Over the past decade, online gaming has exploded in popularity. Today, virtual reality promises to take online gaming to new heights as it delivers an immersive interactive experience to gamers around the world.
VR companies are developing hardware: helmets, sensor gloves, hand controllers, and more. Game developers are increasingly writing software that uses the hardware to give players a more immersive in-game experience. Players encounter realistic simulations of events that could never happen in real life.
While virtual reality is a perfect match for video games, many industries benefit from this technology. For example, online casinos have started offering VR gambling rooms that let players plunge into the world of roulette, slots, poker, and blackjack without leaving their homes.
VR technology has the potential to reshape the online gaming industry. Let’s take a look at VR gaming’s potential and take a tour of virtual reality games that are already available.
Immersive Gaming Experience
Before virtual reality technology, players sat in front of flat screens and controlled characters with their hands. Today’s technology and VR hardware allow players to dive into an immersive and fully personalized experience with a deeper level of engagement. With a VR headset and other gear, players are absorbed into the gaming environment. They can interact with objects and other players in a richer way, playing out their stories in an adventurous new world.
In most traditional gaming, the onscreen perspective is behind or above the player. With VR technology, you feel as if you are seeing the world directly through your character’s eyes.
Types of Games
Gaming content is changing to take advantage of VR technology. Let’s take a quick look at what types of games you can play with virtual reality headsets and how they have evolved from their traditional forms.
First-person Shooter Games
First-person shooter games have always been popular, and VR takes them to a new level. You can experience everything that is happening inside the game more realistically, including visuals and sound effects. Flying bullets, reloading guns, player speech, nature sounds, footsteps, and other elements of the game are rendered realistically through virtual reality hardware.
VR Adventure Games
Virtual reality adventure games let you strap in and disappear from reality for hours of exploration and puzzle-solving. These gaming experiences will make you glad you invested in VR hardware, whether it’s the Oculus Rift, PlayStation VR, or a VIVE headset.
Virtual Reality Casinos
Virtual reality casinos go beyond mere 3D interfaces, delivering you directly to the casino floor. With a VR headset, you can enjoy an interactive, lifelike casino experience. Virtual reality delivers a realistic experience of slot machines, roulette, and blackjack tables with live dealers. You can even stop by the bar for a drink and have conversations with other players.
VR Driving Simulations
Virtual reality driving simulations have lots of potential. After all, car-racing was one of the first game genres to embrace virtual reality. Driving a race car in virtual reality gives you the feeling of being a professional driver. Today’s VR driving games are equipped with outstanding graphics and top-notch audio, and as technology evolves, the games are getting more realistic and exciting every year.
What Will the Future Bring?
Virtual reality technology can be used on desktops, laptops, game consoles, and to some extent on mobile phones as well. The demand for virtual reality games has grown substantially over the past few years, and the COVID-19 pandemic drove demand even higher.
It would take a lot of time and effort to add VR support to all existing games. It’s likely that most won’t make the leap. But players love virtual reality and demand is growing quickly, so we can expect the catalog of new VR online games to grow every year.
Guest Post
About the Guest Author(s)
Aleksandra Arsic
Aleksandra is a content specialist at bestbingouk.com. She is an experienced content writer with a passion for economics and technology. She’s written for many different websites on a number of subjects. In her free time, she loves to travel, sing, play the guitar, and watch movies.