[The VOID] Expérience d'hyper réalité virtuelle proposée entre autre à Disney Springs et Downtown Disney District (depuis 2017)

Nouvelle expérience de réalité virtuelle à Walt Disney World Resort et Disneyland Resort sur le thème de Star Wars : Star Wars : Secrets of the Empire !

L'expérience est une collaboration entre Disney/Lucasfilm/ILM et The Void (www.thevoid.com), déjà présent aux Etats-Unis, au Canada et à DubaÏ (où The Void propose une expérience de réalité virtuelle intitulée Ghostbusters: Dimension inspirée de la franchise Ghostbusters).

L'entreprise américaine a annoncé l'ouverture de deux nouveaux The Void Experience Centers, le premier à Downtown Disney (Disneyland Resort) et le second à Disney Springs (Walt Disney World Resort).

Voici le communiqué de presse diffusé par The Void :

Citation :

Get Ready to Step Beyond Reality and into a Galaxy Far, Far Away with Star Wars: Secrets of the Empire

We couldn’t be more excited to announce the production of our newest hyper-reality experience, Star Wars: Secrets of the Empire. This first-of-its kind Star Wars experience is being produced by the world-class teams at Lucasfilm and ILMxLAB in collaboration with the team here at The VOID. Soon you’ll have the opportunity to step beyond reality into a galaxy far, far away!

Star Wars: Secrets of the Empire will plunge guests directly into the iconic Star Wars galaxy. They will move freely throughout the untethered, social, and multi-sensory Star Wars: Secrets of the Empire experience in a way that allows them to interact and engage with friends, family and Star Wars characters. This ground-breaking experience will open to the public at two new VOID Experience Centers at Downtown Disney at Disneyland Resort and Disney Springs at Walt Disney World Resort beginning this holiday season.

“At The VOID, we combine the magic of illusion, advanced technology and virtual reality to create fully immersive social experiences that take guests to new worlds,” said Curtis Hickman, co-founder and chief creative officer at The VOID. “A truly transformative experience is so much more than what you see with your eyes; it’s what you hear, feel, touch, and even smell. Through the power of The VOID, guests who step into Star Wars: Secrets of the Empire won’t just see this world, they’ll know that they are part of this amazing story.”

Vicki Dobbs Beck, executive in charge of ILMxLab, said, “At ILMxLAB, we want people to step inside the worlds of our stories. Through our collaboration with The VOID, we can make this happen as guests become active participants in an unfolding Star Wars adventure. By combining Lucasfilm’s storytelling expertise with cutting-edge imagery, and immersive sound from the team at Skywalker Sound, while invoking all the senses, we hope to truly transport all those who experience Star Wars: Secrets of the Empire to a galaxy far, far away.”
“Star Wars: Secrets of the Empire marks an important milestone in the continued expansion of The VOID, which also joined the 2017 Disney Accelerator earlier this year,” said Cliff Plumer, CEO of The VOID. “Through the power of The VOID, guests can now experience the magic of Star Wars firsthand.”Th

Vinc a écrit:

Nouvelle expérience de réalité virtuelle à Walt Disney World Resort et Disneyland Resort sur le thème de Star Wars : Star Wars : Secrets of the Empire !

L'expérience est une collaboration entre Disney/Lucasfilm/ILM et The Void (www.thevoid.com), déjà présent aux Etats-Unis, au Canada et à DubaÏ (où The Void propose une expérience de réalité virtuelle intitulée Ghostbusters: Dimension inspirée de la franchise Ghostbusters).

L'entreprise américaine a annoncé l'ouverture de deux nouveaux The Void Experience Centers, le premier à Downtown Disney (Disneyland Resort) et le second à Disney Springs (Walt Disney World Resort).

Voici le communiqué de presse diffusé par The Void :

Citation :

Get Ready to Step Beyond Reality and into a Galaxy Far, Far Away with Star Wars: Secrets of the Empire

We couldn’t be more excited to announce the production of our newest hyper-reality experience, Star Wars: Secrets of the Empire. This first-of-its kind Star Wars experience is being produced by the world-class teams at Lucasfilm and ILMxLAB in collaboration with the team here at The VOID. Soon you’ll have the opportunity to step beyond reality into a galaxy far, far away!

Star Wars: Secrets of the Empire will plunge guests directly into the iconic Star Wars galaxy. They will move freely throughout the untethered, social, and multi-sensory Star Wars: Secrets of the Empire experience in a way that allows them to interact and engage with friends, family and Star Wars characters. This ground-breaking experience will open to the public at two new VOID Experience Centers at Downtown Disney at Disneyland Resort and Disney Springs at Walt Disney World Resort beginning this holiday season.

“At The VOID, we combine the magic of illusion, advanced technology and virtual reality to create fully immersive social experiences that take guests to new worlds,” said Curtis Hickman, co-founder and chief creative officer at The VOID. “A truly transformative experience is so much more than what you see with your eyes; it’s what you hear, feel, touch, and even smell. Through the power of The VOID, guests who step into Star Wars: Secrets of the Empire won’t just see this world, they’ll know that they are part of this amazing story.”

Vicki Dobbs Beck, executive in charge of ILMxLab, said, “At ILMxLAB, we want people to step inside the worlds of our stories. Through our collaboration with The VOID, we can make this happen as guests become active participants in an unfolding Star Wars adventure. By combining Lucasfilm’s storytelling expertise with cutting-edge imagery, and immersive sound from the team at Skywalker Sound, while invoking all the senses, we hope to truly transport all those who experience Star Wars: Secrets of the Empire to a galaxy far, far away.”
“Star Wars: Secrets of the Empire marks an important milestone in the continued expansion of The VOID, which also joined the 2017 Disney Accelerator earlier this year,” said Cliff Plumer, CEO of The VOID. “Through the power of The VOID, guests can now experience the magic of Star Wars firsthand.”Th

Il semble que mon appel pour une attraction familiale d'un nouveau genre dans Disney Springs ait été entendu (voir mon post du 1er février ci-dessus, avec la fermeture de Disney Quest). Même si Downtown Disney est aussi concerné.

Sinon, plus sérieusement, une petite vidéo sur le sujet:

C'est tout bon ça! Va peut-être falloir en faire un sujet à part, surtout que ça concerne deux resorts...

Je me demande où ça va se trouver dans Disney Springs, on en a jamais entendu parlé dans les proejts de la zone jusqu'ici et ça doit quand même être gourmand en place. Si je ne m'abuse, le batiment de feu Disney Quest est voué à autre chose, un truc NBA si mes souvenirs sont bons.

Reste plus qu'à savoir si l'expérience sera comprise dans le package "Parcs aquatique" comme c'était le cas de Disney Quest. Et pourquoi pas proposer des aventures non Star Wars pour les non fans...

Mais c'est cool que Disney s'intéresse à cette technologie, bien qu'elle ne puisse s'appliquer à la forte masse de gens qu'on retrouve dans les parcs.

Apparemment ce serait à à la place ou du moins dans une partie du bâtiment de Once Upon a toy
Par contre c'est clair qu'il manque l'info sur l'accès à cette "expérience", perso vu la politique actuelle du resort j'ai du mal à croire que l'accès soit inclus avec l'option Waterparks

Surtout que contrairement à Disney Quest, il s'agit d'une activité commerciale privée.

Certes, le produit qui sera proposé à Anaheim et à Orlando est développé sur base d'une licence Lucasfilm (contrairement aux quatre autres succursales actuelles qui proposent un produit basé sur une licence Columbia/Sony Pictures) mais l'entreprise de divertissement The Void s'installe à Downtown Disney et Disney Springs au même titre que les autres locataires de ces complexes commerciaux.

D'ailleurs, à moins d'une mesure restrictive, The Void pourrait très bien s'implanter un jour à Universal City Walk pour proposer une expérience immersive développée à partir d'une licence Universal Pictures.

Pour information, le prix d'entrée aux Void Experience Centers est de :

* 24 CAD à Toronto, Ontario.

* 25 USD à Lindon, Utah.

* 53 USD à New York (l'attraction interactive est située dans le musée Mme Tussauds et demande un ticket combiné Mme Tussauds + The Void + Marvel 4D cinema).

* Je ne connais pas le prix demandé à Dubaï.

La durée du jeu/parcours est d'environ sept minutes.

Comme le pressentait Polo85, The Void s'installe dans le bâtiment de Once Upon a Toy : http://blogmickey.com/2017/09/photos-star-wars-hyper-reality-experience-taking-upon-time-disney-springs/

Vinc a écrit:

Comme le pressentait Polo85, The Void s'installe dans le bâtiment de Once Upon a Toy

d'ailleurs il est tout tristounet ce magasin maintenant. On a été il y a 3 semaines pour trouver un duffy .. on se demandait bien pourquoi il l'avait laissé ouvert. Y'a moins de trucs que dans une boutique d'hotel, et y'a rien qu'on ne trouve pas au WoD juste à coté.

j'suis fan de starwars, mais ca fait un peu beaucoup sur DS.

Ils ont deja recyclé Fun Finds en QG Starwars, il y a un autre magasin SW dans le westside, etc ... bref , y'en a partout et de plus en plus

Vinc a écrit:

Comme le pressentait Polo85, The Void s'installe dans le bâtiment de Once Upon a Toy : http://blogmickey.com/2017/09/photos-star-wars-hyper-reality-experience-taking-upon-time-disney-springs/

Dommage, j'y ai laissé un paquet de $ dans ce magasin.

Premier aperçu de Star Wars : Secrets of the Empire, la nouvelle expérience de réalité virtuelle proposée dès cet hiver par The Void à Disney Springs (ainsi qu'à Downtown Disney District à Disneyland Resort, Californie) :



Ce parcours sera bien plus long que les parcours commercialisés jusqu'à présent par The Void.

La mission Rebelle sur Mustafar d'une durée d'une demi-heure est vendue 29,95 dollars US par personne.

Ouverture le 16 décembre 2017 à Disney Springs (et le 5 janvier 2018 à Downtown Disney District) - pas de réduction pour les titulaires d'un pass annuel (par contre il sera possible de payer avec son MagicBand si l'achat est effectué sur place et non en ligne sur le site officiel de The Void).

Il est nécessaire de réserver son slot de départ (les départs s'effectuent tous les quarts d'heure par groupe de quatre, de 9h00 à 23h45).

Bref descriptif du jeu :

Citation :

Your mission

A galaxy far, far away needs your help. In teams of four, be transported with family and friends in a brand new hyper-reality experience from Lucasfilm, ILMxLAB and The VOID.

Under the orders of the budding rebellion, your team will travel to the molten planet of Mustafar. Your mission is to recover Imperial intelligence vital to the rebellion’s survival. Alongside the pragmatic droid K-2S0, your team must navigate through an enemy facility walking into danger at every turn. Disguised as stormtroopers, grab your blaster, solve puzzles, and fight giant lava monsters in an effort to fulfill your team's orders.

Pushing the boundaries of location-based virtual reality, The VOID and ILMxLAB bring the Star Wars universe to life through a multi-sensory, untethered story. See Star Wars: Secrets of the Empire only on location at The VOID at Disney Springs in Orlando, FL, and The VOID at Downtown Disney District in Anaheim, CA - coming this winter.

Disney doit lancer une OPA sur ce concept... LOL non c'est génial cette collaboration faut faire des petits et répliquer ça partout si ça fonctionne. En plus c'est très malléable et super créatif, varier les scenarios, les objets interactif, les films, on peux tous faire. Walt Disney a voulu faire de son parc une sorte de film réel, ici c'est une autre dimension c'est le jeux vidéo qui devient "réel"... Vous l'aurez compris très emballé par le concept pas envie que sa finisse au Futuroscope ou à Europa Park comme Soarin car dans le milieu tous va très vite...
Plutôt étonnant que l'Imagineering ne bosse pas sur ce type de technologie eux qui à l'époque était leader, d'autant que je me souviens qu'ils bossaient sur le futur du laser game genre "Koezio" pour ceux qui connaisse, mais bon c'est sans doute rester dans les cartons... Bref la VR cela fait partie de l'avenir sans aucun doute, même si cela ne fait pas tout je suis d'accord...  
Mais c'est quand même un grand plus et ça fait venir du monde !

En tous cas si ils veulent investir au Disney Village pas de soucis !!!

Merde c'est con on va etre sur place trop tot pour en profiter ... Pour la prochaine fois!

J’espère que ce sera sur réservation, sinon bonjour les temps d'attente.

Ce n'est pas obligatoire mais bien entendu vivement conseillé, voir indispensable à certaines dates.

93 des 94 slots du premier weekend à Orlando (16 et 17 décembre 2017) sont partis en deux heures ! Seul le départ de 23h45 le samedi est encore ouvert à la vente.

A Anaheim, les trois premiers jours (5, 6 et 7 janvier 2018) ont rapidement affiché complet. Et tous les autres weekends du mois de janvier affichent soit déjà complet, soit une disponibilité très limitée.

Personnellement, je ne prendrais pas le risque de me présenter à la billetterie pour m'entendre dire que le premier départ disponible est dans trois semaines

The Void va également proposer son expérience de réalité virtuelle Star Wars: Secrets of the Empire en Europe, dans le centre commercial Westfield London à Londres (Ariel Way, Shepherd's Bush, London W12 7GF, UK).  

L'activité, de type éphémère, y débutera le 16 décembre prochain pour une durée de douze semaines.

L'expérience sera identique à celle qui sera proposée dès le mois prochain à Disney Springs (Walt Disney World Resort) et à partir de janvier à Downtown Disney (Disneyland Resort).

Les tickets sont déjà en vente sur le site officiel de The Void. Le prix est de 30 £ ou 32,50 £ par personne selon le créneau horaire choisi et ce pour une durée totale d'environ 30 minutes.  

Des départs sont proposés toutes les quinze minutes de 10h00 à 21h15 (réservations conseillées). µ

L'entreprise américaine de divertissement planifie l'ouverture de The Void Experience Centers supplémentaires ainsi que de nouveaux sites éphémères si des opportunités se présentent.  

D'autre part, des représentants de divers médias ont eu récemment l'occasion de tester un prototype dans les locaux de Walt Disney Imagineering à Glendale. En voici le premier retour avec  Bryan Bishop du site The Verge :

Citation :

With Star Wars : Secrets of the Empire, virtual reality is finally ready for prime-time

The Void and ILMxLAB takes guests to a galaxy far, far away

Last week, I visited the lava planet Mustafar, infiltrated an Imperial base as a stormtrooper, battled alongside the cantankerous droid K-2SO, and collected data on a piece of secret Imperial cargo that could have far-reaching ramifications for the fate of the galaxy. And I did it all without ever leaving a tiny warehouse in Glendale, California.

What I experienced was Star Wars: Secrets of the Empire, the much-anticipated collaboration between virtual reality park designers The Void and ILMxLAB, the immersive entertainment wing of Lucasfilm and Industrial Light & Magic. From the moment the companies announced they were working together on a Star Wars-based VR adventure, with locations opening in both California and Florida, expectations have been high. In projects like Ghostbusters: Dimension, The Void has demonstrated that its combination of free-roaming VR and physical mazes offer a unique form of entertainment, while xLAB has been breaking new emotional and narrative ground with pieces like Alejandro González Iñárritu’s museum installation Carne y Arena. And then there’s that whole Star Wars element — with Secrets of the Empire opening just as fans hit peak hype for Rian Johnson’s The Last Jedi.

Having gone through a prototype version of the experience in that Glendale warehouse, it’s clear that this experience does more than just deliver on those lofty expectations. For mainstream audiences, Star Wars: Secrets of the Empire may be the first time virtual reality actually delivers on the Holodeck-esque potential it’s been promising all along.

Secrets of the Empire starts with a briefing. Groups of up to four guests are shown a video from Rogue One’s Cassian Andor (Diego Luna). There’s a piece of Imperial cargo that’s been brought to the planet Mustafar, he says, and while he was originally going to retrieve it, he’s now under attack. It’s up to the group of guests to go undercover as stormtroopers and get the job done. From there, audience members suit up with a custom head-mounted display, lightweight backpack computer, and a haptic vest, and step into an adjoining room. Pull down the headset, and the real world melts away: where other participants were a moment ago, stormtroopers now stand.

The storyline is exactly what any Star Wars fan would hope for: the group of participants infiltrate the base, get into some skirmishes, and after a couple of lucky escapes (and a big surprise), make their way out having more or less accomplished the mission. But what The Void does well is create the illusion of truly being in a virtual world by pairing physical sets, props, and sensations with the VR visuals. Secrets of the Empire uses that combination to ground the experience right from the beginning. As I stepped into a transport, K-2SO (Alan Tudyk, also reprising his role) suggested I sit down on the ship’s bench — and sure enough, there was a physical bench waiting for me when I did. When I waved my hands in front of my face, there they were, clad in the white-and-black gloves of a stormtrooper. Moments later, when I stood on a skiff approaching the Imperial facility, I felt the heat from the lava below, while the smoky smell of Mustafar’s atmosphere filled my nostrils. Later, when engaged in a firefight with stormtroopers, I felt a sharp haptic buzz whenever I caught a stray blaster bolt — not painful, but not exactly pleasant, either.

There’s a tremendous amount of fun just in the pure discovery of the experience: the realization that I could chatter along with the people I was playing with (“I have a bad feeling about this”), or that there was a Han Solo-esque workaround to a puzzle that I couldn’t crack. But breaking it down into those kind of singular moments seems reductive, because more than anything else, Secrets of the Empire legitimately feels like starring in a Star Wars movie or TV show of your very own. Part of that is the length. From the briefing to the moment you remove the gear at the end, the experience runs roughly 30 minutes, so there’s some heft to it. Another component is the tactile reality that The Void creates, paired with the sense of independence that comes from being able to walk around a virtual location without any perceived restrictions or limitations. The Void uses design sleight of hand and misdirection to guide guests through relatively small physical spaces that feel massive and epic in the virtual world. It’s an illusion, but an incredibly effective one that creates a compelling sense of autonomy and agency.



But even that can only get you so far. Star Wars is a universe that’s ultimately defined by that kinds of stories it tells. And whether I was quickly ducking into a blasted-open passageway, furiously trading blaster fire with a group of stormtroopers above me, or facing what seemed like certain doom at the climax of the piece, Secrets of the Empire nailed the feeling of being inside the universe completely.

“The important thing was, how can I bring a real person into the Star Wars universe and have them be a part of the story, but also be able to make their own kind of story within ours,” Lucasfilm Story Group executive and xLAB content strategist Diana Williams tells me. The events of Secrets of the Empire are canon in the larger universe, and while the narrative is fixed, it’s the nature of the medium that every individual who goes through will have their own unique experience based on what they do, how they react, and who they go in with. It creates a unique opportunity for replayability — even at $29.95 per ticket — with guests able to experience different elements or even take on different duties in certain scenes depending on how aggressively they choose to play.

Initially, Secrets of the Empire will open in two standalone locations. The first will be at Disney Springs at Walt Disney World starting on December 16th, which will be capable of serving around a thousand guests per day across two different stages. A single-stage location will then open at the Disneyland-adjacent Downtown Disney complex in California on January 5th. But The Void will also be opening a two-stage pop-up at the Westfield mall in London for a 12-week run on December 16th, with the location later moving to a different Westfield for subsequent 12-week runs. That’s aside from future locations that The Void CEO Cliff Plumer says are also on the way.

“We'll be announcing more locations that are opening up, but I always say, I like to think of us almost like a Cirque de Soleil,” he says. “There's those flagship locations, and then we have traveling shows.”

The Void currently has locations in Toronto, Utah, and New York, and briefly opened a center in Dubai. But it’s easy to see how the high-profile nature of the Star Wars partnership, together with the pop-up strategy, will expose more people than ever to its unique flavor of virtual reality. It’s coming at a crucial time. The hype wave from the launch of at-home VR dissipated some time ago, and the industry focus has increasingly turned toward location-based solutions like the IMAX VR arcades that the company is currently piloting at movie theaters. But even those are often just souped-up versions of experiences that are already available to VR users at home. The Void, on the other hand, is poised to deliver on the kind of active, full-bodied experience that has largely been the ideal of VR, even if it’s rarely been reached.

That’s not to say Star Wars: Secrets of the Empire is flawless, by any means. I found the hand tracking to be inconsistent, with my virtual hands appearing smoothly at some moments, while remaining stubbornly nonexistent at others. In a scene that required me to hit a number of buttons in sequence in order to escape a room, the tracking between the physical and the digital seemed so misaligned that I was unable to solve the puzzle altogether. And while the visuals are quite good, we are simply not in the realm of photorealism yet.

Those ultimately feel like minor quibbles, though, particularly when something delivers so fully on the most essential promise of all: letting guests feel like they’re actually stepping inside Star Wars. And for ILMxLAB, the project feels like the first real step in delivering on the group’s larger vision of using virtual reality, mixed reality, and other platforms as legitimate extensions of the Star Wars universe. As it turns out, the lynchpin there could be that mysterious cargo that Cassian Andor was so intent on rescuing from the Empire, and that is ultimately revealed in the final moments of Secrets of the Empire.

I ask Williams about the item, given that I didn’t recognize it from any of the films or canon materials. “Hold onto that thought,” she says with a smile. “Lucasfilm Story Group — we are very deliberate in everything that we're putting together in terms of stories. Across all platforms.”

The Verge - 20 novembre 2017.

Review de Star Wars : Secrets of the Empire par WDWNT : http://wdwnt.com/blog/2017/12/review-star-wars-secrets-empire-vr-experience-disney-springs-must-see/

Premières réactions sur l'expérience d'hyper-réalité virtuelle Star Wars: Secrets of the Empire à Disney Springs dans cette vidéo du Disney Parks Blog :



D'autre part, après Downtwon Disney District à Disneyland Resort, Disney Springs à Walt Disney World Resort et le centre commercial de Westfield London, The Void s'apprête à proposer Star Wars : Secrets of the Empire dans le centre commercial de Glendale Galleria (Comté de Los Angeles) et dans la galerie commerçante The Grand Canal Shoppes du complexe hôtelier The Venitian/The Palazzo à Las Vegas.

The Void cherche à développer son réseau en 2018 et plusieurs partenaires potentiels supplémentaires ont marqué leur intérêt, il s'agit de centres commerciaux, mais aussi d'aéroports et même d'une compagnie de croisières qui souhaiterait proposer cette activité à bord de ses navires de croisières !

L'expérience d'hyper-réalité virtuelle Star Wars : Secrets of the Empire est maintenant ouverte au public à Downtown Disney District :

Citation :

Star Wars: Secrets of the Empire by ILMxLAB and The VOID Now Open at Downtown Disney District at the Disneyland Resort

The new, groundbreaking hyper-reality experience, Star Wars: Secrets of the Empire, is now open at Downtown Disney District at the Disneyland Resort!



During a celebratory ceremony this morning, Disneyland Resort leaders joined the teams from ILMxLAB and The VOID to welcome the first guests at the Downtown Disney location. Stormtroopers were even in attendance for the occasion!

This first-of-its-kind immersive experience transports guests deep into the Star Wars universe and allows them to walk freely and untethered throughout the multi-sensory experience—through sight, sound, touch, smell, and motion. In groups of four, teams will go undercover as stormtroopers to capture Imperial intelligence vital to the budding rebellion’s survival.



Be part of the Star Wars universe during your next visit to the Disneyland Resort. Guests visiting Disney Springs at Walt Disney World Resort in Florida can also experience Star Wars: Secrets of the Empire, which is open now as well.

To book your experience, tickets are available at http://www.TheVOID.com. For more from ILMxLAB, check out their Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/ILMxLAB/.

Article de Disney D23 sur Star Wars™: Secrets of the Empire, une expérience d'hyper-réalité virtuelle que l'on peut vivre depuis le mois de décembre à Disney Springs :

Citation :

Go Inside The VOID With the New Star Wars™: Secrets of the Empire Experience

Cue composer John Williams’ most-famous fanfare, because there’s never been a better time to be a Star Wars fan. A wealth of new and future films, TV shows, fan events, and theme park attractions based on their favorite far-away galaxy is enough to make a Gundark  giddy. These include the recently released blockbuster film Star Wars: The Last Jedi and the upcoming Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge lands, scheduled to open in 2019 at Walt Disney World Resort in Florida and Disneyland Resort in California.

But now, fans can step directly into the Star Wars universe with Star Wars: Secrets of the Empire, a brand-new hyper-reality experience from ILMxLAB and The VOID, open now at Downtown Disney® District at the Disneyland Resort in Anaheim and Disney Springs in Orlando. This groundbreaking, immersive hyper-reality experience pushes the boundaries of virtual reality further than it’s ever been.



“It’s like being in the movie,” says Cliff Plumer, CEO of The VOID, a recent participant in Disney’s Accelerator program. Specializing in hyper-reality environments, The VOID’s partnership with Lucasfilm’s ILMXLAB seemed like a natural fit. “When you enter Star Wars: Secrets of the Empire, you’re in a scene you’ve only seen on the big screen, and you not only have a presence in this world, but you’re able to touch things and you’re able to smell things.” Guests might feel heat, they might feel cold, or they may smell burnt ashes—it’s all part of what The VOID calls hyper-reality, a multi-sensory approach to virtual reality technology.



Here’s how it works: In groups of four, guests enter the experience and are outfitted with the appropriate backpack and goggles before “stepping into” the world of Star Wars. They then move, roam, and interact with this new virtual world, while at the same time touching, feeling, and smelling the virtual environments.

“It creates more of a sense of presence than simply watching a movie or playing a video game,” Plumer says. “You’re ‘physically’ in this world. And then you can interact with iconic Star Wars characters.” Those characters include Alan Tudyk as K-2S0 and Diego Luna as Cassian Andor, from the film Rogue One: A Star Wars Story. Both actors returned to voice the parts.



“For those of us at ILMxLAB, it was important to bring an authentic Star Wars story to life on the incredible technology platform The VOID is bringing to locations around the world,” says Mark Miller, ILMxLAB Executive Creative Producer. “Through this collaboration, our teams have been able not to just bring the galaxy to fans, but put them right inside of it, letting them truly be a part of the universe.”

Guests are part of a mission delivered by Captain Cassian Andor. Under orders of the budding rebellion, you and your friends will travel to the molten planet of Mustafar to recover Imperial intelligence vital to the rebellion’s survival. Alongside pragmatic droid K-2S0, your team must navigate through an enemy facility, walking into danger at every turn. Disguised as Stormtroopers, you’ll have a blaster, solve puzzles, and fight giant lava monsters.



“You’ll be able to smell Mustafar, and you’ll feel the heat coming off the lava fields,” Plumer says. “That’s what hyper-reality is like. You’ll freely move around these scenes, working as a team to accomplish your mission.”

“I’m not embarrassed to say that I’ve been a Star Wars geek since seeing the first film in 1977, and when I did, it changed my life,” says Plumer. “I went to film school and then got to work on Star Wars movies at Lucasfilm. I was an even an extra in one of the films. And I can say that when you’re in a Star Wars movie, there are lots of green screens and blue screens, but when you’re in Star Wars: Secrets of the Empire, you’re in Star Wars—you’re in the world. For me, as a fan, it’s a dream come true.”

Star Wars: Secrets of the Empire opens at Downtown Disney in Anaheim on January 5. It opened in Florida at Disney Springs at Walt Disney World Resort in December. Find ticket information and more for Star Wars: Secrets of the Empire now at www.thevoid.com 

Le site éphémère situé dans le centre commercial Westfield London à Londres a fermé ses portes après douze semaines d'opération comme prévu lors de son lancement en décembre dernier mais Star Wars: Secrets of the Empire ne quitte pas Londres pour autant, The VOID proposant depuis son expérience d'hyper-réalité virtuelle dans un autre centre commercial de la capitale londonienne, celui de Westfield Stratford City adjacent à Olympic Park qui accueilli les Jeux Olympiques d'été en 2012, et ce à nouveau pour une durée limitée.


D'autre part, les deux VOID Experience Center annoncés en début d'année sont maintenant opérationnels, le premier est situé dans le centre commercial de Glendale Galleria (Comté de Los Angeles) et le second dans la galerie commerçante The Grand Canal Shoppes du complexe hôtelier The Venitian/The Palazzo à Las Vegas.

Star Wars : Secrets of the Empire est actuellement proposé dans cinq sites différents, quatre aux Etats-Unis et un Europe.

L'entreprise américaine basée en Utah continue à prospecter et évaluer des sites potentiels pour poursuivre le développement de son réseau de divertissement.

Ça serait parfait à DV le temps que Galaxie Edge arrive aux Wds.

The VOID s'apprête à ouvrir prochainement aux Etats-Unis neuf centres de divertissement supplémentaires qui proposeront Star Wars : Secrets of the Empire.

Ceux-ci ouvriront à Atlanta, Géorgie; Austin et Dallas, Texas; Hollywood et Santa Monica, Californie; Minneapolis, Minnesota; New York, New York; Philadelphie, Pennsylvanie et Washington, District de Columbia.

L'entreprise prévoit, à l'avenir, de faire tourner les expériences dans ses centres de divertissement permanents (cela concerne entre autre les centres de Disney Springs, Downtown Disney District, Glendale et Las Vegas qui proposent actuellement Star Wars : Secrets of the Empire) afin de maintenir l'intérêt auprès du public.

Si aucune précision n'a été donnée sur l'inspiration de ces futures aventures additionnelles (propriété intellectuelle Disney ou autre ?), il a été confirmé que The VOID et ILMxLAB ont l'intention de poursuivre leur collaboration et de développer ensemble d'autres projets.

(il est certain que l'Univers Star Wars est suffisamment vaste que pour proposer d'autres scénarios et la franchise Indiana Jones pourrait également fournir matière à une expérience d'hyper-réalité virtuelle).

The VOID propose toujours "Ghostbusters: Dimension", sa première expérience commercialisée, dans ses centres de Dubaï, Toronto et New York.

The VOID va étendre sa collaboration avec le canadien Cineplex.

Après avoir ouvert un premier centre de divertissement à Toronto, les deux partenaires s'apprêtent à en ouvrir un second à Edmonton, capitale de la province canadienne de l'Alberta.

Cineplex, qui a obtenu de The VOID les droits exclusifs pour le marché canadien, planifie l'ouverture de plusieurs The Void Experience Centers supplémentaires dans les années à venir.

Ceux-ci proposeront les expériences d'hyper-réalité virtuelle Star Wars : Secrets of the Empire et Ghostbusters: Dimension (avant peut-être d'y ajouter Nicodemus: Demon of Evanishment, la troisième production de The VOID, développée en partenariat avec Ninja Theory et qui débute aujourd'hui à Las Vegas).

Évidemment, Cineplex. En espérant que je pourrais utiliser mes points Scène pour ces expériences, et qu'ils viennent à Montréal (mais pour ça faudrait qu'ils fassent une version en français).

Les espaces The VOID Experience Center ouverts en collaboration avec Cineplex trouveront place, comme c'est déjà le cas en Ontario et bientot en Alberta, dans les propres centres multi-loisirs de Cineplex appellés The REC Room et qui proposent restaurants, sports bars, pistes de bowling, divers jeux et autres activités.

Il y en a également déjà un à Calgary qui pourrait être le suivant à accueillir un VOID Experience Center et Cineplex souhaite en ouvrir une douzaine d'autres dans les quatre ou cinq prochaines années - peut-être Montréal fait-elle partie des plans de l'entreprise ?

Peut-être, mais de toute façon, je l'aurai déjà fait avant à Disney Springs.

Petit bonus dorénavant offert aux participants de Star Wars : Secrets of the Empire : Un avis de recherche personnalisé émis par l'Empire Galactique !  

Celui-ci sera mis à disposition sur le site internet de The VOID dans une section accessible par l'intermédiaire d'un couriel que chaque participant recevra après avoir exécuté sa mission sur Mustafar.

La photo du participant qui l'illustre aura bien entendu été prise lors du parcours réalisé au The VOID Experience Center.

Citation :

In Secrets of the Empire, You’re Now a Wanted Rebel

The Empire will place a bounty on you -- in a fun new addition to the popular hyper-reality experience.

You infiltrated an Imperial base disguised as a stormtrooper. You stole secret data. You encountered…someone. He seemed unstoppable. You somehow escaped without a trace.

Or so you thought.

Star Wars: Secrets of the Empire, the full-sensory hyper-reality experience from ILMxLAB and The VOID that sends you on an undercover rebel mission to Mustafar, gets a clever new addition starting today. Upon completing Secrets of the Empire, you’ll now receive an email from the Empire that directs to a hidden page on TheVOID.com. There you’ll find your own personal “Wanted” poster featuring a security photo from the mission, details of your crimes, and the bounty on your head.

So much for getting away without a trace. But for any proud rebel, this is akin to a diploma suitable for framing.

Here’s the even cooler thing — the crimes listed are actually achievements, and the more you earn, the more you’re worth to the Empire. So both in Star Wars and in our own galaxy, you’ll know how well you really did.

To celebrate this update, StarWars.com caught up with Matt Martin of the Lucasfilm Story Group to discuss the creation of these “Wanted” posters, from working with the wizards at ILMxLAB and The VOID to developing the Empire’s in-universe response to such a daring rebel act.

StarWars.com: I love the idea of these “Wanted” posters — they’re a fun bonus to the Secrets of the Empire experience, but they also add some depth from an in-universe perspective. How did you and the Story Group collaborate with the makers of Secrets of the Empire to create these?

Matt Martin: ILMxLAB originally pitched the idea to The VOID team and the project really took off. The VOID worked on some initial proof of concepts and, from there, it was a matter of thinking through some of the in-fiction details for writing and overall graphic design with the teams at Lucasfilm. We had a list of all the achievements that could be earned so we, along with the ILMxLAB team, had to look at those and try to make them sound as Star Wars-y as possible — which is always fun!

StarWars.com: How did you figure out what an Imperial “Wanted” poster might look like, or what the Empire would deem crimes? Did you look at similar content in something like Star Wars Rebels, which is also set during the reign of the Empire, did you start from scratch, or did you do other research?

Matt Martin: The Rebels design was definitely the go-to inspiration as it’s the most well-established, but we wanted this to feel unique so we didn’t replicate it one-to-one. What’s interesting about the Rebels execution is that it was designed as a marketing piece before making its way into the show itself, so we already knew what the English language version looked like. We used that established in-universe style and gave it to Eric Tobiason, ILM Art Department art director, and he ran with it. Eric was able to create six unique stormtrooper poses that are based on your in-experience avatar selection, and really the whole Empire aesthetic on the “Wanted” posters. Once his creative execution came back, there were only minor tweaks to get it to the final version that The VOID team worked hard on to implement for guests.

StarWars.com: What’s your single favorite aspect of these posters, and why?

Matt Martin: It might actually be the trooper image itself. In the experience, you choose a color for your trooper and that color shows up on your shoulder pauldron — that way you know who’s who. The “Wanted” poster takes your choice into account, so if you chose, say, a blue pauldron trooper, you’ll have an image of the blue trooper on your poster.

StarWars.com: The fact that the bounty on your head is, essentially, your score, is such a smart twist.

Matt Martin: Yeah, I love that. And it makes sense. Secrets of the Empire takes place before the official Rebel Alliance has been formed, so the Empire isn’t as used to dealing with this sort of insurgency. They don’t have as much infrastructure set up to track down these troublemakers, so they just throw money at it. And the more damage you cause, the more upset they get, and the more money they’re willing to spend to track you down. The Empire isn’t exactly hurting for funding.



https://www.starwars.com/news/secrets-of-the-empire-wanted-posters