Samsung, Six Flags Partner on Mixed Reality Roller Coaster Experience

Six Flags Entertainment Corporation and Samsung Electronics America have announced that the companies will continue their on-going collaboration to provide the world's first mixed reality virtual reality roller coaster experience called 'The New Revolution Galactic Attack'. This newly-unveiled experience will be making its debut at company's theme parks Six Flags Magic Mountain (near Los Angeles) and Six Flags Discovery Kingdom (near San Francisco).

Even though Six Flags was already using Samsung's Gear VR headset to offer virtual-reality experiences with its roller coaster, the new experience will make use of the passthrough camera view feature on Samsung Galaxy phones. This feature will allow users to see the real world (including the person seated next to them) along with the virtual reality content from within the headset.

"As riders drop at high speeds, the mixed reality view changes to a completely immersive, virtual reality environment and a fighter spaceship cockpit materializes and envelops the riders into a tunnel of light," a joint release from the companies said. However, this is not all as users will be presented with complex gameplay and will be given scores at the end of the ride on the basis of key decisions taken by them.

"As they get settled into the ride, a heads up display overlay on the passthrough camera view will show data like current status of weaponry, time codes, fuel cells, and a countdown clock. Cresting the lift hill, a massive, swirling wormhole comes into view," the release said. Interestingly, there are three different endings at offer for users.

As the headset is configured to the movements on the ride, users will get an immersive experience through the mixed-reality roller coaster ride. The new ride opens on February 20 at Six Flags Discovery Kingdom and on February 25 at Six Flags Magic Mountain. However paid guests or season pass holders who bring a full bag of non-perishable food items to support local regional food banks will get exclusive access to the ride before it opens for public.

It is hard for the mixed-reality experience offered by this ride to compete with the one offered with augmented reality headsets like Microsoft's Holo Lens but it is clearly an exciting prospect for those who are tired of riding the old-school roller coasters.