Ridley Scott’s 2015 sci-fi blockbuster, The Martian, is considered a return to form for the legendary director. This week, you’ll be able to enter the world of the movie with a new VR experience.
You may have heard of The Martian VR Experience before. Developed at 20th Century Fox’s Fox Innovation Lab along with RSA Films and The Virtual Reality Company, the cinematic piece has been shown at a handful of events throughout the year but, tomorrow, you’ll get to experience it at home on both the HTC Vive and PlayStation VR.
This isn’t a simple 360 degree experience like other Fox VR projects such as Wild; it’s a full VR production that uses position-tracked controls. You take on the role of astronaut Mark Watney, played by Matt Damon in the movie, and experience key scenes like driving a rover across the surface of the red planet, and flying through space. While it’s not necessarily a VR movie, it might be closer to something like Batman: Arkham VR, as a shorter experiential piece in which you won’t have to worry about failure. It’s built in Epic Games’ Unreal Engine 4.
This likely isn’t the first time HTC Vive owners will have visited Mars, and nor will it have been the last. Experiences like Mars Odyssey are already available and others like Mars 2030 are still on the way. We’ll also be seeing more of Ridley Scott’s worlds in VR; the upcoming Blade Runner sequel will have VR tie-in content, as announced back at Oculus Connect 3 last month.
It may be a promotional experience, but Fox certainly thinks it’s worth a price; The Martian VR Experience will cost $19.99. We’ll be interested to see the difference between the Vive and PS VR versions. We’ve also asked after the possibility of an Oculus Rift version, though it would likely arrive once Oculus Touch releases in early December.
Would you pay for an experience like this?
