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There's A Virtual Reality Arcade Coming To Los Angeles
A virtual reality arcade is in the works for Los Angeles! Project StarCade is the name of the arcade and it comes by way of VR studio StarBreeze, who made the announcement this past weekend at the VRLA Winter Expo in downtown L.A. Here, instead of pinball and House of the Dead, you'd be playing fresh virtual reality content.
"We continue to iterate the fact that VR really needs to be experienced in person to fully be able to appreciate the phenomenon, and why not have your first experience in a real premium setting in our StarVR headset? We've managed to secure a prime location where people are welcome to step into our StarCade and enjoy our OVERKILL's The Walking Dead VR experience" star Starbreeze CTO Emmanuel Marquez via a release from the studio.
Marquez also said that they're open to also offering content from other developers at the arcade.
I had the opportunity to check The Walking Dead VR experience for myself at the Winter VRLA convention at downtown's L.A. Convention Center on Saturday. Starbreeze had an RV where guests could play the Walking Dead game. This was one of my favorite of the demos I had the chance to experience at the very crowded convention (Survios' Raw Data is a unique co-op game that's worth checking out if you have the chance, too).
Without giving too much away, you begin seated with Starbreeze's unique headset, StarVR, which differs from other headsets in that it uses two screens for a 210-degree view as opposed to a 100-degree view.
As you release your grip on reality and become immersed in the post-apocalypse, you find yourself waking up in a rundown hospital that's definitely seen better days. Soon, you're given a pump-action shotgun—both in VR and in real life—and it's time to move. You're injured, so your fellow survivors are going to have to roll you out of there in a wheelchair. The RV's setup allows you to feel as though the chair is moving as you take off. As you are slowly wheeled down a hallway, you can turn to either side and see inside the rooms as you pass by. To take out the walkers, you need to physically pump the gun each time, and then aim for the head. It's not so complicated that someone who doesn't watch the AMC series wouldn't get what's going on, but it's also fun if you're a fan.
As you can see in this video from VR Scout things get a little dicey.
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For now, the exact location and opening date of Project Starcade has yet to be revealed, but we do know that it should come about sometime in the spring or summer of this year.
Here's a little more about how Starbreeze's StarVR works:
Related: The Future Is Here: We Went To A Virtual Reality Film Festival
A New Virtual Reality Mystery Series Turns You Into A Voyeur
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