Stephen Spielberg’s long-awaited Ready Player One finally lands in theaters on March 29, and we’ve got everything you need to know about the sci-fi blockbuster. The South by Southwest Film Festival (SXSW) has the world premiere of the film, and the entire festival has been turned into a virtual reality spectacle to promote it.
HTC Vive, the official VR partner of the film, has created no less than eight immersive VR adaptations that festival attendees can experience the OASIS for themselves. As Road to VR reports, the promotion has taken over a full two-story block in Austin, recreating the Stacks in the dystopian future envisioned by Ernest Cline’s novel.
Here’s a summary of the eight VR adaptations, which will also be showcased at VR arcades across the U.S. and available to download free from Viveport later this month:
Longtime VR fan Charlie Fink, writing for Forbes, caught up with producer Donald DeLine at the festival. “You can’t launch a movie like Ready Player One without giving fans a chance to step into the world of the Oasis,” he said. “Even Steven Spielberg got into the VR games, battling the IOI and making it to the final level of Planet Doom on his first try.”
“Recreating the Distracted Globe nightclub scene is the essence of what we’ve been working on in bringing TheWaveVR to market,” said co-founder Aaron Lemke. “Just like the film, we want to create a place where people can come and experience something beyond magical.”
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