Entertainment

738 episodes

#744: Women in VR Dicussion Sponsored by Mozilla

by kentbyeFebruary 20, 2019

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...

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#743: Storytelling in AR Panel at Sundance New Frontier 2019

by kentbyeFebruary 20, 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...

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#741: Disney’s First VR Narrative Experiment of “Cycles”

by kentbyeFebruary 20, 2019

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...

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#740: Facebook/Oculus Head of Experiences on Immersive Storytelling

by kentbyeFebruary 20, 2019

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...

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#739: Live Immersive Theater Actors in VR with “The Under”

by kentbyeFebruary 16, 2019

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...

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#737: Looping Real-Time, Volumetric, Embodied Interactions with “Interlooped”

by kentbyeFebruary 16, 2019

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...

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#736: Integrating Taste into Narrative & Navigating an Unconscious Matrix of Memories & Associations

by kentbyeFebruary 16, 2019

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...

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#735: Translating Embodied Movement Practices like Yoga into VR with Melissa Painter & Lululemon

by kentbyeFebruary 14, 2019

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...

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#734: AR + Projection Map Storytelling with “The Dial:” Blending Layers of Digital Reality

by kentbyeFebruary 12, 2019

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...

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#732: Zero Latency’s Free-Roaming, Player vs. Player VR Experience Emphasizes Communication & Collaboration

by kentbyeFebruary 8, 2019

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...

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#731: Natural & Intuitive Character Interactions in VR with “Wolves in the Walls”

by kentbyeFebruary 4, 2019

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...

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#730: Immersive Theater Acting Tips for Responsive Interactive Narratives

by kentbyeJanuary 25, 2019

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...

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#729: AI Voice Commands Enable Diplomacy as a Gameplay Mechanic with “Starship Commander”

by kentbyeJanuary 25, 2019

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...

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#728: AI-Guided Dance to Express Collective Sentiment with Frankenstein AI

by kentbyeJanuary 25, 2019

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...

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#727: Innerspace VR on Immersive Storytelling with “Firebird – La Peri”

by kentbyeJanuary 25, 2019

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...

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#726: Using VR to Deconstruct Tropes & Normative Ideas of Narrative with Filip Kostic

by kentbyeJanuary 22, 2019

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...

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#725: Discovering Storytelling Potential of VR/AR through Immersive Journalism with USC’s Robert Hernandez

by kentbyeJanuary 16, 2019

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...

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#724: Iranian Ali Eslami’s Speculative Design of a Virtual City

by kentbyeJanuary 2, 2019

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...

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#723: “Pilgrim” is an Interactive AR Audio Documentary in the Streets of Amsterdam

by kentbyeDecember 28, 2018

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...

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#722: IDFA’s DocLab & “the Creative Treatment of Actuality”

by kentbyeDecember 21, 2018

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...

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#721: Introspective Hero’s Journey of Self-Reflection & Emotional Education with “Where Thoughts Go”

by kentbyeDecember 13, 2018

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...

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#713: Moving Through Grief of Suicide through a Spatial Story in VR with “Homestay”

by kentbyeNovember 8, 2018

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...

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#712: Sci-Fi Worldbuilding to Collaboratively Shape Protopian Futures with Monika Bielskyte

by kentbyeNovember 6, 2018

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...

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#711: Political Philosophy as Game Design: Resolving Paradox & Confusion with Play

by kentbyeNovember 1, 2018

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...

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#708: Indiecade’s Sam Roberts on the Future of Play as Immersive & Experiential

by kentbyeOctober 23, 2018

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...

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#707: Spatial Reality Art Show & Self-Service Immersive Art

by kentbyeOctober 19, 2018

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...

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#705: Magic Leap LEAPCon & Empowering Artists to Innovate with AR

by kentbyeOctober 16, 2018

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...

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#702: The VR Exercise Revolution: Empirical Data from the VR Institute for Health & Exercise

by kentbyeOctober 6, 2018

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...

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#692: Using Immersive Anxiety to Symbolically Depict Racial Tension

by kentbyeSeptember 6, 2018

Dinner Party is a short VR story that premiered at Sundance, and it uses the story of the alien abduction of Barney and Betty Hill to metaphorically explore the racial tension of interracial marriage in the early 1960s. I spoke to writers Laura...

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#691: Using VR to Cultivate Culture Against Sexual Assault

by kentbyeAugust 31, 2018

Morgan Mercer's Vantage Point is creating virtual reality training experiences in order to cultivate the skills to break the stigma around sexual assault and and to overcome the bystander effect. They're using the affordances of VR & 360 video in...

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#689: Ethnomusicology & New Music Rituals in VR

by kentbyeAugust 28, 2018

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...

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#688: A Sufi Zikr as Social VR Ritual

by kentbyeAugust 25, 2018

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...

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#673: “Pixel Ripped 1989:” The Sound Design of a 2D Game within a VR Game

by kentbyeAugust 9, 2018

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...

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#672: “TribeXR DJ School” Virtual Apprenticeships & Immersive Education

by kentbyeAugust 9, 2018

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...

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#671: “Electronauts” Democratizes Remix DJing & Musical Improvisation

by kentbyeAugust 8, 2018

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...

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#668: Guns, Money, & Morals: A Debate on the Ethics of VR Simulation, Capitalism, & the Limits of Decentralized Techno-Utopianism

by kentbyeJuly 31, 2018

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...

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#664: VR in China: Taoist & Buddhist Insights into the Yin Archetypal Story

by kentbyeJuly 4, 2018

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...

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#660: VR in China: Nordic Trolls Game Development Studio

by kentbyeJuly 4, 2018

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...

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#659: VR in China: Bridging the East & West with LumiereVR’s Jenny Guo

by kentbyeJuly 4, 2018

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...

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#658: VR in China: Storytelling & Sandbox Immersive Festival

by kentbyeJuly 4, 2018

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...

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#655: Orpheus Technodelics is Publishing Consciousness Hacking VR Experiences

by kentbyeJune 12, 2018

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...

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#654: Indigenous Futurism & Aboriginal Territories in Cyberspace with Jason Edward Lewis

by kentbyeJune 8, 2018

I talk with Jason Edward Lewis about the Aboriginal Territories in Cyberspace initiative, as well as the two 2167 Indigenous Storytelling in VR that he helped to produce. How do we reckon the past, present, and the future, and what types of...

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#651: Anime-Inspired, Embodied Game Design & the Spectacle of VR eSports with “Light Strike Array”

by kentbyeMay 23, 2018

Here's a bit more information on the game mechanics of Light Strike Array:

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#650: Flow Artist Swan on Stylized Embodiment: The Story Behind Beat Saber’s Viral Videos

by kentbyeMay 23, 2018

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.

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#649: LIV’s Mixed Reality Shows the Nuances of Human Movement in VR

by kentbyeMay 23, 2018

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...

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#644: Beat Saber Lets You Become the Music Through Puzzles Your Body Solves

by kentbyeMay 1, 2018

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...

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#640: John Root on VRLA, AR, Privacy, & eSports in VR

by kentbyeApril 14, 2018

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...

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#637: The Yang and the Yin of Immersive Storytelling with Oculus’ Yelena Rachitsky

by kentbyeApril 3, 2018

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...

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#635: Candid Assessment of the VR Industry from a Leading Indie Developer

by kentbyeMarch 28, 2018

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...

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