The Failures and Futures of Virtual Reality (Ep. 7)
Gamecraft15 Feb 2023

The Failures and Futures of Virtual Reality (Ep. 7)

Mitch and Blake discuss the recurring industry obsession with the idea of virtual reality, beginning in the mid-1980s. Mitch recounts a story about his encounter with VPL and the weird world of digital artists and promoters in the early days of personal computing. They look at the second failed wave of VR investment in the 1990s and the importance of Neal Stephenson's Snow Crash. Mitch talks about how Linden Lab's Second Life anticipated many of the ideas of the modern metaverse. They then look at the Oculus, and Facebook's decade-long failure to generate momentum behind a new wave of virtual reality, and what Apple's entry into the market may mean. They conclude with a look at the idea of the metaverse and its challenges.

Links and Show Notes:

Mondo 2000 magazine

Mark Pauline - Survival Research Labs

Neuromancer (William Gibson, 1984)

"Spawn of Atari" (Wired Magazine)

VPL

"Murder She Wrote" VR Episode

Hasbro's Toaster VR Project

Snow Crash (Neal Stephenson, 1993)

Ready Player One (Ernest Cline, 2011)

Beat Saber

The Metaverse (Matthew Ball, 2022)

Raph Koster's "real talk about a real metaverse"

Avsnitt(26)

The EA "LBO"

The EA "LBO"

In this Special Edition of the GameCraft podcast, Mitch and Blake discuss the $55 billion leveraged buy-out of Electronic Arts by the Private Investment Fund of Saudi Arabia, Siliver Lake Partners, an...

15 Okt 202537min

The Sum of the Parts (Ep. 24)

The Sum of the Parts (Ep. 24)

Mitch and Blake explore the role of consolidation -- primarily through mergers and acquistions -- in building some of the biggest and most durable companies in gaming.  They begin with a discussion of...

21 Maj 20251h 9min

AI as a Platform (Ep. 23)

AI as a Platform (Ep. 23)

Last season, Mitch and Blake discussed the implications of new Large Language Model Artificial Intelligence in games. In this episode, they return to the topic, this time focusing on games that are us...

14 Maj 202552min

Hasbro and Lego (Ep. 22)

Hasbro and Lego (Ep. 22)

Mitch and Blake look at two of the largest toy companies in the world, Hasbro and Lego, and discuss their divergent but ultimately very successful forays into the games business as licensors of intell...

7 Maj 202544min

The Venture Deadpool (Ep. 21)

The Venture Deadpool (Ep. 21)

Mitch and Blake address the unpleasant topic of how and why venture-backed games companies fail. They look first at the nature of venture financing and the inherent differences between venture and pub...

30 Apr 20251h 6min

China (Ep. 20)

China (Ep. 20)

Mitch and Blake look at the current state of the vitally important Chinese gaming market, on the precipice of a bitter trade war resulting from the Trump tariffs. They review the history of the games ...

23 Apr 202556min

Valve (Ep. 19)

Valve (Ep. 19)

Mitch and Blake take an in-depth look at one of the most important companies in the global gaming business: Valve. They trace the company's origin as the developer of first-person shooter Half Life, t...

16 Apr 20251h 1min

The Mobile Gaming Duopoly (Ep. 18)

The Mobile Gaming Duopoly (Ep. 18)

Mitch and Blake discuss the mobile duopoly in which Apple and Google exert extraordinary power by tying their app stores to hardware and software platforms. They warn that the inflexible and expensive...

9 Apr 202559min

Populärt inom Business & ekonomi

framgangspodden
varvet
badfluence
rss-jossan-nina
rss-borsens-finest
rss-svart-marknad
uppgang-och-fall
svd-tech-brief
avanzapodden
rss-dagen-med-di
lastbilspodden
borsmorgon
fill-or-kill
rss-inga-dumma-fragor-om-pengar
rss-kort-lang-analyspodden-fran-di
bathina-en-podcast
kapitalet-en-podd-om-ekonomi
rss-den-nya-ekonomin
tabberaset
affarsvarlden