TIFCA News

“Given our central position within the VR ecosystem, we carefully evaluated which players and organizations are the true leaders in this field.  We found the Immersive Technology Alliance as being a key player and therefore we feel confident that our joining the membership roster is the right decision for us and the industry.  ITA have done already important work in bringing the various stakeholders together and we look forward to further contributing to the members and the industry by providing our high quality VR testing tools and technologies.” – Tero Sarkkinen, CEO and Founder, Basemark Read More

During his CES 2016 interview on MTBS, Roy Taylor (Corporate Vice President of Alliances at AMD) explained the origins of the ITA VR Council and the types of challenges its working to overcome.  The ITA VR Council is a division within the Immersive Technology Alliance focused on virtual reality.

“Frima is a digital entertainment company set on creating content for every screen. In 2013, we started adding VR to our expertise and then launched the development of Fated, a VR-only first-person action-adventure. In 2015, we released two virtual reality experiences, including the Space launch title for Mattel’s new View-Master. This year we will be releasing Fated for Oculus, HTC and PlayStation VR, in sync with their market debut. We aim to be leaders in content development for the new virtual reality and mixed-reality head-mounted display markets.

At first sight, we knew we wanted to join The Immersive Technology Alliance. To us, being part of a community where we can contribute and learn about the development of these new technologies is a no-brainer. We are looking forward to sharing and exchanging with other members of the community.” – Jean-Philippe Doiron, Technology Director, Frima Studio

The Immersive Technology Alliance is honored to welcome Frima Studio to the fold.  Frima Studio develops products for the Web, console, handheld, iPhone, iPad, TV and mobile.  As shown above, they have a strong interest in immersive technologies like virtual and mixed reality.  We are very excited to have them on board!

Regularly credited for its unusually high 5K resolution and full 210° of field of view, ITA member Starbreeze Studios has announced that their StarVR HMD will find its home in the public exhibition market in a new retail outlet called StarCade:

“We continue to iterate the fact that VR really needs to be experienced in person to fully be able to appreciate the phenomenon, and why not have your first experience in a real premium setting in our StarVR headset? We’ve managed to secure a prime location where people are welcome to step into our StarCade and enjoy our OVERKILL’s The Walking Dead VR experience.” said Starbreeze CTO Emmanuel Marquez. He continued, “We’re developing our own StarCade catalogue of experiences, but we’re open to any content. We will invite developers to join us and give them the opportunity to put their content in our StarCade. We as an industry continuously need to educate ourselves to make VR truly successful, and this is just the first step in our planning to do so.”

This is a very exciting development because each StarCade outlet (and similar exhibition opportunity) is a promising venue to promote virtual reality on a mass scale to help drive at-home hardware and software sales by varied technology and content makers.  Very exciting stuff!

ITA member Crytek has announced the launch of its new VR First program. Crytek is partnering with academic institutions to provide state-of-the-art technology and facilities for students and researchers looking to explore the power and potential of VR. Members in the VR First program will benefit from full source code access to Crytek’s CRYENGINE development suite and free hardware use provided by Crytek’s VR First affiliates.

The initial VR First Lab opens its doors today at Istanbul’s Bahçeşehir University and will act as a pilot destination for the program. Crytek and the program’s affiliate hope to ensure every VR First lab facilitates users to play a key part in shaping the future of VR. Learn more at http://vrfirst.cryengine.com.

L-R: Frank Vitz, Creative Director at Crytek and Neil Schneider, Executive Director, The ITA

“The ITA’s focus on facilitating collaboration between leading technology and content makers fits perfectly with our own ambitions for virtual reality. We’re not only working hard to make CRYENGINE the best possible resource for virtual reality development, but also striving to offer consumers truly immersive experiences in our upcoming VR game for the Oculus Rift and PSVR, The Climb and Robinson: The Journey. We look forward to being part of the ITA and continuing to drive innovation alongside like-minded partners around the world.” – Frank Vitz, Creative Director, Crytek

The Immersive Technology Alliance is very proud to announce that Crytek has joined The ITA.  Always pushing the envelope with games like the Crysis franchise and CRYENGINE, Crytek is again pursuing the bleeding edge with their latest work in virtual reality.  The alliance has worked with Crytek in one form or another over the course of years, and it’s an honor that they have officially joined up.

This unique panel discussion took place at the VR Fest as part of the ITA sessions and features many of the industry’s best including from left to right:

• Emmanuel Marquez, CTO, Starbreeze Studios
• Lochlainn Wilson, CTO, FOVE
• Bertrand Nepveu, CEO, VRvana
• Manuel R. Gutierrez Novelo, CEO, ImmersiON-VRelia
• Nicholas Dicarlo, VP Immersive Products & VR, Samsung Electronics America
• Claude Zellweger, VP of Design, HTC

It doesn’t get much better than that!

“At Starbreeze we strongly believe VR will transform the entertainment industry and the key to this is to deliver the best possible VR experiences to the consumer. With Project StarVR, we are focused on developing the best immersive experiences and technologies in an integrated way. Being an independent publisher, we feel deeply aligned with ITA’s mission to advance the commercialization of VR to consumers by promoting the entire VR industry and its content, hardware, and software providers. We want to contribute to this industry effort, and that’s why we are joining the Immersive Technology Alliance and its VR Council.” – Emmanuel Marquez, CTO, Starbreeze Studios

Starbreeze is an independent creator, publisher and distributor of high quality entertainment products. Starbreeze’s most recent games include PAYDAY 2, the adrenaline fueled bank robbing co-op game and the upcoming survival co-op FPS OVERKILL’s The Walking Dead based on the hit comic series. Starbreeze is also developing digital self-publishing and is inviting developers to leverage its self publishing know-how on Steam, having one of the largest communities on the digital distribution platform. Read More

As part of the Virtual Reality Festival during CES 2016, The Immersive Technology Alliance is holding a full afternoon of sessions about virtual and augmented reality.  Everyone participating is a top executive, and we wanted this to be so good and so densely packed, people wouldn’t have an excuse to go back to the Las Vegas Convention Centre!

Just some of the names speaking include Samsung Electronics, HTC, AMD, Nvidia, Intel, Basemark, Futuremark, Starbreeze Studios, ImmersiON-VRelia, IM360, Jaunt Studios, Next Galaxy Corp, and more.  This is arguably the biggest immersive tech happening at CES – don’t miss it.

Here is the public registration link.  LINK FIXED!!

The event takes place at the Palms Las Vegas Resort January 7, 2016. Entry begins at 12:00PM and sessions start at 1:00PM sharp.

“Robert Kirkman and Skybound have brought The Walking Dead franchise to comic books, television, and video games. Now we are excited about bringing the Undead ‘to life’ in virtual reality along with exploring this new medium for all of our other IP. Joining The Immersive Technology Alliance and its ITA VR Council makes a lot of sense for us as a way to meet new creators and collaborators in this exciting new space.” – Jon Goldman, Managing Partner, Skybound Entertainment

Skybound is the home of Robert Kirkman’s creator-owned work including his Eisner Award-winning comic book series, The Walking Dead, long-running Invincible, all-ages Super Dinosaur,Thief of Thieves and Clone as well as Witch Doctor, Guarding the Globe and The Astounding Wolf-Man. Since its inception, Skybound has created television shows, merchandise and a wide spectrum of platforms, games and entertainment events (The Walking Dead Escape). Skybound’s successes include the comic behind the hit Emmy®-winning television show, AMC’s The Walking Dead.

Welcome to the alliance!