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Virtual reality stadium lets distant friends watch the game together

LiveLike VR enables sports fans to watch the game together with remote friends in a virtual stadium.

Most sports-lovers would agree that one of the main pleasures in watching a match is the shared experience of being among fellow fanatics. Now, LiveLike is a virtual reality (VR) platform that aims to enhance the home-viewing experience by enabling viewers to watch games together in a virtual stadium.

To begin, users download the app and create a customizable stadium. They then choose an avatar and invite their friends to join them in the virtual space. LiveLike VR is currently available using Samsung Gear VR and will soon be playable through VR headsets Oculus Rift, HTC Vive, and Google Cardboard VR. Users put on their headsets and are then able to chat, access stats and highlights and choose from different angles of the field.

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The initial demo of the app was trialled by soccer team Manchester City FC and LiveLike has recently enabled fans to watch CONCACAF Soccer Gold Cup using the Fox Sports VR App (made by LiveLike). Users were able to invite their friends to the stadium directly from Facebook or select a random option to join a room with three other viewers. Each user appears as an avatar which can be slightly customized.

LiveLike VR’s key strength is that broadcasters can use the service without any expensive add-ons, simply by sending the startup the stream from one wide-lens camera. Could other forms of entertainment use a similar setup?