Seattle, WA, July 26, 2017 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- HTC Vive, the leader in room-scale virtual reality (VR), today announced a slate of female-focused VR programming and VR esports initiatives in partnership with the 10th annual Paul Mitchell Neon Supergirl Pro. The Supergirl Pro is a 3-day festival centered around female empowerment and providing opportunities for women in areas of sports, entertainment, education, and culture where they are traditionally underrepresented. The event takes place this weekend, July 28-30, in Oceanside, Calif and is free to attend.

As part of the celebration, Vive will host three core elements: The first all-female VR tournament in the U.S. featuring a “Gamers vs Surfers VR Challenge” esports competition; a Women in VR Panel; and VR showcase demonstrations throughout the event site.

Gamers vs. Surfers VR Challenge

The VR Challenge will kick-off Friday, July 28, 2017 at 1:30 p.m. at the Oceanside Pier when esports participants and professional surfers will play against each other in Sprint Vector as part of a team competition to see if gaming skills or athletic skills are more important in this upcoming VR title. The contest will be shown on Twitch.tv at SupergirlGP during the Supergirl Gamer Pro on Saturday, July 29. The winning team will receive a $1,000 donation to a charity of their choice.

Women in VR Panel

On Saturday, July 29, 2017 at 11:00 a.m. on the stage adjacent to the Oceanside Pier, Vive will host a “Women in VR” panel featuring female founders and developers as they share stories, challenges and lessons learned from working in technology and virtual reality.

Moderator and Panelists include:

Lynne Cheng - Moderator

Ryan Pulliam - Co-Founder/CMO, Specular

Sally-Anne Kellaway – Creative Director, OSSIC

Carrie Shaw – CEO, Embodied Labs

Wanda Meloni – CEO, M2 Insights

VR Showcase

Throughout the festival, HTC Vive demonstrations will be available across multiple programming areas, including a VR Free Play area in the event’s Festival Village. VIP demos will be available to surfers, esports gamers, musicians, DJs, skateboarders, celebrities and influencers in the Athlete’s Lounge and VIP Tower.

“Through Supergirl Pro, we can recognize the achievements of women in VR and help contribute to more women gaining opportunities within tech and VR,” said Ryan Hoopingarner, Executive Director of Marketing for HTC Vive. “The festival is a perfect fit for us to broaden the awareness of VR while showcasing top female developers and esports participants across the VR community.”

In addition to this important VR platform, the Paul Mitchell Neon Supergirl Pro features the largest female surfing contest in the world, 20 live concerts from some of today’s top young artists, an all-female DJ contest, a women’s skateboarding competition, art, yoga, fitness classes, dance classes, seminars, autographs, hair styling, an international food court and adult beverage garden, a Celebrity Surf Invitational, more than 50 vendor booths, and many other activities.

"We are thrilled to partner with HTC Vive to help advance women in gaming, tech and VR," said Rick Bratman, CEO of ASA Entertainment, the event’s management company and one of the leading producers of action sports event and television programming in the US. “This is a perfect addition to the event given the Supergirl Pro’s core mission of providing opportunities for women in typically male-dominated industries. It’s an important initiative given the lack of equal opportunities for women in VR, and the empowerment represented by the Supergirl Pro brand is the perfect background from which to support this movement.”

The Paul Mitchell Neon Supergirl Pro will run from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. from Friday, July 28 through Sunday, July 30.

For more detailed information on the HTC Vive Women in Gaming panel, please visit http://supergirlpro.com/

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About HTC VIVE

VIVE is a first-of-its-kind virtual reality platform, built an optimized for room-scale VR and true-to-life interactions. Delivering on the promise of VR with game-changing technology and best-in-class content, Vive has created the strongest ecosystem for VR hardware and software, bringing VR to consumers, developers and enterprises alike. The Vive ecosystem is built around the best VR hardware in market, supported by Vive X, a $100 million accelerator for VR and related technology start-ups, Viveport, a global platform and app store for VR that operates in more than 30 countries, and Vive Studios, its VR content development and publishing initiative. For more information on Vive, please visit https://www.vive.com.

About ASA Entertainment:

Founded in 1994, ASA Entertainment Group, LLC is an action sports event, television and content production agency focused on creating and executing customized, turn-key marketing programs that range in scale from grassroots to global. ASA’s events, featuring skateboarding, freestyle BMX, inline skating, freestyle motocross, snowboarding, skiing, surfing, and music, are broadcast domestically on eight networks (including CBS and FOX Sports), and distributed to more than 700 million HH globally via 30 international broadcast partners. ASA's productions span the spectrum from large, international competitions such as the ASA Action Sports World Tour, the World Championships of Freestyle Motocross, the Supergirl Pro Series, and the ASA Big-Air Triples to amateur contests, lifestyle and branded entertainment events, demonstrations, exhibitions, school programs, and mobile tours. After 23 years as a leader in action sports, ASA Entertainment regularly connects brands to consumers through its platform of premium action sports and lifestyle content. For more information, visit ASAentertainment.com.

HTC, the HTC logo are the trademarks of HTC Corporation. All other names of companies and products mentioned herein may be the trademarks of their respective owners.

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A photo accompanying this announcement is available at http://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/df394977-df5d-4682-b50c-8d84c39e4f12

Maya Del Guidice Supergirl Surf Pro 619-402-3828 maya@modernprinc.com