Marie Lazar ITGM 705 18 February 2011
Art Review 2: The Virtusphere Present-day gaming technology is all about immersion. Arguably the greatest innovation of the current system of consoles and handhelds is more intuitive input based on the actions human beings perform every day. The Wii broke ground in gesture-based controls, and now Sony and Microsoft are following suit. The next step, logically, is full movement in 3d space.
Enter the Virtusphere. Nicknamed the “human hamster ball”, it promises the next big innovation in immersive gaming. The Virtusphere is a 10’ tall, 650 lb. plastic mesh sphere that
rotates in place on a steel base. When a person climbs into the sphere and starts to move, the sphere tracks their speed and direction and transmits this information to a computer running a game or simulation. The sphere is paired with a wireless head-mounted display which provides the user visuals while tracking the direction the user is looking in and his or her height above the ground. For first-person shooting games, a gun-shaped controller is added to the mix. For a final touch, multiple spheres can be networked together in multiplayer games.
Virtusphere Creator Ray Latypov
The Virtusphere was created by brothers Ray and Nurulla Latypov, cofounders of Virtusphere Inc. The brothers, both physics engineers, had conceived of and prototyped a fiberglass version of the Virtusphere as early as 1997, but the primitive state of 3d graphics at the time prevented the concept from taking off. In 2003, Ray came to the US and what he learned there inspired him to start a company with the purpose of commercializing the Virtusphere.
The inventors of the Virtusphere see a virtually limitless number of uses for their product. Because it is driven by human motion, it makes an effective fitness/training device. It could conceivably be used in museums for virtual exhibits and in schools for educational experiences. The military has already expressed some interest in the Virtusphere’s potential as a training device. Currently, the software available for the Virtusphere explores two other functions: walkthroughs and gaming. Lavra is an architectural walkthrough of a Russian city square, while Gorge Tour and Paintball Fury are both first-person shooting games. They also see ways in which that virtual reality can be improved. Virtusphere Inc. is currently exploring ways for adding odor simulation to the Virtusphere. The company currently owns a patent for a printer cartridge-type device that can be added to the head-mounted display to produce small whiffs of odor. 360 Virtual Ventures, the company promoting the Virtusphere, certainly has high hopes for the invention. It boasts proudly on its website “There are not many times in life when one invention or one product is so unique, so brilliant, so cool, so amazing, and so about time it was developed, that it can and will completely change the entire arcade/amusement gaming industry. It is truly the future of gaming!!!”. In practice, however, 360 Virtual Ventures is more interested in developing the Virtusphere’s value as a sideshow attraction and advertising hotspot than as a technology that drives gaming innovation. Although they are interested in selling Virtusphere units to commercial establishments such as movie theaters and arcades (at the low, low price of $55,000 each) 360 Virtual Venture’s main intent seems to be capitalizing on the novelty and “wow” factor of the product, marketing the area in and around the Virtusphere as optimal advertising space for game developers and movie producers. Interestingly, they imply that Virtusphere levels that recreate scenes in up-and-coming movies would be an excellent way to promote said movies, but they do not offer assistance for developing such levels or suggest that this is at all realistic. 360 Virtual Ventures is also currently developing a 3D TV game show where contestants compete in Virtusphere game levels. Whether this will be a true breakthrough in competitive multiplayer gaming or a cheap novelty remains to be seen. Futhermore, 360 Virtual Ventures carefully limits the VirtuSphere’s exposure to the public. It doggedly protects the visibility of the Virtusphere and states that it is “… not interested at the moment of having the public’s first impression of the Virtusphere in small traveling
carnivals or fairs as a sideshow product…” For now, that limits the Vitusphere’s public appearances to high-end trade shows like the Game Developers conference and tourist attractions in Las Vegas and Southern California. Personally owning a Virtusphere is all but out of the question unless you are a “celebrity”. As quoted from their website “the big question now is who will have the bragging rights and will be the 1st celebrity to showcase the Virtusphere in their home on Cribs!!!” While the Virtusphere technology undoubtedly possesses potential as a gaming peripheral, its physical space requirements and current fierce supervision by 360 Virtual Ventures prevent it from penetrating the consumer market any time soon. Given the fact that the only software currently compatible with the Virtusphere is limited to a handful of short demo games, an architectural walk-through, and an adaptation of Google Earth, it’s not going to win people over with its masterful virtual entertainment, either. In the near future, its limited distribution and niche market will make it an unappealing platform for established game developers to work for, and Virtual Ventures seems uninterested in licensing the sphere in any way that does not make them an immediate profit. A best case scenario for the future would be if Virtusphere Inc. was bought by a large entertainment company like Sony or Microsoft and adopted into its console family. Only then is it likely we would see major game titles developed for it.
Sources: 360 Virtual Ventures. “The Virtusphere.” Accessed Feb 19, 2011. http://www.360virtualventures.com. Escoriaza, Victor Pinerio. "The Virtusphere." July 2, 2009. Accessed Feb 19, 2011. http://www.motherboard.tv/2009/7/1/the-virtusphere. Virtusphere Inc. “Virtusphere.” Accessed Feb 19, 2011. http://www.virtusphere.com.