The Unity for Humanity Environment and Sustainability Grant is the company’s first sustainability-focused grant within the existing Unity for Humanity Program. Created in collaboration with the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) and Project Drawdown (a non-profit organisation dedicated to promoting climate solutions), the call for submissions for the grant will open on 22 April 2021 to coincide with Earth Day.

The Unity for Humanity Environment and Sustainability Grant will recognise winners whose real-time 3D experiences encompass themes of sustainability, including but not limited to climate action, clean energy, ocean health, sustainable cities and more. The grant is aimed at empowering employees and creators of all backgrounds to foster a more equitable, inclusive and sustainable world.

Climate-science experts from UNEP and Project Drawdown will serve on the grantee selection committee. Winners will receive funds from a pool of $350,000, along with technical and marketing support and coaching to ensure each winning project drives the largest impact possible.

Jessica Lindl, vice president of social impact at Unity, said: “The future of humanity is dependent upon significantly reducing and reversing carbon pollution to avoid the severe impacts of climate change.

“Our hope is that through our work with UNEP and Project Drawdown, and the new Unity for Humanity Environment and Sustainability Grant, creators around the world will leverage real-time 3D for positive environmental change and build immersive and motivating experiences about a brighter future that we can all work towards.”

Sam Barratt, chief of youth, education and advocacy at UNEP, said: “Within the creative industries lies a deep bench of inspiring and pragmatic thinkers who are ready to roll up their sleeves and deploy their talents against this enormous shared challenge.

“We’re keen to see how through Unity’s platform and tools, creators from across the globe can bring their biggest and boldest ideas that fuel the need for action in the environmental arena.”

Dr Elizabeth Bagley, director of Drawdown Learn at Project Drawdown, added: “Global challenges like climate change can feel overwhelming, leaving people feeling hopeless and uncertain of how to work towards solutions. We have the solutions in-hand today to change our climate future, but we need more people to shift solutions into action in their communities.

“Thankfully, virtual spaces can provide game-changing opportunities to try things that are too expensive, dangerous, or complicated in the real world. We need all the inspiration we can get to build a future where both people and the planet thrive together.”

Unity is a leading platform for creating and operating real-time 3D content. Creators – ranging from game developers to artists, architects, automotive designers and filmmakers – use Unity to bring their imagination to life. Apps developed by Unity creators have been downloaded more than five billion times per month in 2020.

More information about the Unity for Humanity grant is available online.

The unique design of Sony's controllers uses an “orb” shape that allows gamers to hold the controller naturally, while playing with a high degree of freedom.

It uses adaptive trigger buttons that can increase their tension depending on what’s happening on screen; advanced haptic feedback to try and make sensations in the game world more impactful, and finger touch detection which can detect a user’s fingers without any pressing.

The controller is also tracked by Sony’s new VR headset through a tracking ring across the bottom of the controller.

In a blog post, Sony said it would start supplying prototypes to game developers soon, although it did not give exact dates for when a refreshed PlayStation VR system might be released to consumers.

PlayStation’s senior vice president for platform, Hideaki Nishino, said the new hardware had been made “from the ground up” with the aim of making a “huge leap from current-gen VR gaming”.

Microsoft has also been in the spotlight this week after gamers reported error messages appearing on their Xbox consoles that mentioned VR headsets. However, the firm denied it was developing VR for the platform, attributing the messages to a “localisation bug”.

Meanwhile, Facebook has announced it is developing a wristband which has been designed to control augmented reality (AR) glasses, which are expected to launch later this year.

Wearers of the band would be able to interact with the virtual world with their finger movements, the company said in a blog post.

Contextually aware AI is being developed which will be able to understand a users’ commands and actions as well as the context and environment around them.

It will make inferences about what information a user might need or commands they might want to carry out depending on the context.

The wristband input is designed to make selecting a choice effortless by letting users interact with virtual, always-available buttons through slight finger movements.

This marks an escalation of Facebook’s interest in a hotly contested race among tech giants including Apple, Amazon and Google to develop AR devices that could eventually replace smart phones.

In September 2020, Facebook said it was about five to 10 years away from being able to bring “true” augmented reality glasses to the market.

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