Signal Fall 2021 Newsletter

6 www.alliancecom.net “Feel Like You’re Really There” Entertainment Gambling PokerVR is a VR app that puts you in a lifelike poker game. The experience evokes being in a real casino where you can interact with other players and improve your game by noticing their body language. The app is available for several popular VR systems. Socializing Social communities in the VR space simply allow you to get together with others, as though at a real-life gathering. High Fidelity and vTime are two apps that enable this capability. vTime allows you to spend time with others in immersive virtual environments using highly customizable avatars. Immersive Films The Disney Movies VR app is putting some of your favorite Disney scenes into 3D format. You can also find a more immersive experience on YouTube, with 360-degree/3D VR videos, including musical performances, sporting events, and outdoor adventures. Cultural Sights Numerous museums offer virtual tours that you can take from anywhere you have an internet connection. World-famous museums include the British Museum in London, the Guggenheim Museum in New York, and the Musée d’Orsay in Paris. Go to each museum’s website to find your new favorite tour. Theme Parks In China, a prototype for a theme park puts you in an alien landscape where you must defend yourself from enemies that want to do you harm. The physical space is really just a large, mostly empty room under a Beijing mall, with hopes for much larger parks in locations across China. VR and AR are a natural fit for video games, introducing an immersive element to experiences that already take place from a first-person perspective. Here are a few ways in which VR takes gaming and entertainment to the next level. Pokémon Transforms Again In 2016, Pokémon Go became highly popular. After years of existing as a game in other formats, Pokémon was available as a mobile app that became famous for getting people out of the house to catch monsters in their own neighborhoods. This version of the game placed the creatures to be captured in the real world, appearing alongside trees, bridges, buildings, and other physical objects. For many who played it, it was their first AR experience. Now Pokémon has transformed again into Pokémon VR, an unofficial fan- created Pokémon game. It resembles Pokémon Go but gives players a more immersive experience. Players can choose an avatar and join games together to do battle, buy items in a store, or trade —all in different game areas. In 2020, Pokémon also appeared in Virtual Fest, a limited-time VR theme park.