Reporters shuffled through into the large cinema repurposed as a presentation area. Cameramen fixed their positions and pointed their cameras up towards the main stage. Millions tuned in online for the announcement from K.E.D Gaming. The company has revolutionized the VR gaming industry with cutting edge technology that allowed users to truly feel as if they were part of the computerized world. The first K.E.D console, K.E.D 1, became the biggest selling gaming device of all time and rendered all others redundant. Games felt real. Players could transport themselves too far off worlds and feel every sense. Young children could become international sports stars or popstars. People could be a military hero and feel every possible sensation. It was otherworldly.
The company had been quiet for the last few years. There were rumours of a K.E.D 2 device being released but how could you improve on what they had created? They continued releasing new games titles and multiplayer online initiatives and seemed happy to continue down this avenue indefinitely. Until last week. A cryptic internet post blasted across all their social media platforms at midnight. It was a simple yellow background with words in a bold red font dripping down the page “We are just getting started….March 2nd”.
The internet went crazy. Videos immediately went up from content creators speculating on what was to be announced. Some believed it would be an updated K.E.D console with newer graphics. Some believed it was new space programme. Some thought it was all a marketing ploy to drum up extra sales in emerging markets.
The room darkened as the lights were dimmed. A hush fell on the room as the news crews and reporters waited with almost unbearable anticipation. A large screen filled with light, and a logo flickered onto the screen. It showed a hand grasped around planet earth. Underneath the logo the text read “This is UrWorld. K.E.D 2” The room erupted with gasps and cheers. Karen Edgerly, CEO of K.E.D strode onto the stage as a spotlight followed her to rapturous applause.
“Ladies and gentlemen. I am so excited to be here today to introduce you to UrWorld. The newest creation from K.E.D Gaming. We`ve achieved so much in such a short space of time with our VR Gaming devices, some would say we have perfected it. But there’s always one thing missing. We all know it`s not real…but what if we could change that?” The viewers watched with growing curiosity. “You must all think that I am crazy right?” The room laughed. “Maybe I am! But here why don`t I just show you!”.
Two men rolled onto the stage pillar with a large circular top, similar in size to a sizable family dinner table. It was completely white apart from the UrWorld logo etched in black across the front of the pillar. The two men rolled it up to the centre of the stage. Karen walked up to the device and with the press of a button what appeared as a hologram of earth appeared in front of her.
“This ladies and gentlemen is planet earth. Looks real doesn`t it! Well done Karen! Cool hologram! Who hasn’t seen that before” The audience chuckled again, quieter than before as they leant further up to the edge of their seats with anticipation. “But what if I was to tell you this is real?” Murmurs spread across the room, the audience whispering conclusions to each other. Where was she going with this? Karen continued “We have reached a fantastic scientific discovery. In our search for new entertainment systems we have not only proved the existence of infinite multiple universes. We have found a way to harness them for our benefit.” The room fell silent, transfixed by Karens passion and profound words. If what she had said was true, this was history unfolding before them.
“This my friends is not only Earth. This is Your Earth. We have plucked this entire planet from another dimension and brought it into our own. Obviously at a more……personal size” The room was stunned, a few stood and applauded. Some shook their heads in disbelief. “But this is only scratching the surface….” A cameraman ran onto the stage, the screen behind Karen now being fed with his camera feed. Karen pulled up her sleeve to reveal a chunky, futuristic looking bracelet featuring two small screens. “This Bracelet, combined with the overalls I am wearing that turn invisible once worn allows us at will to wish almost any scenario into existence, as well as accessing local feeds of tv broadcasting.. Within the confines of Urworld I can be omnipotent. Simply speak a command and it becomes reality. But hey I guess this all sounds a little farfetched? Why don`t I show you?”
With a flash Karen had disappeared from the stage. The audience gasped before falling silent. “Hello everyone, can you hear me?” The words played out to no picture from the TV, the crowd looked around the room the find the source of her words. The TV Screen lit into life as Karen’s beaming face smiled back at them. “This is me everyone, I am currently in France near the Eiffel tower!”. The camera turned around to focus on the iconic structure standing proudly from behind her. Karen raised the bracelet and spoke a command into the speaker “Urworld. Make the Eiffel tower bright green, but make it so it is normal for everyone”. Instantaneously the Eiffel tower stood as proud as it always had but was now an illuminous bright green colour.
“With any command you have the option of keeping the surroundings consistent within the realms of Urworld. Our nanobot technology is keeping the world in it`s prior state, the inhabitants of this world believe they are still in the same place they have always been. They have no idea they have been removed from their dimension and are now placed within our display. You have the option of changing that but we can save that for later. So right now, to this world, the Eiffel tower has always been bright green”. The audience in the room gasped before cheering with delight.
She smiled at the camera and raised the bracelet once again “Urworld. Increase my height to 36,000 feet”. Within milliseconds the view from Karen’s camera changed from a street P.O.V to feeling like she was looking on the world from a plane. “Wow this feels so surreal! I think we may have spooked them, but how can we tell? With this braclet we are also able to connect to the live news feed, let`s have a look at how they are getting on”
The screen on stage flicked from Karen to a French news channel showing breaking news. The camera was focused on a pair of impossibly large high heeled shoes that stretched endlessly into the sky. Screaming people could be seen fleeing the scene as the news reporters tried desperately to maintain composure as the apocalypse seemed near.
“Now let us get a little souvenir!” Karens voice reappeared on the screen and with a pivot forward she leaned down and plucked the now 2 inch tall Eiffel tower between her thumb and index finger, with great delicacy as to not overly damage the flimsy structure. She raised the bracelet once again to her mouth “Exit game”.
With a flash Karen was now back on the stage, proudly holding her new personal Eiffel tower. The camera man on stage zoomed into her hand and the audience watched in awe. There it was. Dangling from Karens fingers was the now green Eiffel tower, no more than 2 inches tall. The room stood up and applauded the intellectual genius behind the new device. The tv feed had filtered back to the news and this time to an American news report. Replay after replay of the titanic Karen plucking the Eiffel tower before vanishing into mid air showed on the screen with every angle possible. Her pivoting feet digging into the ground causing magma to spill out from the crater she created. They watched as a helicopter flew above and two high heeled footprints could be seen smoldering into the ground
Karen handed the tiny tower to a member of the staff who walked it down to the crowd so each could get a good view. “Before we get into the Q/A section. Let me show you one more thing we are very proud of from our game. Urworld find me the president of the united states”. The earth above the plinth was replaced with a holographic loading screen before Airforce one appeared. It looked like the plane was floating in mid-air, clouds were floating past at rapid speed. “We do not have to go into the world to enjoy the benefits. The device can focus in on specific areas or people. This plane looks like it is standing still. But in reality it is flying threw the air on a flight right now. The pilots can see it`s normal surroundings but we are able to locate it through the bracelet and isolate the game so only this appears. The president John Robbins is on this plane right now. They have scrambled him off on airforce one, guess my little trip to France got him a little scared!” The audience chuckled.
Karen placed two hands out and grabbed the plane from the air and brought it from the circular area of the game and out onto the stage. She walked the plane with its tiny high-pitched jets still running desperately trying to escape her grasp and handed it to another member of staff. “Urworld, remove the roof Airforce one”. The roof of the plane vanished, and Karen looked in and smiled with accomplishment. She plucked a figure out and the cameras zoomed in. The president of the United States flailed wildly in her fingers.
The room stood once more and lavished Karen with a standing ovation. Holding her hands up she quietened the room down. “Urworld. Reset”. With those commands the plane, president and Eiffel tower that was in the hand of a stunned tech blogger all vanished from the room. The screen behind her reverted to the French news channel, covering a story about a dog. No sign of the apocalyptic destruction. “Thank you so much. I am so excited to finally bring you this. It has been in the works for so long. I`ll now take some questions from the floor”
Karen looked out across the room, the spotlights making it difficult to see from whoever the question was coming from. A microphone was passed around and a voice came over across the speakers. “Hi Karen. Matt here from LTV Gaming News. Is there a question to answer here about ethics? I mean as impressive as the device is if what you are saying about alternative universes is true then surely these are real people, will they not have any legal rights?”
“Hi Matt, thanks for the question. The inhabitants of our world are real people, but they to an extent should not exist within it. As that is the case and they are not from our dimension they have no legal rights. We do appreciate the question of ethics and that is why we allow the reset option. No permanent damage needs to be done to any of their worlds or lives”
“Hi Karen, James Phillips. Fox News. Are the creatures within the worlds able to travel out of the Urworld. It may be possible if a player accesses a military base that a squadron of 6 inch jet fighters could be let loose into our society. They may not be as much of a threat but they could surely still pose a risk?”
“Hi James, the overalls provided to the player will provide enough protection for all eventualities. The Urworld console will only allow the inhabitants of the world to travel 10 feet away in any direction from the console. At that point they will be respawned as such in the world itself so they should pose no risk to the wider public in that eventuality. However, we will place one warning. If you are not wearing the protective layer of the overalls within that range, there is a risk. But we can guarantee the overalls for life.”
“Hi Karen, big fan! I`m Louise from the gaming network. Are these worlds the same as ours? If they are from other dimensions as you say would that not make them different to ours?”
“Hi Louise, great question. The point is that there are infinite universes. Every outcome every conceived has created a new universe. We are targeting the universes most similar to our own. The difference could be as tiny as a microscopic germ being out of place so to the untrained eye they will be identical.”
“Hi Karen, James again from fox news. Will traveling in time be possible as we have seen with some of the series of the K.E.D 1.”
“Yes James. Every moment of human history can be relived. You cannot go forward in time obviously but any time from the past can be revisited”
“Hi Karen. My names Mo from the BBC. When can we buy it!”
“Hi Mo. I am delighted to announce the online release date for right now. Any orders placed before 6PM we will guarantee a next day delivery. It will be available in retail stores a week today!”