Virtuality's machines found an audience in Japan, but the story there is told in fragments. This article pulls together what is documented. Sources disagree on several details, and the article says so where they do.
Namco's 1992 test
Namco engineer Junichiro Koyama has said he was tasked in 1992 with bringing an imported Virtuality machine to the Japanese market. It was converted for coin-op and location-tested at Namco's Plabo Sennichimae in Osaka, with about four machines. Players grumbled at paying 500 yen for it, and Koyama has linked that reaction to Namco's later decision to develop its own VR instead of importing. He recalls the machine as 'Virtuality 2000,' but only the 1000 series existed in 1992, so it was most likely a 1000SD.
Sega's VR-1
In 1993 Virtuality signed a deal to work with Sega. The reported value differs by source, from 3.5 million pounds to 2.3 million pounds for two years followed by 1.3 million pounds a year. The result was VR-1, an eight-seat motion ride using a jointly developed headset. It opened at Yokohama Joypolis on 20 July 1994, then at Niigata Joypolis in December 1995 and Fukuoka Joypolis in April 1996. Each seat used two expensive graphics boards.
Taito and Zone Hunter
Taito was involved in Zone Hunter, the first 2000-series game, as a route into Japanese arcades. Wikipedia credits Taito as co-developer, while other databases credit Virtuality alone, so how much Taito contributed is unclear.
Dentsu Prox
Dentsu Prox, a Dentsu subsidiary for events and graphics, was a Virtuality customer by 1993. In January 1995 a news item reported a Dentsu order worth about 400,000 pounds for software and hardware, including four SD2000 systems. That is the likeliest explanation for the Dentsu logo on the rare game Sea Diving, though that link is our inference. Dentsu Prox merged into Dentsu Tec in April 1996.
After 1997
After Virtuality's insolvency, Jonathan Waldern formed Retinal Displays. Its optics reached Japan in Takara's Dynovisor headset, with release dates given as anywhere from 1996 to 1998.
Sources
- Virtuality wins contract from Densu, Telecompaper (1995)
- W Industries changes its name to Virtuality, Tech Monitor (1993)
- Koyama interview, note.com (Japanese)
- Bandai Namco and Sega roundtable, ビジネス+IT (Japanese)
- VR-1, Wikipedia
- Zone Hunter, Wikipedia
- VR-1 feature, RBB Today (Japanese)
MallVR is independent software from Gainesphere Studios and is not affiliated with Virtuality or its rights holders.