By: Dominic Jones
Lucasfilm and the ILMxLAB have announced a new hyper-reality experience that will debut at Downtown Disney in California and Disney Springs in Florida this holiday season. The experience, titled Star Wars: Secrets of the Empire, was developed by ILMxLAB in collaboration with THE VOID, a company that specializes in combining VR head set experiences with real locations. THE VOID has previously worked on the Ghostbusters: Dimensions experience, which was met with positive reviews.
StarWars.com describes Secrets of the Empire by saying it will, "allow fans to move freely in an untethered, social, and multi-sensory experience, including interaction with friends, fans, and Star Wars characters."
ILMxLAB executive, Vicki Dobbs Beck told StarWars.com,
"Through our collaboration with THE VOID, we can make this happen as guests become active participants in an unfolding Star Wars
adventure. By combining Lucasfilm’s storytelling expertise with
cutting-edge imagery, and immersive sound from the team at Skywalker
Sound, while invoking all the senses, we hope to truly transport all
those who experience Star Wars: Secrets of the Empire to a galaxy far, far away. "
Lucasfilm has been making big strides into the Virtual Reality and Augmented Reality realms lately, with the ILMxLAB continuing to push the technology further. So far we've seen the VR experience Trials on Tatooine (which I tried at Celebration London last year and can safely say it's awesome), as well as the Battlefront VR experience for PlayStation VR in 2016. More recently they showed off a Star Wars proof of technology on the new iMac, partnered with Starlight Children's foundation to bring VR experiences to children in hospitals, and announced a new AR experience at D23 that will be available for smartphones soon. Not to mention there's also David S. Goyer's Darth Vader VR experience that was announced at Celebration London that's in development.
No specific release date for Secrets of the Empire is given, it is only stated that will be available "beginning this holiday season." Christmas themed events typically begin in November at the Disney Parks and even though Secrets of the Empire isn't Holiday themed (as far as we know, it could--however unlikely--be the long awaited sequel to the infamous Star Wars Holiday Special), so that seems like a safe time frame to expect the experience to debut.
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