July 2017 – Booster Space

July 31, 2017

Booster Space at the Asian New Media Film Festival

Our Program Director Tim was in China. Instead of inviting you to a slideshow and bore you with 657 unselected snapshots, we only post a few.

Tim at the Asian New Media Film Festival in Shenzhen, China. Tim speaking with other experts on a panel about storytelling in VR in short pants because British Airways has indefinitely lost his baggage (though he still believes he gets compensated fairly). Tim in front of his signature, proud as a peacock at the award ceremony in Macao. Tim with fancy sunglasses in front of the HTC ViveX HQ. And a stereotypical aerial view with a fancy blue hipster photo filter. This was an important step to curate the program of the VR NOW Con & Awards. Mark your calendar: 15-16 November.

July 26, 2017

VR NOW Con & Awards – Submit Your Project

Give us your best shot. Submit your hyper immersive VR experience. Your thrilling 360 degree movie. Your VR game masterpiece. Your convincing business model for VR, AR and every digital enhanced reality you can imagine.

The VR NOW Con Awards 2017 celebrate outstanding technical, business, and artistic achievements in Virtual Reality. They are part of the VR NOW Conference, taking place in Potsdam/Berlin on November 15-16, 2017.

You can submit your project and compete against an international community of friends and strangers, fellow creatives, beautiful minds and smart business cats.

Where do I submit?

www.vrnowcon.io

Please note that applying for the VR NOW Con Awards and paying the application fee on this page doesn’t give you access to the award show. Only VR NOW Con ticket holders will be allowed to participate in the award show.

Yet, a successful application gives you a discount of 25 % (that’s nearly one third) on the ticket price.

Please use the discount link you get with your confirmation of submission.NOMINEES GET A FREE EXHIBITION SPACE DURING THE EVENT on Nov 15+16, 2017.

What’s in for me?

This animal. It’s called Winkebär.

It’s a hybrid version of the Maneki-neko…

… and the heraldic animal of Berlin, the Berliner Bär (photo by Ebert).

It’s also our trophy.

With each submission, contestants receive a VR NOW Con ticket discount code of 25%. The discount code will be sent via email once the submission has been approved.

Each of the nominees will receive 2 VR NOW Con business tickets (worth 499,- euros each), a dedicated space in the nominees exhibition area to present their project during the event and a mention in the pre-event press release.

Each of the award winners will receive a trophy, a 1-year Virtual Reality e.V. Berlin-Brandenburg association membership, a mention in the post-event press release and will be featured in the newsletter of our funding partner Medienboard Berlin-Brandenburg, in addition to the honor that goes with winning the second VR NOW Con Award.

Do you have dedicated award categories?

Yes. Even with a new formula! Four projects will be nominated for each of the following categories:

VR NOW Grand Prize

The best virtual reality project of the year, based on overall quality and innovation. The best of the best of the best.

VR Tech Award

The VR Technology Award seeks to recognize the technically most advanced Virtual Reality projects, tools, services, hardware and techniques.

VR Entertainment Award

The VR Entertainment Award acknowledges the most outstanding and fun experience – including interactive, storydriven or experimental formats.

VR Industry Award

The VR Industry Award highlights handy and innovative virtual reality business-to-business applications and solutions.

VR Impact Award

With the VR Impact Award we support projects aimed at making a difference – through journalism, artistic expression or by social or non-profit organizations.

Can I submit my immersive high school project from 1993?

Nope. Any virtual reality project is eligible as long as it has been first exhibited or released to the public between December 2016 and September 2017. Sorry, no ancient vomiting machines allowed.

Submissions must be compatible with one of the following platforms: Gear VR, Google Cardboard, HTC Vive (consumer version), Oculus Rift (consumer version), PlayStation VR, Microsof Hololens. Projects not compatible with any of these platforms can still be submitted, as long as the applicant provides the jury an opportunity to evaluate them in Berlin, Germany.

How much of my money do you want for that?

Not much. We aren’t going to fill our pockets with of your hard earned $€¥. Actually, our fees are quiet fair.

Early Bird fee: 25 € + 19% tax (ends August 6, 2017)

Regular fee: 40 € + 19% tax (ends October 1, 2017)

Please note that applying for the VR NOW Con Awards and paying the application fee on this page doesn’t give you access to the award show. Only VR NOW Con ticket holders will be allowed to participate to the award show.

July 26, 2017

Everybody is a goldmine –A Game Jam to implement privacy and security by design

If we want tech to be more human, we’ll need to create awareness about privacy in the age of smart cities and IoT. That’s why we’re going to host a Game Jam about this subject, together with the Humboldt Institute for Internet and Society and INNOVATION & LAW. And you can apply.

Private data is the number one resource of our time. It’s what gold and oil have been in the past centuries. Our user behavior – including the tiniest subconscious decisions we make when we use smart devices and browser interfaces – is a fine but steady load that’s been mined for many years now.

To stick with this simple analogy: right now heavy machinery is invented to drill deeper. Thanks to the IoT the monitored behavior isn’t reduced to hardware we use deliberately.

The whole city will become a computer. Sensors are going to be everywhere in the smart cities of the near future. And with great data comes great responsibility.

We have to ask ourselves how we want to handle data protection and privacy in a society that seems to be dependent on progress by information.

How can we establish awareness, not only among political activists and digital rights experts but people who engineer software, plan parking lots or open networks for the public benefit?

For our partners Alexander von Humboldt Institute for Internet and Society and INNOVATION AND LAW, we’re going to host a Game Jam.

The outcome we’re hoping for? Interactive and fun approaches on why data privacy and security is something we have to think of while developing a service or product.

This awareness will have two effects: Privacy by design or privacy by default will become a standard for on the one side – and more trust in tech and progress on the other side.

GAME JAM – UNVEIL THE PRIVACY THREAD Implementing privacy and security through games

will take place on the weekend of 7-8 October at the premises of the Alexander von Humboldt Institute for Internet and Society in Berlin. There’ll be impulse talks by experts for inspiration and knowledge extension.

Right now you can apply by simply writing an email to hi@booster-space.com. Please explain in two, three sentences why you apply / how you want to contribute.

July 24, 2017

“It’s almost like the gold rush in Alaska – grab a shovel and start digging”

Once he was one of the best World of Warcraft players of the world. Today Gustav Käll from Sweden is responsible for the strategic approach on games and eSports of the world’s biggest music label.

Hej Gustav, what exactly is your job at Universal Music Sweden?

Gustav Käll My operating title is Global Head of Partnerships Gaming. That means I develop Universal Music Groups’s overall strategy and execution in the mission to get UMG closer to the gaming and eSports industry.

What makes you the right man for this?

I have a long history with gaming and eSports, all the way back since ’99. But today my passion is to develop the eSports and gaming market. It all started after my professional career ended in 2008. Back then we were the world’s most successful World of Warcraft guild in the history of the game called “Nihilum”. We had big name sponsors on our jerseys and our website. But essentially we got paid in hardware, mice and keyboards. This is how the market worked back then. After I stopped playing I decided to dedicate my life to create a better industry and work to make eSports the greatest sporting industry in the world. And right now is the perfect time for the music industry to forge with eSports and gaming. The timing is perfect and values can be created both ways. It’s meant to be and I’m glad Universal Music Group is taking this step with me.

Why are games and gamers – out of the blue – so interesting for the music industry?

It’s a matter of reach and homogeneity of the target group and that eSports and gaming bring something new to the table, in contrast to other ”old” industries. The fact that eSports and gaming are all digital and the music industry has been in a digital revolution the past 10 years makes it a perfect match.

What development can we expect in the next three years?

There will be more mainstream and outside industries trying to move into the market. Now we see major investments being made around the globe from essentially everyone. VC-firms, mainstream media and”regular sports” team owners buying slots in the Overwatch league for 20$ million dollars. Amazon buying Twitch a couple of years ago. It’s almost like the gold rush in Alaska, grab a shovel and start digging.

Despite its relatively low number of citizens, Sweden is famous not only for its music, but also for its games. A reason why this job was heaven made for a Swede?

I get this question a lot – I believe there are a few key factors. First we have a long winter, almost 10 months long of complete darkness and cold weather. It’s nice to stay indoors and play games. Then there’s broadband penetration. Sweden has the best broadband capacity in the world. You can get 10gb/s line into your house for a very cheap buck. Another thing: computer penetration. Back in the 90’s the government enforced a bill, where all households got a home computer, sanctioned by the state. So basically everyone has had access to computers since early age. And last but not least…there’s magic in the water.

What kind of music is it that „gamers“ prefer, and what kind of artists will become big because of their preferences?

I think gamers listen to all types of music, the target group is so big and diverse, over a billion people play games on a regular basis around the world. But my gut feeling says that electronic music is more common than, let’s say rock music. But I’ve seen for example Metallica, headlining a Major CS:GO event earlier this year. So I think all music is appreciated.

This interview was first published in the BerlinBalticNordic.net newsletter

July 24, 2017

5 reasons why…the gamescom congress excites us

“What’s the gamescom congress?”

– a question that people ask me all the time, people working from within the industry. It’s funny that so many still don’t know this conference in its 8th year now. Time to make a change.

The gamescom congress (23 August in Cologne, Congress Center North of koelnmesse) is one of the best video game conferences at all. Why? Well, of course this is a very subjective matter.

1) It’s not a developer’s conference
There are many developer’s conferences. gamescon congress is different to all of them. There are the big ones like GDC and Casual Connect. In Germany we’ve got Quo Vadis in Berlin, devcom in Cologne or the Germandevdays in Frankfurt. Respawn became part of the devcom this year. Others like Next Level Conference in Düsseldorf and Play in Hamburg have a strong connection to video game culture / education. But they’re unlike the gamescom congress.

2) It’s a conference about games & society…
Games are mainstream. It’s a terrible phrase, but it explains the many angles on it and the weight of the medium. With the support of the mothership gamescom, the embedded congress is able to reflect on the true social impact of video games: gamified manufacturing. The debate about games in schools. Gamers as voters. How games touch isms and how they’re turned over by them. What the rise of eSports means to physical sports. How games contribute to modern storytelling. Youth protection. Norms and European legislation. Ontology.

3) …with speakers you don’t find on other gaming conferences
Speakers come from different directions. Teachers, advertisers and marketers, representatives of car manufacturers, the music industry and strategists of communication companies. Even philosophers – and many others. Take a look for yourself at more than 65 speakers.

4) It’s interdisciplinary
With five dedicated tracks, covering education, business, gamification, legal and a core topic called “life”, gamescom congress is truly interdisciplinary. Latter one includes exciting stories and persons who contribute to the congress, but don’t necessarily fit into the prior categories. You will find something interesting for sure, regardless why you come and where from (there are sessions in English and German).

5) It’s our baby, sort of
Booster Space Program Director Tim Rittmann makes the gamescom congress program on behalf of the BIU. That’s the acronym for “Bundesverband Interaktive Unterhaltungssoftware”, the association of Germany’s video game industry. He’s responsible for content and choice of speakers. That’s the reason we’re also a little biased.

If you’re curious now, check out the website. Buy a ticket, whether you’re a trade visitor or privately interested.