iQIYI, an online entertainment service in China,
has released the first two of several interactive 4D virtual reality (VR)
movies planned via its DreamVerse Studio.
DreamVerse Studio produces interactive movies that
stimulate all five senses through the use of highly-integrated hardware and a
combination of offline and online solutions. The studio's VR content is
available at several VR offline experience stores in Shanghai, Beijing, and
Suzhou in China.
Virus Crisis and The Mystery of Kunlun allows fans of the horror and adventure
genres to experience first-hand how it feels to save the world from a
biomedical crisis or raid a tomb for lost treasure.
To deliver an immersive experience, both films are equipped with
a device that allows players to experience smells such as fresh air after rain
or the aroma of tobacco when passing a non-player character lighting a cigar.
Gesture recognition is used in scenes in which players must unlock a door,
rescue teammates, or perform some other specific action, creating a more
interactive game world.
Other highlights include new features aimed at catering to the
younger consumers' needs for social networking. Both movies also come with
differentiated identity settings for several players who must cooperate in
order to progress towards the ending.
Earlier this year, iQIYI secured financing
for its VR division iQIYI Intelligent, to the tune of multiple hundreds of
million RMB.
