Video game arcades are dead… or are they? Virtual reality, once a forgotten relic of the 90‘s is making a huge comeback. In fact, this is a comeback so great, it will change everything and leave nothing untouched. The upheaval is so big, it might just revive video game arcades. There are several companies working on right this minute!
One thing about virtual reality is that it’s expensive nowadays. While it is possible to get into mobile VR fairly cheaply – Google Cardboard being the thriftiest option – true PC (or console) quality costs hundreds of dollars. Room size VR, as it is the case with motion controllers and sensors-packed HTC Vive, is even more expensive and requires to have free space in your apartment to boot. And then you run smack-dab into hardware requirements. Regular games do well by running in the 30-60 frames-per-second rate while only rendering one image. VR games need 90 FPS so as not to make the users sick, as motion sickness is a huge problem for VR. And two images have to be rendered at the same time, to the cumulative effect of needing 6 times the processing power of a regular game! Low polygon models and stylization helps mitigate this, but you still need a beefy machine to run your PC headset.
That’s where arcades find their niche.
CtrlV is one of the first VR arcades outside Asia. Located in Waterloo, Ontario, Canada, it serves people who want to get the HTC Vive experience without having to shell out cash (and move couches) for the real thing. Just like in the arcades of yore, people can pay to play, thus allowing for an easy and early access to real VR. However, their setup is a little more intense than those of arcades. Each gaming area is padded with impact-absorbing foam (no shoes here). Vive’s cable hangs on an assembly of two retractable keyrings, providing easy navigation and keeping players safe from entangling in the wires. The headset’s face foam is protected by a waterproof cover and there are alcohol-free sanitary wipes in each booth to clean it up if you feel the need. The powerful PC towers running the setup are kept out of the way, and the venue has spare controllers in case the ones in use run out of battery charge.
Currently, the biggest issue facing CtrlV is the lack of games accessible for this kind of public consumption, but their menu already has the popular Space Pirate Trainer. The company is also cooperating with Crytek VR and University of Waterloo’s Game Institute. Even more, aspiring VR developers can rent the place after hours to try out their games – the organizers are considering a future payment system where the rent will be free as long as the developer agrees to let CtrlV make the game accessible to their customers.
VRCade, which has a claim to be the world’s first full-body VR arcade, started out as an idea back in the 2010. Way back then, VR was a dirty word that described a dead relic from the 90’s. At first, the founders had a crazy idea for what would basically be Laser Tag 2.0: laser tag in a morphing arena! The original idea was about a room separated into square foot squares, each of them connected to a piston. These bits could then change elevation, changing the room as they went. The idea was discarded because of logistical issues – price, difficulty of operation, health hazards. However, the dream transformed: maybe the room could stay the same, but the players would see it changing through special goggles? This was just a theory until VRCade’s founders found a large-volume optical tracking camera. They set it up in a room in house that was to be torn down, and used some primitive goggles. It wasn’t perfect, but this first demonstration blew their minds. The project grew in complexity, adding weapon tracking and more. After that, VRCade started testing their game out in a chain of arcade restaurants and they’re touring the country collecting data from spontaneous users. Their future seems to be bright, as people are enjoying their VR zombie shooter!
Starbreeze, a video games company well known for the Payday and Riddick titles, is also trying their hand at VR arcade. Their CEO announced the plans to go VR early in 2015, and that confused employees a whole lot. However, they persisted, and the Walking Dead VR demo, running on StarVR glasses and coupled with a motion-captured shotgun and a wheelchair, proved the concept to everyone. Starbreeze launched a VR tour that presented the demo at various geeky events. They were surprised by the attention, by people returning, again and again, to experience it. In the end, this input gave birth to the “Project Starcade” – a VR arcade that Starbreeze is hoping open in Los Angeles this year.
As we can see, the idea of VR arcade is approached from various angles: some are using commercially available hardware and elbow grease to build their venues, others boast of ambitious plans using scratch-built equipment. Either way, with the VR game market democratizing under the influences of free game engines and online model marketplaces, the arcades will have loads of games to run. And we’ll be able to access VR at a fraction of the price!