Chuck E. Cheese, of all the finest restaurants in the world, has just begun a six-week trial run of the Oculus Rift in select locations in Dallas, and further stores in San Diego and Orlando are expected to follow.
Families who make reservations at the store for a birthday party will be be granted the option to test out a new game called Virtual Ticket Blaster Experience created by ReelFX. CEC Entertainment president Roger Cardinale confirms that tickets earned in the Oculus game can be traded in for actual tangible real world prizes.
"Our challenge is to deliver an experience not available at home, and there is no doubt virtual reality does just that."
I haven't been to a Chuck E. Cheese since its heyday when they had animatronics playing instruments on a stage and kids ran around playing actual games. Do they still do that? Skeeball, air hockey, the ball pit, and all that pizza which tasted like the cardboard plates it came on. Those were the days, but I'm not entirely sure how virtual reality could fit into such a setting.
You have to wonder if kids will benefit from sitting and using an Oculus Rift when they are supposed to be running around the shop burning off the calories they get from eating all that nasty, greasy pizza.
Oculus Rift might be just a novelty to older gamers like me, but the next generation of technology buffs are going to be accepting it as the norm years from now. Better start out while they are young and target them at children's establishments like Chuck E. Cheese. Smart move playing up your product with the generations of tomorrow, but forever will their vulnerable minds associate virtual reality with their angry and annoyed parents who just want to go home.
Hope that doesn't lead to any stability issues in the future.
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