VR is returning to this year’s South by Southwest (SXSW) festival in a big way, with sessions featuring familiar names from Oculus, and a number of key leadership from game studios and hardware companies currently developing for future VR devices.
There’s an overwhelming number of sessions and meetups for VR enthusiasts at this year’s SXSW, the annual film, music, and interactive festival in Austin. In the chaos of VR-fever, we picked out three important talks that just so happen to be free of charge to the general public on the first day of SXSW. In the spirit of Blazing Saddles (1974), “We don’t need no stinking (access) badges!” (except maybe the free SXSW Guest Pass).
‘Explore the Future of VR with Oculus‘ will be featuring Oculus Founder Palmer Luckey, Oculus VP of Product Nate Mitchell, Playful Corp CEO/Founder Paul Bettner, and Oculus Hardware Engineer Ryan Brown. This 45 minute talk will focus on the past year’s progress in VR, the industry in general and the future developments with a Q&A to wrap things up. Although it’s not explicitly stated on the SXSW website, please don’t throw dirty rotten garbage at the panelists (the physical equivalent of asking for future device release dates).
Time and Location: Friday, March 13 5:30PM – 6:15PM @ Palmer Events Center
See Also: ‘AR/VR Austin’ Event During SXSW Celebrates Immersive Tech, Tickets Now Available
Suspension of Disbelief in Virtual Reality
If you can’t make the Oculus talk, ‘Suspension of Disbelief in Virtual Reality‘ is going to offer some pertinent insight into advancements in VR hardware and software, and how they create presence through stimulating the senses. The panel is composed of a number of personages currently producing input devices specifically designed for use in VR, including: Sixense’s Pres./CEO Amir Rubin, Playful Corp Design Lead Dan Hurd, Virtuix CEO Jan Goetgeluk, and NextGen Interactions’ Jason Jerald. The talk will also peripherally address the moral and ethical implications of fully immersive VR.
Time and Location: Friday, March 13 5:00PM – 6:00PM, Hyatt Regency
The Casual VR Scene
‘The Casual VR Scene‘ is all about approachable, mobile VR—a use-case poised to make up a large portion of the future VR market based on the smartphones’ ability to lower the barrier of entry. The topic is being addressed by Owlchemy Labs‘ Chief Scientist Alex Schwartz, Merge VR Lead Developer Devin Weidinger, Ghost Machine Founder Neal Nellans, Patrick Curry Director of Austin division of Unity Technologies, and Robert Brackenridge of Virtuix.
Time and Location: Friday, March 13 2:30PM – 3:15PM, Palmer Events Center
All three talks will be open to the general public free of charge, but admission into the respective venues is subject to capacity limits, so get there early and be prepared to ask lots of questions (no rotten garbage, please).