17 Apr 2015 Exclusive: MMOne tech start-up bids to revolutionise virtual reality By Tom Anstey
MMOne has been developed over the past three years
A Ukraine-based development company has revealed plans for a an interactive entertainment attraction that works with a virtual reality headset and a gamepad to deliver a full-motion interactive experience.
Andrew Borisov and his co-founder have invested US$500,000 (€462,500, £333,000) over the past three years to develop the MMOne concept, which is the only one on the market to combine virtual reality and dynamic movement to create a completely immersive virtual experience.
“We did integrations with two titles about a rollercoaster and the result was stunning,” said Borisov speaking exclusively to AM2.
“If you use Oculus Rift to simulate a rollercoaster ride, the result is you come off not feeling very good because your body can’t make sense of what’s going on. The point of MMOne is that you are almost like an Avatar from the films. All the movements you experience in virtual reality are replicated in the chair so you can feel complete immersion.
“In terms of how gameplay works, when you press a button the chair will repeat your movements. My dream is to have 50 MMOnes over the globe or in one space integrated and having a battle, it would be crazy for me. We want to create a virtual reality network so people can play against each other.”
The single person MMOne model is targeting amusement parks, theme parks, cinemas, FECs and shopping centres in its initial push. The company is also in talks with a major theme park operators over developing a larger scale version to accommodate more people at one time.
“Virtual reality is not only about headsets,” continued Borisov. “Things are going very fast. There’s crazy movement at the moment. I think in a few years we’ll have conference calls in virtual reality, advertisement will go virtual... It will go much deeper.
“It’s not only about amusements. One way we’re looking to develop our project is with military organisations, who are quite interested in a full simulation for military exercises as well as space simulation for training purposes. There’s also opportunities for kid’s educational programmes – it’s something that can be applied to a lot of different markets.”
