SCOTLAND is taking the virtual reality world by storm, with creative and design tech geeks coming up with new ground-breaking ideas.
One firm founded last year is Glasgow-based Geekzonia, which is about to launch a crowdfunding campaign to launch a virtual reality (VR) social media platform which will enable users to speak to each other in the same room, no matter where they are in the world, as long as they are wearing their VR headsets.
So far Geekzonia, in partnership with Soluis Group, which is a Glasgow-based 3D design and virtual reality studio, has been self-funded and they are very excited about their new idea for a social, entertainment and retail space, built to be experienced entirely in virtual reality, which will be launched via an Indiegogo campaign on February 15.
Geekzonia co-founder Peter Dawson said: “Scotland is leading the way all across VR. Everyone is really getting into it. Our marketing company Made Brave have become the go-to people if you want to market virtual reality and they are based in Glasgow. There are loads in Glasgow and Edinburgh, then you’ve got Dundee which is a huge games centre.”
Geekzonia also works closely with Made Brave, an award-winning brand-led digital creative agency based in Glasgow, and employs about eight people. The plan is to make the platform free for users and make money through advertising and events.
Dawson added: “What we do is social VR, which is really, really new. So over the last few years, VR headsets have been getting better and better, to the point where they are so good you have to remind yourself that you are not in space or the edge of a building.
“We asked ourselves what is the next step here now that we can create these very realistic virtual worlds?
We decided to focus on socialising and came up with the idea to make it feel like you were actually standing in the same room as the person you were speaking to.
“I could have my headset on here in Glasgow and the person you are talking to could be in America or Australia, and as long as you’ve got your headset on we could be talking to each other as if we were standing next to each other. It will actually feel that real.
“The technology is out there to build that now.
“We are all geeks who are passionate about the geek culture so we decided to build a social virtual reality space around geek culture.”
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