I can see one potential real-word advantage. V8s (etc.) are quite 'long' and take up a lot of space under the bonnet. If you could change the direction of the rockers (and I can't see why not), you could shorten that V8 even more by NOT having 2 banks of 'straight four' (as in a conventiaonal V8) but having , effectively 4 banks of 'straight two'. That would give a shortend block to go with the shortened crankcase.
Lancia did something like the above in their Fulvias and Flavias having the 'straight four' part being really, two banks of 'straight 2' with a slight 'V' betwen them. This shortened the block considerably but still needed an almost conventional length crankcase.
An 'peculiarity' about the motor in the animation was that the middle four pistons are connected to the (2) main conrods on the SIDE of each of those 4 pistons, not the MIDDLE of each piston. That would seem to be placing very peculiar strains on the pistons and a very lop-side wear rate on them and the bores.
Still, what a fascinating concept!
Ian
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