NBC Universal and Comcast announced today they will be holding an immersive entertainment hackathon with over $15,000 in cash prizes. Entry to the competition is completely free, and will include food, parking and lounge areas to rest in. The hackathon will be taking place at the Portofino Bay Hotel in Orlando, Florida on March 28th-29th.

The hackathon “will be all about 3D development and design, Virtual Reality, Wearables and the Internet of Things – centered around entertainment media.” Developers will have access to a wide array of tools including hardware, software, APIs and more. The hackathon will be comprised of six different challenges, half of which have a tie to virtual reality. Each of the challenges has a $1,500 prize with a $10,000 grand prize for the overall winner.

More Time for Story: Changing or Eliminating the Standard Queuing Experience

Many guests will stand in a queue upwards of 30 minutes prior to experiencing an attraction, for multiple attractions per day. We challenge you to develop a solution to queue guests such that they are not confined to one space, yet are still immersed in the story of what they will experience. Could guests be virtually interacting with characters from the attraction while they wait? Focus on the system behind the story, allowing for modifications between seasons or as interests change.

Immerse Yourself in the World of Telemundo

Telemundo broadcasts a number of live events every year, including award shows and sporting events. We challenge you to bring events like these to the Hispanic audience in a 360 immersive experience on multiple platforms. This solution should answer questions like: Where do people go to get this experience? What is the viewer able to do with the content? How could advertisers fit in?

Revolutionary Entertainment: The VR, AR, ACR, 360, RFID, Beacon Mashup

Technology is revolutionizing how we experience entertainment. Storylines, characters, video/audio blurbs and more help tell the story of areas of the park that guests visit, and the ability to make these experiences interactive, immersive and shared creates unlimited possibilities. We challenge you to leverage technologies like augmented reality, virtual reality, beacons, geofencing, audio watermarking and RFID tagging to create compelling content for guests, delivered in totally unique interactive and immersive ways. Using existing in-park locations, this technology could allow, for example, a guest to “step into” the various themed exteriors around the park and explore the worlds inside, or engage other patrons in a shared gaming experience, or unlock clues to hidden treasures. It’s all up to you.

Interested in participating? Be sure to sign up here.

UPDATE: One of the event organizers just informed me that the developers will retain all intellectual property rights to creations made during the hack.