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Knott's adding free-roaming multi-player VR attraction

ECG

ECG

East Coast(er) General
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VRstudios and Cedar Fair announced today that the virtual reality company will design and install a specialized VR experience at Knott's Berry Farm and the upcharge attraction will open the second quarter of this year.
“Our collaboration with VRstudios to develop a new custom-built, immersive amusement experience at Knott’s Berry Farm is exciting for our customers and consistent with the memorable experiences they expect from our parks,” said Cedar Fair’s Vice President of Strategic Growth, Christian Dieckmann. “We chose VRstudios for our inaugural free-roaming VR installation because of their successful track record providing VR globally for other location-based entertainment venues. No other VR company can offer a truly untethered multi-player experience. We believe the planned attraction will amaze our guests and encourage repeat visits.”
“It is rewarding to partner with entertainment visionaries who want to do something amazing with the new VR technology,” added Charles Herrick, Chief Executive Officer of VRstudios. “When clients want to push the limits beyond what is commonly available, it gets our entire team motivated because they know there will be an outlet for their innovation.”
 
Now this I can sort of get behind.

Go to a theme park to join in with your mates in fighting off a zombie attack (thinking like a laser-quest type set-up)?

This is where VR could belong in theme parks (not on a ****ing RMC...).
 
Yes, this is how you do VR. You add it as an upcharge attraction, not as a mandatory addition to a coaster.

I actually kinda hope that this spreads to more parks.
 
But it's still VR. A cartoon. Lazy. Something you will easily be able to experience at home quite easily in a few years time, if not already (I don't keep up with the tech, it doesn't interest me). Sure, it might have the added bonuses of smells, lives actors etc...but it's not "real". Just imagine if Universal said, "nah, let's not bother building Harry Potter Land. Let's give them a VR headset instead!" Ponder that for a second.

VR. Meh.
 
Ian said:
But it's still VR. A cartoon. Lazy. Something you will easily be able to experience at home quite easily in a few years time, if not already (I don't keep up with the tech, it doesn't interest me).
Click to expand...
VR gaming has come along leaps and bounds recently, the new Resident Evil game in VR is apparently incredible. For the amount of money being spent on VR attractions (cough, DBGT, cough) the hardware should be top of the line, so should be able to create amazing experiences.
The crap cartoon VR is absolutely lazy I agree, but cartoons aren't scary and allow for younger visitors to experience it. I'm hoping someone puts real effort into VR and delivers something to blow us away as the tech is there, someone needs to apply it correctly.

NOT ON A COASTER!
 
Personal VR compared to Coaster VR is like Bacon. It's incredible on its own (and maybe a few other things, but not many), but it's abysmal when it's included in things like Sodas or Chocolate.

Btw, an HTC Vive(what DBGT uses(bad example, but it's the best VR headset on the market)) currently costs about $800, or 635 pounds. It's quite advanced when done right. Some of the things people have done are quite remarkable.
 
This could be really fab? I love how they're just like "We got our Halloween VR experience spited, so we're gonna use it for something else instead"
 
Today Knott's Berry Farm released details about "VR Showdown in Ghost Town", including the upcharge cost of $6.

The interactive VR attraction will have guests embark on a time travel adventure, which will transport them to a futuristic version of Knott’s western town of Calico. Players will be met by robotic creations and embark on a daring mission with other groups of players to defend the town. Armed with state-of-the-art wireless virtual reality headsets and futuristic blasters, multiple players will compete against one another for the highest score, as part of this immersive adventure, while striving toward shared team goals. At the end of the VR competition, guests will be able to view and compare scores with their fellow opponents.

“We are always looking for new and exciting ways to entertain our guests,” said Christian Dieckmann, Cedar Fair’s Vice President of Strategic Growth. “By using a free-roaming system, we can take full advantage of the capabilities of VR and let our guests be the stars of the show. A majority of people have not yet experienced VR, and we anticipate there will be a lot of interest from guests to have their first taste at our park.”

VRShowdownInGhostTown.jpg
 
I'm mixed about this now. My guess with the robots is that they know realism on interactive VR isn't really a thing, so they decided to go whimsical as opposed to just cowboys etc. But still, ****ing robots...? They aren't even steampunk robots (they're more Dieselpunk), that I'd sort of understand after Wild Wild West.

Also, that logo is unforgivable.
 
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