Comic Con is upon us, and as you might expect in their quest to stamp virtual reality gaming in the minds of public, Oculus VR have set up shop at the San Diego Expo to showcase a VR experience that involves sitting in the cockpit of one of Pacific Rim‘s giant mechs.
A trailer advertising Pacific Rim: Jaeger Pilot has been put up on Legendary’s YouTube channel. Unfortunately, it shows only footage from the film and nothing from the actual experience; one would have to go to Legendary’s Comic-Con booth #3920 at the San Diego Convention Center to experience a demo.
Jaeger Pilot is being developed by visual effects company Reel FX, whose credits include Ice Age and Kung Fu Panda. The experience is being build on the Unreal 4 Engine using assets from Industrial Light and Magic, and will put users in the cockpit of Gipsy Danger, the central Jaeger from the film, as it combats a giant monster nicknamed “Knifehead.”
The level of interactivity in Jaeger Pilot is unclear; the careful wording of the above trailer to emphasize its nature as a virtual reality experience and not a game suggests that it will be a non-interactive experience in which players simply put on an Oculus Rift and take in the sights and sounds of mech-on-monster action without having any input.
Whatever the case, the involvement of both Oculus and Legendary is sure to increase the Oculus Rift’s profile in the public eye, and perhaps pave the way for a more interactive Pacific Rim VR experience.