The seminal Ghost in the Shell franchise remains just as relevant now as it did when the anime film released in 1995. Even now, 20 years after that and more than 25 years after the manga, new aspects and forms of media continue to come out. There's the new movies, the play, and even the live-action adaptation somewhere off in the distance—but there's also an "immersive VR app" on the way.
Titled "Ghost In The Shell: The Movie Virtual Reality Diver," the app is being billed as an "experience" as it seemingly doesn't constitute much more than an on-rails VR film of sorts. It was demoed at the Tokyo Game Show 2015 in a special bubble theater to specially showcase the app. But what is it like? Here's how the recently released 360-degree trailer describes it: "The sensation of becoming someone else. Cybernetically hack into the universe of Ghost in the Shell and experience new sensations." The official site isn't much help, either, though it's certainly there to read.
The trailer itself is rather impressive, though it has its fair share of robot nudity like most Ghost in the Shell products. The actual creation process of Major Motoko Kusanagi's body is something else when viewed in simulated 3D. The rest is fairly run of the mill, but, you know, in the style of Ghost in the Shell. About 10 or so minutes of Ghost in the Shell-style VR is better than not 10 or so minutes of Ghost in the Shell-style VR.
The VR experience of a lifetime is scheduled to launch for smartphone-based virtual reality solutions like Google Cardboard this winter—Kotaku pegs it for early 2016. The full runtime is expected to be about 10 minutes, and it'll cost approximately $3.90, or 480 yen.
Source: Kotaku
