Star Wars: 10 Things I Learnt At My First Celebration

3. VR Is The Future

This isn't an experience exclusive to Celebration, but as my first experience of interactive VR, I don't think anything else compares. ILMxLab was in attendance at the convention with their first Star Wars VR experience, Trials On Tatooine, and words can hardly explain the joy it gave.

The actual stand itself was incredibly hard to get into. Sessions were ticketed, given out at the start of the day, and every morning were gone pretty much immediately - I only got in thanks to the early press access - but if you were lucky enough to get an allotted slot then you were in for a highlight treat.

The whole thing is only about five minutes long, but it's some of the best Star Wars gaming ever. You play as one of Luke's Jedi Apprentices on a mission to Tatooine. Confined to a square area about 4m x 4m, first there's a little bit of interaction with the Falcon under attack, then you get the lightsaber. And nothing can compare to the thrill of finally being able to wield a blade, swinging it around as it hums and sending blaster bolts zinging back to Stormtroopers.

It's really jsut a tech demo, showing the basic capabilities of VR, but as a mission statement and the promise of what's to come (they announced a Darth Vader level at the panel) it's giddying.