By Yuri Kageyama, Business Writer
TOKYO (AP) --Sony Corp.'s video game division is readying not just games but also music, movies and other kinds of entertainment for its Virtual Reality headgear, set to go on sale next month.
Sony Interactive Entertainment Japan Asia President Atsushi Morita appeared at a Tokyo event Tuesday, ahead of the Tokyo Game Show annual exhibition opening later this week. The latest in video games, including VR, will be on display at the show at Makuhari Messe in the Tokyo suburb of Chiba.
One of the VR experiences promised is a music video that's a collaboration between the "Biohazard" horror game, called "Resident Evil" in the U.S., from Japanese game maker Capcom, and L'Arc-en-Ciel, a Japanese rock band, that takes advantage of VR technology's illusion of 3-D and 360-degree surround imagery.
VR can make games more immersive, enhancing the effects of horror, razzle-dazzle and erotic titillation.
The Japanese electronics and entertainment company's PlayStation VR headgear device, going on sale next month for about $400, less than rival VR headsets. Oculus Rift's goes for about $600, and HTC Vive's for $800.
Another VR shown at Tokyo-based Sony's event was the "Anywhere VR," which delivers to headset wearers a relaxing scene, such as a beach or a star-studded sky, even in their living rooms, while they take care of smartphone chores in VR.
Morita said the PlayStation VR will also be used to show live-theater performances, tours of historical sites and karaoke video.
"As a child, I learned so much from games," he said.
Morita defended his industry against the common criticism that it distracts children from education and real-life development.
He said he learned about societal rules and human drama from games, manga and music. That spirit of creativity must be passed down to future generations, he said.
Carrie Coon Relishes Being Part Of An Ensemble–From “The Gilded Age” To “His Three Daughters”
It can be hard to catch Carrie Coon on her own.
She is far more likely to be found in the thick of an ensemble. That could be on TV, in "The Gilded Age," for which she was just Emmy nominated, or in the upcoming season of "The White Lotus," which she recently shot in Thailand. Or it could be in films, most relevantly, Azazel Jacobs' new drama, "His Three Daughters," in which Coon stars alongside Natasha Lyonne and Elizabeth Olsen as sisters caring for their dying father.
But on a recent, bright late-summer morning, Coon is sitting on a bench in the bucolic northeast Westchester town of Pound Ridge. A few years back, she and her husband, the playwright Tracy Letts, moved near here with their two young children, drawn by the long rows of stone walls and a particularly good BLT from a nearby cafe that Letts, after biting into, declared must be within 15 miles of where they lived.
In a few days, they would both fly to Los Angeles for the Emmys (Letts was nominated for his performance in "Winning Time" ). But Coon, 43, was then largely enmeshed in the day-to-day life of raising a family, along with their nightly movie viewings, which Letts pulls from his extensive DVD collection. The previous night's choice: "Once Around," with Holly Hunter and Richard Dreyfus.
Coon met Letts during her breakthrough performance in "Who's Afraid of Virginia Wolfe?" on Broadway in 2012. She played the heavy-drinking housewife Honey. It was the first role that Coon read and knew, viscerally, she had to play. Immediately after saying this, Coon sighs.
"It sounds like something some diva would say in a movie from the '50s," Coon says. "I just walked around in my apartment in my slip and I had pearls and a little brandy. I made a grocery list and I just did... Read More