Chuck E. Cheese, the popular kid’s entertainment company known for its venues filled with ball pits, videos games, and obstacle courses, is taking a giant step in to the 21st century by agreeing to pair with Reel FX, an Oculus Rift content creator, to try out a new virtual-reality video game in three of its markets.
The first test market is Dallas; from there, venues in San Diego and Orlando are expected to be tested next. The game, referred to as the “Ticket Blaster”, involves the “Birthday Star” going into a booth while wearing an Oculus Rift headset. He / she will then be guided by Chuck E. Cheese into a virtual world where the aim is to gather as many virtual tickets as possible.
As one would expect with any Oculus Rift game, the “Ticket Blaster” takes full advantage of the headset’s 360⁰ head-tracking technology and 3D-viewing capabilities. Also contributing to the gamer’s experience: air blows inside the booth to create a wind tunnel effect while actual, physical tickets flurry down around the child, all to give him / her the feeling of actually running through a tunnel while trying to grab tickets.
At the end of the game, the headset tallies up the number of tickets the child collected, which he / she can then use to redeem at the merchandise counter.
According to Roger Cardinale, president of CEC Entertainment, “Kids today have unprecedented access to game consoles and tablets. Our challenge is to deliver an experience not available at home, and there is no doubt virtual reality does just that.”
Worth noting is that this is not the first time Chuck E. Cheese has worked with Reel FX. Back in 2012, the companies partnered up to revitalize the brand by reimagining the company’s character, Chuck E., as an electric-guitar playing rock star mouse.
Story via psfk.com
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