Virtually exploring Macau

With ‘Now You See Me: Back to Macau’ being launched as the first major hidden-object video game designed specifically for virtual reality (VR), a local VR developer believes the same technology can be used to develop games with the city as a background.
The game, based on the ‘Now You See Me’ film franchise owned by Lionsgate, was developed by the United States mobile VR gaming developer Side-Kick VR, and made available on Samsung Gear VR, with plans to make the game available later this month on two Google developed headsets – Google Cardboard and Daydream.
For Fernando Pereira, Operations Director of Virtualmente – a digital studio based in Portugal and Macau – mapping the city’s geography virtually could be used in the future to develop games that allow the exploration of the city.
Virtualmente is currently developing an immersive VR tourist guide for Macau, a concept promoted by the Macao Government Tourism Office (MGTO), with Mr. Pereira saying the project could “still take some months”.
“We’ve found some technical difficulties in the video development, but it’s progressing. We haven’t decided if it will be a stand-alone project or if we can make a partnership with Andrew Scott from High Life and World Gaming Magazine (WGM) to maybe do a collaboration, since he also wanted to develop a Macau guide. His company has already developed an application to find attractions in Macau, while ours is focused more on exploring the city before visiting,” Mr. Pereira told Business Daily.
According to a report by Statista, the market for head-mounted VR displays is estimated to generate sales of US$5 billion (MOP40.07 billion) in 2017.