The commercial VR entertainment sector is charted by industry specialist Kevin Williams. In his latest Virtual Arena column, he takes a trip to the seaside and Brighton, on the south coast of the UK, to go for a spin on the latest in immersive reality entertainment attractions, looking to wow the audience.
Immersive entertainment has come in many forms over the decades, while we look at VR as the new wave of immersive, the fairground and attraction industry has been supplying exhilaration for over one hundred years to a very eager audience. And we have seen the latest instalment of VR attraction projects building on that exhilaration, with what some have coined as “Dynamic VR”.
One of those providers of fun and excitement has been the UK seaside amusement industry, personified by the iconic Brighton Palace Pier, celebrating its 122nd anniversary, the Victorian structure has been an integral part of the seaside entertainment of Brighton and Hove since it opened in 1899, the iconic Grade II listed structure – comprising concessions, fairground attractions, two arcades and soft-play.
Brighton Palace Pier. Image credit: KWP
The venue has also been a valuable proving ground for the deployment of new concepts in attractions – and along with the happy holidaymakers flooding the destination, the site over the next few months will play host to the latest in Dynamic VR entertainment. And we were one of the first to experience these new thrills.
On test at the pier and developed by newcomer Studio Go Go was their new attraction ‘Ride with VR’. The concept builds on the idea of creating a virtual experience that mirrors the motion dynamics of a conventional motion ride platform. We have seen in the past this attempted with VR roller coasters, and even VR floom rides, but this marks the first VR experience mapped to the exhilaration of a Twister attraction.
At the end of the pier stands the venues’ own Twister fairground attraction (a derivation of the original ‘Twist’ American design). This wheels within wheel ride profile attraction, offering a unique ride experience over the years since the first attractions appeared in the UK during the 1960s. Now with the mapping of the motion envelope that the guest experiences, using the simulator technology ‘Go-Go XR’ developed by Studio Go Go, a dynamic VR experience can be created.
The company has developed three different virtual adventures on the attraction – their first experience called ‘VR Twister’ operational at the venue, working in partnership with the Brighton Palace Pier operators. The attraction is £4.50 to ride conventionally, but with the hire of the VR headset is priced at £7 to enjoy the full VR experience, (there are special offers as part of the piers day-wristband deal).
The VR Twister attraction drawing attention. Image credit: KWP
Once strapped into your seat, the attraction follows the required health and safety guidelines for deployment on a ride attraction, with a special harness connecting the standalone VR headset, (in case it is dislodged during the ride). Using a Pico G2 4K headset, the experience starts as soon as the ride begins, and transports the guest through a bright and colourful landscape, with tall spires and flying objects, the movement through the virtual landscape mirroring the acceleration and surges of the ride attraction.
Kevin Williams putting VR Twister through its paces. Image credit Studio Go Go
At the end of the experience, the headset is taken away for a wipe down and readied with the other units for the next guest. Employing antimicrobial storage for Covid-secure VR cleaning from Gratnells. The design of the experience is compelling and offers a unique additional thrill to a well-known attraction. A draw to a younger audience looking for a new level of engagement. The tracking of the ride profile by the ‘Go-Go XR’ technology can be applied to other ride attractions, and the company is looking at giving the ability of attraction operators to offer a VR experience on their rides, as well as developing new content and applications for other systems.
Along with playing its part as a test facility, the Brighton venue has a number of VR attractions in its line-up of thrills at the site. With an Immotion turnkey four-seat VR theatre (‘The Tower Coaster’), and a well-used LAI Gaming Virtual Rabbids two-seat motion experience. VR now playing a major part in entertaining the modern audience.
Immotion at Brighton Pier. Image credit: KWP
Dynamic VR is growing in popularity as the latest phase of immersive entertainment in the out-of-home entertainment landscape. Recently we have seen the launching of underwater VR snorkelling experiences using waterjets and special water-resistant headsets. And we will soon be reporting on the launch of the first Wingsuit VR experience (‘JUMP’) that all hope to push the excitement of VR experiences to the max.
UK-based Immotion Group is a specialist in location-based entertainment (LBE), installing aquatic virtual reality (VR) experiences in two North American aquariums recently, as well as having several VR locations around the UK. Today, the company has announced a new $500,000 USD contract with iP2Entertainment to produce three exclusive VR experiences.
iP2Entertainment is a global family entertainment specialist based in Amsterdam. Details such as themes or what the VR experiences will feature content wise haven’t been revealed, but Immotion Group is scheduled to complete all the work by November 2019. iP2Entertainment centres’ visitors will then be able to view the content later this year and into 2020.
“iP2Entertainment are well recognised as being one of the leading players in the ‘out of home’ immersive entertainment space. Having the opportunity to work with them in the creation of some cutting-edge VR experiences will not only deliver valuable revenue for the studio but also help us further develop and showcase our skill set in this exciting market, whilst providing access to some exciting new content,” said Martin Higginson, Group CEO, Immotion Group, in a statement.
Immotion Group’s most recent work was 360-degree video Swimming with Humpbacks, the first instalment in Immotion’s Blue Ocean Aquarium series. Captured by cinematographer Jeff Hester, the film provides a rare glimpse and insight into the giant Humpback whale as they migrate from Antartica to the Kingdom of Tonga during mating season.
iP2Entertainment, having previously worked with National Geographic and DreamWorks, aims to immerse families in the worlds of the brands and characters they already know, with experiences that are both fun and educational.
“We are very pleased to have Ian and his team on board for the creation of several immersive media experiences for our family entertainment centres. Immotion is recognised as one of the best in the world in the creation of top-quality immersive media content productions,” adds Roger Houben, co-founder and CEO of iP2. “We look very much forward to working with them on this prestigious project. Hopefully the start of a long and mutually beneficial relationship.”
As further details on the three VR experiences are revealed, VRFocus will let you know.
Last month, UK-based virtual reality (VR) company Immotion Group – which specialises in location-based entertainment (LBE) – announced a new experience called Swimming with Humpbacks. This caught the attention of several zoo’s and aquariums, prompting two North American aquariums to order installations from Immotion.
The company will install a range of VR cinematic motion pods at Odysea Aquarium, in Scottsdale, Arizona, and The Maritime Aquarium, in Norwalk, Connecticut – two major aquariums which have a total footfall exceeding 1.5 million customers per year. This continues Immotion Group’s success which recently saw the company win a contract with Merlin Entertainments Plc. to add its VR platform to Lego Discovery Centre, Legoland, and SeaLife locations.
“We are thrilled to have signed up three major aquariums so quickly after the release of our “Swimming with Humpbacks” VR movie. Demand for immersive ”Edutainment’ is growing, and interest from the zoo and aquarium industry is at an all-time high,” said Rod Findley, Group Commercial Director, Immotion Group in a statement. “Immotion Group can deliver something new and unique to their customers, while also providing valuable ancillary revenue. Working in partnership with larger venues we are able to install a tailored solution at no cost to the venue, rather providing on-going revenue share agreement, creating solid annuity revenues for both parties.”
Due to the interest generated, Immotion Group is developing more content for this new audience as part of its Blue Ocean series of underwater VR experiences, which Swimming with Humpbacks is the first instalment.
A 360-degree video, Swimming with Humpbacks provides a rare glimpse and insight into one of the ocean’s most mysterious creatures, the giant Humpback whale. Cinematographer Jeff Hester was brought in to film the whales as they migrated from Antartica to the Kingdom of Tonga during mating season.
“We are thrilled to be able to film in VR some of the most amazing ocean creatures. It was a pleasure to film the Humpbacks,” Ken Musen, Director of Immersive Live Action at Immotion Group adds. “What the team has managed to capture is truly amazing. In the next month, we will set off to film sharks, which for way too long have been vilified. This new film will allow our customers to get up close and personal with these majestic creatures.”
As Immotion Group continues to add more locations, VRFocus will ket you know.
Location-based virtual reality (VR) specialist Immotion Group has brought its technology to a number of locations across the UK, including Birmingham’s Star City and Weston-super-Mare’s Grand Pier. This week, the company has announced a new VR experience coming to its centre’s, Swimming with Humpbacks.
An immersive live-action title, Swimming with Humpbacks provides a rare glimpse and insight into one of the ocean’s most mysterious creatures, the giant Humpback whale. The first instalment in Immotion’s Blue Ocean Aquarium series, cinematographer Jeff Hester was brought in to film the whales as they migrated from Antartica to the Kingdom of Tonga during mating season.
“At Immotion, we are always looking to push the boundaries of VR. What we’ve managed to capture is truly breath-taking. The film provides an incredible insight into these elusive creatures,” said Martin Higginson, CEO of Immotion Group in a statement. “The experience makes full use of the visual, sound and motion capabilities of our VR Cinematic motion pods to deliver our customers something ground-breaking and memorable. We are excited about future instalments of our Blue Ocean Aquarium series, and demonstrating the power of VR to engage and thrill audiences.”
“This is a truly remarkable achievement to get so near to such a magnificent and endangered species. One of the great challenges was that our cinematographer, Jeff Hester, couldn’t scuba dive around the whales as the bubbles it generated would have disturbed them,” adds Ian Liddell, Immotion’s Group Creative Director. “He had to hold his breath for up to four minutes at a time while keeping up with the whales. Each whale can weigh 40 tonnes and move at speeds of 15mph. “At certain points, our camera is just three inches away from the whales’ pectoral fins. From seeing them show dominance by rolling over and flapping their fins, a mother bonding with her calf, to the young whales gaining their independence – we’ve captured it all.”
Exclusively available on Immotion’s VR Cinematic motion pods across the UK, in the near future Swimming with Humpbacks will be available to the public at home through PlayStation VR, as well as iOS and Android. For further updates, keep reading VRFocus.
It seems that while consumer virtual reality (VR) sits at a crossroads, the digital out-of-home entertainment (DOE) sector has exploded with new developments – not one day seems to pass without major announcements, partnerships or acquisitions hits the wire. Industry specialist Kevin Williams of KWP, gives his unique perspective on the recent developments and offers some exclusive insights into some recently visited new projects.
Following on from the developments that we covered at the first Microsoft LBE VR Summit (read part one and two here), and momentum continues to build in the commercial entertainment sector. These investments are being registered across the industry, and some of the once previous advocates for a consumer approach to this latest phase of VR adoption. This was best illustrated by Unity CEO, John Riccitiello, quoted at a recent TechCrunch Disrupt event, feeling that we have yet seen a true consumer launch of a VR or augmented reality (AR) headset; stating “AR and VR is mostly to this day been launched to developers”. But Riccitiello continued that he had been impressed by how fast enterprise had latched on to VR and AR tech, surprised that the commercial applications have preceded the consumer applications.
Though an obvious progression for those of us that work in the DOE sector, this realisation has struck most consumer-facing VR developers, and most recently we saw the pivoting of major VR success stories in the consumer sphere, build a commercial entertainment offering. This was best illustrated by Vertigo Games, developers behind the successful consumer VR title Arizona Sunshine, with an estimated $1.4 million (USD) in generated sales on the PC platform. The company has decided to spin out a unique location-based videogame division called Vertigo Arcades B.V., who has started in supporting the already popular utilisation of the title in the VR arcade scene, accounting for approximately 20% of all VR arcade minutes played in Western venues.
At the same time other successful developers have turned towards a commercial facing opportunity in this market place. Czech-based Beat Games renowned for their phenomenally successful Beat Saber, have invested heavily in defining their game for the commercial entertainment scene – signing an official licensing agreement with key VR arcade providers such as CTRL-V (Canada), Exit Reality, IMAX VR, MK2 (France), PeriscapeVR, SpringboardVR, Private Label and SynthesisVR. Their partnership with SpringboardVR seeing a ‘Beat Saber Global Tournament’ run across 50 of their supported VR arcades; emphasising an eSports element to commercial entertainment deployment of VR. In an unusual development Beat Games also officially sanctioned an amusement-based VR adaptation of their license. Originally called Beat Saber Arcade, this Korean manufactured cabinet employs the Samsung Odyssey Windows MR headset and controllers; this seen as the first of several amusement-style VR experiences crossing the divide.
Line-up of Beat Saber Arcade cabinets, put through their paces at Korean VR Festival
An amusement facing approach to commercial VR entrainment was seen most recently appearing in the heart of London – at the VR ZONE Portal housed inside the Hollywood Bowl at the O2 Arena on the Greenwich Peninsula. The first VR ZONE Portal outside of Japan (we reported at their opening last year), the site is part of a special agreement between the bowling site operator and the UK division of BANDAI NAMCO Amusement. The site becoming the first Western location to install the eagerly awaited Mario Kart Arcade GP VR, based on the popular Nintendo license.
Enter London’s latest VR experience. [via KWP]
BANDAI NAMCO and Hollywood Bowl organised an exclusive media junket to promote the appearance of the game, but before-hand we were lucky enough to get a behind the scenes look at the system in operation. The Japanese “Project I Can” system only seeing translation of its game software, with the remainder of the hardware the same as operated in Japan. Players’ using HTC Vive headsets, as well as hand trackers to allow them to throw items at their opponents, players sitting in their own “Fusion Karts” motion simulator – the game able to accommodate four players in this seven-minute single circuit race.
Immersed in the action on Mario Kart GP Arcade VR. (Credit: KWP)
Launched in Japan in 2017, the then titled Mario Kart VR proved an enthusiastic VR title, developed by the rebranded BANDAI NAMCO Amusement Lab Inc., as one of a number of IP based VR experiences that combined the initiative behind the “Project I Can” brand and the VR ZONE concept as a whole. Many have mistakenly thought that this game was developed by Nintendo, but in reality, BANDAI NAMCO and Nintendo have established a long reputation of cross-overs and licensed IP – the amusement division in 2005 launching the popular series with Mario Kart Arcade GP, which saw Pac Man also join the Nintendo racers – and with this background it was logical for the VR ZONE to consider developing a VR interpretation of this popular racer.
Past, Meet Future: Mario Kart Arcade GP cabinetsin the shadow of Mario Kart Arcade GP VR. (Credit: KWP)
Trying the title for myself, it proved a hectic mix of racing and throwing items, and though capturing the spirit of the Mario Kart videogame it did not offer as fulfilling a VR interpretation as one might have wanted. A great taste of what is achievable with a VR environment and a world-class property, but not a real game experience that will achieve any level of repeat visitation. The VR ZONE Portal at the O2 has the VR experiences Hospital Escape Terror and Argyle Shift, each costing £8 (GBP) and £5 respectively on launch, but now the restructured layout sees the replacement of the quirky Argyle Shift for Mario Kart Arcade GP VR and all these two games are now £7.99. Many comments on social media, who made a point of hunting down the launch of this iconic VR game property, balked at this high price.
Another interesting element in the handling of this property different to the Japanese approach was Hollywood Bowl having a 15 years of age restriction in playing Mario Kart VR, while in Japan’s VR ZONE operation, the age cut off is 13, with even the VR ZONE Shinjuku seeing children as young as 7 allowed through the doors. No word was given on why BANDAI NAMCO or Hollywood Bowl had picked this arbitrary cut off to play this VR experience. And as with our last visit to the VR ZONE Portal, the UK adaptation of the brand seems a little stilted compared to that achieved in Japan.
Hollywood Bowl has partnered with the UK BANDAI NAMCO Amusement operation and has seen a second VR ZONE Portal opened in Tunbridge Wells, and a planned Leeds Hollywood Bowl site schedule for a third iteration. Sources at BANDAI NAMCO’s VR Projects team confirmed that these sites would be seeing installations of their own Mario Kart VR units by the end of the year respectively – and the company promised that there would be other European and US deployments of the eagerly awaited VR racer. Speaking to the Evening Standard newspaper, Paul Brown, General Manager for HTC Vive Europe, said: “We are so excited to be working with Bandai Namco and Hollywood Bowl to bring Mario Kart VR to the UK, following its stunning launch in Shinjuku.”
The Mario Kart VR installation. (Credit: KWP)
While completing this feature, news broke that BANDAI NAMCO were about to launch yet another VR experience based on previous amusement success – with a re-creation of 1997 white-water rafting experience VR Rapid River – after extensive testing the Amusement Lab team part of the “Project I Can” VR initiative have created a two-rider motion base with yaw and heave components to offer a thrilling white-water rapids ride, with players using tracked ores to steer their craft through a wild water environment. By the time you read this article the first installations of this VR simulator planned for VR ZONES in Japan will possibly be already in venues.
These games developed by the newly reorganised BANDAI NAMCO Amusement Lab Inc., formed to increase investment in intellectual properties (IP) utilising their XR expertise (XR defined as incorporating VR, AR and MR technology). Most recently a VR experience for the VR ZONE flagship location was based on the legendary movie monster, with GODZILLA VR.
But London was not the only UK location to see a brand-new VR attraction unveiled. A quick journey down to the countries South coast and we arrive in Brighton and make our way to the iconic Brighton Palace Pier – the home of a major seaside amusement operation and the first site to run the ParadropVR attraction. The system represents a partnership between creators FrontGrid and manufacturers Simworx releasing a thrilling simulation of soaring the skies on your very own paraglider.
The ParadropVR attraction takes pride of place on Brighton’s Palace Pier. (Credit: KWP)
The attraction uses an innovative vertical heave motion system to simulate the soaring motion, while the player sits in a specially developed harness system while controlling the direction of flight using two lanyards – while wearing an Oculus Rift CV1 to see the virtual vista. The experience was developed to offer an 8-minute experience, as a separate ticket item on the pier. The machine being operated in partnership with local immersive entertainment operator and representative Immersivity Ltd. The experience was a fun one, though the game experience was slightly limited compared to the conventional VR attraction experience we have come to expect.
Reaching for the skies in ParadropVR (Credit: KWP)
FrontGrid recently announced the opening of a second installation, with Denmark’s Universe Science Park opening their first system this month. FrontGrid and Immersivity are now working on refining the platform and deploying the attraction with a number of other interested operators. Europe has seen a spate of VR attractions opening their doors – moving from Denmark to Germany and it was announced that Europa Park had partnered with VR Coaster, Mack Media and Holodeck VR to create a unique VR attraction. The system married a free-roaming experience with a ride-on coaster, with a seamless transition from one to the other. In what the operators referred to as their patent pending ‘Roam & Ride’ setup – the new attraction Eurosat Coastiality has guests putting on headsets and then walking round a pre-show area, before boarding the actual VR rollercoaster ride (employing a mobile VR headset arrangement).
Europa-Park – The first Roam & Ride system to be deployed
The UK has seen one of the first floatation’s on the London Stock Exchange, of a company dedicated to location-based VR entertainment deployment – the Immotion Group PLC has already started a dedicated roll out of venues employing their Immotion branded offering – the company signing a important agreement with UK shopping center operator intu. Following the opening of a new Immotion VR center in Cardiff, the agreement sees a further three sites at intu Derby, Newcastle and Uxbridge. Immotion not just focused on opening venues, but also driving development, seeing AAA content creation for their sites as essential, has recently announced the launch of their wholly developed space-themed VR ride experience Delta Zero.
The company has also worked to ensure a lead in the deployment of the latest VR experiences and announced the extension of their exclusive distribution agreement with leading Chinese manufacturer LEKE VR Technology. A company that has established major advancements in the VR arcade hardware scene, and in 2016 formed a strategic partnership with HTC Corporation towards utilising the latest technology married to VR entertainment for commercial application (at that time for the Viveport Arcades support of the LEKE VR’s VRLe platform). Now with a US sales operation Immotion is seen to be one of the fastest developing companies championing this sector.
(Credit: KWP)
The concluding part of this coverage will follow next week.
If you happen to live in the UK and have yet to try virtual reality (VR) in either its home or location-based form then Immotion Group is going to make that much easier to do so. Last month the company opened its third ImmotionVR Centre at Xscape Yorkshire, Castleford, and today announced the fourth at an intu shopping centre in St Davids, Cardiff.
Immotion Group PLC has been working in partnership with intu, which owns and manages many of the UK’s shopping centres, to continue the rolling out its ImmotionVR brand. Customers heading to the ImmotionVR centres will find a broad range of experiences including Delta Zero which was launched in August. Further experiences are due to launch later this year, including seasonal themed experiences for both Halloween and Christmas.
“We are incredibly excited to be working with intu to expand our portfolio of ImmotionVR outlets across its impressive portfolio of some of the UK’s most popular shopping locations,” said Martin Higginson, CEO of Immotion Group, in a statement. “Riding on the success of our existing VR centres, this roll out will positively impact our revenues. We look forward to bringing more high quality VR experience centres to more consumers across the UK, many of whom are trying VR for the first time, in the coming months.”
Most of the ImmotionVR outlets will be centre aisle attractions although for intu St David’s this location has opened as a shop, allowing it to feature VR cinema pods and guns, and the latest Immotion racing car simulators.
“Virtual reality has such exciting potential within our portfolio of the some of the UK’s most popular shopping destinations where it could one day become as commonplace as stopping for a coffee with friends. intu centres are focused on creating these kinds of compelling experiences for our customers to enjoy and we’re excited to provide yet another new brand with a fantastic opportunity to flourish across the UK,” adds Roger Binks, Customer Experience Director at intu.
As for existing and new sites, the Group’s outlet in the Manchester Arndale will be relocated to a more prominent site within the premises. A further three ImmotionVR Centres will then open at intu Derby, intu Eldon Square, Newcastle and intu Uxbridge. For further expansion updates, keep reading VRFocus.
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.
Following on from the developments that we covered at the first Microsoft LBE VR Summit (read part 
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.