No, no one aboard the Titanic (or the lifeboats it released) was wielding a camcorder when it finally sunk below the surface of the north Atlantic Ocean on the morning of April 15, 1912. Sure, there were silent films being made at the time (Charlie Chaplin would make his screen debut two years later in Making a Living) but they required a studio and time — not to mention they weren’t terribly long features.
Here in 2016, however, the capability to accurately depict what the scene looked like when the mighty vessel, captained by former Royal Navy Reserver Captain Edward John Smith, hit an iceberg in the cold ocean waters about 400 miles off the coast of Newfoundland and two hours and forty minutes later descended to its deep watery grave, is on our collective person.
Actually, saying “we can do it!” is so, so last month.
Because it’s been done, by a bunch of video game makers who hope its the introduction to their fully-realized creation: a game about the famous ship sinking for Virtual Reality on Oculus Rift.