With the debut of the Metaverse by Facebook and Meta, everyone is hoping that virtual reality technology will finally reach the general public. This was something that many people expected to happen in 2016, yet it did not. Despite this, there has been an undeniable resurgence of virtual reality (VR) technology in recent years, with numerous virtual shared spaces utilizing this technology to present their clients with an immersive third-dimensional experience.
Some of these virtual worlds, such as Decentraland, also offer gaming arenas where players may engage in virtual reality (VR) gambling activities like Holdem contests. This is possible at Decentraland’s ICE Poker virtual casino, which welcomes up to 6,000 different players on a daily basis.
Nonetheless, Poker VR by Mega Particle and PokerStars VR is the most popular virtual reality poker games recently. These are games that may be played for entertainment purposes and contain in-app purchases, but they do not involve actual money. PokerStars VR and PokerStars AR both support the Oculus range of headsets and can be downloaded from the Oculus website as well as their official websites. PokerStars VR is also available on Value’s Steam platform.
In the following sections, we will undertake a more in-depth examination of what it is like to play the world’s most popular card game utilizing the two previously stated software solutions for the goal of amusement. If they add money to play in the near future, gamers traveling to card rooms might become a thing of the past.
The Virtual Reality Poker Adventure
Mega Particle is a start-up firm based in San Francisco that is backed by venture capital. It also has a presence in Lahore, Pakistan. They founded their company in 2016 and initially focused on producing unique social VR applications. That same year, the company’s flagship product, Poker VR, was released (2017). It is a massively multiplayer online game in which users may customize their avatars by choosing from over one billion possible variations.
By combining the Oculus controller with the game, this gadget gives users the feeling that they are playing at a real table. They will, however, be able to obtain trophies if they win games using this application, which they may then share with their friends. Poker VR also hosts daily leaderboard competitions and tournaments with fixed prize pools. Mega Particle announced shortly after the game’s release that it had become the highest-grossing free-to-play Oculus Game ever, with gamers paying an average of fifty cents.
Poker VR does not have very impressive visuals when compared to more recent video games. However, the visuals of virtual reality games usually pale in contrast to those of popular high-end titles, thus this discovery should come as no surprise. The models and settings in this version are vastly improved over previous incarnations and appear to have been lifted directly from The Sims.
Poker VR also allows players to see around the entire room before joining a specific table and choose a seat in a range of different locations. Users may interact with one another and stack their chips however they see fit, as well as talk trash to one another, thus the total degree of participation is high. Those who are unfamiliar with Oculus’ VR controllers may find it difficult to learn how to flip chips and fling cards in a number of different ways. Be advised that this is a multiplayer-only game and that playing it causes many players’ Oculus headsets to grow too hot to wear comfortably.
PokerStars VR investigation
PokerStars VR is head and shoulders above Poker VR by Mega Particle in virtually every conceivable respect. This casino software was developed by The Stars Group, a well-known Canadian operator of gambling establishments that has since gone out of business. In the year 2020, the gaming giant known as Flutter Entertainment purchased that particular company and took it over.
PokerStars VR, which became available on the Oculus store in May of 2019, requires the user’s hard disk to have 3.8 gigabytes more free space than Poker VR does. It is now compatible with the Quest 2 gadget and has increased the variety of games it provides by adding roulette and slots. Users have the ability to watch any streaming video while playing cards in the game due to the incorporation of streaming media into the game; however, it is important to note that this function is only accessible through the Rift headset.
This is a more graphically advanced game than Poker VR, despite the fact that some of the options for customizing your avatar are drawn in a slightly more cartoonish style. Surface features here are of higher quality, and virtually realized exotic locations, like Macau and Monte Carlo, have a significantly deeper feeling of depth than they do in the original game. The user interface of the game, which is accessed by the user’s wristwatch, is very functional and user-friendly.
Players are given the opportunity to examine a scoreboard that provides statistics such as profit-to-loss ratios as well as other important pieces of data. Another feature of PokerStars VR that many fictitious gamblers appreciate is the fact that their avatars have the ability to take pictures while they are participating in various poker games at different tables. They have access to a wide variety of in-game options, all of which give the impression that they are participating in the event at a real location rather than a virtual one. This gives them the feeling that they are there. The same user interface that allows users to check the contents of their stash and then plays slots also gives users access to the retailer’s website, where they can make purchases of various items.
The fact that this game frequently freezes, as well as the fact that updates have a negative impact on its overall performance, has been brought up as a complaint by a sizeable number of players. On the other hand, the fact that they are able to eat food, smoke cigars, and watch streaming channels on the game’s virtual television screens is what appeals to them the most.