Disney, VR/AR, and Apple's WWDC 2023

[MrPromey]

My wife and I like to watch movies together.

So I suppose you have to spend 7k to do that ?

If you can only spring for one, she'll be able to see a realistic rendering of your eyes and their expressions if you turn to her and she looks away from the TV to look directly at you.

Maybe that'll be enough?

 

[MrPromey]

I'm gonna be sold on it if when watching a movie/show, it has that immersed look to it yet it's not like the screen is right in front of your face and not some weird curved look to it.

If it feeling immersive and like you're eyes aren't right against the screen are you only concerns, there are cheaper options:

https://www.bigscreenvr.com/ (pre-order but the reviews are glowing)

Meta Quest 2: Immersive All-In-One VR Headset | Meta Store

Shop the Meta Quest 2 all-in-one VR headset and immerse yourself within new virtual worlds. Explore everything that our second gen VR device has to offer.

www.meta.com

If you've got the scratch and watching movies/tv is all you plan to do with it, I'd suggest the first link.

 

[Sirwalterraleigh]

I wonder how many people here remember or even experienced the original iPhone.

Only a handful of 1st party apps, no third party apps*, slow network (despite other phones with less need, already supporting a faster one), a largely broken web where many sites still needed flash and none were optimized for mobile, crappy battery life - I could go on.

... and none of that stuff obvious problems from the famous keynote.

Compared to the 3g with the app store that launched along side it a year later, that first phone was garbage... very expensive garbage.

It changed everything but it was still expensive garbage.

I wouldn't be shocked if history repeated itself, here.

I also wouldn't be shocked if it didn't.


*Steve Jobs didn't even start out wanting 3rd parties to be able to develop for it. I remember the notes app being one of the most amazing things on it, having come from a "smart phone" that already had a full keyboard and access to email. It got 3rd party access just like the 3G a year after release but that was only as a result of consumer/developer push-back.

It was really the first true “smartphone”…with a touch screen. It was Star Trek TNG come to life
The fact it wasn’t really functional didnt matter.

The blackberry became a paperweight at the press conference

 

[MrPromey]

It was really the first true “smartphone”…with a touch screen. It was Star Trek TNG come to life
The fact it wasn’t really functional didnt matter.

The blackberry became a paperweight at the press conference

Well said.

 

[MisterPenguin]

 

[Rteetz]

It bombed…hard

Also: trowbridge is a tool. Like…a harbor freight grade one

Bombed and it being cool are two different things

 

[MrPromey]

Maybe they'll put some googly eyes on the front of it to make it seem more modern, now.

 

[MrPromey]

Bombed and it being cool are two different things

That's true but, unfortunately, just being cool doesn't pay the bills unless you're this guy.

Disney learned that the hard way.

 

[Trauma]

So I researched more on this.

For me it could be interesting as a TV movie or sports viewing experience.

It doesn’t cost any more than what I usually spend on a high end TV.

The problem for me is I almost never watch any of those alone.

The only content I usually watch alone is YouTube and thats normally when I’m driving and I just kinda listen to it.

I think if I bought one it would just be in the closet gathering dust in a month.

I guess we will have to wait and see.

 

[marni1971]

I know you've hinted at this before but wasn't there a lot more than just that one project that Jobs wanted to partner on before his health took a turn for the worse?

Pass. All I personally know about is the pavilion sponsorship.

 

[Sirwalterraleigh]

Bombed and it being cool are two different things

Not much difference in the accountants office

Results and perception based business

 

[jeanericuser001]

I think this could be the start of a new innoventions only this will be at the Play pavilion. Apple can use it to help showcase some of its products while disney can bring in a couple vr attractions. Sounds like that virtual disney ride idea may not be so far off. The question is how well will disney be able to recreate former attractions.

 

[Sirwalterraleigh]

I think this could be the start of a new innoventions only this will be at the Play pavilion. Apple can use it to help showcase some of its products while disney can bring in a couple vr attractions. Sounds like that virtual disney ride idea may not be so far off. The question is how well will disney be able to recreate former attractions.

Waste of a pavilion

 

[Ayla]

I think this could be the start of a new innoventions only this will be at the Play pavilion. Apple can use it to help showcase some of its products while disney can bring in a couple vr attractions. Sounds like that virtual disney ride idea may not be so far off. The question is how well will disney be able to recreate former attractions.

Oh, you mean like Sum Of All Thrills, that Disney mothballed in 2016?

 

[Sirwalterraleigh]

ugh…No WOL talk, please?

It’s perhaps the biggest case of theme park malfeasance in history

 

[mysto]

It's posible Disney has been working on models of the parks for a long time intending to lay out new attractions more comprehensively (and secretly) than they do with sight ballons. Even if they don't already have one it still would be useful to them. But seriously they must have a model.

So there may not be that much of an investment or effort required. They almost certainly would use a common gaming modelling framework that Apple (or any other vendor) can ingest without some kind of FP+ level effort.

 

[ChrisFL]

In case anyone is not familiar, Mario Kart in Universal (Osaka, Hollywood and in Orlando in 2 years) is AR-based but is on a moving track with set pieces as well.

Disney is probably going to look into this as an option as well (even if it's not directly related to Apple)

 

[networkpro]

IMHO it's sleight-of-hand obfuscation as they have serious issues actually designing and installing any new physical facilities or attractions in less than 5 years. If you cant dazzle them with brilliance, then baffle them with ....... (WC Fields quote that the filters will not allow me to finish)

 

[jeanericuser001]

Oh, you mean like Sum Of All Thrills, that Disney mothballed in 2016?

Actually no. Im talking about the innoventions as it was originally supposed to be. You are thinking of later innoventions when Im talking about early innoventions. Innoventions at one time was less of an attractions mini mall and more of tech demonstration place. This is where people got to see early smart home technology years before it hit the full market. This is where people got their first shot at the segway before it went mainstream and evolved into the hands free version we use today. They even at one time had an actual early vr demonstration that showed lucky guests what it was like to use vr long long long before oculus even existed. Alas innoventions was turned from what it originally was into a mini attraction show case that lost much of its original purpose. Besides with a company like apple at the helm you know they will want to show off as much of their tech portfolio as possible which could mean anything from a smart home tour to the virtual disney idea I mentioned earlier. Disney has kept pretty quiet on what exactly The Play pavilion could be but this seems like it could be what they had in mind for that.

 

[Ayla]

IMHO it's sleight-of-hand obfuscation as they have serious issues actually designing and installing any new physical facilities or attractions in less than 5 years. If you cant dazzle them with brilliance, then baffle them with ....... (WC Fields quote that the filters will not allow me to finish)

I agree. It's yet another example of WDC focusing on things that have zero to miniscule impact on customers, while the things that actually do have major impacts (new attractions, increasing capacity, etc) are dismissed and/or purposefully overlooked.

It's a symptom of a much wider problem.