We don’t always receive news of a new piece on location test just before the end of a year, but here is one that has just been spotted. This surprise is coming from Triotech, best known in arcades for their two-seater Typhoon motion simulators, but they have more recently been focused on the larger QUBE and Super Blaster four player co-op shooting simulator rides. The new effort from them here looks to bring them back to the smaller two-person dynamic for arcades, now with the added elements of both virtual reality and some interactivity. Let’s take a closer look at VR Drone Invasion / SkyRider Interactive VR…
Disclaimer: The game discussed in this article is a prototype, which has been seen on location (beta) test. Final production models might vary greatly from what is seen below, or one or both could not even be released, if they fail the tests. As such, reserve your final judgments for later.
Background
For some background first, over at the Arcade Heroes Discord server we have got a channel dedicated to location tests, be they examples in Japan that have been announced publicly (e.g. the long testing period for Bandai Namco’s Idolm@ster Tours this summer) or those in the West that are conducted on the quiet. Every so often there is a new instance of the latter brought up in there, with this one falling squarely into that zone.
Last week via that channel, Jdevy brought attention to a test recently being carried out at Playbox’s new FEC venue in Montreal. It’s not often that tests out of Canada are mentioned on AH, but with companies like Playbox and Adrenaline there it can happen. After a little bit of guessing, fellow Montreal-based company Triotech fit the bill – though a lot more remains uncertain. Let’s make the most of what can be analyzed though…
VR Drone Invasion / SkyRider Interactive VR
Starting with the immediate first impression from the clearest cabinet shot we can get, this uses a standing VR format, but fixed on a motion base – not free roaming. VR motion simulators like this usually tend to put riders into seats, so that alone is a pretty distinctive move to make. The headsets being used aren’t clear, but a tiny Triotech logo on one of them is the reason we know they are behind this (thanks Egonmiro); though it being right next to a Typhoon and Storm VR is a big clue too. Only the SkyRider Interactive VR name can be seen in this video and below shot, but we do know that it is early enough in development that the naming situation is fluid, from a newer clip where it can be seen under the title of VR Drone Invasion.
As suggested by the two names and headsets visible here, the piece uses virtual reality. VR is something that TT have already dabbled in, most notably on the Storm VR simulators from a few years back, which essentially brought the Typhoon concept into VR with a little bit of motion gameplay. It is a little hard to make out, but you can also see a pair of orange handlebar controllers and a giant button. So this one is interactive, as opposed to Typhoon where it’s just a ride, but as to how deep that interactivity gets, it is impossible to say yet. I would note however that the sci-fi/underground tunnel on the screen reminds me of Grin’s Ballistics arcade game they handled many years ago.
Quick Thoughts
Whether the interactivity is basic or not, it is interesting to see Triotech get into both VR and gameplay more with this, despite how lucrative the Typhoon simulators featuring neither of those things already are. Given that they have become adept at producing fantastic graphics via Unreal Engine 5 of late, I would also have to assume that this example will follow suit with them.
Going back to the name change (something we don’t always get to observe during the testing stage), it does look like this is still a very early in development prototype, which could also explain why there was no hint of it found at IAAPA 2024 last month. If it does pass testing, expect it to potentially look very different, and again, make no final judgements at this point.
For now though, what do you think of this new VR arcade simulator from Triotech? And with it now being just before the big day, happy holidays, of course 🙂
