Asia

HTC unveiled the world’s first VR motorsport eSports competition in cooperation with the Formula 1 (F1) team McLaren

Published

5 years ago

August 3, 2018

Dharpan Randhawa, SVP Partnership Development - Asia of McLaren Technology Group (Left), and Alvin Wang Graylin, China President, HTC (Right), Unveil the Qualifier of the McLaren Shadow Project in China

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HTC Further Enriches Its Thriving Ecosystem with Cutting-edge Entertainment Content at ChinaJoy 2018

HTC Partners with McLaren to Debut the World’s First VR Motorsport eSports Competition in China, while the Vive Focus New System Update Delivers Features for Both Consumers and Enterprises

SHANGHAI, Aug. 3, 2018 – HTC Corporation (“HTC”), a pioneer in innovative, smart mobile and virtual/augmented reality (VR/AR) technologies, today unveiled the qualifier of the “McLaren Shadow Project” in China, the world’s first VR motorsport eSports competition in cooperation with the Formula 1 (F1) team McLaren, as well as a wide range of exciting new content at ChinaJoy 2018. HTC also provided onsite demo experiences of over 20 thrilling content titles to the 300,000-plus fans at this year’s ChinaJoy, the largest digital entertainment industry event in Asia.

The “McLaren Shadow Project” is a virtual racing programme in which participants compete in a racing game that shadows the real F1 team, using the Vive Pro headset. The competition will be time trial-based, and the fastest player from ChinaJoy 2018 will win a place in the finals, to take place in January 2019 at the McLaren Technology Centre UK. The programme’s champion will win a seat in McLaren’s new eSports team, an opportunity to join the McLaren eSports development programme and a unique motorsport experience.

“VR/AR(XR) technologies will fundamentally change the game, not only in the entertainment industry but across all facets of life, while the Vive Focus system update released today massively increases the amount of content accessible for the device elevating its value for users to a new level,” said Alvin Wang Graylin, China President, HTC. “Already, the dramatic impact of XR on the gaming industry is transformational, which is clearly demonstrated by the new class of immersive content we are showing at ChinaJoy! As a category, eSports is being redefined by immersive technologies, and this cooperation between HTC Vive and McLaren to hold the world’s first official VR motorsport eSport event this week is bringing the worlds of virtual and physical sports closer together than ever.”

At the HTC booth at ChinaJoy 2018, visitors can experience a number of premier VR content that has yet to be released. Now being demoed on both the Vive Focus and the Vive Pro, these offerings range from seated single player games to large space multi-player experiences:

The world-famous video game developer and publisher Ubisoft is bringing its multi-player VR game Space Junkies to the Vive Pro, where players fly through space to face off in extreme battles.
The multi-player arcade shooting game Invaders will be available exclusively through Viveport Arcade. After August 6, offline consumers can experience the game in arcades; it will also be available in Viveland, the world’s first VR theme park run by HTC Vive.
Netease announced its online multi-player VR game, Nostos, to initially launch on Viveport in 2019. Set in an open world, the game employs physical simulation technology and a freedom of movement system to offer an unprecedented experience.
ModalVR, co-founded by Atari founder Nolan Bushnell, debuted its Infinity Racer multi-user Vive Focus Location Based Entertainment (LBE) title on the HTC main stage for the first time ever in Asia.
Salary Man Escape, presented together with Oasis Games, is a VR puzzle game, in which players leverage their knowledge to help a disgruntled salaryman escape his life. It will be available on Viveport on August 28.
Wonderglade, the latest game for the Vive Focus, teleports users to a mystical theme park where they can enjoy six mini-games in a 6-DoF experience that can only be realized on the device.
Flashing Beat, a VR music game developed by Chesstar and released by Vive Studios, was also launched during ChinaJoy 2018. The newly released bundle includes an exclusive song and a physical cardboard guitar accessory that allows users to insert their phone to fully immerse themselves in the joy of music. The bundle will be available for purchase through Vive Focus’s Viveport starting from the August 10^th.

On the first day of ChinaJoy 2018, the third major system update for Vive Focus this year was announced, with several sought-after features. The new update supports “Theater Mode”, allowing screen projection from any Miracast-enabled devices, including major Android phones and PC/laptops. This means that native mobile and PC apps can now be displayed on a giant screen through the Vive Focus. Enhanced support for RiftCat’s VRidge simulator also allows PC VR content to be more easily streamed to the Vive Focus through standard 5GHz Wi-Fi networks, without any additional accessories. Breaking the constraints of multiple screens, these solutions give users access to millions of existing smartphone, tablet and PC content that can now be experienced on large virtual screens, thus greatly reducing the content obstacles hindering VR adoption.

The newly released Vive Focus system update also includes features regularly requested by enterprise customers, including Kiosk Mode, Gaze Support and Batch Installation. Under Kiosk Mode, custom applications can be configured to launch automatically, ensuring that users only interact with the designated content. Gaze Support enables direct user interactions, enabling user cases that don’t require controller pairing. Enterprise users can also install corporate-own content and update kiosk settings through a simple microSD card. These updates allow enterprises to easily deploy their solutions and manage content as well as platforms, improving overall efficiency and saving on management and human resource costs with a more seamless operation.

SOURCE HTC

CONTACT: Silvia Ye, PR Manager, HTC/Vive China, +86 15200181526, [email protected]; Simin Shi, PR Manager, HTC/Vive China, +86 13001066249, [email protected]

Asia

Continent 8 Technologies continues global expansion with two key hires in Asia

Published

3 days ago

March 20, 2023

George Miller

Continent 8 Technologies continues global expansion with two key hires in Asia

Reading Time: 2 minutes

Lalaine P. Vidal joins award-winning infrastructure provider as Business Development Manager and Christopher Caturay as Technical Solutions Architect

Continent 8, the award-winning global managed hosting, connectivity and security provider, continues to build out its presence in Asia with two key hires.

Lalaine P. Vidal joins as Business Development Manager and Christopher Caturay as Technical Solutions Architect. Both will be based out of the Philippines and will be responsible for supporting the company’s growing customer base across the region.

Vidal has more than a decade of experience in sales and marketing across a range of sectors including banking, BPO, real estate, telco and IT cyber security. Caturay is a cyber security professional with experience in the end-to-end process of deploying solutions and applying best practices for various businesses and in a range of sectors.

The hires form part of a wider push in Asia, where Continent 8 already offers infrastructure, connectivity and security solutions to a range of customers in iGaming and beyond.

The company’s cyber security offering has seen exceptional growth in recent years, keeping up with the evolving cyber security landscape, and with cyber-attacks at an all-time high in Asia, Continent 8 can defend a customers’ infrastructure against the growing number of threats.

Lalaine P. Vidal, Business Development Manager at Continent 8 Technologies, said: “The opportunity to join Continent 8 was one I simply couldn’t turn down. It is the leading infrastructure provider in the industry, and I am looking forward to using my experience in sales and marketing to drive the business forward and further establish its presence and customer base across Asia.”

Christopher Caturay, Technical Solutions Architect at Continent 8 Technologies, said: “Asia presents unique challenges when it comes to infrastructure and cyber security. I’m excited to be working for a business that has a comprehensive and unique solution for businesses targeting the Asian market.”

Peter Williams, Managing Director – Asia Pacific at Continent 8 Technologies, added: “Lalaine and Christopher are great talents and are a brilliant addition to the Continent 8 team in Asia. This is an important market for us and one where we have ambitious growth plans that we are actively deploying.

“Lalaine will play a vital role in introducing more businesses to Continent 8 and the award-winning solutions that we provide, while Christopher will ensure that customers are deploying the right products and services for their organisation. This localised approach, along with having feet on the ground, is what makes Continent 8 the go-to infrastructure and security provider for companies targeting Asia and other markets around the world.”

Via network points of presence in Hong Kong, Japan (Tokyo), Philippines (Manila), Singapore and Taiwan (Taipei), Continent 8 connects Asia to the rest of the world over a high-capacity, fully redundant private network comprising 90+ locations.

Meet the Continent 8 team at ASEAN Gaming Summit, 21-23 March 2023 at the Manila Marriott Hotel.

Asia

Removal of Hearthstone as Contested Esports Title At Hangzhou Asian Games 2023

Published

6 days ago

March 17, 2023

Hunor Pal

Reading Time: < 1 minute

Esports is going to make its debut at the Asian Games 2023 as a proper medal event, earlier in 2018 it was there as a demonstration title. The Asian Games 2022, originally scheduled for September last year, will now be held from September 23 to October 8, 2023. This multi-nation event will cement the industry mark into a mainstream sports scene.

The seven official events, and publishers, are:

1. Arena of Valor Asian Games Version

2. Dota 2

3. Dream Three Kingdoms 2

4. EA SPORTS FIFA branded soccer games

5. League of Legends

6. PUBG Mobile Asian Games Version

7. Street Fighter V

Showing his disappointment, please find below the quote on behalf of Mr. Lokesh Suji, Director, Esports Federation of India & Vice President of the Asian Esports Federation (AESF) on this announcement:

“It is unfortunate to hear that Hearthstone will not be included in the upcoming Asian Games, especially because India’s first Esports medal at the tournament came in this very title in 2018 when Tirth Mehta clinched the bronze medal. That achievement holds a special place in our Esports community and we were hopeful that our talented athletes Shikhar Choudhary and Karthik Varma would be able to bring similar honour to the country by competing in this official medal sport.

Nonetheless, we respect the OCA’s decision and remain confident that our athletes will perform at the highest level in the other titles to make the country proud. We look forward to supporting them as they represent India in the prestigious tournament.”

Asia

SuperGaming To Bring India’s Leading Gaming YouTuber Techno Gamerz as Playable Character in New Game

Published

7 days ago

March 16, 2023

George Miller

SuperGaming To Bring India’s Leading Gaming YouTuber Techno Gamerz as Playable Character in New Game

Reading Time: 2 minutes

Leading international game developer SuperGaming has partnered with Techno Gamerz aka Ujjwal Chaurasia to bring him as a character in its soon to be revealed game. With over 30 million subscribers, Techno Gamerz is one of India’s biggest YouTubers. He has about 9 billion views on YouTube until now through a variety of gaming content ranging from tutorials to web series.

As the poster child for gaming in India, Ujjwal will help SuperGaming make its games better for young Indian audiences. He will feature in the company’s soon to be announced game with his appearance as a playable character as well as providing valuable insights and feedback to SuperGaming.

“With more than 70 percent of his audience being the young demographic in India, partnering with Techno Gamerz was the obvious choice,” says Roby John, co-founder and CEO of SuperGaming. “With Techno Gamerz as a playable character in our soon to be revealed game, we’re bringing a new way for fans to interact with their favourite creators and creators to build a closer connection with their fans.”

SuperGaming will also host several on-ground events based on its games, allowing fans of Techno Gamerz and other creators to meet them in person. This is an evolution of how SuperGaming has crafted its biggest hits — MaskGun and Silly Royale. Popular multiplayer shooter MaskGun has amassed over 67 million players since its launch.

This is due to a relentless focus on putting its players frst with consistent community collaborations, even leading to some of its biggest community members featuring in-game as well as celebrating India-specifc events like Diwali.

Similarly, the recently released social deduction game Silly Royale has over 22 million players in no small part thanks to regular community and content creator initiatives. The company hopes to do the same for its future releases through this partnership with Techno Gamerz.

SuperGaming has more than 300 million players across its games with an audience that spans the globe. Its recent hits include MaskGun and Silly Royale. SuperGaming is also developing Indus, an upcoming Indo-Futuristic battle royale for mobile, PC, and consoles as well as several yet to be revealed titles. All of these are built on its SuperPlatform powered by Google Cloud.

“When SuperGaming approached me with the idea of featuring me in its soon to be revealed game, I was genuinely surprised with the team’s passion and expertise,” says Techno Gamerz aka Ujjwal Chaurasia. “I believe that the future of gaming is creator-driven and community-first and this is a step in building that future.The team is on the same wavelength as me and I can’t wait to tell you more in the days to come.”

“Gaming and content creation have always been two sides of the same coin and now we’re bringing the best of both worlds together through this partnership,” says Pranav Panpalia, founder, OpraahFx, the talent agency that manages Techno Gamerz. “The fact that SuperGaming chose to approach Techno Gamerz speaks volumes about how creators have evolved to be the new celebrities the gaming community follow and look up to.”