual Reality Conference and part of his toll was to listen to his pitch about his shoe-based, locomotion idea called the the VR Walker.I decided to record the pitch in this interview, and it turned out to be one of the most interesting surprises of the conference that ranged from VR locomotion, early inspirations from one of the first famous VR experiences, and ended up at occult applications of the VR walker for psychological explorations into the human condition.
- [#64: Terry Beaubois on architecture in VR, robotic telepresence at NASA, & the Golden Age of Immersion with the Internet of Things](https://voicesofvr.com/64-terry-beaubois-on-architecture-in-vr-robotic-telepresence-at-nasa-the-golden-age-of-immersion-with-the-internet-of-things/) - Terry Beaubois is the director of Montana State University's Creative Research Lab, and he talks about how he used Second Life to teach architecture classes and the different limitations he faced from having an imprecise physics model in the virtual world.He talks about the other potential for using architecture within virtual reality as well as starting to think about how a physical space can interact with you through the Internet of Things, and the implications of living in a smart home that is aware of who you are, where you're at, and you behavioral patterns.
- [#70: John Dionisio on bringing Omniscience, Omnipresence, & Omnipotence to virtual & augmented realities + AR as the Reversal of VR and bringing the synthetic into the reality](https://voicesofvr.com/70-john-dionisio-on-moving-towards-omniscience-omnipresence-omnipotence-in-virtual-augmented-realities-ar-as-the-reversal-of-vr-and-bringing-the-synthetic-into-the-reality/) - John Dionisio is an associate professor of computer science at Loyola Marymount University, and he talks about moving towards omniscience, omnipresence, and omnipotence in virtual and augmented realities. He sees augmented reality as the reversal of virtual reality where AR brings alien technology into reality, VR is bringing alien humanity into synthetic environments.John talks about the evolution of privacy and identity through technology, and the open question as to whether there are latent generational differences or if technology is an active participant in evolving that relationship.
- [#100: Sébastien Kuntz on Virtual Reality Presence & Lessons from 13 years in VR](https://voicesofvr.com/100-sebastian-kuntz-on-virtual-reality-presence-lessons-from-13-years-in-vr/) - This is the 100th episode of the Voices of VR podcast marking 33 hours of interviews with the leaders of the consumer VR revolution over the past 10 months.
- [#119: Danny Woodall on creating full-body presence with the Sixense STEM controller](https://voicesofvr.com/119-danny-woodall-on-creating-full-body-presence-with-the-sixense-stem-controller/) - Danny Woodall is the Creative Director at Sixense, and he talks about how the electromagnetic STEM controllers can help to bring full-body presence into VR. He talks about the SDK improvements that they've been making, and some of the updates that were made to the lightsaber demo including updating it to UE4.I had the opportunity to first try their Lightsaber demo back at Oculus Connect in September, and I had another opportunity to try it again at the VR Mixer at GDC. I often mention this demo as being one of the most immersive experiences that I've had in VR because it makes all the difference in the world to be able to track your body within a VR space.
- [#130: Richard Skarbez on Immersion & Coherence being the two key components of Presence in Virtual Reality](https://voicesofvr.com/130-richard-skarbez-on-immersion-coherence-being-the-two-key-components-of-presence/) - Richard Skarbez in a Ph.D. candidate at University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill who has been researching how to measure presence in VR. Mel Slater has proposed that there are two key components of having the sense of presence that he elaborated in a paper titled 'Place Illusion and Plausibility Can Lead to Realistic Behaviour in Immersive Virtual Environments.'
- [#183: Mel Slater on VR Presence, Virtual Body Ownership, & the Time Travel Illusion](https://voicesofvr.com/183-mel-slater-on-vr-presence-virtual-body-ownership-the-time-travel-illusion/) - Mel Slater is an ICREA Research Professor at the University of Barcelona, Spain, where he leads the Event Lab. Mel and his fellow Event Lab researchers have been doing some pioneering work in defining the key components of presence as well as the exploring the sense of self within virtual environments.According to Mel, the illusion of 'presence' within VR can be broken up into two major components. First, the Place Illusion is when your perceptual systems are fooled into believing that you're in another place through more technologically driven factors of low-latency head tracking, a fast framerate, and having accurate 1:1 tracking of your body. The other component is the Plausibility Illusion, which is when you perceive the virtual world as being coherent in it's construction and it accurately meets your expectations for how it behaves and reacts to your actions. Here's more details from the abstract of Mel's paper titled 'Place Illusion and Plausibility Can Lead to Realistic Behaviour in Immersive Virtual Environments'
- [#228: Candid Reactions to the Oculus Toybox Demo and Social Presence](https://voicesofvr.com/228-candid-reactions-to-the-oculus-toybox-demo-and-social-presence/) - The Oculus Touch Toybox demo was shown to the most number of people in one day at Oculus Connect 2 on September 23rd. This was the first time that a lot of developers were able to get their hands on the Half Moon Prototype VR input controllers. But more importantly, it was a watershed moment for so many developers to be able to experience social and emotional presence with another person within virtual reality. It became less about the technology and tech specs, and more about the experience of playing, having fun, and connecting to another human in ways that were never possible before. This Toybox demo felt like a real turning point and 'Aha!' moment for a lot of VR developers to see how compelling social experiences in VR are going to be. I had a chance to capture some of the candid reactions from Ken Nichols and Ela Darling moments after experiencing Toybox for the first time.Listen:
- [#255: Signia Venture Partners on 8i Volumetric Capture, Photorealism, and Presence](https://voicesofvr.com/255-signia-venture-partners-on-8i-volumetric-capture-photorealism-and-presence/) - Sunny Dhillon is a principal and co-founder of Signia Venture Partners as well as a lifelong gamer. Signia has been an investor in mobile games, and so he knows what to look for in terms of a solid team and distinct art style that resonates with gamers. Signia was one of the 16 investors who invested $13.5M into 8i, a 3D volumetric capture startup, and Sunny says that he's looking for other content creation tools to invest in.
- [#262: Lessons from Casual Mobile Games with Presence Capital's Amitt Mahajan](https://voicesofvr.com/262-lessons-from-casual-mobile-games-with-presence-capitals-amitt-mahajan/) - Presence Capital is a new early-stage venture capital firm that's focused on funding virtual reality and augmented reality startups. I had the chance to interview one of the co-founders Amitt Mahajan at the VRX Conference about this new fund and how he plans on applying the lessons he learned from the causal, social & mobile gaming market to VR.
- [#485: Mary Whitton on Fundamental Research on VR Locomotion and Presence](https://voicesofvr.com/485-mary-whitton-on-fundamental-research-on-vr-locomotion-and-presence/) - Dr. Mary Whitton has been working with interactive computer graphics since 1978 and virtual reality since 1994 in collaboration with Dr. Fred Brooks at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. I had a chance to talk with Mary back in 2015 at the IEEE VR in France about her fundamental research into VR locomotion, haptics, and cultivating a sense of presence.There have been a lot of military grants over the years to research the impact of haptics, spatialized audio, latency, and field of view into cultivating presence within VR. She's also investigated a number of different issues around walking-in-place locomotion techniques, passive haptics & redirected touch, as well the nuances of Mel Slater's presence theory with the place illusion and plausibility illusion.
- [#478: VR Fidelity Contract: Cultivating Plausibility & Presence in VR](https://voicesofvr.com/478-vr-fidelity-contract-cultivating-plausibility-presence-in-vr/) - Cultivating presence is one of the main goals for a lot of VR experiences, but our brains are like a black box of perceptual soup that makes it hard to know all of the right ingredients to achieve this. Kimberly Voll is a cognitive scientist, programmer, and VR developer who is a part of the Fantastic Contraption team, and she has a framework for cultivating presence that she refers to as the 'VR Fidelity Contract'.
- [#534: Microsoft Technical Evangelist on Presence in VR Game Design](https://voicesofvr.com/534-microsoft-technical-evangelist-on-presence-in-vr-game-design/) - The Microsoft Build conference starts this week, and I expect that we'll be learning more about the HoloLens as well as Microsoft's Windows Mixed Reality operating system. Microsoft has been evangelizing about virtual reality the past couple of years now, and I had a chance to catch up with Microsoft Technical Evangelist Kat Harris at PAX West last Fall. She's been teaching VR 101 development courses at different conferences, and we talk about what she's been telling game designers about maintaining presence, building immersive experiences, and how to deal with some of the biggest breakers of presence including VR locomotion and the uncanny valley. We also discuss the limits of virtual reality when it comes to haptics, uncanny narrative, the future of artificial intelligence in enabling collaborative role-playing, and the power of world building & storytelling in games like Minecraft.
- [#555: VR Presence Researcher Finds Full Embodiment to be Key Component in Plausibility](https://voicesofvr.com/555-vr-researcher-finds-full-embodiment-to-be-key-component-in-presence-plausibility/) - Mel Slater's Theory of Presence includes two major components including the Place Illusion (the degree to which you're transported to another world), and the Plausibility Illusion (the degree to which you believe what's happening in that world is believable). Presence researcher Richard Skarbez thinks of these two components as 'immersion' and 'coherence,' and we previously discussed his presence research where he found that both illusions are vital for a deep sense of presence. The place illusion is largely enabled by the objective details of the VR technology with features such as 1:1 head tracking, low latency, and large field of view. But all of the different dimensions of what makes an experience plausible are still widely unknown, not very well researched, and also difficult to isolate and determine. Skarbez was back at the IEEE VR conference in March of 2017 showing some of his efforts to break down presence into different factors that included interactions with virtual humans, high-end VR tracking to get fully immersive body tracking, interaction abilities within the environment, as well as whether or not the scenario was coherent and believable. He also deployed a new research method where the subject would experience the full fidelity of the screen, and he'd slowly dial up the fidelity of these different factors to determine which ones were the most helpful in cultivating presence. Presence surveys are not that great at aggregating multiple individual subjective rating the degree of presence on any type of scale, but you can judge relative degrees of presence based upon your own previous experiences. Skarbez was able to determine that full body tracking was one of the biggest indicators of the depth of presence that someone felt within their experiment.
- [#556: Mel Slater's Theory of VR Presence vs an Elemental Theory of Presence](https://voicesofvr.com/556-mel-slaters-theory-of-vr-presence-vs-an-elemental-theory-of-presence/) - VR Presence researcher Mel Slater is fascinated by what makes the medium of virtual reality unique and different from other communications mediums. He says that VR activates our sensorimotor contingencies in a way that fools our brain that we're transported into another world, and that what is happening is real. He breaks this into two primary illusions where the Place Illusion answers the question 'Am I there?' and the Plausibility Illusion answers the question 'Is this happening?' These two illusions happen inside of your mind and are very difficult to study, but Slater has develop an experimental research protocol that draws inspiration from color theory research the combination of the objective spectral distribution as well as an individual's subjective perception of color.After seeing well over a thousand VR experiences, I started to cultivate my own ideas about an Elemental Theory of Presence that describes different qualities of Embodied Presence, Social & Mental Presence, Active Presence, and Emotional Presence. Slater says that these different qualities of experience are more related to the content of the experience, and that they're not unique to virtual reality. You can be just as emotionally engaged with a movie or a book as you are with a VR experience, and so looking at how the content contributes to his conceptualization of presence isn't an interesting research question trying to figure out what's unique about VR.
- [#557: Using Experiential Design to Expand VR Presence Theory](https://voicesofvr.com/557-using-experiential-design-to-expand-vr-presence-theory/) - Dustin Chertoff has pulled experiential design insights from the advertising world to come up with a more holistic theory of presence in virtual reality. In 2008, he was in graduate school and was dissatisfied with the major theories of VR presence. His gaming experience showed him how much of his feeling of immersion was related to the content of the game. He wrote an essay published in the journal Presence where he laid out what he saw were the two major limitations of VR presence theory at that time, 'First, many models tend to focus heavily on perceptual issues while focusing less attention other facets of virtual experiences, such as cognition and emotion.' Second, 'these models fail to provide an interpretable, extensible framework with which to understand and apply the theoretical principles to practical applications.'
- [#315: Job Simulator and the Magic of Hand Presence](https://voicesofvr.com/315-job-simulator-and-the-magic-of-hand-presence/) - Owlchemy Labs' Job Simulator was recently announced to be one of the bundled games to be included with the HTC Vive, and it's also going to be a launch title for the Sony PlayStation VR as well as for Oculus Touch. I had a chance to catch up with Alex Schwartz and Devin Reimer at the Unity VR/AR Vision Summit to talk about developing across all of the major VR platforms, the magic of hand presence, and the range of behaviors they've seen when given an open world physics sandbox.
- [#356: Combining Presence, Gameplay, & Adventure with 'The Climb'](https://voicesofvr.com/356-combining-presence-gameplay-adventure-with-the-climb/) - I didn't expect that a VR rock-climbing game that used neck thrusts as one of the primary locomotion mechanics would be as immersive or fun as it was, but I was really impressed with the level of immersion and presence that I felt while playing Crytek's The Climb, which was recently released for the Oculus Rift. There was something really satisfying to reaching the vista and enjoying the amazing view after climbing up the metaphoric and virtual mountain side. A lot of the game mechanics of a first-person rock climbing game translates really well to strengths of VR as a medium and provides an overall compelling and exhilarating experience. I had a chance to catch up with Crytek executive producer Elijah Freeman at the Oculus Game Days event at GDC to learn more about how they cultivated a sense of presence, evolved the gameplay, and got a lot of feedback from actual rock climbers who were a part of the production of the game.
- [#416: Research on VR Presence & Plausibility with Anthony Steed](https://voicesofvr.com/416-research-on-vr-presence-plausibility-with-anthony-steed/) - One of the gold standards of a VR experience is being able to achieve presence, but presence is an elusive concept to precisely define. Mel Slater is one of the leading researchers into presence and Mel says that it's a combination of the Place Illusion and Presence Illusion, which Richard Skarbez elaborates by saying that the Place Illusion represents the degree of immersion that you feel by being transported to another place, and the Plausibility Illusion is the degree to which you feel that that the overall scene matches your expectations for coherence.Anthony Steed is a professor in the Virtual Environments and Computer Graphics group in the Department of Computer Science, University College London. Anthony studied under Mel Slater, and he was a co-author of one of the major presence surveys referred to as the Slater, Usoh & Steed survey in the 'Depth of Presence in Virtual Environments' paper. Anthony was also the winner of the 2016 Virtual Reality Technical Achievement Award presented at the IEEE VR conference this year.
- [#502: An Elemental Theory of Presence + Future of AI & Interactive Storytelling](https://voicesofvr.com/502-an-elemental-theory-of-presence-future-of-ai-interactive-storytelling/) - Jessica Brillhart is the principle filmmaker for virtual reality at Google, and she been exploring the cross section of artificial intelligence and storytelling in VR. I had a chance to catch up with her at Sundance again this year where we did a deep dive into my Elemental Theory of Presence that correlates the four elements with four different types of presence, including embodied (earth), active (fire), mental & social (air), and emotional (water) presence. Artificial intelligence will enable VR experiences to more fully listen and respond to you within an experience, and it will be the vital technology that will bridge the gap between a story of a film and the interaction of a game. I expand upon my discussion with Brillhart in an essay below exploring the differences between 360 video and fully-immersive and interactive VR through the lens of an Elemental Theory of Presence, and make some comments about the future of AI-driven interactive narratives in virtual reality.
- [#513: Deepening Social Presence with SMI Eye Tracking](https://voicesofvr.com/513-deepening-social-presence-with-smi-eye-tracking/) - At GDC this year, SensoMotoric Instruments (SMI) showed a couple of new eye tracking demos at Valve's booth. They added eye tracking to avatars in the social VR experiences of Pluto VR and Rec Room, which provided an amazing boost to the social presence within these experience.
- [#521: SVVR Keynote: Historical Context of VR + Elemental Theory of Presence](https://voicesofvr.com/521-svvr-keynote-historical-context-of-vr-elemental-theory-of-presence/) - I had the chance to give the keynote at the Silicon Valley Virtual Reality Conference where I provide some historical context for virtual reality tracing the evolution of communications mediums in order to contextualize my elemental theory of presence. It traces the history of the science and philosophy, and shows how VR is providing a direct experience of how much of our reality is subjectively constructed with our entire bodies. Hopefully this talk will help contextualize where we've been and where we're going with VR, as well as a holistic framework to doing experiential design.
- [#532: The Extremes of Mental Presence: Cognitive Enhancement, Biohacking, Psychedelics, & Transhumanism](https://voicesofvr.com/532-the-extremes-of-mental-presence-cognitive-enhancement-biohacking-psychedelics-transhumanism/) - Eric Matzner identifies as a Techno-Optimistic Futurist who sometimes works an entire second workday within VR exploring different ways to expand his mind. He's pushing the limits of mental presence by using nootropic supplements for cognitive enhancement from his company Nootroo, experimenting with psychedelics and VR with the psychonauts from /r/RiftIntoTheMind, exploring sensory addition & biohacking with the Northpaw device, using EEG sensors and VR to have an embodied experience of neurofeedback, teaching himself how to type with one hand with a chorded Twiddler3 Keyboard, and Rapid Serial Visual Presentation to read up to 1000 words a minute using Virtual Desktop.I had a chance to catch up with Matzner at an UploadVR party during GDC where he shared his explorations into the extremes of mental presence. For me, I'm interested in the balance between mental & social presence with embodied presence, emotional presence, and active presence. But Matzner wants to push the limits of what types of experiences are possible as well as use VR to help him focus on his learning practices.
- [#571: PTSD Exposure Therapy in VR: Importance of Storytelling & Emotional Presence in Healing from Trauma](https://voicesofvr.com/571-ptsd-exposure-therapy-in-vr-importance-of-storytelling-emotional-presence-in-healing-from-trauma/) - Dr. Skip Rizzo heads the Medical VR Research Group at USC's Institute for Creative Technologies, which has been exploring how to use VR for psychological treatments, cognitive assessment, motor rehabilitation therapy, as well as interactions with virtual humans. He's been on the forefront of using virtual reality to treat soldiers with post-traumatic stress disorder with virtual exposure therapy. VR is used to incrementally trigger an embodied sensory experience in PTSD patients by placing soldiers within the virtual sights, sounds, feelings, and smells of common combat scenarios in Iraq and Afghanistan. This virtual exposure therapy stimulates the original embodied experience of traumatic events for soldiers so that they can connect to specific details of their memories so that they can do a process of cognitive restructuring by telling the story of their experience. Rizzo says that a key component of healing from PTSD is if the patient is able to connect to the underlying emotions of the experience while sharing the narrative of their experience, and that this can unlock a cascade of healing effects that USC has been able to measure over the years.
- [#696: Metaphors of Presence & Experiential Design Keynote Talk at Symposium iX](https://voicesofvr.com/696-metaphors-of-presence-experiential-design-keynote-talk-at-symposium-ix/) - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zr7mW-J2ofgThis Metaphors of Presence & Experiential Design keynote talk that I gave at the Symposium iX conference in Montreal covers provides some concrete metaphors for presence, explores the connections between the Yin and Yang concepts of Chinese Philosophy, metaphors for time, the open questions around whether consciousness is emergent or fundamental, the philosophy of mathematics, as well as experiential design factors of context, quality, character, and how polarity points create tension in music and story.
- [#782: Valve Index: The Future of PC VR, Hand Presence, & Impressions from Ian Hamilton & Kent Bye](https://voicesofvr.com/782-valve-index-the-future-of-pc-vr-hand-presence-impressions-from-ian-hamilton-kent-bye/) - The Valve Index officially launches today, and it provides a strong vision for the future of high-end PC VR with solid tracking, fidelity, and hand-tracked Index controllers that provide a deep sense of hand presence. Valve sent me hardware to review and I share my full impressions at the end of this podcast, but the bottom line is that Valve is releasing high-end hardware that will surely provide the absolute best high-end virtual reality experiences on the PC for the near future.
- [#812: Neuroscience & VR: Neurable Brain-Computer Interface & Telekinetic Presence](https://voicesofvr.com/812-neuroscience-vr-neurable-brain-computer-interface-telekinetic-presence/) - Neurable is building a brain-computer interface that integrates directly into the virtual reality headset. Neurable uses dry EEG sensors from Wearable Sensing, which means that it doesn't require gel in order to get a good signal from the EEG making it a lot more user friendly than BCIs that require gel. I had a chance to try the demo at SIGGRAPH 2017, which was showing off what Neurable refers to at 'Telekinetic Presence.' It is the closest thing I've ever experienced in VR to having the technology read my mind, as it ran a calibration phase to be able to detect the brainwaves associated with intentional action. Once it's trained, then it's a matter of looking at specific objects in a virtual environment, and then experiencing a state of pure magic when it feels like you can start to move objects around with your mind alone.
- [#363: Time Perception Research & Manipulating Time Dilation Effects in VR](https://voicesofvr.com/363-time-perception-research-manipulating-time-dilation-in-vr/) - At Oculus Connect 2, SVVR's Karl Krantz told me that he accidentally spent 12 straight hours in VR and only thought that 3 hours had passed. I then started hearing a lot more time dilation stories from Owlchemy Labs' Alex Schwartz and Devin Reimer as well as Fantastic Contraption's Sarah Northway. These time perception underestimation anecdotes were both fascinating and really scary, and they found that there some of the likely causes were achieving the flow state, having a deep sense of presence, as was as fun the fact that 'time flies when you're having fun.'University of Hamberg's Dr. Gerd Bruder has done some research into the issue of time perception in virtual environments, and he's discovered some fascinating results that he presented at the IEEE VR conference in March. He found that there are environmental cues -- such as the movement of the sun -- that can change subject's perception of time when it's artificially manipulated in VR. These environmental time estimation cues are called 'zeitgebers', and they are one of the many factors that impact our time perception. Some other correlating factors are cognitive load, the level of flow that a VR experience generates.
- [#88: Tom Kaczmarczyk on the VR implementation of SUPERHOT, an FPS where time moves only when you move](https://voicesofvr.com/88-tom-kaczmarczyk-on-the-vr-implementation-of-superhot-an-fps-where-time-moves-only-when-you-move/) - Tom Kaczmarczyk is a developer of SUPERHOT, which is an FPS where time moves only you move, which recently raised $250k on Kickstarter. It was a popular 2D game that was developed as a part of the 2013 7-Day First Person Shooter game challenge.Tom talks about the evolution of the game, and how they first started their VR version of the game after Aaron Davies from Oculus VR reached out to them offering them a DK1 VR HMD to experiment with. He talks about the challenges of creating a 2D game first and foremost, and then adding VR support. He talks about some of the ways that SUPERHOT might be developed differently had it been an experience that was designed for VR first rather than adding VR compatibility to a 2D game.
- [#311: Karl Krantz on VR Startups, SVVRCon, & Time Dilation](https://voicesofvr.com/311-karl-krantz-on-vr-startups-svvrcon-time-dilation/) - Karl Krantz made a strategic move to California in order to start the Silicon Valley Virtual Reality meetup in May of 2013. One year later, he organized the first consumer VR conference with SVVRCon that had 400 people and 35 companies. SVVRCon 2015 had 1400 people and 100 companies, and Karl is expecting it to double once again for SVVRCon 2016 on April 27-29 with a projected attendance of 3000 people and 200 companies. I caught up with Karl to talk about VR startups, fostering the VR community, plans for virtual components for SVVRCon, content creation & imagination, and the phenomena of 'time dilation.' Karl had an experience of playing a VR game for 12 straight hours without a break, but he only thought he was in VR for around 3 hours. He's concerned about the addictive potential of VR, and that it's a technology that's going to force us to face our demons otherwise VR could be really disruptive to our lives.
- [#379: VR Time Perception Insights from Filmmaking & Cognitive Science](https://voicesofvr.com/379-vr-time-perception-insights-from-filmmaking-cognitive-science/) - Xárene Eskandar is an artist who has been exploring representations of time through the mediums of film and photography for many years, and she's has been starting to design VR experiences that alter the user's perception of time based upon insights from cognitive science research. She's also a Ph.D. candidate at UC Santa Barabara Department of Media, Arts, & Technology, and she was presenting a paper titled 'Aesthetics of temporal perception and scale in virtual reality' at the Experiential Technology & Neurogaming Conference in San Francisco in May. I had a chance to catch up with Xárene to talk about filmmakers Béla Tarr & Andrei Tarkovsky's experiments in time perception, as well as the cognitive science research into why awe, self-regulation, and The Extended Now impacts time perception.
- [#617: Journey into a Black Hole with "SPHERES: Songs of Spacetime"](https://voicesofvr.com/617-journey-into-a-black-hole-with-spheres-songs-of-spacetime/) - Sundance New Frontier had a solid line-up of VR experiences this year with a number of immersive storytelling innovations including SPHERES: Songs of Spacetime, which takes you on a journey into the center of a black hole. It's a hero's journey that provides an embodied experience of the evolution of a star from birth to death with a poetic story written and directed by Eliza McNitt, narrated by Jessica Chastain, and produced by Darren Aronofsky's Protozoa Pictures. SPHERES made news for being acquired for a 7-figure deal, and it represents a unique collaboration between science and art. There were a number of scientific collaborators including the National Academy of Sciences and physicists who study black holes, and so the VR producers had to come up with creative interpretations of mathematical descriptions of the edges of spacetime that push the frontiers of our scientific knowledge.
- [#626: Exploring Space & Experiential Modulation of Time with Felix & Paul Studios](https://voicesofvr.com/626-exploring-space-experiential-modulation-of-time-with-felix-paul-studios/) - Felix & Paul Studios had two experiences at Sundance this year. One featured the training of NASA astronauts in Space Explorers, and the other was a time-lapse VR story featuring characters from Wes Anderson's Ilse of Dogs film in front half with a behind-the-scenes look at the production in the back half. Felix & Paul use their own custom camera technology, which means that they're in a constant feedback loop of creating content, making innovations in cinematic VR camera technologies, which then opens up new storytelling possibilities. For their two pieces at Sundance, they created a cinematic VR camera that does time lapse for Ilse of Dogs, created a motion stabilization system to put a camera in a supersonic T-38 jet, created an underwater camera to shot astronauts training for space missions, and weatherized a camera rig to deal with extreme dessert heat and sand storms.
- [# 770: Ancient Philosophy Perspectives on Time, Perception, Reality, & the Qualities of Human Experience](https://voicesofvr.com/770-ancient-philosophy-perspectives-on-time-perception-reality-the-qualities-of-human-experience/) - Dr. Peter Simpson is a professor of ancient philosophy at The City University of New York, and I met him at the Philosophy of Time Society session on the first night of the American Philosophical Association Easter Meeting 2019 in New York City. I interviewed Dr. Simpson about the Ancient Philosophy perspectives on time, perception, reality, and the qualities of the human experience. He breaks philosophy into three major areas where the ancients did 'real' philosophy, the medieval period that specialized in theology, and the modern era which is focused more on science than philosophy.
- [#748: Visualizing Cyclical Time in VR With Helixaeon's Time Helix](https://voicesofvr.com/748-visualizing-cyclical-time-in-vr-with-helixaeons-time-helix/) - Helixaeon's Time Helix has a unique way of visualizing time-based data as a fractal-nested helix. Helixaeon was recently awarded US Patent #10,185,933 for their interactive, multi-dimensional data visualization that's able to 'generate a representation of the length of time as a view of a three dimensional (3D) helix wherein each revolution of the 3D helix corresponds with an iteration of the cyclic period.'
- [#795: VR Artist Amelia Winger-Bearskin: Designing with Metaphors & Indigenous Perspectives on Time & Individuality](https://voicesofvr.com/795-vr-artist-amelia-winger-bearskin-designing-with-metaphors-indigenous-perspectives-on-time-individuality/) - Amelia Winger-Bearskin is a VR director & performance artist who is building communities for artists, creators, and technologies working in emerging technology. She uses metaphor as her primary method for exploring emerging technologies like virtual reality by asking questions like, 'What kind of analogy does it have in the real world?' She sees that all stories are metaphors, and that stories are the primary currency that humans have used for thousands of year in order to efficiently communicate with others.
- [#1078: Multi-perspective LIDAR Timelapse Art with ScanLAB Projects' "FRAMERATE" to Think and Feel Different Time Scales](https://voicesofvr.com/1078-multi-perspective-lidar-timelapse-art-with-scanlab-projects-framerate-to-think-and-feel-different-time-scales/) - FRAMERATE is a timelapse LIDAR art installation by ScanLAB Projects that showed at SXSW. It encourages the audience to 'think and feel in another time scale: geological time, seasonal time, tidal time.' I had a chance to talk with director & ScanLAB Projects co-founder Matthew Shaw about their volumetric capture techniques and desire to create art that helps us understand how machines perceive the world.
- [#1189: "Forager" Volumetric Timelapse of Mushroom Growth Hits a Sweet Spot of Touch, Smell, & Immersive Storytelling](https://voicesofvr.com/1189-forager-volumetric-timelapse-of-mushroom-growth-hits-a-sweet-spot-of-touch-smell-immersive-storytelling/) - Forager is a short immersive story that shows the four stages of development of a mushroom through a groundbreaking volumetric timelapse that takes place within a game engine. They had to innovate on automating their photogrammetry timelapse pipeline both in the capturing and rendering side, and they ultimately decided to go with a voxel-based approach for representing and optimizing these volumetric timelapse processes. I had a chance to chat with Winslow-Porter, co-creator, producer, and creative director of Forager as well as Elie Zananiri, co-creator and technical director on the project about their creative process, the influence of creative coder communities, how mushroom inspire them, their epic mushroom-based installation, where to use audience interaction and where to dial it back, as well as their multi-sensory integrations with smells, wind haptics, and SubPac haptics.
- [#655: Orpheus Technodelics is Publishing Consciousness Hacking VR Experiences](https://voicesofvr.com/655-orpheus-technodelics-consciousness-hacking-vr-experiences/) - Sound Self developer Robin Arnott is starting a publishing label named Orpheus Technodelics to curate and distribute consciousness hacking VR experiences. 'Technodelics' are digital psychedelics that provide peak experiences, and Arnott hopes till open someone's mind commit to deeper contemplative practices. He sees that spiritual traditions are steeped in level of tradition and seriousness that is a turn-off for a lot of people, and that he hopes to use the insights of game design in order to make transcendent experiences more readily available through virtual reality.Arnott has been working on the Sound Self for over six years now, and he's hoping to tap into the larger mindfulness market with other type types of similar immersive, consciousness hacking experiences. He's working with visionary artist Android Jones whose MicroDose VR is a psychedelic particle painting program that cultivates flow states, as well as a mobile app called Breathscape, which helps cultivate regular breathing practices.
- [#777: Psychedelics & VR as Scaffolding to Reach Altered States of Consciousness + Experiential Medicine + Latent Human Potentials](https://voicesofvr.com/777-psychedelics-vr-as-scaffolding-to-reach-altered-states-of-consciousness-experiential-medicine/) - Dr. Cassandra Vieten is the president of the Institute of Noetic Sciences, who's current tagline is 'Informed by Science. Transformed by Experience.' Dr. Vieten gave an opening keynote at the Consciousness Hacking's Awakened Futures Summit where she talked about psychedelics, immersive technologies, and meditation techniques as 'scaffolding' into this altered states of consciousness. The more that we get access to these altered states through these variety of different technologies, then the more that we build our innate capacities to achieve these states of being without the assistance of these tools. She also talks about the frontiers of research around gene expression, and how our environments and experiential context is actually a key epigenetic input to how our genes express themselves. So what does it mean to use technologies to shift and alter our environment and context? What type of latent human potentials might we discover once we're able to more tightly control our environments that are mediated through digital technologies?
- [#559: Researching Awe with Google Earth VR: Towards a Virtual Overview Effect](https://voicesofvr.com/559-researching-awe-google-earth-vr-towards-a-virtual-overview-effect/) - One of the unique affordances of virtual reality is it's power to convey the vastness of scale, which can invoke feelings of awe. Denise Quesnel is a graduate student at Simon Frasier University's iSpace Lab, and she has been studying the process of invoking awe by using Google Earth VR. She was inspired by Frank White's work on The Overview Effect, which documented the worldview transformations of many astronauts after they observed the vastness of the Earth from the perspective of space.Quesnel wants to better understand of the overview effect phenomenon, and whether or not it's possible to use immersive VR to induce it. Anecdotally, I think that it's certainly possible as I reported my own experience of having a virtual overview effect in my interview with Google Earth VR engineers. She won the best 3DUI poster award at the IEEE VR conference for her study 'Awestruck: Natural Interaction with Virtual Reality on Eliciting Awe.'
- [#567: Navigating Paradox, Reality Bubbles, & Multiple Worldviews with VR](https://voicesofvr.com/567-navigating-paradox-reality-bubbles-multiple-worldviews-with-vr/) - Dr. Marilyn Schlitz is a social anthropologist, consciousness researcher, and co-author of the books Consciousness & Healing and Living Deeply. Her anthropological work has been at the frontier of researching how different cultures use various indigenous practices to invoke mind-body interactions for the sake of healing, and she's come up with higher order frameworks to describe consciousness transformations from spiritual practices. She's starting to look at how to invoke states of awe & wonder within VR, and whether this will be able to catalyze collective shifts in consciousness.She says that we're each living within our own reality bubbles, and that some of the most important skills in the 21st Century will be able to come to an awareness of our filters and to cultivate the capacity to understand, empathize, and interact with people who are living in completely different models of reality. We talk about some of the game design work that she's doing in order to achieve this, as well as how virtual reality might provide a window into our multidimensional nature and help us become more aware of our own aspects of inattentional blindness.
- [#585: Consciousness Hacking & VR: Will immersive tech drive addictions or help us transcend compulsions?](https://voicesofvr.com/585-consciousness-hacking-vr-will-immersive-tech-drive-addictions-or-help-us-transcend-compulsions/) - There is a growing backlash against technology being catalyzed by some of the architects of the persuasive habit-forming techniques. The Guardian does a survey of user experience designers and engineers who are taking drastic actions to curtail their personal technology addiction behaviors, and asking some deeper questions about the ethical responsibility of major companies in Silicon Valley to be socially-responsible guardians of the attention economy. Tristan Harris is one of these former persuasive designers who has formed a non-profit called Time Well Spent focused on gathering quantified data for how happy people are using different mobile apps, and Harris shared some data on Sam Harris' podcast that people are happy with 1/3 of the time they've spent on the most popular apps, but that they're unhappy with or regret how they're spending 2/3 of their time.Most companies are optimizing for duration on their websites, but it's difficult for them to measure the first-person phenomenological experience of that time spent on their site. There are more and more people who feel like they are being manipulated and hooked into forming habits on apps that are designed to reward compulsive behaviors. There's a growing counter movement of consciousness hackers who are trying to take a more mindful and purposeful approach to how they use technology. They're using biosensors to get feedback and insights on their behaviors, and are trying to cultivate more flourishing, well-being, connection, compassion, mental health, and sanity in their lives.
- [#773: Psychedelics + Technology + Meditation: Consciousness Hacking's Awakened Futures Summit](https://voicesofvr.com/773-psychedelics-technology-meditation-consciousness-hackings-awakened-futures-summit/) - Consciousness Hacking produced the The Awakened Futures Summit in San Francisco on May 18th & 19th, looking at the intersection between psychedelics, technology, and meditation. Consciousness Hacking previously hosted a sold-out event on October 24th, 2018 that was titled 'Psychedelics, Technology and the Future of Meditation,' and that gave them an indication that there was a lot of interest in the fusion of these topics.
- [#700: Six Psychonauts on VR, Psychedelics, & Consciousness Transformation](https://voicesofvr.com/700-six-psychonauts-on-vr-psychedelics-consciousness-transformation/) - I had an opportunity to moderate a panel featuring six psychonauts who are exploring the intersection between Psychedelics, VR, and consciousness transformation at the VRTO conference in Toronto, Canada on June 16th, 2018. The participants from left to right were myself as moderator, Tina Madry, Brett Leonard, Scott Mason, Elliot Edge, Audri Phillips, & Jeffrey Lynn Damon. We explore a wide range of topics around VR as a new communications medium to communicate inner, noetic, psychedelic and phenomenological experiences, as well as how psychedelics is a tool to explore the capacities of the human mind and what sorts of experiential and neuroscience insights we gain from psychedelic research and experimentation.
- [#758: Experiential Design for Corporate Consulting, Organizational Transformation, & Cultivating Culture with SYPartner's Ida Benedetto](https://voicesofvr.com/758-experiential-design-corporate-consulting-organizational-transformation-cultivating-culture-with-sypartners-ida-benedetto/) - Ida Benedetto gave the opening keynote of the Immersive Design Summit where she shared some of the work that she's doing as an experiential designer as a corporate consultant at SYPartners working with companies on organizational transformation and cultivating a company culture that's aligned to their mission statement. I've previously interviewed Benedetto in episode #558 on her design patterns for transformation where she looked at sex parties, funerals, and outdoor adventures as all having similar risk that provided a ripe context for personal transformation. She distilled down the common elements into a framework that she explains on her site called Patterns of Transformation.
- [#694: Ken Wilber on Transformational VR, Maps of Consciousness, & Integral Philosophy](https://voicesofvr.com/694-ken-wilber-on-transformational-vr-maps-of-consciousness-integral-philosophy/) - Ken Wilber is a philosopher known for his 'Integral Theory' framework that mapping of all dimensions of reality, consciousness, and stages of human development. He's synthesized maps and models from various Buddhist wisdom traditions, psychology, culture, biology, and systems thinking into what he calls 'AQAL,' which means 'all quadrants, all levels, all lines, all states, all types.' This roughly translates to using a combination of object/subjective & individual/collective lens to look at developmental levels of worldviews, lines of multiple intelligences, ephemeral states consciousness, and various personality typologies (this Integral Theory explainer from Integral Life dives into a lot more details).
- [#560: Models of Consciousness Transformation + Unlocking Latent Human Potentials](https://voicesofvr.com/560-models-of-consciousness-transformation-unlocking-latent-human-potentials/) - The Institute of Noetic Sciences was founded by Apollo 14 Astronaut Edgar Mitchell after he had a mystical experience on the way back from being the sixth man to walk on the moon. After finding a description of his spiritual awakening experience as a 'samadhi' within the ancient Vedas, he decided to start a science institution dedicated to studying the nature of consciousness. Consciousness is the 'hard problem' in that there's no widely accepted theory for how the mind is connected to the body, but IONS has been on the frontiers of researching this mind-body connection over the past 44 years. They conducted a 10-year study researching the commonalities in different wisdom traditions that bring about a transformation of consciousness, and they published their findings in a book named Living Deeply. They've further refined a model of consciousness transformation, and are interested in applying virtual reality in invoking states of awe and exploring what types of latent human potentials might be unlocked.
- [#558: Sex, Death, & Survival: Experiential Design Patterns for Transformation](https://voicesofvr.com/558-sex-death-survival-experiential-design-patterns-for-transformation/) - Ida Benedetto is an experiential designer who has developed a framework she calls 'Patterns of Transformation: Designing Sex, Death, and Survival in the 21st Century. She started curating Trespass Adventures, which were private & exclusive one-off immersive theater experiences at abandoned properties. The tension that came with transgressing boundaries carried a level of risk that proved to be a key ingredient for participants having some profoundly transformative experiences. If she started to remove these risks from the experiences, then they weren't nearly as tantalizing or charged with transformative potential.Benedetto was most interested in the aspects of human enrichment that came from these experiences, and decided to explore and conduct an anthropological study of other transformative experiences including sex parties, funerals, and outdoor adventures. She discovered that each of these experiences have some dimension of risk, whether it's the physical risk of an outdoor adventure, the emotional risk of grieving the loss of a loved one, or the social risk of shame and humiliation of being rejected for expressing your desires at a sex party. She also found that transformation doesn't happen unless you are able to let go of control in areas where you usually have control, which is a similar finding that Robin Arnott discovered with SoundSelf. Analyzing the risks associated with these different experiences is insightful for exploring the limits of how far how equivalent experiences in virtual environments will be able to go, especially when it comes to situations where our physical safety is threaten by the forces of nature.
- [#484: Creating a Synthetic Peak Experience in VR with SoundSelf](https://voicesofvr.com/484-creating-a-synthetic-peak-experience-in-vr-with-soundself/) - Robin Arnott had a peak experience from a LSD trip at Burning Man, and wanted to see if he could replicate this type of peak psychedelic experience within virtual reality. The result of four years of work is a transcendent experience called SoundSelf that creates a diffuse feedback loop between your toning and a variety of generative abstract art visuals. So I had a chance to catch up with Robin to talk about using VR to cultivate a synthetic peak experience, using VR as a transformative technology, and the role of contemplative spiritual practices.
- [#475: Designing Google Earth VR: The Overview Effect & Finding Common Ground](https://voicesofvr.com/designing-google-earth-vr-the-overview-effect-finding-common-ground/) - Google Earth VR has been one of the most mind-blowing experiences that I've had so far in VR, for so many different reasons. It's felt like it's been rewiring my brain to accommodate the new perspectives of the earth in a way similar to what returning astronauts report as 'The Overview Effect.' It's also enabled me to navigate the earth based upon natural landmarks and without seeing borders, and therefore start to cultivate a new type relationship with the earth. It's also allowed to find common ground with friends and strangers by sharing stories that are based upon geographic locations, and it's one of the most intimate and powerful social VR experiences that I've had so far.I had a chance to do an interview with Mike Podwal, Product Manager for Earth VR as well as Dominik Kaeser, Engineering Lead on Earth VR to ask them about their design process. They focused primarily on performance, comfortable navigation, and an overall immersive experience of the earth. They weighed the tradeoffs between simplicity vs usefulness in looking at what features to implement, and very few of their beta testers requested an explicit search functionality. They instead preferred to do organic exploration and navigate based upon landmarks in a way that provides a new perspective and relationship with the earth. In the future, they will looking at the 2D version Google Earth for inspiration for new features such as annotation, but they also are open to feedback for the types of features that people are requesting. You can hear a lot more insights and stories behind the process of creating Google Earth VR in the interview below.
- [#476: Two Words for "Experience" in German: What VR Can Learn from "Erfahrung" vs "Erlebnis"](https://voicesofvr.com/476-two-words-for-experience-in-german-what-vr-can-learn-from-erfahrung-vs-erlebnis/) - The language and terminology around virtual reality is still evolving, but the VR community has been settling into using the phrase 'VR Experience' in order to describe the process of a going through a piece of virtual reality content. I had a friend/business partner over who got her Ph.D. in German literature, and she had a lot of really interesting insights about how the German language actually has two separate words for experience with 'Erfahrung' and 'Erlebnis.'On today's episode of the Voices of VR podcast, I talk with Dr. Jenn Zahrt about the differences between erfahrung and erlebnis, and whether or not a third term might be required in order to describe the process of going through a virtual reality experience. Jenn says that erlebnis could be thought of a unique 'lived experience' that you actually go through with your embodied flesh, and that an erfahrung encompasses a much wider range of types of experience ranging from an archive of memories created from your erlebnisse but also knowledge that's gained from indirect sources like the media, books, and external sources of authority.
- [#480: Op-Ed Comparing Oculus Touch vs HTC Vive Technology & Ecosystems](https://voicesofvr.com/480-op-ed-comparing-oculus-touch-vs-htc-vive-technology-ecosystems/) - The Oculus Touch motion-tracked controllers are launching on December 6th after eight months of the Rift solely supporting gamepad experiences. I wanted to take a moment to dig into some of the more subtle technical nuances when comparing the Oculus Rift & Touch with the HTC Vive, but also some of the larger VR ecosystem considerations to take into account. So today's episode of the Voices of VR podcast is an op-ed analysis comparing the Touch controller and room-scale tracking technologies, as well as the overall content and developer ecosystems.
- [#479: VR & Memory, and Fate vs Free Will in Simulation Theory](https://voicesofvr.com/vr-memory-and-fate-vs-free-will-in-simulation-theory/) - Hassan Karaouni is one of the 11 winners of an Oculus Launch Pad scholarship for his project My: home, which allows people to share 360 videos of locations that are meaningful to them. In my Voices of VR episode about Google Earth VR, I talked about how the principle of embodied cognition explains how our memories are tied to geographic locations. But right now Google Earth's resolution at the human scale is really uncanny, and you can't go inside. That's where Hassan's project tries to fill the gaps by enabling people to share 360 videos of places that are meaningful to them, while being able to navigate between them using a model of the Earth. This is quite an intimate and effective way to get to know someone, but it's also the type of content that's going to be a lot more meaningful to the creators in 10-20 years from now because it is so effective at evoking memories.
- [#481: Call for VR Open Standard Backed by Valve, Oculus, Google, & OSVR](https://voicesofvr.com/481-call-for-vr-open-standard-backed-by-valve-oculus-google-osvr/) - The Khronos Group announced on Tuesday that they have a critical mass of major VR players who are collaborating on a VR open standard. This VR open standard will have a software and hardware component that will enable VR application portability across VR platforms, but also minimize the cost for hardware integrations across different VR platforms. The Khronos Group has been able to get public support for this initiative from VR headset manufacturers including Valve, Oculus, Google, & OSVR as well as the major GPU and CPU players of AMD, NVIDIA, Intel, and ARM.
- [#482: Designing an Escape Room Puzzle Game with "I Expect You to Die"](https://voicesofvr.com/482-designing-an-escape-room-puzzle-game-with-i-expect-you-to-die/) - VR escape room games are one of the emerging genres that are particularly well-suited for the affordances of VR, and Schell games' I Expect You to Die sets the standard for creating this type of puzzle game. I had a chance to catch up with game design director Shawn Patton at GDC in March where he shared some of the design strategies for I Expect You to Die.
- [#483: 'SUPERHOT VR': The Joy of a Slow Motion, Full-Body Experience](https://voicesofvr.com/483-superhot-vr-the-joy-of-a-slow-motion-full-body-experience/) - SUPERHOT VR is one of the standout VR games to come out with the Oculus Touch launch with it's unique blend of the mechanics of a first-person shooter but with the strategy of a puzzle game. Physics-based interactions in VR are already compelling since it helps to cultivate plausibility within our brains through the expectation loop of prediction and observation. Tying your movements to the progression of time within the game provided me with a awe-inspiring experience of the fabric of space-time that's completely unique to VR and feels like it's re-wired my brain.
- [#486: "Everything We Do is Experiential:" The Many Innovations of Felix & Paul Studios](https://voicesofvr.com/everything-we-do-is-experiential-the-many-innovations-of-felix-paul-studios/) - Felix & Paul Studios have been innovating on their own immersive VR camera technology since they pioneered the first-ever stereoscopic VR video with Strangers with Patrick Watson. They went on to sign a deal with Oculus Studios to produce a number of different 360 videos including the Introduction to Virtual Reality and a series of anthropological documentaries with Nomads.I had a chance to catch up with Félix Lajeunesse and Paul Raphaël at Oculus Connect 3, where they were debuting their third VR collaboration with Cirque du Soleil with KÀ: The Battle Within, which features some of the most mind-bending, physics-based acrobatic choreography that I've ever seen. They continue to innovate with their camera technology to do things that other camera systems cannot, including maintaining decent stereoscopic effects within the near-field, better dynamic range and control over the framerate. In their Through the Ages: President Obama Celebrates America's National Parks VR experience, they adapted their camera so that it could capture some awe-inspiring, time-lapse sequences at Yosemite National Park.
- [#487: Virtual Therapy for Stroke Neurorehabilitation & Skill Relearning](https://voicesofvr.com/487-virtual-therapy-for-stroke-neurorehabilitation-skill-relearning/) - Larry Hodges is a professor of human computer interaction at Clemson University, and he was one of the co-chairs of the very first IEEE VR academic in 1999. Hodges also co-founded a start-up named Recover, which originated from a successful research project into stroke recovery done by his student Austen Hayes. Inspired by the latest research into neurorehabilitation & skill relearning, they create a Kinect-based experience that gamifies the rehab exercises that 85% of people don't do because they're either too boring or painful. They're able to inspire stroke recovery patients to do extended rehab practices while also progressively increasing the difficulty of the tasks over time as they slowly get better.I had a chance to catch up with Larry at the IEEE VR academic conference in March 2016, where we talked about the history of the IEEE VR conference, his work with stroke rehabilitation and virtual therapy along with some of the results that they're seeing, as well as some of his research on treating PTSD with virtual reality.
- [#488: Managing Pain & Anxiety in Hospitals with AppliedVR](https://voicesofvr.com/488-managing-pain-anxiety-in-hospitals-with-appliedvr/) - There's been more than 30 years of research into the medical applications of virtual reality, but it's not until the recent consumer VR revolution that the technology has been cost-effective enough to use. The research shows that the combination of immersion with interactivity can help to reduce pain up to 70%, and in some studies do as well or better as using morphine. AppliedVR was spun out of Lieberman Research Worldwide, and so they've been looking at previous medical VR research, creating new VR experiences, and then doing clinical research studies to prove out the efficacy of using virtual reality to manage pain and anxiety before, during, and after hospital procedures.I had a chance to catch up with the President of AppliedVR Josh Sackman at the Experiential Technology Conference in May 2016. We talked about how VR can improve the overall patient experience metrics, the clinical metrics that VR could impact, and how VR can create a sense of connectedness, pleasure, and empowerment in patients. We also discuss the future of integrating biometric feedback like heart rate variability as a control input for VR experiences.
- [#489: From 2D Illustration to 3D VR Art: The Role of Artists with the Uncanny Valley](https://voicesofvr.com/489-from-2d-illustration-to-3d-vr-art-the-role-of-artists-with-the-uncanny-valley/) - In July, I was invited to give a talk about virtual reality at the bi-annual Illustration Conference with indie VR developer Ashley Pinnick, who studied as an artist and illustrator. On today's Voices of VR podcast, we talk about the process of moving from 2D illustration to 3D VR art, some potential strategies for artists to get more involved in the process of virtual reality development, and the role of artists in creating digital avatars on the safe side of the uncanny valley.
- [#491: Brain-Controlled VR Experiences: Challenges & Potentials](https://voicesofvr.com/brain-controlled-vr-experiences-challenges-potentials/) - When I attended the Experiential Technology Conference in May 2016, I heard from a number of commercial off-the-shelf brain-control interface manufacturers that their systems would not natively work with VR headsets because there are some critical portions on the head that are occluded by VR headset straps. Companies like Mindmaze VR are building in integrated EEG hardware primarily for high-end medical applications, and perhaps we'll start to see more EEG hardware integrations in 2017.Qneuro is an educational company that was exhibiting at the Experiential Technology Conference, and they had some early VR prototypes that used EEG as input within a lab environment. Qneuro founder Dhiraj Jeyanandarajan is a clinical neurologist and works as a neurophysiologist who looks at real-time electrophysiological signals to make corrections during brain or spinal surgeries. He's also a father who got frustrated with the educational games that were available for his two kids, and so he started Qneuro to create educational games that integrated real-time EEG feedback.
- [#492: HTC's Dan O'Brien on Vive Tracker & Privacy in VR](https://voicesofvr.com/492-htcs-dan-obrien-on-vive-tracker-privacy-in-vr/) - The most significant VR announcement from CES 2017 was the Vive Tracker, which is a modular lighthouse tracked 'puck' attachment that will enable users to track additional objects within VR experiences. It has the potential to drive a lot of new innovative applications and gameplay for consumers, to kickstart a lot more mixed reality livestreams, but also grow the overall VR ecosystem as there will be more high-end B2B applications, advertising campaigns, and VR arcade peripherals.I had a chance to catch up with HTC's Dan O'Brien, who is the general manager of America, Europe, Middle East, and Africa. We talked about HTC's emphasis of growing the ecosystem in 2017 with this new Vive Tracker, and what type of applications he expects that it will enable. We also talk about some of the privacy implications of virtual reality, and more about HTC's approach of minimizing, anonymizing, and protecting any private data that is collected. There are amazing new opportunities for application developers to learn more about individual consumers than ever before, but with that power comes a responsibility to be conscientious enough to not record and store more identifiable information than is necessary.
- [#493: Is Virtual Reality the Most Powerful Surveillance Technology or Last Bastion of Privacy?](https://voicesofvr.com/is-virtual-reality-the-most-powerful-surveillance-technology-or-last-bastion-of-privacy/) - Virtual Reality has the potential to enable so many amazing utopian futures, but it also has the potential to become one of the most intimate surveillance technologies that could create a Big Brother dystopia of political and economic control. But if privacy considerations are built into virtual reality technologies from the beginning, then Accomplice investor Sarah Downey argues that the metaverse could actually be one of the last bastions of privacy that we have in our lives.
- [#494: OSSIC CEO: The Future of Music is Immersive & Interactive](https://voicesofvr.com/494-ossic-ceo-the-future-of-music-is-immersive-interactive/) - OSSIC debuted their latest OSSIC X headphone prototype at CES this year with one of the best immersive audio demos that I've heard yet. OSSIC CEO Jason Riggs told me that their headphones do a dynamic calibration of your ears in order to render out near-field audio that is customized to your anatomy, and they had a new interactive audio sandbox environment where you could do a live mix of audio objects in a 360-degree environment at different heights and depths. OSSIC also was a participant in Abbey Road Studio's Red Incubator looking at the future of music production, and Riggs makes the bold prediction that the future of music is going to be both immersive and interactive.
- [#495: Tricking the Brain is the Only Way to Solve the Infinite Degree of Freedom Haptics Problem](https://voicesofvr.com/495-tricking-the-brain-is-the-only-way-to-solve-the-infinite-degree-of-freedom-haptics-problem/) - Deep in the basement of the Sands Expo Hall at CES was an area of emerging technologies called Eureka Park, which had a number of VR start-ups hoping to connect with suppliers, manufacturers, investors, or media in order to launch a product or idea. There was an early-stage haptic start-up called Go Touch VR showing off a haptic ring that simulated the type of pressure your finger might feel when pressing a button. I'd say that their demo was still firmly within the uncanny valley of awkwardness, but CEO Eric Vezzoli has a Ph.D. in haptics and was able to articulate an ambitious vision and technical roadmap towards a low-cost and low-fidelity haptics solution.Vezzoli quoted haptics guru Vincent Hayward as claiming that haptics is an infinite degree of freedom problem that can never be 100& completely solved, but that the best to hope for is to trick the brain. Go Touch VR is aiming to provide a minimum viable way to trick the brain starting with simulating user interactions like button interactions.
- [#496: Quantifying Touch on 15 Dimensions with SynTouch](https://voicesofvr.com/496-quantifying-touch-on-15-dimensions-with-syntouch/) - SynTouch has created a system that can quantify the sense of touch on fifteen different dimensions called the SynTouch Standard, and they're one of the most impressive haptic start-ups that I've seen so far. SynTouch isn't creating haptic displays per se, but they are capturing the data that will vital for other VR haptic companies to work towards creating a display that's capable of simulating a wide variety of different textures. SynTouch lists Oculus as one of their partners, and they're also providing their data to a number of other unannounced haptic companies.
- [#497: The Future of VR Arcades with VRsenal](https://voicesofvr.com/497-the-future-of-vr-arcades-with-vrsenal/) - HTC announced the Vive Tracker at CES this year, which will enable a range of VR peripherals that are targeted to from consumers to high-end virtual reality arcades. One of the higher-end peripherals that debuted was VRsenal's VR-15, which has built-in haptics and the same weight distribution as a M-15 and AR-15. I had a chance to catch up with VRsenal CEO Ben Davenport who talked about targeting the digital out-of-home entertainment and VR arcade market with their integrated solutions of commercial-off-the-shelf VR hardware, VR backpacks and haptic vests with customizations and top-of-the-line gun peripherals with an integrated Vive tracker.
- [#498: Keys of Owlchemy Labs' Success: Agency & Plausibility + What is Real?](https://voicesofvr.com/498-keys-of-owlchemy-labs-success-agency-plausibility/) - Owlchemy Labs recently announced that Job Simulator has grossed over $3 million, and so it's worth reflecting on some of the design principles of agency and plausibility that have proven to be some of the key affordances of the virtual reality medium. I had a chance to talk to Owlchemy Labs' Cy Wise at PAX West where she shared with me some guiding principles for Job Simulator as well as some of the more existential reactions from users questioning the nature o reality.
- [#499: VR as the Ultimate Empathy Machine with Gabo Arora](https://voicesofvr.com/vr-as-the-ultimate-empathy-machine-with-the-uns-gabo-arora/) - Gabo Arora founded the United Nations VR, and directed some for the more well-known VR empathy experiences starting with Clouds Over Sidra in December 2014 in collaboration with Chris Milk and Here Be Dragons. Milk first showed Clouds Over Sidra during Sundance 2015, and featured it prominently in his VR as the Ultimate Empathy Machine TED talk in March 2015, which popularized VR's unique abilities for cultivating empathy. I had a chance to catch up with Arora at Oculus' VR for Good premiere party at Sundance where we talked about directing Clouds Over Sidra, his new social enterprise The LightShed Collective, and the importance of storytelling in creating VR empathy experiences.
- [#500: Mindshow VR's Collaborative Storytelling Platform](https://voicesofvr.com/500-mindshow-vrs-collaborative-storytelling-platform/) - There are a number of immersive storytelling innovations Sundance 2017 in a number of experiences including Dear Angelica, Zero Day VR, Miyubi, and Life of Us, but Mindshow VR's collaborative storytelling platform was the most significant long-term contribution to the future of storytelling in VR. I first saw Mindshow at it's public launch at VRLA, and it's still a really compelling experience to record myself playing multiple characters within a virtual space. It starts to leverage some of virtual reality's unique affordances when it comes to adding a more spatial and embodied dimension to collaboratively telling stories. I had a chance to catch up with Visionary VR's CEO Gil Baron and Chief Creative Officer Jonnie Ross where we talk about how Mindshow is unlocking collaborative creative expression that allows you to explore a shared imagination space within their platform. We talk about character embodiment, and the magic of watching recordings of yourself within VR, how they're working towards enabling more multiplayer and real-time improv interactions, and they announced at Sundance that they're launching Mindshow as a closed alpha.
- [#501: Emotional Branching VR Stories: Combining Empathy & Interactivity for Compassion Acts](https://voicesofvr.com/emotional-branching-vr-stories-combining-empathy-interactivity-for-compassion-acts/) - Last year, Baobab Studios' Eric Darnell was skeptical about adding interactivity to virtual reality stories because he felt like there was a tradeoff between empathy and interactivity. But after watching people experience their first VR short Invasion!, he saw that people were much more engaged with the story and wanted to get more involved. He came to that realization that it is possible to combine empathy and interactivity in the form of compassion acts, and so he started to construct Baobab's next VR experience Asteroids! around the idea of allowing the user to participate in an act of compassion. I had a chance to catch up with Darnell at Sundance where we talked about his latest thoughts about storytelling in VR, and explored his insights from their first explorations of what he calls 'emotional branching.' Darnell says that one of the key ingredients of a story is 'character being revealed by the choices that they make under pressure.' Rather than make you the central protagonist as a video game might, in Asteroids! you're more of a side kick who can choose whether or not to help out the main characters. This allows an authored story to be told though the main characters that are ultimately independent of your actions, but your 'local agency' choices still flavor your experience in the sense that there are different 'emotional branches' of the story for how the main protagonists react to you based upon your decisions.
- [#504: 'Life of Us:' An Embodied & Social Story of Human Evolution](https://voicesofvr.com/504-life-of-us-an-embodied-social-story-of-human-evolution/) - Within premiered their first real-time rendered, interactive experience at Sundance New Frontier this year with Life of Us, which is the story of life on the planet as told through embodying a series of characters who are evolving into humans. The experience is somewhere betweeen a film and game, but it's more like a theme park ride. There's an on-rails narrative story being told, but there's also opportunities to throw objects, swim or fly around, control a fire-breathing dragon, and interact with another person who has joined you on the experience. You learn about which new character you're embodying by watching the other person embody that creature with you, and the modulation of your voice also changes with each new character deepening your sense of embodiment and presence.I had a chance to catch up with Within CTO and co-founder Aaron Koblin at Sundance to talk about their design process, overcoming the uncanny valley of voice modulation delays, how the environment is primary feature of VR experiences, and how their background in large-scale museum installations inspires their work in virtual reality.
- [#505: Beaming the Matrix into your Eyes: Otoy CEO on Future of Real-Time Lightfield Rendering](https://voicesofvr.com/505-beaming-the-matrix-into-your-eyes-otoy-ceo-on-future-of-real-time-lightfield-rendering/) - At Unity's Unite keynote in November, Otoy's Jules Urbach announced that their Octane Renderer was going to be built into Unity to bake light field scenes. But this is also setting up the potential for real-time ray tracing of light fields using application-specific integrated circuits from PowerVR, which Urbach says that with 120W could render out up to 6 billion rays per second. Combining this PowerVR ASIC with foveated rendering and Otoy's Octane renderer built into Unity provides a technological roadmap for being able to produce a photorealistic quality that will be the equivalent of beaming the matrix into your eyes.I had a chance to catch up with Jules at CES where we talked about the Unity Integration, the open standards work Otoy is doing, overcoming the Uncanny Valley, the future of the decentralized metaverse, and some of the deeper philosophical thoughts about the Metaverse that is the driving motivation behind Otoy's work in being able to create a virtual reality visual fidelity that is indistinguishable from reality.
- [#506: Has China Gone All-In with VR? HTC's Graylin on what's happening in China & VR](https://voicesofvr.com/has-china-gone-all-in-with-vr-htcs-graylin-on-whats-happening-in-china-vr/) - Alvin Wang Graylin is the China President of Vive at HTC, and I had a chance to talk with him at CES this year about what's happening in China. He provided me with a lot of cultural context, which includes support from the highest levels of Chinese Government to invest in companies working on emerging technologies like virtual reality and artificial intelligence. There were a flood of Chinese companies at CES showing VR headsets, peripherals, and 360 cameras. On average, the VR hardware from China tends to be no where near the quality of the major VR players of the HTC Vive, Oculus Rift, Sony PSVR, or Samsung GearVR, but there were some standout Chinese companies who are leading innovation in specific area. For example, some highlights from CES include TPCast's wireless VR, Noitom's hand-tracked gloves, and Insta360 with some of the cheapest 360 cameras with the best specs available right now.After CES, I was convinced that if you want to understand what's going to be happening in the overall VR ecosystem, then it's worth looking to see what's happening in China. The VR market in China is growing, and there is a lot more optimism for technological adoption and enthusiasm for having VR arcade experiences. Education in China is also very important with the one-child/two-child policy, and Graylin says that if VR can be proven to have a lot of educational impacts then the government will act to get VR headsets in every classroom. Once VR is in the classrooms, then it'll help convince more parents to buy one for the home if they believe it'll help their education.
- [#507: 'Tilt Brush' Launches on Oculus + Unanswered Questions about VR Privacy & Google](https://voicesofvr.com/tilt-brush-launches-on-oculus-unanswered-questions-about-vr-privacy-google/) - Tilt Brush launched on the Oculus Rift today, and I had a chance to catch up with Tilt Brush product manager Elisabeth Morant, launching. We have a broad discussion about adapting Tilt Brush for the Touch controllers, the Tilt Brush Artist in Residency Program, the Tiltbrush Unity Toolkit, and some of the features coming in the future potentially including a layering system and more non-intuitive and unexpected features similar to audio reactive brushes. I also asked about privacy in VR, but Google has yet to disclose any information about what they may or may not be capturing.
- [#508: Using VR as a Tool to Cultivate Compassion with Condition One](https://voicesofvr.com/using-vr-as-a-tool-to-cultivate-compassion-with-condition-one/) - Danfung Dennis has an ambitious vision for the potential of virtual reality, and it's one of the most radical ones that I've come across. He believes that VR can be used as a tool to cultivate compassion through having an embodied experience of witnessing suffering within VR. He says that the process of witnessing suffering can be used as a type of advanced Buddhist mind training to focus your attention, contemplate on your visceral reactions, and grow compassion through taking action. These brief VR experiences have the potential to impact day-to-day consumer decisions that people make, which can taken collectively could radically change the world.
- [#509: Valve's Joe Ludwig on Khronos Group's OpenXR VR Standard](https://voicesofvr.com/509-valves-joe-ludwig-on-khronos-groups-openxr-vr-standard/) - Valve's Joe Ludwig talks about the latest updates on the Khronos Group's VR standardization process that is now being called 'OpenXR.' Ludwig says that OpenXR is still primarily creating an open and royalty-free open standard for virtual reality, but that they wanted to plan for the future and eventually accommodate augmented reality as well. In my Voices of VR interview with Ludwig, he talks about the OpenXR standardization process from Valve's perspective and how they want to see VR become an open of a platform just like the PC.
- [#510: Bigscreen VR's Social Utility May Be VR's First Killer App](https://voicesofvr.com/510-bigscreenvrs-social-utility-may-be-vrs-first-killer-app/) - Last week BigscreenVR announced that they raised $3 million dollars for their 'social utility' VR application. BigscreenVR gives you access to your computer screen in VR, which is a deceptively simple idea but one that is unlocking new ways of working on your computer and enabling collaborative social environments that range from virtual 2D video game LAN parties to productive work meetings.I had a chance to catch up with founder Darshan Shankar at Oculus Connect 3 last October to talk about his founding story, and how he's designed BigscreenVR with privacy in mind through encrypted peer-to-peer networking technology that he developed. It's a formula that seems to be working since he reports that 'power users spend 20–30 hours each week in Bigscreen, making it one of the most widely used “killer apps” in the industry.' Those are astounding numbers for any social VR application, and the key to Bigscreen's success is that they've been providing a more immersive and social experience of 2D content ranging from games to movies.
- [#511: Neurospeculative Afrofeminism: Building the Future You Want to Live Into](https://voicesofvr.com/511-neurospeculative-afrofeminism-building-the-future-you-want-to-live-into/) - http://voicesofvr.com/511-neurospeculative-afrofeminism-building-the-future-you-want-to-live-into/Hyphen Labs is a immersive design collective made up of women of color, and they had a sci-fi VR experience at Sundance this year called Neurospeculative Afrofeminism. Their VR experience features black women as some of the pioneers of brain optimization, and you get to experience a futuristic neurocosmotology lab where you can receive transcranial stimulation. As you get this neuroplasticity treatment, you're transported into a magical world that features speculative products that feature women of color as the center of the design narrative.
- [#512: Experiential Poems: Exploring Emotions & Embodied Vulnerability with Cabbibo](https://voicesofvr.com/512-experiential-poems-exploring-emotions-embodied-vulnerability-with-cabbibo/) - Using language to translate an experience into words is one of the highest levels of abstraction that you can have. Using the power of visual metaphor through poetry is able to get to deeper levels of emotion, and virtual reality is able to remove nearly all levels of abstraction by tricking your senses into having a direct sensory experience within your body. Indie VR artist Isaac 'Cabbibo' Cohen has started to create a sort of 'Experiential Poem' with virtual reality exploring how to invoke complicated emotions that transcend words.I had a chance to catch up with Cabbibo at GDC to talk about his process of using VR for emotional exploration. He was previewing a couple of new experiences at the Valve booth including a picture-book VR narrative called Delilia's Gift, and a social VR environment called Ring Grub Island that was designed for mutual exploration and embodied vulnerability.
- [#514: Tobii Recommends Explicit Consent for Recording Eye Tracking Data](https://voicesofvr.com/514-tobii-recommends-explicit-consent-recording-eye-tracking-data/) - The eye tracking company Tobii had some VR demos that they were showing on the GDC Expo Hall floor as well as within Valve's booth. They were primarily focusing on the new user interaction paradigms that are made available by using eye gazing to select specific objects, direct action, but also locomotion determined by eye gaze. I had a chance to catch up with Johan Hellqvist, VP products and integrations at Tobii, where we discussed some of the eye tracking applications being demoed. We also had a deeper discussion about what type of eye tracking data should be recorded and the consent that application developers should secure before capturing and storing it.
- [#515: Embodied Cognition Experiments with EleVR's Math Museums & Hyperbolic Space](https://voicesofvr.com/515-embodied-cognition-experiments-with-elevrs-math-museums-hyperbolic-space/) - I believe that the principle of Embodied Cognition is probably one of the most significant and important concepts to understand about virtual reality. Cognitive science researchers have been connecting the dots the importance of our bodies when it comes to perception, the subjective construction of reality, and how we process and think about information. We use our entire body and surrounding environment in our cognitive processeses, and virtual reality is bringing our full bodies into computing in a way that takes full advantage of the insights coming from embodied cognition research.EleVR is a VR research collective that has declared 2017 as the 'Year of the Body.' 'Mathemusician' and virtual reality philosopher Vi Hart was a self-proclaimed body skeptic seeing it as an inconvenience to take care of in the persuit of higher forms of beauty with math and music, but after some preliminary experiments with embodied visualizations of physics she started to have a direct experience of the power of Embodied Knowledge.
- [#516: Privacy in VR is Complicated & It'll Take the Entire VR Community to Figure it Out](https://voicesofvr.com/516-privacy-in-vr-is-complicated-itll-take-the-entire-vr-community-to-figure-it-out/) - When I was at the GDC VR Mixer, Jim Preston struck up a conversation about his concerns about privacy in VR. He works at the VR eye tracking company of FOVE, but wanted to speak to me on his own behalf about some of the deeper philosophical questions and conceptual frameworks around the types of intimate data that will become available to VR headsets. As more and more biometric data streams are integrated into VR, then there a lot of complicated and complex ethical questions that he thinks will take the entire VR community to figure out.
- [#518: Advanced Brain Monitoring EEG Metrics & Experimental VR Treatments for Neurodegenerative Diseases](https://voicesofvr.com/advanced-brain-monitoring-eeg-metrics-experimental-vr-treatments-for-neurodegenerative-diseases/) - Advanced Brain Monitoring is a 17-year old neurotechnology company that has been able to extract a lot of really useful information from EEG data. They've developed specific EEG Metrics for drowsiness, inducing flow states, engagement, stress, emotion, and empathy as well as biomarkers for different types of cognitive impairment. They've also developed a brain-computer interface that can be integrated with a VR headset, which has allowed them to do a couple of VR medical applications for PTSD exposure therapy as well as some experimental VR treatments for neurodegenerative diseases like Dementia. I had a chance to catch up with Advanced Brain Monitoring's CEO and co-founder Chris Berka at the Experiential Technology conference where we talked about their different neurotechnology applications ranging from medical treatments, cognitive enhancement, accelerated learning, and performance training processes that guide athletes into optimal physiological flow states.
- [#517: Biometric Data Streams & the Unknown Ethical Threshold of Predicting & Controlling Behavior](https://voicesofvr.com/517-biometric-data-streams-the-unknown-ethical-threshold-of-predicting-controlling-behavior/) - I recently attended the Experiential Technology Conference where there were a lot of companies looking at how to use biometric data to get insights into health & wellness, education for cognitive enhancement, and market research. Over the next couple of years, virtual reality platforms will be integrating more and more of these biometric data streams, and I wanted to learn about what kind of insights can be extrapolated from these data streams. I talked with behavioral neuroscientist John Burkhardt from iMotions, which is one of the leading biometric platforms as a service, about what metrics that can capture from eye tracking, facial tracking, galvanic skin response, EEG, EMG, and ECG.
- [#519: How 'Rock Band VR' Accidentally Became a Music Creativity Tool](https://voicesofvr.com/519-how-rock-band-vr-accidentally-became-a-music-creativity-tool/) - The developers at Harmonix didn't set out to create an open-ended music creativity tool with Rock Band VR, but once they realized how compelling it was to simulate the feeling of being a rock star on stage in VR, then they completely pivoted the production of their game. They discovered that it wasn't compelling to force users to focus on any single gameplay mechanic, and so they focused on allowing users to look around to cultivate deep feelings of immersion and stage presence. Rather than rewarding precision of playing the perfect studio session, they wanted to recreate what it felt like to give a live musical performance that allowed users a lot of agency in expressing their own musical creativity and giving an entertaining embodied performance. I had a chance to catch up with Jonathan Pardo, QA Audio Lead for Rock Band VR, to talk about their design process of how they were able to incrementally teach players how to play their game as well as some of the fundamental components of music theory for what chord combinations tend to work well within their set of 60 different songs.
- [#522: Sundance's Shari Frilot on the Power of VR Storytelling to See Ourselves in a New Way](https://voicesofvr.com/522-sundances-shari-frilot-on-the-power-of-vr-storytelling-to-see-ourselves-in-a-new-way/) - Shari Frilot started the New Frontier at Sundance in 2007, and programmed the festival's first VR experience in 2012 with Nonny de la Peña's Hunger in LA using an early Oculus Rift prototype made by Palmer Luckey. Frilot has since programmed around 75 VR experiences since 2014 that explore storytelling, empathy, and emotional presence, but she sees that it's going beyond empathy. She says that being in VR gives us 'the ability to see ourselves in a way that we could never do alone,' and that VR embodiment may allow us to overcome our unconscious biases. In speaking about embodying a number of different creatures in The Life of Us she says, 'you can watch yourself tap these primitive instinctual responses and you watch yourself go into another place of being able to socially engage with somebody' beyond the normal labels of white dude or a black lesbian.I had a chance to catch up with Frilot at Sundance this year where we talked about the power of story to change someone's reality, the role of Sundance in the modern history of consumer VR, interdisciplinary insights into storytelling from over 10 years of New Frontier, how VR could change how we see and understand our underlying value systems, and how VR could help us reconnect the body to the brain in a new way.
- [#523: ​Viveport's President on HTC's New VR Subscription Service](https://voicesofvr.com/523-htc-viveports-president-on-their-new-vr-subscription-service/) - April 4th was the one-year anniversary of the HTC Vive, and HTC released the subscription service for Viveport for $6.99 to try out five new VR applications per month. I had a chance to catch up with Viveport president ​Rikard Steiber at GDC to talk about the genre differences between Viveport and Steam, future support of VR headsets beyond the Vive, their support for delivering content to China, as well as some of their arcade licensing options.
- [#528: Geospatial AR Permissions with the Mixed Reality Service Spec](https://voicesofvr.com/528-geospatial-ar-permissions-with-the-mixed-reality-service-spec/) - Mark Pesce is a VR pioneer who has been thinking about networked virtual and augmented reality for over 20 years now. He developed the Ono-Sendai Sega VR helmet prototype, co-created VRML, and presented his Cyberspace Protocol spec at the first Web conference in 1994. This CP spec evolved into the Mixed Reality Services spec, which aims to be a distributed system that would grant geospatial permissions for mixed reality applications. This system would be an open way of preventing AR games from being played at culturally sensitive locations, but also provide Universal Resource Identifiers to bring the open web to the real world. It could provide permissions for airspace & drones, surveillance permissions, AR game permissions, hazmat warnings, electrical and plumbing layouts, and hours of operations for buildings.
- [#529: VR Storytelling Highlights from Tribeca Film Festival](https://voicesofvr.com/529-vr-storytelling-highlights-from-tribeca-film-festival/) - The Tribeca Film Festival featured over 30 different VR experiences within their Storyscapes and Immersive Virtual Arcade, and I had a chance to catch up with curator Loren Hammonds about some of the highlights of the festival program with genres spanning from live-action narrative, animated narrative, documentary, interactive installations, guided tours, empathy pieces, and even a couple of immersive theater, mixed reality pieces. The overall focus and theme that connected all of the VR pieces is storytelling, both in terms of strong storytelling execution as well as in innovations around interactive storytelling.
- [#531: Tony Parisi is Leading Unity's VR & AR Strategy beyond Gaming](https://voicesofvr.com/531-tony-parisi-is-leading-unitys-vr-ar-strategy-beyond-gaming/) - The keynote from Unity's Vision VR/AR Summit yesterday showcased just how far Unity is reaching into non-gaming content when it comes to augmented and virtual reality. The person who is in charge of Unity's xR strategy is Tony Parisi, who is a co-founder of VRML and a long-time open web advocate. Tony has long been interested in using VR for artistic expression and storytelling, and the keynote speakers highlighted the range of diversity of immersive technologies ranging from NASA JPL to car companies to the NFL to graphic novel comic books to immersive storytelling to construction to the big tech players including Facebook, Google, and Microsoft.I had a chance to catch up with Tony at Sundance earlier this year to talk about his approach to leading VR & AR strategy at Unity, and moving immersive technologies beyond just entertainment. Anyone who knows Tony can say that he wouldn't have taken this job at Unity if there wasn't some long-term open web strategy involved, but he wasn't prepared to provide any specifics on it yet. But it's safe to assume that it's on the roadmap, especially with the recent news that the co-creator of WebGL & WebVR, Vlad Vukicevic recently joined Unity's emergent technology group.
- [#533: High Fidelity is Architecting for VR Privacy with Self-Sovereign Identity](https://voicesofvr.com/533-high-fidelity-is-architecting-for-vr-privacy-with-self-sovereign-identity/) - Philip Rosedale has been thinking deeply about how to architect large-scale, distributed virtual worlds after experiencing many bottlenecks in running Second Life. High Fidelity is taking a much more distributed approach with how it's being developed openly in open source using Worklist.net contractors, how it plans on distributing hosting and compute resources to user's computers, as well as using a decentralized identity based upon the blockchain. Rather than having a centralized authority for tracking and data mining an individual's identity, they're planning on using what's called 'Self-Sovereign Identity', which Christopher Allen explains in great detail in his comprehensive essay titled A Path to Self-Sovereign Identity.I had a chance to catch up with Rosedale at the 4th Silicon Valley Virtual Reality conference where we talked about distributed identity, privacy in VR, High Fidelity business model based upon sales tax, whether existing cryptocurrencies will work for them, yang and yin currencies, and their open source development process. High Fidelity is architecting a lot of the open standards for the future of the metaverse, and Rosedale is one of the most deep and profound thinkers in the virtual reality space. He's ahead of his time in architecting virtual worlds that will be able to democratize space and disrupt travel.
- [#535: An In-Depth Look at the Microsoft HoloLens & Their Mixed Reality Ecosystem](https://voicesofvr.com/535-an-in-depth-look-at-the-microsoft-hololens-their-mixed-reality-ecosystem/) - The HoloLens is the most impressive augmented reality HMD on the market today, and their developer kit is already being deployed into production in industries ranging from architecture, engineering, design, sales, medicine, and education. Microsoft is taking a holistic approach with Windows Mixed Reality being baked into Windows 10, meaning that developers can create a single application that can run either on the HoloLens, on one of their partner VR headsets, on a Surface tablet, or as a desktop app. At Microsoft Build today, they're announcing a new OEM VR partner with HP as well as inside-out, six degree-of-freedom input controllers.I had a chance to sit down for an hour with two representatives from Microsoft to talk about the latest HoloLens updates, their VR headsets, as well their overall Mixed Reality strategy. Brandon Bray leads the Mixed Reality developer ecosystem, and Greg Sullivan is on the marketing team for the Windows & Devices Group. We cover a lot of the high-level mixed reality strategies as well as the low-level details for developers, as well as a wide range of topics from AI integrations with Microsoft Cognitive Services to the technical details of their new motion-tracked controllers.
- [#536: "Walkaway" Author Cory Doctorow on Gift Economies & Privacy](https://voicesofvr.com/walkaways-cory-doctorow-on-gift-economies-privacy/) - Cory Doctorow's new sci-fi book 'Walkaway' is a optimistic disaster novel that imagines what society might look like if people walked away from competitive market-driven laws, norms, and technological infrastructure and into an open-source inspired, collaborative gift economy. He's a co-founder of Boing Boing, and he uses the daily transom of tech culture and innovation as inspiration for world building fodder for his potential utopian futures. Privacy is also a recurring theme as the cyberpunks of the future have a number of different tactics for going dark and protecting their private data from being exploited.I had a chance to catch up with Doctorow on his book tour stop in Portland, and we talked about gift economy economic paradigms, theoretical self-provisioning Spime objects that instantiate when you need them and disintegrate into elemental form when complete, the extent to which market forces continue to infiltrate all dimensions of our lives, and how we're reaching a 'peak of indifference about surveillance.'
- [#1025: Full-Body Tracked Dance Performance on Identity & Avatar Discrimination in "Exploring Home" with Sara Lisa Vogl](https://voicesofvr.com/1025-full-body-tracked-dance-performance-on-identity-avatar-discrimination-in-exploring-home-with-sara-lisa-vogl/) - Exploring Home is a full-body tracked, dance performance in a VRChat world that premiered at Venice VR Expanded 2021. It explores issues around identity, avatar representations, being outcast and discriminated against, and it's a unique blend of different genres and affordances of performance, world design, theater, sculpture, and audio production. It was written, produced, and performed by Sara Lisa Vogl and was catalyzed after she had an experience of discrimination for not wearing an anime avatar within a VRChat dance club. This brought up traumatic experiences of racism and discrimination for being a half-Iranian immigrant in Germany, and so she turned to the medium of VR to create an immersive experience that allows you to step into her avatar skins, go through the nested stages of her life, and listen to audio reflections of her own journey and experience with identity, community, and the feelings of shame from not being accepted. It's a piece where you can fearlessly break through barriers, leave things behind, and be able to see tings from new perspectives.
- [#1050: Embedding Indigenous Relationality & Practice of Bearing Witness in "This is Not a Ceremony" 360 Video](https://voicesofvr.com/1050-embedding-indigenous-relationality-practice-of-bearing-witness-in-this-is-not-a-ceremony-360-video/) - This is Not a Ceremony is a cinematic VR piece that asks us to 'collectively bear witness to tragic events in the lives of two Indigenous men — Adam North Peigan and Brian Sinclair — and entrusts us to share what we've seen and heard.' It uses 360 3D documentary storytelling techniques to create opportunities to bear witness to stories of Indigenous trauma, and then that is juxtaposed with a more impressionistic, ancestral realm beyond space and time that's filled with with trickster poets, Matriarchs elders, and Inii (buffalo). The end result is a deeply layered experience that seamlessly blends mundane physical representations with more etheric virtual representations that provides a new way for how VR can be used for cultivating empathy.
- [#1053: Decolonizing the History of the India-Pakistan Partition with Embodied Stories of Forced Migration in VR with "Child of Empire"](https://voicesofvr.com/1053-decolonizing-the-india-pakistan-partition-with-embodied-stories-of-forced-migration-in-vr-with-child-of-empire/) - The Child of Empire is an immersive story that tells the story of the India-Pakistan Partition of 1947, which is one of the largest forced migrations in human history. It uses puppet theatre-styled motion graphics in the beginning to provide a crash course of British colonialism in India, which sets the broader political context for tell the individual personal stories of a Hindu refugee who migrated from Pakistan to India, and a Muslim refugee who migrated from India to Pakistan. The piece uses the theatrical conceit of a modern day, fictionalized conversation between the Indian Hindu and Pakistani Muslim as they recount their verbatim and actual, embodied memories of their migration journey.
- [#1065: Translating Her Father's Holocaust Refugee Journey into VR Memory Domes with "Komez Alef O"](https://voicesofvr.com/1065-translating-her-fathers-holocaust-refugee-journey-into-vr-memory-domes-with-komez-alef-o/) - Ioulia Isserlis' Komez Alef O translates the story of her father's refugee journey of escaping the Nazis during the Holocaust. Isserlis collaborated with her father in distilling his journey down to a dozen moments that were spatially reconstructed within VR in what she calls 'memory domes' using the Unreal Engine to export high-resolution, stereoscopic video. She collaborated with her father to reconstruct these scenes in what was a really emotional journey of reckoning this intergenerational trauma of the impacts of war. Isserlis had a surreal journey making this piece, and then dealing with the unfortunate timeliness of this piece as millions of families escape Ukraine in response to the Russian invasion -- including some of her own relatives. Isserlis shares with me both the emotional and technical journey in creating Komez Alef O, which had it's World Premiere during the SXSW festival. There's a dreamlike and etheric quality to Komez Alef O,, which takes you on a spatial journey through these moments and memories frozen in time as you listen to her father's testimony.
- [1156: Winner of IDFA DocLab Digital Storytelling Award "He Fucked the Girl Out of Me" Explores Trauma in 2D Retro Game Walking Simulator](https://voicesofvr.com/1156-winner-of-idfa-doclab-digital-storytelling-award-he-fucked-the-girl-out-of-me-explores-trauma-in-2d-retro-game-walking-simulator/) - Taylor McCue’s He Fucked the Girl Out of Me (play for free on itch.io) won the IDFA DocLab Digital Storytelling Award at DocLab 2022. It is a deeply personal story and powerful exploration of shame and trauma that uses a unique blend of retro 2D Game Boy aesthetics, graphic novel, narrative game walking simulator, with structural inspirations from Bagenzo’s Madotsuki’s Closet, which a fan fiction game of Yume Nikki. I found it to be a deeply moving piece and unlike any other interactive narrative piece I’ve ever experienced before, and so I naturally wanted to interview McCue in Amsterdam unpacking their journey and process in creating this. The game has a lot of different content warnings, and I’ll include a subset of those warnings that apply to our conversation here: Trauma, Gender Dysphoria, Suicidal Ideation, Blood, and Themes of Sex Work. Here’s another excerpt from the trigger warning page: “Trauma is a part of life. Everyone has trauma. Trauma is common in trans people. This game is made of memories. Those memories are about sex work. I’ve fictionalized them. That is the only way that I can get close to the truth without getting messy.”
- [#816: Neuroscience & VR: Using VR for Cognitive Assessments after Traumatic Brain Injury](https://voicesofvr.com/816-neuroscience-vr-using-vr-for-cognitive-assessments-after-traumatic-brain-injury/) - University of Cambridge's Dr. David Menon is a clinical neurointensivist who is specializing in traumatic brain injury. He's an advisor for the Canadian Institute for Advanced Research Azrieli Brain, Mind & Consciousness program, and he was an attendee to CIFAR's Future of Neuroscience and VR workshop in May. Menon is new to the realm of virtual reality, and he was impressed with learning about how far the immersive technologies have progressed over the last number of years.
- [#543: Visualizing An Invisible Cyber War with Zero Days VR](https://voicesofvr.com/543-visualizing-invisible-cyber-warfare-with-zero-days-vr/) - There's an invisible cyber war that's happening between major nation states, and Zero Days VR takes you inside of it in a completely new way using virtual reality. You go on a journey into a hyper-stylized cyberspace world where you embody the Stuxnet computer worm as it navigates programmable logic controllers, changes code, and destroys Iranian nuclear centrifuges.Zero Days VR is one of the most powerful VR documentaries that I've seen so far since it uses the unique affordances of VR to visualize what's at stake for weaponizing security vulnerabilities, and it uses these volumetric affordances to innovate what's possible in immersive storytelling. The end result is a visceral and embodied experience of an otherwise complex and abstract topic of cyber warfare that is probably one of the most important stories in our world today.
- [#545: AxonVR is Building a Generalized Haptic Display](https://voicesofvr.com/545-axonvr-is-building-a-generalized-haptic-display/) - AxonVR was awarded US Patent No. 9,652,037 of a 'whole-body human-computer interface' on May 16th, which includes an external exoskeleton as well as a generalized haptic display made out of microfluidic technology. I had a chance to demo AxonVR's HaptX™ haptic display that uses a 'fluidic distribution laminate' with channels and actuators to form a fluidic integrated circuit of sorts that could simulate variable stiffness and friction of materials. At GDC, I stuck my hand into a 3-foot cube device with my palm facing upward. I could drop virtual objects into my hands, and there was an array of tactile pixels that was simulating the size, shape, weight, texture, and temperature of these virtual objects. The virtual spider in my hand was the most convincing demo as the visual feedback helped to convince my brain that I was holding the virtual object. Most of the sensations were focused on the palm on the hand, and the fidelity was not high enough to provide convincing feedback to my fingertips. The temperature demos were also impressive, but also were a large contributor to the bulkiness and size of the demo. They're in the process of miniaturizing their system and integrating it with an exoskeletal system to have more force feedback, and the temperature features are unlikely going to be able to be integrated in the mobile implementations of their technology.
- [#644: Beat Saber Lets You Become the Music Through Puzzles Your Body Solves](https://voicesofvr.com/644-beat-saber-lets-you-become-the-music-through-puzzles-your-body-solves/) - Beat Saber is a rhythm game that is like an embodied puzzle game that creates a visceral connection to 10 custom music tracks. It's similar to Soundboxing and Audio Shield, but you use extended light sabers rather than your fists, which makes you feel like a ninja. I've had a chance to play on the early beta version, and I played for an hour a day for the past week. It's an extremely satisfying game that I expect will have a lot of crossover appeal for people who have never tried VR before. The LIV mixed reality streaming integration means that you're going to be seeing a lot of Beat Saber videos in the next few weeks of people sharing their perfect runs, flow states, and expressions of personality through dancing. Beat Saber really utilizes the best aspects of embodied gameplay that is completely unique to VR, and there is a challenging puzzle aspect with the arrows dictating which direction you need to swipe. I had a chance to talk with the chief programmer Jan Ilavsky and music composer Jaroslav Beck at GDC about the development of Beat Saber, some more details about their scoring algorithm, and where they're taking it in the future.
- [#769: Beat Saber 1-Year Retrospective & the Future of Embodied Music](https://voicesofvr.com/769-beat-saber-1-year-retrospective-the-future-of-embodied-music/) - Beat Saber was launched on May 1, 2018, and has since sold over 1 million copies making it the most successful VR game ever. My first interview with the Beat Saber co-founders Jan Ilavsky and Jaroslav Beck was at GDC in March 2018, and I reached out to Beck ahead of the Oculus Quest launch in order to capture a bit of a retrospective for what's happened over the first year of launch, to hear about the enthusiasm of their Beat Saber community, but also some of the downsides of music piracy within the modding community, how Beat Saber Expert+ tracks ended up being a benchmark for developing the tracking technology for the Quest, and we also talk a bit about the future of music licensing in gaming.
- [#546: Racing Game "Sprint Vector" is an Intense Workout with VR Locomotion that Just Works](https://voicesofvr.com/546-racing-game-sprint-vector-is-an-intense-workout-with-vr-locomotion-that-just-works/) - Sprint Vector is an 'adrenaline platformer' racing game that relies upon a unique locomotion technique of swinging your arms in order to run through an obstacle course. It's the latest game from Raw Data developer Survios, but with a much more light-hearted stylized art aesthetic that has a unique mash-up of a game show, extreme sports, and a competitive racing game with an Sonic-inspired obstacle course. It's also a unique combination of active exercise with a combination of embodied and abstracted gameplay mechanics. I had a chance to catch up with Sprint Vector game designer Andrew Abedian at GDC where we talked about the mechanics of racing, the internal habits that are being formed by Survios developers, the intensity of exercise and stamina required to play the game, achieving flow states, and it's potential to evolve into a competitive eSport. It's a super fun experience to watch other people play either in a tournament competition in mixed reality or just as a quirky form of VR performance art (examples down below).
- [#547: 'Rose Colored' is a Sci-Fi Morality Tale in the Vein of 'Black Mirror'](https://voicesofvr.com/547-rose-colored-is-a-sci-fi-morality-tale-in-the-vein-of-black-mirror/) - My favorite narrative VR piece that I've seen so far this year is Rose Colored by Adam Cosco that premiered at VRLA. It's a science fiction morality tale that is asking us to look at a potential future of immersive technology. I'm cautious to say much more without spoiling his experience, and so I'd highly recommend checking out Rose Colored either on Vimeo, Facebook, YouTube, or Samsung VR before listening to this interview.VR Scout recently named Cosco as 'one of VR's Early Auteurs,' and I definitely have to agree. He has a distinct style with a lot to say about the impact of technology on our humanity.
- [#548: 'Mage's Tale' Lead Designer on RPG Character Progression & Gameplay Mechanics](https://voicesofvr.com/548-mages-tale-lead-designer-on-rpg-character-progression-gameplay-mechanics/) - Oculus premiered about a dozen games ahead of GDC this year, and one that stood out to me was Mage's Tale dungeon crawler for it's distinct art style and passion in using VR to fulfill childhood fantasies of becoming a spell-casting magician. Mage's Tale is an action RPG dungeon crawler where you search for dozens of different potion ingredients to create over 100 different spells, and then battle enemies with variations of your fire, ice, wind, and lightening spells. I talked with the lead designer David Rogers about some of the core gameplay mechanics driving Mage's Tale, how they inspire exploration by hiding potions off of the critical path, as well as the tradeoffs between the choices you have to make while progressing your character.
- [#549: Using VR to Diagnose & Treat Concussions with SyncThink](https://voicesofvr.com/using-vr-to-diagnose-treat-concussions-with-syncthink/) - The process of diagnosing a concussion is largely a subjective process of variations of attention, focus, and balance, which means that the existing self-reporting methods are unreliable and easily gamed. Using foundational research from military research, SyncThink has created a portable concussion diagnostic tool that uses a tablet and either a Gear VR or Oculus Rift DK2 fitted with an SMI eye tracker. They claim to be able to objectively detect symptoms of a concussion within 60 seconds through subtle variations of attention and an impaired ability to make predictions of a moving dot within VR. I had a chance to catch up with SyncThink CTO Dan Beeler at TechCrunch Disrupt SF in September 2016 to talk about the science and technology behind their EYE-SYNC product.
- [#550: VR World NYC Has an Open Buffet of 50+ VR Experiences](https://voicesofvr.com/550-vr-world-nyc-has-an-open-buffet-of-50-vr-experiences/) - VR World NYC is a new VR arcade that opened on June 24th in New York City right next to the Empire State Building. They have three floors with 55 different VR experiences, and they're using an all-you-eat buffet business model of paying $39-$49 to have unlimited access to play all of the available experiences. It's a great opportunity for tourists and New York residents to get their first room-scale and 360 VR experiences, but it also has a bar, plenty of places to hang out, as well as a number of different multi-player social VR experiences.
- [#551: Projection Mapped Immersive Theater by Heartcorps Shows Future of Live AR Performances](https://voicesofvr.com/551-projection-mapped-immersive-theater-by-heartcorps-shows-future-of-live-ar-performances/) - There was an amazing projection mapped, immersive theater piece at Sundance this year by Heartcorps called 'Riders of the Storyboard.' Trained street performers interacted with a virtual projection-mapped 2D objects, and through the slight of hand of magic broke these flat objects into the third as glowing 3D props. There were 15 people packed into a small room with about half a dozen performers for a 13-minute show about a these 2D characters who interact with the performers who are playing Alchemy of Light gods in the third dimension. It was an awe-inspiring performance, and the projection mapping technology provided a shared augmented reality experience. Heartcorps is proving out some of the techniques with projection mapping technology that should also work really well in the future of live performance and immersive theater designed for augmented reality glasses.I had a chance to catch up with the Heartcorps member and performer dandypunk, who talks about their process, ritual inspiration, and mixture of immersive theater and cutting-edge projection mapping. Be sure to check out the trailer and clips from their show at Sundance down below.
- [#552: Promoting Diversity in VR: Lessons from the Oculus Launchpad Program](https://voicesofvr.com/552-promoting-diversity-in-vr-lessons-from-the-oculus-launchpad-program/) - In March 2016, Oculus announced their Oculus Launchpad program with the idea that in order for VR to be successful, then there needs to be a diverse range of content created from diverse set of creators who are informed by different ethnicities, cultural backgrounds, and gender identities. Oculus brought together over 100 diverse content creators for a one-day training, and awarded scholarships to 11 projects from the dozens of prototypes submitted at the end of the program. Oculus Launchpad participant Dale Henry wrote up a detailed critique of the Launchpad program that provided a lot of constructive criticism for improvements that he'd like to see.I reached out to Henry to unpack his feedback on the lessons learned from the Oculus Launchpad program, but we also talk what the larger VR community can do to support diverse initiatives such as different community-driven mentorship models. We also talk about his personal journey in using VR to help children on the austism spectrum deal with bullying, and some of his struggles as an aspiring VR developer. We also dive into some deeper systemic issues, and have some difficult conversations about how only 1% of funded start-ups have black founders, larger diversity in tech issues, some of the unconscious biases that women and people of color face in raising funds, and whether or not VCs even know how to evaluate people of color.
- [#553: State of VR with Tipatat Chennavasin: Why He's Continuing to Invest in VR](https://voicesofvr.com/state-of-vr-with-tipatat-chennavasin-why-hes-continuing-to-invest-in-vr/) - Virtual Reality Headsets have not sold as many units as some of the more optimistic analysts have predicted, and VR Fund's Tipatat Chennavasin says that the relatively quick adoption of smart phone technologies have spoiled a lot of people within the investment community. But despite the adoption being slower than some had hoped, Chennavasin still sees a lot of optimistic indicators for the long-term investment of companies that are driving the evolution of the medium in different industry verticals. Some of those indicators are a Magid Insights survey that found that a majority of VR consumers 'very satisfied' and say product performance exceeds expectations, that there are at least 30 VR games on Steam that have grossed more than $250,000, and that there are a number of enterprise VR companies with revenues between half a million to a million dollars.I caught up with Chennavasin at the Silicon Virtual Reality Conference on March 31st to talk about the state of the VR ecosystem. We talked about how he sees Chinese investors could be shifting focus to AI and local Chinese companies, the market challenges for educational VR companies, and why he thinks that the lack of revenue in the 360 video could bring a reckoning moment for 360 video technology and content companies. After traveling to 36 VR conferences over the past year and seeing over 2000 VR demos, Chennavasin sees some of the most promising VR industry verticals as being healthcare, advertising technology, collaborative meeting and product design apps, enterprise applications, as well as architecture, engineering, and construction. He's been advising companies try to create applications that could only be done in VR, and that if you build something of value then you can find a way to pay you for it.
- [#554: Magik Gallery Show Featured Art Created Entirely in VR](https://voicesofvr.com/554-magik-gallery-show-featured-art-created-entirely-in-vr/) - Nick Ochoa curated some of the top artists producing work entirely in VR for the Magik Gallery show that happened in San Francisco, CA on May 20th. It was an ambitious effort to introduce VR creation tools for artists within a fine arts context in the Terra Gallery space. There were physical posters of scenes showed around 15-20 VR stations featuring an individual piece of art, as well as opportunities to try some of the VR art tools like TiltBrush. Most of the VR art pieces featured some dimension of scale or vastness that showcased some of the unique affordances of art within VR, and the intention was to inspire the art scene within San Francisco for how VR could be used as a medium for expression and storytelling. I had a chance to catch up with Magik Gallery founder Ochoa the day before the showing to talk about his efforts to get art within VR to be taken more seriously within the larger art world.
- [#561: Decentraland: Using Ethereum Blockchain ICO to Sell Virtual Real Estate](https://voicesofvr.com/561-decentraland-using-ethereum-blockchain-ico-to-sell-virtual-real-estate/) - Decentraland is a virtual world that is using the Ethereum Blockchain to sell plots of virtual real estate. They're having an initial coin offering for the ERC-20 token MANA from August 8 to August 16, 2017, and they'll have up to 2 million plots of virtual land that will be sold for 1000 MANA. They hope to create a virtual city with different thematic districts that will help with content discovery.The blockchain contract will contain a Bitorrent link or IPFS hash that contains the content for each virtual plot of land. They have a Unity plug-in, but are also planning on using A-Frame and other WebVR technologies to create their virtual city. They'll be using using other blockchain technologies like district0x for secondary markets for reselling land, Aragon for distributed governance, uPort for self-sovereign identity Ethereum Name Service for human readable names. More specific architectural details are described in their Decentraland Whitepaper.
- [#562: Using Dance as Embodied Communication & Pushing the Boundaries of Editing & Movement with 'Through You'](https://voicesofvr.com/562-using-dance-as-embodied-communication-pushing-the-boundaries-of-editing-movement-with-through-you/) - Dance is all about bodies moving through space, and it's something that shows the strength of the VR medium since there's something that's lost when it's translated onto a 2D screen. Lily Baldwin observed how audience members heard the music differently through her expressions as a dancer touring with David Byrne, and she wanted to experiment with using dance a form of embodied communciation within virtual reality. She teamed up with VR filmmaker Saschka Unseld to create Through You, which is an emotional and poetic experimental film that pushes the boundaries of what's possible with camera movements and over 200 edits.I had a chance to catch up with Baldwin at the Sundance Film Festival where we talk about her refined perception of body language, how she used bodies moving through space to communicate visceral emotion, and how they're pushing the limits of editing and camera movement within VR. Through You
- [#564: The Gift Economy Dynamics of 'Anyland' + Social VR Anecdotes](https://voicesofvr.com/564-the-gift-economy-dynamics-of-anyland-social-vr-anecdotes/) - Anyland is a social VR experience focusing on worldbuilding and avatar creation tools that allow you to create interactive experiences while in VR. They've also implemented an open sharing feature that makes it easy to collect objects from the world and share them with other people. Stephanie Mendoza is a VR developer and artist who has spent a lot of time creating worlds and exploring the gift economy dynamics within Anyland, and I had a chance to capture some of her stories and social experiments. She talks about the social status that comes with discovering bugs and glitches, documenting her adventures of agency expression and interactions with trolls, and how VR has been helping her have lucid dreams that have featured Anyland's worldbuilding user interfaces.
- [#563: Reflecting on AltSpaceVR's Technical Achievements & Social VR Lessons Learned](https://voicesofvr.com/563-reflecting-upon-altspacevrs-technical-achievements-social-vr-lessons-learned/) - AltSpaceVR held it's final official Good Bye gathering on Thursday, August 3rd as they announced on July 27th that they had run out of money and their investors decided to not invest any more. News of AltSpaceVR's closing rippled throughout the VR community over the past week, and some are wondering if it's any type of bellwether about the overall health of the VR ecosystem. There have been a number of discussion threads on Oculus subreddit, Vive subreddit, Twitter that had employees chiming in on imminent plans and the challenges of dealing with trolls and harassment in VR.I dug through my archives of unpublished Voices of VR interviews to pull out a discussion that I had with Amber Roy in March 2016 talking about the AltSpaceVR JavaScript SDK that she was working on at the time. She ended up leaving AltSpaceVR in July 2016 to go to work at Oculus on the React VR framework, but this discussion we had before GDC 2016 highlights the technical innovations AltSpace made with integrating web technologies within their social spaces. AltSpaceVR may have been too early with their three.js integrations as WebVR will be finally officially launching on Firefox this August with the release on Chrome hopefully coming later this year.
- [#565: Avatar Creation with Morph3D + Social VR Anecdotes from Chris Madsen](https://voicesofvr.com/565-avatar-creation-with-morph3d-social-vr-anecdotes-from-chris-madsen/) - Custom avatars in social VR add a lot of fidelity of identity expression and creative flair in applications like VRChat or High Fidelity. Morph3D is a custom avatar solution that offers a number of free avatars within VRChat, but they also have a custom tool where you can customize your own virtual avatar. I had a chance to catch up with Chris 'DeepRifer' Madsen, Morph3D's head of VR/AR at GDC where we talked about some of the reactive avatars that they're working on. Madsen has tried to explore something new in VR every day for the past four years, and he also shares some of the highlights of his social VR experiences from the last four years.
- [#566: VRChat Anecdotes + Dealing with Harassment & Tolling in Social VR](https://voicesofvr.com/566-vrchat-anecdotes-dealing-with-harassment-tolling-in-social-vr-2/) - Gunter S. Thompson has been hosting VR meetups in VRChat for the past 3 years where he will give guided tours through the latest additions to the VRChat metaverse, and he also hosts a live talk show every Tuesday called 'Gunter's Universe.' I had a chance to catch up with Gunter at SVVR about two months after VRChat launched on Steam on February 1st where we talked about highlights from his social VR adventures, the challenges of dealing with harassment and trolling with VRChat after it's public launch, and hanging out at the most popular bar in the metaverse, which is called 'The Great Pug.'
- [#568: Horror & Gore in VR: Designing 'Killing Floor: Incursion'](https://voicesofvr.com/568-horror-gore-vr-designing-killing-floor-incursion/) - Killing Floor: Incursion is a horror game featuring lots of gore that is sure to evoke visceral reactions in players. I had a chance to play a demo at GDC, and I can say that it's definitely an experience has stuck with me. The mechanics of beating enemies with their dismembered limbs had an extreme amount of blood splattering that it was a mix of being at the same time grossly disturbing and ridiculously comic. I had a chance to talk with project lead Leland Scali about the horror genre in VR, pushing the boundaries of how far to take gore within immersive VR, and their deeper game design process of creating an experience within their Killing Floor universe. Scali admits that they're treading a fine line of it being funny or amusing versus taking it too far, and so it'll be interesting to see how VR gamers and the larger media react to this experience as it could be a catalyst to larger discussions about the impact embodied experiences of gory violence within virtual reality. He says that this is not an experience about rainbows and happiness, but rather one that's gory & dark with a dash of quirky humor. Ultimately it seems to be about power -- specifically giving the player the power to complete the task, and assaulting them heavily to see if they can handle it.
- [#569: Merleau-Ponty's 'Phenomenology of Perception' & Embodied Metaphors](https://voicesofvr.com/569-embodied-metaphors-merleau-pontys-phenomenology-of-perception/) - The hard problem of the mind/body split and the ultimate nature consciousness is an open question in the science community, and there are a range of philosophies that try to handle this split. Cartesian dualists explicitly acknowledge this split as different realms, but interactions between the mind and body have started to break this down. There's a lot of scientific materialists who are holding out that consciousness will eventually be discovered to be an emergent property of the our neuroscience. Idealism is the opposite of materialism in saying the subjective experience is primary, and it's similar to saying that consciousness is fundamental in that matter could be an emergent property of a base reality of awareness or information. Panpsychism sees consciousness as universal in that every photo is conscious or carries a certain level of information processing capability. University of Sydney professor Kai Riemer says that phenomenology tries to get rid of the whole idea of this subject/object split, and that it's a much more holistic approach of centering everything around the interconnections of the meaning of objects and our direct human experience.Phenomenologist Gabriella Farina has resisted a precise definition by saying, 'A unique and final definition of phenomenology is dangerous and perhaps even paradoxical as it lacks a thematic focus. In fact, it is not a doctrine, nor a philosophical school, but rather a style of thought, a method, an open and ever-renewed experience having different results.' I had a chance to catch up with phenomenologist Kai Riemer at SIGGRAPH where he gave his perspective on what phenomenology is and why it's holistic approach could provide some vital insights for people working in VR.
- [#570: VR as a Reality Turing Test, Supernormal Siddhis, & Mind/Matter Consciousness Research](https://voicesofvr.com/570-vr-as-a-reality-turing-test-supernormal-siddhis-mindmatter-consciousness-research/) - Dean Radin is the lead scientist of the Institute of Noetic Sciences where he's been working on cutting-edge consciousness research of showing measurable mind and matter interactions with quantum phenomena. He's published 17 papers showing statistical significance of meditators being able to subjectively project their consciousness and make an 'observation' in a double-slit experiment that collapses the quantum wave function. You can read more in his Physics Essays paper 'Psychophysical interactions with a double-slit interference pattern,' as well as this lecture on mind-matter interactions at a consciousness conference. Radin's team is starting to look at whether or not they can use virtual to amplify the effects of this remote observation triggering signs of a quantum wave function collapse. Rather than imagining an observation in your mind, will they see similar effects by replicating this experiment within VR where they can be more embodied.The quantum measurement problem is an open problem in quantum mechanics, and the Von Neumann–Wigner interpretation that consciousness causes collapse of the wave function is merely one of many possible theories, but it's one that Radin is explicitly researching. He's also researching whether or not consciousness can entangle photons beyond the theoretical strength of Tsirelson's bound. Radin's team is still too early in this research to report any results either way, but it's the type of consciousness work that they're pioneering.
- [#572: Bioflight VR for Medical Training, Patient Behavior Modification, & Diagnosis](https://voicesofvr.com/572-bioflight-vr-for-medical-training-patient-behavior-modification-diagnosis/) - The design team behind Bioflight VR has worked on television shows such as CSI and ER, and they've been able to translate their VFX visualization skills into a virtual reality medical education venture. Their original plans were to use virtual reality to help doctors utilize the volumetric information captured in MRIs, CAT scans, and ultrasounds to improve upon medical diagnosis from 2D slices of data, but they started to gain more traction with creating a couple of different types of educational experiences. They started creating time-lapse experiences showing the long-term impacts of sodium consumption and smoking in videos meant for doctors to show patients to inspire behavior modification, and they also created a number of interactive medical training scenarios that would allow medical students to experience intense emergency room scenarios that would allow them to be evaluated based upon their competency and performance.I had a chance to catch up with co-founder and chief creative officer Rik Shorten at the Silicon Valley Virtual Reality conference both in May 2016 as well as a follow-up and update in March of 2017. This interview tracks the evolution of Bioflight VR starting with ambitions to use VR for medical diagnosis, and then their pivot focusing more on medical training and patient behavioral modification and education the following year. There are a lot of opportunities for virtual reality to become a huge part of telemedicine and providing a platform to visualize data that you collect about your body, but virtual reality seems to be making it's first strides into the medical field through patient and student education before the more advanced and higher-end applications of medical diagnosis and distributed telemedicine are adopted.
- [#573: Capturing Holocaust Testimony in VR: A Behind the Scenes Look at 'The Last Goodbye'](https://voicesofvr.com/573-capturing-holocaust-testimony-in-vr-a-behind-the-scenes-look-at-the-last-goodbye/) - One of the most emotionally-moving VR experiences that I've had in VR was bearing witness to Holocaust survivor Pinchas Gutter share his experiences at Majdanek Concentration Camp in The Last Goodbye. Gutter not provides a guided tour, but he is able to achieve a level emotional catharsis through the process of sharing his story that his virtual presence within the experience amplified my own sense of emotional and social presence, which is what helped to make it such a profoundly moving VR experience. The Last Goodbye uses a unique blend of photogrammetry and billboarded stereo video that helped to transport me into a room-scale experience of multiple key locations at the Majdanek Camp as Gutter shared his memories of being there as an 11-year old child. The Last Goodbye premiered at the Tribeca Film Festival, and it was an epic collaboration catalyzed by co-creators Gabo Arora and Ari Palitz and included HERE BE DRAGONS, MPC VR, and OTOY on the technical production side as well as the USC Shoah Foundation to oversee the process of capturing testimony about the Holocaust. Arora is the founder and creative director of LightShed, and is now an advisor and former founder of the UN's VR initiatives where was able to gain access to the Syrian refugees featured in his famous empathy piece Clouds Over Sidra. In this interview, Arora shares his collaborative process, pushing the boundaries of volumetric storytelling by blending photogrammetry-based, room-scale VR with live-action, empathy-based storytelling, as well as how he had to guide Gutter to achieve the depth of emotional presence that makes the piece so powerful.
- [#574: Blending Immersive Theater & VR with 'Draw Me Close' by NFB & National Theatre](https://voicesofvr.com/576-blending-immersive-theater-vr-with-draw-me-close-by-nfb-national-theatre/) - The National Theatre has created an Immersive Storytelling Studio to better understand the practices, protocols, opportunities of how virtual and augmented reality technologies are creating new storytelling possibilities. They collaborated with the National Film Board of Canada on an immersive theater piece called Draw Me Close that premiered at Tribeca Film Festival. It featured a one-on-one interaction with a live actor in a mixed reality environment while the audience was unveiled within a virtual reality headset where you play the archetypal role of a son/daughter as your mother embraces you, draws with you, and tucks you into bed as she narratives a memoir of her life. I talked with Immersion Storytelling Studio producer Johanna Nicolls about the reactions, intention, and overall development of Draw Me Close, which is their first immersive theater VR piece.
- [#576: Studying Anorexia Nervosa with VR Self-Avatars: Is Body Image a Matter of Perception or Attitude?](https://voicesofvr.com/576-studying-anorexia-nervosa-with-vr-self-avatars-is-body-image-a-matter-of-perception-or-attitude/) - Do patients with anorexia nervosa suffer from body image distortion due to how they perceive their body or is it due to attitudinal beliefs? Betty Mohler has been using VR technologies to study whether body representation is more perceptual or conceptual. She captures a 3D body scan of patients, and then uses algorithms to alter the body mass index of a virtual self-avatar from a range of plus and minus 20%. Patients then estimated their existing and desired body using a virtual mirror screen which tracked movements in real-time and showed realistic weight manipulations of photo-realistic virtual avatars. Mohler's results challenge the existing assumption that patients with anorexia nervosa have visual distortions of their body, and that it's possible that body image distortion is more driven by attitudinal factors where patients consider underweight bodies as more desirable and attractive.Mohler works at the Space & Body Perception Group at the Max Planck Institute for Biological Cybernetics. She's collaborates with philosopher of neuroscience Dr. Hong Yu Wong to research foundational questions about self perception like 'Who am I?' Where am I? Where is the origin of my self? Where is the frame of reference? What is the essence of me? How do we know that there's an external world? What does it mean to have a shared self where multiple people share the same body experience? What does it mean to have a body? How big is my body? Is it possible to be at multiple locations at once while in VR?
- [#577: Behind the Scenes of Felix & Paul's Emmy-Winning White House VR Documentary](https://voicesofvr.com/577-behind-the-scenes-of-felix-pauls-emmy-winning-white-house-vr-documentary/) - The White House VR documentary People's House by Felix & Paul Studios won a Emmy for the outstanding original interactive, and I had a chance to talk with Paul Raphael about how the challenges of producing a high-profile piece. They didn't know how many rooms they'd be able to shoot, and President Obama was such a fan of the project that he literally opened doors for the crew to record more than twice the number of originally scheduled rooms. They were limited to only two 15 minutes interviews with Barack and Michelle Obama, and so they collaborated with speech writers to capture memories and stories for this virtual guided tour.Felix & Paul Studios create their own VR camera hardware, and they're starting to use their fourth generation cameras while designing a next-generation, digital lightfield camera. Raphael said lightfield VR shoots are essentially visual effects shoots, which require shooting in different wedge segments that need to be composited in post-production. He also said that they've been consulting with most of the major HMD manufacturers including Facebook on an open standard for immersive 3D audio. Even though they've been creating a lot of hardware, they're more interested in using it to stay on the bleeding edge so that they can continue to innovate and push the creative limits of what's possible in immersive storytelling.
- [#578: Advancing Immersive Computing with Intel's Virtual Reality Center for Excellence](https://voicesofvr.com/578-advancing-immersive-computing-with-intels-virtual-reality-center-for-excellence/) - Intel is investing in the future of immersive computing through their Virtual Reality Center for Excellence. They're pushing the boundaries of high-end of VR gaming experiences, pursuing initiatives to help VR reach critical mass, and exploring how RealSense depth sensor cameras and WiGig wireless technologies fit into the VR ecosystem. I was able to demo an early prototype demo of an HTC Vive game rendered on a PC and transferred wirelessly to a mobile headset, and it's part of a research project to search for additional market opportunities for how high-end PCs could drive immersive experiences.I was able to sit down with the Kim Pallister, the director of Intel's VR Center for Excellence to talk about their various initiatives to advance immersive computing, their WiGig wireless technology, RealSense and Project Alloy, and some of the experiential differences between their lower-end and higher-end CPUs. He predicts that immersive gaming markets may mirror differences in mobile, console, and PC markets, and that there will be a spectrum of experiences that have tradeoffs between price, performance, and power consumption. Intel is initially focusing on pushing the high-end of VR gaming experiences, but they believe in the future of immersive computing and are looking at how to support and are looking at how to support the full spectrum of virtual reality experiences.
- [#580: Community Fallout from UploadVR's Harassment Settlement & Bearing Witness to Testimony](https://voicesofvr.com/580-community-fallout-from-uploadvrs-harassment-settlement-bearing-witness-to-testimony/) - The sexual harassment lawsuit against UploadVR was reported to be settled via Tech Crunch on September 6th, and a week later the New York Times followed with more details about how Upload had been barely dented. The case was settled without any elaboration about what did or didn't happen beyond a vague open letter from the founders of UploadVR. This issue has has splintered the VR community into different factions of people who are either actively blacklisting Upload or have written it off as an isolated incident that has resulted in changes and growth.Former employee Danny Bittman wrote about his brief time at Upload in a recent Medium post and there were some women who spoke out in a Buzzfeed article in July, but beyond that not many people with first or second-hand knowledge of the lawsuit allegations have made statements on the record. (You can find my Facebook posts about Upload since May here: 1 2 3 4 5). There hasn't been a lot of people who have been willing to talk about this issue on the record, but this seems to be changing after the latest round of news about the settlement lawsuit that has left segments of the VR community very unsettled.
- [#581: Using Abstract VR Art for Neural Entrainment & Brain Research + Can Creative AI Become Conscious?](https://voicesofvr.com/581-using-abstract-vr-art-for-neural-entrainment-brain-research-can-creative-ai-become-conscious/) - Kevin Mack is an Oscar-winning visual effects artist and abstract artist who creates digital spaces with fluidly moving textures that are awe-inspiring in it's ability to create a novel experience unique to VR. In Blortasia you float weightlessly exploring the ins and outs of a series of tunnels that have a consistent topological sculpture, but with an ever-changing shader of patterned frequencies of rainbox colors that cultivate a sort of visual neural entrainment. It aspires to recreate a psychedelically transcendent or transpersonal experience that goes beyond what your verbal mind can easily understand as there's no content, message, story, game or objective beyond providing an experience that's only possible in these virtual worlds. It's this unique balance between seeing an exciting and novel visual experience that's also simultaneously relaxing and has the power to induce powerful trance states that may have unique healing properties that are being discovered in medical applications for distraction therapy.
- [#582: The Future of Invasive Neural Interfaces & Uploading Consciousness with Ramez Naam](https://voicesofvr.com/582-the-future-of-invasive-neural-interfaces-uploading-consciousness-with-ramez-naam/) - Ramez Naam is the author of The Nexus Trilogy sci-fi novels, which explores the moral and sociological implications of technology that can directly interface with the brain. He gave the keynote at the Experiential Technology Conference in March exploring the latest research exploring how these interfaces could change the way that we sleep, learn, eat, find motivation to exercise, create new habits of change, and broadcast and receive technologically-mediated telepathic messages. I had a chance to catch up with him after his talk where we do a survey of existing technologies, where the invasive technologies are headed, the philosophical and moral implications of directly transferring data into the brains, and whether or not it'll be possible to download our consciousness onto a computer.
- [#583: Gartner's Brian Blau on the State of the VR & AR Industries](https://voicesofvr.com/583-gartners-brian-blau-on-the-state-of-the-vr-ar-industries/) - Brian Blau is the vice president of research for personal technologies at Gartner Research where he's in the business of making predictions about the consumer adoption of virtual reality and augmented reality technologies. I last interviewed Blau in 2015 when he was saying that his predictions were a lot more conservative than other analysts who were predicting more explosive growth for VR, and Blau tells me that his more conservative estimates have more closely matched with reality where he slightly overestimated PC VR market and underestimated how fast the mobile VR HMD market would take off.
- [#586: Oculus Connect 4 Highlights & BigScreenVR Raises $11 Million](https://voicesofvr.com/586-oculus-connect-4-highlights-bigscreenvr-raises-11-million/) - Facebook's Oculus Connect 4 developer conference happened last week, and I share some of the highlights including my hands-on impression of the standalone Santa Cruz headset, the latest updates from Facebook Spaces, and a number of updates to be delivered later in 2017 and 2018 including a new VR 3DUI called Dash. Dash is built with React VR, and will be providing immersive computing functionality including being able to pin windows applications within the context of VR apps. Oculus' Dash functionality is starting to overlap some of the feature set of BigScreenVR, which just raised another $11 million dollars proving that immersive computing may be one of the first real killer apps of VR that could drive adoption. I had a chat with Darshan Shankar, who was optimistic that major companies like Microsoft and Facebook are starting to bake some of these screensharing features within their core functionality since it shows that immersive computing is a compelling use case. Shankar sees screensharing as a legacy feature that is helping BigScreen bootstrap a user base that is willing to have other immersive social experiences in watching movies or other events in VR, and he talks about some of his plans for BigScreen on mobile VR and making BigScreen the goto cross-platform, social VR application.
- [#588: Being in Two Worlds at Once with 'UTURN': Parallel Stories & Quad Binaural Audio Mix](https://voicesofvr.com/588-being-in-two-worlds-at-once-with-uturn-parallel-stories-quad-binaural-audio-mix/) - UTURN is a 360-degree video that seamlessly blends together two 180-degree hemisphere worlds containing parallel storylines of two different perspectives at a tech start up. One perspective is from a male founder's point of view and the other perspective is from a woman coder who is crunching to finish a demo for investors. The crossfades from the quad binaural audio design by Shaun Farley helps to dynamically mix the conversations from different together in a way that really sells the experience of walking between two different worlds. Usually a 360-video doesn't have reactive edits of the visuals, but UTURN proves that there is a lot of latitude in creating an immersive and interactive audio experience that feels reactive to your gaze.UTURN explores themes of gender discrimination, and uses the 360-degree medium to capture group dynamics and unconscious bias within the workplace. I had a chance to catch up with NativeVR's reative director and UTURN executive producer Nathalie Mathe to talk about the themes of sexism and gender discrimination covered in the piece, the technical storytelling innovations, the innovative sound design, the challenges of telling parallel stories, and some of the funding challenges involved in bootstrapping an independent production.
- [#589: Dark Corner Creates New Distribution Channel for Immersive Horror](https://voicesofvr.com/588-dark-corner-creates-new-distribution-channel-for-immersive-horror/) - The Dark Corner app is creating a new distribution channel for immersive horror experiences and 360-degree videos. Guy Shelmerdine and Teal Greyhavens are hoping that fans of the horror genre will be enthusiastic enough about the potential of VR to achieve new depths of terror that audiences will be willing to pay for 360 video experiences. Shelmerdine is featuring Dark Corner's own creations including Catatonic and their latest nightmare-inspired Night Night, but also opening up a new marketplace for creators of horror content to sell and distribute their content.I had a chance to catch up with Shelmerdine and Greyhavens to talk about their journey from comedy into VR horror, how VR horror experiences have gone viral because of reaction videos, the new distribution channel they're creating, and the storytelling components that make up a great horror experience.
- [#590: Designing The Future through Sci-Fi World Building with Monika Bielskyte](https://voicesofvr.com/590-designing-the-future-through-sci-fi-world-building/) - VR represents a shift from telling stories to building story worlds that people experience and interact with. There is a process of world building and experiential design that first creates the conditions of the environment, and then the full context of this world helps to drive the narrative design of the stories that can be told in this world. This process of building futuristic, sci-fi worlds requires a holistic understanding the co-evolution of technology and culture that takes a lot of imagination to visualize solutions to intractable problems embedded within the fabric of this new world, and then to future imagine what new and even more complicated problems will have been created. Monika Bielskyte of All Future Everything is a digital nomad who travels the world searching for the latest technological and cultural innovations so that she can build these sci-fi worlds imagining the cultural and technological context of the near-future for the entertainment industry, technology companies, and even urban planners and politicians from governments and physical cities.Bielskyte is critical of a lot of the status quo of Hollywood sci-fi blockbusters who tend to be self-referential to other movies and media rather than curating the latest innovations in tech and culture that is already happening around the world at small scales. She has a vision of the future culture that is post-race, post-gender, post-nationalities, but also has more holistic representations of diversity, a regenerative relationship with the environment, robust expressions of cultural creativity and hacking reality, an accurate representation of youth culture and fashion, moving beyond mid-20th century gender, family, and sexuality stereotypes, and imagining how the values of our culture can evolve beyond passive consumption to participatory experiences with spatial computing. A lot of the existing sci-fi worlds builders do have not thought about all of these dimensions of potential future iterations of culture, but rather resort to the lowest-common denominator, dystopic visions of ecological disaster and tyrannical thought control.
- [#591: Flow: Unlocking Peak Performance](https://voicesofvr.com/591-flow-unlocking-peak-performance/) - Ravé Mehta talks about how he was able to deal with recovering from a health condition through achieving progressively deeper, longer, and more consistent levels of flow states. He talks about his holistic philosophy of flow, what he learned from game design, the gift economy at Burning Man, the differences between competitive and cooperative flow states, and how deflationary cryptocurrencies have the potential to provide an infrastructure and context that encourages more collaborative flow within business.
- [#592: Can VR Help Firefighting Training Needs?](https://voicesofvr.com/592-can-vr-help-firefighting-training-needs/) - Patrick Hagan is a technical specialist for the Houston Fire Department who had an opportunity to try out a VR demo by HTX Labs featuring an active shooter critical response training scenario. This demo inspired him to start collaborating with HTX Labs to see how virtual reality could be used train new firefighters, but also create atypical training scenarios for teams of firefighters. I talked with Hagan at the Immersive Technology Conference in Houston Texas about some of the training needs of first responders, and how he envisions the role of augmented and reality technologies to help provide proper training so they're better prepared to help them go home at night to their families.
- [#594: Maps for Understanding VR & Reality: Kent Bye's ITC Keynote](https://voicesofvr.com/594-maps-for-understanding-vr-and-reality-kent-bye-itc-keynote/) - I recently gave the keynote at the Immersive Technology Conference in Houston, TX where I talked about the many different maps that I use to understand reality & virtual reality. Because virtual reality is simulating reality, then a lot of these maps can also be used to understand reality as well. Some of these maps serve as experiential design frameworks for VR while others serve as high-level metaphors that provide category schemas that help differentiate between different qualitative experiences. There are an infinite number of ways to categorize qualitative experience, and so every attempt to do so is going to be inherently imperfect and substandard. A guiding principle that I use is from Polish philosopher Alfred Korzybski who said 'the map is not the territory' meaning that these types of mental abstractions aren't literally describing reality, but they are merely symbolic maps that help us understand our reality.
- [#595: The Neuroscience of VR Training with STRIVR's Michael Casale](https://voicesofvr.com/595-the-neuroscience-of-vr-training-with-strivrs-michael-casale/) - STRIVR started as a VR training platform for elite athletes for college and professional quarterbacks, but they've been recently expanding into corporate training for Walmart. Over 200 Walmart Academy location will soon be equipped with virtual reality training for managers and employees to improve social skills but also get prepared for large-scale events like Black Friday. I talked with STRIVR's Chief Science Officer Dr Michael Casale at the VR Strategy Conference in San Francisco. He describes the neuroscience of why VR is such a compelling training platform including the embodied cognition insights into being able to be immersed within the context, and to simulate the process of making choices and taking action. The depth of learning is so much more rich in VR, and it's a more holistic approach for learning that is also opening up new epistemological methods for objective measures of engagement that will hopefully reveal a deeper ground truth of how effective of a transfer learning processes they've developed. Casale found that engagement is a key indicator, which can help them find patterns of reliability and validity in other factors like how much someone moves their head and what people have been looking at.
- [#596: Researching Empathy in VR with Cognitive Science & Phenomenology](https://voicesofvr.com/596-researching-empathy-in-vr-with-cognitive-science-phenomenology/) - Cognitive scientist and phenomenologist Lynda Joy Gerry got into virtual reality after seeing the body swap experiments by Machine to Be Another as well as Shawn Gallager's A Neurophenomenology of Awe and Wonder research. Gerry's master's thesis was on empathy in VR where she did a survey of the established theories on empathy from cognitive science, social science, phenomenology, and virtual reality. I had a chance to talk with Gerry at the IEEE VR academic conference in March where she was presenting her research on empathy in VR, and advocating for a more holistic framework for empathy research that bridges the objective theories of empathy from cognitive science with the more subjective, intersubjective, and experiential perspectives from the philosophical branch of phenomenology.
- [#597: 'Becoming Homeless': Stanford's Empathy Experiment in Embodied Perspective-Taking](https://voicesofvr.com/597-becoming-homeless-stanfords-empathy-experiment-in-embodied-perspective-taking/) - Stanford's Virtual Human Interaction Lab (VHIL) premiered an experience called Becoming Homeless: A Human Experience at the Tribeca Film Festival in April. It was an experiment researching whether it's possible to cultivate empathy through emboding a character who has lost their job, has to sell possessions to make rent, gets evicted, and starts living in their car. It's designed to break down our stereotypes for how we imagine that people become homeless, and potentially overcome the fundamental attribution error which disproportionally blames people for their situation rather than acknowledging the deeper context of external factors. VHIL is hoping that they can reduce the cognitive load that's required to imagine what someone's experience might be like by providing an embodied and immersive experience in VR of walking in the shoes of another person and enabling the process of perspective-taking.I had a chance to catch up with the writer & director team of Becoming Homeless, Elise Ogle, who is a project manager at VHIL, and Tobin Asher, who is the lab manager at VHIL. We talk about why the unmediated experience of presence in VR helps it outperform other forms of media, how they're using VR to research empathy, their collaborations with empathy expert Jamil Zaki in exploring the thresholds to empathize, and the other social science work that they're doing with the founder of VHIL lab Jeremy Bailenson.
- [#598: Cinema of Attractions: What VR Can Learn from the Early Days of Film](https://voicesofvr.com/598-cinema-of-attractions-what-vr-can-learn-from-the-early-days-of-film/) - In 1978, a number of film scholars gathered at a conference in Brighton to re-evaluate the early days of film in terms of a developing new medium on it's own terms rather than though the lens of a mature narrative and storytelling communications medium. These early experimental days of film were referred to as the 'cinema of attractions' by scholars like Tom Gunning, André Gaudreault, Charles Musser, and Richard Abel because these early film experiments that were focused more on showing and exhibiting something while breaking the fourth wall to make a direct connection to the audience. Rebecca Rouse is an assistant professor of communication & media at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, and she was inspired to take insights from the cinema of attractions scholarship and apply it to virtual and augmented reality in a more generalized framework she calls 'media of attraction.' She identifies four characteristics of an emerging medium in that they're unassimilated, interdisciplinary, seamed, and participatory. I caught up with Rouse at the IEEE VR conference to unpack her insights about what VR can learn from the early days of film, the evolution of other immersive communication mediums before VR, and whether or not VR is really all that different from other mediums from a historical and media theory perspective.
- [#599: Visualizing Bardo States from the Tibetan Book of the Dead in VR](https://voicesofvr.com/599-visualizing-bardo-states-from-the-tibetan-book-of-the-dead-in-vr/) - Every culture around the world has their own beliefs around what happens to us after we die, and virtual reality may be a great medium to explore all of these different rituals and mythologies. The Tibetan Book of the Dead contains descriptions of the various bardo states that the Tibetans believe our consciousness experiences after we die. NYU instructor John Benton created a Bardo Thogul VR prototype in collaboration with his Tibetan Buddhism teacher as well as with two students from Columbia University's Spirituality Mind Body Institute, Devorah Medwin & Lia Walton. Benton's prototype experience premiered at The Art of Dying VR art show that happened in San Francisco in October 2016. I had a chance to catch up with him to talk about how training for the afterlife in VR, visualizing Buddhist metaphysics, Eastern philosophical perspectives on the malleability of reality, and how VR can be used as a gym to train your awareness to be more potent, available, and present to our every day reality.
- [#601: VR in the 90s: Bootstrapping the Commercial VR Industry](https://voicesofvr.com/601-vr-in-the-90s-bootstrapping-the-commercial-vr-industry/) - Linda Jacobson got into VR when she helped organize the 1990 CyberArts International gathering of artists and technologists who were using virtual reality technologies. She edited a compilation of CyberArts essays from that first gathering, and she also documented the Garage Virtual Reality DIY VR maker movement of the early 90s. In 1995, she became a VR evangelist at Silicon Graphics where she helped to sell VR into enterprise VR applications including engineering, architecture, construction, medicine, military training, automotive, aerospace, heavy equipment manufacturers, and oil and gas companies. The enterprise companies and applications of VR during this time period were pretty secretive and proprietary, but Jacobson was on the front lines traveling around the world seeing a huge range of different virtual worlds and use cases for VR.Jacobson has continued to work in VR since the 90s ranging from entertainment to medicine to AEC, and has a lot of in insights about the evolution of VR in the enterprise space. I had a chance to talk with her at the Virtual Reality Strategy Conference in October about her last 20+ years in enterprise VR, her mentor Morton Heilig and his Sensorama, VR as a counter-cultural approach to computing, the CyberArts gathering of artists, DIY Garage Virtual Reality, and the major figures and companies who bootstrapped the commercial VR industry.
- [#603: Soundboxing: VR Exercise, Capturing Embodiment, & Virtual Economy Architecture](https://voicesofvr.com/603-soundboxing-vr-exercise-capturing-embodiment-virtual-economy-architecture/) - Soundboxing is a VR rhythm game that has found a community of people who use it for exercising in VR, with some people reporting that they've lost up to 50 pounds from playing it. Soundboxing is similar to Audioshield in that you punch orbs set to the rhythm of songs streamed from YouTube, but rather than using an algorithmic approach Soundboxing allows users to record their own runs, which means that all of the content is user generated. Soundboxing allows users to record and edit their own runs by playing a song and punching an invisible wall, and the scoring system encourages streaks, which results in helping to cultivate and track flow states.I've really enjoyed playing Soundboxing, and it's an engaging game that has a lot of options to allow you to follow creators, curate playlists, and customize your gaming experience. For example, you can record a run with you dominant hand, and then flip the recording so that you can train yourself to become more ambidextrous. The official Soundboxing website also has user profiles, with an impressive set of archive and search integrations compared to other VR game websites.
- [#605: Future of Mixed Reality Lightfields with Otoy](https://voicesofvr.com/605-future-of-mixed-reality-lightfields-with-otoy/) - Otoy is a rendering company that pushing the limits of digital light fields and physically-based rendering. Now that Otoy's Octane Renderer has shipped in Unity, they're pivoting from focusing on licensing their rendering engine to selling cloud computing resources for rendering light fields and physically-correct photon paths. Otoy has also completed an ICO for their Render Token (RNDR), and will continue to build out a centralized cloud-computing infrastructure to bootstrap a more robust distributed rendering ecosystem driven by a Etherium-based ERC20 cryptocurrency market. I talked with CEO and co-founder Jules Urbach at the beginning of SIGGRAPH 2017 where we talked about relighting light fields, 8D lightfield & reflectance fields, modeling physics interactions in lightfields, optimizing volumetric lightfield capture systems, converting 360 video into volumetric videos for Facebook, and their movement into creating distributed render farms.
- [#607: Principles of Immersive Sound Design with Sally Kellaway](https://voicesofvr.com/607-principles-of-immersive-sound-design-with-sally-kellaway/) - OSSIC's Jason Riggs told me at CES last year that the future of music is going to be immersive and interactive. Interactive sound design where user agency is considered a part of the experience is a key ingredient to creating fully immersive audio experiences, and the AR & VR tech platforms are creating new opportunities for musicians to explore interactive music experiences. Sigur Rós' interactive music collaboration with Magic Leap was recently featured in Rolling Stone, and that interview reminded me of a deep dive discussion that I had with VR immersive audio evangelist Sally Kellaway talking about the fundamental principles of immersive sound design. Kellaway provides an overview for how audio designers for games have been creating demand for toolsets and plug-ins with existing Digital Audio Workstations to help break out of the normal linear, authored paradigms. At the time of my interview, Kellaway was a creative director for OSSIC, but has since moved on and is freelancing as a VR/AR audio designer, strategist, and immersive audio evangelist.
- [#608: Live Streaming VR on Twitch with Zimtok5](https://voicesofvr.com/608-live-streaming-vr-on-twitch-with-zimtok5/) - VRChat is becoming one of the top streamed VR game as different Twitch personalities like pokelawls, dyrus, greekgodx, and LIRIK and YouTube personalities Jameskii & Nagzz21 start to role play in virtual worlds, and then capture clips of candid and funny interactions that are shared on the LiveStreamFail reddit. It may be surprising to some that these types of open-ended and casual VR experiences are gaining such traction with the live streaming communities, but VRChat is providing an experimental virtual context for IRL streams, improv role playing, and storytelling types of experiences for streamers. Livestreaming is providing important insights into the future of interactive media, and the importance of personality, character, and environmental context for immersive storytelling.At Oculus Connect 4, I had a chance to catch up with Twitch Streamer Zimtok5, who is a variety streamer focusing solely on VR. He talks about how some of the more casual experiences make for great streaming since you're able to connect more with the audience, or provide a context for you to connect to the personality and character of the steamer. We also talk about streaming VR titles, what makes for a good streaming experience in VR, as well as some of his favorite experiences to play on stream.
- [#610: Designing Escape Rooms with Laura E Hall](https://voicesofvr.com/610-designing-escape-rooms-with-laura-e-hall/) - The Immersive Design Summit brought together over 150 of the top experiential designers from around the world, mostly from the performance community of immersive theater productions and escape rooms, but also with a small number of people focusing on VR/AR. The future of storytelling is going to be immersive and interactive, and immersive theater and escape rooms are pushing the boundaries of physical interaction and interactive storytelling with live actors. The genre of escape rooms probably has the most seamless translation for patterns that cross over between physical and virtualized environments. The most popular VR escape room is I Expect You To Die, which I covered previously in episodes #223 and #482.Laura E Hall of 60 Minutes to Escape, presented her best practices for designing escape rooms and immersive environments at the Immersive Design Summit. I had a chance to talk with her about the unique affordances and differences between physical and digital escape rooms, as well as her broad range of experiential design inspirations ranging from multi-user dungeons, narrative-driven indie games, alternative reality games, immersive theater, and artist collective installations like Meow Wolf.
- [#609: Collaborative Storytelling Guidelines from Columbia University's Digital Storytelling Lab](https://voicesofvr.com/609-collaborative-storytelling-guidelines-from-columbia-universitys-digital-storytelling-lab/) - The Columbia University School of the Arts' Digital Storytelling Lab has been conducting interactive storytelling experiments to create guidelines, rules, and structures for facilitating emergent and interactive stories through an open-ended, collaborative process. Interactive storytelling requires surrendering of complete control over authorship of the narrative, and it's open question for how to best structure an experience that allows for full immersion, creative expression, and a balance of diverse participation.I had a chance to talk with ColumbiaDSL co-founder and director Lance Weiler about their Sherlock Holmes & the Internet of Things project, the major principles that guide their experiential design process, how they're using collaborative storytelling to examine and shape solutions to larger policy and ethical issues in a playful way.
- [#611: "Sleep No More" Creative Producer on Blurring the Lines of Reality with Punchdrunk's Immersive Theater](https://voicesofvr.com/611-sleep-no-more-creative-producer-on-blurring-the-lines-of-reality-with-punchdrunks-immersive-theater/) - Punchdrunk's immersive theater piece of Sleep No More opened in March 2011, and it's inspired countless experiential designers of immersive theater, and virtual and augmented reality experiences. It was a paradigm shift that broke the fourth wall, and encouraged audience members to become fully immersed within the experience. Rather than sit in seats watching actors on a stage, audience members could explore an open world of 100 rooms across five floors, and make choices as to which actors to follow through the space or which parts of elaborate set design to inspect. Sleep No More has been a catalyst to other types of experiential entertainment including escape rooms, site specific performances, immersive and interactive art museums, and the digital mediated versions of these experiences through virtual and augmented reality.I had a chance to catch up with Punchdrunk creative producer Colin Nightingale at the Immersive Design Summit on January 6th where I had a chance to talk to him about his journey into becoming an experiential designer for immersive theater, how immersive theater is being used for education and medical purposes, and the latest Punchdrunk productions which are all focused on blurring the line between what is reality.
- [#612: Capturing Group Dynamics with Felix & Paul's "Miyubi"](https://voicesofvr.com/611-capturing-group-dynamics-with-felix-pauls-miyubi/) - Miyubi is Felix & Paul Studios' first scripted narrative piece that is 40 minutes in length, and it transports you to the early 1980s as you embody an imminently obsolete toy robot. Felix & Paul instructed the individual actors to unexpectedly try to disrupt a scene with unscripted behavior in order to preserve he improv quality of their long takes. There is minimal editing within individual scenes in order to cultivate a deeper sense of presence, but it also allows the viewer to pay attention to many different aspects of the unfolding group dynamics. I was struck by how you could watch reaction shots of characters who weren't directly participating within the primary conversation, and that VR is able to capture the full family constellation and relationships between characters in a way that is completely deconstructed and controlled within the medium of film.I had a chance to catch up with Felix & Paul Studios co-founders Félix Lajeunesse and Paul Raphaël as well as Chief Content Officer Ryan Horrigan back at Sundance 2017 to talk about their process of directing Miyubi, as well as some of their insights and lessons learned from creating a 40-minute VR narrative.
- [#613: Storytelling in VR from a Depth Psychological & Mythological Perspective](https://voicesofvr.com/613-storytelling-in-vr-from-a-depth-psychological-mythological-perspective/) - John Bucher wrote a book titled 'Storytelling for Virtual Reality: Methods and Principles for Crafting Immersive Narratives' where he includes interviews with dozens of VR experience designers and the major insights into immersive storytelling. Bucher is also receiving a Ph.D. in depth psychology from Pacifica Graduate Institute, and so he has a very historical and mythological perspective about how VR can help us go inward, reflect upon our lives, and to find deeper understanding and meaning about ourselves. I talked with Bucher at the SIGGRAPH conference in August about the influence of immersive theater on VR storytelling, historical insights into ritual cultures and oral storytelling traditions, James Hillman's insights into the transformational potential of underworld mythologies, and how VR storytelling can serve as a mirror for us to learn more about ourselves.
- [#614: Designing Around Disruptive Audience Members for Interactive Narratives](https://voicesofvr.com/614-designing-around-disruptive-audience-members-for-interactive-narratives/) - Tommy Honton is an experiential designer in the immersive theater space, and he's helped to design interactive narratives that can handle a range of different disruptive responses that can ruin the experience for other people. One question for all interactive narrative designers is 'How do you continue the flow of the narrative independent of different options that are provided?' For more sophisticated interactive narratives, then the question starts to become 'How do you design a narrative or interactions that are resilient from people deliberately or indeliberately trying to sabotage the experience for themselves or others?'Honton identified three different disruptive archetypes. The 'troll' who is deliberately trying to break the experience for the sake of getting a reaction or discovering what happens at the edges of the rules. The 'competitive gamer' who is trying to win, and isn't afraid to disrupt other people's experiences driven by a fear of missing out and a desire to experience everything. And then the 'naive newbie' who accidentally leaks spoilers or has a passive and non-engaging reaction to prompts for participation. Honton identified these major disruptive archetypes, and he shared with me some strategies to handle each of these types of disruptions at the Immersive Design Summit.
- [#615: LARPing: The Future of Live-Action Role Playing in Immersive Entertainment](https://voicesofvr.com/615-larping-the-future-of-live-action-role-playing-in-immersive-entertainment/) - Live Action Role Playing (LARPing) is something that emerged out of table top games like Dungeons & Dragons in the 1970s driven by a desire to be more immersed in living out fantasy scenarios. Boffer LARPs use foam weapons to simulate D&D-style combat, and this genre of live action role-playing is what most people think about when they think about LARPs. But there's also Nordic LARPs, which have more of a focus on collaborative storytelling, artistic vision, and immersion. The recent explosion of VRChat is being driven by a confluence of different cultures including LARPing, Cosplay, MMOs, MUDs, live improv, IRL Twitch streaming, and a bit of pranking, trolling, and meme culture. But one of the unique affordances of social VR is that it allows you to embody characters, and tap into expressing different dimensions of your personality through role-playing different scenes and scenarios.When it comes to the future of interactive narrative, then live-action role playing falls on more the generative story end of the spectrum rather than on the authored story. Nordic LARPs can have directors, rough story beats, and rules that guide the narrative in specific directions, but the content of the stories are emergent from a collaboration with the participants. I talk with game designer and LARPer Sharang Biswas at the Immersive Design Summit about his experience of the Just a Little Lovin' LARP that's about friendship, desire and the fear of death. It's a LARP for 60 people who role-play the gay scene in New York City from 1982 to 1984 when the AIDS/HIV crisis broke out. We talk about the different LARPing genres, and what types of lessons LARPing has for the future of immersive storytelling in immersive theater and virtual reality.
- [#616: Jeremy Bailenson's Academic Journey in VR with "Experience on Demand"](https://voicesofvr.com/616-jeremy-bailensons-academic-journey-in-vr-with-experience-on-demand/) - Jeremy Bailenson founding director of Stanford University's Virtual Human Interaction Lab, and his latest book Experience on Demand traces his academic journey through virtual reality. It's an intellectual memoir that focuses on his personal work in VR, and the insights that VR provides into human communication dynamics, as well as the impact of VR on our identity, empathy, education, medicine, and our ability to understand complex issues such as global warming and our impact on the environment. (UPDATE: Becoming Homeless: A Human Experience is now available on Steam.)I had a chance to sit down with Bailenson to talk about his journey into VR, the major insights that VR has provided into human communication, and how STRIVR, the company he co-founded, is moving from training elite quarterbacks in the NFL to landing major corporate training contracts including training Wal-Mart employees. STRIVR is gathering one of the most robust data sets for using VR for education and training, which is enabling them to build statistical models to make connections between unconscious biometric gaze data and the process of learning. We also talk about how AI and machine learning will help build powerful models for biometric data, but also some of the privacy implications of this data as well as what we know and don't know when it comes to the risks and dangers of virtual reality technology.
- [#618: "Dinner Party" is a Symbolic Exploration of Alien Abduction & Race in America](https://voicesofvr.com/618-dinner-party-is-a-symbolic-exploration-of-alien-abduction-race-in-america/) - Dinner Party is an immersive exploration of Betty and Barney Hill's alien abduction story that premiered at the Sundance New Frontier. Rather than using normal alien abduction tropes, writers Laura Wexler & Charlotte Stoudt chose to use the spatial affordances of VR to present a symbolic representation of each of their experiences to highlight how vastly different they were. Betty and Barney were an interracial couple in New Hampshire, and the encounter with aliens was a positive peak experience for Betty, but Barney had an opposite experience that Wexler & Stoudt attribute to his experience as a black man in the early 1960s. Inspired by passages of Barney's hypnosis recordings posted online, Wexler & Stoudt expanded Hill's story into an immersive VR narrative at the New Frontier Story Lab, and collaborated with director Angel Manuel Soto to bring this story to life in VR.Dinner Party is the pilot episode of a larger series called The Incident, which explores the aftermath of how people deal with a variety of paranormal or taboo experiences. Wexler & Stoudt are using these stories to explore themes of truth and belief such as: Who is believed in America? Who isn't? What's it feel like to go through an extreme experience that no one believes happened to you? And can VR allow you to empathize with someone's extreme subjective experience without being held back by an objective reality that you believe is impossible?
- [#619: Grabbing Virtual Objects with the HaptX Glove (Formerly AxonVR)](https://voicesofvr.com/619-grabbing-virtual-objects-with-the-haptx-glove-formerly-axonvr/) - The HaptX Glove that was showed at Sundance was one of the most convincing haptics experiences that I've had in VR. While it was still primitive, I was able to grab a virtual object in VR, and for the first time have enough haptic feedback to convince my brain that I was actually grabbing something. Their glove uses a combination of exoskeletal force feedback with their patented microfluidic technology, and they've significantly the size of their external box driving the experience from the demo that I saw at GDC (back when they were named AxonVR) thanks to a number of technological upgrades and ditching the temperature feedback.I had a chance to talk with CEO & co-founder Jake Rubin and Chief Revenue Officer Joe Michaels at Sundance where we talked about why enterprise & military training customers are really excited about this technology, some of the potential haptics-inspired interactive storytelling possibilities, how they're refining the haptics resolution fidelity distribution that will provide the optimal experience, and their collaboration with '>SynTouch's texture-data models in striving towards creating a haptic display technology that can simulate a wide ranges of textures.
- [#621: Balancing Player Control & Authorial Control with "Virtual Virtual Reality"](https://voicesofvr.com/621-balancing-player-control-authorial-control-with-virtual-virtual-reality/) - Tender Claws' Virtual Virtual Reality is a Daydream-exclusive interactive story that won the best VR experience at the 2017 Google Play Awards VR, and it's one of my personal favorite interactive narratives within VR. Virtual Virtual Reality (aka VVR) does a great job of balancing your control as a player with the authorial control of the story. You have the ability to openly explore the worlds, but it's all within the context of a narrative that subtly guides you through a futuristic world where AI has taken over and is providing you an immersive hero's journey experience. The main mechanic in VVR is putting on VR headsets while you're in VR such that you incept into deeper and deeper layers of simulated reality, and you have to navigate through these worlds and do specific tasks to progress through the story world. It's a deeply satisfying mechanic, and Tender Claws was able to create an entire story that hinges on this process of going deeper and deeper down the simulated rabbit hole.
- [#622: The Making of "Sun Ladies VR:" Former ISIS Sex Slaves Create an All-Female Fighting Unit](https://voicesofvr.com/622-the-making-of-sun-ladies-vr-former-isis-sex-slaves-create-an-all-female-fighting-unit/) - The Sun Ladies VR is an amazing story about a group of Yazidi women from the Northern Iraq community of Sinjar, who escaped as sex slaves and started an all-female unit to fight ISIS. ISIS raided the Sinjar District in August 2014 and massacred over 2000 Yazidis, selling many women into slavery. There is a group of women who escaped and decided to fight back in part because ISIS believes that they'll go to hell if they're killed by a woman. These women call themselves 'The Sun Ladies,' and their story inspired activist and actor Maria Bello to form a team of war journalists and VR creators to travel to Iraq to capture their story of women's empowerment.The Sun Ladies premiered at Sundance, and I caught up with co-directors & producers Céline Tricart and Christian Stephen. Tricart is a VR cinematographer & director who recently published Virtual Reality Filmmaking: Techniques & Best Practices for VR Filmmakers, and Stephen is a British war journalist who directed the first VR piece from a war zone in 2015 with Welcome to Aleppo. I talked with Tricart & Stephen about the process of traveling to northern Iraq, building trust with the Sun Ladies in order to share their stories of empowerment, their creative use of illustrations, and what they see are the strengths and limitations of using VR to tell stories within these areas of conflict.
- [#623: Training AI & Robots in VR with NVIDIA's Project Holodeck](https://voicesofvr.com/623-training-ai-robots-in-vr-with-nvidias-project-holodeck/) - At SIGGRAPH 2017, NVIDIA was showing off their Isaac Robot that had been trained to play dominos within a virtual world environment of NVIDIA's Project Holodeck. They're using Unreal Engine to simulate interactions with people in VR to train a robot how to play dominos. They can use a unified code base of AI algorithms for deep reinforcement learning within VR, and then apply that same code base to drive a physical Baxter robot. This creates a safe context to train and debug the behavior of the robot within a virtual environment, but to also experiment with cultivating interactions with the robot that are friendly, exciting, and entertaining. This will allow humans to build trust in interacting with robots in a virtual environment so that they are more comfortable and familiar with interacting with physical robots in the real world.I talked with NVIDIA's senior VR designer on this project Omer Shapira at the SIGGRAPH conference in August, where we talk about using Unreal Engine and Project Holodeck to train AI, using a variety of AI frameworks that can use VR as a reality simulator, stress testing for edge cases and anomalous behaviors in a safe environment, and how they're cultivating social awareness and robot behaviors that improve human-computer interactions.
- [#624: Exploring Near-Future Moral Quandaries with INVAR Studios](https://voicesofvr.com/624-exploring-near-future-moral-quandaries-with-invar-studios/) - Rose Colored by INVAR Studios & Adam Cosco won the award for best live-acton VR experience at the Advanced Imaging Society's Lumiere Awards on February 12th. I previously interviewed Cosco at VRLA last year, and I had a chance to talk with INVAR's co-founder & chief creative officer Vincent Edwards & creative director Austin Conroy on their thoughts on the future of storytelling in VR at Kaleidoscope VR's FIRST LOOK VR Market.Rose Colored is a near-future speculative sci-fi in the same cautionary tale vein as Black Mirror, but with a little bit more of an optimistic bent. Edwards identifies as an inveterate optimist, and enjoys the process of world-building potential futures in VR and exploring the moral quandaries of the logical extremes of how AR & AI technologies will impact our lives and romantic relationships. Conroy identifies as a storytelling geek, and is really interested in VR's capability to allow you to embody a character using the visual storytelling affordances cultivated by cinema. It's an open question for how you can get the audience inside of a fictional character's head, which he compares to building a mind.
- [#627: VirtualSelf Full Body Tracking in Cloudgate Studios' "Island 359"](https://voicesofvr.com/627-virtualself-full-body-tracking-in-cloudgate-studios-island-359/) - The full release of CloudGate Studios' VR survival game Island 359 is now available, and there's some special embodiment features for anyone who has 1-3 of HTC's Vive Trackers. They've developed an adaptive system that uses 1 tracking puck on your torso, 2 tracking pucks on your feet, or 3 tracking pucks on your torso and feet. I had a chance to talk with CloudGate's president Steve Bowler at GDC 2017 to talk about their VirtualSelf Full Body tracking solution, some of the inverse kinematic challenges, and what it feels like to sneak up behind a giant dinosaur and to use kicking as a game play mechanic. Spoiler: it feels pretty awesome.
- [#628: VR 2025: Current & Future State of VR & AR Industry](https://voicesofvr.com/628-vr-2025-current-future-state-of-vr-ar-industry/) - Tony Parisi is the Head of AR & VR strategy at Unity so he has an insider's perspective of not only where the VR and AR industry is today, but some hints as to what xR is going to look like by 2025. Parisi had a fireside chat with HTC Viveport president ​Rikard Steiber at Greenlight Strategy's Virtual Reality Strategy conference in 2025 where they made some predictions about the future of immersive technology, and what they expect to see by 2025. I had a chance to talk with Parisi about his predictions, but also talk about the current state of the union for VR and AR. He says that VR and AR are still doubling and that all of the major players are still committed, and so it's an exponential growth that is still before the hockey stick curve of rapid acceleration. So VR is still yet to cross the chasm into the mainstream, but Parisi says that it's just a matter of time and that all indicators is that VR and AR are still quite strong and growing. We also talk about VR and the open web, whether or not we'll still see apps in AR in 2025, and the tradeoffs between backwards compatibility and innovative new features and functionality.
- [#629: Embodied Storytelling Innovations from Sundance 2018 with Shari Frilot](https://voicesofvr.com/629-embodied-storytelling-innovations-from-sundance-2018-with-shari-frilot/) - The Sundance Film Festival's New Frontier Program featured over 20 different VR, AR, and AI experiences that were pushing the boundaries of immersive storytelling. After seeing all of the experiences, I had a chance to unpack and analyze the larger themes with chief curator Shari Frilot. The common theme among all of the storytelling experiences is that they're exploring embodiment and interactivity in different ways, and how VR takes the audience member on an inner journey of presence. Frilot refers to this inner journey as a 'superbody reflecting pool' in that these technologies are extensions of our bodies (ala Marshall McLuhan's Understanding Media: The Extensions of Man), but that it's also a mirror that allows us to perceive ourselves and understand who we are becoming.We talk about the storytelling experiences that use artificial intelligence to foster social interactions based on cultivating a piercing vulnerability, the live performances that blend the modalities of cinema, live storytelling, & music to create more of a 'living story' experience, the themes of women's empowerment that emerged in both the VR and film program at Sundance this year, the social VR experiences, experiences exploring sparse symbolic representations that require you to project your imagination, the differences between objective facts and the truth of a story, and the humility and wonder that comes with not knowing where this journey of immersive storytelling is taking us.
- [#630: A Live Musical Graphic Novel Lecture: Cory McAbee's Mixed Modality Performance](https://voicesofvr.com/630-a-live-musical-graphic-novel-lecture-cory-mcabees-mixed-modality-performance/) - Each year, the Sundance New Frontier features VR experiences, films, and live performances that push the boundaries of storytelling. Cory McAbee did live performance of a piece called Deep Astronomy and the Romantic Sciences, which combines elements of illustrated visual storytelling, embodied communication, a fictionalized lecture, and musical interludes. He describes his mixed modality performance as a 'live musical, graphic novel' that could be thought of a surrealist TED talk about the nature of consciousness and reality. McAbee's mixture of a lecture with all of these other live performance modalities felt like the early signs of how the concept of a living story is evolving.
- [#631: Using AI to Drive Conversations, Create Culture, & Foster Understanding](https://voicesofvr.com/631-using-ai-to-drive-conversations-create-culture-foster-understanding/) - The Columbia Digital Storytelling Lab had a design research project at Sundance that is exploring new models of cooperative storytelling and collaborative sensemaking, but it was also on the bleeding edge of integrating technologies ranging from machine learning, innovative projection mapped visual displays, IoT-driven instruments, computational dance, and using AI as a collaborator to cultivate group dynamics. Frankenstein AI: A Monster Made by Many had three acts that used immersive theater components in order to facilitate a range of different social experiences that reflected on what it means to be human and what it means to be connected.Act I had one-on-one conversations in an empathy conversational model that was designed to explore vulnerable experiences of connection and isolation, and it concluded with matching feelings with body parts. The emotional associations from Act I were fed into the AI, which determined an overall emotional sentiment and influenced the questions that the AI asked about human nature to all of the people participating in Act I. The AI was trained on Mary Shelley's Frankenstein, but was also scouring the Internet looking for clues about what it means to be a human, and what it means to be connected. Then the collective emotional sentiment from the entire week was aggregated, and this drove the questions that were asked to a large group in the final Act III. The audience's answers were fed into the AI, tagged with sentiment, and then translated into instructions that were sent to a performer doing interpretive dance. The final performance had more of a narrative arc that explored the polarities between isolation and connection, and had the audience share take-aways that they could feed into the AI to help it understand humanity and connection.
- [#632: Bringing VR to Underprivileged Communities with The Glover Center](https://voicesofvr.com/632-bringing-vr-to-underprivileged-communities-with-the-glover-center/) - Darryll Starr is a former game developer who now teaching underprivileged youth how to create VR experiences with Unity at the David E Glover Education and Technology Center in Oakland, CA. Starr is the lead instructor and curriculum developer who has been adapting the Exploring Computer Science curriculum to use more state-of-the art tools from the games industry. I had a chance to talk with Starr at the Samsung Developers Conference about his various initiatives to increase the accessibility of emerging technologies to the diverse and underrepresented communities in Oakland. He talks about some of the experiences his students have created, the different programs and initiatives at The Glover Center, and the level of engagement and excitement that he's seeing from getting an opportunity to develop immersive experiences.
- [#633: Julie Heyde on Using VR for Consensual Trolling & Personal Pain Management](https://voicesofvr.com/633-julie-heyde-on-using-vr-for-consensual-trolling-personal-pain-management/) - The VR Unicorns use a rapid iteration, game jamming approach to VR development, and co-founder Julie Heyde does daily playtesting and quality assurance gathering feedback and guidance for the development team. Heyde has also been experiencing a number of different health issues that has driven her to use virtual reality as a form of pain management, but also as a way to hang out with her friends. Heyde is describes herself as a bit of a bully who likes to playfully mess her friends in VR, but she found that the other social VR experiences were lacking in their ability to do what could be described as 'consensual trolling.' She wanted a social VR experience that allowed her to throw objects at other people and to have it stick to their bodies, change scales to intimidate people, and generally push the boundaries of high expressions of agency with embodied characters in VR.As you could imagine, creating a consensual trolling environment for social VR could go horribly wrong, but Heyde was inspired by this idea of contrasting utopian and dystopian environments in VR. VR Unicorns is planning on juxtaposing this experience of a troll-fueled, dystopian, open world environment, but then change the rules and create a much more harmonious utopian experience that's more collaborative than competitive.
- [#634: VR Porn Livestreaming & Emotional Intimacy with CAM4VR](https://voicesofvr.com/634-vr-porn-livestreaming-emotional-intimacy-with-cam4vr/) - Ela Darling calls herself the 'Queen of VR porn' as she co-founded CAM4 and became the first virtual reality cam girl from VR tech integrations that her company developed. She shared her founding story with me in a previous interview in 2015, and I talked with her at VRLA last year about their latest technological innovations of doing 360 video livestreams, the degree of emotional authenticity and connections that are being made, creating an immersive space that's a reflection of her geeky personality, and her challenges of being the chief curator of adult content, and talent scout for adult entertainer/VR enthusiasts.
- [#635: Candid Assessment of the VR Industry from a Leading Indie Developer](https://voicesofvr.com/635-candid-assessment-of-the-vr-industry-from-a-leading-indie-developer/) - What is happening with the VR industry? Is the adoption and growth still on target to support a vibrant and diverse ecosystem of independent VR developers? Leading headset manufacturers have not been transparent in sharing any specific information, and the analyst data that's been released have not been a reliable or comprehensive source of data. So it's been difficult to get an honest and candid assessment about the overall health and vibrancy of the virtual reality ecosystem. But there are a few companies who have some deeper insights into the VR ecosystem, and these are the independent VR development companies who have released best-selling VR titles.Denny Unger of Cloudhead Games has the unique perspective of having a launch title of The Gallery: Call of the Starseed with the HTC Vive, and then a year and a half later they released the second episode of The Gallery: Heart of the Emberstone. There was a significant dropoff of sales of their second title from the first title, and so Unger has the experience of going from the 'Peak of Inflated Expectations' on the Gartner Hype Cycle down into the 'Trough of Disllusionment.' He expects that VR will turn the corner within the next couple of years, and that focusing on producing smaller experiences aimed at the location-based entertainment market is a going to a way to survive this temporary winter in the VR market.
- [#637: The Yang and the Yin of Immersive Storytelling with Oculus' Yelena Rachitsky](https://voicesofvr.com/637-the-yang-and-the-yin-of-immersive-storytelling-with-oculus-yelena-rachitsky/) - The future of VR storytelling will be immersive and interactive. Yelena Rachitsky is an executive producer of experiences at Oculus, and she's been inspired by how interactive narratives have allowed her to feel like a participant who is more engaged, more present, and more alive. The fundamental challenge of interactive narratives is how to balance the giving and receiving of making choices and taking action vs receiving a narrative and being emotionally engaged and having an embodied experience of immersion and presence. Balancing the active and passive dimensions is the underlying tension of the yang and yin of any experience. The boundaries between what is a game and what is an immersive story will continue to be blurred, but Rachitsky looks at the center of gravity of an experience. Are you centered in your embodied experience and emotional engagement of a story (yin)? Or are you centered in your head of thinking about the strategy of your next action in achieving a goal in a game (yang)?
- [#639: AR as the Democratization of Architecture, Hands-On Spatial Computing, & Leap Motion's North Star AR HMD](https://voicesofvr.com/639-ar-as-the-democratization-of-architecture-hands-on-spatial-computing-leap-motions-north-star-ar-hmd/) - Keiichi Matsuda went from being a dystopian filmmaker to becoming the vice president of design at hand-tracking company Leap Motion. Matsuda is probably the most famous for his HYPER-REALITY dystopian filmthat imagined an commodified & gamified AR future where companies are vying for your attention regardless of your physical context. He was trying to push the current philosophical orientation to the logical extreme not because he wanted to live into that future himself, but more from a perspective of a cautionary tale thinking about how this is actually a plausible near future if we don't do anything different. One of the co-founders of Leap Motion reached out to Matsuda to invite him to help creating & influence the future of spatial computing since he has been creating functional and pragmatic spatial computing interfaces in his films since 2010.Leap Motion just announced their open source AR HMD reference design called Project North Star, which has a 95° wide by 70° high field of view with 65% strereo overlap & 1600 x 1440 per eye. By default it will be a tethered AR HMD with a 180° x 180° hemi-sphere for tracking the hands. The full open source design will be released within the next week, and Leap Motion won't be manufacturing their own version, but rather charge a hand-tracking licensing fee for their hand tracking software.
- [#640: John Root on VRLA, AR, Privacy, & eSports in VR](https://voicesofvr.com/640-john-root-on-vrla-ar-privacy-esports-in-vr/) - John Root co-founded VRLA with Cosmo Scharf in 2014, and it has organically grown into a thriving VR event with over 10,000 attendees in the Los Angeles Convention Center. VRLA is a non-profit where funding from sponsors helps to support about half of their exhibitors within the Indie Zone, which helps them feature a lot of innovative independent VR experiments and start-ups. VRLA is happening this year on May 4-5, and the full press release is down below. I had a chance to walk the showroom floor of VRLA 2017 with Root where he took me on a guided tour through the history of VRLA, his thoughts on AR, using VR for film production, the future of privacy in AR/VR, as well as why he is interested in seeing where eSports in VR is headed.
- [#642: Experiential Design Insights from Chinese Philosophy & Natural Philosophy](https://voicesofvr.com/642-experiential-design-insights-from-chinese-philosophy-natural-philosophy/) - One of the things that inspires me to do the Voices of VR podcast is being able to talk with hundreds of people listening for the underlying patterns of experiential design. VR & AR are reflections of the human experience, and so any experiential design framework for immersive technologies should also describe aspects of our conscious experiences. I've found that Eastern Philosophies, Chinese Philosophies, Natural Philosophy, and Hermetic Philosophies have useful ways of describing qualitative aspects of the human experience through concrete metaphors that can be adapted into holistic experiential design frameworks. Any good design framework will provide tradeoffs and equivalence classes, and making sense of the underlying patterns of reality is both a scientific, mathematical, and philosophical venture. VR/AR as well as AI are experiential technologies that are catalyzing new paradigms and new models for how we're making sense of our world and our experiences, and this episode will see what kind of insights can be gained by analyzing a variety of different philosophical approaches for describing the human experience.I had the opportunity to give the open keynote at Design Reality's Immersed Conference in Portland, OR on April 23, 2018, where I gathered more visual metaphors for thinking about experiential design. I introduce some concrete metaphors from Chinese Philosophy & Natural Philosophy that are helpful in thinking about time, the different qualities of experiences, but also the natural rhythms that unfold through the constant fluctuation through polarity expressions of yang and yin energies. I talk about the differences between Kairos Time vs Chronos Time, and how VR is cultivating a more yin and subjective understanding of time. I also recount how the four elements from natural philosophy can be used as an experiential design framework for VR & AR with mental and social presence (air), active presence (fire), embodied & environmental presence (earth), as well as emotional presence (water). I recently expanded on how Chinese Philosophy concepts of the yin and yang can be applied to immersive & interactive stories with the authorial control of the story that will be received (yin) versus how the participant can participate, interact, and change the direction of the story (yang). Finally, I cover some of the philosophical implications of VR, as well as how the Quine Putnam Indispensability Argument in the Philosophy of Math argues for the ontological reality of mathematical entities within Platonic realms, as well as some of the open questions around the nature of consciousness.
- [#643: Matt Miesnieks on the State of the AR Ecosystem](https://voicesofvr.com/643-matt-miesnieks-on-the-state-of-the-ar-ecosystem/) - Matt Miesnieks is creating an AR cloud with 6D.AI, which aims to 'synchronize 3D computer vision data across devices, time and space' in order to enable 'persistent content, occlusion, and real-time shared experiences.' Miesnieks has founded a number of AR start-ups including Dekko, and he's also a partner with the early-stage AR fund Super Ventures. I had a chance to catch up with Miesnieks back in October 2017 after the Google Pixel 2 announcement to get an update on the state of the AR industry. He gives a brief survey of the AR ecosystem, compares other AR solutions to what the Microsoft HoloLens has accomplished, and lists some of the open problems left to be solved in the AR space (including some of the things that 6D.AI are working on).
- [#649: LIV's Mixed Reality Shows the Nuances of Human Movement in VR](https://voicesofvr.com/649-livs-mixed-reality-shows-the-nuances-of-human-movement-in-vr/) - I talked with Cix Liv, the CEO of Liv, about their mixed reality hardware and software solutions. Mixed reality shows what it feels like to be in VR better than any other depiction, and Cix is really interested to see how mixed reality is going to drive innovation in VR eSports. We also talk about the Beat Saber phenomena, and how so many of the viral videos were born out of their liv.chat Discord community.
- [#650: Flow Artist Swan on Stylized Embodiment: The Story Behind Beat Saber's Viral Videos](https://voicesofvr.com/650-flow-artist-swan-on-stylized-embodiment-the-story-behind-beat-sabers-viral-videos/) - I talk with flow artist Swan about the story of behind the Beat Saber viral videos, and what it means to add style to VR with embodiment and VR.
- [#651: Anime-Inspired, Embodied Game Design & the Spectacle of VR eSports with "Light Strike Array"](https://voicesofvr.com/651-anime-inspired-embodied-game-design-the-spectacle-of-vr-esports-with-light-strike-array/) - Here's a bit more information on the game mechanics of Light Strike Array:https://twitter.com/i/moments/942110609348337664
- [#652: Design Principles for Embodiment](https://voicesofvr.com/652-design-principles-for-embodiment/) - I speak to Cris Beasley about her design principles for embodiment.
- [#657: Using Neuroscience Theory for Experiential Design + The Nature of Consciousness](https://voicesofvr.com/657-using-neuroscience-theory-for-experiential-design-the-nature-of-consciousness/) - Danielle Perszyk is a cognitive scientist, and co-founder and lead scientist at Oscillations who is using neuroscience theory of synchrony in order to make predictions for how to direct attention and tell stories using body and gestures without any traditional narrative components. We explore her research as well as the fundamental nature of consciousness through a debate and dialectic where she represents the tradition of Aristotle & empirical science where I represent the tradition of Plato mathemathics, and Platonic metaphysics. Consciousness is one of the biggest open questions in science, and it is possible that virtual reality may provide new empirical ways to test different strategies for operationalizing consciousness.
- [#658: VR in China: Storytelling & Sandbox Immersive Festival](https://voicesofvr.com/658-vr-in-china-storytelling-sandbox-immersive-festival/) - Eddie Lou is the founder of Sandman Studios in Beijing, and he is also the founder of the Sandbox Immersive Festival that took place in Qingdao China on June 23-27, 2018. I was able to travel to Qingdao for the festival, and the next seven podcasts will be focusing on some of my take-aways about VR in China.
- [#659: VR in China: Bridging the East & West with LumiereVR's Jenny Guo](https://voicesofvr.com/659-vr-in-china-bridging-the-east-west-with-lumierevrs-jenny-guo/) - LumièreVR's Jenny Guo is building bridges between the East and West through virtual reality. She's producing 360 content for the Netflix of China, & she's a consultant building cross-cultural collaborations & helping companies navigate the VR ecosystems of China & North America.
- [#660: VR in China: Nordic Trolls Game Development Studio](https://voicesofvr.com/660-vr-in-china-nordic-trolls-game-development-studio/) - The Nordic Trolls is a VR development company based in Beijing, China. I had a chance to catch up with the CEO Thorbjørn Olsen (originally from Norway) and co-founder Lin Chen at CES 2017 to talk about the VR ecosystem in China, the different ways in which the youth of China are changing relative to the older generations, and their development process on Karnage Chronicles.
- [#1185: HTC's Enterprise VR Strategy + Debate about the Future of AI](https://voicesofvr.com/1185-htcs-enterprise-vr-strategy-debate-about-the-future-of-ai/) - I speak with HTC’s Alvin Wang Graylin, who is the President of HTC China & Global VP of Corporate Development at HTC about HTC’s investment strategy and what’s happening in the enterprise XR space. We talk about how hardware subsidies have distorted the overall XR hardware ecosystem, and how Meta has largely skipped over the enterprise market in favor of the consumer market while HTC continues to find compelling use cases across training, medical XR, architecture, and spatial design. We also talk about the imminent TikTok ban, how that might impact Pico VR, which is also owned by ByteDance, as well as how this might impact HTC. At the end of the podcast, we end up having a debate about the future of AI where Alvin is very bullish in where AI will be in the next 5, 10, and 20 years while I remain a bit skeptical that we’re anywhere close to moving beyond narrow applications into more generalizable AGI systems that demonstrate a fusion of deeper understanding, knowledge representation, planning, world modelling, multimodal sensory sensemaking capabilities, symbolic reasoning, common sense reasoning, and storytelling.
- [#664: VR in China: Taoist & Buddhist Insights into the Yin Archetypal Story](https://voicesofvr.com/663-vr-in-china-taoist-buddhist-insights-into-the-yin-archetypal-story/) - I gave a talk about Metaphors of Presence at the Sandbox Immersive Festival in Qingdao, China where I talked about how Chinese Philosophy insights about the balance between Yang and Yin could help describe the fundamental tensions in immersive and interactive storytelling. I told the audience that the West really understands the Yang Archetypal Journey through Joseph Campbell's Hero's Journey, and I proposed that Eastern Cultures and China would likely have a lot of insight as to what the corresponding Yin Archetypal Journey might look like.
- [#661: VR in China: Nolo VR's 6DoF Hardware Accessory](https://voicesofvr.com/661-vr-in-china-nolo-vrs-6dof-hardware-accessory/) - The VR hardware ecosystem in China is fairly self-contained, and Nolo VR ran a successful Kickstarter campaign to bring 6DoF hand tracking to mobile VR headsets, but also giving access to your SteamVR library through your mobile phone.
- [#662: VR in China: 360 Video Distribuion with Visbit](https://voicesofvr.com/662-vr-in-china-360-video-distribuion-with-visbit/) - Visbit is a B2B, 360-video streaming distribution company based out of Silicon Valley, and co-founder and CEO CY Zhou is originally from China. I caught up with CY at CES 2017 to talk about some of the basic streaming services and application SDK that Visbit provides to 360 filmmakers who want to distribute immersive video content on-demand.
- [#663: VR in China: Wireless VR with TPCast](https://voicesofvr.com/663-vr-in-china-wireless-vr-with-tpcast/) - TPCast is a Chinese company that was one of the first in the world to provide a wireless VR peripheral solution that could viably eliminate the cable tether of a VR HMD. I talk with co-founder David Jiang at CES 2017 about some of the early solutions for creating wireless VR.
- [#665: Using VR for Interdisciplinary Collaboration & Social Science Research](https://voicesofvr.com/665-using-vr-for-interdisciplinary-collaboration-social-science-research/) - One of the recurring themes that was coming up at the IEEE VR academic conference was how VR is starting to catalyze interdisciplinary collaborations between different academic fields including computer science, social science, neuroscience, and cognitive psychology. I talked with Dr. Slyvia Xueni Pan at the IEEE VR 2017 conference after she had organized a panel on virtual social interactions with Dr Antonia Hamilton, Prof Anthony Steed, Dr Laura Fademrecht, Prof Jonathan Gratch, and Dr Marco Gillies.Pan has specialized in generating expressive virtual characters in order to create an empathic social interaction in virtual immersive environments. She talks about how VR creates ecological validity and experimental control in order to research social interactions ranging from mimicry, gaze, racial bias, subconscious reactions to blushing, and exploring variations of the rubber hand illusion. She also talks about how VR is facilitating cross-disciplinary collaborations between computer scientists and social psychology researchers.
- [#666: Updates on YouTube VR, VR180 Livestreaming Cameras, & Social VR](https://voicesofvr.com/666-updates-on-youtube-vr-vr180-livestreaming-cameras-social-vr/) - The YouTube VR application just released some social viewing features as well as finally released a version for Gear VR, although there isn't any specific updates on if or when there will be an Oculus Go or Oculus Rift version released. When I asked Google about this, a YouTube spokesperson said, 'We want everyone with a VR headset to be able to experience YouTube VR, and we’re working to bring it to more VR platforms in the future.' I take this to mean that Google is trying to get a native application of YouTube VR released for the Oculus Go & Oculus Right, but that there must be some sort of lower-level technicial or logistical issue or more likely some sort of competitive or political blocker that's been either been slowing it down or outright preventing it. But having a Samsung VR application is a step in the right direction.I had a chance to catch up with the YouTube VR product lead Erin Teague and Google VR/AR Business Development & Content team member Julia Hamilton Trost at Sundance 2018 where they were talking about some of their latest content initatives, VR180 camera, YI HALO VR camera, livestreaming different events in VR, how YouTube vloggers are experimenting and pioneering new immersive genres that are emerging on the YouTube platform.
- [#668: Guns, Money, & Morals: A Debate on the Ethics of VR Simulation, Capitalism, & the Limits of Decentralized Techno-Utopianism](https://voicesofvr.com/668-guns-money-morals-a-debate-on-the-ethics-of-vr-simulation-capitalism-the-limits-of-decentralized-techno-utopianism/) - Hotdogs, Horseshoes, and Hand Grenades (aka H3) is an open-ended sandbox VR experience where you can play with a variety of exotic firearms. It's a puzzle game where you have to figure out how to activate, load, and fire a huge range of different weapons. In real life, these guns have a wide range of inconsistent and non-intuitive features that makes for an overall frustrating and confusing user experience. This complicated user experience of guns is usually glossed over and oversimplified in first-person shooter games, but H3 transmutes these pain points into a compelling VR puzzle game where the reward of solving the puzzle is being able to shoot the weapon in a simulated environment. Developer Anton Hand makes research trips to Las Vegas, Nevada in order to have an embodied experience of firing some of these rare and exotic weapons so that he can better simulate them within VR. This level of attention to detail and fan engagement has allowed H3 to cultivate an entusiastic fan base that Hand describes as a sociologically-fasincating microcosm of society that spans the full political spectrum.
- [#669: Internet Co-Inventor Vint Cerf on Decentralized Internet Challenges](https://voicesofvr.com/669-internet-co-inventor-vint-cerf-on-decentralized-internet-challenges/) - Vint Cerf is a co-inventor of the Internet, and he's currently working as a Vice President at Google at their Chief Internet Evangelist. With all of the ethical discussions about the dangers of centralization of power and influence for censorship and surveillance, then this may seem like an odd choice for some people. But Cerf takes believes in creating an open and free Internet where access to information and knowledge is free and universally available, and there hasn't been any viable alternative economic model implemented that could sustain the depth and breadth of services that Google provides. Decentralized blockchain architectures could change the underlying technological, cultural, and potentially economic norms, but Cerf is cautious and skeptical until there's more pragmatic evidence of that. There are too many open questions around maintainability, reliability, scalability, economies of scale, and archivability of these decentralized architectures for them to be considered as a viable alternative to existing architectures.I had a chance to interview Cerf at the Decentralized Web Summit to talk about his concerns and open problems that need to be solved with decentralized architectures. Cerf has been through many pendulum swings from centralization to decentralization and back again, and so he puts forth some compelling open questions and challenges to the larger decentralized community that need to be solved before the benefits of decentralized architectures start to outweigh all of the costs and uncertainties.
- [#670: A Primer on Self-Sovereign Identity Standards with Kaliya Young](https://voicesofvr.com/670-a-primer-on-self-sovereign-identity-standards-with-kaliya-young/) - Kaliya Young (aka Identity Woman) has been working on digital identities for the past 15 years including helping facilitate the twice-a-year Internet Identity Workshop. These workshops lead to the Rebooting the Web of Trust workshops and the Decentralized Identity Foundation, which created a W3C specification on Decentralized Identifiers.I had a chance to catch up with Young at the Decentralized Web Summit where we talk about the Decentralized Identifiers standards and the history of self-sovereign identity.
- [#671: "Electronauts" Democratizes Remix DJing & Musical Improvisation](https://voicesofvr.com/671-electronauts-democratizes-remix-djing-musical-improvisation/) - Electronauts is a cross between a simplified DJ simulator and improvisational music tool from Survios that is launching today. It's releasing with over 40 electronic songs that allows you to step into the DJ booth and control the flow of the music. Each song has been broken down into component parts in such a way that allows for the DJ to add and subtract musical instruments, but also add new looping melodies with a variety of different synthesized instruments. It's been able to find the perfect balance of providing an underlying architecture of an pre-authored song while also providing the user a lot of their own generative agency to be able to explore, improvise, and control the overall flow of the song.I had a chance to talk with Survios co-founder and president Nathan Burba where he talks about their journey towards democratizing DJing and musical improvisation, collaborating with musical artists, developing a customized Music Reality Engine™, and some of the VR design considerations of creating an intuitive and empowering experience for musical remixing. Electronauts was inspired in part by a documentary called RiP! A Remix Manifesto about remix culture featuring artists like Girl Talk. VR is helping to transform passive media consumption into active participation through remix culture that's been simplified and made more accessible through the Electronauts user interface.
- [#672: "TribeXR DJ School" Virtual Apprenticeships & Immersive Education](https://voicesofvr.com/672-tribexr-dj-school-virtual-apprenticeships-immersive-education/) - Each of the founders of TribeXR wanted to learn how to become a DJ, but they never got around to it. So they all went to DJ school, and they've been building virtual reality technologies to alleviate many of the pain points that slowed down their journeys of learning how to DJ. The number one blocker is not having easy access to the DJ hardware equipment that costs around $6000. They've created a virtual simulation of the hardware in VR with an audio processing backend, and now they're collaborating with DJ tutors to create virtual apprenticeships and come with innovations in new models of immersive education. Their goal is to help aspiring DJs go from knowing nothing to being able to perform in a night club by being able to learn and practice a virtual DJ booth from professional tutors.I had a chance to talk with Tom Impallomeni, co-founder and CEO of Tribe, at VRLA where I received a tutorial in VR for how to switch bass on a virtual DJ equipment. TribeXR has found a sweet spot of immersive education where it's faster and easier to learn some tasks when there is an expert in the room guiding you on your learning journey. We talked about collaborating with hardware manufacturers, their Explain, Demonstrate, Mimic ('EDM') model of immersive education, collaborating with professional DJ schools and tutors, experimenting with spatial metaphors that create visual synchrony to make learning a multi-modal experience, and the iterative process of collaborating with hardware manufacturers on hardware design and potentially designing intuitive spatial interfaces and capabilities within augmented reality.
- [#673: "Pixel Ripped 1989:" The Sound Design of a 2D Game within a VR Game](https://voicesofvr.com/673-pixel-ripped-1989-the-sound-design-of-a-2d-game-within-a-vr-game/) - Pixel Ripped 1989 is one of the most ambitious and innovative VR experiences I've seen. It's a multi-dimensional experience with 2D game within a VR game within an immersive story. You're in a VR world set in 1989 while also playing a Game Boy-like platformer game at the same time. It uses context switching as a game mechanic as you have to try to hide your playing of the 2D platformer from the school teacher. It's an immersive nostaligic adventure that teleports you back to school in the 1980s through a chiptune soundtrack inspired by the videogames of the 1980s. Their cutting-edge spatial sound design really sells being immersed in a world within a world, and provides the multi-modal cues to help guide you through playing two games at once.Pixel Ripped 1989 started as an ambitious student project by Ana Ribeiro, and she perservered through the ups and downs of her chasing her dreams of releasing the game for over four years. The project got picked up by São Paulo-based Arvore to help with development and distribution, and it was finally released on July 31, 2018 after a long journey through many technological phases of modern consumer VR. I had a chance to interview Ribeiro at the SVVR Mixer at GDC where she was dressed in a cosplay outfit of the main character of Nicola complete with blinking eyelashes. We talked about her development journey, collaborating with composer Terence Dunn from the National Film and Television School, mixing the immersive sound design of a world within a world, the challenges of using the buttons of an Oculus controllers as a NES controller for a 2D platformer, and the value of chasing your dreams.
- [#674: Tech, Law, Culture, & Markets: A Holistic Look at the Decentralized Web Summit](https://voicesofvr.com/674-tech-law-culture-markets-a-holistic-look-at-the-decentralized-web-summit/) - In “Code and Other Laws of Cyberspace,” Lawrence Lessig wrote about four socioeconomic regulators of society as being the law, cultural norms, economic markets, and architecture/code (i.e. technology). All of these four factors combine in order to dictate the larger dynamics of our society.Part of what gets advocates of the blockchain so excited is that these cryptographic technologies are enabling new forms of exchanges of value economic, but also socially and politically. With self-governance systems and collective action mechanisms being formalized within governance systems in the blockchain, this is allowing for groups of people to take more control of their lives independent from the interests of large centralized institutions like corporations who are acting like monopolies.
- [#676: ACLU's Jennifer Granick on Surveillance, Privacy, & Free Speech](https://voicesofvr.com/676-aclus-jennifer-granick-on-surveillance-privacy-free-speech/) - There’s a tension on the web today between creating a safe space to be online versions the costs to censorship and free speech. Spam, bots, trolls, harassment, hate speech, and terrorism are on the frontlines of making the web an unpleasant place to hang out, and so every online platform has to make a decision for what their terms of service are going to be be in order to foster a certain culture that makes it bearable to spend time there.The issue is that our online platforms are communication have been increasingly consolidating into just a handful of companies including Facebook, Google, Twitter, etc. Without a plurality of places online that people are using, then this monopolization of communication networks has the effect of the enforcement of these terms of service be interpreted as forms of censorship and free speech.
- [#680: ICOs are Disrupting VC Funding & Ethereum Coopetition is Challenging VC Unicorn Dynamics](https://voicesofvr.com/680-icos-are-disrupting-vc-funding-ethereum-coopetition-is-challenging-vc-unicorn-dynamics/) - ICOs are disrupting late stage venture capital. Shawn Cheng was working at the Vayner/RSE VC, but now he's working with Ethereum co-founder Joe Lubin's Consensys where he's helping to manage a portfolio of over 40 blockchain companies. Cheng talks about how the coopitition ecosystem dynamics of blockchain companies is completely opposite to how VC thinks about value creation. Supporting a unicorn companies can make or break a VC investment, and the entire VC-industry has been aimed towards hitting these home runs.Value creation for a blockchain company is more about the cultivation and nurturing of an entire ecosystem that can't always be reduced down to a single number. This is part of why Lubin is reinvesting his money made off of being a co-founder of Ethereum into so many of these blockchain projects that are trying to develop these different ecosystems.
- [#679: A Cryptocurrency Gift Economy Experiment to Foster Collaborative Ecosystems](https://voicesofvr.com/679-a-cryptocurrency-gift-economy-experiment-to-foster-collaborative-ecosystems/) - The threat of forking a blockchain project is a catalyst for cooperation, which means that there are many parallels between the blockchain and open source development dynamics. It also means that the value of a blockchain project comes more from a vibrant ecosystem of participants who are exchanging value with each other.There are many new cryptoeconomic primitives that are pointing towards gift economy and “yin currency” dynamics where the more that you give away, then the more that you get.
- [#678: VR Blockchain Alliance on Identity, Currency, & Ownership](https://voicesofvr.com/678-vr-blockchain-alliance-on-identity-currency-ownership/) - High Fidelity and Janus VR announced in March that they were creating a Virtual Reality Blockchain Alliance in order to determine the protocols for the global interoperability of VR.I had a chance to talk to the co-founders of Janus VR and High Fidelity about how the immersive experience of VR will be driving innovations in blockchain technologies. Technologies like self-sovereign identity will enable the seamless transfer of embodied avatar representations from one VR world to the next.
- [#677: Cory Doctorow on the Risks of Permanent Regulatory Dominance](https://voicesofvr.com/677-cory-doctorow-on-the-risks-of-permanent-regulatory-dominance/) - Cory Doctorow is a science fiction author, a co-editor for Boing Boing, and consultant to the Electronic Frontier Foundation. He’s been closely tracking the relationship between Tech, Law, Culture, & Markets, and he is seeing a concerning pattern. It’s possible that some of the legal regulations that were meant to protect online users and copyright holders could actually lead down a path of creating a barrier to entry to competitors that results in a permanent regulatory dominance and monopolization.Doctorow talked about these complicated dynamics in his closing keynote at the Decentralized Web Summit, and I had a chance to talk to Doctorow about some of his ideas ranging from adversarial interoperability, compulsory blanket licensing, and a free market of algorithmic collecting societies that could do a better job at figuring out who to pay better than the algorithmic copyright cops who are figuring out which free speech to suppress.
- [#682: IPFS Distributed File Storage & the Decentralized Metaverse](https://voicesofvr.com/682-ipfs-distributed-file-storage-the-decentralized-metaverse/) - The decentralized metaverse will require the transferring of A LOT of data. Distributed, peer-to-peer file systems like IPFS could provide the backbone of the decentralized metaverse.I talk with David Dias who is one of the developers of IPFS about how they've been able to transform your web browser into distributed file system node, how Filecoin could create an incentive mechanism to support a robust decentralized file system and mesh networks, why content deliver networks aren't of much use if a region doesn't have a viable ISP network, and the challenges of making a peer-to-peer file system more robust and reliable.
- [#683: Mesh Networks, Distributed Metaverse Protocols, & Archiving Event Spaces](https://voicesofvr.com/683-mesh-networks-distributed-metaverse-protocols-archiving-event-spaces/) - Janus VR has been implementing an IPFS distributed file system option for creators for the past couple of years. I talk to 'Taco Dog' who was the catalyst behind helping to architect the protocol foundations of the decentralized metaverse.He has also been experimenting with building mesh network hardware like a fashionable necklace that contains a WiFi router, SD Card, and the mechanism to be able to enter into a shared virtual world together. This mesh network node was inspired by dead drops from the information security world where there would be a physical way to transfer digital information in such a way that couldn't be tracked online.
- [#1213: Primer on WebGPU & Bringing High-Performance 3D Graphics and Parallel Compute to the Web](https://voicesofvr.com/1213-primer-on-webgpu-bringing-high-performance-3d-graphics-and-parallel-compute-to-the-web/) - WebGPU shipped in Chrome 113, which brings high-performance 3D graphics & parallel compute capabilities to the web. I was able to chat with Google Chrome software Engineer Brandon Jones, who is a W3C specification editor for both WebGPU and WebXR Device API. We talk about the history of WebGPU, some his speculations as to how Apple may be actively working on support both WebGPU and WebXR (spec editor Ada Rose Cannon works at Apple), the future of WebXR, the new WebGPU Shading Language (WGSL), nascent ecosystem WebGPU support from Babylon.js and three.js and Play Canvas, and some of the AI and Machine Learning capabilities that will become available on the web, which Jones refers to as the “compatibility layer for the world’s computing devices.” It’ll be open standards like WebGPU, WebXR, glTF, and WebAssembly that start to define what an open and interoperable metaverse might look like, and WebGPU will start to close the gap on bringing the web closer to native performance. Though Jones believes the web will always lag behind trading off performance for more interoperability and cross-compatibility on a broader spectrum of devices. Here are some links with more information on WebGPU: Chrome Ships WebGPU Introducing WebGPU: Unlocking modern GPU access for JavaScript from Google I/O featuring Jones WebGPU Samples Andy McClure’s Co-Host post on WebGPU history: “I want to talk about WebGPU” Compute.toys WebGPU and WGSL examples in the vein of Shadertoy
- [#684: Insight Engineering: Data Portability, Identity, VR, & The IoT Edge](https://voicesofvr.com/684-insight-engineering-data-portability-identity-vr-the-iot-edge/) - Samantha Matthews Chase calls GDPR - General Data Portability Regulations rather than data protection. GDPR has forced many companies to make over a decade's worth of our data available to use, and Chase sees this as a goldmine that can be mined for insights into ourselves.She's been looking at how the combination of VR and edge devices on Internet of Things and are going to catalyze a lot of data collection about ourselves. Who is going to own that data? And what can we do with it?
- [#685: Otoy's Render Token, AI rendering, & Digital Lightfield Holodeck Walls](https://voicesofvr.com/685-otoys-render-token-ai-rendering-digital-lightfield-holodeck-walls/) - Jules Urbach wants to create a photorealistic metaverse. He's been working on rending technologies to render digital lightfields, and Otoy's Octane renderer is used everywhere from baking scenes in Unity's real-time game engine to rendering the opening scene of HBO's Westworld. At GDC, Urbach announced a 100x speed-up of rendering enabled by AI and machine learning, which will potentially make the real-time rendering of photorealistic scenes possible. Otoy has already figured out how to use the GPU to distribute the rendering processing, and they also recently announced the ERC-20 Render Token in order to distribute rendering to the army of GPUs miners who are using their technology and power to solve cryptographic puzzles.I had a chance to catch up with Urbach at GDC, and he always has something to blow my mind. He talks about Lightfield Labs' Digital Lightfield Walls, which will literally make the Holodeck possible. The possibility of having a lightfield display that renders lightfields at the right density would literally provide a window in another world, and it could be perceptually indistinguishable from actually being transported to another world.
- [#686: Panel: VR & Blockchain + Architecting the Decentralized Metaverse](https://voicesofvr.com/686-panel-vr-blockchain-architecting-the-decentralized-metaverse/) - I facilitated a panel discussion at the Decentralized Web Summit that brought together some of the leading virtual reality creators who have been integrating blockchain technologies and creating the foundations of the decentralized metaverse.We cover how VR provides a compelling application for identity and avatar representation, how the self-sovereign identity W3C specifications could help with that, how virtual currencies are being integrated into VR worlds, the process of digital asset tracking and ownership, verifiable claims and how those could help create reputation networks, and some of the biggest challenges and open questions facing these architects of the decentralized metaverse.
- [#687: Group Rituals in VR + 2D vs 3D Cinamatic Language Experiment](https://voicesofvr.com/687-group-rituals-in-vr-2d-vs-3d-cinamatic-language-experiment/) - Lawnmower Man director Brett Leonard is working on a project called Hollywood Rooftop, which is going to be shot both as an immersive 360 video as well as a 2D film. It's an experiment to discover some of the unique cinematic storytelling affordances for each medium, and he's developing an Immersive CinemaVX manifesto that is modeled off of some of the Dogma 95 principles that will set up a framework to not these emergent technologies get in the way of the core principles of the drama, character, emotion, and story. Leonard also has a lot of ideas for how virtual reality can take a lot of inspiration from indigenous ritual ceremonies in order to create a context such that you can discover yourself and others. He says that storytelling is in our DNA, and that immersive VR & AR are catalyzing a transition into creating story worlds that allow people to uncouple from a linear timeline. He says that ritual experiences in VR may be able to help us achieve an 'in-the-moment epiphany' within a group experience where the abstractions of VR could actually paradoxically help us bring us back to the potency of the presence of a moment and to 'true reality.'
- [#688: A Sufi Zikr as Social VR Ritual](https://voicesofvr.com/688-a-sufi-zikr-as-social-vr-ritual/) - Gabo Arora's ZIKR: A Sufi Revival premiered at Sundance this year. It's a 360-degree video capture of a number of different Sufi rituals, songs, and dances, but it had a real-time, social VR experience overlaid on top of the live action footage. Arora collaborated with Sensorium and Superbright to create virtualized beads and an interactive social VR experience, but also different video effects to give a metaphoric interpretation of some of the transcendental spiritual practices of the Sufis. ZIKR: A Sufi Revival is not only an anthropological documentation of some these Sufi ritual practices, but the real-time social interaction through the bead interactions allows for the viewers to participate and create moments of group synchrony.
- [#689: Ethnomusicology & New Music Rituals in VR](https://voicesofvr.com/689-ethnomusicology-new-music-rituals-in-vr/) - Marlon Fuentes is a ethnomusicologist who looks at the culture of how people relate to music through an anthropological lens. He's an emerging technologist who is tracking how virtual reality provides new opportunities for new culture to develop around how people engage, participate in, and relate to music within the context of these immersive experiences. He previously produced 360 videos for Buzzfeed using their 'Cultural Cartography' framework for producing engaging content, but he found that 360-degree videos required more participation from the Buzzfeed audience that was otherwise a pretty passive experience of consuming & sharing viral media. I had a chance to catch up with Fuentes at VRLA where he talked about some of the rituals that we have around consuming media, his ethnomusicologist take on cultural habits and emerging rituals in VR, the ritualistic & participatory aspects of memes, and communities that have hive high levels of commitment, engagement, and retention.
- [#690: Survey of Harassment in VR: Cultural Dynamics vs Tech Solutions](https://voicesofvr.com/690-survey-of-harassment-in-vr-cultural-dynamics-vs-tech-solutions/) - On April 4th, Jessica Outlaw released a survey of 600 regular virtual reality users about harassment experiences in VR, which was funded by Pluto VR.
- [#693: Pain Management & Other Medical Applications of VR](https://voicesofvr.com/693-pain-management-other-medical-applications-of-vr/) - Howard Rose is a pioneer in creating medical applications for Virtual Reality, and I had a chance to catch up with him about his company Firsthand Technology which is creating pain management applications for VR. He's also creating medical VR applications that help with physical health, mental health, and behavioral health. Rose has a lot of deep experiential design insights into the virtual reality medium, and he's taking an evidence-based approach to describe how the immersion, interactivity, physical and mental stimulation of VR combine into creating a 'mind over molecule' approach to healing where patients become active producers of their own health care rather than passive consumers.
- [#695: Diversity Training & Testing for Implicit Bias with Debias VR](https://voicesofvr.com/695-diversity-training-testing-for-implicit-bias-with-debias-vr/) - Clorama Dorvilias' Debias VR is using virtual reality to make diversity training more immersive, interactive, and fun. There are various controversies around the Implicit Association Tests (IAT) that are related towards how far the abstractions of interacting with computer screens can get to some of the unconscious embodied dimensions of implicit bias, and so Debias VR has implemented the IAT within VR using simulated classroom environments with racial and gender diversity.
- [#697: A Tour of Phenomenological Philosophers & Embodied Insights into VR](https://voicesofvr.com/697-a-tour-of-phenomenological-philosophers-embodied-insights-into-vr/) - Nicolas Goyer is a writer and philosopher who takes a tour through phenomenology & post-modern philosophy, and how the can provide insights into immersion, embodiment, imagination, mythology, and the human experience experience for experiential designers using the virtual reality medium.
- [#698: Universal Mind & Quantum Mechanics: Idealism as Fundamental Consciousness & VR](https://voicesofvr.com/698-universal-mind-quantum-mechanics-idealism-as-fundmental-consciousness-vr/) - Is consciousness emergent from our bodies? Or is it a fundamental field of the universe? It's possible that various quantum entanglement anomalies from Quantum Mechanics experiments could eventually provide some answers, but there isn't yet a singular story that scientists all agree tells the consistent and coherent story of all of quantum mechanics. The mathematics of behavior is pretty consistent, but it's the deeper questions of what it reveals about the story about the fundamental nature of reality that is still unresolved as there are many different interpretations of those mathematical structures.
- [#701: Experiential Design of Cause-Based Marketing with Empact Labs + OC5 Highlights](https://voicesofvr.com/701-experiential-design-of-cause-based-marketing-with-empact-labs-oc5-highlights/) - Brands are looking to cause-based marketing & creating interactive experiences in order to provide customers an opportunity to participate in the story of brand that has a deeper purpose and mission that they're trying to achieve. Immersive experiences provide brands a way to engage their audience with interactive experiences that cultivate a sense of embodied presence, but also evoke emotions from having deep and meaningful interactions that reflect the larger metanarrative of the brand's story. I talk with Empact Labs' Christopher Pitcher about the design frameworks that he uses in order to create experiential marketing experiences for brands.
- [#703: The Hierarchy of Being: Embodiment in Virtual Reality](https://voicesofvr.com/703-the-hierarchy-of-being-embodiment-in-virtual-reality/) - Oculus employees Yelena Rachitsky and Isabel Tewes gave a great talk at Oculus Connect 5 titled 'The Hierarchy of Being.' It's a great melding of theory and practice of the impacts of embodiment on the phenomenological experience of a VR experience. They take a human-centered design approach of centering on the self, avatar representation, and the phenomenological human experience as being the bottom as the core foundation, and then looking at how the world, environment, and object interactions creates a certain set of behaviors, interactions, and overall context of an experience, and then finally on the top is the social interactions.
- [#704: Embodied Game Design & Experiential Design Insights from Robin Hunicke](https://voicesofvr.com/704-embodied-game-design-experiential-design-insights-from-robin-hunicke/) - Robin Hunicke is the co-founder of Funomena, which recently released Luna. I had a chance to catch up with Hunicke at Oculus Connect 5 where she shared her insights into embodied game design, game design theory, experiential design, and some of the things that she's working on next in terms of how to get a game to listen and better respond to player behaviors based upon a set of different player archetypes.
- [#705: Magic Leap LEAPCon & Empowering Artists to Innovate with AR](https://voicesofvr.com/705-magic-leap-leapcon-empowering-artists-to-innovate-with-ar/) - In this podcast episode, I share some of my take aways from Magic Leap's LEAPcon as well as talk with the creators behind the Sigur Ros interactive music experience called Tónandi, which is the best interactive AR experience that I've had so far. I talk with the creative & tech leads & Co-Directors Mike Tucker & Steve Mangiat as well as with Rebecca Barkin, who is a Senior Director, Magic Leap Studios & Senior Director of Strategy & Partners at Magic Leap. My bottom-line take away is there's a tension between the idealism of the potential of head-mounted AR and the pragmatic reality of how to sustainably get there. Magic Leap is choosing to empower artists to push the potential of what's possible in terms or storytelling and cultivating an emotional connection, which is symbolically reflected in their first experience from Magic Leap Studios being a cutting-edge, interactive ambient music experience like Tónandi, which translates into 'sound spirits.'
- [#706: Unity's Tony Parisi on Phone-Based AR Ads: Can Bootstrap the Immersive Industry?](https://voicesofvr.com/706-unitys-tony-parisi-on-phone-based-ar-ads-can-bootstrap-the-immersive-industry/) - Immersive advertising campaigns on phone-based AR platforms like AR Kit and AR Core are currently subsidizing a lot of development within the larger XR ecosystem of developers. I heard of many AR developers at Magic Leap who were doing phone-based AR contract gigs, and then working on Magic Leap in their spare time. At Greenlight's VR Strategy Conference I had a chance to talk to Unity's Head of AR/VR Brand Solutions Tony Parisi, who has been on the frontlines of evangelizing immersive and interactive advertising solutions to design agencies and brands. From what I hear from Parisi as well as from other XR developers, there's a critical mass of phones that have AR functionality enabled which is generating a lot of excitement and traction with brands who are funding experiments with immersive and interactive storytelling on these new platforms. Parisi updates us as to where Unity is currently at, and what they're committed to in terms of where the future of spatial computing headed.
- [#707: Spatial Reality Art Show & Self-Service Immersive Art](https://voicesofvr.com/707-spatial-reality-art-show-self-service-immersive-art/) - The Spatial Reality: Artists Explore the Future of XR show is running from October 12 to 28 at the Ayzenberg spce gallery in Pasenda, CA. I had a chance to see all of the pieces in the show, and then talk with the curator Jesse Damiani about my highlights from the show, where immersive art is at, and where it's all going.
- [#708: Indiecade's Sam Roberts on the Future of Play as Immersive & Experiential](https://voicesofvr.com/708-indiecades-sam-roberts-on-the-future-of-play-as-immersive-experiential/) - Indiecade is the International Festival of Play, and Festival Director Sam Roberts curates innovations in game play and interaction paradigms that explore the questions of: What do I do? What happens when I do it? And how do I do it? Roberts sees an overarching entertainment trend where we're headed towards more immersive, bespoke, and experiential entertainment and games where you can have your own unique story and experience. Roberts and I talk about what Indicade tells him about the future of play including the combination of multi-modal inputs, how games are recontexualizing the space around us, interactive narratives, the latest AI-assisted procedural generated levels and player-adaptive game progression curves, the impact of table-top games in creating social dynamics in games, how role playing can create empathy or knowledge, and how games can create systemic metaphors where can come to a deeper understanding of complex systems through exploration the possibility space of the macrocosm through the context of an interactive, microcosmic game.
- [#710: XR & the Deepest Socio-Political & Economic Context: The Malleability of Reality](https://voicesofvr.com/710-xr-the-deepest-socio-political-economic-context-the-malleability-of-reality/) - VRLA co-founder Cosmo Scharf talks about some of the deepest levels of our current socio-political and economic context, and how VR & AR can teach us that our beliefs and perception of reality is malleable. Cosmo says that we're suffering form a values system disorder, and that our culture currently values money over community, culture, education, and our relationship to the planet. He talks about alternative solutions around a resource-based economy, Ubuntu contributionism, and universal basic income, and how virtual and augmented realities can help cultivate a context for the evolution of values and worldviews.
- [#711: Political Philosophy as Game Design: Resolving Paradox & Confusion with Play](https://voicesofvr.com/711-political-philosophy-thought-experiments-game-design-resolving-paradox-confusion-with-play/) - Rust LTD is composed of four avant-garde artists who are experimenting with political philosophy as game design through surrealist narratives and open world sandboxes of resolving paradox through play. I spoke with Rust's CTO Anton Hand about Hot Dogs, Horseshoes, and Hand Grenades at GDC where we talked about guns, morals, and capitalism, and I just had a chance to sit down with Rust CEO Adam Sulzdorf-Liszkiewicz about how he embraces paradox and confusion in his game design process to explore thought experiments in political philosophy.
- [#712: Sci-Fi Worldbuilding to Collaboratively Shape Protopian Futures with Monika Bielskyte](https://voicesofvr.com/712-sci-fi-worldbuilding-to-imagine-collaboratively-shape-the-future/) - Monika Bielskyte is a futurist, science fiction worldbuilder, and a digital nomad who has been traveling around the world to over 80 different countries searching for where the future is headed. She's in conversation with the bleeding edge of emerging tech culture from around the world, and trying to discern the underlying trends and catalysts for cultural transformation.
- [#713: Moving Through Grief of Suicide through a Spatial Story in VR with "Homestay"](https://voicesofvr.com/713-moving-through-grief-of-suicde-through-a-spatial-story-in-vr-with-homestay/) - Paisley Smith's Homestay is a deeply powerful spatial story that explores her family's journey of grief from the death by suicide of an international student that they were hosting. She shares her journey of how to best tell this story in VR with many approaches that didn't work. Homestay will be available soon from the National Film Board of Canada's website.
- [#714: VR Privacy Summit: Electronic Frontier Foundation on Privacy on the Web](https://voicesofvr.com/714-vr-privacy-summit-electronic-fontrier-foundation-on-privacy-on-the-web/) - The VR Privacy Summit happened at Standord University on November 8th to explore pressing issues around biometric data privacy in virtual reality. There were around 50 representatives from around the VR industry with representatives from nearly all of the major companies, and I was the only journalist present for the event. The gathering was held under the Chatam House rules meaning that participants can talk about what was talked about at the meeting without providing identifying information about what other people said.
- [#715: VR Privacy Summit: Open Web Privacy Lessons for the Immersive Web](https://voicesofvr.com/715-vr-privacy-summit-open-web-privacy-lessons-for-the-immersive-web/) - Mozilla Mixed Reality's Diane Hosfelt says, 'The immersive web has all of the problems of the 2D web, they're just magnified and they're harder.' She says the the privacy challeges around biometric data privacy are even more dire because you can't change your biometric signatures and you can't recover it. Hosfelt's job at Mozilla is to secure the Servo immersive web browser engine, and so she's thinking about how to apply the last 20 years of open web security and privacy problems, risks, and potential mitigations to the broader immersive web community. She recently authored a post titled Principles of Mixed Reality Permissions where she lays out the 'PACE principles' of Progressive, Accountable, Comfortable, and Expressive.
- [#717: VR Privacy Summit Organizer Highlights & Next Steps](https://voicesofvr.com/717-vr-privacy-summit-organizer-highlights-next-steps/) - The VR Privacy Summit happened on November 8th, and brought together representatives from the top XR companies, start-up companies, VR experts, medical academics, and legal experts to talk about the potential risks and benefits of having access to biometric data from VR technologies. I talked with co-organizers of High Fidelity's Philip Rosedale, Stanford's Jeremy Bailenson, and Independent Researcher Jessica Outlaw at the end of the VR Privacy Summit to capture some of the highlights, takeaways, and next steps for facilitating a broader conversation about the future of privacy using immersive technologies.
- [#716: VR Privacy Summit: Medical Insights into VR Privacy + Health Benefits of Biometric Data](https://voicesofvr.com/716-vr-privacy-summit-medical-insights-into-vr-privacy-health-benefits-of-biometric-data/) - The medical professionals at the VR Privacy summit has a lot of interesting insights into how they navigate issues around informed consent in medical research through Institutional Review Boards, and perhaps how privacy policies for companies need a similar independent agency that advocates on behalf of consumer privacy. I had a chance to talk to UCSF's Adam Gazzalley, Stanford's Walter Greenleaf, and the National Institutes of Health's Susan Persky about what the medical profession can teach consumer VR technologies for how to navigate privacy issues. The medical profession in the United States is a specific context that has HIPAA (Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996) to protect medical information as private. What does it mean for consumer technology to be able to gather a lot of this biometric data that would normally be protected as medical information, but it's not switching into a new consumer context that may have private legal implications through the third-party doctrine.
- [#718: Worldbuilding Insights from Speculative Architecture: How a Paper Architect-Inspired Architect Finds a Home in VR](https://voicesofvr.com/718-worldbuilding-insights-from-speculative-architecture-how-a-paper-architect-inspired-architect-finds-a-home-in-vr/) - Quiddale O'Sullivan is an architect who is using his spatial design skills to design environments within virtual reality. We cover a wide variety of worldbuilding insights from an architectural perspective, and how the process of architecture is an iterative process that is informed by critical a theory of design for different types of spaces can cultivate human emotion or drive specific behaviors. When asked about any sort of universal design framework for architecture, O'Sullivan said, 'You think you'll discover some sort of rigorous process, but at the end of the day, it's actually all about intuition.'
- [#719: The Phenomenology of Architecture & How VR is Revolutionizing Spatial Design Intuition](https://voicesofvr.com/719-the-phenomenology-of-architecture-how-vr-is-revolutionizing-spatial-design-intuition/) - Designing impossible architecture in VR is changing how Andreea Ion Cojocaru designs real buildings, and she's reveling in the fact that she finally has a tool with VR to be able to explore some of the deeper philosophical questions about the nature of spatial design and architecture that have previously been impossible to feasibly explore. These research questions include the difference between quantities and qualities, including (i.e. Why is the abstraction and blueprint of a building different than an embodied experience of it?), how does changing where you are change who you are?, and how can architecture incorporate insights from math, music, bodies moving through space, and Maurice Merleau-Ponty phenomenological philosophy?
- [#720: VR Pioneers Fred Brooks & Henry Fuchs on the History of VR](https://voicesofvr.com/720-vr-pioneers-fred-brooks-henry-fuchs-on-the-history-of-vr/) - I moderated a discussion with VR pioneers Fred Brooks & Henry Fuchs at the University of North Carolina School of the Arts' Future of Reality Summit (original video is here). We talk about the evolution of immersive technologies since the mid 1960s. Fred Brooks heard Ivan Sutherland's Ultimate Display speech in March of 1965, and Henry Fuchs heard about Sutherland's Sword of Damocles VR prototype from Stanford's Alan Kay.
- [#722: IDFA's DocLab & "the Creative Treatment of Actuality"](https://voicesofvr.com/722-idfas-doclab-the-creative-treatment-of-actuality/) - The DocLab at the International Documentary Filmfestival Amsterdam (IDFA) was started in 2007 by Caspar Sonnen, and it's very similar to the New Frontier programming at Sundance as it's looking at how what new forms of storytelling is emerging from the affordances of emerging technologies like VR, AR, and AI. Sonnen cites John Grierson's definition of documentary is the creative treatment of actuality' as the underlying guidance for what an 'immersive documentary' could be. Rather than capturing footage of real life events, a lot of the projects at DocLab use emerging technologies to be able to catalyze a very specific phenomenological experience with the participating audience through calling on memories, cultivating unique social dynamics and interactions, recontextualizing space through location-based augmented reality stories, and a whole class of experiences that typically fall within the categories of immersive theater, biographical memoir, or ice-breaking social games.
- [#723: "Pilgrim" is an Interactive AR Audio Documentary in the Streets of Amsterdam](https://voicesofvr.com/723-pilgrim-is-an-interactive-ar-audio-documentary-in-the-streets-of-amsterdam/) - Pilgrim is an AR audio documentary that I experienced at the IDFA DocLab premiere as I was walking through the streets of Amsterdam. Co-director Lauren Hutchinson captured audio stories of people as they were walking the Camino de Santiago trail in the north of Spain, and you have a chance to listen to their transformational stories as you're walking through an urban environment. If you stop, then that pilgrim continues on and you wait for the next pilgram to come along with a new story. They used prototype AR glasses with spatialized audio that were connected to a phone, which used ARKit through camera to track your movement and rotations as your turning around.
- [#724: Iranian Ali Eslami's Speculative Design of a Virtual City](https://voicesofvr.com/724-iranian-ali-eslamis-speculative-design-of-a-virtual-city/) - Ali Eslami is an award-winning Iranian virtual reality developer who has recently taken an artist residency in Amsterdam in order to continue his speculative design of a virtual city. Eslami's premiered False Mirror at the International Documentary Filmfestival of Amsterdam's DocLab this year, where he created a number of different speculative futures in a modular virtual city that explores concepts of scale, identity, embodiment, and temporality through dynamic architecture. His previous experience of Death Tolls was an immersive visualization of over 300,000 body bags to represent the death toll in Syria, which won the DocLab Immersive Non-Fiction award in 2016.
- [#725: Discovering Storytelling Potential of VR/AR through Immersive Journalism with USC's Robert Hernandez](https://voicesofvr.com/725-discovering-storytelling-potential-of-vrar-through-immersive-journalism-with-uscs-robert-hernandez/) - Robert Hernandez is a Digital Journalism Professor at USC, and he serves a sort of innovation lab to see how journalists can use emerging technologies to tell stories. I talk with him about some of his projects including 'The Deported: Life Beyond the Border' and a series of 'Homeless Realities' 360 videos and Snapchat filters of immersive stories of the homeless population featuring audio guided tours of photogrammetry scans of their homes. So we cover what he's been finding to be the unique storytelling affordances of VR and AR, and I share some of my deeper thoughts on the philosophy of journalism at the end of the episode.
- [#726: Using VR to Deconstruct Tropes & Normative Ideas of Narrative with Filip Kostic](https://voicesofvr.com/726-using-vr-to-deconstruct-tropes-normative-ideas-of-narrative-with-filip-kostic/) - Filip Kostic is an artist and educator at the ArtCenter College of Design, and he had a piece called Landgrab: The Musical that was featured in the Sptial Realities Art Show curated by Jesse Damiani. Landgrab is a post-modern musical that is trying to deconstruct all of the typical tropes of the Western by exploring concepts of storytelling and experience that evoke embodied experiences of anxiety and the empty spaces that ordinary experiences have. Storytelling is typically optimized for conveying a condensed version of the highlights of a story, but an experience often isn't completely packed with non-stop action, which means that there's often a contrast between the build-up of tension of nothingness and boredom that's released when something interesting or intriguing happens.
- [#727: Innerspace VR on Immersive Storytelling with "Firebird - La Peri"](https://voicesofvr.com/727-innerspace-vr-on-immersive-storytelling-with-firebird-la-peri/) - I interviewed the co-founders of Innerspace VR Hadrien Lanvin and Balthazar Auxietre about Firebird - La Peri at the inaugural VR on the Lot in 2016. This is where I first got a sneak peak at their A Fisherman's Tale puzzle game, which just released within the last week. Innerspace VR has a lot of really keen insights into the storytelling potential of VR, and this conversation helps document the evolution of their thinking on the topic.
- [#729: AI Voice Commands Enable Diplomacy as a Gameplay Mechanic with "Starship Commander"](https://voicesofvr.com/729-ai-voice-commands-enable-diplomacy-as-a-gameplay-mechanic-with-starship-commander/) - Human Interact's Starship Commander uses AI-enabled, voice-activated commands in order to participate within an interactive story. It was recently was released as a location-based entertainment arcade game, and I first talked to Alexander Mejia about it back in 2016. I was able to try to demo at GDC 2017, and I was really surprised with how being to engage in dialogue with virtual characters really deepened my overall sense of immersion and social presence. I talked about my experience with VP of business development and lead actress Sophia Wright where we discuss the existing storytelling applications of conversational AI, as well as all of the potential therapeutic applications that will be enabled in the future.
- [#730: Immersive Theater Acting Tips for Responsive Interactive Narratives](https://voicesofvr.com/730-immersive-theater-acting-tips-for-responsive-interactive-narratives/) - Immersive theater is on a collision course with virtual reality. There are so many best practices for interactive storytelling that are easily translatable into VR. Immersive Theater troupe Third Rail Projects produced the acclaimed Then She Fell, which only serves 15 audience members per show allowing for deeply intimate and personal engagement with audience members. They've been developing best practices for embodied communication and non-verbally engaging audience members, and starting to bring these insights into virtual reality experiences like Wolves in the Walls by Fable Studios and Oculus Studios.I talked with immersive theater actor Alberto Denis from Third Rail Projects at the inaugural Immersive Design Summit in 2018 where he share so many deep insights for how immersive theater insights are directly informing immersive storytelling with VR & AR.
- [#732: Zero Latency's Free-Roaming, Player vs. Player VR Experience Emphasizes Communication & Collaboration](https://voicesofvr.com/732-zero-latencys-free-roaming-player-vs-player-vr-experience-emphasizes-communication-collaboration/) - Zero Latency just announced a free-roaming, player vs. player experience called Sol Raiders that will be available to play starting February 9th at one of there 20+ locations around the world. Most location-based VR experiences are co-op where you team up against non-player characters since there are a lot of difficult logistics in preventing competitive players from running into each other in the course of game play or through respawning. Zero Latency has come up with some innovative solutions to this problem, which has opened up all sorts of new game play and strategy for up to 8 players in either 4v4, 3v3, or 2v2 scenarios. Zero Latency wanted to prevent lone-wolf game play where a single player could dominate a death match, and so they implemented a number of different capture-the-flag mechanics that reward collaborative team coordination and communication. It's really difficult to win without some sort of meaningful amount of team cooperation and coordination. But if the teams tie on capturing the same number of objectives, then they look to the number of kills as the differentiating factor. This opens up a large number of different strategies that have been opened up with the different layouts and number of people playing, which should increase the replayability factor.
- [#735: Translating Embodied Movement Practices like Yoga into VR with Melissa Painter & Lululemon](https://voicesofvr.com/735-translating-embodied-practices-like-yoga-in-vr-with-melissa-painter-lululemon/) - Embody was an experience at the Sundance New Frontier that started to blend Yoga movement practices into virtual reality. VR artist and MAP Design Lab founder Melissa Painter collaborated with Lululemon's Whitespace Innovation team in order to explore potential products of the future. Lululemon sells clothes for movement practices, and they're looking for ways to both increase access to these practices, but also engagement within their local communities. They're also using different AI sensing technologies in order to track your movements within VR.
- [#736: Integrating Taste into Narrative & Navigating an Unconscious Matrix of Memories & Associations](https://voicesofvr.com/736-integrating-taste-into-narrative-navigating-an-unconscious-matrix-of-memories-associations/) - One of the most visceral experiences I had at Sundance New Frontier this year was Marshmallow Laser Feast's Sweet Dreams, which incorporated taste as part of the narrative in a surrealist virtual reality story world called Luscious Delicious Land. Marshmallow Laser Feast is known for exploring the multimodal nature of the sensory experience with exploring the perceptual perception of insects with In the Eyes of an Animal and exploring the use of smells in Tree Hugger.
- [#737: Looping Real-Time, Volumetric, Embodied Interactions with "Interlooped"](https://voicesofvr.com/737-looping-real-time-volumetric-embodied-interactions-with-interlooped/) - Interlooped allows you to record real-time, volumetric capture segments of yourself where you layer these loops while interacting with recorded and real-time interactions of other people. It's a trippy experience that shows the power of real-time embodiment that starts to blur the lines between what's live and what's been pre-recorded. Artist Maria Guta collaborated with real-time volumetric capture engine by Imverse that uses commercial off-the-shelf depth sensors to capture a low-fi voxel version of yourself. Guta plays with altering your perspective and blending the virtual and the real in an experience that starts to play with different flavors for how you can remix your witnessing consciousness. I had a chance to talk about and unpack the experience a bit with Guta during one of her brief breaks of performing all week at Sundance New Frontier.
- [#738: Imverse's Real-Time Volumetric Capture with Voxels](https://voicesofvr.com/738-imverses-real-time-volumetric-capture-with-voxels/) - The Swiss-based company Imverse built a Voxel rendering engine that can do real-time volumetric capture. It powered the Elastic Time experience at New Frontier last year, and this year they collaborated with artist Maria Guta on Interlooper that allowed you to record and loop segments of your embodiment. I had a chance to talk with Ruiz about their real-time volumetric capture solution, some of the neuroscience inspiration for their project, and why he thinks voxels are the future of volumetric capture.
- [#739: Live Immersive Theater Actors in VR with "The Under"](https://voicesofvr.com/739-live-immersive-theater-actors-in-vr-with-the-under/) - Tenderclaws debuted The Under experience at Sundance that features live immersive actors from the Piehole theater troupe. Actors embody different characters within a storyworld that has free roaming, non-verbal participants, who need to use their body to communicate with the actors and each other. Participants can either roam around trying to discover actors to interact with one-on-one and receive fragments of the story of the world, or hang out in the central hub where there are a series of performances.
- [#741: Disney's First VR Narrative Experiment of "Cycles"](https://voicesofvr.com/741-disneys-first-vr-narrative-experiment-of-cycles/) - Disney Animation was showing Cycles, which is their first narrative VR short film that they produced during private screenings in Park City during Sundance. It's a beautifully-produced piece that explores the connection to place, memories and nostalgia in a way that only VR can. It was a part of an internal innovation initiative within Disney where lighting artist Jeff Gipson's pitch was greenlite allowing him to direct the piece.
- [#744: Women in VR Dicussion Sponsored by Mozilla](https://voicesofvr.com/744-women-in-vr-dicussion-sponsored-by-mozilla/) - Disclosure: Mozilla is financially sponsoring the Voices of VR podcast to collaborate on four different events in 2019, and our first collaboration was this conversation featuring the work of seven women within the XR space. Mozilla curated these seven participants and coordinated the logistics for this conversation to happen during Sundance, but it was up to me decide what to talk about and how to facilitate the overall conversation. I feel that the educational mission of the Voices of VR podcast aligns pretty closely with Mozilla's mission of promoting an open and inclusive web, and so I'm excited to see how our three other collaborations evolve this year.
- [#752: Unlocking Your Imagination with Audiojack's Interactive Audio Landscapes](https://voicesofvr.com/752-unlocking-your-imagination-with-audiojacks-interactive-audio-landscapes/) - The Bose AR House at SXSW 2019 featured the first round of interactive audio experiences that are integrated with the Bose AR Frames and Quick Connect 35 noise-cancelling headphones. Devices on the Bose AR platform have an accelerometer, gyroscope, and magnetometer so that it can detect head movement and velocity, cardinal direction, and relative position, and Audiojack was showing an interactive audio experience where you could take different branches exploring an audio landscape by turning your head at key moments. I had a chance to catch up with Audiojack founder David Tobin to talk about his initial inspiration for Audiojack, his vision for how interactive audio landscapes can reinvigorate our imaginations by inviting us to become the authors of our own stories, how Audiojack is being used in educational contexts to inspire creativity, and why he things exploring the imaginal real is one of the most powerful tools we have to catalyze new ways of things, cultivate empathy, and to project out into the future to imagine the consequences of our actions.
- [#641: Oculus' Privacy Architects on their Open-Ended Privacy Policy & Biometric Data](https://voicesofvr.com/641-oculus-privacy-architects-on-their-open-ended-privacy-policy-biometric-data/) - Oculus will be releasing a new Privacy Policy and Terms of Service tomorrow that will go into effect on May 20th, just five days before the EU's General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) privacy law enforcement deadline of May 25th. I had a chance to review the new privacy policy and terms of service as well as talk with the lead privacy policy architect Jenny Hall and a privacy cross-functional team member Max Cohen, who leads product for the Oculus platform. Generally, both the old and new Oculus privacy policies are written in an open-ended way that provides Oculus great leeway in being able to capture and record a lot of different types of data, and the new privacy policy actually adds a number of new passages that allows for new types of data to be collected. Hall & Cohen emphasize that Oculus is committed to transparency and building trust, and that they need this flexibility to account for future applications that haven't even been imagined yet. But as the line between Oculus and Facebook continues to blur, there are still many open questions for what types of data or biometric gathered from VR is going to prove to be useful for Facebook's advertising bottom line.
- [#1020: Lynx R-1 Standalone Mixed Reality Headset Shows the Future of Blending the Digital & Real](https://voicesofvr.com/1020-lynx-r-1-standalone-mixed-reality-headset-shows-the-future-of-blending-the-digital-real/) - I had a chance to do a demo of the Lynx R-1 standalone mixed reality headset at the Augmented World Expo, which was a really compelling experience that blended the virtual and real better than any other headset I've seen do before. Part of the magic was having a headset specifically engineering to minimize the distance from the the cameras from my eyes, therefore minimizing the normal proprioceptive disconnect between what I'm feeling in my body vs the offset that I'm seeing in my arms and hands. It's the first XR HMD that I've seen that can legitimately call itself a Mixed Reality device -- as opposed to Windows Mixed Reality headsets, which are really just VR HMDs with the aspiration to maybe eventually live into their names of doing mixed reality.
- [#1019 Qualcomm's Hugo Swart on Snapdragon Spaces Leveraging OpenXR to Foster Innovation in AR Applications](https://voicesofvr.com/1019-qualcomms-hugo-swart-on-snapdragon-spaces-leveraging-openxr-to-foster-innovation-in-ar-applications/) - On November 9th at the beginning of the Augmented World Expo (AWE),Qualcomm announced Snapdragon Spaces, which is a series of AR tools striving to cultivate an 'open, cross-device horizontal platform and ecosystem.' The Snapdragon Spaces tools include 'environmental and user understanding capabilities that give developers the tools to create headworn AR experiences that can sense and intelligently interact with the user and adapt to their physical indoor spaces.' This specifically includes spatial mapping & meshing, local anchors & persistence, positional tracking, plane detection, image recognition & tracking, object recognition & tracking, occlusion, & scene understanding.
- [#762: HoloLens 2 & Azure Kinect with Microsoft Developer Relations Jesse McCulloch](https://voicesofvr.com/762-hololens-2-azure-kinect-with-microsoft-developer-relations-jesse-mcculloch/) - I got to do a hands-on demo with the HoloLens 2 at Microsoft Build, and then talk about my impressions with Microsoft Developer Relations Program Manager Jesse McCulloch. We talked about where HoloLens is at, more details on the 4th generation Azure Kinect camera, the recent MRDevDays gathering, and the process of cultivating a developer ecosystem for Mixed Reality.
- [#790: VR Artist Goro Fujita: Transformative Moments in Quill with 3D Drawing & Animation](https://voicesofvr.com/790-vr-artist-goro-fujita-transformative-moments-in-quill-with-3d-drawing-animation/) - Goro Fujita is an artist in residence at Facebook, and he's been creating virtual reality art and animations since 2015 when he started working at Oculus Story Studio as an art director. I had a chance to talk to him at F8 in 2018 where he told me about his journey into creating spatial art and experiential stories with Oculus Quill as his main tool of choice. He shares his turning points and transformative moments that including adapting to creating spatial perspective through sculpting & painting in 3D, working the emotions of scale, meeting characters his been drawing in 2D for his entire life within VR for the first time, being able to embody animation movements, creating weather in VR, and creating rhythm sketches as a reference for character animation.
- [#826 OC6: Inclusive Design & the Deeper Ethical Context of Experiential Design with Doug North Cook](https://voicesofvr.com/826-oc6-inclusive-design-the-deeper-ethical-context-of-experiential-design-with-doug-north-cook/) - Doug North Cook is an assistant professor at Chatham University, and he holds an immersive design residency at Fallingwater architectural landmark in Pittsburg. North Cook is trying to synthesize the many different design frameworks and principles ranging from industrial design, user-centered design, universal design, inclusive design, and architecture in order to come up with new frameworks that are uniquely suited for virtual reality. He's also very much interested in accessibility and trying to break down some of the fundamental affordances of different types of VR input, and trying to figure out how to design VR for the most number of people.
- [#829 OC6: VR YouTuber Nathie on the VR Content Ecosystem, Side Quest, & VR Influencer Dynamics](https://voicesofvr.com/829-oc6-vr-youtuber-nathie-on-the-vr-content-ecosystem-side-quest-vr-influencer-dynamics/) - Nathaniel de Jong is a VR content creator on YouTube as 'Nathie' who is focusing on Virtual Reality games. I had a chance to talk with him at the Oculus Connect about the VR content ecosystem for games, the curation policies of Oculus and the ticking time bomb dynamics of Side Quest to side load unofficial game onto the quest. We also talk about some of the VR influencer dynamics that he has to navigate as an independent content creator both from interacting with independent VR game developers, but also with trying to navigate the logistics and communication with huge companies like Facebook. I was definitely impressed with how much due diligence and behind-the-scenes communication that Nathie has with the indie developer community, and I was happy to finally get a chance to catch up with him at the end of Oculus Connect 6 to capture some of his highlights and frustrations from the event.
- [#831 XR Ethics: HTC Creative Labs' Daniel Robbins on Values-Driven Design for AR Prototypes](https://voicesofvr.com/831-xr-ethics-htc-creative-labs-daniel-robbins-on-values-driven-design-for-ar-prototypes/) - Ethics in Mixed Reality is a hot topic, and I moderated a panel discussion at SIGGRAPH. This panel was attended by a number of people in the immersive industry including HTC's Daniel Robbins, who works as a principal UX designer at HTC Creative Labs incubating immersive XR technology possibilities that haven't already been productized. As a designer of next-generation technology prototypes, Robbins is very much interesting an ethical framework that allows him to evaluate the various different tradeoffs for what type of culture these emergent technologies could produce. He takes a values-driven approach of trying to identify the underlying ethical principles or moral virtues that he wants to cultivate, then traces down a 'values ladder' to see how the technology could start to shift culture.
- [#843 XR Ethics: Tony Parisi on Unity's XR Ad Strategy + Future of AR Ads](https://voicesofvr.com/843-xr-ethics-tony-parisi-on-unitys-xr-ad-strategy-future-of-ar-ads/) - Tony Parisi is the Head of AR/VR Ad Strategy at Unity Technologies, and he's committing to taking an ethical approach to advertising. Much of the advertising at Unity is done within the context of a mobile game, and so there is less pressure to fingerprint and profile individual users. I talked to Parisi about how he draws the line of what to track and what not to track, and he said that currently they're tracking very little of individual users and rather focus on embedding ads within the context of a game. In free-to-play games, players are gated with ads that they have to watch in order to get back to their game, which means that they have an extraordinarily high completion rate of their ad units.
- [#868 VR for Good: The Unity for Humanity Contest by Unity Technologies](https://voicesofvr.com/868-vr-for-good-the-unity-for-humanity-contest-by-unity-technologies/) - Amy Zimmerman is a senior producer on the innovation group for media & entertainment at Unity Technologies, and she helped to start the Unity for Humanity contest there. We talk about her inspiration for the project, and what type of projects that Unity is looking to find with their Unity for Humanity program.
- [#889 YouTube VR Update: Google's Largest Initiative in Virtual Reality](https://voicesofvr.com/889-youtube-vr-update-googles-largest-initiative-in-virtual-reality/) - Google discontinued their Daydream VR headset and support for Pixel 4 in October 2019, but they still have a number of different initiatives within virtual reality including Tilt Brush, Google Earth VR, games from Owlchemy Labs, WebXR integrations into Chrome, as well as all of their augmented reality integrations with AR Core. YouTube VR is their largest VR initiative and has become of the largest repositories of 180-degree and 360-degree videos and user-generated VR content.
- [#914: HP, Microsoft, & Valve's Collaboration on the HP Reverb G2](https://voicesofvr.com/914-hp-microsoft-valves-collaboration-on-the-hp-reverb-g2/) - HP, Microsoft, & Valve collaborated on the HP Reverb G2, which is opening for pre-orders today for $599 and will start shipping in the Fall. It has the same resolution as the G1 of 2160 x 2160 pixels per eye, but with improved optics. Road to VR's Ben Lang has a detailed hands-on look, but it sounds like it's some of the highest quality visuals available for any headset. It's using the inside-out tracking from Microsoft, as well as the audio technology that's available on the Valve Index, which has some amazing quality and frequency response.
- [#952: XR Association Industry Survey & Lobbying Congress on XR Policy](https://voicesofvr.com/952-xr-association-industry-survey-lobbying-congress-on-xr-policy/) - The XR Association is a non-profit 501(c)(6) trade association with members including Facebook/Oculus, Google, Microsoft, Sony, & HTC. They're focused on general awareness and education, lobbying Congress on XR policy issues, and promoting research and best practices. On September 20th, 2020, they released results from an industry survey covering 'A New Reality in Immersive Technology' within Healthcare, Education, Job Training, Retail, Manufacturing, and Public Safety.
- [#989: Former Magic Leap Employees Give Retrospective on "No BS Realities" Clubhouse Chat](https://voicesofvr.com/989-former-magic-leap-employees-give-retrospective-on-no-bs-realities-cluhouse-chat/) - On April 22, 2020, Magic Leap announced layoffs of somewhere between 600 to 1000 employees, which amounted to around 1/3 to 1/2 of their total staff. On December 2019, The Information reported that Magic Leap had only sold 6,000 AR headsets against their target goal of over 100,000. The full story as to what exactly happened and why has yet to be fully told, and it's stories like these that reinforce dominant media narratives around the hype around Magic Leap.
- [#993 HTC's China President Alvin Wang Graylin on Vive Focus 3, Vive Pro 2, Vive Business Software, & VTubing Tracking Peripherals](https://voicesofvr.com/993-htcs-china-president-alvin-wang-graylin-on-vive-focus-3-vive-pro-2-vive-business-software-vtubing-tracking-peripherals/) - HTC announced two new, enterprise-focused VR headsets at their Vivecon on Tuesday May 11th. The Vive Focus 3 is a standalone VR HMD with an impressive 2,448 x 2,448 per-eye resolution, 90Hz, 120° FoV, new controllers, swappable battery, and priced at $1,300. The New Vive Pro 2 VR HMD was also announced also with a 2,448 × 2,448 (6.0MP) per-eye resolution, but with 120 Hz, dual-element Fresnel lenses, 120° diagonal FoV, 120Hz refresh rate, $800, and June 3 release. HTC also annoucned a number of new Vive Business software offerings including Vive Business App Store, Vive Business Training, Vive Business Streaming, & Vive Business Device Management.
- [#1008: HTC's Vive Flow are Immersive Glasses Aiming to Be the Tablet of VR](https://voicesofvr.com/1008-htcs-vive-flow-are-immersive-glasses-aiming-to-be-the-tablet-of-vr/) - HTC is launching the Vive Flow today available for pre-order $499 and launching in early November. They're 6-DoF 'immersive glasses' weighing 189 grams that are meant to be the tablet of VR. You have to bring your own power supply, and so you'll need either a battery pack, pug it into a USB port, or use your phone's battery. It's intended to carve out a new market for VR for folks who are focused more on lifestyle applications like watching a 200-inch cinema screen on an airplane, immersive meditation apps, casual gaming, or productivity apps.
- [#520: Oculus' VR Privacy Policy Serves the Needs of Facebook, Not Users](https://voicesofvr.com/520-oculus-vr-privacy-policy-serves-the-needs-of-facebook-not-users/) - I had a chance to catch up with Oculus' Nate Mitchell at GDC where I asked him about privacy in VR. Oculus has delegated the design and maintenance of their privacy policy to their parent company of Facebook so that Oculus can focus on providing the best VR experiences and growing the VR ecosystem. He acknowledges that there are 'a lot of potential pitfalls over the future of VR and AR around user privacy' because VR has a 'double-edged sword' of providing incredibly compelling immersive experiences, but that 'used in the wrong way or in the wrong hands, you can be tracked probably more than you would normally expect to be.' I learned more about the relationship dynamic between Oculus and Facebook in that Oculus isn't thinking too much about how to use the data gathered from VR for advertising purposes, but the language in Oculus' privacy policy is being shaped and directed by Facebook who is much more interested in using data gathered from virtual reality for advertising purposes. Mitchell claims that privacy is a top priority for Oculus, but a close reading of their privacy policy indicates it serves the needs of Facebook over consumers.
- [#645: Oculus Go + Open Questions Around Facebook, Privacy, Free Speech, & Virtual Governance](https://voicesofvr.com/645-oculus-go-open-questions-around-facebook-privacy-free-speech-virtual-governance/) - The Oculus Go was released on Tuesday, May 1st at the Facebook F8 developer conference, and it is a self-contained, 3-DoF mobile VR HMD with a price of $199 that is optimized for media consumption and social VR interactions. Facebook showed off four primary applications including Oculus TV, Oculus Gallery, Oculus Rooms, and Oculus Venues. The Oculus Venues will be treated as public spaces that will be governed by Oculus' updated Terms of Service that has a code of conduct to ensure safe online spaces. In order to enforce the code of conduct, then Oculus will need to do some amount of capturing and recording of what happens in these virtual spaces, which has a number of privacy implications and tradeoffs between cultivating safe online spaces that may erode aspects of the freedom of speech and the 4th amendment rights to privacy within these virtual spaces. Facebook announced at F8 that it is planning on moderating other Facebook networks through AI moderation, and so it's likely that Oculus will also eventually try to moderate virtual spaces with AI. What will it mean to have our public virtual interactions mediated by AI overlords? This brings up questions about the limits and capabilities of supervised machine learning to technologically engineer cultural behaviors. The Cleaners documentary at Sundance went behind the scenes of human content moderators of Facebook to demonstrate how subjective the enforcement of terms of service policies can be leaving avant-guard artists susceptible to false positive censorship that results in permanent bans from these communication platforms with no appeals processes. How will AI solve a problem where it's impossible to define objective definitions of free speech that spans the full spectrum of artistic expression to terrorist propaganda? So Facebook is becoming larger than any single government, but they don't have the same levels of democratic accountability through democratic models of virtual governance or appeals processes for bans.
- [#740: Facebook/Oculus Head of Experiences on Immersive Storytelling](https://voicesofvr.com/740-facebookoculus-head-of-experiences-on-immersive-storytelling/) - Colum Slevin is Facebook/Oculus' Head of Experiences, and I had a chance to talk about how they're supporting independent storytellers in a quest of trying to discover some of the fundamental components of an immersive story. Slevin says that the production pipeline and iterative development methodology of real-time, interactive games has made it easier for the gaming community to adopt virtual reality technologies. The film industry has not only had to learn an entirely new set of tools but also they've had to figure out how to move to a more agile development process from the normal storytelling and character development process, and storytelling is a time-based medium where it's harder to give up authorial control of the building and releasing of narrative tension. So we talk about how VR is a transcendent and transformational medium that has inspired Facebook to support more avant-garde storytelling experiments like The Under Presents, which features live theater actors that will be paid to interact with participants within this immersive theater virtual reality experiment. So I had a chance to chat with Slevin in Park City during Sundance after getting a sneak peak of The Under.
- [#761: Facebook's Head of Enterprise AR/VR on Oculus for Business](https://voicesofvr.com/761-facebooks-head-of-enterprise-arvr-on-oculus-for-business/) - Facebook announced new information about Oculus for Business at their F8 Developer conference last week, and I had a chance to sit down with Facebook's Head of AR/VR Maria Fernandez Guajardo to go over some of the the details that have been released so far. The full launch of Oculus for Business should be sometime in the Fall, likely around Oculus Connect 6 in September or October.
- [#825 OC6: Walter Greenleaf's Concerns on Privacy with Facebook's VR Platform](https://voicesofvr.com/825-oc6-walter-greenleafs-concerns-on-privacy-with-facebooks-vr-platform/) - Walter Greenleaf has been involved with the intersection of virtual reality and medicine for 35 years, and I had a chance to catch up with him at Oculus Connect in order to get some of his impressions from the keynote announcements. He was at the same time excited for the new announcements, the momentum of tetherless VR like the Quest due to it's ease of use and potential medical applications, but he was also concerned about the lack of honest conversations around the deeper ethical and privacy implications of immersive technologies. Facebook talked about the future of the AR cloud and how it would be possible to capture your personal environments with photogrammetry scans, but the lack of any discussions about privacy-first architectures was somewhat disturbing for Greenleaf. There's also going to be a lot of possibilities for the technologies to be able to make medical diagnoses, and he suggests that some of the biometric data that will be available may need to be regulated by something like HIPAA if Facebook doesn't try to proactively architect to protect the capture and use of biometric data. So we cover some of the ethical and privacy implications of VR, as well as a brief update as to what he's seeing in terms of the medical applications of VR.
- [#830 OC6: Facebook Horizon, Oculus Connect vs SVVR, & Bringing VR to University Libraries with Jon Oakes](https://voicesofvr.com/830-oc6-facebook-horizon-oculus-connect-vs-svvr-bringing-vr-to-university-libraries-with-jon-oakes/) - Jon Oakes is the Technology Labs Coordinator at the San Jose State University Library, and he's also been quite involved in helping to organize the Silicon Valley Virtual Reality Meetup and Conference. He held a VR Connect gathering at SJSU the day after Oculus Connect 6, which had a number of different talks and demos.
- [#936: Indie Dev Anton Hand on Resisting the Facebook Panopticon](https://voicesofvr.com/936-indie-dev-anton-hand-on-resisting-the-facebook-panopticon/) - Anton Hand is an indie VR developer with RUST LTD, who is the project lead for Hotdogs, Horseshoes, & Hand Grenades. Hand made the decision sometime in 2016 to not explicitly support any Facebook APIs or hardware for his indie VR project beyond what is afforded within the cross-platform Steam VR APIs.
- [#937: Facebook's Desire to Own the Metaverse Conflicts with Cultivating a Developer Ecosystem: BigScreenVR's Grievances](https://voicesofvr.com/937-facebooks-desire-to-own-the-metaverse-conflicts-with-cultivating-a-developer-ecosystem-bigscreenvrs-grievances/) - BigScreenVR is in direct competition with some of the same services that Facebook wants to fully control, and their CEO Darshan Shankar has had to resort to posting an thread on Twitter expressing his frustrations in trying to negotiate with Facebook. BigScreenVR has been selling tickets to movies in their virtual theaters. The content owners were requesting anywhere from 60-80% of the ticket price, but then on top of that Facebook is requiring a 30% transaction fee for any commerce that uses their in-app purchases. Shankar has to sell tickets at a loss in order to even do business on Facebook's platform and Facebook has been unwilling to negotiate. BigScreenVR is one of the biggest and most active applications with over a millions users, but it is also in direct competition with services that Facebook would prefer to do themselves.
- [#938: F Reality Podcast Roundtable Discussion on Facebook & Privacy](https://voicesofvr.com/938-f-reality-podcast-roundtable-discussion-on-facebook-privacy/) - I was invited to join the F Reality Podcast over the weekend with VR Oasis's Mike, Nathie, Rowdy Guy, and Zimtok5 to be able to talk about this past week's news about Facebook's new requirement that all new VR users and hardware will be required to use a Facebook Login after October 2020, and existing users can still use their Oculus accounts on existing hardware until January 2023.
- [#942: The Facebook vs Apple XR Battle - The Information's Alex Heath on Facebook's XR Hardware Bets](https://voicesofvr.com/942-the-facebook-vs-apple-xr-battle-the-informations-alex-heath-on-facebooks-xr-hardware-bets/) - Alex Heath reports on Facebook and their competitors for the subscription-only site The Information, and he's been able to get some exclusive interviews and do some in-depth reporting on some of Facebook's VR and AR hardware initiatives. As we're on the cusp of Facebook Connect on Wednesday, September 16th, there are a lot of questions as to what other companies will be able to compete with Facebook's current dominance in the consumer VR space, especially when it comes to their standalone VR headset of the Oculus Quest and the leaked videos of the Oculus Quest 2, which are expect to be announced tomorrow at Facebook Connect #`1 (which would have been called Oculus Connect 7 had Facebook not rebranded it).
- [#944: Guy Godin on Getting Cloned by Facebook & Virtual Desktop's Forbidden Wireless Streaming Features](https://voicesofvr.com/944-guy-godin-on-getting-cloned-by-facebook-virtual-desktops-forbidden-wireless-streaming-features/) - On June 11, 2019, Guy Godin announced on Reddit and on Twitter that 'Oculus doesn't want the SteamVR streaming feature in their store' and that he had been asked by Oculus to remove this wireless streaming feature that he had recently added to his Virtual Desktop application.

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- [Design](https://voicesofvr.com/category/ideas/design/)
- [Speculative Futures](https://voicesofvr.com/category/ideas/speculative-futures/)
- [Research](https://voicesofvr.com/category/ideas/research/)
- [Enterprise](https://voicesofvr.com/category/enterprise/)
- [Business Applications](https://voicesofvr.com/category/enterprise/business-applications/)
- [Productivity](https://voicesofvr.com/category/enterprise/productivity/)
- [Consulting](https://voicesofvr.com/category/enterprise/consulting/)
- [Community](https://voicesofvr.com/category/community/)
- [Social VR](https://voicesofvr.com/category/community/social-vr/)
- [Rituals](https://voicesofvr.com/category/community/rituals/)
- [Metaverse](https://voicesofvr.com/category/community/metaverse/)
- [Diversity, Equity, & Inclusion](https://voicesofvr.com/category/community/diversity-equity-inclusion/)
- [Culture](https://voicesofvr.com/category/community/culture/)
- [Accessibility](https://voicesofvr.com/category/accessibility/)
- [Assistive Technology](https://voicesofvr.com/category/accessibility/assistive-technology/)
- [Accessibility Design](https://voicesofvr.com/category/accessibility/accessibility-design/)
- [Gathering](https://voicesofvr.com/category/community/gathering/)
- [Analysis](https://voicesofvr.com/category/ideas/analysis/)
- [Education](https://voicesofvr.com/category/education-communication/education/)
- [Decentralization](https://voicesofvr.com/category/technology/decentralization/)
- [Haptics](https://voicesofvr.com/category/technology/haptics/)
- [Environment](https://voicesofvr.com/category/place-home/environment/)
- [LGBTQIA+](https://voicesofvr.com/category/identity-self/lgbtqia/)
- [Mixed Reality](https://voicesofvr.com/category/technology/mixed-reality/)
- [Distribution](https://voicesofvr.com/category/economy/distribution/)
- [360 Video](https://voicesofvr.com/category/technology/360-video/)
- [Spatial Audio](https://voicesofvr.com/category/technology/spatial-audio/)
- [Empathy](https://voicesofvr.com/category/partners-enemies/empathy/)
- [History](https://voicesofvr.com/category/place-home/history/)
- [Augmented Reality](https://voicesofvr.com/category/technology/augmented-reality/)
- [Smell](https://voicesofvr.com/category/technology/smell/)
- [Taste](https://voicesofvr.com/category/technology/taste/)
- [Motion Tracking & Motion Capture](https://voicesofvr.com/category/technology/motion-tracking-motion-capture/)
- [Hand Tracking](https://voicesofvr.com/category/technology/hand-tracking/)
- [Brain Computer Interface](https://voicesofvr.com/category/technology/brain-computer-interface/)
- [Funding](https://voicesofvr.com/category/economy/funding/)
- [Fashion](https://voicesofvr.com/category/identity-self/fashion/)
- [Network](https://voicesofvr.com/category/technology/network/)
- [Digital Twin](https://voicesofvr.com/category/place-home/digital-twin/)
- [Medical](https://voicesofvr.com/category/medicine/medical/)
- [Virtual Event](https://voicesofvr.com/category/community/virtual-event/)
- [Social Change](https://voicesofvr.com/category/community/social-change/)
- [Disability](https://voicesofvr.com/category/accessibility/disability/)
- [Projection Mapping](https://voicesofvr.com/category/technology/projection-mapping/)
- [Environmental Storytelling](https://voicesofvr.com/category/entertainment/environmental-storytelling/)
- [Children](https://voicesofvr.com/category/place-home/children/)
- [Trust & Safety](https://voicesofvr.com/category/ideas/trust-safety/)
- [Dome](https://voicesofvr.com/category/technology/dome/)
- [Identity](https://voicesofvr.com/category/identity-self/identity/)
- [Virtual Beings](https://voicesofvr.com/category/community/virtual-beings/)
- [Biometric Data](https://voicesofvr.com/category/technology/biometric-data-technology/)
- [Human Rights](https://voicesofvr.com/category/ideas/human-rights/)
- [Neural Input](https://voicesofvr.com/category/technology/neural-input/)
- [Conversational Interaction](https://voicesofvr.com/category/entertainment/conversational-interaction/)
- [Communication](https://voicesofvr.com/category/education-communication/communication/)
- [Community of Practice](https://voicesofvr.com/category/community/community-of-practice/)
- [Market](https://voicesofvr.com/category/economy/market/)
- [Awards](https://voicesofvr.com/category/community/awards/)
- [Politics](https://voicesofvr.com/category/community/politics/)
- [Horror](https://voicesofvr.com/category/entertainment/horror/)
- [Sci-Fi](https://voicesofvr.com/category/entertainment/sci-fi/)
- [Feminism](https://voicesofvr.com/category/community/feminism/)
- [BIPOC](https://voicesofvr.com/category/community/bipoc/)
- [VR HMD](https://voicesofvr.com/category/technology/vr-hmd/)
- [Animation](https://voicesofvr.com/category/entertainment/animation/)
- [Photogrammetry](https://voicesofvr.com/category/technology/photogrammetry/)
- [Comparative Media](https://voicesofvr.com/category/ideas/comparative-media/)
- [Marketing & Advertising](https://voicesofvr.com/category/economy/marketing-advertising/)
- [Eye Tracking](https://voicesofvr.com/category/technology/eye-tracking/)
- [WebXR](https://voicesofvr.com/category/technology/webxr/)
- [Religion](https://voicesofvr.com/category/ideas/religion/)
- [Graphics](https://voicesofvr.com/category/technology/graphics/)
- [Compute](https://voicesofvr.com/category/technology/compute/)
- [6DoF Input](https://voicesofvr.com/category/technology/6dof-input/)
- [Transformation](https://voicesofvr.com/category/ideas/transformation/)
- [Time](https://voicesofvr.com/category/ideas/time/)
- [Presence & Perception](https://voicesofvr.com/category/identity-self/presence-perception/)
- [Mobile](https://voicesofvr.com/category/technology/mobile/)

## Tags

- [grieving](https://voicesofvr.com/tag/grieving/)
- [romance](https://voicesofvr.com/tag/romance/)
- [Japan](https://voicesofvr.com/tag/japan/)
- [France](https://voicesofvr.com/tag/france/)
- [innovation](https://voicesofvr.com/tag/innovation/)
- [VRChat](https://voicesofvr.com/tag/vrchat/)
- [racism](https://voicesofvr.com/tag/racism/)
- [prison](https://voicesofvr.com/tag/prison/)
- [WebXR](https://voicesofvr.com/tag/webxr/)
- [grief](https://voicesofvr.com/tag/grief/)
- [branching narrative](https://voicesofvr.com/tag/branching-narrative/)
- [war](https://voicesofvr.com/tag/war/)
- [advertising](https://voicesofvr.com/tag/advertising/)
- [paradigm shift](https://voicesofvr.com/tag/paradigm-shift/)
- [surrealism](https://voicesofvr.com/tag/surrealism/)
- [avant-garde](https://voicesofvr.com/tag/avant-garde/)
- [fake news](https://voicesofvr.com/tag/fake-news/)
- [disinformation](https://voicesofvr.com/tag/disinformation/)
- [panel](https://voicesofvr.com/tag/panel/)
- [graphic novel](https://voicesofvr.com/tag/graphic-novel/)
- [awe](https://voicesofvr.com/tag/awe/)
- [imagination](https://voicesofvr.com/tag/imagination/)
- [vulnerability](https://voicesofvr.com/tag/vulnerability/)
- [security](https://voicesofvr.com/tag/security/)
- [time](https://voicesofvr.com/tag/time/)
- [asymmetry](https://voicesofvr.com/tag/asymmetry/)
- [power](https://voicesofvr.com/tag/power/)
- [boundaries](https://voicesofvr.com/tag/boundaries/)
- [interoperability](https://voicesofvr.com/tag/interoperability/)
- [Microsoft](https://voicesofvr.com/tag/microsoft/)
- [Meta (Facebook)](https://voicesofvr.com/tag/meta-facebook/)
- [glTF](https://voicesofvr.com/tag/gltf/)
- [OpenXR](https://voicesofvr.com/tag/openxr/)
- [Google](https://voicesofvr.com/tag/google/)
- [Mozilla](https://voicesofvr.com/tag/mozilla/)
- [Bose](https://voicesofvr.com/tag/bose/)
- [restorative justice](https://voicesofvr.com/tag/restorative-justice/)
- [death](https://voicesofvr.com/tag/death/)
- [book](https://voicesofvr.com/tag/book/)
- [XR Association](https://voicesofvr.com/tag/xr-association/)
- [HTC](https://voicesofvr.com/tag/htc/)
- [Niantic](https://voicesofvr.com/tag/niantic/)
- [Magic Leap](https://voicesofvr.com/tag/magic-leap/)
- [Apple](https://voicesofvr.com/tag/apple/)
- [Valve](https://voicesofvr.com/tag/valve/)
- [HP](https://voicesofvr.com/tag/hp/)
- [Unity](https://voicesofvr.com/tag/unity/)
- [Qualcomm](https://voicesofvr.com/tag/qualcomm/)
- [Lynx](https://voicesofvr.com/tag/lynx/)
- [Disney](https://voicesofvr.com/tag/disney/)
- [deconstruction](https://voicesofvr.com/tag/deconstruction/)
- [experimental](https://voicesofvr.com/tag/experimental/)
- [documentary](https://voicesofvr.com/tag/documentary/)
- [phenomenology](https://voicesofvr.com/tag/phenomenology/)
- [reality](https://voicesofvr.com/tag/reality/)
- [consciousness](https://voicesofvr.com/tag/consciousness/)
- [idealism](https://voicesofvr.com/tag/idealism/)
- [pain management](https://voicesofvr.com/tag/pain-management/)
- [film](https://voicesofvr.com/tag/film/)
- [indie](https://voicesofvr.com/tag/indie/)
- [retro](https://voicesofvr.com/tag/retro/)
- [violence](https://voicesofvr.com/tag/violence/)
- [interdisciplinary](https://voicesofvr.com/tag/interdisciplinary/)
- [China](https://voicesofvr.com/tag/china/)
- [wireless](https://voicesofvr.com/tag/wireless/)
- [Leap Motion](https://voicesofvr.com/tag/leap-motion/)
- [intimacy](https://voicesofvr.com/tag/intimacy/)
- [Sundance](https://voicesofvr.com/tag/sundance/)
- [space](https://voicesofvr.com/tag/space/)
- [robotics](https://voicesofvr.com/tag/robotics/)
- [NVIDIA](https://voicesofvr.com/tag/nvidia/)
- [Jung](https://voicesofvr.com/tag/jung/)
- [myth](https://voicesofvr.com/tag/myth/)
- [depth psychology](https://voicesofvr.com/tag/depth-psychology/)
- [flow](https://voicesofvr.com/tag/flow/)
- [Samsung](https://voicesofvr.com/tag/samsung/)
- [Intel](https://voicesofvr.com/tag/intel/)
- [AltSpaceVR](https://voicesofvr.com/tag/altspacevr/)
- [Anyland](https://voicesofvr.com/tag/anyland/)
- [trauma](https://voicesofvr.com/tag/trauma/)
- [drones](https://voicesofvr.com/tag/drones/)
- [High Fidelity](https://voicesofvr.com/tag/high-fidelity/)
- [biohacking](https://voicesofvr.com/tag/biohacking/)
- [transhumanism](https://voicesofvr.com/tag/transhumanism/)
- [math](https://voicesofvr.com/tag/math/)
- [anxiety](https://voicesofvr.com/tag/anxiety/)
- [locomotion](https://voicesofvr.com/tag/locomotion/)
- [puzzle](https://voicesofvr.com/tag/puzzle/)
- [fate](https://voicesofvr.com/tag/fate/)
- [free will](https://voicesofvr.com/tag/free-will/)
- [simulation theory](https://voicesofvr.com/tag/simulation-theory/)
- [worldview](https://voicesofvr.com/tag/worldview/)
- [Quill](https://voicesofvr.com/tag/quill/)
- [optimization](https://voicesofvr.com/tag/optimization/)
- [Medium](https://voicesofvr.com/tag/medium/)
- [Epic Games](https://voicesofvr.com/tag/epic-games/)
- [room-scale](https://voicesofvr.com/tag/room-scale/)
- [court](https://voicesofvr.com/tag/court/)
- [Daydream](https://voicesofvr.com/tag/daydream/)
- [motion sickness](https://voicesofvr.com/tag/motion-sickness/)
- [3DUI](https://voicesofvr.com/tag/3dui/)
- [phobia](https://voicesofvr.com/tag/phobia/)
- [fear](https://voicesofvr.com/tag/fear/)
- [process-philosophy](https://voicesofvr.com/tag/process-philosophy/)