Fans of England Rugby will now be able to play against the players that they love. Well, almost. O2 is unveiling a virtual reality game for fans to be able to experience the game up close and personal.
“It’s the only game out there that has had input from England Rugby to create a great experience for fans,” England Rubgy defence coach Paul Gustard said in a statement. “I hope the experience gives rugby fans and novices alike an insight in to the way we train and the amount of hard work that is involved in being an International rugby player.”
This game is a first of its kind because it combines real-life 360-degree video and interactive CGI characters. It also uses Xsense motion capture to provide accurate in-game player movement. Fans are challenged to do virtual drills ranging from scrummaging to tackling to kicking.
In order to prepare for the game, the English team was filmed playing each other with a 360-degree camera. The players also had to wear sensors on their chests, arms, heads and wrists so that their movements could be captured and the characters in the game would be representative of the humans they are based on.
“We put sensors across the bodies of the players and we capture their movements whether that be playing rugby, catching, tackling, scoring a try so that when people are in the virtual world, the movements of these 360 bespoke avatars that we’ve created are totally authentic to the actual players,” M&C Saatchi Sport and Entertainment head of digital Haran Ramachandran said.
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In the game, players invite the fan to join their team and face off against another squad. The viewer sees the game through the eyes of the player he or she is controlling.
Available in 90 O2 stores in England and at Twickenham on match days, the game is compatible with Samsung VR and other VR platforms and will be available for download later this year.