If you’re into the somewhat obscure parts of arcade history, then you might recall that during the first run of VR amusement tech in the 1990s that Pac-Man VR was a real thing. It wasn’t enough to save Virtuality and other VR tech at the time but it was a big name landing on the tech, offering something a little different from the norm.
Namco has probably been putting the most investment into VR tech out of all of the existing arcade game makers. A lot of that is through VR Zone but not all. Now, Pac-Man AR (Augmented Reality) is going to be tested out in Japan starting on the 15th with Pac In Town.
BANDAI @BandaiNamcoAM Launches Brand New AR Attraction pic.twitter.com/ucE65jV4RS
— DigitalOutOfHomeEnt (@DNA_Conference) January 4, 2018
As you can see from the video, users don the Microsoft HoloLens, then get to play Pac-man from the first person. As you expect from AR, digital graphics are overlaid with the real world. I’m curious to see how it handles users walking through the virtual walls as it does appear to tie a colored Pac-Man to particular players. I would imagine the Pac-Man gets stuck against the wall in that instance and the game would have to compensate until the player corrects themselves. This begins testing at a Namco location in Tokyo on January 15th and will go through the 28th of February. You can read a little more about it here.
