Now that 3-D has become commonplace, it's time to move on to 4-D.
D-Box Technologies, a Canadian company, is rolling out its line of "motion effects" seats for movie theaters, promising to make the film-going experience that much more immersive. Recently pegged to J.J. Abrams and Steven Spielberg's hotly anticipated summer blockbuster Super 8, the interactive seats will be used at screenings at 50 theaters across the country. The technology will also be used for screenings of the upcoming Fast and the Furious and Pirates of the Caribbean sequels.
The seats, enable a variety of different motions, including pitching from side to side, heaving up and down and vibrations. For each movie, a "motion code" is created to sync with the film's soundtrack and trigger motions at specific points.
Like 3D, this technology isn't actually new (remember the movies with the vibrating seats and water spritzers at Disney World?), but it could be poised to gain wider acceptance in theaters as the movie industry tries to lure more people away from their screens at home. See how it all works in the video above.
[Wired]
