Neurogaming’s next-gen Polygon system is an evolution of VR arcades

I was recently invited to New York to check out the demo VR space for Neurogaming. The company behind World of Tanks (Wargaming) formed Neurogaming to work on VR arcades in partnership with a venture funding group called VRTech. From a hardware perspective, their first “CinemaVR” system isn’t too different from IMAX VR’s locations. You can stand in place and move around a few feet but you’re still tethered to a computer and not able to walk too far. Overall, I was impressed by the quality of the competitive games they’ve built for it.

The company also demoed a next-generation system unlike anything I’ve experienced before. They call it Polygon and it seemed like a military training simulation. Before I go much further, I should say that I feel uncomfortable thinking back on my time in Polygon for a number of reasons. There’s of course the recent mass shooting in Florida, and all the others before it, as well as the continual debate over gun control. There’s my concern over how some people might use a training tool as high quality as Polygon. And also, there’s the lasting feeling of empowerment I felt holding a hefty rifle tight to my shoulder and moving quickly, muzzle up, through an area as I cleared it with my team.