Vizrt Graphics Put Player in the Game for SEGA’s Live eSports Tournament

Vizrt teamed up with video game supplier SEGA, to be part of a national eSports tournament event in Tokyo, Japan. The tournament, hosted by SEGA, attracted more than 1,000 fans to help introduce its latest card-based strategy arcade game called “Sengoku Taisen.” SEGA employed real-time graphics technology from Vizrt to help keep track of players’ status on large screens located throughout the event hall.

SEGA used a live feed from a Viz Engine to follow four game machines and show players moves and stats in real-time.

Staged over a six-hour period, the SEGA tournament brought together 32 winners of previously held regional rounds. The event used a live feed from a Viz Engine, Vizrt’s real-time graphics and video compositing system, to follow four game machines and show players moves and stats in real-time on a large screen in the exhibit hall. Viz Engine was also connected to a game server in order to retrieve and display interactive statistical data and 3D graphics files. In addition, a plug-in was developed to display an interactive heartbeat of the players as well as their card position on the game board.

“The capability to easily visualize large amounts of data and graphics files makes Viz Engine ideal for the growing e-sports market,” says Petter Ole Jakobsen, Vizrt CTO. “Viz Engine’s versatility allows it to be used in nearly any resolution for any kind of live production. SEGA used this capability to produce a very unique presentation that put the players in the game.”

The theme of the first installment of Sengoku Taisen is “1560: Battle of Okehazama.” Players collect (and trade) special character cards and use them to play the game. When they move cards on an interactive touch-sensitive board, virtual armies move to reflect the positions where they’ve moved, as the board and screen are linked.