Industrial Light & Magic explains why punching R2-D2 is crucial to VR

Creating a virtual reality experience isn’t like making other video games because you have to consider so many other details … like the sound R2-D2 makes when you slap him.

Industrial Light & Magic, the Hollywood special effects house responsible for the visuals in Star Wars and many other blockbusters, gave a presentation at the Game Developers Conference this week. It talked about the importance of making simulated environments interactive. ILMxLab, the company’s VR and AR division, has a new Star Wars “cinematic experiment” for HTC’s Vive head-mounted display. While making that game, the company discovered that it people loved banging on an old ship component or R2-D2. The demo would respond with a satisfying sound effect and rumbling from the controller.