This Week in Virtual Reality, 20 June 2016

This week’s top Virtual Reality stories: training for the Olympics, treating patients struggling with anxiety, previewing new games, and more!

Virtual Reality has never been bigger than it is right now, and it’s one of the most exciting new areas of technology. VR offers an incredible experience for users, and for creators, it presents an unparalleled amount of freedom to experiment with new ideas and applications. We’re seeing exciting developments in the field every day, so to help you keep pace with everything that’s going on, we’ve created This Week in Virtual Reality, a curated list of key stories in the space. New posts will be published here first, and previous posts are archived on the Udacity blog.

Whether you’re already in the field, considering a VR career, or just interested in the subject, This Week in Virtual Reality is sure to have something to inspire you!

Gaming

At E3 2016, Sony shows off the PlayStation VR, slated for an October 2016 release, along with upcoming games for the system including Batman Arkham VR and Farpoint.

Science

Discovery Channel announces that this year’s Shark Week will debut new virtual reality content for headsets like the Samsung VR Gear and the Oculus Rift.

Home

Online home store Wayfair.com tests new virtual reality applications to interior design, allowing customers to virtually place furniture or test wall colors in their homes.

Sports

Olympic triathletes use virtual reality to train for the 2016 Olympics in Rio, building up muscle memory specific to the course to be used during the competition.

Industry

San Francisco-based start-up UploadVR aims to support developers for virtual reality by providing a dedicated space for creating and testing with different technologies.

Healthcare

The VR Therapy and Counseling Center in Grand Rapids, Michigan uses virtual reality to treat patients by creating immersive spaces for them to safely confront their fears.