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Vast Media VR Round-Up: Westworld, Sky Make Waves
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Here’s a run-down of recent virtual reality-related entertainment items via Berlin-based research and consulting company Vast Media.
To help promote its highly praised sci-fi drama “Westworld,” HBO debuted a new virtual reality experience for the show at this month’s New York Comic-Con, and the network had fun setting it up: attendees of the convention were required to book an appointment with Delos Destinations, the fictional company in the show itself. They were then sent to another location in New York set up to look like the Westworld arrival hall, where the VR experience began with an HTC Vive headset.
After picking a hat and rifle, VR users were then teleported into the world of the show, with viewers of the first episode getting some inside treats. And of course shooting the rifle took center stage.
• For an idea of just how global VR has become, look at the Franco-German TV network ARTE. This month the network released the VR experience “Notes on Blindness: Into Darkness,” a companion piece to the feature film “Notes on Blindness.”
Available in French, English and German, the VR experience follows the gradual loss of sight experienced by the subject of the film, John Hull, with the VR based on his audio recordings, which were documented during the first three years of his full blindness. Broken up in six parts, the VR experience aims to put users in the emotional and psychological state of Hull, with the visuals represented in animated, blue light. The app became available Oct. 12 for the Samsung Gear VR.
• The U.K.’s Sky TV got in the VR game Oct. 3 with the release of “Sky VR,” an Android and iOS app that includes VR content from a number of major content companies, including Warner, Disney, Fox, Jaunt and more. Sky has made the app available not only across Europe, but also Australia and New Zealand.
Some of the first VR pieces produced by major studios — including Fox’s “The Martian” VR experience — are included.
