AMC Invests $20 Million In VR Multiplex, Flagship Location Will Be In LA
AMC's total investment in Dreamscape Immersive comes to more than $40 million and multiple locations will be opening up over the next 18 months.
In order to experience virtual reality in its full capacity, it takes a solid amount of money and the right space. Arcades and other entertainment spaces are a perfect way to bring immersive experiences to casual consumers and AMC is investing additional money into an effort to bring dedicated VR multiplexes to life.
Dreamscape Immersive has been toiling away at on this multiplex idea for a year and a half, the NY Times reports, and AMC has invested an additional $20 million into their project. This brings the total to over $40 million and initiates a blueprint that will see a flagship store arrive in the Westfield Century City mall in Los Angeles in the first quarter of 2018. Additional facilities (up to six) will arrive over an 18 month period and some will appear inside existing AMC theaters.
“We were mesmerized by what we saw,” says AMC's Chief Executive Adam Aron when speaking on Dreamscape Immersive's idea. “Their vision is to change what V.R. has been — away from just a heightened level of video game and toward cinematic storytelling — and we think it’s what consumers have been waiting for.”
Dreamscape's experience will focus on the cinematic offerings in the VR ecosystem, but other companies are making headway with the interactive experiences in arcade-like environments as well. Koei Tecmo is developing a VR arcade cabinet, Sega has opened a VR arena in Japan, and HTC has partenered with businesses and arcades via their Viveport subscription service. These aren't the only moves being made in the marriage between arcades and VR and certainly won't be the last.
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replyCharles Singletary posted a new article, AMC Invests $20 Million In VR Multiplex, Flagship Location Will Be In LA
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The arcade shall return!
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I’m pretty sure James Cameron is banking on this tech for future Avatar sequels. Not Avatar 2, but after that.
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I dunno about this...I could get behind the 3d glasses because they were plastic and could be cleaned easily but with VR you're wearing a thing on your head that touches people's greasy unwashed hair and their oily faces.. Maybe it would be ok if they had some kind of disposable thing like a toilet seat cover.
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Oculus has a removable/cleanable front piece where it's touching your face
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Oh hell yeah, at the Century City AMC? I love that theater. Will be checking this out!!
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The only way that works if they have some kind of disposable insert for the headsets to act a barrier. Otherwise that's going to be a hive for pink eye and hepatitis.
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It would probably go about the same as when a person shoots up a normal theatre.
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It seems like VR cinema would be very tricky to manage for storytellers. If the viewer has the capability and is essentially encouraged to look wherever they want, then how do you direct their attention to visuals that impact the story & characters?
Valve ran into this problem several times with Half-Life 2 and its episodes. Scripted sequences were only done when a) they were reasonably certain the player would be looking a certain direction, or b) they artificially limited the player's ability to look around. I have no clue how that would work in VR cinema.-
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Game designers are really figuring this stuff out at a new level lately, as a matter of fact. Bloober has one moment in >Observer that stands out perfectly, where they just knew exactly where the player's eye level would be and what the natural head movement would be based on the layout of the room, so you look up from a computer screen and turn naturally, just in time to see one tiny, subtle movement from an environment asset that is a perfect chilling scare, like a tiny fear diamond. Directional sound plays a role, as well as just this intuitive knowledge of how people look around in a 3D environment.
I think these design issues will all be resolved by people who are steeped in 1st Person 3D and VR, who will find the solutions intuitively.
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Sweet. Going to check this out when it opens.
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