Conference noted::sf

    Check out Phillip K Dick 'Ubik'. (note 585.0-585.*)
    	It deals with Drugs & VR. 
    						Erik

    There's also the Niven-Barnes novels _Dream_Park_ and
    _The_Barsoom_Project_, about semi-virtual reality (i.e.
    a mixture of real and virtual).
    
    		-John Bishop

    A "Red Dwarf" episode (series 2, I think) also featured a "Better Than
    Life" adventure game, inside which the characters ended up getting
    trapped.
    
    Alice T.

    There's John Varley's "Overdrawn at the Memory Bank" and somebody's
    "We Can Remember it for You Wholesale".  Another one whose author
    I can't remember is  "Johann Sebastion Brahms".
    
    And of course, "Tron".
    
    len.
    

    How about the episodes of "Star Trek: The Next Generation" centering on
    the holo-deck?  Some were silly, but others were rather intriguing,
    like the fellow who became "holaddicted," or using the deck to
    re-create a crime during a trial.
    
    Earl Wajenberg

    There is a book called "Into the Net of Dreams", but the author's name
    escapes me.  Wonderful light reading.

    What about "Total Recall"?

    Or how about "The Dream Millenium" by James White - that has a fair bit
    of "VR" in it, and also several of Rob Sheckley's books - can't
    remember any titles apart from "Mindswap" though.
    
    /f

"True Names" by Vernor Vinge, which is partly set in the virtual reality that
hackers have created for themselves and hang out in.

The "Real Time" stories (there are two), either collected in or including the
book "Marooned in Real Time", also by Vernor Vinge.  This discusses the impact
on society of computers, and uses VR as a prop.

I'm at work and can't consult my bookshelf.

I recently read a book where the protagonist was the creator of a swords &
sourcery world for a company which ran a big VR role-playing business.  There
were other worlds, too.  The computer system which ran the VR malfunctioned in a
scary and politically sensitive way, so they came and got him (he'd previously
been let go over creative control issues) in the hope that he could fix the
problem.  This might be "In the Net of Dreams" -- I can't remember the authors
name and I'm not even sure about the title, but it was fun.  Someone who knows
should reply, please.  This was all about the setup -- I don't think it's a
spoiler.

						-- Spencer

Burning Chrome - William Gibson.  

Its a collection of his short stories.  One of my fav's is about a videogame...
I believe the videogame was about WW I dogfighting.  A few others as well.
Many of the stories are "sprawl" stories set in Gibson near-future.  

brad

    re:.4/.7
    
    "We Can Remember It For You Wholesale" was by Philip K. Dick (a lot
    of whose work fits into the "virtual reality" sub-genre) and was,
    in fact, the basis for the movie TOTAL RECALL.
    
    --- jerry

    
    	Back in the 60's ANALOG serialized a story by Ben Bova called 
    	"The Dueling Machine".
    
    	20 years is a long time to remember, but I believe that multiple
    	people could be wired to a computer which would present them with
    	interactive "Virtual Reality" scenarios.  As a matter of fact,
    	the scenarios were so real that someone found a way to actually
    	murder his opponents.
    
    	One of the duals took place on an asteriod where too vigorous a
    	leap would allow you to exceed escape velocity.  Another was under
    	water diving suits.
    
    	I remember it as being an excellent story but as to it's
    	availability, who knows?
    
    	Terry
    

"In the Net of Dreams", (c) 1990 by Wm. Mark Simmons, Popular Library
$4.50 US, as mentioned in .6 and blurbed in .9.  Great light reading;
really takes off examining the nature and pitfalls of virtual reality.

Another that I enjoyed recently was "The Silicon Man", by (c) 1991 by
Charles Platt, Bantam Spectra Edition $4.50 US.  This is about pioneering
VR on the sly and incidentally about what happens to society as a result.

						-- Spencer

    Neuromancer, Count Zero and Mona Lisa Overdrive by William Gibson all
    feature virtual reality. Entertaining books but most of the characters
    are hard to empathise with.
    
    The Lion of Commare by Arthur C Clarke features a building where people
    disillusioned with the world can retreat into their dreams with the aid
    of computers.
    
    Clive

    "The Dream Master" by Roger Zelazny, originally titled "He Who Shapes,"
    is about a psychiatrist who does his therapy by guiding patients
    through VRs that are computer-generated, electronic-telepathic
    amplifications of the "active imagination" techniques of Jungian
    psychotherapy.  He gets involved with a patient and her VR, to his
    peril.
    
    Earl Wajenberg

    
    If my memory serves me correctly, you might want to try:
    
    "The Rapture Effect" by Jeffrey Carver or
    "Alien Blood" by Joan D. Vinge
    
    				-St

    
    A good (albeit depressing) example of VR and its effects on society
    is "The Feelies", by Mick? Farren.
    
    Joe

    
       It's not really virtual reality, but David Brin's "Earth" has some
    very interesting notions of the combination of virtual reality,
    multimedia and global high-speed internetworking...
    
    					-mjg
    

There was a book called "Gray Matter" that I read a while ago where people lived
out fantasy lives on a more permanent basis than "Total Recall".  Unfortunately,
I can't remember the name of the Author.

Wook

    re:.19
    
    GRAY MATTER was by William Hjortsberg, who also wrote FALLEN ANGEL,
    the novel that the film ANGEL HEART was adapted from.
    
    --- jerry

re: .15

Reminds me  of  "The  Lathe  of  Heaven"  by Ursula LeGuin, in which one man's
virtual reality (his dreams) actually BECOME real.

Jim

All these titles, and not one that I have read already.
I can predict some good reading in the next months.....

Many Thanks,
GLT

    What about the real life applications of VR ? Does anyone kow anything
    about that ? I'm looking into that area ...
    
    Thanks,
    
    GB

    I see it mentioned in science popularization magazines like "Discover,"
    from time to time.  The article I recall had an architect and his
    client using video-helmets to walk around inside the design of a
    proposed new school.  One nice benefit was that they could easily
    "shrink themselves" (by scaling up the graphics) to the size of
    first-grade children, to see how convenient the architecture was for
    them.  And of course, the architect could make instant alterations to
    suit the client.
    
    Later in the article, they talked about a system using video helmets
    and body gloves that let you manipulate objects in the VR.  It also let
    you manipulate the user's body image, and they remarked that on one
    exuberant day, they all turned themselves into lobsters and found they
    got used to it very quickly.  Do not give these people horseradish for
    Christmas.
    
    Earl Wajenberg

"Mindkiller" by Spider Robinson is an excellent version of the effects of VR
on people. Beware its multiple-perspective style though, some people find it
annoying. I'd also like to plug LeGuin's "The Lathe of Heaven"; it was made
into a movie or TV show or something. Not a book, but the movie "Brainstorm" was
good, scratched the surface of what you could do with such a technology 
(interestingly, a movie written by a special effects man, Douglas Trumbull, 
about what might be the ultimate special-effects device).

Greg Bear has also done some great stuff, although it may be stretching the VR 
concept a bit. "Blood Music" explores bioengineered intelligent red blood cells,
and the effect of so much cognition in a Berkeleyan 
reality-is-what-you-perceive-it-to-be universe. "Eon" and its sequel "Eternity"
explore the creation of a man-made universe within an asteroid through the magic
of higher math and topology (you know, tesserects, Moebius strips, and Klein
bottles).

"The Dueling Machine" mentioned a few replies back was anthologized a few years
ago by Joe Haldeman in a book entitled "Study War No More".

Check out the cyberpunk topic, 416, for more. Cyberpunk is heavily into VR.

    I think the very young Delany got to the concept before Bova, in his
    trilogy (what was it called? "Fall of the Towers" or something like
    that).  Not very well thought out, but...
    
    (surprise ending spoiler)
    
    
    
    A government which is supposedly in the midst of a very long range war
    is actually putting its drafted citizens into virtual reality and
    slaughtering a good percentage of them itself. It obtains some of the
    economic, political, and population-depressing benefits of war without
    the uncertainties of the real thing.
    

There was a Star Trek episode like that. The opposing computers would calculate
casualties of simulated engagements, then the govt would put crowds of civvies
into some kind of death chambers until the right number of people had been
vaporized. All very clean and neat. Our Heroes from the Enterprise pointed out 
that the general ugliness and destruction of war are the primary disincentives
for continued conflict; these guys had made it so antiseptic that it would go
on forever. Note that this predates the neutron bomb and Operation Desert
Storm.

    W. T. Quick, an author who has released at least 5 novels in the last 2
    years, but who was new to me, has published a trilogy which the main
    characters are intimately involved in VR.  The only title I can
    remember is "Dreams of Flesh and Sand".  Recommended.

    >W. T. Quick, an author who has released at least 5 novels in the last 2
    >years...
    
    The initials obviously stand for "Writes Them" or "Writes Things"
    
    					andrew

    Were .29 and .30 serious literary criticism, or just random comments? 
    I'd like to know if anyone else has read his work.

    re .28 et seq - I've read Quick's "Dreams of Flesh and Sand", "Dreams of
    Gods and Men", and "Systems" (ok, I admit, all of them on long airplane
    flights).   The two "Dreams ..." are much better than "Systems", which
    was pretty much a garden variety blood and guts military/detective/
    adventure tale cloaked in an SF/cyberpunk wrapper.  But even the
    "Dreams ..." books are at best only OK.  They don't (IMHO) measure up
    to things like "The Hormone Jungle" or "Angel Station".
    
    len.
    

    Random comments -- I haven't read anything by this author --
    the quirky linguist who lives inside my head couldn't resist...
    
    					andrew

    
    
>I am looking for SF stories about Virtual Reality  
    
	How about TRON?
    
    Wildrik
    -------

<><><><><><><><>  T h e   V O G O N   N e w s   S e r v i c e  <><><><><><><><>

 Edition : 1988            Wednesday 24-Jan-1990            Circulation :  7792 

VNS COMPUTER NEWS:                            [Tracy Talcott, VNS Computer Desk]
==================                            [Nashua, NH, USA                 ]

 Artificial Reality - Computer simulations one day may provide surreal
	experiences
	{The Wall Street Journal, 23-Jan-90, p. A1}
   Jaron Lanier, a 29-year-old high-school dropout and computer whiz, is the
 most articulate and attention-grabbing member of a loose network of
 artificial-reality researchers and inventors. They have a vision of Americans
 working and playing in electronic fantasy worlds that, they say, will
 transform entertainment, education, engineering, medicine and many other
 fields of endeavor - pornography among them. "This is far more important than
 the development of the personal computer," contends Michael McGreevey, who
 oversees the National Aeronautics and Space Administration's work in
 artificial reality. "You're not constrained by keyboards, 'mice' and
 monitors," he says. "You can explore living environments." The crude
 artificial-reality machines that already exist are the product of 25 years of
 research by the Air Force, NASA, several universities and individuals such as
 Mr. Lanier, who is something of a maverick in the field. He is founder and CEO
 of VPL Research Inc., a 16-person artificial reality firm in Redwood City,
 Calif. Even now, artificial worlds are in use. At Wright-Patterson Air Force
 Base in Dayton, Ohio, fighter pilots train in artificial cockpits. Outfitted
 with special goggles and headphones, they both see and hear the battle. "This
 really gets your juices flowing," says Thomas Furness, until recently head of
 Wright-Patterson's artificial reality project. "They come out of the cockpit
 sweating, wrung out." Architects and designers are exploring artificial
 reality. A University of North Carolina computer scientist has designed a
 program that allows architects to design a building and, after putting on the
 appropriate devices, lead a client on a tour of it. If a client wants larger
 windows in his office, the architect simply grabs the window with his
 electronically gloved hands and enlarges it. Many other projects are in the
 works. Dozens of companies in the U.S., Japan and Europe have purchased
 devices from Mr. Lanier's firm, VPL Research Inc., to study ways to exploit
 the technology of artificial reality. Its unlimited potential for creating
 environments that a properly wired subject can see, feel and control explains
 all the interest. "This is probably the most powerful stimulation to the
 imagination ever," says Brenda Laurel, a Los Gatos, Calif., computer
 consultant who has followed developments in artificial reality for a decade.
 How does it work? Besides supplying computer-generated images, VPL's goggles
 contain a magnetic tracking mechanism that responds to movements of a person's
 head, causing the field of vision to shift as it might in the real world.
 Moving the glove signals the computer to move objects in the artificial
 environment. Sensors stitched in the "data suit" can signal body movements by
 the wearer and change the visual perspective as if the wearer were moving
 through the scene. The sensing devices are connected by fiber optic cables to
 computers that update the visuals 15 to 30 times a second. What the viewer
 sees is close to some sort of reality. A literal, holographic-style
 replication isn't necessarily the objective, though eventually that may be
 possible. "When you effectively create the illusion of being in an alternate
 reality," Mr. Lanier recently explained in a lecture at Xerox Corp.'s Palo
 Alto Research Center, "you literally treat things that aren't real as real."
 Still, today's systems fall short of that. "I felt as if I were in a theater
 and could still see what's going on backstage," says Eric Hulteen, who has
 tried an artificial reality system developed by NASA. "The movement was slow,
 the images cartoon-like, and it was hard to grab anything. But I enjoyed it."
 The hardware is expensive: $8,800 for a glove, $9,400 for goggles, up to
 $500,000 for a complete system - "a lot of money for a hit of acid," quips
 Eric Lyons, director of technology for Autodesk Inc., a Sausalito, Calif.,
 concern developing artificial-reality software. ... Others fault Mr. Lanier's
 showmanship and say he is overselling artificial reality. "He's bumbling
 around with toys," says James Clark, chairman of Silicon Graphics Inc., maker
 of the high-speed graphics computers central to Mr. Lanier's system. Mr. Clark
 thinks that computer goggles and clothing are too constraining,and won't enter
 wide use. Mr. Lanier disagrees, insisting he's chosen the richest technical
 path toward artificial reality. "We're certainly the pioneers of this field,"
 he asserts. In any case, he says, technical considerations are in a sense
 trivial when compared with the dream-fulfilling promise of artificial reality.
 He is eager to pursue it; asked how he plans to spend a weekend, he answers:
 "I'll be busy. I've got some worlds to create." [The article also discusses
 VPL Research and companies who've dealt with it. - TT]

<><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><>
        Please send subscription and backissue requests to CASEE::VNS

    Permission to copy material from this VNS is granted (per DIGITAL PP&P)
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<><><><><><><><>   VNS Edition : 1988   Wednesday 24-Jan-1990   <><><><><><><><>



 Digital - $1.4 million Digital grant to Human Interface Technology Lab
	{Livewire, 2-Jul-90}
   Digital has announced a $1.4M equipment grant, over four years, to
 Washington's Human Interface Technology (HIT) Laboratory to advance research
 and development of virtual-worlds technology. The HIT Lab, a unit of the
 state-chartered Washington Technology Centers, is pioneering the development
 of virtual-worlds systems for professional, industrial, educational, and
 health-related applications.
   For the next year, the HIT Lab is concentrating on developing an R&D 
 infrastructure capable of building virtual-worlds prototypes. The HIT Lab's
 first acquisition under the million-dollar-plus Digital grant will be several
 new DECstation 5000 Series graphic workstations and software. These combined
 processing and graphics machines will be used to code the "mindware" necessary
 for constructing virtual-worlds and then to generate the actual virtual
 worlds.  
   Dr. Thomas Furness, Director of the HIT Lab, explained the technology as "a
 science-fiction dream come true. . . . Instead of just seeing images on a
 computer screen, the participant in a virtual world sees, hears, and feels an
 apparently real `world' generated by the computer and experienced through 
 stereoscopic `spectacles' and a 3_D sound headset, and operated using unique 
 virtual tools".
   Virtual-world technology will be applied in a number of fields, including 
 engineering, design, and education. In one application, engineers in different
 locations would collaborate to build a new airliner in virtual space, even
 testing it in a "virtual wind tunnel." In another, urban planners would
 examine a planned redevelopment scheme, seeing for themselves how traffic
 patterns might be affected, from a driver's point of view. Teachers and
 students would visit times and places that would otherwise be unreachable: for
 example, the planets -- or Philadelphia Hall during the signing of the
 Constitution. 
   Researchers in Digital's Software Usability Engineering in Nashua, N.H.,
 Southwest Engineering Research and Development in Albuquerque, N.M., and 
 Software Services in Santa Clara, Calif., are focusing on bringing the senses
 of vision, touch, and hearing to the use of computers, using virtual-worlds
 technology. This collaboration of Digital researchers with common interests in
 exploring how virtual-worlds technologies could be used to create more usable,
 useful, and appropriate computer systems is called the Presence project.  
   The Human Interface Technology Lab was established within the Washington 
 Technology Center (WTC) in September 1989. The WTC is chartered by the
 Washington State legislature to stimulate and assist technology transfer from
 the state's universities to the private sector and government.  

<><><><><><><><>   VNS Edition : 2172      Friday 12-Oct-1990   <><><><><><><><>
 Artificial Reality - Gets taken seriously in Tokyo
	{The Wall Street Journal, 11-Oct-90, p. B1}
   Japan's Ministry of International Trade and Industry, renowned for nursing
 frontier technologies into mature businesses, is showing interest in a group
 of technologies that enable users to immerse themselves in three-dimensional
 images, molding this "artificial reality" with their hands. Today, artificial
 reality is mainly a research curiosity. Some big U.S. firms are studying the
 field, but so far commercial applications are few. The best-known one is a toy
 glove from Mattel Inc. that enables players of Nintendo games to control video
 screens with the wave of a hand. MITI's interest could change that. The
 ministry has called on some of Japan's biggest electronics concerns to discuss
 the future of artificial-reality techniques this week. Experts say a MITI
 initiative - targeting entertainment and consumer-electronics products - may
 follow.

    
    Has anyone seen a movie called "The Lawnmower Man"?
    
    My understanding is that it involves virtual reality
    in some way . . .
    
    Any reviewers care to give an opinion?
    
    
    -EG

    I haven't seen the movie, but Stephen King was on CNN denouncing the
    movie and saying the only similarity it had to his book was the title.
    Has anyone read the book?  Is it also about virtual reality? 
    
    
    
    

    The King "short story" The Lawnmower Man doesn't even mention virtual
    reality.  The only connection between the story and the movie is the
    title and some small snippets of dialogue.  
    
    Mike

    I saw the movie it was very good if you like mind games and computer
    animation. I haven't read the book.
                               Jeff Peters

    Could someone briefly describe the plot of the story, the movie, or
    both?
    
    Earl Wajenberg

    The short story simply has to do with a man who is hired to mow a lawn,
    and he does.  HOW he does, and what happens, is the story.
    
    I haven't seen the movie yet, but I understand that it doesn't even
    have a lawn mower in it!  ;^)
    
    K.C.

    Behind spoiler:
    
    
    
    
    The story's a surreal sort of horror thing; guy notices neighborhood
    lawnmower-man ("odd jobs" type of thing) _eating_ the grass. Can't
    believe it, observes more closely, notices lawnmower man eating
    anything else he comes across. Don't recall how it ended; wasn't that
    impressed with it, really, though the imagery was pretty creepy.
    (Really did a job on the woodchucks.)
    
    The movie I haven't seen, but from the reviews I've read it's a sort of
    "Flowers for Algernon" thing, using computerized (plus drugs?) virtual
    reality to make a not-very-bright guy (who mows lawns for a living? the
    only tie-in to the short story) into a superman - while "inside" the
    computer. The clips I saw of the graphics were OK, though I've seen
    more interesting stuff at the computer-animation film festivals, but
    maybe the movie itself was of more interest than the previews. [The
    reviewers didn't always think so.]
    
    Corrections welcome by those who've seen the movie, and/or read the
    story more recently than I have!
    
    -b

the story -

haven't read it.

the movie - 

***********spoiler**********************



































Socially conciense sientist who works in a black military lab (ie - ultra
top secret) gets put on suspension (??, takes a forced vacation...) and continues
his experiments on the local idiot, who soon becomes the local genius...

good acting, average computer graphics from about the mid 80's, poor by
todays standards, plot needed some help, script needed a lot, really poor FX in 
a few parts...over all, not great, but rent it on video...

grins,

clark, who likes bad SF movies...

    
    I liked it alot, but then I'm an escapist.  My only complaint was that
    in a lot of places, it was difficult to hear the dialog.
    
    I did like the ending, tho.
    
    Helen

    
    And, there was most definitely a lawnmower in the movie; after all,
    with King's name on it there had to be an element of horror, I suppose.
    
    The only resemblance between the movie "Lawnmower Man" and "Flowers for
    Algernon" was the concept of intelligence enhancement.
    
    I am finished talking now,
    Helen 

From my Dataquest newsletter this am ...
////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////
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....
Technology

"DAMMIT JIM I'M A WAITER NOT A SCIENTIST!"
 Well virtual reality which has been virtually virtual since its inception seems
to be making some virtual progress.  In the spotlight lately is a company called
Spectrum HoloByte Inc. known for its F-16 flight simulator and Tetris, the game
of falling random geometric shapes which is more frustrating to watch than to
play.

Spectrum recently closed a $4 million round in equity funding.  The vote of
confidence came from the likes of AT&T, Stanford University, James Clark and
William Berkman and was led by Kleiner Perkins Caufield and Byers.  The company
also made a pact with Paramount Pictures receiving exclusive rights to produce
video games using the name and characters from "Star Trek: The Next Generation"
TV series. Okay, big deal more video games right?  Well not exactly.

Apparently Paramount has granted a license to Spectrum and Edison Brothers
Stores Inc., an arcade operator, to invade the nations malls with Starship
Enterprise theme restaurants called Star Base One.  Of course, just as Little
Ceasers has its non-sit-down Pizza Stations, there will be scaled down versions
called Star Post.

On a typical Star Base One visit, you and a crew of others, assigned roles from
Spock to Scotty, would embark on a dangerous mission, perhaps to save Captain
Kirk from love gone wrong with an alien.  After this hour or so long journey,
which is bound to make you hungry, you'd make your way over to the cyberbar for
some virtually delivered food and drink.  Just think how much fun they are going
to have naming this stuff!

The first Star Base One location has not been picked but is scheduled to appear
by early 1994.  Spectrum HoloByte, a private company located in Alameda, CA.,
had sales of $9.2 million in 1991.  For more information contact: Gilman Louie,
president and CEO, 510/522-3584. 

Copyright 1992 Dataquest Incorporated September ed.

DIGITAL INTERNAL USE ONLY

Just read an article in this morning's Colorado Springs newspaper. It seems that
the guru of LSD, none other than Dr Timothy Leary, has dicovered a new high.
He's an avid proponant of virtual reality as the next mind expanding "drug". He
sees it has the next wave in training us to release our right brains and let
the creative juices flow. I know I'm ready, lead on Doctor. liesl

    ...but what if you're already right-brain dominant?  (Is that like
    bring on a bad trip, man?) 
    
    
    Ginny

    re .46
    
    At the Meckler Virtual Reality conference in San Jose there was a 
    presentation on the STNG simulator.  If it gets built the way they
    are describing then it will be like this:
    
    Enter through engineering, get your tickets, hang around waiting
    your turn, buy stuff at the concessions (in the engine room? yep).
    
    There will be a full blown simulation of the bridge, pick your
    station, they are all functional and have to cooperate in order to
    fly the ship on the current mission.
    
    There will be a shuttle bay with two shuttles which are full
    blown simulators (tip and shake).
    
    The transporter room will have virtual reality helmets that
    you put on so when you are beamed down you are really (virtually)
    on that planet.
    
    And, last but not least, 10-forward will have tables with buttons
    for making your selection.  After a pause, a panel opens next to the
    table, a puff of dry ice vapor drifts out, and there's your food -
    generated by the computer! (please ignore the people running around
    where you can't see them, behind the wall).
    
    There will be various missions to fly and where you go depends on
    the decisions you (the crew) make.  Sounds like a blast to me!  Get
    a bunch of friends together and take off!  Make a heck of a birthday
    party (for me dammit, think I'm gonna waste it on the kids!!!).
    
    I hope that Edison Bros. decides to build somewhere near the East
    Coast.
    
    Eben
    (leaving DEC next week to be a virtual reality consultant (really))

Re: <<< Note 1006.49 by DYINCM::GAY "Superinsulation gives me the warm fuzzies" >>>

>>                                (please ignore the people running around
>>    where you can't see them, behind the wall).

Is this like the famous phrase "Ignore the man behind the curtain!" :-)

>>    (leaving DEC next week to be a virtual reality consultant (really))

Neat stuff!  My father arranged a VR demo for me at Autodesk a year or so ago;
an experience I'll never forget!

                                  Roak

Newsgroups: sci.virtual-worlds
Date: Mon, 16 Aug 1993 20:23:11 GMT
Subject: ENT: Boston VR Theme Park
Organization: The World Public Access UNIX, Brookline, MA
Summary: "The Other Side" VR Arena opens at the World Trade Center Boston

Boston - August 16 '93

Just returned from a "cooks tour" of the newly opened VR Arena in
Boston. The following is a transcript of the producers publicity
material, my comments appear at the end. 

The Other Side:  A Virtual Reality Arena

Virtual Real Fun

"The Other Side" provides its visitors with never-before- imagined
adventure travel and experiences utilizing the latest in proto-typical
and state-of-the-art technology. This technology creates an unlimited
"theme park" of simulated adventures and virtually real experiences.
At "The Other Side", the method may be simulated - but the experience
is real! 

"The Other Side: A Virtual Reality Arena", the world's first Virtual
Reality Theme Park, opened its doors on August 15 at the World Trade
Center Boston. Produced by the World Trade Center Boston and
Entertainment Properties, Inc. or Orlando, Florida, "The Other Side",
brings together the state-of-the- art in interactive entertainment,
motion simulators, virtual reality attractions and dazzling special
effects. In this 25,000 square foot high technology attraction,
visitors will embark upon the adventure of a lifetime: flying through
narrow western canyons, landing a Navy F-14 jet on a flight deck,
shooting white water rapid, driving a race car, facing virtual enemies
while prowling through futuristic worlds and more. 

"The Other Side" marks the first time in the world that leading-edge
vendors of computer-enhanced entertainment attractions will gather to
showcase their technologies to the public and engage in
ground-breaking technological competition. "The Other Side" features
the public introduction of Omni Film's top-of-the-line "Freedom 6"
motion simulator theatre, Iwerks "Reactor" high definition video
motion simulator ride, and the first New England appearance of the
Chameleon centrifugal force based simulator. 

"The Other Side" also showcases Horizon's Virtuality attractions,
Mandala blue screen technology, and CrystalEYES, technologies which
immerse the visitor into a virtual environment. 

"The Other Side" features cutting-edge special effects. Visitors are
enveloped within a pulsing environment of light, sound and video. An
intermittent laser show will energize the Virtual Street with dazzling
displays of 3D images, brilliant colors and dancing ray of light
choreographed with music and video images. 

Also located along the Virtual Street is the Joy Styx Arcade, a
virtual game room which brings together the latest technology in
virtual racing and holographic video along with the most innovative
mix of specialty video games in the market. 

Bits + Bytes, "The Other Side" futuristic food court, will serve
creative food and libations in an atmosphere of virtually real fun. 

"The Other Side" brings together some of the top design and production
talent in the industry. 

Show designer and President of Entertainment Properties, Inc., Hugh
Darley, is known world-wide for his theme park and attraction design
work for ITEC Productions and Disney. 

The set and props are by Cinnabar, Hollywoods largest prop, set and
dressing shop, specializing in the building of sets for major movies,
prime time commercials and amusement parks. 

Image Engineering, a world leader in the laser entertainment industry,
designed the laser show. 

Soundelux, the award-winning company that specializes in sound
production for feature films, television and commercials, designed the
sound system. 

The specialty lighting is by Stage Front Presentation Systems, which
specializes in the design of specialty lighting systems for theatres,
museums and theme attractions. 

Laser Vision/The Virtual Street

"The Other Side" will feature the cutting edge in special effects,
offering a pulsing environment of lighting, laser show and video
displays. Guests will be immersed in a virtual street - Virtuopolis.
Every thirty minutes, a laser show will energize the environment while
creating dazzling displays of 3D images, brilliant colors and dancing
rays of light choreographed with music and video displays. "The Other
Side" will envelop the visitor in an electronic environment of video
TV, computer generated graphics and music video images reflecting off
video towers and large format screens located above the Virtual
Street, creating an ever-changing virtual ceiling. 

The Producers

Entertainment Properties, Inc. is a privately held corporation
specializing in the conceptualization, development and management of
mass attendance themed entertainment and amusement projects.
Headquartered in Orlando, Florida, Entertainment Properties is headed
by founders Jason Blain and Hugh Darley. 

The World Trade Center Boston, a convention center located on the
Boston waterfront, is a joint venture between Fidelity Investments,
the global financial services company which manages over $200 billion
in assets, and The John Drew Company, developer of Great Woods, the
nation's most successful outdoor music amphitheater. The World Trade
Center Boston has previously produced The World of Dinosaurs, a family
entertainment show featuring robotic, life-sized dinosaurs. the World
of Dinosaurs has been seen by over 1 million visitors in Boston,
Puerto Rico and Taiwan. 

                         ###

The publicity brochure also includes single paragraph descriptions of
Omni Film' Freedom 6 simulator, the Iwerks Reactor simulator, the
Chameleon interactive centrifuge, CrystalEyes 3D glasses, the Mandala
system, Virtuality, the Joy Styx Arcade, and the Bits + Bytes
Restaurant ("...a futuristic food court serving creative food and
libations in an atmosphere of virtually real fun.  Distinguished by
its high tech materials and striking design, the Bar is accented with
video displays and animatronic figures...Bits + Bytes offers quick
serve meals and snacks to the hungry Other Siders on the move." 

A Few Comments -

The entire Arena is being staged in a domed "bubble", the implication
being "The Other Side" could be transported around the country to
fairs and malls to introduce the VR theme park concept to audiences
nationally and eventually internationally.  Discussions are underway
for a tour of five cities after the present engagement in Boston. 

The Producers see "The Other Side" as a work-in-progress. They will
evaluate drawing power of various attractions, make changes in
lighting and sound design and fine tuning the entire experience by
offering time-of-day specific events such as family oriented themes
during the day, and young adult modes in the evening. 

"The Other Side" combines elements of an old-fashioned carnival
midway, "Tomorrows Realities/Machine Culture at SIGGRAPH, the
Exploratorium in San Francisco, the Consumer Electronics Show in Las
Vegas and in the tradition of Barnum and Bailey... 

...offers a multi-sensory experience that many people will find worth
the price of admission.  At any rate, REND 386 and a Power Glove its not. 

Michael Joly

From:	US1RMC::"[email protected]" "MAIL-11 Daemon" 23-FEB-1994 01:57:28.38
To:	[email protected]
CC:	
Subj:	Presence

Date: Mon, 21 Feb 94 11:58:25 -0800
From: Professor Michael J. Zyda

PRESENCE: The Application of Virtual Environments to Architecture, 
          Building and Large Structure Design 
          Call for Participation

PRESENCE, the premier journal of teleoperation and virtual
environments, is doing a special issue on virtual environments and
teleoperation for architectural design and construction of art
objects. We are interested in papers on the following topics: 

     -- Design of virtual spaces and objects.
     -- Urban design and redesign.
     -- Virtual structure prototyping.
     -- Walkthrough systems for all types of structures (buildings,
        submarines, nuclear power plants ...) 
     -- Novel interfaces for walkthrough systems.
     -- Software architectures for walkthrough systems.
     -- Piping, wiring and duct layout in a virtual environment.
     -- Virtual environments as tools for architects.
     -- Virtual environments as products.
     -- Case studies on differences between virtual and old-style design.
     -- Working industrial virtual environments.
     -- Landscape design.
     -- Replanning "stressed areas" - virtual environments utilized for
        planning reconstruction after earthquakes, fires, floods, & riots.

We have the complete issue to fill, which means we desire traditional
research papers, lab reviews, and what's happening submissions. 

PRESENCE is the premier journal of teleoperation and virtual environments.

Manuscripts should be in 12 point type, using double spaced pages for
all text, including references. 

Manuscripts are accepted for consideration with the understanding that
they represent original material and are not being considered for
publication elsewhere. 

          Architecture & Design Papers:
          Ken Kaplan
          Graduate School of Design,  Room 221
          Harvard University
          48 Quincy Street
          Cambridge,  MA 02138
          Tel.  (617) 495-4857
          Email : [email protected]

          Computer Science, Computer Graphics Flavor Papers:
          Michael Zyda
          Naval Postgraduate School
          Code CS/Zk, Dept. of Computer Science
          Monterey, California 93943-5100
          (408) 656-2305 (work)
          (408) 656-2814 (fax)
          Email: [email protected]

          Other Papers:
          Zulfiquar Hyder, PRESENCE
          MIT
          77 Massachusetts Avenue
          Room 36-747
          Cambridge, MA 02139
          Tel. (617) 253-8500
          (617) 859-8506 Home
          Fax. (617) 258-7003
          Email: [email protected]

We are NOT willing to review faxed submissions. Please attach an
electronic mail address to which receipt acknowledgment can be sent. 

Paper submission deadline: We are flexible but we would like to have
an indication that you are working on a paper by 15 March 1994, with the
first draft of your paper to the editors by 31 March 1994. 

% ====== Internet headers and postmarks (see DECWRL::GATEWAY.DOC) ======
% Date: Tue, 22 Feb 1994 14:48:43 -0800
% From: Phil Agre <[email protected]>
% To: [email protected]
% Reply-To: [email protected]