These new virtual reality roller coasters look incredible
Six Flags and Samsung are partnering on virtual reality roller coaster rides.
Why? So that instead of seeing the steel beams and long lines snaking through the theme parks, riders will think they're in space, fighting aliens or flying through Metropolis with Superman as he kills robots sent by Lex Luthor.
On some of the rides, passengers will even be able to interact with the virtual world by firing weapons.
"This transforms the modern roller coaster into a totally new, one of a kind sensorial experience -- powered by technology," Marc Mathieu, CMO of Samsung Electronics America, said in a statement.
Samsung debuted its first consumer VR headset Late last year, and has been making a heavy push into the space ever since.
The company is giving away the headsets with pre-orders for the new Galaxy S7 and S7 Edge. (The Gear VR relies on a Samsung Galaxy smartphone to work.) Later this year, Samsung will start selling its first-ever 360-degree camera.
The Samsung Gear VR runs on software made by Oculus, which is owned by Facebook (FB, Tech30).
One of the major complaints of the technology is that wearers sometimes feel nausea. That's because the eyes make the brain think the body is moving when the body is actually still.
Syncing the images with roller coaster rides would solve this problem in theory. What remains to be seen is how secure the headsets are and how comfortable they will be to wear on intense rides -- especially after hundreds of people use them, one after the other.
Europa Park in Germany was one of the first theme parks in the world to combine Samsung's VR technology with roller coasters.
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