Paris theater lets anyone experience top VR headsets

Movie theater operators have been hard at work adapting virtual reality technology to the theater experience. Now, one company in France is finally bringing VR headsets on the stage. The theater chain MK2 has opened a VR experience area in a 300sqm space in Paris. Users can pay to use all the big VR headsets available today, including the Oculus Rift, Sony PlayStation VR, HTC Vive and MSI, among others. These headsets are accompanied by equipment that allow people to experience games in a unique way that would not be possible at home.

MK2 is selling tickets for 12 and 20 euros, allowing people to play for 20 and 40 minutes, respectively. The facility not only allows people to try out the latest and greatest VR headsets, but also to experience VR games using simulator equipment such as the Birdly. Users lie down horizontally on the simulator to experience flying through the air.

MK2 is not just interested in gaming. The company said it is committed to bringing the VR experience to many mediums, including using it to enhance the experience of fiction and documentary films. The technology certainly exists to make this happen, but the big key right now is probably content and building enough installations to make the technology go mainstream. Acer is already betting big on movie theaters as a market for headsets, and Disney is working on a haptic chair for VR. There are also 4D theaters around the world that use sensory input to enhance the movie-going experience. VR technology could build on this, but adoption will take time.