Product Review

VR

Virtual Reality has been the talk of the internet ever since the Oculus Rift was announced on Kickstarter. It was one of the most funded Kisckstarters ever. The Kickstarter itself can be found here. 

Oculus has already had multiple iterations and multiple price points. It got large enough that Facebook bought them. Oculus has been exploring not only virtual reality for gaming but also for medical and teaching purposes. 

They aren't the only companies to get into this field, however. HTC, Microsoft, Samsung, and many other technology companies have started to try their hand at virtual reality. HTC has arguably been in the actual virtual reality field for longer than these other companies. The release of the HTC Vive was a huge thing. It has arguably been considered better than the Oculus Rift. 

Microsoft started off in augmented reality with the Microsoft Hololens.

Currently, they are getting into virtual reality, having designed a form of virtual reality headset with controllers. These are being made by companies like Acer, Dell, HP, and more. They are all labeled as Windows Mixed Reality headsets. "Mixed reality" however is not what these mostly do, although they may in the future. Mixed reality is between augmented reality and virtual reality. These are also some of the cheapest options for entering into virtual reality. 

Samsung has their Gear VR powered by Oculus and a Windows Mixed Reality Headset. They have been in the market but only through other companies, though I would expect to see them in the market on their own soon.

I chose to review the HP Mixed Reality headset. Part of this decision had to do with the price point and the other part had to so with the reviews on Amazon. It has overall been well received and some people have claimed the Windows headsets, which are virtually all the same except the Samsung one, are better in their opinion than the Oculus and the Vive.

Personally, I have really enjoyed my headset. The inside-out tracking works great, except for sometimes when you have your arms outside of sight of the headset. The resolution is good, and I don't really notice the screen door effect most of the time. WMR has some great apps and it has been a lot of fun. the controllers track well and control well. Most things are very intuitive and work well. If you are interested in VR I highly recommend it to you, especially if you are on a budget.

Programming Trends

Media and the consumption of media are changing. Over the past few years, a different competitive scene has arisen. This is the field of competitive eSports. eSports (Electronic Sports) encompasses competitive gaming, generally video games. As it has increased in popularity it has seen different avenues and windows by which it is broadcast. Some obvious sources are that of Twitch and Youtube but other traditional sportscasting channels have also work with eSports specifically ESPN. Reception of eSports has been interesting, to say the least. One ESPN announcer even threatened to quit because of it.  Despite the issue, however, eSports are growing and bringing revenue in for colleges and high schools.

Tespa is one organization that helps make this happen. The Texas Esports Association(Tespa) holds competitive tournaments for partnered games. The prizes are generally tuition money for the winning teams. Our own Gaming Guild here on campus is partnered with Tespa and is entered into some of this semesters competitions.

One of the games that are getting great coverage for its eSports scene is Overwatch.

This is both due to Tespa and the new Overwatch League.

Tespa currently has the Overwatch Collegiate Championship going on. This championship has been going since last Fall semester. The semi-finals and finals are going to be held in Tempe Arizona at the Fiesta Bowl. The matches will occur between UC Berkley, University of Toronto, UC San Diego, and UC Irvine. This will happen on February 17th. The match will be streamed on Twitch and MLG, as well Tickets are currently for sale.

This is exciting for me as I am trying to get more eSports going on campus and this will be a big game to show and study. I think we can really learn from it and hopefully compete ourselves next year.  I think it could really help the college and students here. I also think it can help us set up for how to do our own eSports programming.

Along with this Overwatch League has become a big deal in the eSports community.

Overwatch League is like the NFL of Overwatch. Overwatch being a competitive objective-based team FPS by Blizzard.

Overwatch League currently has 12 teams spread throughout the US, UK, China, and Korea. They all have in-game skins which are designed by the Overwatch developers to look similar to the teams' logos and jerseys. These skins are purchasable by gamers and fans. The league can be followed on both their website and the Overwatch League app. You can also by merchandise from your favorite team and the league in general. So far it is squaring up to be a great contender in the eSports world for professional leagues and the norm for rules and setup.

Although there are many other eSports leagues, games, etc. that could be discussed I wanted to focus on this since it is current. I expect to see much more from eSports in the coming years and the current leagues and competitions will likely be shaping its programming and rules for the years to come.

Personal Viewing Habits

When it comes to watching television, I do not normally watch live television anymore. On occasion, I will watch something from Food Network when I am home during break, but for the most part, I watch my TV through online sources. This includes not only normal television shows but also Youtube channels.

Two TV channels I watch online, are SYFY and TNT/TBS







This is due to them playing some of my favorite TV shows that have current seasons running. on SYFY I watch The Magicians. The great fantasy drama always has me wanting more. On TNT I watch the Librarians.

Both of these channels use the same interesting subscription path for you to watch online. Instead of having their own subscription fee to watch them online you have to sign in using your cable/satellite TV subscription. I personally sign in using my families DirectTV account. When watching this I still have to watch commercials as you would with live television. Other than having to watch the commercials, I have little issue with the service. I understand, however, their reasoning for it.

I consume a lot of my media as well through Netflix, as I enjoy their originals and catalogs of older shows a lot. I have highly enjoyed shows like Daredevil, Iron Fist, and Stranger Things. I will easily binge-watch an entire show on a weekend or a day off. I finished almost all the aforementioned shows in a few days. Along with those, I will re-watch Older shows such as Futurama, which is currently being moved to another service. Netflix is also great for feeding my stand-up comedy craving I get every once in a while, as they have many comedy specials.

Hulu also helps when it comes to both current TV shows and catalogs of past episodes of shows. While there I currently watch shows like South Park. I don't have a lot of currently ongoing shows I am watching so I have not been using it as much.

I use Youtube a lot. There I will watch shows like Film Theory and Game Theory.

 I also like to watch different shows about philosophy and logic. Occasionally I will use it to look at game trailers and other such videos, I am not as big on Let's Plays, Markiplier Game Grumps and the like myself.

When it comes to gaming I get a large number of my games from HumbleBundle and Steam. Both of these websites have large libraries and great deals. I am currently subscribed to Humble Monthly which gets my multiple great games for just $12 a month. This allows me to have a good amount of high-quality AAA games to keep me occupied throughout the month.

Between all of these, I consume a lot of media. There are so many outlets out there that it isn't surprising. This helps with boredom that you can get over time.