Fox releases ‘The Martian’ VR teaser alongside Samsung’s $99 Gear VR

Fox and Samsung are looking to fly Gear VR owners to the red planet this coming week. The virtual reality teaser puts users in Matt Damon’s vacuum-sealed space boots and will give audiences a taste of the longer, 20-minute cinematic experience slated to hit VR devices in 2016.

The Samsung Gear VR started shipping earlier today, so if you pre-ordered one of the $99 devices, your Gear may already be in the mail. Physical stores will be able to start selling Gear VR devices on November 27. This is a pretty important step for virtual reality overall. In essence, Samsung is stating that they believe VR is ready for the commercial market. Although the technology is still relatively young, the improvements made over the last few years have been impressive. Now it seems like the only thing keeping VR content from the market at large is the lack of a device ecosystem to support it. By partnering with Oculus to develop the Gear, Samsung demonstrated a strong belief in this technology’s market potential. Their release of the affordable Gear VR may be one small step for Samsung, but it’s a giant leap for VR community as a whole.

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And what better way to draw in public attention than to pair the device’s release with content related to one of the biggest theatrical releases of 2015? What we’ll be getting is just a small taste of ‘The Martian’ experience, showcasing a few key scenes in 360-degrees of three dimensions. The VR project was in development alongside the film and is being produced by Ridley Scott. Robert Stromberg is acting as director.

If you’re an early adopter of the Gear VR, ‘The Martian’ teaser is already available in the Milk VR store. Give it a watch, then head back here and let us know what you thought in the comments!