We’ve had fun in the office this week, trialling BBC’s FIFA World Cup streaming on PlayStation VR.
Virtual Reality is probably one of the most frustrating technologies ever: the potential of it is so exciting, but let’s face it, the delivery is not quite there yet.
The prospect of being able to watch a game from within the stadium sounded thrilling. And yet, this has been an intensely lonely experience. Sitting on a couch, in a hospitality box, all alone, with no one to interact with: the exemplary antithesis of what I enjoy about watching World Cup games!
But we know VR will keep evolving, and we couldn’t resist generating a few ideas of what we’d love developers to add to their pipeline:
- Referee’s head cam: we’d love being able to get the feeling that we’re on the pitch, and watch the replays from the referee’s viewpoint
- Explore the fans: each time I attend live football, I love paying attention to the fans, their look, their songs, their emotions. I’d love the ability to zoom on the audience and explore the crowd as if I was there myself
- Watch with your mates: imagine being able to watch the game with your mates, in the same way as you play a game online together, even when you’re all in different locations. You’re sitting on the couch, with your mates’ avatars around, chatting with each other through the headphones. Now that would be great fun!
Can’t wait to see what the technology will have to offer in Qatar in 2022!