Oculus VR’s “Arcade” App Brings Nostalgic Gaming to VR
Mainstream consumer VR cares not just about what they want or need to see, it’s also about the virtual environment they enter to experience it. In an attempt to enhance the overall VR user experience just as good as the content itself, Oculus VR takes one step further by introducing a classic way to play games in virtual reality.
Oculus Arcade is Oculus VR’s latest development that attempts to introduce a classic twist on how we experience legacy games in virtual reality. By introducing a retro-style virtual gaming environment, the user can take his pick from the most well-known arcade titles in recent history and play them as if the user was in a classic gaming arcade from the 80’s. Each game is presented in an arcade cabinet, and the virtual buttons and joystick actually move when you play the game with your bluetooth controller.
Oculus Arcade lets you play a number of original classic arcade titles from Sega, Midway, and Bandai Namco. Every gaming title lets you play for 20 minutes, and after that you will need to pay as much as $2.99 to own a title for good. Hitting the Gear VR store, Oculus Arcade transports you into arcade gaming with 21 original titles including classics like Joust (1982), Pac-Man (1980), and Galaga (1981). The release of the app comes as a general update to the Gear VR platform in preparation for the first consumer-level Gear VR headset set to launch later this month. As it turns out, virtual reality is a cutting-edge technology used to bring nostalgia in the present time by recreating the classic gaming environments we loved. Sooner, VR will be used as the piece of tech to bring a modern twist on gaming classics.
However, Oculus Arcade is initially available with a solo-player mode: there’s no multiplayer mode – yet. But hopes are high since Oculus VR is also working on Oculus Social, a multi-user VR app which allows up to 5 virtual people to simultaneously experience watching content on a virtual environment.
Oculus Arcade is a step closer to recreating the classic arcade gaming feel, bringing a nostalgic twist on how we experience gaming today. With the development of VR haptics and other physical simulation techniques in VR such as smell recognition, realistic arcade gaming in VR is just around the corner.
For more information on Oculus Arcade, please visit the following websites:
http://www.engadget.com/2015/09/24/oculus-arcade-brings-pac-man-and-other-classics-to-vr/
http://www.techtimes.com/articles/105367/20151112/oculus-arcade-lets-you-play-pacman-and-other-classic-arcade-games-in-virtual-reality.htm
http://www.wareable.com/oculus-rift/apps-games-streaming-video-vr-headset-1737
