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The Olympics and VR – A Winning Combination?

Despite that fact that augmented and virtual reality has not quite taken off like they were expected to yet, they remain at the forefront of cutting edge technology. When it comes to virtual reality in particular, it’s important that users properly manage their expectations – previous ideas involving being taken away to new complex universes or taking a trip above the clouds and through the galaxy are currently a long way off. However, if there’s one area where virtual reality is trying its best to enhance the user experience it is the streaming and watching of live events through the use of a VR headset.

The medium has already enjoyed a decent amount of success in the music arena, with high profile acts such as Coldplay and Steve Wonder recently broadcasting their live concerts in VR. Now, it’s the turn of the Winter Olympics currently taking place in Pyeongchang to try and bring the action (but hopefully not the weather) into your front room. With the notorious and widely publicising teething problems than VR has experienced in the past, has NBC struck gold with their virtual reality experience?

Choosing The Correct Events

Quite sensibly, the events that have been available to watch in VR through the course of the Olympics have included many high-octane sports. Whether you chose to watch 2/1 favorite Lizzy Yarnold retain her Skeleton crown on the NBC’s bobsledding split screen, or decided to linger at the bottom of the ski slopes in order to see Oysten Braaten win slope style gold at the fairly generous price of 7/2, the feedback from the coverage has been fairly impressive overall.

Whilst it was also possible to watch events such as figure skating, the technology certainly lends itself to the more action-packed events where VR can at least attempt to replicate the atmosphere which you would experience if you’d booked a flight over to South Korea. Of course, you are free to choose whatever event takes your fancy, but watching an athlete hurtling down the slope at around 80 mph sounds like the best way to properly utilize virtual reality to its full potential – something with CBS’s Cody Benjamin found particularly enthralling when testing out the technology.

Virtual Reality is a Good Bet For Tokyo 2020

If jetting off to Tokyo in two years doesn’t take your fancy then don’t panic. It’s likely that Virtual Reality will be available for the next Summer Olympics. With VR getting a bit of a run out at Rio in 2016, the hope is that the technology will be able to offer users an even more complete experience.

Since virtual reality (VR) was introduced, it has been applicable in different sporting activities and sections. We have seen many places, even where sports stars have benefited from VR. For instance, Usain Bolt, who came out of retirement to participate in the Tokyo race, was around 8/11 with Spin Palace. Since its introduction about two decades ago, it has risen to be one of the most sought-after and popular online casinos. The site offers exciting bonuses and offers, which are all helpful to forecast certain events. However, there is a host of different slot overview summaries like Spin Palace casino review that help players to understand how everything works. These overviews include pros and cons, features, bonuses offered, and other helpful information to know about the slot before you sign up. Enticing new players to try on casinos is not that difficult for respectful and reliable casinos, especially if such casinos include lots of bonuses to try out certain events. For example, Spin Palace welcomes its users on its casino site with a $200 welcome bonus to stake on any event. Considering such a great bonus, users try backing Usain Bolt to return and take the gold in Tokyo at 8/11. And despite all the conditions, the offer seems tempting enough.

A post shared by Usain St.Leo Bolt (@usainbolt) on

Grab a Headset and Get Involved

With the price of most VR headsets currently at their most reasonable, there’s never been a better time to pick one up. Of course, a little bit of research is required on your part to make sure you get the right one for the right price but if you don’t fancy a 13-hour flight to Tokyo (who does?), watching the finest athletes in the world zoom past you on the track is certainly the next best alternative.