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Oculus-exclusive film Zero Point hits Steam today
Condition One launched its first 3D, 360-degree film, Zero Point, on Steam today. The movie requires an Oculus Rift to view, and is compatible with both the first and second development kits for the headset. It also needs a minimum of 4 GB of memory, 2 GB of hard drive space and a processor at least as good as the Intel Core i7-2600. Viewers can download a free demo of the film through Steam as well. Zero Point was directed by Danfung Dennis, whose 2011 film Hell and Back Again was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature. Our brief time with a few scenes of Zero Point in February found it to be a "clip collection" of sorts that provided viewers the illusion of being in different environments. Those scenes included moments with soldiers during a training exercise as well as a trip across E3's show floor. Zero Point is 20 percent off ($11.99) until Monday, November 3. [Image: Condition One]
What Oculus Rift and games could do for movies in VR
I recently watched a few scenes from 'Zero Point,' a 360-degree film for the Oculus Rift virtual reality headset. Here's what I thought: Above: Mirror's Edge Movies and video games complement one another, except when they bust out the classic insults: one's 'videogamey' and the other is so 'cinematic.' 'Just like a video game' has long been the pejorative comparison from the movie critic, shifting in his seat when nothing in the computer-generated scene is real, not even the point. Video games are shorthand for too big, too loud and too stupid. Before you savage this critic and HOW DARE HE and so forth, we game critics are just as guilty of citing films among a game's successes and failures. Oh, this game is exquisitely cinematic – a groveling platitude that seems to put games one rung down as the medium that wishes it were a movie. And this game over here? Too movie-like, and a bad flick that doesn't even have the decency to let you jump around in it like an idiot. The conversation becomes more interesting when you introduce an exciting technology like Oculus Rift, the virtual reality headset that's rocketed into visibility with every new user-turned-believer. Though a consumer model is on the way, most of the buzz has come from the increasingly-refined developer kits and the software created by talented individuals and companies who envision the Oculus Rift as the next step in 3D exploration, combat, disembodiment and unforeseen vomiting. Some people get sick from it, unfortunately.
