While the industry is currently going through something of a quiet patch when it comes to virtual reality (VR) related news, that certainly doesn’t mean that nothing at all is happening. In fact, as we’ve seen recently a number of names within the immersive technology industry are taking the time to refocus on their goals going forward, secure additional funding, and in some cases expand
Examples of this would be like digital out-of-home entertainment (DOE) specialists The VOID who are continuing their push to grow the business, revealing more and more venues particularly in North America. Just yesterday VRFocus brought you news of Munich-based augmented reality (AR) and mixed reality (MR) training firm Re’flekt, which has just secured over $4 million (USD) in investment and at the same time Pokemon GO developer Niantic Labs revealed the latest of several moves and acquisitions by purchasing VR studio Seismic Games, which recently launched Blade Runner: Revelations for Google Daydream.
Closer to home – for VRFocus, anyway – another company has revealed a new role as it looks to make inroads into North America. Immotion Group, another DOE company, recently floated on the London Stock Exchange’s junior market, AIM, generating £5.75 million (GBP) to add to the £500K it received in April and the £1.3 million back in December 2017. The move follows a number of new partners and venues being revealed this year, including Merlin Entertainments’ Lego Discovery Center in Boston which VRFocus reported on back in May and a venue in Birmingham, UK. Further locations are, according to Immotion Group, “under agreement”.
Immotion Group has appointed a North American Sales Director “to lead the company’s expansion drive in the region”, choosing Kyle Villella, who has a background in areas the company is likely to target, specifically outdoor activity entertainment centres and theme parks.
“We’re really happy to have Kyle lead the charge in the North American market.” said Immotion’s Group Commercial Director Rod Findley, “It’s important to have someone with deep experience across verticals as we expand our location-based VR offering across a wide range of venues in the US and Canada.”
“The Immotion Group has all the ingredients to be the leader in the out-of-home VR entertainment industry for the world.” Villella himself added. “The ongoing efforts have yielded amazing results and I’m proud and excited to help continue the rollout for North America.”
VRFocus will bring you more details on developments at Immotion Group as we get them.
The idea of a virtual reality (VR) theme park is one that has been gaining traction as location-based VR centres open up all over the glove. Instead of offering up just one VR set-up or experience, VR theme parks host a range of immersive activities for visitors. South Korea has shown it is still aiming to be on the cutting edge of this technology trend with the launch of a VR park called VRIGHT.
The new park is part of a joint venture between telecoms company KT Corp and GS Retail, and is the second such park to emerge from the partnership. It will be located near the main gate of Konkuk University.
The park will feature roughly 30 new videogames, VR experiences and rides, many of which have been developed in partnership with leading Korean developers, such as Smilegate and Appnori. The rooms that contain the experiences will be priced from 5,000 won (roughly $4.50 USD) up to 49,000 won per use, or per hour depending on the nature of the experience.
Koh Yoon-Jeon, chief of KT’s future business development unit, shared: “We will strengthen partnerships with content creators, simulator manufacturers and other small and medium-sized enterprises at home and abroad.”
The previous VRIGHT park was opened in Sinchon, new Yonsei University in western Seoul. The VR theme park has seen over 18,000 visitors since it was opened in March, 2018. The park has two floors and offers a range of VR attractions and activities, including the two headline experiences, Special Force VR: universal War, a first-person sci-fi shooter and HADO, a multiplayer augmented reality (AR) title tat plays like dodgeball.
The two companies have announced plans to open further VRIGHT parks this year, which will operate under the management of KT Corp, with further plans to franchise the brand in 2019. VRFocuswill continue to keep you informed on new developments in location-based VR.
In June a cacophony of announcements regarding major LB-VR projects and new commercial entertainment VR hardware came out – so we conclude this two-part feature with more observations on developments in the Digital Out-of-Home entertainment VR (DOE) scene; with industry specialist, Kevin Williams ending his latest observations of this defining market for VR technology.
As we reported in the previous part of this coverage; companies like The VOID have recently opened VR attractions in Las Vegas – feeding off the casino and tourist industries hunger for immersive entertainment.
The second Future of Immersive Leisure (FOIL) event, organized by KWP, took place in Las Vegas during the previous month and charted many of the new immersive entertainment developments seen on the Strip – and well as the emergence of VR technology internationally as a major draw of new investment into the interactive attraction and amusement scene. During the conference opportunities to see the latest development were made, including visits to the new Level Up amusement venue within the MGM casino, including the installation of a Zero Latency free-roaming experience.
Leading industry specialists from the commercial immersive entertainment supported FOIL’18, including presentations from Schell Games, DreamScape, Ubisoft, LAI Games, VRstudios, Dave & Busters’, IGT, Springboard VR and many other pivotal speakers. The event was also able to gather some interesting exhibits that changed not just the immersive attraction scene, but the penetration of VR in the market. Amusement developer and manufacturer LAI Games came to the FOIL conference with their new Virtual Rabbids: Wild Ride amusement VR entertainment ride system. Offering a gateway for venue operators to evaluate how VR can best suit their audience’s appetites.
Other developments, seeing major brands marrying themselves with immersive attraction projects included Merlin Entertainment, partnering with UK based IMMOTION, to develop The Great LEGO Race VR Experience. This motion-base VR attraction installed at the LEGOLAND Discovery Center in Boston. IMMOTION using their access to cutting-edge motion simulation, and a commercially proven VR platform (running on the Deepoon headset) – married to a compelling experience that was based on LEGO IP, and is driven by Merlin Entertainment.
This development, coming a few weeks after LEGOLAND Florida announced the launch of their ‘The Great LEGO Race’ – a VR coaster experience based in the LEGO minifigures universe, seen by riders on their rollercoasters using special Samsung Gear VR headsets. This VR ride developed under the supervision of Merlin Magic Makers, by Figment Productions – the experience combining a prominent IP with an exciting VR experience.
The combination of unique motion platforms and virtual reality systems has continued a paced with several new visitor attractions opened that comprise this approach. Most recently the European park Futuroscope launched their Sebastien Loeb Racing Experience – developed by French based corporation E-Virtuality, comprising their new e-Motionseat6 platform – guests enjoy an immersive thrill ride in the passenger seat as the famous rally driver puts his vehicle through its paces.
In this 360’ film that employs 6K resolution – the riders sit on the 6DoF electro-dynamic motion base, but also have a level of interaction. With an auditorium comprising 108 simulators, with each rider wearing an HTC Vive, this is the latest large-scale VR attraction to open in recent months. The theme park industry warming to the unique opportunity that VR offers their audience.
Still in France, but on a reduced scale; the FlyView visitor attraction recently opened in Paris. Using a unique motion platform that emulates a futuristic quad-copter, that the riders stands on as their view the tourist spots of the grand city, from the unique perspective of soaring above the ground. This entertainment experience uses hardware and content developed by CL Corporation – who have a number f promotional VR experiences under their belt and employs HTC Vive HMDs to capture all the action.
Creating a standing VR experience that also employs a dynamic motion-base is a trend being seen from several developers. Only a matter of days ago, Korean robotic and motion platform specialists Sangwha launched their brand-new offering in this genre. The company launching the Flying Jet – a highly dynamic standing motion system, players hold on to their grips as the motion platform tips forward and back and rotates in synchronization to extreme 360’ ride films they view using Samsung Gear VR’s. Sangwha are famous for their Gyro-VR ring-based VR motion experience that wowed so many during CES last year
One of the most unusual of the dynamic motion platforms find a home in the commercial entertainment scene is from ICARACE, pioneers in virtual reality locomotion. The ICAROS platform, using human powered movement, was created to achieve the full physical sensation of flight. Most recently this system has been deployed in a few museums, but the developers have now started to look at the pay-to-play business and even considering their system for fitness and even being seen as a new sports experience.
The development of VR entertainment experiences that fulfil the needs of a wide selection of operations continued. Out-of-Home entertainment seeing great investment in theme parks, but also the deployment of VR in more traditional Family Entertainment Centers (FEC) and the new generation of Social Hang Out’s (#SHO). These social entertainment venues thrive on the group party and socially inclusive entertainment experiences – in many cases aiming for a young adult audience (compared to the more traditional younger visitors).
As reported in our China AAA’18 show coverage, a couple of trends have started to emerge that are proving popular in this latest phase of VR entertainment deployment. One of those being “Tethered VR Enclosures” – four player enclosures with tethered VR headsets suspended from the framework of these enclosures. These systems offer a strong group play dynamic, and offer a strong audience draw, as players compete as a team. Several manufacturers have entered the development of their own platforms in this genre, and we can expect to see offerings that comprise the fundamentals of this genre, employing new software that building on the experience. Canadian studio Minority Media has developed their own new attraction Chaos Jump – a highly competitive four-player experience that will be soon available as a VR arcade title, and a stand-along tethered enclosure.
Another platform in this genre that is about to burst onto the scene is TOWER TAG – developed by German based VR Nerds Gmbh, the product has already been taken up by CA SEGA JOYPOLIS – the Chinese amusement operation of the popular amusement and game company SEGA – the first TOWER TAG systems were installed at SEGA VR AREA location in Japan. Emboldened by this success the German developers have started the arduous process of conceiving their own tethered enclosure platform that they can sell to other operators in the West.
These two editorials have hoped to illustrate the growing momentum in development of this unique market. Interest is growing for more information and consumer VR development concerns now pivot their investment towards working in this market – most recently we saw the successful developer SURVIOS open their first VR arcade and have already started to promote other new commercial VR projects. We can expect continuing major announcement from influential players in consumer game, movie and attractions regarding their new concepts in this direction.
Another example, illustrating the continued growth in interest for the commercial entertainment sectors engagement with VR; sees KWP, the author of this column, invited to present the keynote at June’s Bristol VR Lab Out-of-home entertainment afternoon seminar – BVRL’s sixth afternoon seminar will be focusing on the topic of out-of-home VR and location-based entertainment.
Expect to see even more coverage of the explosion of LB-VR and VR arcade projects in the coming weeks, especially as more details of the changing consumer VR landscape emerge following this year’s E3 convention.
What a difference a month makes! We enter June to a cacophony of announcements regarding major LB-VR projects and new hardware using powerful Intellectual Properties (IP), deployment aimed squarely at virtual reality (VR) and the digital out-of-home entertianment (DOE) scene. Industry specialist, Kevin Williams continues his retrospective of developments in this emerging market.
Anyone that tried to ignore or label the Out-of-Home application of VR as an unimportant niche, has had to concede their folly. Following an avalanche of news stories, and investment, regarding brand-new Location-Based VR development. We have followed many of these projects from their inception some years ago and seeing them reach fruition is a vindication of the investment that big IP are willing to bet on DOE VR implementation; all this, while the consumer VR scene seems to be at a major crossroad.
One of the largest social entertainment brands, caused a rash of mainstream media headlines with the announcement that they would be installing, what has been called the “World’s largest commercial multiplayer VR attraction, at over 110 Dave & Busters’ (D&B) locations. The attraction called Jurassic World: VR Expedition – has been developed in partnership with pioneering developer of turn-key large-scale, multiplayer, free-roaming commercial VR attraction systems, VRstudios. The four-player VR attraction incorporates a motion platform and uses HTC Vive headsets and controllers, to immerse players in the Jurassic World environment in a fast-paced virtual experience.
D&B had previously carried out several experiments with early VR technology, considering the best deployment that meets their exacting needs and audience demographics. The company having a history in incorporating VR into their mix, being one of the major supporters of the technology back in the last heyday of VR amusement in the 1990’s. This new VR attraction builds on lessons learned and incorporates what VRstudios has named their VRcade Attraction Management Platform (AMP) to operate and manage the new attraction across the D&B sites.
It was revealed that HTC is taking the new D&B project so seriously that they signed an agreement with the social entertainment venue that will see over 500 HTC Vive headsets deployed to D&B locations across the USA and Canada. This is one of the largest mass deployments of this VR headset into the Out-of-Home entertainment scene in the West; while HTC has already signed other large deployment partnerships – as we reported in our AAA’18 coverage, in affiliation with developer VR LEKE.
Beyond the motion platform approach to VR entertainment – we have seen an explosion of investment in VR free-roaming (Arena-Scale) experiences, also driven by major IP that have garnered many of the big headlines in recent weeks. One of the biggest was the announcement of Terminator Genisys – Time Machine – again based on a major cinematic universe. This Arena-Scale VR experience has been conceived by SPACES, a Californian based immersive entertainment developer, in partnership with IP holder Skydance Media.
It is important to understand that SPACES, a relatively new operation, comprises a strong talent pool of skilled specialist in the creating of immersive attractions – the company including ex-DreamWorks executives with film and attraction experience and is supported by a major investment chain that includes the likes of Songcheng Performance Development Co., Ltd, (one of the world’s biggest theme-park and performing arts companies), Comcast Ventures and GREE, to name a few.
The first of the corporation’s immersive VR attractions sees groups take part in elements taken from the cinematic universe of Terminator – but along with more familiar game elements, there is a team interaction and puzzle solving, as well the overall experience incorporating the personalization of the experience with scanning of the players, and a repeat visitation element. The company partnering their attraction with established location-based destinations (theme parks, tourist destinations, theaters and malls). All aspects driving the innovation of LB-VR into the mainstream.
Not all the major IP being deployed into the commercial entertainment scene comes from Hollywood – recently opened in Japan, we saw the first VR deployment of the popular consumer game brand Dragon Quest. The latest installation within BANDAI NAMCO’s VR ZONE at their Shinjuku facility, the specially developed Dragon Quest VR – that sees four players taking on the unique roles within a virtual representation of the Square Enix RPG.
This Arena-Scale experience supporting up to four players, utilizing unique interfaces such as swords, shields, and staffs, but also the ability for certain characters to cast spells with their wands. The game, concluding with a boss fight, where the party must learn to work as a team to succeed. BANDAI NAMCO have stated that they look towards leveraging more IP into their VR experiences, seeing this as a strong platform to create compelling experiences building on their amusement experience. We have already seen a previous free-roaming VR experience launched by the company based on the Ghost in The Shell anima series.
Free-roaming VR technology is not just driven from Asian and American developments – great strides in innovation have been seen in Europe, such as with Swiss based trueVRsystems announcing a few weeks ago their sixth arcade installation in Stockholm, Sweden. Installing a modular 2 x 150m² system that offers groups of players with VR backpacks the chance to explore virtual experiences. The system one of only a few that can support up to 10-players, using full bodying tracking and deploying interfaces such as the StriverVR weapon system.
Another company building on their cinematic universe, to create compelling VR attractions, recently opened the doors to their first test location. 20th Century Fox (FoxNext Destination group) partnering with iP2 and Pure Imagination Studios to develop and launched their ALIEN: DESCENT experience; opening for the first time at The Outlets, at Orange in Orange County, South California. A shopping mall retail unit converted into become a dedicated VR entertainment venue.
This themed VR experience, incorporates a 2,000-sq ft. free-roam space with groups of players navigating virtually rendered darkened corridors, and blasting Xenomorphs, in a full virtual experience. The platform has been in secret test for several months as the company’s perfected their vision of the best VR experience. Using the Samsung Gear VR as their immersive platform, married to a force feedback weapon – again using the StrikerVR gun.
It is great to see StrikerVR, one of the early developers in this latest phase of the VR landscape, making headway, though aspirations in the consumer sector have pivoted to a wholly commercial entertainment business model. Some of the new projects launching in recent months deploy the StrikerVR system – which has completed an arduous evaluation and testing phase to become a dominant brand in this sector.
One of the leading lights in the deployment of Arena-Scale virtual attractions, The VOID announced nine additional locations, bringing the company’s total footprint to 18 venues. This growth marks the progression of The VOID to establish their unique “Hyper Reality” experience that launched back in 2016 with their first location at Madame Tussauds in New York (partnered with Sony Pictures and Merlin Entertainment). The process of doubling its locations comes as the company closed a very successful Series A round of investment.
“Move along…”
Las Vegas recently saw the opening of the latest VOID location (now partnered with Walt Disney), placed within the Venetian Casino Resort – the latest installation of their VR backpack experience based around the cinematic universe of Star Wars. The VOID started with another of their games based around the Ghostbusters IP – and is looking to continue this path of innovation while emerging the guest in an interactive film like narrative.
This opening in Las Vegas last month coincided with several VR openings in this entertainment capital. Several major LV casino resorts incorporating a VR offering to appeal to the “Millennial audience”, looking for a new draw beyond the gaming floors of the casinos. One such example was seen at New York-New York casino resort, who have augmented their popular rollercoaster by added VR Coaster technology. Riders wearing Samsung Gear VR headsets that supply a sweeping VR ride experience to the twists and turns of the coaster.
Watch this space for the next and final part of this latest coverage into DOE, coming soon to The Virtual Arena and VRFocus.
John F. Kennedy International Airport is one of the busiest in the world, and Terminal 4 will soon play host to virtual reality (VR) experiences featuring curated content that travellers can enjoy while awaiting their flights.
PeriscapeVR’s Experience Center is a pop-up in Terminal 4’s Retail Lounge which has been equipped with freestand VR towers that power 12 stations that can provide travellers with VR entertainment.
Prices for the experiences are around $1-$2 per minute and the experiences last from 5-10 minutes each. The experiences that grouped into five categories: First Time, Experience, Create, Play, and Social Cause.
“We are thrilled to partner with PeriscapeVR to bring the first airport VR Experience Center offering location-based entertainment to travelers at Terminal 4,” said Edward Midgley, Vice President of Commercial for JFKIAT, the company that manages Terminal 4. “With more than 21 million annual passengers traveling across six continents, Terminal 4 is the perfect location to offer this amenity. T4 strives to provide passengers with the best experiences possible and PeriscapeVR will give travelers something new to enjoy while at the airport.”
“PeriscapeVR, meaning ‘escape within,’ was created for travelers who desire a fun, blissful and euphoric respite from airport crowds and long hours between flights. As a frequent traveler, I recognized there was a gap in the market for this kind of airport entertainment, and I am delighted to be bringing PeriscapeVR to JFK T4,” said Lynn Rosenthal, founder and CEO of PeriscapeVR.
“HP is proud to have been chosen to power the virtual reality technology needs of PeriscapeVR for its groundbreaking experience at one of the world’s most visited airports,” said Joanna Popper, Global Head of Virtual Reality, Location Based Entertainment, HP. “We are thrilled to offer travelers the innovation, creativity and escape of virtual reality, and excited that they will experience this content through HP’s technology. We look forward to making this the first huge success of many together with the PeriscapeVR team.”
The PeriscapeVR pop-up will be in Terminal 4 of JFK Airport from approximately six moths. Future coverage of new VR installations will be here on VRFocus.
SpringboardVR, the dedicated platform for virtual reality (VR) operators that transforms the user experience, allowing people to run their entire location from a single device, has announced a partnership with Voodoo VR. This partnership will see the company able to offer turnkey VR solutions for the Location Based Entertainment industry throughout Europe.
VoodooVR is a turnkey solution company that focuses on LBE immersive experience including VR, mixed reality (MR), and projection mapping. VoodooVR have worked on a number of projects including the experience inside the expansive VR Park in Dubai, as well as the EnterSpace venue in Stockholm. With over three million minutes tracked on the SpringboardVR platform and locations in over 32 countries, SpringboardVR powers experience management and content distribution for VR titles worldwide.
VoodoVR founder Alec Lane, said: “VoodooVR is committed to ensuring seamless user transitions from real to virtual worlds within LBE, we design and install every space with that goal in mind. Our intention is to contribute towards shaping the future of digital entertainment experiences, and believe that although the potential of VR is limitless, the delivery must be precise.”
This new partnership will enable both parties to provide a reliable and robust solution to customers in Europe, creating new opportunities for more immersive LBE and location based VR experiences. As the technology continues to develop, so two with the solutions that the two can provide laying the path forward for bigger and better consumer products.
Co-founder Jordan Williams, SpringboardVR adds: “From our first meeting it was obvious that the VoodooVR team is committed to excellence and is the gold standard for providing turnkey VR solutions. We believe that Location Based Entertainment is a critical “front-line” in the battle for consumer adoption of VR. A partnership with VoodooVR means we can help even more people open and operate a successful, profitable Location Based VR center. We’re excited to partner with a team that is dedicated to bringing a quality experience to thousands of first-time users.”
VRFocus will be sure to bring you all the latest on the newly formed partnership in the future so make sure to stay tuned for more.
Location-based virtual reality (VR) provider The VOID has announced that it will be opening nine new experience centers to offer more people the chance to enjoy truly immersive VR moments. This has been made possible thanks to the close of a Series A round of funding late last year and will allow the company to carry out this aggressive expansion plan within the United States.
Thanks to the latest in cutting-edge technology and world-class content, The VOID has proven to be a leading provide of stunning VR expereinces. The nine new locations are planned to be opened in Atlanta, Ga.; Austin, Texas; Dallas, Texas; Hollywood, Calif.; Minneapolis, Minn.; New York, N.Y.; Philadelphia, Pa.; Santa Monica, Calif.; and Washington, D.C.
Fidelity Management and Research Company led the round of funding with the participation from new investors Qualcomm Ventures, Verizon Ventures, Disney, Cinemark, and Genting Malaysia. Additional partners include: Shanda International Group, Meraas, Ithaca Media Ventures, Lion Capital, Madison Wells, Pickled Entertainment, Fair Capital, and United Talent Agency.
“The power of The VOID allows guests to step into worlds that were beyond their reach until now. We are pushing the boundaries of creativity and technology and will continue to be trailblazers of location-based experiences,” said Cliff Plumer, Chief Executive Officer of The VOID. “Our goal has always been to create entertainment experiences that are un-rivaled. We’re thrilled to have the support of world-class companies and we are setting our sights next on global expansion.”
This news follows the recent announcement of an original location-based VR experience dubbed Nicodemus: Demon of Evanishment, which has been developed by UK based studio, Ninja Theory. The title is set in the summer of 1893 during the famous Chicago World’s Fair, and involves a demonstration of a device called the Electro-Spiritualism. This ends up bringing something terrible into the world, causing tragedy only a few days before the closing of the fair. From here, attendees will need be invited to explore the environment of a now derelict ruin and discover the truth of what happened, all while avoiding being caught by a demon known as Nicodemus.
As The VOID continues to pioneer the location-based entertainment market with immersive and stunning VR experiences, VRFocus will be sure to bring you all the latest, so stay tuned for more.
Dave & Buster’s have become one of the most recognisable names in location-based virtual reality (VR), with 114 locations across the United States. The company has now announced a deal with HTC Vive that will see HTC Vive hardware powering VR experiences at all Dave & Buster’s locations.
The deal will mean that over 500 HTC Vive headsets will be deployed to Dave & Buster’s locations across the USA and Canada, and those locations will also get access to new and exclusive content.
“VR has proven to be a consistent traffic generator in entertainment venues and we’re thrilled to be partnering with Dave & Buster’s to take Vive nationwide into their locations,” said Daniel O’Brien, HTC Vive GM for the Americas. “Through our collaboration, we’re combining their location-based entertainment expertise and the world’s best VR in VIVE. This is a huge opportunity for more consumers to be exposed to VR and amazing VR content.”
“We’re excited to partner with HTC Vive in the largest location-based VR activation in U.S. and to bring the most immersive VR system to our customers,” said Kevin Bachus, Senior Vice President of Entertainment & Games Strategy at Dave & Buster’s. “Across all of our locations, we know families will enjoy the stunning entertainment that virtual reality offers, and our guests can look forward to experiencing new exclusive content throughout the year.”
The exclusive content will take advantage of the proprietary motion platform created exclusively for Dave & Buster’s which will be combined with the high-end visuals, direction audio and haptic feedback provided by the HTC Vive for what both companies believe will be an immersive and memorable experience for customers.
Dave & Buster’s recently announced it was working with VRstudios to use the VRCade platform for a new Jurassic World VR experience which is due to launch at all Dave & Buster’s location on 14th June, 2018, the same day the new HTC Vive headsets are due to be available.
For future coverage of new location-based VR experiences, keep checking back with VRFocus.
There have been a slowly increasing number of large-scale, location-based virtual reality (VR) experiences based on popular entertainment franchises. Jurassic World is now joining that list thanks to the work of VRstudios and Dave & Buster’s.
VRStudios provide solutions for location-based multiplayer VR experiences, and will be using its VRcade platform to manage the new Dave & Buster’s Jurassic World VR experience.
The deployment of the VRcade Attraction Management Platform (AMP) is part of a wider collaboration between Dave & Buster’s and VRStudios, with the two companies working together to build all the key components of the new attraction, including the VR hardware and motion control software.
The VRcade AMP has been designed to offer easy deployment and control for local operators. The system has a central user interface which covers areas such as motion control, status monitoring, content management and even customer line management. All of this can be operated from a touchscreen tablet, with a specific profile for each employee.
“We are honored to be a trusted partner to Dave & Buster’s, the leading restaurant/entertainment complexes in North America,” said Kevin Vitale, VRstudios CEO. “Their new attraction is a breakthrough for extending commercial availability of true multi-player virtual reality to locations around the country. AMP enables the seamless integration of technology and content from best-in-class providers including Hewlett-Packard, HTC, Universal Studios and The Virtual Reality Company.”
“We’ve been very thoughtful and particular about how we introduce VR attractions to our stores, and it was critical that we engage with a trusted partner and technology leader in commercial VR systems,” said Kevin Bachus, SVP Entertainment & Games Strategy. “We have a longstanding relationship with VRstudios. They are a pioneer of multi-player VR attractions for location-based entertainment, and we’ve capitalized on that experience for both their enterprise technology and managing the large-scale integration of our unique attraction.”
The Jurassic World VR Expedition will be available at all Dave & Buster’s locations from 14th June, 2018. For future coverage of new and upcoming VR events and experiences, keep checking back with VRFocus.
Virtual reality (VR) is expensive. 2018 has seen a lot of price cuts for the Oculus Rift, HTC Vive (and Vive Pro), PlayStation VR, as well as the release of various Windows Mixed Reality headsets and standalone headsets, VR is still too steep of a price for consumers to buy en masse. Sometimes the easiest way to enjoy VR is to simply get out of the house and try some location-based VRs. Nina Salomons, the video content creator at VRFocus, discusses her favourite digital out-of-home entertainment (DOE) VR experience and explains why it stood out for her.
Put on a VR headset, some trackers and a strap a VR laptop to your back.
DOE experiences, as the name suggests occur in a space where players put on a VR headset and are usually given a VR backpack, some accessories that are tracked and an experience where they can play with friends. Out-of-home VR experiences excel in creating social VR experiences where more than one player is able to enjoy an experience. Although this is quite tricky to track multiple players in a space, it is possible. For some strange reason, almost all of the out-of-home VR experiences have been first-person shooters (FPS). The company usually gives you a fake gun that is then tracked in the virtual space and has special triggers or buttons that allow you to reload, change weapon and give players haptic feedback or recoil to make it more realistic.
Having tried all of these out-of-home VR experiences as well as console games for a few years, I can honestly say it’s getting more difficult to get excited about experiences unless they’re truly innovative, realistic or engaging. It wasn’t until somebody asked me what the best VR experience was I’d ever tried I had to sit down and think. It took me some time to answer the question, but I concluded that it was something I experienced in New York created by Neurogaming on their Polgyon VR platform. The incredible potential of the Polygon platform was showcased in this interview with Alex Morozov, Chief Marketing Officer of Neurogaming, but perhaps didn’t quite bring across how impressive it was.
Travelling to America a lot to cover VR at events like GDC, GTC and E3 where Silicon Valley and ex-Hollywood storytellers come to showcase their products, you would expect me to have chosen an American-based company from there for my best experience. Surprisingly it’s a Russian company that’s known for its videogame World of Tanks VRthat left me speechless and excited about the future.
Unlike some out-of-home entertainment experiences, Polygon VR required a player to put on full body tracking accessories and equipment. Similar to how actors would be captured for CGI characters in films or how Ninja Theory created Hellblade:Senua’s Sacrifice. Players are asked to put on accessories that have little grey balls attached to then wrap your arm, legs, hands and feet. This creates for a truly immersive experience where like Vive trackers, you can use parts of your body to interact with your immersive space (like kicking dinosaurs in Island 359).
The experience required me to put on full body tracking accessories, a gun, and a VR headset tethered to a backpack. The experience I tried on Polygon VR was a FPS where myself and Kevin Joyce were soldiers on a mission to take down enemies. Neurogaming could also change the whole virtual world without physically moving us, or asking us to change outfits. We were suddenly inside a close quarter map of orange corridors, elevators and various guns. the experience allowed Kevin and Myself to use the full space of the warehouse and we spent over an hour roaming around the virtual worlds created for us by Neurogaming.
The importance of dying
Having tried Anvio VR’s full-body tracking and shooting zombies is the closest thing I’ve tried to Polygon VR. Both required guns, were FPS experiences, are Russian and allow for several players to be tracked in a large warehouse space. Where Polygon VR differentiated from all the other FPS out-of-home experiences, is that it allowed you to die. A blue ghost figure would appear in the virtual world to reflect where you are in the real world – helping players understand both the virtual and real world spacing without taking a headset off to avoid physically walking into the player once they died.
Not only was friendly fire on, there were various ways of dying. Falling or jumping off moving elevators, slipping from a ledge or getting shot. Unlike the other videogames, what I did mattered, and I could die in-game. It now mattered finding that health pack, it mattered listening to the footsteps of other players to avoid or find them, it matters finding cover, it matters if you die midway through a battle. Suddenly it’s like all my senses are heightened because I can now die.
This simple act of death – it drives you to care about your actions and not simply hold a gun at zombies or just stand there not caring as they overwhelm you in-game.
Sharing is caring, best enjoyed with no latency
Everybody who has been in VR for a while understands the importance of social VR. You want to be able to share experiences with friends and be there with them. What I try and drive home in the video below, and what I try and showcase in gameplay is how incredible that feeling is when you interact with somebody in VR that you’ve never met in real life. Like a meeting between two different tribes – we try and find something in common and end playing childhood games of clapping our hands as a form of easy communication (even though we have microphones and can speak to each other).
You can also see how freaked out I am by Ivan walking through me, and although no gameplay footage of him walking in and out of walls is available you can clearly see the physical and immediate reaction I had to his physical actions (all of which he was doing in Russia). What really got me was that there seemed to be barely any latency. Like a baby throwing things to see a cause and effect, I found myself touching, kicking and moving at different speeds to test the ‘rules’ of this digital world. Very soon I was comfortably walking in it as if I was walking in real life.
It felt like everything was real. Everything was behaving, reacting exactly as it did in the real world, besides a few tracking issues – I believe Ivan was real. I believed he was there in real-time and even if he wasn’t in Russia – the fact that all three of us were comfortably moving in this digital world with no hiccups even when dying felt great.
The possibilities of the Polygon VR platform are endless and become even more interesting when you think about various platforms around the world connecting to each other and allowing for more than ten players to be in a virtual world together. I pitch some ideas and possibilities of what this could mean for the future of entertainment, eSports and VR.
Check out the video below to see some gameplay of us trying the Polygon VR platform and more. Stay tuned to VRFocus to hear more about the platform and immersive technology.
Closer to home – for VRFocus, anyway – another company has revealed a new role as it looks to make inroads into North America. Immotion Group, another DOE company, recently floated on the London Stock Exchange’s junior market, AIM, generating £5.75 million (GBP) to add to the £500K it received in April and the £1.3 million back in December 2017. The move follows a number of new partners and venues being revealed this year, including Merlin Entertainments’ Lego Discovery Center in Boston which VRFocus reported on back in May and a venue in Birmingham, UK. Further locations are, according to Immotion Group, “under agreement”.
“We’re really happy to have Kyle lead the charge in the North American market.” said Immotion’s Group Commercial Director Rod Findley, “It’s important to have someone with deep experience across verticals as we expand our location-based VR offering across a wide range of venues in the US and Canada.”
These two editorials have hoped to illustrate the growing momentum in development of this unique market. Interest is growing for more information and consumer VR development concerns now pivot their investment towards working in this market – most recently we saw the successful developer SURVIOS open their first VR arcade and have already started to promote other new commercial VR projects. We can expect continuing major announcement from influential players in consumer game, movie and attractions regarding their new concepts in this direction.
One of the largest social entertainment brands, caused a rash of mainstream media headlines with the announcement that they would be installing, what has been called the “World’s largest commercial multiplayer VR attraction, at over 110 Dave & Busters’ (D&B) locations. The attraction called 
