If you build it, they will come.
While that logic might have worked perfectly in the movie, The Field of Dream, it has yet to be seen if that same strategy will work in the case of a Virtual Reality Theme Park. The theme park in questions name is, The Void, and is being completely funded by a man in Utah. The Void is scheduled to be open sometime in 2016 in the town of Pleasant Grove.
The man behind this idea, is no other than Ken Bretschneider . Not only is Bretschneider a former Cybersecurity business owner, he has also invested 13 million dollars of his own money into the theme park. The money is said to be going to his team of 30 people, who are tasked with designing suits, gloves and headsets that the gamers will be wearing inside the void rooms.
Once The Void officially opens for business, gamers will be put in rooms of nine other gamers and be able to fight as a team to survive through a variety of worlds The gamers in the room can also decide to destroy each other in hopes of being the lone survivor in the group. Bretschneider is hoping to form partnership with different gaming studios, allowing The Void to offer a variety of different experiences for gamers. He also is planning to change up the experience of the theme park every three months or so.
The technology that is being described for the theme park sounds truly amazing to say the least. The rooms will be 60×60 feet and can be reconfigured multiple times, presenting a different aspect of gameplay during every session. The surface can also be changed , giving players a sense of variety with their virtual reality experience.
Beyond that, gamers will also be able to feel the objects they see in front of them. For example if your headset has a brick wall in front of you, you will actually be able to reach out and touch that brick wall. It is also said that you will be able to open and close objects around you while you have the headset on.
The Void will also offer motion simulators, where players will can feel like they are roaming the streets in a wicked fast race car, or even flying high above the ground in a high speed jet. As a fan of Auto Racing myself, I would love to try something like a race car simulator out, especially if they could integrate it with NASCAR in some way shape or form.
While all these features and design sound really interesting and definitely worth checking out if you happen to travel to Utah, I feel The Void is making a huge mistake by not using The Oculus Rift to facilitate their virtual reality experience. The Rift will most likely have a lot advanced features to it, that will leave players from The Void hungering for the real thing. I also believe that The Rift would be a more durable choice, then a team of 30 people trying to mass produce these headsets in time for The Voids opening next year.
With that being said, I also feel that this might be a whole new era in gaming for our world. Just the thought of a theme park where you can compete in battle style survival game, screams that the future is coming and its coming now. If things like The Void and The Oculus Rift are able to become commercial successes, we could literally see this become the future of gaming. No more consoles, no more controllers, just big 60×60 feet rooms where you fight a bunch of strangers for survival. Sounds pretty awesome right?
What do you think of the idea for a Virtual Reality Theme Park? Do you think it will ultimately fail or will it succeed? What features would you like to The Void integrate into their gameplay? Let us know in the comments below!
