Zero Latency: The VR revolution begins in Melbourne, Australia
I've been playing Zero Latency for mere moments and already I'm amazed at how it overwhelms my senses. This is the world's largest virtual reality (VR) attraction, and its doors open August 15 in North Melbourne, Australia.
Vandonkelaar had been working on an optical tracking system to track battles of radio-controlled battleships armed with BB-guns, but when he saw the success of the Oculus Kickstarter campaign, he realized his tracking system could work beautifully when combined with VR.
Like the HTC Vive, Vandonkelaar's idea allowed players to walk around a real-world, physical space whilst wearing a head-mounted display. However, Vandonkelaar had grander ambitions about the size of the playing area. Instead of keeping the action confined to a single small room like Vive, he wanted to place up to six players in a much larger space.
Zero Latency soon formed and grew to a team of six full-time staff with extra contractors brought on board for specialist duties.
...Next stop on the funding tour was Film Victoria, a state government funding body, where a grant for $60,000 was approved. ... under the title "Zombie Fort: Smackdown."
After three years of research and development, Zero Latency is ready to open its doors to the public on August 15. The game offers a one-hour cooperative experience for four or six players, and tickets are currently selling for AU$88 (about £40 or $65) per person. Online sales began in early August, and in a week, hundreds of eager gamers had already signed up for this world-first experience.
All 400 square metres (4,300 square feet) are covered in a white grid pattern to aid camera rigs mounted above the playing area in monitoring each player's movements. Covering the entire play space are 129 Sony PlayStation Eye cameras driven by the team's proprietary software. They're arranged in circular rings that cover a 360-degree view, each ring with its own dedicated controller PC.
As the games master suits us up for the battle ahead, I'm pleasantly surprised by the weight and comfort of the backpack. Each pack houses a heavily customised Alienware Alpha PC to render each player's view of the world. Looking like a Proton Pack from "Ghostbusters," it sits easily in the square of my back, despite including its own power source. The Oculus Rift DK2 and a set of quality headphones are tethered to the backpack, and a glowing orb sits on top of the headset.
We're then handed our weapon for the impending zombie apocalypse: a large five-pound rifle machined from a solid block of PVC plastic on the massive computer-controlled milling machine, tucked away in a workshop at the back of the warehouse....
The next 40 minutes are spent walking through a variety of virtual locales, from open city streets to cramped laboratories. The warehouse itself was around 100 metres (328 feet) in length, but clever use of loading screens and level design mean I ended up walking over 10 times that during my experience. Combine this with the weight of the gun and by the end of the hour I was exhausted, dripping in sweat and my arms ached.
It's the best virtual reality experience I have ever had. And I have tried them all since Dactyl Nightmare almost made me puke back in 1991.
See the full story here: http://www.cnet.com/news/zero-latency-vr-entertainment-revolution-begins-melbourne-australia/?curator=MediaREDEF