The virtual reality (VR), location-based entertainment (LBE) industry has really managed to turn itself around during 2021 with plenty of new content and innovative ideas to attract the public. November’s International Association of Amusement Parks 2021 (IAAPA) Expo showcased what the industry has in store, with Immersive Tech launching its highly portable idea for hyper-reality VR, UNCONTAINED.
Deep Signal screenshot. Image credit Immersive Tech
VRFocus first reported on Immersive Tech’s idea at the beginning of the year, to create an all-in-one, immersive VR attraction inside a shipping container. Thus making it portable whilst offering a relatively small footprint attraction that can be easily dropped in a location such as a car park. In fact, for the IAAPA Expo, the company brought one of the containers along and positioned it on the show floor for guests to demo. It sat there for four days running at full capacity.
The 40-foot container is split into two bays each accommodating six players at once. Guests were able to demo Deep Signal, a videogame designed specifically for UNCONTAINED. As a hyper-reality experience, UNCONTAINED utilises an array of technology and effects to immerse players, from HTC Vive Pro 2 headsets with wireless adaptors to a rumbling floor, headphone-free spatial audio; climate effects like heat and wind, full-body tracking via Vive Trackers; physical interactive elements and hand tracking.
There’s a lot packed into these impressive units, thus enabling Immersive Tech to begin taking orders for next year. “Autobahn Indoor Speedway is excited to enter into a Letter of Intent for up to ten UNCONTAINED VR units,” said Bill Harris, Autobahn’s Director of Development in a statement. We love UNCONTAINED’s unique combination of unmatched hyper-immersive player experience and it’s scalability, allowing us to rapidly add units inside or outside our locations with no operational disruption. UNCONTAINED will give our customers the next level cutting edge experience that they have come to expect from Autobahn Indoor Speedway.”
The Autobahn Indoor Speedway executive team with Tim Bieber, CEO and Steven Dooner, Franchise Director
“We had a great response to the concept and are excited about what our future holds. What excites me – having been an operator for over 40 years – about UNCONTAINED is that you don’t have to decide what elements of your existing center has to change out to be able to add VR. This standalone unit shows up on a truck, sets down outside, and I’m up and operating in a hurry. Set up outside in your parking lot, indoors where space permits, or near your front door for high visibility,” Steven Dooner, Director of Franchise Development at Immersive Tech adds.
Due to the success at IAAPA 2021, Immersive Tech is planning on increasing the number of pre-orders it was going to accept.
Immersive Tech wasn’t the only VR company at the expo, VRsenal was there to showcase its next-generation unmanned VR arcade units with the help of some familiar faces. Attendees got to try Blackwall Labs’ Rhythmatic and I-Illusions’ Space Pirate Trainer.
It’s an exciting time for the LBE VR industry, so for continued updates, keep reading VRFocus.
Location-based entertainment (LBE) has really begun to bounce back in 2021, with VRFocus’ regular The Virtual Arena feature highlighting all the work that’s been achieved. One specialist in the space is VRsenal, which makes unmanned virtual reality (VR) arcade units such as Lightsaber Dojo: A Star Wars VR Experience in collaboration with ILMxLAB and Nomadic. With the IAAPA Orlando Expo taking place this week, VRsenal has revealed.
Rhythmatic comes from British VR developer Blackwall Labs, who actually launched the multiplayer rhythm-action title back in 2020, allowing up to 6 players to compete against one another. The collaboration between both companies will see Rhythmatic released as a two-player experience on VRsenal’s new V2 hardware platform. Just like its predecessor, this new setup won’t require an arcade operator to function in a family entertainment centre (FEC).
However, the platform allows up to four cabinets to be linked together for 8 player sessions, really emphasising the competitive, multiplayer gameplay of Rythmatic.
“As a long-time fan of the rhythm game genre, it has been a dream of mine to bring a cutting edge, multiplayer, music-based experience to virtual reality,” said Sam Perrin, director of Blackwall Labs. “That we’ve been able to partner with a market leader like VRsenal to bring Rhythmatic to the FEC space as a fully unattended, multiplayer attraction is the icing on the cake.”
As for Space Pirate Trainer, this single-player shooter will be available in all its drone destroying glory, with two players able to enjoy the wave-based gameplay at the same time.
“Everybody remembers Galaga, but Space Pirate Trainer lets you climb inside a game like that and take personal control of the avatar,” said John Coleman, Vertigo Games’ CFO and Business Development Lead. “With approachable gameplay that also offers veteran players a wide range of options, Space Pirate Trainer is ideally suited for the arcade space.”
VRsenal will be showcasing its new V2 hardware platform during the IAAPA Orlando Expo this week using Rhythmatic – which will also be a launch title for the new hardware.
“Operators now have an option to create a high-throughput, affordable attraction with full-body AAA VR content, and never have to worry about staffing the game,” Ben Davenport, VRsenal CEO adds. “This is a very hard thing to pull off in VR.”
As LBE VR continues to gain ground, VRFocus will keep you updated.
In his coverage of the immersive Out-of-Home entertainment scene for VRFocus, in his second part of his latest Virtual Arena column, Kevin Williams reports from the IAAPA trade show on the other emerging categories of “VR Enclosures”, and “Arena-Scale VR” both including backpack PC and now the new launch of Standalone systems.
In this, the second part of our coverage of the mammoth International Association of Amusement Parks and Attractions (IAAPA) held in Orlando and covering some 580,000 net square feet of exhibit space, and accommodated some 1,140 exhibitors – of those exhibitors it was calculated that over 70 of these had some form of VR product or initiatives on display.
The vast vista of just one hall of the IAAPA 2019 show floor. Image credit: KWP
Continuing the different categories of VR business that were on display during the convention and we come to “VR Enclosures” – this represents the creation of structures that enclose a space within a facility to offer a VR experience. This is best illustrated by leading provider HOLOGATE, who has developed and launched its ‘HOLOGATE Arena’ placed with some 300 active locations throughout Europe, the Middle East, the Asia-Pacific region, and North and South America. The four-player tethered enclosure revealed that the company would be moving from HTC headsets to using the Valve Index. And at IAAPA it also launched an eye-catching ‘HOLOGATE Tower’ – a two-floor steel platform that doubles the floor space to play on.
The company also entered the motion racing VR scene with its new ‘HOLOGATE Blitz’ – the developer partnered with an established motion platform manufacturer to create a unique motion cockpit system as a companion to the successful Arena. As we have seen in the first part of this report, the interest in VR racing simulator videogames has grown, and HOLOGATE is looking to offer a varied selection of both content and VR experiences to drive interest in this platform.
Another VR enclosure developer that had big developments at IAAPA was Minority Media, the company is the developer of the four-player ‘Chaos Jump’ enclosure, and building of success selling this system launched their new ‘Transformers: VR Battle Arena’, created in collaboration with Hasbro. Again, four players battle against each other, but this time the videogame uses the new version of the StrikerVR haptic weapon for added immersion.
Extreme racing on the HOLOGATE Blitz. Image credit: KWPTransformers: VR Battle Arena at IAAPA 2019. Image credit: KWP
One of the other VR enclosures developers on the show floor was Inowize, presenting the ‘VR Quest Arena’ – this is one of the first systems that offered six-player competition within their platform, using tethered HTC Vive Pros. The company has also partnered with an already established sales veteran, sharing space in the Amusement Products booth during the show. Aiming at a younger audience has been the focus for several the new VR enclosure developers, hoping to attract the widest demographic. One such developer presenting at IAAPA 2019 was AlterEyes with its ‘DOJO’ – this system using the latest wireless HTC Vive Pros, uniquely able to accommodate four synchronize players. While another developer Boxblaster VR also presented a cost-effective tethered four-player VR enclosure platform, also announcing that its moving across to the Valve Index headset.
Another example of the successful deployment of this approach to VR entertainment, the Funovation represented their partnership with Virtuix, (the pioneer of “Active VR”) – who launched last years’ ‘Omni Arena’, a four-player VR enclosure employing their omni-direction movement system and HTC Vive headsets. Virtuix has focused their system on offering a perfect competition platform partnering with HP, to double the 2020 eSports prize-pool from $50,000 to $100,000. The company also announced the launch of the new eSports game ‘Elite Force’, a player-vs-player military blaster. Another company that has expanded the approach to a VR enclosure from just a structure, but into a full game stage is MajorMega – presenting at the Orlando show its completed ‘Hyperdeck’ platform. Offering multi-sensory effects (wind, heat, motion), running the HTC Vive Pros for the four-players. The company has already seen a strong return on investment numbers while on test at a few well-known venues, and during IAAPA the company gave a sneak peek of its next videogame title on the system called ‘Dream-Saver’.
The Virtuix Omni Arena. Image credit: KWPThe MajorMega Hyperdeck in action. Image credit: KWP
The development of VR enclosures that also expand into the other new category of “Arena-Scale VR – Backpack” was also witnessed, as well as the pivoting of many consumer VR developers into supporting LBE VR. Exhibitor IMMOTION was working in association with Survios to launch ‘Raw Data Arena’, a VR 4m x 4m multi-player enclosure based on the popular game. While Vertigo Games’ LBE VR division Vertigo Arcades made the trip to the Orlando show with their LBE version of their popular ‘Arizona Sunshine’ and their new release ‘Corsair’s Curse’. Both running on backpack PC’s and using HTC Vive Pro headsets.
Not all Arena-Scale VR – backpack systems are housed in enclosures and many builds on free-roaming spaces dedicated for their deployment. One of the veterans of this space is Zero Latency with its multi-player “warehouse space” VR experience. The company showed at IAAPA the Gen 2 VR System, developed in partnership with HP, Microsoft and Intel, with an HP backpack and HP Reverb headset. Zero Latency has started the process of retrofitting across some of their 41 venues, recently adding MeetupVR in London Wembley at Boxpark (as covered in the recent VRFocus report).
More exhibitors promoted their platforms that offered a multi-player arena-scale solution; developer Ideas Extremas presented their ‘VR Ideas – Cybengerz VR Arena’ – a three-player using wireless HTC Vive headset so removing the need for a backpack. While developer ARena Space showed its wireless HTC Vive Pro multiplayer platform, deployed in the companies established chain of stores. The appearance of wireless solutions shows the latest phase of development, while examples of the use of standalone headsets was also evident.
Another Backpack PC VR provider is VEX Solutions – the company showing at the show their previously launched ‘VEX Adventure’ – run as a large VR enclosure employing FX elements such as vibrating floor and heat elements – along with the four players wearing haptic vests and HTC Vive headsets. But the company also launched a new variant of this approach with their “Arena-Scale VR – Standalone” system called the ‘VEX Arena’. This platform making use of the Oculus Quest headset, the company offering a flexible game space of between 16 up to 100 square meters – with between two or 12-players.
Vertigo Games’ Arizona Sunshine LBVR enclosure. Image credit: KWPThe VEX Arena deployed on the Oculus Quest. Image credit: KWP
Another exhibitor with this approach was ANVIO that showed their Standalone VR system running on the Oculus Quest. This was not the only company that looked at Standalone mobileVR headsets, with their all in one approach to offering immersive experience as a new opportunity for cost-effective deployment in the LBE VR scene, and there are several other manufacturers on and off the show floor that are taking the same approach. So much so, that OculusVR has undertaken to re-evaluate their approach to Enterprise business (including LBE VR) and will be making an important announcement in the coming weeks.
But not all Standalone developers are depending on the Oculus Quest – there are several alternative hardware offerings. Emerging VR developer SPREE Interactive; (formerly known as Holodeck VR) has created a suite of Arena-Scale VR experiences that use the Pico standalone headset. The company creating multiplayer free-roam experiences based on their patented technology aiming at a family-friendly approach with their ‘SPREE Arena’.
As touched upon in our previous report SPREE Interactive have taken their tracking technology and in cooperation with VR Coaster launched their ‘VR Bumper Car’ platform, converting a conventional bumper car attraction into a virtual experience – again using their standalone headsets. The company has also built on a third partnership with Hollywood VFX team Pixomondo – to launch a new experience called ‘Mission to Mars’. This free-roaming VR experience accommodating 20-players and allowing them to explore mans’ attempts to inhabit the Red Planet.
The SPREE Arena in operation. Image credit: KWPTaking SPREE Interactive’s VR Bumper Car for a spin. Image credit: KWP
Obviously, these two features can only offer a snapshot of this amazing trade gathering regarding some of the myriad of exhibitors that came to IAAPA 2019 – but shows the incredible diversity in development in VR applications for Out-of-Home entertainment. 2020 will continue to see the diversity grow with the launch of new hardware and entertainment platforms continuing, and also the opening of a number of the latest LBE facilities across major cities such as from Sandbox VR and The VOID, (to name just two). Watch this space for the next series for reports from this dynamic sector.
In his coverage of the immersive Out-of-Home entertainment scene for VRFocus, in his first part of his latest Virtual Arena column, Kevin Williams reports from the exclusive IAAPA trade show on the emerging categories defining the market of ”VR Based Attractions”, “Standalone VR Arcade” including motion rides and kiosks, and even the concept of “VR Water Attractions”.
While the consumer virtual reality (VR) community attempts to regroup towards a workable business model, there is one industry that has seen an explosion of VR investment and innovation (in many cases using the same consumer VR hardware). The evolution of the Commercial Entertainment (Enterprise) market is at an adverse to that seen in the consumer VR arena.
The best illustration of this was seen in November this year, when the largest theme park, water park, amusement and leisure entertainment convention took place in Orlando, Florida. The International Association of Amusement Parks and Attractions (IAAPA) held at the vast Orange County Convention Center (OCC), covered some 580,000 net square feet of exhibit space accommodating some 1,140 exhibitors from across the Globe, and attracting some 42,600 international attractions professionals.
IAAPA Expo 2019. Image Credit: KWP
This was the leading convention to illustrate the valuable revenue generation that VR is offering an industry, (against the speculation of possible future profits seen in consumer). A show littered with products that are installed and are generating revenue. This vast convention is impossible to simply encapsulate, but the key categories shaping the Location-Based Entertainment (LBE) scene, are now highlighted in this two-part feature.
The first of these categories to observe is ”VR Based Attractions” – the use of VR technology in the immersive entertainment attraction sector. While consumer VR has attempted to find a mainstream home the application – in the other sector VR is excelling. The IAAPA 2019 convention allowed the key developments to promote their success. Dreamcraft is one of those corporations that has taken the consumer VR platform and applied it to commercial entertainment with the ‘DreamSet’ – a two-part VR headset system based on the HTC Vive that offer a solution to effective “Onboarding” (the allowing of simple loading and unloading operation on large throughput rides).
In successfully creating a VR system based on the available consumer VR hardware that can be reliable for Out-of-Home entertainment – and interest has grown in deploying this approach. It was revealed that Dave & Busters’ had signed up to utilize a special version of the system (including headphones). This major entertainment centre operator has worked on a number of VR systems for their audience, D&B working in partnership with VRstudios – who announced the new VR attraction ‘Terminator: Guardian of Fate’ installed on some 140 of their four-player VR motion simulator attractions at D&B locations. VRstudios also had their own VR enclosure system (‘VRcade Dual Atom’) on display at the show – this category of system will be covered in more detail in the second part of this report.
The DreamSet headset conversion to HTC Vive. Image Credit: KWPThe VRstudios Dual Atom promoting its accessibility. Image Credit: KWP
One of the pioneers of this technology in large throughput attractions is VR Coasters who has recently installed their “Roam & Ride” VR system for Eurosat Coastiality. At IAAPA the company was promoting their continued work and cooperation with SPREE Interactive. At a press event, Italian bumper car manufacturer I.E Park (who also working in cooperation with VR Coaster and SPREE) revealed that they will be representing the ‘VR Bumper Car’ platform to other entertainment venues. The development of free-roaming VR in this market and SPREE’s development of such platforms will be covered in the second part of this report.
Another major amusement attraction developer, DOF Robotics has already achieved success with their award-winning ‘Hurricane 360 VR’ attraction, employing Oculus Go mobile VR headsets and an extreme 360’ motion platform. The company used the IAAPA 2019 event to launch their brand-new VR attraction ‘Defender’ – a four-player highly themed motion platform, with players sited in the cab of the simulated vehicle using force-feedback machinegun blasting at aliens attacking their virtual convoy.
Extreme motion platform partnered with VR was a common deployment on the show floor at this year’s IAAPA – one of the veterans of these kinds of motion platforms, Maxflight – showed their 360-degree motion two axes ‘FS3000’ two-seat flight simulators, configured to run the Oculus Rift CV1 headsets, offering an immersive flight simulator experience with extreme motion.
Beyond the big attractions, a surprise category for this technology was “VR Water Attractions” – last year saw the first deployment of VR water flume experiences using new waterproof headsets. This year VORTEX Aquatic Structures International and Ballast VR presented the latest application of VR water attractions Ballast VR having already installed their ‘VRSlide’ – waterslide VR experience at several European sites and building on this and their waterproof VR hardware exhibited at the Outside Exhibit space where they had set up a swimming pool allowing attendees to done swimming costume and try for themselves the new system. The ‘DIVR’ is a free-floating experience while the ‘DIVR+’ incorporates handles to grip and a unique water jet system to simulate movement, creating unique and compelling experiences.
Going for a swim with Ballast VR. Image Credit: KWP
The ability to have a simple plug-n-play VR solution for deployment in entertainment venues has seen the establishment of the “Standalone VR Arcade” category. One of the aspects of the new investment into LBE VR was that of self-service (automatic) VR experiences – systems that do not need an attendant and are self-serviced.
Examples of this categories growth in popularity was seen from VRsenal who presented their previously launched ‘Virtual Arcade Cabinet’ – a “Self-Service VR kiosks” that runs a amusement version of the ‘Beat Saber’ videogame experience – incorporating a special headset and controller wired retraction system for simple ease of operation allowing the system to be automatic to run. This game licensed from developer Beat Games, who were in the news after being acquired by Facebook, the owner of Oculus.
Another self-service VR game kiosk was presented from VR LEO USA, with their ‘LEO’ platform developed in partnership with Shanghai Lions Intelligent Technology. The kiosk also employs a retention system for the Acer VR headset incorporating a unique feature of cleaning the headset when retracted using Ultraviolet light, in the top structure. While another Chinese invested system on the show floor was ‘VR Magic Box’ from Steki Amusement Equipment (Owatch). Their kiosk also comprising 3Glasses S2 headset retention system and a large touch screen display. It is expected that these turn-key automatic kiosks will continue to be a popular element of VR deployment.
Self-service kiosk by VR Leo USA at IAAPA 2019. Image credit: KWPSelf-service kiosk by VRsenal at IAAPA 2019. Image credit: KWP
One of the leaders of the “VR Self Service” platform approach was amusement developer LAI Games, who have seen great success with their ‘Virtual Rabbids: The Big Ride’ – the two-seat motion VR experience using HTC Vive’s was developed in partnership with Ubisoft. It also needs to be remembered that Ubisoft is also instrumental in the LBE VR escape room business (more on this in later reports). The ‘Virtual Rabbids’ system has proved a major success with over 500 units already installed across the market.
This two-seat, self-service platform has proven a popular approach and other developers are throwing their hats into the ring. Launched at IAAPA this year was a new system from media attraction and amusement company TRIOTECH with their new ‘Storm’ two-seat motion system offering a roller coaster adventure in the canyons and caves, but adding the new element of interactivity, with the use of a Ultraleap tracking system on the HTC Vive Pro headsets – tracking guests hands as they collect coloured balls during the ride.
Riders enjoying Virtual Rabbids: The Big Ride. Image credit: KWPTriotech’s new Storm platform at IAAPA 2019. Image credit: KWP
Another amusement manufacturer, Universal Space (UNIS) showed its VR amusement system with an attendant free approach called ‘Ultra Moto VR’ – a ride-on street racing motorcycle experience with its own motion platform employing the 3Glasses headset. This is the latest VR arcade machine from the UNIS (also developed by IGS), the company launching last year their car racer ‘Overtake VR’.
Motion racing simulators married to VR has grown exponentially in this sector and a number of the latest offerings were seen at the Orlando show, Talon Simulations launched their ‘Talon Vortex’ –a turnkey amusement focused VR cabinet, using their ‘Atomic A3’ dynamic motion platform, the system running at the show the ‘Assetto Corsa’ VR racing title, developed by Kunos Simulazioni.
Ultra Moto VR by UNIS. Image credit: KWPThe new Talon Vortex simulator. Image credit: KWP
And talking about racing content – IAAPA 2019 showed a considerable number of racing releases for eSport and tournament activities for Race Room deployment. Leading provider CXC Simulations showed their ‘Motion Pro II’ in a six-networked race setup supporting tournament installation. While another big announcement saw a major theme park media attraction developer Brogent Technologies pivoting to the launch of racing and flying simulator attractions. More than just a Pay-to-Play entertainment but offering eSports revenue, with an audience as well as a player experience – the future will see if this tournament activity will be driving future LBE VR investment.
Intense competition on the Motion Pro II. Image credit: KWPBrogent’s new motion simulator. Image credit: KWP
This is a good point to pause, while in the second part of this feature we will look at the other categories that were promoted during this years IAAPA trade convention including the launch of new VR enclosure systems and the growth in Arena-Scale VR experiences. The next issue follows shortly.
Minority Media, the virtual reality (VR) developer behind Time Machine VRhas announced a new location-based entertainment (LBE) experience in collaboration with Hasbro, Transformers: VR Battle Arena.
The LBE title offers a 4-player, PvP experience where players can jump into some of the most famous Autobots and Decepticons to battle for supremacy. The Allspark has shattered into pieces around the planet and it’s up to players to collect these fragments whilst battling other Cybertronians. With three roomscale environments to navigate – a refinery, a cityscape and the docks – the player with the most shards at the end wins.
Transformers: VR Battle Arena has been designed as an all-in-one attraction for venue operators. The arena has a small footprint ideal for most arcades and the system only requires one person to operate it.
“An out-of-home multiplayer virtual reality game is an exciting way to put fans right into the middle of the larger-than-life action associated with the Transformers franchise,” notes Casey Collins, GM & SVP of Entertainment and Licensing at Hasbro in a statement. “Now anyone can become the heroic Autobots Optimus Prime or Bumblebee, or unleash their inner Decepticon by stepping into the role of Megatron or Soundwave for a massively fun battle on the epic scale fans have come to expect.”
“There are generations of fans who will now be able to experience actually becoming one of the huge Transformers bots,” adds Vander Caballero, CEO of Minority Media, the award-winning game studio that created the popular location-based entertainment multiplayer VR game Chaos Jump. “Minority Media and Hasbro have come together to craft a heart-pounding player versus player battle – a truly fun and immersive Transformers adventure that delivers the awe-inspiring thrill of being and seeing building-sized Transformers robots as you chase and fight your way through this game.”
Transformers: VR Battle Arena will make its public debut at the IAAPA Expo in Orlando later this month (19th-22nd November). To keep players coming back for more Minority Media and Hasbro will add further characters, new team play modes, additional battle arenas, more powerups, and new weapons after launch. As news of Transformers: VR Battle Arena locations appears, VRFocus will let you know.
