The Verge: Starting today, the first thing you’ll see when you walk into the Scotiabank Theatre in downtown Toronto — even before the giant Klingon Bird of Prey dangling above the escalators — is a state-of-the-art virtual reality arcade. You’ll probably even hear a few of the telltale shrieks that come from someone’s first VR experience. Today, IMAX is opening the latest of its IMAX VR centers with its first location in Canada. The launch follows VR installations in theaters in Shanghai and New York, as well as a flagship location in Los Angeles that debuted back in January.
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4 comments:
VR is such an interesting and exciting new platform for a whole multitude of people to explore and create in from designers and directors to actors and all other types of creators. I have some limited experience playing and creating for VR in the past on limited systems and softwares but this medium as whole I think will brush in a whole new wave of entertainment and more interaction then any other form in the past. I really like the idea that Imax is trying to go for hear expanding into the field. I hope for their sake that it is able to sustain itself for a long enough time for this gable to pay off. It just still seems to me that it might be just a tad to early in the game for this large of an investment in other's technologies to think that this form and us for VR will be its ultimate purpose but hopefully it will get more and more people into the world of VR and start to plant the "bug" in a new generation of makers that can grow with the concept.
The use of VR in video games and arcades makes sense to me. I do not understand, however, how VR would be used in film other than as a prop or part of the plot. I am interested in what these directors and film creators intend to do with VR in their work.
Additionally, I can not imagine VR integrating into live theatre. From my understanding of virtual reality equipment and programming, the live theatre experience, and the community atmosphere of being a theatre audience member is totally eliminated by the use of VR. I do not mean that media and the use of augmented reality should not be used in live theatre. I think that the use of technology and technology that let's the audience interact with the show is a really cool innovation that adds a new layer to the live theatre experience. I do not think that a VR machine that isolates the audience member from the people around them and the theatre space is appropriate for a live theatre setting. As it exists currently, I believe VR has its grounded place in the home entertainment industry, and perhaps branching into film, but has no place in live theatre.
VR is so exciting and a new way to explore creation for people in all aspects of the creative community. IMAX taking the step forward and choosing to expand it’s horizons by being one of the first in the industry. Logistically, I don’t see the time, effort, and money that goes into creating such a production as generating enough success to create a big enough payoff. There is just so much that goes into truly creating a VR piece, which IMAX is obviously aware of, but the long term success might not equal the input of work, however I might be surprised. When VR was first conceptualized in the realm of video games and arcade style attractions it raised many questions, but after entering consumer hands, it became widely popular. I can’t wait to see if it will grow and flourish within that realm as we have seen it do so well in video games.
VR is such a cool tech that isn’t entirely new anymore but still being developed in reality. This IMAX VR location theater pop up that is going on is a cool way of trying new things and testing things out for the future as maybe one day this will be a form of entertainment just like going to the movies or to see a play. However, what exists right now is just not up to par for that quite yet. It is interesting but to enter a pod and do something simple like dodge obstacles as the flash just doesn’t sound all that fun or worth my money. It is cool because it is VR but I would like to see it become more fleshed out as they are working on doing. It is also smart to notice trends in developing their VR experiences as people will eventually want something more specific out of this although I just don’t think we know exactly what we want out if it. It is still just too new and we want to see more but we want there to be more as well. It will be interesting to see where VR continues but it is exciting to say the least.
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