From: stgprao@st.unocal.COM (Richard Ottolini)
Subject: INDUSTRY: Summary of LA Times article on the VR entertainment business
Date: Wed, 3 Mar 1993 18:08:44 GMT
Message-ID: <1993Mar3.180844.15396@unocal.com>
Organization: Unocal Corporation



The 2/28 LA Times ran a three page story on VR in the entertainment
industry called "Playing around in the Future" by J. Weber.
The lead-in say "Virtual Reality games, which put the players into
the action, are on the horizon. Many firms are ready with the
technology, but finding interesting stories is the challange."

Most of the rest of article talks about the current enterprises.
I summarize these below.
There is a picture of Magic Edge's cockpit with Chan and Morris
and a second picture of the Battletech game with Disney, Weissman, and Morris.

COMPANY: Magic Edge
LOCATION: Mountain View
PEOPLE: Donald Morris, founder
	Michael Chan, founder
PRODUCT: Flight simulator pods

COMPANY: Iwerks Entertainment / Showscan
LOCATION: Burbank
PEOPLE: Stan Kinsey, President
ACTIVITY: Cinetropolis VR entertainment centers
WHEN: Autumn 1993

COMPANY: Virtual World Entertainment
LOCATION: Chicago
PEOPLE: Time Disney, grand-nephew of Walt
	Jordan Weissman, founder
	Andrew Messing
ACTIVITY: Battletech, Red Planet games,
	  entertainment centers
[ It is not clear from the article whether Tim has
any access to the "family" products. ]

COMPANY: Hughes Aircraft / Lucas Arts Entertainment
ACTIVITY: defunct
PRODUCT: Mirage simulator pod

COMPANY: VPL Research / MCA
ACTIVITY: defunct

CENTER: Fighter Town
LOCATION: Irvine, CA
ACTIVITY: Has cockpit simulators, $28

COMPANY: Paramount Communications / Edison Brothers
LOCATION: Los Angeles / St. Louis
PEOPLE: Keith Schaefer
	David Fox
ACTIVITY: Star Bases, Star Posts
	  Star Trek theme centers with VR rides

COMPANY: Universal Studios / MCA Recreation Services (Matsushita)
LOCATION: Universal City, CA / FLorida
ACTIVITY: Back to the Future ride
PEOPLE: Terry Winnick, developer

COMPANY: Walt Disney
GROUP: Imaagineers
ACTIVITY: secret

COMPANY: Sony Pictures
LOCATION: Century City / Manhattan
ACTIVITY: urban theme park

COMPANY: Sega
LOCATION: Japan, Singapore, Britain
AACTIVITY: pod rides