You can visit the bottom of the ocean, the top of a mountain or even head into outer space without leaving Penticton.
Through a small, unassuming space in the Cannery Trade Centre, the Penticton Virtual Reality Studio is offering tourists and locals alike the opportunity to explore some of the most breathtaking views the world has to offer and more.
The first-ever virtual reality (VR) business in Penticton is now taking appointments, opening their doors April 29 from 1 p.m. to midnight, by appointment.
Co-owner Jordan Garward was fascinated by the technology and has been following it since the Oculus Rift, one of the more famous VR devices launched via a Kickstarter campaign, started development. Now most large tech companies are putting out their own VR devices, like the HTC Vive that Garward is offering with his new business started by himself, his wife and co-owner Jaylean Garward.
“It came about because I really wanted to play in virtual reality. It costs a lot of money to get into it. To get into with high-quality equipment,” Garward said. “To actually put it in your own home, it’s a lot of money. So this way I was able to purchase the equipment, create a business, experience for myself and also pass it on to others.”
Virtual reality is booming on the international scale, and interest in VR technology has never been higher.
“There is going to be a lot of push for VR this summer, they want to make it a $20-billion business in a few years and people are going to want to try it. They have nowhere to try it and they don’t want to spend $3,000 on a PC, $1,500 on a headset and have the space and everything else. So we give people the opportunity to try it here,” Garward said.
The response from the community since he announced the opening of the studio has been excited to say the least.
“As soon as I put an ad out last month that we were planning on doing this I got a huge response. Twitter, Facebook, people were excited to try it or haven’t heard of it. A lot of people haven’t heard of VR yet, so they will be pretty surprised when they come in here,” Garward said.
He spent the last two days testing out all the experiences to pick the best ones for customers. They range from photorealistic places like the top of Mount Everest or fully-fledged video games from Steam VR. There is even an educational experience, bringing you along every step of the way on the Apollo 11 Moon landing from watching President Kennedy announcing the space program on an 1960s TV to touching down on the Moon.
“It’s also very educational in that way,” Garward said.
He’s attending a VR convention in Vancouver in May where Canadian companies are gathering to talk about the emerging business.
“This is a timing business, to get on the hype train of VR, I’m excited to do that and it’s something fun to do too,” Garward said.
Jaylean’s father, who is 54 years old, didn’t want to take the headset off while touring the Grand Canyon and Jaylean was so convinced by the virtual reality she fell over while using the device.
“One of the warnings we’re going to always tell people is if you see a virtual desk, don’t lean on it,” Garward laughed.
You can use the device without moving around as well.
“You can do all of these experiences sitting down or standing still. Most experiences make ways for you to move around without having to move around, but you lose the immersion factor. There’s lots of times we lose the fact that we’re in this office,” Garward said.
The studio operates by booking appointments for one or multiple hours and is open Thursday to Sunday and Monday evenings. They are looking to expand hours in the summer. For more info visit www.inthevive.com.
