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VR consolidation at Gamescom 2019

Gamescom displayed different states of VR on various levels in separated areas on the fairgrounds. A planned ‘XR Boulevard’ did not materialize. Devcom offered a glimpse into the future, SPOBIS stuck to flat games promotion, Gamescom-Congress got stuck in funding uncertainties. Nevertheless, by putting together all scattered pieces from all trade areas, this year’s Gamescom served as an indicator fo
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Getting physical at Devcom and SPOBIS 2019

Just before Gamescom opened the showroom with an impressive gala show, the developer conference Devcom and the eSports convention SPOBIS took care of the warm-up. VR was not in the focus of both conferences. But gaming physicality played a decisive role for both event platforms – and made an enormous difference in the double-faced self-conception of the game industry. Full-body haptics at Devcom It became obvio
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Back to the Future of VR at Wear-It 2019

Wear-It Innovation Summit is a two-day convention on wearable trends and tech-innovations, packed with lectures, workshops and an expo area with demo booths. I went there to find out if any current or future wearable trends may apply to Virtual Reality developments. Current VR treats the headset mostly as an additional screen device instead of an additional body part. The community of Wearables does not really make a
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Tentpole VR at Amaze Festival 2019

In contrast to most event platforms of this year’s Berlin Gamesweek, the Amaze Festival positioned VR, not in a fringe area, but dedicated half of the show floor to VR installations. Originally coming from an independent fringe area of the game industry itself, Amaze now stands as a central pillar of Berlin Gameweek for experimentation, inspiration and trend indication in an increasingly diverse industry enviro
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Marginal VR at Berlin Gamesweek 2019

Berlin Gamesweek offered many exciting events during a week full of playful and business-oriented activities. Apart from the stellar event platform Amaze Festival (see here), VR was not in the focus. Traditional Gameweek components had few offers for VR enthusiasts. Associated events like TwitchCon and eSport Summit draw a lot of attention as epiphenomenon related more to the media than to the gaming industry. The co
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EFM VRNow Summit at Berlinale 2019

Virtual Reality was quite a topic at the European Film Market section of the Berlinale Film Festival this year. The market presented a whole range of cinematic VR productions on the show floor. And the festival dedicated a whole day to a conference program and project presentations on the relation between film and VR. Showbiz seems to go for Virtual Reality now! Cinematic Market Adjustments VRNow Summit started with
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Movie VR at MediaTechCon 2018

MediaTechCon is a new convention format, overarching three joint special events formerly related to media digitization, film technology and virtual reality. The event took place at the Berlin Babelsberg film studios and presented an extensive conference program, an expo area for immersive technologies and an award competition for VR applications. Given the rather traditional locality of the film studios and the fact
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Embedded VR at EGX Berlin 2018

UK’s most prominent gaming event EGX started a satellite show this year in Berlin. Taking place just a few weeks after Gamescom, I went there for comparison, and for checking out the promotion of gaming VR. A regional playing field ‘for the players’ The size of EGX is just a small fraction of Gamescom, but this results in a more charming and intimate atmosphere here. Game testing is clearly the main
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Deep Mining VR at IFA 2018

Virtual Reality was in the limelight at IFA 2017 when Microsoft introduced a series of Mixed Reality headsets with its partner companies. So, it was interesting to see what the big fuss was all about and if VR could be established as an emerging market segment on Europe’s most indicating trade show for consumer electronics also in the 2018 edition. Aftershow dust has settled Even if VR was not the big talk of t
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