On June 2, World Blood Donor Day, Samsung, Abbott, and the Korean Red Cross held the first XR-enabled blood donation campaign at Samsung Digital City. The Chicago Symphony Orchestra plays the soundtrack for the augmented-reality donation process.

In Sunday’s (6/14) New York Times, Hannah Edgar writes, “When the medical technology company Abbott developed mixed-reality games, it got one of the world’s great orchestras to record the soundtracks…. Abbott, the medical technology giant outside Chicago, and Blood Centers of America have devised a workaround for people like me—prime donation candidates, but fearful … In 32 countries and at 75 sites in the United States, blood donors can put on a Samsung Galaxy XR headset and choose between two interactive, mixed-reality games … Developed by the San Francisco-based Rock Paper Reality, both games are the brainchild of Miguel Carrazza Morales, a product manager at Abbott … Carrazza’s goal is to create ‘an experience for everyone’ to bring in as many donors as possible … That experience extends to the games’ soundtracks [by Joe Clark]. Abbott commissioned the Chicago Symphony Orchestra … to record them. It was the first time this august ensemble has ventured into music for video games or interactive media…. The soundtrack of the first level I picked … used the … subterranean growls in bass clarinet, tuba, contrabass and bassoon, the fibrous twang of an oboe … The second had the radiance and grandeur of a film score.”