Virtual reality arcade opens in Guelph

People in Guelph got to defend their castles and blast alien spaceships Sunday as an old old gaming concept using the latest technology arrived in the Royal City.

Ctrl V is a virtual reality arcade, using goggles, headphones and two controllers to allow people to enter a variety of virtual reality scenarios.

It's located at 212 Victoria Rd. S., in the plaza on the southeast corner of the Victoria Road and York Road, sharing a parking lot with the Tim Horton's.

A demonstration day was held Sunday in advance of taking bookings starting later this week.

"I did virtual reality back in the 90s, with a similar head set, but this is the next level. It's evolved so much ... it definitely feels like the future is here," said Paul Clark, who dropped by with his family to give it a try.

"It was definitely the best 'defend the castle game that I've ever played," said Clark, who spent some time firing virtual arrows at the invading hordes.

His wife Tammy, who admitted not being into video games, found the virtual reality model a lot more fun.

"It really feels like you're in the room. Not like you're playing a game," she said.

Virtual reality arcades having been popping up around the country, hoping to tap into a vein of the gaming market that is still relatively too expensive, and requires too much space, for widespread home application.

Ctrl V opened its first location in Waterloo last year. New locations have opened in Guelph and Red Deer and more franchises are planned.

"It's a new take on the old popular arcades," said Joe Balfour, general manager of the Guelph location.

"You come in, rent a station for an hour and have freedom to try anything you want," Balfour said. "There's fun mini-golf type games, some shooting games, some more experiential games. There's quite a variety of styles.

"We'll be rolling out new games every month."

Balfour said virtual reality technology is evolving to the point where it's affordable and of good enough quality to use in an arcade game setting.

"People are blown away by it. It's nothing like anything else," Balfour said.

The cost for an hour of virtual reality gaming is around $25 to reserve a booth for an hour and it can be split with friends. It's a bit cheaper for larger groups and Ctrl V also has a room available for birthday parties and markets to companies looking to do a little team building.

There are currently six different games to choose from at the Guelph Ctrl V arcade, with more on the way.

For more information and booking information go to http://www.ctrlv.ca/.