NEW YORK--(BUSINESS WIRE)--
The Melody of Dust, a virtual reality (VR) music and gaming experience created by multidisciplinary artist Nick Koenig (aka Hot Sugar) in collaboration with Viacom, was released today for the HTC Vive headset.
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A screenshot of the game, courtesy of Nick Koenig and Viacom.
Dubbed a “new art form” by Rolling Stone, this immersive exploration of sight and sound has players discover and unlock more than 80 original melodies hidden within objects found in an animated castle. Together, the melodies form a kind of VR album shaped by the unique gameplay. A self-titled “soundtrack” by Hot Sugar is also available on iTunes and Spotify in conjunction with its release.
“The atmospheric fantasy world in The Melody of Dust allows you to confirm that any object in the universe is a musical instrument, whether we know how to play it or not,” said Koenig.
The release of The Melody of Dust follows its March 14 world premiere at the SXSW Virtual Cinema in Austin, Texas.
“The Melody of Dust truly is the first of its kind deconstructed VR music experience,” said Chaki Ng, SVP Viacom NEXT, Viacom’s research and development arm for emerging entertainment technologies. “We believe this is a glimpse of what the future of music could look and feel like as you literally step into the mind of a musician and create your own score.”
View the game’s trailer here: www.themelodyofdust.com.
About Viacom NEXT
Viacom NEXT is working on the future of entertainment. We explore, prototype and develop novel projects with our brands (which include MTV, Nickelodeon, Comedy Central, Paramount Pictures and BET) and with external partners including startups, academics (e.g., MIT, CMU, and major NYC universities via the NYC Media Lab) as well as creators, artists, and musicians. With a focus on Virtual Reality, we are making room-scale interactive music experiences, narrative worlds, games, and exploring live-action capture techniques. In addition to The Melody of Dust, Viacom NEXT VR productions include Chocolate created by Tyler Hurd and Smash Party VR, the hilarious hell-raising Virtual Reality collaboration with Titmouse, the Emmy award-winning animation studio. Visit us online at http://viacomnext.com.
Nick Koenig, also known as Hot Sugar, multidisciplinary artist
Nick Koenig is a multidisciplinary artist best known for his music under the name Hot Sugar. He is the founder of a musical philosophy referred to as Associative Music, a modernized branch of musique concrete. His latest project, The Melody of Dust premiered at SXSW alongside a recent album of the same name. Developed in collaboration with Viacom NEXT, the VR music experience is an extension of Hot Sugar’s musical philosophy. Nick Koenig was the subject of the feature length documentary Hot Sugar's Cold World, which premiered at SXSW in 2015.
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