Christmas is once again within a matter of weeks. If you have remained on top of things, you have already bought your gifts and started getting into the spirit of the season. If not, well you missed your chance with Black Friday already, so better luck next year. Some of you will already have had an opportunity to try out Virtual Reality. If you are fortunate, then you also have a headset of your own. Now is the time to combine the two and get into the Christmas spirit with these VR experiences. Some are simply visual; others are a little more involved. All of them are drenched in Christmas spirit.
1. Cool Christmas VR – Oculus Rift
For those who have access to an Oculus Rift, this is an experience just for you. While this product is a couple of years old now (it was designed for use with the DK2), and the website is looking a little on the janky side, it should still be a fun little experience. Essentially this is a trippy Christmas experience where you are confronted with a huge 8-bit Santa. There is also dubstep jingle bells and a guy breakdancing wearing a VR headset. Yes, it is utterly bizarre, but if the usual Christmas music is more than you can stand, give this experience a go. It certainly needs to be seen to be believed.
2. Christmas VR – Google Cardboard for Android
Image courtesy: Youtube
Like most VR experiences currently on the market, this a very short but sweet experience. You walk around a small house in VR, using the cardboard triggers to move around. As I said, it isn’t much, but it’s free and quite adorable. This is especially recommended if you aren’t able to get your own Christmas tree but want to see a house decorated with one. So if you find yourself stuck in a commute somewhere, use this little app as a means of escape.
3. VR Xmas – Google Cardboard
Image courtesy: Eon Reality
Developed by Eon Reality for use in Singapore, this VR experience is like the previous one, but a little bit more involved. You get to walk around an entire village, locating reindeer and adding them to the sleigh. It’s not very long, as you only need to find eight reindeer plus the bonus Rudolph at the end, but that is the state of VR at the moment. Eon Reality has also done a good job to warning against potential health hazard in the app description, which is very important to factor into these experiences. Since a lot of users start to feel nauseous after 10 minutes or so in VR, the brevity of the experience is probably a positive. There is also the added benefit that both Android and iOS phones can access this experience.
4. Jesus VR – The Story of Christ – All VR platforms
Image courtesy: PR Company Handout
So far, most VR Christmas experiences have looked at the commercialised side of the holiday. Sleighs, Santa, these are all trappings of a modern holiday. There is, however, an experience for those who want to get more into the traditional Christian side of December. Called Jesus VR – The Story of Christ, it’s a feature-length VR video chronicling the life of Jesus from birth to death. While a lot of this story is better fodder for Easter Celebrations, it could be good to remember whose life we are meant to be celebrating this Christmas. While watching on our expensive VR headset.
