The first time I watched an alien newborn claw its way out of a human’s belly — with blood and guts gushing — was 38 years ago, in a Boston cinema. The movie, of course, was Ridley Scott’s Alien, and I was so tense and unhinged at the uber-violent, boundary-pushing scene that I practically broke my boyfriend’s arm.
Alien Covenant, the newest in the popular sci-fi franchise, is pushing boundaries again. On Wednesday, virtual reality — that wild, wacky technology — allowed me to watch a short promo for the film depicting, with 360-degree views, an alien birth from the alien’sperspective.
This time, little alien arms, viewed from inside the birth sac, tore through the flesh. Internal organs rebelled. And the unfortunate human host — more blood and guts gushing — collapsed dead on a table. Eww…
This promo, courtesy of hardware company AMD and Fox, was just one of some two dozen VR experiences available at The Art of VR conference happening today and tomorrow (June 22-23) at Sotheby’s in New York. While cinematic “storytelling” experiences certainly dominated, the enthusiastic young exhibitors and their headsets offered more than a hint of big, big opportunities ahead for entrepreneurs — creative and commercial alike — smart enough to be paying attention.
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That’s why he’s aiming to get drug companies and medical companies on board. “We’re finding our biggest opportunities for the near future are going to be location-based entertainment arcades as well as the medical industry,” Mack said.
Those arcades came up by others such as Larry Jones, CEO ofBlackthorn Media, whose Dragonflight VR experience had people lining up at a press briefing to “fly” on a dragon’s back, a la Game of Thrones’s Khaleesi. Jones spoke of the franchise company VR Junkies,whose franchisees are setting up quick and relatively cheap storefronts.
“Where the market is right now is about games,” Jones said. But movie-style storytelling, he said, is coming on the VR scene more and more. That’s how his 2-year-old company has attracted six Academy Award nominees (and one winner). “We’re taking the imagery and expertise you have with something like [the movie] Life of Pi and putting it into a game,” he said. “It’s kind of like crazy. Crazy good.”
The Virtual Reality Company (VRC) also has attracted some high-powered interest. “We have an advisor who’s a really well-known filmmaker,” CEO Guy Primus divulged: “Steven Spielberg.”
VRC’s website contains stills from its Art of VR offering, Rukus, a 12-minute family friendly animated VR experience, in which two preteens and their dog travel to a world populated by dinosaurs. Viewers have an extra experience here: Their chairs rumble and vibrate according to the action on the screen. Those motion seats come via the Montreal company D-box (whose vice president, Richard LaBerge, pointed out, “The body has to participate to make it a real virtual reality”).
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Source: Entrepreneur