Fans of the NBA will be stoked to hear about their latest foray into virtual reality with the Oculus-powered GearVR headset.
The league said Friday it will shoot the 64th NBA All-Star Game, as well as the weekend’s three-point and slam-dunk contests, in 360-degree video. The footage will be available via Samsung Electronics’ Milk VR experience shortly.
Those of you who don’t have a ticket to either events will soon be able to catch the action just like you are watching it courtside.
You will be able to experience the NBA famous All-Star game, with the 3-point shooting, slam-dunk competition and slam-dunk rehearsal using the specially designed Oculus-powered Gear VR headset.
In addition, during the 16th annual NBA All-Star Technology Summit in New York, the league is featuring a virtual-reality showroom with highlights captured by Los Angeles local, VR technology startup NextVR, from a Miami Heat-Cleveland Cavaliers game in October 2014 shot in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
The NBA is still experimenting with VR, but this continues the trend of growing NBA support for virtual reality. I was able to experience a similar NBA courtside experience not long ago with a NextVR demo and it was quite impressive. This was a recorded game between the Denver Nuggets and Golden State Warriors, I just couldn’t help but be immersed in the game, staring at the scoreboard, and glancing at fans sitting around me.
The NBA’s vice president of global media distribution, Jeff Marsilio stated, “We showed it to everybody around (the league offices), and the first reaction was always an ‘expletive, wow, this is amazing”.
The first reaction was always an ‘expletive, wow, this is amazing!
Marsilio is quite positive on the future outlook of the NBA and future virtual reality initiatives. He said “The real question for us is, ‘Does 4K and does virtual reality provide an amazing, immersive experience that we cannot otherwise provide?”. He then added, “And then we find a way to make that investment.
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