England: The Shard Opens Two New VR Experiences
Back in 2012, the steel and glass steeple The Shard was opened as London’s highest building and visitor attraction (height: 310 meters, cp. EAP-News from September 22nd, 2012), now its belonging observation platform named “The View of The Shard” has been upgraded with two new Virtual Reality (VR) experiences: “The View from The Shard”. The first of the attraction’s two experiences is “The Slide”, created by London-based VR specialist Happy Finish. Guests take a seat on a toboggan-style chair, put on an “Oculus Rift” headset and experience a high-speed ride over and around The Shard building, experiencing steep drops and dizzying heights. The images used for The Slide were captured in 360-degrees using a custom camera rig to show a highly realistic view of London from above.
The second of the experiences is titled “Vertigo” and was created by Inition, also based in London. The guests put on “HTC Vive” headsets as well as Vive trackers and watches, then the walls and the floor fall away, revealing an uninhibited view of London far below. During the “flight” the user is given various tasks to complete, which train skills such as balance and navigation in a seemingly empty air.
Patrick Allen, CEO of The View from The Shard, is proud of the innovative attraction: “As the tallest attraction in Europe, we are always looking for new ways to offer exciting and innovative experiences for our visitors. The consumer technology space has been an area we’ve been keen to explore for a while and we are excited to be working with the design companies behind the VR, Happy Finish and Inition, to introduce these two new immersive adventures to the attraction’s visitors,” commented Allen to the online platform VR Focus. (eap)
