Interstellar on Oculus Rift offered a breathtakingly realistic simulation of zero gravity
But sadly no CGI McConaughey
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Your support makes all the difference.I say realistic, I lack the millions of dollars needed to know what the real thing feels like (or the constitution to stomach the Vomit Comet) but the experience did feel close to how I imagine weightlessness to be, jettisoning me through the corridor of a space craft.
The Interstellar filmmakers teamed up with Oculus Rift, IMAX and developers ThinkingBox to create the sequence, which puts you behind the controls of the Endurance ship from the film.
As with previous programs I've tried out, the stationary scenes aren't all that impressive, and moving around the ship's cabins didn't feel dissimilar from roaming a multiplayer level on Goldeneye (the visuals are still frustratingly low res), but once a disembodied voice announced that gravity generators were being switched off, the sequence really came into its own.
Combining goggle-based visual display, head tracking camera, immersive sound and a moving chair, a glorious floating sensation was achieved, causing you to duck as you drifted through doorways and have to stop yourself grabbing out for pens and other objects as they floated towards you.
The fact that you can see all around you but not actually move is usually Oculus Rift's shortcoming, but in this instance it made perfect sense, your inability to grasp anything adding to the effect of the zero gravity simulation.
The Endurance was really quite a pleasant place to while away some time, and you can begin to see how as the technology continues to be honed it might prove more tempting than the real world for avid gamers.
Try Intersteller on Oculus Rift for yourself at MCM Comic Con between Friday 24 October and Sunday 26 October.
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