Criterion’s The Irishman Bluray (out 11.24.00), probably my favorite film of 2019, contains a new 4K digital master, approved by director Martin Scorsese, with a Dolby Atmos soundtrack. It comes out 4 days after my birthday.

Currently, I have a DVD screener from Netflix but the Bluray cover art looks so much nicer. To be honest, I’m only really interested in the Bluray for the bonus features. The DVD is filled with features including a newly edited roundtable conversation with Scorsese and actors, a documentary about the making of, a program on the visual effects created for the film, and archival interview excerpts with Frank “the Irishman” Sheeran and Jimmy Hoffa. Yes, most of these things can be found on YouTube but come on look at that cover art. Maybe I should just get a poster made instead…

This your last day to check out the Tribeca VR films for free on Oculus headsets. This year due to COVID-19, the Tribeca VR folks teamed with Oculus to release several of the VR films they programmed for free through Oculus headsets. The Quest had them easy to find under TV while the Go it was kind of buried in a home menu playlist.

It was nice being able to sit back and watch these from the comfort of my home with my Quest and sound proof Bose. I watched with a swivel chair and made sure to break up…

It’s the 50th anniversary of Earth Day and many are spending it indoors due to the stay at home orders. It has been over 40 days since the coronavirus pandemic has changed all aspects of human life. Here’s hoping you have a nice secluded hiking trail in your neighborhood and that we can get back to some semblance of normal life.

Here’s a drone video I shot a couple years for the inauguration of Berkeley Mayor Jesse Arreguin. Back when people could go outside together

Today was the final nail in the coffin for Magic Leap the augmented reality headset company which at one point raised 2 billion dollars of investment. The company laid off about 1,000 employees or around 50% of staff according to estimates. According to the press release “the company is planning to wind down its consumer business and will instead focus on its enterprise products.”

At a time when VR headsets are flying off the shelves because of the stay at home orders you’d think an AR headset would be surviving but sadly the price point was way to high for…

360 video from the conference filmed and edited by Kevin Kunze

360 video from the conference filmed and edited by Kevin Kunze

Unity officially won GDC for best snacks (Sourpatch, Reeces), photo booths and swag (backpack, hoodies, ect). Check out the example below to see more. Definitely check out their demos and talks if you get a chance during the conference.

360 video from the conference filmed and edited by Kevin Kunze

GDC Day 2 we saw a lot of Nintendo love in terms of costumes. In terms of new tech I saw the Vive Focus which had our VR film friend Fifer crawling on the ground with wireless freedom. We also got a chance to play with the Mixcast which is a depth sensing camera that allows you to do Mixed Reality without a green screen!

As someone who’s been to numerous tech conferences (CES, NAB, SXSW, SVVR, VRLA), GDC has always stood apart from the flock. GDC or the Game Developers Conference is for obsessive gamers what the World Series of Poker is for gambling addicts. With dozens of new games hitting the market every quarter, GDC acts at the road map for the rest of the year.

This is my first year covering GDC not because I wasn’t interested in past years but mainly because I was afraid my wallet would evaporate into the ether of new VR headsets, fantasy RPGs, and other fun…