Second wind for 3D-yacht crew

By ADAM GIFFORD

A computer gaming team is helping to relaunch sports data visualisation company Virtual Spectator International in time for the next America's Cup.

Virtual Spectator's new chief executive, Darren Green, brought the team onboard from his previous company, Liquid Edge, creator of online robotic fighting game RoboForge.

Green says the 3D engine in the next version of the Virtual Spectator yachting coverage will be based on those used in computer games, making it more scalable and adaptable to other sports.

"We are now approaching our 3D technology as a reusable product, whereas previously the company has used purpose-built engines, which is very much the TV animation way of doing things."

The new staff replace some who have been made redundant or moved back to Dunedin's Animation Research. The original Virtual Spectator, now in liquidation, grew out of a joint venture between Animation Research and Auckland interactive media company Terabyte to take some of the television graphic work that Animation was doing for the America's Cup and put it on the internet.

After the last regatta, it went looking for other sports to bring to the web, spending about $15 million of investors' money along the way.

When those investors, including listed venture fund IT Capital, refused to spend any more, IT entrepreneur Neville Jordan's Endeavour Capital bought the assets and contracts, leaving the debts behind.

The purchase price is believed to be less than $1 million. Final settlement is not until after the regatta.

"We have got a second chance, a second wind with the America's Cup," says Green, who designed and implemented manufacturing and financial systems before his foray into games.

Virtual Spectator lost $4.7 million last year. Operating revenue was $800,000, of which $44,786 came from subscriptions.

Revenue in 2000 was $2.37 million, mostly from subscriptions and sponsorship for its Cup viewer. The company lost $3.19 million.

The new crew will want to make a profit from "pay per play" - which Green has already done with RoboForge, where more than 4000 people have paid US$19.95 ($41) each to build robots online and enter them in tournaments.

Green says rather than chasing every bit of business, the new company is concentrating on web-based animations for America's Cup yachting and the World Rally championship. It also has rights to audio feeds for the Cup.

"It will be a much more immersive and live experience. We are trying to make the 3D experience a lot more interactive."

Animation Research owns an exclusive licence from Virtual Spectator for television-based animations for the America's Cup, cricket and golf.

Work to provide pay-per-view concerts for fans of English band Simply Red stalled when the band stopped touring after the September 11 attacks, and a contract to provide soccer game animations via the web for Manchester United fans has also been set aside.

Green says that because Virtual Spectator's technology has many applications, there is a risk of pursuing too many leads. One of the tasks for the new crew is to make it easier to build prototypes for new sports or events.

"We are making our technology more generic and more agile - we are trying to turn our development tool set into a product so we can license it out as well as make it easier for us to address new business opportunities."

"We are moving [the Virtual Spectator viewer] away from being a specific data visualisation tool to being more of an information portal so we offer more value, particularly to sports."

Green says Virtual Spectator is now a widely recognised brand around the Cup, making it easier to get well-paying sponsors.

The costs of taking part are also more realistic this time, with data costs from the boats a tenth of the last regatta.