Virtual Reality (VR) is all the rage these days, and the race is on for tech companies to produce the most immersive VR experience. Whilst there are VR goggles that are expensive such as those from Oculus Rift and HTC, VR goggles are very much affordable nowadays with Google Cardboard. In fact, you can make one yourself if you follow Google Cardboard.

VR gives you a 360 degree virtual environment and companies are trying to exploit this such as museums that give you’re a 360 virtual tour before you decide to visit them. YouTube allows you to upload your VR video too and we have seen an airsoft shop do it as well giving a virtual tour of their brick and mortar store. But the money is on video games and does game developers are now releasing left and right video games made for VR goggles.

First person shooters should benefit from VR with the immersive qualities of this technology. It can just get too real an experience such as this example of a woman playing a zombie shooter game:

Now one company wants to bring the VR shooter games to another level by introducing a VR gun that gives haptic feedback. Striker VR show off their prototype of the ARENA Infinity, a wireless VR gun that uses a linear actuator for haptic feedback. This gives a powerful kick for simulating recoil. For first person shooters that feedback should provide a better experience when playing games such as Call of Duty, The Division, or Battlefield, if they have VR versions.

The ARENA Infinity VR Gun, according to Road To VR, can have single, burst, and full auto firing modes. It can also be used for other types of firing effects such as rail gun or perhaps laser blasters. The company is planning to support location tracking systems for VR firms to choose which tracking system is best for their use such as the PhaseSpace and Sixense STEM tracking. They are also aiming to integrate the Valve Lighthouse, Oculus Constellation, and the PlayStation Move tracking systems.

An SDK kit for VR developers will be released in the 4th Quarter of 2016.

In between weekend airsoft games, airsofters can get one of these VR guns when they get released which they can use at home when not playing airsoft. Or they can influence Striker VR to design a more realistic-looking VR gun that uses the same haptic feedback tech like an M4 or AK which should make airsoft and firearms enthusiasts happy and would make them embrace VR with wide open arms. This also opens for possible VR training simulators that are cheaper as compared to existing virtual tactical training simulators being used by military organisations.

I can just imagine how it would be playing an FPS game in VR with a realistic looking VR gun with simulated recoil. It would be really a blast.