Star Wars in VR for date night? Yes, please

I see a drifting sidewalk through the opened door of my spacecraft. I stop briefly a minute to get my bearings, then — WHOOSH — I’m struck with the intense light and heat of boiling lava a couple of feet away. Stormtroopers stand to my right, blaster rifles in hand in case things get untidy.

Three other individuals and I had actually been hired to assist the Rebel Alliance penetrate an Imperial fortress and take something… essential. (Isn’t it constantly?)

My fellow intergalactic spies and I are dressed for the part, using complete Stormtrooper regalia so we will not get seen. So far, things have actually been going efficiently.

I constant myself as the moving platform below my feet makes its method to an ominous-looking castle surrounded by a sea of lava. Hot air blows on my face, and I can’t stop looking at the incredible view of the boiling ocean that surrounds me.

For a minute I really forget I’m in a convention center in San Jose, California, where I’m using a virtual truth headset and playing Star Wars: Secrets of the Empire.

I’ve been a Star Wars fan considering that I was old adequate to state “May the force be with you,” swing a toy lightsaber and imagine living in a galaxy far, far. I’ve played the video games, gathered the toys, checked out the books, ridden the theme park trips and (undoubtedly) saw the motion pictures and the TELEVISION programs.

“Watching movies, playing video games, there’s always been a separation between you and the Star Wars universe,” states Mohen Leo, director of immersive material at Lucasfilm’s ILMxLab speculative storytelling group.

Which discusses why I could not wait to play The Void’s Star Wars video game and really feel as if I resided in that world. When my child, 2, gets old enough, he’ll most likely be joining me. A lot.

That’s due to the fact that how we invest our nights and weekends out is set to alter significantly. As more people go shopping from our phones, shopping centers and other locations are checking out immersive experiences that would provide us factors to go to. Some might provide VR video games from the similarity The Void and Nomadic that consist of sensing units and tactically positioned fans and heating systems for an additional level of immersion. Other experiences have a carnival environment, with a mix of VR and real-world video games. And then there’s Meow Wolf, an immersive theatrical experience developed by an art cumulative in Santa Fe, New Mexico, with financing by Game of Thrones author George R.R. Martin.

The result — similar to games of the ’70s and ’80s and laser tag of the ’90s — is experiences we can’t have at house.

“Everything’s becoming more immersive,” states Dan Wenhold, a principal at Fifth Wall Ventures, an equity capital company financing next-generation property innovation.

To the circus

Each business using these interactive experiences comes at it with its own twist.

Take Two Bit Circus in Los Angeles. With its intense colors, flashing lights and VR video games, the 38,000-square-foot area produces a carnival game ambiance with a techie twist. Even a traditional carnival video game like balloon darts gets the modern-day treatment. At Two Bit Circus, the video game tasks pictures of balloons onto a wall. Two gamers get balls out of a pit and toss them as quick as they can to pop as numerous balloons as possible. She who pops the most balloons, wins.

Now playing:
Watch this:

Running away with the Two Bit Circus

3:27

You can strap on a VR headset in a multiplayer arena to fight dragons, robots and zombies, or escape from a sinking submarine. There’s also a room that looks like the command bridge of a starship, where you and your friends operate the ship. There’s a bar, too, where up to 100 people can taste wines and then compete to identify them.

And of course, there’s a robot bartender.

The whole thing feels like an updated version of Chuck E. Cheese’s. That makes sense, given that the circus is run by Brent Bushnell, son of Atari co-founder Nolan Bushnell, who helped start Chuck E. Cheese’s.

“We want to provide the sizzle, and showcase the cool stuff that’s possible,” Brent says.

Admission is free but experiences range from $1 to $25 per person.

Gear up

Then there’s Nomadic and The Void, which both manage to cram the spirit of amusement park rides into spaces at your local mall, charging up to $35 to play.

There’s not much to see without a headset, apart from the sensors, heaters and fans that fill the area. Things change when you put on that headset, since all those sensors and physical objects connect to the game you’re playing. If you hold a flashlight in the real world, you can see where it’s pointed in the virtual one. If you see lava in that VR experience, a real-world heater will blow hot air on your face.

“We want people to say it’s amazing, but also know they could never have it at home,” says Doug Griffin, Nomadic founder and CEO, who’s also been involved with motion capture efforts at Walt Disney Animation Studios and Industrial Light & Magic.

The Void can be experienced in Los Angeles, Las Vegas and Orlando, Florida — as well as Dubai, Toronto and a resort near Kuala Lumpur in Malaysia. Nomadic’s VR walk-around experience can be found in Orlando. The startup expects to open new VR spaces in Las Vegas and Los Angeles this year.

But you don’t have to rely on VR to get immersed in another world. Take Meow Wolf, a 20,000-square-foot art installation that’s been described as a “walk-in science-fiction novel,” which encourages visitors to go everywhere and touch everything. A tunnel takes you from a Victorian home to a “transdimensional travel agency,” itself a gateway to a forest of neon trees. The whole experience is aimed at piecing together the whereabouts of the family that once lived inside the house. First opened in Santa Fe in 2016, Meow Wolf is now set to expand to Las Vegas sometime this year. It’ll be called Meow Wolf Las Vegas at AREA15.

Escapism is starting to feel very real.

I can’t wait for my next visit to the Star Wars universe.

First published April 5 at 5:00 a.m. PT.

This story appears in the Spring 2019 edition of CNET Magazine
(click for more magazine stories).

Ian Sherr (@iansherr) is editor at large, writing about the mobile world, social media and how it impacts our lives. He fully believes the force is always with him.