Chennai: Dream of every cricket fan, at least at some stage of their life, would be to play cricket in a jam-packed stadium, with people cheering them. However, not many of them will get that opportunity to play and can only manage to go to a stadium to cheer for their favourite team and player.
Now in this age, that dream to play cricket in a world-class stadium can turn real, at least virtually, with the introduction of virtual reality cricket.
Virtual reality is touted to be the next level of gaming after PC and video games and the latest entrant in virtual reality games is iB cricket. According to the firm, iB cricket is India’s first immersive cricket platform, where just by wearing a VR headset, people will be able to experience playing at a cricket stadium and one can score runs all around.
Launched by President Ramnath Kovind last year, iB cricket arcade is now available in three locations in Chennai where people from the age of 10 can experience the thrill of playing cricket.
Developed by ProYuga, an XR technology-focused startup backed by iB Hubs, the team behind the game is a group of graduates from IITs, IIMs and BITS who ventured into the world of virtual reality and worked together to bring out iB Cricket.
‘There is lot of craze for cricket in the country and not everyone gets an opportunity to play in stadiums so we wanted to bridge that gap and make people play in stadiums. We want to satisfy every cricket fan through this game,’ said VP, Business Development, iB Cricket, Tamilnadu, Bhala Kumar.
iB cricket is available to people in two and three overs whereby wearing the VR headset, people will be transformed into a stadium and they can bat using the custom-made bat. People will get to know where the ball is going to pitch and can just time the ball to get runs.Also, a replay option is available where just by pushing a button, players can see how they have batted. There is also a ball tracker option available. Just like real cricket, the bat vibrates when it meets the ball, which makes the game realistic. People can also see the bat after facing each ball where a red marker tells them where they have met the ball.
‘A player starts to play from level zero. There are totally 100 levels available, Once a player starts playing, their progress will be recorded. It takes some time for people to progress from one level to the other. At level 60 they will acquire the skill sets of a Ranji Player and when they go to 90 to 100, they get the skill sets of international players,’ says Bhala Kumar.
‘The cost for playing two-overs match is Rs. 159 and three overs is Rs. 219. For first-timers there is also an offer of 50 per cent,’ he said.
The arcade currently uses the seventh version of the game and Bhala Kumar says that in future, new versions will also be introduced which upgrades the gaming experience.
‘We are planning to launch more tournaments soon, We also have an A-coaching model where people can get trained and improve their timing. So far the response we get from the public is very good and with more upgrades, we plan to make it even more engaging,’ concluded Bhala Kumar.