The Scope of VR Arcade

bigmike20vt said:
elboffor said:
kevinw729 said:
Need to be careful how you define Niche.

The big problem is many of you use the term "arcade" as if it was still a thing. The arcade industry back in the 80-90 represented "street route" business (operators running a number of amusement pieces in a mall unit). But today the amusement industry represents "Family Entertainment Centers" and Entertainment facilities, combining large numbers of mixed-use entertainment systems.

Arcades are not a thing, its the amusement industry and as cane be seen by the profits being made by Dave & Busters, Chuck E. Cheese and Main Event these are multi-million Dollar corporations seeing great expansion.

Just as an example of how VR plays into the amusement scene lets just look at the brand new The VOID installation in the new FEC opened in Canada. The Rec Room kind of places in perspective the danger of sweeping assumptions when thinking that the amusement model with technology attractions is "niche"!

'VR Arcade' is just the beginning of the story - wait till you see the new 'Location-Based Entertainment' centers coming to the West!
Looks like a normal arcade to me...
indeed.. .the thing i dont get (and sorry @kevinw729 if you have already explained yourself) I dont understand why he seems to think the term arcade is a slur?

I bloody love arcades, and it kills me that the seaside arcades i grew up with in the 80s and 90s are now rotting filled with gamblers and a few screen burned machines with ropy joysticks and stuck firebuttons.

they can rebrand em however they want, if places like the image above make a comeback, i am all over it (tho please include a "retro corner".

I am biased tho. I spent £1500 building a twin stick 2 banks of 6 buttons , with trackball arcade for my man cave... and would never be without it.

I AM convinced there is a market for such a thing to make a comback, in big cities at least.... esp now with LED screens the power use should be a lot less and hopefully they have a longer life before failure... mixing in the classic stuff with the cutting edge... - which is how it always was even back in the day, with your sega R360 and the like on show at the front with the older stuff buried in the back.

edit;... oh and back on topic

the vive strap thing is not only a vive issue.. :( the foam around the nose piece of my rift has started to come away and break up :(

Okay - have moved the discussion here - what are the elements you need clarity on regarding this offering?

DOE

Out-of-Home

41 Replies

elboffor
Consultant
8 years ago
I lile the thought of it.
There are several places i know of that offer flat fee entry and you have unlimited access to the building including retro games and vr spaces.

I do wonder what the real issue is however with using a rift in a commercial setting as i know loads o people do it.

Also well done for titleing the thread vr arcade. Common sence is prevailing!
kevinw729
Honored Visionary
8 years ago
Interested if you can point to someone "using a rift in a commercial setting " as you personally know loads of people? Would be interested in an example to help us understand.

I know you have followed the comments I have already made about why commercial usage reverted to the HTC. Just wondering where you stand.

Also:
I dont understand why he seems to think the term arcade is a slur?
Never used the word slur, that would be your term used to make a point I think - my comment was clear that arcade is a outmoded term to describe the amusement industry, though if people want to use VR Arcade I have no real issue - spent the last few weeks in a number across the States!

You also have issues with the term Out-of-Home entertainment, just like another individual. Can really see the issue with it myself, but maybe you would like the term Location-based entertainment?
OpticKing
Expert Trustee
8 years ago
elboffor
Consultant
8 years ago
You're mixing up who you're addressing kevin.
I said about commercial rifts. It was big mike that said about you acting like using the term arcade was a slur (which does have a ring of truth to it).
One of my close friends runs a vr arcade (i wont give the name here) but he uses both vives and rifts.
There is a place in nottingham and Sheffield that do the same. Not to mention the stuff that's been shown here. Kfc for starters! Then the sim racing experiences that you have showcased!
kevinw729
Honored Visionary
8 years ago
Sorry for any confusion, was just referring to the comment in the body of your text-wall you posted.

Regarding your comment on your friend running a VR arcade - I think we can see by the way that you are not inclined to promote his VR business that you know that he is playing fast and loose with the letter of the law by using Rift's in this manner. I only hope that along with using the Rifts illegally that he is at least paying the game developers who's content he is using their appropriated licensing and franchise fee?

A number of associations are establishing groups to crack down on improper use of content and hardware in the commercial sector, and I know that there is a high attrition rate in this aspect of the Out-of-Home entertainment sector with regards VR deployment.

Regarding the Rift based vr arcade stuff I have posted - the majority of those are based in China or Japan, and hope to be out of the catchment of OVR radar - the rest have abandoned initially using Rift (for the aforementioned reason).
bigmike20vt
Visionary
8 years ago

kevinw729 said:

You also have issues with the term Out-of-Home entertainment, just like another individual. Can really see the issue with it myself, but maybe you would like the term Location-based entertainment?

Hi
I have no issue with you calling it out of home entertainment..... Call it what you like... I thought you were under the impression that people calling it arcade were somehow putting it down which is never my intention. Also I think the rebranding may be confusing to the average Joe on the street.
Anyway just going over old ground now. In other news, is augmented reality something you follow?

I do not have the link on me but there is a track set up in.... China I think with augmented reality karting game Not my bag but I think it may be something kids would like

https://www.google.co.uk/url?sa=t&source=web&rct=j&url=%23&ved=0ahUKEwj81azW0PLVAhVDIsAKHe2RAUMQxa8BCCswAg&usg=AFQjCNF1sHlk2z9QIx28jtvfnGP_UlkifA

On awful phone and can't paste links properly will update again later
kevinw729
Honored Visionary
8 years ago

bigmike20vt said:
....
Hi
I have no issue with you calling it out of home entertainment..... Call it what you like... I thought you were under the impression that people calling it arcade were somehow putting it down which is never my intention. Also I think the rebranding may be confusing to the average Joe on the street.
Anyway just going over old ground now. In other news, is augmented reality something you follow?

I do not have the link on me but there is a track set up in.... China I think with augmented reality karting game Not my bag but I think it may be something kids would like
....
On awful phone and can't paste links properly will update again later

No worries mate - thank' for the clarification on your position.
I have given up keeping track of peoples positions as so many were re-posting others views. Best we start afresh.

Totally agree the re-branding for the public will be difficult. That is why we had to get the trade singing from the same hymn sheet before the public re-branding. I am lucky that the majority of the amusement and attraction trade are happy to embrace the concept of digital out-of-home entertainment (DOE). We have to stay clear of the OOH nomenclature as that is used by the advertising sector.

We are also looking at taking on the Mixed Reality term for commercial entertainment as we are seeing a number of attractions using this tech and we are more aligned with this tech as it removes the issues felt with headsets in public-space utilisation. Keep your eyes open for a drive for a public re-branding of the sector following the next round of new developments.

I think you may be thinking of the AR karting system developed by this company:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QrSjtZ4euuM

Correct?

And finally, know hard it is to post while mobile - I was always having issues posting off of smartphone - why I just gave up.
bigmike20vt
Visionary
8 years ago
Yeah that's the one. Not for me but may be fun for kids
elboffor
Consultant
8 years ago
My wall of text was a quote from you, i said one line, big mike then quoted the me.

Try to keep up kevin
KeldorVR
Honored Guest
8 years ago

elboffor said:

One of my close friends runs a vr arcade (i wont give the name here) but he uses both vives and rifts.
There is a place in nottingham and Sheffield that do the same. Not to mention the stuff that's been shown here. Kfc for starters! Then the sim racing experiences that you have showcased!

Why wont you give the name? It seems everyone would love free marketing if they were above board and ethical and legal? I know carmack, luckey, iribe, and nate Mitchell at a minimum were just slayed in court for theft, corruption and lies that so embarrassed Mark Zuckerberg and hurt the VR community in general that Mr. Luckey had to be fired, Iribe demoted, Carmack in a personal lawsuit against zenimax he is so bitter for being outed as too ignorant to bleach bit his hard drive without getting caught, (this guy is CTO of a major company - how?) but lets not try to follow their example and be thieves in th3 shadows. It is a disgusting slam on this billion dollar industry that you can't name names because it seems they are doing shady stuff like Mr. Luckey did. Please don't encourage or support this kind of corruption or skeletor like evil. When your close friend can come out of the "shadows" of deception then we can all feel good about an honest, ethical operation. It seems strange the alpha poster at this website, skeletor is so celebrated, he was bad and evil. I saw that although he was supposed to be banned for a month, rules were broken for him, why does this company break rules for evil people that were banned because of very ugly behavior but then had his 1 month ban rescinded? I guess the carmack, luckey, iribe, nate Mitchell darkness still infests this place. He-Man is not happy with all this darkness.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eh7lp9umG2I