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Namco's temporary VR "Arcade" in Japan opens April 15

ponpo

( ≖‿≖)
http://project-ican.com/
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sik2Fsphe80

http://gematsu.com/2016/03/bandai-namco-opening-vr-zone-tokyo-april-15

The 5,870 square-foot VR Zone will act as a virtual reality research facility where Bandai Namco can gain feedback from users to pursue further possibilities in virtual reality. The VR Zone will operate by appointments, which will start being taken on April 8 at 12:00 JST.

As for the "experiences":

  • “Fear of Heights Show” – An extreme test of courage where you rescue a cat left behind on a thin plank 200 meters above the ground.
  • “Skii Rodeo” – A downhill skiing experience set on a snowy cliff.
  • “Real Drive” – A sports driving experience where the vehicle behaves just like a real car.
  • “Escape Ward Omega” – A “were we really attacked?” horror experience where you enter a giant, ruined hospital ward together with everyone.
  • “Train Master” – A railroad operation experience where you experience train control just like the real thing as a train driver for JR Yamanote.
  • “Argyle Shift” – A cinematic experience where together with a girl, you enter the cockpit of a giant robot and battle.

Shinji Aramaki had some part in Argyle Shift. That
and Train Master
seem the best.

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Hasemo

(;・∀・)ハッ?
I hope they care good care of those headsets because if not, it's going to be pink eye galore.
 

Krejlooc

Banned
Is this some kind of meme.

It's one of those instant deflections people use who don't understand how this stuff works that pops up in every VR thread. Because apparently they can't grasp that these headsets don't touch your eyes.

Other common deflections:

"It's just like 3DTV"
"It's just like Kinect"
"It's just like the wii"
"It's just like the virtual boy"
"It's just like the 90's"
"All I want to do is just sit down"
"What if your house is on fire and you can't tell because you in VR?"
 
It's one of those instant deflections people use who don't understand how this stuff works that pops up in every VR thread. Because apparently they can't grasp that these headsets don't touch your eyes.

Other common deflections:

"It's just like 3DTV"
"It's just like Kinect"
"It's just like the wii"
"It's just like the virtual boy"
"It's just like the 90's"
"All I want to do is just sit down"
"What if your house is on fire and you can't tell because you in VR?"

Actually I've worked on VR projects and I do believe it's the future of gaming.

But I've used headsets that have been handed around lots of people, it can be quite disgusting if it they haven't been cleaned and it's quite a health and safety concern.
 

Hasemo

(;・∀・)ハッ?
Guess we aren't going to this together then (._. )
All pink eye jokes aside, I felt a little grossed out even playing regular rhythm games recently, because of the amount of sweat on the machine.
Actually I've worked on VR projects and I do believe it's the future of gaming.

But I've used headsets that have been handed around lots of people, it can be quite disgusting if it they haven't been cleaned and it's quite a health and safety concern.
This. I also had a chance to use those headsets and can totally see how gross it would be to use one that hasn't been cleaned properly, pink eye or not.
 

udivision

Member
It's one of those instant deflections people use who don't understand how this stuff works that pops up in every VR thread. Because apparently they can't grasp that these headsets don't touch your eyes.

Other common deflections:

"It's just like 3DTV"
"It's just like Kinect"
"It's just like the wii"
"It's just like the virtual boy"
"It's just like the 90's"
"All I want to do is just sit down"
"What if your house is on fire and you can't tell because you in VR?"
Maybe pink eye and nausea will be the new "Wii elbow" and "broken TV".
 

Krejlooc

Banned
Actually I've worked on VR projects and I do believe it's the future of gaming.

But I've used headsets that have been handed around lots of people, it can be quite disgusting if it they haven't been cleaned and it's quite a health and safety concern.

I run a VR meeting every third thursday of the month, from 7 pm usually until about midnight. I've literally demoed my VR headsets to thousands of people over the last 3 years - never had anybody mention any sort of eye virus before. Never had any outbreaks of pinkeye. None of that.

It's just FUD. And It mis-characterizes the way you get pinkeye in the first place. You are much more likely to get pink eye from passing around a controller or touching a door knob.

If you are really, truly germophobic, a quick squirt of sanitizing spray on the lenses and you should be good. And the foam faceplates on these VR headsets are removable and disposable.
 

Impotaku

Member
I run a VR meeting every third thursday of the month, from 7 pm usually until about midnight. I've literally demoed my VR headsets to thousands of people over the last 3 years - never had anybody mention any sort of eye virus before. Never had any outbreaks of pinkeye. None of that.

It's just FUD. And It mis-characterizes the way you get pinkeye in the first place. You are much more likely to get pink eye from passing around a controller or touching a door knob.

If you are really, truly germophobic, a quick squirt of sanitizing spray on the lenses and you should be good. And the foam faceplates on these VR headsets are removable and disposable.

Agreed,

It's all a bit silly this made up fear/excuse as if someone has conjunctivitis the last thing they are really going to want to do is put a VR headset on, when your eyes are itchy & blurry as hell and you are leaking gunk you certainly don't want anything near your eyes.

Pretty sure nobody is going to get anything from wearing a headset. Didn't hear anyone catching anything when virtuality machines were in the arcades all those years back.
 

jax

Banned
VRcade is an idea that seemed too awesome to pass up from the start. Hopefully some arcades in the west follow suit. People have weird unjustified opinions on VR before they've even tried the medium, this type of experience would remedy that.

It's one of those instant deflections people use who don't understand how this stuff works that pops up in every VR thread. Because apparently they can't grasp that these headsets don't touch your eyes.

Other common deflections:

"It's just like 3DTV"
"It's just like Kinect"
"It's just like the wii"
"It's just like the virtual boy"
"It's just like the 90's"
"All I want to do is just sit down"
"What if your house is on fire and you can't tell because you in VR?"
Smh at the VR haters. Pretty sad that they think something is defined to fail when its likely they haven't even tried it. Oh well, more VR for us.
 

Hasemo

(;・∀・)ハッ?
VRcade is an idea that seemed too awesome to pass up from the start. Hopefully some arcades in the west follow suit. People have weird unjustified opinions on VR before they've even tried the medium, this type of experience would remedy that.


Smh at the VR haters. Pretty sad that they think something is defined to fail when its likely they haven't even tried it. Oh well, more VR for us.
I hope this isn't directed as me, because I've tried VR and love it. Can't wait for PSVR to be available for preorder here. :)
 
It's really cool that a company like Namco is experimenting with VR already, and the people's reactions were pretty entertaining.

I can't wait for more headsets to be "out in the wild" so we can see more reactions like this from people that don't usually play games.
 

Krejlooc

Banned
Question:

Namco custom HMDs or ones from Sony, Vive or Occulus?

they are using vive displays, but a custom tracking solution in the videos above. They appear to be using outside-in positional tracking with light spheres, which is a bit silly since the vive has a superior tracking solution for the demo they are using. I suspect they do that because of the custom gloves they wear.

also, oculus has one c.
 

they are using vive displays, but a custom tracking solution in the videos above. They appear to be using outside-in positional tracking with light spheres, which is a bit silly since the vive has a superior tracking solution for the demo they are using. I suspect they do that because of the custom gloves they wear.

also, oculus has one c.
Thank you kind people.

Really Kreejloc? Will you let the spelling tyrant go all wild on me? By now, you should now awful spelling is one of my charms XD

Really disappointed by the "lol pinkeye" and "lol wacky Japan VR sex suit" posts.

Grow the hell up.
Haha, take it easy. Just like it was/is with motion controls.

In the near future they will have goggles like a diver and be poking around with little wands like a kid playing a magician.
 

jax

Banned
That's not exactly how these things work. :p
Sure it is. The VR industry will thrive with or without the haters. The headsets are also in extremely high demand. One less VR enthusiast puts me one place further in line to get my Vive/Oculus.
 
Haha just saw the video.

The highlight for me was the Yakuza type guy getting "the life out of him!" scared when trying to grab the kitty. XD

And indeed they seem to be using an outside in custom solution. They even have their own markers for the HMD. Is that maybe because of the bigger scale to track? Vive is 15x15 as i recall, room in the video seems bigger.
 

nakedeyes

Banned
Haha just saw the video.

The highlight for me was the Yakuza type guy getting "the life out of him!" scared when trying to grab the kitty. XD

And indeed they seem to be using an outside in custom solution. They even have their own markers for the HMD. Is that maybe because of the bigger scale to track? Vive is 15x15 as i recall, room in the video seems bigger.
Maybe I'm wrong, or it didn't end up working this way, but wasn't one of the cool things of the vive that you could hook up more than 2 lighthouses and potentially create very large virtual spaces with many of them?
 

Synth

Member
Sure it is. The VR industry will thrive with or without the haters. The headsets are also in extremely high demand. One less VR enthusiast puts me one place further in line to get my Vive/Oculus.

I guess it's true in terms of the immediate future. I'd disagree overall though. The faster the adoption of VR, and the greater its reach, the more the tech will progress, and the better the software focus for it will be. "More X for us" has pretty much never really held true in regards to technology. The more people on board with it, the more of it everyone gets.
 

Krejlooc

Banned
Haha just saw the video.

The highlight for me was the Yakuza type guy getting "the life out of him!" scared when trying to grab the kitty. XD

And indeed they seem to be using an outside in custom solution. They even have their own markers for the HMD. Is that maybe because of the bigger scale to track? Vive is 15x15 as i recall, room in the video seems bigger.

People have tracked an entire warehouse before with just two lighthouse beacons. Their maximum length isn't known, because every time a team tries an insanely large area to track, it seems to do just fine. People have tracked rooms 25'x25' already.

I'm guessing their custom tracking solution is because they originally developed this demo for the DK2 and just adapted it to work with a current headset. Also, they have custom hand tracking and foot tracking hardware. I think this team might have been inspired by some of Valve's early demos, too, because this is remarkably similar to something valve put together to show people.
 

Raticus79

Seek victory, not fairness
Argyle Shift sounds awesome.

Looking forward to hearing impressions on that one if anyone can make it.
 
Awesome. Sega should follow suit. Full proper VR can only be done in an arcade setting when it's all said and done, otherwise it gets too costly (both in money and real-estate terms) for anyone but the most hardcore and cash-loaded individuals in terms of home use.
 

jax

Banned
Awesome. Sega should follow suit. Full proper VR can only be done in an arcade setting when it's all said and done, otherwise it gets too costly (both in money and real-estate terms) for anyone but the most hardcore and cash-loaded individuals in terms of home use.
Maybe in Japan that's the case, but in America the real estate issue is non existent. I'm far from rich but live in a relatively expensive city, and still have plenty of space for VR.
 
People have tracked an entire warehouse before with just two lighthouse beacons. Their maximum length isn't known, because every time a team tries an insanely large area to track, it seems to do just fine. People have tracked rooms 25'x25' already.

I'm guessing their custom tracking solution is because they originally developed this demo for the DK2 and just adapted it to work with a current headset. Also, they have custom hand tracking and foot tracking hardware. I think this team might have been inspired by some of Valve's early demos, too, because this is remarkably similar to something valve put together to show people.
This is really cool to hear. Why is Valve so conservative then? i mean a Warehouse?!

Maybe perhaps because there was a sticky post put up at the top of the gaming forum for several weeks now asking people not to flood VR related threads with said dumb jokes?
i read most of the sticky. Didn't know this was a behavior that was been paying special attention by modding.

However, we had the same behavior in the past with motion gaming. No surprises we have people reacting ignorantly for this trend in gaming also. People will be people XD
 

XiaNaphryz

LATIN, MATRIPEDICABUS, DO YOU SPEAK IT
i read most of the sticky. Didn't know this was a behavior that was been paying special attention by modding.

Err, that was sort of the point.

However, we had the same behavior in the past with motion gaming. No surprises we have people reacting ignorantly for this trend in gaming also. People will be people XD

Which is exactly why the sticky was put up.
 
Maybe in Japan that's the case, but in America the real estate issue is non existent. I'm far from rich but live in a relatively expensive city, and still have plenty of space for VR.
Nah I meant more in terms of full-body immersive VR. We aren't there yet, true, but it'll happen at some point. Or VR that employs extensive AR integration.

Not everyone has a spacious home or spacious rooms within the home, and I figure full-VR simulations of high visual/audio/simulation fidelity would be very costly, even more than what we currently see w/ the Vive and a capable PC combination.
 

Krejlooc

Banned
And I figure full-VR simulations of high visual/audio/simulation fidelity would be very costly, even more than what we currently see w/ the Vive and a capable PC combination.

The cost of VR is only going down. Right now, the cost of entry for consumer VR is about the most expensive it'll likely ever be.
 

ponpo

( ≖‿≖)
Awesome. Sega should follow suit. Full proper VR can only be done in an arcade setting when it's all said and done, otherwise it gets too costly (both in money and real-estate terms) for anyone but the most hardcore and cash-loaded individuals in terms of home use.

Sega huh? KanColle VR arcade... Jacknod.
 
I run a VR meeting every third thursday of the month, from 7 pm usually until about midnight. I've literally demoed my VR headsets to thousands of people over the last 3 years - never had anybody mention any sort of eye virus before. Never had any outbreaks of pinkeye. None of that.

It's just FUD. And It mis-characterizes the way you get pinkeye in the first place. You are much more likely to get pink eye from passing around a controller or touching a door knob.

If you are really, truly germophobic, a quick squirt of sanitizing spray on the lenses and you should be good. And the foam faceplates on these VR headsets are removable and disposable.

Thank you for this. I tried to make the case for people seriously overstating the potential pink eye epidemic for VR demo stations in another thread and got thoroughly dismissed. I maintain it's a false concern.
 

XiaNaphryz

LATIN, MATRIPEDICABUS, DO YOU SPEAK IT
If all we're gonna get is more dumb pinkeye posts flooding the thread, we may as well just lock it. :p

Offending posts removed. Last warning on any of the nonsense already called out previously in the thread or the VR guideline sticky.
 

Nickle

Cool Facts: Game of War has been a hit since July 2013
They need to have demos like these set up around the US sometime when VR is cheaper, it's the best way to get new customers.
 
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