Here's looking at you kid: Nokia's Ozo VR Camera.
Yet another thing that Thomas Edison invented, Virtual Reality (VR) seems poised right now to become almost as big as his light bulb – and perhaps some day, just as ubiquitous. We think the reason it’s going to blow up is the advancement of tools for making VR’s – and the resulting transition: from being a phenomenon primarily shaped in the scientific domain, to becoming one shaped by entertainment. As a matter of fact, we fully expect these two domains to go hand in hand for awhile, in a rapidly evolving, virtuous cycle.
Sure it’s cool to have surgeons and fighter pilots getting their training on VR, but when YOU get to pilot Luke Skywalker’s X-Wing fighter and use the force…THAT’s when this thing is going over the top.
And over the top is precisely where it’s going…
Nokia’s Ozo Announcement
It’s a rare moment when the enthusiastic language of the press release – this one for Nokia’s Ozo camera -- seems to be not quite hyperbolic enough. This is Ramzi Haidamus, president of Nokia Technologies: “We expect that virtual reality experiences will soon radically enhance the way people communicate and connect to stories, entertainment, world events and each other. With OZO, we plan to be at the heart of this new world."
Sure, we’ve all heard elevated prose like that – these days you’re as likely to come across it in a press release for a new flavored dental floss – or perhaps for a new watch. (Excuse us, but shouldn’t “the most personal device ever” have a few more “persons” using it, before claiming that title??)
But in this case it truly seems to fit -- and then some…
Transitioning From Science To Entertainment
We think Nokia’s Ozo represents the decisive crossing of VR from the world of science into the world of entertainment. And that’s big – both for the world of entertainment…and for the world of marketing.
Nokia chose to work with Tongal to signal that transition. By coming to Tongal’s open-access, global creative community they’re sending a clear message that they expect this technology (through Ozo, and other products to come) will soon become much more accessible. They’re also investing in the idea that the best way to show what Ozo (and VR) can really do is to give the power to the people.
And power is a fitting term – because VR is incredibly powerful.
What Makes Virtual Reality Profoundly Different?
The distinguishing characteristics of Virtual Reality – are all defined in terms of the quality of the user’s experience. The one sentence takeaway is that VR works on both our brains and our bodies, simultaneously – and reignites that vital connection. (A connection that has arguably been in decay for the last half-century of intensive 2-D screen staring.) We experience VR the way we experience life – the brain’s cerebellum and limbic system gets involved – motor control, spatial sense and memory -- and this is why VR research and experimentation has been pursued so actively in fields like medicine, psychology, and technical education. In these domains, it’s not too far fetched to say that VR is something of a miracle-worker.
What Makes VR VR?
As the technology becomes more ubiquitous, we expect the terminology will also start getting a little fast-and-loose. So we thought it’d be helpful to have a definition of VR you can hang your hat on – this one’s offered by Explainthatstuff.com – and compares VR to other mediums like 3D movies and even simple paintings. To be VR, it has to be:
Believable: You really need to feel like you're in your virtual world (on Mars, or wherever) and to keep believing that, or the illusion of virtual reality will disappear.
Interactive: As you move around, the VR world needs to move with you. You can watch a 3D movie and be transported up to the Moon or down to the seabed—but it's not interactive in any sense.
Computer-generated: Why is that important? Because only powerful machines, with realistic 3D computer graphics, are fast enough to make believable, interactive, alternative worlds that change in real-time as we move around them.
Explorable: A VR world needs to be big and detailed enough for you to explore. However realistic a painting is, it shows only one scene, from one perspective. A book can describe a vast and complex "virtual world," but you can only really explore it in a linear way, exactly as the author describes it.
Immersive: To be both believable and interactive, VR needs to engage both your body and your mind.
What To Expect When VR Goes Global
Watch this space for the outcome of the Nokia & Tongal project – it should give an indication of some coming attractions for VR. Meanwhile, here are five things we fully expect to literally go BOOM in the world of VR:
1. Adult Entertainment: Might as well get it out of the way on this list first. Check it off so you can pay attention to the other four…
2. Remakes: VR may be the Baby Boomer’s last and greatest cultural stand. From actually visiting Gilligan’s Island to joining Page and Bonzo onstage to… yeah, geez Star Wars. Just to name three of literally billions of things people will want to do. Can you say trillion dollar industry? All your beloved old IP is new again…again! This will make the music industry’s Compact Disc feeding frenzy look like lunch money.
3. Blockbusters...and Home Movies: One of the things that will be interesting to watch is how the VR medium ultimately shapes the kinds of content that will work best for it. Just as Television (at first) merely adapted old radio shows, and the baby-internet started out as a glow in the dark Yellow-Pages, we can expect that it will take some time for VR to show us exactly how it will most effectively entertain, enlighten, and connect. What will VR blockbusters look like? We have no idea, but just like you, we can't wait for them. However, it's altogether possible that VR's real blockbuster potential may be very different than cinema's, or television's -- de-emphasizing public/shared experience, by reshaping private experience. For just one example, can you imagine what home movies will mean when you're actually re-entering your old home-sweet-home? Or your freshman dorm-room? ...And the gang's all there???
4. Marketing: VR seems to double-down on the factors that drove the Internet’s dissolution of mass audiences. We live in a world of mass connectedness now – but that connectedness is about to become a great deal more personal. What happens when hanging out after dinner with your Facebook Friends means you’re actually hanging out with them? What will brands do to compete with / get in on THAT kind of facetime???
5. Everything. It’s probably one of the tiredest taglines in all of advertising and marketing. “This changes everything.” Sure, when that claim gets made about a pickup truck, you roll your eyes and wonder how exactly is it that you believe Dennis Leary when he says it. But when you hear “this changes everything” said about VR – you probably can believe it. Travel, Entertainment, Real Estate, Politics, Education, Medicine, Psychology, Sex…
…yeah, we knew you hadn’t forgotten.
