Little League World Series - Williamsport, PA
Baseball fans are getting the chance to test their skills in the Visionworks Big Hitter VR Game at the 2017 Little League Baseball® World Series this week. The VR game allows fans to walk into a virtual ballpark, step up to the home plate, and hit a homerun with a real baseball bat.
The game was created by Groove Jones, an award winning studio specializing in developing interactive apps and VR experiences for fan engagements.
“We think VR is a great platform for giving baseball fans a real sense of what it feels like to stand out there giving it there best as the swing for the fence,” said Dale Carman, Creative Director at Groove Jones. “The game is great fun. Easy to learn and challenging to master. Just like the real sport.”
Players put on an HTC Vive VR headset which transports them into a ballpark with powerful robotic pitcher, staring down at them from the pitchers mound. In your hands is a real baseball bat, that is being tracked by and sensor attached to the base. This allows you to see the real life physical baseball bat in Virtual Reality. So forget game controllers, this game uses a real bat to hit sliders, knuckleballs, curveballs and fastballs.
The game is sponsored by Visionworks, a leading provider of eye care services with more than 700 retail stores in 42 states and the District of Columbia. They licensed the game from Groove Jones to entertain fans that attend the Little League World Series.
The game is fun, but it also has a message.
The game demonstrates the importance of annual eye exams and protective eyewear for school-aged children, especially those children who play sports. Participants that play the game will see how 1 in 4 children that experience vision problems see the world.
“When your are out on the field and then your vision becomes blurred, it really drives the message home about how important it is to get your vision checked,” said Dale. “You see the ball coming and then wham, you can’t focus. It is really dramatic and reminds you how important good vision is.”
The game tracks the player performance, keeping up with the pitch count, hits and misses.
“We’ve launched VR productions at the Super Bowl, PGA golf tournaments, NASCAR races, and now the Little League World Series,” said Dale. “These baseball fans are loving it and competition is fierce.”
The game will be at the Little League World Series from August 17-27 in Williamsport, PA.
Check out a few of our other fan engagement activations:
NASCAR Fan Experience for Comcast Xfinity
Super Bowl 50 - Kaiser Permanente Fan Experience
Comic-Con - FX Networks American Horror Story Fan Experience
