Sleepless in Seattle? You will be after visiting GameWorks, an entertainment center created by Universal Studios, DreamWorks SKG, and Sega Enterprises to showcase their VR technology across the nation. The attractions – please don't call them games or rides – will leave your eyesight blurry and knees wobbly, exposing you to every kind of simulator that can be mounted on a hydraulic platform. There's auto racing, wave running, skateboarding, motorcycling, skiing, and jet fighting. The shoot-'em-up tools range from light-based handguns to rifles and beyond.
Expect your inner ear, if not your inner child, to be overstimulated. Sure, high-speed visuals and sound can mimic sensation and movement. But the atmosphere – few windows, no clocks, and other Las Vegas touches – is still more arcade than VR.
Vertical Reality's top-selling motorized chairs rise 24 feet to mimic the experience of a commando squadron taking over a high-rise building. The R-360 is a flight simulator resembling a gyroscope that spins in all directions when you get shot down. Prices for a few minutes of fast-twitch fun range from US$0.50 to $4. The more you spend, the more motion you get. Plan on burning through $20 in no time, painlessly, after you exchange cash for a mag-stripe card that can be refueled if you need more thrills. But be careful; it's easy to leave a card behind in a machine after finishing your ride.
You may recoil at the shameless hucksterism of the merchandise shop, where everything from sportswear to lunch boxes, clothing, and refrigerator magnets carry the GameWorks logo. (Expect this name to be the McDonald's of entertainment.) But walking in is free, and more sedate visitors can surf the Internet via public terminals, or chill at the coffee bar. Nostalgic boomers head for '80s-vintage arcade games like Galaxian and Frogger, which are now bargain games at 50 cents.
The postindustrial-apocalypse decor of exposed brick, tubes, pipes, wires, and bulbs simulates an old warehouse taken over by gamers. But step outside, and you're in the real VR arcade of Seventh Avenue and Pike Street, surrounded by such artificial intelligence as NikeTown, Planet Hollywood, a 16-screen movie theater, and F.A.O. Schwarz. After the winking, blinking GameWorks overload, who knows what reality is anymore?
GameWorks: 50 cents to US$4. GameWorks: +1 (206) 521 0952
This article originally appeared in the November issue of Wired magazine.
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