Holoverse
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Holoverse is an amusement attraction on the Gold Coast in Australia that opened in June 2016. The centre is owned by Euclideon and uses new entertainment technology that creates artificial environments and objects that are described as holograms. The centre was partially funded by the Australian Government [1] and was officially opened by Queensland Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk [2] . The centre contains 40 booths, is the first in Australia [3], and is said to house the largest number of them in the world.
Experiences
New content is released by Holoverse approximately every three months. While primarily for entertainment, other experiences focus on educational content for schools and interactive learning experiences. So far the centre has four unique experiences / sessions [4]:
Experiences Volume One
In this session, the user undergoes 10 different holographic experiences, such as holographic snow, holographic water with fish and turtles, eating holographic apples, flying through the sky, jumping down holes, and visiting Africa.
False Eden
False Eden is an holographic game in which the user combats alien creatures with a holographic sword. The game has eight levels and numerous enemies and environments. Because of the mechanics of the technology, the enemies approach the wall then jump through into the real world as “holograms”.
Fly Over the Gold Coast
This session consists of an aerial adventure, flying over a 1:1 scale, virtual copy of Australia's Gold Coast. The user eventually turns into a giant and walks among the buildings and iconic sky scrapers.
Holographic Planetarium
Across two parts, the visitor takes a journey through the Solar System. Planets float all around them in the room whilst an educational commentary is given. The user visits surface recreations of the planets and their moons, experiencing gravitational variance and phenomena unique to earth’s solar neighbours.
Expansion
In 2017, Euclideon announced that the next Holoverse centre will open in Dubai. A site is also expected in Chicago by the end of 2018.
Founders
Holoverse is owned by Euclideon Entertainment, founded by Bruce Dell in 2017.
The Technology
The technology, when used in other fields, is often referred to as a Virtual Reality Cave or VR CAVE environment.
The technology differs from standard Virtual Reality. With standard Virtual Reality, people wear screens over their eyes, the headsets through which they are unable to see their own torso, arms or legs. Whereas in a VR CAVE, instead of going into the computer game, the person wears clear glasses and can see their own body, and the computer-generated objects appear to be in the real world with them. The element of being able to see one’s own body serves to eliminate motion sickness.
References
- ^ "Government Grants Pump $13 million into New Inventions". StartUp Smart. 7 March 2011. Retrieved 16 March 2011.
- ^ "Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk Discusses the State of Play on Queensland Day". The Courier Mail. 6 June 2016. Retrieved 11 May 2017.
- ^ "Australia Just Got Its First Holographic Arcade" Gizmodo. 4 June 2016. Retrieved 11 May 2017
- ^ "Swim WIth Turtles, Climb Buildings and Go On Safari, Without Leaving Southport" Blank. 10 June 2016. Retrieved 11 May 2017