Fair play to them finally making the eternal vaporware demo real.
Fascinating seeing how an Apple launch plays out when the 3rd party dev support just isn’t there and nor are the users.
My only nerd imaginations are something like a WH40k game. Watch a MOBA in 3D. Fortnite.
Maybe a few historical events? This was the moon landing configuration. The view from the grassy knoll to Kennedy.
American football would make more sense as something to view in VR. The action is complicated to follow.
[1] https://www.improbable.io/news/improbable-builds-major-leagu...
Grilling with Mark Zuckerberg? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ibm3WhfLk08
But if it really is good for watching sports, that's a big market already.
Okay, actually, wargaming in VR would be sick if executed well...
If it did (does?) exist it would be nice if it could be "all" courtside views (pick the one you want or switch between them as you're watching). And when I say all it doesn't have to be literally every seat, but there could be one at each baseline and then maybe one each side of the scorer's table and then 2 opposite those so 6 in total.
I think they did eventually offer VR live games with a few different viewing options.
It's a really nice way to watch a game. Tabletop? Meh, but the ability to control the "camera" with your head, 3d audio of the live stadium etc, that was dope.
For high energy experiences like games and fitness apps the weight is less of a problem, but Apple chose to ignore those established applications for passive entertainment where you don't want to work your micro muscles.
I'm not sure if that's because I just happen to have a good light seal fit, or if it's because I spend a lot of time in VR on other platforms and am more used to it?
If you've got straight posture sitting in an office chair the weight of the headset is not cantilevered.
If it is the end of the day and you want to splay out on the couch and watch TV or play games it's a different thing entirely.
Let me know when they make it work with a real sport.
I think for people who are analyzing the game: Coaches, players, opponents, dedicated fans, historians, the tabletop view will be priceless. I also suspect that the tabletop view will become a tool in the editing room.
For casual sports fans, a much more immersive experience will probably be better.
Not to say I seek out radio or that 3d doesn’t seem cool. Only that the effects of sound penetrate me in a way that visual stimulus doesn’t.
Radio sports sound like a long string of facts that I need to remember but can get overwhelmed with.
I’m jealous that radio is immersive for you!
I'm not a huge sports fan, so I honestly couldn't say whether I'd want to watch a game like this - but I love the concept. From a technology perspective it's great to see them trying new things.
I will say that 180° video - the other way to content in VR - makes content feel very emotionally impactful to me. If you haven't watched the Apple Immersive Video series in VR, it's very well produced and worth a watch to see the capabilities of the format.
I don't care so much about the tabletop view shown, but if we get to the point where I can choose my viewpoint from anywhere on the court I'd be excited. I want to pause the game and rewind and watch Jayson Tatum's jab steps up close, to get a better sense of how he fakes out the opposing player. Put me in the action.
1. https://www.sportsvideo.org/2023/03/09/nba-taps-sonys-hawk-e... 2. https://www.npr.org/2025/01/17/nx-s1-5261006/australian-open...
There's other tech going on specifically for sports analytics using 8K cameras that analyzes each player to give their sprint speeds, running distances, heatmap of their position on the field, etc.
All of this to say that I don't really think that placing specific cameras in the arena to provide this type of view while keying out the rest of the stadium would be that difficult. Especially if the cameras are in fixed positions where the distances/angles were well known to the court.
My first smartphone was a $50 LG Android thing in 2012. I used it to watch YouTube, check my email, listening to music, send texts, make calls, and GPS.
I use my current phone, an iPhone 13 Pro Max, to watch YouTube, check my email, listen to music, send texts, make calls, and GPS.
Obviously the newer phone is better, everything is faster, higher resolution screen, much better camera, etc...but it's not like I am doing anything with it that I wasn't doing in 2012 with my cheapy Android.
Unfortunately this medium has neither the atmosphere of a live event, nor the skilled camera feed cuts of a televised event (a lot of effort goes on behind the scenes to make a televised game exciting to watch).
The bigger problem of course is that with local/regional blackouts, nationally televised games and other broadcast restrictions there aren't very many games worth watching on NBA's own app for League Pass subscribers. And judging by how massive a media rights contract they just signed with TV networks, the status quo isn't going to change anytime soon.
Me: Can I pay someone, presumably you, any price to watch any NFL game I want?
NFL: no.
One could imagine this tech being used to rent out local gymnasiums with movie-theater-showing-a-3d-film style glasses so that every small town could go to an NBA game together. The blocker is making the headset cheap enough that you could have two thousand of them together in a room without the room being wealthy enough to have just flown to an actual NBA game in the first place.
And even the few 3D 180 cameras are extremely bulky, expensive, and not even taking full advantage of every pixel.
It is not showing up on the 'Network' tab in Chromium's Developer tools.
How many people are going to use it? How much money is this going to make?
I'm not putting my bets on NBA or Apple for this thing.
It might end up being only for watching already aired games so they can backlog it and reduce costs.
I watched few races on it and it was pretty great. You logged in with your F1TV account and could set up streams around you plus there was 3D view of the track with current positions of cars on it, you could look at car and pinch and driver view opened in pop-up window attached to car model. Couple times I noticed a car stopped on track before it was shown on main broadcast.
So it's adding an extra layer of inconvenience and discomfort to something that's already seen as inconvenient, and something I feel people are doing less often unless watching with others.
Even as a "second screen" I'm not going to turn my attention from the fast paced "inside the action" feel I get from the broadcast to look at this shitty game map because I'd miss the action, and when there's no action, the professional NBA producers already give me wide context shots, shots of the benches, the spectators, and more.
This experience offers zero practical value, to NBA fans or even casual sports watchers. It's yet another piece of truly worthless VR demoware.
