When the first videos of the Oculus Rift emerged a few years ago, the entire gamer community gasped in awe. The idea of stepping inside the world they could only experience through a screen was so exciting that it made their hearts rush and their palms sweat. Indeed, VR can have a massive impact on how we play our favorite games, but its effects will – and should – be felt way beyond the world of gaming.
The complete immersion offered by VR is a tool that can be made use of in many other aspects of our everyday lives, from shopping and work to entertainment and social interaction. The first steps toward virtually merging these different industries have already been made by a company that’s well-known for its pioneering ideas in the real money gaming world: Microgaming, the developer behind the games at www.europalace.com.
Social and casual
The online casinos of today offer players an individual gaming experience, with no social interactions whatsoever. An Euro Palace player can use a PC or a smartphone to connect to his or her account, load a game, and play. The games at the Euro Palace are all single-player and casual – quick and convenient but meant to be played alone. This might all change once Microgaming’s latest innovative technology gets rolled out at the Euro Palace and beyond: the casual game collection of the casino might soon get the social treatment, offering its players not just full immersion, but interaction with others as they play.
Award-winning innovation
Microgaming has presented its first virtual casino at the 2015 ICE Totally Gaming, a trade show that gathers the best-known and biggest “players” of the global real money gaming business. The product allows players to step into a virtual casino, using a VR headset (they used an Oculus SDK for the demo) and the Leap Motion controller to track their hands’ movements. With these, players could interact with the game like never before – they could experience virtual gaming in a way that was previously only available in real life gaming venues. All this from the comfort of their homes, with no need to think of travel, lodging, and dining.
The product showcased by Microgaming involved no real dealer – it was a roulette game with an AI croupier behind the table. At this point it serves as a template for future gaming applications – and it has a lot of potential. The same virtual environment will most likely become a meeting point in cyberspace, allowing players with shared interests to meet and socialize from a distance. This can elevate their experience beyond what virtual gaming can offer today – it can turn it into a deeper, more meaningful one, for the benefit of players and operators alike.
