Upload's 2017 CES Party Brings All The VR Goodness To Vegas

3 January 2017

2016 was rough. A gorilla died, trolls ruled the earth, and we lost more than our fair share of icons and legends. But, thankfully, every year eventually comes to a close and now we turn to the promise of 2017 — and it’s kicking off with a bang for VR.

CES is upon us and as long as you’re not a journalist like me preparing to cover it, this gargantuan show should be a non-stop thrill ride. To celebrate the huge VR milestones of 2016, and to usher in what looks to be an even biggest year for our industry coming up next, Upload is throwing our best party yet this Friday, January 6th.

We’ll be taking over the two top floors of the world famous Palms Resort. The main event kicks off on Friday, January 6th at 10PM PST. Our headlining musical performance will be EMANCIPATOR featuring a live violinist in The View. We will also have Walrus & Kane (SUBPAC) performing in The Moon with a surprise special guest.

We are thrilled to have Audi as our Presenting Sponsor. Audi is coming out ahead as a leading innovator in immersive technology for the automotive industry. Audi will be demoing 2 different VR experiences on the HTC Vive at our party, one of which will be featured in our on-site Mixed Reality Studio. The custom VR experiences underscore a unique VR-driven sales and marketing application that combine a powerful product configuration tool with VR sequences designed to make the sales experience more intimate and exciting.

“Audi is convinced by the potential of VR for a more effective development process but also for a great sales experience and started the development of this application following the CES 2013 with the result, that we will introduce VR setups at hundreds of dealerships this year,” said Marcus Kuehne, Strategy Lead for Immersive Tech at Audi. “Audi is very excited to be a part of the innovative and inspiring VR community, why it’s a pleasure to support this event.”

We’d also like to give special thanks to our Partner Sponsors: NextVR and Technicolor:

NextVR, the world’s leading virtual reality broadcast platform for delivering live sports and entertainment, is now offering video-on-demand NBA games and highlights in virtual reality internationally. Additionally, NextVR will reach even more fans around the world by offering its virtual reality content on Daydream by Google.

Technicolor and Upload are working together on some big plans for 2017 as well, but we can’t give it all away just yet. Stay tuned for some exciting announcements around the Technicolor Experience Center. The center develops high-end content, platforms, and technology for virtual reality (VR), augmented reality (AR) and other immersive media applications.

Finally, here are some of the key event features:

Over 20 VR demo experiences across the HTC Vive, Oculus Rift, PS VR, Samsung Gear VR, and Daydream by Google,
2 Floors at the top of The Palms Fantasy Tower: The View and The Moon,
Network with VR/AR Industry Influencers, Executives, and Investors,
Interactive Art Installations,
Opening Live Musical Performance by Lapa (Ilya Goldberg) followed by Emancipator in The View,
House DJ Set by Walrus & Kane (SUBPAC) in The Moon,
The Fourth Transformation Book Signing with Robert Scoble and Shel Israel,
Try the winning VR experience from MSI’s VR Jam Developer Competition,
Mixed Reality Studio with an Audi VR Experience

There will also be an early-bird VIP mixer from 8PM-10PM. Attendees there will get to enjoy:

Early access to event to mingle with VR/AR Executives, Influencers, and Investors,
Open Bar,
Exclusive first look at VR demos and activations,
Presentation by Upload and Audi at 9PM,

In addition to all of this, we’re also going to be giving away some of the hottest VR gear in the world to a few lucky participants. Guests who tweet #UploadParty during the event, or share a photo from the photo booth, will be entered for a chance to win: Helix Cuff Wireless Headphones, a NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1080 Graphics Card and an HTC Vive VR System.