WATCH THIS: Ready Player One Teaser and Comic-Con Panel!

Last week almost everyone in the world was in San Diego at Comic Con except me. Okay, not really. This year a handful of TN regulars were missing from the annual pilgrimage to fandom mecca so I wasn’t the only one missing out on all of the fun times. On Saturday during the Warner Bros panel they released the teaser trailer for the much anticipated movie Ready Player One. I wanted to take a look at what we see and encourage you, if you haven’t, to Read.The.Book.

Read The Book

First thing’s first… if you haven’t read the book, you will probably be confused. The book by Ernest Cline, came out in 2011 and you should really read it before the movie comes out. Like almost every book, it’s better than the movie and even with Stephen Spielberg at the helm, there is only so much he’ll be able to cram into a 2 hour movie. Most of the movie/book takes place in the Oasis, a virtual reality in dystopian America in 2045. It’s full of nostalgia from anything in the 80’s from TV shows to video games and movies. The plot centers around a “Steve Jobs” character named James Halladay who invented the virtual reality Oasis and was a huge fan of the 80’s. Upon his death, all Oasis users receive a message that outlines the terms of his inheritance and easter eggs hidden within the Oasis. Three hidden keys open three secret gates…

If you are a child of the 80’s this will be a book/movie you will love. I actually had my dad read it and he was pleasantly surprised. Of course in the early 80’s he managed a bowling alley on a college campus so he became quite familiar with some of the early video games. When they mention them in the book, he was transported right back to trying to beat the levels.

Comic Con Teaser

The Stacks

This looks exactly like I pictured it would. America in 2045 is in an energy crisis, everyone uses VR, and our hero lives in The Stacks in Columbus, Ohio.

A Movie full of Easter Eggs

Batman rides a scorpion, Harley Quinn & Death Stroke, Iron Giant, Freddy Kruger, Back to the Future’s Delorian, but if Warner Brothers owns it, it’ll probably appear. We know there are puzzles for Wade to crack, the trailer is more an introduction to the world than really the story that RPO is telling. Nerdist found QR code in the mess of mangled cars that leads you to the website for Innovative Online Industries or IOI.

Virtual Reality CGI?

Everyone has their own idea of what the Oasis should look like and some feel it’s too much CGI, others say it’s what Virtual Reality is. I think the many worlds we get inside the Oasis is going to be amazing and I can’t wait to see the variation. Seeing the IOI gamers in and out of the Oasis side by side is awesome to see how the haptic suits work.

The Hall H Panel

The panel in Hall H on Saturday morning was brief and I found a video online. Here’s a link to hear a bit more about the process and a bit from Stephen Spielberg himself.

What are your thoughts? Have you read the book? Are you looking forward to movie?

 

^{Screencaps from the trailer by Emily}