Smart Screen
Vast Media Smart Screen Round-Up: Nickelodeon VR Series, ‘Sharknado’ Goes AR
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Here’s a run-down of recent second screen-related entertainment items, via Berlin-based research and consulting company Vast Media.
• Nickelodeon has announced plans for a new animated series — “Meet the Voxels” — that counts itself as one of the first ever animated series developed within a gaming engine, and experienced in virtual and augmented reality.
The series is being produced with real-time facial and full-body performance capture, and takes viewers into a video game world and a family of characters existing inside the game.
• At the recent IFA event in Berlin, Samsung debuted a new augmented reality experience tied into the popular adult animated series “Family Guy.” Dubbed “Doorways,” the smart phone-enabled experience allows users to do an AR tour with the Griffin family, tied into experiencing Samsung Intelligent Home devices. The experience calls on users to interact with the characters by using Samsung devices.
• Tied into the release of the latest “Sharknado” film, SyFy Films teamed up with Autumn VR to create the virtual reality game “Sharknado VR: Eye of the Storm,” available for the PlayStation VR, Oculus, Steam, Vive, iOS and Android platforms.
The game puts users into a tornado where they’re tasked with fending off a onslaught of sharks and other sea creatures, using machine guns, chainsaws and more.
• Premiered during the recent “Teen Choice Awards,” Fox introduced a new mobile video game experience, dubbed “FNGenius.” The app — available for iOS and Android devices — gives out cash prizes in real time, with trivia questions presented by actor Jordan Jones, star of the Fox series “Rel.”
