Notes

VRcade - Virtual Reality Arcades Could be the Future
As someone that's passionate about the video game industry and the technological advancement of video gaming I often wonder in what the future holds for the global gaming community. Having an endless list of options and possibilities the simple truth is the could go in virtually any direction. I have written with this blog recently about Virtual Reality, its applications and limitations and I truly believe that Virtual Reality is where the video game industry is naturally heading. Gamers are seeking a far more immersive experience when it comes to gaming, that is evident with releases from the three game giants Nintendo, Microsoft and Sony by means of the Wiimote, Project Natal and the Sony Motion Controller (yet to be officially named). I really believe these control systems are simply the beginning in the industry's search for a fully immersive video game experience and we can expect some much bigger developments down the road. Our desire for an immersive gaming experience comes from an inner have to escape from the stress and worries of real life and the necessity to add spice to our lives with adventure, video games can offer that and I really believe will provide that to some extent.

Although Virtual Reality is not a new technology I really believe it will produce a revolution in the gaming industry and provide a complete new era of development. The reason we're not seeing it emerge on the market yet is down to the enormous cost to implement the technology and for this reason I believe that gaming arcades will experience a revival. Even in the future the expense of Virtual Reality will obviously reduce however the price will still be significant so it is unlikely we'll visit a full home application for Virtual Reality for quite a while. I believe this can bring about in what I like to call the VRcade (most likely not a genuine name), a gaming arcade arranged in booths kitted out with the equipment required for an immersive gaming experience where in fact the customers pay per hour to use a Virtual Reality simulation booth. Imagine combining technologies like the omni-directional treadmill, voice recognition, motion sensors and Virtual Reality and applying them to a VR booth in the conceptual VRcade. You'd have almost a completely immersive gaming experience where you could walk, run or crawl in a virtual environment and also speak and interact with computer generated characters. You can even interact and talk with real life characters in the virtual environment by networking the VR booths.

This concept may seem generations away but simply by looking at Xbox's upcoming control system Project Natal you can see that already a lot of the technologies necessary for the virtual reality experience is there. Voice recognition has been developed to a sophisticated stage, motion sensor technology is now highly advanced and computer graphics have reached an even where they're close to photorealism. https://click4r.com/posts/g/10251013/ comes down to cost of implementation and the period of time and money it could take to create a new gaming platform of the magnitude and apply it to video game arcades. It would be a large gamble to take a project of this description on which gaming experience obviously wouldn't be available to everyone because the VRcades would have to be located in areas with a high population density to be profitable.


It is highly unlikely that we'll see anything like this being developed in the immediate future but I believe VR technology could be the savior of the gaming arcade and will offer an experience far more advanced than the one you can get from the home console or computer. Eventually I'm sure VR will fully integrate itself into the home and advancements in technology will provide an experience similar to the VRcade but I imagine a fully immersive VR system for your bedroom is decades away and that is a whole different article to create. I shall be keeping a close eye on VR technology as I'm almost sure that VR may be the inevitable future for the gaming industry.

Homepage: https://click4r.com/posts/g/10251013/