All eyes are now on location based virtual reality. Whether in movie theatres or custom arcades, VR installations are seen as an opportunity to will a functioning VR ecosystem into existence. There’s lot of buzz for virtual reality but still far from everyone’s reach, and these are the three reasons why:
- Firstly, it’s too expensive,
- Secondly, there is no room in my house for a good quality VR space,
- Thirdly, most of the games look like demos instead of full games.
These reasons are very valid to not to put your bucks on VR, so it might be a while before we see more casual consumers subsuming VR into their home entertainment setups.
IMAX thinks people usually enjoy the technology when they do try it. The company well known for bringing larger-than-large cinematic imagery into movie theatres soft-opened the IMAX VR experience centre in Los Angeles on Jan 6th. Second location in California with each of these new installation tied to Cineplex chains, setting up either in a revamped movie theatre or in venue lobby.
The LA centre has 14 VR pod’s equipped with a combination of HTC Vive and StarVR headset’s and a selection of titles ranging from Star Wars: Trials on Tatooine to John Wick Chronicle’s, which cost 7$-10$ for around 5-15min’s of play. Considering movie ticket generally cost between 10$-25$ depending on where you live and what kinds of screen you are getting. It’s not a huge bargain by any stretch. IMAX breaks tickets up into two categories. They are featured titles like Trails on Tatooine, Raw Data, and Eagle Flight Multiplayer which partners Ubisoft. The latter game is the exact kind of title that could really show off the potential of IMAX’s VR experience centre. IMAX is clearly doing something right: crafting an entertainment experience that any novice can walk into and enjoy, by removing as much of mess and hassle of modern-day VR as possible.