‘Ghost in the Shell’ to Receive ‘Virtual Reality Diver’ 360 Spin-off, Debuting at TGS

In a recent Facebook post, Production I.G the animation house behind many anime movies, have announced a 360 3D Ghost in the Shell spin off named Virtual Reality Diver, and it’ll make it’s first appearance at this week’s Tokyo Game Show.

Ghost in the Shell is an anime franchise based on an original manga by Masamune Shirow by the same name. The series explores mankind’s future once technology has reached the point that human cybernetic implants and androids are a part of every day life. Although the first move had its fair share of action, the series has always been more interested in exploring the metaphysical questions raised by the prevalence of artificial intelligence and human enhancements.

Now, Production I.G. the animation house behind the anime series, is to release a 360 3D spin off subtitled ‘Virtual Reality Diver’. The new production is set to feature an original story, set in the Ghost in the Shell universe with the new feature produced by Production I.G’s interactive project ‘SIGN’.

You’ll be able to experience Virtual Reality Diver by downloading apps for both IOS and Android. It’s a little unclear how this will work in practice, but it’s assumed these will offer Google Cardboard compatible 360 experiences. To confuse matters further however, the release mentions the Oculus Rift headset in relation to a 3 minute teaser – thanks to a lack of fluency on my part in the Japanese language that’s about as much detail as I can offer, other than the apps in question will launch in the Winter.

Update: Reader ‘lanthas’ kindly clarified some information for us on the above.

“In a few days, a teaser that can be viewed on the Oculus Rift will be released for free. The full version (about 10 minutes) is planned after that.

Starting winter 2015, the full version will be sold worldwide.”

The mentioned price is 480 yen, which is about 4 USD.

Either way – the new short looks to be getting it’s first showing at the Tokyo Game Show which starts this week. We’ll keep are eyes peeled for more information.