BURBANK, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Nickelodeon and IMAX Corporation (NYSE:IMAX) have partnered to bring SlimeZone, the network’s first multi-player social virtual reality (VR) experience, to IMAX VR Centres globally. Created in the Nickelodeon Entertainment Lab, SlimeZone allows up to six players to step inside the Nickelodeon virtual world, play games, watch cartoons and slime friend s. SlimeZone debuts today exclusively at IMAX VR Centres in Los Angeles, New York City and Toronto, and is scheduled to launch at centers in Shanghai, Bangkok and Manchester (UK) soon.
“Our SlimeZone partnership with IMAX lets kids and families interact with Nickelodeon properties and characters by bringing them to life in new and innovative ways,” said Cyma Zarghami, President, Nickelodeon Group. “This new VR experience will also show the creative community how we are using technology to create unique forms of entertainment for all ages.”
“IMAX VR is designed to be a highly social, group experience – which makes Nickelodeon’s SlimeZone a perfect fit to bring to our centres,” says David Campbell, Executive Vice President of Corporate Development and Theatre Operations, IMAX Corp. “We are excited that IMAX VR players will get exclusive access to this exciting, fun and family-friendly virtual world.”
SlimeZone is a multi-player social VR experience that allows kids and families the opportunity to interact in a Nickelodeon-designed virtual world. After selecting an avatar, users of all ages can slime blast their friends with Nickelodeon’s iconic green slime, play games such as ping pong and basketball, create art projects using glitter streams and colorful paint, and watch fan-favorite Nickelodeon cartoons.
Non-virtual reality players can participate alongside their friends and family as they explore the Nickelodeon world in spectator mode, by flying a virtual drone from a device to slime players.
Nickelodeon first debuted SlimeZone at VidCon US 2017, an annual multi-genre online video conference. SlimeZone was built using Epic’s Unreal Engine and Nvidia FleX particle system for slime simulation.
Launched in 2017, the Nickelodeon Entertainment Lab focuses on long-range research and development of emerging technologies. The Lab experiments with VR, mixed-reality, augmented reality and artificial intelligence to provide Nickelodeon artists and creators with innovative tools that inspire new ways to tell stories for the next generation of kids.
Nickelodeon recently announced a financial investment in Dreamscape Immersive, the location-based VR startup, whereby both entities have committed to produce an experience using Nickelodeon’s IP for kids and families.
For pricing, availability and show times, please visit www.IMAXVR.com.
About IMAX VR
IMAX VR is a mind-shattering VR experience in a location-based, state-of-the-art Experience Centre. The IMAX VR Experience features a unique combination of premium technology and world-class content that lets users see, feel, move and play in new worlds in a powerfully immersive and realistic way, much like IMAX® theatres offer moviegoers a differentiated and best-in-class film experience. With groundbreaking VR headset technology, 360-degree sound and sophisticated room tracking, players will be instantly transported into new virtual worlds that are more realistic than anything imaginable.
The centres employ a new modular design – proprietary to IMAX – that consist of several “pods” to allow multiple players to enjoy interactive, exciting, moveable VR experiences. The pods, which are designed to optimize user mobility and interaction in virtual environments, can be adapted for specific content experiences – whether single or multi-user.
About Nickelodeon
Nickelodeon, now in its 38th year, is the number-one entertainment brand for kids. It has built a diverse, global business by putting kids first in everything it does. The company includes television programming and production in the United States and around the world, plus consumer products, digital, recreation, books and feature films. Nickelodeon’s U.S. television network is seen in more than 90 million households and has been the number-one-rated kids’ basic cable network for 22 consecutive years. For more information or artwork, visit http://www.nickpress.com. Nickelodeon and all related titles, characters and logos are trademarks of Viacom Inc. (NASDAQ:VIA,VIAB).
