Pioneers of Digital Human Performances of Virtual Tupac and Virtual Michael Jackson Join Senior Veterans of Sony Corporation in Launch of new Virtual Reality Initiative
PORT ST. LUCIE, Fla. & NEW YORK–(BUSINESS WIRE)– Pulse Evolution Corporation (OTC: PLFX) (“Pulse”), a recognized pioneer and leading developer of hyper-realistic digital humans for holographic live performances, virtual reality, augmented reality and artificial intelligence, today announced a partnership with VTEC Laboratories of Tokyo, Japan (“VTEC”). VTEC is a developer of high-quality technologies and solution systems in the emerging world of immersive video and audio experiences.
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Pulse and VTEC are currently in development of a personal Head Mounted Display (HMD) player, intended to provide immersive entertainment access for standard virtual reality (VR) systems users to unique live events, such as virtual music concerts, multi-player games and other events set in rich VR environments that can be populated by hyper-realistic digital humans from Pulse Evolution. The Pulse-VTEC collaboration will principally focus on VTEC’s Virtual Reality Theater Concept, an HMD-based virtual theater system that supports high-resolution movie playback in VR, interactive viewpoints with multiple location support, live streaming and large-audience crowd support.
Yoshihito Ebine is the CEO of VTEC and is former Senior General Manager of Sony Corporation Strategic Planning. “We are thrilled to announce this unique collaboration with Pulse Evolution,” Ebine said. “Pulse is the gold standard of human animation in a world that is about to be overrun by digital humans. VTEC is uniquely positioned to build the delivery systems of an immersive and interactive VR world, and Pulse is the right partner to build the people we will meet when we get there.”
Hiroyasu Furuse, COO and CTO of VTEC, is the former Senior Manager of Sony Corporation 4K Display and 4K Digital Cinema business. “I am proud to be working with John Textor and his team at Pulse,” Furuse said. “The fast developing industry of alternative display systems is both impressive and lacking. While there are device alternatives and multiple choices of HMD goggle systems, there are very few end-to-end solutions for enterprise customers and for end-consumers. There are even fewer companies like Pulse Evolution, which can deliver the content and experiences that will make virtual reality a fascinating reality.”
Pulse Evolution’s journey started when the late Tupac Shakur was brought to life in a digital animation performance at the 2012 Coachella Music and Arts Fair. In 2014, Pulse’s digital animation of a new performance by the late Michael Jackson was the highlight of the Billboard Music Awards. Pulse recently announced additional collaborations with the estates of Elvis Presley and Marilyn Monroe that will result in digital animated performances by the late artists in venues around the world.
John Textor, Chairman of Pulse Evolution Corporation, welcomed the new partnership with VTEC. “The artists and leaders of Pulse Evolution see a future, revealed by our company name, in which digital humans are pervasive in society,” Textor said. “With so much focus on interactive content, virtual worlds and digital distribution of information and entertainment, there are far too few companies focused on building the people we will meet in the evolving digital domain. Digital humans will be everywhere in this world. They will at times represent us, but they will also provide a relatable interface for artificially intelligent machine thinkers that will interact with us in this brave new world. From their years of leadership and strategic planning at Sony, Ebine-san and Furuse-san have a clear vison of this future and we are so honored that they have invited us along for the ride.”
About Pulse Evolution Corporation
The Company is a recognized pioneer and leading developer of hyper-realistic digital humans, and is most popularly known for producing the animated digital human likeness of the late Michael Jackson that appeared in a live performance of the Billboard Music Awards on May 18, 2014, seen by more than 11 million television viewers and generating more than 2,400 news articles and 98 billion Internet impressions.
Founded by the world’s leading executives and producers of photorealistic digital humans, such as the lead character from the film “The Curious Case of Benjamin Button” and the concert experience “Tupac at Coachella,” Pulse Evolution is currently developing computer-generated digital humans for entertainment and media applications, such as holographic live performances, virtual reality, augmented reality and artificial intelligence. The Company has multi-year revenue share agreements with the Estates of Michael Jackson, Elvis Presley and Marilyn Monroe, three of the world’s most valuable celebrity estates, and is principally focused on generating revenues from these agreements.
The Company sees digital humans emerging as ubiquitous in society, culture and industry. They will not only perform for audiences on stage or in film, but they will also represent individual consumers as digital likeness avatars, in realistic and fantasy form, appearing and interacting on the consumer’s behalf in electronic and mobile communication, social media, video games and virtual reality. Future digital humans will provide a relatable human interface for artificial intelligence applications, ‘thinking’ machine systems that, through the Company’s technology, will appear as realistic communicating humans in mobile devices, digital signage, classrooms and through lightweight wearable augmented reality glasses and virtual reality headsets. The Company’s long-term goal is to be the ‘face’ of artificial intelligence, to provide a human form to interactive artificially intelligent computer beings.
Pulse is headquartered in Port St. Lucie, Florida with studios in San Rafael, California. Please visit www.pulse.co
ABOUT VTEC Laboratories Inc.
VTEC Laboratories Inc. is a Tokyo, Japan-based company focused on the development and integration of technologies and end-to-end systems in the market of high-resolution immersive video/audio experiences. VTEC was founded by its CEO, Yoshihito Ebine, and its COO and CTO, Hiroyasu Furuse. Mr. Ebine was previously Senior General Manager of Sony Corporation’s Strategic Planning Division, the General Manager of Sony Headquarters New Business Development Group and Project Leader of Sony’s AME Tape Project. Mr. Furuse was previously Senior Manager of Sony’s Professional 4K Display Planning Group, Senior Product Manager of U.S. Sony 4K Digital Cinema Business, a guest researcher of the Japanese Government Communication Research Laboratory, and he is a long-time member of The Virtual Reality Society of Japan. For more information on VTEC Laboratories, go to http://www.vteclaboratories.co.jp/en/