This YouTube creator is bringing games to life in 360-degrees.
YouTube gaming expert Matthew Patrick (aka MatPat) has launched a new action-packed 360-degree VR series that explores the real life science behind popular video games.
You may have heard of MatPat’s YouTube channel, The Game Theorists, which commands over six million subscribers and is known for myth-busting the accuracy of popular video games. Now thanks to YouTube Red, MatPat is throwing in a twist with his latest series that has guests compete in real-life versions of video games.
The new “reality adventure” series, MATPAT’s GAME LAB, kicked off on Wednesday and is available exclusively on YouTube Red. The series was created in partnership with YouTube Red and each episode featured in the series is accompanied by a 360° VR companion bonus episode produced by the folks over at Specular Theory to immerse fans further into the non-stop action scenes.
Still from 360° Mirror’s Edge episode.
For the first episode of GAME LAB, which is available for free on the Game Theorists YouTube channel, MatPat invites creators from Smosh Games and Warp Zone to join him in a parkour showdown modeled after the upcoming video game Mirror’s Edge Catalyst. The accompanying 360-degree video stands on its own, taking you on a parkour mission, with much of the episode filmed on location at the Disney Concert Hall!
The second episode of the series is only available on YouTube Red, which brings Rocket League into the real world playing car soccer. However, all 360-degree episodes in the series are available for free and this second 360-degree episode takes you on an immersive match with MatPat and CaptainSparklez in a quest to master real-life Rocket League.
So what else can you expect from the eight episode series? Everything from ostrich riding to a capture-the-flag battle, complete with swords and armor, based on the upcoming medieval combat game For Honor (Ubisoft), you will be able to watch what happens when these gamers face real life challenges. Other games brought to life in this series include Watch Dogs, Metal Gear Solid, Five Night at Candy’s and Keep Talking and Nobody Explodes.
Still from 360° Rocket League episode.
When it comes to the 360-degree videos, we were able to get a sneak peek of a few episodes that will be released throughout the upcoming weeks and they were quite a thrill when viewed in a VR headset – especially the Metal Gear Solid episode.
We have covered some of the work of Venice-based virtual reality production company Specular Theory in the past, which has included a collaboration with YouTube star Lilly Singh for Terminator Genisys as well as their Perspectives series, a pair of controversial live-action VR experiences that places viewers in the perspective of both parties. We also took to the beach back in October to show a Specular Theory 360 video, putting Gear VR headsets on surfers to give them their first taste of surfing in VR, which was a collaboration with WSL and Jeep.
[addPanorama src=”http://vrscout.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/07/test-image.png” height=”450″ rotate=”0 240 0″]You can check out a behind scenes look into to the making of this new show below, and be on the lookout for the future 360-degree episodes that will drop every Wednesday.