Twinned race car simulators double the fun

Cruden

Andretti Indoor Karting and Gaming has gone all-in on the success of its Cruden Hexatech 3CTR by purchasing a second. Doubling up its race car simulators means visitors can play head-to-head.

The family complex decided to tap into the competitive nature of its visitors by creating the opportunity for one-on-one challenges playing the Cruden simulators.

“We were very happy with the popularity and satisfaction experienced by guests in relation to our first 3CTR,” said Samantha LaMagna, marketing and social media manager at Andretti Karting in Atlanta, Georgia.

“When we learned they could be linked, we wanted another to offer our guests the chance to compete with one another directly. Having seen the competitiveness brought about while karting, we knew our guests would be drawn to a new opportunity to claim bragging rights,” LaMagna said.

The venue offers special pricing options for the challenge version and promotes the linked-up 3CTRs – with 6-DOF motion, immersive screens and surround sound – as a team-building experience.

The head-to-head challenge setup of the Cruden Hexatech 3CTR in Andretti Karting

Valkyrie shooting ride ready for action

Simuline

After making its prototype debut in November 2014, South Korea-based Simuline’s new interactive ride system is nearing its commercial launch.

Having drawn large crowds at IAAPA, the Valkyrie shooting ride will be displayed at the upcoming DEAL Show in Dubai, marking its official release.

Simuline highlights Valkyrie’s most innovative features as its dual screens, which show the on-screen action from two different perspectives, and the complementary back-to-back seating.

The Valkyrie will ship with its first game, Project Hades, an Unreal Engine 4-based zombie shooter developed by arcade veterans Specular Interactive, most recently known for the highly popular Batman arcade game. In addition, a second title is already in the works and will be available later in the year.

Specular Interactive created an interactive ride film for Valkyrie

Apes and dragons set to wow audiences

NWAVE

Film distributors nWave have debuted The Great Apes 3D at the Liberty Science Centre in Jersey City, New Jersey.

The VisionQuest film features mountain gorillas, chimpanzees and orangutans as it tells the story of zoologist and explorer Holly Carroll who, inspired by the esteemed primatologist Dr Jane Goodall, heads off to the jungles of Africa and Asia, in search of great apes and their relatives.

The multinational film producer and distributor is also releasing an nWave dark ride film, Dragon Mine Ride, taking its audience deep into the dragon’s den.

The Great Apes 3D is a 20-minute attraction feature on global release

Magical stories capture imaginations

NICEBERG

Niceberg has announced its latest production, Diving with Dolphins, a 3D/4D attraction film targeted at aquariums and zoos and also suitable for museums and amusement parks.

Diving with Dolphins is a marine adventure story starring a young dolphin. The dolphin must navigate the dangers of ocean as he searches for his mother. The film has an underlying ecological message.

Niceberg is also distributing three new 3D/4D ride film titles available worldwide for rent. Lost in Fear is set on a haunted coaster track heading straight into zombie territory. Fairy Balloon Ride is a ride in a hot air balloon and Journey to the West is a space cowboy trip on a motorbike through fantasy space landscapes.
“Lost in Fear is a classic for Halloween. Fairy Balloon Ride has a winter touch that makes it a seasonal film for Christmas, and Journey to the West is a crazy and fun adventure that kids will enjoy all year around,” said Thibaut De Lestré, sales manager at Niceberg Studios. “The films are a direct response to the increasing demand for fairytale and magic-themed ride films.”

The stereoscopic films are compatible with all major simulator and motion theatre brands, designed with 4D effects and motion in mind.

Diving with Dolphins

Zombie dark ride comes to life in Turkey

TRIOTECH

With an undead theme, Triotech has installed an interactive dark ride attraction at a family entertainment centre in Turkey.

The attraction, Zombi, at FunLab Cevahir, features four-person police-themed vehicles riding through four interactive and four non-interactive scenes. Canada’s Triotech designed and produced the animation and gaming system for the 66-metre-long (216-foot) 3D attraction, which is enhanced with 4D effects. The ride system is provided by Italy’s Gosseto.

Gabi Salabi, vice president of business development for Triotech, said the installation highlighted the “flexibility and scalability” of the company’s media-based offering – with even an FEC being able to “afford to invest in an interactive dark ride – it’s not just for large parks”.

Interactivity is an important part of the new Triotech dark ride at Funlab Cevahir

Supersonic film, 4D theatre installed in transport museum

Metropolis

Coventry Transport Museum, UK, opened a £9m ($14m, €12m) Land Speed Gallery with a 14-seat 4D theatre by Metropolis Entertainment.

Metropolis has provided the theatre’s debut films. The first 3D production, Bloodhound SSC, is about the supersonic car that attempts to set a new land speed world record of 1,000mph (1,609kph) in South Africa in 2016.

The state-of-the-art 4D theatre has fully dynamic 6-DOF motion, large screen 3D display, surround sound and sensory effects such as aroma and lighting.
“We’ve combined stunning 3D computer animation with great motion and special effects,” said Paul Spence, Metropolis’s creative director. London-based Flock provided the animation work.

Still from Bloodhound SSC

Playoke proves perfect for FECs

Attraktion!

Attraktion has just installed its popular Playoke Dance system at technology-themed Futoroscope in Poitiers, France.

The Austria-based company has also announced it’s about to open two Playoke systems in Manila, Philippines – one of which is at the Dreamplay FEC in City of Dreams Manila – as well as at an FEC called Boomers Amusement Centre in St Petersburg, Russia.

Playoke is Attraktion’s virtual dance experience where participants compete against each other in real time. The interactive edutainment music-inspired gaming system can be set up in leisure facilities and attractions.

Playoke Dance system

Players movements are tracked, analysed and compared to generate scores

Marvel, Lego projects make their mark

ALTERFACE PROJECTS

Alterface Projects completed its original 3D-animated interactive gaming cinema as part of a project to build a touring attraction based on Marvel comics.

The Marvel Experience, a mobile interactive attraction run by Hero Ventures, takes place inside a huge travelling dome complex, with the aim of providing an immersive experience for audiences who step into the Marvel universe to become a part of the story.

The $30m (£19.6m, €26.5m) “hyper-reality” attraction tours the US this year.

Alterface Projects is also working on Justice League: Battle For Metropolis dark rides with Sally Corporation, Oceaneering and Pure Imagination, opening this year at SixFlags Over Texas and SixFlags St Louis.

Justice League dark rides aside, Alterface Projects is working on six more IP-based attractions scheduled to open in 2015, including new interactive dark rides for Lego Discovery Centres.

Alterface Projects is working on dark rides for Lego Discovery Centres / photo: 2015 lego

The Marvel Experience is touring now / photo: 2015 marvel

AR app brings canal history to life for visitors

Holovis

The visitor experience at Foxton Locks, the largest flight of staircase locks on the English canal system, and Foxton Canal Museum are undergoing a regeneration, and Holovis is using its cutting-edge virtual reality expertise to help bring the redevelopment to life.

Holovis created an augmented reality (AR) app and immersive curved screen theatre for the Leicestershire heritage site.

The AR app allows visitors to “see” a historic inclined plane engineering system that once existed at the site. Unlike the staircase locks, the inclined plane carried boats up and down the hill – almost like a funicular railway. Built in 1900, it was deemed a failure and dismantled in 1926.

Holovis says that using a fiducial marker system at Foxton Locks, visitors can use smart phones and tablets to view the inclined plane working, recreating the positions barges would have had to make their journeys and at the same speed.

“We’re delighted to be deploying our knowledge and expertise to preserve this fantastic piece of local history by bringing it back to life using the latest technology,” said Stuart Hetherington, CEO of Holovis.

“Usually we use virtual and augmented reality to help our commercial clients create sophisticated 3D design environments,” said Hetherington.

“The public has a chance to explore Foxton Locks as it once was through an interactive, immersive experience.”

The inclined plane at Foxton Locks was a feat of engineering, but later dismantled