Bringing VR To Vancouver
Born and bred in British Columbia, Winston Cabell has always had an eye on video gaming and interactive technology. Winston's business partner Karen Krywulak introduced him to Zero Latency VR and he's been hooked on virtual reality entertainment since.
Zero Latency VR Vancouver opens later this month, becoming Canada's third free-roam virtual reality entertainment venue.
How are you feeling about bringing Zero Latency VR to Vancouver?
First of all, we love the technology. We are absolutely convinced that Zero Latency VR is a notch above. It’s always fun to build something from the ground floor and to introduce something new to a market.
The fact that we’re introducing free-roam VR to Vancouver is something that we’re quite proud of. We appreciate the opportunity and we’re going to go all out to ensure that we deliver a great experience for all of our players. We are so keen to be part of the Zero Latency VR family.
What's Vancouver like?
Vancouver is one of the most beautiful cities in the world. It is the northernmost of the big west coast port cities – on a line with San Diego, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Portland and Seattle – and is a leading tourist destination.
It’s a Pacific Gateway and that makes it one of the most multi-cultural cities in North America. It’s also an Olympic city: The Vancouver 2010 Olympic Winter Games were a huge success and changed the city forever. I think the city is more “can do” than ever and part of that was the Olympic city experience and the opportunity to host the world. Vancouver also hosted the world at the 1954 British Empire Games (now Commonwealth Games) and Expo 1986.
The result is that the city has attracted people from all over the world and it has tripled in size the past quarter-century.
What's the Vancouver vibe?
West Coast. Active living. Chill. Tech and innovation. Loving life through the outdoors, sports and entertainment. And proud of our beautiful ocean setting, green forests and breathtaking mountain vistas. No wonder Vancouver is one of the leading television and movie production centres in the world.
Vancouver is defined by its appetite for out-of-the-box thinking. This has helped the city become a fledgling centre for high-tech innovation. Hootsuite, the world’s leading social media dashboard, is only one example of the global companies born in Vancouver. We believe that context and appetite will translate into a big appreciation for free-roam, multiplayer VR.
What drew you to the Zero Latency VR System?
We’re all in! We’ve been drawn from the outset to the full package – it’s what we believe is the most complete package out there. The free-roam is a huge point of differentiation, as is the capacity to entertain up to eight players at any one time. We love the game library and we love the new titles coming out this year.
To us, the clincher is the experience. It's not just VR, it's free-roam VR. That makes it a rewarding physical experience - there's a satisfying workout to be had for players of all ages.
How's it been getting your venue ready for launch?
The experience of working with Zero Latency VR headquarters has been nothing short of fantastic.
We’ve found the media templates and promotional packages extremely valuable – they simply can’t be any more comprehensive and that’s so helpful for a startup. We love the Client Success-orientation of Zero Latency VR Head Office and the access we have to everyone on the team.
As we grow, we like to think we’ll be able to return the favour with some of the best practices and learnings we experience in Vancouver.
What's impressed you in the entertainment industry recently?
The use of technology to enhance television, film and video gaming is one of the big stories worldwide over the past 25 years. We feel that very thing when it comes to our approach to entertainment and creation of virtual worlds the Zero Latency VR way.
Personally, it blows me away how video gaming has not only reinvented itself several times, but how advances in video gaming are inspiring similar leaps forward in TV and film. We see it all around us. Everything from Star Wars to the first World War Oscar contender '1917'.
I’m impressed by the entertainment and escapism that is synonymous with Zero Latency VR. The quality of virtual reality makes it all so real. Nothing has gotten my heart pumping more than that over the past year or so. But now that I’m so into the VR space, I’ll be on the look out for more ways to integrate VR into the entertainment landscape.