CMU School of Drama


Friday, September 08, 2017

Vegas’ first ‘free roam’ VR arena opens Friday at MGM Grand

Las Vegas Review-Journal: Question for gamers: Are you game for this?

Decide before you’re rushed by that homely gentleman with the rotting flesh and cranky attitude. The one just blown to hamburger bits. But he (it?) will be back. As will dozens more.

“They’re jumping from the rooftops! … To your left! To your left! … Extra points if you shoot ‘em in the head! … Ooh, that was close!” Mix in yelps, gasps, giggles, explosions and direct hits turning your targets into zombie shish kabob. Plus three words key to a slayer’s survival while armed with a zombie-zapping weapon: “RELOAD. RELOAD. RELOAD.”

5 comments:

Julian Goldman said...

My first reaction was “this sounds like it would make me feel nauseous,” but at least according to this article they’ve dealt with that. It also seems pretty pricey for a pretty short amount of time, but given the technology is all new and pretty cutting edge I wouldn’t expect it to be cheap. I think it seems cool but I don’t know if it is how I personally would want to spend $50. I also wonder why only 30 minutes at a time. It seems pretty short, and I wonder if that is to maximize the number of people or because the experience becomes overwhelming after a longer period of time. It is hard to say with this article alone what the experience is really like. Either way, I do think this progress in VR is really cool, and I’m looking forward to seeing what happens once this type of VR becomes more and more common, which I think it inevitably will.

Unknown said...

I love the idea of VR and seeing that they are installing these places around the world. My hope for VR is that it will eventually become a very fully simulated world with touch and other senses involved as well. That would be cool, so long as there are no side effects which is something this article talked about that I hadn't even thought about before. Nausea and eye strain are serious problems that one could face and it's nice to see that this place has worked to solve it. However, Julian makes a good point; I don't think I would want to spend my money on this either. Hopefully it will get more immersive and less expensive as VR progresses over time. Seeing VR come to the real world this quickly is still impressive and I am looking forward to seeing it grow.

Sydney Asselin said...

MGM is definitely charging more for the novelty of the VR experience. As VR becomes more common, I think the price will decrease and the nature of the experience will become less "explore this new technology" and more "play your favorite games with friends." If VR technology becomes more common, MGM might decide to discontinue offering the VR experience. After all, they don't offer "the Xbox experience," because an Xbox is no longer a novelty. MGM probably isn't too invested in the evolution of VR, but more in the press and attention VR generates. Maybe VR "free roam" spaces will go the route of laser tag or paintball, and become specialty game arenas.

Mattox S. Reed said...

Wow just the potential here. Virtual reality has come a long in just a short period of time and the immersive nature of the technology is really next to impossible to create in any other setting or system. The ability to give people the opportunity to play and explore what a company like MGM can do with the technology is a great benefit to the rest of the public as the technology and the ability to create is getting more accessible it brings opportunities to others and the encouragement to innovate and create with the technology for future uses. I for one have had experience working with VR softwares and just being able to work with a full scale immersive experience I feel would help understanding of new learners grow so much quicker. I just hope that they are taking the program as seriously as they say.

Cooper said...

To me, this is a very interesting step that technology has taken. The idea of complete emersion and "transportation" that this media can offer is incredible. The most interesting game that MGM offers, to me, is the "Engineerium" mode. The idea of using this as a passive, more artistic means of simulation is very intriguing to me. The possibilities are really limitless as to where a person could be taken through a VR system like this: the bottom of the ocean, Mars, the Amazon, the desert, a dream, a nightmare, and so much more. I see this path opening up a whole new door to the world of theatre and art in general.