Rochester Institute of Technology will help develop seven new virtual reality labs at universities in the United States and Canada, including at RIT’s MAGIC Spell Studios.
Crytek, an independent videogame developer, publisher and technology provider, recently named RIT to an initiative, VR First, that seeks to promote research and development in virtual reality by providing hardware and facilities at academic institutions around the world.
Six other universities are involved in the initiative.
“We are delighted to partner with Crytek (Cryengine) and the VR First Initiative as a part of our effort in the MAGIC VR/AR laboratory,” Andrew Phelps, founder and CEO of RIT’s MAGIC Spell Studios, said in a statement.
According to Phelps, the virtual reality/augmented reality lab is available to partners across campus and will have new equipment each month including major platforms from Oculus/Facebook, HTC/Valve, Microsoft, Samsung and others.
The announcement was made March 15 at the 2016 Game Developers Conference in San Francisco.
Crytek has created multiple videogame titles, including the original Far Cry, the Crysis series, Ryse: Son of Rome and Warface.
