8Bit/Digi
An Insight for Bay Area Gamers
The Resident Evil Anniversary Tour started in San Francisco on September 15 in front of The Yard. Fans gathered to experience the next stage of the iconic horror series in VR while also making new friends and learning more about the game.
Resident Evil 20th Anniversary Tour started in San Francisco on September 15 in front of The Yard at Mission Rock. The location is across from AT&T Park along with a few minutes away from Bay Area office of Capcom.
The truck had not arrived yet but before 11:00am, almost 40 fans had gathered to experience Resident Evil 7 in VR. Q102-SF was also present to promote the event while hosting a special raffle and provide some musical entertainment. The line started in front of the truck and went all the way down to Terry S. Francois St.
Many in the crowd had either taken the day-off from work to experience Resident Evil 7 in VR or noticed the event and came over to check it out. Almost everyone in the VR line were Resident Evil fans who had congregated to experience the next stage of this iconic series. The biggest surprise at the event were a few fans from competitor UbiSoft who had come by to check out the game (they asked not to use their names for this article).
Fans could either experience the Lantern demo with PlayStation VR or compete in a game of Resident Evil 4, 5, and 6. Even though of the attention was focused on the RE7‘s VR experience, several fans did decide to test their skills with the other games.
Despite the high anticipation, there were a few hiccups when setting up the event and the line to play the game in PlayStation VR was moving way too slow. Due to the time, I was unable to play the Lantern demo in VR but those who did have highly praised the experience.
“This is the scariest game I have ever played and no movie comes close to terror I experienced,” said Chris Li.
“I played the demo expecting maybe a few cheap jump scares but instead it was one of the most scariest games I’ve experienced in a long time,” said Tim Ryan, a long time of the series. “Now I need to play it in VR to get the true horror experiences.”
Several fans from the Resident Evil Ambassador program were also present to help promote the event. Joe Rivera, Siike Donnelly, Alex Liam, and Dominik Chraca were among the lucky few who were invited by Capcom to help build support for Resident Evil 7. All of them would vouch that the Lantern demo presented a frighting experience the was made even better by the PlayStation VR.
Resident Evil 20th Anniversary Tour will continue to following cities while times and dates will be made available soon;
* Eugene, OR
* Butte, MT
* Salt Lake City, UT
* Cheyenne, WY
* Denver, CO
* Wichita, KS
* Omaha, NE
* Des Moinse, IA
* Sioux Falls, SD
* Minneapolis, MN
* Milwaukee, WI
* DeKalb, IL
* Fort Wayne, IN
* Ann Arbor, MI
* Cleveland, OH
* Syracuse, NY
* East Brunswick, NJ
* Richmond, VA
* Raleigh, NC
* Columbia, SC
* Gardendale, AL
* Louisville, KY
* St. Louis, MO
* Little Rock, AR
* Oklahoma City, OK
* South Lake, TX
* Albuquerque, NM
* Flagstaff, AZ
* Henderson, NV
* San Luis Obispo, CA
Resident Evil 7: Biohazard will be the eleventh game in the iconic series and it’s set to be released on January 24th, 2017 for all major consoles and the PC. The story will focus on a new character named Ethan as he searches for his missing wife at a derelict plantation.
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Stan Rezaee is the founder and Editor of 8Bit/Digi. He is a journalist and gamer from the Bay Area who has been writing about the medium for over five years.
Damn you tell us this now, I was in SF today and would have loved to play RE in VR.
Was waiting at the back of the line from 12 to 2, Capcom should next time not hire a bunch of stoners.
I was there since 11 and I did not even get to play the VR demo or get a poster, so poorly organized and the staff were just a bunch of shit bag stoners.
I think this Resident Evil will be a new storyline, with a new horror just like Resident Evil 4, im wondering what kind of horror will be this time?
The VR Experience was amazing! The staff inside talked me thru the demo after getting stuck at a few scenes which was helpful. Overall im impressed by the VR and preordered the new Resident Evil.
Good job!