What a year it has been for the XR industry, with both highs and lows felt across the board as companies deal with remote working conditions, lockdown restrictions and much more. So in October VRFocus decided to launch its very first awards showcase, celebrating the best of what the industry has to offer; all with a little twist, public voting. So now it’s time to reveal who the lucky winners are.
Dubbed The Better-Than-Reality Awards, there were eight categories up for grabs, ranging from the consumer-focused ‘Best VR Game of 2020’ to business solutions and rising stars in the XR space.
Whilst some categories were almost dead certs having redefined AAA VR gaming, there were still a few surprises considering all the winners were chosen by the public.
“For us, building a Half-Life game from the ground up for Alyx was always about bringing that universe back in an exciting way, and to do that through VR was a rewarding process. But the positive feedback from fans of Half-Life is truly the most rewarding part, and we are just super grateful for the community support,” said Robin Walker, Programmer / Designer at Valve Software.
“We are extremely honoured that STYLY received the Best AR App award, and we are incredibly grateful for this recognition from VR Focus and the AR community. STYLY continues to move forward, taking on new challenges in XR. We are very proud to be designing and building a new XR world in Tokyo, Japan, with incredible XR artists and content creators from around the World,” said Ryohei Watanabe, CMO of Psychic VR Lab Co., Ltd. “It is an ambitious goal, but we are incredibly excited to bring VR, AR, and MR content together in a spectacular showcase in the heart of Tokyo. We hope that everyone can come to Japan to enjoy this XR world. Once again, we are honored and grateful for receiving this award, and thank you to everyone who helped make STYLY the Best AR App!”
“We are thrilled that VRFocus’ readers named Transformers: VR Battle Arena as their favourite location-based VR experience in a category filled with such worthy competition,” noted Vander Caballero, CEO of Minority Media. “This just goes to show the power of a great brand and social gameplay in attracting players, even in these challenging times.”
“I’m truly honoured to receive the Top XR Influencer 2020 award! Thank you! My mission with MRTV though is not to “influence” my viewers but rather to give them all the information they need so they can make their own educated purchasing decisions!,” said MRTV’s Sebastian Ang. “Therefore I’d rather call myself an XR Content Creator! This award shows me that the community appreciates independent XR content on YouTube! Thanks again to everyone who voted for MRTV!”
“It’s a huge honour to take home the award of Favourite VR headset for Oculus Quest 2. We’ve seen an incredible response from the VR community since launch in October, and to know this award was voted for by the public means a lot. We’re looking forward to delivering more incredible Quest 2 content in 2021 for people to experience,” said Rangaprabhu Parthasarathy, Product Manager, Oculus Quest 2.
“We’re extremely excited that FitXR has been announced as the winner of the Most Promising XR Startup award, as given by VRFocus. This is a great win for us so thanks to everyone for their votes and continual support for FitXR,” said Sam Cole, CEO & co-founder, FitXR. “We’re focused on continuing our mission of creating a virtual reality exercise experience that remains fun and effective at its core and have lots of exciting updates in store for the FitXR platform in 2021. Next year is going to be huge so keep your eyes peeled!
Congratulations to all of VRFocus’ The Better-Than-Reality Awards winners and their contribution to the industry. Best of luck to everyone for 2021!
A new location-based experience (LBE) centred on the Transformers franchise will allow you to fight alongside the Autobots against the Decepticons in a cooperative VR game, with appearances from iconic characters such as Optimus Prime, Bumblebee and Megatron.
It’s produced by game studio Minority Media, who were also behind the other location-based experience Transformers: VR Battle Arena. In Battle Arena, players fought against each other, playing as either the Autobots or the Decepticons in a PvP game.
However, Invasion will put the focus on working together and pit you in a battle against the Decepticons, playing as the Autobots. Here’s a bit more info:
TRANSFORMERS: VR Invasion delivers collaborative gameplay that enables guests to be part of the liberation squad of humans fighting alongside well-known Autobots like Optimus Prime and Bumblebee, as well as Grimlock, the leader of the Dinobots powerful strike squad. Players enter epic battles against sworn enemies Megatron and Soundwave and repel non-stop swarms of Insecticons. Failure is not an option in this high-stakes mission to stop an all-out invasion by the Decepticons.
This isn’t the end of Battle Arena either – Invasion will simply join the line-up of available Transformer VR experiences available to venues.
There’s no specific date for when Invasion will make its debut, but Minority Media says it will be available in the US at Kalahari Resort in Poconos, PA, Airway Fun Center in Kalamazoo, MI and Compass Entertainment in Irvington, VA. It will also be available at select Kingping Bowling locations in Australia.
Have you tried Transformers: VR Battle Arena or are you excited for Transformers: VR Invasion? Let us know in the comments.
Covering the immersive Out-of-Home entertainment scene for VRFocus, in his latest Virtual Arena column, industry specialist Kevin Williams reports – concluding this two-part feature. The impact of the latest trends in free-roaming VR attractions is looked at, as well as the continued success of VR enclosure business. Then the report turns its gaze to the impact of the health crisis, and what life for the VR entertainment scene could be #AfterLockdown.
Amusement Expo International: Image credit KWP
Returning to the surprisingly crowded show floor of the influential B2B Amusement Expo International (AEI) in New Orleans, during early March. Days before the global health crisis would shut down all commerce – this show revealed the key trends and issues that would need to be reevaluated for a market in transition after lockdown.
Moving away from the approach of standalone VR amusement platforms, seen on the show floor that conformed to the more traditional pay-to-play model (covered in the first part). The amusement and entertainment facility sector had been revolutionized by the appearance and deployment of multi-player videogame experiences that offer a compelling attraction.
This approach has seen two unique categories – the first being “VR Enclosure” systems, these using frameworks to cordon off the player space. This has become a distinctive category of its own, and one of the most successful developers of this approach is Hologate. The company based in Germany has sold hundreds of their four-player systems across the market and came to AEI with an updated ‘HOLOGATE Arena’ – offering a compact two-player version of the system, to suit all sizes of location.
VR teamwork in the latest blaster from HOLOGATE. Image credit: KWP
Another developer of this kind of VR enclosure system was from Minority Media, having developed its own small foot-print enclosure, the operation was promoting its latest dedicated game system with ‘Transformers: VR Battle Arena’. Based on the popular Hasbro franchise, four players compete in a player-vs-player blaster, taking part as the famous robots in a fast base and competitive experience.
Looking at a larger enclosure offering, AEI exhibitor Inowize, in partnership with their lead distributor had their six-player enclosure system called the ‘Arkadia VR Arena’. The platform using the HTC Vive Pro headsets, tethered to the ceiling of the enclosure, offering a multiplayer immersive game experience. The flexibility of the system also offering a four-player variant.
The need to offer the latest platform that achieves the best ROI is essential in a fast-moving sector such as VR amusement and entertainment deployment. The latest variants of the VR enclosure category have started to use the new and emerging VR technology. Manufacturer Box Blaster has created a dedicated enclosure to suit the needs of the market, using the latest Valve Index high-end VR headsets for their four-player ‘Box Blaser VR’. And have focused on a family-friendly approach for their content to drive the key demographic interested in trying VR experiences.
Box Blaster VR. Image credit: KWP
Purpose-built enclosures that allow entertainment facilities to run their own VR arcade-style operations, to compete with independent venues, was also on display. The new developer Sektor VR presented at AEI, their enclosure called the ‘Sektor 001’ that used a giant LED spectator screen to allow the audience to see the virtual environment that the players inhabit. The enclosure allowing two players at a time, both using wireless HTC Vive Pro headsets. As with all in this category, the operation is from a touch-screen kiosk, offering a selection of games provided through the popular Springboard VR content distribution platform.
One of the largest and most impressive of the enclosure systems is that offering from Virtuix – a completely enclosed environment offered by their ‘Omni Arena’. The attendant attracting players to come inside the system, prepare to enter the VR environment using the innovative omnidirectional treadmill, to physically navigate the virtual world. Virtuix has worked hard to create a competitive game environment and were running cash prize ‘VRZ Tournament’ during the show, illustrating the eSports credentials of their hardware.
As we saw leading up to the Health crisis, interest in “Arena Scale VR – Standalone” (the second leading category) has grown exponentially. These represented the deployment of the next innovation in tech, with the Standalone VR headsets such as Oculus Quest, Pico Neo2, HTC Focus Plus, and other systems offering a VR multi-player platform. That could be a cheap alternative to the more expensive and complicated backpack PC VR platforms, for area-scale (free-roaming) deployment. As covered in VRFocus recently this sector still garners much interest with developers like VirtuaActions and their ‘Cyberaction Arena’.
VEX Arena. Image credit: KWP
The March AEI show reflected the growth of popularity in this trend across the trade floor. Those companies exhibiting with their entry into this category included VEX Solutions with its ‘VEX Arena’ representing a six-player free-roaming turn-key system. The platform building on the operations’ experience with backpack VR systems. The new ‘VEX Arena’ uses specially customised Pico Neo2 headsets. A flexible arena platform that can accommodate four, six, eight and even 10-player configurations.
Another exhibitor with this category of experience was Arenaverse – showing its ‘Arenaverse’ platform, offering a free-roaming system requiring a minimum footprint of 20ft x 30ft – a totally scalable platform ranging from two players all the way up to twelve. An operation comprising accomplished VR executives in this field, many of the lessons from previous endeavours have been applied. Recently coming out of secret development, the platform comprises a unique operator kiosk that charges the headsets and launches the experiences.
The AEI exhibitor, Scale-1 Portal, is an official Oculus IVS Partner, and presented using the Oculus Quest headset, their new ‘Voxel Arena’ – one of the first official standalone free-roaming four-player spaces, crafted to offer unique multi-player specialist experiences. One of these unique titles is the energetic rhythm music game (‘RYTM’), played as a group in a highly frenetic immersive music experience.
Voxel Arena. Image credit: KWP
This is a snapshot of the considerable impact that VR had on the last major amusement and entertainment trade event of the post-pandemic market. The March Amusement Expo was driven by the innovation that VR was having on the industry, seeing 10% of the exhibitors on the show floor offering a VR solution of some kind.
VR Entertainment’s Future
From all the developments that were presented at the beginning of March, the then Out-of-Home entertainment sector looked to be continuing its rapid growth in market dominance. But this advance would be placed on hold as global commerce was impacted by the ravages of the COVID-19 epidemic. With all Western VR arcades and location-based entertainment centres shuttered, the industry has been placed in hibernation, eager to re-emerge.
One of the many shuttered location-based entertainment facilities. Image credit: KWP
Going into these latest weeks of lockdown for the entertainment, hospitality and non-essential businesses, across the West; there is a mood towards attempting to understand what the #AfterLockdown future business for location-based entertainment (LBE) VR will look like. Many operators drawing up plans on how they will welcome their guests to the new landscape of social entertainment in an evolving landscape.
The consumer VR scene while in lockdown has proven that the interest in this technology has not diminished, and with the successful launch of Valve’s Half-Life: Alyx, there has been a desire for more. Not every one of the record number of watchers of the streamed “lets-play” of the videogame has access to the VR hardware or intend to buy it, but this does not mean they would not pay heavily to be able to experience the title. And already plans are in place to support VR arcades to run this title as an option to their clientele.
Hygiene and safe operation of their experiences are a constant for the Out-of-Home entertainment sector long before we entered the grip of the pandemic. Numerous developers have added extensive cleaning and guest operation procedures to ensure that as with the 3D cinema sector (with 3D glasses), bowling sector (with shoes and socks), paintball sector (with goggles and masks) and even the Go-kart sector (with helmets and race suits), the guests experience is a clean and comfortable one. Many operators of VR hardware have deployed “Ninja Masks” (disposable paper liners for VR headsets) to customers using their hardware.
Manufacturers are also looking to incorporate dedicated self-disinfection systems to their hardware, similar to that seen with VR LEO USA’s platform (covered in the previous part) – as well as emulating the work that CleanBox Technology has been developing with their UV-C disinfection stations for VR deployment in enterprise. Companies also like VR Cover have supplied specialist versions of their system for use on most VR amusement platforms.
Operators of large numbers of VR headsets ensuring the manufacturers accommodate the needs of resilience and durability regarding deployment in entertainment. The extra development time that has been afforded to the industry during this hiatus will inevitably result in major development work, and increased ingenuity in the deployment of this technology into the market.
Once the restrictions of isolation are eventually lifted and the population is allowed once again to enjoy themselves, there will be no doubt that VR entertainment will continue to play its part in the vast variety of offerings from the Out-of-Home entertainment landscape. But with increased burden on disposable incomes and concerns of venues operating under restrictions from local government, that the “new normal” for the sector will take some time to be defined with undefined new elements added to the mix. We await, with interest, to report on these new developments.
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.
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.
Pull on a headset and roll out; there’s a Transformers VR game on the way to arcades.
Time Machine VR developer Minority Media just announced Transformers: VR Battle Arena in collaboration with Hasbro. It’s a PvP shooter for up to four players in which you get to embody your favorite Autobots (or Decepticons).
Players are tasked with recapturing shards of the all-powerful allspark, battling it out across three landscapes. Whoever has the most shards at the end of the round is the winner. You stand on levitating platforms that glide around city landscapes.
As you can see from the screenshots, the game is based on classic Gen 1 Transformers designs and not the Michael Bay movies (much to our relief). Characters include Optimus Prime, Bumblebee and Megatron. There isn’t any footage of the game to share yet.
Transformers VR will debut at the IAAPA Expo in Orlando, which kicks off on November 19. No word yet on when and where the experience will be available, though Minority Media does say it will continue to expand the experience with new modes, environments and characters. Don’t hold your breath for a home release, either; this is strictly for VR arcades for now.
Back in 2017 we reported that Minority Media was placing its bets on VR arcades. It’s an unexpected move for a company initially known for obscure indie gems like Papo & Yo. The company’s rig gives four players their own space to stand and shoot in. For this particular game participants will wield gun-shaped controllers.
Will you be seeking out Transformers VR? Let us know in the comments below!
Manufacturers are also looking to incorporate dedicated self-disinfection systems to their hardware, similar to that seen with VR LEO USA’s platform (covered in the previous part) – as well as emulating the work that CleanBox Technology has been developing with their UV-C disinfection stations for VR deployment in enterprise. Companies also like VR Cover have supplied specialist versions of their system for use on most VR amusement platforms.
