When you first think of virtual reality, you might imagine the kind of fictional experiences seen in movies like The Matrix, where your entire body is transported into a digital world. Unfortunately, VR isn’t quite at that stage yet — in fact, it’s very much in its early days, and as a result, there aren’t a great deal of adopters of the technology.
This is where VRPlayin comes into play — one of Toronto’s only “virtual reality arcades” and the largest of its kind in the city. Located at 294 College St. VRPlayin aims to bring the immersive experiences of VR to the general public by making it more affordable and accessible.
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To do this, VRPlayin offers 18 different gaming stations featuring HTC Vive with remotes, with over 30 different playable experiences from all sorts of genres, including:
Action & Combat (Raw Data, The Brookhaven Experiment)
Art & Creativity (MasterpieceVR)
Exploration (Destinations)
Learning & Education (Universe Sandbox 2)
Multiplayer (Smashbox Arena)
Formula One Race Car Driving (Project Cars)
Sports (Baseball)
VRPlayin opened its doors on April 1st, but June 14th marks the official grand opening of the arcade. Prices start from $29 per hour during off-peak hours and go up to $39 during peak hours, with each session giving you an individual booth that you can share with up to two friends. There are group rates as well (you’ll need to book multiple booths if you want to play against friends) and a dedicated party room for those holding a birthday or company event. Snacks and drinks can be purchased as well.
Easy to use
The idea for VRPlayin, says Bryan Bai, company CTO and co-founder, came about when he and his coworkers first got hold of VR headsets themselves. He took note of the sense of awe they showed from the immersive world, and with a background in game development from Sheridan College, among other places, he immediately thought of ways to share the VR experience not just with more hardcore gamers, but to the general public. “The type of people that aren’t familiar with this technology are the ones who should see it the most, as they’d get the most out of it — it’s emotional, it’s a big leap forward,” he says.
“VR technology is fairly new and where we are right now, the industry is in its infancy at the moment,” adds Valerie Blackstock, director of marketing for VRPlayin. “It’s not readily available for the masses. What VRPlayin is trying to do is make VR more accessible to everybody, because it’s quite expensive to purchase this type of technology, it can be very problematic to setup, the type of content that’s out there needs to be properly vetted and curated.”
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“This kind of experience venture is something we think would be a sensible idea to come in and try out, use it as a kind of service, rather than having to worry about buying the headset, buying the computer, buying the games, picking the games,” Bai says.
To see the fruits of their labour, I went hands-on with several games, including The Brookhaven Experiment (a survival horror zombie game) and VR Baseball.
My two personal favourites were Space Pirate Trainer and Blade Shield. The former game places you in a retro, psychedelic Tron-looking world and has you using all kinds of different science-fiction blasters to shoot airborne drones. Play areas were spacious enough that I could freely dodge incoming fire by moving in real life, which made the game even more engaging.
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Source: Mobile Syrup