From: mbutts@mentor.com (Mike Butts) Subject: Re: The VR Entertainment Industry Date: Tue, 17 Jul 90 20:27:32 GMT Message-ID: <1990Jul17.202732.3488@mentor.com> Organization: engr >From article <9007160320.AA21126@aic.hrl.hac.com>, by yamauchi@aic.hrl.hac.com: > > In article <1990Jun18.160252.10718@watmath.waterloo.edu> watmath.waterloo.edu! mwtilden@ria.ccs.uwo.ca (M.W.Tilden, Hardware) writes: >> >>In article mike@ixi-limited.co.uk, "try mike"@ixi .co.uk writes: >>>For the virtual concept to propagate throughout the working/leisure >>>population, we will need to not only give them dreams to work with (which >>>is often what that 'first-sale' is based on - e.g. the home computer) but >>>IMHO, concrete reasons as to what it will do for them in the long term... > ^^^^^^^^^ >>Well, personally I think it's just too irrisistible a toy to pass >>up, but that's not really a valid reason. Not one you could make >>obsene amounts of money from anyway. ...> > Personally, I believe that in 20-30 years the VR entertainment > industry is going to make both the movie and TV industries look like > small potatoes -- if they're still around at all. > I recently spent a week at Disney World in Florida, and came away with the impression that it is mostly a *very* elaborate mechanically-induced artificial experience. In other words, it does brute-force through rides, audio- animatronics, etc., what will eventually be done in the arcade and the home through virtual reality. Star Tours is the latest hot ride, and it's distinctive because it provides a more intense experience for fewer people (a few dozen) at a time. Indicative of a trend. How soon will we see such rides spin outside of the parks? Also look at the convergence of theme parks with the movie business. I imagine that once virtual reality systems are really perfected and widespread, that the 20th century theme park will seem as quaint and clumsy as a 19th century circus side show seems to us today. Wonder how many people Disney has working on VR??? -- Michael Butts, Research Engineer KC7IT 503-626-1302(fax:1282) Mentor Graphics Corporation, 8500 SW Creekside Place, Beaverton, Oregon 97005 !{ogicse,sequent,tessi,apollo}!mntgfx!mbutts mbutts@pdx.MENTOR.COM Any opinions are my own, and aren't necessarily shared by Mentor Graphics Corp.