Tickets are selling fast despite the hefty price to see Star Wars: Secrets Of The Empire at The VOID locations in Downtown Disney in Anaheim, CA and Disney Springs in Orlando, FL.
The experience is likely going to be one of the best introductions to virtual reality on the planet, combining best-in-class hardware with one of the most popular fictional universes. When traveling to The VOID visitors will be able to finally travel to the Star Wars universe. Tickets cost $30 each and went on sale Oct. 11. Already, the first four days are completely sold out in Anaheim (starting Jan. 5) and only two time slots are open in the first four days in Orlando (starting Dec. 16). Numerous time slots over the the following days and weeks are spoken for as well.
“The VOID accommodates groups of up to four people at a time — perfect for friends and families. But tickets for Star Wars: Secrets of the Empire have been selling fast, so we suggest making plans, visiting www.thevoid.com and booking tickets as soon as possible,” said Sarah Marsh, CXO at The VOID.
It’s unclear if The VOID is bringing online multiple stages at each location to accommodate more than four people at a time, but there are showings offered every 15 minutes, with some gaps, at the Florida location. If there are only four people at a time, though, it appears the company will see approximately $5,640 in revenue per day in Florida. Can The VOID maintain or increase that rate over time by accommodating more visitors with additional stages or bringing back visitors for repeat visits by adding variety to its experience?
I’ll be following up with The VOID when it opens to dive deep into the experience.
Whilst it may not have been the best time to make a virtual reality (VR) announcement during the Oculus Connect 4 (OC4) keynote address, The VOID, ILMxLAB and Lucasfilm have just revealed that tickets for Star Wars: Secrets of the Empire are now on sale ahead of the experience’s opening later this year.
First announced back in August, Star Wars fans can now purchase tickets for the hyper-reality experience, which is due to debut at Disney Springs at Walt Disney World Resort in Orlando on 16th December and Downtown Disney at Disneyland Resort in Anaheim on 5th January 2018.
“We are so excited about this magical collaboration between three boundary-pushing companies in the burgeoning out-of-home VR entertainment sector,” says Curtis Hickman, co-founder and chief creative officer at The VOID in a statement. “We can’t wait to share the experience of hyper-reality with everyone.”
“People have longed for a chance to step into the Star Wars universe and this incredible new hyper-reality experience will allow them to do just that in a totally unique way,” added Vicki Dobbs Beck, executive in charge, ILMxLAB. “It’s a group experience that evokes the senses in bold new ways.”
In groups of four: “Under the orders of the budding rebellion, your team will travel to the molten planet of Mustafar. Your mission is to recover Imperial intelligence vital to the rebellion’s survival,” reads the official description. “Alongside the pragmatic droid K-2S0, your team must navigate through an enemy facility walking into danger at every turn. Disguised as stormtroopers, grab your blaster, solve puzzles, and fight giant lava monsters in an effort to fulfill your team’s orders.”
VRFocus will continue its coverage of The VOID, reporting back with the latest announcements.
Die Gewinner der VR Awards 2017 stehen fest: VR Bounds veröffentlichte nach der Preisverleihung in London die Liste mit den zwölf Siegern. Die Nominierung der Teilnehmer konnten Leser der Webseite bestimmen, fast 500 haben ihre Vorschläge eingereicht und beispielsweise Superhot und Raw Data für einen Preis vorgeschlagen. Als Sponsoren konnte VR Bound AMD, Foundry und HP gewinnen.
VR Awards 2017: Die Gewinner
Als VR-Headset konnte sich die Oculus Rift vor der Konkurrenz wie die HTC Vive behaupten. Außerdem kann sich die Facebook-Tochter über die Auszeichnung der besten VR-Hardware für die Touch Controller freuen. Bei den mobilen Headsets konnte sich die Google Daydream durchsetzen. Auch für Google gibt es eine zweite Auszeichnung, das Malprogramm Tilt Brush gilt als beste VR-Erfahrung des Jahres. Als Spiel konnte Raw Data die Jury am meisten begeistern, im Marketing-Sektor das schwedische Möbelhaus IKEA mit seiner VR-Erfahrung.
Als Außer-Haus-VR-Erfahrung setzte sich The Void mit ihrem Ghostbusters Dimension durch. Als VR-Start-up des Jahres gilt der Jury die Sport-Streaming-Plattform LiveLike, als innovativstes Unternehmen G’Audio Lab, das sich auf Spatial Sound spezialisiert hat. Als interaktiver Film konnte Allumette begeistern. Die zauberhafte VR-Erfahrung steht kostenlos bei Steam für Oculus Rift und HTC Vive sowie im PlayStation Store für die PSVR zur Verfügung. Im Gesundheitsbereich gewann ImersiCare. Das britische Unternehmen arbeitet an VR-Lösungen für Demenzkranke. Im Bereich Erziehung und Lehre konnte sich der ITI Crans Simulator gegenüber der Konkurrenz durchsetzen. In der Liste unten findet ihr alle Nominierungen, die Gewinner sind mit einem Sternchen ausgezeichnet.
Nominierungen für das VR-Headset des Jahres
HTC – Vive
Oculus – Rift *
Razer – OSVR
Sony – Playstation VR
Starbreeze – StarVR
Nominierungen für das mobile VR-Headset des Jahres
Merge VR – Goggles
Google – Daydream View *
Samsung – Gear VR
Homido – V2
Nominierungen für die VR-Hardware des Jahres
Somniacs – Birdly
Leap Motion – Leap Motion
Oculus – Touch *
Nullspace VR – Hardlight Suit
Ultrahaptics – Ultrahaptics
Nominierungen für das VR-Spiel des Jahres
Owlchemy Labs & Adult Swim Games – Rick and Morty: Virtual Rick-ality
Epic Games – Robo Recall
Dylan Fitterer – Audioshield
Playful – Lucky’s Tale
Steel Crate Games – Keep Talking and Nobody Explodes
Survios – Raw Data *
Tender Claws – Virtual Virtual Reality
Vertigo Games & Jaywalkers Interactive – Arizona Sunshine
SUPERHOT Team – SUPERHOT VR
Rebellion – Battlezone
Ready At Dawn – Lone Echo
Nominierungen für das innovativste Unternehmen des Jahres
Zero Latency
Technicolor Experience Center
G’Audio Lab *
Merge VR
Globacore
Jaunt VR
Nominierungen für die beste VR-Erfahrung des Jahres
WEVR – theBlu
Horizons Studio – Horizons VR
Against Gravity – Rec Room
Google – Tilt Brush *
Google – Google Earth VR
Magnopus – Mission:ISS
BBC & REWIND – Home – A VR Spacewalk
Toast – Richie’s Plank Experience
Nominierungen für das kreativste Marketing in VR des Jahres
Greenpeace – Virtual Explorer
Idea Studio – UNICEF 360
Ford Motor Company / GTB Agency – Ford F-150 Raptor: Born to Baja
Pebble Studios – ABC – ’Catch Jack’ Time after Time
IKEA – IKEA VR *
Imagination & REWIND – Jaguar Electrifies – The Future Is Now
Kuju – The Chainsmokers: Paris VR
Framestore – Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them: VR
RSA VR – Alien: Covenant In Utero | A Virtual Reality Experience
Infinite360 – Capital Creates Change
Nominierungen für die besten interaktiven VR-Medien/Filme des Jahres
5th Wall – ‘The Mummy’ Zero Gravity Stunt VR Experience
Google – Tabel
Baobab Studios – INVASION!
Penrose Studios – Allumette *
Anotherworld VR – KOBOLD VR
Hver Sin Stilhed – Separate Silences
Nominierungen für VR-Start-ups des Jahres
Inception VR
Cerevrum Inc.
MANDT VR
LiveLike *
MetaVRse
Nominierungen für den besten Einsatz von VR in Erziehung und Lehre
Mit Ghostbusters: Dimension begann es, erst vor wenigen Wochen gab The Void seine Zusammenarbeit mit Disney bekannt. Das VR-Arcade-Unternehmen entwickelt derzeit zusammen mit Disney, Lucasfilms und ILMxLABStar Wars: Secrets of the Empire. Noch in diesem Jahr will man den Hyper-Reality-Titel in zwei Disney-Einkaufszentren eröffenen. Im Interview verrät der CEO von The Void, wie er über den VR-Markt denkt, über Expansionspläne und dass er hofft, mit Star Wars die nächste VR-Welle auszulösen.
The Void CEO Cliff Plumer will nächste VR-Welle befeuern
Das längere Interview mit VentureBeat fand im Rahmen einer Israelreise statt, auf der der The-Void-CEO Cliff Plumer die VR- und AR-Szene begutachtete. Nach der Zusammenarbeit mit Disney befragt erklärt Plumer, dass man mit Star Wars: Secrets of the Empire gegenüber der bisherigen Arbeit den nächsten Level erreiche. Der CEO sieht in der Erfahrung sogar die Chance, der ganzen VR-Industrie einen Schub zu geben. Er hofft, dass Leute Star Wars erleben und sagen „Das ist das, worauf wir die ganze Zeit gewartet haben.“ Zwar setzt The Void bei seinen Erlebniswelten auf Elemente, die man zu Hause nicht oder kaum umsetzen kann. Die Entwickler arbeiten aber daran, die beiden Welten zu verbinden. Leute könnten sich dann beispielsweise zu Hause auf die Erfahrung in The Void vorbereiten.
Plumer hofft, mit The Void Konsumenten von VR zu überzeugen und eine zweite VR-Welle auszulösen. Niemandem sei damit gedient, wenn VR-Start-ups scheiterten. The Void steht laut Plumer im Gegensatz zu vielen Start-ups gut da, weil das Geschäftsmodell stimmt und man jeden Tag Umsatz generiere. In Kürze werde man eine nächste Finanzierungsrunde abschließen, die nicht nur frisches Geld bringe, sondern auch neue strategische Partnerschaften. Bei der zukünftigen Expandierung untersucht man derzeit Standorte wie Einkauszentren, Flughäfen und Theater. Man versuche herauszufinden, ob und wie oft Kunden die VR-Arcade besuchen wollen, oder man eher Reisende ansprechen sollte. Nächstes Jahr will man dann genügend Daten dazu gesammelt haben, um eine Entscheidung zu treffen. Wahrscheinlich werde man aber verschiedene Locations bevorzugen und nicht nur in Einkaufszentren vertreten sein.
As CEO of The Void, Cliff Plumer has to think big. Virtual reality fans are dishing out money for PC-based and mobile-based VR systems. But The Void is making location-based VR experiences must create a much bigger impression, since consumers will be paying for that experience in places such as theme parks.
The Void created the Ghostbusters: Dimension VR experience at the Madame Tussaud’s wax museum in New York. Tickets cost $53, and for that price, consumers get tetherless VR, 3D audio, motion sensors, and other kinds of feedback that attempt to immerse you in the world of Ghostbusters. The fans put on VR headsets attached to backpacks and then hunt ghosts with a proton gun in their hands. Plumer believes these extras will help make it more realistic and will help distinguish The Void’s products from low-end VR.
And Disney announced that The Void will create a new VR experience at Disney’s theme parks: Star Wars: Secrets of the Empire. I interviewed Plumer, who has 30 years of experience in the entertainment technology industry, as he was finishing up a visit to Israel for the Beyond Reality event, which took VR leaders on a tour of Israel’s VR and augmented reality research centers. We talked about making VR more accessible and affordable, and how companies can survive the current slowdown in VR sales.
Here’s an edited transcript of our conversation.
GamesBeat: What drew you Beyond Reality? What do you hope to get out of this event?
Cliff Plumer: One, I’ve always been interested in visiting Israel. I’ve seen a lot of amazing technology come out of this country. It was an opportunity to come over here and meet some people, meet some companies, and just see the country and the culture. It was hard to pass up. It worked out well. I haven’t been disappointed.
GamesBeat: There’s a lot of AR and VR technology in development in Israel.
Plumer: It’s impressive. I hadn’t known the depth of the support that the tech community gets here, both privately and from the government.
Above: The Void is making Star Wars: Secrets of the Empire as a VR experience in Disney theme parks.
Image Credit: The Void
GamesBeat: What’s a good way to introduce readers to The Void and the kind of work that it does, especially those who haven’t been able to make it to New York for your Ghostbusters production?
Plumer: One thing we try to emphasize is we don’t look at ourselves as just a VR company. All of our experiences are designed to be multisensory. Depending on the experience we’re creating, it’s not just something you see and hear. Being able to touch things and smell things — between the haptics and the other 4D effects we add to our experiences, that’s what creates that true immersion, as well as the social aspect. You’re not just interacting in the world we create, but you’re collaborating with the people you play with. It’s very much a social experience as well.
We find, with our guests that go through, that they forget about the technology. They just buy into it. They’re in the moment of that world that they’re exploring, just having fun. Too much of the conversation in the last couple of years has been about the tech, I think. We just need more great experiences that consumers can get excited about and want more of.
GamesBeat: You seem to have voted with the choices you made here, that you don’t want to leave anything out of the experience. You want to load in anything that makes it more immersive, even if it’s not part of a basic platform for VR.
Plumer: Right. We definitely want to gray the border between reality and the virtual world. There are things we’re working on that really play with your brain. Not only do you have to calibrate going into the experience, but you have to calibrate coming out of it. The more we gray that line, the more immersive and unique the experience becomes. We’re doing a lot to prepare our guests to go into the virtual world and come out of it that adds to the overall experience.
GamesBeat: Do you feel that the Ghostbusters experience is a good way to get a lot of people to try it out and pay for it and fund the technology?
Plumer: It was a great start. We’ve learned a ton since we launched that. It’s always hard to predict what consumers might do until you get a product out there. That’s when you learn. You make the necessary changes based on consumer response. Again, we’ve learned a lot in the past year since we launched that first experience.
GamesBeat: And now you’re working with Disney on a Star Wars experience?
Above: Inside The Void’s Ghostbusters Dimension experience.
Image Credit: The Void
Plumer: We’re shooting high. [laughs] It’s been great working with the Walt Disney Company and my friends at Lucasfilm again. We’re obviously excited about that. It’s going to be amazing. In comparison to what we did a year ago, this is the next level.
GamesBeat: Do you think of this as something more like a ride? Obviously, you’re not just treating it like logging into a PC, which is the way a lot of VR experiences have felt.
Plumer: We think of them as experiences. We obviously pay attention to other entertainment experiences out there, and not just in VR. We look at things like escape rooms, or Sleep No More in New York, all those sorts of immersive experience that are new. We try to learn from them and see what parts of those things can be integrated into what we do. With the Star Wars experience, it’s a huge difference from what we’ve done before. I’m sure fans will love it.
GamesBeat: The things you can add beyond VR visuals — hot and cold, vibrations, advanced audio — are these all things you can add to the experience?
Plumer: All those sorts of things, whether it’s to create a sense of motion, hitting all the different senses — there’s a lot we’re doing to enhance the avatars. We’re working on getting those to the point of photorealism, with more fluid motion and things like that. We’re adding more to the avatars you engage with in the experience as well. It’s not just about the world you’re in, but populating those worlds with interesting and engaging characters as well.
GamesBeat: What kind of challenge do you face in satisfying consumers now? You have to up the experience to a point where it’s not something they can do at home.
Plumer: Absolutely. That’s what always motivated me in my film career, always raising the bar. How do you show an audience something they haven’t seen before? It’s no different with what we’re doing at The Void. We always have to get consumers coming back to see something they haven’t seen before. If we achieve that we’ll be successful and keep entertaining customers for a long time.
Above: Ghostbusters Dimension experience in VR.
Image Credit: The Void
GamesBeat: Do you see technology having a path into homes? Do you ever seen your company making experiences for a mass consumer market?
Plumer: It’d be a completely different experience. Most consumers don’t have a lot of space in their homes or apartments. It just can’t compare to what we do in a Void center. People still go to amusement parks because you can’t replicate any of that at home. Some of the things that we’re doing, even though we don’t have a very big footprint, are still more than you can do at home, especially that social experience that we try to create.
But there are things we’re doing to create an in-home experience that may prepare you for going to a Void center, or allow you to network in. We’re working on technology where we can have people in different physical locations still share the same virtual worlds. That will give us some flexibility, not just at our Void centers, but for people who can engage from home.
GamesBeat: A lot of those connections seem to be in the works. People are thinking about connecting game shows, connecting people at home, connecting people at location-based experiences. You definitely have to top the bar of the Star Wars AR experience.
Plumer: [Laughs] Working with the folks at the ILM xLAB, they’re always pushing the envelope. They’re pushing us, because that’s what people expect, and that’s what we’re going to deliver.
GamesBeat: How do you feel about where VR is in general? Some people are a bit worried about the slowdown in the consumer market, whether all these startups are going to survive.
Plumer: Yeah, there was a lot of hype in the last couple of years. It’s definitely cooled down. Obviously we’re hoping that when people get a chance to see the Star Wars: Secrets of the Empire experience, they’ll be able to look at it and say, “That’s what we’ve been waiting for.” That’ll help drive the next step for the industry.
It’s in our interest that the whole industry succeeds. This isn’t just about The Void. We don’t want to see failures, because that’s bad for all of us. If we can set a goal that motivates others to shoot for it, then everybody wins and we’ll move on to the next thing.
Above: The Void
Image Credit: The Void
GamesBeat: Where do you stand on funding? Have you gotten any recently, or are you seeking any at the moment?
Plumer: We’re about to close a round that we’ll talk more about shortly. We’re excited about that. It also brings in some more strategic partners that are going to add a lot of value beyond just their capital.
GamesBeat: It is still possible to raise money, then?
Plumer: Oh, yeah. But I also think what we demonstrate is a real economic model. We’re generating revenue every day. That’s been part of the struggle for a lot of these VR startups. They have interesting ideas and they may have developed some interesting technology, but they haven’t been able to prove out an economic model. We have that, which strengthens our case with investors. They can see our path. They can see that we’re generating revenue now. We’re not pre-revenue.
GamesBeat: You’re in Israel now. What’s your general view of where VR is strong around the world?
Plumer: Frankly, it’s not, yet, other than maybe just awareness in some places. More and more people are hearing the term, but it’s still a very small audience that has experienced it in some way. Unfortunately there has been a lot of bad VR as well. That’s not good for any of us. We have to show consumers great VR experiences that are going to motivate them to re-engage. For us it’s visiting Void centers. We also want consumer adoption to go up, and hopefully all of this will help motivate that second wave.
I don’t think this is that unusual for most new media platforms. They launch with a lot of expectations and maybe then things cool down, but eventually it trends upward again. I believe that will start again, and hopefully we can help trigger that. I still think most people out there, most of the big Silicon Valley companies, believe it’s going to happen. It’s just taking longer than most had expected.
Above: The Void
Image Credit: The Void
GamesBeat: As far as your own locations, have you figured out what’s a good number for you to have in the future, in different places?
Plumer: Not yet, because we’re still learning, too. We’re also learning about types of locations. It’s one thing for us to put Void centers in theme parks and tourist locations, but we also have a lot of interest from shopping malls, movie theater chains, airports, and other types of locations that we want to test. We want to see what sort of response we get from them, whether it’s temporary audiences who are traveling versus neighborhood audiences, testing how often people might want to come back.
This is the sort of data we’re collecting now. Over the next year, we’ll have a lot of data about which types of locations might work best, especially as it varies around the world. That’s what will drive our growth, rather than just saying we’re going into a thousand shopping malls. We may find that it’s best to use a different mix of types of locations.
GamesBeat: You could do a Jerusalem experience.
Plumer: Absolutely. That’s an area we’re very passionate about. It’s not just about entertainment. We want to use the Void platform for education as well. Coming to a place like Jerusalem—we even traveled yesterday to the Syrian border. It’s something you have to experience for yourself. It’s hard to describe. It motivates me to think about how we could re-create these kinds of experiences inside the Void. Again, it’s not just what you see and hear. When you travel to places, they have a specific smell to them, or the breeze, all those sorts of things you remember when you’re in a particular location. That’s what we want to re-create in the Void. People can visit a place and understand what’s going on there, places like Jerusalem or Syria, because we can take you to these locations and give you not just immersion, but hopefully education. Maybe that has an impact in the long run.
Last week The Void announced that it was partnering with ILMxLAB and Disney to debut a Star Wars-themed VR arcade-style experience at locations near both Disneyland and Disney World.
Titled Star Wars: Secrets of the Empire, the experience is a large-scale multiplayer adventure that takes place in the Star Wars universe. Its exact timing and placement in the timeline isn’t strictly defined yet but based on the single piece of concept art (included below) we can make a few guesses.
It looks like players take on the role of rebel soldiers fighting against Empire forces, as we can see Stormtroopers firing back from the background. Since this appears to take place on a lava planet, presumably the same one where viewers saw Darth Vader’s secret base in Rogue One, we can also probably assume it’s where Anakin and Obi-Wan had their final standoff at the end of Episode III, although that last bit is never specifically confirmed. So, we’re assuming Secrets of the Empire takes place on Mustafar. Based on the name of the experience, it sounds like we might have to infiltrate Vader’s base and steal “secrets” of some kind, which falls in line with the timing that presumably puts it (we’re assuming) near Rogue One in the timeline.
Now, let’s get to our wishlist of stuff!
Cool Jedi Things
This is a big shot in the dark because Secrets of the Empire probably takes place during or near Rogue One in the Star Wars timeline, which means there are basically no Jedi left, at least not any that are publicly gallivanting with lightsabers and force powers at the time.
We would love to see some Jedis face-off in the experience, but we’re gonna chalk this one up to the least likely item on the list. I guess people can still return to Trials on Tatooine to feel what it’s like wielding a lightsaber in VR for now.
Hacking a Door
The scene where Han Solo and company have to hack into a bunker door on the planet Endor is one of the most iconic (and intense) moments from Star Wars: Episode VI – Return of the Jedi. Watching one player’s back while he or she frantically taps away on a control panel or tries to reprogram it and gain access would be a ton of fun.
This would also be a great way to add some asynchronous elements to the experience and encourage people to play through it multiple times so that they can try out different aspects of the adventure each time.
Face-Off Against Stormtroopers
Other than the Jedi, Stormtroops are arguably the most iconic thing from all of Star Wars. They’re renowned for their horrible aim, meaning it would be very simple to have them as enemies in a VR experience without providing a ton of challenge to players.
Let us face off against them in a big field like in Force Awakens (pictured above.). Or let us take them out from across long corridor hallways like seen so often in the original trilogy of films. We expect this to be a staple of the experience since we can already see them advertised prominently in the concept art work.
Darth Vader Appearance
This is what everyone really wants. We want to come face-to-face with the lord of the Sith himself, Darth Vader. He makes a grand appearance during Rogue One and is the key character throughout essentially the entire Star Wars saga as a whole.
It would be great if we saw him off in the distance approaching as we tried to escape and any blaster shots we sent his way he just effortlessly deflects. That would be incredibly intimidating and serve as an excellent (and terrifying) finale to the whole journey. Writing this list article makes me more excited than ever for the Darth Vader VR experience ILMxLAB is also working on.
Cooperative Ship Combat
The end of this experience probably involves a getaway of some kind. To properly have a sci-fi themed getaway, you need a spaceship (like the Millennium Falcon) and a crew to operate it. Why not build out a room on location at the event that’s mapped out like the interior of a ship with chairs and controls for players to actually use.
Let us fly the ship off of Mustafar at the end, blasting away at enemies as they chase us. This would be an epic way to end it all as a Tie fighter falls away and crashes for us to narrowly escape. This is really just an excuse to fly a ship in VR again because the Battlefront VR Mission made it seem so fun.
What do you hope is included in Star Wars: Secrets of the Empire? Let us know down in the comments below!
[Update] The Void hat damit begonnen, Tickets für die VR-Erfahrung Star Wars: Secrets of the Empire VR zu verkaufen. In Florida geht es am 16. Dezember los, in Kalifornien erst am 5. Januar 2018. Für die 30-minütige Erfahrung veranschlagt der Arcade-Betreiber knapp 30 US-Dollar. Im Rahmen des Vorverkaufs hat The Void zudem einen neuen Trailer veröffentlicht, der Lust auf das VR-Erlebnis machen soll.
Originalmeldung:
Das auf VR-Erfahrungen spezialisierte Unternehmen The Void kündigt an, den Titel Star Wars: Secrets of the Empire VR zu entwickeln. Dabei arbeiten die Ghostbusters-VR-Macher mit Disney, Lucasfilms und ILMxLAB zusammen. Noch in diesem Jahr soll die Star-Wars-Erfahrung in zwei Disney-Einkaufszentren zu bewundern sein.
Star Wars: Secrets of the Empire VR: Hyper-Reality für Krieg der Sterne
Mit Ghostbusters: Dimension hat The Void bereits gezeigt, was in VR möglich ist. Dafür nutzt das Unternehmen nicht nur Rucksack-PCs sowie angepasste und modifizierte VR-Hardware, sondern baute beispielsweise für Ghostbusters: Dimension ein ganzes Appartement nach. Das ermöglicht Spielern in der virtuellen Welt, mit realen Gegenständen zu interagieren und beispielsweise auf einem Sofa Platz zu nehmen. Man darf also von der Erfahrung Star Wars: Secrets of the Empire VR, die The Void derzeit zusammen mit Disney, Lucasfilms und ILMxLAB entwickelt, einiges erwarten.
The Void selbst bezeichnet seine Produktionen wie Ghostbusters und Star Wars als Hyper-Reality-Erfahrung. Besucher der neuen Erfahrung will man direkt in das Star-Wars-Universum entführen, wo sie sich frei bewegen und mit Freunden, der Familie und mit virtuellen Charakteren aus Star Wars interagieren können. Noch diese Jahr zur amerikanischen Weihnachts-Ferienzeit, die Ende November beginnt, soll die Erfahrung in zwei Einkaufszentren eröffnen: In Downtown Disney im Disneyland Resort und Disney Springs im Walt Disney World Resort. Viel mehr Details verrät der Blogbeitrag von The Void noch nicht und es ist derzeit noch unklar, ob die Erfahrungen des Unternehmens in naher Zukunft den Sprung über den großen Teich schaffen. Freuen würden wir uns darüber.
The VOID, a company specializing in bespoke VR experiences that go beyond what you can achieve with in-home VR hardware, previously announced the development of the Star Wars: Secrets of the Empire VR experience in collaboration with Disney, Lucasfilm, and ILM’s xLab. The Disney Springs location opened December 22nd, while the Downtown Disney at Disneyland Resort location opens today.
Update (01/05/18): The VOID co-founder James Jensen recently tweeted out news that the Downtown Disney Location is opening today.
Original Article (08/03/17): The VOID today announced that they’re applying VR attraction expertise to a new “hyper-reality” experience dubbed Star Wars: Secrets of the Empire. Due to debut at two new VOID venues in Downtown Disney at Disneyland Resort & Disney Springs at Walt Disney World Resort beginning this holiday season, the announcement is a big win for the company thanks to the involvement of the massively important Star Wars intellectual property, and collaboration with Disney, Lucasfilm, and ILM’s xLab.
Using specialized equipment like customized VR headsets, VR backpack PC’s, and commercial tracking technology, The VOID calls the VR experiences they deliver, “hyper-reality,” to signify that it goes above and beyond the sort of room-scale VR experience you can have at home with high-end consumer equipment.
“At The VOID, we combine the magic of illusions, advanced technology and virtual reality to create fully immersive social experiences that take guests to new worlds,” said Curtis Hickman, co-founder and chief creative officer at The VOID. “A truly transformative experience is so much more than what you see with your eyes; it’s what you hear, feel, touch, and even smell. Through the power of The VOID, guests who step into StarWars: Secrets of the Empire won’t just see this world, they’ll know that they are part of this amazing story.”
More specifically, The VOID allows multiple players to roam around large, physical, movie set-like environments which are overlaid with matching virtual reality scenes. We stepped inside the company’s Ghostbusters: Dimensions experience in New York City; this trailer gives an idea of the kind of experience The VOID delivers:
So far there’s little detail about what the Star Wars: Secrets of the Empire experience will entail, but if The VOID’s prior work is anything to go by, we’ll be expecting something polished and highly immersive.
Anything Star Wars related tends to be big news, so today, location-based virtual reality (VR) specialist The VOID has revealed a major announcement. In partnership with Lucasfilm and ILMxLAB, the company has unveiled Star Wars: Secrets of the Empire, an immersive experience that’ll feature at The VOID’s two new experience centres in the US.
These two centres will be located at Downtown Disney at Disneyland Resort and Disney Springs at Walt Disney World Resort, opening this holiday season.
ILMxLAB, created the experience, in collaboration with The VOID, putting guests directly into the iconic Star Wars galaxy. Using The VOID’s own custom built, untethered VR system – as used in the Ghostbusters: Dimensions experience – attendees will be able move freely throughout the multi-sensory experience as they interact and engage with friends, family and Star Wars characters.
“At The VOID, we combine the magic of illusions, advanced technology and virtual reality to create fully immersive social experiences that take guests to new worlds, said Curtis Hickman, co-founder and chief creative officer at The VOID in a statement. A truly transformative experience is so much more than what you see with your eyes; it’s what you hear, feel, touch, and even smell. Through the power of The VOID, guests who step into Star Wars: Secrets of the Empire won’t just see this world, they’ll know that they are part of this amazing story.”
“At ILMxLAB, we want people to step inside the worlds of our stories, explained Vicki Dobbs Beck, executive in charge of the division. Through our collaboration with The VOID, we can make this happen as guests become active participants in an unfolding Star Wars adventure. By combining Lucasfilm’s storytelling expertise with cutting-edge imagery, and immersive sound from the team at Skywalker Sound, while invoking all the senses, we hope to truly transport all those who experience Star Wars: Secrets of the Empire to a galaxy far, far away.”
As the company continues its expansion, earlier this year The VOID appointed former Lucasfilm and Industrial Light & Magic CTO, Cliff Plumer, as CEO. While in July it joined the Disney Accelerator Program.
VRFocus will continue its coverage of The VOID, reporting back with the latest announcements.
Verschiedene Konzerne bieten Accelerator-Programme an, um jungen Startups und kleineren Unternehmen unter die Arme zu greifen und gemeinsam neue Innovationen zu schaffen. Dazu zählen auch HTC und Disney. Letztere wählen jedes Jahr einige wenige Firmen aus, um sie in ihr eigenes Accelerator-Programm zu integrieren. Die diesjährigen Auserwählten sind zwei bekannte Namen aus der VR-Industrie.
The Void und Epic Games zukünftig bei Disney
Die Teilnahme an Disneys Accelerator-Programm bietet diverse Vorteile: Die beteiligten Unternehmen erhalten nicht nur finanzielle Unterstützung, sondern auch Support der Experten des Multikonzerns bei neuen Innovationen und Technologien. Doch auch die Veröffentlichung von Produkten innerhalb des Disney-Universums ist möglich. Entsprechend begehrt sind die Plätze innerhalb des Programms bei Unternehmen. Um diese zu verteilen, werden jährlich einige Unternehmen ausgewählt. Dieses Jahr waren die Teilnehmer: Ambidio, Axiomatic, Brit+Co, Epic Games, Hoodline, Kahoot!, ProductionPro, Reply Yes, Samba TV, Savioke und The Void.
Auserwählt wurden letztendlich The Void und Epic Games.
The Void ist bekannt durch Einrichtungen mit VR-Erfahrungen, welche weltweit in diversen Städten installiert sind. So gibt es bereits Erlebnisparks in New York, London, Dubai und bald auch in Kanada. Die bekannteste Attraktion ist die Ghostbusters VR-Erfahrung.
Das zweite Unternehmen ist Epic Games, die Schaffer der Unreal Engine, welche von unzähligen Enwicklern für VR-Spiele und herkömmliche Games verwendet wird. Außerdem entwickelte das Unternehmen erfolgreiche VR-Titel wie Robo Recall für die Oculus Rift und arbeitet an unterschiedlichen AR-Technologien.
Durch die Kooperation der Unternehmen mit Disney könnten wir also zukünftig The Void VR-Erfahrungen mit Disney-Inhalten erleben. So könnte es The Void Erlebnisse im Star Wars-Universum geben, die uns in die Schlacht gegen das Imperium führen oder in die Rolle eines Jedis schlüpfen lassen. Auch eine offizielle Unterstützung des Robo Recall: Star Wars Modswäre denkbar. Die Möglichkeiten sind unbegrenzt und wir sind gespannt, was die Zusammenarbeit für die VR-Industrie mit sich bringt.
