The bat cave. No one can know about it. It’s Batman’s lair of perfect solitude, of secrecy crucial to his every plan and action. His survival. So of course we’ll all soon be able to track our muddy virtual shoes through it. Hurrah!
Warner and visual effects company OTOY are working on a virtual reality (read: the Oculus Rift headset, Samsung Galaxy Gear, etc) bat cave based on Batman: The Animated Series. This is cool because a) ALL HUMANS have a quiet, feverish desire to hang out in the bat cave and b) Batman: The Animated Series — to this very day — kinda embarrasses most other cartoons.
Producer Bruce Timm is even involved, and he’s apparently “guiding the meticulous adaptation of the original 1992 designs into a fully realised universe with volume and depth.” Why yes, this is the portion of the article where you’re supposed to realise that, of all the possible Batman adaptations they could bring to life in hyper-immersive 3D, it is a bit strange that they picked a very two-dimensional one. Huh.
Still, if at least one virtual bat does not run smack (or BIFF or ZOTT or what have you) into my face while I’m in the middle of pleasant, if slightly unnerving stroll, I’m demanding my money back.
OTOY claims it’s working on snazzy 3D tech to perfectly capture the feel of the old show. Me, I’ll believe it when I see it, given that some of these screenshots look kinda… dull — both graphically and in terms of things to explore/mess around with. Then again, the bat cave has never really been the most “happening” place. Perhaps this is the price of accuracy.
Apparently we’ll be getting a first release sometime this winter. Bat-fingers bat-crossed that it’s a bit better (and bat-er) by then.
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