Oculus Rift Demos "Game of Thrones" at SxSW. Fans Wowed
The SXSW interactive Festival is a 10-day show featuring the hottest gadgets in tech industry, film and digital culture. This year, Oculus Rift offered fans of “Game of Thrones”, the mega-popular HBO series, take a ride in a brief immersion into the “Ascend the Wall” episode, where the user gets to experience a small fraction of the Night Watch soldier ward. Being a part of the traveling exhibit promoting the mega-popular “Game of Thrones” returning next month for its fourth season, Oculus Rift has wowed visitors of SXSW interactive Festival gathering queues of devoted and simply curious fans. A virtual reality headset captured the imaginations of video gamers ever since its staggering debut in 2012 as the $2.4 million Kickstarter.
Oculus Rift was designed specifically for video gaming, and it offers a 360° field vision, allowing users to view their surroundings in a highly realistic manner and react to the stimuli accordingly.
“Ascend the wall” was created by Framestore, the London-based visual effects company that scored an Oscar for best visual effects in “Gravity” and also has another Oscar in stock for a 2008 movie “The Golden Compass.”
Mike Woods, creative director at Framestore said,” it’s whatever you want it to be. They know that they’re reinventing gaming. There are, literally, endless possibilities.”
The SXSW “Game of Thrones” show also featured costumes, props, and other show attributes, and visitors were lining up for several hours to get a quick turn in booths designed like elevators that carry soldiers on the icy wall.
“Night gathers, and now your watch begins. You step into the elevator and take a last look around the courtyard of Castle Black before a bone rattling ride lifts you 700 feet, depositing you in the whipping wind of the frigid North, high atop the wall. Then, as the red flames of torches flicker in the distance, you hear two telling blasts from the watchmen’s horns. The wildings are coming.”
Once you are inside, you get a set of Oculus Rift paired with headphones, and the journey begins. The visual effects were built on the gaming engine while the booths’ floor and walls are covered with rubble that help maintain the illusion of movement. Multiply that by air vents blowing freezing air into your face, and you get completely immersed in the “Game of Thrones” world.
Hundred percent of those who were lucky enough to get a test drive said the experience was impressive. The full field view makes you look over your shoulder as you expect an attack, and as you move closer to the edge of the wall you are literally scrambling back despite that you know you’re actually in an Austin music Hall.
Oculus Rift made a lot of big fans at the exhibit. “Game of Thrones” actor Kristian Nairn, better known as Hodor, is an avid gamer and experienced the Oculus Rift’s “Ascend the Wall” demo:
“I was excited to try the Oculus Rift… Wasn't ready for the awesome,” he tweeted in his account. “I’m telling you, if you are excited about it, it’s better than you hope!” He also said he was looking forward to applying Oculus Rift with games like “World of Warcraft” and “Skyrim.”
“They will be perfect for it”, he said.
He was not the only one praising the gadget. Andy Kinsella, Google Creative Labs executive producer, tweeted, “The Oculus experience is ridiculously good. Wanted it to last for hours.”
The show turned out to be a major success, and sometimes visitors had to wait for more than two hours to get inside. Organizers said “Game of Thrones” was in the top 10 of the most popular topics tweeted in relation to the SXSW.
“Game of Thrones” 4th season kicks off on April 4 on HBO. It is an incredibly popular show, and the exhibition blended with cutting-edge technology happened to be the winning combination for the show that has been making waves of viewer anticipation long before the first teasers appeared on YouTube.
