Geeks and fans of the Alien franchise around the world are celebrating ‘Alien Day’, derived from the planet LV-426 featured in Alien. To add to the festivities, Ridley Scott’s virtual reality subsidiary RSA VR have launched Alien: Covenant in Utero on to Oculus Rift.
The VR experience puts the user in the place of a xenomorph as it is birthed into the world in a shower of gore, and then will be able to explore the environment for the unique perspective of the lethal alien lifeform.
“With the In Utero experience, audience participation is taken to a whole new level. You get to be a Neomorph, exploring what’s happening around you and within you,” said Ridley Scott.
“Before I even touched a camera, ALIEN was a movie that set me on my journey. The film provoked me and opened my eyes to a new level of cinematic immersion. I feel very privileged to be directing Alien: Covenant In Utero and building upon the universe that Ridley has created. Tapping into both traditional storytelling and the emerging technology driving virtual reality, my aim has been to do something new and bold, which Ridley has supported from the beginning,” added Alien: Covenant director David Karlak.
The experience will be available as a 360-degree video fro Oculus Rift and Samsung Gear VR from 26th April, 2017. The experience was created as a collaboration between Fox Innovation Labs, RSA VR and VFX studio MPC.
“The VR work for Alien: Covenant In Utero was a creative adventure because we needed to remain true to the existing ALIEN narrative in an immersive medium, while setting the stage for the upcoming movie. To reach the widest audience, we worked with our colleagues at the Technicolor Experience Center to ensure that Alien: Covenant In Utero could be experienced on both tethered and mobile HMDs. Because the ALIEN franchise is a global phenomenon, we are regionalizing the VR experience by supporting 12 different languages,” said Logan Brown Head of VR and Immersive Content – Film US at MPC VR, and Executive Producer at the Technicolor Experience Centre.
VRFocus will bring you further information Alien: Covenant In Utero and other VR experiences when it becomes available.