''The Foo Show'' was an interactive

virtual reality Virtual reality (VR) is a simulated experience that employs pose tracking and 3D near-eye displays to give the user an immersive feel of a virtual world. Applications of virtual reality include entertainment (particularly video games), educ ...

talk show A talk show (or chat show in British English) is a television programming or radio programming genre structured around the act of spontaneous conversation.Bernard M. Timberg, Robert J. Erler'' (2010Television Talk: A History of the TV Talk Show ...

developed by Foo VR and created by Will Smith. The first episode was released in April 2016. Viewers watch the show through a compatible virtual reality headset and are able to move around and interact with the game world being discussed by the show's host and guests.

Content

The show takes the format of a

where Smith and the episode's guests discuss, move around, and interact with a three dimensional space. Many of the episodes will be based on video games, but others will not. The player is free to move around the world and interact with the same models the guests are talking about while listening to the discussion. The host and guests record their movements through Virtual Reality headsets and controllers and are represented by

low poly Low poly is a polygon mesh in 3D computer graphics that has a relatively small number of polygons. Low poly meshes occur in real-time applications (e.g. games) as contrast with high-poly meshes in animated movies and special effects of the same ...

3D models that move as they did in the real world while recording the episode.

Development

Smith announced in September 2015 that he was leaving

Tested.com Tested.com (often simply called Tested) is a website and YouTube channel that focuses on maker culture and technology. The company was started by Will Smith and Norman Chan in 2010, with Mythbusters hosts Adam Savage and Jamie Hyneman joining th ...

to start his own

company which would focus on "some different ways to communicate in VR", saying that he had come to find VR "captivating". Smith has said that he is interested in "figuring out the native language of VR storytelling" to create content that would be impossible in another format, and is open to trying a number of different styles with their developed technology, from non-interactive linear experiences to full adventure games. The show is produced through the use of

HTC Vive VIVE, sometimes referred to as HTC Vive, is a virtual reality brand of HTC Corporation. It consists of hardware like its titular virtual reality headsets and accessories, virtual reality software and services, and initiatives that promote appl ...

headsets to capture the participants performances, and is planned to run on a weekly schedule. In November 2016 Smith announced a

Kickstarter Kickstarter is an American public benefit corporation based in Brooklyn, New York, that maintains a global crowdfunding platform focused on creativity. The company's stated mission is to "help bring creative projects to life". As of July 2021, ...

campaign to fund the show's first, 5 episode, season for release in December, along with more episodes in January and February 2017.

Episodes

Episode 0

Released for free on April 2, 2016, Smith interviews Jake Rodkin and Sean Vanaman from ''

Firewatch ''Firewatch'' is an adventure game developed by Campo Santo and published by the developer in partnership with Panic. The game was released in February 2016 for Microsoft Windows, OS X, Linux, and PlayStation 4, for Xbox One in September 2016 ...

'' developer Campo Santo. After a short introduction, the viewer is transported inside the game's

watchtower A watchtower or watch tower is a type of fortification used in many parts of the world. It differs from a regular tower in that its primary use is military and from a turret in that it is usually a freestanding structure. Its main purpose is to ...

, where Smith, Rodkin, and Vanaman discuss aspects of the game's development and assets, interacting with the objects placed around the watchtower.

Season 1

The developers were aiming for a December 2016 release for the show's first season. There are four released episodes in Season 1.

Episode 1 - Quadrilateral Cowboy

The first episode is an interview with Brendon Chung of

Blendo Games Blendo Games is an American independent video game development company based in Culver City, California. It was founded by Brendon Chung in 2010 and is primarily a one-person effort. Blendo Games gained more widespread exposure with the short fo ...

discussing ''

Quadrilateral Cowboy ''Quadrilateral Cowboy'' is a first-person puzzle-adventure video game by independent developer Blendo Games. The game was released on July 25, 2016, for Microsoft Windows, and on October 1, 2016, for macOS and Linux. Gameplay In ''Quadrilater ...

''. The episode was recorded live at the 2016

XOXO festival XOXO is an annual festival and conference held in Portland, Oregon, that describes itself as "an experimental festival for independent artists who live and work online". XOXO was founded in 2012 by Andy Baio and Andy McMillan with funding from p ...

Episode 2 - Total War: Warhammer II

Will dives into Total War: Warhammer II with Henry Hankin and Al Bickham of Creative Assembly, the developers of Total War: Warhammer II.

Episode 3 - Making Nanomachines from DNA

Will is joined by Shawn Douglas (a professor at UCSF whose research involves building nanomachines using DNA) and Jason Brown.

Episode 4 - Inside Adam Savage's Shop

Will takes a trip into Adam Savage's cave with Adam and Norman Chan from Tested.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Foo Show, The Works about video games Virtual reality works 2016 web series debuts