Article by:
Frank McGwire
The Virtual Reality Experience Is Out of This World and Right Here in Brandon!
If you've been looking for another form of entertainment completely different from what Brandon has had to offer over the years, you need to check out Beyond Reality's “Your Virtual Escape!” Located on the top floor of 1608 Park Avenue in the building where you'll also find Just For Kids and I Want That Stuff. The large two-storey building is now a one-stop multi-faceted entertainment centre for people of all ages. For those who haven't visited lately, the building now has a 9-hole indoor mini-golf course, 30-foot bouncy slide, major play structure, air hockey, dining area and three party rooms including one upstairs adjacent to Beyond Reality. For those looking for a high-end Virtual Reality experience, this really is something to behold.
Beyond Reality owner/operator Darcy Willey displays the touch screen where customers can choose their virtual reality experience.
(Photos: Westman Zone)
Owner/Operator Darcy Willey is thrilled to bring this exciting new entertainment option to Westman. “We saw that Brandon didn't have anything quite like this so we decided to go for it and just kind of stepped it up a few levels,” said Willey. Darcy is quick to credit his brother Doug who handles all of the carpentry, construction, and setup of the operation as well as his wife Jessica who helps run the operation.
Darcy and Jessica Willey. Make sure all headsets are cleaned with disinfecting wipes before each use.
Beyond Reality offers three rooms in which groups of up to six people can interact with virtual reality sets in each room with games that offer various settings, themes, and skill levels. “We can host a wide variety of functions. We can do birthday parties from ages 9 and up, we also do staff parties, stags and stagettes. People will enjoy working together to figure out the strategy games like a virtual escape room or you can do shooting games.” Rooms can be rented out by the hour and for newcomers that includes a quick tutorial session. Willey says Beyond Reality will operate mostly by appointment but they will be open 7 days a week and walk-ins will be available.
People who enjoy the competitive aspect of shooting virtual zombies can have their scores tabulated during their sessions. Escape rooms allow people to work together to get through the scenes. These serve as the perfect option for families, friends, co-workers or teammates etc. to work together while advancing from room to room. “Beyond Reality has 6 escape rooms. Everything from underwater to spaceship to haunted houses, all those kinds of scenarios. There are also single to multiplayer games where you're shooting zombies, then there's also more of a family-friendly one where you can shoot bow and arrows at goblins. My 7-year-old, 11-year-old along with me and my wife were playing that one and we had a blast! It's not too gory but you are shooting at goblins but it's definitely high-end family entertainment,” said Willey. The graphics are quite sharp and vivid. The visual experience is interactive to a point where players can actually high-five each other within the game.
Some people who are familiar with the Oculus headsets that hit the market five or six years ago may have experienced motion sickness while playing, usually due to the teleporting feature. With the free roam system Beyond Reality is using, you bypass the stationary aspect where you have to stay in your 3 feet circle. “The free roam system your heads and hands are all viewable and you can see everybody at the same time so that really cuts down on any chance of motion sickness,” Willey said. “Oculus systems are great for home use but what we offer is more of an advanced system. Ours have even better graphics and the free roam group play capability is far more convenient with the rooms we have. We're already looking at one system that allows 8 – 12 players and we're looking at creating a bigger area in the building to facilitate that. We also plan on adding new games every week. We also have a 75-inch interactive touch screen in the lobby so you can select your game and how many players and you can watch a video of what the game is about before you select it.” He adds the age range for the usage of the Beyond Reality system is pretty much everybody but ideally ages 9 and up.
Beyond Reality currently has 6 theme games which can be played in any of the three 15' X 18' rooms. They can facilitate up to 18 players at a time and if there are groups larger than that they'll play in sessions while the other group enjoys one of the party rooms that come complete with food and drink service. Willey says they hope to eventually be a licensed establishment so adult groups can enjoy a night out of high-tech virtual fun and entertainment. “We've already stepped it past the original escape room concept where they maybe can change it every few months, right now I can change an escape room in 3 seconds. I can set difficulty levels and we can also change languages. We're currently set up for German, Spanish, English, and French so everything you're reading inside those games can be set to those languages.” In the world of virtual reality if you can imagine it you can play it. Willey says the possibilities are endless with the number of games they can offer and he plans to stay up to date with the technology. “We have plenty of space in this building to utilize and we're going to keep expanding with games and setups. We're going to keep coming out with the newest tech we can to keep Brandon at the same level as all the other bigger major cities when it comes to this form of entertainment.”
To book your VR experience and/or private party at Beyond Reality call 204-717-1818.
For more information visit their website www.beyondrealityvr.ca
To book your VR experience and/or private party at Beyond Reality call 204-717-1818. For more information visit their website www.beyondrealityvr.ca
If your business would like a featured profile like this one please feel free to contact us at 204-761-5116. We offer FREE consultation to all businesses in Westman.
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