'Pacific Rim: Jaeger Pilot:' An Oculus Rift Experience At Comic Con 2014

Like we said, the Legendary Pictures booth at San Diego Comic-Con is very Guillermo del Toro. On one side, Crimson Peak (Read about that here). On the other side is a unique, virtual reality experience called Pacific Rim: Jaeger Pilot. Attendees will sit down in one of three Oculus Rift stations and immediately be transported into the head of a towering Jaeger, ready for battle with an evil Kaiju.

Having never tried Oculus Rift before in my life, this was quite the transformative experience. It's one you can check out on the Comic-Con floor in booth 3920 and maybe even at home as the experience teased something in 2017 at the end (though the new film is coming out that year too). Below, read about the whole Pacific Rim: Jaegar Pilot experience.

Pacific Rim Oculus Rift booth

The Pacific Rim Jaegar Pilot experience begins with a Legendary employee handing out a "Jaegar Pilot" badge and putting an Oculus VR to put on your head. You can see del Toro in the equipment above. From there, headphones are placed over it and the greenish screen seen through the goggles begins to disappear.

The green drains out and you are standing in the head of a Jaeger. Look up? See the ceiling. Look down? See the mechanics of the massive body. Behind you? The back of the head. No matter where you turn, you are fully immersed in this world. The easiest way to describe it is imagine if you put a huge pair of smudged glasses on. You could still see everything around you. The floor, ceiling, but it just looks slightly unrealistic and digital. That's Oculus. Except, in this case, it's not your reality. This is the world of Pacific Rim.

"Look at me, look at me," you begin to hear. Turn to your right and you realize you aren't the only person in here. You can't pilot a Jaegar alone, of course. Here's Raleigh Becket, complete with the voice of actor Charlie Hunnam. He explains he's glad to have you as his co-pilot but things are about to get serious. You have to get ready. Just then, everything stars shaking. Turn your head straight to look out of the Jaeger and you see a huge Kaiju coming towards you. Raleigh says to get ready and your arm lifts up in time with his, as you prepare for a powerful elbow blow. In this particular experience, you aren't controlling anything. Just enjoying the ride. But you'd image, in the future, you'll be able to control all these movements.

A direct hit on the Kaiju! It's rocked. But, just then, he rams his head into your view. The Jaeger is stunned and then, the Kaiju rips your co-pilot out with his claw. As your drift connection goes away, the jaeger stars to fail and the experience is over.

All of this takes place in about 3 minutes. It's pretty excellent and it boggles the mind the interactive gaming possibilities. To be able to fully live and experience this world like a reality will be simply awesome.