Atari's cofounder Nolan Bushnell is taking on virtual reality with Modal VR, a new startup he created with Modal tech inventor Jason Crawford, who will serve as the startup's chief executive.
Bushnell and Crawford join many who are keen on the VR space, as Oculus, HTC and Valve, Sony and scads of others have populated the market already. It's only fitting that a renowned video game company would insert itself in a rapidly growing industry. Atari roused the electronic entertainment industry beginning in the 1970s with their massive hit Pong and the classic Atari 2600 system, more than 30 million units of which were sold.
Three years ago Crawford was lugging "App Wars," a show he'd aimed to get greenlit. On the set, he met with Bushnell, whom he intends to be one of panel of judges for the app-development game show.
The show couldn't make it past the pilot, since the climate for getting television shows picked up is highly unstable. Yet, a new prospect had done away with the lethargy. Crawford pitched Bushnell an idea for a new virtual reality company. The industry three years ago was undoubtedly nascent, and only a few key players littered the scene, causing very marginal vibrations, a near-obscure state at the time for the technology.
Bushnell officially partnered with Modal VR just a year ago, but Modal VR had been hacking away for much longer, harboring its sizable share of failures as it waded forward.
For Crawford, the trigger was when Oculus Rift showed up on Kickstarter, spawning a subsequent heightened interest for the technology. VR isn't new. Or at least, the premise of a head-mounted display had long been developed, stretching as far as decades ago. Despite this, it was dispensable at the time since ideas on how to take advantage of it, and public interest were minute.
When Crawford saw the campaign for Oculus Rift, he knew that the timing was right for VR to reenter the scene.
"I think this is going to be huge and I want to be a part of it," said Bushnell.
You'd expect Modal VR to largely commit to gaming, having Bushnell as the foremost commonsensical indication of such. Its technology appears more than able to jostle with its contemporaries in the gaming aspect, but the company is branding itself as "for business," likely because Modal VR bypasses the single-player limitation of these headsets. It's aimed at many users at once.
Modal VR will support multiple users simultaneously, sporting a full body tracking affair, playable in a virtual playground that goes up to 900,000 square feet. Free, undisruptive moment is the most notable feature with Modal VR, and likely what'll propel it upward, even past other headsets limited in a gaming experience that's seated.
Freedom to move will benefit applications like house tours, previsualization or special effects for film productions or military training. Modal VR says their platform will support tools like Unity and Unreal so developers won't have to undergo a different learning curve. They'll feel right at home with Modal VR.
Modal VR says that it will ship developer units shortly. Aimed at businesses, Modal VR isn't shaping up to be targeted for consumers, at least for now. The company says that the equipment is highly expensive, and it plans to sell it to other companies.
No word on specs, exact cost, apps in development or specific details about the developer program. When it breaks, expect due coverage.
