Animation studio Production I.G announced on Monday that it will enter the virtual reality (VR) content market with an app titled Kōkaku Kidōtai Shin Gekijō-ban Virtual Reality Diver (Ghost in the Shell: The New Movie Virtual Reality Diver).

The app will offer an original story in 360° 3D video, which can be seen with a VR headset. A three-minute promotional video will be available worldwide for the Oculus Rift on Google Play and App Store, followed by the full 10-minute work this winter. The full version is priced at 480 yen (about US$4).

Production I.G will have a demo available at its booth at Tokyo Game Show 2015, which will be held from September 17-20. The demo will feature a six-meter (about 20-foot) hemispherical screen so that multiple people can view at once.

Kōkaku Kidōtai Shin Gekijō-ban Virtual Reality Diver is part of Production I.G's new project titled "SIGN." The animation studio is collaborating with visual design studio WOW's Nobumichi Asai, who has background in 3D projection mapping, Toshiyuki Takahei, founder of dome video graphics design company Orihalcon Technologies, and Satoru Itoya, who has contributed to the development of camera and projection hardware for dome theaters. They are serving as creative director, technical director, and technical producer, respectively.

Executive producer Mikio Gunji, producer Atsunori Maeshima, and assistant Hiroyuki Ogino from Production I.G are participating in the project.

With the project, Production I.G is aiming to create a bodily sensation of being in another world, and to combine futuristic technology with art.

Oculus VR has offered several prototypes of its Oculus Rift headset since the success of its Kickstarter in 2012. A consumer version of the Oculus Rift headset is slated to ship in the first quarter of 2016.

Ghost in the Shell: The New Movie debuted in Japanese theaters on June 20. Funimation Entertainment plans to offer a theatrical release in North America this fall.

Source: animeanime.jp