Pacific Historic Parks and TimeLooper Launch a Next Generation Interactive Virtual Reality Experience Bringing Pearl Harbor's Past and Present to Life

HONOLULU, Hawaii, Dec. 3, 2018 /PRNewswire-PRWeb/ -- Building on the success of its first-generation on-site virtual reality experience and offering visitors new perspectives on the events of December 7, 1941, as well as the USS Arizona, as it rests within Pearl Harbor, Pacific Historic Parks (PHP) partnered with acclaimed virtual reality (VR) experience design house TimeLooper to introduce a cutting-edge VR film series December 7th, Above and Below.

The program leverages the groundbreaking storytelling medium of virtual reality to allow visitors to the World War II Valor in the Pacific National Monument not only to learn about the events and people of December 7th but also to step inside of and experience the story as if they were an active participant.

Commissioned by Pacific Historic Parks, the three-part VR series enables visitors to explore the USS Arizona in its grandeur as never recreated, just moments before it was torpedoed on December 7th, 1941; travel 40 feet below sea level to take an underwater tour of the USS Arizona in its final resting place; and virtually tour the temporarily closed USS Arizona Memorial and honor the fallen. The new USS Arizona Memorial virtual tour opens to the public on Monday, December 3rd, and Walk the Deck and the Underwater Experience will launch just after the new year.

Pacific Historic Parks' President & CEO, Aileen Utterdyke, said, "Our mission is to educate and perpetuate the memory of events and of the people involved with Pearl Harbor and the Pacific. Infrastructure enhancements to the ramp at the USS Arizona Memorial have made access a challenge, and we thought it critical to provide visitors with an alternative method of experiencing the Memorial. This has also been a wonderful opportunity to reimagine how the power of VR could help our visitors better understand and experience the USS Arizona, both as a battleship and as the final resting place of fallen heroes. We could not imagine partnering with any company other than TimeLooper, the internationally recognized leader in immersive experience design."

"No single moment shaped 20th century American history like the attack on Pearl Harbor. The ability to collaborate with Pacific Historic Parks to create and provide these experiences to the Monument's visitors is a true honor," said Andrew Feinberg, TimeLooper's Chief Operating Officer. "We developed new technologies and creative approaches to allow visitors to not just visit the Memorial but travel below and explore the USS Arizona in its current condition. The 3D modeling and real-time graphics are both visually stunning and painstakingly accurate, enabling us to both entertain and educate."

In employing TimeLooper's proprietary VR production technology, PHP's December 7th, Above and Below provides a seamless customer experience to even the least sophisticated visitors. Visitors to the World War II Valor in the Pacific National Monument can instantly "step" onto the deck of the Arizona or descend 40 feet to the harbor floor to explore her final resting place by simply visiting the Virtual Reality Theater and placing a headset on their head. The VR films are also available for purchase through TimeLooper's virtual reality platform via Google Play and iTunes for those unable to travel to Pearl Harbor.

SOURCE TimeLooper