From Video Game To Virtual Reality: Atari Cofounder Nolan Bushnell Starts Modal VR Company

Just when you think virtual reality (VR) gaming has reached the summit with Oculus Rift, Samsung VR and HTC Vive, Atari's co-founder Nolan Bushnell sets the bar higher with the launch of Modal VR, a company promising to create "an unprecedented VR ecosystem" from the combination of "radically different hardware and complimentary software."

According to its website, Modal VR uses a portable VR system for enterprise that sets up in minutes. What sets it apart is can track multiple users in areas up to 900,000 square feet or even in larger areas, such as theme parks and municipalities.

The system includes a VR Fabricator, which serves as the system unit of a computer. It can connect up to ten users and manage positioning, full-body motion tracking, multi-user interactivity and voice communications. It is connected to the Modal VR Command Center app, running on Mac or PC.

"The wireless portability, full-body tracking and massive play area really allows for compelling experience in and out of the headset. Modal VR has been a great partner in showing the fun of VR," said Shaun Novak, Modal VR senior director of production, on a Businesswire report.

Modal VR lets users not only wear visors but also full-body tracking suits. This brings the VR gaming to the next level as all body articulations can be translated to in-game movements. (You should be excited to try out a Hadouken or Shoryuken in the future.)

Modal VR showed how their VR technology works in its trailer: Player 1 "Hypervolt" and Player 2 "Astramancer" exchange fireballs, create force fields to block damage and summon an energy ball as a finisher.

Engadget, however, reported Modal VR may not be for personal use but placed in arcade stations, which it compared to "a very, very advanced version of the Virtuality rigs from the 1990s."

The technology of Modal VR is still in prototype stage but wills start to ship "beta kits" in the future. The report said an interested player needed only to pay on a per-session basis, and could join multiplayer games which could not be reached with current technology.

The Los Angeles-based company started in 2013 when its CEO Jason Crawford met the founder of Atari - remember "Pong" and "Pac-Man" games? -Bushnell when Crawford was trying to green-light his show "App Wars," according to Techcrunch.com.

"Most normal kids were fans of baseball stars or music stars, but my brother and I were nerds and our heroes were Nolan Bushnell and Steve Wozniak," Crawford said.