Ever wanted to meet the President of the United States? Well, VR is bringing you one step closer today.
National Geographic, Felix & Paul Studios, and Oculus have teamed up to release Through the Ages: President Obama Celebrates America’s National Parks. Recognizing 100 years of the National Park Service, this new 360 degree video features POTUS and his family visiting the historic Yosemite National Park in California. You can join them today on Gear VR, or very soon on the Oculus Rift, though best grab your shades if you do; it’s pretty sunny out.
Together you’ll explore some of the park’s most iconic and beautiful sites such as El Capitan, the Cathedral Rocks, and the Merced River. During the 10-minute video Obama also chats with Don Neubacher, the park’s Superintendent, and visits students involved in the ‘Every Kid in the Park’ program, which aims to bring kids and their families on trips to parks across the U.S.
You can get a glimpse of the experience in the trailer above which has the Oculus Studios logo proudly placed in front. As far as we can tell this might be one of the first times the company has done this for a 360 video, not that you can blame them when the President is involved. If you don’t have a VR headset on hand then you can also watch the video through Facebook. That said, we’d definitely recommend waiting to see it with either Gear or Rift if you can.
The piece is pitched as the first VR experience to feature Obama, though that’s not strictly true. The President was already captured in 360 degrees on a trip to Kenya just over a year ago now. Still, given Obama is due to leave office in just a few months’ time, these VR experiences might be the closest you’ll get to ever really meeting the man.
VR has a wider role to play in politics, though, and we’ll see it player a bigger part in the life of the next President for sure. Oval Office VR, anyone?
