ANIMATION WORLD MAGAZINE - ISSUE 5.9 - DECEMBER 2000

This Is Not Your Father's LBE

by Martin "Dr. Toon" Goodman

Virtual World Entertainment's BattleTech, a futuristic war game, has been continuously running since 1991 expanding to 17 LBE centers in the U.S. since it's Chicago opening. © 1999 Virtual World Entertainment, LLC.

It's a slow Saturday afternoon and rain is sluicing down the windowpanes. The kids are complaining that there's nothing to do and you could use a little action yourself. Let's see. How about racking up robots, diving with dolphins or shattering the sound barrier in a Harrier? Thanks to the wonders of virtual reality (VR) you can do them all in the same afternoon and still have time to bathe the dog. If you don't have a VR arcade nearby, don't despair; the technology is expanding, the cost is coming down, and these location-based entertainment (LBE) sites are proliferating like tribbles.

LBE's Evolution
Location-based entertainment is hardly a new concept. The bowling alley where your mom and dad dated could be rightfully called LBE. When "Jake's Roll 'N Bowl" later set Space Invaders and Galaxian video games beside the shoe rental counter, your future parents could enjoy a crude entertainment multiplex. The same can be said for movie theaters, miniature golf courses and amusement parks. However, such entertainment was a bit short on imagination -- a concept that took on increasing relevance as location-based entertainment evolved. The opening of Disneyland in 1955 may have been the first large-scale example of LBE as participants entered distinctly themed fantasy environments and watched "animatronic" animals, dolls and presidents cavort for their entertainment and delight. As location-based entertainment became more technically sophisticated, the level of interactive participation increased greatly. LBE involving VR simulations is the ultimate example of this principle.

The goal of any VR program is to involve the participant directly in the events being simulated, and the more advanced the program the more detailed the simulation. The participant can experience varying levels of VR. With Window on the World (WoW) technology, a.k.a. "desktop" VR, one views the action on a conventional computer monitor or screen. The next level up is "video mapping," which puts a simulation of the participant into the game itself. The most advanced incarnation of VR is called "immersive." Here the player, through use of a head-mounted display (HMD), sensory control gloves, an advanced joystick, or a combination of these, actually enters the game in a physical and psychological sense. Immersive VR can be enjoyed in a "pod," cockpit or cab; these devices may have vertical and roll motion or use moving seats. The experience may even take place in a room ("cave," to use the vernacular) where wireless tracking allows full body, free-range movement within the simulated environment.

Inside the cockpit of VWE's Battletech VR game. © 1999 Virtual World Entertainment, LLC.

VR's Road to Fruition
This field of entertainment, which dates back to the early 1990s, has only begun to reach its full potential. The penultimate goal of the best VR programs is to have events unfold in the closest possible approximation to "real time," and with recent breakthroughs in fast-frame rates and motion sensing technology this goal has been "virtually" realized. Companies such as Virtuality, Magic Edge, Virtual World Entertainment and Kinney Aero have set up, or served as advisors and suppliers for, VR arcades. These businesses have developed products that seem more suited to intergalactic exploration than amusement centers; the SG Onyx Reality Engine II, the interactive Tesla System, and the Intertrax Real-Time Motion Sensor HMD are just a few of them. Other players in the high-tech market have also developed VR gadgets that work in support of games; the Sony Glasstron, for example, is a 35-degree field display monitor that can handle most of the output from more advanced 3D authoring tools and texture mapping programs. Writing as a technology-challenged individual who believes that his washing machine obtains water from a troll named Mordac the Wet, I refer my readers to VR technical manuals in order to learn how these marvels are achieved. When everything works as it should, the participant can gambol among underwater reefs (GreyStone Technologies' Reef Explorer, Mercury System), traverse the Grand Canyon (Ferris Productions' Grand Canyon Adventure, CyberUnit XLR8 System), or even take their place in the squared circle (Virtuality's Virtuality Boxing, 2000SU System).

One of the most interesting aspects of the VR arcade is that not much room is needed; a passable arcade containing all three levels of VR gaming can be placed in a 5,000 square foot area. A high-end VR arcade allowing for free-range movement could be placed in a 20,000 square foot structure. Even in a major city, the rental overhead would be reasonably low and profits exceedingly likely. Kinney Aero (based in Lake Forest, California) built a VR-LBE facility called FighterTown where participants enjoyed simulated flight missions in F-111, F-104, F16 and F-14 jets. FighterTown reports 100% utilization capacity and repeat customers are estimated in the 65-70% range. Within a year of opening, this endeavor was able to expand from four to ten aircraft pods, each one upgraded with more realistic motion technology. This is only one story; Virtual World Entertainment (VWE) boasts BattleTech, a futuristic war game which has been continuously running since 1991. Since opening in Chicago nine years ago, VWE now has 17 LBE centers in the U.S., 4 in Japan, 3 in Canada and one in China. The images may be CG but the money is real.

 
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