SYFY LAUNCHES ALL-NEW VIRTUAL REALITY EXPERIENCE FOR AWARD-WINNING THE EXPANSE VR APP

— New Immersive Content Available Starting October 8;
Google Cardboard Distributed at New York Comic Con —

NEW YORK– October 8, 2015 – Syfy has announced the launch of all-new content for its virtual reality app for The Expanse, the network’s highly-anticipated drama series from Alcon Television Group premiering this December. The app immerses viewers into the vast world of The Expanse, giving them the opportunity to enter into locations from the show and experience them in virtual reality.

In a new scene debuting on October 8, viewers fly by The Expanse’s Tycho Station, the largest mobile space platform in the solar system. Also seen in detail is The Nauvoo, a two kilometer long Mormon missionary ship currently under construction.  

The release of this new virtual reality content will coincide with Syfy’s screening of The Expanse at New York Comic-Con. Syfy will distribute Cardboard viewers to fans who attend the screening and Q&A on Thursday, October 8 at the Javits Center (4pm, Room 1A06).

“The Expanse VR” app – available for iOS and Android devices – was launched in July 2015 at San Diego Comic-Con with an experience that takes users on a 360-degree tour of the spaceship Canterbury (the massive ice freighter introduced in the first episode ofThe Expanse).  Since launch, the app has already received several honors, winning Silver at the 2015 W³ awards in the following categories: Television – Innovative/Experimental and Entertainment – Innovative/Experimental.

Conceived from a partnership between Syfy and NBCUniversal Media Labs, the app was developed by IM360 in collaboration with artists at Digital Domain. The team worked in close conjunction with the visual effects department on The Expanse, maintaining the experience’s authenticity by working off of materials used to build the environments on the show.

Premiering on Syfy Monday, December 14 at 10PM ET/PT, The Expanse is a 10-episode drama set 200 years in the future, after mankind has colonized the solar system. A hardened detective (Thomas Jane) and a rogue ship’s captain (Steven Strait) come together for what starts as the case of a missing young woman and evolves into a race across the solar system to expose the greatest conspiracy in human history. The series is based on the New York Times bestselling book series collectively known as The Expanse, written by Daniel Abraham and Ty Franck (under the pen name James S. A. Corey).

DOWNLOAD THE EXPANSE VR APP at Google Play or  iTunes.

 

About IM360

IM360 is a joint venture announced in April 2015 between Digital Domain Holdings Limited and Immersive Media. The partnership unites Digital Domain, an Academy Award®-winning digital production studio and Immersive Media, the leading provider of 360° immersive technology. IM360 creates cutting-edge interactive experiences including video content, services and client-side applications. Collectively, the studios aim to further the role of immersive video and virtual reality programming across advertising, television, film and gaming.

 

About Digital Domain 3.0 (“original Digital Domain”)

Founded in 1993, Digital Domain (“original Digital Domain”) delivered innovative visuals for more than 100 movies including “X-Men: Days of Future Past,” “Maleficent,” “Iron Man 3”, the “Transformers” trilogy, “TRON: Legacy” and “Titanic.” Its artists have earned multiple Academy Awards®. A creative driving force in media applications, original Digital Domain brought its artistry to thousands of commercial, video game and music video productions. The original Digital Domain also created digital humans for concert performances and co-produced the feature film “Ender’s Game”. From facilities in California and Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, including its own state-of-the-art virtual production studio, the Digital Domain 3.0 Group (consisting of Digital Domain 3.0, Inc., Digital Domain Productions 3.0 (BC), Ltd. and Mothership Media, Inc.) enables the creation of extraordinary visual images in traditional entertainment and advertising. www.digitaldomain.com

 

About NBCUniversal Media Labs

NBCUniversal Media Labs, a division of NBCUniversal Technology, is dedicated to incubating and driving emerging technology led innovations for businesses across the company’s portfolio of TV, film, and theme parks. It has strategic partnerships with leading academic research groups, start-up companies, and the global venture capital community to accelerate technology innovations that help develop richer consumer experiences and new business models for the company. Media Labs is staffed with top technology professionals with deep expertise in emerging technologies such as wearables, virtual and augmented reality, sensor networks as well as in content, mobility, video, networking, and virtualization.

 

About Syfy

Syfy is a media destination for imagination-based entertainment. With year round acclaimed original series, events, blockbuster movies, classic science fiction and fantasy programming, a dynamic Web site (www.Syfy.com), and a portfolio of adjacent business (Syfy Ventures), Syfy is a passport to limitless possibilities. Originally launched in 1992 as SCI FI Channel, and currently in 96 million homes, Syfy is a network of NBCUniversal, one of the world’s leading media and entertainment companies. NBCUniversal is a subsidiary of Comcast Corporation. (Syfy. Imagine Greater.)

 

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