Sony unleashes a holographic monster on Tokyo Bay

See, this is how you bust out a hologram -- unlike the mind-numbingly boring virtual Prince Charles we heard about the other day, Sony's invaded Tokyo Bay with a water-and-laser sea monster. The apparition is part of the promotion for a movie called "Water Horse: Legend of the Deep," but even with a title like that, we'll definitely check it out on import DVD when it arrives Stateside just to provide more incentive for stunts like this. Check out a video after the break.

[Zadillo @ Feb 1st 2008 12:13AM]

This movie actually came out in the US (and in fact was being advertised on Engadget), so you shouldn't need to wait for an import DVD release.

[Joe Anstine @ Feb 1st 2008 12:13AM]

I don't think the movie is an import...didn't get released here back around Christmas?

[ExcavatE @ Feb 1st 2008 12:13AM]

Super cool.
This would have been a great vehicle for some Cloverfield promotions !

[Anthony @ Feb 1st 2008 12:16AM]

Oh sure its all fun and games until someone loses an eye looking into a laser.

[Evan @ Feb 1st 2008 12:21AM]

wtf sony.

[nxtiak @ Feb 1st 2008 12:24AM]

I wonder how much they're gonna pay to import the DVD over the $13.98 price at Wal-Mart when it comes out pretty soon here.

[Bevon Findley @ Feb 1st 2008 12:25AM]

Imagine if this happened in the states without the news, people would think it was an alien lol

[holycow @ Feb 1st 2008 12:27AM]

thats super awesome!

[Jeff @ Feb 1st 2008 12:31AM]

Seems to me that was just a projection on mist. Does that really qualify as a "hologram"?

[Jared @ Feb 1st 2008 12:33AM]

Reminds me of Back to the Future II

[Tiffany @ Feb 1st 2008 12:35AM]

welcome to digg and reddit from two weeks ago

[ED @ Feb 1st 2008 12:44AM]

Something tells me Ed is behind this... I wonder if he got all the right TPCD permits. Quick, someone call Largo to battle this thing with cardboard missiles of d00m

[smi1ey @ Feb 1st 2008 12:49AM]

wow that's really cool :)

[DWells55 @ Feb 1st 2008 12:56AM]

That's freakin' awesome. I would've loved to have been there to see that.

[whatsdamattau @ Feb 1st 2008 1:01AM]

So Disneyland-like.

[IndiaTech @ Feb 1st 2008 1:10AM]

Hey... Japanese Cloverfield...

[Jon @ Feb 6th 2008 5:07AM]

And Cloverfield is America's Godzilla.

[Bryan T @ Feb 1st 2008 1:32AM]

you have no idea how much I would freak out if I saw that without knowing ahead of time what it was.

[Mic2000 @ Feb 1st 2008 2:13AM]

Its not a hologram. Its a projection on strong water splash that is sprayed into the ear like an circle in half. If you look carefull you see the waterspraying system(also a circle in half) beneath the projection. Its really cool idea, i've also seen this in WolfsBurg

[CapWKidd @ Feb 1st 2008 2:16AM]

Jeff & whatsdamattau, very Disney like... this is how they do the projections for Fantasmic (for like 10 years now).... spray a wall of water, then project an image on it...

[f14tomdog2 @ Feb 1st 2008 2:23AM]

its Godzillaaaaaaaaa!!!!!!!

[rickane58 @ Feb 1st 2008 2:42AM]

f14tomdog2
@ Feb 1st 2008 2:23AM
its Godzillaaaaaaaaa!!!!!!!

Do you mean Godzirraaaa?!?!?!?!

[cornflakes @ Feb 1st 2008 2:58AM]

@CapWKidd

It's similar to Fantasmic, but much more advanced. This has a 3D effect to it, compared to Fantasmic which is a flat 2D cartoon video projected onto water.

[skulldriveshaft @ Feb 1st 2008 3:00AM]

Water Horse = Hippopotamus?

[Haxornick89 @ Feb 1st 2008 3:23AM]

awww come on engadget gizmodo had this like 1 or 2 weeks ago keep up!!!

[z0idberg @ Feb 1st 2008 5:18AM]

They could have done a kickass promotion for Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within with this tech.

[mattclarkie @ Feb 1st 2008 5:47AM]

Who cares if this isn't quite as cutting edge as it could be, it was still very cool, and a brilliant pieced of marketing we would never think of in the West.

Way to go Sony.

Admit it fanboys, you would be acting so much more impressed if Apple had made a 60' projection of the MBA

[bob @ Feb 1st 2008 5:49AM]

how would you describe a hologram if not as a 3D projection?? Water or otherwise it's still holographic in appearance, which is the only necessary criteria when discussing graphics. Maybe one day they'll do this with a specially tuned electron gun or something...I don't know what I'm talking about.

[Magnulus @ Feb 1st 2008 7:00AM]

Sure, it looks nice, but could it swallow McFly?

[Bob @ Feb 1st 2008 7:50AM]

Shark still looks fake.

[Carson T. @ Feb 1st 2008 7:57AM]

i've seen this type of projection before in Singapore. A whole water/laser/fire show at Sentosa Island. Very nice

[dataminer49er @ Feb 1st 2008 8:11AM]

Just don't do a Moonite hologram in Boston Harbor or the Feds will really lose it.

[Hooterman @ Feb 1st 2008 10:14AM]

the screenshot is meh, but to see it in motion, WOW, very awesome!!

and to the schmucks complaining that this is old, get a life...

[chandlerlescoe @ Feb 1st 2008 6:06PM]

Wow, that's amazing! And Disneyland has been doing this since...... oh, um, 1995. Way to go Sony! You really beat everyone to the punch with this one!

[David Susilo @ Feb 1st 2008 8:01PM]

It's not holography, it's the same technique (projected image to water-spray screen) as used in Disney Studios' Fantasmic. Furthermore, they (Disney) use three screens as opposed to one.

I have to admit, however, this is a better implementation than Disney although the technology is 100% the same.

[ZeroCorpse @ Feb 1st 2008 8:50PM]

Very cool.

The Japanese really WANT to have giant monsters invade Tokyo, don't they? You can almost sense it's like some sort of goal for them.

When a Japanese robotics team invents the first 400-foot killer robot, don't say I didn't warn you.

[BowserUSC @ Feb 1st 2008 10:05PM]

It kind of looks like a giant penis when the head is sticking straight up.

[Nymo @ Feb 3rd 2008 5:47PM]

Kinda sad when the darn movie's been advertised here in the states since over a month, and nobody knows about it.
Shame on Sony Pictures US on poor advertising!
(hint: it's the movie about nessie, you know, the lochness monster?)

and yeah, Not sure if that's holographic, as it's a projector and mist. I've seen this all the time at Disneyland...