Meta Quest, Virtual Reality and the future of Gaming with Michalina Bartosik

Paulo Edson — Fri, 14 Oct 2022 10:55:28 +0000

Michalina Bartosik, also known as XoxoBluff on instagram, is a PC Gamer who found her passion in Virtual Reality. Nowadays she is a Meta Quest Ambassador and producer at Lodz360 Studio.

Befeore she started her technology career in tech working as a Java developer, she majored in Mathematics and co-owned a restaurant. Now a days she is part of a a photography business and became a youtuber as a side effect.

Check out the interview we made with her.

1. When and why did you get into VR? How do you think it will shape the patterns of human behavior and social interaction?

I got into virtual reality around 2015, while working with 360° photography — the new wave of VR development, driven by the Oculus Rift Kickstarter campaign and Google’s Cardboard, seemed like the obvious thing to look into. I had no idea it’s going to change my own daily life so much, and I’m a breathing proof that with VR, you can live a very active social life even when you’re locked down in a pandemic.

Thanks to VR, I meet people from all over the world, I learn about other cultures almost every day, without even realising it. Simple conversation can lead us to a discussion about similarities and differences between our counties. Suddenly, the world becomes smaller and my mind — even more open.

2. Why VR gaming is the future and what can we expect from developers in the next 10 years to improve casual and professional gamers immersive experience?

VR simply removes many of the obstacles involved in gaming as we know it. E.g. I’m not a very good “traditional” FPS player, aiming with keyboard and mouse, let alone with a console controller, always felt far more difficult to me than simply lifting my hand and aiming where I want the bullet to go.

Even outside of first-person experiences, there’s simply no describing how much more immersive games and activities can get, that’s something one simply has to try. The simplest way to convey it is that afterwards you don’t have a memory of watching the game’s world through a screen, you remember being there.

I see great potential in VR-based fitness activities, a combination of working out and having fun has never felt so good before.

I understand that Beat Saber, the game I play the most in our videos, is not the best VR app to get a full body workout, and I even heard opinions that you barely get tired compared to other rhythm games, but for me it appears to be the best workout of my life.

Every new map pushed me to do different movements that engaged a new section of muscles in my upper body. I couldn’t believe that a simple VR game could transform my physique in such a significant way.

In my opinion, looking forward, the combination of VR and AR will be responsible for much of the world’s gaming experience in 10 years time — and not all of it will necessarily be called “gaming”.

3. How did you become a Quest Ambassador and what does it represent to you?

The Oculus team (back before it was Meta Quest) reached out to us and offered to include our channel in this program. It’s a great privilege to be acknowledged on this scale and featured among some of the niche’s most influential creators, but most of all, the help we get in terms of access to what Meta Quest is working on (and the people behind those developments) or first-hand answers to burning questions is invaluable.

4. What is @Lodz360? What do you do there? Why should our audience care about it?

Lodz360 is a video&photo production team, with Tomasz (@tomaszbrodecki) and myself at its core. At the beginning of our mixed reality experiment, we kept the two brands separate, but once it started getting serious, we decided to feature our VR gaming videos on our web page and, vice versa, give Lodz360 a vanity card in our videos.

Aside from producing mixed reality content, we also shoot 360° videos, best suited for watching in VR, as well as 360° photographs for businesses, which we publish using Google’s Street View platform.

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Altspace VR: o ambiente de realidade virtual concorrente direto do Second Life e do Facebook Rooms

Suzanne Flagge — Tue, 23 Jan 2018 10:11:36 +0000

Altspace VR é a plataforma social líder para a realidade virtual, que permite conhecer pessoas de todos os pontos do mundo, comparecer em eventos gratuitos em tempo real e jogar jogos interativos com amigos. Em resumo, é o Second Life que deu quase certo!

Fundada por David Gudmundson, Gavan Wilhite e Eric Romo em 2013, a startup passou por problemas de financiamento no final de 2016, fechou as portas nos meses de julho e agosto de 2017 e, em outubro de 2017, tomou novo fôlego quando foi adquirida pela Microsoft, provavelmente com o objetivo de integrar o arcabouço tecnológico da Hololens.

Altspace VR ao usuário nunca se sentir sozinho, porque a qualquer hora do dia ou noite haverá sempre alguém na plataforma com quem conviver em realidade virtual. Além disso, incita quer à socialização quer ao espírito explorador, pois haverá muito por descobrir.

Desde celebridades a comediantes ou até youtubers já realizam eventos na plataforma, aos quais o usuário pode assistir, sempre com vista privilegiada. Nomes como Al Roker ou Reggie Watts já aderiram à fantástica inovação da convivência VR, e são cada vez mais os eventos por onde escolher, incluindo festas de Karaoke, encontros LGBTI, igrejas virtuais, concertos, exibição de filmes e até encontros para developers SDK.

Além dos eventos, existem mais de 30 modalidades por onde escolher, como é o caso do VR Against Humanity, a versão VR do tão famoso jogo Cards Against Humanity, outra opção é por exemplo jogar golfe, ou ouvir música numa jukebox, pintar uma obra prima, ou explorar todos os espaços diferentes. As possibilidades são muitas, quer para se divertir com amigos quer para conhecer novas pessoas.

A plataforma social está disponível em qualquer parte do mundo, sem quaisquer custos, sim, é verdade, Altspace VR é gratuita, e com todas essas vantagens. É também uma plataforma muito versátil nas suas compatibilidades, pois suporta Google Daydream, Samsung Gear VR, HTC Vive, Oculus Rift, e tem ainda um modo 2D disponível para Mac e PC, e é ainda compatível com Perception Neuron e Leap Motion.