Technology and VR guru Bob Cooney hosted a unique two-day event in the Dallas area last week. Dubbed the “Downloadable FEC,” it gathered people across the location-based VR spectrum, from operators, developers, infrastructure and core tech companies, consultants, and designers to people from industries outside of entertainment, like education, military simulation and training, and architecture.
Bob Cooney, The VR Collective’s Kylie Savage and Jim Bennington of No Cash Value outside of Meow Wolf’s fourth location (this one in Grapevine, Texas), which was one of the sites toured on day two. (Special thanks to Bennington for sharing his photos, like this one, from the event.)
On August 7, the 25 attendees met up at franchisee Salem Thyne’s EVA in Flower Mound, Texas, for a workshop that covered topics such as consumer patterns, revenues and the factors influencing earnings from throughput to operations, and more related to virtual and augmented reality in location-based entertainment attractions. There were also hands-on demos that included EVA’s free-roam VR, Universe Fairy Tales’ storytelling experience (still in development), Synthesis VR’s Rotten Apple (an intense, high-end zombie shooter for up to 6 players), Hero Zone (compact free-roam VR for up to 6) and VRcave’s VR escape rooms.
The program’s second day featured visits to key area locations to explore their experiences: Meow Wolf’s fourth location (this one in Grapevine), Andretti’s Indoor Karting and Games’ new location in Grand Prairie, and The Arena at Dave & Buster’s (Dallas).
Read more on the event in the September issue of RePlay. For a deeper dive, look for insights gleaned from the event by Cooney, which he expects to release in the coming months. Sign up to receive the Downloadable FEC Insights Report when it’s published, register at www.vrarcadesummit.com. In the meantime, visit www.thevrcollective.com/inside where you can sign up to receive Cooney’s Inside VR weekly summary of news related to location-based VR attractions.
Attendees of the Downloadable FEC workshop held Aug. 7-8 pause for a team photo at EVA in Flower Mound, Texas.
Pete Stearns of Dave & Buster’s, Todd Maunsell of Cinergy Entertainment (both seen at right) and other attendees of the daylong workshop in the EVA briefing room before stepping into a prototype free-roam interactive VR experience led by Bob Cooney and Kylie Savage.
