TOKYO: As preparations for the 2025 World Exposition in Osaka pick up pace with just under one year to go before its opening, some private-sector businesses taking part in the event are planning to offer visitors a taste of evolving entertainment featuring virtual space and cutting-edge technologies.
Nippon Life Insurance Co. has developed a virtual version of the popular Game of Life board game.
The major Japanese life insurer plans to install large light-emitting diode displays in its exhibition booth, and around 20 to 30 players will spin the roulette wheel on dedicated devices.
As images on the four LED display images surrounding the player–on the right side, left side, front and floor–change depending on the number shown on the roulette wheel, players will get a feeling that they are moving along the spaces inside the game.
The players move through the game by collecting points, although the points represent not only sums of money but also other factors, such as health condition.
Just like in the real board game, players are required to make decisions at various important stages of their lives, such as choosing a career and buying a house.
However, unlike the board game, in which players compete to become a billionaire, the virtual game features events that require players to cooperate and gives each player a simulated experience of their own, original life story.
“We’re going to incorporate both ‘play’ and ‘learn’ by finding the right balance between the two elements” in the Expo exhibition, a Nippon Life official said.
Among other companies, the Panasonic group led by Panasonic Holdings Corp. will apply leading-edge sensor and video technologies to its pavilion named “The Land of Nomo,” where children can wander into a new world to experience the process of cultivating imagination and creativity required in manufacturing.
From the gaming industry, Bandai Namco Holdings Inc. is planning to display exhibits in the theme of its “Mobile Suit Gundam” popular Japanese television anime series.
While details have yet to be unveiled, companies taking part in the Expo are striving to create a space that can be enjoyed by all generations by integrating state-of-the-art technology with entertainment.
The Expo in the western Japan city will be held for six months from April 13, 2025, on Yumeshima, a man-made island in Osaka Bay.
JIJI Press