This Week in Virtual Reality, 26 September 2016

This week’s top Virtual Reality stories: watching the Presidential debates in virtual reality with friends and strangers, 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!

Media

NBC News and AltspaceVR team up to host virtual reality debate-watching parties for friends or strangers for tonight’s US Presidential debates.

Politics

As part of its VR debate-watching gatherings, AltspaceVR explores whether virtual reality can help voters communicate better across ideological lines.

Entertainment

Sony aims to begin distributing virtual reality content in support of its major films in addition to its efforts to have 50 titles for its PlayStation VR game console this year.

Science

Researchers at Stanford’s Virtual Human Interaction Lab use virtual reality to simulate the world in 2100 under the impacts of ongoing climate change.

Culture

Researchers at Penn State University construct a virtual reality model of the history of Penn State’s campus to preserve and enhance the school’s sense of history.

Education

Students at Greenwood Elementary School in Minnesota use both virtual and augmented reality to explore the principles of art and art history.