Last year BBC Studios, Preloaded and Magic Leap revealed a collaborative project innovating upon 60 years of storytelling by the BBC Natural History Unit, BBC Earth – Micro Kingdoms: Senses. If you happen to own a Magic Leap 1 headset the documentary is available today from the Magic Leap store.
Mixing spatial computing experience and natural history documentary, BBC Earth – Micro Kingdoms: Senses is narrated by Stephen Fry, encouraging users to learn about ants and spiders.
Utilising Magic Leap’s mixed reality technology users can examine a Leaf Cutter Ant colony in the tropical rainforests of Central America. And for the really brave who don’t have a fear of eight-legged creatures, they can encounter a Wandering Spider in the Atlantic Forest of Eastern Brazil, with the experience detailing their extraordinary senses which help them survive and thrive.
“Our mission is to inform, educate and entertain. With Micro Kingdoms – Senses and the immersive technology of Magic Leap we’re exploring new ways of engaging audiences with natural history storytelling,” said Tom Burton, Head of Interactive at BBC Studios in a statement.
“In working with BBC Studios and PRELOADED we have blended the physical and digital world to bring valuable earth ecosystems into any room, giving people the chance to see, hear and feel how these animals live and survive. When we can learn by actually experiencing environments, the potential for empathy and appreciation of new worlds grows exponentially. This is the power of spatial computing,” adds Rio Caraeff, Chief Content Officer at Magic Leap.
BBC Earth – Micro Kingdoms: Senses was created as part of the Magic Leap Independent Creator Program and follows on from 2018’s BBC Earth: Life in VR for the Lenovo Mirage Solo standalone headset, another collaborative effort between BBC Studios and Preloaded.
Magic Leap 1 isn’t exactly a consumer-focused device as the basic version will still set you back a cool $2,295 USD and can only be purchased from the company’s website. At the moment that means mostly developers and enterprise are the main customers although as this app demonstrates not all the content is business-focused.
Take a look at the app in action below and for further announcements from BBC Studios, Preloaded and Magic Leap, keep reading VRFocus.