Space and time
Just in case you were starting to get bored with roller coasters – Six Flags has found a way to make them even more thrilling. Starting this spring, Six Flags Magic Mountain in California will incorporate Virtual Reality technology into one of its roller coasters.
The addition of VR to the New Revolution roller coaster is part of a larger renovation of that part of the park. Each rider will wear a Samsung VR headset that plays a 360 degree film designed to sync up with the lifts, drops, and loop-the-loops of the ride. Riders will see themselves in outer space, battling aliens.
Keeping it fresh
Six Flags isn’t the first park to use VR. Europa Park in Germany started using VR last year. A park in England announced in January that it will do the same.
Six Flags plans to incorporate VR headsets into nine of its other parks, with different images for each ride. The software, designed by Oculus VR, can be changed annually, helping the parks to draw in repeat visitors without investing big bucks in brand new rides. Said Dennis Speigel, president of International Theme Park Services, “They can change the story to have aliens or it can take place in a submarine. They can change it annually — just rewrite the software, rather than spend $25 million for a new coaster.”
Competing with Disney
Six Flags will need to pull out all the stops to compete for visitors with Disneyland, which plans to add a 14 acre Star Wars Land, and Anaheim’s Wizarding World of Harry Potter, which will open in April.
Virtual Reality is the latest tech craze – but is it a worthy investment for startups? Only time will tell if VR will become commonplace, or will end up the dustbin of so-so tech products. However, a lot of creative applications of VR have been popping up lately, showing that the market will not be limited only to high-tech geeks and at-home entertainment.
Note: Mentioning urine in the title is pure parody and wishful thinking on our part.
