China’s Shanda Group is planning to build a virtual reality theme park in China, according to reports in the Chinese press. And they’re planning to build it with the people who made this:
VR enthusiasts will recognize The Void, a US-based company that’s building a VR experience in Utah. Shanda says that aside from the American company’s founder, Shanda is the sole investor in The Void, and it’ll be bringing Void tech to China to power its VR theme park. Shanda has also said it will invest US$350 million in the VR sector, and it seems clear that the company is shifting away from games (it sold off its subsidiary video games business Shanda Games) and into virtual reality.
The Void builds real-world sets and then adds VR tech and other elements like real steam and smoke on top of it to give you an extreme sense of immersion. It’s like laser tag on steroids – a VR world that you can physically run around in without breaking your sense of immersion by tripping over your living room couch. Shanda’s China VR theme park will work in the same way as The Void: players will get a VR headset, gloves, and a vest for interaction and haptic feedback. Then they’ll be set loose in specially-built physical environments that will allow them to interact physically with the virtual world around them.
The US Void isn’t open to the public yet, and Shanda’s Chinese park is probably a long way off – the company is still looking for a local partner to help it build. But if you want a sneak peak of what Shanda’s virtual experiences could be like, this video of Tech Insider getting an early look at one of The Void’s levels should give you the basic idea.
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