The most realistic video game simulator ever built

#1

Post by wayneyeager » Mon, Oct 31, 2011, 3:14 AM UTC

The most realistic video game simulator ever built
singularityhub.com

Re: The most realistic video game simulator ever built

#2

Post by arkitaip » Mon, Oct 31, 2011, 3:39 AM UTC

Absolutely brilliant. It's this sort of stuff that might bring back the old arcade as this system is too expensive for home owners.

Re: The most realistic video game simulator ever built

#3

Post by spydum » Mon, Oct 31, 2011, 4:00 AM UTC

arkitaip wrote: post #2

Absolutely brilliant. It's this sort of stuff that might bring back the old arcade as this system is too expensive for home owners.

Are you kidding, at $650k, that's too expensive for arcade owners (do those still exist besides collectors?).

Re: The most realistic video game simulator ever built

#4

Post by bradleyland » Mon, Oct 31, 2011, 12:57 PM UTC

arkitaip wrote: post #2

Absolutely brilliant. It's this sort of stuff that might bring back the old arcade as this system is too expensive for home owners.

At an investment of $650k just for the simulator, and assuming you'd like to make that back in a year -- which is kind of a long cycle for video game content that gets stale quickly -- the operator would have to charge about $300/hr for access. This assumes they could sell 6 hours a day for 365 days, which is so overly optimistic it's laughable. At $600/hr, you might see the light at the end of the tunnel at a year, but who is going to pay that kind of rate outside of the DoD?

Re: The most realistic video game simulator ever built

#5

Post by wayneyeager » Mon, Oct 31, 2011, 4:32 PM UTC

bradleyland wrote: post #4

arkitaip wrote: post #2

Absolutely brilliant. It's this sort of stuff that might bring back the old arcade as this system is too expensive for home owners.

At an investment of $650k just for the simulator, and assuming you'd like to make that back in a year -- which is kind of a long cycle for video game content that gets stale quickly -- the operator would have to charge about $300/hr for access. This assumes they could sell 6 hours a day for 365 days, which is so overly optimistic it's laughable. At $600/hr, you might see the light at the end of the tunnel at a year,…

I suspect there are some whopping economies of scale to be had here, though. This was a one-off and prototypes do tend to be expensive.

BTW, I'll bet 2/3 the cost was that military-grade omnidirectional treadmill. Mass-produce that and you're back into the realm of possibility.