Sign in to view
member only content

We have seen a host of VR and AR products on offer to consumers, amplifying the users’ sensory capabilities and creating enhanced experiences. A virtual interface now lets users feel without touching, and a smart vest converts sounds into vibrations on the wearer’s chest. Taking all of this into account — and creating a somewhat fantasy world for a VR fanatics — is The VOID, the world’s first virtual reality theme park.

The North American centre will be the first of a global franchise of VECs — Virtual Entertainment Centres — which combine VR technology, haptic feedback and wearable tech, to offer visitors physically active experiences in immersive, interactive, fantasy environments.

Participants can enter a VOID Game Pod wearing a Rapture HMD (which enables visual and audio immersion), the Rapture Vest (it provides corresponding sensations of touch via vibrations), and Rapture Gloves (which track the players hands in 3D space, allowing them to physically explore and interact with the virtual environments.) Experiences will include haunted castles, dinosaur safaris and futuristic battlefields. Players can even choose from competitive or cooperative multiplayer modes. There will be elevation changes, shift in air pressure, temperature and moisture and simulated liquids and smells.

The VOID is set to open in the summer of 2016, in Pleasant Grove, Utah. What other experiences could VR offer?