Ultrahaptics and Fallen Planet Studios have today announced the installation of a haptified virtual reality (VR) experience at ImmotionVR’s experience centre in Cabot Circus, Bristol. ImmotionVR, the UK’s largest group of VR experience centres, will showcase this new immersive event until the end of February 2019.
The experience in Bristol, AFFECTED: The Visit, is a collaboration between Ultrahaptics, the world leader in harnessing ultrasound to create a sense of touch in mid air, independent game development studio Fallen Planet Studios and ImmotionVR. It demonstrates a new level of immersive entertainment by bringing haptic feedback to the horror genre in a specially adapted version of Fallen Planet Studio’s hit VR game AFFECTED: The Manor.
Users enter a virtual haunted house and experience a number of surprising events that have been augmented with mid air haptic sensations. The experience has been previously shown at trade shows in the USA such as the IAAPA Attractions Expo and CES, but this will be the first time that the UK public will be able to experience it first hand.
In a collaboration between the three UK-based companies, the VR experience uses content, capabilities and technology owned and developed by each party. Members of the public will have the opportunity to try the experience at ImmotionVR’s experience centre.
Tom Carter, CTO and, Co-Founder of Ultrahaptics spoke of the partnership:
“Audiences have really loved AFFECTED: The Visit, but we have only been able to share it with the US so far. This collaboration provides an opportunity to showcase UK companies and what they have to offer the growing virtual reality market. We can’t wait to share it with our home audience.”
Arek Antoniak, Head of Retail Operations at ImmotionVR, said,
“ImmotionVR sits at the very heart of VR innovation and customer experience. This collaboration with Ultrahaptics and Fallen Planet Studios very much follows our ethos of ‘daring to imagine’, and we can’t wait to bring this exciting development to the people of Bristol.”
“We are delighted to be collaborating with Ultrahaptics and ImmotionVR on this exciting new installation,” said Alex Moretti, CEO of Fallen Planet Studios. “Immersion is key to the VR experiences that Fallen Planet Studios creates, by implementing Ultrahaptics’ mid-air technology we are able to deepen that level of immersion to new levels, without saddling the user with additional hardware for them to navigate. This combines to create a compelling out-of-home experience that really has to be felt to be believed. To be unveiling this installation in partnership with the ImmotionVR brand, is a testament to the quality of their arcades and highlights the UK’s fast growing interest in location-based VR.”
