Google 360 VR Patriots Experience Puts You In the Pocket With Brady (hothardware.com)

MojoKid writes: There's little question that VR and AR technologies have the potential to make a major impact across a seemingly endless number of applications and industries. Google has teamed up with VISA and Bank of America to sponsor a 360 degree virtual reality tour to give football fans a behind the scenes look at a New England Patriots practice. From burly linemen squaring up, to wide receivers running their routes, and of course the terrific one himself, Tom Brady; in this 360 VR video demo you can take control of the camera and pan around from any angle to see how the Pats put it all together. You can view this video in a standard web browser but if you have a Google Cardboard VR viewer, pop in your Android or iOS device and get in on the pigskin party just looking around naturally.

Comments

The only question here is...

[Gojira Shipi-Taro]

How will the Patriots use this to cheat?

Great! That way I can see the Eagles

[jfdavis668]

Win a game!

Re:Great! That way I can see the Eagles

[jfdavis668]

Interesting comment, considering the Eagles beat the Patriots.

Good for Google

[Anonymous Coward]

I'm glad they're putting all of Bill Belichick's cameras left over from Spygate to good use!

Cheat along with the Patriots

[ZipK]

How will the Patriots use this to cheat?

Not only does this VR simulation give you a 3-D view of how the Patriots cheat, it also puts you in the room as the NFL figures out a way to lightly slap the goose without interrupting the production of golden eggs.

5 Year Prediction

[frnic]

I suggest that within 5 years players will have stereo camera built into the helmets and 3d VR feeds will be available, for a large fee, from your favorite players helmet live during games.

Re:5 Year Prediction

[Zibodiz]

They already mount live cameras on cars during races, so why not helmet cams? Actually, a first person perspective of a football play might actually make the sport interesting to watch (for a couple minutes, anyway)

Re:5 Year Prediction

[Nidi62]

I suggest that within 5 years players will have stereo camera built into the helmets and 3d VR feeds will be available, for a large fee, from your favorite players helmet live during games.

The first place you will see it is exactly where it is: on quarterbacks. This could be useful for post-game review and would allow for a much better breakdown of the quarterback's play. For example, if he threw an interception, was he looking at the receiver too long which allowed the defender to anticipate the throw? If he didn't check out of a play or made the wrong read, did he misread the defense? The quarterback helmets already have receivers built in to communicate with the sideline to call in plays, shouldn't be too hard to allow it to transmit as well. A live broadcast available to viewers probably would not happen, as it would invariably broadcast signals, audibles and cadences, as well as huddle play calls. Sanitizing this by not transmitting sound or blocking the picture during those moments would make the stream so jarring and clunky as to be useless.

Wait, what?

[Zibodiz]

First off, who the heck is Tom Brady, what does he have to do with politics (or maybe warfare? not really sure), and what does it all have to do with going into a pocket? (Which, I'm guessing, is a pool term)
And of course, the most obvious question; why should I care? I'm a nerd looking for STEM news.

I know, I know, this is related to some team sport... but honestly, I'd have to google to find out which one. The headline made absolutely no sense to me, which is the only reason I clicked it; my first guess was it had something to do with pool.

Re:Wait, what?

[Nidi62]

First off, who the heck is Tom Brady, what does he have to do with politics (or maybe warfare? not really sure), and what does it all have to do with going into a pocket? (Which, I'm guessing, is a pool term) And of course, the most obvious question; why should I care? I'm a nerd looking for STEM news.

Any nerd interested in politics and warfare would at least have heard of the "football", ie the briefcase carrying nuclear launch codes that follows the President everywhere and would have looked into the origin of the name. Ironically, according to wikipedia, the briefcase got the nickname "football" because of an attack plan that was codenamed "Dropkick", which is a now rarely used but legal form of kicking the ball that was, again ironically, used last night by the Patriots (who have Tom Brady as their quarterback) by one of their players who had previously played rugby where a dropkick is a regular occurrence.

A side note: having played both football and rugby in college (rugby was my school's club team though) I can say that dropkicking a rugby ball is much easier than kicking a football (either by dropkick, punt, or on a tee) but that probably has more to do with the size and shape of the balls. I did find passing the rugby ball to be very easy, but I longsnapped all through high school which uses essentially the same motion. Yes, shocker I know, but there are plenty of nerds out there with athletic ability who enjoyed playing and now enjoy watching collegiate and professional sports. In fact, the starting quarterback for my favorite college team (not the one I attended) is majoring in aerospace engineering. And in any case, last time I looked cameras were technology, which is what the T in STEM stands for.

Re:Wait, what?

[Zibodiz]

I guess my snarky comment didn't really get my point across. I'm well aware (and pleased) that most nerds are a lot more well-rounded that the 80's movie stereotypes. I'm a self-identifying 'gearhead' who currently has two project cars (an off-roader and a rally car), and spends a lot more time on Jalopnik than on Slashdot.
That having been said, this story's relevance is tenuous at best (aren't cameras usually involved in sports reporting?), and more importantly, the title and summary are written in such a way that those who aren't 'in the know' will have no clue what it's talking about.
I'm not suggesting that /. should talk down to their audience, but the headline is no place for an inside joke or terminology that the average person wouldn't understand.

Re: No, it won't show them cheating.

[jxander]

He's allowed to play because he's massively profitable for the league. Full stop.

The P*triots make buckets and buckets of money for the NFL. As long as he continues to do so, they'll turn a blind eye to the cheating.

Of all the things I want to do

[JustAnotherOldGuy]

Of all the things I want to do, this isn't one of them. Not even close.

If other people want this then more power to them, but as for me? Meh.

What if I don't want to throw a pick six?

[xxxJonBoyxxx]

>> VR Patriots Experience Puts You In the Pocket With Brady

But what if I don't want to throw a 100-yard pick six against a shitty team from Philly?

Why Just Brady?

[jmac_the_man]

I'm sure this is really cool if you're a New England fan, but what about the other 31 teams? Google and Visa should get with Belichick ASAP so they can digitize video of the other teams' practices.

This isn't news

[wonkey_monkey]

360 degree video has been around for decades.

Are we going to have a story every time a new one is made?

Better Idea

[Anonymous Coward]

I'd rather have it put me in the sack with Gisele Bündchen.

Parrots? What's a "Brady"?

[sterlingcrispin]

skimming over article headlines I optimistically misread this as "Parrots" and was sorely disappointed to find that some corrupt bank is helping to promote some kind of sportsball thing.