International Relay Conference 'VR Summit 2017' Held at KINTEX
VR is expanding into simulation, art, film, and manufacturing industries.

The VR Summit was held at KINTEX for three days starting on Wednesday the 28th. The event, co-hosted by RisingMedia, a global media group in the U.S., and KINTEX, featured a variety of booths showcasing VR games, VR journalism, and adult VR content, and held a conference with around 20 experts from eight countries.

In addition to the VR gun games that were available so far, the exhibition hall also featured Omni, which lets you play games while walking or running wearing special low-friction shoes; content that recreates games from the existing PlayStation in VR; a PlayStation 4 exclusively for VR; PC Direct, which lets you fly a drone through a landscape while wearing an HMD; a VR experience where you wear sensors on both arms and stomach and practice Taekwondo; and adult VR content.
Keynote speakers included Unity Evangelist Jihyun Oh and SIMEX! IWERKS' Clark Dodsworth.

Evangelist Oh Ji-hyun said, “VR, which was limited to games due to device limitations, is expanding into simulation, art, and film.“From manufacturing to advertising, it is becoming a content-centric medium that tailors the experience it provides to users,” he said.

He mentioned immersion and interactivity as the advantages of VR technology and introduced related commercialization cases: ▲Google's Tilt Brush, which moved a 2D canvas to 3D ▲Baobab's ASTEROIDS!, which provides a cinematic + interactive experience where users participate ▲VR video produced based on a cyber attack.

"Killer content will be the growing attraction and experiential markets."

Regarding the killer content in the VR market, he predicted the recently growing attraction and experiential markets. He also said the rapidly growing VR room market will evolve into a form that combines cinematic content with interactive experiences. He produced and presented a video using the beta version of Unity 2017.1 that was released on-site earlier this year, and said, "With the Unity 2017 version, not only designers but also engineers can easily produce videos."
"VR products and related infrastructure are sufficient, but integration with biomimetic technologies is necessary."

The second speaker, Clark Dosworth, said that the VR market has so far been “focused only on the functionality of the HMD and has missed the fun part. Users want new and fun experiences.” He also said that while there are sufficient VR products and related infrastructure, they feel the need to converge them with biomimetic technology and are developing XR. XR is a comprehensive concept that includes virtual reality (VR), mixed reality (MR), augmented reality (AR), and cinematic reality (CR).

He cited cost and content as obstacles faced in developing XR. Currently, VR rooms in operation in the US charge $1 for two minutes, which is perceived as expensive by users compared to movie or concert tickets. Regarding content, he cited the VOID, a theater that could be considered a cinema for XR, as an example, stating, "We've opened locations in Toronto and Dubai, but we only have one show, Ghostbusters," and expressed a lack of content. However, he said that since the market is still in its early stages, it will generate a lot of profits in the future.

In addition, the conference will cover topics such as VR investment and applications in broadcasting, journalism, and medicine on the first day (the 28th), and VR software and hardware, social VR, sexuality, and VR applications in the military on the second day (the 29th).