Now the NFL (National Football League) will enter the world of Virtual Reality (VR), as it announced a new official game in this modality. It will be developed in partnership with sports technology company StatusPro.
According to The Verge, the developer uses players for an AR (Augmented Reality) training tool used by NFL teams. The plan is for the game to become an annual series, like EA's Madden series.
Although not many details about the game have been revealed at the moment, including what name it will have or when it will be released, the NFL pointed out in a letter to which the aforementioned medium had access that it will be a first-person simulation game that will be released on Meta Quest and PlayStation VR.
“We are seeing a growing number of fans engaging with VR and are excited to launch the first VR game title that complements our existing offerings on the market today,” said the league's senior vice president of consumer products, Joe Ruggiero.
StatusPro was co-founded by former Cincinnati Bengals and Cleveland Browns wide receiver Andrew Hawkins and former college quarterback Troy Jones. The company has taken on high-profile investments from figures like LeBron James, Naomi Osaka and Drake.
“We are grateful to the NFL and our community of investors and stakeholders who share our vision of creating a whole new standard in sports and games,” Hawkins said in a statement.
“We keep the athlete first in everything we do, and as former football players it means even more to be able to recreate what it really feels like to take the field. Through our patented technology in StatusPro, we can deliver an immersive experience that helps NFL fans transform into professional athletes,” he added.
Other VR football games are currently available, such as 2MD: VR Football Unleashed and a licensed title featuring Kansas City Chiefs star quarterback Patrick Mahomes, however, this new title promises to be authentic and bring an extraordinary experience to players.
The Helium project is currently being used by US war veterans, professional athletes from the NFL and MLB Baseball league. “Think of Healium as a video game you play with your smartwach or a portable EEG (electroencephalograph) headband. Mental exercises are an important way to build psychological assimilation mechanisms without having psychiatric drugs,” said Sarah Hill, CEO of Healium.
The idea for this project was born thanks to anxiety problems by Hill, who dedicated himself to the development of this technology to solve the stress peaks produced by a highly competitive work environment. The question posed by “Healium” is “Why is it important to see your feelings?” In this way, he explains that the biometric data collected by the EEG sensors reflect sentimental stimulation in a commensurable way.
“The first step in controlling your feelings is by measuring them” invite the developers of the project. The Healium kit has a portable EEG headband with three sensors that measure brain activity and emit in-game responses depending on the type of neural wave detected. From the gamified interface, the player is asked to concentrate to emit a certain type of wave and thus fulfill the objectives of the game.
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