Samsung recently announced a partnership with the NBA at this year’s CES, which, come February, will aim to give Gear VR owners the best seat in the house for game action and behind-the-scenes footage.
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It’s not clear at this point whether they plan on hosting panoramic video of entire games or not, but giving those of us that live outside of the United States a chance to get a taste of selected NBA content in a first-person perspective makes for a very attractive reason to go out right now and buy the requisite Galaxy Note 4 and Gear VR headset.
Jason Feifer from Fast Company sat down with the NBA’s associate vice president of global media distribution for an exclusive one-on-one with the new content, a preseason of a Heat-Cavaliers game.
“Players dribble by me. I watch for a minute, turning my head back and forth,” Feifer wrote. “I look down and to the right, and stare at an ESPN cameraman crouched a few feet away. I look up and see the arena scoreboard. I look behind me and see… well, nothing. This particular clip was only filmed in 180 degrees, though future ones will be in 360.”
Along with some 30 new videos released with Milk VR’s launch last week, the new service will also include daily updates to its list of music, sports, action, and lifestyle-related content.
Supposing you were unlucky enough to hit one of Samsung’s many dry spells of Gear VR availability, they have also offered a peak into Milk VR for web browser viewing to further whet your appetite (for virtual dairy products).
Partnerships like these underline Samsung’s continued commitment to fill Gear VR with meaningful content. Tim Baxter, president and COO of Samsung Electronics America remarks that “virtual reality is still an emerging medium, but with Milk VR and our partners, it’s more than within reach.”