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Oculus Rift joins the Chuck E. Cheese cast
Ah, Chuck E. Cheese. Where a kid can be a kid and a giant rat runs around your table while you eat. A giant singing rat. And now it has Oculus Rift virtual reality headsets, too. Chuck E. Cheese is adding Oculus Rift to its restaurants with the Chuck E. Cheese's Virtual Ticket Blaster Experience, starting today with locations in Dallas, and later this month in San Diego and Orlando. The Virtual Ticket Blaster puts a 3D Chuck E. (that's the big rodent) in the ticket-collecting tube with the lucky birthday kid. "Kids today have unprecedented access to game consoles and tablets," CEC Entertainment President Roger Cardinale says. "Our challenge is to deliver an experience not available at home, and there is no doubt virtual reality does just that. Oculus Rift technology is the next frontier in the gaming industry, and we're thrilled to be able to say it's part of the Chuck E. Cheese's lineup." Following Facebook's $2 billion acquisition of Oculus Rift, we'll take "Chuck E. Cheese integration" as another sign that the mainstream entertainment industry is ready for virtual reality. See how the Virtual Ticket Blaster works in the video below. [Image: CEC]
Oculus Rift is coming to... Chuck E. Cheese's?
Sure, a spin in the ol' ticket grabber machine on your birthday can be fun, but trying to capture the small pieces of paper as they whiz by your head? That's a lot of work. Luckily, Chuck E. Cheese's is offering a new, less physical way to reach prize station glory using Oculus Rift. The pizza party giant is offering a "Virtual Ticket Blaster Experience" at parties for the guest of honor that uses the VR headset to simulate the high-speed grabbing experience.
The Queue: Where a kid can be a kid
Welcome back to The Queue, the daily Q&A column in which the WoW Insider team answers your questions about the World of Warcraft. Alex Ziebart will be your host today. In today's edition of The Queue we discuss Titan, Bolvar as the Lich King, how mages are cheaters, and more. Sturmovic asked: Will WoW Insider cover Titan as well as WoW when it comes out?
Chuck E. Cheese's Party Games announced for DS and Wii
You know, some people just don't get it. When you're 36 and you like to hang at the Chuck E. Cheese's, people get the wrong idea. They think because you've got a big, bushy beard, trench coat and some fresh Ray-Bans on, you're hanging around with offensive, illegal activities in mind. Since when is it a crime to love the ball pit? Skee-Ball should be something we all can enjoy at any age, right? Thanks to UFO Interactive, you don't have to worry about dirty looks from parents and possible incarceration any longer, as the publisher is lining up a pair of titles for the DS and Wii. Chuck E. Cheese's Party Games will feature 18 different mini-games -- starring Chuck and his friends, natch -- and various unlockable videos and prizes. Sadly, UFO Interactive doesn't have any media on either game at this time, but in the meanwhile why not just sit back, close your eyes and imagine playing in a ball pit that isn't a cesspool of germ-carrying kids wrist-deep in their nostrils? Ahh, that's the good stuff!
Atari founder Nolan Bushnell to keynote LA Games Conference
The man created both Pong and Chuck E. Cheese's pizza, so you'll have to forgive us if we take pause whenever Nolan Bushnell opens his bearded maw. The Atari founder is slated to take the stage at next week's LA Games Conference, and will offer his thoughts on the current crop of consoles as well as where he believes the industry is headed. Straight into the nearest uWink, no doubt.Bushnell is just one of several speakers pegged to headline the event, which will include additional keynotes from PopCap top dog David Roberts, Qualcomm exec Mike Yuen and Benchmark Capital partner Mitch Lasky. The event is scheduled for April 28-29 at the Hollywood Roosevelt Hotel in LA, and should make for an interesting primer for E3's media bombardment in June.
Nolan Bushnell on the rise of advertising and the casual game
Nolan Bushnell, who bootstrapped the entire video game industry with Computer Space, Pong and the Atari 2600, later went on to found Chuck E. Cheese and several other ventures, has the solution for expanding the size of the gaming market. Casual games, everywhere. And how to pay for them? 30 second ad spots -- commercials, just like the ones on television or before movies. And he can target these ads better than ever. Are ad-supported games the wave of the future? In your MMO of choice five years from now, will a shampoo ad run whenever you ding? And by then, will you even mind? Gamasutra interviews Nolan Bushnell about casual games, targeted advertising, and the death of the hardcore gamer.
Pong creator Nolan Bushnell to enter MMO space
The man many call 'the Father of Videogames' -- as he is responsible for founding Atari and creating Pong -- Nolan Bushnell was recently interviewed by GameSpot at this year's GDC. The piece reads along smoothly enough, with Bushnell offering up his opinion on the marginalization of game arcades since the 80s, how to monetize casual games, and the importance of socialization.On this line of questioning, GameSpot asks 'Do you have anything in massively multiplayer games?' After a long pause, Bushnell confirms he does with a single 'yes', but reveals no further details, saying intriguingly ' ... as compelling as World of Warcraft is, it too shall find that there are other ways to play a game.'It's a given that he knows a lot about the industry, but that's not necessarily a quality guaranteed to create a fun game. However, he does know quite a bit about creating social spaces, which could be a big advantage in designing an MMO. What do you think, could something interesting come from Nolan Bushnell?
Today's most freakin' sweet video: Family Guy, Clinton and DDR
"Hey, do you remember the time I went to Chuck E. Cheese with former president William Jefferson Clinton?"Bill Clinton, Chuck E Cheese and Dance Dance Revolution. O, those manatees doth weave a clever tale. Game site 1P Start proves how fast the internet works by already having this clip from last night's Family Guy uploaded and blogged.We laugh, but only because we can see the actual former U.S. President Bill Clinton playing DDR. Maybe not to an Aqua song, but perhaps .59 or Afronova. Video embedded after the break.
Atari founder praises 360. PS3? Not so much
In a short interview with Red Herring, Nolan Bushnell, founder of Atari and Chuck E. Cheese, speaks his mind about the next generation of gaming. He makes the comment that he likes Xbox Live because it may become the "platform for the living room." With Live gaining more and more functionality, we're hard-pressed to argue. He further praises the Xbox 360 while simultaneously denigrating the PS3. When asked about Sony's strategy, he replies that "Sony shot themselves in the foot," and that "the price point is probably unsustainable."Bushnell believes that Microsoft's easy to use development tools and the extra money to be made on Live will ultimately be what separates the 360 from the PS3."For years and years Sony has been a very difficult company to deal with from a developer standpoint. They could get away with their arrogance and capriciousness because they had an installed base. They have also historically had horrible software tools. You compare that to the Xbox 360 with really great authoring tools [and] additional revenue streams from Xbox live... a first party developer would be an idiot to develop for Sony first and not the 360. People don't buy hardware, they buy software."While we agree with many of Bushnell's points -- we are fanboys, after all -- we're not as eager to agree that the PS3 will outright fail. According to Bushnell:"It would not surprise me if a year from now they'll be struggling to sell 1 million units. I think in the U.S. the number of early adopters you have is actually around 300,000."Bold claims to make about a company with one of the largest brands on the planet. Then again, there may not even be 300,000 PS3s to be had.[Thanks, Vic]See Also:UWink: Chuck E. Cheese for Adults
