Japanese anime distributor Daisuki have produced a video report for the recent alpha test for IBM’s Sword Art Online: The Beginning Virtual Reality experience. The report briefly covers what participants had to do throughout the test and inside the game; as well as showing the technology used.
Sword Art Online: The Beginning is currently in production with an Alpha test that ran during the weekend of March 19 for 208 lucky fans. IBM will be leading the game’s development and the development may pave way to more unique Virtual Reality experiences.
The game itself will serve as a prequel to the Sword Art Online game in the series. IBM will be co-developing the experience using their Cognitive Systems, that powers IBM Watson, to produce the game. It will be automated alongside their new cloud technology titled SoftLayer.
The VR systems uses the Oculus Rift DK2 model, branded as the Nerve Gear, with additional sensors in conjunction with a multidirectional treadmill. A Xbox One Kinect is also used to help with tracking player movement.
You can visit the anime’s official website here: http://www.swordart-online.net/
And follow the latest developments on their Twitter: @sao_anime