Beat Saber Arcade Machine – Augmented & Virtual Reality Confabulation

December 6, 2019

South Korea’s SKonec Entertainment Open First Western Location in LA

South Korea has a dedicated virtual reality (VR) community of creators but it’s not often the content makes it out of the country and onto western shores. SKonec Entertainment has featured on VRFocus before thanks to its Mortal Blitz franchise but the company mostly specialises in location-based entertainment (LBE) on its home turf. Recently it made the transition into America, opening VR Square Los Angeles.

SKonec VR Square LA

SKonec Entertainment teamed up with local bowling alley space Xlanes to make VR Square LA a reality, using over 10,000 sqft to create the arcade. With that much space on offer, VR Square LA features several of SKonec’s LBE titles, ranging from free-roaming experiences to PvP shooters and VR escape rooms. On the free-roaming side, there’s Operation Black Wolf: Battle of the Desert, a modern military-themed multiplayer first-person shooter (FPS) designed for three to six players.

Then there’s Battle Arena: Mortal Blitz offering the PvP element. VRFocus demoed the experience at Gamescom 2019, stating: “Battle Arena: Mortal Blitz was just great fun to play. With an awesome looking sci-fi, neon theme, matches were brutal, exciting and leave you with a big smile.” It was noted that one downside was the need to go to South Korea to play it. Now that’s no longer the case.

For those after a greater puzzle element then there’s always the VR Escape Room. Another first for western audiences, the title offers two-player co-op gameplay optimised for LBE gaming. And to keep you coming back for more there are multiple endings.

SKonec VR Square LA

One addition that’s surely going to attract a few players is the Beat Saber Arcade Machine. A collaborative effort between SKonec Entertainment and Beat Games, the arcade machine was revealed last year with several sites in South Korea and China selected for testing – YouTuber Nathie went to China’s VR Star Theme Park to see test it out. Like many home VR videogames brought to arcades, the machine features customised content for a more ‘arcade flow’.

So if you happen to be in the Downtown LA area looking for something VR related to do, Xlanes has VR gaming starting from $5. For further LBE updates, keep reading VRFocus.

September 6, 2018

Skonec Entertainment Reveals Battle Arena: Mortal Blitz at KVRF

South Korean developer Skonec entertainment have unveiled its two latest projects for location-based virtual reality (VR) centres. The first is a VR Arcade version of popular action rhythm title Beat Saber, while the other is a new title based on Skonec’s Mortal Blitz IP, titled Battle Arena: Mortal Blitz.

The two new titles were revealed at the Korean Virtual Reality Festival, an event which allows consumers, developers and companies to explore what is currently possible and available in the world of immersive technology.

Battle Arena: Mortal Blitz is a VR first-person shooter (FPS) which has been designed for location-based VR attractions. It is equipped to handle 2-4 person multiplayer battles, with the intention of becoming suitable for VR esports.

Mortal Blitz is a long-running franchise for Skonec Entertainment, with the first iteration, Mortal Blitz EP-1 being released back in 2015 for the Samsung Gear VR, afterwards Mortal Blitz for Walking Attraction was developed as a free-roaming shooter for theme parks and VR arcades. Mortal Blitz was then adapted into a title for the PlayStation VR in 2017.

Previous Mortal Blitz titles put the player in the role of a special agent who is trapped inside a research facility where terrifying Teratoma mutants have infested the halls and labs, and players need to familiarise themselves with an array of weapons to take out the mutants and find a way to escape.

The Beat Saber Arcade machine was developed as a partnership between Skonec entertainment and Beat Games, with gameplay modified to better suit the arcade style of location-based play. The first official K-pop song has been added to this version, Killing Me by iKon, with plans to add more famous K-pop songs in future.

Battle Arena: Mortal Blitz will be available at VR Square arcade centre from Q4 of this year. For future coverage on location-based VR centres, keep checking back with VRFocus.

August 27, 2018

The Beat Goes On: Beat Saber Arcade Machine Officially Announced

Note-smashing virtual reality (VR) videogame Beat Saber has become an impressive success, particularly for a Steam Early Access title produced by a small indie studio. It seems like Beat Saber is planning on expanding the franchise, aiming to be the next location-based VR arcade phenomenon thanks to a partnership between Beat Games and Skonec Entertainment.

The plan is to create a version of Beat Saber that will be suitable for VR centres and other attractions and locations that utilise VR arcades, with a specially built machine featuring customised content for a more ‘arcade flow’.

The Beat Saber Arcade Machine will be ‘self-operable’, meaning that players will not need and assistance from an operator in order to climb into a VR headset, grab the controllers and start flailing away to slice those notes.

Beat Games and Skonec Entertainment have expressed lofty aims for this new product, with ambitions of stepping into the shoes of legendary rhythm-based arcade titled like Dance Dance Revolution.

The two companies say that locations tests for the Beat Saber Arcade Machine will be running from the end of August until the middle of September in selected cities in Korea and China. Namely, South Korea will see unit appearing in Seoul and Busan, while China will get the machines in Beijing, Shanghai and Shenyang.

Beat Saber Arcade Skonec entertainment are planning to reveal the Beat Saber Arcade Machine machine at two upcoming events:

KRVF, which will take place in Seoul, South Korea on 5th-9th September. Further information is available on the KRVR website.

GTI Expo, which is set to take place in Guangzhou, China from 12th-14th September. Further information and tickets can be found on the official GTI Expo website.

Jordhan Choi, the Vice President of Skonec Entertainment had this to say: “We are happy to bring this experience to the market with globally being loved game, Beat Saber. We are sure that this will be an exciting addition to not only to VR arcades but also to any locations. We are pleased to service Beat Saber into this branded arcade machine, and plan to include further collaboration such as adding famous K-pop songs and more.”

For future coverage on the Beat Saber franchise keep checking back with VRFocus.