As location-based virtual reality (VR) grows in popularity an increasing number of new centres are popping up all over the world. One of the latest to be announced is from warehouse-scale VR company Zero Latency, who have revealed it will be opening a new VR experience in Nottingham, UK.
The new Nottingham location will be the first Zero Latency site in the UK, and the company will be bringing its immersive social VR title Zombie Survival to customers.
Zombie Survival is a zombie battling VR title that encourages cooperation between players as they try to defend a fort from a horde of undead until the rescue team arrives. Other titles planned to be introduced at Zero Latency Nottingham include Singularity, where teams of players face off against killer robots and Engineerium, a fantasy world full of mazes and platform challenges.
Players who come to Zero Latency Nottingham will be equipped with headsets, headphones, a military-style backpack and in shooter titles, a gun peripheral. Players will then be able to enter the VR world and control their full-motion VR avatars through the environment, contained within a 180 sq meter e-sports arena.
John Lilley, Chief Experience Officer at Zero Latency said “It’s long been our ambition to launch Zero Latency in the top tech hub of Europe and we can’t wait to share with Brits the UK’s first free-roam, multiplayer VR entertainment experience. There’s a growing appetite for cutting-edge socially engaging VR experiences and the games we offer cater to a wide audience from avid-gamers to first time visitors, but at the heart of every game is a family fun adventure. We look forward to opening the doors of our first UK arena in Nottingham, and can’t wait to watch players battle against zombies and sacrifice their friends so that they can win!”
Further information, including how to pre-book places, can be found on the Zero Latency website. As usual, VRFocuswill keep you informed on new and upcoming VR centres.
Guest columnist Kevin Williams, continues his coverage of the emerging VR Out-of-Home entertainment scene, with an exclusive report from the floor of America’s largest dedicated amusement industry show.
The American amusement trade held their annual convention in the heart of Las Vegas during February, the Amusement Expo International, saw the AAMA, AMOA, along with NBVA trade associations and Lasertag Convention combined to create a dedicated gathering for all aspects of the American digital out-of-home entertainment (DOE) sector.
For the first time, the event comprised a Virtual Reality (VR) Educational Summit, reflecting the impact that VR out-of-home entertainment, along with dedicated exhibitors from the emerging sector, hoping to influence the family entertainment centre, leisure entertainment and location-based entertainment business landscape.
The issue with new entrants into the established amusement landscape is the learning curve that these start-ups must undertake to establish themselves; so, turning Amusement Expo into an impromptu beauty pageant of the latest VR platforms developed to capture the public’s and operator’s attention.
One of the traditional amusement trade to embrace VR in this sector, BANDAI NAMCO Amusement represented A.i.Solve’s WePlayVR – the maze enclosure based system that has individual players navigating the virtual environment wearing a backpack and HTC Vive headset. As well as revealing plans for BANDAI NAMCO to bring their VR ZONE Portal facility concept to the States, later in the year – something VRFocus covered last month as they look to further expand the chain throughout the US and Europe, particularly the UK.
Another developer of this approach was TRIOTECH, partnered with Asterion VR, to develop their ‘VR Maze’, running the Virtual Rabbids: The Big Maze – again with a single player backpack approach. The Ubisoft property was also on display on the LAI Games booth with their Virtual Rabbids: The Ride – this time a two rider VR motion experience using D-BOX motion hardware.
A player is prepared to navigate the VR MazeA wild ride, racing through the Rabbids universe.
The need to generate a strong ROI from operating VR hardware has seen many multiplayer approaches, Creative Works represented Hologate VR at Amusement Expo – the four-player enclosure, uses a ceiling tethered HMD approach (again, with HTC Vives); strong initial sales seeing the company working on their own and licensing content to support the platform.
Players do battle in Hologate VR
Amusement manufacturer and distributor, UNIS Technologies has partnered with Virtuix to present the Omni Arena – the two and four player configuration arena stage utilizes the companies omni-directional platform. Virtuix promoting that already some 2,500 of their platforms were in operation at some 500 location-based facilities internationally.
Frantic competition on the Omni Arena.
Another omni-direction system on display at the Las Vegas show was represented by FOCUS VR, showing the Cyberith Virtualizer – this approach was more based on offering a delivery platform for VR arcades. Several new exhibitors to the amusement trade took this approach, with the likes of Springboard VR, who have created a turnkey package for those wanting a plug-and-play VR arcade approach.
The Virtualizer being put through its paces
Content for the virtual arcade was also provided by exhibitors such as EscapeVR – offering a room-scale escape room experience in a virtual environment. While the ability to capture footage of the player within the virtual environment was offered through Blueprint Reality’s MixCast platform. The company bringing a Windows Mixed Reality system from Acer, to demonstrate their platforms versatility.
The MixCast platform running in conjunction with the Acer headset
Also walking the show floor were several of the up and coming operators and developers of new VR arcade locations, hardware and content – many sitting in on the VR Educational Summit sessions dedicated to the new technologies opportunity for amusement application.
Free-roaming (Arena Scale) VR experiences has gained great momentum in the DOE scene, exponents of this could be found on and off the show floor, including exhibitor Modal VR, presenting their PING experience. The system using a special tracking architecture, linked to mobile VR (Samsung Gear VR derivative) headsets – players taking part in a virtual game of an interpretation of the Atari classic Pong.
Player’s prepare for a one-on-one game of virtual PING.
While, Hyperverse promoted their own VR free-roaming solution at the show, based on backpack PC’s and Oculus VR CV1 headset. To experience a full free-roaming VR system, all the delegates had to do was travel down the Strip to the MGM Casino, and their new Level UP entertainment location, which has newly installed a Zero Latency four-player backpack VR system and a suite of games.
Kevin Williams and associate suit up ready to play at Zero Latency in the MGM Casino.
It is the reality of the actual hardware deployment in the field that will validate its worth from this business. Already the Zero Latency system will soon be joined by at least two new free-roaming installations in Las Vegas – and along with the other fielded VR entertainment systems on display, it looks to be a very interesting time for this emerging market. It will be interesting to see their penetration into the Western market – watch this space for more coverage from this sector.
The virtual reality (VR) market is at low expectations right now. Impulsive investments go down. It’s time for conscious decisions and realistic business plans. Some developers who have published games on Steam have realised that there is no money in VR home use. Now they offer licenses for commercial use to VRcades. Still, such arcades are like cybercafés which mostly disappeared when home internet access became more commonplace.
Free roam VR is totally different. There is no way for a customer to get this experience at home. But could warehouse scale VRcades pay for themselves – especially if they aren’t located in amusement parks?
What items of expenses are critical to ROI?
How can you build a sustainable VR business today?
How can the escape room business model help VRcades?
How can VRcades attract a broader audience?
And what products will let VRcades be profitable in the future, independent of VR home use?
Let’s dive in.
What’s the current state of VR market?
Goldman & Sachs reported in 2016 that the forecasted outcome for VR/AR revenue in 2025 was $23 Billion (USD) which is a “delayed uptake” scenario. Hardware TAM will represent a market size similar to the current videogame console market. Now everyone is much more pessimistic about VR. Unity CEO John Riccitiello spoke about that gap of disappointment at VRLA 2017. And he appealed to developers who must focus on surviving.
The headsets are getting cheaper. But besides Google Cardboards are there many VR headsets sold? Not very much if you compare with iPhones. And do the customers use the headsets? Not very often.
VR products compete with consoles and PC titles as well, not just with each other. It’s sad to say, but the VR user spends much more time on PC/console. There are certainly worrying numbers on the Steam Charts. Arizona Sunshine has 186 players in a month as of December 2017. Just compare this with Getting Over It with Bennett Foddy – 1069 players in a month. That’s before you compare it to, say, something like The Witcher, Fallout 4 or even Factorio. Even the last has tens of times more.
So what about developers surviving? Some offer commercial licenses for cybercafés. Check Keep Talking and Nobody Explodes for an instance. Not to mention Raw Data’s commercial license cost, It’s totally different business model. And it’s good opportunity to earn money out of the videogame.
You can only guess did developers of these games return their expenses. And did they do it with Steam or commercial licenses? But the truth is there is no super-profit in home use these days for sure. To survive developers should raise investments, close big deals or search for alternative business models.
Types of location-based VR business
Digital Out-of-Home Entertainment (DOE) is the hope of VR industry right now. There are three different types of location-based VR in the world. They differ with the rent cost which is the biggest item on the list of monthly expenses. The ROI will depend on it in the first place. Initial investments could differ but sustainability is more important in the perspective.
Hyper-reality
When we speak about VRcades it’s The VOID that often keeps pop up. They call their project a hyper-reality. If a player takes a lantern in VR, he feels it in real-life. The walls, the ladders, the wind, the sounds are real. It’s like 7D cinema, but you don’t sit, you act.
To an entrepreneur, it’s like building a real-life escape game but a way more expensive. You should pour millions to open such venue. It’s pure magic, but it costs a lot. It’s no wonder it has good bookings in Disneyland parks, but what if you want to open such venue in your city? How many sessions a day will it be? Could you start such business without Disney investments and infrastructure?
How long does it take to return your investments? If you are not in the Disneyland it’s good to have 3 sessions a day. If the player pays $30-60 for a session and the average number of players is 4, it’s $194,400 in a year without regard for monthly expenses like rent, staff fees, etc. So it’s better to close the deal with Disney.
The bad news is this train went off already. The good news is it’s not necessarily to do something like The Void if you want to open location-based VRcade.
Free-roam VR
Free-roam VR is much more widespread across the globe. Players move and shoot zombies or other enemies. You don’t have to build walls, but you still need a lot of space. That’s the reason it’s also called warehouse scale VR.
If you have three sessions in a day, an average number of players is four and each player pays you $60 (USD) for a session, the monthly revenue would be about $21,600. But if you rent 3000 sq. ft, it will cost you $10,000 at least.
Don’t forget that there is no mass production of standard equipment for this. Zero Latency, for instance, use custom made markers, simulated weapon, and game controllers. Sometimes it’s hard to buy the right VR headset, and it goes without saying with custom-made equipment.
You’ll need to be sure about your marketing strategy to get all the sessions you can, so you’ll be satisfied with the profit.
Room-scale VRcade
Players don’t have to move around a lot if the game has other movement controls like teleportation or flying. In some games players seat all the time, in some they stand, step to and fro, rotate, duck and dodge.
In such case, you’ll need 50-70 sq. ft space. Lower rent allows you to charge $10 per player. If you have 3 sessions a day, an average number of players is four, the monthly revenue would be around $3,600 and you will pay $500 for rent. So, it seems room-scale VR has higher marginality.
This type of location-based VR is the closest to home use in terms of experience. Still, VR equipment is too expensive to have it at home ($450 for Oculus Rift, $600 for HTC Vive and $1500 for the VR ready PC). Actually, you’ll need a separate room for a room-scale VR system like HTC Vive. It’s not for everyone.
The problem with room-scale VRcades is that if they don’t offer some exclusive content, they will vanish anyway like cybercafés did.
VRcade content
The success of VRcade business depends on content a lot. Here are some crucial points of what content should VRcade provide.
Format
Single-player games are basically useless for VRcades. The real-life escape game business model is a proof of concept.
Team-based games are better for out-of-home entertainment.
Cooperative gameplay is better for corporate parties which could take the big cut.
A 1-hour long session is better than paying per minute. It is an event.
So VR games should be team-based by design. A player shouldn’t be able to make it without their pals. They must help each other.
Audience
Games should be simple enough for your grandmother to play. They appeal to a wide audience. VRcades customers are not geeks, they are companies of friends, colleagues or families.
Genre
What you can learn from escape games, that a team must beat a game in 60 minutes, and you have a clear goal in the end.
Action and horror seem to be obvious genres. But in fact, they are not for everyone. Adventure, on the other hand, are the best option for cooperative time-limited gameplay. Colourful fantasy is as good as breathtaking space odyssey.
Also, VR must give you a thrill. The key point is an experience you can’t get in real-life. Flying in the outer space, shooting fireballs with your own hands, that kind of stuff.
There is not so much VR cooperative adventures that are suitable for VRcades. So entrepreneur’s best option is to address to professional VR developer which is specialized in that kind of games.
If VRcade provides such games, it has better chances to keep going in the future. People watch movies at home, but going to a movie theatre is an event, something for you can do with other people.
What about motion sickness?
Not everyone likes amusement parks because rollercoaster can cause nausea. It’s the same with VR. Some individuals experience motion sickness in VR more or less. There are four solutions to minimize this issue.
The Controls: The common movement control in VR is teleportation. It’s 100% motion-sicknessless. If the game has no such option, there are a few workarounds. Players could use some vehicles to move – airplanes or mech robots for example. Or they can fly using controllers or hand tracker devices. Or they can walk around as long as a room-scale game allows.
No walking via pushing controller’s buttons or/and uncontrolled movement like sudden player’s body’s turn is allowed.
The Game Master: A game master should check if somebody feels sick and offer to turn less and/or put off the headset for a while. It’s a human factor, so pay attention to it.
The Game Master’s App: It’s great if the game master has an option to skip sequence for this player particularly. It means the developer should provide an application for the game master to watch the players’ actions and help them with puzzles and stuff.
Candies: You should have sour candies onboard (just like they do on airplanes). No joke.
Marketing
Typically VR arcades just started have a common problem with marketing. They try to promote VR itself, show powerful headsets to the customers. And it works badly. Screenshots from VR game don’t work. People with headsets put on are anti-social.
As escape games owners you should know that the escape games should be promoted with photos captured players’ emotions. The recipe is the same. Shoot people. Shoot the players’ emotions after the game, when they put the headsets off.
If you have players’ photos it’s already enough. But some VR arcades make beautiful futuristic decorations or themed decorations based on the VR game setting. It’s a good ‘topping’ to the experience.
As for the marketing texts, you should sell emotions and experience as always. Flying in the space, shooting fireballs with your bare hands – is what you don’t have in your real-life. And it’s a great thing to try in VR.
If you’re one of the unlucky few that are still waiting for an immersive warehouse-scale virtual reality (VR) experience to open at a location near you, well, you might be in luck – if you live near New England, that is. MindTrek VR is the largest free-roaming VR gaming company in the USA, and now they’ve opened their second Massachusetts location, in the new Apex Center, Marlborough.
If you’re not a Massachusetts local you shouldn’t lament just yet, as MindTrek VR have already shared their intentions to open locations in both New Jersey and Philadelphia.
MindTrek VR’s arenas accommodate up to 16 players where users can battle with zombies, robots and more in their variety of games. Zombie Survival will have players struggling to survive, Singularity will see players navigating difficult virtual mazes, and Engineerium will be home to a digital netherworld.
MindTrek VR have already had great success in Australia and Japan, and opened their first US location in July 2017. Since then the company has refused to stop growing, and hopes its new locations will have just as much success.
MindTrek VR was founded by Brad Wurtz, David Rzepski and David O’Connor. Together they have secured the exclusive rights for Zero Latency arenas in Boston, Philadelphia and New Jersey. The latter two locations are scheduled to open in 2018. We’ve previously seen Zero Latency open arenas in Japan with companies such as Sega.
O’Connor believes in the power to make VR a multiplayer-focused, shared experience; “Virtual reality at home can be isolating and sharing the experience with a group in our gaming arenas is a real game-changer, no pun intended. MindTrek is a leader in transforming the virtual reality gaming landscape to make it a social experience.”
The game experience is altered and enhanced by on-site engineers, who can ensure the gaming experience is always comfortable and manageable for all players.
It’s exciting news for anyone in the local area that wants to experience warehouse-scale VR with their friends – it’s a wonderful gaming experience. For all of the latest on VR gaming centres opening near you, make sure to keep reading VRFocus.
I walked into a zombie apocalypse, and experienced an incredible illusion. Zero Latency’s newest free-roam VR adventure, Outbreak Origins, integrates what Co-Founder and CEO Tim Ruse explains as their “special sauce.”
Watch the game trailer:
The game on-boarding begins with up to eight players being suited up in Zero Latency’s gear – an OSVR HDK2 HMD, Razer integrated headphone and microphone to communicate with others in-game, a backpack with Alienware PC gaming computer, and custom hand-held gun. Players then congregate on the flat, rectangular game floor. Zero Latency’s gaming arenas range from about 2,000 to 4,000 square feet, and games can be adjusted based on available floor space, even working around any pillars that can’t be removed in the physical building.
Outbreak Origins starts with players transferred to the virtual world, for a briefing of their mission via non-CGI news footage on a massive screen. The team mission is nothing short of saving humanity by finding a cure for the zombie outbreak, while fighting off the undead. Individual players also compete against each other for the highest points by getting the most zombie head-shots and not dying, or dying the least amount of times. Ruse says “this game brings together everything we have learned from building and shipping [free roam VR] content for the last three years.” According to Ruse, Zero Latency has seen more than 200,000 plays, with more than 22,000 new plays each month.
Players fight off the undead using a physical prop gun, which has the ability to transform to a virtual assault rifle, shotgun and sniper depending on what each individual player prefers, throughout the experience. But this is not just another zombie shooter game. And while the ability to roam around a large space with up to eight players is not something many companies are currently offering, what makes it truly unique is Zero Latency’s application of an incredible illusion.
Zero Latency’s “Special Sauce”
Screen capture from Zero Latency’s Outbreak Origins experience.
In Outbreak Origins, even though the physical play space is flat, I was able to climb to different heights, and see my teammates playing below. Ruse explains that this “patent pending VR control system” allows players to “feel like they have been seamlessly separated into a much larger or different shaped space than they are actually in… This illusion is most noticeable when you are taken to different heights which suddenly draws people even deeper into the virtual world when they see their friends who were only a moment ago standing next to them, suddenly high up above them on a platform or catwalk. That sudden feeling of physical separation from a person who you know is physically there really draws you into the experience.”
While other free-roam VR experiences that I’ve tried trick people into feeling that they can roam further than the physical space they are in, Zero Latency also extends the play-space upwards and downwards for players in the same scene.
The illusion can also be experienced in other Zero Latency experiences. Engineerium and Singularity won first and second place respectively this year at IAAPA’s Brass Ring Best New Product awards for Games and Devices – Midway Games and Equipment. In Engineerium, players are able to walk up and down ramps and walls, while solving puzzles together in a brightly-colored alien world. Singularity allows players to walk on floors as well as walls in gravity boots, while battling robots, drones and more.
As Zero Latency is also in the business of developing custom training solutions which could include simulations for groups like the military, the ability to have groups in a range of multi-level environments is of great benefit.
Why does it work?
Ruse explains that the journey that Zero Latency takes players on is vital for their “special sauce” to work. “We take you up and down and around. Up lifts, through corridors. Your sense of space is gone. You are making a new map of what your brain perceives as real…I think that walking large expanses is what makes this happen… your brain has started to map the digital world directly on to what the real world was before.”
And, the illusion works best after a longer period of time in VR. “It ramps up sharply the more you walk through unique environments…We see this happening after five to seven minutes in the game, and it ramps up sharply the more you walk through unique environments. At that point you are highly susceptible to things like high places. That’s why longer experiences get better results.” Outbreak Origins is a thirty-minute experience, as is Singularity. Other current Zero Latency games like Zombie Survival and Engineeerium also pass the five to seven-minute park, at fifteen minutes each.
The only moments that temporarily broke the illusion for me was when I was climbing up to another virtual level, because I didn’t feel the physical presence of stairs or a steep slope at my feet. Adding physical stairs or a ramp in the space to feel this sensation would only constrain the scale and layout of Zero Latency’s virtual worlds. So, a solution could simply be that their virtual ramps be longer, with less slope to get players to new heights without such an apparent gap between the physical and virtual climb.
Screen capture from Zero Latency’s Singularity experience.
How It’s Developed
Ruse was tight-lipped on how this illusion is developed, but he did share that one of the first steps in building each virtual environment for Zero Latency is mapping out different levels within it. He explains the process further: “We first start by sectioning up the physical space and then treat each section as it’s own virtual piece of the environment. These independent pieces can then be moved and traversed in isolation which gives us the ability to send people up a lift, traverse a catwalk or even ride a helicopter completely independently to everyone else in the experience, despite the one physical space being shared.”
What’s Coming Next
Zero Latency plans to release one new experience every three to four months. They’re focusing on competitive content, as well as building more team adventures. What they’re building, Ruse says, is “a push towards a full blown next gen esports platform”
And, they are expanding. Currently Zero Latency has locations in Australia, Japan, Mexico, Spain, and The United States. They already have ten sites under development for 2018, with a target of one-hundred sites in the next three years, focusing on Europe and North America.
Nachdem wir Mario Kart VR und Dragonball VR auf unserem einwöchigen Tokio-Trip ausprobieren konnten, stand nun das kooperative Warehouse-Scale-VR-Erlebnis Zero Latency auf unserer Liste. Zero Latency ist uns schon länger ein Begriff: Das Projekt stammt aus Australien und war eines der ersten Warehouse-Scale-VR-Erfahrungen, die es auf der Welt gab. Neben den Installationen in Tokio und Osaka in Japan gibt es noch weitere Locations in Nordamerika, Spanien und in Australien selbst.
Sega Joypolis: Vier Stockwerke Arcade-Action
In unserem Fall war das System Teil der riesigen Sega Joypolis Arcade. Eine exklusive Arcade-Halle, die sich in Angebot und Größe von den üblichen Arcades in Tokio unterscheidet. Man könnte die Dimensionen vielleicht mit einem kleineren Kaufhaus vergleichen. Die Halle erstreckt sich über vier Stockwerke, auf denen unterschiedliche und meist überdimensionierte Arcade-Automaten platziert sind. Racing-Simulatoren bestehen aus echten Autos, die auf Bewegungsplattformen montiert sind, und eine Achterbahn brettert durch die gesamte Halle. Zusammen mit einem Skateboard-Simulator, der eher an ein Fahrgeschäft aus einem Outdoor-Freizeitpark erinnert, sind das die Highlights der Arcade. Weitere VR-Erlebnisse außer Singularity fanden wir dort aber leider nicht mehr.
Die besondere Hardware ermöglicht Warehouse-Scale-VR
Im Gegensatz zur amerikanischen Konkurrenz von The Void verzichten die Australier vollkommen auf haptische Elemente und lassen das gesamte Szenario in einer leeren Halle stattfinden. Dabei setzen sie auf ein völlig eigenes Tracking-System, das scheinbar auf einem ähnlichen Konzept wie das der PSVR und deren Move-Controllern basiert. Am Kopf und an dem Waffen-Controller sind jeweils PlayStation-Move-ähnliche Leuchtbälle angebracht, die dann mit mehreren Kameras rund um das Spielfeld erfasst werden können.
Als Head-Mounted-Display verwendete man die OSVR von Razer. Der Waffen-Controller war relativ groß und hatte ein angenehmes und realistisch wirkendes Gewicht. Leider gab es keinen Rückstoß oder etwas ähnliches. Ähnlich wie bei fast allen anderen Warehouse-Scale-Systemen benutzen die Entwickler von Zero Latency Rucksack-PCs. Der große Unterschied hier ist allerdings, dass sie nur ein relativ schwaches PC-System verwenden. Die Daten werden laut Betreiber erst an einen Server schickt, auf dem sie gerendert und erst dann wieder zurück an den Rucksack-PC geschickt werden. Das spart etwas Gewicht und wahrscheinlich auch Akkuleistung. Ob das ohne Latenz funktionieren kann? Denn jede Strecke, die die Daten über die Luft zurücklegen, sollten die Latenz drastisch erhöhen und damit das Spielerlebnis mit Verzögerungen auf die Brille bringen. Was in einer schlechten Erfahrung enden würde. Wir waren skeptisch.
Unsere Erfahrung aus der Lagerhalle
Dieses Mal waren wir zu dritt. Phillip, Vladimir (bekannt als VR-Human) und ich. Es dauerte einige Minuten, bis wir den Rucksack, die VR-Brille und den Gun-Controller angelegt bekommen haben. Trotz Brille habe ich normalerweise keine Problem mit der Oculus Rift oder der HTC Vive, aber die OSVR-Brille drückte gleich an mehreren Stellen. Doch ein echter VR-Nerd lässt sich eine solche Warehouse-Experience durch ein paar Wehwehchen sicherlich nicht entgehen. Ich hatte vor einiger Zeit zwar schon mal eine Warehouse-Scale-Erfahrung mit dem Illusion-Walk System aus Berlin gehabt, allerdings war diese zu dem Zeitpunkt eher eine Preview. Meine Erwartungen an Warehouse-Scale-VR waren generell relativ hoch. Was sollte es zur Zeit besseres geben, als quasi frei durch virtuelle Welten zu spazieren?
Das Szenario, welches wir im Koop-Mode zu dritt durchlaufen konnten, hieß Singularity und basiert scheinbar auf dem gleichnamigen PC-Spiel aus dem Jahr 2010. Da das Spiel offensichtlich nicht explizit für Virtual Reality Hardware gemacht wurde, ist es nachvollziehbar, dass die Waffe viel zu groß dargestellt wird. Jedenfalls fiel mir dieses Detail als erstes auf. Gefolgt von einer unklaren Sicht und einem ungewohnt schlechten 3D-Effekt. Beides wahrscheinlich Probleme, die auf die OSVR-Brille zurückzuführen sind. Der visuelle Eindruck war weit unter dem, was ich sonst von Rift und Vive gewohnt war. Nachdem ich versucht hatte, die VR-Brille etwas zu justieren, kam ich zu dem Schluss, dass ich mich für die nächsten Minuten wohl an diese Makel gewöhnen musste. Ich entdeckte meine beiden Begleiter und freute mich, dass ich dieses Erlebnis nicht alleine durchwandern muss. Via Sprachchat konnten wir uns recht gut verständigen.
Schritt für Schritt durch Singularity
Zunächst sollten wir auf die markieren Bereiche gehen, damit das Erlebnis beginnen konnte. Schon auf diesem kurzen Weg stellte ich fest, dass die Latenz definitiv spürbar war. Die Verzögerung war so deutlich, dass ich mich nur sehr vorsichtig Schritt für Schritt vorwärts bewegen konnte. Was auch daran lag, dass ich meine eigenen Beine nicht sehen konnte. Das Problem kannte ich zwar schon von anderen VR-Spielen, aber zusammen mit der Latenz war das Gehen wirklich nicht angenehm und weit weg von dem, was ich erhofft hatte. Damit war das eigentliche Kernargument der Warehouse-Scale-Geschichte für mich mit einem Schlag zerstört. Doch wie wir wissen: Der Mensch ist ja ein Gewohnheitstier. Außerdem wäre es nicht das erste mal, dass ich mit einem geleeartigen Beingefühl durch die Gegend taumle. Stichwort Alkohol. Nachdem ich endlich den Weg zur Startposition erfolgreich bestritten hatte, war ich startklar für den Trip durch die von Roboterwesen besetzte Raumstation.
Singularity von Zero Latency ist ein Waveshooter+
Die Entwickler gaben uns einen Moment, um uns orientieren zu können, bevor die erste Welle von Gegnern von allen Seiten auf uns zukam. In diesem ersten Moment der Bedrohung nutzen wir den Sprachchat um abzusprechen, wer von uns welche Seite übernimmt. Tatsächlich kam an dieser Stelle ein Gefühl von Kooperation auf. Kurz danach wurde unsere Gruppe für einige Minuten getrennt und dann wieder zusammengeführt. Man erfreute sich an dem Wiedersehen. Das hat mir gefallen, denn in vielen Koop-Shootern koexistiert man zwar, doch oft eher nebeneinander her und jeder macht doch sein eigenes Ding.
Nach der ersten Action wurden wir nun via Ansage und Wegweisern zum nächsten Checkpoint geleitet. Mir fiel auf, dass die Angreifer immer nur dann kamen, wenn wir einen dieser Checkpoints erreicht hatten und wir uns nicht weiter fortbewegen mussten. Da die Fortbewegung sowieso schon eine Herausforderung an sich war, kann ich die Entscheidung der Entwickler gut nachvollziehen, die Kampfhandlungen lieber nicht während des Gehens stattfinden zu lassen. Allerdings ergibt sich dadurch für mich ein weitere großer Kritikpunkt, denn unterm Strich haben wir es hier wieder nur mit einem Waveshooter zu tun, der durch kleine Spaziergänge durch das Raumschiff erweitert wurde.
Eine Warehouse-Scale-Erfahrung habe ich mir anders vorgestellt. Rumballern kann ich mit meinem VR-Device auch zu Hause. Ich erwarte in der VR eine spannende Reise und die Möglichkeit, die Umgebung zu erkunden. Eine Erfahrung sollte wie aus einem Guss wirken und nicht wie etwas Zusammengesetztes. Die letzte Welle bestand aus einem großen Endgegner, der einem trotz seiner Dimension und seiner Superwaffe nur wenig Unbehagen einflößen konnte. Auch wenn die Grafik für VR-Verhältnisse über dem SteamVR-Durchschnitt lag, litt die Atmosphäre allgemein an dem für meinen Geschmack zu überladenen Art-Style. Nach rund zehn Minuten war der Trip vorüber.
Fazit: Zero Latency enttäuscht
Zero Latency hat mich desillusioniert und meine vielleicht zu hohen Erwartungen an Warehouse Scale VR weit unterboten. Das lag nicht nur an der hohen Verzögerung und dem schwammigen Spielgefühl, sondern auch an der Software und an dem Game-Design selbst. Auf der Vive und der Rift hatte ich schon wesentlich bessere VR-Erfahrungen. Warehouse-Scale-VR-Projekte sollten meiner Meinung nach ihre Vorzüge der natürlichen Fortbewegung nutzen und mehr auf Dinge wie Exploration und Kooperation und weniger auf klassisches Rumgeballere setzen.
It looks as though Zero Latency and Sega’s free-roaming virtual reality (VR) gaming arena has been a success as today the companies have announced the opening of a second location in Japan.
The first arena opened inside Sega’s Tokyo Joypolis location in 2016, with the second Sega VR Arena Abeno location opening its door last month at the Abeno Q’s Mall in Osaka.
The Osaka arena will provide 225 square meters (2,500 square feet) of floor space for six-players to band together, with the opportunity to lead the pack, be a hero, support the squad, or discover their own role working together to battle hordes of brain-hungry undead in Zombie Survival.
“We are honored that our partners at Sega have chosen to extend their virtual reality presence with a second Zero Latency arena. This is a great vote of confidence in our cutting-edge technology and business model for amusement operators seeking to entertain guests with unparalleled VR,” states Zero Latency CEO Tim Ruse in a statement. “The Tokyo Joypolis arena continues to enchant visitors with mind-blowing gaming adventures and now visitors to Abeno Q’s Mall in Osaka will also get to experience the very best freeroam, multiplayer VR gaming on the planet.”
As in all Zero Latency arenas, the Osaka arena has no internal physical walls, which allow teams to freely roam, walk, explore, and fight together through different virtual terrains.
“Zero Latency’s VR System has opened in Osaka following the success of Tokyo. This wonderful freeroaming VR attraction is an exciting development for players in the Osaka and Kansai area who are well known for their love of high quality entertainment,” said Mr Nobuo Tamaki, Operating Officer and Development Headquarter General Manager of SEGA Entertainment. “We believe they will enjoy Zero Latency’s amazing system and content.”
Sega VR Arena Abeno is the 10th arena in the world powered by Zero Latency’s patent-pending VR technology. As the company continues its expansion VRFocus will keep you updated.
Melbourne, Australia-based VR company Zero Latency has partnered with the MGM Grand Hotel & Casino to launch its latest eight-player virtual reality gaming location in the U.S.
The 2,000-square-foot arena, which opened last week, is the latest video game attraction for MGM’s Level Up gaming lounge. And it’s one of 20 Zero Latency arenas in operation around the globe, including locations in Orlando, Boston, Philadelphia, Wisconsin and the Poconos.
Zero Latency co-founders Tim Ruse (CEO) and Scott Vandonkelaar (CTO) told UploadVR that the plan is to add another 30 to 40 arenas by the end of next year with the goal of hitting 100 arenas by the end of 2019.
Zero Latency is building its brand in the location-based VR arcade business through this new partnership with the established MGM brand. Ruse said MGM is putting its full marketing muscle behind this new “Virtual Reality Powered by Zero Latency” arena.
“It’s great to add an arena to another tier one U.S. market, and to partner with a global household name like MGM,” Ruse explained. “Outside of the MGM brand boost and marketing platform, the global destination of Vegas allows us to market Zero Latency to tourists who can play and then pass the word to their friends when they return home.”
In other words, Zero Latency is betting that what happens in VR in Vegas doesn’t stay in Vegas. This arena is the first for the company near the West Coast of the U.S., where rivals like IMAX VR and The Void have opened up location-based arenas in New York and Utah with a Disneyland location featuring The Void’s Star Wars: Secrets of the Empireopening this fall.
Featuring an open space with no obstacles, the arena enables teams to freely explore the virtual environment together. The games have been designed to give the illusion of exploring huge spaceships or alien worlds, while players are steered through the same arena in different ways. While battling through a growing library of games (with three titles available and a fourth launching this month), teammates will see each other as full-motion avatars and stay in constant communication, allowing them to call for backup or ultimately compete for the highest score. There’s also a Zero Latency employee inside the arena with players to set them up for combat and oversee the game.
Players stay in contact with each other through Razer headphones and are outfitted with Razer OSVR HDK2 virtual reality headsets while wearing a military-grade backpack containing a high-performance Alienware laptop computer. There’s also a custom-made, two-handed rifle that offers multiple firing options in-game.
The MGM arena charges $60 per person for a 30-minute gameplay experience. And the VR arena is accessible to younger players through a side entrance that circumvents the casino floor.
All Zero Latency locations currently offer three different multiplayer games, including the tower defense shooter Zombie Survival, the zero gravity shooter Singularity and the puzzle adventure Engineerium. Each game lasts for 30 minutes and allows up to eight players to team up and play together. Vandonkelaar said a new zombie game will launch this fall, which combines elements from the first three games for a more in-depth 30-minute experience.
“Over 100,000 players have gone through our system now, and we’re applying lessons learned from those players and their experiences in our first three games,” Vandonkelaar explained.
“The new zombie game has been designed from the ground up to be an eight-player and we’re adding more intensity and more exploration to this game than our first zombie game has.”
Vandonkelaar said all of these initial games have been created using Unity, but the company is currently working on Unreal Engine 4 games. And this fall they’ll release an API and developer kit for third-party companies to create new games for this platform of VR arenas. Some of these games will enter private trials this fall with 2018 launches planned.
Internally, Vandonkelaar said development is under way for a competitive multiplayer game specifically designed for esports.
“We’re working on new content to allow our players to compete,” Vandonkelaar said. “There are a lot of challenges to make a compelling experience, and we’re limited by the amount of space we have to have in these arenas. But we’re making sure the competition is as fun as possible and is skill-based, so that it has everything else esports needs. We’re coming to the point as we have more sites where teams of people can compete against people who aren’t at the same location.”
“There’s an incredible opportunity for VR esports in our arenas,” Ruse said. “It’s not just about a team’s knowledge of gameplay and skills, but you have to move around the arena and work together to best the opposing team. We see VR esports as part of our near future. We’ve been investigating and working on it and we’re keen to get into that business.”
Zero Latency is also fine-tuning a spectating system for its arenas. This will allow players to stream their play sessions across existing platforms like Twitch and Facebook Live to share with friends. But it will also set up a spectating mode for esports competition.
“Players will be able to stream their VR gameplay to the world quite soon,” Vandonkelaar said. “Everyone will get the chance to see the streams, and players can watch them back afterwards.”
Ruse added that in testing, there’s a real connection that develops through watching players compete in VR because you can hear them communicate and see them move within the game worlds.
“It feels like you’re connecting with an actual person,” Ruse said. “Friends can watch friends play and see and compare high individual and team scores, which should help drive the engagement of people going in to play and stir up the competitive nature of gaming.”
As Zero Latency builds out its esports strategy, Ruse said the company has been talking to brands interested in VR esports.
“There are a lot of companies interested in esports,” Ruse said. “It’s something we can have sorted for next year.”
The esports audience could introduce brand new consumers to the Zero Latency brand. Ruse said the company’s core demographic is comprised of males 25 to 40 years of age globally. And 30% of Zero Latency customers are female.
“The majority of people up to 45 years old are gamers to various degrees,” Ruse said. “Because people are more receptive to playing games, they’re more comfortable with our VR tech and we’re seeing a broader range of people coming through. We’re also seeing a lot of people who are VR curious and want to experience it first-hand.”
MGM is betting big on gaming, adding this Zero Latency VR arcade experience to a growing assortment of skill-based games designed to lure younger crowds. Now visitors to the Las Vegas Strip will be able to escape the real world, and any gambling losses, by entering these VR worlds.
Zero Latency’s new installation at the MGM Grand’s massive Level Up gaming lounge marks another positive milestone for the Melbourne-based company and out-of-home VR technology. The Las Vegas facility opens on September 8th, offering untethered, eight-player VR entertainment across a 2,000 square-foot arena.
The out-of-home VR entertainment market has expanded rapidly over the last couple of years, and Zero Latency has been at the forefront, having shown promising early prototypes of the technology back in 2013. Their first arena opened in 2015, followed by installations in Tokyo, Madrid and Orlando. A major funding boost in 2016 resulted in significant growth, with six arenas already operating in the USA; the company expects to have 20 facilities worldwide by the end of the year.
“When it comes to playing games, and exploring new worlds in virtual reality, more people means more fun,” said Zero Latency CEO Tim Ruse. “Technology can often be isolating but we are determined to continue to design games and experiences that bring people together to have mind-blowing VR adventures and forge real memories that can last a lifetime. We’re excited to bring this experience to Las Vegas, our first West Coast location.”
One of the largest hotels in the world, and situated in the heart of Las Vegas, the famous MGM Grand is undoubtedly a prime location for a multiplayer VR installation. As explained on the new VR page of the hotel’s website, guests can choose from three games, Zombie Survival, Singularity and Engineerium for a 30-minute experience. Players can move around tether-free thanks to the Alienware backpack PCs powering OSVR HDK2 headsets fitted with a custom ‘warehouse-scale’ tracking solution.
“We were looking to bring a unique entertainment element to MGM Grand and found the perfect fit with Zero Latency, ” said President and COO of MGM Grand Scott Sibella. “This company creates virtual reality gaming experiences using astounding technology. There is simply nothing like this anywhere in Las Vegas and we’re proud that MGM Grand is the first in the city to roll out an exciting and fun virtual ‘wow moment’ for our guests.”
Up to eight players can immerse themselves in the 2,000 square foot Zero Latency arena, allowing them to physically wander considerable distances while completing challenges with other players.
The American amusement trade held their annual convention in the heart of Las Vegas during February, the Amusement Expo International, saw the AAMA, AMOA, along with NBVA trade associations and Lasertag Convention combined to create a dedicated gathering for all aspects of the American digital out-of-home entertainment (DOE) sector.
Types of location-based VR business 
Room-scale VRcade
If you’re not a Massachusetts local you shouldn’t lament just yet, as MindTrek VR have already shared their intentions to open locations in both New Jersey and Philadelphia.
