Gaming arcade celebrates Doctor Who day by launching VR adventure

🏴󠁧󠁢󠁷󠁬󠁳󠁿 Is Cardiff the true home of The Doctor?

It’s not just in the studio that The Doctor is fighting intergalactic enemies, meaning you don’t need a TARDIS to see the filming locations around the Welsh capital.

📍Dyffryn Gardens, St Nicholas

Dyffryn Gardens, just outside Cardiff, has doubled as 18th century France, 19th century Scotland and even as a visual depiction of cyberspace. In reality, the gardens date back to the 7th century and feature in the British Tourism Authority’s top 100 gardens in the UK.

📍National Museum of Wales, Cathays Park

The museum has been used in many episodes since the series was rebooted in 2005. Most notably, the 50th anniversary special that saw previous Time Lords John Hurt, David Tennant and Matt Smith to team up against their most notorious enemy: the Daleks.

📍St Mary St, City Centre

When Christopher Eccelston revived the role in 2005, the very first episode saw ‘The Rose’ department store in London engulfed in flames – except the store wasn’t in London at all. The episode was actually filmed inside House of Fraser on St Mary St.

📍Cardiff Castle, City Centre

Cardiff’s most famous castle has been used in Dr Who a number of times, and was at the heart of the “Boom Town”, in episode 11 of the revived series. The castle was to be demolished in the episode – fortunately Christopher Eccleston came to the rescue.

📍Cathedral Green, Llandaff

During the tenure of the eleventh Doctor, Matt Smith, the fictional town of Leadworth was introduced. However, as with the Rose department store, this wasn’t in England at all – it was in fact Llandaff. The Cathedral Green was used predominantly in ‘The Eleventh Hour’ episode, where Smith made his debut.

🌍 Find these locations for yourself

Through the power of virtual reality, you can now take on the Daleks or run from Weeping Angels, and all from a warehouse in Abercarn

A Doctor Who virtual reality experience for £3 and a 15 minute trip from Newport

Abercarn gaming arcade VR Experience Wales launched a new Doctor Who interactive adventure on the same day that the beloved sci-fi series was celebrated worldwide.

This VR adventure uses a PC-based virtual reality headset and the Doctor Who: The Edge of Time video game to transport players to the Doctor Who universe. It features three levels: a shoot-em-up against the might of the Daleks, a TARDIS tutorial, and a fight for survival against the lurking Weeping Angels.

With new Dr Who set for release early next year, which villain scared you the most?#DrWho #BBC
— alt cardiff (@alt_cardiff) November 25, 2019

The Doctor Who adventure is one of many games that customers can choose to play. Costing £3 for 10 minutes play time, VR Experience Wales allows you to give virtual reality gaming a try for a small fraction of buying your own headset.

A relatively new venture, VR Experience Wales opened in January 2019, and is located on the Prince of Wales Industrial Estate in Abercarn, between Caerphilly and Cwmbran.

Man standing in front of a green screen using a VR headset — VR Experience Wales want to make immersive gaming a social activity

You would be forgiven for thinking that putting on a VR headset would be an isolating experience. Mark Crooks, manager of the arcade, explained that his VR adventures are more social than you might think.

He said, “VR is still in its infancy at the moment but we try to make it a social thing. We get a lot of people who come in and play together using multiplayer VR games.”

But for Mark, the true beauty of VR gaming is its accessibility, and the unrivalled immersive escapism that it provides. One of Mark’s regulars loves escape rooms, but her disability hinders her from completing the challenges in real life. However, in a VR escape room, she is on an equal playing field.

“The beauty of it is that, when they bring out a new VR escape room, it’s fully accessible to her,” he said. “If somebody is in a wheelchair, the VR calibrates to your height. So, you’re sitting in your chair, but in the game you become standing height.