I was excited to see the Oculus Store on Samsung’s Gear VR release an NCAA March Madness app for the NCAA Men’s College Basketball Tournament (US), and I was all too excited to download it. I didn’t really know what to expect from the experience, seeing that I’d never watched a sports game in virtual reality before. I’ve played a few games on Gear VR, and those games varied in terms of graphics. Of course, it can be said that those games are fiction, but the basketball tournament I was about to watch was real, genuine, in real time.
As is the norm, I put on my Gear VR headset, downloaded the NCAA March Madness app at the Oculus Store onto my phone, then prepared to have the experience of a lifetime.
And boy, I sure did.
The experience was courtside. “Courtside” is the only word I can find that aptly describes the experience while summing it up in one word. I watched two games using Gear VR, the semi-final game featuring Villanova and Oklahoma, and the championship game against North Carolina and Villanova. I’m proud to have seen my alma mater (the North Carolina Tar Heels) play in the title, despite their buzzer-beating defeat, but I was too impressed with Gear VR and my experience inside the headset that I didn’t have time to be depressed, for too long.
There are two advantages of Gear VR that I discovered through my time watching two NCAA March Madness basketball games. First, I discovered that courtside is where I want to be whenever I’m in a game. I’ve always believed that DSLR cameras and other video-enhancing gear that brings sports games to home viewers provide something of a tease for the at-home watcher: cameras zoom in on particular plays, but zoom out and leave everything else at a distance. Watching it at home on TV, a smartphone, or tablet, you feel distant, separated from it all, as though you’re forced to watch what’s going on from the outside. In essence, you feel like a real third party.
Inside Gear VR, though, you’re there. Really there. You are courtside: you’re sitting so close to the action that you can touch the referee’s or athlete’s knee cap; reach out and grab the Sony camera that flies by you recording every moment of play; see the fast player action as teammates pass the ball so quickly that your eyes can almost miss it; see the paint on cheerleaders’ faces as they perform at halftime, and so on. Yes, you’re there in the moment as Brice Johnson dunks the basketball in the midst of Villanova’s strong presence around the basket. You can see every bounce of the basketball around the rim before it drops (whether in the rim or on the court is up to physics and chance).
Now, with that said, there are some things that you can’t see as well. You get to see a virtual scoreboard that’s right above you, but you don’t get to see the big scoreboard in the stadium. The graphics are not perfect, and the more visually challenged you are, the less you’ll see. I’m extremely nearsighted, and, thankfully, the on-court play was up-close.
There is another advantage to Gear VR, apart from the courtside experience: there are no commercials. This is another favorite feature that makes me excited about Gear VR and its role in future TV game-viewing: you won’t have to sit through 3-5 minutes or more of commercials while watching games. While watching the basketball games in Gear VR, I also had a 10-inch tablet and my Galaxy S7 edge nearby – and watching the game on my tablet and smartphone matched the typical TV-viewing experience.
With Gear VR, however there are no interruptions: when the teams step off the court for a timeout (which is when TV commercials appear), Gear VR shows you the cleanup guys who mop the floor on both sides of the court. You get to see coaches walk around, players talk among themselves, and others grab water bottles to get some hydration before gameplay continues. You don’t have to brace yourself for some product some company’s trying to sell that you don’t want.
All in all, I was impressed, though Gear VR left me wanting to have team players sitting directly in front of me. The players were on the bench across the court; I was on the other side. Still, I wouldn’t trade my court side experience with Gear VR for anything, and I’m amazed at virtual reality‘s potential for the future of mobile and tech.
With Gear VR bringing a courtside experience, why pay for courtside tickets with courtside prices anymore? Gear VR has the potential to bring down the ridiculous courtside ticket prices that fuel billions of dollars into the game industry. As I use Gear VR and dream of what could be, I realize that the revolution won’t happen today – but VR has just become relevant to me in another way.
Yes, I watched two NCAA March Madness games with Samsung’s Gear VR – and I loved the experience.
What about you? Did you get to see an NCAA March Madness game in Gear VR? Have you seen other sports games in Gear VR? If so, we'd love to know your thoughts on the encounter.
