LOS ANGELES, CA--(Marketwired - Sep 14, 2016) - The Virtual Reality Foundation is thrilled to announce the honorees for the third annual Proto Awards, presented by Radeon. The Proto Awards gala will take place on Saturday, October 8 at AVALON Hollywood and will be captured in live-action 360-degree VR. The Proto Awards will honor virtual reality content creators pushing the medium forward, just as the latest generation of VR hardware from HTC, Valve, Oculus and other major hardware manufacturers has become available to the public at large.
The host of the 2016 Proto Awards will be comedian and actor Ron Funches, known for his roles on NBC's hilarious Undateable and the upcoming NBC series Powerless, as well as his fan-favorite appearances on Comedy Central's @midnight. Previous Proto Awards ceremonies have been hosted by Thomas Middleditch and Jonah Ray.
The Protos were conceived by VRLA co-founders Jonnie Ross, Adam Levin and Cosmo Scharf in 2014, before VR had hit the consumer market. Ross himself mused on stage at the first ceremony that while it might've been too early for a VR Awards show, the community needed to rally together to celebrate itself with the knowledge that good things were coming -- and they did!
"It was important to me that there be an awards show put on by people who truly understand and love the medium. It's incredibly gratifying that in our third year we see such an exciting group of honorees," said Jonnie Ross.
The recipient of the first-ever Proto Award was the independent studio Skillman & Hackett, for the earliest version of Tilt Brush, which has since been acquired by Google and celebrated as one of VR's killer apps. The newest release of Tilt Brush returns to the 2016 Proto Awards as an honoree in the Best Interaction Design and Most Innovative categories.
A sampling of the honorees for the 2016 Proto Awards include:
Most Transportive Experience:
Apollo 11 VR - Immersive VR Education Ltd.
The Climb - Crytek
ADR1FT - Three One Zero
Old Friend - Tyler Hurd
theBlu: Season 1 - Wevr
Irrational Exuberance: Prologue - Ben Vance, Wevr
Best Game:
Raw Data - Survios
The Gallery - Episode 1: Call of the Starseed - Cloudhead Games
Job Simulator - Owlchemy Labs
The Climb - Crytek
Space Pirate Trainer - I-Illusions
Bullet Train - Epic Games
Best Music Experience:
Soundscape - SNAKE Productions
Old Friend - Tyler Hurd
Music From Every Angle - m ss ng p eces
Grace - MacInnes Scott
SoundStage - Logan Olson
Apex - Arjan van Meerten
Best Overall:
Tilt Brush - Google
Raw Data - Survios
Space Pirate Trainer - I-Illusions
Bullet Train - Epic Games
Modbox - Alientrap
The Lab - Valve
To see the full list of honorees and additional information on the Proto Awards, please visit protoawards.com.
About The Virtual Reality Foundation
Founded in 2014, The Virtual Reality Foundation is a non-profit that was created at the nexus of the emerging medium of virtual reality and Los Angeles' entertainment industry. The foundation produces the semi-annual VRLA expos, where a new generation of technologists, enthusiasts, and thinkers converge to try the latest immersive experiences, consumer gear, and creators' tools. The Virtual Reality Foundation will also host the third annual Proto Awards in October 2016 -- the first-ever awards show for virtual reality content.