Cinematic multi-player VR worlds coming next?

“At THE VOID you will walk into new dimensions and experience worlds without limits. From fighting intergalactic wars on alien planets, to casting spells in the darkest of dungeons, THE VOID presents the future of entertainment. Only limited by imagination, our advanced Virtual-Reality technologies allow you to see, move, and feel our digital worlds in a completely immersive and realistic way.” – this is what the people from The Void promise.

If you haven’t seen their concept video and presentation of their current production process you must check it out below! They promise us laser tag 2.0 gaming fun switching into parallel worlds – moving through them physically in dedicated spaces, where the virtual world aligns with the physical world on the construction plan – but not on the visuals. All gets augmented in your perspective. Too cool to be true? How far are they? We don’t know. The teaster (of course) looks very amazing and displays a cinematic real-time reality in VR. Completely tracked users (head, body, props) for multi-player joy with perfect visuals and added sensory input (e.g. by letting out steam, heat, rain, etc.) to let the players believe the full story. Watch!

They state their proprietary technology to be wireless, robust and high-quality with a rapture HMD (using at least 1080p resolution per eye) and a highly accurate tracking (with 120 Hz and sub-millimeter errors). Let’s oberserve when and if they really open up their event venues and how things will work out! Right now, some hurdles are to overcome – not only regarding the technology, but also the safety regulations! I wonder how insuarences will hold when people start running around in gaming halls with walls, stairs and slopes – all fully immersed in VR. If a lag occurs or the VR space gets somehow out of sync the user risks his or her health. Of course, I would love to try it, too! But will people trust the system to fully speed-run through levels? Or will the game concepts adapt to the initial circumstances? E.g. will it be more a sneak-around-slowly discovery game rather than a Quake-styled fast-paced FPS? Will there be official certificates possible? In which country first? Will they (need to) switch to a not-fully immersed version? Maybe opt for other augmented reality goggles to never lose the real sight?

VR is simpler than AR. No full alignment of the two worlds is needed. So a multiplayer game in VR sounds logical as a next step before touching AR. But bringing VR into a real physical space – without all my known sensors (my eyes and tactile feedbacks first) might not fully work – IF the sensor processing is not fast and accurate enough. Human movement is so subtle and the immersion could easily break on delays. So, let’s wait for updates on numbers. Can’t wait to see more!

Enjoy!