Everything Immersive This Week (8/24/23)

We’re back at it with a mix of news and new releases this week along with some upcoming projects we’re keeping an eye on.

Indeed the “Hot 5” from last week is now rebranded as “Trailheads,” which brings back another column we were doing once upon a time and puts it all in one spot. This week’s Trailheads covers a lot of gaming and VR as the Fall Festival and holiday release schedules start to form up.

If you have a tip email us at [email protected] with the subject line EITW and your picks might make it into our next edition!

Item One

NYC’s Immersive Gatsby Closing

One party is ending for Jay Gatsby and his friends, as Immersive Everywhere’s transplanted show from London ties one last round off this weekend after 20 previews nearly 70 performances at the Park Central Hotel New York.

But more parties are on their way, both at the “Gatsby Mansion” venue where producers who took the time to convert a wing of the hotel promise “fabulous deco parties, big band music, and favorite DJs in our after-hours nightspot.”?

Not that NYC will be absent Tom, Daisy, and Jay for long. There’s a musical in the works, featuring no less than Florence and the Machine’s Florence Welch — no stranger to art deco aesthetics — on lyrical duties for a show simply titled Gatsby in 2024. Nor is it improbable that Immersive Everywhere’s Great Gatsby may revive itself in another venue, although Playbill’s interpretation that it is changing venues in NYC seems to come down to a misinterpretation of a key quote about the fate of the Gatsby Mansion venue. (Unless I’m the one parsing it wrong.)

Item Two?

A Glimpse of the Quest 3 Launch?

So the top of June was kinda busy for me, which meant that I didn’t fully absorb all the various game announcements that Meta made as part of the start of the hype cycle for the Quest 3 launch.

But this week, as I was coming up empty for the Trailheads section below I stumbled on a cache of trailer videos for this Fall’s releases. Some of them I’d seen before, and others I had not clocked. Which got me digging a bit deeper and — oh, man — the release slate coming up is very strong. Will everything hit in time for the Quest 3 drop? It’s video games, man. No way. But I’m way more bullish on the catalog for the upcoming season than for what has been an anemic summer release schedule. More on this soon.

(Also: don’t mock the Power Wash Simulator. I lost many an hour to the non-VR version. Better still: there’s co-op.)?

Item Three

Felix & Paul Studios Celebrate 10th Anniversary at Venice Immersive

It doesn’t feel like a decade but Canadian duo Felix & Paul, whose work was some of the first to turn heads in the early days of the current VRenaissance are marking their 10th anniversary. They do so with two pieces in the Venice Immersive lineup.

One is a the first part in a new series under their Space Explorers banner. Blue Marble - Orbit 1 continues their collaboration with NASA as they produce more cinematic VR from the final frontier.

The other is a brand new collab, this time with The Jim Henson Company and author Neil Gaiman in the form of Jim Henson’s The Storyteller: The Seven Ravens, which Gaiman narrates. The trailer shows a “storybook come to life” scenario blending the digital and physical via a mixed reality device.

If anyone can get that to be spectacular, it’s Felix & Paul. Both pieces will be on view when Venice Immersive opens next week as part of the Venice International Film Festival.

Item Four

Roadside attractions, Japanese theme parks, and Austin’s Immersive scene.

Last week on our podcast I had a great conversation with Austin’s Mike Michaels , the founder of The Eureka Room, about making a room in his house as bright as the sun, roadside attractions, an incredible sounding Japanese Theme Park, and Austin’s immersive scene.

It’s a really fun interview that covers all kinds of ground.

TRAILHEADS

Doors of Divergence: Consider this a “last call for now” for the much buzzed about escape game experience in NYC. Future Proof, the host venue for the two games that make up Doors of Divergence, is folding and while the creative team has every intention of coming back and finishing their Paradox Cycle trilogy it may be a minute before they get up and running. (Unless someone amongst you wants to buy a venue. Hey, some of you have means.) If you’re in NYC catch it while you can. Starting at $65. Tues-Sun. Through Oct. 1 NYC.

Animate: Montréal’s MUTEK festival plays host this week to Animate, which blends performance, installation and radio play that tells the tale of a “ journey through the untamed wilderness of Newfoundland” in a “world on the brink of climate transformation.” CA$25. Through Sat. Aug. 26. MONTRéAL.

Wondercade Whodunit Challenge: Neil Patrick Harris’ Wondercade spun up its first, and something tells me it probably won’t be its last, interactive mystery game over the weekend.

Ange Strom-Weber and Jen McTeague of Apocute devised this puzzle hunt whodunnit that helped NPH introduce his legion of fans to the joys of multi-part brain teasers with a narrative bent. (H/T to David Spira of Room Escape Artist .) Free. ONLINE.

FIVARS: The Festival of International Virtual and Augmented Reality Stories will mark its ninth year this September in Toronto with a a five-day in-person event. For those who want to dive deep into the VR/AR world FIVARS - Festival of International Virtual & Augmented Reality Stories is key. In film festival terms you can think of it as the Slamdance to Venice & Tribeca’s, uh, Venice & Tribeca. Look. Sometimes the metaphors just run into the literal definitions okay. $85.00. Sep. 15-19. TORONTO.

The Morrison Game Factory - A Puzzletale: The next Kickstarter project from PostCurious is currently sitting on my dining table and that has me both excited and a tad bit intimidated. I’ve only ever heard two things about PostCurious games: they’re fantastic and they can be a challenge. As I’ve seemingly grown dumber over the course of the pandemic, I’m hoping that I can pull my brains together to fully grok what Rita Orlov Rosenfeld and screenwriter (and sometime NoPro contributor) Lauren Bello have whipped up in this “Puzzletale” about an abandoned board game factory. Review soon, and you can bookmark the Kickstarter campaign now. (You can also check out our podcast with the two of them here.) Coming Soon. KICKSTARTER.

EVERYTHING IMMERSIVE?is the home of?No Proscenium’s show listings. To check out our feature and review coverage visit NoPro.

NoPro is a labor of love made possible by our generous Patreon backers.?Join them today!

In addition to the?No Proscenium?website, our?podcast, and our?newsletters, you can find NoPro on?Facebook,?LinkedIn,?YouTube,?Bluesky,?Instagram, in the Facebook community?Everything Immersive, and on our?Patreon Backer exclusive Discord.