Thu | May 7, 2026

Tech Times: A whole other realm

Published:Saturday | April 30, 2016 | 12:00 AM
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Michael Hall (left) and Frances Hall (right, no relation), part of the ‘Game of Thrones’ Experience competition, were thrilled to share a moment with Nicole Campbell, brand experience manager, following their 4D virtual reality experience.
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The Oculus Rift
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FLOW’s Nicole Campbell (left) and Danielle Savory (right) flank Crysta-Jaye Walker, marketing manager at Huawei.
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Castle Black
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Frances Hall uses the Oculus device to explore the old world realm from the HBO hit series, ‘Game of Thrones’.
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Most persons seem to confuse 3D with VR (virtual reality) and, from a technical standpoint, they are vastly different in many ways.

Thanks to Flow Jamaica, many attendees at the Expo Jamaica 2016 had a firsthand experience of what VR is and how immersive it can be.

This was done with the help of some Oculus equipment and Game of Thrones in VR mode.

Let's break it down into two categories.

 

What is Oculus?

 

Oculus VR, LLC, simply known as Oculus, is an American virtual reality technology company founded in Irvine, California, in June 2012 by Palmer Luckey and Jack McCauley.

They pretty much pioneered the VR experience and sometimes licenses it out to other companies.

Now, to explain how VR works is quite simple. You place a pair of VR goggles over your head that tracks your head movement and relays the information to a device that uses that information to calculate what you should be seeing when your head is turned at different angles.

Long story short, the goggles trick your eyes into seeing an environment as though you were physically there.

This looks standard on paper, but the experience is amazing in real life and sometimes frightening too.

 

'Game of Thrones'

 

 

in VR mode

 

So, the environment that was used to showcase VR with Oculus was Castle Black from the popular TV series Game of Thrones. You were able to take a tour of the great wall and ride the old wooden elevator to the top of the wall, hearing all the wooden squeaks on the way up. Once at the top, you could look over the wall, which seemed so realistic, it was frightening.

There was also the choice to walk outside Castle Black's walls and explore. We strongly avoided that choice due to extreme fear of a white walker jumping out at us.

 

Final thought

 

Flow Jamaica really did put together a thrilling experience for the Game of Thrones fans and curious onlookers who had to see what VR was and how it worked. The booth was equipped with great speakers that added to the experience.

Next time around, I hope they make a booth for the Walking Dead fans, and keep an ambulance nearby.

Writer: Payton H. Wilmott