When I arrive at the upscale Westfield Century City mall in Los Angeles, I only know the broad background of Dreamscape Immersive. It is a startup funded partly by Steven Spielberg and partly by AMC, with plans to open up VR centers in theaters and other locations around the world. I also know they are using full-body tracking tech developed in Switzerland for an increased sense of immersion.
I’ve been impressed by similar experiences from The VOID with Ghostbusters and Star Wars, so Dreamscape has some high standards to meet. And at $20 per ticket, they are faced with the same questions as The VOID. Can they draw enough people at that price to make a business out of VR attractions? Is a 10-20 minute VR experience enhanced with environmental effects good enough to keep people coming?
I don’t know those answers. But with 14 showings per day and six people per showing each paying $20, Alien Zoo is now sold out through March 2. The company will add five more days to the calendar soon so there’s still a chance to get tickets as of this writing.
When I leave the Alien Zoo after about 20 minutes, I find myself in a different mindset as compared with Star Wars or Ghostbusters.
Hands-on with Alien Zoo
The VOID’s experiences invite you to fight.
With Ghostbusters and Star Wars, you’re either fighting ghosts or you’re fighting stormtroopers. Those are certainly engaging foes, but The VOID’s locations around the world currently are inviting people to interact with characters made famous in movies by fighting them in a way that feels a lot like a shooter video game. This invites comparisons to those other forms of entertainment.
Star Wars Battlefront II is $40 to $60 and offers hours upon hours of entertainment. A ticket to the movies can be upward of $20 in some places for two solid hours of entertainment. If you’re making those mental comparisons, a $20 ticket to a 15-minute experience in VR doesn’t look great.
Alien Zoo defies those comparisons though.
Dreamscape’s initial experience is an original story, so it doesn’t overtly stack up against an existing movie or game. And the way Alien Zoo’s creators invite you to interact with its world unlocks a different combination of feelings.
It starts the moment I step through the door.
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Dreamscape Immersive is set up next to the Tesla store. Only the words “Alien Zoo” on the side really give an indication what’s inside.
The waiting room is covered with artifacts and information about various alien creatures. I find myself instantly drawn into this world. The realization sets in pretty quickly. A zoo. An alien zoo. I’m going to visit an actual alien zoo.
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Source: Venture Beat