Own a Moto X? If you do, Motorola has a surprise for you at the end of the month, when it releases Windy Day, a motion controlled, interactive game/story. If that description sounds a little non-specific, it’s because Motorola is keeping quiet about what Windy Day is all about. The only official information we have comes from a newly released promo video, which you can see below, that primarily consists of people grinning and waving their Moto X phones about like loons.
The description reads, “A mouse, a red hat, a windy day, and a smile. This is a new kind of story. Made by Motorola and Jan Pinkava. Brought to life only on the Moto X.” By doing some digging, we’ve discovered some more about Windy Day, starting with identifying Jan Pinkava. He’s best known for writing and co-directing Pixar’s Ratatouille, and doing other work for the studio on movies such as Monsters, Inc. and Toy Story 2.
Windy Day is his most recent project, and it’s being billed as an interactive story made especially for mobile. The app is the first to use the mobile version of a Pixar animation technology called OpenSubdiv, developed by experts at custom design firm DigitalFish and Motorola, which fully exploits the talents of the quad-core Adreno 320 GPU inside the Moto X. In an interview, one of the lead developers from Motorola’s Advanced Technology and Projects division, said of Windy Day, “We’re investigating how a mobile device can permit stories to be told in a more immersive, interactive way. This is not a flat experience.”
The Windy Day app made a brief appearance at Qualcomm’s UPLINQ 2013 event in September, where it was demonstrated on stage by Motorola Mobility SVP Dr. Regina Dugan. It’s here we get our best look at what it’s all about, as we’re introduced to Pepe the mouse, who is chasing his red hat around a beautifully painted world. The movement of your smartphone provides a real-time window into Pepe’s forest home, and according to Geek.com, you’re free to let the events of the story unfold around you, or go off exploring.
Windy Day is technically very exciting, and the app promises to be lots of phone-swiveling fun. It’s out on October 29 and only on the Motorola Moto X.
Updated on 10/29/2013 by Andy: Windy Day is now available for your Moto X through the Motorola Spotlight App. It’s ready to download through Google Play here. As is clear from the information we had already, Windy Day is something a little different, and sure enough Motorola says, “It’s not a movie, and it’s not a game. It’s new.” If you give it a try, let us know what you think of it.
