Page 25 - AC/E Digital Culture Annual Report

Areas of Application Video Games
The video game industry has spurred the widespread use of VR technology in the home. The reason is very simple: The first platforms offering this option focused almost solely on very exclusive realistic games with high quality graphics. Initially, the games were for individuals, with network platforms being developed later to permit interaction between different users in any part of the world [Youngkyun].
This important push is expected to continue
in the coming years. Moreover, it will be the gaming environment that will bring about the real revolution and make VR a part of everyday life in the home. The difference between the home and professional categories will certainly be the same as it currently is in other sectors: the difference in equipment costs and the level of realism offered.
According to a report by Grand View Research [Grand View], turnover from VR games is expected to exceed €2 billion in 2015, including aspects of software development and manufac- turing and the sale of VR devices. A large part of these profits are centered in the United States, although China seems to be asserting itself
very aggressively in this field. It is estimated that turnover will reach €4.5 trillion (with a “t”) by 2025 worldwide. Smartphones are expected to be a significant driver of growth during that period. Latin America, Asia and the Middle East are expected to see the most growth compared to the current situation.
Devices for capturing and editing VR content (360o cameras, high-end smartphones) have evolved in a very significant way so that today anyone can generate real content by themselves from their real environment. Regarding synthetic graphics, it has become almost easier for the companies that develop them, since they only
need to recreate the perspective from various points of view (which is something natural and available in all three-dimensional synthetic graphics applications) and to have a good pro- cessor (either locally or remotely in the cloud) to “stitch” the images together to create the viewer perspective.
Regarding devices generating realistic sensations, it may be the game designers themselves who set the pace of their development and evolution. The low cost of inertia sensors already available on virtually all mobile phones, and the control that they have over the signal they provide, will make it possible to develop devices that emu- late, in a very realistic way, the use of elements for games: magic wands, bows and arrows, pistols and rifles, shields, everyday objects such as bread, a pen, a table, etc. The gloves are also expected to offer very realistic sensations of the textures, hardness, shape, etc., of very common household items. The design of mats and plat- forms is being worked out [Smeddinck] [Makery] [Kat] to facilitate the movement of the viewer, walking or running, through the virtual world, in all directions.
Manufacturing Processes
The varied evolution of industrial processes, grouped around the major changes in production models and so-called industrial revolutions,
have reached major turning points in terms of the models, conditions and methodologies of work. The current, so-called fourth industrial revolution, or Industry 4.0, is characterized by the massive introduction of digital technologies in production systems, digital transformation as applied to industry. With this change, industry is attempting to react to an increasingly complex and competitive environment, and its response
is to offer the necessary flexibility to undertake increasingly individualized production processes focused on the end consumer, which in turn allows them to compete in a more global market.
AC/E DIGITAL CULTURE ANNUAL REPORT 2018
25
Digital Trends in Culture