Sky has partnered with London’s Natural History Museum to help fulfill many a natural history fan’s lifelong dream of interacting with and being educated by legendary documentary filmmaker Sir David Attenborough.
Sky is creating a virtual reality version of Attenborough as part of a “three-dimensional hologram” experience called Hold the world. It takes visitors on a one-on-one tour behind the Natural History Museum’s otherwise inaccessible glass cabinets, allowing them to go “hands-on” with the artifacts inside. Meanwhile, Attenborough will provide insight into the collection, which includes fossils, bones and skulls.
Unfortunately for HTC Vive fans, Hold the world will only be released on Google Cardboard, Samsung Gear VR, Oculus Rift, and iOS. Press photos show Attenborough walking around with an Oculus Rift VR headset complete with Oculus Touch controllers, showing that no matter how brilliant, respected or intelligent you are, wearing a VR headset is guaranteed to leave you looking a little depressed to see.
Hold the world is created by Sky VR Studio in partnership with immersive content studio Factory 42, which was founded in 2016 by former Sky Arts and Sky 3D boss John Cassy. Sky made its first foray into virtual reality last year with a VR mobile app, which showcased content from its movie and sports channels.
The partnership was announced alongside Sky’s financial results for the nine-month period ending March 31, 2017. As sales rose, profits fell 11 percent to £1 billion, which Sky attributed to the higher cost of Premier League football matches. . It also claimed to have done a pretty good job of retaining broadband customers despite another round of price hikes.
Those who want to give Hold the world a go can wait for their hands: it’s only slated to go into production “later this year.”
That said, if you’re in the mood for some Attenborough VR action right now, first life– a tour of the beginnings of life in the ancient Cambrian ocean – is available on PlayStation VR. Just watch out for the scary giant squid thing.